Cast : Bhuvan Arora, Ritika Badiani, Alam Khan, Ashwani Kumar, Jitendra Kumar, Dherendra Kumar Tiwari

Directed by : Apurva Dhar Badgaiyann

Produced by : Siddharth Anand Kumar, Vikram Mehra

Cinematography by : Arkodeb Mukherjee

Music by : Mangesh Dhakde, Anshuman Mukherjee

So, continuing the series of reviewing movies and shows during the lockdown period, our today’s pick is the Hindi film Chaman Bahaar. The film is available on Netflix and let’s see how it is.

What’s it about

The film is set in the small town of Chattisgarh. Billu(Jitendra Kumar) is a small-time panwala who opens his shop in a deserted road where nothing much happens. One fine day, a family moves into a house opposite his shop. A girl named Rinku(Ratika Badianai) lives there and it is love at first sight for Billu. Within no time, Rinku becomes quite popular in her town, and to woo her, all the youngsters in the village land up at Billu’s shop. Though Rinku’s business grows multiple folds, he has competition from many in that area to win Rinku. Will Billu propose his love to Rinku? What obstacles does he face? That forms the rest of the story.

What’s good?

The story idea is very good and has been set up well. Jitendra Kumar, who made his debut with Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhan is the life of the film and is adorable. His character has a lot of variations and the young actor showcased it well in the film. The one-sided love story idea is very good. The film has two superb songs sung by Sonu Nigam which makes things quite endearing

The manner in which youth in a small village go after a beautiful girl, their mentalities, and approach have been showcased well. The climax of the film is quite emotional and it ended well. Rasika, the heroine did not have much to do but she looks cute on screen. The BGM, art direction, and camera work is terrific. Billu’s dialogues and his relationship with his dad has been showcased so well.

What’s bad?

One of the biggest drawbacks of the film is the slow pace. The director Apurva Dhar, takes a lot of time to get into the main plot and brings the twist only in the half point. The way a girl is looked down in a few scenes and how stalking a girl is shown is a good light looks a bit odd.

The heroine’s angle is not at all showcased well in the film which is pretty bad and makes the heroine’s character only for eye candy. There are a lot of scenes showcasing the jobless youth in the village and these should have been edited out to make things better.

Final Word

Overall, Chaman Bahar is a small-town love story that has a good setup and amazing performance from Jitendra Kumar. But the pace is slow and the film takes a lot of time to enter into the main plot. Barring this, Chaman Bahar has enough endearing moments and makes up for a decent watch during this lockdown.

Rating: 3/5