Bollywood preview: Khiladi 786

Hours before the film releases and a day before the reviews appear, here’s what you can expect from this week’s release(s)

Film: Khiladi 786

Cast: Akshay Kumar (last seen in OMG: Oh My God!), Asin (last seen in Bol Bachchan), Mithun Chakraborty (last seen in OMG: Oh My God!) and Himesh Reshammiya (last seen in Damadamm!; 2011) among others

Storyline: Neighbourhood hero Akshay Kumar beats up goons and topples cars with just the power of his foot. He also wears pink. And as in all mindless action-wannabe-comedy films, this one too involves a tough-to-get woman and her tough-to-please father.

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Director : Ashish R Mohan (directorial debut). He has previously worked as an assistant director (AD) on films like All The Best (2009) and the Golmaal trilogy. For some reason, of the seven films he has worked on (as an AD), six have starred Ajay Devgn.

Music: Himesh Reshammiya. The soundtrack, comprising 12 very dated songs and their remixes, has received a lukewarm response from critics. There are also a few Punjabi NRI tracks.

Controversies/stunts: Don’t think even the media was interested in giving any controversies arising from this film any attention.

Marketing/hype: Before the film comes out and everyone finds out, the makers organised a lavish “music success” party at a college recently, and Akshay and Asin danced to their hit songs on stage.

Our assessment: The story of this film has been written by a composer-turned-failed-actor-turned-screenwriter — Himesh Reshmmiya. No further questions, milord. Just because he, as a producer, is confident that the film will make Rs 100 cr, gives other sanity-loving beings enough of a warning.

—Compiled by Serena Menon

For the final verdict, look out for Anupama Chopra’s review tomorrow in the Watch & Listen page in the Hindustan Times