Flawed college film with engaging moments

'Chhichhore'

Director: NiteshTiwari

Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Shraddha Kapoor, Varun Sharma,Tahir Raj Bhasin, Prateik Babbar, Naveen Polishetty, Tushar Pandey

Score: 3

The ‘losers’ are dumped in a hostel called H4. They are the scum. The cream are housed in H1 of a prestigious engineering college, and they owe it to their all-India ranking.

Chhichhore is all about the battle H4 wages with H1, H2 and H3 to claim their place in the sun. In the end, when they finally shed the loser tag, we get a cross between Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander and 3 Idiots. Not bad.

The film gets its life from the pranks of college and hostel life. It’s a little dreary here, a little over the top there, and flawed all over, but Chhichhore wields that magic wand of student life whose nostalgia sees you through the drudgery of your later years.

All the chhichhoras (good-for-nothing boys) look every bit the wastrels they are meant to be. Except Shraddha Kapoor, who seems to have chanced upon the Fountain of Youth. Ms Kapoor remains the college beauty even two decades after she reunites with the losers—all prosthetics and bald heads. Luckily, her role is limited to being a distracting screen presence in immaculate outfits.

Sushant Singh Rajput leads the gang, but the limelight is stolen by his more admirable mates — Sexa (a delightful Varun Sharma, all porn and undie jokes), Acid (Naveen Polishetty, expletive expert), Bevda (Saharsh Shukla, bottle buddy), Mummy’s boy Tushar Pandey, and Derek (Tahir Raj Bhasin, who has a bone to pick with college bully Prateik Babbar, class act).

The film carries a message for our times — life is not all about an engineering seat (in fact, it turns better after a failed JEE attempt).

The strip-tease ragging, the Playboy bundles, the scuffles in the canteen, the boy-meets-girl, the do-or-die sports championship... Chhichhore has an energetic subject and some real lines. It takes you back to college.