Director: Mukul S. Anand; Writer: Mukul S. Anand; Cinematographer: Pravin Bhatt; Cast: Dharmendra, Sunny Deol, Amrish Puri, Sridevi, Shakti Kapoor, Tom Alter, Karan Kapoor, Dalip Tahil, Juhi Chawla, Padma Khanna
Summary: Spectacular Arabian Nights revenge fantasy set
in a vaguely identifiable Middle East and
deploying the exoticism associated with
Spielberg’s adventure films. The shah’s General
Khalid (Dharmendra) thwarts the coup for the
throne attempted by Razaulli (Puri). Razaulli
kidnaps Khalid and his pregnant wife on their
way to the hospital. Khalid’s wife dies in
childbirth and Razaulli proclaims Khalid’s son
as his own, swapping the infant for his stillborn
daughter. Khalid remarries and has another
son, Samir (Karan Kapoor), whom he sends
abroad vowing never to set eyes on him until
Khalid has avenged the death of his first wife.
Razaulli’s secretly adopted son Sultan (Deol)
grows up and falls in love with the shah’s
daughter, Princess Yasmin (Sridevi). In a
complicated denouement, Khalid kills Razaulli
and recalls Samir; Shakkir, an ambitious vassal,
kills the shah and intercepts the returning
Samir and emprisons him. Khalid is taken
prisoner by Sultan and they engage in a bloody
duel till Razaulli’s wife tells them that Khalid is
Sultan’s real father. Khalid, Sultan and Samir
then kill Shakkir. Only then can Khalid die in
peace surrounded by his sons. Anand does not
shrink from spectacular anachronisms which
have become his trademark (cf. his Khuda
Gawah, 1992), as he mixes contemporary
scenes into this commercially unsuccessful
period movie tale.
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