#37: Do Dooni Chaar

You can never say this too early about this one - it is a fabulous flick !

Mr.Santosh Duggal(Rishi Kapoor) is a happy-go-lucky maths teacher in a college and is honest to a fault. Mrs. Kusum Duggal on the other hand is a housewife who knows that inflation is a demon she has to deal with every day of her existence due to her husband's not-so-inflated salary. Aditi Duggal, their daughter is the typical smart Delhi kid who can't wait to have a car to flaunt in front of her friends. Sandeep Duggal, her teenage brother, meanwhile, hobnobs with match-fixers to earn a quick buck and hides his winnings in the family aquarium placed in the drawing room. Revoling around these four characters,the story is about the family's quest to move from an old grumpy two-wheeler to a brand new car. It is a transition that is a defining moment in every middle-class family's life. And it is also a subject that no film-maker in India had ever thought of before 2010. Strange but true.

Even as I am writing this, I am smiling thinking of the delightful character sketches that writer-director Habib Faisal has put together in Do Dooni Chaar. Whether it is the chemistry between Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh who are seen together on-screen after more than 3 decades or the completely endearing performances of their children, you'll find everything in Do Dooni Chaar delightfully charming. Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh prove with elan why chemistry between man and woman doesn't necessarily mean rain, lips, bare chest and a wet saree. It can be also the spark of conversation within the confines of a DDA flat between a husband and a wife in their mid-40s. No amount of praise is enough for Rishi Kapoor who is nothing but loveable while Neetu Singh plays the quintessential dutiful middle-class wife.

Laced with some really funny dialogues, the movie enters your heart with the warmth that the characters display. A special mention must also be made for Akhilendra Mishra who plays Farooqui- a neighboor of the Duggals- who in a turn all of 10 minutes might just moist your eyes with a superbly touching performance.

Do Dooni Chaar is the kind of movie that retains our faith in the craft of movies - that they don't need sleaze and gun-toting action to impress audiences. That they can be simple and yet so beautiful, that the characters can be vulnerable and yet so powerful and that if a movie has a crisp storyline, everything else ceases to matter.

Rating: 7.8/10