Khiladi 786

Plot: Akshay Kumar plays himself but since he is an 'actor' and the 'film' requires it's cast to have unique character names, he is therefore called Bahattar Singh; the guy is a con policeman whose entire family of equally tough men believe in making money catching criminals and sometimes framing innocents wrongfully, but the same guy is also rejected by every girl in the town. The leading lady Asin asininely plays a crime lord's daughter whose lover remains behind bars and so she takes all her prospective bridegrooms on a deadly car drive so that they can reject her. The marriage-maker is played here by Himesh Reshammiya, whose character's idiosyncrasies put him in great trouble. Supporting cast made up by people usually associated with Akshay Kumar films.

After being repeatedly and uninhibitedly subjected to erratic zip-zap-zoom cinematography with not really visible attempts at fine-tuning, shoddy, so-obvious-it's- made-out-of-cheaper-quality-material set properties and horrifyingly loud and sometimes out-of-sync sound that has the ability to molest one's ear, an Indian like me has begun to believe that the availability of good technology, the assumption that the Indian audience always keeps their cerebrum aside while entering the theater and the mass manipulation of the media by the moneyed mainstream has corrupted many of today's Indian directors, actors and production crew, who seemed to have forgone the basic elements of creating a good cinema and completely left out the advantages of a well-penned script, thereby tarnishing quality completely in favor of show-me-the-money!

Ah I feel so good now after getting this off my chest! This the the pent up feeling (or rant) that bubbled within me with each new frame in Khiladi 786, whose director is incompetent, whose producer (the lead actor's wife herself) is a cash cow, whose cinematographer is reckless, whose sound recordist is insane and whose actors are extremely aware of their limitations yet incredibly proud that they still are minting money while hundred of capable actors aren't getting their dues. Salman Khan dropped the bar to depths rivaling Othello's hapless state after realizing the deceit played on him by the manipulative Iago, but Akshay out-lowers him with smelly poo excreted into an expensive diaper. Only time shall tell whether it is Salman who goes even lower in Dabang 2 or it is some third person who walks away with the usually-dreaded-but-now-coveted-because- money-is-at-least-recovered Hall of Shame.

Since the movie took it's audience for granted, I did the same for the movie: I left (read 'fled') during the interval. It should not be the way a movie should be critiqued but there are certainly exceptions such as this wacky piece. I'm not sure whether the director tried doing a Tarantino (i.e. using prominent qualities from low budget action film in developing a highly stylized, high quality movie, such as Kill Bill inspired by small budget Japanese martial arts films), but in case he did, then he has failed miserably. Just getting a better camera and better recording devices aren't the keys of making a better film; would Kill Bill have received such a glorious response had it just got a very expensive camera with sharper clarity and high-tech sound devices without creating the epic saga, using proper narrative devices or choreographing it's complex martial arts moves with beauty and precision? The people associated with Khiladi 786 are all spoilt brats who shamelessly exploit wrongly the resources they are able to obtain just because they have so much money. 

The most disturbing part of films such as Khiladi 786 is the open misogynist values it promotes. Asin's character is a rough rider who can only be controlled by a man, and so there's a humiliating sequence where Akshay's character Sattar dumps her on the shotgun seat, takes charge of the driver seat and drives at a monstrous speed to make her submit to his manhood completely. In between the sequence, the action is cut to a fantasy sequence where Sattar driving a swanky car and Asin sits beside him and acts like one of those bimbos in music videos. I've seen this with Salman Khan films too - nearly all his leading ladies literally act like they are completely powerless under Salman's mighty control.

Seems like my rant has still not finished, but what else can said about this work? Akshay Kumar has admitted he isn't very talented as an actor but he proves now that he has stopped being an entertainer too. Asin has been having a Ghajini hangover for over two years and it's time she really tries her hand at some other profession. Reshammiya should suck his hubris about being multi-talented and stick to what he does best... Judge music shows that I don't watch so I do not get to see his face. The rest of the cast knows they risk losing their money-making jobs if either Akshay or Salman quits, so they remain loyal to their films, no matter how hopelessly their little talent is exploited.

