Chhichhore review: Where a bunch of losers teach us a lesson in life

The Sushant Singh Rajput-Shraddha Kapoor starrer drives home an important lesson in living.

Get ready to be hit by a heavy dose of nostalgia when you watch the Nitesh Tiwari (of Dangal fame) directed coming-of-age drama Chhichhore. The movie starring Sushant Singh Rajput and Shraddha Kapoor in the lead will definitely take you on a heady trip back to your own college days - or make you wish you were lucky enough to be part of such a 'chhichhore' group.
Tiwari does a brilliant job of replicating his own college days in IIT Bombay and by the same stroke manages to draw you in into a world where friendship, camaraderie and rivalry rule.
Sushant plays the sprightly Aniruddh Pathak or Anni as he's known, who joins the National College of Technology in Mumbai only to find himself counted among the institute's losers by default when he's allotted his hostel. Not because of any academic limitations, but mainly because the boys in that particular hostel do not have any sporting prowess to boast of. He's soon befriended by Gurmeet Singh Dhillon aka Sexa (a fantastic Varun Sharma), Acid (a superbly cast Naveen Polishetty), Mummy (kudos to Tushar Panday who plays a typical mother's boy) and later on Derek (Tahir Raj Bhasin, again in a standout performance).
How this group of 'Chhichhore' or wastrels band together to compete in the prestigious GC (General Championship), a contest among the college's various hostels and impart an invaluable lesson in winning and losing forms the crux of the movie.
The script oscillates between the past (the college days) and the present where Aniruddh, who is divorced from his college sweetheart Maya (Shraddha Kapoor) reaches out to his mates to help resurrect his comatose son Raghav who has met with an accident.
The movie tends to drag a bit and could easily have done with some slick editing especially in the scenes set in present day. But the college days provide ample fun and you find yourself laughing out at the antics of the bunch of friends. The bromance between the boys, specially Aniruddh and Derek, is so crackling that the insipid romance that plays out between Aniruddh and Maya is totally eclipsed. Prateik Babbar as Raggie is a formidable opponent for the 'chhichhores'.
Aamir Khan's 3 Idiots might have conveyed a similar message about the current education system in a more profound manner but there is no taking away from the fact that Chhichhore beautifully drives home the point that our society and education system sadly doesn't equip youngsters to handle failure, only success. Whether you want a trip down memory lane to your own carefree college days or simply want to laugh out loud at the antics of a bunch of college mates, we highly recommend Chhichhore.
What really works for the movie is the fact that it can appeal to a cross-section of audience - whether you are a youngster competing for an exam, or experiencing hostel life right now as portrayed in the movie or even if you are in your 40s or older, and can look back fondly at your own college days. Chhichhore's biggest draw is that it has something for everyone. 
 
Chhichhore
Director: Nitesh Tiwari
Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Shraddha Kapoor, Varun Sharma, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Prateik Babbar, Naveen Polishetty
3 out of 5