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Mohra

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Mohra
Poster
Directed byRajiv Rai
Written byRajiv Rai
Shabbir Boxwala
Produced byGulshan Rai
Starring
CinematographyDamodar Naidu
Edited byRajiv Rai
Music byViju Shah
Distributed byTrimurti Films Pvt. Ltd.
Release date
  • 1 July 1994 (1994-07-01)
Running time
177 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget₹3.75 crore[1]
Box office₹22.65 crore (equivalent to ₹149 crore or US$18 million in 2023)[1]

Mohra (transl. Pawn) is a 1994 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film co-written, edited and directed by Rajiv Rai and produced by his father Gulshan Rai. It stars Naseeruddin Shah, Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Raveena Tandon, Poonam Jhawer, Raza Murad, Paresh Rawal, Gulshan Grover, and Sadashiv Amrapurkar. The film was also the first collaboration between the trio of Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Paresh Rawal, who went on to collaborate several times later on.[2]

Originally, Divya Bharti was cast as the female lead but she died very early in the production. Raveena Tandon was cast as her replacement, as was the case with the movie Dilwale, which was released earlier the same year. The film was reported to be inspired by the 1987 film Death Wish 4: The Crackdown.[3] while the climax was inspired by the 1992 Hong Kong film, Hard Boiled. The film was remade in Bengali, in Bangladesh, as Gupto Ghatak (1998).

The film was a major box office success, and went on to become the second highest-grossing Indian film of that year only behind Hum Aapke Hain Koun. It received nine Filmfare nominations in 1995 including Best film, Best director and Best Music director. Songs of the film also became huge chartbusters in that year. The popularity of the song "Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast", which was picturised on Raveena Tandon, led to her being nicknamed 'the Mast Mast girl'.[4] The song was an adaptation of the popular Qawwali song "Dam Mast Qalandar Mast Mast" by Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.[5] The film's soundtrack album sold more than 8 million units, making it the second highest-selling Bollywood soundtrack album of 1994, behind only Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!.

Plot

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Vishal Agnihotri is serving life sentence for murdering four criminals who raped and killed his sister-in-law, Rita. He has committed the crime after the four were acquitted by court with help from a corrupt public prosecutor and soon after when the criminals again attempted to rape his wife, resulting in her suicide.

Journalist Roma Singh visits Vishal in prison and becomes a target from some of the convicts. Vishal comes to her rescue. Roma is determined to help him regain his freedom. She meets Inspector Amar Saxena to obtain Vishal's case file and love blossoms between them. Roma's boss, Mr. Jindal who is supposedly blind and the owner of Samadhan Newspaper, reopens Vishal's case by presenting new evidence to the legal authorities. The judge reviewing the case accepts the new evidence and Vishal is released.

Jindal convinces Vishal that the city is full of crime and he wants him to eliminate mob bosses Jibran, Tyson and their associates, and Kamdev Kulkarni, the Commissioner of Police as well, for which he helped secure his release. Initially Vishal refuses saying that he cannot commit murder again, but then returns to Jindal after reminiscing his past. Vishal begins eliminating everyone on Jindal's hitlist one after the other, alternating between Jibran's gang and Tyson's gang, in order to incite a rivalry between them.

After being informed by Kashinath that Vishal is the hitman responsible for killing his gang members, Jibran calls Tyson to meet and clear up any misunderstanding. During the meeting, Vishal snipes Tyson's arm, causing both gangs to start a gang war in which most of the gangsters are killed. He then kills Tyson, but Jibran survives and stalks Vishal. Amar suspects and follows Vishal closely for the murders but is unable to get any evidence against him.

Vishal then goes to Kamdev's house, the last target on Jindal's list, but overhears a conversation between a drunk Kamdev and Constable Kranti Kumar, when Kamdev reveals that the mysterious killer is actually benefiting society by eliminating criminals, which the police couldn't do because of the legal system. Vishal decides not to kill Kamdev, realising he is not a corrupt cop and Jibran notices this. Jindal gets infuriated with Vishal for not killing Kamdev. It is then revealed that Jindal is not blind and he was using Vishal as a Mohra (pawn). Vishal is about to shoot Jindal, but Jibran arrives and saves Jindal. The story then flashes back to Jindal’s past. Jindal was a greedy and lazy person looking to make quick money, and had approached Jibran and Tyson to sell drugs for them and make more money, by impersonating Inspector Karan Saxena (Amar's father) and enabling smuggling of drugs across the check post. When Karan found out, Jindal killed him. His wife Pooja witnessed the murder and Jindal kills her too. Jindal thereafter pretended to be blind to the police to avoid suspicion and prosecution, and deceive Jibran and Tyson. Jindal and Jibran leave Vishal to die by placing a bomb next to him but he escapes.

Amar breaks into Vishal's house and discovers a file with details of all of Vishal's targets. Amar locates Vishal at Roma's residence and reveals that he has the files, leaving no room for denial regarding the killings, and tells him to surrender, but an encounter escalates, resulting in Amar knocking Vishal out when Roma distracts them. Vishal is then taken into custody.

