Khal-Naaikaa

I already knew that this film is copied from the Hollywood flick The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. But I still watched it as I wanted to see how the director adapted the film to the Indian sensibilities.

I must say that the film was quite interesting. The villainess in this film is not shown as a plain evil determined to wreck havoc in the lives of those who destroyed her life. Basically, this film shows us two sides to humanity, the good and the bad. And provides an interesting counterpoint to these two sides. I felt bad for the girl (Anu Agarwal) who has lost her husband and her unborn child. But her husband is shown as an evil doctor who molests his female patients.

Talking about the minuses of this film, I would say there are two things which might not go well with the Indian audience. The heroine's (Jaya Prada) friend is shown constantly smoking. She even smokes in front of her friend's baby, a total no-go for an Indian audience. And in the climax scene, the villainess uses a baseball bat to attack the hero. Back in the early 90s, baseball was not even so popular in India. Just because the vamp in the Hollywood original uses a baseball bat, the director decided to make the vamp use a baseball bat. This was so irrelevant back then. She could've used a hockey or a cricket bat to make the scene relevant to the 90's timeline. Duh!

Performances from the lead casts are really very good. Jeetendra is in top form. Jaya Prada fitted into her character very well. But the credit has to given especially to Anu Agarwal who plays a disillusioned vamp to the hilt. Puneet Issar and Varsha Usgaonkar were good in their respective roles.

Barring the title track, all the songs were passable.

Overall, a decent entertainer! You can watch it with your family.

I am a firm believer, that Bollywood is at it's best when it creates Re-makes. Other superior Re-makes include Baazigar(A Kiss Before Dying), Aetbaar(Fear), Pehla Nasha(Body Double), among others. In this case, it's "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle" that gets a Re-working.

Anu Agarwal is convincing as the evil schemer, and the overall character development is strong. The pacing of this film also means that it doesn't hang about, or drag. It has been a long while since I have seen this, but it has left a lasting impression.

All-round this film is superb entertainment, and is better than the original.

Saawan Kumar Tak's 'Khal Naaikaa' rips off Curtis Hanson's psycho-nanny thriller 'The Hand That Rocks The Cradle'. There's something about actresses playing evil women on screen which is why I decided to see this. Considering that it's a Bollywood film it expectedly looks quite bad (shoddy camera-work, poor sound design, terrible costumes (especially of the male cast), awful colour correction). In addition the songs are terrible. The few things that I liked about it are: It attempts to raise awareness about sexual assault victims who shouldn't keep mom about what happened to them, fearing for their reputation and honour but they should expose their perpetrators. The other thing I liked was how the guilt and grief is depicted in the husband and wife after the loss of a close friend (this was absent in its Hollywood counterpart). Jaya Prada does quite a fine job here as the modern and gullible homemaker/occasional singer. Varsha Ushgaonkar performs adequately but even though her character is supposed to be a chain smoker, each time she lights a cigarette it looks fake and campy. Jeetendra is quite annoying. Anu Agarwal is brilliant as the conniving vindictive nanny. Her performance isn't as subtle as that of Rebecca de Mornay's but she approaches her character slightly differently and that's where she succeeds. Overall, it's pretty much a scene by scene copy of its Hollywood counterpart with the exception of the Bollywood additives (and the friend character playing a journalist).

THE BEST BLOCKBUSTER MOVIE OF 1993, BETTER FROM THE 1992 BLOCKBUSTER 'THE HAND-WHO ROCKS THE CRADLE', IF WE TALK ABOUT THE VILLAINESS, THEN IT'S BETTER THAN REBECCA DE MORNAY AND IT'S CHARACTER 'MRS.MOTT', IF WE TALK ABOUT DIRECTOR, HE IS OKAY. IF WE TALK ABOUT THE LEAD ACTOR AND LEAD ACTRESS, THEN THESE ARE BETTER THAN THOSE FROM THE MOVIE 'HAND', THEY CAN ALSO BE DEFINED AS 'THE COUPLE FROM THE 80'S' IN BOLLYWOOD, IF WE TALK ABOUT THE CAST AND CREW THEN IT IS BETTER THAN THE CAST IN 'HAND'.IF WE TALK ABOUT THE MOVIE,IT'S SOUND AND CAMERA, IT'S THE DARK BUT A BEST TYPE OF A MOVIE THAT DEFINES ALL THE GENRES SUCH AS: DRAMA,THRILLER,SUSPENSE AND ACTION IN THE CLIMAX.AND THE SONGS ARE A TYPE OF REALISTIC AS WELL. IT IS A REALISTIC AND A MORALISTIC TYPE OF A THRILLER. ALSO IT CAN BE WATCHED WITH FAMILY.

"Khal-Naaika" churns the story of the Hollywood flick "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" released a year ago its release; and it was released the same day Subhai Ghai's "Khalnayak" was released to tap in the later's controversy and success. Not jut the story, every scene and character is the same from the Hollywood flick though nowhere the credit is given.

In many parts the film stands inferior to its Hollywood counterpart. The film stars old stars, Jeetendra, Jaya Prada and Mehmood in the pivotal roles, which appear not more than the usual stereotypes and lack the freshness of the couple portrayed in the film. The saving grace is Anu Agrawal, who looks much meaner to the same in the Hollywood flick. The dialogues and gimmicks are ordinary; but the climax is a bit more fearsome to its Hollywood counterpart. Overall the film feels gripping and is watchable for Anu Agrawal and its stunning climax if you can let go the usual gimmicks of the 90s and the weary characters in the centre.

Rating: 1 star out of 4.