Khiladi

Khiladi
Movie poster for Khiladi
Directed by	Abbas Mustan
Produced by	Girish Jain
Written by	Aadesh K. Arjun (dialogues) S. Khan (story and screenplay)
Starring	Akshay Kumar Ayesha Jhulka Deepak Tijori Sabeeha Prem Chopra Anant Mahadevan Johnny Lever
Music by	Jatin-Lalit
Cinematography	Thomas Xavier
Editing by	Hussain A. Burmawala
Distributed by	Venus Records & Tapes
Release date(s)	5 January 1992
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Khiladi (English: Player) is a 1992 Bollywood suspense thriller film directed by Abbas Mustan. The film was Akshay Kumar's breakthrough role and also stars Ayesha Jhulka, Prem Chopra, Deepak Tijori and Sabeeha. Khiladi was the first in a series of films which had Khiladi in the title and Akshay Kumar in the leading role. It was followed by Main Khiladi Tu Anari (1994), Sabse Bada Khiladi (1995), Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi (1996), Mr. and Mrs. Khiladi (1997), International Khiladi (1999) and Khiladi 420 (2000).

Synopsis

Raj Malhotra(Akshay Kumar), Boney(Deepak Tijori), Sheetal Nath(Sabeeha) & Neelam Choudhary(Ayesha Jhulka) are four pranksters in the college. Raj is younger brother of Inspector Suresh Malhotra(Shakti Kapoor), Boney probably has no relatives, Sheetal is the daughter of minister Kailash Nath(Prem Chopra) while Neelam is rich heiress with her uncle(Anant Mahadevan) as her only living relative. Raj & Neelam are romantically involved.

Raj bets habitually & has not lost a bet yet, but when he bets that he can extort as money from Kailash, remaining gang is sceptical. As per the bet, they make Kailash believe that Sheetal is kidnapped, while in reality they have housed themselves in a cottage outside Bombay belonging to Pillai(Johnny Lever). But when Sheetal is murdered mysteriously, the investigation is given to Suresh. Raj, Boney & Neelam try to clean their trail.

The group has escaped three fatal accidents. Suspicions arise whether the accidents were just macabre coincidences. Little do they know that the problem is much bigger & sinister than they can ever imagine.

Plot

When Raj makes the bet, he decides that Boney will pose as a kidnapper with him. Raj puts his plan into action & Kailash gets moving. Kailash has panicked & decides to not to alert the police. However, one of his aides smells a rat. On deciding that Sheetal has been kidnapped, Suresh is saddled with the case. On learning this, the group panics. Kailash, however, delivers the money, ignorant of the development. Raj & Boney recover the money & go to meet the ladies, who are still sceptical. Neelam sees them coming & goes to receive them. She is surprised to see the money & the trio call Sheetal.

Sheetal arrives, with a strange look on her face & collapses dead - revealing a knife in her back. The gang is taken unawares by this unexpected development, but quickly recovers & hides Sheetal's dead body before anyone gets a scent. They successfully evade the suspicions of Suresh & finally manage to hide Sheetal's body in trunk of a car parked in a theare parking. Sheetal's body is found & her kidnappers become prime suspects. Meanwhile, some strange developments are taking place: a dancer named Julie(Kunika) blackmails Kailash. It is revealed that Julie is a well known dancer, but has been blackmailing Kailash for quite some time.

She asks a hefty amount, Kailash refuses. She threatens him & tells him to attend a dance show she has arranged. There, Kailash is supposed to give her the money as prize. Neelam gets a pleasant surprise when her uncle shows up to see how she is doing. Coincidentally, he is going to attend the function too. Raj & Boney decide to participate. On learning about Julie's meet with Kailash, Suresh thinks that there is more to the case than it appears. Boney gets on the stage to dance with Julie, but in the middle of the dance recognizes her as the woman who nearly killed them.

Realizing that those accidents were more than a coincidence, he decides to confront her after the show. After the show, Neelam goes to her hostel while Raj goes home. Meanwhile, Suresh becomes confident that the trio is involved in the case. He confronts Raj, whereupon Raj decides to tell the truth. Here, Boney comes to meet Julie, only to see her dressing room door is locked. He hears some voices & peeps through a keyhole.

