Mohra (English: Pawn) is a 1994 Indian action thriller film directed by Rajiv Rai starring Naseeruddin Shah, Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Raveena Tandon in the lead roles while Paresh Rawal, Gulshan Grover, Raza Muradand Sadashiv Amrapurkar and Kulbhushan Kharbanda played supporting roles. The film was released on 1 July 1994. Mohra went on to become the second highest grossing Indian film of 1994 and earned a Blockbuster status. ^[1][2]". The film got 9 Filmfare nominations in 1995. The music of the film was a Chartbuster in that year. It was the first time where the trio of Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Paresh Rawal worked together.

Synopsis[link]

Vishal Agnihotri (Sunil Shetty), a convict, was imprisoned for the murder of a group of four criminals who had brutally raped and killed his sister in law. Vishal tried to get justice in court but was unsuccessful and the men were let out free with the help of a corrupt lawyer. They then visit Vishal's home for trying to file a case on them, and then try to rape Vishal's wife Priya (Poonam Jhawer), but before they could get near her she killed herself with a knife.

Angered at all this Vishal decides to take the matter into his own hands and murders the four criminals himself. He is sentenced to life in prison for the crimes.

Journalist Roma Singh (Raveena Tandon) visits the jail for a report she's writing, where a few of the convicts grab hold of her and try to rape her. This incident reminds Vishal his misfortune. Vishal intervenes and saves Roma. Roma hears Vishal's story and decides to help free him.

This publicity gets noticed by someone who is made out to be a blind and noble businessman - Mr Jindal (Naseeruddin Shah). He tries to recruit Vishal under his wing as a hitman. He wants Vishal to kill some anti-social elements in the city beyond the law, mainly the two powerful drug lords Jibran (Raza Murad) and Tyson (Gulshan Grover) and all the people who work for them. People, he tells Vishal, that are responsible for making people like the group of four men he killed into criminals in the first place, by bringing the drugs to the streets and corrupting the locals. Vishal refuses at first as he just got out of prison, and now wants to live a normal life. However, the memories of his murdered family comes back to haunt him as he spends a day alone in his home, and he agrees to work for Jindal the next day.

Police Inspector Amar Saxena (Akshay Kumar) is unhappy about the release of Vishal who he believes deserves to be in prison because of the murders he committed. Things complicate even more when Amar finds Vishal around almost every murder scene of criminals involved drug-trading, who Amar is trying to catch alive.

Vishal goes on a murder spree, until he realizes that even the Commissioner (Sadashiv Amrapurkar) thinks that the unknown murderer is doing more help to the society than police could ever do. Vishal refuses to kill Commissioner, but Jindal becomes angry. Vishal attacks Jindal with a paper-weight, but Jindal dodges it. Vishal realizes that Jindal is not blind.

Jindal tells Vishal that Jibran & Tyson were his rivals. He also tells that he murdered his wife Pooja (Priya Tendulkar) & Inspector Karan Saxena (who happens to be Amar's father), to cover up the truth. He pretended to be blind to throw police in the wrong direction.

Jindal, who has now partnered with Jibran, leaves Vishal to die. Vishal succeeds in saving himself, only to be confronted by Amar. Vishal subdues Amar & tells him the truth. Meanwhile, Jindal has kidnapped Roma in order to forcefully marry her. Amar & Vishal find out Jindal's den & corner him.

After a melee, Jibran is killed. Jindal tries to kill Amar, but Vishal takes the bullet on himself. Vishal dies in Amar's lap, upon which Amar kills Jindal and avenges the death of Vishal & his father.

Cast[link]

• Naseeruddin Shah ... Jindal
• Akshay Kumar ... Amar Saxena
• Sunil Shetty ... Vishal Agnihotri
• Raveena Tandon ... Roma Singh
• Paresh Rawal ... Kashinath Sahu
• Gulshan Grover ... Tyson
• Raza Murad ... Jibran
• Poonam Jhawer ... Priya Agnihotri (special appearance)
• Sadashiv Amrapurkar ... Kamdev Kulkarni
• Kulbhushan Kharbanda ... Jailer (Roma's dad)
• Avtar Gill ... Karan Saxena
• Priya Tendulkar ... Pooja (special appearance)
• Kunika ... Flora
• Tej Sapru ... Irfan
• Yunus Parvez ... Siddiqui
• Vinay Sapru ... Tony
• Harish Patel ... Kranti Kumar
• Gavin Packard (as Gavin)
• Aparajita ... Mrs. Saxena
• John Gabriel ... Rampal (as John)
• Gopal Poojari (as Gopal Pujari)
• Rashid Mehta (as Rashid)
• Razak Khan ... Rizwan

Music[link]

The music of the film was one of the most successful soundtrack albums of the year, especially the song "Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast". Initially Viju Shah wanted Sapna Mukherjee to render "Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast", but on Rajiv Rai's insistence, opted for Kavita Krishnamurthy instead. The track is based on the popular qawwali "Dam Mast Qalandar" by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.^[3] Kavita Krishnamurthy was nominated in the best female playback singer category at the Filmfare awards, but won for "Pyar Hua Chupke Se" (1942 A Love Story) instead.

Track listing[link]

Filmfare Nominations[link]

• Filmfare Best Movie Award - Gulshan Rai
• Filmfare Best Director Award - Rajiv Rai
• Filmfare Best Villain Award - Naseeruddin Shah
• Filmfare Best Comedian Award - Paresh Rawal
• Filmfare Best Music Director Award - Viju Shah
• Filmfare Best Male Playback Award - Udit Narayan
• Filmfare Best Female Playback Award - Kavita Krishnamurthy
• Filmfare Best Lyricist Award - Anand Bakshi
• Filmfare Award for Best Choreography - Chinni Prakash

References[link]

External links[link]

• Mohra at the Internet Movie Database

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