Batti Gul Meter Chalu Movie Review: Not the movie we expected it to be

It has been directed by Shree Narayan Singh and produced by Bhushan Kumar, Nishant Pitti and Krishan Kumar. The film tells the story of Inflated Bills due to Faulty Meters in rural India and stars Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyendu Sharma, and Yami Gautam in lead roles.

Batti Gul Meter Chalu is the story of the struggles of the common man with regards to the inconsistent electric supply. Sushil Kumar Pant aka SK (Shahid Kapoor), Lalita Nautiyal aka Nauti (Shraddha Kapoor) and Sundar Mohan Tripathi (Divyenndu) are thick friends. All three are based in Tehri in Uttarakhand. While SK is a lawyer who likes to earn a quick buck by blackmailing people and arm-twisting them, Nauti runs a boutique shop and dreams of becoming a top designer. Sundar is a simpleton who has recently started his factory, called UK Packaging. Both SK and Sundar have feelings for Nauti. Nauti decides to date both of them one by one and decides to announce her decision as to whom she’ll eventually get into a relationship with. At first, she dates SK and she has a lovely time. Then, it’s Sundar’s turn and he floors her with his simplicity and honesty. One day, SK sees them cosying up to each other and he loses his mind. He stops talking to them and leaves for Mussoorie. Meanwhile, Sundar is slapped with a bill of Rs. 54 lakhs by the private electricity company SPTL. He tries his best to find a solution to it and explain to the concerned authorities that it’s impossible that he has consumed so much of electricity. Moreover, due to power cuts, he’s already using generator which has put additional burden on his finances. Realizing that he might have to sell off his ancestral house to pay off the dues, Sundar approaches SK for help. But SK is hurt that Nauti chose Sundar over him. Hence, he ridicules both of them. With no other solution in hand, Sundar decides to end his life. The rest of the movie that is close to the end of the movie is what the movie was supposed to be about.

As a person who was quite conflicted and in awe that a movie that brings out the importance of people suffering due to the injustice that is done in the country was going to be played in theaters, I was more than happy to review such a film. 

Right from the beginning of the film we get to see glimpses of the struggle that people ave with no electricity and the inconvenience it causes everyone. but that's about it. Most of the rest of the movie revolves around the highly dramatic love story that keeps the attention of a viewer going on but slowly. The movie's trailer fools most of us by making it seem like it only talks of the struggles through the love story that may be going on, when in reality it is the struggle that comes and goes and seems less important until someone decides to kill themselves because of the pressure he was being put through. 

The movie loses it's intense subject that is the injustice caused with the bills having to be paid for the electricity. The movie was more focused on which of the two men would the girl choose. 

Towards the end of the Movie, however we see a change in the pattern at which thing are moving and the level of interest it can seem. The story takes a turn when the lying, cheating lawyer changes for his (apparent) dead best friend, into a young lawyer who will do anything to fight for what is right. But there are still scenes of absurdity when it comes to how the high court functions. it is filled in with jokes and inappropriate topics that can never be mentioned in court but here the judge seems to be having a good time along with them. 

This movie was definitely an opportunity that was lost by the makers in creating something that would have been iconic and loud and clear abut the injustice.