Khal Nayak

I still havent made it all the way through this film yet - 3 hours of standard Bollywood storyline. I keep having to rewind the dvd to the song Choli Ke Peeche - the song + the dancing is excellent, everyone should see at least that scene and appreciate how well choreographed Indian films can be!

Khalnayak is the movie that made Sunjay Dutt into the star he is today. His career is judged as the movies he made before Khalnayak and thereafter.

The film is a pop cultural phenomenon in India. All of the songs are still sung today by the children of Bombay. The role of the villian essayed by Dutt is one of the most memorable characters in Indian cinematic history. This is hard to beleive since Dutt is such a wooden actor.

The film was quite controversial due to one of its songs and the fact a hero was going to play a evil villian. But Ghai (a mediocre director) pulled off an amazing film with a worthy lesson for the vagrants of India.

This movie was one of the decades biggest hits, and will go down in Indian cinema as one of the best action thrillers of all time.

This movie is one of the best movies I've ever seen in my entire life. It's got everything and a bag of chips. I'm not kidding, if you like drama and music you should definitely not just see this but buy it as well.

It also has a really good message too. The acting is superb and the special effects are up to par with the most sophisticated in the world.

You'll laugh, you'll cry and you'll never be the same!

Like many of Bollywood movies from the pre-millienia era, themes of cause and effect are heavy factors in the reality of life in crime driven cities in the world. In this case the anti- hero (Ballu) played by Sanjay Dutt, intensely well. Many scenes seems to parable the realities of his life at that current time and perhaps the inner demons he faced.

In the world of crime, there are puppets and then there are puppeteers, poverty and "purposeful terrorism" in the name of business. Madurai Dixit plays her beautiful self, graceful and fiesty as always. Watch it to understand the cause and effect of crime in poverty driven societies and how we create the villains for our heroes. Perhaps it is the simplest definition of human archetype; conflict.

Khalnayak review :

A film which became mighty successful only for its controversies rather than content. Firstly, Madhuri Dixit cavorting to the double meaning 'Choli Ke Peeche Kya hai?!!" made some prudes call to ban the song. Thankfully, the court didnt agree!! Next, Sanjay Dutt who played the titular role, was arrested in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case. Khalnayak got such tremendous hype and publicity from these events that producer- director Subhash Ghai didn't need to spend any substantial amount to promote it. Just a huge cutout of Sanju Baba staring at the audience from behind bars was enough to pull in the audience!!

Indeed, the movie worked only due to Madhuri Dixit's sensuous 'Choli' item number and Sanjay Dutt going to jail around that time. Content wise, Khalnayak was lacking the showman's midas touch visible from Karz (1980) till Saudagar (1991). The plot revolving around a terrorist (Sanju) who falls in love with an undercover cop (Madhuri) with her fellow colleague cum lover (Jackie Shroff) completing the triangle was as old as the hills!! The execution too, left a lot to be desired..

Actually, the film starts off well but loses its way completely after interval. Even the climax appears hurriedly compromised to cater to Dutt's fans. Showman Subhash Ghai's direction was shockingly weak in most places. I would say his Pardes (1997) and Taal (1999) were better products than Khalnayak.

Having said that, the craze for this movie was truly incredible and next only to Amitabh Bachchan's Shahenshah (1988) and Hum (1991). The advance booking was so humongous that I couldn't get tickets at Chitra Cinema, Dadar in its entire first week (The rates in black were simply unaffordable) and finally, caught the film there only on second tuesday when stalls were available in current booking. The initial euphoria for Khalnayak ensured it attained Super Hit status at the box office. Choli aur Controversy ki Jai!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.