Batti Gul Meter Chalu (transl. Lights off, meter on; Hindi pronunciation: [bət̪t̪iː gʊl miːʈəɾ tʃaːluː]) is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language drama film[2] directed by Shree Narayan Singh and produced by Bhushan Kumar, Nitin Chandrachud, Nishant Pitti and Krishan Kumar.[3] The film tells the story of inflated electricity bills in rural India and stars Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Yami Gautam and Divyendu Sharma.[4]
| Batti Gul Meter Chalu | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Shree Narayan Singh |
| Screenplay by | Siddharth-Garima |
| Story by | Vipul K Rawal |
| Produced by | Bhushan Kumar Krishan Kumar Nitin Chandrachud Shree Narayan Singh Kusum Arora Prerna Arora Nishant Pitti |
| Starring | Shahid Kapoor Shraddha Kapoor Yami Gautam Divyendu Sharma |
| Cinematography | Anshuman Mahaley |
| Edited by | Shree Narayan Singh |
| Music by | Score: Vijay Verma Anamik & Lyton Songs: Anu Malik Rochak Kohli Sachet–Parampara |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Cinestaan AA Distributors |
Release date |
|
Running time | 161 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Box office | est. ₹56 crore[1] |
Principal photography commenced in February 2018 in Tehri, Uttarakhand and was completed in July 2018.[5][6] The film was released worldwide on 21 September 2018 to negative reviews from critics[7] with praise for its message, humor, performances and cinematography. The movie's running time and story execution faced criticism. The film failed at the box office.[8][9]
Plot
editSushil Kumar "S.K." Pant, Lalita "Nauti" Nautiyal and Sundar Mohan Tripathi are childhood friends based in Tehri, Uttarakhand. S.K. is an unscrupulous lawyer making money from out-of-court settlements. Nauti is an over the top fashion designer who thinks highly of herself. Wanting to get married, she decides to date both her childhood friends, each for a week. Things turn sour as S.K catches Nauti and Tripathi kissing. Heartbroken, he starts taunting and avoiding them.
Tripathi's small town printing press is charged with an inflated electricity bill of ₹150,000 (US$1,800), which escalates to ₹5.4 million (US$65,000) in the following months. He along with Nauti visit S.K for a solution, but instead, he insults them. With nowhere to go, Tripathi commits suicide. S.K is taken aback by the events and has a change of heart. He decides to fight out against SPTL, the privatised electricity company responsible for the inflated bills. SPTL has Gulnaar Rizvi as their lawyer against SK for the case.
On the last sitting of case with S.K about to win, Tripathi resurfaces and reveals about his suicide attempt and his struggles regarding inflated bills. The Court clears Tripathi's bill and cancels SPTL's License. It also orders them to pay Tripathi ₹1 million (US$12,000), and others ₹50,000 (US$600) with similar complaints as a compensation. Tripathi is sentenced to six months of simple imprisonment for trying to dupe insurance company with his fake death. Gulnaar and S.K. are shown to be dating post the case.
