Chalte Chalte (2003 film)

Chalte
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Aziz Mirza
Produced by	Juhi Chawla Shah Rukh Khan Aziz Mirza
Screenplay by	Aziz Mirza Robin Bhatt
Story by	Aziz Mirza Robin Bhatt
Starring	Shah Rukh Khan Rani Mukerji Satish Shah
Music by	Jatin-Lalit Aadesh Shrivastava
Cinematography	Ashok Mehta
Edited by	Amitabh Shukla
Distributed by	Dreamz Unlimited
Release dates	13 June 2003
Running time	168 mins
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	120 million (US$1.9 million)[1]
Box office	250 million (US$4.0 million)[2]

Chalte Chalte is a 2003 Bollywood movie starring Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukerji, directed by Aziz Mirza. The film was screened at the Casablanca Film Festival. Box Office India declared it hit, making it the first film by Dreamz Unlimited to be a box office success.

Plot

The film begins in a bowling alley, where a group of friends are awaiting the arrival of Salim. Meanwhile, Deepak arrives with his fiancée Sheetal. When a conversation about love arises, Deepak and the rest find it necessary to make Sheetal aware that true love does exist. They tell her the story of Raj (Shah Rukh Khan) and Priya (Rani Mukerji), two of their closest friends. Raj Mathur is the owner of Raj Transport, a small trucking company he founded himself. Raj is a carefree man who is unorganised, messy, lazy and late all the time. Although he isn't the richest, he's always happy.

On the other hand, Priya Chopra is a successful fashion designer whose family is quite wealthy. Priya, originally from Greece, lives with her aunt Anna, who wants to give her the best in life (wealth and success). Priya has her life all planned out – the complete opposite of Raj. These two completely different people meet in a car accident, when Priya crashes her car into Raj's truck. Though the two get off to a rocky start, they meet again at the wedding of Salim and Farah, eventually becoming friends. The two arrange to meet again and slowly fall in love. Raj receives Priya's phone number but carelessly loses it. He then sets out to find her and he does find her.

However, Raj learns that Priya's engaged. Desperate, he follows Priya to Greece, where he continues to woo her. When it's time to part company, Priya realises that she is in love with Raj. They get married after persuading Priya's parents, and arrive in Mumbai, where Raj welcomes Priya into their home. He then makes an oath to his holy talisman, wishing it to protect Priya if he is not around, because he loves her immensely.

Back to the bowling alley in the present: Sheetal is in tears, for she has never heard a more beautiful story. Salim arrives along with Farah and announce that today was Raj and Priya's first wedding anniversary, so they were planning a surprise party. Excited, Sheetal can't wait to meet the famous Raj and Priya, but when they do arrive, they're nothing like what they seemed. A year has changed both Raj and Priya, and the two can't stop arguing. When they do find some common ground and happiness, it doesn't last long. Raj feels the pressure to meet the expectations of Priya's family, and is struggling financially. His company has gone bankrupt, and he has many bills and loans to pay. When he is insulted by a bank official, he returns home crying.

Priya cannot stand to see her husband in this state, and resorts to asking her former fiancé for money. When Raj asks her about the source of money, she lies. But when he throws a celebration party, he learns the truth. Angry at Priya, he becomes destructive, and Priya, heartbroken, runs away to her parents. Raj, realizing his error, goes after Priya, only to be insulted by her family. Priya decides to leave India because she can't stay with Raj but can't stay without him. When Raj is informed of this, he races to the airport to stop Priya, just as he did the year before. He says he will change and that he has a dream of the two of them starting a family together. Although Priya expresses that she has the same dream, she feels it is impossible for them to be together, so she boards the plane. Giving up, Raj remembers his oath and sends his talisman to Priya. When Priya receives the talisman, she too recalls Raj's confession. Raj returns home to find Priya waiting for him. She says that the only way to make their dream come true is to be together. In a playful manner, the two get into another argument but they say that this is how they express their love. They continue to argue as the credits roll.

Cast

• Shah Rukh Khan as Raj Mathur
• Rani Mukerji as Priya Mathur (née Chopra)
• Jas Arora as Sameer
• Satish Shah as Manubhai
• Lilette Dubey as Anna Mausi (Priya's aunt)
• Johny Lever as Nandu (the roadside drunk)
• Vishwajeet Pradhan as a Friend
• Suresh Bhagwat as a Dhobi
• Dinyar Tirandaz as Irani
• Rajeev Verma as Mr. Chopra
• Jayshree T. as Mrs. Manubhai
• Suresh Menon as a Shopkeeper
• Masood Akhtar as a Paanwala
• Gagan Gupta as Tambi
• Vani Tripathi as a Friend
• Sushmita Daan as a Flower girl
• Arun Singh as a Vegetable seller
• Akhtar Nawaz as a Milkman
• Kamini Khanna as Female plane passenger
• Bobby Darling as a Friend
• Madhavi Chopra as a Friend
• Ashish Kapoor
• Aditya Pancholi as a Hostile businessman
• Jameel Khan as a Traffic Policeman

Development

This was the third film produced by Shahrukh Khan and Juhi Chawla's company, Dreamz Unlimited.

According to Khan, Rani Mukherjee was asked to play the heroine but she was committed to other films and had to turn it down. Aishwarya Rai was signed for the role, but had to leave the set after some problems with her then boyfriend, star Salman Khan who is said to have disrupted filming. This caused considerable delay in the progress of the film until Mukherjee agreed to take over the role and save the film.^[3]

Rani Mukherjee had a complete makeover for the role. Her new look was also widely noted.^[4]

Music

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Bollywood Hungama	[5]

The music of the film has been conducted by the duo Jatin-Lalit and Aadesh Shrivastava.

Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama gave the album 3 stars and stated "Chalte Chalte is a romantic album that should go well with both class as well as mass".^[5]

Reception

Box office

Chalte Chalte grossed 250 million (US$4.0 million) in India.^[2] The film released with around 220 prints in India and 170 abroad and had a good opening at the box office of nearly 60% occupancy in its first 3 days, and went on to gross 140 million net at the end of its theatrical run in India and was declared "Above Average" by Box Office India. The film was in the top ten highest grossed domestically in the year of its release.^[6] Chalte Chalte entered the top 10 in the United Kingdom box office charts and registered the third biggest opening ever for a Bollywood film.^[7] The film was declared a hit in the overseas after netting over 120 million.^[8]

References

External links

• Chalte Chalte at the Internet Movie Database