Khichdi: The Movie

Following the Western trend of making full length movies on Hit Television Series, Bollywood comes up with its own original film adapted from the famous comedy T.V. Serial KHICHDI. Based on the same theme, settings and characters, the film is quite similar to its original source and has nothing exceptional or extra-ordinary in store for its audience (especially the new ones).

In clear words, KHICHDI can be liked or appreciated by only the die-hard fans of the T.V. Serial who are already well aware of all the family members in the story interacting with each other. But for anyone who is not previously familiar with the characters and their unique mannerisms it doesn't prove to be a thoroughly enjoyable comedy as a whole.

Though the writer-director, Aatish Kapadia starts off well with a good self explanatory sequence depicting why all the characters on the screen are so dumb and weird (featuring Satish Shah as the GOD distributing Akal Ke Ladoo). But later on the film goes back to the same serial type of proceedings revolving around the topic of an inter-caste marriage between a Gujrati and a Punjabi family. Here, sadly the Punjabi family and its members are just added on to have some quick jokes on the community which doesn't work and also seem to be in pretty bad taste at times. Frankly speaking, there are still many big names in the Bollywood Industry who are just interested in using a SIKH character in their films for a comic touch and nothing else. And at the same time there are many intelligent film-makers too who boldly decide to make a sensible and appreciable film like "Rocket Singh" completely written around a SIKH character in the lead.

Anyway, coming back to KHICHDI, it has two kinds of humor or comedy. One, which is normal and can be understood by everyone watching the movie in the theater. But the second is the humor which can only be enjoyed by the fans of its original T.V. serial as they only know the reasons why the characters are behaving in their particular peculiar ways on the screen. So, the movie may work for some and may not for many who haven't ever watched or followed the Hit Television Series on which it is actually based.

However, for KHICHDI family's die-hard fans, the movie does have its own truly enjoyable moments coming at regular intervals. But it really could have been a universal laugh riot with a tighter screenplay and a better story plot. The second half insertion of a murder sequence is not impressive, whereas the court room drama in the climax is hilarious. In addition to this, the Bollywood Song Parodies being sung at a funeral, also come as an enjoyable surprise (though may be considered weird by many).

Performance wise, the actors in their famous getups and characters have nothing more to offer than the usual, as seen in the serial. Still their comic timing and the unique dialogue delivery style is superb. Supriya Pathak takes the credit of the best performer in the family, brilliantly supported by all and both Farah Khan & Satish Shah remain truly entertaining in their guest appearances. Musically the film has nothing in its kitty but the Cinematography is fine with very colourful sets and backgrounds.

On the whole, KHICHDI may entertain its true small screen fans, who have been watching the serial from years, but for the others it might not serve the purpose.