What Is the Story About?
Khelechi Aagjubi (Emona Enabulu) a poor African from Senegal, arrives in Kolkata on a mission – he has to deliver drugs to Kolkata’s biggest drug lord PK (Saswata Chatterjee) in exchange for money. He needs the money to pay for his ailing mother’s surgery.
A comedy of errors, and PK’s trigger-happy ways lands Khelechi with Raju the taxi driver (Parambrata Chattopadhyay). Raju promises to help Khelechi get the money for his mother’s surgery without undertaking the dangerous drug run. He spins a yarn that Khelechi is a world famous football player, who’s come to Kolkata to play in the football face-off between Young Bengal and Natun Bagan next week. A young reporter Bonilata (Ritabhari Chakraborty), who’s looking for a scoop to save her job, helps him to give credence to the news. The news spreads like wildfire in football-crazy Kolkata. And soon, everyone wants a piece of the star footballer in their midst.
Performances?
Parambrata Chattopadhyay steals the show as Raju, the bindaas taxi driver. He’s got the body language, the mannerisms and delivery of dialogue as a taxi driver bang on, even scratching his crotch in one scene, exactly like taxi drivers are wont to do.
Emona Enabulu puts in a listless performance as Khelechi. Saswata Chatterjee is passable as PK — let’s just say, it’s not his best. Ritabhari Chakraborty is average, nothing great about her performance.
Analysis
Tiki Taka has an interesting premise, even though a tad cheesy. Tiki Taka is an intense style of play in football, and it does make a cool name for a movie with football as the centrepiece. The movie, directed by Parambrata Chattopadhyay, is in Bengali, and dubbed in Hindi for Hindi-speaking viewers.
It is a narrative brimming with light-hearted humour and corny emotions; though the humour gets a bit tawdry at times. Khelechhi’s name is a running gag in the entire runtime of the movie, courtesy it being a Bengali word that translates to ‘I played’ in English. Hence the volley of cheesy humour at its expense.
Another running gag is on Khelechhi’s skin colour. Several times, the phrase ‘amavasya ka chaand’ is used to describe him. And we all know what that means. The jokes on Khelechhi’s skin colour, and those on other Africans shown in the film, are quite off-putting and in bad taste, to say the least. And especially in the inclusive and politically correct scenario of today.
Notwithstanding the above mentioned aberration, the dialogues of the movie are quite well written and evince a smile. Rohan Ghose and Shouvik Banerjee are the writers of Tiki Taka. The emotional angle of the movie doesn’t quite cut it, as does the romantic angle. It would have made for a better narrative if the writers had stuck to just the humour. The plot of the film is meandering, and we wonder where it is going. A long-drawn rescue scene is tedious and ineffective.
All said and done, Tiki Taka manages to draw laughter in a few places. But within the first hour itself, we just want it to get on with it, and hurry to its conclusion.
Music and Other Departments?
Nabarun Bose’s music and background score is electric, especially in the football match sequences. The signature song of the movie, Tumi Je Shesh Tumi Shuru, composed by Rohan Ghose and Nabarun Bose, and rendered by Arijit Singh, is catchy, as is the folk number, Dil Ki Doya. The rap song, picturised on Khelechhi, is peppy and fun, with cute lyrics. It has been written, composed and performed by Nabarun Bose, and is a nice to listen to. Of course, none of the songs is such that one would want to revisit it or play it on loop.
Ravi Kiran’s cinematography is quite average. Though he’s captured the sights and sounds of Kolkata, it lacks that certain vibrancy that elevates cinematography to exceptional.
Highlights?
Parambrata Chattopadhyay’s performance
The music of the film
Drawbacks?
Tawdry humour
Meandering plot
Did I Enjoy It?
Not that much
Will You Recommend It?
No
Tiki Taka Review by Binged Bureau
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