Cast
edit- Shahid Kapoor as Sushil Kumar "SK" Pant
- Shraddha Kapoor as Lalita "Nauti" Nautiyal
- Yami Gautam as Advocate Gulnaar Rizvi
- Divyendu Sharma as Sundar Mohan Tripathi / Ratul Gupta (fake name)
- Farida Jalal as Lalita's grandmother
- Sushmita Mukherjee as Judge
- Samir Soni as Sanjay Bhaduriya, SPTL owner
- Rajendra Chawla as Janak Khanduri, complaint officer
- Sukhvinder Chahal as Pankaj Bahuguna, SPTL official
- Sudhir Pandey as D.N Pant, SK's father
- Supriya Pilgaonkar as Beena Nautiyal, Lalita's mother
- Atul Srivastava as Murarilal Tripathi, Sundar's father
- Anushka Ranjan as Rita Tripathi, Sundar's sister
- Brijendra Kala as Deendayal Gangotri Travels owner
- Badrul Islam as Kalyan
- Sharib Hashmi as Vikas
- Mukesh S Bhatt as Upreti
- Anna Ador as Ariana
Production
editFilming
editPrincipal photography began in February 2018 with Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor in Tehri, Uttarakhand.[5] The first and second schedule of the film got wrapped in February 2018[10] and March 2018 respectively.[11] Since, KriArj Entertainment, which was producing the film firstly got into financial troubles, the shoot of the film was kept on a halt, which finally got resumed in May 2018 and was wrapped up in June 2018.[12] After the final schedule in July 2018, the film was finally wrapped up in the same month.[6]
Casting
editDirector Shree Narayan Singh had already signed Shahid Kapoor to play a lawyer fighting against Faulty Electricity Meters and Inflated Bills in a local town of Uttarakhand.[13] Later, Yami Gautam was signed as an opposition lawyer against Shahid Kapoor in the film.[14] For the role of Lalita Nautiyal a.k.a. Nauti, actresses like Katrina Kaif,[15] Ileana D'Cruz[16] and Sonakshi Sinha[17] were approached but later, it was confirmed that Shraddha Kapoor would be playing this role in the film.[18]
Marketing and release
edit
The film was originally slated to release on 31 August 2018[19] but was pushed to 14 September 2018 to avoid the clash with Shraddha Kapoor's other film, Stree starring Rajkummar Rao.[20] The financial troubles faced by KriArj Entertainment[21] lead to delays in the shooting of the film.
Later, it was announced that the film would have a worldwide release on 21 September 2018.[22] The teaser of the film was released by T-Series on 18 October 2017.[23] The trailer of the movie was released on 10 August 2018.[24] Following a special screening on 20 September attended by the cast[25] the film finally was released on 20 September 2018 in UAE and 21 September worldwide.[26] The film had its TV world premiere on Zee Cinema on 16 February 2019.[citation needed]
Soundtrack
edit| Batti Gul Meter Chalu | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | |||||
| Released | 8 September 2018 | ||||
| Recorded | 2018 | ||||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | ||||
| Length | 20:14 | ||||
| Language | Hindi | ||||
| Label | T-Series | ||||
| |||||
| Anu Malik chronology | |||||
| |||||
| Rochak Kohli chronology | |||||
| |||||
| Sachet–Parampara chronology | |||||
| |||||
| Singles from Batti Gul Meter Chalu | |||||
| |||||
The music of the film is composed by Anu Malik, Rochak Kohli, Sachet–Parampara while the lyrics are penned by Siddharth-Garima and Manoj Muntashir. Music was produced by Dj Phukan, Bharat Goel, Chandan Saxena, O2srk, Abhijit Vaghani. The songs featured in the film are sung Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Arijit Singh, Atif Aslam, Mika Singh, Nakash Aziz, Prakriti Kakar and Sachet Tandon.[27] The album of the film was by released T-Series on 5 September 2018. The music supervision was assisted by Vatsal Chevli.[28]
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Gold Tamba" | Siddharth – Garima | Anu Malik | Nakash Aziz | 5:02 |
| 2. | "Dekhte Dekhte" | Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Manoj Muntashir | Rochak Kohli, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan | Atif Aslam | 4:16 |
