Media Magick

The trailer of every film tells a lot about its premise and how it might turn out as a whole. At least, most people get the feeling and those people are called movie buffs. The trailer of Khaali Peeli shouts out loud what the film will be all about. Khaali Peeli banks hugely on Masala. And yes the film provides masala. The story of the film is not amongst the highlights of the film. It is a very amateurish attempt that reminds you of multiple films where a girl is on the run saved by a street smart boy and then romance blossoms between the two and they team up against the baddies. Yeah, no surprises at all. Khaali Peeli is the 70s cinema meeting 2000s cinema i.e. cliched story with stylish execution and no brainer.

Trailer: Khaali Peeli

To some Jaideep Ahlawat’s character ‘Yousuf Chikna’ reminds of Lotia Pathan (Kiran Kumar) from Tezab, but to me, he is doing the same that he did in Commando (2013) i.e. running after a girl to save his reputation. Sad to see a phenomenal actor going to waste.

Ananya Panday tries very hard to adopt the style and mannerism but she only draws attention to her looks and not to her performance. In a few scenes, she looks hot but that’s all she could pull off.

Ishaan Khattar is a revelation, especially for those who recently watched him in A Suitable Boy. Khattar has worked very hard on his looks, styling, dance, and action choreography. Unfortunately, he does not look like mainstream HERO material.

Satish Kaushuk in a cameo is effective but he is amongst those actors who can make the audience smile on loosely written lines. That is something he has done in Khaali Peeli too.

Khaali Peeli is not a hugely engaging or entertaining film and it is very predictable as well but it has its moments here and there. It’s amongst one of those movies for which you don’t have to think a lot, just play it and catch up on texting, tweeting check FB messages etc.

These are young kids, trying to experiment that is applaudable but every experiment cannot be successful – that’s the reality of Khaali Peeli.

Shallow characters, weakly written script, a dash of masala here and there, bambaiyya language with double tarrka fiery accent, and formula elements make Khaali Peeli earn 2 out of 5 stars.