Khatta Meetha (transl. Sour and Sweet) is a 2010 Indian Hindi-language political satire comedy film written and directed by Priyadarshan and produced by Dhilin Mehta and Twinkle Khanna under Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Limited and Hari Om Entertainment.
A remake of Priyadarshan's 1988 film Vellanakalude Nadu, originally scripted by Sreenivasan, the film starred Akshay Kumar in his sixth collaboration with Priyadarshan after Hera Pheri (2000), Garam Masala (2005), Bhagam Bhag (2006), Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007), and De Dana Dan (2009). Trisha (in her debut in Hindi cinema and the only Hindi film she has ever acted in), co-starred with Kumar, while Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Rajpal Yadav, Asrani, Johnny Lever, Aruna Irani, Urvashi Sharma, Makarand Deshpande, Jaideep Ahlawat, Manoj Joshi, Milind Gunaji, and Neeraj Vora 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 relations 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.
Released on 23 July 2010, Khatta Meetha opened to mixed reviews, and became an average grosser of 2010. However, over the years, after repeated telecast, Khatta Meetha has been rated as a cult classic, most notably due to the theme targeting corruption in public infrastructure works.
Contents
Plot
Sachin Tichkule is a struggling Maharashtrian contractor in the bylanes of Phaltan, a small town in the district of Satara, 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, who now hates him due to his wayward ways. When Sachin meets Gehna in her office, a flashback reveals that Sachin was an honest college student who was an ardent follower of Gandhian principles. His brothers-in-law Trigun Fatak, Suhas Vichare, and his elder brother Harish Tichkule were all responsible for a bridge collapse resulting in many fatalities and were helped by a politician named Sanjay Rana.
After putting the blame of the mishap on their driver, Vishwas Rao, they killed him, fearing he would reveal the truth. Meanwhile, Sanjay's lustful eyes fall on Sachin's sister Anjali. Sachin warns him to keep away from Anjali and slaps him. Meanwhile, a journalist named Azad Bhagat wants justice as his family was killed in that accident. Anjali is betrothed to Sanjay, unbeknownst to Sachin. When he confronts his father Ramakant Tichkule as to how the marriage is finalized to an evil man without his knowledge, he reprimands Sachin, saying he has no right to say anything as he has no money to marry his sister off. After losing touch with her, 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. While returning from Sanjay's house, he sees Azad sneaking out, but is left merely suspicious.
Shortly after Sachin ends up complicating matters with Gehna when she tried to commit suicide upon being arrested for a fraudulent set-up on his part and is hospitalized, Sachin breaks the truth about his disillusionment with his past principles and reconciles with Gehna as well as her elder brother Madhav.
A few days later, he learns that Anjali died in a gas explosion. While Ramakant is devastated, Sachin is suspicious and smells foul play in her death. He then meets Azad again at the municipal office in Gehna's presence, where he initially assumes he is a thief but soon learns of Azad's intentions from her about how he had acquired strong evidence that would help in putting the people involved in the bridge collapse behind bars from Sanjay's house, for which he sneaked into their house that day. They both then agree to help each other to reveal the corruption behind the faulty construction of the bridge.
Production
The film was shot in Phaltan and Panchgani, located in Maharashtra. The house where Akshay Kumar's character and his family lived was filmed at a palace in Phaltan, which is the ancestral home of Saibai, the first wife of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Reception
Critical response
Upon release, the film received mixed reviews from critics.
Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN described it as a "schizophrenic" film. Sukanya Verma of Rediff gave it 2/5 saying, "The story with its baggage of generic turns and contrived twists manages to laugh the audience at many points but all seems too familiar in making its even-now significant point. In addition, it seems a tad too long at its three hours running time. 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." 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". Nikhat Kazmi of the Times of India gave it the highest rating of 3.5/5 saying, "Tune off a bit for the tedious middle and you could be in for some fun and frolic in Khatta Meetha".
Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack is composed by Pritam with lyrics penned by Irshad Kamil and Nitin Raikwar, with rapper U.R.L. composing and performing the Marathi rap on "Nana Chi Taang".
The song "Sajde Kiye" is sung by Roop Kumar Rathod and Harshdeep Kaur in the film version. The song "Bullshit", featured in the end credits, is inspired by singer Shehzad Roy's original songs; Roy rewrote and performed the song, which was guest-composed and rearranged by Pakistani musician Shani.
The song "Aila Re Aila" was recreated for the 2021 film Sooryavanshi, also starring Kumar, by Tanishk Bagchi.
Impact
Since its release, Khatta Meetha has made a large impact on meme culture, particularly when relating to poor quality construction of roads nationwide. Khatta Meetha is also noted as a comic satire that targets inefficient bureaucracy and corruption.