Khaali Peeli Review: Mindless Masala Makes A Comeback, But Is It Worth It?

What makes a Bollywood masala film become a hit at the box-office? There's always action, romance, dialoguebaazi, car chase and a lot of emotion and drama. But what makes the formula work every time? Is it the star-power, the chemistry of the leads or the vibe at the theatre with all the sittis and the taalis? We wonder what the makers of Khaali Peeli would have thought before they churned out the masala flick in 2020, were content is being hailed as the king.

Khaali Peeli is the mindless masala that you'd see, in probably a film like Chennai Express. But Ishaan is no SRK and Ananya is no Deepika and for a movie that relies heavily on the chemistry between the leads rather than their acting chops, the spark flew just momentarily. Khaali Peeli narrates the story of Pooja and Blackie( because he used to see movie tickets in the black) who meet on a fated night after the former runs away from her own wedding with loads of jewellery and cash and the latter is on the run after committing a 'half-murder'! It is only later that they realise that they are the childhood sweethearts who had separated because of Yusuf bhai (played by Jaideep Ahlawat ). They meet and sparks should fly, but it doesn't really). There's a lot of song and dance and car chases after which we arrive at the climax. Will Pooja get to stay with her Blackie? We all know the answer to that, do we not?

The good thing about the film is Ishaan Khatter 's performance. He is earnest and is a good actor. His craft shines even when he doesn't have much to put into. So does JaideepAhlawat. He is introduced as a formidable man but is then shown as a someone whose actions don't quite match the introductory scene. Ananya does a good job too playing the innocent but smart Pooja. It is probably Anup Soni and Satish Kaushik whose talents have been wasted in the film!

The director, Maqbool Khan, tries to sail the film through. He puts unnecessary songs in between to bring the chemistry, but a lot of it only showcases Ishaan's impeccable dancing skills. The film moves back and forth in time and things could go very wrong in these cases. However, it doesn't really happen in Khaali Peeli, and we have to give it to the director for that.

Khaali Peeli could have been the watch-pause-watch film for a lazy evening when you don't want to put your brain to any use. But, we are not sure if someone might want to pay 300 bucks for that! In fact, there's no popcorn or seeti-taali here, unless you have called your friends over and watching thr film together. Honestly, this one is skippable!