Kashinath informs Jindal that Vishal is alive and will soon reveal the truth. Shortly Jindal reveals his true identity and attraction for Roma and demands she marries him. The sub-editor Siddiqui sees this, but is killed by Jindal. Kamdev releases Vishal. Vishal tells Amar the truth about Jindal and that Jindal is Karan's assassin. Amar, Vishal and Kamdev go to Jindal's office, but they find Siddiqui’s body instead. Jindal calls and says he has kidnapped Roma. Kashinath helps Vishal and Amar trace Jindal to an abandoned fort where drug lords have assembled.

Amar and Vishal kill most of the drug lords. Jindal forces Roma to go with him but is confronted by Vishal. Jindal holds him hostage and tries to embarrass Amar at gunpoint, but Vishal breaks away and gets shot by Jindal, as Amar shoots Jindal. Vishal dies in Amar's lap, acknowledging that Amar was right and he was wrong in his deeds, saluting him for one last time. Roma is shown married to Amar Saxena as the credits roll.

Cast

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Soundtrack

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Mohra
Soundtrack album by
Viju Shah
Released2 April 1994
StudioTrimurti Films
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length42:16 min
LanguageHindi
LabelVenus Records & Tapes
ProducerViju Shah
Viju Shah chronology
Vishwatama
(1992) 		Mohra
(1994) 		Ravan Raaj: A True Story
(1995)

The music for the film was composed by Viju Shah, with lyrics by Indeevar and Anand Bakshi.[6] Mohra was one of the most successful soundtrack albums of 1994, especially the song "Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast". The track is set to Raag Bhimpalasi (known as Abheri in Carnatic Music), and is based on the popular Qawwali song "Dam Mast Qalandar Mast Mast" by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.[5] Initially, Viju Shah wanted Sapna Mukherjee to render "Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast" but, upon Rajiv Rai's insistence, opted for Kavita Krishnamurthy instead. The song "Na Kajre Ki Dhaar" was composed in the 1970s by Kalyanji-Anandji, the father and uncle of Viju Shah, and sung by Mukesh, for a shelved film, meaning that the song was unreleased. Viju Shah added the song to this film, and got singers Pankaj Udhas and Sadhana Sargam to sing it. Anand Bakhshi had written the song "Ae Kaash Kahin Aisa Hota" for Dilip Kumar's unreleased movie "Kalinga", but was finally used in Mohra. Several of the songs took inspiration from artists from around the world including "Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast" and "Tip Tip Barsa Paani".

The film's soundtrack album sold 4.5 million units,[7] making it the second highest-selling Bollywood soundtrack album of 1994, behind only Hum Aapke Hain Koun..![8] The soundtrack was #81 on the list of "100 Greatest Bollywood Soundtracks of All Time", as compiled by Planet Bollywood. The song "Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast" was remade as "Cheez Badi" for the 2017 film Machine.[9] The song "Tip Tip Barsa Pani" was remade as "Tip Tip" for the 2021 film Sooryavanshi.[10] The background score consisted of plagiarised versions of "The Terminator theme" and "I feel you (Babylon Mix)" by Depeche Mode.

Mohra (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

# Title Singer(s) Lyrics
1. "Too Cheez Badi Hain" Udit Narayan, Kavita Krishnamurthy Anand Bakshi
2. "Subah Se Lekar" Udit Narayan, Sadhana Sargam Anand Bakshi
3. "Kaash Kahin Aisa Hota" Kumar Sanu Anand Bakshi
4. "Dil Har Koi" Kumar Sanu, Alka Yagnik Indeevar
5. "Tip Tip Barsa Pani" Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik Anand Bakshi
6. "Na Kajre Ki Dhaar" Pankaj Udhas, Sadhana Sargam Indeevar
7. "Na Kajare Ki Tasveer Teri" (Male) Pankaj Udhas Indeevar
8. "Na Kajare Ki Koi Aur Nahi" (Female) Sadhana Sargam Indeevar
9. "Main Cheez Badi Hoon" Kavita Krishnamurthy Anand Bakshi

Box office

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It was the 2nd-highest-grossing film of 1994.[11]

Awards

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40th Filmfare Awards:

Won

Nominated

References

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  1. ^ a b "Mohra". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 20 July 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  2. ^ "Raveena Tandon, Mohra". Rediff.com. 9 March 2009. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  3. ^ Ray, Arnab (7 July 2019). "The movie that caused the world's water crisis Mohra at 25". The Times of India. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  4. ^ "Raveena: The mast mast girl!". Sify. Archived from the original on 15 December 2014. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  5. ^ a b Amit Baruah, R. Padmanabhan (6 September 1997). "The stilled voice". Frontline. Archived from the original on 30 December 2001. Retrieved 16 March 2021.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. ^ "Bollywood Retrospect - The enduring lyrics of Anand Bakshi". Daily News and Analysis. 18 July 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  7. ^ "Top 25 films between the years 1985-1994". Filmfare. 18 February 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  8. ^ "Music Hits 1990-1999 (Figures in Units)". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 5 February 2010. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
  9. ^ "Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast — Mohra (1994) New Version: Machine (2017)". Daily News and Analysis. 31 March 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  10. ^ "Sooryavanshi Tip Tip Song: Katrina Kaif gives a tough competition to Raveena Tandon". The Indian Express. 7 November 2021. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  11. ^ "Top Worldwide Grossers 1994 - - Box Office India". Box Office India. Retrieved 14 August 2022.

Further reading

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