Chillar Party!

The Chillar Party with their dog

Sitting lazily in front of the idiot box on a Sunday afternoon, I was flipping channels; trying to find an appropriate movie or program to watch.

I paused on a movie which was just about to begin. The beginning looked inviting and, when they announced 'Chillar Party' I knew it was a recent release and expected to be fun.Through the afternoon, I sat through the multiple ads that were not so pleasing, because they served as brakes in the flow of the film.

The movie revolved around a group of children, who were collectively called chillar party, by the adult group in  their colony. Each kid, was a star in his own right and they were fairly familiar ones who had shown face in some movies in the past, but most of them could be recognized by their presence in television commercials. 

Together they put up a brilliant performance. Each member of the group had a distinct character. While one little boy disliked wearing his undies, there was another who had a 'black' tongue because every line he uttered showed contrasting results. So when, this boy called Lucky said, " Aj hum zaroor match jeetenge.", they lost to their rival group in the neighborhood. In this manner, each little child's character was carefully cut out and the little ones did rather too well!
What started out as little children playing cricket in their colony and lazing around casually, took a serious turn when the group welcomed a child laborer in their colony, who was appointed to wash the cars. This little boy came with his pet  who was actually a stray dog. By a sequence of events, the political angle is added to the movie and a certain politician decides to do away with all stray dogs in the city.
They save their pet after a long drawn tussle with the minister, which included getting involved with the press and something they called chaddi  march but finally, the minister loses to their stubborn enthusiasm and the dog is allowed to stay in the colony.
The plot of the movie is wholesome because it captures the political troubles, touches on child labour issues, draws on media practices and highlights how children are sometimes driven by adults to give up some right and just cause.
The movie ends in a debate between the minister and the children, with the latter reading out lines from their Moral Science book to the former. Each of those lines were picked well and rendered the minister shamefaced and the happy ending followed!
As against, the lines of Rang de Basanti and that genre of films which empowered the youth, this one concentrated on an lower age bracket and showed how even they could take action and make their mark.

A still from their chaddi march

Kudos to the movie makers and to the undying spirit of cinema with an underlying message!