Chala Mussaddi: Office Office opens with our dear ‘hapless' and 'helpless' Mussaddi Lal introduced as Aam Aadmi of India, a country  that’s run by chaprasies [peon] and you know why!
A movie that mocks at the sorry state of affairs in Indian government institutions and the venal officials, Chala Mussaddi is another unsuccessful adaptation of a successful TV series after Khichdi -The Movie.
Chala Mussaddi is the story of a man who is harassed by the government goons err...officials at every possible juncture. He has a jobless son, Bunty - a parasite who loves his father’s pension more than his father. Mussaddi's ordeal at the hands of convoluted labyrinths of the Indian bureaucracy starts from a government hospital where Mussaddi is bereaved of his wife [Farida Jalal], then moves to a pension office, where he is declared dead triggering off his fight to prove himself alive to a set of dishonest officials and ends up in a court, where he is wins his final battle against corruption. And Delhi - the government and political hub as base gives a genuine appeal to the movie. It's simple tale of good winning over bad, but told in a tad slow and uninteresting narrative.
As an aam aadmi, you empathise with Mussaddi Lal, his plight and the rut he has to go through to get something as simple as a blood test done. Even you want to slap hard the gluttonous and corrupt Bhatias, Pandeys and Patels that you meet in real life, and that’s exactly what director Rajiv Mehra intended to do with a movie like this - give a message by mixing it with big dose of satirical humour. Then what went wrong? As audience who have already watched the TV marvel ‘Office Office’, Chala Mussaddi comes as a promise for more humour and more entertainment. But unfortunately, Chala Mussaddi falls flat when it comes to the novelty factor. The situations look familiar, specially the hospital scene and the main plot of ‘proving Mussaddi alive’ is a repetition of the TV serial.Â
As far as comedy is concerned, the satirical aspect shines at a few places but fails to generate laughter in the auditorium. In fact, the first half is really slow and the story moves only during the second half and that can be blamed to a potholed screenplay. At times, the shift from one scene to the other is so abrupt that you feel you are watching an episodic serial sans any stop and a commercial break is what you yearn for. Some scenes look absolutely stuffed in plot like the ‘Earth Our’ and the message to save electricity. The dialogues are mediocre and could have been stronger as punches form the back bone of a movie like this. Music by Sajid Wajid runs parallel to the story. Chala Mussaddi song, penned by Gulzar featuring Makrand Deshandey will remain etched in your memory.
It won’t be wrong to say that Mussaddi Lal as a character is another feather in Pankaj Kapur’s cap as the man has once again proved his prowess as an entertainer. You relate to his vulnerability and his adamance to find a way out without succumbing to the unscrupulous bribe demands remind you of our retired fathers and grandfathers, who have the time and patience to fight with the system unlike us, who would probably take the easier way out - Money God. And that’s exactly what’s fuelling the fire.
A unique aspect of the characterisation in the movie is that you’ll meet the same characters Pandey ji [Hemant Pandey], Shukla [Sanjay Mishra], Patel [Deven Bhojani], Bhatia [Manoj Pahwa], Ushaji [Asawari Joshi] in different settings playing the meanest government servants, who take pride in being heralded as the ‘kamchor-ghooskhor’ lot. And this uniqueness becomes monotonous after a point and you feel that introducing fresh characters could have brought a new appeal to the movie. Deven Bhojani deserves a pat on his back for playing the same character in a different style every time he comes on the screen. But his ‘Do batein’ irritate you after a point. Gaurav Kapoor is remarkable as a wasted youth. He has got into the skin of a jobless youth of Delhi who survives the tricks of the trade with jugaads and chalta hai attitude, that’s so very akin to Delhi. Rest of the characters are average. Farida Jalal is pure waste of talent.
Mussaddi Lal would have remained alive forever on the big screen had we not watched the TV sensation ‘Office Office’ that ran successfully for 10 long years. Watch it only if you are a big fan of Pankaj Kapur.
