Akshay Kumar is one of the most talented actors in India. He is versatile, bold, humorous, but apart from these qualities there is something that makes him stand apart from the rest of his bollywood counterparts. Most of us watch bollywood movies but how many of you can tell which movie has the most sequels? Movies like Dhoom, Race, Raaz, Dabanng, Housefull etc has 2 or a maximum of 3 sequels. It is because either the director or the actor is not willing to try his luck at the box office with the same character.
Unlike other actors Akshay Kumar had full faith in his abilities and as a result of this 8 movies in the Khiladi series were made till now. This movie holds the record in bollywood for the most number of series made for a movie. There is no need to tell that each of the series were super duper hit in the box office. Twenty years have passed since the release of the first Khiladi movie but still a lot of directors are in queue to make the 9th installment in the series. Lets take a look at the journey of this movie and what makes it so special.
The Beginning Of New Era
The Khiladi Begins
The first movie Khiladi was released in the year 1992. This movie was directed by Abbas-Mastan Burmawalla brothers. Akshay Kumar shared screen space with Deepak Tijori in this movie. Ayesha Jhulka played the lead against Akshay Kumar.
It tells the story of two friends who like to put bets for fun and money. The rest of the story revolves around the biggest bet they had ever made. Bold action scenes, natural humor and hit songs made this movie a sensation among people. It was among the top ten highest grossing movies of that year.This movie gave Akashy Kumar the Khiladi tag. After that there was no looking back and Khiladi became an integral part of bollywood.
The Skilled Khiladi
The second movie in the Khiladi series was Main Khiladi Tu Anari which was released in the year 1994. This was directed by Sameer Malkan. Saif Ali Khan also played an important role in this movie. The main attraction of the film was the superb chemistry between Akshay Kumar and Shilpa Shetty. This movie gave a new outlook to Khiladi by introducing some rib cracking comedy.
The Biggest Khiladi
The third movie Sabse Bada Khiladi was released in 1995 which was directed by Umesh Mehra. Mamta Kulkarni was the lead actress. This movie had some evergreen songs by Kumar Sanu and Alka Yagnik. This movie lived up to the expectations created by its previous two installments and cemented its place in the top seven highest grossing films of that year.
The Action Khiladi
The fourth movie in the installment was Khiladiyon Ka Khildadi which was released in 1996. This movie was also directed by Umesh Mehra. While Raveena Tandon played the love interest of Akshay, Rekha donned the cap of a sexy villian for the very first time in her career. The movie was a pure action thriller which pulled the crowds to theatres.
The Khiladi Couple
The fifth movie in the series was Mr. and Mrs. Khiladi which was released in 1997. It was directed by one of the best comedy movie director in India, David Dhawan. For the very first time Juhi Chawla was paired opposite Akshay. This was the first and the only movie in the Khiladi series which was totally based on comedy.
Khiladi Goes International
The sixth movie was titled International Khiladi which was released in 1999. It was again directed by Umesh Mehra. Twinkle Khanna who is also Akshay's wife was the female lead. No need to tell that the credit behind the success of this movie goes to the sizzling chemistry between them.
The Trickster Khiladi
The seventh installment in the Khiladi series was Khiladi 420 which was released in 2000. It was directed by Niraj Vora. Mahima Chaudhry was the lead actress. Akshay performed some of the most dangerous breathtaking stunts of his career in this movie.
The Immortal Khiladi
After a gap of 12 years the eighth installment in the series, Khiladi 786 was released. It was directed by Ashish R Mohan. Asin played the love interest of Akshay. Even after a gap of 12 years people accepted Khiladi with both hands and the movie turned into a blockbuster hit.
With eight installments so far and counting many more to come, Khiladi has been immortalized in bollywood.