Khel Khel Mein happens to be the nth remake of the popular Italian film Perfect Strangers. The story is about a few couples who are friends with each other, come together for a wedding and begin to play a game that slowly expresses all cracks in their marriages. The uncomfortable truths and secrets that have been hidden for a long time finally come out, which could potentially end their marriages.
Spoilers Ahead
What were the dynamics in Rishabh’s family?
Rishabh was a cosmetic surgeon who was in a hurry to join his wife Vartika in Delhi. He was planning to head to Jaipur for Vartika’s sister’s wedding. On the flight, he meets Kadambari Kapoor, and they casually flirt with each other. He also lets her know about his first wife, Rashmi, and the daughter he had with her. Vartika was his second wife, whom he met in the UK. Vartika was a British citizen, and he was proud to have taken up British citizenship for her. He lets Kadambari know about his wife being an author who writes books on relationships. On landing in Delhi, Rishabh and Kadambari exchange numbers.
Were Harpreet and his wife not happy?
Harpreet owned a car dealership in Delhi, and his wife Harpreet was a social media influencer. Theirs was an arranged marriage and ever since their nuptials both were trying to conceive. Beyond the subject of treatments for conceiving they would not converse about any other subject. Harpreet and Harpreet had a hard time dealing with each other on their way to Jaipur. Both were relieved to have met their friends for Rishabh’s sister-in-law’s wedding.
Was Samar not treated well by his father-in-law?
Samar was a brand manager with his wife Naina’s father’s company. Samar and his father-in-law never got along, but he had been on good terms with Naina since the beginning. Naina was suffering from depression and was on medication. She never shared these details with anyone, including her husband. They had also been invited to the wedding in Jaipur and were looking forward to spending time with each other. Kabir, their recently divorced friend, also decided to join them at the wedding and had promised to bring his girlfriend along. Unfortunately, she did not show up, but all of them were happy to have seen him succeed in life as a cricket coach.Â
What happened on the night before the wedding?
The entire group of friends were bored of the wedding festivities and decided to meet in Rishabh and Vartika’s room. Vartika’s family had been informed that she and Rishabh were planning to do a trial separation for three months. The couple had yet to inform their friends about it. The group was quick to discuss another friend’s divorce as he’d been caught cheating. The men in the group—Rishabh, Harpreet, Kabir, and Samar—believed if the message on the phone had been hidden discreetly, the divorce could have been avoided. This implied that the infidelity was alright as long as it was hidden well. This thought process is what the women in the room objected to. The women quickly stated that men always take the secrets of their friends to the grave, which Vartika, Harpreet, and Naina found problematic. Vartika believed the root cause of the problem was the smartphones they owned. Vartika proposed a game where all of them would keep their phones facing them and read all kinds of messages, voice notes, and emails received on it and attend the calls on speakers to find out if any of them were keeping any secrets.Â
Whose secret came out first?
It all started as an innocent game to which the women agreed, but the men initially hesitated before consenting to it. Initially, some of the messages received were innocent. Naina was not concerned about Samar’s senior from the office, Malti, messaging him about work-related emergencies. Samar for the first time learned of Malti’s affair with Naina’s father after her mother’s passing.Â
Samar learned from Naina’s messages about a GPS tracker she’d installed in his car, which would give her details of his movements. This initially did not go well between the couple, but the matter was resolved as Naina had been the paranoid one after the car crash Samar got into. Vartika also received a phone call from her father, who shared the good news of her book about to be published soon. Since her father was not aware the phone was on speaker, he mentioned Vartika booked a flat in London. This was to imply that Vartika had made plans for herself during the separation period.
Was Rishabh cheating on his wife?
As the night went by, Rishabh received an email from an escort service when he was away in the groom’s room for a bit, helping him with his cold feet. Rishabh was confronted by Vartika about the escort agency email to which he had a long elaborate answer involving his colleague Dr. Malhotra. It sounded fake to Vartika and the rest of them, but Rishabh stuck to the answer, and to prove his innocence, he left a voicemail to the said colleague.
Why did Harpreet exchange his phone with Kabir?
Harpreet had a word with Kabir in privacy and asked to exchange their phones as they looked the same. Harpreet revealed he would receive a risqué photograph from his old girlfriend, with whom he’d rekindled his relationship. Kabir was shocked, and he did not allow the exchange to happen. Harpreet did it anyway, and that led to a series of confusions. Harpreet’s phone received a few messages, and everyone assumed it was for Kabir. One message had an image of a woman while the next message was from a bookie that revealed Harpreet was into match-fixing. Everyone again assumed Kabir was betting on cricket matches, and as a result, lost his job as a cricket coach in the school. Kabir’s phone started receiving messages from a certain Akash Verma, and Harpreet let them know he was a friend from work. Kabir was not happy with this setup, but he went ahead with it to help his friend.Â
What did Harpreet learn about her husband?
As Harpreet, the wife’s phone rang, she received an email from a sperm clinic that described the donor she was looking for. Her husband was livid at her for going to the clinic, and he had a meltdown over how his marriage was forced upon him by his father. His wife soon revealed she’d read his report, which said he had a low sperm count, despite which she was being put through hormonal treatment. Harpreet and Harpreet had a lot of issues going on in their marriage, and lack of communication was one of them. It was during this heated discussion that another message from Akash Verma, which was supposed to be for Kabir, stated he needed to own up to him and let the world know he was gay. Everyone believed the message and thought Harpreet was gay.Â
Did Naina learn of Samar’s infidelity?
