Khiladi (1992)

I was in the mood for some old skool Akshay plus this film is directed by one of my favourite commercial hindi film directors Abbas Mustan, as usual with a Abbas- Mustan flick i had lots of fun watching this hilarious even if a bit silly 90's masala

Raj (Aksahy Kumar) and Bonny (Deepak Tijori) are pranksters who bet on numerous things with Raj winning mostly, his uncle Suresh (Shakti Kapoor) is a police officer and he urges Raj to be a more serious minded person

In college Raj meets and falls for Neelam (Ayesah Jhulka) who in typical filmi style is reluctant at first before falling head over heels for him


When Raj, Neelam, Bonny and Sheetal (all college friends) are caught in mischief Sheetal's father Kailashnath bails them out

Following this Raj the prankster whose ego needs a check comes up with a bet that he can make Sheetal's dad beg him

They pull up a prank and call Kailashnath (Prem Chopra) that Sheetal (Sabeeha) has been captured, and should he want her back alive he'd better give up 5 lakhs

Sheetal's Dad (Kailashnath) goes to the bank to get the money but the bank manager notice his nerves and he alerts the Police who somehow manage to draw a conclusion that kailashnath is being blackmailed

When Raj's uncle asks Raj about Sheetal he denies knowing anything. They get the money and on the way to get Sheeetal back to her dad, they find Sheetal's murdered body where they had left her

Who Killed Sheetal? Will Raj, Bonny & Neelam come clean and tell the cops about their pranks? How will they be punished for pulling such a prank? Will the killer ever be found?

As usual for most early '90's college set films, Khiladi is a fun, silly and enjoyable escapist fare from Abbas-Mustan in what i believe was their first major hit movie. This film had a vibrant youthful feel and energy and the comedy side plot wasn't too tedious. The suspense element is quite good too, i couldn't have guessed the killer

Other things about Khiladi i found exciting were the fun playful and sometimes romantic picturisatons

men dancing with giant ballons (one has to give a hand to bollywood for making this things look endearing)

men in minnie mouse masks

some dirty dancing style choreography

Men in Drag

Some hilarious fashion, i think i need to send this picture of Deepak Tijori in the two tone jeans to fugly bollywood


Akshay was fun in this, i find '90's Akshay so unaplogetic and so care free, although i like '00's Akshay as well i prefer 90's Akshay so much more, he just seems so manufactured now


Deepak Tijori was funny and comical too, he mostly produces movies these days, but I miss his 90's antics, he was one of my favourite things about 'Jo Jeeta Wohi sikander'


so was Ayesha Jhulka, she's so cute and endearing, does anyone have any news on her



The songs of Khiladi are indeed one of my favourite things about this movie, from the fun 'khudkho kya samajthi hai' which sounds like its inspired a bit by Nena's '99 red balloons' the joyful and highly euphoric kya khabat thi jana the romantic and sensual 'Dekha teri mast' ( check out the dirty dancing style chorography) and my favourite 'vada raha sanam' which just reminds me of how much i love Alka Yagnik



Total score: 6/10 ( Enjoyable 90's whodunnit masala)

Khiladi is available on Youtube with English Subtitles in 16 parts

Humraaz (2002)

After giving us a hollywood/bollywood taste of Disclosure with Aitraaz, my favourite director duo Abbas Mustan strike again in this entertaining suspense drama. Humraaz (our secret) is said to have been inspired by Dial M for Murder which i'm yet to see, however i did enjoy this colourful suspense thriller

Karan (Akshay Khanna) and Priya (Amisha Patel) are a couple, they're also dance instructors hoping to make it big


Priya believes they can make it so does Karan, they hope their dance troupe will be selected for as the major healiners for a ship cruise

Their auditions are threatened when Jojo Fernandes a fellow competitor for the cruise ship gets selected ahead of the other dance troupes without auditioning

A dissatisfied Karan decides to approach the owner of the Cruise ship Mr Raj Singhania (Bobby Deol) about the issue


the auditions are reopened and Jojo jeopardises the chances of Karan's dance troupe by tossing a coin on the floor while Karan's dance troupe are performing , a vengeful Karan murders Jojo, his dance troupe are then selected for the cruise


Priya meets Raj during a dogchase on the cruise, Raj takes a liking to her

The two start dating and Karan starts getting Jealous

Raj asks for Priya's hand in marriage and she agrees, however its a plot to trap Raj, Raj and Priya had planned this all along in order to kill Raj and then inherit his property

Raj and priya get married and on the wedding night she refuses Raj sex asking him to wait for a month, a kind Raj agrees

(Hell no, after a lifelong of waiting there's no way i'll give in to this kind of demand one night is fine but one whole month hell no..Lol)

Karan and Priya's plot goes wrong when Priya starts falling for Raj as a result of this she becomes hesitant in carrying out she and Karan's plot


Will she give in to karan's demands? Will Raj take matters into his own hands? Will Raj ever come to know of Priya and Karan's schemes? Watch Humraaz to find out

