{"id":727,"date":"2007-06-27T14:48:00","date_gmt":"2007-06-27T14:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/2007\/06\/review-ek-chalis-ki-last-local-2.html"},"modified":"2023-01-27T15:11:08","modified_gmt":"2023-01-27T20:11:08","slug":"review-ek-chalis-ki-last-local-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/2007\/06\/review-ek-chalis-ki-last-local-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Review : Ek chalis ki last local"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"Note : The edited version of this review appears at <\/em>Planet Bollywood<\/em><\/a><\/strong>
\n<\/em>
\nRating : Above average (3.65\/5)
\nGenre : Comedy \/ Thriller
\nYear : 2007
\nRunning time : 2 hours 40 minutes
\nDirector : Sanjay Khanduri
\nCast : Abhay Deol, Neha Dhupia, Vinay Apte, Ashok Samarth, Deepak Shirke, Snehal Dabhi<\/strong><\/p>\n

EK CHALIS KI LAST LOCAL (ECKLL) : SLOW START, BUT GREAT PICK-UP
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Black humor has few proponents in Bollywood. So when a new director like Sanjay Khanduri comes up with a story-based film, I viewed it with skepticism. When the film got off to a slow start I was sort of expecting it. And when it got really boring, I was sort of expecting that too. And just when I was ready to give up on it, it picked up. ECKLL has got to be the sleeper of the year.<\/p>\n

OK, so there\u2019s this yuppie guy Nilesh (Deol), who having had a few after-work beers with colleagues, misses the last local (1:40 am) to Vikhroli. Near the station, he meets a girl Madhu (Dhupia) who\u2019s returning from a marriage function and has also missed her train. Thus, the two get-together (why exactly ? wasn\u2019t able to figure that out) and decide to wait for the train together. Hmm. . . and what better way to while away the time than to wait at a nearby seedy beer bar ? (Now I really have misgivings about the film ).<\/p>\n

So they\u2019re at the beer bar, where Nilesh meets old-time friend Pat, and a whole host of other characters\/goons, and manages to get embroiled in a murder for which he\u2019s blamed ! Throw in a couple of other sub-plots involving ransom money, corrupt police officers and a gay mafia don and you have ECKLL. Yes, the story won\u2019t win you a Pulitzer, but it\u2019s got enough twists and turns to keep one engrossed. The moment the murder happens, things perk up. And it\u2019s all uphill from there on.<\/p>\n

The cast does well enough. Abhay Deol has proved himself before \u2013 he was good in his debut film \u201cSocha na tha\u201d<\/a>, and he performs just as well here too. The little flaws I noticed in his character I\u2019m attributing to the not-so-perfect etching out of his role. Neha Dhupia has improved on her acting skills, and actually looks believable here. Vinay Apte is the understated South Indian goon Ponappa and Ashok Samarth a convincingly corrupt cop.<\/p>\n

This is a plot-driven film, a film where a seemingly normal guy gets caught up in a world of, I wouldn\u2019t say abnormal, but stretching-the-norm kind of characters. It\u2019s a very eclectic set ; they have their fetishes and they stick to them. You know \u2013 the kind of characters that are so off-the-wall that they fit right in ? Well, they\u2019re in this film. The story wends it\u2019s way around Mumbai\u2019s underbelly \u2013 the mafia, and their fights, corruption and prostitution. The mood of the film is dark, there is violence, and lots of expletives being casually thrown about. Still there are situations that make you laugh out loud, and silliness that gives rise to mirth.<\/p>\n

Khanduri handles all this very well for a first-timer. The film is a bold, innovative effort. And yes, it might be rough around the edges, maybe all the tees aren\u2019t crossed and the I\u2019s aren\u2019t dotted, and the film doesn\u2019t shine with the sheen of sophistication, but it\u2019s definitely headed in the right direction. It\u2019s helped on it\u2019s way by fairly decent music; \u201cLaree Choote\u201d is a hit, and the almost acapella style arrangement of \u201cBheegi bheegi si\u201d is catchy.<\/p>\n

So yes, although Khanduri could polish his work a bit, this one deserves your time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Note : The edited version of this review appears at Planet Bollywood Rating : Above average (3.65\/5) Genre : Comedy \/ Thriller Year : 2007 Running time : 2 hours 40 minutes Director : Sanjay Khanduri Cast : Abhay Deol, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_17000648_17000648":"","facebook_10233691416821117_190635594420624":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[51,76,14,28,15,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-51","category-bollywood","category-drama","category-rating-pg13","category-recommended","category-thriller"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"post-thumbnail":false,"sow-carousel-default":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"amodini","author_link":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/author\/admin"},"uagb_comment_info":9,"uagb_excerpt":"Note : The edited version of this review appears at Planet Bollywood Rating : Above average (3.65\/5) Genre : Comedy \/ Thriller Year : 2007 Running time : 2 hours 40 minutes Director : Sanjay Khanduri Cast : Abhay Deol, … Continue reading →","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p45CAb-bJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10427,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727\/revisions\/10427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fridaynirvana.com\/film\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}