Khaali Peeli

Khaali Peeli is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language masala film directed by Maqbool Khan, written by Yash Keswani & Sima Agarwal and produced by Ali Abbas Zafar, Zee Studios and Offside Entertainment. The film stars Ishaan Khatter, Ananya Panday and Jaideep Ahlawat in the lead roles.

Principal photography begun on 11 September 2019 and shoot wrapped up in March 2020. The film's initial release on 12 June 2020 was deferred due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Khaali Peeli is released digitally on Zee Plex with pay-per-view model on 2 October 2020.

Plot
Set in 2007, the story is about two childhood sweethearts Pooja (Ananya Panday) and Blackie (Ishaan Khatter) who get separated due to certain circumstances when they were kids. Blackie alias Vijay is a criminal mind from childhood when he planned a jewelry heist with his father, but was caught by the police by chance. Blackie is able to escape and is now constantly on the run.

Blackie is now a taxi driver, who has accepted to drop a pregnant lady to the hospital (for 5000 Rs) on a day of a Mumbai wide taxi strike. He is confronted by the union leader and 2 other drivers and in the melee he stabs one of the drivers in the stomach. Pooja, who is now a prostitute (& is scheduled to be married to a long term client of hers Choksi Seth (Swanand Kirkire) who has fallen in love with her), decides to escape the brothel on turning 18, with a bag full of stolen money. She bumps into Blackie who is on the run from the police and his taxi union.

He agrees to "drive" her to freedom (as she is being pursued by goons), in exchange for a hefty amount (rs 15K). But then he finds that she is running with a bag full of money ans ups his ask to Rs 25K. Khala (Vaishali Thakkar) is Pooja's madam and is in hot soup with don Yusuf Chikna (Jaideep Ahlawat) who owns the brothel. Yusuf kills Khala. 10 yrs ago Yusuf had taken Blackie under his wings and he first met Pooja (when she was a kid) at the brothel. He was named Blackie as he used to sell cinema tickets in black for Yusuf as his start in the criminal underworld. Choksi saw Pooja at the cinema and fell in love with her. He promised Yusuf to bear all expenses for Pooja, with an intention to have her when she turns 18. Yusuf shakes on the deal.

Inspector Tawde (Zakir Hussain) gets suspicious of Blackie in a taxi on strike night, with a customer. When his and Pooja's story wont match he asks Blackie to drop him home on his way to the station. In the car he gets info on a taxi driver who stabbed a union leader and a girl who robbed a jewelry store. Tawde asks Pooja to open the bag and she draws a gun on him. Tawde is forced out of the cab without his gun.. Tawde reaches a police station and orders a search for the cab and learns that the cab is registered to Vijay Chauhan. This info reaches Yusuf who now knows that Blackie is driving Pooja out of Mumbai. Blackie had a crush on Pooja from childhood, which Yusuf crushed as Yusuf had promised her to Choksi. Blackie defies Yusuf and continues to meet Pooja and when Yusuf finds out, he beats up Blackie badly and Pooja is sent to boarding school.

Meanwhile now Blackie wants a 50% cut from Pooja. Blackie wants to run away with the money, but gets a call from Yusuf's goon who offers to double the money in the bag in exchange for Pooja. Blackie doesn't know that the offer was from Yusuf. Blackie takes Pooja for a fair and calls the goon to the location to take delivery of Pooja. Meanwhile Tawde tracks Blackie and reaches the same fair. This is when Pooja realizes that Blackie is her Blackie from childhood and tells him that she is Pooja. Blackie understands but still conducts the deal and hands over Pooja to Yusuf's goons. Pooja escapes from the goons and hitches a bus ride on her way out of Mumbai. Blackie has a change of heart and goes after Pooja, but realizes at the fair that she has escaped. He tracks her trail, and so does Yusuf's goons.

Blackie gets himself arrested by Inspector Bhim Singh (Satish Kaushik) and Bhim informs Tawde that he has captured the taxi driver, but the girl is missing. Meanwhile the bus stops at a Dhaba where Yusuf's goons are also having dinner. Pooja runs into them and hides.. Yusuf's goons search the Dhaba, while a customer calls the police, which goes to the station where Bhim Singh is in charge. Blackie tries to bribe Bhim Singh with 2 bags of money to help him save Pooja. As Blackie tricks Bhim Singh as escapes with his car and the money, Yusuf's men capture Pooja and take her to Yusuf. Blackie attacks the goons before they reach Yusuf and rescues Pooja. Blackie challenges Yusuf on phone, for Pooja. Pooja and Blackie kiss.

Now Yusuf captures Blackie's dad and calls Blackie to reach his location with POoja for an exchange. Blackie knows he is dead in every scenario, so he calls Tawde for a meeting and agrees to get him Yusuf in exchange for his and Pooja's freedom. Blackie lures Yusuf out and Tawde and his force arrests him. Yusuf's gang counter attacks and Yusuf escapes with Pooja. Blackie follows and intercepts them. A brutal fight ensues and Yusuf gains the upper hand. He is about to shoot Blackie, when Tawde intervenes and kills Yusuf Tawde gets a medal and Blackie got to jail for 2 yrs. Pooja meets him outside the jail when his term ends.

