July 27, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): Khatta Meetha hasn’t lived up to the expectations from the content perspective. What was being sold entirely as a comedy has turned out to be a semi-humor-semi-drama affair. Even that would have been acceptable had the film being an engrossing watch. However, the fact remains that this is yet another loosely put together film by Priyadarshan, something which was the case with his last release Bumm Bumm Bole as well.

This is the reason why even though the film opened reasonably well (at around 70% occupancy, something which was predicted in this column last week) the word of mouth hasn’t been very good. This is the reason why what seemed like an outright winner now appears to be heading towards the average/above average mark at maximum.

The opening weekend was around 22 crores which was obviously way lower than Akshay’s last release Housefull. Now this wasn’t surprising since the two films were pitched differently. However, the fact is that weekdays are very crucial for Khatta Meetha since it has one week to make it’s moolah before Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai strikes.

Owing to the fact that the film has seen a huge share of criticism with majority of critics out rightly panning the film and audiences too not quite giving a whole hearted nod of approval, a long-run is ruled out. The film has been criticized most for its meandering narrative that doesn’t make up its mind to be a serious or a comic affair. Also, comic portions – though good – are totally forced. The running length of over two and a half hours means that the grip is also missing. Akshay Kumar has done quite well and though he rises above the script at places, it doesn’t help the final product much.

What goes in the favor of the film is its medium range costs which means that there is a chance of Khatta Meetha turning out to be a moderate success at theaters. However, for that, the second weekend would have to be closely monitored.

–Joginder Tuteja/ Sampurn Wire