Khatta Meetha

Happy to let you people know that my review of Khatta Meetha has been published in the NXG supplement of the Chennai edition of The Hindu newspaper dated 29th July 2010. Here's the online link to the review at The Hindu website - 


http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-nxg/article539089.ece

That was an edited version of the review. Posting the full, unedited version here, 

Movie - Khatta Meetha (Hindi)

Director - Priyadarshan

Producer - Akshay Kumar, Ashtavinayak

Cast - Akshay Kumar, Trisha Krishnan, Rajpal Yadav, Johnny Lever, Manoj Joshi, Khulbushan Kharbanda, Urvashi Sharma, Neeraj Vora, Makrand Deshpande, Milind Gunaji and others

Music - Pritam

Cinematography - V Manikandan

Production Design - Sabu Cyril

Editing - Arun Kumar

Story, Screenplay - Priyadarshan

Dialogues - Jay Master

Release Date - 23rd July 2010

Khatta Meetha draws inspiration (almost entirely) from Priyadarshan's own Vellanakalude Naadu (Malayalam), a strong social satire made in 1989. And like the original, Khatta Meetha is not an out and out comedy which it was promoted as (Mainly since Priyadarshan - Akshay Kumar films have always been slapstick comedies). Things get pretty serious in the second half and the movie enters the drama mode after some hilarious comic sequences in the first half. It also addresses the issues of corruption and political powerplay in our government offices. Comparing Khatta Meetha to its original is pointless since it would be blasphemy to compare Akshay Kumar to someone like Mohanlal. Unlike Malayalam, there is no subtlety or underplay in Priyadarshan's Hindi films, where every actor screams his dialogues at the top of their voices regardless of what kind of scene it is. But the Akshay - Priyan team has done a commendable job by refraining from making yet another slapstick comedy and attempting something a little more serious, without the grandeur and glamour of usual Hindi movies. 

Khatta Meetha tells the story of a desperate, unsuccessful road contractor Sachin Tichkule who is neck deep in debt. He is a descendant of a royal family and his father (Khulbushan Kharbanda) is a much respected person in the neighbourhood. His elder brother and brother-in-laws also work in the Public Works Department building roads and bridges, but they are all extremely well-off since they have the money and they know to utilize the loopholes in the corrupt system and get their work done faster. The entire family looks down upon Sachin except his sister Anjali (Urvashi Sharma). Things get worse for Tichkule when his ex-lover Gehna (Trisha Krishnan) takes charge as the new Municipal Commissioner of the town, and she completely hates him. There's a bridge which collapses, a murder that happens, a man out to take revenge, a road roller that rams into a house after being pulled by an elephant and much more which happens during the 2 hours 40 minutes of the film's running time. 

Akshay Kumar brings in some genuine earnestness to his character Sachin Tichkule. He succeeds partly, but everytime he impresses us, he spoils it with shouting his dialogues during the very next scene. He gets his attire right including the aviators, the black bag and the omnipresent umbrella, travels around in bicycles, auto-rickshaws and even police jeeps at times. He is effectively restrained in some scenes and goes irritatingly over the top in certain others. But on the whole, Akshay's performance is one of the positive aspects of the film and he brings out the hopelessness and desperation of the character really well. Tamil Cinema's darling Trisha could have chosen a better film and a better character to make her debut in Hindi. She doesnt really have much to do and in the very little screen time she gets, she is not all that impressive as well. Shobana played the same fiery character brilliantly in the original, but Trisha pales in comparison. The romantic portions between Akshay and Trisha also do not look great. Akshay as a Gandhian law college student singing 'Nanachi Tang', was a little too much. Rajpal Yadav is in top form after a long time and manages to deliver loads of laughs. Johnny Lever comes in a hilarious cameo as the driver of a road roller. But for a person who has seen Kuthiravattam Pappu's legendary performance in the original, Lever's act looks like a mockery. Khulbushan Kharbanda and Asrani are good. Tinu Anand, Urvashi Sharma, Milind Gunaji, Neeraj Vora and Makrand Deshpande are decent. Manoj Joshi shouts almost all his dialogues and is really irritating. 

