Nothing sweet in this sour and stale tale

Priyadarshan names his hero Tichkule, thrusts an umbrella into his hands and thinks that he just invented the ultimate laughter machine. Then he drops an autorikshaw here and a bicycle there to accentuate the common man feel of his supposed reality show.

Akshay Kumar, on the other hand, continues to believe that being loud is the only recipe to ha-ha.

In three hours (yawn, fume, exit), that marvel of a Malayalam film called Vellanakalude Nadu (The land of White Elephants) is bulldozed into an adulterated Friday commodity. The roadroller in the movie is, in a way, symbolic.

Khatta Meetha fails in its premise itself. Akshay’s contractor-cum-lovable-rogue (immortalised by Mohanlal in the late 80s) is not someone whom you can identify with in this era. The costume and get-up is too outworn, especially when the contractor in question comes from a palatial home where women swish around in eye-popping silk sarees and jewellery, and their men eat and sleep, the maharaja way.

Akshay’s career in infrastructure never takes off, courtesy corruption, and the new municipal commissioner (a dismal show by Trisha) adds to his troubles.

And it doesn’t help that she is his ex-flame. The only beneficiary here is music director Pritam who produces an average score for a flashback to college days where our Tichkule preaches non-violence and his girl dances in garish outfits.

Offering some distraction is Akhshay’s worker Rajpal Yadav’s (aptly named Rangeela), who goes around peeping into bathrooms and gets thrashed by the entire unit of the movie.

Trisha, the southern star  who makes her Hindi debut, is just required to contort her face  to Akshay’s equally pathetic antics.

No one makes an impression here and you just wish Priyadarshan stopped his “import” business.