March 30, 2007
Cast: Sarvar Ahuja, Aditi Sharma, Manoj Pahwa, Mushtaq Khan, Prateeksha Lonkar, Neelu Kohli
Director: Hemant Hegde
Khanna & Iyer is a comedy about a Punjabi boy and a South Indian girl who elope from their homes because their parents won’t allow their inter-caste marriage.
They end up in a forest that’s full of outlaws who’re on the run from the police, and soon enough even their parents show up in the forest looking for them.
Now this is exactly the kind of film whose print should have gone missing on its way from the producer’s office to the cinema — believe me everyone associated with it would have been saved a lot of embarrassment.
But since that didn’t happen, and since the film did make it to the cinemas, let’s just focus on why it’s so bad. To begin with, it’s got a script that’s so juvenile, so childish that you’re convinced only a five year old could have written it.
It’s meant to be a comedy but the jokes aren’t funny — they’re stupid and they’re repetitive and if your idea of humour is an overweight Punjabi man spouting swearwords every minute, then a trip to the psychiatrist is long overdue.
I’m amazed that nobody who worked on the film had any idea they were making such an idiotic film — there’s no story to speak of, technically it’s shoddier than a home video, actors’ performances are abysmal and the direction by first-timer Hemant Hegde is virtually non-existent.
An inter-caste love story with sparring families could have been an interesting premise for a cleverly-written comedy, but Khanna & Iyer is ridden with clichés from start to end.
The lead pair — newcomers Sarwar Ahuja and Aditi Sharma — winners of a talent hunt apparently, are so lifeless, so wooden, you can’t help wondering if these two were the winners of that talent hunt, what must the other contestants have been like!
I know of several bad films that have at least some redeeming quality, but Khanna & Iyer is one of those rare films that has nothing right about it, it’s an error of judgement on the part of everyone who worked on it.
That’s zero out of five and two thumbs down for the tragedy that was meant to be the comedy calledKhanna & Iyer. Go stick pins in your eyes, that’s probably less painful than watching this film.
(This review first aired on CNN-IBN)