Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958) :
Brief Review -
What Mughal-E-Azam means to grandeur cinema, CKNG means to comedy cinema. Bollywood's answer to classic Hollywood musicals from the golden age. I have been through this movie many times during childhood, but the actual fun is experienced today only. Maybe because I have seen a lot of old Hollywood classics that defined and established formulas, genres, and sub-genres in the early talkie era. I can recall at least 5 dozen classic comedies (including rom-coms, screwball, and musical comedies) from the golden age of Hollywood (30s-50s), and yet, I can proudly say that Bollywood made this classic musical comedy in the late 50s. So, we were late, but not as late as they expected us to be. Even Hollywood wasn't really good with multistarrer comedies in that period, so Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi has an upper hand there. It's non-stop entertainment. Almost every comedy movie feels boring for at least 5 minutes here and there, but this one literally has no such moments. Usually, songs work as loo breaks, but here, songs are even better than the narrative. In Hollywood movies, musical numbers are there to define the situation and carry the story or narrative forward, but in Bollywood, music has always been a different setup of entertainment. For that, the story had to be dropped for 5 minutes. Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi broke that stereotype for filmmakers and audiences. You see the songs, how they are designed, how the tunes match the tone of the situations, and how brilliantly the lyrics put the situation in words. Pure masterclass! Many typical plot holes and subtexts were established here. Just keep an eye on them, and you'll realize how important this film was for the Bollywood industry. What's more? We have seen the same templates used in the 90s comedy (that's 30 years later). Imagine the impact it must have had on audiences in the 50s. Evergreen Comedy and Iconic Album Hands down.
RATING - 8/10*
By - #samthebestest.
