Producer: Keshu
Director: Umesh Mehra
*ing: Akshay Kumar, Twinkle Khanna, Rajat Bedi
Music: Aadesh Shrivastava

Released on : March 26, 1999

Reviewed by: Anjali Abrol
dilwaliji@indolink.com

out of 
Pre-movie thoughts:
Name...International Khiladi...sounds idiotic....Khiladi tho Akki hai, magar International? Haan....aur Jackie Chan International churiyan wala hai. Sure. Music: Not bad. Lutiya Gaya is catchy... Cast: Ha Ha Ha ! Sure, brilliant cast... **Ape Akki, who hasn't had a hit since, since... well, a long time... **Tehri Mehri Ankhowali Twinky...I swear that girl is cross-eyed... Thank God she didn't sing "Akhiyon Se Goli Maare", uske nishane kabhi sahi nahin nikhlenge. I think most will agree that she's a Dimple gone wrong...Stephen King, hint !
**Johnny Lever-surprise surprise!
** Rajat Bedi-Now that's definitely an Akshay Kumar gone WAY wrong...it never ceases to amaze me that he is still in Bwood...all that ladka's got is height and muscle, and even then, I think I would rather keep my eyes closed!
Stephen King, I think I just found your next horror movie duo!)
**Gulshan Grover...Bwood-turn-Hollywood villian-so that's where Rahul Roytoy went wrong !
**Asrani the classic comedian from the day

Prediction? Crap film, just like usual.

The movie starts off with a group of freaks representing all parts of the world in an alliance of gunda-gardhi...basically, the United Nations, headed by India. Akki (Devraj) is elected the Don of the "mafia", and his enemy, Gulshan, is simmering, mumbling in English-Hindi...I maaro you, You aaja ether aur I pithai you... it's funny at first...annoying after a stretch of 3 hrs. Meanwhile, Rajat Bedi (Amit or someone, oh well, who cares) and some other guy are best friends and are in the police force. SOG (the "some other guy") is killed and Akki is blamed, hence, Akki must stand trial. He is accused of SOG's murder, and Cross-Eyed Payal (Twinky), SOG's sister, jumps in melodramatically and unconvincingly tells, in her bayaan', how Akki uski izzat loota, uski ankho ke samne uski bhai ke kathal ki, aur blahblah, & manages to make perfect lil rips in her blouse to show of evidence of abuse. When asked if she loved Akki..the 2.5 hr. FLASHBACK TIME begins... Cross-eyes was an aspiring journalist, and Johnny Lever is Payal's (C-E's) jijaji and partner in journalism (cameraman) and mishaps. Rajat and SOG are after Devraj (police station bara hua hai Devraj ke file-o se) and SOG goes undercover as Devraj's henchman to dig up evidence (without Payal's knowledge). Asrani, Payal's tehre mehre ankhe (cross-eyed) boss, wants Cross Eyes to get an interview with Devraj. Johnny and C.E. call up Akki, who challenges them...if they can get past his security (a bunch a kaale takle), safe and sound, he will grant them an interview. As they contemplate, Johnny observes that Akki has more security than the White House...magar 'Monica (Lewinsky, the U.S.'s official slut) White House ke andhar goos gayi Clinton ko milne, tho tu (Cross Eyes) kyu nahin goos sakti?' So they do, Akki doesn't give Cross-Eyes an interview, so din raat she follows him, stops eating, sits in the rain, etc (paagal ladki nahin, just a total moron). They fall in love, sing some songs, etc. Akki's 'pithaji' doesn't like this nachna ghana dhol bajana one bit, but Akki promises that his Bhangra skills won't interfere with his International Khiladi skills. Meanwhile, Gulshan's still angry, now for a new reason...Akki won't let Gulshu hold women wrestling or something idiotic like that. Gulshu's holding it anyways with his team of mistresses/four disgusting Medusas from hell (for those who don't know who Medusa is, think of Mamta Kulkarni from heaven), Akki is challenged to fight these four undefeated Mamtas (do note that these are all goris...as well as an embarrassment to womankind, to put it kindly), which he does easily (hence, the International Khiladi aspect is reinforced). I must comment on these four extremely beautiful women who managed to captivate the audience with the same charm that hijras do as heroines in films... they quite resemble that freak, Xena: Warrior Princess. Just watch, you'll see.Rajat finds out that Cross-Eyes loves Akki, uske bara bajte hai, and he goes ballistic....he shows Cross-Eyes all of the files on Akki (Dekho! Rape! Extortion! Kathal!), she flips out, runs to her mehbooba, he tells her of his tear-jerking past, and she says, "Oh, even though you are a murderer, a whatever whatever and whatever, I still love you, Dev." Pyar ho tho aisa!

