Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Dinesh Kamath's column 'Movie World: Bollywood actresses who romanced young actors on the big screen – Part 1 {Rekha – Akshay Kumar}' that was published in Newsband


Movie World
Bollywood actresses who romanced young actors on the big screen – Part 1
Rekha – Akshay Kumar
By Dinesh Kamath


In Bollywood there are many actresses who have romanced actors younger than them on the big screen.
In 1996 release Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi, Rekha was seen romancing Akshay Kumar. The actress is 13 years older than Akki and their chemistry in the song In The Night No Control had become the talk of the town.
Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi (English: Player of Players) is a 1996 Indian action film starring Rekha in her first villain role, Akshay Kumar, Raveena Tandon and former WWF wrestlers "Crush" and Brian Lee as "The Undertaker". It was the 6th highest-grossing movie of the year 1996. It was the fourth installment in the Khiladi (film series). The movie is loosely based on the Hollywood film Lionheart.
The film is about a deadly game of survival in the ruthless world of crime and sleaze. A criminal don, Maya (Rekha), hosts illegal wrestling matches in U.S (New York) and has the full support of the local Police Commissioner. Ajay Malhotra has relocated to US and has started his own orchestra with the help of some of his friends.
His brother, Akshay (Akshay Kumar), decides to visit him on hearing that he wants to marry his beloved in Canada; on the airplane he meets Priya (Raveena Tandon), and both fall in love. Once in the U.S., Akshay finds out that the police have a warrant for the arrest of Ajay and want to question him. Akshay's attempts to locate Ajay land him with Maya, who happens to be Priya's sister. Apparently Maya is holding Ajay and will only release him after he hands over incriminating documents. Akshay soon wins Maya's confidence by rescuing her from attempts on her life made by King Don (Gulshan Grover), and Maya begins to like him and trust him. Akshay then proposes to her, to which Maya agrees, much to the disappointment of Priya.
Soon Akshay kills Maya's men when they get to know of his true identity. He also organises a fake kidnap drama with Ajay's friends, who kidnap him and demand that Maya come to meet them with Ajay. By now Maya realizes that Akshay is Ajay's brother, and Priya actually loves Akshay. At the end, Maya commits suicide, and before dying she hands over her sister Priya to Akshay.
Rekha and Akshay Kumar reportedly got too close for comfort during the shooting of Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi.
Raveena Tandon set the screen ablaze with her sultry Tip Tip Barsa Pani act. And while all the men were losing their hearts to her, Raveena had lost hers to Akshay Kumar. Speculation was rife that sparks flew between them during the making of their 1994 film Mohra.
Then their 1996 film Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi happened. Stories of Akshay Kumar's growing proximity with Rekha during the film's shooting spread like wildfire. But in Raveena's eyes, Akshay had done no wrong, and it was Rekha who was trying to get too close for comfort.
At one point Rekhs wanted to get lunch dabbas for Akshay from home. That's when Raveena put he foot down. She felt it was taking things a bit too far. Raveena would not hesitate to show Rekha where to draw the line. However, Akshay knew how to handle the situation.
Now, Raveena is happily married to Anil Thadani, while Akshay is enjoying marital bliss with Twinkle Khanna.

No comments:

Post a Comment