Chitchor is a wonderful comedy directed by the great Basu Chatterjee, and as you would already predict, it is one small and authentic picture which tells its story through its presentation of everyday realism and its ability to captivate without ever overdoing its story. There is something in this simplicity that is really engaging. Chitchor is a light, musically-abundant tale of a village couple who want to marry their growing daughter Geeta to a young successful engineer named Sunil, only that for quite some time they mistake him for his supervisor, Vinod, who comes to the village several days before. The story deepens upon the arrival of Sunil and follows the proceedings when Geeta is already very much in love with Vinod.
Chitchor is aided in equal parts by Chatterjee's wonderful direction, the great cast, and of course the classic soundtrack composed by Ravindra Jain. K. J. Yesudas and Hemalata perform brilliantly their numbers. Eash song is totally melodious and pleasant. Do take a listen to "Gori Tera Gaon", "Aaj Se Pehle", "Jab Deep Jale Aana", and my personal favourite "Tu Jo Mere Sur Mein". Where acting goes, every actor does well. A.K. Hangal and Dina Pathak are excellent as the loving parents. Amol Palekar is fantastic as the kindhearted and talented Vinod. Zarina Wahab is outstanding in a restrained performance which is mostly non-verbal. Vijayendra Ghatge lends adequate support and child actor Raju Shrestha also does exceedingly well.
There's one aspect in the film that really struck me and it's the running time. At a little more than one hour and a half, Chitchor is one of the shortest movies, and it's great because so many Hindi movies are too long for the story they tell, and here's a nice exception. The word "chitchor" means "a heart stealer", and the movie lives up to the premise. It is enjoyable, simple and heartwarming, and is without a doubt an amusing tale worth revisiting. Go for it.
