Ghayal (1990 film)

Ghayal (transl. Wounded) is a 1990 multiple-award-winning Indian Hindi-language vigilante action film written and directed by Rajkumar Santoshi in his directorial debut and produced by Dharmendra. The film stars Sunny Deol and Meenakshi Seshadri, alongside an ensemble cast of Amrish Puri, Om Puri, Moushumi Chatterjee, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Shafi Inamdar, Annu Kapoor, Sudesh Berry and Sharat Saxena, with Raj Babbar in a special appearance.

The film grossed ₹20 crore and was a blockbuster hit at Box Office.^[1] It was also the 2nd highest-grossing film of the year. According to Box Office India, "Ghayal had set records in repeat runs. No film from the nineties was even close to it in repeat runs and only Sholay has higher business in repeat runs in the history of Hindi cinema. It grossed several times more than its original run during rereleases but the exact number is unknown."^[2]

The film received 8 nominations at the 36th Filmfare Awards, and won a leading 7 awards, including Best Film, Best Director for Santoshi and Best Actor for Deol. At the 38th National Film Awards, the film won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and Sunny Deol received the National Film Award – Special Mention. Ghayal was remade in Tamil as Bharathan in 1992, in Telugu as Gamyam in 1998 and in Kannada as Vishwa in 1999^[3] and Pakastani Punjabi as Mard (1991).

On 5 February 2016, a direct sequel titled Ghayal Once Again was released.

The story centres on Ajay Mehra, a promising amateur boxer, who lives happily with his elder brother, Ashok Mehra, sister-in-law, Indu, and his beautiful girlfriend, Varsha Sahay. Their peaceful life shatters when Ashok, a businessman, goes missing.

Ajay's frantic search for his brother leads to a shocking discovery: Ashok had been entrapped by the ruthless and powerful industrialist, Balwant Rai. Rai had used Ashok’s company as a front for his illegal activities. When Ashok resisted and gathered incriminating evidence against him, Rai had him kidnapped and tortured. Upon learning that Ajay also possessed knowledge of the evidence, Balwant Rai murders Ashok.

Rai orchestrates a sinister plot, framing Ajay for his brother's murder. During the ensuing, heavily manipulated court trial, Ajay's own defence counsel, Pramod Sharan Gupta, having been purchased by Balwant Rai, falsely implicates him in the murder of his brother and maliciously smears his reputation by alleging an illicit relationship with his sister-in-law, Indu. Betrayed by the legal system and witnessing the immense power of his tormentor, Ajay’s faith in justice is completely destroyed. The trauma and public disgrace drive his sister-in-law, Indu, to tragically commit suicide.

While imprisoned, Ajay makes friends with a group of convicts who are essentially good at heart, but have turned to crime due to desperate circumstances. Realizing the law will never deliver justice for him or his deceased family, Ajay and his friends execute a daring prison break. Police Commissioner Ashok Pradhan assigns ACP Joe D'Souza, an honest police officer, to pursue Ajay, who is now a fugitive.

Ajay, aided by Varsha, embarks on a relentless mission for retribution. He systematically dismantles Balwant Rai's criminal network, targeting the men who framed him one by one. The film culminates in a dramatic showdown where Balwant Rai kidnaps Varsha, drawing Ajay into a final confrontation. Ajay rescues Varsha and chases Rai to an amusement park. Despite the intervention of the police, Ajay’s intense rage and desire for ultimate justice override his compliance. In a final act of poetic revenge, Varsha covertly slips Ajay a gun, which he uses to fatally shoot Balwant Rai in front of the police and a crowd of witnesses. The film concludes with Ajay being arrested, having exacted his own form of justice and accepting the consequences, cementing his transformation from an ordinary man to a wounded vigilante.

• Sunny Deol as Ajay Mehra
• Meenakshi Seshadri as Varsha Sahay – Ajay's girlfriend and fiancée
• Raj Babbar as Ashok Mehra – Ajay's elder brother
• Moushumi Chatterjee as Indu Mehra – Ashok's wife, Ajay's sister-in-law
• Amrish Puri as Balwant Rai
• Om Puri as ACP Joe D'Souza
• Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Police Commissioner Ashok Pradhan
• Shafi Inamdar as Barrister Pramod Sharan Gupta
• Sudesh Berry as Rajan Berry
• Shabbir Khan as Vardha Rajan
• Annu Kapoor as Ashok's friend
• Gurmeet Mitwa as Mitwa
• Sharat Saxena as Captain Dekka
• Deep Dhillon as Inspector Pratap Sharma
• Jack Gaud as Inspector Basheer Khan
• Ashalata Wabgaonkar as Ashok Pradhan's wife
• Viju Khote as Boxing Coach
• Mahabir Bhullar as Kamran
• Mukesh Rishi as Decca’s henchman
• Brahmachari as Mohile
• Praveen Kumar as Bheem (cameo)
• Disco Shanti as dancer in the song "Pyasi Jawani Hai"
• Kartar Sangha (uncredited) as the man betting on Ajay in boxing fight

Rajkumar Santoshi initially wanted to make the film with Kamal Haasan in the lead role, but was hesitant as the actor's previous Hindi films did not perform well. He subsequently approached Sunny Deol to act and produce the film.^[4]

Pakistani screenwriter Nasir Adeeb has claimed that he wrote the original story for the Ghayal at the insistence of the producer Dharmendra, who had remade some of his movies earlier.^[5]

The music was composed by Bappi Lahiri. The lyrics of the songs were penned by Anjaan and Indeevar.

A woeful version of the song is "Saath Hain Hum Sab Isse Badi Kya Khushi", sung independently and sedately by Kumar Sanu. Another song, "Mungda" rendered tersely in the film, originally occurs in the 1977 film Inkaar. Anjaan wrote all the songs except two versions of "Sochna Kya", which were penned by Indeevar. "Sochna Kya" was cover version of song Lambada by Kaoma from album Worldbeat, which was itself based on Llorando se fue by Los Kjarkas.

38th National Film Awards:

• Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment – Dharmendra
• National Film Award – Special Jury Award – Sunny Deol

36th Filmfare Awards:

Won

• Best Film – Dharmendra
• Best Director – Rajkumar Santoshi
• Best Actor – Sunny Deol
• Best Story – Rajkumar Santoshi
• Best Art Director – Nitish Roy
• Best Cinematographer – Rajan Kothari
• Best Editor – V. N. Mayekar

Nominated

• Best Supporting Actor – Om Puri

Below is a table of the lead characters in the story of Ghayal and its remakes.

A sequel named Ghayal Returns was announced in 2014. But before the film could enter production, it faced financial problems. However, Sunny Deol stated that he was determined to make the film.^[7] After once being stalled and then being postponed several times, the film was finally released with the title, Ghayal: Once Again, on 5 February 2016.^[8]

• Ghayal at IMDb