Movie: Khiladi (Play Smart)
Genre: Crime Thriller
Cast: Ravi Teja, Dimple Hayathi, Arjun Sarjan, Meenakshi Chaudhary and Others
Director: Ramesh Varma Penmetsa
Produced By: Satyanarayana Koneru, Ramesh Varma
Music: Devi Sri Prasad
Cinematography: Sujith Vaassudev, G K Vishnu
Runtime: 154 Minutes (2hrs 34mins)
Story
Pooja (Meenakshi chaudhary) is a Psychology student. She decides to help her friend in a case study on Mohan Gandhi (Ravi Teja) who is in jail for a crime of killing his family members. She starts learning about his past from him and finds out that he is not guilty. Pooja gets him bail but something unexpected happens leaving Pooja in shock. What is it? Who is Mohan Gandhi? This forms rest of the story.
Artiste Performances
Ravi Teja looks excellent in his role. His role has two shades one is his usual entertaining side and other is a bit new to the actor. He handles both the shades superbly.
Dimple Hayathi and Meenakshi Chaudhary are beautiful and deliver good performances. They add the glamour quotient to the movie.
Arjun Sarjan gets a limited screen time but performed to the mark. Murali sharma, Anasuya and Vennela kishore are good in their comedy zone.
Rest of the cast have done their part well.
Plus Points
Ravi Teja
Comedy
Interval Bang
Action episodes
Songs and BGM
Production values
Camera work
Drawbacks (Which I Felt)
Uneven narration
Too many twists
Climax
Analysis
After a Blockbuster Krack, Ravi Teja is back with a stylish crime thriller Khiladi. All the promotional material have promised Khiladi to be a stylish crime thriller.
Movie starts off with introducing Ravi Teja's character in Jail. Then narration shifts to flashback and here the movie is entertaining with good comedy and two songs Istham and Full Kicku gave a visual appeal
Movie gets interesting from pre interval point. The sequence in which Mohan gets caught between groups of politicians and gangsters is shown in an engaging way. With an excellent twist, interval bang is stylish and superb.
Second half is engaging with Title song and Action sequences. Ravi Teja arrests audience attention whenever he is on screen. A chase sequence in second half is awesome.
In second half, movie suffers uneven pacing. Many logics and emotional quotient go missing. Also, there are twists in second half and every twist is followed by a dull scene which makes the movie feel a bit boring.
Action sequences are extremely well shot. Songs seem good on screen and two songs Full Kicku and Atta Sudake will attract masses. Climax felt to be rushed and movie ends like a quick wrap up.
Editing could have been better. Trimming few scenes here and there could have been much better. Songs and BGM by Devi Sri Prasad are great. Camera work is top notch. Dialogues are OK. Production values are lavish.
(MY) Final Word
Khiladi revolves around a con man and his group and how they steal money by playing smart. Director succeeded in making it stylish and entertaining but uneven narration is a spoilt. Apart from that, movie has its moments that appeals masses and comedy that entertains normal audience. On a Whole, Khiladi ends up as a Decent Crime Flick.
Bottomline: Khiladi - Played smart but could have narrated smart too; A bit away from expectations.
Note: This is my take on the movie. That is why I am not rating the movie. I respect each and every movie. Making people read my review and influencing them to form an impression on a movie before watching the movie is never my intention. I am a Movie lover too. This is just to express my view on the movie. 😊
Review by a Movie Lover