Julie is with a man whom Boney is unable to see, but Boney's suspicion proves correct: Julie tells the man that she tried to kill the gang on his orders. She blackmails the man too, but he kills her. At this point, Boney sees the killer & flees. The killer is alerted of Boney's presence & sends goons to kill him. Raj & Suresh try to find Boney after they realize that he is missing. Meanwhile, Boney is stabbed & about to be killed by the goons when the brothers arrive. After Raj single handedly takes on the goons, Boney tells him that Neelam is in danger before becoming unconscious.

Raj calls Neelam & alerts her, but the phone gets suddenly disconnected. He rushes to her hostel along with Suresh. Here, Neelam is alone in the hostel & is horrified to find that the watchman is already dead. Meanwhile, Raj tells the truth to Suresh. Neelam gets attacked by the killer. She doesn't get to see her face, but is able to defend herself. She succeeds in throwing him out of the window, thinking that he is dead. Just as she is gasping for breath, the killer is revealed to be her uncle.

She is shocked & he tries to kill her. Raj & Suresh arrive just in time to arrest him. While in lockup, he reveals the truth: he is not Neelam's uncle. He is the manager of her estate, who was given her custody by her dying father, as Neelam had no other living relatives. He thought that he would get at least some part of the estate as her guardian, but her father's will revealed that the moment she turns 21, he will lose all the estate to her. According to another clause, however, if she died before turning 21, he would inherit all the estate.

Neelam's premature death had to be natural, not a foul play. Since he couldn't risk becoming a suspect, he sent Neelam to Bombay under the guise of higher education. He hired Julie to kill the gang, to write off Neelam's death as an accident. However, when Julie failed, he took the matter in his own hands. On learning the gang's plan, he went to the cottage & killed Sheetal, mistaking her for Neelam. After his testimony, the gang is exonerated. Boney recovers & the gang gives Kailash all his money back. Kailash forgives them, telling them to not to play such a rude prank with anyone.

Cast

• Akshay Kumar ... Raj Malhotra
• Ayesha Jhulka ... Neelam Choudhary
• Deepak Tijori ... Boney
• Sabeeha ... Sheetal Nath
• Anant Mahadevan ... Neelam's Uncle
• Johnny Lever ... Anna Pillai
• Prem Chopra... Kailash Nath
• Shakti Kapoor ... Suresh Malhotra
• Beena Banerjee ... Suresh Malhotra's Wife
• Kunika ... Julie
• Sharat Saxena ... Bahadur Singh
• Guddi Maruti ... Neelam and Sheetal's College Friend
• Dinyar Contractor ... College Principal
• Tinu Anand... College Professor
• Amrutlal Patel ... Police Constable
• Suresh Bhagwat ... Kailash Nath's Servant
• Karthik Muthuraman ... Karthik
• Manmauji ... College Canteen Manager
• Harpal Singh ... Raj's College Friend
• Charlie ... Raj's College Friend
• Ali Khan ... Police Inspector on the Highway
• Ghanshyam Rohera ... Librarian
• Suresh Bhagwat ... Kailash Nath's Servant

Music

Khiladi
Soundtrack album by Jatin-Lalit
Released	1992
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Label	Venus Records & Tapes
Producer	Jatin-Lalit
Jatin-Lalit chronology
Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992) '''Khiladi''' (1992) Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992)

#	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1	"Wada Raha Sanam"	Abhijeet and Alka Yagnik	06:02
2	"Khud Ko Kya Samajhti Hai"	Abhijeet, Udit Narayan, Kavita Krishnamurthy and Sapna Mukherjee	06:35
3	"Hoke Mann Aaj Magan"	Asha Bhosle, Abhijeet and Udit Narayan	05:07
4	"Kya Khabar Thi Jaana"	Asha Bhosle and Abhijeet	05:00
5	"Dekha Teri Mast"	Asha Bhosle and Kumar Sanu	05:48
6	"Tu Shama Main Parwana Tera"	Abhijeet, Alisha Chinai	07:20

External links

• Khiladi at the Internet Movie Database