Who is a Common Man?. Review on Khatta Meetha

The two factors that were creating hype for the movie “Khatta Meetha” were, first the portrait of the common man and secondly the Priyadarshan-Akshay pairing. While deciding to check the movie these two factors were in my mind. Being honest, off-let I was losing my interest and expectations from the Pridarshan-Akshay pair due to last few mindless comedies which I did not like at all. All movies started looking same, irrespective of the plot and location of the plot the movies started looking like dubbed south Indian movies. So I started losing my expectation of getting another Hera Pheri or Bhulbhulaiya from Priyadarshan. Hence the only reason I went to have a look at the movie is due to my curiosity to check how they portrayed the legendary “Common man”, probably the most popular and artistically correct character from this part of the world.

R K Laxman’s common man is an observer and through his eyes we saw the world changing around us for over a half century. For once he did not comment on a single thing, whether good, bad or ugly but he let us to make a judgment. Priyadaarshan’s common man is much more louder(may be too much), his mannerism comes very close to a person who is intellectually challenged, though he was very smart, cool and hip during his college days, he is happy that he is less unethical than the people who are the curse for the society and who roam around in Mercedes. He believes money is everything and he receives this message from his honest father. So the common man in this movie is not the same common man we knew till now, may be Priyadarshan tried to make him suitable for current time. But alas, he flailed immensely. After watching the movie, you will think once, from where the hype of “common man” came, was it a publicity gimmick to attract people like me who started getting fade up with the mindless comedy of endless characters chasing each other for unknown reason at the end of each movie?

You take out the common man hype and you will start wondering whether Priyadarshan uses same set, background, people for every movie he made. Though the plot of the movie is in Maharashtra, you will find all the housewives shown in the movie look like south Indian housewives. The story goes like, Sachin Tichkule(Akshay Kumar) is a civil contractor who is a loser in his profession because he can’t be that evil like his brother and bro-in-laws who are big names in construction business but the bridges they make collapse the next day of their inaugurations killing tens of innocent people. He has a retired father who was an honest person, an ex-judge and an ex-maharaja. But as he had no money left, he had to live in his rich son and son-in laws mercy with his wife, daughter and younger son Sachin. There is a main villain, a budding politician, friend of Sachin's brothers, partners in crime, who marries Sachin’s sister without his consent and she eventually was killed. Meantime Sachin’s ex-girlfriend returns as the new municipality commissioner and she tries to bring him to the “good” path and that way they unmasked the villains(Sachin’s bro and bro-in-laws) and that way all end well at the end.

Acting wise Akshay was very good with his good comic sense but it would be a memorable performance had the director not made him too loud and with a more polished mannerism. There are few comic scenses which are really funny. Rajpal Yadav and Ashrani were really funny and did their job perfectly. The love interest of the main protagonist, Gehna(Trisha) had very little to do and she was pathetic in that also. The first half of the movie is entertaining but as the movie proceeds towards climax, you will feel that the director is in hurry to finish the movie somehow. As a result the noble message that the movie tried to convey failed to touch the audience’s heart. Once you are out of the hall you will forget the movie. Still I recommend it as one time watch; you can go to the hall without much expectation and have some good laugh in few perfectly timed comic scenes. You can watch the movie once it's aired in TV also. I would rate the movie 2.5/5.