Director: N. Chandra; Producer: A. Rama Rao, Ramoji Rao; Cinematographer: H. Laxmi Narayan; Cast: Sujata Mehta, Arvind Kumar, Charan Raj, Rohini Hattangadi, Mohan Bhandari, Ashok Saraf, K. Srinivasa Rao, A. Rama Rao, Nana Patekar
Summary: Continuing on a more ambitious scale his
contributions to lumpenised political activity in
India (cf. Ankush, 1985), Chandra pits a
violent criminal-political gang against a small
group of morally upright citizens in the
fictional town of Dharampura. The bad guys
are led by the dreaded gangster Kali Prasad
(Charan Raj), who runs his own court and
police with the help of a crooked lawyer
(Saraf). On the side of the good is the young
college lecturer Laxmi (Mehta), the fiery Durga
(Hattangadi) whose husband was killed by
Kali, and former policeman Karamveer
(Patekar), who goes mad when his wife is
raped by the gangster. Laxmi is stripped in
public by Kali, after which - having reformed
her unruly students - she contests a local
election with their help in an effort to defeat
the villain. Kali wins the election through booth
capturing and terror. In the end Laxmi kills the
gangster in a public gathering, using his
election symbol of the axe, invoking in the
process the legend of Parashuram.
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