First I would like to clarify that aside from having Akshay Kumar in a starring role, this film is nothing like the Khiladi movies from the 90's. I will start this review with the negative aspects of the film and then move on to where it succeeds. Firstly, as is increasingly common with Bollywood films these days, the Punjabi element is noticeably there both linguistically and thematically. This is not so wrong except that I think that over-Punjabization makes it somewhat difficult to follow some plot lines and jokes. Additionally, there is not really a message in this film to follow and some of the jokes fall stale. Also, the storyline about Akshay Kumar's character's long lost brother does seem to be not only tangential, but also completely unnecessary. In addition, while many of the fight scenes are choreographed well, some of them do tend to drag and could have been more sharply edited. On to what the film does well. The supporting cast, other than the non-Indian characters (as per usual with Bollywood) all do a fair job in creating a hilarious atmosphere. Asin is adequate in her role, though she has been typecast so far in Bollywood as the pretty girl who gets duped a lot and does not have much to do other than be eye candy, a standard which she adheres to here with aplomb. Akshay Kumar and Mithun Chakraborty both do an excellent job in creating a comic atmosphere without being overly obnoxious, which is somewhat helped by the characteristically helpless look that Chakraborty has perfected for his role as the stern patriarch (he has played the same role in about a half dozen movies by now so he should be getting good at it in any case). In addition, the songs are fairly catchy in their own way, though Himesh Reshammiya has a hard time making a love song not sound ridiculous. Overall this was a decent masala entertainer from Bollywood that, while not comedic gold, is nevertheless a far better outing than some of the other choices from Akshay Kumar this past year. Good for a watch.

It is alright! Not exception or not even worth watching twice. But, if you have the time why not?

It's a light senseless movie on the lines of Dabangg. It's somewhat humorous and maybe lightly entertaining. If you don't get very critical you might enjoy it.

Akshay Kumar as usual is a strong man. Himesh Reshammia is alright too. Asin look really nice and well, the acting is fine too.

All in all, this movie has nothing worth remembering. It's not even a laugh riot. But it does tickle the funny bone once a while and helps you pass time in an alright manner.

If you are the very seriously kind of audience, then you can give this one a skip!

With a vision of repeating the success story of his Rowdy Rathore, Akshay Kumar returns with another action comedy which unfortunately stands nowhere close to that fairly entertaining Hit. So if you considered Rowdy Rathore as an average film then this goes to an even lower level with only a single plus point in the project being its catchy soundtrack.

Therefore there is nothing to write about in details about Khiladi 786 as a movie experience to be honest. It is quite similar to Rohit Shetty kind of newly invented cinema and director Ashish R. Mohan strictly follows his mentor (Rohit), right from the first frame to the last including the punch lines, action, art direction and colours of the walls used in his sets too. But the film neither has got anything related to Akshay's personal brand of Khiladi, nor it has something to do with the religious symbols used in it scenes vaguely.

Based on a thin storyline (written by Himesh Reshamiya), the first half does give you few moments to enjoy along with the much publicized action sequences. But the second half continues to slide downward & drags till the end resulting in an uninteresting film altogether. So despite of some good foot tapping songs, Khiladi 786 fails to keep you engaged and one easily feels like walking away even before it officially ends.

Though Akshay performs well with a great confidence but there are very few good comic sequences featuring his famous comic timing and then the simply absurd double role in the climax further ruins the whole project completely. Himesh does more than one role in the film as the producer, writer, singer, composer & also the key supporting actor filling the space and he is just OK. Asin as usual is there for adding some glamour, Mithun Chakraborty is not as impressive as he was in Housefull 2 and I couldn't understand why Raj Babbar accepted such kind of meaningless minuscule role in this weak film.

Putting it together Khiladi 786 has only got some dancing tracks to entertain you till they last and nothing else in the name of content. Moreover it was sad to see, how they used the religious symbols (786 & Khanda – The Sikh Symbol) just to attract the viewers and to add some value to the product commercially. Thankfully it was never done in such a ridiculous manner in the past by thoughtful directors such as Manmohan Desai, Yash Chopra and Manoj Kumar.

Welcome + Namaste London(some part & song theme) = 786, a poor strike by Khiladi. It is a wonder that we still are making films like this. It has just the brand KHILADI in correlation with earlier movies. It is entirely old story by Himesh with a little change in masala. This is the 2nd time this year, where Akshay tries to be Salman. Nothing new in his acting. It is a scary nightmare that Akshay will come back with more films like this because I am sure that films like this will earn money. In first half, flick has some mindless comedy & action scene but 2nd half has only scenes(no action, no comedy & no story too). Asin has tried to do nothing new. Himesh is better then his previous roles. Rest is OK. Last Words: Go for this flick, if you are a die-hard fan of Akshay.