Ghayal (1990 film)

Ghayal is a 1990 Indian Hindi-language action drama film written and directed by Rajkumar Santoshi (in his directorial debut) and produced by Dharmendra. The film stars Sunny Deol, Meenakshi Seshadri, Raj Babbar and Amrish Puri, with Moushumi Chatterjee, Annu Kapoor, Om Puri, Sharat Saxena and Sudesh Berry playing supporting roles. The film grossed at ₹20 crore and was declared a "super hit" by Box Office India. 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."

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.

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

Plot
Amateur boxer Ajay Mehra (Sunny Deol) is living with his brother Ashok Mehra (Raj Babbar) and sister-in-law Indu Verma (Moushumi Chatterjee) in Mumbai. Ashok is a businessman who is facing some trouble at his company, but hides this from his wife and brother, Ajay. Later Ajay is sent to Bangalore for training.

Ajay gets a message that his brother is in Bangalore. When he reaches the hotel he finds that Ashok has already left without leaving any message for him. Later that day he receives a call from Ashok, who in an inebriated state, is trying to tell him something which has been troubling him for a long time but the phone cuts abruptly. When he returns from Bangalore, he finds that his brother is missing. His inquiries and a police complaint only lead him to frustration and violent outbursts. Some time later, he comes across Ashok's friend (Annu Kapoor), a drug addict, who reveals all the dark secrets.

Earlier when Ashok faced losses in his business, a reputed businessman Balwant Rai (Amrish Puri) had come to his rescue. Balwant becomes a partner in Ashok's company and settles all the debts. This arrangement is in fact a cover for Balwant's illegal activities. Balwant routinely traps honest people to provide cover for his illegal business and Ashok is one of his innocent victims. Initially when Ashok resists, Balwant threatens him of dire consequences, but Ashok persists with his requests to shut down illegal trade. Later, Ashok collects evidence to frame Balwant and that's where the trouble starts. Balwant kidnaps Ashok and tortures him to reveal where he has kept the evidence.

Somehow the henchmen of Balwant find out Ajay's knowledge of this incriminating evidence and Balwant instantly kills Ashok. Ajay is later framed for the murder and accused of having an illicit relationship with his sister-in-law. Ajay realises in court that the roots of evil are very deep and even his near ones have turned hostile towards him. His faith in the law is crushed and he seeks justice his own way. His sister-in-law is not able to bear the trauma and cruel comments of her neighbours and commits suicide.

While in jail, Ajay makes friends with some other hardcore convicts, who are good at heart. Then one day, they escape from the jail by overpowering the guards. Then begins Ajay's fight for justice, to take down Balwant Rai. One by one he takes down the cronies of Balwant who had framed him in the murder. Varsha is captured by Balwant, but Ajay rescues her and chases Balwant to an amusement park. He beats up Balwant before the police pull them apart and arrest Balwant. Varsha comes and embraces Ajay while slipping him a secret gun. In a form of poetic justice, Ajay fatally shoots Balwant in front of people and police, who are meek witnesses. The film ends as Ajay gets arrested.

Cast

 * Sunny Deol as Ajay Mehra, Ashok younger brother
 * Meenakshi Seshadri as Varsha Sahay, Ajay's love-interesr
 * Raj Babbar as Ashok Mehra, Ajay's brother
 * Moushumi Chatterjee as Indu Mehra, Ashok's wife and Ajay's sister-in-law
 * Amrish Puri as Balwant Rai
 * Om Puri as ACP Joe D'Souza
 * Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Police Commissioner Ashok Pradhan
 * Shabbir Khan as Vardha Rajan
 * Sudesh Berry as Rajan Berry
 * Annu Kapoor as Ashok's friend
 * Jack Gaud as Inspector Basheer Khan
 * Sharat Saxena as Captain Deka
 * Deep Dhillon as Inspector Sharma
 * Shafi Inamdar as Barrister Pramod Sharan Gupta
 * Ashalata Wabgaonkar as Ashok Pradhan's wife
 * Viju Khote as Boxing Coach
 * Mitwa as Mitwa
 * Kartar Sigha as (uncredited) Sikh man betting on Sunny Deol’s boxing fight
 * Brahmachari as Mohile
 * Praveen Kumar as Bheemji (cameo)
 * Disco Shanti as dancer in the song "Pyasi Jawani Hai"

Production
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.

Soundtrack
The music was composed by Bappi Lahiri. 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.

Awards
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

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

Sequel
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. 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.