Govind Nihalani

Joint Commissioner of Police Dev Pratap Singh (Amitabh Bachchan), a duty-bound, self-righteous officer (He has just killed a minority community student leader as he was conducting unlawful activities on campus), and Special Commissioner Tejinder Khosla (Om Puri), the balancing force between the political interests of Chief Minister Bhandarker (Amrish Puri) and Dev's commitment to the law, are lifelong friends, each with his own ideals. Tej believes in using excessive force for control, while Dev believes in upholding the rule of law. Tej reminds Dev that his own 8 yrs old son Armaan was killed by the bullet of a Muslim terrorist.. Dr. Bharati Singh (Rati Agnihotri) is Dev's wife. Farhaan (Fardeen Khan), a law graduate, was brought up with ideals of non-violence and patriotism. On a train bound for Bombay from Surat, a Police Inspector questions Farhaan, who has just obtained his law degree, for his reason to go to Bombay, and whether he has any alliance with Pakistanis. Farhaan answers that he is going to Bombay to live with his father, and he does not know anyone from Pakistan. Farhaan finds out that Bombay Police have been targeting the Muslim community, and in the name of fighting terrorism, have been killing innocent Muslim men, women and children. Dev has had a meeting with Muslim community leaders asking them to share list of all people attending their madrasas, their funding and any suspicious activities. corrupt politician Latif (Ehsan Khan) is angry with this biased attitude from Dev, but moderate leader Ali Khan (Pramod Moutho) wants to cooperate with the government. Ali is Farhaan's dad. Farhaan comes to know from Ali that Joint Commissioner of Police, Dev Pratap Singh, is involved in this witch-hunt. Dev orders the encounter of Kareem Khan of Latif's party involved in smuggling of arms. Kareem tries to hide behind his family and as a result, the family is also killed. The community is outraged and launches peaceful demonstrations (egged on by Latif). Latif publicly asks Ali to lead the Morcha. Latif's men start throwing stones & petrol bombs at the police during the Morcha, prompting Dev to open fire. As a result, Ali is killed. Latif meets CM's right hand man MangalRao (Milind Gunaji) and conveys that he helped the CM get elected in exchange for a promise of a MLA ticket. He reminds Mangal Rao for the CM to keep his promise. Meanwhile Farhaan meets Latif and says he wants to kill Dev. Farhaan is provided training in handling guns, and is subsequently made ready for this task. Aaliya (Kareena Kapoor) is the light in Farhaan's life. Beautiful and innocent, the young woman also gets caught in extraordinary circumstances that transform her life and she dares to stand up for the truth. Unfortunately, Farhaan is unable to kill Dev, who escapes unhurt. But one of Farhaan's assistant is killed and is identified to be Latif's man. Chief Minister Bhandarkar views this incident seriously, and instructs Tej to root out terrorist elements in the city. Tej raids Latif's hideouts and manages to capture Farhaan. Farhaan is eventually released as there is no evidence against him. Dev tries to counsel Farhaan that Latif is using him for political purposes. Tej is an ultra Hindu Nationalist, while Dev is a secularist in his views. Dev sees Armaan in Farhaan. Latif is alarmed by Farhaan's release as this was unexpected. He plans to divert their attention by conducting a bomb blast in the city and stoking communal tensions. Latif chooses Farhaan for the job as he does not intend for Farhaan to escape alive. Farhaan is told to deliver a package to a man near a Hindu temple, and he does so. While at a stop to buy some snacks, the package explodes prematurely, killing several people, but Farhaan survives. Since this incident occurred near a Hindu temple, a right-wing political party member, Mangal Rao, organizes a wave of riots against the Muslim community. Riots take place, and CM instructs Tej to observe and not prevent the violence. As a result, hundreds are killed. Latif organizes his men to target and attack Hindus and Hindu establishments, rendering the region unsafe, with people being killed in the name of religion. Dev is at the location, but is under orders from Tej not to act. After waiting, Dev decides to ignore his orders and bring the situation under control. Aaliya escapes sexual assault and Farhaan finds her and takes her to a hospital where Bharati treats her. When Hindus and Muslims have had enough, they publicly ask for peace, it is only then Latif and Mangal Rao agree on a truce, on the condition that no Muslim male, female or child will file a FIR (First Information Report) in any police station, to which Latif agrees. Latif then warns everyone in the Muslim community not to complain against anyone. Period. But Latif frames it as saying that Muslims cannot hope to get Justice from this govt and hence there is no point begging for it. But Aaliya breaks rank and complains to Dev publicly about his police officers and Mangal Rao, whom she had witnessed during the riots. Seeing Aaliya, many witnesses come forward. Mangal Rao is arrested by Dev. CM and Tej want Dev to release Mangal Rao, but he refuses. Latif summons Farhaan and beats him senseless and wants to kill him, but Farhaan escapes. It is then Farhaan finds out that he has been treated as a pawn by Latif, and decides to trust Dev and become an informer. Tej releases Mangal Rao and he plans to kill Aaliya. Tej knows this & stops Dev from helping the victims as Mangal Rao sets fire to the entire colony where Aaliya lived (Aaliya had secretly moved in with Bharati, without Tej or Dev's knowledge). Dev writes a formal complaint against Tej and this leads to a departmental inquiry. As Dev heads to court, he is shot down by unknown assailants on the steps of the court, and it is clear that Tej instigated the shoot-out. Tej tries to use the chaos to shoot Farhaan, but Dev saves him before dying. Tej is riddled with guilt on Dev's death and understands that Dev treated Farhaan like his own son. Tej kills himself and hands over all the evidence to Frahaan so that he can fight the battle in court.

