Khap Movie Reviews

“Khap” should be commended for attempting a socially-relevant theme with some amount of detachment and equanimity.

Khap should be commended for attempting a socially-relevant theme with some amount of detachment and equanimity. Should love between cousins or people from within one family be sternly discouraged just because the village panchayat feels it is damaging to the social framework?

Certain villages in India still follow the age-old customs that have been condemned by the judiciary as well as by the principled and upright citizen. KHAP, directed by Ajai Sinha, who has a number of successful television shows to his credit, deals with the issue of honor killing. It's a story that sends a shiver down your spine because it depicts how couples in love are butchered in the name of honor. Based in the heartland of India

The film is loud, over-the-top and spills over with in-your-face violence, with young people being impaled with swords, run over by trucks and tractors, leaving nothing to the imagination. Yet, if it works, it's only because it takes up a burning social issue and condemns the brutality of this barbaric social custom that hits headlines ever so frequently. Also, the strong performances by the character actors - Om Puri, Manoj Pahwa and Govind Namdeo

On the whole, KHAP is an honest effort that deserves to be encouraged. Of course, it may not be the most persuasive film that portrays an issue, but at least it makes a sincere effort to be there.

In one scene, when the president of the Khap panchayat appears on TV in Sajod village, his daughter-in-law - who hasn’t seen him in 16 years and is in Delhi - moves quickly to put her pallu on. The moment implicitly captures how deep tradition runs in India and the film itself attempts to highlight the ways of the Khap and their doctrine on honour killing. Director Ajai Sinha says he wants to educate the youth and certainly in presenting Wiki facts

One of the worst phrases that seems to have grown disgraceful roots both in the media and public discourse is ‘honour killing’. Its use, minus the essential quote marks, legitimizes it, and makes it easy for us to throw it around in drawing-room conversations when we see pictures of young couples hacked to death by their elders who thought they knew better. ‘Khap’ is a film that ostensibly sets out to challenge the notion of ‘honour killings’

There are films that shake you up and force you to realise that by virtue of being born in urban areas or during comparatively progressive times, we get a lot of freedom and that we must not take it for granted.

KHAP tries to do too many things at the same time and fails to do justice to the cause it intended to serve. Duvidha mein dono gaye, maya mili na Ram. It is neither a serious film on the issue of 'honour killings' in India's Jat land, nor a masala love story with great commercial possibilities. It is a 'neither here nor there' kind of film, with grave cinematic deficiencies replete with the tacky elements that are hallmarks of B grade regional films

Khap review by Komal Nahta. Biz rating: 0.5/5 star. What’s Good: Performances of Mohnish Bahl, Anooradha Patel &...

You can’t have an issue-based film which invests more runtime on a campus song, a love ballad, a honeymoon song, a separation song, a hogwash love story and what not. Khap certainly doesn’t leave any chaap (mark) on your mind. Pardon me if that sounds corny, the film’s been an inspiration!