‘Khiladi’ movie review: Ravi Teja plays to the gallery

The hero in Khiladi is touted to be a smart player. For most of the film, we do not understand what he is after, though we see clues that he has a soft spot for hard cash. In the first part of the story, Mohan Gandhi (Ravi Teja) is presented as a happy family man. We see a farcical romance that leads to his marriage but just before the interval, the members of his family are murdered. He is seriously injured but taken to jail, and his daughter is put in a welfare home.

Puja (Meenakshi Chaudhury) is a criminal psychologist; while helping a friend in a thesis, she gets to know about Mohan Gandhi and vows to bring him out of captivity and unite the father and daughter. In the process, she gets to know that her father, who is a cop, is unscrupulous and chides her for aiding his release. There is a backstory as well of Raja Shekar (Rao Ramesh) who brings up the orphan Mohan Gandhi; he is trapped in a money laundering case by the home minister (Mukesh Rishi) and his son. This aspect becomes a catalyst in Mohan Gandhi’s journey to usurp a vast amount of currency belonging to the home minister’s son.

There are innumerable characters, all played by big names. The film production appears slick and expensive as if to justify the story about money laundering. So there are foreign locales, high-end cars, guns, rifles and the works… But does the narration and an aging Ravi Teja complement each other?

The second half falters with too many twists and turns; Khiladi is solely aimed at the hero’s fans and those who love formula-driven movies.

If you do not follow the story closely, you could end up wondering if Ravi Teja has played a dual role. Chitra (Dimple Hayathi) adds credence and Meenakshi has done a convincing job. Ravi Teja plays to the gallery but he could benefit from better makeup. All the songs are interesting but the cinematography is not up to the mark.

Vennela Kishore fails to elicit laughs as Ravi Teja grabs the best lines. More focus on entertainment could have been a shot in the arm to the director. It is okay to watch a formula film just for fun but what puts the viewer off is the justification of the crime. This is a film that lacks logic, at times takes your patience but that doesn’t mean you can write it off completely.

Ramesh Varma delivers an average film after his content-driven Rakshasudu.