Akshay Kumar nds his groove with this nuptial nonsense
Complemented by a competent cast, writer-director Muddassar Aziz adds pizazz to the Italian inspiration with indigenous ingredients
As our lives get password protected with smartphones emerging as the third person in the bedroom, relationships are getting knottier than before. In 2016, Italian lmmaker Paolo Genovese tracked the havoc smartphones can create in matrimony to create the comedy-drama Perfetti Sconosciut (Perfect Strangers) . The subject’s relatability is such that the lm has been remade more than two dozen times across languages and cultures. So how could it have missed the attention of Akshay Kumar who seems to love ready-made recipes?
However, even as we thought Akshay Kumar had lost touch with his game, the Khiladi regains form as the poor woman’s George Clooney.
When seven friends, three couples and an aging bachelor, get together for a wedding, they decide to play a game where they surrender the privacy of their phones. During the course of the night, as their secret sauce gets splashed on the table, their bonds get tested and twisted. The jokes land consistently and even when one knows where it is headed, there is an inherent honest vibe in the storytelling that keeps one interested.
From indelity and infertility to lack of inclusivity, the causes are time-tested but the way they are ingrained, addressed, and expressed, keeps us in good humour. Mudassar has a knack for nding comedy in chaos as we discovered in Happy Bhag Jayegi and Pati Patni Aur Woh. Here, he has put together a competent ensemble cast that brings out the spirit of the subject with the right dose of drama and comic timing. Except for a scene where he plays around with suicide and mental health, Mudassar ensures that the froth and substance blend seamlessly within the realm of family entertainment.
Taapsee, who was pretty business-like last week in Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba, is a hoot here as the lively Punjabi girl trying to keep her marriage going despite being slighted by her husband and his family. Ammy is a delight as a spouse with an inated ego, and a condent Pragya turns up in a Hindi lm for a change and plays the role of an entitled brat without caricaturising it. Aditya needs polishing and despite a well-written character arc, Fardeen is the weak link in the gang of eortless performers.
Khel Khel Mein is currently running in theatres