Chhichhore () is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language coming-of-age comedy-drama directed by Nitesh Tiwari in association with Piyush Gupta and Nikhil Mehrotra, and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala under Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment, with Fox Star Studios acquiring the distribution rights. Based on Tiwari's experiences as a student of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, the film stars Sushant Singh Rajput, Shraddha Kapoor, Varun Sharma, Naveen Polishetty (in his Hindi Debut), Tahir Raj Bhasin, Tushar Pandey and Saharsh Kumar Shukla in the lead roles, with Shishir Sharma and Mohammad Samad in supporting roles.
Set parallelly in the 1990s and 2019, Chhichhore tells the story of Aniruddh Pathak, a middle-aged divorced man whose son, Raghav, tries to commit suicide after failing to clear the JEE entrance examination, and who, despite survival, is unwilling to live due to the fear of being branded as a "loser", which makes a desperate Anni recount his own experience to Raghav of his own time at college, wherein he and his five friends too were called 'losers', and how they managed to remove that tag; as he continues along to narrate his story, the other five join their friend and complete the story.
Principal photography commenced in September 2018. Chhichhore was released on 6 September 2019, receiving positive reviews from critics. Earning 215 crores (2150 million/$28 million) worldwide to emerge as a blockbuster, it went on to receive the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi at the 67th National Film Awards announced in 2021. It also received five nominations at the 65th Filmfare Awards â Best Film, Best Director for Tiwari, Best Story, Best Dialogue and Best Editing. It marks Rajput's penultimate film appearance before his death on 14 June 2020.
Anirudh âÂÂAnniâ Pathak, a divorced middle-aged man, lives with his teenage son Raghav, who is awaiting his engineering entrance exam results. After failing to qualify, Raghav attempts suicide out of fear of being labeled a âÂÂloserâ and is hospitalized in critical condition. Realizing his son has lost the will to live, Anni begins recounting his own college days to show that failure does not define a person.
In 1992, Anni joins the National College of Technology and is assigned to Hostel 4 (H4), known for housing âÂÂlosers.â There, he befriends a group of misfitsâÂÂSexa, Acid, Mummy, Bevda, and DerekâÂÂand falls in love with Maya. Despite their reputation, the group bonds deeply and participates in the collegeâÂÂs General Championship (GC). After a series of setbacks, they adopt unconventional strategies and make an unlikely run to the finals against the elite Hostel 3 (H3). Though they narrowly lose, their efforts earn them respect, and they are no longer considered âÂÂlosers.âÂÂ
In the present, Anni and his friends reveal that they never considered ending their lives despite failure. They emphasize that effort, not results, defines a personâÂÂs worth. Inspired, Raghav regains his will to live and undergoes surgery successfully.
A year later, a recovered Raghav begins college, choosing to focus on living life fully rather than being defined by rankings or labels.
Chhichhore is inspired by writer-director Nitesh Tiwari's own experiences of college life as a metallurgical engineering student at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, his alma-mater, which is depicted in the film as the 'National College of Technology'; although not completely biographical in nature, it features character sketches loosely inspired by Tiwari himself as protagonist Aniruddha Pathak, as well as some of his closest friends and seniors. Some of the scenes were incorporated from the lives of co-writers Piyush Gupta and Nikhil Mehrotra, who worked under Tiwari at Leo Burnett.
Filming began on 30 September 2018, and first schedule was wrapped on 30 October 2018. The second schedule started on 14 November 2018 and wrapped on 15 December 2018. Major portions of the film were shot at IIT Bombay. The theme song was shot at a cost of 9 crores (90 million). This marked the reunion of choreographers BoscoâÂÂCaesar after three years. Shane Nigam was supposed to play the role of a Malayali student, but opted out due to scheduling conflicts with Kumbalangi Nights; he was subsequently replaced by newcomer Abhishek Joseph George.
Over the close of February 2019, the cast of the film donned their characters' costume video on the making of the poster on 30 May 2019.
The film was theatrically released in India on 6 September 2019. It was screened at 51st International Film Festival of India in January 2021 in the Indian Panorama section.
The film had a theatrical release in China on 7 January 2022, the first in two years following a de facto ban on Indian films there due to the 2020âÂÂ2021 ChinaâÂÂIndia skirmishes.
