Chup Chup Ke

Jeetu is a man in debt who cannot get away from his creditors. He throws himself into the sea. He does not die; fishermen pull him out. In the village everyone believes he drowned. To keep the situation intact Jeetu stays silent and starts pretending to be mute. He stays with the family that saved him. There is a deaf and mute girl in the family, and a closeness forms between them. The family thinks of marrying the two. Meanwhile someone who knows Jeetu arrives in the village and the lie starts coming apart. Priyadarshan directs. Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav and Om Puri are in the cast. The film is a remake of Priyadarshan's own Malayalam film Punjabi House; the director shot the same story a second time. Its shape is the comedy of misunderstanding; every character ends up having to keep someone else's lie going. Its second half turns to melodrama and the shift of register is abrupt. The sections with Rajpal Yadav and Paresh Rawal carry the comic weight. Its limit is the subject; humour built on pretending to be mute is uncomfortable by present measure. Another limit is length; the film is long and comes apart in its middle stretch. Who it is for: viewers who like Indian comedy and Priyadarshan's productions. Who it is not for: the humour is built on disability, it runs long, and the register is uneven.