Ajay Kumar Singh, Jumping Tomato Studios and Lovely World Entertainment’s Chalti Rahe Zindagi is the story of how the Corona virus lockdown affected different people differently.
Krishna (Siddhant Kapoor) is a bread supplier in a housing complex in Bombay. It is the early times of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown has just been announced. The first part of the story exposes the extramarital affair of Arjun’s (Indraneil Sengupta) wife, Barkha, with Aru’s (Barkha Sengupta) husband, Gaurav. Both are neighbours. The second part dwells on Sushma (Flora Jacob) and her son, Akash (Rohit Khandelwal), who works as a journalist. Sushma had lent Krishna money and wants him to repay the loan. The third part of the story concentrates on Leela Seth (Seema Biswas), a 70-year-old lady who is convinced that she will die of the virus. Her son is dead and she lives with her daughter-in-law, Naina (Manjari Fadnis), and grand-daughter, Siya (Anaya Sivan). How do all of them cope with the happenings around them?
Varsha Kharidaha, Aarti S. Bagdi, Shakir Khan and Arun Bhutra have written a heartfelt story of the lockdown period. Their screenplay is quite realistic because of which it keeps the audience engaged. No doubt, it tends to get repetitive after a point of time but the characters created by the four writers are so real that the interest level of the audience doesn’t dip much. While the first part is tension-ridden, the second part is a bit emotional and the last part actually gives the viewers several moments to laugh. Dialogues, penned by the four writers, are very appropriate.
Seema Biswas is absolutely outstanding as the paranoid Leela Seth. She entertains wonderfully. Manjari Fadnis performs ably in the role of Naina. She looks very beautiful. Siddhant Kapoor endears himself with a truly fine performance as Krishna. Indraneil Sengupta lives the role of Arjun. Barkha Sengupta shines as Aru. Her expressions are lovely. Rohit Khandelwal is natural as journalist Akash. Flora Jacob is first-rate as the ever-prying Sushma. Anaya Sivan lends tremendous support as Siya. Trimala Adhikari has her moments as Champa. Vaibhav Vijay Anand makes a very fine impression as Dr. Junaid Ali. Smita Bharti is natural as Aru’s mother. Priyal Pandorwala lives the role of Ankita (sister of Akash). Meira Sengupta (as Isha, daughter of Aru), Kenneth Lewis (as Dr. Alok) and Harsh Ghogalia (as Krishna’s son, Bhim) are adequate. Others do as desired.
Aarti S. Bagdi’s direction is sensitive. Music (Sajjad Ali Chandwani, Amit N. Dasani and Sarthak Karkare) is functional. Lyrics (Shakir Khan, Sarthak Karkare and Mayur Puri) are alright. Background music (Amit N. Dasani and Sajjad Ali-Shafaat Ali) is appropriate. Pravin Suryavanshi’s dance direction and Ishita Bagri and Stuti Bagri’s Kathak choreography deserve mention. Dharmendra Singh Bhurji’s cinematography is nice. Sunil Pandit’s art direction is appealing. Sanjay Shri Ingle’s editing is quite sharp.
On the whole, Chalti Rahe Zindagi leaves the audience with a smile on their faces in the end. If, in spite of this, the film does not realise its full potential, it would be because a lot of people are averse to revisiting the pandemic lockdown due to horrific memories of it.
Released on 26-7-’24 on Zee5.