Chamatkar (1992) is the kind of movie that Disney used to
make; a hapless everyman befriends an animal or supernatural entity (a
ghost, in this case), helps it, and along the way finds success and true
love. This is Bollywood and not Hollywood, however, so rather than
Tommy Kirk we have Shahrukh Khan as Sunder, a teacher in a small
village. Sunder’s dream is to open a proper school in the village,
rather than the tent he’s currently teaching under, but schools cost
money.
When his old friend Prem returns to the village boasting about all
the money that can be made in Dubai, Sunder decides to take the plunge.
He pawns his family house and farm, then sends Prem ahead to Bombay
with the money to make travel arrangements. (And while I am also a
painfully naive schoolteacher, even I immediately realized that this is a
bad plan. It’s safe to say that Sunder is not the sharpest knife in
the drawer.)
Later, on the train to Bombay, Sunder accidentally stumbles into the
women’s compartment, where a group of women led by Mala (Urmila
Matondkar) assume the worst and set out to punish him. This is not
Sunder’s lucky day.
After reaching Bombay, Sunder’s day just keeps getting worse. He is
robbed, twice, before discovering that Prem has taken the money and left
the country. With no money, no luggage, no job, no place to stay, and
no home to return to Sunder is forced to spend the night in the really scary
cemetery across the street. (This place is decked out like a theme
part haunted house, or like the set of a 1970s Pakistani vampire movie.)
In the graveyard, Sunder meets Marco (Naseeruddin Shah), and after a
few wacky hijinks we are treated to a great deal of exposition. I
shall attempt to summarize: Marco was a gangster, and a Very Bad Man.
While trying to demolish a small college located on land he’s just
bought, he rediscovers his long lost love Savitri (Malvika Tiwari).
Impulsively he decides to reform, and after convincing Savitri and her
father (Shammi Kapoor) of his sincerity, he marries her.
Unfortunately, Marco’s men are less enthusiastic about his change of
heart. On his wedding night, Kunta (Tinnu Anand), his chief henchman,
lures him to the graveyard and murders him. Marco is a little peeved at
being killed just when he was reforming, but God tells him that the
murder was the result of his own actions, and that he must wait in the
grave until someone can hear his voice, and then he’ll be given a chance
to set things right.
The film takes a minute to establish the ground rules (only Sunder can
see or hear Marco, but Marco can move objects as he wishes, and while he
is strictly forbidden to kill Kunta, he is allowed and encouraged to
help the helpless) and then it’s back to the plot. Marco leads Sunder
to the college, where Sunder lands a job as the new cricket coach. We
also get more exposition. (Yay, exposition!) We learn that Kunta, being
not just evil but also an enormous jerk, showed up to menace Savitri
right after the murder, claiming that Marco’s reformation was just an
act to get her into bed. he’s been ruling the underworld in Marco’s
name ever since. Savitri, meanwhile, has long since died of grief,
leaving behind her daughter Mala (and who didn’t see that one coming?)
And just before he died, Marco extended the lease on the college for
twenty years, with an option to renew for another twenty if they can
come up with the money by the time the lease runs out. Time is nearly
up, and the college is having trouble coming up with the money, since
Kunta’s men have been intimidating all potential donors. If the school
can win the big cricket match, they’ll make enough money to extend the
lease, but that would probably require the help of some sort of
invisible supernatural entity . . .
If you’ve ever watched The Wonderful World of Disney, you’ve
got a pretty good idea of what happens next. Sunder and Mala fall in
love. Marco plays wacky pranks. Our heroes try various schemes to save
the school, but it still all comes down to the big cricket match.
Admittedly, I don’t recall the Shaggy Dog blowing up any warehouses full
of illegal drugs and weapons, but he was never really given a chance to
do so.
Chamatkar would probably have been forgotten completely if
not for the surprisingly strong cast; against all expectations,
Naseeruddin Shah refuses to phone in his performance, while Shahrukh
displays his usual stuttering charm, though Urmila comes off as a bit
strident, and for some reason in this film she looks more like the scary
possessed girl from Bhoot than the ingenue from Rangeela.
The special effects, on the other hand, are every bit as impressive
as those in the old Disney films; not very impressive at all, in other
words.
Chamatkar is unapologetic goofy fun. Eight year old Chris would have loved this movie. Thirty four year old Chris likes it quite a bit.
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