Khel Khel Mein

Khel Khel Mein Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Akshay Kumar, Fardeen Khan, Taapsee Pannu, Vaani Kapoor, Aditya Seal, Ammy Virk, Pragya Jaiswal

Director: Mudassar Aziz

What’s Good: As mentioned in an earlier review, “Unalloyed fun in this sugar-coated social medicine”

What’s Bad: The Punjabi language in all the songs and some incomprehensible Punjabi dialogues—every Indian is not a Punjabi.

Loo Break: None, because there is no ‘toilet’ humor!

Watch or Not?: Of course, seriously, and not just khel khel mein! I would not even mind a revisit!

Language: Hindi

Available On: Theatrical release

Runtime: 134 Minutes

User Rating:

Three couples that are friends, played by Akshay Kumar and Vaani Kapoor, Ammy Virk and Taapsee Pannu, and Aditya Seal and Pragya Jaiswal, come together for a wedding. On the night before the banns, when the six (along with their bachelor friend, Kabir, played by Fardeen Khan) assemble in a room for drinks, they decide to play a game. All of them will “surrender” their mobiles for a day on the table and they are all free to read or listen to or watch whatever message, call or video comes during that time. The idea is: if you do not have a secret you wish to hide, you will not be scared of participating in the game!

But the game boomerangs after some initial fun, as murky secrets come up along with the denials and twisted acceptances. And no one there is innocent…

Khel Khel Mein Movie Review: Script Analysis

Adapted from an Italian dramedy, Perfetti Sconoscuiti, (translated as Perfect Strangers) by Paulo Genovese, the film spotlights how people in a marriage can keep secrets from partners and friends that can be suspicious, if not guilty. Mudassar Aziz, the writer and director, puts a nice spin on societal institutions of marriage and highlights the weaknesses and strengths that pervade normal human beings. The use of an old chartbuster Hindi song with thematic relevance heightens the anticipation of the audience when a new skeleton is set to tumble out of the ‘mobilephone’ closet!

Relationships as well as issues like infertility, teenage sex, escorts, homosexuality, fantasies, and even sexual abuse are all subtly discussed and treated. There is sensitivity there, as well as inbuilt messages. Only the last speech that Dr. Rishabh gives, thought apt in the Indian context, sounds needlessly preachy in part.

Khel Khel Mein Movie Review: Star Performance

As the salt-and-pepper-haired Dr. Rishabh, the plastic surgeon, Akshay returns to the comedy genre with a vengeance and still manages to infuse freshness into his character of a husband whose wife (Vaani Kapoor) has given their marriage three months to work—or end. He is in top form throughout and his opening sequence is hilarious. Vaani herself puts in a very fetching performance and looks amazing.

The female show is stolen by Taapsee Pannu as Harpreet, the beleaguered wife of a man also named Harpreet (Ammy Virk), whose mother wants a grandchild from them but who conceals a vital fact from her. The way she goes into a blue funk later is actually hilarious for the viewer, and her one-liners are delicious, as are her expressions when her friend on the phone (during the game) details what Harpreet actually thinks of some of the others—good and bad!

Fardeen Khan makes an impressive comeback in a role where he initially does not seem to have anything much to contribute. Pragya Jaiswal makes a very impressive start to her career as a glamor-obsessed wife. Ammy Virk is alright, and so is Aditya Seal.