Movie Stills From Khatta Meetha

But the words do not cut into the narrative's basic flow of tongue-in-cheek satire. Some sequences such as the one involving the steamroller and the elephant consume too much footage. The art of understatement eludes this political statement.

Trisha Krishnan in wearing chunky ear-rings makes an unusual debut. She is different from the short-skirted hotties. But whether that difference makes a difference in Hindi cinema, time will tell. (Text: IANS)

Khatta Meetha stands tall in its message of restoring a semblance of moral order in the middleclass. The last half-hour after Sachin Tickule's sister is murdered, is thoroughly gripping. And the fight between Akshay and the corrupt goons in the crowded lanes is chilling in its realism.

Realism is a remotely but decidedly obtainable component in this parodic parable on the rotten fruits of excessively materialistic aspirations in post-Independence India

Technically polished and many notches superior to Akshay Kumar's other recent entertainers Khatta Meetha conveys that sweet-sour taste of a universe that has rapidly degenerated into absolute self-gratification. See it for what the film leaves unsaid, though that's hard to do when everyone is ceaselessly talking