Ask anybody fond of Hindi movies as to who is known as the KHILADI in Bollywood and you’ll get an instant answer - Akshay Kumar. This tag was attached to him during the nineties and it continued to remain with him later also. His first screen appearance was in Aaj(1987) and his first released movie as the hero was Saugandh(1991). However his first hit movie was Khiladi(1992) whose success brought the tag of’Khiladi’ for him and thereafter he did many movies having this word in their titles. In fact, in this movie also, he only has been referred to as the’Khiladi’(player) because of his ability to win bets or wagers with his friends.
Rehashing of stories is nothing new in the creative world. Bollywood is no exception. The story of Khiladi is a rehash of Rishi Kapoor-Neetu Singh starrer Khel Khel Mein(1975) which itself was based on a novel’Good Children Don’t Kill’ by Louis Thomas. Based on a prank leading to a killing, this movie is more entertaining than Khel Khel Mein.
There are four college friends in this movie - Akshay Kumar, Deepak Tijori, Ayesha Jhulka and Sabeeha. After the regular songs, dances, romance and comedy; this foursome plays a prank on the father of Sabeeha, Prem Chopra who is a businessman-cum-politician. They arrange the fake kidnap of Sabeeha and demand ransom from Prem Chopra. However they are stunned when Sabeeha gets murdered by some unknown person. The elder brother of Akshay Kumar, Shakti Kapoor is a police inspector. The cat and mouse game between the remaining threesome and the police starts. The real culprit is caught while trying to kill Ayesha Jhulka in the ending reels of the movie.
This is the debut venture of the director duo of this movie, Abbas-Mustan. With this movie only they started their journey in Bollywood, mostly making Hollywood style thrillers. This movie is basically a murder mystery but the mystery element arrives in the narrative much late. Prior to that it’s all college romance, camaraderie and pranks fetching laughs and regular entertainment for the audience. Khel Khel Mein worked mainly because of the Rishi-Neetu chemistry whereas in Khiladi, script is the winner. In addition to the four main characters, supporting characters also have played a significant role in tickling the funny bone of the audience. Abbas Mustan appear to have borrowed a pre-murder funny sequence from another Rishi-Neetu starrer Rafoochakkar(1975) whereas a post-murder scene reminded me of a similar scene from Hamraaz(1967).
Jatin-Lalit have composed good music for this movie whose one song’Vaada Raha Sanam’ stands out. It was a chartbuster when this movie was released and is still very popular. All the technical aspects are well in order. Akshay Kumar became popular as an action hero during the nineties from this movie only. His proficiency in martial arts is visible in the movie. He has acted well too. Other actors - Ayesha Jhulka, Deepak Tijori, Sabeeha, Shakti Kapoor, Beena(as his wife), Prem Chopra etc. have also done well. The character of Johnny Lever has also been inserted into the main narrative for additional laughs through him. However I feel that even without him, the laughs are aplenty in the movie.
Though suspense movies are not supposed to entertain upon multiple watching because of the curiosity(regarding the identity of the culprit) factor vanishing for the viewer after the first watch, Khiladi is so entertaining that it has a great repeat value. It is able to satisfy the audiences of mystery, college romance and comedy alike.
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