As I started watching this movie today, I realized I have seen it way back. It's just I couldn't remember it as a whole. In any case, watching Nana Patekar's works on silver screen is always a treat. Especially movies from early 80s to late 90s. Movies that made Nana a shining start of Bollywood. He may not possess some of the attributes of a typical Bollywood hero but he is one of those artist who has the multidimensional capacity to give life to a role that he's playing on the screen.
Plot: The story evolves around an orphan gangster named Musthafa (Nana Patekar) who happens to be a devout Muslim. He was adopted and raised by Shanta Prasad (Paresh Rawal) from his childhood whom he calls as Abba (Father). Musthafa plays the role of a right hand-man or executioner of Shanta Prasad who is a don and has powerful political connection.
Musthafa accidentally gets to know Kavita (Raveena Tandon), a dancer with whom he eventually falls in love with and decides to marry her despite their religious differences. However, their love affair was cut short with a twist of event as Kavita dies from a car bomb blast which was originally intended to take out Shanta Prasad. Sudden departure of Kavita, who was the only love of his life changes Musthafa dramatically as a person.
As the story unfolds, Musthafa gets involved with Dayanand Dixit (Shivaji Satam) and his family who are devout Hindu. Dayanand is an honest government official who is struggling with all the shortcomings of a middle or lower-middle class family. He mistakenly gets accused of taking bribe, his wife is seriously ill, his only son's University admission is at stake and his daughter whom he and his wife wanted to hand over to a good person to get married with. It's a never ending battle for Dayanand.
Inspired by Kavita's philosophy, Musthafa comes to rescue the family. He vows not only to help out the family but to protect them from greater harm at any cost which he eventually does. A lifelong criminal Musthafa decides to surrender to police to avoid committing any kind of crime any longer. However, as bizarre as it may sound, at the end of the scene Musthafa gets gunned down by the order of the very person whom he called Abba from his childhood. He pays the ultimate price to correct himself and only to be with his only love of life Kavita, forever.
Verdict: From the very beginning to the end, the character of Musthafa is the central point of focus in this movie. Nana Patekar not only did justice to the character but he gave life to Musthafa with his natural acting capability. It clearly demonstrates why Nana is a top-notch actor of Bollywood and why he excels at a level where a very few film actor does. To me, this role of Nana will forever be a character to take in serious consideration if one has to measure how excellent actor Nana is. Though the role of Kavita is a very short one, Raveena's presence throughout the film in memory of Musthafa reminded us how a character can influence the direction of a story and affect lives even in reality.
It would be injustice towards other important roles like Dayanand and Abba. Both Shivaji and Paresh Rawal are some of the finest actor and we have witnessed once again how beautifully they can execute complex roles with utmost simplicity. Especially the role of Abba is a very difficult one. In one hand Abba is emotionally attached with Musthafa whom he sees as a son like figure, on the other hand he was compelled to eliminate Musthafa for his illegal business necessity. A versatile role with both good and bad attributes.
Bollywood movies are incomplete without Music. The only reason why I gave this move 4.5 star out of 5 is because this movie lacks significantly on Music sector. This movie does not have any track that I can call it to be an eye-catching but there is a track which I think was very emotional and touchy. I liked the song (Tere Gham, Mera Gham, Eka Jaisa Sanam) and I would encourage you to listen to it. I am pretty sure you will like it.
This movie vividly depicts the socioeconomic status and political structure of contemporary society. We are living at a time when communal harmony has been highly disturbed by religious identity and religious bigotry is at it's peak. The relevance of this movie can be felt even today if only one can open his or her heart and sees the world without any religious or ideological filter. End of the day people can be both good and bad regardless of their identity that society thinks to be so important.
Note: This movie is available on Amazon Prime and on YouTube with English subtitles.
Disclosure: This Review is not Sponsored.
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