Later, it was released on Video on demand on Hotstar on 1 November 2019.
The soundtrack to the film was composed by Pritam, while the lyrics were written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. The album became chartbuster. "Khairiyat" became one of the very first Bollywood songs to reach 1 billion + views only in 4 years of release. "Kal Ki Hi Baat Hai" also become super hit.
Sukanya Verma reviewing for Rediff felt that Chhichhore offered "too good a time to pay attention to its faults", giving the film 3.5 out of 4 stars. Sreeparna Sengupta of The Times of India gave the film 3.5 stars out of 5, praising the performances of Sushant Singh Rajput, Shraddha Kapoor, Varun Sharma and Tahir Raj Bhasin. Sengupta noted that the screenplay was predictable and the pace was slow, but the film had a theme of academic success that connected with youngsters and parents, writing that, "it [Chhichhore] tells you that the journey is far more important than the destination and that losing is as critical a life lesson as winning. The film scores high on many accounts and is certainly worth watching." Monika Rawal Kukreja from Hindustan Times wrote that, "the Sushant Singh Rajput-Shraddha Kapoor film takes you on a nostalgia trip to your college days with an engaging narrative and flashback sequences". Rahul Desai of Film Companion praised the film, calling it a "solid, homegrown college movie for the ages", further adding that, "Chhichhore is a hoot, but it's not flawless. Eventually though, it's Tiwari's understanding of mainstream emotional dynamics that tide the missteps over to frame an enjoyable film". Rajeev Masand, reviewing for News18 gave the film 3.5 stars out of 5, calling it [Chhichhore] "good, harmless fun". Bollywood Hungama in its review wrote that, "on the whole, the Sushant Singh Rajput Shraddha Kapoor starrer Chhichhore is a decent entertainer that has its share of touching scenes", while giving it 3.5/5 stars. Prachita Pandey of DNA gave the film 3.5 stars out of 5, noting that, " 'Chhichhore' drives home the point that in life's battles between winning and losing, the most important thing is 'life' itself" while praising the film for initiating the viewers on "a nostalgia trip". Udita Jhunjhunwala while reviewing for Mint praised the film by calling it a "lively homage to hostel life"; moreover praising the film's humor, she called it "organic". The Economic Times gave the movie 3.5/5 stars, calling it a "likeable film with relevant social message", further adding that the movie contains "plenty of nostalgia and warm, feel-good moments, several frat boy jokes, and some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments".
The film found criticism from Rachel Saltz of The New York Times who called the film to be "programmatic and timid". Vibha Maru of India Today felt that the movie was "no 3 Idiots", giving it 2.5 stars out of 5. Shalini Langer of Indian Express criticised the performance of Sushant Singh Rajput and called the film "a disappointing fare", giving it 1.5/5 stars. Anna MM Vetticad criticised the film, calling it "a hotch-potch with a 3 Idiots hangover", rating the film 1.75 stars out of 5. Arnab Banerjee of Deccan Chronicle gave the film 2.5/5, and while he criticized the film for its writing and direction, he felt that "some of the characters are played by decent actors".
Chhichhore grossed 6.92 crores (â¹69.2 million) on the first day of its release. It showed growth on its second (first Saturday) and third day (first Sunday) grossing â¹34.77 crores (â¹347.7 million) by the end of the opening weekend. By the end of the first week, the Sushant Singh Rajput-Shraddha Kapoor starrer had collected â¹66.63 crores (â¹666.3 million). The lifetime gross of the movie from India is â¹172.64 crores (â¹1726.40 million) and approximately 31 crores ($4.35 million/â¹309.93 million) from overseas market, taking it worldwide gross to â¹203.63 crores (â¹2036.3 million). The film is part of the prestigious "200 Crore Club".
The film was released in China on 7 January 2022, where it performed poorly, grossing only 22.52 crores ($3.01 million), becoming the lowest grossing Indian film in China. The performance at the China box office is being attributed to the fact that the ongoing pandemic has greatly reduced in theatre footfalls. This coupled with the fact that Chhichhore saw immense competition from new and previous releases entailed a tough uphill task for the business of the film at the China box office.