Khel Khel Mein movie review: Akshay Kumar exhibits flair in no-holds-barred comedy

Cell-phones, in point of fact, become the instrument through which we see the real faces of the seven adults across the table, where a game of truth-and-bare-to-dare is on. Apart from Rishabh and Vartika, both in the middle of taking a step back from their childless marriage, there are two more couples and a singleton minus significant other.

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Harpreet (Ammy Virk) and Harpreet aka Happy (Taapsee Pannu), him a Honda car dealer and her a harried housewife, have troubles of their own. As do rich daddy’s poor little girl Naina (Pragya Jaiswal) and her spouse Samar (Aditya Seal), trying to make his way up the professional ladder with a bit of help. The seventh is sports coach Kabir (Fardeen Khan) is hiding something fundamental, taking recourse to the human propensity to lie and cheat, and take the easy way out.

First off, despite the desi situations and the attire, you never quite shake off the feeling that this is an adaptation, in a culture where candid conversations are not run away from. While every text or call that comes in shows us the recipient petrified by what is going to come up, the fallout has the flavour of a release we don’t usually experience in our movies.

And the cast makes the best of it, which is the best part of the movie. Akshay Kumar has always done a good job being a cad, and here he shows how to be a champion cad: the reveal which throws his already fragile relationship into a spin also shows that this is his happy space. When doing patriotic drivel, he comes off self-righteous and uninteresting; here, he channels his inner ‘chhichhora’ hiding under a sophisticated exterior, with the flair he exhibits when not taking himself seriously.

Of the rest, Pragya Jaiswal stands out, her constant refrain of ‘Baby’ — her endearment for her husband — so typical of the kind of woman who will buy an ultra-expensive present for a bride whose name escapes her. As do Ammy Virk, last seen in ‘Bad Newz’ but not to such effect, as the guy who is essentially hiding his weak spots by making a song-and-dance about supporting his wife; and Taapsee Pannu gets in another felt turn, after ‘Haseen Dilruba’, making us feel Happy’s pain.

The length of the movie makes things sag in bits, especially in the second half. Plus, some of the ‘reveals’ aren’t that madly interesting either. In the interests of keeping things light and frothy, some characters are given arcs which threaten to redeem them. Which does this kind of film no good: a little more of the some-men-will never-change just like leopards and their spots, would have made it a no-holds-barred banger. Erm.

Khel Khel Mein movie cast: Akshay Kumar, Taapsee Pannu, Vaani Kapoor, Ammy Virk, Pragya Jaiswal, Aditya Seal
Khel Khel Mein movie director: Muddassar Aziz
Khel Khel Mein movie rating: 2.5 stars