Khichdi 2 Review {2.5/5} & Review Rating
KHICHDI 2 is the story of a madcap family on a dangerous mission. Kushal (Anant Vidhaat) of TIA (Thodi Intelligent Agency) meets Hansa (Supriya Pathak), Himanshu (J D Majethia), Praful (Rajeev Mehta), Jayshree (Vandana Pathak) and Babuji (Anang Desai) and asks them for help. He wants them to go to a country called Paanthukistan. The ruler of Paanthukistan, Imam Kha Ke Thuk (Rajeev Mehta), looks like Praful. Hence, the plan is that Hansa, Himanshu, Jayshree and Babuji should enter Paanthukistan pretending to be documentary filmmakers. Praful will be kept hidden in a box. When the time is right, Himanshu will feed a spiked meal to Imam Kha Ke Thuk. The king will faint and Praful will masquerade as the ruler. Kushal then wants them to find a scientist, Makhanwala (Paresh Ganatra), who has designed a dangerous robot. TIA doesn't want the robot to fall into the hands of the king as he can use it for frightening consequences. The plan is simple, but the Parekh family is well...Parekh family. Training them for this mission is a mission in itself. What happens next forms the rest of the film.
Aatish Kapadia's story is superb, though it gives a déjà vu of TERE BIN LADEN [2010] and THE INTERVIEW [2014]. Aatish Kapadia's screenplay (additional screenplay by Sourav Ghosh) is weak, though some moments are quite hilarious and well thought out. Aatish Kapadia's dialogues are one of the highlights of the film. In fact, it’s the dialogues that is the saving grace.
Aatish Kapadia's direction is okay. He keeps the direction simple and uncomplicated. The run time is just 121 minutes, and the film doesn’t bore even for a moment. He smartly starts the film with the helicopter sequence and then goes on a flashback. It sets the mood instantly.
On the flipside, the second half is weak. With a plot like this, the film could have gone anywhere. But the writers and director let go of the opportunity. They rely solely on dialogues and gags to infuse entertainment instead of adding some physical comedy. After all, this is a film, and they should have tried to add some cinematic value. A few jokes are funny but don’t get registered. For example, the name of the British official in the 1947 sequence is Lord Mittibartan, but the audience won’t notice it properly. A crucial character is wasted, and the death of another character is unimaginative and needlessly violent for a film of this sort.
Speaking of performances, Supriya Pathak takes the cake as she gets to mouth the maximum jokes. Rajeev Mehta plays both the roles with ease. J D Majethia and Vandana Pathak add to the fun and entertainment convincingly. Anang Desai is adorable. Kirti Kulhari (Parminder) is wasted. She should have been there in the climax, ideally. Anant Vidhaat lends able support. Paresh Ganatra doesn’t get much scope. Kiku Sharda is entertaining as the robot. Reyaansh Vir Chaddha (Wazir) is okay while Flora Saini (Rani Gulkanda) is over the top. Farah Khan and Pratik Gandhi are fair.
Chirantan Bhatt's music is poor. 'Vande Raka' has bizarre lyrics but is shot well. 'Naach Naach' is well woven into the film. The Paanthukistan national anthem is funny. Raju Singh's background score is in sync with the film’s tone. Vijay Soni's cinematography is appropriate. Jayant Deshmukh's production design is theatrical. Falguni Trivedi's costumes are as per the character’s traits. Raj Shinde's action works. Crazy VFX's VFX is very poor. Aajay A Kumar's editing is fine.
On the whole, KHICHDI 2 suffers from a weak second half and an unimaginative script. At the box office, it might surprise if the target audience accepts the film.
