Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi

Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi is a pleasure to watch. It is one of the best Indian action films, and who would be a better choice for the leading role in the film if not the action hero himself, Akshay Kumar? The film is well shot, well cast, with great and catchy songs, good camera work, relatively high production values and superb locations. It was quite racy and surprising in many aspects. First, the WWF sequences with real undertakers who make appearances throughout the film. Secondly, Rekha, in a completely different turn. Thirdly, the unusual locations, including Canada and Russia, which were quite refreshing for the times.

The film, in a good mix of romance, comedy, thriller and of course action, tells the story of Akshay, an army officer who flies to USA for his brother's marriage. On his way he meets and falls for the beautiful Priya. He later finds out that his brother has disappeared and is now probably held hostage, and the one responsible for this is a vicious and cruel criminal commonly known as Madam Maya, coincidentally Priya's sister. There starts the story of Akshay getting close to Maya, trying to gain her trust as an employee, all in order to reunite with his brother.

This film is complete entertainment. It moves at a very steady pace, it never bores, and is overall an interesting and highly enjoyable flick. The action sequences are terrific in comparison to the usual Hindi action fare of the times. The stunts as well as the players assigned to the action portions are really a rereshing change from the poor action in other films, despite the poor sound. Akshay Kumar, the film's main protagonist, is fantastic in this "angry young man" role, which he plays in his own special style. He is good-looking, charismatic, and proves yet again his superior prowess as an action star. This is one of his most underrated roles at that time. Raveena is beautiful and attractive but does not really have much to do other than be just that.

Despite being essentially a star vehicle for Kumar, the film entirely belongs to Rekha who is sizzling as the vicious Maya. Apart from her famous sex-appeal and beauty which there's plenty of here, she convincingly creates this stylish and glamorous persona of a merciless woman with a somewhat soft inside, and kudos for the courage romancing the much younger Akshay. And boy, I'm still shocked when I watch her rather steamy clip with Akshay where the two mud-wrestled like heated animals and went on having a joint shower (Akshay must be so lucky, man!). The erotic tension in this unconventional and otherwise embarrassing number shows this actress never feared controversy, and here she emerges as a complete winner.

All in all, Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi is a must-watch. It encompasses some of the magic of Bollywood's 1990s cinema, which was otherwise really bad. Whether you're a Rekha fan, an Akki fan, a fan of action films, a fan of Hindi films, or simply someone who looks for entertainment, you shouldn't miss this film.

After watching 'Khiladi', the first in the khiladi series, I had incredibly high hopes. Needless to say that I wasn't disappointed. The performances by Rekha and Akshay Kumar are great.I was particularly impressed by Rekha who plays underworld don Maya incredibly well. Gulshan Grover is good as is Raveena Tandon; you couldn't expect much more from them. Brian Lee is good as the wrestler called undertaker.The action is great. The story is, of course, very good.The screenplay is great as is the cinematography. The music, on the other hand, could've been better.

Verdict: watch it if you liked 'Khilad' (1992). I give it 9/10

Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi review :

My personal fave movie from Akshay Kumar's Khiladi series; Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi was special due to Rekha's formidable act in a negative role (Madame Maya) for which she won a Filmfare award that year.

Her chemistry with Akshay was sizzling hot and there were rumours of Rekha- Akshay affair floating around that time. Raveena Tandon playing Rekha's sister and Akshay's love interest was clearly sidelined in the film.

Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi also became famous for Akshay's fight scene with WWE fighter Undertaker and later, reports emerged stating it wasn't the real undertaker at all.

Anu Malik compositions were a hit and "Hum Hai Seedhe Saadhe Akshay" still remains a favorite of the super stars fans. Rekha's mud dance (was it Multani mitti??!!) with Akshay in "In the night no control" number is another crowd puller.

Overall, a complete masala actioner which became a box office super hit. I had watched the film twice in its first week at Kohinoor cinema, Dadar amidst housefull crowd. Still do whenever it comes on tv..

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni

In the 90's mad films dominated, Akshay Kumar did several stupid and some entertaining films

This can be put in the entertaining list but it's lot stupid too

There are some crude scenes, especially the Akshay-Raveena portion in the plane and also several more lots of fight scenes and of course Akshay vs Undertaker which is a highlight

The main story is good and well handled but the film gets too much many times especially the finale fight where Akshay is shown like a tiger

Direction is decent Music is okay

Akshay Kumar looks ugly with that long fringe and fat body those days and overacts in comedy(like he did those days) and does okay in serious scenes Raveena is her usual self Rekha is the highlight, she excels in a negative role Gulshan Grover is okay Inder Kumar is okay in his first film

The film isn't anything original in terms of the story, the film's pacing is hurt mostly by drawn out melodramatic scenes eg when his mother calls him home to tell him about his brother's wedding and the plane scenes. And there is a lot of overacting mostly from Akshay Kumar and other supporting casts. They tend to exaggerate their facial expressions and shout, even though the particular scene requires them not to, which makes the film irritating.

The one thing that I'd to discuss it's the geography the film's set and how the characters behave in it. It's America and people mostly speak English but when Maya or Don are addressing the crowd, they use Hindi which I find to be kinda awkward since they literally don't what they're saying but still cheers to it. And there are also Hindi-speaking police officers in the station which the film features a lot for obvious reason but it's very implausible for that to be the case realistically.

The soundtrack is nice, there are two catchy songs I think, the rest are meh. The sound effects in this type of old Bollywood films never ceases to make me laugh, whenever someone's getting punched, it sounds like they beating a snare drum "buch, gbuch" and same goes with the sound effects of the guns, they're all sound the same no matter the gun type, moreover when someone gets shot, the gunshot wound and blood is practically non-existent.

The cinematography is not bad for its time; the camera-work is good, and able to follow the fight sequences steadily.

Action scenes are well staged but after sometime it gets repetitive especially the one with the Undertaker, at first it's fun but then turns to caricature-like. Moreover, I find the action stunts towards to be far-fetched; like Akshay turning to a tiger? he can literally lift the Undertaker? His wounds come and go only where it's needed? and the special effects are very low-grade.

The highlight of the film is the performances, with the strongest coming from Rekha, she's portrayed her character with such aura of menace that's makes it so memorable, and unique from the rest. Her character is beautiful, and strong and feisty. Akshay Kumar brings energy and enthusiasm to his performance too, and his stunt work is impressive. The rest are so-so in the roles.

Overall, KKK is not a bad film per se, it certainly has many flaws for sure but it offers a tremendous amount of entertainment and good performances.