| 3. | "Dekhte Dekhte" (Version 2) | Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Manoj Muntashir | Rochak Kohli | Rahat Fateh Ali Khan | 4:16 |
| 4. | "Hard Hard" | Siddharth – Garima | Sachet–Parampara | Mika Singh, Sachet Tandon, Prakriti Kakar | 3:38 |
| 5. | "Har Har Gange" | Siddharth – Garima | Sachet – Parampara | Arijit Singh | 3:02 |
| Total length: | 20:14 | ||||
Critical reception
editBatti Gul Meter Chalu generally received negative reviews from critics. The film was lauded for its message, humor, performances and cinematography. The movie's running time and story execution faced criticism. On review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, 18% of 11 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.8 out of 10.[29]
DNA in its 3.5 stars review criticized the storyline but praised the performance of Shahid Kapoor. " Shahid is top-notch. The actor, who is in his prime, has matured into a fine talent and shows that he can shoulder a film on his own. Half a star in the film's rating is reserved only for Shahid."[30]
Rachit Gupta from TOI in his 3 stars review questioned the screenplay saying, "BGMC loses power under the load of its heavy-duty screenplay." He, however praised Shahid & Shraddha's performance adding, "Shahid is able to blend a fine balance between the over-confident young man and the guy with a heart of gold. His monologue during the climax is superb. Shraddha Kapoor plays the peppy small town girl with panache."[31]
Rajeev Masand gave positive response praising the performances of the cast, message and humor of the film. He awarded it 3 stars noting "This is one of those mainstreammovies that delivers its message coated with a thick layer of melodrama. And it works." Shubhra Gupta from The Indian Express rated it 2.5 stars out of 5 praising the cinematography, message and humor of the film. She noted saying "Batti Gul Meter Chalu is careless not to get too much in lecture-mode. The rest of it made me smile, and made me pause: how do you expect people to live without ‘bijli’ in today's world? It is, as SK says thunderously, a fundamental right."[32]
Another critic Shrishti Negi of News 18 praised performances of the cast, writing and the heart of the film. While criticized the sexist 'jibles', massage and the film's overstretched second half. Devesh Sharma of Filmfare quoted "All-in-all, Batti Gul Meter Chalu is a film which has its heart in the right place. Better editing and a shortening of length by twenty minutes would have made the film more impactful."[33]
While critic Jyoti Sharma Bawa from Hindustan Times criticized the execution of the film quoting "The film takes almost 1.5 hours to establish what the trailer explained in three minutes" giving it two and half from five stars.[34]
Legal issues
editThe shooting of the film got stalled in April 2018 due to the non-payment of dues by KriArj Entertainment. Later, in June 2018, producer Vashu Bhagnani claimed his rights over the film as the deal with KriArj Entertainment, which was denied by Bhushan Kumar, the current producer of the film.[35]
The film's original and first writer Vipul K Rawal had filed a case against the Director and other writers for trying to deny him his rightful credit for the story, screenplay and dialogues of the film.[36] Later, the matter was settled and it was decided that the credit for story, screenplay and dialogues will now be equally shared between Rawal along with Sidhartha Singh and Garima Wahal.[37]
References
edit- ^ "BATTI GUL METER CHALU BOX OFFICE". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 13 April 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
- ^ "Batti Gul Meter Chalu Preview: Shahid Kapoor's Fight For Justice Begins". Archived from the original on 24 October 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
- ^ "Kumar takes over Batti Gul Meter Chalu and Fanne Khan from Prenaa Arora". Archived from the original on 22 May 2018.
