~Batti Gul Meter Chalu Reviews and Box Office Results~

Batti Gul Meter Chalu Movie Review

Times Of India


Navbharat Times




Rachit Gupta, Sep 21, 2018, 03.07 PM IST

Critic's Rating:
3.0/5


Story: Nauti (Shraddha Kapoor), SK (Shahid Kapoor) and Tripathi (Divyendu Sharma) are friends who live in the small town of Tehri in Uttarakhand. The trio is inseparable and their dosti is rock solid. But life takes a turn for the worse, when Tripathi's new business set-up is slammed with an exorbitant electricity bill of 54 lakhs.

Review: Director Shree Narayan Singh's Batti Gul Meter Chalu (BGMC) is a film that talks about a very pertinent issue, a fundamental right and a basic amenity, which is often denied to the common man in various parts of our country. But for all its good intentions, BGMC is also a fairly flawed film. The movie needed a tighter editing effort, because at five minutes short of 3 hours, the narrative becomes overbearing. The movie holds up a strong and scathing mirror to corruption and everything that is wrong with corporations and their governance. It is a story that needs to be told, undoubtedly, but the runtime just robs the movie of its impact.

The story kicks off in the hills of Uttarakhand, where SK is a wily lawyer who makes a living by blackmailing local businessmen who indulge in malpractices. Nauti is an aspiring fashion designer with her own boutique while Tripathi wants to start his own business. The common grouse in the town is the failing electrical grid, which is pretty much their way of life. Shree Narayan Singh has a knack of portraying the heartland of India with a flair and finesse, and after Toilet Ek Prem Katha, he does that once again. The film has its special moments, like the camaraderie between the buddies, but the screenplay by Siddharth-Garima spends too much time establishing their interpersonal relationships, which slacken the narrative. The movie picks up pace once Tripathi's business dream comes crashing down, as a corrupt power company sends him a humongous bill. It is then, that the drama really kicks in.

The second half of BGMC unfolds in the court, as Shahid Kapoor's SK launches an all-out attack on the corrupt power company. This segment of the movie serves up heightened drama and in a sense, salvages the film's dodgy first half. Shahid's character's transformation really works in favour of the actor. Once his SK becomes the honest lawyer with a mission, Shahid is able to blend a fine balance between the over-confident young man and the guy with a heart of gold. His monologue during the climax is superb. Shraddha Kapoor plays the peppy small town girl with panache. Divyendu shows restraint in the good guy role. Yami Gautam appears as a lawyer, only in the second half, but doesn't leave much of an impact.

With a tighter runtime and more focus on the crux of the story, this social drama had the potential to shine bright. The cinematography by Anshuman Mahaley manages to capture the beauty of Uttarakhand's hills very well. The movie also has a parallel track of two characters named Vikas and Kalyan, narrating the story, but the metaphor doesn't quite click. BGMC loses power under the load of its heavy-duty screenplay.

Batti Gul Meter Chalu movie review: The Shahid Kapoor starrer is a film with good intentions

Batti Gul Meter Chalu is a hark-back to a forgotten tradition, which, at its best, gave us story and substance. Batti Gul gives us both, for most part.


Written by Shubhra Gupta | New Delhi | Updated: September 21, 2018 3:01:43 pm

Batti Gul Meter Chalu Movie Review



Batti Gul Meter Chalu Movie Review: The movie sticks to the old-fashioned route and leaves us on a note of optimism.
Batti Gul Meter Chalu movie cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Yami Gautam, Divyendu Sharma, Sushmita Murkherjee
Batti Gul Meter Chalu movie director: Shree Narayan Singh
Batti Gul Meter Chalu movie rating: Two and a half stars

To make a message go down easy, you have to pad up the movie nice and proper. This is something that Hindi cinema used to understand and implement, as the default mainstream story-telling style. Batti Gul Meter Chalu is a hark-back to a forgotten tradition, which, at its best, gave us story and substance. Batti Gul gives us both, for most part.

