Khatta Meetha
Cast Akshay Kumar, Trisha Krishnan, Rajpal Yadav, Asrani, Johny Lever
Director Priyadarshan
Rating G
The formidable team of Akshay Kumar and Priyadarshan are back with their latest madcap comedy Khatta Meetha, but this time there's a slight difference. The actor-director duo aim to sendout a social message along with a lavish dose of humour.
Sachin Tichkule (Kumar), a struggling road construction contractor, is desperate to make it big. But the lack of money to bribe officials in order to win contracts proves to be his biggest hurdle. To make matters worse, the new municipal commissioner turns out to be his ex-girlfriend (Krishnan). Sachin now has to work his way through corrupt officials and an avenging ex-girlfriend before he gets his project through.
Priyadarshan is a master of remakes and this too is a remake of the 1990 Malayalam film Vellanakalude Nadu. Khatta Meetha follows along lines similar to the highly forgettable Govinda flick Chal Chala Chal, which is also a remake of a Malayalam film, Varavelpu. Despite Priyadarshan's association as co-producer of Chal Chala Chal, the film bombed atthe box office. In comparison, Khatta Meetha has a bigger budget with Kumar leading the cast along with Southern star Krishnan. Moreover, Priyadarshan and Kumar have seen box-office success - right from their first film together, Hera Pheri, up to last year's comic caper De Dana Dan.
"Priyadarshan and I are on the same wavelength. Our primary objective is to entertain the audience," says Kumar.
Khatta Meetha will be Krishnan's Bollywood debut. After the recent success of South Indian imports, Genelia D'Souza (despite debuting in Hindi, she found success in Telegu cinema) and Asin in Bollywood, there was a strong buzz about Krishnan's Bollywood debut. It's interesting to note that Krishnan's film career was launched by Priyadarshan in Tamil flick Lesa Lesa and hetakes credit for launching her career in Bollywood.
"I was waiting for the right project to make my debut in Bollywood. I am glad that my mentor, Priyadarshan, is launching me in Khatta Meetha opposite Akshay Kumar and I have an interesting character to play. I don't think I could have asked for a better Bollywood start," says Krishnan.
Kumar has seen some success by pairing with Raveen Tandon, Priyanka Chopra and Katrina Kaif in the past and it will be interesting to see howhis pairing with Krishnan will be received by audiences.
Khatta Meetha is laced with some popular music by Preetam who has composed a special Marathi-based track Nana-chi Taang that gels well with Kumar's Maharashtrian character.
Time will tell if Kumar's popularity, spunky soundtrack and social comedy will be enough to turn this film into a Meetha (sweet) experience or if it will leavea Khatta (sour) taste in the mouth.
