First things first: what kind of a name is Chamku? Is it the name of a detergent or a whitener? No, it’s the name of a Maoist-turned-government-assassin who later becomes an avenging angel. This was director Kabeer Kaushik’s second film and he had raised hopes after his gritty Sehar. One went to see the film with serious reservations about the name of the film and really nothing else.
Bobby Deol, who plays the protagonist Chamku in the film, is luckless.
An evil Thakur shoots Chandrama Singh’s family. Chandrama’s name is shortened to Chamku by Maoist leader Danny Denzongpa and grows up as his favourite lieutenant. He’s serious, morose, with one single expression on his face. Clap clap, that’s called acting. Then Chamku is shot in a police encounter and lies in the hospital with the same depressed look as a government agent. Irrfan Khan, dependable as usual, makes him an offer.
Chamku is now trained to kill, we’re told. So he goes around killing, till he meets lovely Priyanka Chopra, who is wasted in the film. Here the director lets go of a potential comic sequence when Bobby is about to introduce himself to the girl.
Eventually love happens, songs happen, even pregnancy happens. So much happens and Chamku looks even more depressed. By then, so are you. It doesn’t take you long to understand that the Maoists and the government-assassin-looking-to-get-out angle is just a guise for an often repeated revenge drama. Danny’s character should have been etched out with better imagination. The action sequence set in a train is handled well, but it isn’t enough to redeem the film.
Honestly, there’s little shine in this “Chamku”.
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