Movie Review | Khichdi 2: Mission in Paantukistan

You translate harmless comedy from the small screen to the big screen at your own risk and product reliability. Aatish Kapadia did this with his ‘Khichdi’, spoiling the material and more importantly, considering its banality, its non-existent storyline. Foamy comedies can rely heavily on the script at the expense of the story. ‘Golmaal’, ‘Ran Birangi’ (Hrishikesh Mukherjee) and ‘Choti Si Baat’ (Basu Chatterjee) are some examples. The filmmakers used common situations to tickle the ribs. This is an essential element of good comedy. Atish mainly fails to handle the story which is close to the script. A humorous storyline is a godsend for good comedy. This comes with a big caveat. The script is taxing and has to keep the audience divided. Aatish fails. The ludicrous story told in an almost hysterical manner robs the film of its laugh-worthy qualities, often turning what should have been light into a silly farce.

‘Todi Information Agency (TIA)’, through Kushal (Anant Vidyat Sharma), is working on scouting the famous ‘Parekh’ family that everyone saw on TV in 2002. The mission is to rescue a robot-building scientist (Paresh Ganatra) from the clutches of Panthukistan’s dictator Imam Kaketuk (Rajeev Mehta). The Dictator is a caricature of many of the dictators we know. He comes straight out of a comic book, not a history book. He is assisted by Queen Rani Gurkandi (Flora Saini) and Vasil Ek Su Bhis Navratan (Rayanchi Veer Chaddha). The film is a cacophony of plays by the Parekh family, Tulsida (Anand Desai), Jai Sree Bharat (Vandana Pathak), Hansa Babi (Supriya Phatak), Praful (Rajeev Mehta) and Himanshu (Jamnadas Majetia). to start.

On a helicopter expedition, they drive pilot Sukamish Mehta (Prateek Gandhi) crazy. It’s okay if you’re passing by. But he gets sick of stuffing himself with tons of popcorn and gets nervous about his seemingly innocuous family. It’s okay for a while to laugh at jokes like “Independent” being misunderstood as “in a pendant” and turning on the air conditioner only once and putting it off for six months, but “aftershave” lotion is “aftershave” When it comes to lotions, the pleasure quotient disappears.

The family, consisting of the clumsy Himanshu, the almost stupid Praful, and the verbally awkward Hansa, are on a mission to travel to Panthukistan and replace the dictator with a look-alike Praful, but with the clown and trademark “What?” The spice is “wax”. Hanseatic. The dictator is also assisted by General Zahran (Vishan Malhotra) and Major Zarda (Sumit Jain).

Parekh Parivar’s mission is to find the scientist and save him from the clutches of the dictator. There are also times when Parminder Kaur goes to the jail instead of the police station to complain that Himanshu is missing as it is closer. The inspector/guard (Amit Sreekanth Singh) is insensitive. Lord Mittybaltan (Raymond) also plays the Governor. Thanks to Parekh Parivar’s understanding of English, especially Hansa Babi, we have time to reflect on the history that the British have left us with irony.

After many challenges and seeming laughs, the Parekh family reaches Panthukistan and even manages to replace Praful as dictator. An unexpected twist in which a person who appeared to be an enemy turns into an ally leads to a robot (Kiku Sharda) being given the order to kill a family. Fortunately, for comedy, there are no insurmountable challenges.

After a fun but tense few weeks as the Indian team marched towards the ICC World Cup finals, ‘Khichdi-2’ is a light-hearted and promising laugh ride.

To be fair, a two-hour practice session isn’t entirely free of wasted time. The problem is that it becomes too unnatural after a period of time. There are also some pleasant surprises from Farah Khan, Prateek Gandhi and Kiku Sharda. The main players are doing well. Meanwhile, Anand Desai is forced to play second fiddle. Vandana Pathak is good. It takes talent to play Himanshu and Jamnadas Majithiya is up to the task. Rajeev Mehta as Praful is great and funny as always. He plays two roles, but in the first role he is wearing a wig and is at a loss. The breadwinner is Supriya Pathak Shah, who is extremely reliable, talented and intelligent. Her “How do you” and “Who are you” timings are trademark. She is Aatish Kapadia’s wishbone, elevating every mundane moment on screen to something close to her joy.

The main ingredient in this poorly cooked dish is supriya. She’s the breadwinner and reason enough to be almost invested in this story. Remember, this comes with a warning based on false events. Unfortunately, the film also goes down a very rough comedy route. Misfortune remains one.