Chehre movie review: An average thriller with top-notch performances by Amitabh Bachchan and Emraan Hashmi

Rumy Jafry is known for his comedy films. He has made us laugh out loud in the past many times with his amazing writing in movies like Coolie No. 1 (1995), Hero No. 1 (1997), Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (2004), and others.

He has also directed movies like God Tussi Great Ho (2008), Life Partner (2009), and Gali Gali Chor Hai (2012). All of them were comedies, but now, Jafry has tried something different this time with Chehre. So, does he succeed in it? Well, partly yes and partly no.

Chehre is about Sameer Mehra (Emraan Hashmi) who works in an ad agency. One day while coming to Delhi from a hilly area, he meets with a small accident, because of which he gets stuck between the chilling snow-capped mountains. He meets Paramjeet Singh Bhuller (Annu Kapoor) who invites him to his friend Jagdish Acharya’s (Dhritiman Chatterjee ) house. Sameer decides to join Paramjeet and his friends to spend the evening. When Sameer reaches the house he gets introduced to other people, Lateef Zaidi (Amitabh Bachchan), Aana (Rhea Chakraborty), and Hariya (Raghubir Yadav).

Lateef, Jagdish, Paramjeet and Hariya are retired law professionals, and they tell Sameer to play a game with them where he will be the accused and a fake trial will take place on him. Sameer thinks that it’s just a silly game, but soon, things get serious.

The story of the film written by Ranjit Kapoor is quite good, and the first half is very strong. The build-up of the story keeps us engaged and we surely want to know what will happen in the second half. But, after such a great first half, the movie loses its grip.

The screenplay (co-written by Kapoor and Jafry) and the narration (Jafry) in the second half lack the elements that were required to keep us engaged. The twists and turns start taking place in the second half but the way they have been narrated there’s no thrill in it.

While the screenplay and narration aren’t up to the mark, one department that the film gets the full marks is Binod Pradhan’s cinematography. He has captured the snow-capped mountains as well as the other scenes wonderfully.

Talking about performances, Amitabh Bachchan has given a mind-blowing performance. He is excellent in the film, and his monologue in the climax is just awesome. Emraan Hashmi is damn good in his role and looks dapper. Rhea Chakraborty is impressive and surely leaves a mark. Krystle D’Souza looks pretty, but we expected more from her performance-wise. Veteran actors Annu Kapoor, Dhritiman Chatterjee, and Raghubir Yadav are also amazing in their respective roles.

The music of the film is decent and the title track will give you goosebumps as it’s a poem mouthed by Big B.

Overall, Chehre had the potential to be a better film, but with a disappointing second half, it turns out to be an average thriller.

Ratings: 2.5/5

Watch the trailer here…