4084 CHAALIS CHAURASI - REVIEW

Its not often, that in the recent past, a movie comes along, with no item number, no herione and with 4 main stream actors who are known for their off beat roles. With an intriguiging title like Chaalis Chaurasi  or 4084 (Reminds one of TAXI 9211-follow the link to watch the complete movie ), I was left wondering what it could be about. The posters did indicate that there were some vehicles involved and I thought the movie would be centered around the same. Was I sadly mistaken - well yes, to some extent..

The movie is primarily centered around 4 men, One a disgraced English professor Mr Puri - Naseerudin Shah (who killed his wife inadvertently when they had a showdown over his affair with another teacher and then served a jail sentence for the same, and now is presently teaching English cum Driver to a rich business man),  A wannabe singer, Atul Kulkrarni aka Bobby- who had to give up his dreams to become a pimp (a rather successful one, a drug dealer - Ravi Kishen- who tells us not to lecture him on selling drugs and not buy it if not interested) and finally Kay Kay Menon - as Albert Pinto, a retro car loving thief... These four men have one thing in common- to get out of their present rut and retire for life - But no clue on how to go about it.

So then Puri (or 'Sir" as he is known), comes up with an  extremely simple plan, which can get them enough money, split 4 ways, to retire for life. They make their plans as the movie goes along, running into various obstacles (or twists in the plot largely due to their fondness for liquor and bar girls). If and only if they can pull off this 20 crore heist will they be able to realise their dreams. What stands in their way is a corrupt crime branch officer, a renegade gangster (tony bisleri) and a host of other quirky characters. The significance of the number 4084 is known only towards the end...which is a good thing.!!!

Why should you watch it? Well, four fine actors, a reasonably strong storyline with lots of twist and turns, good editing and screenplay, good dialogues and the evergreen hit Hawa Hawa.

Why you should'nt ?  Some tiresome songs and background music, the almost comical ending, which is a little stupid and stretches the sensibilities.

Overall - A 3 out of 5 for a pleasant watching experience.
Read the Times of India review, the DNA review and the Indian Express review  to get another perspective.