Chhichhore- Debunking the secret of winning in life #238

Chhichhore: The Plot

Anirudh Pathak/Anni, a fresher, stepped into his college—one of India’s most prestigious engineering colleges. He got a room in Hostel 4 (H4). This hostel building had an unusual reputation: even though all students came with good grades and hard work, it was known as the “Losers” hostel. The college also placed great emphasis on sports and extra-curricular activities; every year, a championship was held between all the hostels. H4 hadn’t won a trophy for 15 years, while Hostel 3 (H3) had bagged it consistently!

Anirudh is married now, and his son Raghav is about to join college. Anxious for the entrance exam results, he can’t sleep at night! So, he takes Raghav to visit his mom, Maya–Anirudh’s college sweetheart. Sadly, their marriage didn’t work out and they divorced; however, Anirudh got custody of Raghav and brings him to see Maya often.

Anirudh was getting emotional as it was time for his son to leave home and start a new phase of life. He reminisced the days when Raghav had grown up, wishing he could stay with him until he left for hostel. To celebrate his son’s result, Anirudh bought a bottle of wine! He looked like an awesome dad. Unfortunately, Raghav’s result wasn’t what he’d expected… He didn’t get into the college he wanted. Nervous and feeling pressure to meet his parents’ high standards—they had both graduated from great colleges—Raghav jumped off his building in an attempted suicide.

Raghav’s friend, who witnessed this, called his parents immediately. Anirudh and Maya were shocked to see their child in such a condition—face disfigured, severely bleeding. He was admitted into the hospital in critical condition.

Maya accused Anirudh of pressuring the poor boy and not giving enough attention to the family. Anirudh was shattered but more composed than Maya. The doctor treating Raghav talked with them and explained how critical Raghav’s condition was; he also mentioned that the boy was too depressed, making it difficult for his body to recover from the injuries due to his unwillingness to live.

Raghav was thinking himself a loser.

Anirudh remembered his college life—how he had become part of the “loser gang” unintentionally. He wanted to share this story with his son, so he could see life from a different perspective.

Flashback: Anni tried multiple times to change hostels, not because anything was wrong but because of the comment he heard on his first day about H4—“He won’t survive there.” Little did he know what destiny had in store for him.

In just two months, he became good friends with the seniors and his classmates, and he made his first move towards Maya. Anni was great at playing basketball and cricket. Before the GC (the sports championship held between the hostels), a group of students checked for talented athletes from other hostels. Anni was one of them. They proposed that he move to H3 as it would benefit their team in the tournament. H3 looked better in every way—the rooms were nicer, the food was tastier, and foreign students were given priority there. Without hesitation, Anni declined the offer.

He couldn’t leave his friends that had become his family then…

Now coming to his friends… The gang of Losers-

Sexa – Anni’s senior year in H4 was a guy overly obsessed with porn. He had the largest collection of adult magazines, and no one knew his real name until his father visited him at the hostel.

Acid – Another senior. He was a bright student who lost his focus after coming to college. His poor grades filled him with anger and his bad language kept getting worse each day.

Mummy – Mama’s boy who did nothing except studies in his life!

Bewda – A senior, a genius in chess, who was always drunk.

Derek – The senior from final year and the ultimate stud.

When Anni declined H3’s proposal, they told her about Derek, who had also rejected a similar offer and was now regretting it in his room. After talking to Derek, Anni understood how important the GC tournament was for the hostels’ prestige and the boys. Derek wanted to bring glory to his hostel by winning the trophy but had failed for the last three years. Since it was Derek’s final year in college, Anni agreed to give it another try. They gathered all of the boys together and started making strategies for the tournament. They motivated them, but it wasn’t enough to win matches. H4 lacked good players and their opponents strategically bribed better ones so they’d play on their side.

The odds were against H4. The first few matches went poorly and the boys were frustrated; they lacked enthusiasm. All of them made a pledge to sacrifice their favorite thing until they won GC: Sexa said goodbye to his magazine collection, Acid promised not to swear, Derek promised not to smoke, Bewda gave away all of his alcohol bottles, Mummy decided not to talk with his mother, and Anni stayed away from Maya—the most desired girl in college who was also drop-dead gorgeous!

The boys had more focus on the game now and their strategies started working. Everyone in H4 put their heart and soul into the championship. Staying away from addiction drained them, but it couldn’t stop them.

Present time: Anirudh called his college friends, who are the life of his story. They all left their work behind to support Anirudh and Maya in their crisis. All of them told Raghav their part of the story since he was skeptical at first about his father’s truthfulness.

Raghav’s health wasn’t improving, but he was invested in the story. The doctor informed Anirudh and Maya that Raghav needed another surgery due to his brain injuries. They had only 15 minutes before the operation and Anirudh was desperate to finish his story first!

Flashback: It was the last day of the tournament with three matches. H4 had to win them all to win the trophy. They won two and lost one basketball game by two points.

The boys felt heartbroken and devastated, but this time H4 gave H3 a hard competition. They were appreciated for their hard work and sacrifice, even though they didn’t win the trophy. Raghav was surprised to know that… He asked his father, “Didn’t you feel like dying that day?” Anirudh explained: They got over it quickly because it wasn’t a loss—the boys had given their best, so they weren’t losers anymore. Losers are those who don’t want to try in fear of failure; those who lose to themselves even before giving it a shot. Anirudh cheered his son on: “Come back my son as a fighter!” And Raghav was taken to the operation room.

One year later, Raghav stepped into his dream college with a smile. His parents and others wished him luck on his new journey.

My thoughts on the movie:

The movie Chhichhore tells a simple yet compelling story. I haven’t seen a film with such an inspiring message in recent times. We often strive for big goals, but don’t consider what happens if we don’t achieve them. Will it crush us? Is it failure? How will we cope? We’re scared to ask ourselves these questions…

When Raghav fought for his life in hospital, Anirudh regretted not making him strong enough. Failure and success are both inevitable parts of life. He was upset he never gave his son the chance to fail. He told him they’d celebrate the result together. Would he abandon his child if they failed?

I want my son’s healthy and happy life more than anything– he confessed.

We should remind ourselves regularly not to be upset over things we can’t control.

I really loved the way the story unfolded step by step. No romantic drama—applause for that! The characters were realistic, and the flashback scenes highly entertaining—just pure comedy. The performance couldn’t be better!

The only things I’m slightly disappointed with are the makeup of the old characters; all of them had a distinguishable reduced hairline. Many men do get bald with age, but not all. I think the makeup team could have done a better job there. Also, Maya was the only female character in the entire movie—which seemed a bit odd.

I loved the movie overall. The portrayal of hostel life was spot on. It wasn’t surprising that two great minds behind this movie had studied at IIT Bombay!

I wish that I could watch Chhichhore in hall last year, when Sushant Singh Rajput (played the character of Anirudh/Anni) was still alive… It’s one of his best performances… May his soul rest in peace. I’d rate Chhichhore 8 out of 10.

Note:
“Kai Po Che” (2013) was Sushant’s first film. He also starred in Shuddh Desi Romance(2013), PK(2014), Detective Byomkesh Bakshy(2015), M. S. Dhoni the untold story(2016), Raabta(2017), Kedarnath(2018), Drive, Sonchiriya, Chhichhore (2019) and Dil Bechara(2020). Dil Bechara is Sushant’s last film that released after his death.