In Uttarakhand, batti is gul', but the meter keeps ticking. The fact of people living with no electricity, or with power that is so scant as to be laughable is let gently into a plot which starts as your familiar triangle: one girl, two boys. Lalita Nautiyal, dubbed Naughty by her childhood buddies Sushil Kumar Pant aka SK (Shahid) and Sundar Mohan Tripathi (Sharma) has to choose between the two: will it be SK the two-bit lawyer who believes in making a fast buck, the client be damned, or Sundar, the susheel' sweet fellow who does everything by the book, and is on the brink of bankruptcy because of a hugely inflated electricity bill?

The setting is fresh, and Uttarakhand's hills and valleys are presented without a touristy patina, even if it can't resist a shiny Hardwar Ganga aarti'. The names come from the area, and the cast is teeming with Negis, Bahugunas and Khanduris. The accents though are another matter, with the two Kapoors especially chewing on their phrases so much that you want to tell them to go easy, because who speaks like that?

To make a private electricity corporation the enemy is easier than to take a stick to a non-functioning government department. But the film makes up by displaying well-judged anger against the systemic apathy and negligence which makes common people victims. It gives Shahid a chance to mouth crowd-pleasing dialogues which he does with elan, especially when he is jousting with rival lawyer (Gautam) in a female judge's (Mukherjee) court, said judge's sense of fairness trumping her love for cricket. And it gives us, the viewers, a chance to share in the righteous outrage of those we are watching, and cheer when things start getting better.

Batti Gul Meter Chalu sticks to the old-fashioned route and leaves us on a note of optimism, but it does it with a sting that takes note of today's India and how promises can be belied: bade badhiya din aaye thehre', says a character with biting sarcasm, and the reference to achche din' was not lost on a single soul in the theatre.

Singh, whose previous outing Toilet Ek Prem Katha was with Akshay Kumar, has an easier job this time around. Shahid's character is more cad than hero, even though Kapoor can't resist doing some amount of grand-standing and hero-giri. Shraddha bravely dons the most hideous ordinary small-town girl' outfits to her advantage, and Sharma gets almost as big a role as the other two. We believe that these are people like us, and we want them to win.


Two things mar the movie. Some of the humour made me distinctly uncomfortable: sexist lines inserted for cheap laughs, and a judge made too comic, is not something we expect in a film with good intentions. The other is its inordinate length. It's run-time is almost three hours: the meter should have stopped at two and a half.

This kind of film can turn too preachy for its own good, but Batti Gul Meter Chalu is careful not to get too much in lecture-mode. The rest of it made me smile, and gave me pause: how do you expect people to live without bijli' in today's world? It is, as SK says thunderously, a fundamental right.

Batti Gul Meter Chalu review: Shahid Kapoor fluctuates, Shree Narayan Singh shocks

Batti Gul Meter Chalu review: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor film aims to take on the contentious issue of power outages and inflated bills but the message is lost in translation.
Updated: Sep 21, 2018 15:46 IST


Jyoti Sharma Bawa


Director - Shree Narayan Singh
Cast - Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Yami Gautam
Rating - 2.5/5

Batti Gul Meter Chalu begins with an archery competition in a nondescript town in Uttarakhand -- in the dark. The one who hits the bull's eye gets enough fuel to keep the neighbourhood community centre's generator thumping for six months. Director Shree Narayan Singh aims to shock with the abrupt beginning but for those who grew up in small-town India or its villages, the scene will only evoke nostalgia.

The film is supposed to be a sharp comment on the mirage-like badhiya din' -- we all know what that is a euphemism for -- which are a long way off, despite what the political slogans would have you believe. However, before we get there, we have to wade through an interminable first half, Shahid Kapoor-Shraddha Kapoor-Divyendu Sharma's love triangle and songs with lyrics that go When you gettin gold why go for tamba, when you getting Gabbar why go for Samba. The film, just like the subject it deals with, fluctuates wildly before it stabilises.


Shahid plays SK, a crafty lawyer who will happily break the law to earn an extra penny, with Divyendu as his straight-as-an-arrow friend, Tripathi. Shraddha is Lalita Nautiyal, an aspiring designer with a grotesque fashion sense. The trio has been buddies since childhood and now that Lalita is looking for a husband, she has decided to choose between the two. To judge who will make for a better spouse, she dates the both of them for a week and picks one. You don't need to be the brightest bulb around to predict that this will lead to friction in their friendship.

