Disney Movie Review: Do Dooni Char – A Genuine ‘Middle Class’ Comedy

By Arun Chitnis

After an avalanche of the usual Americanized Indian movies that we have been subjected to of late, Disney’s Do Dooni Char reminds us that being unadulterated Indian has NOT gone out of style.

This film took me completely by surprise with its charm, courage and accurate exploration of the Indian middle class mindset. There are no over-dramatized gang wars. There are no foreign locations or white-skinned aberrations to a predominantly brown background.

This film is just good, plain, old fashioned fun – with a couple of deep social messages thrown in. Not to mention the fact that it stars Rishi and Neetu Kapoor neé Singh, who were my favorite ‘filmi jodi’ back when I still believed that life generally made sense.

Do Dooni Char is all about a typical Delhi-based Punjabi middle-class family, portrayed to absolute perfection by Rishi, Neetu and a couple of teenagers whom I personally haven’t seen before.

The setup is totally convincing – the no-frills household, the financial concerns (they agonize over thousands, not lakhs or crores), the harried parents, the reality-disconnected teenagers, the pushy next-of-kin and keeping-up-with-the-Janardhans  psyche… this lot could have been lifted straight from Bapu Dham Colony.

Rishi Kapoor is a hard-working teacher whose financial constraints are slowly beginning to erode his penchant for playing a straight game. Even doubling as a coaching class instructor doesn’t really help in bringing home the bacon – especially with a couple of rabidly aspirational teenagers.

He gets around on a beaten-up scooter, and buying a car is just about the last thing on his mind – at least so far. Neetu Kapoor? She’s the glue that keeps this tenuously balanced house of cards together with sheer force of character, courage and resourcefulness.

A series of comical events leads this family to borrow a car from their neighbor so that they can arrive at a close relative’s marriage in Meerut in required style. The car doesn’t make it back the way it went, and they have to pay for the repairs – but that’s actually beside the point.

The upshot is that Rishi makes a public commitment to get the family its own car, and this is where things start getting hairy – and extremely funny. If I wondered before the show why Disney would want to touch a Hindi movie script at all, I stopped wondering half-way through.

Do Dooni Char is absolutely tailor-made for the banner – good, clean family fun, with serious food for thought provided to the young ones (and we adults get to squirm a bit in uncomfortable self-examination, too. For instance – how important are OUR values when push comes to shove?)

Do Dooni Char is good, clean family fun

The story and its lessons ring as clear as a bell. No inconsistencies, no lapses of judgment – it is all very convincingly portrayed. Rishi and Neetu don’t miss a beat and remind us – hopefully not for the last time – why they worked so well together on-screen before they tied the knot three decades or more ago.

Don’t miss this movie. Your kids will love it. YOU will love it. And there is no telling when you will get to see a really sensible Hindi movie again – the landscape has been rather desolate on that front for a while now.

Do Dooni Char is a genuinely worthwhile family flick that – depending on how we’re positioned in life – will either strike a cord in us or remind us of how fortunate we are not to be similarly placed.

Either way, you won’t leave the cinema hall unmoved – and my guess is that you won’t hear too many shopping demands from the kids on the way back home… maybe not even for the rest of the week.

© Arun Chitnis

Arun Chitnis is a professional content and copywriter, proof-reader and editor. He wields his pen on a diverse range of topics, but his primary areas of interest are medical and lifestyle issues, family dynamics, parenting, natural health, home improvement, real estate, humor and fiction.

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Disney’s Do Dooni Chaar Movie Trailer