Chori chori chupke chupke (2001)

चोरी चोरी चुपके चुपके

Chori chori chupke chupke ("Secretly, silently") is a sweet, if weird, film starring three of Bollywood's current biggest names: the controversial cutie Salman Khan (he's been in some trouble with the law of late) as Raj, Rani Mukherjee as his wife Priya, and Preity Zinta as Madhu, the prostitute they hire to serve as a surrogate mother when Rani's character becomes barren after an accident.

Yep, you read that right - a prostitute hired as a surrogate mother.  And yet, this is a film that works much better than any plot synopsis sounds.  Priya goes off the deep end after her accident, and it is Raj's desire to keep her happy despite her irrationality that drives the couple into weirder and weirder subterfuge as they try to conceal from their families the truth about their relationship with Madhu.  All the characters are sweet and sympathetic, and I found myself rooting all of them, despite their peculiar choices. 

The film has some good music - notably the first dance number, the fun "No. 1 Punjabi" - and is an entertaining timepass, especially if you've had some exposure to Bollywood and already get what it's all about.  One moment to watch for is an example of why Bollywood has its not entirely undeserved reputation for shameless plagiarism - after Raj hires Madhu he sets out to civilize her, in a sequence of scenes lifted essentially verbatim from scenes with Richard Gere and Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. 

Comments

[Beth]

This is one of those movies that makes me want to find out how it was received in India when it came out. Hiring a prostitute to be a surrogate mother is one thing, but the methods of, um, you know, seem so very morally bankrupt in terms of how Bollywood usually operates (FAMILY! LOYALTY!), especially when one of the people in cahoots with the plot is a doctor and could have arranged for other...means.

I'm kinda skeeved just thinking about it.

Of course, that whole family and loyalty thing is partly why they go about these shenanigans. For me what's weird is not so much what as how. Eeeeek.

But "No. 1 Punjabi" is superwow! As is Preity's cowboy hat.

[Cybersupam]

I simply like Salman here for his cool n serious role Raj, unlike his other overshowy movies with open the shirt n act insane. One more his serious role was in Garv.

[Shalini]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned that CCCC is essentially a remake of a 1980s film called "Doosri Dulhan" starring Victor Banerjee, Sharmila Tagore and Shabana Azmi in the Salman, Rani and Priety roles.