Khatta Meetha (2010 film)

Khatta Meetha (transl. Sour and Sweet) is a 2010 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film written and directed by Priyadarshan and produced by Dhilin Mehta and Twinkle Khanna under Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Limited and Hari Om Entertainment.[2]A remake of Priyadarshan's previous 1988 Malayalam film Vellanakalude Nadu (1988), scripted by Sreenivasan,[3] the film stars Akshay Kumar and Trisha Krishnan, while Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Aruna Irani, Urvashi Sharma, Jaideep Ahlawat, Manoj Joshi, Milind Gunaji, Rajpal Yadav, Neeraj Vora, Vijay Maurya, Asrani and Johnny Lever feature in supporting roles. The story follows Sachin Tichkule, a struggling contractor whose failure in making peace with the corrupt bureaucracy in town as well as strained relation with his ex-girlfriend and his family leads to misadventures that deprive him of his closest relations. However, as he begins to mend his ways, justice comes knocking on his door.

Khatta Meetha
Theatrical release poster
Hindiखट्टा मीठा
Directed byPriyadarshan
Produced byDhilin Mehta
Twinkle Khanna
Written byJay Master (dialogues)
Screenplay byPriyadarshan
Story byPriyadarshan
Based onVellanakalude Nadu
by Priyadarshan
StarringAkshay Kumar
Trisha Krishnan
Urvashi Sharma
Rajpal Yadav
Music bySongs:
Pritam Chakraborty
Guest Composer:
Shani Arshad
Background Score:
Ouseppachan
CinematographyV. Manikandan
Edited byArun Kumar
Production
company
Distributed byEros International
Release date
  • 23 July 2010 (2010-07-23) (India)
Running time
158 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget₹35 crore[1]
Box office₹62.79 crore[1]

Released on 23 July 2010, Khatta Meetha opened to predominantly negative reviews and moderate box office success at the time of release. However, on television, it has acquired a cult audience over the years, and has been the subject of many viral memes.

Plot

Sachin Tichkule (Akshay Kumar) is a struggling Maharashtrian contractor who dreams big but has no chance of his dreams coming true as he doesn't have any money to bribe the bureaucracy. His family has 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 ex-girlfriend, Gehna Ganpule (Trisha), who now hates him due to his wayward ways. His brothers-in-law Trigun (Manoj Joshi), Suhas Vichare (Milind Gunaji) and his elder brother Harish (Paritosh Sand) were all responsible for a bridge collapse resulting in many fatalities, and 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 Anjali and slaps him. Meanwhile, a journalist named Azad Bhagat (Makrand Deshpande) wants justice as his family was killed in that accident. Anjali marries 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 learns of Azad's intentions and how 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's 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 truck 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, begins belittling him, claiming he was jealous of them and unlike his successful brother Harish and brothers-in-law Trigun and Suhas, blaming him for tarnishing the family name. Sachin then argues back that their husbands are still alive behind bars where the wives can see them, while the people who have died to the bridge collapse are gone forever, and nothing can be done to bring them back, and he had to deal with the pain of losing Anjali the most, considering that his brothers-in-law had a hand in her death and were not reprimanded.

He agrees to leave, until his father stops him and realizes his honesty and trustworthiness, re-kindling their relationship, saying that he is proud of him. As he gets out of the house, Sachin spots Gehna, who tells him that she remained a spinster waiting for him, and confesses her love for Sachin and they decide to marry.

Cast

Reception

Critical response

Upon release, the film received mostly negative reviews from critics. As of June 2020, on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 17% on the basis of six reviews with an average rating of 3.33 out of 10.[4]

Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN rated the film 1 out of 5 saying, "Khatta Meetha is a schizophrenic film".[5] 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.[6] 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."[7] 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!"[8] 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."[9] 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".[10] 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".[11]

Awards and nominations
Year Award Award Category Winner/Nominated Work
20116th Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild AwardsApsara Award for Best Playback Singer (Male)Nominated — KK for "Sajde Kiye"[12]
20112011 Zee Cine AwardsBest Female DebutNominated — Trisha Krishnan[13]
2011Filmfare AwardsFilmfare Award for Best Female DebutNominated — Trisha Krishnan [14]
20113rd Mirchi Music AwardsBest Item Song of the YearNominated — "Aila Re Aila"[15]

Soundtrack
Khatta Meetha
Soundtrack album by
Pritam
Released2010
GenreFeature film soundtrack
LabelT-Series
Pritam chronology
No Problem
(2010)		 Khatta Meetha
(2010)		 Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai
(2010)

The film's soundtrack is composed by Pritam with lyrics penned by Irshad Kamil and Nitin Raikwar, with rapper U.R.L. performing the Marathi rap on "Nana Chi Taang".[16][17]

The song "Sajde Kiye" is sung by Roop Kumar Rathod & Harshdeep Kaur in the film version.

Track listing
No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Nana Chi Taang"Kunal Ganjawala5:01
2."Sajde Kiye"KK, Sunidhi Chauhan & Shahid Mallya5:07
3."Bullshit (Music by: Shani Arshad)"Shehzad Roy3:55
4."Aila Re Aila"Daler Mehndi & Kalpana Patowary4:22
5."Nana Chi Taang" (Remix)Kunal Ganjawala4:05
6."Sajde Kiye" (Remix)KK, Harshdeep Kaur & Suzanne D'Mello4:39
7."Aila Re Aila" (Remix)Daler Mehndi & Kalpana Patowary4:00
8."Nachde Re" (instrumental)DJ Suketu 

References
  1. "Khatta Meetha - Movie - Box Office India". Box Office India. 28 July 2018.
  2. "Akshay Kumar to produce Khatta Meetha". 9 January 2010.
  3. "Trisha to Enter Bollywood Soon". indiglamour. 2010. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
  4. "Khatta Meetha (2010) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  5. "Masand: 'Khatta Meetha' is a schizophrenic film". CNN-IBN. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
  6. "Khatta Meetha is only part-funny". Rediff. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
  7. "Mayank Shekhar's Review: Khatta Meetha". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 25 July 2010. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
  8. "Movie Review: Khatta Meetha". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
  9. "AOL Movie Review: Khatta Meetha".
  10. "Khatta Meetha is more sour than sweet". DNA India. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
  11. Kazmi, Nikhat (23 July 2010). "Khatta Meetha Movie review". Times of India. Retrieved 30 July 2010.
  12. "Nominations for 6th Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 9 January 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  13. "Nominations for Zee Cine Awards 2011". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 5 January 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  14. "With debut in Bollywood, Trisha eyes for global recognition". Deccan Herald. Press Trust of India. 2 August 2010. Archived from the original on 9 March 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  15. "Nominees - Mirchi Music Award Hindi 2010". 30 January 2011. Archived from the original on 30 January 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  16. "Music Review". Musicaloud. 2010. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  17. "Khatta Meetha Music Review". Realbollywood. 2010. Archived from the original on 1 February 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
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