9/10
One of Akshay's best films from the 90s
30 May 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Akshay Kumar is a fantastic action hero and even when he blended into comedy, he was quite good. However, his action movies were much better because it was him who introduced raw martial arts style action to Bollywood. After the success of Khiladi(1992) and a bad 1993 with the exception of Waqt Hamra Hai(1993, Akshay returned with some of his best films from 1994. Main Khiladi Tu Anari released in September, when Akshay already had film like Elaan, Suhaag, Mohra, Yeh Dillagi to his credit.

Main Khiladi Tu Anari tells the story of Inspector Karan Joglekar who is a hard boiled cop, his brother is an honest cop who looses his life trying to capture the criminal and evil mastermind Goli. Karan is frustrated because not only does he brother die but the witness Mona also dies. Karan's frustration increases when he has to put up with the film star Deepak Kumar who is the complete opposite of him. Deepak always tries to impress Karan but ends up disappointing him. This disappointment seems to irritate Karan. Karan finds a lookalike of Mona called Basanti and he decides to plant her in Goli's gang. Goli knows that Mona died because they had to kill her as she was a police informer. What Goli doesn't know is Mona is a fake and she has lied when she said she lost her memory. Karan is impressed with Deepak as time passes but he still wants to get rid of him. After Deepak get's angry with him and leaves, Karan stops him and both slowly become good friends. Karan slowly starts to fall in love with Basanti and Goli finds out that Mona is not Mona but Basanti. Watch the action packed climax of the movie to see how Karan and Deepak work together and fight the evil forces of Goli.

The film is great for a 90s movie and it is one of the few logical and decent movies Akshay Kumar acted in. However, Mohra had a better story and a better villain. Sachin Bhowmick's script does full justice to Sameer Malkan's direction because the script is tight. The film never really drags and the flow is good. The film's highlights are the action scenes and the several hilarious comedy sequences. What works and combines well with the film is the well timed songs of the film, which was the one thing Mohra lacked. Most of the songs were big hits and are classics.

Direction by Sameer Malkan is good, after the good but flop Divya Shakti, Sameer Malkan returns with a better Main Khiladi Tu Anari. Sadly, this was the last time he directed a good films because Keemat was an awful comedy film. He handles several scenes well and the tempo if the film is well maintained. In short, this is probably Malkan's best film.

Being an Akshay Kumar fan, I really enjoyed this film. He was not only good in acting with well timed expressions but he was excellent with action and comedy. Saif Ali Khan steals the show with his excellent comic timing. He makes you laugh at the right places and despite some corny dialogs, the film is strengthened because of his comedy. Shilpa Shetty does full justice to the film with her acting. Shakti Kapoor is good as the villain. Rageshwari is fairly good though she doesn't have much to do. Johny Lever lends some funny moments and Ravenna is OK in a cameo.

Music is probably one of the best things about the movie, the tittle song comes late but is my favourite and a good song, the dance steps are good. Churke Dil Mera is a nice and slow romantic song but the dancing is a bit crude. The Zaara song is well supported by a guitar tune while the other songs fill the bill.

On the whole, Main Khiladi Tu Anari is a brilliant action comedy with many highlights. It is probably one of the best Akshay Kumar movies after Mohra and 1994 was Akshay's best year with 5 big hits.
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