Khiladi Movie Review

Raviteja is one of those lucky heroes who got their movies released in theaters amid covid scare last year and his Krack emerged as a blockbuster. Yet again, the Mass Maharaja is coming with Khiladi this year in Ramesh Varma Penmetsa’s direction. Khiladi trailer looked stylish and the story appeared to be revolving around the big monies and con artists. The movie hit the screens and let us see if the mass star repeats the last year’s feat with his Khiladi stint. Here is the review.

What Is It About?

A finance auditor Mohan Gandhi (Raviteja) gets arrested for the murder of his wife Chitra (Dimple Hayathi) and in-laws Anasuya and Murli Sharma. His emotional story melts a Criminology student Pooja’s (Meenakshi Chaudhary) heart and makes her get him out through illegal means. Pooja then realizes through CBI officer Arjun Bharadwaj (Arjun) that Mohan Gandhi actually is an international criminal, most wanted by the Indian police. Whose story did Mohan Gandhi narrate to Meenakshi and who is Mohan Gandhi after? The story thereafter answers these questions.

Performances

Raviteja is all over the film and he as usual dominates everyone on the screen. He is energetic and the role of con artist he played is a cakewalk for him.

Dimple Hayathi looks hot but she is more of a sidekick than one of the lead girls. Dimple Hayathi excels in dances and songs and she looked extremely hot in all songs.

Meenakshi Chaudhary is just okay as the heroine. She was given a heavy role with a lot of twists to face, but she could not keep it up with the expressions. She looked stunning in the song Atta Soodake and so are her dance moves.

Murli Sharma, Rao Ramesh, and Vennela Kishore did their part. The comedy Vennela Kishore and Rao Ramesh tried to generate failed miserably. Sachin Khedkar, Unni Mukundan, Mukesh Rishi, and others are okay. Arjun looks good as a CBI officer and he did well in the role given.

Anasuya did the role of Dimple’s orthodox mother before she transforms into a smart driver in Gandhi’s con gang. Her appearance as one of the cons has gone a bit overboard to look cheeky and sassy did not fit her well, even with her skimpy attire.

Technicalities

Khiladi was completely shot in a stylish and slick way. Two songs are good and the remaining are okay. The background score doesn’t sound new.

The screenplay could have been better with the given huge number of mini twists and the fast pace of everything. Editing is good, but the total run time could have been less. The choreography for the Atta Soodake song looks good.

Though there are too many fights in the movie, the one with the bike chase in Italy looks extremely stylish and neat.

Thumbs Up

Raviteja
Songs (visually)
Production values

Thumbs Down

Execution
Cliched narrative
Too many silly twists
Run Time

Analysis

Raviteja’s energy when it comes to comedy entertainers is unmatchable. But with the catchy title that perfectly suits Raviteja, the Rakshasudu director took us on a bumpy ride with Khiladi. There were many movies that had the main plot based on large amounts of illegal money and many parties trying to get hold of it. Khiladi is no different, except that the plot has too many unnecessary turns and silly twists.

Khiladi starts with an emotional fake story by prisoner Raviteja that is too dramatic to believe. Raviteja as an auditor, the love story that is too silly, Murli Sharma’s raw vegetable comedy, and Anasuya’s overaction on top of everything test our patience in the first half.

The story moves to a bit interesting actual plot before the interval, which has money laundering and big parties involved. Again, the interval sequence is utterly absurd. Raviteja’s escape from the jail is way beyond cinematic liberty and completely crazy.

The second half is expected to be intriguing which is absolutely not. The con stories of Raviteja were shown in the title song and all the scenes are cliched there too. The confrontation scenes between Raviteja and Arjun are not at all interesting.

The reason why Raviteja wanted to go to the jail and the court scene after that is way too silly. His only reason to be in the prison was to meet Ramakrishna and his only way out is conning Pooja into it, both are pointless.

The director appears to have had confusion on which way to lead the story as the silly turns and lies keep coming in the later second half. Amid too many twists and attempts to generate fun, the main plot goes bumpy. During the wait for the end, almost every scene in the last half an hour appears as a climax, but it is not. Unless we know the run time, we never know which one is the final twist.

The climax fight between Raviteja and Arjun goes a bit overboard. A sentimental touch at the end of everything also did not match Raviteja’s so-called ‘attitude’.

Having said that, Khiladi has Raviteja’s energy and the hot mass numbers that could save the film among the masses. Khiladi has a decent plotline, but the bad execution leaves it awry. It has to be seen how the audience takes up this commercial entertainer.

Bottom line: Not Smart At All

Rating: 2/5