Do Dooni Chaar (2010)

Do Dooni Chaar: Directed by Habib Faisal. With Rishi Kapoor, Neetu Singh, Aditi Vasudev, Archit Krishna. A middle class family in India tries to buy a new car.

“I am a middle class salaried person, having two children (one son and one daughter), a wife having the typical middle-class mindset and a moderately furnished house. Till three years back, I was riding a scooter only (still I ride the scooter only for most of the time). In 2007, upon shifting from Rawatbhata (Rajasthan) to Delhi, I bought a car (Maruti 800). So when I saw the promos of this movie, I at once decided to watch it because I felt I would relate to it. And my prediction came true.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDo Dooni Chaar (two twoja four) is the story of a typical middle class family living in a metro like Delhi whose head is not a permanent employee in a govt. office or a reputed company. He is a mathematics teacher (thatu0026#39;s why the name of the movie is a mathematical one) in a private college, getting moderate salary and he supplements it by doing tuitions. He rides an old Bajaj scooter and lives with his family (consisting of his wife, son and daughter) in a moderate single bedroom flat. Like almost all the middle class Indian families, they have to spend more than their capacity for the sake of pomposity, relationships and social prestige. Like several middle class children living in metro cities, their children also like to make girlfriend / boyfriend, visit Mc Donald for eating and make quick money for out of pocket expenses which their parents are not able to provide them. Like most of Indian middle class parents, they also want their children to study in reputed English medium educational institutions and become something big in their lives. For that sake, they control their own expenses but ensure that the childrenu0026#39;s future is not adversely affected for want of money.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHowever this Do Dooni Chaar family has a family head with a difference from likewise family heads. Though like a typical middle class housewife, the wife wants her husband to earn some extra bucks even by compromising his conscience, the head of the family has his own morals to cater to. They pay bribes to the corrupt Indian establishment under compulsion (like most middle class Indians have to) but they do not do anything likewise themselves. The first reason is conscience. However the bigger reason is fear of doing something bad (or unlawful, to be exact). However when they have to suffer humiliation upon using the neighbouru0026#39;s car upon the special occasion of attending a marriage in close relation, the self-respect of the head of the family (the Duggal family) gets hurt to that much extent that he decides to buy his own car. Now what happens in making arrangement for down payment of the car which is not a small amount for a hand-to-mouth family in the capital city and how several allied things come to the fore, form the post interval part of the story.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDo Dooni Chaar is an excellent and very well made movie. While watching the movie I was feeling as I were Rishi Kapoor, my wife were Neetu Singh and my children were their children. Everything shown and every character shown (especially the family members) are so realistic that even for a moment you do not feel that you are watching a fictional story of an imaginary family. And it is this realistic touch of simple middle class Indian life and simple middle class Indian characters that makes this movie a winner all the way. Whether itu0026#39;s Rishiu0026#39;s prohibiting his daughter from doing a call centre job or itu0026#39;s his blaming himself for his sonu0026#39;s spoilage or itu0026#39;s Neetuu0026#39;s complaining to her husband for making her leave her job or itu0026#39;s her fuming over the monthly income and expenditure budget of the family; everything is natural. Itu0026#39;s the typical Indian middle class family which barely manages to live a reasonable life but still dreams big. And still owning a car and owning a house are the biggest dreams of the typical Indian middle class people.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe movie also effectively underscores the nobility of the noble profession of teaching alongwith the fact that teachers (especially in the non-govt. sector schools) are the one of the least paid salaried people in India which is a major factor behind the poor educational standards in our country.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRishi-Neetu are awesome in their performances with their off screen chemistry coming alive on the screen. But the actors (Archit Krishna and Aditi Vasudev who is the anchor also) playing their children have overtaken them by their brilliant performance. All others (including Akhilendra Mishra as their neighbour and the actress playing Phupho to be specially mentioned) have also done exceedingly well.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMusic is not great except the marriage song – Banni Hamaari Chaand Se Pyaari. The art director has done a splendid job by capturing the life in Delhi with utmost reality. In fact the whole Do Dooni Chaar team deserves a big hand alongwith the writer-director Habib Faisal. The only thing which may not appeal to the non-Delhites and non-Punjabis is the overdoz of Punjabi language. But thatu0026#39;s not a big issue.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis movie reminiscing the Hrishikesh Mukherjee-Basu Chatterjee movies of the seventies and early eighties, is just like a gust of fresh and cool breeze in the cinematic environment suffocated by so-called NRI movies. I recommend this light-mood family drama wholeheartedly and unconditionally to all the movie buffs.”