Khel Khel Mein Review: Froth and substance blend seamlessly within the realm of entertainment

KHEL KHEL MEIN

Director: Mudassar Aziz

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Fardeen Khan, Taapsee Pannu, Vaani Kapoor, Ammy Virk, Aditya Seal and Pragya Jaiswal

Released at theaters.

Rating:

By Jyothi Venkatesh

As our lives get password protected with smartphones emerging as the third inclusive as well as encompassing person in the bedroom, relationships are getting knottier than before. In 2016, Italian filmmaker Paolo Genovese tracked the havoc smartphones can create in matrimony to create the comedy-drama Perfetti Sconosciut (Perfect Strangers). This film is based on the same premise.

An interesting game begins when friends gather at night and it takes a dramatic turn when they agree to keep their phones unlocked, sharing every text and call publicly. One by one, their hidden secrets spill out, dynamics shift, and in short, lives are forever changed. Rishabh’s (Akshay Kumar) Casanova personality, Kabir’s (Fardeen Khan) personal struggles, Happy (Taapsee Pannu) and Harpreet’s (Ammy Virk) marital issues, and Naina (Pragya Jaiswal) and Samar’s (Aditya Seal) dark past tumble out on after the other, embarrassing all of them on the whole.

All said and done, though each and every couple’s story is predictable, often veering toward being clichéd, the performers delivering lines with pitch-perfect comic timing and expressions make up for the obvious flaws in the stories. Khel Khel Mein does have minor flaws, but what saves the interesting film from dragging on and on is it’s extremely smart writing, Mudassar Aziz’s tight and intense direction and writing which shine through the entertaining script, taut screenplay, and emotional dialogues and relatable performances which together set out to make the film worth a watch.

Akshay Kumar shines in top form as the flamboyant plastic surgeon Rishad Malik in the film which makes good use of the actor’s natural flair for lowbrow humor in a high-pitched comedy to generate desi pizazz around the Italian fare. As Akshay’s wife Vartika, who is a prominent writer who often reflects on relationships, is looking for a subject for her next title and suggests this crazy game to her friends on the eve of her sister’s wedding and truly is in full form.

Also riveting are the performances of Samar (Aditya Seal) and his wife Naina (Pragya Jaiswal) who try to come to terms with a freak accident, while Harpreet (Taapsee Pannu) and Harpreet (Ammy Virk) who go through a rough patch also score well. Cricket coach Kabir (Fardeen Khan) finding it difficult to negotiate the swing offered by the pitch of life in brilliant.

All said and done, Mudassar has put together a competent ensemble cast that brings out the real spirit of the subject with exactly the right dose of drama and comic timing and ensures that the froth and substance blend seamlessly within the realm of family entertainment.