Producer: Ganesh Jain
Director: Sameer Malkan
*ing: Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan, Raveena Tandon, Sonali Bendre, Anupam Kher, Shakti Kapoor
Music: Rajesh Roshan

Released on : April 10, 1998

Reviewed by: Anjali Abrol
dilwaliji@indolink.com

out of 

Keemat. Sounds ordinary. Akshay. Fighting and head-jerking, with big white dentures. Saif. Typical Aashiq Awara with bad hair. Raveena. Typical modern girl, equipped with too much attitude, too less clothes. Sonali. Giggles and ditzy, clothing is a must (as in lackthereof). WOW! I can’t wait.

I am excited. This must be a thriller, I think. I sit on the edge of my seat, eager for the movie to begin. The movie opens with Ajay (Saif), the gambler, and Dev (Akshay), the police officer. Tu Chor Main Sipahi? Main Khiladi Tu Anari?

Wrong. Dev is also a fraud. Two loafers, no money. Dev and Ajay are brother and sister….uhhmm but I think the movie producers had intended for both to be brothers. Quick scheme. Find a rich girl, shaadi, and sing "Saade naal rahoge, to aish karoge."

Next step. Go to a club, see Sharmili in clearance rack clothes for the extremely short and petite, wear generic Texas ranger clothes, and do a ridiculous song with an annoying country twang. Okay, found heroine number one. She ends up being a female version of Dev and Ajay, picking pockets and losing clothes as the movie progresses.

Serious note enters, plot begins. In a lil’ gaon, a big bad villian, Bhanu, wants to take all of the land and make it a "shehar". (Originality prevails.) A good bachu, Mohan, son of headmaster Anupam Kher, comes to the city to file yet another complaint against Bhanu. Naturally, he is killed, and Dev and Ajay feel responsible, due to obsession with pickpocketing and being chased. They decide to go to Mohan’s gaon out of guilt, act as if he is still alive and they are his friends, and live there. There enters Lala (Shakti Kapoor), the annoyingly funny money lender, who only speaks of things "Thol thol ke." He seems to have been sifting through Govinda’s stylish wardrobe and found the cute red and blue vest that Govinda sported in Saajan Chale Sasural…hemmed, of course.

Dev and Ajay basically become the gaon’s two "launde" who are also, in turn, Bhanu’s biggest challenge. Ajay wishes to see the “gaon ki ladkiyan” bathe, sees…guess who?? Heroine number 2, Mansi (Sonali) and sings some songs: the standard. Glad the heroine’s roles are so challenging and diverse. Sharmili also comes later, sporting the loose-girl look (I guess it’s uhhhmm modern), shocks the gaon, and converts Mansi to "modernism".

Scene where Mansi and Sharmili are watching their majnus bathe (who wow! thrill us by wearing only underwear…yeck!) from behind a rock:
Sharmili: You wear so much clothes! You should try making eight of my outfits out of your one.
Mansi: Do you not have any shame?
Sharmili: I have style and a man. I also am the President of the Conservation of Clothes Organization. I will slap you if you do not join.
Mansi: No, I cannot.
Sharmili: Think of it this way. When you bathe, you will not have to remove any clothes.
Mansi: WOW really?????
(and they change to more stylish *READ CLEARANCE RACK REJECT CLOTHES*, modern clothes, jump in the water, and do a ridiculous dance with random girls and their majnus. Have we heard of dance choreography?)

The dance choreography needed a bit of aid, the clothing was a lil’ off (that’s quite surprising in Hindi movies, of course), the songs themselves were, overall, nice, and the scenes were ordinary. Again, as most heroines are, Raveena and Sonali were a time pass, one twirl here, one jerk there, one smile here, one giggle there, and, of course, the helpless attempted rape scene. Saif was a natural in his role…the standard anari, funny and entertaining (provided he isn’t the only hero). Akshay did well as the more serious bhai, the protector and compassionate one.

From my review, it perhaps seems as though I did not like the movie. Actually, the movie idea, though not original, was "remixed" well, and each character, however versatile or limited, did justice to their role (though I am still wondering why the directors chose to have Shakti Kapoor resemble a pregnant woman…???).

Perhaps this may not be as serious and compelling as Yugpurush, or as lovey-dovey as Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya, but it had a good mix of action and romance with just the right amount of humor, which is very important in movies (when appropriate), in order to keep the story interesting and flow well. I am sure that is exactly what you are looking for in a movie…. Uhhmmm ….right… I look at Keemat and say "Vah! Script mein kya flow tha! Vah!" Not quite. It was a good entertainer, and for once, I wasn’t pondering about the meaning of life by the end, tears streaming down my face, my heart feeling deep pain. Rather….I laugh.

Would you like to contribute? Please contact assteditor@indolink.com to send in a review.