Khatta Meetha

You know, I was not looking forward to watching Akshay Kumar's upcoming film, Khatta Meetha.  I think I'd finally reached the point where, no matter how talented I think he is, it's just not enough to drag me to a movie theatre anymore (unlike Govinda, for whom I will still watch any film, even if it makes me cry).

But I was looking for something over on the YouTubes, and noticed the Khatta Meetha trailer in the sidebar, and curiousity got the better of me, and I watched it:

First, I had this amazing sensation that someone was chanelling just a little bit of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, from the oranges and greens (though Jeunet's films tend to be more greens and orange), to the style, to the shaky image.  No idea whether Jeunet was an inspiration for that or if it's just a coincidence, but that's how I felt.

Also?  It was effective enough as a trailer to finally make me go look up so more information for the film. 

Wherein I discovered that this was Priyadarshan reinventing one of his older Malayalam films for a Hindi audience.  Which, of course, is not surprising, given this is what Priyadarshan does.

Khatta Meetha is based on the 1988 film Vellanakalude Nadu, a political satire about municipal corruption involving roadworks, which starred Mohanlal, Sreenivasan and Shobhana.

Now, already bells are ringing around here at Casa Totally Filmi, because I have seen enough Malayalam films to know that if Mohanlal and Sreenivasan are involved, it's my kind of film.  Most importantly, the story was written by Sreenivasan himself, and if there's one thing I've discovered it's that Sreenivasan writes films that I invariably end up liking.  The films are often black comedies, or filled with biting satire, but they're also generally very well-written and compelling and enjoyable watches.

And if there's one thing I also know?  With very few exceptions, I am disappointed when Sreenivasan films get remade.  In fact, of everything I've seen more recently (including Chal Chala Chal and ShortKut), I think the only film that actually really enjoyed as much as the original was Billu.

However -- Billu was "filmed by Priyadarshan", as is Katha Meetha.  So, suddenly, I am tempted to give the film a chance.  Despite feeling fairly burned by Akshay Kumar films in the last couple of years.

Comments

[Ness]

I love me some Akki, so I'd totally see this anyway, but the trailer for this looks good. Like...INTERESTING good.

[katherine]

Oh, I love Akki, too, which is why some of his films are so frustratingly disappointing to me.

But this is, as you say, looking like it might actually be GOOD. I'm crossing my fingers. And I'm really hoping it is, because I would be so happy to see Akki in a truly good film for a change.