In
a
season
of
overblown
action-comedies
with
superstars
laying
down
the
ground-rules
for
dynamic
dada-giri
on
the
large
screen,
it
is
refreshing
and
comforting
to
see
an
aging
world-weary
working-class
hero
who
travels
to
work
on
a
rickety
scooter
and
tries
to
fulfill
his
nuclear
family's
dreams
of
a
car.
The
journey
from
the
two-wheeler
to
the
four
is
what
Do
Dooni
Chaar
is
about.
It's
a
simple
premise
peppered
and
punctuated
by
scenes
and
dialogues
straight
out
of
a
Punjabi
middleclass
household
in
Delhi
where
the
two
grownup
kids
dream
of
BMWs
and
IPL
shares
while
the
father
tries
to
put
together
money
for
an
Alto
and
chicken
meals
for
his
family.
The
film
directed
by
debutant
Habib
Faizal,
has
a
heart
warming
slice-of-life
feel
to
it.
Rishi
Kapoor,
playing
a
working-class
loser
for
the
first
time
in
his
career
pitches
in
a
near-flawless
performance
as
a
maths
teacher
whose
students
have
gone
on
to
own
the
best
cars
in
the
world
while
he,
the
gyan
guru,
remains
frozen
in
his
middleclass
karma.
Mercifully,
the
neatly
scripted
(but
at
times
a
little
under-done)
film
opts
not
to
focus
on
the
irony
of
a
knowledge-giver's
financial
burdens.
Instead
the
plot
cleverly
digs
out
situations
where
the
Duggal
family
is
shown
getting
into
comic
crises,
such
as
the
wedding
at
Rishi's
sister's
in-laws'
place
where
the
Duggal
parivar
has
to
show
up
in
a
borrowed
car.
These
situations
written
sensibly
and
enacted
convincingly
echo
the
savagery
of
life
for
the
working
class
without
wasting
time
feeling
sorry
for
the
characters.
Not
just
Rishi's
Kapoor's
character...Even
his
wife
played
by
the
lovely
Neetu
Singh
comes
across
as
unfussy
practical
clever
and
sensible
householder
who
makes
ends
meet
not
by
the
size
of
her
husband's
income
but
by
a
miraculous
mix
of
common
sense
and
uncommon
guts.
It's
a
pleasure
beyond
measure
to
watch
Rishi
and
Neetu
play
their
real-life
roles
on
screen.
For
those
of
us
who
watched
the
pair
do
Khullam
khulla
pyar
in
their
heydays
watching
them
slip
effortlessly
into
the
roles
of
harried
parents
seems
like
a
journey
well
taken.
Add
the
two
teenage
actors
playing
Rishi-Neetu's
son
(Archit
Krishna)
and
daughter
(Aruna
Vasudev)
into
the
plot.
And
we
are
face-to-face
with
as
real
a
family
as
it
can
get
in
a
quirky
whimsical
earthy
and
heart
warming
saga
of
a
working
class
family's
promotion
in
life
from
the
scooter
to
the
automobile.
The
script
sometimes
careens
towards
a
scathing
comment
on
the
road
taken
by
the
underpaid
teaching
fraternity
country.
Blessedly
Rishi
Kapoor,
one
of
the
finest
and
most
underrated
actors
of
our
country,
plays
Santosh
Duggal
as
a
bit
of
a
rogue,
not
averse
to
shortcuts
when
the
going
gets
really
tough.
The
humanization
and
under-idealization
of
the
knowledge-giver
is
a
clever
touch
in
the
script.
The
debutant
director
demonstrates
substantial
scripting
skills
in
the
way
he
leads
his
protagonist
up
the
road
of
corruption
and
then
pulls
him
back
from
temptation
just
in
time.
On
a
level
that
goes
beyond
entertainment,
Do
Dooni
Chaar
is
actually
a
timely
warning
to
the
architects
of
the
country's
education
system.
The
film
says...don't
let
the
guru
become
a
shishya
of
compromised
idealism.
Pay
the
teacher
well.
On
the
other
hand
if
such
a
reform
in
the
educationalist's
lives
really
happened
we
wouldn't
have
the
pleasure
of
seeing
Rishi
Kapoor
deliver
such
a
lived-in
bravura
performance.
Go
for
Do
Dooni
Chaar.
Its
title
says
it
all,
suggesting
not
only
that
the
protagonist
is
a
mathematician
but
also
that
he
is
constantly
trying
to
count
the
ways
to
make
his
family's
life
comfortable.
Here,
it
all
adds
up.
Story first published: Friday, October 8, 2010, 17:33 [IST]