In the last few years, people have had certain problems with Akshay Kumar and his films. For example, he is not playing characters as per his age, the level of his comedy is wrong and the social messages of his films are messed up.
‘Khel Khel Mein’ is a good attempt by Akshay to remove all these complaints. And the good thing is that along with removing these complaints, Akshay’s new film has also been successful in providing entertainment. Director Mudassar Aziz should also get credit that the level of sensitivity, social message and wokeness in his comedy film has turned out to be quite good. On top of that, Akshay’s character of becoming the father of an adult daughter is also quite ‘age appropriate’ this time.
Akshay Kumar has a trademark natural comic timing, which is very much liked by the public. It came from good writing, which Priyadarshan presented well on screen. But after a time, directors started trying to ‘create’ this natural timing of Akshay and the films became routine. But the writing of ‘Khel Khel Mein’ is quite intelligent in which the jokes and punches are funny.
The actors are also amazing who deliver this writing on screen in an effective and entertaining manner. The message conveyed through the story is not delivered like a lecture, rather the situations and interactions of the characters appeal to you. However, since the film has a star like Akshay Kumar, there had to be a monologue at the end. But this scene is also light rather than heavy and is successful in delivering the message.
Three couples and three messages
There are three couples in the story. Rishabh (Akshay) has an adult daughter and is married to Vartika (Vaani Kapoor) for the second time after the death of his first wife. The marriage of Harpreet Male (Amy Virk) and Harpreet Female (Taapsee Pannu) is a bit mismatched. There is a lot of pressure on this couple to have a child, going through the conflict of village-city, cool-uncool and English-Punjabi.
The third couple is Samar (Aditya Seal) and Naina (Pragya Jaiswal). Naina’s father is a big businessman and also Samar’s boss. He is constantly trying hard to prove that he has reached the top not only because of being a son-in-law but because of doing good work.
These couples are friends and have come to attend a wedding. They also have another friend Kabir (Fardeen Khan) who is divorced and was supposed to come with his girlfriend, but has arrived alone. It is often mentioned in our conversations that how men keep all their and their friends’ secrets hidden. From here a new game is created that everyone will keep their mobiles unlocked for the whole night and whatever message-call comes will be heard/read in front of everyone.
In this game the mobile becomes the lamp from which different types of genies start coming out. And it becomes very interesting to see how these jinns turn the paradise of good marriages into hell in just a few minutes. But the story is not just about the boring, married life of married couples.
Through the story of three couples and Kabir, the film interestingly explores the changing personal behavior of people amidst a fixed social pattern. Such topics have been raised a lot in films before also, but the specialty of ‘Khel Khel Mein’ is that the film’s opinion on these topics is very settled and ‘cool’. There is no unnecessary confusion. Watch the trailer of ‘Khel Khel Mein’ here:
Amazing actors, amazing social message
Akshay Kumar is looking very comfortable and in his prime form in a film after a long time. The magic of his comic timing, which seemed to be disappearing, is once again creating an atmosphere on the screen with ‘Khel Khel Mein’. But in this film his fellow actors have also borne the burden of comedy equally.
Even though Akshay’s character is the lead in the film, all the characters have got their share of time and shining moments. Fardeen Khan and Taapsee Pannu left no stone unturned in capitalizing on this moment. Whatever these two were given to do in the film, they did it with full sincerity and with enjoyment.
Aditya Seal and Pragya Jaiswal have also played their share of comedy and serious moments well. Vaani Kapoor has nailed the character of a serious and intellectual writer and among all the things, Amy Virk has played the character of the awkward Sardar well. Chitrangada Singh has an interesting cameo in the film.
After watching this film of Akshay, one understands how interesting its title is. The film ‘Khel Khel Mein’ treats three serious issues with humor and with great love. When Akshay’s character guides his daughter to spend ‘quality time’ with her boyfriend, it is a lesson for every adult child and It becomes a learning lesson for his parents.
The sexuality of a character in the story also becomes a medium of message. The maturity with which the film treats it is less than what is expected from mainstream Bollywood films. Due to a misunderstanding in the film, a straight character is first considered gay. But when the truth is revealed, everyone is stunned and the song ‘I could have told my friends’ starts. The film questions the need to make this information public. There is a very important dialogue that ‘If you became gay for half an hour, your whole world turned upside down’. This scene has also been presented very well.
However, the film stereotypes some characters and their behavior which becomes a bit over the top at some places. But this will not distract the public much in theatres. The songs are good but even if they were not there, not much would be missed. In fact, the songs slow down a film with crisp timing. The film also misses a bit in dealing with mental health. But Mudassar Aziz has treated everything very seriously and has taken full care that in the entire film, there is not a single 10 minutes in which there is no punch or comedy on the screen.
From the very beginning, ‘Khel Khel Mein’ keeps the atmosphere flowing with naturally treated, well-timed comedy scenes one after the other. This can be called Akshay’s best comedy in the last several years. In this long weekend, to spend fun time with family and friends, you can definitely go to theaters for ‘Khel Khel Mein’.