The film has some very good scenes, comic and otherwise. Akshay's interactions with Khulbushan Kharbanda, the house-maintenance scene at Asrani's house (lifted from Siddique's Friends), all of Rajpal Yadav's antics, the entire road-roller sequence with Johnny Lever, Asrani's conversation with multiple people and Akshay's dialogue to Trisha about the corruption in our system, which is the most effective of them all. But on the flip-side, most of the serious events in the film looks outdated and out-of-place. The murder, the sister track, the entire college sequence, Trisha being framed and the subsequent scenes, etc. made sense in late 1980s, but do not make much sense now. But one thing that has remained constant then and now is the corruption in our system, and that aspect has been brought out well. The movie is set in rural Maharashtra, but some of the characters speak in a hybrid Marathi-Punjabi accent. Priyadarshan has only been partly successful in adapting his friend Sreenivasan's screenplay to Hindi. 

Music by Pritam is serviceable, but all the songs are placed at really odd places in the narrative. They just pop up randomly between scenes. 'Sajde' has been shot well reminding one of Priyadarshan's most famous songs in Malayalam (Ambalappuzhe from Advaitham). The song that comes in the end credits goes 'I'm allergic to Bullshit'. They wouldn't really have included that song in the movie, if they really meant it. National Award winner Ouseppachan has done the background score which has a strong southern feel to it. V Manikandan has done some really good cinematography. Sabu Cyril creates the perfect atmosphere of rural Maharashtra through his sets. Arun Kumar should have used his scissors more in the second half. The stunt sequence towards the end of the movie has been shot very well and it was surprising to see a stunt scene in a Priyadarshan movie after ages. 

On the whole, Khatta Meetha is passable fare. Dont go in expecting a usual Akshay-Priyadarshan movie, you may end up being disappointed. Carry some cotton also along with you since a major part of the dialogues are shouted out. On a more serious note, it is a satire which starts with some hilarious scenes in the first half, and goes into drama mode in the second half. It is not bad, it is not great either. 

Rating - 2.8/5

Madharasappattinam

Movie - Madharasappattinam (Tamil)
Director - Vijay
Producer - Kalpathi S Aghoram, Udhayanidhi Stalin
Cast - Arya, Amy Jackson, Nasser, Alex O'Neill, VMC Hanifa, MS Bhaskar, Kishore, Jeeva, Jack James 
Music - GV Prakash Kumar
Cinematography - Nirav Shah
Editing - Anthony
Art Director - Selvakumar
Stunts - Manohar Verma
Story, Screenplay, Dialogues - Vijay
Release Date - 9th July 2010




Priyadarshan would be proud. His protege Vijay has not only made a very good period film in Tamil (like his grand Kalapani/Siraichaalai), he has also been 'inspired' by 2 huge blockbusters in the period genre. Vijay who has done only remakes so far in Tamil (Kireedam, Poi Solla Porom), ventured into a very tough project as his third, and he has succeeded in making it his career-best work. Its been ages since a period film came in Tamil (other than Imsai Arasan 23am Pulikesi) and out of the few period films in Tamil, even fewer films featured the Indian independence struggle. But here, Vijay does not tell the tale of the independence struggle. Instead, he narrates an endearing love story with the Indian freedom struggle as a backdrop. 

85 year old Amy Smith is suffering from a blood clot in her brain and has to be operated almost immediately to avoid serious consequences. But before her operation, she makes a decision to go to India to find the whereabouts of a man named Parithi. Cut to the past, where Amy Wilkinson (Amy Jackson), the daughter of the Governor of Madras, has just arrived in India. Amy meets a young man Parithi (Arya) during her stay in Madras, and slowly falls in love with him, much to the displeasure of her parents and fiancé Commissioner Robert Ellis (Alex O'Neill). Robert, along with the Governon also have plans of snatching the land of Parithi and his fellow villagers who all make a living by washing the clothes of those foreigners. The past and present come alive through the eyes of Amy (Doraiamma to Parithi) in her journey to find Parithi. 