More than an hour into the film, power cuts and inflated bulbs are nothing more than a minor inconvenience to all involved as the spotlight is firmly on garish clothes, gimmicky performances and the distasteful swayamvar. The film takes almost 1.5 hours to establish what the trailer explained in three minutes and neither of the two manage to hold your attention for too long. If you are feeling antsy while waiting for the film to pick up pace, rest assured you've got company.


Batti Gul Meter Chalu begins with an archery competition -- in the dark.

Post interval, and a suicide not a spoiler the film suddenly shifts towards activism. The fused bulbs and power cuts are no longer about fun and games as conscience calls SK and he decides to take on the corporate suits on his dead friend's behalf. With the film changing genres and going from a muddled romance to a courtroom drama and social comment all rolled into one, Shahid also finds his pace. From a blackguard using his education he actually took over seven years to get his law degree to earn some money on the side, SK vows justice for his everyman friend and lakhs like him around the country.

Singh -- whose last film, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, was about open defecation and a nod to the present government's Clean India campaign -- is not pulling his punches this time. He bravely takes on the promises made by the successive governments and how they continue to be a no-show, especially for the have-nots in the country's heartland.


Batti Gul Meter Chalu has Shraddha Kapoor as an aspiring fashion designer.

The power scenario in India is a difficult subject to show on screen but there are moments through which Singh manages to make it entertaining and enlightening. The fact that he is addressing the dichotomy between promises made and the reality of welfare schemes is brave in itself, given the political climate and the film industry's propensity for "safe subjects. It is a pity then that the heavy-handed treatment and clunky execution lets Batti Gul Meter Chalu down. The long speeches in the courtroom emphasise the obvious and underline it so much that the message takes over the film.

That was a problem with Toilet and Singh brings it to Batti Gul Meter Chalu, too; just like the sexism issue. If Akshay Kumar was stalking Bhumi Pednekar in his last cinematic outing, Shahid takes sexist digs at Yami Gautam -- the defence lawyer -- in a courtroom. The actor, like the director, is playing to the gallery and he knows it. It is ironic that a film that aims to shake a nation's conscience takes such a low view of how its women should be treated.


Shahid Kapoor's crafty lawyer finds his conscience after a personal tragedy.

At almost 165 minutes long, the film is extremely indulgent. There is an entire track about two bus commuters narrating the story so that the director can bung in a joke in the end. Such unnecessary flourishes make the film a stretch. And then, there's the local dialect which may be authentic but tries your patience. Just like Yami's Gulnar from the big city, who needs the judge to be her interpreter, you wish the makers had handed you a dictionary -- or at least subtitles.

Butti Gul Meter Chalu had a lot of promise, but just like the government it targets, it fails to deliver.

Batti Gul Meter Chalu Movie Review: Shahid Kapoor Tries His Best In Dim, Flickering Bulb Of A Film

Batti Gul Meter Chalu Movie Review: Shraddha Kapoor is occasionally fetching but what unfolds on the screen is precariously low on wattage.

Entertainment | Saibal Chatterjee | Updated: September 21, 2018 15:03 IST


Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyendu Sharma, Yami Gautam, Ashrut Jain

Director: Shree Narayan Singh

Rating: 2 Stars (Out of 5)

An Uttarakhand lawyer-conman who revels in exploiting law-breakers to pecuniary advantage has a change of heart when tragedy strikes and he takes on a private power supplier in a David-versus-Goliath battle over inflated bills and faulty meters in Batti Gul Meter Chalu, directed by Shree Narayan Singh of Toilet - Ek Prem Katha fame.

The premise may sound potent on paper, but what unfolds on the screen is precariously low on wattage. Unbearably long and tediously unwieldy, Batti Gul Meter Chalu is anything but electrifying. It is at best a dim, flickering bulb that just doesn't possess the glow to light up all the dark corners that the screenplay paints itself into.

The film's aspiration is to be a slice-of-life drama - it overuses the local Garhwali lingo to the point of drudgery - but all it manages to be is a wearisome drama that banks on a slew of Bollywood devices. It delivers a mash-up of an activist tract, a love triangle and a courtroom drama.