None of them realized except Harpreet that Kabir was gay, and he remained tight-lipped and took the fall. Samar did not react well to learning his best friend was gay, and his statements came across as homophobic. Samar kept getting messages from Malti, which began to bother Naina. She received a call from a person who sold them imported goods and learned Samar had purchased an expensive necklace. It was not that difficult to conclude that Samar had bought it for some other woman, and it happened to be Malti. Samar confessed to having an affair with Malti, which crushed Naina. Naina was being pacified by Vartika, while Samar revealed he had no choice but to get into bed with Malti, as she was the reason behind the projects he received and the promotions he got.
Was Kabir gay?
Amidst all the chaos that was unleashed thanks to Vartika’s idea of a fun game, Kabir came out as gay as he realized this was the only time to do so. He revealed Akshay Verma was his partner. He also let them know he was out of a job because the boys’ school administration learned of his sexual orientation and fired him, claiming that he was a threat to the children. Kabir was not expecting them to accept him for who he was, but he had to come out; we assume they had been friends since childhood.
Was Naina suicidal?
Naina walked out of the hotel room out of distress, and Samar followed her in order to save her and let everyone know that she was a depression patient. Kabir and Rishabh went after them in the hope of getting the couple to talk before making a rash decision. Rishabh and Kabir seemed to be the only sane people who had their emotions under control since they were the oldest in the group. They seemed to have had a lot more life experiences, which made them want to help their friends. They reached the terrace of the hotel to find both on the brink of committing suicide. Kabir and Rishabh were confused about how to stop them from making the biggest mistake of their lives. Naina was suicidal because of her depression, but Samar felt the same purely out of guilt.Â
Samar eventually jumped, but thankfully he was saved by some of the decorations on which he fell. There was no time left since the bride’s family was informed about a man jumping from the terrace. This led to massive confusion. Samar and Kabir had a moment when the former hugged his old friend and asked for an apology. Kabir let him know that apologies were earned, and he needed to give people time and space to process their emotions and the situation. He implied Samar needed to give Naina some time to figure out what she wanted from the marriage going forward, and he may have to prove his loyalty for the rest of his life if she gave him a second chance.Â
Did everyone try to stop the groom from running away?
At dawn, all of them learned from Vartika’s father that Varun had absconded from the hotel room. This was connected to Rishabh briefly heading to the groom’s room to pacify him. Rishabh was the only person who could convince Varun to come back, as seemingly he was the wisest man, with two marriages and a child to his record. None of the friends were aware that Vartika and Rishabh were barely able to pick up the pieces of their crumbling marriage. Vartika had her reasons, as she felt Rishabh had been delaying many important things in their lives, including her need to have a child of her own. She felt Rishabh was not prioritizing her needs and was making excuses because he did not want to move on to a new stage in life.Â
Everyone got in the car to get the groom back, but Rishabh rightly pointed out that most of their marriages were on the brink of ending, and they still wanted to watch another marriage go through. This was a bizarre statement to make, as one thing had nothing to do with the other. Samar and Naina and Harpreet had their issues, which did not mean Varun’s marriage would not work. Rishabh’s statement came across as old-school.Â
Did every couple find closure?
Varun was spotted at the airport, and Rishabh chose to talk to him. During this time, Naina revealed that Varun and his friends had wanted to book an escort for his bachelor party, but they had to use Rishabh’s card to avoid suspicion, and he helped the young men. Vartika was happy to find out her husband did not cheat on her, but this was again a bizarre situation. Vartika was okay with her sister’s fiancé cheating if Rishabh was not involved in it. How did the makers not see this giant plot hole? All the talk about their friend and his wife breaking up was a mere surface-level concern as Vartika was hardly bothered by Varun’s infidelity.
Khel Khel Mein ended with the wedding finally taking place and Rishabh being hailed as the hero for making sure the groom came back ready for the nuptials. While Samar and Naina were on the verge of breaking down, Harpreet was busy drinking to absorb her sorrows, and Rishabh took no time in making a speech about successful marriages. As mentioned above, Rishabh was the oldest in the group; it was only natural for everyone to look up to him, including Vartika. Rishabh spoke about marriages being about companionship, being friends, and not just love. Rishabh probably made this speech to win Vartika back into his life in the hope she would give him a chance to make it work. He could be wanting to finally give her what she wanted if she stayed with him.Â
Rishabh’s speech reeked of a superiority complex where he felt his life experiences would invalidate others. This was not the right way to offer advice to people, especially his friends who might be ending their marriages. Its kind of glorified cheating and a woman having to forgive the man anyways for his mistakes. Samar apologized to Naina, but she was not yet ready to forgive him. It was implied they would be separating for a while before deciding on getting divorced. It was wrong of Samar to have cheated on her when she was clinically diagnosed with depression. Naina’s anger was justified, and only time will tell if they make it work.Â
Harpreet and Harpreet finally began to communicate, which was a good sign as the lack of it was causing them to do things they shouldn’t have done in the first place. It would be better if they spent time with each other instead of trying to conceive. Harpreet wanted to let her husband know about her past as well since her husband was hung up on his. Kabir left Jaipur as a happy person, as he was free from everything. He was looking forward to a job that would not discriminate against him and possibly wanted to start his life with Akash.
Rishabh and Vartika were back in Delhi and decided to give their marriage another chance. It was a big step, as they were honest about their past and what they wanted from their marriage. Rishabh and Vartika’s marriage was not as perfect as everyone assumed, but they were not trying to look like one from this point on. The last shot of the movie had Kadambari, the woman from the flight, messaging Rishabh. This could be indicative of the fact that he would continue flirting with her, which means he would break the promise made to Vartika. He might also ignore Kadambari for the sake of his marriage.Â