Khaali Peeli

Khaali Peeli is directed by Maqbool Khan and produced by Ali Abbas Zafar, Zee Studios and Offside Entertainment. The story was written by Yash Keswani and Sima Agarwal.

Khaali Peeli
Release poster
Directed by	Maqbool Khan
Written by	Yash Keswani Sima Agarwal
Produced by	Ali Abbas Zafar Himanshu Kishan Mehra Abhishek Vyas
Starring	Ishaan Khatter Ananya Panday Jaideep Ahlawat
Cinematography	Adil Afsar
Edited by	Rameshwar S. Bhagat
Music by	Songs: Vishal–Shekhar Score: Sanchit Balhara Ankit Balhara
Production companies	Zee Studios Offside Entertainment
Distributed by	Zee Plex ZEE5
Release date	2 October 2020 (2020-10-02)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi

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.

• 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

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.

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.

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."

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.