Chacha Bhatija

Chacha Bhatija (1977) : Brief Review -

Manmohan Desai's weakest film in his dream year carried by the hype and leading pair of Dharmendra and Hema Malini. Now it's useless to explain why this weak film became a box office hit since there must be many reasons and many can tell many stories. It was the 4th biggest hit of Manmohan Desai in 1977 after Amar Akbar Anthony, Dharam Veer, and Parvarish, and I don't wonder why it couldn't go higher than the other three films because it was, by miles, the weakest film amongst his four films. All four follow a similar "lost and round" formula, and all four films begin with a backstory of wife/mother, husband/fatheh, and son/stepson. Chacha Bhatija also sets a prelude to its story before Dharmendra and Randhir Kapoor make their entries as Chacha and Bhatija, respectively. From "Yahudi" to "Bobby," that's how the timeline is defined outside a cinema hall, which means that one and a half decades have passed. Prayag and Salim-Javed write small, small nuances like this that feel good, including some edgy dialogues. "Yah to sirf batva tha, aap khud, kaha aur kitne gir gaye aapko ko pata hi nahi." Say, how's that from a younger brother to his elder brother for defaming his Sita samaan bhabhi? Some pumping action sequences and reunion moments keep the film floating, but seriously, it's too dramatic, or rather, it's overdramatic. I mean, how can someone stretch a climax scene just for a "pen." That wasn't just one scene, but there are many scenes that are too odd and too dramatic to understand and digest for a 70s masala film. Even Yahudi itself wasn't so dramatic for the late 50s. Dharmendra and Hema Malini's screen presence felt reasonable, but the romance and songs were forced. Many scenes are still inspiring today's films, as we saw "Bhoot Raja" inspiring Nawaz's role in Housefull 4, but they were known cliches for any film in the mid-70s. In short, Chacha Bhatija is sticky average and far below compared to the other 3 films Desai made in the same year.

RATING - 5/10*

By - #samthebestest.