Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena
Film poster
Directed bySuparn Verma
Written bySuparn Verma
Based onConfidence (2003)
Produced byRangita Pritish Nandy
StarringFardeen Khan
Koena Mitra
Kay Kay Menon
Feroz Khan
Rohit Roy
CinematographyManoj Soni
Edited byHemal Kothari
Music byPritam Chakraborty
Distributed byPritish Nandy Communications
Release date
  • 18 November 2005 (2005-11-18)
Running time
143 minutes[1]
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget₹5.75 crore (equivalent to ₹20 crore or US$2.4 million in 2023)
Box office₹7.88 crore (equivalent to ₹27 crore or US$3.4 million in 2023)

Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena (translation: One Player, One Beauty) is a 2005 Indian Hindi-language crime thriller film directed by Suparn Verma, according to whom it is inspired by 14 con films, including the American films Confidence and House of Games.[2][3] It stars Fardeen Khan, Feroz Khan, Kay Kay and Koena Mitra.[4] The film released on 18 November 2005, and was a commercial failure.[5]

Plot

Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena focuses on the duo of Arjun Verma (Fardeen Khan) and his best friend Rohit Kapoor (Rohit Roy) who con people for a living.

During their latest of escapades, the duo manages to con the rich accountant of a don by the name of Sikander (Gulshan Grover), resulting in them stealing millions of rupees. Soon after, Rohit (Rohit Roy) is killed by Kharbu's men and Arjun escapes to another city. Kharbu manages to track him down and orders him to pay up the stolen sum plus interest or face Sikander's retirement plan.

To get his hands on the millions, Arjun sets up a special team who will help him execute the plan. Also involved in the team is Natasha Kapoor (Koena Mitra), a psychiatrist who ends up being conned by the group but eventually succeeds in seeking revenge.

Thrown into this mix is another character by the name of Jehangir Khan (Feroz Khan), who slows down Arjun's plans to get his hands on the money.

But later it is shown that it was the plan of Arjun to seek the revenge of the death of Rohit as Sikander is arrested by police in drugs case. The film ends with Arjun going with friends and his lover Natasha with the Jahangir money.

Cast

Themes and influences

According to Verma, the film is "a remake of every con film ever made, every real con you've ever read about. It's imbibed from everything I've ever seen."

The film's opening in reverse, where the coin goes into the palm, was a homage to Memento. He also paid homage to Harpo Marx through Amin Hajee's character, who whistles throughout the film and doesn't talk. He compared Fardeen Khan's character to the French actor Alain Delon as seen in Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Cercle Rouge and Le Samourai, and called him the Amitabh Bachchan for the present century.

When questioned if the film is a rip-off of the American film Confidence as pointed out by many people, Verma explained that while there were mentions of the film being copied from Confidence, The Sting, and even Criminal, he just thought there were moments from a lot of films. He admitted there were certain similarities in the second half, but also claimed the film was not a rip-off but an amalgamation of several films he had loved.[6]

Soundtrack

Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena
Soundtrack album by
Pritam Chakraborty
Released25 August 2005 (2005-08-25) (Digital Release)
18 November 2005 (2005-11-18) (Film)
GenreFeature Film soundtrack
Length38:17
LabelT-Series
ProducerPritam Chakraborty
Pritam Chakraborty chronology
Garam Masala
(2005)		 Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena
(2005)		 Fight Club - Members Only
(2005)

The music is composed by Pritam Chakraborty while the Lyrics are penned by Shabbir Ahmed, Amitabh Verma, Dev Kohli, Subrat Sinha and Mayur Puri.

Track listing

No.TitleLyricsMusicSinger(s)Length
1."Ishq Hai Jhootha"Mayur PuriPritam ChakrabortyKunal Ganjawala, Sunidhi Chauhan3:46
2."Jal Jal Ke Dhuan"Amitabh VermaPritam ChakrabortySonu Nigam, Abrar ul Haq5:27
3."Yaaron"Mayur PuriPritam ChakrabortyShaan, Sonu Nigam4:04
4."Akhiyan Na Maar"Dev KohliPritam ChakrabortySunidhi Chauhan3:40
5."Nasha"Subrat SinhaPritam ChakrabortySukhwinder Singh3:55
6."Jhoom"Shabbir AhmedPritam ChakrabortySuzanne D'Mello4:53
7."Ishq Hai Jhootha" (Remix)Mayur PuriPritam ChakrabortyKunal Ganjawala, Sunidhi Chauhan3:27
8."Jal Jal ke Dhuan" (Remix)Amitabh VermaPritam ChakrabortySonu Nigam5:32
9."Akhiyan Na Maar" (Remix)Dev KohliPritam ChakrabortySunidhi Chauhan3:38

Reception

Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama gave the film 2 stars out of 5, feeling it was "too western a flick to find patronage from the Indian audiences" and had "the soul of an English film in the body of a Hindi flick". He noted the film's inspirations from two American films, Confidence and House of Games.[7] On the contrary, Raja Sen from Rediff.com remarked the film was "not a rip-off of an English DVD you might have rented last week." However, he pointed out the film had entire sequences lifted from other films, such as Matchstick Men.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena". British Board of Film Classification.
  2. ↑ "Acid Factory is my second film with Fardeen'". Rediff.com. Retrieved 27 May 2009. Ek Khiladi is inspired by 14 con films -- Confidence and House of Game are among them.
  3. ↑ Pandohar, Jaspreet (12 November 2005). "Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena (The Player And The Beauty) (2005)". BBC. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  4. ↑ "Con games". Rediff.com.
  5. ↑ "Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena - Movie". Box Office India.
  6. ↑ "'Ek Khiladi is not a rip-off'". Rediff.com. Retrieved 22 November 2005.
  7. ↑ "Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena Movie Review". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 18 November 2005.
  8. ↑ "Ek Khiladi is a racy caper film". Rediff.com. Retrieved 18 November 2005.
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