Himalay Putra

Himalay Putra review :

Noted actor Vinod Khanna preferred to launch his son Akshaye himself as Himalay Putra which he produced as well as rumoredly ghost- directed after the constant arguments with Pankaj Parashar who was hired to direct and his name retained in the credits. Khanna's good pal Parmeshwar Godrej was also the part financier and her popular soap brand Cinthol was used for the film's in-brand promotion.

Coming to the movie, Himalay Putra was said to be a remake of Stallone's Cliffhanger (1993) but that wasn't true. The plot was about a young Shiv Bhakt (Akshaye) who yearns to find and punish his biological father for deserting his mom (Hema Malini). Pappa dear (Vinod Khanna) is unaware of his son and is busy on trail of a drug cartel run by the dreaded Rana (Danny). A forty feet huge Lord Shiva idol was created by Nitin Desai as a set and this was transported to Dalhousie where the film was extensively shot.

This was first and last movie the Khanna baap-beta did together. The film also introduced two hotties - Anjala Zaveri and Shazia Malik - but the lukewarm response to Himalay Putra didn't take their career any further. Zaveri did act in a couple of movies more while Malik got a small role in Aflatoon (1998).

Akshaye Khanna was noticed and appreciated in the lead role. He followed it the same year with J. P. Dutta's Border (1997) where he left a mighty impression again even in front of stalwarts like Sunny Deol, Jackie Shroff and Sunil Shetty. To use the clichè, A STAR was Born!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.