Chaand Kaa Tukdaa (1992) has all the makings of a classic
Bollywood romance. Shyam Kapur (Salman Khan), a London businessman and
one of the ten wealthiest men in the world, is traveling to India in
order to fulfill his late mother’s last request. She wants him to marry
an Indian girl in order to keep the ancestral culture alive within the
family. She’s also very insistent that Shyam’s bride be “as beautiful
as the moon.” Shyam explains all this to the fawning British press, and
then it’s off to India.
Upon arriving in India, he meets with Hasmukh (the always affable and often silly Anupam Kher), the film’s designated comic relief. Hasmukh arranges a society party in Shyam’s honor, so that he can meet all the lovely, fortune-hunting society girls. Shyam is disappointed, though; he was hoping to see “the India of Ram and Sita, Radha and Krishna . . . Hindustan where our culture and traditions come alive.” If he wanted a Westernised society girl, he could have just stayed at home. Hasmukh suggests that, in order to find the India (and the girl) he’s looking for, they head out into the country and search the villages and hill stations. And so they do.
At the first hill station they try, Shyam catches a glimpse of Radha (Sridevi) and immediately falls in love, but she rebuffs him. Radha claims he’s just another callous rich man out to seduce and ruin a poor but honest country girl, and Shyam claims he’s really quite poor, just a clerk for a London millionaire. Thanks to advice from Hasmukh and a local orphan who appears out of nowhere and disappears just as quickly, and with the help of a shrewd bit of emotional blackmail, Shyam finally winds Radha’s heart.
After winning his traditional Indian girl, though, Shyam almost subconsciously tries to fit her into a Western mold. Things come to a head when, after an oddly disjointed scene at a shopping center, Radha finds out that he’s really rich after all. She angrily rejects him and storms off. Shyam is devastated, but Hasmukh offers to try and convince her to come back, and sends Shyam off to pray for success at a local temple. And the stage is set for a stirring romance, as Shyam truly embraces India and tries to win back his love . . . . .
. . . . Except that the next scene we see is Hasmukh savagely beating Radha. It turns out he’s secretly a criminal mastermind only pretending to be comic relief, and he has kidnapped Radha and her entire family as a part of his scheme to gain control of Shyam’s fortune. After her younger sister is threatened with a Fate Worse Than Death, Radha agrees to complete her mission: Marry Shyam, and then kill him!
It’s a genuinely shocking twist; up until this point, the movie has been pure romance, and it suddenly veers into suspense territory. It could have been a very effective bit of plotting, if this were the last big twist in the plot. Unfortunately, that is not the case. From this point onward, the plot takes a new turn seemingly every five minutes. None of these plot twists follow at all from the preceding material, and they often directly contradict facts that have just been established onscreen. The end result is a lot like listening to a five-year-old tell a story; a lot of exciting things happen, but they don’t really fit together, or make much sense. I gave up trying to follow the plot at about the point Zevago the Russian gangster (you can tell he’s Russian because he has a big furry hat) showed up with his surgically altered duplicate Shyam.
Bollywood is often criticized for being formulaic and predictable, and it’s true. Bollywood is often formulaic and predictable. Normally, I’d be happy to report that a film was genuinely surprising and suspenseful, but Chaand Kaa Tukdaa doesn’t play fair; you can’t anticipate any of the plot twists because they arrive fully formed, as if shot out of a Random Plot Generator. After a well executed plot twist, the preceding events should make more sense, not less. There are very few “Aha!"s in Chaand Kaa Tukdaa, and far too many “Huh?"s.
I’m becoming something of Sridevi fan lately, and she gives a fine performance here. It’s really the best reason to watch the film. The songs are good, but the action is iffy, the humor is particularly unfunny, and the plot makes no sense. If for some reason you must watch Chaand Kaa Tukdaa, I suggest you stop the film after the first hour and enjoy the (unusually short) sunny romantic comedy. It’s a much better film that way.
Upon arriving in India, he meets with Hasmukh (the always affable and often silly Anupam Kher), the film’s designated comic relief. Hasmukh arranges a society party in Shyam’s honor, so that he can meet all the lovely, fortune-hunting society girls. Shyam is disappointed, though; he was hoping to see “the India of Ram and Sita, Radha and Krishna . . . Hindustan where our culture and traditions come alive.” If he wanted a Westernised society girl, he could have just stayed at home. Hasmukh suggests that, in order to find the India (and the girl) he’s looking for, they head out into the country and search the villages and hill stations. And so they do.
At the first hill station they try, Shyam catches a glimpse of Radha (Sridevi) and immediately falls in love, but she rebuffs him. Radha claims he’s just another callous rich man out to seduce and ruin a poor but honest country girl, and Shyam claims he’s really quite poor, just a clerk for a London millionaire. Thanks to advice from Hasmukh and a local orphan who appears out of nowhere and disappears just as quickly, and with the help of a shrewd bit of emotional blackmail, Shyam finally winds Radha’s heart.
After winning his traditional Indian girl, though, Shyam almost subconsciously tries to fit her into a Western mold. Things come to a head when, after an oddly disjointed scene at a shopping center, Radha finds out that he’s really rich after all. She angrily rejects him and storms off. Shyam is devastated, but Hasmukh offers to try and convince her to come back, and sends Shyam off to pray for success at a local temple. And the stage is set for a stirring romance, as Shyam truly embraces India and tries to win back his love . . . . .
. . . . Except that the next scene we see is Hasmukh savagely beating Radha. It turns out he’s secretly a criminal mastermind only pretending to be comic relief, and he has kidnapped Radha and her entire family as a part of his scheme to gain control of Shyam’s fortune. After her younger sister is threatened with a Fate Worse Than Death, Radha agrees to complete her mission: Marry Shyam, and then kill him!
It’s a genuinely shocking twist; up until this point, the movie has been pure romance, and it suddenly veers into suspense territory. It could have been a very effective bit of plotting, if this were the last big twist in the plot. Unfortunately, that is not the case. From this point onward, the plot takes a new turn seemingly every five minutes. None of these plot twists follow at all from the preceding material, and they often directly contradict facts that have just been established onscreen. The end result is a lot like listening to a five-year-old tell a story; a lot of exciting things happen, but they don’t really fit together, or make much sense. I gave up trying to follow the plot at about the point Zevago the Russian gangster (you can tell he’s Russian because he has a big furry hat) showed up with his surgically altered duplicate Shyam.
Bollywood is often criticized for being formulaic and predictable, and it’s true. Bollywood is often formulaic and predictable. Normally, I’d be happy to report that a film was genuinely surprising and suspenseful, but Chaand Kaa Tukdaa doesn’t play fair; you can’t anticipate any of the plot twists because they arrive fully formed, as if shot out of a Random Plot Generator. After a well executed plot twist, the preceding events should make more sense, not less. There are very few “Aha!"s in Chaand Kaa Tukdaa, and far too many “Huh?"s.
I’m becoming something of Sridevi fan lately, and she gives a fine performance here. It’s really the best reason to watch the film. The songs are good, but the action is iffy, the humor is particularly unfunny, and the plot makes no sense. If for some reason you must watch Chaand Kaa Tukdaa, I suggest you stop the film after the first hour and enjoy the (unusually short) sunny romantic comedy. It’s a much better film that way.
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