KHILADI 786 | 8 December, 2012

Hari Om Entertainment Company, Eros International and HR Musik’s Khiladi 786 is a masala film. It is the story of match-making. Bahattar Singh (Akshay Kumar), belonging to a family of thugs, is just not successful in getting a good match for himself as no girl wants to marry him. Among other things, he poses as a policeman to help the genuine police personnel and charges fees for getting clandes­tine and illegal goods confiscated. Bahattar Singh is also large-hearted and donates generously to the needy. His father, Sattar Singh (Raj Babbar), and uncle, Ikhattar Singh (Mukesh Rishi), are quite worried for him as he is still unmarried. They get lucky one day when Mansukh Desai (Himesh Reshammiya) comes with the marriage proposal of Indu Tendulkar (Asin Thottumkal) for Bahattar Singh.

Indu seems to like no boy and her don-brother, Tatya Tendulkar (Mithun Chakraborty), is worried as hell for her. She loves Azad (Rahul Singh) but since he is spending time in jail, she can’t marry him. She, therefore, frightens away every boy selected by Tatya for her. Tatya has told Mansukh to find a match from a good family for his sister. Mansukh has taken this as a challenge as he has been unable to make a single match in his life in spite of being the son of a renowned match-maker, Champaklal Desai (Manoj Joshi). In fact, Champaklal has thrown Mansukh out of his house because of this very reason.

Mansukh lies about the antecedents of Indu’s family and tells Sattar Singh that she is the sister of a top police officer. Since he thinks that Bahattar Singh is a genuine police officer, he introduces him as such to Tatya. So, in effect, Mansukh is trying to make a match between Bahattar Singh and Indu, both of who belong to families of ill-repute and each of who thinks that the other’s family is well-respected.

Does Bahattar Singh finally marry Indu or does she elope with Azad? Do the two families get to know the truth about each other?

Himesh Reshammiya’s story is not bad but it takes the easier route – it does not establish too much or offer too many explanations. Reshammiya also does not work on characterisations as much as a story writer ought to. Even this may have worked fine since this is basically a comedy film, but the problem is that several questions crop up in the audience’s mind while watching the film, which remain unanswered. For instance, if the world thinks that Bahattar Singh is a strict police officer and very large-hearted too, why is no girl willing to marry him? There should have actually been a queue of eligible spinsters outside Bahattar Singh’s house. The reason why no girl wants to marry Bahattar Singh is simply not explained.

Kushal Ved Bakshi’s screenplay is quite shoddily written. The effort to create comedy and make people laugh shows every now and then, and this is especially irritating when the comedy actually fails to evoke laughter. At several places, the scenes seem to have been abruptly edited and tracks changed. Characters seem to have been included unnecessarily in the drama, simply with the intention of adding to the tamasha but the ‘extra’ characters don’t really add anything. Instances in point are the characters of Jeevan (Sanjay Mishra) and the police officer (Muk­esh Tiwari). Even the track of the Afri­can grandmother of Bahattar Singh is terribly irritating. Another drawback of the screenplay is that there is a lot of repetition. Had the comedy been enjoyable and hilarious, the repetition could’ve actually worked to the film’s advantage but with the comedy being as forced as it is, the repetition gets on the viewers’ nerves.

Frankly, the romantic track is soulless, the comedy is forced at many places, and there is no trace of emo­tions in the drama. Also, the track of match-maker Mansukh is so lengthy that not only does it look unnecessary at times but also underlines the faulty casting because the requirement was that of a second hero, almost equal in stature to Akshay Kumar. Obviously, Himesh Reshammiya can’t match Akshay and in scenes where Mansukh confronts Bahattar Singh, the faulty casting becomes very pronounced. Although Bunty Rathore’s dialogues are very good, their impact is often lost because of the weak screenplay and miscasting. This is not to say that there are no good comic scenes. Of course, there are, but they aren’t enough.

The pre-climax and climax have been stretched too much and they dilute the impact.

Akshay Kumar seems to have done this film without putting his heart and soul into the character. Although he acts well, his lack of connect with the character seems all too obvious. Asin Thottumkal seems disinterested in the film. She is mechanical and goes through her performance like a robot, without feelings. Himesh Resham­miya fails to impress. He has been given more than he can handle. His constant crying (whether he is sad, angry or scared) looks stupid rather than funny, which was the intention. Mithun Chakraborty is okay and his sincerity is worth praising. Raj Bab­bar does an ordinary job, more because he hardly gets any scope. Rahul Singh is alright. Sanjay Mishra is not very funny. Gurpreet Guggi is funny at a couple of places only, in the role of Sukhi. Rajesh Khattar does a fair job. Manoj Joshi, as Champaklal Desai, is good. Sejal Shah, as his wife, is earnest. Mukesh Rishi and Mukesh Tiwari have been wasted. Bharti Singh (as Mili) and Mushtaq Khan (as Bhagat) have nothing worthwhile to do. Even a wonderful actor like Johny Lever has been given very little scope. Claudia Ceisla creates quite an impression in the ‘Balma’ song-dance number.

Ashish R. Mohan’s debut as director leaves something to be desired. Though he has chosen a comedy subject, he has not been able to evoke laughter to the desired level. What is objectionable is that several scenes seem to have been written solely with the purpose of tickling the funny bone but those very scenes fall flat. The film also gives the impression of having been shot in haste.

Himesh Reshammiya’s music is the best thing in the film. However, most of the songs have been forced into the screenplay, which should have been avoided, given the hit music score. The ‘Balma’ song is already a hit but its picturisation is nothing in comparison to its merits. To have the heroine present in the picturisation of such a hit song and yet not make her dance with the hero (who, incidentally, is shown dancing with a club dancer) is a blunder. The ‘Lonely’, ‘Long drive’ and Hookah bar’ songs are also very nice. The title track and ‘Sari sari raat’ number are also appealing. The lyrics of the ‘Balma’ song (Sameer) are ex­cellent. Other lyrics (Shabbir Ahmed and Himesh Reshammiya) are good. Song picturisations could’ve been better as the choreography (all songs, except one, by Ganesh Acharya; and the ‘Long drive’ song by Piyush Panchal) offers no novelty. In fact, the songs seem to have been picturised in a tearing hurry. Cinematography (Attar Singh Saini) is okay. Jai Singh Nijjar’s action and stunt scenes will be enjoyed by front-benchers mainly. Sets (Saikat Bose) are nothing to shout about. Editing (Ashish Gaikar) is not very good.

On the whole, Khiladi 786 has music as its main plus point but that will not be enough to ensure a good and fruitful run at the box-office as it entertains the audience in spurts only. Business in single-screen cinemas may be good but that in the multiplexes will not be upto the mark. After a fair weekend, collections will drop fast and furiously from the fourth day on­wards. Losing.

Released on 7-12-’12 at Regal (daily 2 shows), Eros (daily 2 shows), New Excelsior (daily 2 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay by Eros International. Publicity: very good. Opening: fair. …….Also released all over. Opening was excellent in single-screen cinemas of several circuits like U.P., Bihar and Rajasthan but not upto the mark in many multiplexes.