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It has been ages since I did a film review, and just about as long since I saw this one. Chaahat was brought over to me from a wonderful dear friend who lives in the UK. He said it was an early Shah Rukh film that was hard to come by. I had never heard of it, so I had zero expectations but as the credits started rolling but I saw the names Shah Rukh, Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah, I got excited! Also this movie was directed by Mahesh Bhatt, who was responsible for one of my favorite early Shah films Duplicate.

Shah plays Roop Singh Rathod, the musically gifted son to once musically gifted father Shambunath (Anumpam). Melodrama strikes early when we learn that dad is sick and needs medical attention in the big city which is costly. Roop, who loves his father dearly, heads to the big mean city of Mumbai to find a job singing. As luck would have it, he gets hired by the commanding and tough Ajay Narang (Nass), who has a very protective and an almost unnatural love for his sister Reshma (Ramya Krishna). Things are going very well for Roop. He meets the girl of his dreams, Dad seems to be on the mend, and he's got a great gig singing for the rich. Too bad Reshma decides to go all Fatal Attration on Roops ass. What Mahesh treats us to for the rest of the movie is a culmination of sweet romantic moments, crazed jealous bitch fights, and a little Shah dishoom complete with the all too famous mouth blood element.


I loved Shah in this film. There's still quite a few of his early movies I've yet to see, and I imagine there not all great films, but it's so interesting to see where he's came from and how he's grown. Though he's a polished actor now, it's refreshing sometimes to see the young, vulnerable, naive side to him. The dance sequence for Nahin Lagta shows him at his intense best. What I wouldn't give to see him REALLY dance nowadays. His performances on stage lately seem, I don't know, slightly wooden in the boogie down sense.




Nass was so mean in this film, and I'm not talking the evil villainish type of mean like in Krrish, but cold, calculated mean. Like you don't want to piss him off or do wrong by someone he loves if you want to live. Yet, despite the eerie volcanic personality, he comes across as one totally classy guy. Rich, good looking, powerful, and played just wonderfully, like there's ever any other option. Ramya Krishna too was really good at the jealous obsessed lover of sorts. I totally bought her crazy 100%.


Pooja Bhaat and Anupam Kher were just okay for me, with Anupam getting brownie points for being the coolest dad in a film I've seen recently. Personally I think Shah had more chemistry with the horse than with Pooja, but that's just me.









Overall Mahesh doesn't score nearly as high on the entertainment scale with this one as he did with Duplicate, but it is a definite watchable film for any Shah fan. Does true love conquer all? It could, just watch your back.