First I would like to clarify that aside from having Akshay Kumar in a starring role, this film is nothing like the Khiladi movies from the 90's. I will start this review with the negative aspects of the film and then move on to where it succeeds. Firstly, as is increasingly common with Bollywood films these days, the Punjabi element is noticeably there both linguistically and thematically. This is not so wrong except that I think that over-Punjabization makes it somewhat difficult to follow some plot lines and jokes. Additionally, there is not really a message in this film to follow and some of the jokes fall stale. Also, the storyline about Akshay Kumar's character's long lost brother does seem to be not only tangential, but also completely unnecessary. In addition, while many of the fight scenes are choreographed well, some of them do tend to drag and could have been more sharply edited. On to what the film does well. The supporting cast, other than the non-Indian characters (as per usual with Bollywood) all do a fair job in creating a hilarious atmosphere. Asin is adequate in her role, though she has been typecast so far in Bollywood as the pretty girl who gets duped a lot and does not have much to do other than be eye candy, a standard which she adheres to here with aplomb. Akshay Kumar and Mithun Chakraborty both do an excellent job in creating a comic atmosphere without being overly obnoxious, which is somewhat helped by the characteristically helpless look that Chakraborty has perfected for his role as the stern patriarch (he has played the same role in about a half dozen movies by now so he should be getting good at it in any case). In addition, the songs are fairly catchy in their own way, though Himesh Reshammiya has a hard time making a love song not sound ridiculous. Overall this was a decent masala entertainer from Bollywood that, while not comedic gold, is nevertheless a far better outing than some of the other choices from Akshay Kumar this past year. Good for a watch.
Review of Khiladi 786