The principal issue at the heart of the film - the plight of consumers who are at the mercy of unresponsive power industry players in the absence of an effective grievance redressal mechanism - is undeniably topical. We are well aware of how notoriously unreliable bijli supply and billing in our cities and towns is, but when that relevant theme is put into a Bollywood grinder that thrives on song and dance routines, token melodrama and gratuitous (often sexist) humour, it loses its acuity.

Marred by unimaginative writing, Batti Gul Meter Chalu wends its way into darkness soon after it kicks off with a man named Kalyan narrating a tale to a co-passenger called Vikas in the course of a bus trip. This story begins with a post-sunset archery contest in which small-time advocate Susheel Kumar Pant (Shahid Kapoor), SK to his friends, hits bull's eye. His best pals, Lalita Nautiyal (Shraddha Kapoor) and Sunder Mohan Tripathi (Divyendu Sharma), cheer from the sidelines.


This pat opening reveals two key facts. This town in Tehri is accustomed to frequent outages - the competition takes place in the midst of a power cut - and the three characters we are introduced to are besties who cannot do without each other. Nauti - that is how the girl is fondly addressed - and Tripathi aren't too impressed with SK's raking ways, but they love him too much to disown him.

The latter has no qualms in using devious methods to make money. Every time he makes a killing, the first thing he does is a buy a gift for Nauti, a local fashion designer. He obviously sees her as more than a friend.


Tripathi, a clean-cut goody two shoes, isn't so presumptuous. He sets up a print and packaging unit in an industrial area. But he runs into trouble when inflated electricity bills land at his desk and his newfangled business enterprise is in danger of being scuttled as the outstanding mounts rapidly.

Lead actor Shahid Kapoor, working within a screenplay that is undercooked and confused, tries his very best to make the best of a bad deal but is unable to pack any real power at all into a film that sputters its way through a three-hour runtime.



He has ample support from Shraddha, who plays a girl who on a whim decides to do a dipstick test to ascertain who of her two boyfriends would make a better husband. This heightens tensions among the three. Divyendu, too, is up to the task as the man whose life takes a turn for the worse at the very point that it seems to be on the upswing. But since this strand of the story has only a tenuous connection with the film's central theme of consumer activism, it fails to add value to the bloated tale of one man sparking a nationwide movement to bring private power supply companies to account.

The hill setting yields lush visuals enhanced by the panoramic vistas that Anshuman Mahaley's camera captures every now and then, with the imposing mountains, the green valleys, the River Bhagirathi, and the quaint town dominating the most of the frames. But what use are pretty images when they do pretty much nothing to pull a film out of trough? Neither the location nor the tale of a girl looking for her Mr. Right lends sparks to the proceedings.

We are stuck here in a place where no rays of light are in sight for miles. If only the editor (Shree Narayan Singh himself) was less intent on length than precision, Batti Gul... might have acquired some more voltage. The drama in the court of a cricket-loving woman judge (Sushmita Mukherjee) drags on for too long and is over-theatrical, with SK and the defence lawyer Gulnar Rizvi (Yami Gautam) crossing swords in a manner that strains credulity.


The bitter legal tussle consumes a great deal of footage but does not help the film one bit notwithstanding the dramatic monologues that the hero launches into in order to counter his equally garrulous opponent. His jibes at the lawyer borders on the objectionable: he insists that he has the facts but says he can't talk 'figures' before her. Minutes later, he refers to the condition of his heart owing to Gulnar's presence in court. Amazingly, the woman judge smiles through these toxic transgressions instead of calling out the prosecutor's impudence.


COMMENT

Beyond the superficial delights offered by a picturesque setting and the mildly diverting play on the absence of true vikas (development) and kalyan (welfare) in towns struggling with erratic electricity supply, Battu Gul Meter Chalu is no powerhouse of entertainment.



Shahid has a sense of coming timing, Shraddha is occasionally fetching and Divyendu is steady, but the film tries to pack in more than it can comfortably hold. The slippages stick out in spite of the fact that Batti Gul Meter Chalu makes the right noises for the most part. If only it took less time and fewer detours to get to the point, it might have dodged its frequent blackouts.

Batti Gul Meter Chalu' film review: Is this the longest power cut in the history of cinema?

