Sameer Mehra (Emaran Hashmi) is caught in a blizzard while driving to Delhi from a resort in the hills and a fallen tree makes his onward journey impossible. A chance meeting with Mr. Paramjeet Singh Bhullar (Annu Kapoor) near the sight offers Sameer a night stay at the former's friend's house, much to the relief of Sameer. At the isolated bungalow in the hills, Sameer meets a group of four old, retired men who have had long careers in the field of law - Bhullar himself, Justice Jagdish Acharya (Dhritiman Chatterjee), Lateef Zaidi (Amitabh Bachchan) and Hariya (Raghuvir Yadav). The four men treat their young guest well, offer him drinks, dinner and comfort of home, and invite him to play a game of law with them, where Sameer has to play the accused and he can choose any crime that he would have committed.
Confident and street smart as Sameer is, he claims that he has never committed a crime other than jumping signals on a few occasions and allows Lateef Zaidi to prosecute him on any crime he deems fit. The story starts taking a dramatic turn from here when Lateef realizes that Sameer is extremely ambitious and ruthless and his meteoric rise in his professional career must be due to some unscrupulous moves. Lateef plays the prosecutor, Bhullar the defence counsel, Acharya the judge and Hariya has a special task to execute. The game gradually reveals chunks in Sameer's armour and he is no longer confident and comfortable. And therefore way out until the game finishes.
"Chehre" is an interesting premise and a tactfully created plot. It's dialogue heavy and radically verbose, which aspect is both the film's merit and demerit. It's fast paced and exciting, albeit a little difficult to digest. But the concept of a courtroom outside of the established courts and the four old hands of law slowly breaking down Sameer's pride, confidence and gritty behaviour is interesting. The weak link in the endeavour is Amitabh Bachchan's rant on the precarious state of the legal cases and how the victims of heinous crimes fail to get justice - this aspect towards the end came up as irrelevant to the story, long and irritating, and honestly, brought the film to a screeching halt. The performances are all rock solid and Big B doesn't disappoint. Emaran Hashmi is credible and holds his ground when pitted against the stalwarts from the industry. "Chehre" is a good offbeat film as a one-time watch, but certainly not commercial success material.
Confident and street smart as Sameer is, he claims that he has never committed a crime other than jumping signals on a few occasions and allows Lateef Zaidi to prosecute him on any crime he deems fit. The story starts taking a dramatic turn from here when Lateef realizes that Sameer is extremely ambitious and ruthless and his meteoric rise in his professional career must be due to some unscrupulous moves. Lateef plays the prosecutor, Bhullar the defence counsel, Acharya the judge and Hariya has a special task to execute. The game gradually reveals chunks in Sameer's armour and he is no longer confident and comfortable. And therefore way out until the game finishes.
"Chehre" is an interesting premise and a tactfully created plot. It's dialogue heavy and radically verbose, which aspect is both the film's merit and demerit. It's fast paced and exciting, albeit a little difficult to digest. But the concept of a courtroom outside of the established courts and the four old hands of law slowly breaking down Sameer's pride, confidence and gritty behaviour is interesting. The weak link in the endeavour is Amitabh Bachchan's rant on the precarious state of the legal cases and how the victims of heinous crimes fail to get justice - this aspect towards the end came up as irrelevant to the story, long and irritating, and honestly, brought the film to a screeching halt. The performances are all rock solid and Big B doesn't disappoint. Emaran Hashmi is credible and holds his ground when pitted against the stalwarts from the industry. "Chehre" is a good offbeat film as a one-time watch, but certainly not commercial success material.