- ^ [1] Archived 7 February 2022 at the Wayback Machine Times of India – "Shraddha Kapoor and Yami Gautam on board for Shahid Kapoor starrer Batti Gul Meter Chalu"
- ^ a b [2] Archived 10 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine Hindustan Times "Shahid Kapoor begins shooting for Batti Gul Meter Chalu in Uttarakhand" – 10 February 2018 – Bollywood
- ^ a b [3] Archived 12 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine NewsX – It's a wrap for Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor starrer Batti Gul Meter Chalu – 12 July 2018
- ^ https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/batti_gul_meter_chalu
- ^ Hungama, Bollywood (21 September 2018). "Batti Gul Meter Chalu Box Office Collection | India | Day Wise | Box Office - Bollywood Hungama". Archived from the original on 2 January 2024. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
- ^ "Batti Gul Meter Chalu to release on 21 September". 18 July 2018. Archived from the original on 18 July 2018. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ^ [4] Archived 27 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine – PinkVilla "Shahid Kapoor wraps up the first schedule of Batti Gul Meter Chalu – February 22, 2018
- ^ [5] Archived 27 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine – India.com "Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor wrap up the second schedule of the film – 22 March 2018
- ^ [6] Archived 27 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine DNA India "Shahid Kapoor's 'Batti Gul Meter Chalu' finally resumes shooting" – 17 May 2018
- ^ [7] Archived 30 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine – Hindustan Times – "Shahid Kapoor to star in Toilet director Shree Narayan's film" – 27 September 2017
- ^ [8] Archived 30 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine – Deccan Chronicle – Confirmed! It's Yami Gautam opposite Shahid Kapoor in Batti Gul Meter Chalu – 7 January 2018
- ^ [9] Archived 30 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine India.com – Katrina Kaif out Shraddha Kapoor in for Shahid Kapoor's Batti Gul Meter Chalu
- ^ [10] Archived 30 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine KoiMoi – Bollywood – Not Ileana D'Cruz But this actress to star opposite Shahid Kapoor in Batti Gul Meter Chalu – 2 January 2018
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- ^ [12] Archived 20 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine Pandolin – Shraddha Kapoor signs Batti Gul Meter Chalu
- ^ [13] Archived 27 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine NDTV – "Shahid Kapoor's Batti Gul Meter Chalu Gets A Release Date" – 11 November 2017
- ^ [14] Archived 27 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine DNA India – "Clash averted! Shraddha Kapoor Batti Gul Meter Chalu will not lock horns with Stree" – 16 June 2018
- ^ [15] Archived 27 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine Mumbai Mirror – "Director Shree Narayan and producer Prernaa Arora's Batti Gul Meter Chalu runs into trouble over the payment issues" – 10 April 2018
- ^ [16] Archived 18 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine Times Now News – Entertainment – Bollywood News – Article – Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor's Batti Gul Meter Chalu gets a new release date – details inside – 18 July 2018
- ^ [17] Archived 26 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine Times of India – "Title Announcement – Batti Gul Meter Chalu" – 5 December 2017
- ^ ""Batti Gul Meter Chalu" Trailer Released". Headlines Today. Archived from the original on 11 August 2018. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
- ^ "Shahid and Mira Kapoor attend special screening of Batti Gul Meter Chalu". Hindustan Times. 20 September 2018. Archived from the original on 15 January 2024. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
- ^ "BATTI GUL METER CHALU – SHOWTIMES". VOX Cinemas. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
- ^ [18] Archived 12 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine Hindustan Times – Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor wrap Batti Gul Meter Chalu with Mika Singh song – 12 June 2018
- ^ "Batti Gul Meter Chalu – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack". Gaana. Archived from the original on 29 October 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
- ^ https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/batti_gul_meter_chalu
- ^ "'Batti Gul Meter Chalu' Review: Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor's social drama educates but fails to entertain". dna. 20 September 2018. Archived from the original on 12 October 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
- ^ "Batti Gul Meter Chalu Movie Review". The Times of India. 24 September 2018. Archived from the original on 16 January 2019. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
- ^ "Batti Gul Meter Chalu movie review: The Shahid Kapoor starrer is a film with good intentions". The Indian Express. 21 September 2018. Archived from the original on 19 October 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
- ^ "CRITIC REVIEWS FOR BATTI GUL METER CHALU". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 21 September 2020. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
- ^ "Batti Gul Meter Chalu review: Shahid Kapoor film is low on voltage". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 15 January 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
- ^ [19] Archived 27 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine Indian Express – "T-Series, Vashu Bhagnani at loggerheads over rights of 'Batti Gul Meter Chalu', 'Fanney Khan'" – 26 June 2018
- ^ "Case filed against writers, director of Shahid Kapoor-Shraddha Kapoor's Batti Gul Meter Chalu". 20 May 2018. Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
- ^ Hungama, Bollywood (2 June 2018). "Batti Gul Meter Chalu makers reach an agreement over writing credit – Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 24 October 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2023.