Khel Khel Mein

Mudassar Aziz's story has all the trappings of a crazy entertainer. Mudassar Aziz and Sara Bodinar's screenplay is highly entertaining and keeps viewers engaged. However, it has a few rough edges. Mudassar Aziz's dialogues are one of the best parts of the film. Mudassar Aziz's direction is superb. He ensures that the characters are well-fleshed out. During their introduction, he makes it clear that they all have some secrets and this sets the stage for the madness that unfolds later on. A few scenes stand out like Harpreet getting a call from her friend, a character changing his phone with the other, the intermission point etc. The second half also has its share of dramatic scenes. On the flipside, a few scenes are convenient. It is also difficult to digest that everyone has such deep dark secrets. Secondly, the track of the accident is not well utilized.

Performances apart from Akshay too are top notch. Taapsee Pannu finally gets to break out of the serious actor image and shines as the social media addict dealing with issues in her marriage due to no children. Ammy Virk, as her husband, gets a lot to do and he manages to deliver. Aditya Seal and Pragya Jaiswal (who is being introduced with this film) are easy on the eyes, and convincing as the couple dealing with a tragedy. And if it were up to me. I would count this film as Fardeen’s actual comeback, not the forgettable role in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Heeramandi. It’s something you haven’t seen him do before on screen.

First off, despite the desi situations and the attire, you never quite shake off the feeling that this is an adaptation, in a culture where candid conversations are not run away from. While every text or call that comes in shows us the recipient petrified by what is going to come up, the fallout has the flavour of a release we don’t usually experience in our movies. And the cast makes the best of it, which is the best part of the movie. Akshay Kumar has always done a good job being a cad, and here he shows how to be a champion cad: the reveal which throws his already fragile relationship into a spin also shows that this is his happy space.

Relying on the usual bombshells like infidelity, infertility, sexuality and insecurity, Khel Khel Mein builds on the nervous laughs, comical disdain, hilarious sarcasm, fleeting emotions and the ridiculously true notion in 'is hamam mein sab nange hain'. Occasionally though, melodrama prevails over the facetious tone, which includes an out-of-place speech-like sex advice to one's teenage daughter. Mostly though, the narrative's competent design and canny timing has a ball pulling the rug from under every character's feet. Each phone has some dirt on the player and Khel Khel Mein hits peak when wickedly rejoicing in its schadenfreude. It even finds something mildly therapeutic in getting people their weight off their chest, feeling no qualms about giving clean chits or sweeping real issues under the carpet to make way for a Priyadarshan-style crowds 'n' chases climax.

The premise of ‘Khel Khel Mein’ is engaging. But what makes it watchable is the way Mudassar made the characters' fears, worries and insecurities relatable. The first half is lazy and takes its own sweet time to give us the backstories of these characters. Some of these stories are engaging. Others, quite boring.