Chennai Express: A De-railed Train
Combination of Shahrukh Khan, Rohit Shetty & Deepika Padukone was a right recipe for a sure shot entertainment. But Chennai Express disappoints and How….
The very premise of the movie is hackneyed with glimpses of DDLJ & Jab we Met . Rahul (Shahrukh Khan) a 40 year old bachelor who embarks on 
a journey to Rameswaram to submerge his grandfather’s ashes , but in his journey he meets Meena (Deepika Padukone) in the train “Chennai Express” who is the daughter of the local Don of Konnam village Durgeshwara Azhagusundaram (Satyaraj). Durgeshwara wants his daughter to be married to Tangaballi (Nikitan Dheer) against Meena’s wishes and she runs away from her home and meets Rahul in the train. The journey of Rahul & Meena forms the crux of the plot.
Story & Screenplay by Yunus Sajawal is very clichéd and repetitive. The screenplay is neither a complete love story neither a comedy. Dialogues by Farhad-Sajid do not help either and lacks in humor and becomes monotonous after some time. Though it gives you some sequences which make you smile but then that is it. You keep on waiting for that typical Rohit Shetty Comic moment but it never comes. Another problem is, that the Tamil dialogues does not have subtitles and audiences like me keep wondering what is happening on the screen.
Shahrukh Khan really needs to re-invent himself. He is good but not excellent. His performance borderlines between hamming and good acting. Deepika is pleasant but her accent as a Tamilian is inconsistent. Other actors look more like amateur actors and are over the top.
Music by Vishal-Shekhar is very average and there is no memorable tune in the movie. The choreography by Farah Khan (Titli) & Chinni Prakash (Kashmir tu) are lavish and good.
Rohit Shetty ‘s direction is confusing. You keep wondering whether Rohit wanted to make a comedy or a love story. I think even he was confused coz you miss the Rohit Shetty magic which we have seen in his previous movies like the Golmaal trilogy or Bol Bachchan or All the Best.
This is definitely Rohit Shetty’s average movie and I will go with 2 & a Half stars…