Shree Narayan Singh directs Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor in an overstretched social drama about power shortages and overpriced electricity.


Nandini Ramnath


After looking at loos in Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, director Shree Narayan Singh turns his attention to power shortages, overpriced electricity bills and the criminal ways of electricity distribution companies. Batti Gul Meter Chalu is based on a story by Vipul K Rawal and has a screenplay by Siddharth-Garima. Shahid Kapoor plays Sushil, a crooked lawyer who makes a living out of blackmailing businessmen into coughing up money when the claims in their advertising does not match a product's performance. Is a biscuit really going to make children increase their height? Does that aphrodisiac really work? Sushil extracts a price for hyperbolic advertising.

Sushil changes track when debt drives his friend Sundar (Divyendu Sharma) to the brink. Sundar has been unable to pay his astronomical electricity bills, and when his printing factory shuts down, he disappears, apparently having killed himself. Sushil searches his heart and finds his spine.


The movie's emotional arc is contained in the trailer itself, which clocks in at three minutes. When a trailer is this long, why should anybody be surprised that the movie lasts 175 minutes?


In court, Sushil faces advocate Gulnar (Yami Gautam). Outside, he must face up to the taunts of Lalita (Shraddha Kapoor), who believes that he ignored Sundar's problems until it was too late. Sundar and Sushil were once both been in love with Lalita, and Sushil is upset because she chose Sundar over him.

The childishness moves into the courtroom, where, before the indulgent eyes of the judge (Sushmita Mukherjee), Sushil plays to the gallery and makes sexist digs at his opponent. The fairground atmosphere of the courtroom leaves no suspense about the film's conclusion. And yet, Shree Narayan Singh, in the mistaken belief that he is directing an epic rather than a simple social drama, unforgivably stretches matters.

The light at the end of the power cut takes forever to return. The entire first half is devoted to Sushil's shenanigans, his friendship with Sundar and Lalita, and numerous devices to prove that the film's writers have mastered the local Uttarakhand dialect. There are flashbacks to scenes that occurred only moments ago. Shahid Kapoor is allowed to chew away at the scenery (always an unwise decision), as is nearly every other member of the cast. Only Divyendu Sharma survives somewhat.

Buried beneath the melodrama, grandstanding and quick-fix approach is the very real issue faced by millions of Indians. Sushil articulates the problem only at the very end: too many Indians still don't have access to regular electricity despite the tall claims of governments. But the solution to this problem isn't to be found in Batti Gul Meter Chalu, which works neither as a social issue film nor a triangular romance.

Batti Gul Meter Chalu Movie Review: Too Much Of Thehra & Bal Make The Interesting Story Dull!

Shahid Kapoor delivers a power-packed performance. He's just in his role from frame one and his stupendous energy is visible on screen.


By Umesh Punwani -
September 21, 2018




Batti Gul Meter Chalu Movie Review Rating: 2.5/5 Stars (Two and half stars)

Star Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyenndu Sharmaa, Yami Gautam

Director: Shree Narayan Singh


What's Good: Just like Shree Narayan Singh's last movie Toilet: Ek Prem Katha the major good thing about the film is that it's tackling a relevant social issue, Shahid Kapoor impresses yet again!

What's Bad: The editing is so bad that it's annoying! What clearly could've been a film of just about 2 hours has been stretched for 40 minutes more.

Loo Break: Not whenever Shahid Kapoor is on screen, minus him there are way too much of unnecessary scenes you can opt for it in any of them!

Watch or Not?: 2 reasons of why should watch it, 2 why you shouldn't Good intent Shahid Kapoor & lazy editing too much of Thehra', Bal'!


Located in New Tehri, Batti Gul Meter Chalu is a story of three best friends Susheel Kumar aka SK (Shahid Kapoor), Lalita Nautiyal aka Nauti (Shraddha Kapoor) and Sundar Mohan Tripathi (Divyenndu Sharmaa). The first half of the film, confusingly, roams around for one and half hours exploring the love triangle of all the three. SK & Tripathi love Nauti while she's not very sure of whom to love as both are very good.