Parmino is a small village in Central India, headed by a Village Committee comprising of all males. When the Government of India notifies the Committee that a third of them must be women, including people in schedules caste and tribes, the Sarpanch, Ratan Singh, decides to let women run for the election as well have seats in the Panchayat. After the meeting gets over, he asks his son, Inder, to get Manju, his wife, to sign the nomination papers. Also asked are the wife of another Panchayat member, as well as Vidya, the newly marred bride of a poor store owner, Bhanwar, who is indebted to Inder and Ratan Singh. In this way, Ratan and Inder hope to control the women through their respective husbands, and rule over the Panchayat as they have done before. They are in for a surprise when Vidya turns the tables on them, asking them to account where the funds for the partially built school were misappropriated as well having the rest of the village attend Gram Panchayat meetings and voice their concerns and grievances. Watch what happens when Ratan and Inder decide to use their influence in the community as well as over Bhanwar to throttle Vidya's voice. —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Madhav Verma (Om Puri) is a dedicated, honest, and diligent union representative. He represents the majority of the employees in an organization, which recognizes his union. However, there is a rival in the shape and form of Rustom Patel (Naseeruddin Shah) who is attempting to break the union so as to establish his majority, through his henchman Krishnan (Gopi), and will not hesitate to stoop to any level to get what he wants. Chhotelal (Pankaj Kapoor) loses his legs in an accident, and must be hospitalized. Krishnan takes advantage of the situation and puts pressure on Chhotelal and his brothers (Achyut Potdar and Harish Patel) to enroll in his union, and he will get him a higher compensation package than his regular union. Madhav must use his utmost diligence and consistently uphold his principles as they will be put to a test before all logic gives way to violence, anarchy, apathy, and corruption. —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

A planned social gathering is held to commemorate Divakar Barve for the award he receive pertaining his contributions to Indian Arts and films. The social event is greeted by some important public personalities of the community all expect Amrit; an activist. But the atmosphere of the event will come to a drastic change upon the arrival of Avinash. —gavin (racktoo@hotmail.com) The Government of India has chosen to present a literary award to Divakar Barve in recognition of his contribution to Indian Arts and Cinema. Divakar accepts this award, and the community decides to recognize this award-recipient at a special party just for him. Several big-wigs in Bombay city are invited, and they include Mohini, the alcoholic and aging wife of Divakar; Ravi an actor; Bharat an aspiring actor and poet; An aging Ruth who is always accompanied by a much younger boyfriend; Poet and producer, Agashe; Ila Arun the singer; and Achyut Potdar a Bollywood actor. Everyone awaits the arrival of Amrit, an activist. What the invitees do not know that the party is going to be gate-crashed by the host's, Mrs. Damyanti Rane's son and his teen-aged friend; a couple, Naren and Malvika; Then something unexpected happens: Amrit does arrive - but not in the way everybody expected him to arrive. —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

