Khatta Meetha (2010 film)

Plot

The film revolves around a struggling road constructor, Sachin Tichkule (Akshay Kumar). 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 former girlfriend, Gehna Ganpule (Trisha Krishnan), who now hates him due to his wayward ways. His brothers-in-law Trigun (Manoj Joshi), Suhas Vichare (Milind Gunaji) and his elder brother (Paritosh Sand) were all responsible for a bridge collapsing accident in which many people were killed. They were helped by a politician named Sanjay Rana (Jaideep Ahlawat). After putting the blame of the mishap on their driver Vishwas Rao, (Tinu Anand) they kill him later fearing he would reveal the truth. Meanwhile Sanjay's lustful eyes fall on Sachin's sister Anjali (Urvashi Sharma). Sachin warns him to keep away from Sandhya by slapping him in his office. Meanwhile Azad Bhagat (Makrand Deshpande) wants justice as his family were killed in that accident. Anjali gets married to Sanjay, unbeknownst to Sachin. When he confronts his father Ramakant Tichkule (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) 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 he learns of Azad's intentions and that 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 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 begin belittling him, claiming he was jealous of them and unlike his successful brother and brothers-in-law , blaming him for tarnishing the family name. Sachin then argues back that they didn't lose anyone and he had to deal with the pain of losing Anjali the most. He agrees to leave, until his father stops him and realizes his honesty and trustworthiness, re-kindling their relationship. Gehna tells that she remained a spinster waiting for Sachin and confesses her love for Sachin and they decide to get married.

Critical response

Upon release, the film received mixed reviews from critics. 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

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack is composed by Pritam with lyrics penned by Irshad Kamil, Shehzad Roy and Nitin Raikwar.