Wafa – A Deadly Love Story (2008)

This thriller marked the end of Rajesh Khanna’s illustrious film career on a note that marked a horrendous low for the once superstar. The star that once twinkled brighter than any other in the late 60s and early 70s sadly reduced to the tawdry dregs that this film so clearly is. The only known cast member is Tinnu Anand, himself hardly a superstar, but it is upon Rajesh Khanna’s ageing shoulders that this film is structured. It is financed by people who appear to be at the dodgiest end of the murkiest spectrum of producers.

The movie starts with a strange semi blonde Khanna, a massively wealthy businessman, about to make the Forbes Power List with his sultry, vixen-like young wife by their swimming pool. He is busy chatting with his airhead sister in the most typically bizarre Khannaesque English, telling him about his growing business “umpire”, among other things. Meanwhile, his wife grows more and more irritated as she craves his attention and fails to receive it.

She demands a hot oil rubdown from her husband, and her libido goes into overdrive, imagining all sorts of carnal thoughts with her husband and also their chauffeur, who she also lusts for. A bit of a nymphomaniac, she dreams of torrid sex day and night and has daydreams of men showering her with attention – the type of attention her busy husband can’t deliver. Not that he doesn’t try. The poor man strives hard to fulfil his wife’s rampant sex drive, and there are some deliciously salacious bed scenes. Still, unfortunately, when the moment of truth arrives, Bina, the lusting wife, is left craving as her husband succumbs to asthmatic attacks rendering him incapable of delivering the goods.

Somebody should have told him that an inhaler isn’t sprayed on the face like perfume but inhaled into the lungs, but maybe the rich and famous from the Forbes list have special inhalers. Unique or not, it fails to resurrect his sexual prowess, and his wife is left floundering as he coughs and splutters away dreadfully. The poor girl turns her attention to the randy driver Raj who at first is surprised but then eventually submits to her charms, especially as she drops her towel after a bath when he appears looking for some set of keys. The rest of the time, lusting Nympho Bina has hallucinations of being surrounded by semi-naked men cavorting around her while she delivers sultry sexy songs.

We soon learn that Bina was an air hostess who managed to charm one of the wealthiest men on earth and snag him for herself. But after a couple of years of joyous sex, she finds her cravings unsatisfied as her husband’s asthmatic attacks play havoc with his sex life.

Bina decides she has had enough, and her lust knows no bounds and thus, a murderous plan is hatched with her sex toy chauffeur conniving with her. Her joy at her husband’s demise is short-lived; however, the project goes awry, and her bliss soon rebounds on her with devastating effects.

The film is dire in all departments. The lovemaking scenes involving an old and feeble Rajesh Khanna are nothing short of painfully embarrassing, as are his efforts to lay on his trademark “style” from his heyday. It is a cringe a minute horror show but perversely mesmerising all the same. It is sad to see Khanna reduced to such dregs, yet he is as compelling as he ever was even way after his sell-by date. The songs are hideous though one or two locations are relatively striking, and the artist conducting the action scenes is appropriately named Poo!

It’s a genuinely dire film and an embarrassment from beginning to end, but fortunately, the running time is short of two hours, and the film has some garish, hideous lack of quality that makes it rather enjoyable to watch. The sultry Bina (Laila Khan) steals the show, and her acting prowess is remarkable. The Sabri Brothers contribute to the music score, lending the film some dubious credibility, but they can’t fail to salvage the sleazy trash that this product is.

Wafa opened in cinemas and scored a 5% occupancy in its first and last week of release. Its lurid appeal had us glued to the screen throughout. Small wonder that the film was directed by Rakesh Sawant, AKA brother of the great Raakhi Sawant. A film that is an unmitigated disaster and to is remembered for sleazy and dubious reasons. Also, Laila Khan lies in a shallow grave and five other family members as a horrifying result of her association with the worse underworld elements. This film, alas, reeks of all those connections. That said, it has an allure and an ability to mesmerise with its sheer awfulness.