Chandlo Review: Directed by Hardik Gajjar, and based on the short story by Kaajal Oza Vaidya, the Gujarati movie follows the lives of two women and their relationships. The film stars the writer Kaajal Oza Vaidya as the main character, Meera, Shraddha Dangar as Aastha, Manav Gohil as Sharan, Jayesh More as Tapas, and other actors. The movie’s runtime is 1 hour 50 minutes and is available in Gujarati language with English subtitles.
– Chandlo Review Contains No Spoilers –
Chandlo Plot
Meera and Aastha (Meera’s daughter-in-law), are often thought of as a mother-and-daughter duo ever since Meera’s son Utsav passed away. Meera decides to sacrifice her life until Aastha finds a new life. She tries her best to take Aastha around to help her heal from her husband’s death, but things don’t go well until a famous singer Sharan moves to the apartment above their floor. When Sharan and Aastha get along, Meera notices that her daughter-in-law is healing and is finally finding joy. However, Sharan has other plans.
Chandlo Review
Kaajal Oza has written a story based on the matter of age in relationships, a debatable topic that’s being contemplated slowly around the globe. While a man being way too older than a woman feels appropriate, when the genders are reversed, society bans the relationship. It takes a lot of courage to take a step in dedicating a whole movie and story to this topic, so kudos to that. But this aspect isn’t enough to name Chandlo the best movie.
There are certain dramatic scenes that could have been avoided. Firstly, it is nice to see Aastha moving on from her husband’s demise, but her journey is rushed so that the movie can focus more on Meera’s life. While Meera is the protagonist of the movie, Aastha is a major part as well. But, there wasn’t much shown about her, and that is a shame.
Coming to the dramatic scenes, watching Aastha dancing in the kitchen and dreaming of Sharan looks too impractical. Daydreaming? Alright, that works, but this? It made the character look like she is quick to fall in love. If that’s what the story writer wanted to show, then it’s a win, but if not, her character sketch looks poorly done. To me, Aastha’s character could have been super empowering, but she is shown like a mere princess in Disney movies.
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In another scene, when Meera sings her heart out, the drunk Sharan joins her and adds some Carnatic notes. Note that Meera is singing on the mic on a stage, and he comes singing from the entrance. This scene is an absolute cringe. Imagine a person singing her heart out on the mic while someone gives an entry yelling out the lyrics—only then could the audience actually hear an outsider’s voice syncing with someone on the mic.
The director must have added this to show the two leads’ chemistry blooming but let’s be honest—it isn’t realistic and possible! Rather he could have grabbed a mic and sang; at least, that would have made sense. Yes, in the old golden movies, such dramatic scenes worked but gone are the days. Since the theme of the movie is quite controversial, one could have cut down all these unnecessary things and gone straight to the point and educated the audience.
Cast and Characters
Speaking of the actors, everyone did their roles well, but Kaajal outshone them. The way she hid her feelings and controlled her urges was conveyed neatly. When I say her eyes spoke, I truly mean it because every time she shut her emotions not to give in, her eyes welled up, and seeing her doing that seamlessly, shows how promising of an actor she is.
Sadly, I didn’t sense any chemistry between Manav Gohil and Kaajal. Though her expressions were on point, Manav’s didn’t sit well. I didn’t even feel any pang in my heart when he got closer to her. He looked intimidating the whole time and lacked the yearning on his face. They both could have given the viewers some butterflies in their tummies but failed miserably.
Shraddha Dangar really did an excellent job as this witty girl who is on her journey to move on her from her loved one’s demise. Her character is so beautiful and mischievous, but they really didn’t put more weight on her story because if they had done it, it would have set an example for the new adults who are undergoing such heartbreaks. I personally feel that a good character was left undone.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Chandlo is a good watch that will educate the audience about the emotions of widows, the second chances they deserve, an insight into the age-gap relationships, a heartwarming bond of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, etc. Additionally, one can stream the flick for this particular song Saiba which is beautifully composed.
The Gujarati movie is streaming on JioCinema. Let us know your thoughts about this movie in the comment section.
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Its very nice movie with different thoughts. Actually i dont like gujarati movies much but big fan of Kajal oza i saw this movie n really its worth to see it. Waiting for yr reply.