The film opens at a party where Anant Welankar (Om Puri), a police officer, meets Jyotsna Gokhale (Smita Patil), a lecturer in literature at a local college. Anant is a sub-inspector with Bombay police. They seem to hit it off despite some initial skirmishing about ideology, and the friendship blossoms into a relationship. Anant brings diligence, enthusiasm, and a definite idealism to his job. But the job is harsh. There is a deep nexus between the local mafia, the cops and the (corrupt) politicians. Honest himself, Anant falls among the lower rungs of the police hierarchy and has very limited scope of authority on the state of affairs in his area. When Anant arrests three common thugs, he is asked to meet with their boss, Rama Shetty (Sadashiv Amrapurkar), a don in the local mafia. Anant refuses all of Rama Shetty's attempts to get his men out or to entice Anant to join him. Shetty decides to watch over Anant. Anant pursues Jyotsna and they both get romantically involved. Mike Lobo (Naseeruddin Shah) is a suspended cop, who also stood up for his values and tried to fight against a corrupt system. Anant's department head Police Inspector Patil (Achyut Potdar) orders him not to touch Shetty's men going forward. Sometime thereafter, a meek fellow from a local slum lodges a complaint about some ruffians who harass his wife. Anant finds them, locks them up, and administers a severe beating. As a fallout, the local MLA asks for Anant to be suspended. Anant's boss, inspector Haider Ali (Shafi Inamdar), explains to a mystified Anant that the ruffians were the MLA's henchmen, providers of muscle during elections and political rallies. Anant is defiant with a clear conscience (he did nothing wrong) and ready to face a tribunal. Haider Ali explains that it will hardly get that far. Tribunals are either delayed indefinitely or are rigged (by corrupt politicians), and suspension during that time is a permanent black mark on one's record (for no other politician will be willing to deal with such a troublemaker). Anant is initially baffled but goes along with Haider's plan to bring in Desai, a mediator or middle-man with connections in New Delhi, the "Centre" or national seat of power. Desai invokes higher powers to quietly cover up the matter. Anant's morals are shaken by this incident: He had to use means barely legal to uphold his righteous actions upon criminals. Anant reflects upon his childhood. His father Police Constable Velankar (Amrish Puri) retired as a Faujdar (constable) in the village police force. His father was a hard and violent man, quick to slap or beat his wife (Madhuri Purandare) on the slightest pretext. Anant recalls looking on and being powerless to intervene. When Anant graduates' college, he expresses his desire to pursue higher education but is forced into joining the police force. Things get interesting when Anant finds one of Rama Shetty's goons, badly beaten, burnt and left to die. Anant brings the man into the hospital and takes his statement where he names Rama Shetty and others who inflicted this assault. Anant storms into Rama Shetty's rooms to arrest him. But Shetty is unfazed. He makes a simple phone call to a high-ranking cop who immediately asks Anant to back off. Anant cites the context and the overwhelming evidence but is still ordered to step away. A resentful and hapless Anant leaves, feeling intensely humiliated. Haider Ali explains yet again: Rama Shetty plans to run for city council in the upcoming municipal elections and simply cannot afford to let a petty matter distract his ambitions. Anant is horrified and enraged and takes to drinking. His relationship with Jyotsna suffers. He is distraught when he is sent to provide security cover for Rama Shetty's campaign rallies. Meanwhile Mill Union Leader Mhatre (Vijay Kashyap) complains to Patil about Mill owners deploying hooligans to beat up the striking workers. Unknown to Mhatre, Patil had already made a deal with mill owner Khanna (Akash Khurana) to remove the striking workers and to allow Khanna to take material out from the factory to complete his orders. He suffers another career setback when he leads an assault team to capture a dangerous bandit in the hills outside Mumbai, and the credit for the arrest is ultimately handed to another officer. His relationship deteriorates further, and he takes to drinking fairly heavily. When Jyotsna confronts him, he confides in her. Anant arrests Rama Shetty's son (Madan Jain), when he is found having kidnapped a girl and having sexually assaulted her for a week. But as usual, he is set free. The son ends up killing Mhatre in a road accident. Things go completely out of control one night soon after as a small-time thief, accused of stealing a small radio, is brought into custody. Anant is very drunk, angry, and frustrated. He delivers a shocking and brutal beating to the thief - while continuing to drink - accusing him of "stealing the legitimate Rights of Others". Not surprisingly, the thief succumbs. The fallout leaves Anant suspended and facing charges of excessive force. Anant tries to invoke Desai again, but Haider Ali backs off, saying the situation has become too hot for most anyone. Haider Ali suggests, somewhat reluctantly, that perhaps the newly elected Rama Shetty can help. After several days of deliberation, Anant decides to visit Rama Shetty in his betting den. Rama Shetty receives Anant cordially and invites him into his inner sanctum alone - possibly aware that this righteous cop is finally on his knees before him. He agrees to help him only if Anant, in return, joins forces with him. Anant breaks out of his 'impotent' torpor and infuriated, in a stunning and violent move, strangles Rama Shetty there and then. The film ends with Anant turning himself in.

A lawyer defends a man who has been accused of killing his own wife. As the case goes on, he comes to realise the harsh reality of the lives of people from scheduled castes.

Vishvam is one of four hoodlum brothers who rule a village. Though he is married, he gets infatuated by the new schoolmaster`s wife and conflicts arise when she is abducted.