Review: ‘Chappad Phaad Ke’ Is A Twisted Comedy That Tries Too Hard

Does the new dark comedy deliver?

Vinay Pathak in a still from ‘Chappad Phaad Ke’

(Photo: The Quint)

How long can you be good when the world wants you to be bad?

The new film, Yoodlee's Chappad Phaad Ke, directed by Sameer Joshi, is Hotstar’s first original film release. Starring Vinay Pathak, Ayesha Raza, Siddharth Menon and Sheetal Thakur, the film is the story of a middle-class Maharastrian family that finds a bag of Rs. 5 crore. What will win, morality or greed?

What Works

The story starts off well - the characters seem relatable and you’re quick to catch on with their sensibilities. Vinay Pathak and Ayesha Raza do great justice to their roles - as is expected. The subtleties of their thought-processes and the struggles of their dilemmas are portrayed beautifully. Perhaps the strongest part of the film comes at the very end, with the death of an extremely affable character and the depiction of it.
The director and cinematographer do an excellent job, and make you wonder - How bad can the best of people be?

What Doesn’t

A lot could have been done with this film, as it starts off with a promising push. However, everything from the storyline to the characters’ arcs slowly fall into a flat line and die a painful death. Siddharth Menon and Sheetal Thakur, as Vinay Pathak and Ayesha Raza’s children, don’t contribute much with their performances. Their reactions and expressions seem to be stuck - the wildest of developments warrant nothing out of their faces. The writers seem to be unsure of the developments of their own creation as well.

Another problem with the film is its lack of engaging subplots. You never find yourself trying to find connections between the smaller stories for their lack of interesting angles, and the result is a scary fixation on the same money bag for the entire length of the film. Unfortunately, this gets boring too soon. The film carries a lot of political undertones, but against the backdrop of its heavily satirical setting, it adds nothing.
The end result? The film seems to force questions upon you without building enough on a tangible base for them. Everything starts to feel forced very quickly.

Overall, the film has a promising start with actors that seem hell-bent on delivering a commendable performance, but the weak storyline and repititive situations quickly suck you into a state of ennui. It becomes difficult to force yourself out of it, and much of the developments of the film, including the point they try to make, unfortunately get lost under it.