Khal Nayak

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.

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!

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.

Sunjay Dutt is no great actor, infact he is as wooden as they come. A limited actor, Sunjay is often cast as the heavy or underworld kingpin, his role in Khalnayak was billed as the ultimate villain and he managed to portray the title role brilliantly.

Subash Ghai the self proclaimed 'showman' is no great director, his films are always hyped to death and full of hits and missfires, creating just as much commotion when his films flop as when they are hits. Khalnayak however proved to be a massive hit. I must say Ghai has delivered and how!

This is Bollywood masala at its best and it also has a message. Sunjay Dutt plays a renowned terrorist on the run, how he and others like him came to be terrorist's against their own country is told throughout the film in flashbacks. In an ironic twist of fate prior to the release of the movie, the films star Sunjay Dutt was arrested and jailed in real life for terrorism related charges this along with the controversy caused by one of the songs in the film made this one of the most anticipated movies ever made in India.

The film proved to be worth all it's pre release hype and publicity intentional or otherwise with a sensational performance from it's leading lady Madhuri Dixit, an excellent soundtrack and the ever reliable Jackie Shroff this was bound to be hit.

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!