It's just at the interval point the movie comes to it senses & finally the writers decide to serve for what the audience are really in for. Tripathi sets up a factory and faces immoderate bill cycle. He decides to take the help of SK but because of their confused relationship among-st themselves SK denies to help him. Tripathi decides to take an easy way out, suicide which can help his family to tackle the problems of the factory. What he does and how it changes SK is what the rest of the story is all about.


Batti Gul Meter Chalu Movie Review: Script Analysis

What was said to be a movie tackling issues of load-shedding or corruption in the electricity system gets lost in the first half while building up a connect with all the three characters. This is Chup Chupke meets Jolly LLB and that's what take the novelty from the script. Sidharth-Garima have done a very average job on screenplay. Roaming around the bushes, they take too much time to say for what the film is made.

Very tacky VFX brings the production value down but they're still better than Shree's last film Toilet: Ek Prem Katha. The words Thehra and Bal are used excessively which might be an issue for some. Personally, after a point of time I was into their dialect and didn't mind the language. But as many people have dissected that it's a poorly researched film, some may have an issue. If the pace would've been taken care of, it's a nice film with good performances. Shahid Kapoor's speech in the climax is undoubtedly the best scene of the film.

Batti Gul Meter Chalu Movie Review: Star Performance

Shahid Kapoor delivers a power-packed performance. He's just in his role from frame one and his stupendous energy is visible on screen. He has changed the way he speaks in a drastically good way and it comes out very well. Shraddha Kapoor starts off on a very hamming note but gets into the character with each passing scene.

Shraddha is beautifully presented as Nauti and overall her charm works. Divyenndu Sharmaa, on a very different note, carries forward his unique sense of choosing scripts. He has mentioned why he didn't want to get stereotyped and this movie is the answer to that question. He's good in comical scenes & does well in emotional ones too.

Yami Gautam highly impresses in her short role as Advocate Gulnaar. She looks and talks like a lawyer also sharing some fun scenes with Shahid Kapoor in such little time.



Batti Gul Meter Chalu Movie Review: Direction, Music

Shree Narayan Singh has improved since Toilet: Ek Prem Katha but unfortunately he doesn't get that level of script as his last film. He has shot many dead scenes which do nothing but increase the unnecessary additions. The movie's intent is good but is told in very chaotic way. The courtroom sequences evoke some laughs and are well presented.

Anu Malik's cameo with Gold Tamba and the recreation of Dekhte Dekhte work big time with the audience. Arijit Singh's Har Har Gange is also very well placed and it's escalated by Shahid's brilliant acting in it. The background score, at times, seems really very over enthusiastic but is good overall.

Batti Gul Meter Chalu Movie Review: The Last Word

All said and done, Batti Gul Meter Chalu says a very important thing but the treatment messes all up. It's high time Shahid Kapoor gets his due in Bollywood but this is not that film. Watch it for its intent & Shahid Kapoor!

Two and a half stars!

Batti Gul Meter Chalu movie review: Fuse out! Shahid Kapoor is the only saving grace of this half baked storyline

Check out the review of Batti Gul Meter Chalu before you decide to book the tickets.

By Dishya Sharma

Published: September 21, 2018 3:49 PM IST
| Updated: September 21, 2018 4:06 PM IST


Batti Gul Meter Chalu movie review: Fuse out! Shahid Kapoor is the only saving grace of this half baked storyline



This weekend, Batti Gul Meter Chalu releases in the cinemas. The long-delayed project stars Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyendu Sharma and Yami Gautam in the lead. The film revolves around the common man's struggle against the electricity company in Uttrakhand. Is this court room drama worth your time? Read our review and decide...

What's it about?

Batti Gul Meter Chalu is about a common man's fight against an electricity providing company who bills him a hefty amount. The common man here is played by Pyaar Ka Punchnama fame Divyanshu. His character, Sundar, decides to start a company in Uttarakhand. Following which, he gets charged a huge amount for electricity usage. While he goes back and forth to understand the reason behind the huge bill, the company continues to charge his company with a bigger amount every passing month. Eventually, he decides to shut down the place. His friend, SK played by Shahid Kapoor takes up his case and fight for him.


What's not?

