''Mahaanta'' ( ''Eminence'') is a 1997

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

-language

action drama film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as ...

, produced by

Ayub Khan Mohammad Ayub Khan (14 May 1907 – 19 April 1974) was a Pakistani military dictator who served as the second president of Pakistan from 1958 until his resignation on 1969. He was the first native commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army, se ...

under the Ayesha Film banner and directed by Afzal Khan. It stars

Jeetendra Jeetendra (born Ravi Kapoor ; 7 April 1942) is an Indian actor who is known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the greatest actors of Hindi cinema. He is noted for his acting, style and dance. He has worked in more than Je ...

Sanjay Dutt Sanjay Balraj Dutt (born 29 July 1959) is an Indian actor, playback singer and film producer who works in Hindi cinema in addition to a few Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Punjabi films. Dutt has won several accolades and acted in over 160 films. ...

Madhuri Dixit Madhuri Dixit Nene (Maiden and married names, née Dixit, ; born 15 May 1967) is an Indian actress and television personality. She has appeared in Madhuri Dixit filmography, over 70 Hindi films. Praised by critics for her performances and danc ...

Shakti Kapoor Shakti Kapoor (born Sunil Kapoor; 3 September 1952) is an Indian actor and comedian who appears in Bollywood films. Known for his villainous and comic roles in Hindi films, he has featured in over 700 films. In the 1980s and 1990s, Kapoor team ...

and music composed by

Laxmikant Pyarelal Laxmikant Nishad also known as Pappu Nishad is an Indian politician from the Samajwadi Party. He was the Minister of State for Fertilizers and Logistics with independent charge in Akhilesh Yadav's Uttar Pradesh Government and a member of the U ...

. Filming began in 1991 and was delayed for 6 years due to Dutt's arrests in 1993 and Dutt and Dixit breaking up their relationship.

Plot

Young Vijay studies in Good Shepherd High School and lives a wealthy lifestyle in a small scenic town along with his uncle, who is the Inspector General of Police in Bombay and has a close friend called Raj Malhotra. When both mature, Vijay gets married, while Raj marries Shanti. On his uncle's insistence, Vijay departs to live in Bombay, where he eventually becomes the Police Commissioner. Subsequently, Raj, Shanti, and Raj's brother, Sanjay, also re-locate to Bombay, where they are united with Vijay. Then Sanjay falls in love with Jenny and both want to get married, much to the chagrin of Mahesh, who wants to marry her at any and all costs. Mahesh is the only son of wealthy and influential Kedar, who manages to convince Edward that it will be in Jenny's and Sanjay's best interest if Jenny weds Mahesh. The marriage is arranged, but on that very day, Sanjay steps in, humiliates Kedar and marries Jenny. That night Sanjay is arrested by none other than Vijay himself and placed in a cell. The next morning he is released and returns home to find that his brother and sister-in-law are both dead. Sanjay swears to avenge their deaths as well as find out why Vijay betrayed Raj and arrested him on his wedding night. After learning that Kedarnath killed Sanjay's brother and sister-in-law, Sanjay confronts and challenges him that he will kill him in same place but will not remove evidence. Despite Jenny and Vijay's attempt to stop him, he goes to kill Kedarnath, his son Mahesh, corrupt Inspector P.K. Dubey and his henchman Nanubhai Chatewala. Sanjay chases and kills Mahesh in night of New Year Eve. Then chases Inspector Dubey in meat market then chops him and hang him to death by metal hook. Sanjay suddenly learns that Vijay actually put him into jail to save his life and realizes his mistake. He also learns that Kedarnath lured Vijay to get him killed on

Ganesh Chaturthi Ganesh Chaturthi (ISO: ), also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi () or Vinayaka Chavithi () or Vinayagar Chaturthi (), is a Hindu festival celebrating the birthday of Hindu deity Ganesh. The festival is marked with the installation of Ganesha's ''m ...

festival so he reaches there and saves him. And he kills Nanunbhai on hand-to-hand combat. After killing 3 of them, Sanjay lures Kedarnath to his industry and attempts to kill him in same places and in same manner his brother and sister-in-law were killed, but the police force led by Vijay finally comes to stop him. Sanjay's surrender comes to halt when unconscious Kedarnath wakes up and tries to shoot him. Instead, Vijay gets shot trying to save Sanjay. Sanjay shoots Kedarnath to death. After Vijay recovers, he and Sanjay get emotionally united.

