() is a 1989 Indian Hindi-language crime drama film directed, produced and distributed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The film stars Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar and Madhuri Dixit. The story and scenario were written by Chopra, while Shiv Kumar Subramaniam and Imtiyaz Husain wrote the screenplay and dialogues, respectively. R. D. Burman composed the music and Khurshid Hallauri wrote the lyrics. Binod Pradhan served as the film's cinematographer and Renu Saluja was its editor.
follows Kishan (Shroff), who works for the underworld chieftain Anna (Patekar). Kishan's brother Karan (Kapoor) returns home after completing his studies in the United States. The two brothers are caught on different sides of a gang war after Karan decides to avenge his friend's death by Anna.
Chopra conceived the film after his low-budget suspense thriller (1985) failed to find a distributor for a theatrical release. This motivated him to make a more mainstream film with well-known actors. received critical acclaim when released. It is considered by several critics and scholars to be the turning point in the introduction of realism in Hindi cinema. won two National Film Awards and five Filmfare Awards, and was India's official selection for the 1990 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but it was not nominated. In 2015, Chopra remade as a Hollywood film titled Broken Horses.
Plot
Kishan and Karan are orphaned brothers who grew up on the streets of Bombay. To provide Karan with a better upbringing and education, Kishan works for Anna Seth, a gangster who owns an oil factory as a front for his illegal activities. Unaware of his brother's affiliation with a gang, Karan returns to Bombay after completing his studies in the United States. Inspector Prakash, Karan's friend, knows Anna is a gangster, but he is unable to arrest him due to lack of evidence. Anna plans to have Prakash killed during his reunion with Karan. Attempting to prevent this, Kishan books an earlier flight for Karan, but it is delayed and Anna's henchmen shoot Prakash, who dies in Karan's arms.
Paro, Prakash's sister and Karan's childhood friend, believes Karan is responsible for her brother's death. Karan learns from Anna's former messenger Iqbal that Anna is Kishan's boss and that Anna orchestrated Prakash's murder. He is also told that Anna burnt his wife and developed pyrophobia. Karan tells Paro that Anna and Kishan killed Prakash; they fall in love with each other.
A few days later, Abdul is arrested and Karan recognises him as one of Prakash's killers. Kishan warns Karan against testifying, and is wounded when Anna's henchmen shoot at Karan. When Karan is summoned to identify the assailants at police headquarters, Abdul extorts his silence, threatening that Kishan will be killed by his home nurse if Karan testifies. Karan decides not to testify, and instead joins Anna's gang to get close to the crime boss. Anna tests Karan's resolve by ordering him to shoot Iqbal, who shoots himself so Karan can continue his plan without guilt.
The next day, Anna orders Karan to kill rival gangster Musa, while accompanied by his gunman Francis. Karan kills Francis and joins Musa instead. Karan abducts Anna's aide Rama Reddy and brings him to Musa. Karan takes pictures of Rama and Musa together to convince Anna that Rama betrayed him and shot Francis. Karan then murders Rama on Anna's orders. With Musa's help, Karan kills Abdul and completes his mission to avenge Prakash's murder. Karan and Paro are married, and plan on leaving the city. Told by Musa that Karan had been manipulating him, Anna shoots and kills Karan and Paro on their wedding night. To avenge his brother's death, Kishan goes to Anna's residence and burns him to death.