Carry your digestive pills along!

Movie: Khichdi (Hindi)
Cast: Anang Desai, Supriya Pathak, Rajiv Mehta, and 1000 Sardars
Direction: Aatish Kapadia
Rating: 3/5


Carry your digestive pills along. This Khichdi is sticky, but yes, you do stick to it till the very end - despite the sheer defiance of logic and common sense. Then again, most things that make sense around us these days hardly amuse us. So Khichdi is safe respite. Yes, this is a brainless film where God can knock on your door to offer you Akal Ke Laddoo, the clock can strike 31, and there can be 65 inhabitants in a house - all bearing a common name. But it is adorable nonetheless, for it tickles your funny bone without any effort to make a statement about its class.
The tweet-long plot is too simplistic to be described: A compulsively noble dork, Himanshu, dreams of getting married in grandiose Bollywood fashion - where the boy meets the girl, a conflict arises that separates two pining lovers, and where love ultimately prevails. After a few hilarious goof-ups elsewhere, he does get hooked with one of the 65 'Parminder' girls in his neighbourhood. But in order to bring about the conflict in the love story, his bird-brained family members launch a campaign to prove to the girl's 'Parminderized' family that he is actually a good-for-nothing creep. After a series of funny incidents (I include one in which Farah Khan is seen running on the road like a retired athlete), love ultimately prevails - exactly as Himanshi had scripted the story in his mind - and you leave the hall with a grin that is caused mainly by the sheer stupidity the film offers -albeit in a welcome way.
Among the performances, all the actors did their goofy bit, but the game is single-handedly dominated by Supriya Pathak (Hansa), who plays Himanshu's ultra-dumb sister with a command over the English language reminiscent of her brief yet lovable role in Wake Up Sid - only this time, her "What is?", and "Who are?" clunkers are too good to resist.
Of course, there are some crass moments which are hard to tolerate - for example, a mourning ceremony where the bhajan singers pick a couple of item number themes to sing in remembrance of the departed soul. Humour, like everything else, is beautiful when in limits. It must be prescribed with caution.
But overall, Khichdi is totally watchable, especially if you have had a tough week and can handle the funny that doesn't classify itself in any genre. Toh Bhosale Market Chal. Bas dil pe mat lena yaar!