My perception of CE and its promo

Recently saw the Chennai Express promo.

I have resisted from commenting much on it be it its posters or the title song.

I am sorry to say with every passing promotional revelation of this film I am feeling more odd about it...

The title song is weird. It is not catchy by any means.

The posters were and are bad (to put it in politest manner possible).

I can't fathom why of all people in the world Shahrukh agrees to work with likes of Farah Khan, Rohit Shetty but refuses guys like Raju Hirani and S. Shankar who once chased him, waited for his yes for years with their scripts!!

Anyway, I did not think the trailer looked fun. OSO was much more enticing than this.

It was weird, far too zany and I doubt if this film will do much for SRK's reputation among audiences or his clout at box office.

I expect it to make more money than his any of his previous releases. But there NO WAY this film can compete with other biggies coming this or next year.

It looked like a weird mix of typical SRK films and Rohit Shetty's typical brand of cinema.

With all due to respect to SRK and Deepika I feel they did not seem to fit well in the Shetty shtyle film if the promo is anything to go by. (I hope it is not that way in the actual film also)

The "zaniness" in the promo seemed even forced at times.

Deepika is looking beautiful but sorry to say, SRK's age looks evident (he should get something done like his contemporaries have! The profession depends on looks man!).

Somehow it seemed as if SRK style elements and Rohit Shetty style elements had been stashed together. They, IMHO did not seem to blend together seamlessly in the promo. The promo was a mish mash of many things. I could not find any cohesiveness in it. Though I still hope the film is better!!

Going by promo I think it will be hard for Rohit Shetty to do justice to SRK's image and equally hard for SRK to fit in convincingly in Shetty's universe.

This is an uphill task.

My brother is a huge fan of Rohit Shetty's films. I asked him about the trailer and he said so much was going on in it...he couldn't make sense of it. "Samajh nahi aaya" was how he summed it up but did say he'd watch the film.

He made a point that Rohit's films till now had either been comedies or full on action. But this film - he couldn't make out what it was and how would Rohit Shetty manage to put in different elements together (comedy, romance, action etc.).

I agreed with his POV. Even I feel Rohit Shetty is more of a unidimensional filmmaker. He is fine when making a pure comedy or actioner. But he is not known to make films that pack in all elements/ingredients from different genres. So I am skeptical of what he managed to pull off in CE! 😕

Deepika does not seem to have it in her to fit in Shetty-verse. She had a comparatively serious role in OSO also. Zaniness, comedy is not up her alley IMO. The only way she lets her hair down in a film are those dancing at disco scenes in youthful films. I wonder if she'll manage to "open up" and fit in a Rohit Shetty film!
She is no Kareena Kapoor or Juhi Chawla. She is not even what Katrina Kaif was in comedy capers with Akshay Kumar (Katrina is not a great actress but she does not have aura of being "distant". She does not have great comic timing but fit in fine enough in Akki's crazy comic capers!)

I am NOT saying DPad lacks the talent or ability. I just feel her image is too demure, upscale and serious to fit in Shetty style films.
I am not exactly impressed by her in the promo except for her looks, but I do still hope her acting pleasantly surprises me in the film.

I wonder how well will the "regional" elements go down with audience. Excessive stereotyping or stale jokes won't work.

It was nice to see SRK doing typical Hindi film style action after a long time. And a relief to see him play a resident Indian after all those NRI roles he's been doing till now (except RNBDJ).

But he has comparatively serious and less "rooted" image (as opposed to Salman, Akshay and Ajay) so I don't know how much will he be accepted in OTT action scenes.
I personally did not find him much convincing or even amusing in those OTT action moments in promo. And I admit I was imagining if some other actor had done those scenes...

SRK has larger than life image in romance. Not action or masala. I don't know if I found it entertaining when cars blew up and flew around him. I had lapped up those scenes in Singham though.
In CE promo...I am sorry to say this but I was looking more at flying cars than at SRK in those action scene rushes. (Sorry. But he lacks the rugged masculinity that other actors popular in this genre have. Aamir also lacked it but covered it up with excessive body building and psycho behaviour in Ghajini and is now again relying on body building and stunts in D3 to cover up what he lacks. SRK himself made up for it in some early films with psychotic elements in character and being mostly serious in the film and focusing less on romance/emotions). Hence this one, I am not sure about!

I still hope this film has some plot to talk of and is not just a collage of SRK style and Rohit Shetty style embellishments.

If there is one problem that SRK has suffered from all these recent years it is that he pays less attention to the basic cake but puts all focus on fancy icing and packaging!

I would still try to hope for the better. But for me the pics from shooting, posters, song or promo have not worked much till now. All the best is all I can say (though I still think it can no way have repeat or entertainment value of OSO).

This will only add to "consistency" of SRK. It can't do anything to give him some "all time" exceptional moment. I believe he'll still be on a plateau but not get stratospheric success with this film (the way his arch rivals have got in recent years).

You never know the audience though. Let's see.

"His age is evident"- if you've seen the trailer, he IS playing an older guy so I don't think that should be a problem.

I actually would disagree with you for the most part, I was quite conscious before the trailer but after seeing it, my opinion changed. I think it looks very entertaining DP totally has improved a lot and is doing full justice to her role, from what I saw in the promo.

