There are some movies which hit the town every Friday along with the huge Hollywood
and Bollywood blockbusters. These movies do not set any box-office records,
but they do have their dedicated clientele. Kharidaar is one such movie.
The name of this movie has got nothing to do with the story line. The actual
movie, a Malayalam one, was made in the mid-eighties. The actors are familiar
faces in the Malayalam film industry.
The story starts off with a stupid court scene. With an unlikely looking judge
in the form of Sheila (Silk Smitha), and a criminal, Vijay, in the dock, one
gets a foretaste of the things to come. It turns out that Vijay has been accused
of murdering a ruffian. Sheila seems very disturbed at the news and presto!
Off we go into a flashback...
Vijay is a disowned orphan, who is very rich because of a considerate 'uncle'.
He bashes up some goons because they raped a girl. Shiela, an advocate, sees
this, and mistaking him to be a goon himself, gets him arrested. But later misunderstandings
are cleared up and the two start cooing around like a pair of lovesick birds.
To add masala, you have Shiela's sister coochie-cooing around with the family
estate's manager. A more than generous dose of couples necking around (doesn't
matter which ones) follows. There are a few irrelevant characters... a pimp, a
whore and a constable carrying on with a scam of defrauding people... and a ruffian
whom everyone calls a 'cobra', who walks around drunk half the time, making
a pain of himself. Some twists and turns later, the movie comes to an incomprehensible
end.
Bad editing and some token censoring makes the movie even more confusing than
it already is. The dubbing is positively atrocious with shrill voices and dumb
dialogues. The songs? The less said about them, the better. The director has
used all the tactics that Indian movies incorporate to lure the audience... sleazy
cabarets, graphic rape scenes, and numerous openings in the script to show couples
making out. The movie is punctuated at regular intervals with glimpses of thighs
and cleavage - built to true Indian proportions. Most of the audience walked
out towards the end when it became clear that there would be no more titillating
scenes. This movie sure has enough sleaze to lure the audiences... as long as
they bring along earplugs.