Laal Singh Chaddha: The charming, but crazy Bollywood Forrest Gump that’s taken decades to make

Laal Singh Chaddha (M, 159mins) Directed by Advait Chandan ***½

Life is now a tray of fried pastries, “Jenny” wants to be a Bollywood star and “Bubba” is obsessed with underwear, rather than shrimp.

Those are just some of the changes featured in this intriguing and entertaining Hindi adaptation and contemporary update of Oscar-winning 1994 movie Forrest Gump.

But despite transplanting the action from Greenbow, Alabama to Pathankot in the Punjab and starting the story in the early 1980s (where Gump actually finished), rather than the mid-1950s, many of the comedic and dramatic beats (and at least a few of the choicest lines) that made Robert Zemeckis’ trawl through a turbulent time in America’s history such a crowd-pleaser, are still present and correct.

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Recounting his life to fellow passengers on a second-class, non-air conditioned compartment on a train between Pathankot and Chandigarh (rather than at a bus stop in Savannah), the eponymous Laal Singh Chaddha (Aamir Khan) traces his journey from caliper-clad farm boy to university track star, war hero, business magnate and inspirational long-distance runner, while also constantly citing the influence and wise counsel of his beloved solo mother (Mona Singh) and his undying, but seemingly unrequited love for his “best and only friend”, the ambitious, but troubled Rupa D’Souza (Kareena Kapoor).

As with the original, Laal is witness to important moments in his country’s story, from their first World Cup Cricket victory in 1983 to the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. Here though, the digital insertions into archival footage are minimal and his influence on others essentially limited to teaching Bollywood legend Shah Rukh Khan his signature dance move (which seemed to me like a missed opportunity – I would have loved for him to have encountered a young Tendulkar or Kohli).

However, shorn of such distractions, the drama itself actually resonates a touch better than Gump. Rupa’s nightmarish childhood is more explicitly laid out and Mama Chadda is a far more powerful presence than Sally Field’s under-written character. And while her edict that “your tummy may be full, but your heart always craves more” is just as flaky as, “you never know what you’re going to get”, she at least tempers that with far more practical advice to help her “special” boy stay alive – and thrive.

It helps that Singh and Kapoor deliver terrific performances, while the young Laal (Ahmad Ibn Umar) and Rupa (Hafsa Ashraf) are quite brilliant and Maniv Vij is a scene-stealer as this film’s equivalent of Lieutenant Dan (how he and Laal meet is one of this version’s major departures – and welcome surprises).

Unfortunately, their good work is somewhat undermined by Khan’s rather broad performance in the title role. While an engaging presence in the train-set frame-tale (although he seems to have borrowed a verbal tic from another mid-90s Southern US-set tale about a simple man), his youthful Laal feels far more inspired by Mr Bean – or Lloyd Christmas – than Hank’s Gump. There’s just too much bug-eyed gurning and physical shtick that takes away from the more heartfelt moments.

It’s a pity because, even at almost 160-minutes (17 minutes longer than Gump itself), this is a well-paced, absorbing adaptation. It just needed a little more tonal consistency and nuance.

In Hindi with English subtitles, Laal Singh Chaddha is now screening in select cinemas nationwide.