Cast

 * Ishaan Khatter as Vijay "Blackie" Chauhan
 * Rajesh Desaai as Young Vijay a.k.a. Blackie
 * Ananya Panday as Pooja Gaur
 * Deshna Duggad as Young Pooja
 * Jaideep Ahlawat as Yusuf Chikna
 * Zakir Hussain as Inspector Tawde
 * Satish Kaushik as Inspector Bhim Singh
 * Swanand Kirkire as Choksi Seth
 * Suyash Tilak as Mangesh
 * Anup Soni as Ravi / Babuji
 * Kabir Duhan Singh as Goon
 * Bhushan Vikas as Mahesh
 * Vinod Nahardih as Mannu
 * Purnanand Wandekar as Jaidev
 * Vaishali Thakkar as Khala

Soundtrack
The film's music was composed by Vishal–Shekhar, while lyrics were written by Kumaar and Raj Shekhar.

The song "Beyonce Sharma Jaayegi" was criticised online for lyrics that some found racist. The song has been contrasted with Beyoncé's "Brown Skin Girl", as Rolling Stone India pointed out how on one hand, Beyoncé is working towards the racial empowerment through her song, but the Bollywood song, names her, and says she will be "embarrassed of fairskined Ananya Panday's dancing skills". HuffPost India wrote "What's a bit of racism sprinkled over the regular dose of sexism". News18 India said "It seems despite the Black Lives Matter movement, the hashtags and the social media outrage, Bollywood hasn't learned much about racism". After receiving heavy backlash online, the director Maqbool Khan apologised. On 13 September, the producers changed the spelling of the title, from "Beyoncé" to "Beyonse". News18 India reported that Jay-Z trademarked and protected the name "Beyoncé" and it therefore cannot be used without their permission. The title was subsequently changed again, to "Duniya Sharma Jayegi". However, despite the name change, the video received 1 million dislikes within its first week on YouTube.

Release
Khaali Peeli was originally scheduled to be released worldwide on 11 June 2020 in cinemas, before the COVID-19 pandemic led to its postponement owing to cinemas shutdown. In August 2020, the makers sold its rights to new PVOD platform Zee Plex. Khaali Peeli was released there on 2 October 2020, coinciding with Gandhi Jayanti. It was simultaneously released in drive-in theatres of Gurugram and Bengaluru.

Reception
The film released on the Zee Plex platform alongside Ka Pae Ranasingam. Devansh Sharma from Firstpost wrote, "After Beyond The Clouds and Dhadak, Khatter puts on display yet another side of his multifaceted personality. Khaali Peeli is his most 'commercial' film yet, a la Ranveer Singh in Rohit Shetty's Simmba. But rather than mimicking his idols, Khatter invents his style in conformity with a Mumbai taxi driver on a steady diet of Bollywood films for years — and makes a meal of it." Soumya Srivastava from Hindustan Times stated, "Khaali Peeli is a concoction that can only be brewed in the belly of Bollywood. With one chase sequence following on the tails of another, director Maqbool Khan ensures not a single moment is without its adrenaline dialled up to an 11. But it’s quite shocking how easily one can grow bored of craziness as well."

Shubra Gupta from The Indian Express said, "Khaali Peeli knows that it needs to refresh the tropes it is up against, and manages to do so only some of the time in its two-hour duration." Uma Ramasubramanian from Mid-Day wrote, "Khaali Peeli is the perfect package for Khatter, who gets to showcase his dancing skills, action, drama, romance, comedy and biceps. Known for his love for offbeat films — Majid Majidi's Beyond the Clouds (2017) and forthcoming A Suitable Boy (2020) — the wonder boy is equally crackling in a typical Bollywood entertainer. Panday, though she carries the role efficiently, doesn't deliver authenticity to the character."

Controversies
The song "Beyonce Sharma Jaayegi" was criticised online for lyrics that some found racist. The song has been contrasted with Beyoncé's "Brown Skin Girl", as Rolling Stone India pointed out how on one hand, Beyoncé is working towards the racial empowerment through her song, but the Bollywood song, names her, and says she will be "embarrassed of fairskined Ananya Panday's dancing skills". HuffPost India wrote "What's a bit of racism sprinkled over the regular dose of sexism". News18 India said "It seems despite the Black Lives Matter movement, the hashtags and the social media outrage, Bollywood hasn't learned much about racism". After receiving heavy backlash online, the director Maqbool Khan apologised. On 13 September, the producers changed the spelling of the title, from "Beyoncé" to "Beyonse". News18 India reported that Jay-Z trademarked and protected the name "Beyoncé" and it therefore cannot be used without their permission. The title was subsequently changed again, to "Duniya Sharma Jayegi". However, despite the name change, the video received 1 million dislikes within its first week on YouTube.