Khatta Meetha is the same bland dish of gags

What's worse than Akshay Kumar posing as a common man with a chhatri ? Akshay Kumar playing Marathi manoos Sachin Tichkule — that’s what. Akshay the guy next door is still all very fine, we loved him in Hera Pheri . But when the very Punjabi hunk gets into Mode Maratha, he’s seriously leaving you bored. Body language, Akshay ji — it’s not working. And let’s not get into those occasional ham trips.

It’s clear where Akshay and his buddy director Priyadarshan are coming from with this one. Once upon a time they made that brilliant film called Hera Pheri The film has been a yardstick for all contemporary wannabes out to fashion a heady combo of slapstick and satire. Over the years Team Akki- Priyan tried every possible taste in jest, from Garam Masala to De Dana Dan . None of it matched that first shot at comedy together. So they are serving Khatta Meetha this time.

In formulaic terms, the new film tries to be on the same lines as Hera Pheri . The script rings in the familiar subtexts of corruption, bribery and poverty, and the brave common Indian trying to survive all of it against all odds. Yet, watching Khatta Meetha you realise it’s impossible to recreate the ironic wit of Hera Pheri . Maybe, humour needs a serious break from these guys.

By the time you are getting over Akshay’s Marathi manoos avatar, you are left fending with debutant Trisha Krishnan as a municipal commissioner in the film’s smalltown setting.

Trisha, a superstar down South for her dainty lovergirl acts, wasn’t exactly material for a strict civic top dog. Obviously, she’s in this film because Akshay wanted a new heroine. And Trisha was itching to get into Bollywood.

The film is a bloated circus of characters, all of whom are desperately trying to be funny. Like most recent Priyadarshan though, the numerous sub plots that each prop actor brings with him or her only end up confusing the viewer.

There’s a basic idea addressing red tape woes, sarkari corruption and apathy —bound together with a bridge collapse track.

Thrown into this is the hero’s extended household. Sister, mother, babuji and jeejaji s — all of them come with their own sub plots. Oh, did I forget there’s space squeezed out to fit a mush track too, and an item number? All of it takes it toll, of course. Khatta Meetha runs for almost two hours and 45 minutes, by the end leaving you with the bitter taste of boredom. After a point, you are no longer interested in who’s upto what.

The story? Akshay as Tichkule, a smalltown road construction contractor, wants to be rich. To be rich, he has to rise in the ranks. And to rise, he needs money to bribe the right people.

The trouble: he has no money.

Heroine Gehna (Trisha) comes with the essential romantic back- up. Besides being municipal commissioner of the town, she’s also Tichkule’s estranged lover — which makes it difficult for the guy to realise his dreams.

The idea was to create caustic laughs amidst confusion, as Tichkule tries surviving the wave of corruption. The problem is, the laughs just fail to take off.

Akshay has aggressively peddled his Sachin Tichkule as an adaptation of cartoonist RK Laxman’s popular Common Man. Watching this, Laxman would hope to have created a more uncommon persona — something beyond the interest or grasp of makers of brainless cinema.