Friday 13 August, 2010

Movie Review : Khatta Meetha

You have to admire Priyadarshan. He has identified a niche in Bollywood, build the support structure to enable exploitation of that niche and made a success of it. Remaking successful Malayalam movies.



Hulchul - Godfather
Gardish - Kireedam
Hera Pheri - Ramji Rao Speaking
Bhul Bhulaiya - Manichitrathazhu
Billu - Kadha Parayumbol

et al.

The Malayalam original was an enjoyable commentary on low level corruption in the Public Works Department with an entirely appropriate feisty performance by Mohanlal and a restrained one by Shobana. What you have in Hindi is a shouting match between Akshay Kumar and the rest of the cast.

The story revolves around the trials and tribulations of Sachin Tichkule, a civil works contractor, trying to make a go of it by navigating the corrupt system. What could effectively have been a commentary on the common man and the state of the system translates into a shout fest with Sachin letting off steam against the rest of the world (read cast) at a decibel level that makes your head ache.

The well meaning Sachin and his struggles are juxtaposed against the power brokers and high level corruption represented by the contractors in his own family (Milind Gunaji, Manoj Joshi) and their political connections. The tension and sarcasm that was underplayed in the original as representative of the closed gravy train system and those struggling to become a part of it is very much out in the open in the Hindi remake.

The vignettes that are representative of Sachin's struggles are set against a broader backdrop of high level corruption, rape, murder and tragedy. In the end, it is up to Sachin to stand up for his moral roots when pushed to the wall by the murder of his sister and bring the system down.

The common thread to most of the original films remade by Priyadarshan were strong narratives, appropriately subtle acting and good music. What is not clear is the need to amplify everything when translating the film into Hindi; dialogues, acting and set design. Is there an assumption that a pan-India audience cannot appreciate subtlety? Empirically this is not true, especially for comedies. You only need to look at the success of Angoor, Golmaal and many others to understand that people have a sense of humour and you don't necessarily need to beat them on the head with a joke for them to get it. As the greats have shown time and time again - Charlie Chaplin, Peter Sellers, our very own Mohanlal and Sanjeev Kumar - brevity and subtlety are the heart of wit, to paraphrase Shakespeare. Even in mainstream Hindi cinema, some of the funniest sequences ever such as Amitabh's wry wit in Sholay have been much viewed and loved by a large audience.

Unfortunately, comedy in Hindi films has come to be defined by the likes of Sajid Khan (have you sat through Housefull?) and possibly this is Priyadarshan's attempt to conform. I mean, come on, the man has directed multiple films in Malayalam that are not over the top, but very effective, during the earlier part of his career.

Having seen and loved the original malayalam, Vellanakulde Nadu, I went in to Khatta Meetha with low expectations and to put is simply, they were met. This is a hash of a much loved original.

Here's the road roller scene in the original Malayalam. Worth a see even if you can't understand the language.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-smi32g2bIs&NR=1

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