Director: N. Chandra; Writer: N. Chandra; Producer: N. Chandra; Cinematographer: Baba Azmi; Editor: N. Chandra; Cast: Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Anupam Kher, Chunky Pandey, Kiran Kumar, Suresh Oberoi, Mahavir Shah, Annu Kapoor, Suparna Anand, Mandakini, Sulabha Deshpande, Dharma, Jack Gaud, Brij Gopal, Martar Gopal, Dinesh Hingoo, Suhas Joshi, Johnny Lever, Mannu, Vijay Padkar, Ravi Patwardhan, Achyut Potdar, Rajnanvag, Anil Rajput, Tej Sapru, Mini Tabassum, Mangal Vijay, Ramana Wadhavan, Jaywant Wadkar, Babbanlal Yadav
Duration: 02:44:27; Aspect Ratio: 1.778:1; Hue: 49.632; Saturation: 0.047; Lightness: 0.343; Volume: 0.195; Cuts per Minute: 25.574; Words per Minute: 84.547
Summary: Chandra, the maker of the Shiv Sena
propaganda film Ankush (1985), had his first
hit with this Bombay low-life crime movie.
Munna (Anil Kapoor) is in love with the dancer
Mohini (Dixit). Mohini’s father (Kher) is an
alcoholic gambler who lives off his daughter’s
earnings. To prevent the lovers marrying, he
helps Lotiya Khan (Kumar), a criminal hostile
to Munna. Lotiya Khan’s brother tries to rape
Munna’s sister and Munna kills him, earning
himself a year in jail. On his release, Munna is
persecuted by Lotiya Khan, Mohini’s father and
the police. Forced by his bail conditions to
remain outside Bombay’s city limits, Munna
becomes a noted criminal. Mohini’s father and
Lotiya Khan quarrel and Mohini is kidnapped
by Khan. Munna rescues her and defeats the
villains. Most of the film is told in flashback,
narrating the romance between Munna and
Mohini and the violence it engenders (the film
is subtitled ‘A violent love story’). The main
title, meaning ‘Acid’, refers to the way Mohini’s
father disfigures his wife and causes her to
commit suicide, threatening to assault his
daughter in the same way. Chandra places
much of the action in recognisable parts of the
city. However, the film’s spectacular opening
sequence at a rock concert, featuring the hit
song Ek do teen showing Mohini’s kidnap by a
bunch of motor-cyclists weaving through the
crowded streets, is shot in a studio and
presents a fantasy version of New York’s Times
Square. The fanatic communalism evident in
Chandra’s Ankush is echoed here: the hero,
identified as a Maharashtrian, disposes of
several ‘outside’ thugs suggesting that ‘local’
Maharashtrian criminals are revered by the
people who dislike outsiders interfering with
their home-grown racketeers.
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