A lot of things the script needed another sitting or two to give the actors a good platform to perform. Instead of focusing on the story about the man who commits suicide after he was charged an inflated electricity bill, the film concentrates on exploring the emotional side of the characters and the relationships they share. The first half becomes difficult to sit through as the plot goes all over the place.

The film refuses to come to the point until Divyanshu falls off the cliff and brings the director's attention to the matter in hand. While the first half witnessed the problematic bill in small portions, director Shree Narayan Singh tries to balance it out in the second half by only talking about Divyanshu's death and the electricity bill which led to his end. The movie turns into a courtroom drama post interval and finally gives viewers something interesting.

However, it seems like there was not much content in hand, which is why the director wraps up only the engaging portion of the movie. It is as though SK has been served with a win even before he starts a fight. Yami is placed in the second half only to play out the court room scenes and has nothing extraordinary to offer. Shraddha overacts in a couple of places. The direction is weak and there are a few loose ends that are left untied even in the second half.

Our Verdict

The story has loopholes and is extremely slow. While Shahid tries his best to keep the batti chalu, the lights of this movie keep flickering and doesn't give the shock it was meant to deliver. If you're a Shahid Kapoor fan, the film is a treat. Otherwise, you could give this movie a skip.


Rating: 2.5 out of 5 2.5 Star Rating

My bff watched the movie. She is a shahid fan. So fdfs.

Batti Gul Meter Chalu Movie Review: Shahid-Shraddha film is a fused bulb


Charu Thakur
New Delhi
September 21, 2018
UPDATED: September 21, 2018 15:25 IST

Cast:
Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor

Director:
Shree Narayan Singh


Had Batti Gul Meter Chalu been entertaining every time a character said 'bal', Shree Narayan Singh's social drama would have our heart. Instead, Batti Gul Meter Chalu is a 3-hour-long social drama is a tiring saga full of cliches, a sleep-inducing love triangle, a slapstick courtroom drama and a little bit of social message. That's Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor's recent release for you.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali knows his true love is period dramas. For Shree Narayan Singh, it is socially relevant topics. His directorial debut Toilet: Ek Prem Katha picked up the nuisance of open defecation, and his second film Batti Gul Meter Chalu revolves around the common man's fight against power distribution companies that make their consumers cough up huge amounts in the name of electricity bills.


The film begins in the hills of Tehri with three buddies at its centre - a crafty lawyer Sushil Kumar Pant aka SK (Shahid Kapoor), a wannabe fashion designer Lalita Nautiyal (Shraddha Kapoor) and a simple businessman Sundar Mohan Tripathi (Divyendu Sharma). With both the men in love with Nauti, all is well in their small 'happy' world, except for too many power cuts.


But things start to fall apart when Nauti decides to pick one of them, and a corrupt power company starts to send humongous bills to Sundar after he kickstarts a new business. Tensions escalate as much as the electricity bill, and Sundar tries to end his life. Thus begins the war against the power company, followed by a burlesque courtroom drama.

But wait! Wasn't all of this already established in the three-minute-long trailer of the socially-relevant drama? It seems Singh wasn't convinced and decided to stretch this three-minute concept into a three-hour-long bore fest with average performances and a half-baked story.

Having said that, Singh should be lauded for picking up a subject which is a reality in many parts of the country, but it is the treatment the subject is given that works against it. The filmmaker ends up wasting most of the first part of Batti Gul Meter Chalu establishing a love triangle which is hardly of any consequence to the real issue.

And when you think that the film will pick up steam with the real issue being addressed and a courtroom angle inserted, the director dampens it by infusing humour into this serious debate. Sample this: Yami Gautam says 'Zara facts aur figures ki baat bhi kar lein.' To which Shahid replies, 'Phacts toh sab mere paas hai aur aapke hote hui figure ki baat main kaise karu.' (And the entire courtroom bursts into laughter. Not sure about the hall though.).

Talking about performances, Shahid Kapoor is the only saving grace in this otherwise dull social drama. The 37-year-old actor does go overboard at times during the so-called funny scenes, but he manages to keep the hinterland flavour intact with his act. Shraddha, on the other hand, still needs to go a long way as far as her acting skills are concerned. Divyendu manages to win himself a few glances.

