Khaali Peeli
Ratings: 1.5/5
Director: Maqbool Khan
Writer: Yash Kesarwani, Sima Agarwal
Production: Ali Abbas Zafar, Himanshu Kishan Mehra, Zee Studios
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Drama
Language: Hindi
Release Date: 2nd October, 2020
Streaming Platform: Zee 5
Star Cast: Ishaan Khatter, Ananya Panday, Jaideep Ahlawat, Zakir Hussain, Satish Kaushik, Aloke Singh
Plot:
The story is about two childhood sweethearts Pooja and Vijay/Blackie who get separated due to certain circumstances when they were kids. Pooja, who is now a prostitute, decides to escape the brothel on turning 18, with a bag full of stolen money. She bumps into Blackie who is now a very ‘chalu’ Bombay taxi driver. He agrees to drive her to freedom, in exchange for a hefty amount. This leads to a series of chase and escape with the goons on Pooja's trail and the cops on the goons' trail.
Review:
This film is a Bollywood-style typical masala entertainer with a hero, heroine, villain, a little dance and action.
The treatment of the film takes you to the journey of the cinema of the eighties, when all these elements used to dominate. This can be realised when the hero of the film is shown in a chase sequence running through the train compartments. Ring a bell!
The film presents the story of childhood lovers Vijay (Ishaan) and Pooja (Ananya) meeting, getting separated and reunited. Vijay is shown to have a vicious and a sharp mind since childhood. He drives around a black-yellow taxi. He has no moral values. He is presented as an opportunist. As Bollywood films tend to portray the stereotypical street smart kids, Vijay carries on the same persona. During an incident, he finds Pooja, who is running away from her wedding. She hires Vijay's taxi. In return, Vijay asks for a huge sum, which she agrees to. Pooja is followed by Yusuf (Jaideep Ahlawat). Yusuf is a pimp, who is in a business of prostitution. And yet after another incident, Tawde (Zakir Hussain), the officer of Mumbai Crime Branch, too starts chasing Yusuf.
This is Ishaan Khattar's third film. As a lead actor, Ishaan plays Vijay's character successfully. He has caught the accent and mannerisms of street smart boys of Mumbai accurately. The title of the film also came from a very common Mumbai slang.
One good about Ananya Pandey’s character is that she isn’t presented as some helpless, crying woman in need of help. Even without help from the hero, she finds ways to outsmart the police, escape the villains, find her way out of sticky situations and break a few bones and also save the hero a couple of times.
Swanand Kirkire is the surprise of the film. Swanand plays the role of a middle-aged rich man who runs business under the guise of business. He wants to marry Pooja many years younger than him. It is astonishing to see the finest lyricist Swanand portraying his character in such a nuanced manner.
Jaideep Ahlawat also proved his mettle as an actor with this movie. Anoop Soni has not got much screen time, but seems to be fine as long as it lasted. Satish Kaushik's special appearance provides a good comic relief. Vedanta Desai and Deshna Dugad, both child actors of Khali-Peeli, have contributed to stabilizing the characters of Vijay i.e. Blackie and Pooja.
A closer look at the movie will reveal that director Maqbool Khan made a signature style of Mumbai language - very prominent and striking in the movie. One of the reasons for keeping the title ‘Khaali-Peeli’ must be the need to keep the treatment of the entire plot as close to Mumbai, like an identity of the city. In fact, there was a time when these black-yellow taxis used to run every route of Mumbai. It sort of represented the Mumbai adventure.
The best part of the music in the film is that it does not disrupt the screenplay anywhere. There are only three songs, which are situational. The ‘tahs-nahs’ playing in the background are influenced, voiced by Shekhar Ravjiani (Vishal-Shekhar) and Prakriti Kakkar. The word Beyoncé from the previously titled song ‘Beyonce shama jaayegi’ has been removed from the world after the controversy. The background score of Sanchit Balhara and Ankit Balhara enhances the thrill of the film. Editing by Rameshwar Bhagat is truly appreciative. In particular, the scene in which Vijay is negotiating with Joseph's man in exchange for handing over Pooja is commendable. In this scene, the montage of a ‘moving and stopped’ taxi looks impressive.
Director Maqbool Khan has used all the departments of the film properly. Despite the lack of newness in the story, the idea of presenting it in such a way may attract the audience. The film gives a sense of masala genre kind of movies of the eighties, but this drama has not been overtly exaggerated and is at least worthy of ‘one time watch’.
