Khatta Meetha (2010 film)


Khatta Meetha is a 2010 Indian Hindi-language satirical comedy-drama film written and directed by Priyadarshan that stars Akshay Kumar and Trisha in the lead roles. The film is a remake of Priyadarshan's previous Malayalam film Vellanakalude Nadu, scripted by Sreenivasan. The film was produced by Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd and Hari Om Productions. It was released on 23 July 2010.

Plot

The film revolves around a struggling Maharashtrian contractor, Sachin Tichkule. He dreams big but there seems to be no chance of his dreams coming true as he doesn't have any money to bribe the bureaucracy. His family have lost faith in him, telling him to earn money through honest means. To make matters worse, the new Municipal Commissioner turns out to be his ex-girlfriend, Gehna Ganpule, who now hates him due to his wayward ways. His brothers-in-law Trigun, Suhas Vichare and his elder brother Harish were all responsible for a bridge collapse resulting in many fatalities.
They were helped by a politician named Sanjay Rana. After putting the blame of the mishap on their driver Vishwas Rao, they kill him later fearing he would reveal the truth. Meanwhile, Sanjay's lustful eyes fall on Sachin's sister Anjali. Sachin warns him to keep away from Anjali and slaps him.
Meanwhile, a journalist named Azad Bhagat wants justice as his family were killed in that accident. Anjali marries Sanjay, unbeknownst to Sachin. When he confronts his father Ramakant Tichkule as to how the marriage is finalized to an evil man without his knowledge, he reprimands Sachin, saying he has no right to say he didn't know anything because he has no money to marry his sister off. After losing contact, Sachin learns that Anjali has been attempting to contact him and when he goes to their house one night, he is informed by the guard that they have gone out.
Sachin spots Azad escape from Sanjay's house. He then learns of Anjali's death because of an accident. Sachin and his parents are devastated. Sachin is suspicious and smells foul play in her death. He then meets Azad again at the Municipal office and learns of Azad's intentions and how he had acquired strong evidence which would help in putting the people involved behind bars. They both then agree to help each other to reveal the corruption behind the faulty construction of the bridge.
Sanjay comes to know of Azad's intentions and hires masked robbers, who kill Azad while he was on his way to court. Sachin takes the fatally injured Azad to the hospital for treatment. At the hospital, while Azad is dying in Sachin's arms, he reveals that while he was stealing the evidence, he saw Sachin's sister Anjali being raped by Sanjay's friends and it's not clear whether she was murdered by her rapists while she escaped or she committed suicide. In an attempt to make sure the evidence isn't revealed, Sanjay steals it after robbing Azad's house. Sachin spots Sanjay fleeing with the bag full of evidence and a fight ensues between Sanjay and Sachin. Sanjay is then killed after being run over by a bus and Sachin successfully retrieves the evidence.
Sachin's brother and brothers-in-law are arrested and the whole family, especially Sachin's sisters-in-law, begins belittling him, claiming he was jealous of them and unlike his successful brother Harish and brothers-in-law Trigun and Suhas, blaming him for tarnishing the family name. Sachin then argues back that their husbands are still alive behind bars where the wives can see them, while the people who have died to the bridge collapse are gone forever, and nothing can be done to bring them back, and he had to deal with the pain of losing Anjali the most, considering that his brothers-in-law had a hand in her death and were not reprimanded.
He agrees to leave, until his father stops him and realizes his honesty and trustworthiness, re-kindling their relationship, saying that he is proud of him. As he gets out of the house, Sachin spots Gehna, who tells him that she remained a spinster waiting for him, and confesses her love for Sachin and they decide to marry.

Cast

Critical response

Upon release, the film received mostly positive reviews from critics., on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 17% on the basis of six reviews with an average rating of 3.33 out of 10.
Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN rated the film 1 out of 5 saying, "Khatta Meetha is a schizophrenic film". Sukanya Verma of Rediff gave it 2/5 saying, "The story with its baggage of generic turns and contrived twists seems all too familiar in making its even-now significant point. In addition, it seems a tad too long at its three hours running time. Mayank Shekhar of the Hindustan Times gave it 1/5 and stated, "This one's about wacky Akki alone. Truly, few things unite Indians, besides a high illiteracy rate, and films of Bollywood superstars. One benefits from the other. And Priyadarshan gets to churn out his own no-brainer remakes every other week." Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama rated the film 1.5/5 while stating, "Khatta Meetha is a major letdown from the accomplished director. It's not a full-blown comedy. It's not a full-scale satire either. Hugely disappointing!" Noyon Jyoti Parasara of AOL rated the film 1.5/5 and stated, "In no way does 'Khatta Meetha' look like a film made by a director who has made 80 films till date. Certainly not from a director who got a National Award barely a year back for 'Kanchivaram'. This one is a rather amateur product which is best avoided." Blessy Chettiar of DNA gave it a rating of 2/5 and said, "Khatta Meetha is a hotchpotch of too much drama and very little comedy". Nikhat Kazmi of the Times of India gave it the highest rating of 3/5 saying, "Tune off a bit for the tedious middle and you could be in for some fun and frolic in Khatta Meetha".

Awards and nominations

;6th Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards
;2011 Zee Cine Awards
;3rd Mirchi Music Awards
Nominated
The film's soundtrack is composed by Pritam with lyrics penned by Irshad Kamil, Shehzad Roy and Nitin Raikwar.
The version of Sajde Kiye used in the film is not available in the official soundtrack. The song Sajde Kiye is sung by Roop Kumar Rathod & Harshdeep Kaur in the film version.

Track listing