Director- Aarti S. Bagdi
Cast- Seema Biswas, Manjari Fadnavis, Siddhanth Kapoor, Indraneil Sengupta, Barkha Sengupta, Flora Jacob, Trimala Adhikari and Rohit Khandelwal
Where to Watch: ZEE5
Ratings: 2 star
Lockdown during the pandemic was a hard time for everyone from the middle class to the below poverty line people. While the rich continued to live their luxurious lives, others were busy struggling and fighting problems ranging from personal to financial. ZEE5's new release Chalti Rahe Zindagi shows the struggles that people went through during the lockdown but fails to evoke emotions due to lazy, immature writing.
Chalti Rahe Zindagi follows the story of Krishna Bhagat (Siddhanth Kapoor), a local bread supplier, and how his deliveries connect three families and how lockdown changes their lives forever. Phase 1 of the lockdown exposes the extramarital affair of Arjun (Indraneil Sengupta)'s wife with Aru (Barkha Sengupta)'s husband, a neighbor. In phase 2 Sushma (Flora Jacob), pressurized by her son Akash (Rohit Khandelwal), a TV journalist, forces Krishna to return the money that she had loaned him. Phase 3 brings to the fore the conflict within Leela Seth, a lady in her late sixties, her daughter-in-law, Naina in her mid-thirties, and her granddaughter, a teenager, Siya.
The anthology structure of the film is the biggest drawback of the film making it look illogical. The writing looks lazy and immature. Dialogues in the film are too simple, less impactful, and cringe at times, but that's not the worst part. The most annoying thing about the film's writing is its lack of time and space for the characters to develop fully and relate with the audience. With no twists and turns, and a predictable and boring climax, the film tests your patience.
Despite having some of the most talented actors in the film and being set in the pandemic time, it fails to evoke emotions. Manjari Fadnavis as Naina, the dance teacher, a single mother, and the sole bread earner of the house impresses with her act, Indraneil and Barkha as Arjun and Aru, who get cheated by their respective partners in a marriage are decent in their act, Flora Jacob as Sushma, the lady who keeps notice of anything and everything happening in the society is the most relatable character in the film. However, all of their talent seemed to have been wasted due to a lack of proper character development.
Siddhanth Kapoor as Krishna Bhagat outshines the whole cast in the film. His potrayal of the local bread supplier, who is cheerful, positive, and super honest, makes you relate to him and feel pity for him when his family gets affected due to the pandemic. However, due to the writing, even his character, which carried the most potential to make you cry, leaves you half-hearted. Seema Biswas amazes Leela, a 70-year-old lady who has OCD, and the pandemic just worsens things for her. However, despite their amazing performances, the film bores you to the extent that you question choosing to watch it in the first place.
In an attempt to make a heartfelt lockdown drama, Chalti Rahe Zindagi wastes your time and just triggers the memories from the pandemic time which everyone wants to forget. Immature and compelled dialogues make your cringe hard. The film is relatable but only bearable if you watch it with increased speed. The lack of emotional depth in the story as well as the characters makes you wonder if it is written by a college student. Chalti Rahe Zindagi is a perfect example of what not to watch and makes you want to switch to a better, less boring film or series.
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