Remember Caravan? Remember Dil Hai Ke Maanta Nahi? Sadak -- in fact every other film where a girl on the run meets with a rough-tough saviour...Khaali Peeli is an amalgamation of all those films and more. It also borrows heavily from the lost and found trope of the '70s much used by the likes of Nasir Hussain and Salim-Javed. You're talking to a girl and all of a sudden, she remembers you as her childhood sweetheart because of a certain phrase or dialogue -- yup, it's that kind of a movie.

A boy and girl on the run, bump into each other. Each then recounts what transpired 35 minutes earlier. This pattern follows until the climax where a situation presents itself and the scene cuts to five minutes, 10 minutes or 10 years earlier. By the end of Khaali Peeli, I had survived so many flashbacks and had so little fun, the only thing that still made sense is its title.

It has been eons since we watched a movie in cinema halls while chomping on popcorn and sipping colas, courtesy the ongoing pandemic. While a few films have made the transition to OTT platforms, whether they provide the same joy of watching it on the 70mm screen is still up for debate. Catching the 'seetee-maar' film starring Ishaan Khatter and Ananya Panday from the confines of my home, alone, definitely feels different.

Khaali Peeli is an entertainment package with satisfactory dose of action, comedy and drama. Thematically, it revisits 'masala' Bollywood crowd pullers and even tries to carve a new space. Ishaan Khatter and Ananya Panday's fresh pairing is promising and they keep up well with the offbeat and unpredictable scheme of things and deliver a winner.

Maqbool Khan's Khaali Peeli is set in the Mumbai that we often encounter in the movies - the rough-and-tough megapolis that's actually as small as a village, where swagger is the real coin of the realm. In this city, a boy meets a girl, falls in love, and then meets her years later without knowing her identity. The reunion includes other characters from the childhood from which he had fled.

Congratulations! You have found your way to an actual review of 'nepo kids' Ananya Panday and Ishaan Khatter's Khaali Peeli, amid a sea of 0 star Google reviews by 'justice warriors'. Unlike what those reviews would have you believe, no, I did not think it is the worst thing to happen to humanity.

It is ironic that Maqbool Khan's Khaali Peeli, a film designed for the single-screen experience, is releasing on a pay-per-view or appointment viewing basis, thanks to the coronavirus outbreak. From all the films that have bypassed release in cinema halls to premiere directly on digital or television platforms, Khaali Peeli certainly seems the closest to a live theatrical experience.

Can a new film which is a deliberate hark-back to the masala movies of the 70s and 80s, be worth your time? Only if it is smart and self-aware, and never forgets to send itself up, that's when. Khaali Peeli does an adequate job of assembling the ingredients, and when it remembers to stay light on its feet, it's fun, but slackens in other parts.

KHAALI PEELI is the story of a boy and girl on a crazy night-time adventure. Blackie (Ishaan Khatter) is a cabbie in Mumbai who drives the famous black-and-yellow taxi, also popularly known as kaali-peeli cab. One night, a strike of the taxi drivers is going on. Blackie however comes across a pregnant lady on her way to the hospital.

Khaali peeli? Absolutely. There is no rhyme or reason - that is what khaali peeli means - in this Ishaan Khatter-Ananya Panday starrer that thinks - if it thinks at all - being bonkers is the best thing to be. The young lead pair strives hard to achieve some sort of chemistry. The concerted no-brakes act does not quite come off because the screenplay keeps driving the audience around the bend.

On a fateful night, local cabbie Blackie (Ishaan Khattar) stumbles upon this pretty - also mouthy and hot-headed - girl Pooja (Ananya Panday). There are goons involved and apparently there's this history between them, and Pooja, the runaway, seems to be carrying a ton of cash and jewellery.