What next? Song ! SOG, her bhai, doesn't know of Akki and Cross-Eyes, and Payal doesn't know of SOG's undercover police work. A couple of songs later, SOG sees Payal jhatka matka'ing with Akki, and he isn't pleased (surprise surprise). This song, that jhatka, this tumak, and that matka later, Akki discovers of SOG's work, kills him off, rapes Payal (when they show Payal being "abused" by Akki, watch carefully when Akki lights a cigarette...if I am not mistaken, he tries to burn her with it..."Clinton-Monica affection", desi-style?) and the scene reverts back to the present..and the story picks up from there. From now on, the movie is so confusing, you just have to watch it. Let me emphasize that what you see isn't what you get. No, the movie isn't predictable, the summary I gave isn't really what happens in the movie, it is what is SHOWN in the first 2 hrs. of the movie...the last hour is what REALLY happens.

The scenery, clothes, makeup.... Scenery isn't anything fantastic (compared to, say, Kareeb). Clothes...Akki looked GOOD...Bollywood learned
from his past movies (Note: the nickname ApeBoy Akki from Aarzoo) to cover up his otherwise ruglike chest. Twinky dressed like a slut, to put it tactfully. A big flaw (which seems to be a patent for Hindi films) is the degrading  overemphasis of a chest she doesn't have... tissues or shoulder pads? Her hairstyles in some songs were blatant Monica nightmares...ok, Bollywood, instead of banking on America's gandh, why don't you try to look at your own politicians? At least we, in America, jaise bhi hai, HAVE a stable government...enough said!) Makeup, well, nothing can be done to make Twinky look attractive...the more makeup masking her face, well, the better! Akki looked hot....for once, his hair was actually combed instead of the "natural" mushroom look....though the deep side parting made him look like achu bachu Munnu than a Don...otherwise, nice, very nice ! Rajat Bedi...well, who cares.

Acting. I was impressed with Akki's acting (a rarity, mind you)...he carried off his role with ease (if I were a 'Khiladi' for 99% of my films, well, I think I would eventually pick up on it, too)..magar jab voh rohta hai, lagta hai haas raha hai...aur mai uska saath haas thi hu. (Could that be because he's always the one to make women cry [e.g. Pooja Batra, Raveena Tandon...and perhaps Shilpa Shetty..?], while he himself laughs?) Twinky, well, one word: HOPELESS. She can't dance to save her life...jab voh nachti  hai, lagta hai bandar nach raha hai...nahin, nahin, bandar usse acha nachda
hai (Akki danced better than her!). If anything, Cross-Eyes pulled the movie down, not the other way around. Twinky is lucky to get ANY movie...and same for the generic, Akshaye Kumar wannabe, Rajat Bedi. Gulshu acts like a total jerk with ease...and Johnny and Asrani managed to keep the comedic angle alive.

I must comment on the picturization of the current bhangra-flavor hit song, Lutiya Gayi. That was the most horrific depiction of such an otherwise upbeat song. Maan liya, the background munde were dressed appropriately in their bhangra getup... magar the kuriyan....eeek! They wore spandex workout clothes (sleeveless top and shorts one-piece), and even that, in bright pink and other blinding colors. The dance itself looked as silly as the clothes... and Akki and Twinky looked completely out of place... what were the directors thinking????? They could have really banked on this song, but by ruining it completely by a bunch of morons flocking around in spandex, looking like paagal bandars (okay, so Cross-Eyes DIDN'T look out of place)....well, Bollywood will be Bollywood....

Stunts...Akki is amazing. For the record, he did all of his own stunts, and the 20,000 ft. high stunt...voh dekhne wala hai....is liye ke hum sab ko patha hai ke Akki kudh hi kar raha hai, aur yeh typical nahin hai Hindi filmo mein. International Khiladi....this name was assumed and not even developed in the film... I still haven't figured out how Akki assumed this title...okay, so he beat up some Mamtas, he is head of Mafia's United Nations...but he was so busy dancing with Cross-Eyes, he never really gave the image of the "INTERNATIONAL KHILADI."

The ending....the last ahhhh ten minutes were ridiculous...and that's when he does his 20,000 ft. airplane stunt...but the end itself is one, scientifically impossible, and realistically, plain stupid. It didn't flow with the story itself....ahhh, but it was Akki's last attempt to reinforce his "International Khiladi" title.

Overall, though, I was quite pleased with this film.... the pluses (Akki, story, Johnny, Asrani, suspense, stunts, flow) outweighed the minuses (Cross-Eyes, Rajat, ending). Agreed, there are plenty of flaws to this film, but that's a part of Bollywood's charm! If it was virtually flawless, my job as critic would be boring.

I admit, I am an ex-Akki fan...and had a great time bashing him in my reviews of Keemat and Aarzoo...but I was impressed...hopefully his career will pick up, and he doesn't take the success of International Khiladi to his head and ignore other types of roles that could do wonders to his career. Last word: Watch it...it isn't anything like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, but it isn't as bad as say, Aarzoo...and with the movies out right now, this movie should be a nice change.