Shree Narayan Singh's Batti Gul Meter Chalu is a genuine attempt at educating people, but lacks lustre. You can give this a skip. Because 'when you getting gold, why go for tamba?'

1.5 stars for Batti Gul Meter Chalu

'Batti Gul Meter Chalu' Review: Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor's social drama educates but fails to entertain


Written By
Meena Iyer

Updated: Sep 20, 2018, 11:32 PM IST


Film: Batti Gul Meter Chalu (Drama-Social)Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Yami Gautam, DivyennduDirection: Shree Narayan SinghDuration: 2 hours, 55 minutesLanguage: Hindi (U/A)Critic's Rating: 3.5/5

Story:

Three inseparable childhood friends a thrifty lawyer Sushil Kumar Pant aka SK (Shahid Kapoor), an over-the-top fashion designer Lalita Nauti' Nautiyal (Shraddha Kapoor) and a businessman Sundar Mohan Tripathi (Divyenndu) are the life of the party in Garhwal, Uttarakhand. But each of them is diametrically opposite in nature.


SK is a cheat, Sundar is straight as an arrow and Nauti, well, she is their conscience-keeper, besides, of course, being their common love interest. Their blissed-out existence falls apart at a juncture when Lalita has to choose either SK or Sundar as her future husband and Sundar gets saddled with an inflated electricity bill.

Review:

Editor-director Shree Narayan Singh is quickly establishing himself as a maker who picks up causes open defecation in 'Toilet: Ek Prem Katha', inflated electricity bills and pilferage in 'Batti Gul Meter Chalu (BGMC)' and turns them into films that throw light on pressing matters in the heartland of India. However, there is a huge issue here. The trailer of BGMC clearly established the aim of his socially-relevant film in three minutes. Then to go ahead and make a nearly three-hour-long film to tell us more of the same thing is a travesty. Like the Censor Board, even filmmakers should know when to trim their films.

Having said that, let's grant the devil his due. BGMC's heartbeat feels correct. You also buy into the new-age actors' constant refrain that movies are meant to enlighten, educate and entertain. However, here the entertainment bit falls out. The first half where the three friends are horsing around and singing, "Why go for tamba (copper) when you are getting gold'' feels outdated and long drawn. Also, in this day and age, a Sangam (1964)-like triangle of getting Radha (here, it is Lalita) to choose between a Gopal and Sundar (SK and Sundar in this case) is yawn material.

There is zero chemistry in the love track and you're absolutely indifferent to who the girl chooses because the whole build-up is too amateur. So much so that when one of the lovers jumps into the Ganga and temporarily resolves the triangle', you feel relieved that now you'll see two instead of three bungling idiots. The film redeems itself in the second half where it takes on the actual electricity crisis of this country head-on. That a part of India is actually not even connected to the country's national grid is a grim and sad fact.

The courtroom scenes between SK and Gulnar (Yami Gautam) are over the top and dramatic, but if you're ready to be slightly chichora (cheap), you'll enjoy the heartland humour. Also, the fact that the maker has studied the power scam issue so deeply and slapped the administration that is constantly talking of vikas (progress) and kalyan (prosperity) makes this an important film to watch. However, it is unforgivable if a movie educates and fails to entertain.

As for performances, Shahid is top-notch. The actor, who is in his prime, (he turned 37 in February) has matured into a fine talent and shows that he can shoulder a film on his own. Half a star in the film's rating is reserved only for Shahid. Shraddha starts in a slightly over-the-top style, but she soon gets her act together and gives you a convincing small-town girl.

Divyenndu is always the best man, never the bridegroom. Yet, he manages to win himself notices. Yami is spirited in her special appearance as the defence lawyer. But the screen time allotted to her is minuscule.

The soundtrack by Anu Malik, Rochak Kohli and Sachet-Parampara is pleasant; if one song makes you swing, the other offers solace. You also get to experience the magic of Tehri, a virgin landscape, where the sights and sounds are different from those in our bustling cities. However, despite it all, there is a soul missing here because the premise is stretched.



Verdict: Watch BGMC because it throws light on the issue of electricity, which is a fundamental human right. If we sit like frogs in a well, we may never learn what ails the real India. Jaago guys, jaago.