Khichdi - The Movie Review

 What is it all about?

This zany family which debuted on the small tube in the early 2000s on STAR Plus which adopted the Western model of appearing in seasons ruled many houses and now when it comes in its filmi version `Khichdi - The Movie', is peppered with amusing gags and one-liners with its inspired casting.

 It's interesting to note, too, that as we live in the age of smart phones, slick wheels and advanced gadgets, the `Parekhs' from the `Khichdi' family seems to be loving, nurturing, eccentric though they may be but this screen adaptation has a story on its own with all the ingredients to make a perfect `dal khichdi' for us with enough rice and ghee of laughter's and papads with pickles of PJs to make this a `yummy' stress busting dish that leaves the `Parekh' in every household smiling.

The Story.. Of course

Well the script is a joke, fun, pun and is hilarious. Hansa's (Supriya Pathak) brother Himanshu (J.D.) has a ridiculous ambition: to have a memorable, legendary love story.

Parminder (Kirti Kulhari), Himanshu's neighbour, falls in love with Himanshu for no logical reason and the two get engaged to get married. That's when this story takes a crazy turn. Himanshu realizes on the eve of the wedding that the impending ceremony would mean impending doom to his desire to have a legendary love story. For, nothing interesting ever happened in his love story to make it memorable.

No resistance, no conflict, no separation, no sad song, no climax, nothing. So the dumb family sets out to stall the wedding. Thus begins their journey to create all those missing stages in Himanshu's love story in order to make it legendary.

What to look out for?

The most significant part of this whacky family is that the characters laugh and succeed in making you laugh.  Without any serious moment and one laughing gas immediately followed by another works as a real stress buster. Starting with Satish Shah entering the Parekh's house as the God of wisdom with the intention to disturbed ladoos of wisdom to this family which seriously deserves it the most, we are introduced  to those crazy characters in the house who sarcastically question the lord's IQ marking the journey of this hilarious ride.

With sarcasms at his best where parody of numbers like `Beedi Jalaile' and `Bhige Hoth Tere' are performed at the funeral of the father of J.D and Supriya with stalls of Indian favourite munch pani puri, bhel puri and ragda pattice all around.

Writer-director Aatish Kapadia does a fine job in not letting any dull moment corrupt the laughter download process.

The actors are in top form over here where Supriya Pathak is simply outstanding. Anang Desai is excellent. Rajeev Mehta as Prafull is entertaining. Nimisha Vakharia as the bahu is engaging. J.D. is fantastic. Kirti Kulhari looks lovely. Farah Khan, Satish Shah, Deven Bhojani and Paresh Ganatra are adorable in their cameos.

Technically sound with fine camerawork by Sanjay Jadhav and first rate production values, `Khichdi' is a fun ride.

What not?

Ironically, the love story isn't that convincing but the family involved is hilarious. A better option than the suicide note, robbery, murder could have been planned when the movie started well on the creative witty quotient of lord of wisdom coming to offer ladoos of wisdom to this zany family.

Some may find the jokes on elder people a bit stretched.

Conclusion: `Khichdi -The Movie' lives up to its expectation for those who were hooked up by this crazy family and for those who haven't tasted it till, it's a yummy dish of laughter peppered with amusing gags and one-liners. Go for it.

Rating ***