By Shevaal Singh
Rating: 2.5/5 stars (5/10)
Star cast: Akshay Kumar, Asin, Himesh Reshammiya, Sanjay Mishra, Mithun Chakraborty, Raj Babbar, Mukesh Rishi.
The plus points of this movie are the comedy & funny dialogue with some action with mediocre performances but this is a stale story filled with Himesh & Akshay’s playacting and the forced-on songs. Khiladi 786 is a mish-mash of Akshay Kumar’s Welcome and Ajay Devgn’s Son Of Sardaar. Even if it doesn’t take the best of both worlds, you’ll end up having enough laughs in the theatre, though it won’t be memorable any time after that. Khiladi 786 starts off with Manshukh Desai (Himesh Reshammiya – not surprised I hope ) who is a wedding planner, an assistant in his dad’s business. All he can do is break up marriages with his ineffectiveness or some blunder or the other. When one such wedding falls apart he is kicked out of his home hitting the streets with a bottle of liquor and frustratingly trying to re-enact Devdas might be any persons forte but definitely not that of Himesh. Indu Tendulkar (Asin) the girl who nobody wants to enter marry as with: reason she is TT’s (Mithun Chakraborty) sister. Tantiya Tukaram Tendulkar’s abbreviated name is enough to leave folks in shreds. An underworld don, this man can just not be restrained.
Khiladi well he is the Punjab-da-puttar Bahattar Singh – 72 Singh as he’s better known as none other than the Khiladi himself Akshay Kumar who in bright, loud kurtas busy knocking off the teeth and smashing the noses of every other bad guy in the village. One might go to the extent of mistaking him for the “Robin Hood” in uniform. Khiladi Bhaiya hits people, loots trucks, retains a considerable amount of it for himself and dispenses the rest among the people.
Mansukh decides to get Indu and Bahattar hitched and looks upon it as the wedding that would prove him as a man in front of his father. However there are cock-and-bull stories to be invented on the way as well as loads of not only hasty people but also a group of rowdy people to be gotten rid of. Somewhere along the way, Khiladi Bhaiya’s compassion gets buried under layers of illusions linking him romancing Indu in some foreign land or singing sad songs also in some distant land. The Punjab da Puttar is careful about his imagination as there are red Ferraris and exotic locales involved. Himesh ’s story criss-crosses through disguised identities, servants trying to bring their employer’s empire down, and a wedding planner hoping that his endeavour doesn’t go in vain. He could just have not bothered to go ahead with this waste of talent!
Akshay Kumar as an actor is an exceptionally talented one has been proved time and again given the man has a decent story to perform in. The genre of action is the Khiladi’s forte, goes without saying however, when it remains in the realm of the real. One single man taking on more than 200 goons and flattening them single– come on?? Haven’t we had too much of that already? When Akshay Kumar isn’t beating people up or thinking about Asin, which hardly happens isn’t too bad.
Asin’s Marathi mulgi act is overshadowed by her tomboyish side; but when faced by solid patriarchy in the form of her brother, she hardly has anything to do. Her acting is good, but not one that deserves a standing ovation. Mithun plays off the stereotypical elder brother who is worried about the sister’s marriage.
The music of the film, by Himesh yet again ranges from music that just do not fit in with the story and can be seen as absurd but actually really catchy with some excellent songs like Balma and Hookah bar which is rapidly gaining popularity ! Himesh Reshammiya’s presumed ‘talents’ are him being the producer, storywriter, music director, singer and actor in the film can be considered in this mess – we have to do an all-comprehensive hypothesis on why does this man try and burn a little of his fingers everywhere! The old proverb ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’ might be able to do some justice to the Himesh!
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Khiladi 786 should only be watched by die-hard Akshay Kumar fans or you will find this movie to be one that lacks a story with tons of monotony! If you want nothing more than an enjoyable action-comedy without much sense, give Khiladi 786 a watch. This tasteless release deserves no more than a mere 5/10 … A better script with more meaningful roles and some realism could have led to a Rowdy box-office burnout !!