Khiladi (1992)

 

It just feels like yesterday when newspapers had a dedicated section reserved for listing the name of the films that would be running in the various cinema halls in the city. Each city based on its geography would find place in that section in the respective newspapers circulated in that state/ district. Just as we look at the date, we realize that we are in 2024 and it’s almost thirty- two years ago when a Hindi film named “Khiladi” starring Akshay Kumar and Deepak Tijori was released. The year was 1992.

Back then in 1992, when films released, the newspapers were the primary medium through which people were made aware of. A list of all the Cinema halls with the shows playing in them would form part of a small section in the daily newspaper. Another form was of course the Rangoli and Chitrahaar serials that would run on the national channel i.e. Doordarshan.

 The 1992 released film “Khiladi” was one such film that many would have initially come to know about from one of its songs being shown on Doordarshan as part of its pre-release promotion. “Khud Ko kya samajthi hain…” sung by Udit Narayan and Kavita Krishnamurthy had made quite a noise during those years. If someone rented a Video cassette to watch a movie, there would be advertisements of upcoming films and Khiladi’s songs featured quite predominantly in those advertisements before its release.

As far as one can recall, going by the song promo and the poster of the film on audio cassettes, not many would have guessed that the film was actually a murder mystery. The initial reaction to the song and posters to the general public was of a routine college romance and drama.

 Over the years, people have watched Khiladi multiple times on satellite channels and currently on OTT and on You Tube. It has been thirty years since its release, but the film still continues to entertain audiences watching it over various mediums. It has almost become an evergreen entertainer.

“Khiladi” directed by duo Abbas-Mustaan is no masterpiece when it comes to story -telling and film making. But on the other hand, it is one of those well directed and well edited films due to which the film has attained the status of a timeless entertainer. It is a movie for the people. In movie watching parlance, the term “entertainer” means a product that takes you into its own world and engages you mentally and emotionally and post its end you are left wanting for more. “Khiladi” surprisingly ticked all the characteristics of an entertainer.

There is no doubt that the prime target audience of the film was always the young audience, especially the college and young office going crowd. This fact becomes very clear with the treatment given to the film in the first hour of the film that focuses completely on the college life, college antics, romance and thrills. It is only in the pre-interval stage when the story shifts focus to a murder mystery very convincingly. The first hour of the film has four songs, all soulfully and visually entertaining. The first hour will also have the introduction of majority of the characters of the film. At that moment hardly will anyone notice the intention or the purpose of those characters but as the film progresses and shifts into the second half, one will realize that the core story has the involvement of most of characters that are shown in the first one hour.

The second half of the film will have the characters solving the mystery and the ultimate revelation of the culprit. There are two good songs in the second half that are quite different from the those that are played in the first half. The climax is a bit extended one but once the motive of the killer is revealed it seems justified.

On the performance front, there are some very entertaining performances by both Akshay Kumar and Deepak Tijori considering the characters they were playing. Akshay Kumar looked very comfortable in the role of the happy go lucky college guy as compared to his first outing which was more serious one in the film “Saugandh.”. This movie changed the perception of audience towards him. Here was an actor who was almost an allrounder with decent acting capabilities and amazing screen presence.  Deepak Tijori was a revelation as the support guy and he had been given good amount of punch lines. In fact, the climax is predominantly featuring more of Deepak Tijori. Looking back, it can be easily said that it was Deepak Tijori’s career best entertaining performance and it’s a timeless one. The art of making people laugh and happy is not everyone’s cup of tea but Deepak Tijori managed it very well. Ayesha Jhulka looks pretty in the film while Sahiba plays her part very well.

Among the senior actors, both Prem Chopra and Shakti Kapoor, give some good performances. Shakti Kapoor who is playing a good cop and the one in charge of the investigation actually looked very good in this role. The role was tailor made for him. This can be said to be one of the memorable roles of Shakti Kapoor during the nineties.

The music and songs of the film had its own flavor and it sounded very new and fresh to the ears during those years. The films soundtrack was one of the most successful ones of the year 1992.  A credit needs to be given to the background score of the film as there were some peculiar BGM in the film.

On the comedy side, Tinu Anand in the first half and Johny lever through the first and second half entertain the viewers through their impeccable comic timing.

Some one watching the film in the year 2023 or in the future will be immediately transported back to the early 90’s with this movie.  The Mumbai city of those years, the fashion of the early 90’s, the vehicle models that are seen on the road in between shots, the college life shown in the movie will make the viewer nostalgic.

“Khiladi” remains one of those films from the 90’s that has successfully time traveled to the OTT generation.