The structure of the screenplay is religiously borrowed from James Cameron's blockbuster Titanic. From the first scene till the last scene, the influence of Titanic is very evident and in your face. And the other film which has influenced him majorly is Ashutosh Gowariker's Lagaan. Arya's introduction, learning the language, the rain song, VMC Hanifa's character and finally the gusti match between Parithi and Robert with their land as the prize money; along with costumes, art direction, etc. are all out of Lagaan.  Taking scenes from movies which almost everyone has seen and making them work again is a tough job, and Vijay handles it quite well actually. But in spite of these obvious inspirations, Vijay still manages to deliver a pretty good film. 

What works for the movie is the romance and its old world charm. The movie takes the audience through the Madras of yore and suddenly gives images of the new Madras, which is now Chennai, in striking contrast. And in between all the land issues, indpendence struggle and tension, a lovely romance blooms between the lead pair Arya and Amy Jackson, which is truly endearing and one of the best aspects of the film. The romantic portions are narrated with a tinge of humour making them much more enjoyable. The second half gets a little long, but catches pace with the chase scene at the Central station and surroundings. 

Arya is very good as the 'brave man' Parithi. He has very little dialogues, but still manages to charm you with his act. Comedy as always, is his forte, and he shines in the comic scenes. His beefed up look has helped him a lot in the action sequences. But the movie belongs to Amy Jackson. As the beautiful Doraiyamma, she wins your heart immediately. Her Tamil is wonderful and she looks exotic when she comes dressed in a pudavai. She slightly resembles a young Aishwarya Rai in her looks, and is a very good actress as well. The old lady who played her part in the present timeline, was very poor and did not match up to Amy's skills. Alex O'Neill is menacing and has done his part well. This might perhaps be VMC Hanifa's last movie. The great character actor passed away this March. He looks very unhealthy in the movie and his voice seems like it has been dubbed partly by him and partly by some mimicry artistes. But still, he gets some hilarious lines and scenes and he plays it to perfection. Nasser is superb in a short role. The rest of the cast, especially the villagers are very good and they are responsible for all the wonderful light moments in the first half of the movie. 

Recreating the Madras of 1940s is no easy task and Vijay's team has done some extraordinary work towards it, transporting us back to that era. Nirav Shah's cinematography and Selvakumar's art direction go hand in hand and are certainly award-worthy material. Even though some of the houses look straight out of Priyadarshan's Kanchivaram, the art director has shown in skill in creating the atmosphere for the movie. A completely clean Koovam river which people used as a source of water is itself an amazing sight. There are trams, old buses, government buildings, the Washermanpet, nameboards, the old Spencer's building, Central Station, etc. Everything has been recreated wonderfully through sets and CGI. Anthony's editing between the past and the present (shot in different colour tones by Nirav Shah) works very well, but he could have trimmed the second half a little bit. Stunts by Manohar are very good as well. 

GV Prakash has gone his uncle AR Rahman's way in Madharasappattinam, scoring some classy, old world music for the movie. This is perhaps his best work after Veyil and Aayirathil Oruvan. 'Meghame Meghame' by the legend MS Vishwanathan, superstar Vikram and Nasser is shot a la 'Ghanan Ghanan' from Lagaan. But is still a great song. 'Pookkal Pookkum' is a beautiful romantic duet between Arya and Amy and the Lagaan inspiration creeps in here also with Amy dancing in a red dress singing English lines like in 'O Rey Chhori'. 'Vaamma Doraiyamma' is an endearing song in which Arya shows Amy around Madharasappattinam, showing us all the landmarks of Chennai during that period. With some hilarious English translations by VMC Hanifa thrown in for good measure. The sad song in the second half could have been avoided but its a good song nevertheless. It was a surprise to see Amy Jackson lip-syncing to Tamil lyrics much better than the usual Tamil movie heroines. Background Score is also excellent, with a lot of inspiration from Rahman's style of composing. 

On the whole, Madharasappattinam is a pretty good movie which transports you back to the Chennai during the last days of British rule in India, and tells a nice love story set in that period. If you're ready to forgive the obvious inspirations from Titanic and Lagaan, there are chances that you might end up liking this movie. The title card of the movie is innovatively done on the Madras presidency map and the end credits show the Madras of yore and the Chennai of today's times. The audience do not leave the hall till they see the last frames showing the old Spencer's building and the new Spencer's Plaza. Vijay has proved that he is a talented director and someone to look forward to in the future, with Madharasappattinam. 


Rating - 3.5/5