At his present age with a vast sea of experience behind him, if Naseeruddin Shah gives his approval to any particular project then it has to be something interesting, out of the box and fresh. Plus if it also has actors such as Kay Kay Menon, Atul Kulkarni, Ravi Kishen, Zakir Hussain and Rajesh Sharma featuring along with him in a film appealingly called CHAALIS CHAURAASI, then the expectations are bound to rise steeply without any exception.
But at times, a script which might sound great in the reading sessions does not get perfectly transformed on the screen leading to a big disappointment even with such a talented star-cast. Incidentally CHAALIS CHAURAASI suffers with the same drawback as its script had a great entertaining idea to work upon which sadly falls flat due to its lazy and careless execution. Written around a plot of four friends planning to commit a crime with a stolen Police van, the film had enough sequences which ideally could result in a clear winner. But unfortunately, it all remains an average effort only in the end with nothing exceptional coming out due to the various reasons mentioned below.
The first one relates to its title itself which never gets explained till the climax. So the viewer keeps on wondering that What is the significance of the number 4084 right till the end. May be the director planned it that way to add a little surprise element in the script. But the move doesn't work and the secret gets revealed too late to make the desired impact.
Secondly after an energetic start, the complete first half of the film has simply nothing as far as plot development is concerned. The whole movie basically talks about a single night incidents which actually all start post interval. In other words, 4084 is one of those rare movies, which can be watched straight after the intermission and still you are not going to miss anything important unless you want to see the few deliberately added Item numbers including HAWA HAWA (an almost 3 decades old track of Hassan Jahangir from Pakistan). And that should clearly give you an idea about its casually handled script, direction and editing. Though post intermission it picks up fast and keeps you fairly engaged with its few well directed sequences. But if only the makers could see the shallowness of its first half, the story would have been different.
The third and most important drawback of the film is that despite of having many explosive actors in its kitty, the director Hriday Shetty misses his great opportunity and never utilizes any one of them as per their huge talent. Naseer just remains fine and Kay Kay is not the same as we remember him in his earlier flicks. Atul Kulkarni is good in few of his scenes but both Ravi Kishan and Zakir Hussain are not given much to do in the script. However only Rajesh Sharma shines in his small but powerful role and he is really fast emerging as a dependable actor for the directors.
In all CHAALISH CHAURAASI can easily be put in the category of those films which you would not mind watching in the convenience of your home (at DVD) but would surely feel the pinch if seen in the theaters. It is also one of those few films which can easily be converted into an enjoyable watch after some severe editing of less than an hour. So if watched in a smaller version or keeping your DVD remote in your hands, it can fairly be called a fine one-time watch for the viewers.
