Directed by Shree Narayan Singh who last delivered a socially relevant-cum-propaganda film as TOILET – EK PREM KATHA, this is his second project in continuation tackling a burning social issue that yet again remains an average entertainer despite many positives in its concept and performances.
Bringing forward a much talked about problem of shortage of electricity, load-shedding and inflated bills reported in even major cities, BATTI GUL METER CHALU actually had everything essentially required for a probable Hit. But a lazy writing, loose editing and annoying language used in the dialogues unfortunately never allows the film to win over the audience seriously hampering its overall impact.
Lazy writing - as almost nothing happens in the opening 45 minutes in the film and the actual plot strangely begins post the intermission. Loose editing – as it could have been easily trimmed in the initial hour as well as towards the end saving us from an over stretched climax losing all its charm. And Annoying language – as probably this is one rare example of a film that gets severely damaged by the overuse of two words repeatedly in its dialogues namely Thehra and Bal.
In fact, such is the adverse effect of these two words that I frankly thought of leaving the theater more than once during the film to escape the unbearable torture. Thankfully the court case proceedings in its final hour and entry of Yami Gautam as the lawyer, kept me calmly seated and engaged till the tiringly long climax.
To be fair, BATTI GUL METER CHALU has only two merits in in its favour that turns it into an average film. One is its important social subject, every single viewer in the theater can easily relate to. And two, the spirited performance of Shahid Kapoor who proves to be the major savior for the film along with Divyendu as his friend and Yami as the lawyer appointed by the corporates.
Sharaddha Kapoor is unexpectedly over the top, far away from being natural and there is a long list of talented actors wasted in the film namely Farida Jalal, Supriya Pilgaonkar, Sudhir Pande, Sushmita Mukherjee, Brijendra Kala and Sharib Hashmi.
Blindly and questionably following the comic character of a judge strongly reminding you of JOLLY LLB Series, the film also has a common subject earlier seen in the Pakistani film ACTOR IN LAW released in 2016, as load-shedding is a huge social problem in the neighboring country too.
In the technical department, where the cinematography is pretty decent, the same cannot be said for its background score and soundtrack which as usual doesn’t come up with any worth remembering track mostly added into the film at will (including an average song adapted from a hit Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan number).
On the whole, BATTI GUL METER CHALU is a realistic but flawed as well as a strictly average film, which easily could have been a more than decent entertainer. Hence watching it later on an online portal soon would certainly be a wise decision saving both your money and time.
Rating : 2 + 0.5 / 5 (for the additional 0.5 for a well-chosen socially relevant subject)
