Khel Khel Mein movie review: Rivetingly Hilarious, Brilliantly Layered and Excellently Performed

Khel Khel Mein review

If you have the guts, try this with your best buddies, after a significant wait there comes a movie that not only entertains it preaches our souls and questions the morality of truth and weights our lies.

It’s an accepted believe that ‘true’ friends don’t have any secrets but how ‘true’ is that. How expert ‘liars’ we are when Vaani Kapoor puts this idea in front of the gathering of seven friends gathered. Actually, the men from this charming group of urban couples were more interested in meeting the girlfriend of still single friend played by Fardeen Khan. However, he arrives without his girlfriend and here the writer director Mudassar Aziz (‘Happy Bhag Jayegi’, ‘Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi’,

‘Pati Patni Aur Who’ fame) subtlety establishes the human nature of curiosity and interest in knowing about ‘strangers’.

A plastic surgeon (Akshay Kumar), an author (Vaani Kapoor), a car dealer (Ammy Virk), a brand manager (Aditya Seal), a cricket coach (Fardeen Khan), daughter of a wealthy businessman (Pragya Jaiswal), a simple woman trying ways to impress his husband (Tapsee Pannu) each and every one is hiding something.

Everybody is posing as they all are ‘khuli kitaab’ but when the game begins, the game which begins on  a funny note, slowly and gradually turns from shocking to serious to weird and hilarious to sad etc. the most amazing and challenging part for Mudassar Aziz was to make his prime characters sit in a single room and go through a roller coster ride of emotions and redemptions. It reminded me of Basu Chatterjee’s 1986 classic ‘Ek Ruka Hua Faisla’ which was the remake of 1957 Golden Bear sensation ’12 Angry Men’ by Sidney Lumet.

Primarily a dialogue driven cinema that can get more enhanced and deeper by brilliant performance and strikingly it never appeared like a play. Considering the plot theme and the fact that 1957 Golden Bear winner was actually based on a 1954 teleplay of the same name by Reginald Rose

‘Khel Khel Mein’ has something or the other for the audience, this could have gone out of hand if the screenwriting by Mudassar Aziz and Sara Bodinar would have not been tight, engrossing and appealing. The subtle layers of feminism, male machoism, love, acceptance is touched with warmth. Plus the influence of technology in our life’s and its dangerous side effects, the diminishing level of trust. ‘Khel Khel Mein’ had the potential and danger to become a nastier, raunchy comedy but Mudassar Aziz makes sure that its not a certified ‘A’dult affair, yes kids from 13 onwards can watch it in my opinion. Apart from all these the relationship issues are deftly handled and the writer director through Akshay Kumar’s thanksgiving speech in the end does puts his views forward.

Performance

A rare occasion where each and every actor has excelled.

Beginning with Akshay Kumar – he is just brilliant, outstanding, looking cool and dapper with that salt and pepper hairdo and glasses, this time Akshay Kumar wins heart big way. Excellent.

Ammy Virk is fabulous as a struggling car dealer who is hiding a secret.

Taapsee Pannu is outstanding to the core. 

Vaani Kapoor is perfect

Fardeen Khan is fantastic

Pragya Jaiswal is a delight and her Hindi debut begins on a high note

Aditya Seal leaves his mark

Chitrangada Singh in a special appearance is charming

Final words

‘Khel Khel Mein’ is the entertainer we all have been waiting for its, rivetingly hilarious, brilliantly layered and excellently performed. Based on the global remake phenomenon - Paolo Genovese 2016 Italian comedy-drama ‘Perfetti Sconosciuti’ aka Perfect Strangers, which is reportedly remade twenty-eight times, ‘Khel Khel Mein’ can be at least watched twice.

Going with an overwhelmingly deserving 4.5 stars out of 5.

‘Khel Khel Mein’ is releasing on August 15, 2024 in theatres.