Cast

as Police Commissioner Vijay Kapoor *

as Sanjay Malhotra *

as Jenny Malhotra * Mohsin Khan as Raj Malhotra *

Poonam Dhillon Poonam Dhillon (born 18 April 1962) is an Indian actress and politician. A former Eve’s Weekly Miss Young India 1978, she is best known for her 1979 film ''Noorie.'' Some of her well-known films include '' Red Rose'' (1980), '' Dard'' (1981), ...

as Vijay's wife *

Saeed Jaffrey Saeed Jaffrey (8 January 1929 – 15 November 2015) was a British-Indian actor. His career covered film, radio, stage and television roles over six decades and more than 150 British, American, and Indian movies. During the 1980s and '90s, he was ...

as Inspector General of Police *

Satyendra Kapoor Satyendra Kappu (born Satyendra Sharma; also credited as Satyen Kappu; 7 February 1931 – 27 October 2007), was an Indian character actor in Bollywood films. He has acted in 390 films. His most remembered role is Ramlal in the movie ''Sholay'' ...

as Edward Pinto *

as Inspector P.K. Dubey *

Raza Murad Raza Murad (born 23 November 1950) is an Indian actor who primarily appears in Hindi films. He has acted in over 250 Hindi films and has also appeared in Bhojpuri, Punjabi and other languages and on Hindi television. Early life He is the so ...

as The Narrator *

Amrish Puri Amrish Puri (22 June 1932 – 12 January 2005) was an Indian actor, who was one of the most notable and important figures in Cinema of India, Indian cinema and Theatre of India, theatre. He acted in more than 450 films, established himsel ...

as Seth. Kedar Nath *

Paresh Rawal Paresh Rawal (born 30 May 1955) is an Indian actor, comedian, film producer and politician known for his works primarily in Hindi cinema, Hindi films. He has Paresh Rawal filmography, appeared in over 240 films and is the recipient of various L ...

as Nanubhai Chathewala *

Sumalatha Sumalatha Ambareesh (born 27 August 1963) is an Indian actress and politician. She has acted in over 220 films across multiple languages, primarily in Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada, with a few appearances in Tamil and Hindi cinema. She received ...

as Shanti Malhotra * Kishore Anand Bhanushali as Avinash , Sanjay's friend *

Tej Sapru Tej Sapru (born 5 April 1955) is an Indian actor. He is the son of D. K. Sapru and Hemvati, both of whom were actors in the Hindi film industry. He has appeared in a number of Bollywood films between the 1980s and 2010s, including '' Tridev'', ...

as Mahesh Nath *

Snehal Dabi Snehal Dabi (born 24 February 1977) is an Indian actor, writer, director, and producer born into a Gujarati family and brought up in Mumbai. He has been a theater performer since his school days. He has performed in Hindi language films, Mar ...

as Kakhil, Sanjay's friend * Brij Gopal as Kelkar (Informer) *

Shashi Kiran Shashi may refer to: Places and jurisdictions China *Shashi City (), Hubei from 1949 to 1994 *Shashi District (), Jingzhou, Hubei (historically, Shashi City) since 1994 ** Apostolic Prefecture of Shashi ** Jingmen–Shashi railway, single-track ...

as Sadanand, Sanjay's friend * Mehmood Jr. as Iqbal , Sanjay's friend * Tariq Shah as Inspector Aslam Sher Khan * Gurbachchan Singh as Ujagar

Soundtrack

Music by: Laxmikant-Pyarelal & Lyricist:

Anand Bakshi Anand Bakshi (21 July 1930 – 30 March 2002) was an Indian poet and lyricist. He won Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist 4 times during his career. He wrote over 6000 film songs in more than 300 films. Early life Anand Bakshi (Bakshi Anand Pr ...

Reception

A critic from ''

Deccan Herald ''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by businessman K. N. Guruswamy and launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printers Mysore, a privately hel ...

'' wrote that "Sanjay looks smashing, thanks to his body-hugging lycra T-shirts, but there's definitely a 'what am I doing in this film` look about him. It's refreshing to see Amrish Puri like he actually looks in real life - minus all those goofy, grotesque getups. Yet, he and the baddies have fallen into a rut. Even the paisa vasool numbers fail to provide relief from booming guns and exploding cars".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0251194, Mahaanta 1997 films 1990s Hindi-language films Films scored by Laxmikant–Pyarelal 1990s action drama films Indian action drama films Indian films about revenge 1990s masala films