T-Series, Virrendra Arora and Krti Pictures LLP’s Batti Gul Meter Chalu (UA) is an issue-based film about the problem of power supply companies in small towns cheating consumers by charging them exorbitantly for units not even consumed by them.
Susheel Kumar Pant (Shahid Kapoor), Lalita Nautiyal, lovingly referred to as Nauti (Shraddha Kapoor), and Sundar Mohan Tripathi (Divyendu) are fast friends living in a small town of Uttarakhand. One day, Nauti announces that to decide whom she would romance, she would spend time for a week each with Susheel and Sundar one after the other. While spending time with Susheel, she realises that although he is a street-smart lawyer, he doesn’t care for anybody except himself. On the other hand, she takes a great liking for Sundar during the week she is with him, because even though he is timid, he is very loving and caring. This makes Susheel so jealous that he stops meeting Sundar and Nauti.
During this time, Sundar has started his own packaging business. Despite frequent power cuts in the region, his new company starts getting exorbitant electricity bills and he soon realises that something is wrong. He complains to the privately-owned power supply company but even after that, the exorbitant bills continue. On a suggestion by an officer of the power supply company, he even has a check meter installed in his factory but nothing changes even then. Sundar is unable to pay his electricity dues running into lakhs of rupees and his business lands into deep trouble. On the other hand, he is faced with the prospect of having to sell off his house to repay the bank loan he had taken to set up his business.
Sundar and Nauti approach Susheel for a solution but the already agitated and jealous Susheel drives them away without helping them. Sundar now decides to commit suicide, making his death appear as an accident, so that his parents would get money from his life insurance company, which they could use to repay the bank loan. Sundar, in fact, commits suicide. On hearing the shocking news of Sundar’s suicide, Susheel is not just devastated but also guilt-ridden. He decides to file a case against the electricity supply company for the death of his dear friend.
Susheel’s action in filing a court case sparks off a nationwide movement against the frauds committed by electricity supply companies. Is Susheel able to get justice?
The film is based on a good story concept by Vipul K. Rawal. Siddharth-Garima’s story, however, tries to pack in too much. The first part of the story is about friendship and romance. The real drama starts quite late. The duo’s screenplay in the first half is not just boring but also quite dull. Except for the Kumaoni-Garhwali dialect spoken by the characters, there isn’t much to keep the audience entertained before interval. Even the dialect itself may not find favour with all the viewers. The romance is not at all exciting. Nauti’s point of trying out both the boys seems rather silly if only because she doesn’t need to spend time with each of them separately to know that Susheel is self-centred while Sundar is caring. Again, Susheel’s jealousy and his actions thereafter bring down his character in the minds of the viewers – and that’s not a nice thing, considering that he is the film’s hero.
The screenplay in the second half is definitely far better. The courtroom drama is interesting as well as entertaining but again, the emotions one should feel are missing. In other words, the emotional appeal of the drama is almost completely missing. The points raised by Susheel in court are quite technical and, therefore, don’t have the desired impact. All in all, although the screenplay post-interval keeps the viewers engaged and fairly entertained, the first half is so dull that it tests the audience’s patience. Siddharth-Garima’s dialogues are good, especially in the courtroom drama.
Shahid Kapoor delivers a sincere performance. He is good in dramatic as well as light scenes. Shraddha Kapoor acts well and makes a mark in emotional and dramatic scenes. Divyendu is earnest and honest in his performance. Yami Gautam is sincere in the role of lawyer Gulnar Rizvi. Atul Srivastava lends excellent support as Sundar’s father. Sushmita Mukherjee leaves a mark as the judge. Sharib Hashmi (as Vikas) and Badrul Islam (as Kalyan), both in friendly appearances, are okay. The satire in naming them Vikas and Kalyan comes across too late in the day. Rajendra Chawla leaves a fine mark as Janak Khanduri, officer in the power supply company. Sudhir Pandey, Farida Jalal, Supriya Pilgaonkar, Neeta Mohindra (as Sundar’s mother), Samir Soni (as Sanjay Baduria, owner of the power supply company), Mukesh Bhatt (as Susheel’s assistant, Upreti) and Anushka Ranjan (in a guest appearance) lend fair support.
Shree Narayan Singh’s direction is very good but he takes too long to come to the crux of the story. As editor, Shree Narayan Singh fails because the pre-interval portion is too lengthy and boring and could’ve been advantageously reduced in length. Music (Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Anu Malik, Rochak Kohli and Sachet-Parampara) is good but there’s not a single chartbuster. ‘Hard hard’, ‘Dekhte dekhte’ and ‘Gold tamba’ songs are the better of the lot. Lyrics (Siddharth-Garima, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Manoj Muntashir) are nice. Ganesh Acharya’s choreography and Rajeev Surti’s additional choreography deserve decent marks. Background music (by Vijay Verma, Anamik Chauhan and Lyton) is impactful. Anshuman Mahaley’s cinematography is of a fine standard. Abbas Ali Moghul’s action and stunt scenes are alright. Udai Prakash Singh’s production designing is good.
On the whole, Batti Gul Meter Chalu has an interesting second half but a poor first half. It can hope to do average business, that too, because around 65-70% of the investment in the film has already been recovered prior to release, from non-theatrical sources. In the cinemas, it will not have a long or eventful run.
Released on 21-9-’18 at Regal (daily 3 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Anand Pandit Motion Pictures and Panorama Studios. Publicity: fair. Opening: so-so. …….Also released all over. Opening was decent at places and average at others.