This is a well placed suspense movie from Abbas Mustan, the suspense is introduced when least expected and generally keeps with the pace of the story, Humraaz is totally enjoyable but a minor downer for me came with the masalaish fighting end

Humraaz is also helped with great acting from all its stars

Bobby was fantastic as Raj Singhania, i loved his performance in this and i guess this is my best Bobby movie so far his character as Raj also provided me with my favourite Hindi film dialogue Tum aashiq nahin, talal, talal hai (you're not a love rather you're a pimp, a pimp)..LOL


I loved Amisha in this, what happened to her, She was bollywood's sweet girl around this time as she was riding high on the success of Kaho naa pyar hai and Gadar.. Ek Prem Katha, she was great in this and her character even though she resorts a bit to the atypical damsel in distress towards the end, her character is well etched out, and she looked utterly gorgeous


bahut khubsoorat ladki

Ahh Akshay Khanna he was fantastic in this, so evil so cunning and soo sexy


i love his funky shirt

Great Music by Himmesh Reshammiya ( i love this soundtrack a lot), from the earworm worthy 'Bardasht nahin ka sakhta' ( i love this song soooo much), the mellow grooves of 'Pyar kar' where Akshay gets to pull some funky moves to the romantic sweet sounds of 'Dil ne ka liya' the breezy sexy sounds of 'Sanam mere humraaz' and the very upbeat 'Life ban jayegi' which is sure to get any true blooded bollywood party rocking

Total Score:7/10 ( An enjoyable suspense thriller)

Humraaz is available on Youtube with English subtitles in 19 parts

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Aitraaz (2004)

Abbas-Mustan the modern hindi film kings of suspense thrillers strike their rod at yet another hollywood inspired movie 'Disclosure' (1994) which i am yet to see, however i did enjoy this bollycat (bollywood + copy cat=bollycat). I knew i was going to love Aitraaz (Objection) when i realised Amrish Puri & Priyanka Chopra were a couple in it

Priya (kareena Kapoor) an aspiring lawyer lands in Raj's (Akshay Kumar) house after an address mix up on her way to to a job interview

Priya and Raj fall for each other and then get married


They actually made a cute couple, i loved their Jodi

At work Raj is due for a promotion, on the day of his promotion the company chairman Ranjit Roy (Amrish Puri) announces his new wife Sonia (Priyanka Chopra) as the new managing director of the company


Sonia however was once Raj's girlfriend, they had split up when Sonia refused to settle down and marry him, she had also aborted his baby in order to keep herself on top of the modelling world

Sonia the model refuses to give up her job for a baby

I'm not sure Vogue will be happy with the huge samsung logo on the cover of their magazine

Although Raj was due to be promoted to the role of CEO, Sonia changes his role to one of the Board of Directors (i think we all know this means he would have to do some dodgy things for her)

Sonia soon starts seducing Raj, she invites him over to her house begs him to do her, Raj being a nice decent married man declines which sparks Sonia's anger

Sonia then reports to Mr Roy that Raj had tried to rape her, Raj is given the sack

A devastated Raj then decides to fight his dismissal and prove his innocence and Sonia's claim that he had raped her

Will Raj be able to get his life back, Will his wife Priya stick by him, for these and many more hilarious reasons watch Aitraaz to find out

I haven't seen Disclosure which this movie is said to have been inspired from, but i enjoyed this one, the story is entertaining and it held my attention

The star of this movie without doubt is Priyanka Chopra she steals the show as the conniving, sex starved Sonia with much panache and hilarity, she bagged the filmfare best villain award for her portrayal of Sonia Roy

Looks and evil Tactics Sonia

I enjoyed her antics in this, particularly the scene where she begs Raj to have sex with her

I loved her antics when Raj turned her down, i was rolling on the floor with laughter



i loved her bitchy one on one dialogues with Kareena Kapoor


There were some steamy scenes between Akshay and Priyanka as well


Akshay Kumar was calm and in his role of Raj, i think this is the first film where i've seen him act so mellow and not be his usual loud jokey self

Kareena Kapoor barely had much to do till the final scenes where she gives a great performance as her husband's lawyer


Of course it was a pleasure seeing the lovely Amrish Puri in one of his last roles as Priyanka Chopra's partner (what a hot couple na), though i wasn't too pleased that his character was subjected to many Viagra jokes


The music by the lovely Himmesh Reshammiya (why can't people stand this guy, ok i agree his acting isn't on par, but he's a fab music director) is very enjoyable, from the Hip Hop/ R'n'B tinged Gela Gela Gela, the mellow rhythms of 'Woh Tassawer' and Alka Yagnik in full blast and at her best in my favourite song from the film 'Tala Tum Tala Tum'


Total Score: 6.5/10 ( A very Enjoyable thriller drama)

Aitraaz is available in 19 parts with English Subtitles on Youtube

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