SRK is trying something different, people here on IF are always complaining he doesn't and now that he is, I don't see the reason to complain. I think we really need to cut some slack and give him a fair chance.

There were a lot less "flying cars" that you mention in the trailer than what we have seen from RS in the past so that's a good thing. I think RS needs to be given a chance to try something different too, I think this may work out actually.

From what I know and have seen, the trailer has been well received for the most part, many people's opinions have changed from being worried about the film to actually be excited, I think it will work.



Rest, it's too early to say. I would rather refrain from already making up my mind that it's going to be terrible, it may surprise us- the trailer definitely has. I had low expectations but it was surprisingly very good and paisa vasool types, quite entertaining.

i dint like the trailer at all ...
1st reason being a south indian i had seen that kind of chases or fights in n number of films so it dint excite me at all
and generally i enjoy RS films be it BB or GM series but this trailer was not upto mark !

@Omniscient

To each his own. I did not mean to offend anyone.

I don't think SRK is doing anything "different". The OTT action and comedy might be different but the romance is all typical stuff he has been doing for more than 2 decades now.

Different should be something actually different and purely unexpected from you. Like no one expected Aamir to do a Ghajini or Salman as a desi cop from UP in Dabangg or that action hero Akshay Kumar to do outright comedies.

CE does look different from SRK's past films but is not entirely unexpected or different stuff from him that totally makes audience curious or takes them by surprise.

I still maintain I hope for the better for this film.

And I really don't know if Rohit Shetty can blend all elements perfectly and give something apart from pure comedy or hardcore action. He's best as a purist. Balancing or blending different elements does not seem to be his cup of tea.

It is too early to say what the film will be like this is why I said I hope things actually are different and better than what I make out of them from promos.

DPad has improved a lot but I would disagree she is "doing full justice" to her role in this film. I hope she's good, she's looking beautiful, but there's still time to conclude she did full justice to her role in it.

SRK is no Dharmendra who was able to manage action, masala, comedy and passionate romance in one film. Amitabh was not that "great" in romance so he'd keep romance to a minimum in his films and focus more on rebellion and action.
I think it always helps the actor if he or she knows and honestly faces their strengths and weaknesses well and does a film accordingly.

I would only maintain I was not that enthused by the promo. I like Rohit Shetty and SRK both, but for radically different reasons. I was not sure how their combination would turn out. And still the promos have not done much for me to change that doubt.

But yes it is a pleasant change to see SRK not being an NRI or singing in foreign locations after a long time. I like him as a desi.

Originally posted by: priya224

In the beginning Even JthJ of SRK sounded boring but this movie still grossed well.

"Well" is not enough for gross for an SRK film considering his King Khan title, stupendous past record at BO and the raging success of his arch rivals in recent years.

100 crore is now within reach of likes of Ranbir also.

New benchmarks like 200 crore exist and still newer ones are on verge of being breached.

So an SRK film has to have "extremely" wide margin from younger stars' films' grosses and something at least comparable to rivals' films' grosses.

He wasn't called "king" just for films grossing well.

Gross aside, his films also need better content given the fact that he's starred in some of the most appealing films in 90s and till 2007. He can't pull off or get away with useless content purely on basis of his starpower and hype. Nor is he expected to do so.

the only thing thing i liked in promo was Deepika 😳 and her accent 😎.
srk is just the same in every movie a bag on his shoulders and all.If the film becomes hit its will be allbecause of Deepika 😉

^I wasn't offended at all, why would I be? I was just putting my perspective out there :)

I guess it depends on how one sees it. By different I meant not only the genre but that character he plays, I honestly don't think he has repeated himself often in that. Yes, he romances but the characters are different. DTPH, KKHH and K3G I could call similar but rest, not so much. I don't know how Amar from Dil Se is similar to Suri from RNBDJ (where he played two very diverse characters as well), how Aman from KHNH is similar to Rizvaz from MNIK, how Sunil from KHKN is similar to his character in Paheli, how Mohan from swades is similar to Rahul, how Kabir Khan from CDI is similar to G.One, how Samar from JTHJ is similar to Don, how Rahul from Yes Boss is similar to badshah or how Arjun from pardes is similar to max from Josh or raj aryan from Mohobbatein...you get the drill. I don't see how all these characters were the same. I might be the only one who thinks that but that's how I see it. Even with the types of films he does, outside of here, I have heard people like him because he does a mix of all- family, romance etc. and not just one. I wouldn't say he's been doing romance for 2 decades- he's been in the industry for 21 years not all of his films were just that. I guess he has focused more on enrertainment than say logic or message films, and i don't that's always a bad thing. Again, just a different perspective to things.

You said romance wasn't AB's thing so he kept it to a minimum while action was so he made films accordingly, that actors should know their strengths and weaknesses and make films accordingly. Well isn't that what SRK is doing too? He knows romance is his strength, audience accepts him in that, that's why ther's that in CE as well, along with a bit of comedy and action. It may or may not work out, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. However, I did like the trailer a lot, surprisingly. Especially DP. But who knows, I'll just hope for the best :)

I too wasn't that interested in the movie, especially after Ra.One & JTHJ, but seeing this trailer has actually gotten me excited about an SRK film.

The trailer didn't excite me either.

Such a long analysis on a trailer amazes me!