Movie Review: Chala Mussaddi Office Office is a dull cinematic piece

Rajiv Mehra’s Chala Mussaddi Office Office has hit theatres yesterday. The film has been jointly produced by Umesh Mehra, Rajiv Mehra and Rajesh Mehra. It is an unusual tale of perseverance, truth, revolt, honesty and comedy coupled with the themes of corruption and bribery.

Story- Chala Mussaddi Office Office is a film adaptation of the renowned TV serial Office Office. As the title of the film suggests, this is the story of Mussadi Lal Tripathy essayed by the versatile Pankaj Kapoor.

It is a journey of Pankaj Kapoor; a common man and the hardships which he encounters at every point from his wife’s death to him being declared dead in a system enveloped in corruption. Despite repeated attempts of providing evidence of him being alive he faces injustice from the corrupt administrative system. He comes across corrupt bureaucrats at every step be it the ticket collector, the pandit or the railway officials.

He is constantly victimized by the deceitful system. The helpless man left with no other option takes up law on his own hands. He decides to fight all by himself against the bureaucratic corruption, red-tapeism as well as the bribery which prevails in India and to which he finally succeeds.

Story treatment- The film is a bad attempt by the director. The film will meet a similar fate like that of Khichdi when it was made into a film. The film does have a couple of funny moments but they fail to leave a mark. While transforming a serial into a film it is necessary to illustrate the characters more noticeably which the director has failed to put forth in the film. The song Dekho Chala Mussaddi sung by Makrand Deshpande is indeed provoking.

Star Cast- The main protagonist Pankaj Kapoor was brilliant. He was natural and did a fine job. He is truly a pleasure to watch. Deven Bhojani and Manoj Pahwa were good, Hemant Pandey was efficient, Sanjay Mishra was first rate, Gaurav Kapur did a fair job, Asawari was remarkable, Farida Jalal was fine while others such as Makrand Deshpande, Vinay Jain, Rakesh Srivastava, Rajinder Mehra, Gautam Saugat, and Amar Talwar filled the bill.

Direction- Rajiv Mehra’s efforts to make a film adaptation of the popular serial Comedy Comedy failed to pay off. He has not incorporated anything new in the story. Though his concept is fresh but it lacks the right punch as serials and films are completely two diverse mediums. The film would have been far better had he given more importance to the smaller nuisances.

Dialogues / Cinematography / Music- The dialogues in the film are flat and monotonous though it comparatively has an upper hand over the screenplay. Carlton D’mello’s cinematography too is not up to the mark. Sajid-Wajid’s music is average.

Verdict- On the whole it is a dull cinematic piece. It lacks consistency, the very essence of reality and it also has a weak script. The film has a couple of absurd scenes and has been unnecessarily stretched. The brilliant star cast unfortunately failed to save the film.