Pen Studios and A Studios’ Khiladi (dubbed from the Telugu film of the same name; UA) is an action film. Mohan Gandhi (Ravi Teja) is a con artiste who wants to lay his hands on Rs. 10,000 crore of illegal money which is being chased by others too. How he manages to do that, and what he plans to do with the money is what the film is all about.
Ramesh Varma Penmetsa has written a routine story which confuses more than it entertains. Since Gandhi is a con artiste, Penmetsa’s screenplay gives him the liberty to do just about anything anyhow. In other words, the screenplay is not at all logical or even well written. Rather, it looks like a mish-mash of incidents written to simply prove that Mohan Gandhi is invincible. Dialogues are routine.
Ravi Teja plays Mohan Gandhi well but he is not able to rise above the insipid script. Arjun Sarja is effective as CBI officer Arjun Bharadwaj. Meenakshi Chaudhary is okay as Pooja. Dimple Hayathi gets limited scope in the role of Chitra; she is alright. Mukesh Rishi is quite okay as home minister Guru Singham. Nikitin Dheer lends routine support as Bala Singham. Sachin Khedekar has his moments as DGP Jayaram. Rao Ramesh performs ably as Raja Shekhar. Unni Mukundan provides average support as Rama Krishna. Thakur Anoop Singh makes his presence felt as David. Murali Sharma is fair as Puttaparthi. Vennela Kishore makes his mark as Bobby. Anasuya Bharadwaj is good as Chandrakala.
Ramesh Varma Penmetsa’s direction is okay but his script is so weak that even his fair narration is unable to salvage it. Devi Sri Prasad’s music is okay but none of the songs is popular in Hindi. Camerawork (by Sujith Vasudev and G.K. Vishnu) is very good. Action scenes are thrilling but they would appeal more to the front-benchers. Amar Reddy Kudumula’s editing could’ve been sharper. Dubbing is okay.
On the whole, Khiladi is too ordinary a fare to click with the Hindi film-going audience. Its poor promotion and, therefore, lack of awareness about the film, among the target audience is another major minus point.
Released on 11-2-’22 at Maratha Mandir (daily 2 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay by Pen Marudhar Cine Entertainment. Publicity & opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was weak everywhere. Shows in the early part of the day had to be cancelled because the CBFC certificate was received only around noon today.
