Khoj (1989) Poster

(1989)

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8/10
Ramsays underrated suspense thriller.
nadkarnisumeet4 November 2022
Khoj review:

The film starts with a missing wife whom her husband (Rishi Kapoor) keeps searching through the streets of Nepal but in vain. A priest (Danny Denzongpa) then claims to have found the lady (Kimi Katkar) but Rishi refuses to accept her as his spouse. Top cop Naseer is assigned the task to investigate...

Loosely based on the Hollywood classic 'Chase a Crooked Shadow' (1958), the plot was remade earlier as Dhuaan (1981) with a gender reversal where Rakhee searches for her missing hubby. Khoj was obviously a better adaptation of the two and full credit to Ramsays for transcending beyond their comfort zone of 'Saamri' and 'Nevala' to make this taut suspense thriller.

Khoj was a unique non-horror experiment from Ramsays with A list actors like Rishi, Kimi and Naseer at the helm. Even though extremely fast paced with many edge of the seat moments, the film is still quite underrated as Ramsays are identified only for their trademark horror stuff. No wonder, it tanked at the box office when released in November 1989 alongwith Parinda and Ladaai. I remember watching it at half empty Citylight Cinema, Matunga where the audience was only cheering Kimi Katkar's seductive moves and grooves. Nothing else!!

Performance wise, Naseer and Danny were assuredly competent. Danny's sinister act was simply awesome! Kimi looked extremely charming and sensuous in every scene whether romancing Danny or seducing the clueless Rishi. Satish Shah and Beena were there to evoke some laughter.

Khoj would not have been half as good if not for Rishi Kapoor. Showcasing his immense versatility as an actor, Kapoor was absolutely awesome in a role which goes through myriad emotions through the journey of searching for his wife. I would suggest you re-watch the movie again (after the end revelation) and concentrate on his expressions and body language at different crucial points to understand what a great performance that truly was. Extraordinary!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.
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Something to watch...
Emarald_Dreams12 February 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I don't recall all the tiny details and certainly revealing the end of the a thriller could spoil its mystery . Its a good attempt at a thriller and well executed scenes and believable and real story line.

The character of Rishi Kapoor suddenly encounters a lady(kimi katkar) who claims to be his wife, but he vehemently opposes and announces his wife is someone else and she is missing, but surprisingly the lady produces every proof from marriage certificates to pictures and photographs of them at their wedding function and happy married life...also neighbors and his own dog prove rishi wrong much to his surprise...but only audience is made to know that rishi kapoor is framed.

naseeruddin shah is the cop who after repeated complaints from rishi and on finding all his charges baseless lets him go with a warning, rishi is supposed to be mentally insane by police. Danny dengzopa is the lover and boyfriend of the fraud claiming to be his wife, danny is in disguise of a Christian monk and fakes a religious presence and once they make rishi sign a document which will transfer all his (rishi's) properties to danny and kimi...on long cold winer nights they light a fire and romance and sing beautiful sensual songs...

but the end is quite the unexpected...rishi somehow escapes them and again stresses on the point that kim is not his wife because she cant be...she cant be because she is dead...he has killed her..this deadly secret he blurts out unknowingly during a court room section...why and how?

and who were danny and kimi..not some frauds but cops in disguise to expose rishi whose wife cant be alive as she is killed by him...

I liked the movie and its recommendable.
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10/10
Excellent movie
maruthivardhan28 May 2020
Keeps you on your toe till the end, very interesting.
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9/10
Inspired from some other movie, still great
bashir_t20 June 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Very good mystery movie. Great performances from the lead actors. Average songs. The story - 'A businessman who just return home after a business trip finds his wife missing. He files a complaint at the police station. Soon after a lady appears and claims she is the lost wife. The hero is unable to convince to the police that he is not his wife. How will he prove he is not his wife? ' watch the movie for answer.

Now the spoiler. The movie is highly inspired from Malayalam movie 'Charithram' starring Mammootty.n I am not sure if the latter was inspired/copied from some other movie-there is every chance. Nevertheless it's a highly enjoyable movie even if you have watched 'Charithram'
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4/10
Quite watchable but flawed and unoriginal
Peter_Young23 August 2010
Khoj, like most Indian movies of its genre, is unoriginal and the script is generally not very well written. It has its moments of suspense and as a thriller it may be quite a nice watch for the family, but something is the narration is overly exaggerated and overdone. The suspense was marred by songs which were very misplaced and irrelevant to the proceedings. Also, there are numerous plot holes and the script seems very contrived, unconvincing and at times forced. The movie stars Rishi Kapoor, who is quite okay but goes overboard in many instances. A beautiful Kimi Katkar plays a young woman who pretends to be his wife. Naseeruddin Shah and Danny Denzongpa do well in their respective parts. The ending is very melodramatic and sugarcoated. The moments the great twist is revealed is quite surprising but it gave me a strange feel of much ado about nothing. Why the police would do what they did is mystifying and unintentionally funny. Khoj is overall a rather poorly written movie, but as said, would suffice for lovers of Hindi movies if they could overlook the many of its flaws.
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