4084 or Chaalis Chauraasi or 4084 (whatever)

Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Kay Kay Menon, Atul Kulkarni, Ravi Kissen, Zakir Hussain

Direction: Hriday Shetty

What happens when you have two class actors, one Bhojpuri superstar and one of country’s best actors, in one movie? What happens when they are planning a heist of Rs. 20 Crore? What happens when they’re dancing to the super hit 80s song ‘Hawa Hawa’ by Hasan Jehangir? You get Challis Chaurasi…..or is that 4084 (whatever even the guy at the ticket window was confused)??  Well some movies need superstar to shuttle between cities, so that people pay to see their movies. While there are others which need bunch of good actors and good enough script to attract movie goers. 4084 (I will use this to address the movie’s name…obviously cauz it’s easier & shorter to write) definitely falls in the latter category. With accomplished actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Atul Kulkarni, and Kay Kay Menon, this film highly depends on their performances (Sorry, all Ravi Kissen fans for not mentioning his name in the same breath as the other three…but then it’s obvious isn’t it). Ok enough of my gibberish talk, let’s get to the point- I mean my review of the movie.

So what’s the story?? It’s about four guys (a car thief, an ex-professor, a drug trafficker & a pimp) who decide to rob an isolated house (where they exchange real rupees for fake ones), this house is apparently protected by just ‘TWO’ guys. So part of their planning is to dress up as “police” and steal a police van and scare the goons away and then walk away with the cash. There is just one problem (actually two), while these fake policemen are roaming around Mumbai…drinking..singing..dancing..harassing people, they are caught by a real policeman (Rajesh Sharma) who wants them to accompany him to catch a dreaded gangster (guess who Zakir Hussain of course). There plan goes haywire but they manage to catch the gangster but in the process come to know that the policeman was actually using them as shield and already knew that they were fake. He asks them why they put on the act…they tell him why. Of course the greedy policeman now wants the money, so they go to the isolated house to rob the goons. But find that they now have to tackle half a dozen mad and pissed off (they don’t really like the ‘Thullas’) gun trotting Haryanvis (mind you I don’t have anything against the community but that’s how they’re addressed in the movies & as such they don’t have names). So as you can imagine it gets really messy in the end with all the shooting going on (please don’t expect me to explain that...it’s as messy as ManU are currently in front of goal).

About the performances, as I said earlier he is one of the best in our country, Naseeruddin Shah a.k.a. Pankaj Suri or Sir is excellent in the limitness of his character. He is a seasoned pro and effortlessly does his part, but I am disappointed because director could have easily used him better. Atul Kulkarni, well honestly I feel that this guy is an amazing actor and its time Bollywood used him more. He plays the character of Bobby, and he and Kay Kay Menon a.k.a Pinto share an amazing chemistry in the movie and their comic timing is impeccable. And how can I forget king of Bhojpuri cinema, Sir Ravi Kissen, to be fair he doesn’t have much to do in this film. But he does manage to get your attention with his dance (I mean the way he thrusts his neck and pelvic puts all the background dancers to shame). Rajesh Sharma (as the policemen) and Zakir Hussain (as the gangster) also do full justice to their small but important roles. But it’s the ‘Haryanvis’ (I should mention this again that I don’t have anything against the community) who steal the show. They are awesome and probably are part of the best scenes of the movie. (Note: catch the Indian Rambo he’s funny). Music of the movie is mediocre, only saving grace is of course is (you guessed it right) ‘Hawa Hawa’. So how do I rate the movie, well the star cast is excellent but the movie could have done well with a tighter script. It’s not a bad option considering the kind of movies that released in its competition this week. So final verdict 2.0 rating for this one, it won’t be a part of my DVD collection but is a good one-time watch just for the good acting.

(PS: I have seen the original video ‘Hawa Hawa’ by Hasan Jehangir at least 10 times after seeing the movie. Its hilarious….thank god (or should that be Google) for YouTube)