postmeroy Review of Chalk N Duster

Chalk N Duster (I) (2016)

'Chalk & Duster'- A small film that tries to do something nice, but fails.

[22 January 2016]

'Chalk & Duster' is a small film with a big heart. It attempts to reinstate the long forgotten values attached to the education system. It makes a plea to love and respect your teachers, values most of us have grown up with but only few of us remember. While the film means well, it's rather a failed attempt at something already tried by Milind Ukey in the 2010 debacle "Paathshala". Of the many things the film may boast of, subtlety is definitely not one of them. Warning: SPOILERS AHEAD (Nothing that you can't guess 1 hour into the film) The film narrates the tale of two teachers Vidya Sawant and Jyoti Thakker. While these are believable and real characters, living in a middle class setting and buying cars on EMI, the characterization somehow leaves one asking for more. The peripheral characters seem sketchy and stereotyped with no depth at all. There is an unskillfully contrived comic scene with Upasana Singh in the first half which has no business being there at all. For some reason, we have Jackie Shroff in the film and a forced rivalry between him and Arya Babbar, the money mongering trustee. Yes, you read it right, Arya Babbar is back in yet another unimpressive role. The songs sequences stretch the film for no reason but they are important in establishing the family life of Juhi Chawla, called 'Thakurayan' by her doting husband played by Samir Soni, a wonderful actor wasted in the film. He is only there to play a side kick to his wife and a babysitter to their son. While Juhi Chawla does a decent job, the bubbliness getting too much at times, Shabana Azmi and Divya Dutta steal the show away. One wishes they had done a better job with Dutta's costume (read: Given her a better wig and less colorful clothes). Shabana Azmi is spot on in her character as a Marathi lady, with a confined husband and a young daughter. She is a tremendous actor and she proves it time and again. It's the story and the sad direction, however, that kills the film in its entirety. The story is amateur and appears to be written by a sixth grader while the direction is a sorry affair. The film gets preachy after a while, repeating the same dialogues dressed differently. With an over extended climax, and a comic rendition of "Kaun Banega Crorepati", one knows there is nothing original about the story or the concept. An amalgamation of 'Paathshala' and 'Slumdog Millionaire', nothing really works for this movie except for the wonderful actors who are trying to do the best they can with what they have. There are certain logical conflicts in the film. For instance, why would a greedy trustee be willing to invest 5 crores at the word of a school principal who has failed to prove her worth multiple times in the film. There is a small significant role played by Richa Chadda but the tiring script doesn't give her much space to do her thing. However, keeping all the technicalities aside, there is something undeniably and innately sweet and innocent about this film, probably owing to its amateurism. And more importantly the film tries to do something, rarely attempted by mainstream films these days- narrate a story. We only wish it had been told better. You may just give this film a miss but if you are an ardent Shabana Azmi fan like me, definitely go for it. It's still better than spending 300 bucks on Dilwale.