Shakti: The Power

Shakti: The Power is a 2002 Indian Hindi-language crime drama film directed by Krishna Vamsi, starring Karisma Kapoor, Nana Patekar, and Sanjay Kapoor in leading roles, with Shah Rukh Khan, Deepti Naval, Ritu Shivpuri, Anupam Shyam, and Prakash Raj, in supporting roles. The film is a remake of 1998 film Anthahpuram, which was based on the real-life story of Betty Mahmoody. The original story of real life escape of Betty Mahmoody is depicted in the film Not Without My Daughter (1991) which itself was based on Betty Mahmoody's book of the same name. In the film, Shekhar and Nandini's decision to visit his ancestral house in a rural Indian town goes awry when they find themselves embroiled in a feudal gang war and try to return home to Canada.

Shakti: The Power is considered to be one of Karisma Kapoor's career-best performances; with her and Patekar's performances being lauded by fans and critics. Despite this, it did not fare well commercially as expected.

At the 48th Filmfare Awards, Shakti: The Power received 2 nominations – Best Actress (Kapoor) and Best Villain (Patekar).

Plot
Nandini is a carefree young woman who lives happily with her guardian in Canada. She is introduced to Shekhar and they get married quite spontaneously and are expecting a child soon. One day, Shekhar learns that his family is in trouble, back in India. Nandini is confused as she believed that he was an orphan, but Shekhar explains to her that his family belongs to an extremely feudal society, and unable to bear the factions and violence in the community, he migrated to Canada. They decide to travel to India in order to assess the situation.

The couple arrives in Shekhar's home town in Bihar, where his father Narasimha is an influential man with rustic habits, who doesn't find Nandini to be traditional enough for his son. Nandini is uncomfortable with the casual approach to violence that she and her son Raja see in the household. Narasimha's wife is a kind-hearted person who takes care of Shekhar, Nandini and Raja. She requests them to remain in India for a few more days in order to celebrate Shekhar's birthday, and during this time Shekhar is killed by Narasimha's rivals. Nandini is distraught and tries to take her son Raja away from this madness and violence, but Narasimha stops her from doing so. He says Raja must be raised in a traditional way in order to avenge his father's death, and if needed Nandini can leave the town by leaving her son behind. Nandini refuses to allow this and, with the help of Narasimha's family members, she escapes from the house with her son. Jai Singh, a petty thief and a drifter, helps Nandini evade Narasimha's man in order to board a train to Jaipur. Jai is killed in the midst of violence whilst trying to protect Nandini and her son. Narasimha continues to pursue Nandini, but ultimately allows her and the child Raja to leave, after emotionally interacting with his grandson.

Cast

 * Karishma Kapoor as Nandini, Shekhar's wife
 * Nana Patekar as Narasimha, Shekhar's father.
 * Sanjay Kapoor as Shekhar, Nandini's husband
 * Shah Rukh Khan as Jai Singh, a drifter
 * Deepti Naval as Shekhar's mother
 * Divya Dutta as Shekhar's sister
 * Ritu Shivpuri as Kamli, Shekhar's sister
 * Prakash Raj as a sharpshooter
 * Vijay Raaz as Beeja
 * Tiku Talsania as Nandini's uncle
 * Jaspal Bhatti as Nandini's uncle
 * Chandrakant Gokhale as Narasimha's father
 * Jai Gidwani as Raja, Nandini's and Shekhar's son
 * Anupam Shyam as Maharaj, Narasimha's half brother
 * Vijay Gupta as Narasimha's Henchman
 * Rajshree Solanki as Shekhar's sister
 * Chris Ippolito as a dancer
 * Rocky Verma as a goon
 * Aishwarya Rai as dancer (guest appearance in item song "Ishq Kamina") in Jai Singh's dream.
 * Mumaith Khan as background dancer (guest appearance in item song "Ishq Kameena")
 * Prabhu Deva as a dancer (cameo appearance in song "Dumroo Baja Re")
 * Ganesh Acharya as a dancer (cameo appearance in the song "Dumroo Baja Re")

Production
The film was produced by then-retired actress Sridevi (Sanjay Kapoor's sister-in-law) under the banner Sridevi Productions and was supposed to be her comeback film, but she had to find a replacement when she found out she was pregnant. She initially offered her role to Kajol, but she rejected it so Karisma Kapoor was signed instead. Fardeen Khan was the original choice for Sanjay Kapoor's role and the film was originally titled Vaapsi.

Music
The songs were composed by Ismail Darbar and the lyrics were written by Mehboob. Anu Malik composed one song and Sameer Anjaan wrote the lyrics for song Ishq Kameena.

Reception
A critic from Rediff.com wrote that "Faced with a regressive audience such as ours, I have one question: did this film need to be made?" Derek Elley of Variety wrote that "Strikingly lensed in the wild semi-deserts of Rajasthan, and anchored by a finely shaded performance from Nana Patekar as the patriarchal father-in-law, film swings between believable realism and Bollywood formulae to rocky results". Majorie Baumgarten of Austin Chronicle wrote that "the film is a gripping drama that is full of memorable faces, emotions, and conflicts between the old ways and the new".

Box office
Shakti: The Power grossed inr 138200000 in India and $1.35 million (₹6.54 crore) in other countries, for a worldwide total of inr 203600000, against its inr 100000000 budget. It had a worldwide opening weekend of inr 73300000, and grossed inr 112600000 in its first week. It is the 13th-highest-grossing film of 2002 worldwide.

India
It opened on Friday, 20 September 2002, across 285 screens, and earned inr 9800000 nett on its opening day. It grossed inr 28200000 nett in its opening weekend, and had a first week of inr 46200000 nett. The film earned a total of inr 84700000 nett, and was declared "Flop" by Box Office India. It is the 20th-highest-grossing film of 2002 in India.

Overseas
It had an opening weekend of $565,000 (₹2.74 crore) and went on to gross $770,000 (₹3.73 crore) in its first week. The film earned a total of $1.35 million (₹6.54 crore) at the end of its theatrical run. Overseas, It is the 5th-highest-grossing film of 2002.