Khatarnak (1990)
Cast: Sultan Rahi, Saima, Ismail Shah, Talish, Sitara
Director: Akram Khan
Synopsis: Three upright brothers fight to destroy a heinous child-napping syndicate.
Reviewed by: Omar Khan

Renowned producer Shahid Afzal of the notorious smash hit Khatarnaak came out of semi-retirement in 1990 to produce this masala-laden pot-boiler in an attempt to recapture the magic of 1974’s original. Two entirely unrelated events undoubtedly inspired him. Firstly he discovered the busty and vivacious Saima at a” function” where she stunned him with her beauty and other prodigious godgiven talents. Starry-eyed, he pursued her until she signed on the dotted line. This was to be the film in which his new “raw diamond” was to be unfurled for the first time, and he was confident the masses would go at least as wild as he had. The second reason for his return from the wilderness was the ill-fated C–130 air crash that finally brought the curtains down on a decade-long military dictatorship. The arrival in 1977 of the pseudo-Islamic military dictatorship meant trouble for directors who thrived on the trusty masala formula.

Khatarnaak has nothing to do with the animated and masterfully cheap film of the same name from 1974. A film that set the box office counters ringing, due mainly to the panty-flashing antics of the curvaceous Anita—the film celebrated a “Diamond Jubilee” in all the country’s major centres.

This film begins with an honest but financially struggling father going off to get a job somewhere. Still, before long, he returns home to inform a forlorn wife and kids that the job he was offered forced him to compromise his values—something he refused to do. Moments later, the goons (with giant rubber ears!) storm into his house, threatening him with dire consequences unless he joins them for a pressing “errand”. The earnest father is enraged when he finds his employers are involved in kidnapping little tots off the street and selling them off for slave labour, most likely as fodder for the falcon-flying, camel-racing sheikhs of the oil-rich Persian Gulf.

The heroic father decides to take on the posse of criminals on his own and ends as a cold lump of dead meat shot dead right in front of his toddlers. The kids return home to find that their mother has also expired (cause of death: overdosing on make-up), and their lives lie in tatters. However, the resilient eldest brother takes matters into his own hands. He decides that he will do all that it takes to make something out of his two younger brothers—his wish being that one brother makes it as a lawyer while the other becomes a Police inspector.

The eldest brother grows up to become Sultan Rahi, while Ismail Shah plays one brother with the lawyer brother played by an unknown. The glamour is provided in large doses by the discovery of Saima, and her dress designer has gone out of his way to highlight her spectacular curves. Some of the clothes she wears are sublimely awful. The blonde wig, shiny lycra figure hugging pedal-pushers, the tinsel blouse with a polythene see-through jacket, and various unidentifiable accessories are breathtaking!

Sultan Rahi appeared to be doddering ever so slightly. His gut had spread to alarming proportions, even bulging grotesquely below his trouser belt—he should have stuck to wearing shalwars rather than

Khatarnak trousers. There is sometimes a hint of a slur in his dialogue delivery. The great man was well past his prime, and many say that his paans were filled with more than just tobacco by this time. There is no disrespect to the man, but the spark is missing in this film. Ismail Shah shows what a significant loss his untimely death was for the industry, robbing it of a bright young star. He performs with admirable grit, and his disco dances are a sight to behold.

Akram Khan hasn’t been able to capture anything like top form with this ridiculous nonsense—and here isn’t anywhere near enough sleaze. The film’s highlight is the horrifying appearance of a bloodthirsty Cyclops monster that goes on a bloody rampage before being tackled by the great Rahi. Despite its numerous shortcomings, Khatarnaak manages (perversely) to entertain for most of the part simply due to its spectacular awfulness. Sadly, the sleaze associated with such master directors as Akram Khan is not evident this time— not a panty in sight nor a single “night club” number, which is a sore disappointment for his devotees.

The film will be remembered (if at all) as the film which starred Saima’s career—no one realized at the time that Akram Khan had discovered a significant talent that would blossom into the nation’s topmost actress in the future. The Cyclops creature, too, will not be easily forgotten. Khatarnaak finds Akram Khan well below vintage form, yet there is just enough masala to satisfy, if barely so.