Khiladi [1992]

Khiladi
Reviewed: 08 August 2007

I had seen Khiladi a few times when I was younger but I didn't remember it much at all. I bought the DVD a few months back and finally got round to (re)watching it today. In my eyes Abbas-Mustan have never made a bad film. They've had films which are weaker in comparison to their others (e.g. 36 China Town) but even they've not been 'bad cinema'. Though supposedly they had directed three movies in the 80s, Khiladi (1992) was their first film to grab the tag of being a 'Blockbuster'.

Movie Preview: Raj [A.K] and Boney [D.T] are college friends who enjoy betting with each other, and Raj being the king in the field of betting doesn't know how to lose. Raj falls in love with Neelam [A.J] at first sight. The friends enjoy their college days to the fullest and are forever pulling pranks on people and betting with each other, but the problem arises when they go a tad bit too far with these innocent games, only to result in the murder of the fourth member in their group of friends - Sheetal [Sabeeha]. Everything begins to go down the drain and Raj, Boney & Neelam are faced with the toughest circumstances as they have to try and hide Sheetal's death because they know all evidence of the murder points to them!

The music of the film, composed by legendary duo Jatin-Lalit, consists of tracks which live on to be evergreen even today. Almost each of the songs was a blockbuster success.

Among the performances it's undoubtedly Akshay Kumar who steals the show. His performance is natural as ever and he looks extremely adorable too!

Deepak Tijori too leaves an impact in his parallel role. A natural performance and he excels throughout but leaves the best impression through his comic scenes.

Ayesha Jhulka impresses. She looks cute and performs very well in whatever she has to do. Sabeeha is someone I have not really seen much work of at all, but she was really good in this film and looked very pretty!

The usually sidelined Shakti Kapoor gets a good deal and justifies his role very well. It's surprising and yet so wonderful to see him in a non-perverted and instead rather sober role. Johnny Lever is good as always.

Director-duo Abbas-Mustan have always impressed me and this is no exception. Even though it's been 15 years since the release of Khiladi, the film is fresh and exciting to watch even today - thanks to the directorial brilliance of the Burmawalla brothers.