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.
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.
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