''Shiva'' is a 1990 Indian

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 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 D ...

film written and directed by

Ram Gopal Varma Penmetsa Ram Gopal Varma (born 7 April 1962), often referred to by his initials RGV, is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer, primarily known for his work in Hindi cinema, Hindi and Telugu cinema, Telugu films.** * * Varma has dir ...

. It was a remake of Varma's debut

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

film, '' Siva'' (1989). The film has

Nagarjuna Nāgārjuna (Sanskrit: नागार्जुन, ''Nāgārjuna''; ) was an Indian monk and Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhist Philosophy, philosopher of the Madhyamaka (Centrism, Middle Way) school. He is widely considered one of the most importa ...

(in his

debut) and Amala in lead roles with

Raghuvaran Raghuvaran Velayuthan Nair (11 December 1958 – 19 March 2008) was an Indian actor who predominantly acted in films made in South India. He has acted in more than 200 Tamil language, Tamil, Telugu language, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi ...

and J. D. Chakravarthy as the antagonists. All four actors reprise their roles from the original Telugu film. The film became a blockbuster. The success led to

directing a

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term ...

in 2006.

Plot

The film opens in a classroom in VAS College of Arts & Sciences. After the classes, upon the directions of a college student, JD, a bunch of goons led by Ganesh savagely assaults a group of students right outside the college gate. It's later made clear that JD was settling some campus scores and that the incident resulted in at least one student leaving the college, deepening the fear for JD on the campus. It turns out that JD is the (unopposed) president of the college students' union and the leader of a notorious campus gang, powerful enough to prevent the college principal from taking disciplinary actions against their unsavory conduct, which includes eve-teasing and insulting professors. JD's connections, through Ganesh, reach a gangster named Bhavani Chaudhury, whose criminal network lends muscle to a local politician, Tilak Dhari. Shiva is a new student at college. He joins a small group of friends, including Prakash and Asha. Shiva's confident gait and tough attitude led to JD locking horns with him. An inevitable fight ensues, in which Shiva and friends beat up JD's gang in broad daylight within the campus. Emboldened by the incident, Shiva's friends plan to fight the students' union elections. Shiva proposes the nerdy friend Naresh to stand for the presidency. He also rebuffs Ganesh's initial warning to stay out of politics. When Ganesh attempts to use force, Shiva beats him back too. The matter comes before Bhavani. Bhavani is mildly annoyed, but he studies Shiva as a potential replacement for JD. At his behest, Naresh is assaulted and rendered unable to run. At this point, Shiva accepts the nomination and decides to run. Meanwhile, Bhavani has other troubles. He refuses to side with the worker's union leader, Krishna Rao. Krishna Rao takes his plight to Shiva who agrees to help in return for muscle, and Rao provides this by calling upon the workers. Around this time, Asha expresses a romantic interest in Shiva. The friendship progresses, and they eventually marry. The stage is now set. Bhavani launches a set of sniper attacks on those close to Shiva. Shiva retaliates in kind and takes out many of Bhavani's leaders. Tilak Dhari notices that Shiva is launching a fitting response to Bhavani and decides to stop supporting him. Angered, humiliated, and defeated, Bhavani strikes Shiva's home and finds Asha. When he learns that Ganesh has already been presented in court and an arrest warrant has been issued for him, Bhavani kills Asha and Tilakdhari for betrayal and leaves. A final fight ensues in which eventually Shiva manages to kill Bhavani, ridding the city of one of its most terrifying anti-social elements, while personally coming to terms with the fact that he has lost almost everything in the bargain.

Cast

as Shiva * Amala as Asha Akhouri *

as Bhavani Chaudhary * J. D. Chakravarthy as Jagdish Dave "J.D." *

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 Tilakdhari Azaad *

Tanikella Bharani Tanikella Bharani (born 14 July 1954) is an Indian actor, screenwriter, poet and playwright who works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He has worked as an actor in more than 750 films, including few in Tamil, Kannada and Hindi; while he was al ...

as Nanaji *

Iftekhar Iftekhar Ahmed Sharif (22 February 1920 – 4 March 1995), often mononymously credited as Iftekhar or Iftikhar, was an Indian actor who mainly worked in Hindi cinema. He is known for his film roles as a police officer. Career Iftekhar wa ...

as Principal *

Chandrashekhar Chandrasekhar, Chandrashekhar or Chandra Shekhar is an Indian name and may refer to a number of individuals. The name comes from the name of an incarnation of the Hindu god Shiva. In this form he married the goddess Parvati. Etymologically, the nam ...

as Lecturer * Girija Shankar as Inspector Tejesh Akhouri *

Raj Zutshi Rajendranath Zutshi (born 4 February 1961) is an Indian film and television actor. Personal life Zutshi was born on 4 February 1961 in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir (state), Jammu and Kashmir, India into a Kashmiri Pandit family. Raj Zutshi is a ...

as Prakash * Ajit Vachani as Krishna Rao * Goga Kapoor as Kanta Prasad *Brij Gopal as Ganesh * Dilip Dhawan as Shiva's Brother * Chinna as Chotu *

Ramjagan Ramjagan is an Indian television, drama and movie actor. Filmography # ''Maharshi'' (1988) #'' Siva'' (1989) # '' Patha Basti'' (1995) # ''Ooriki Monagadu'' (1995) #'' Deyyam'' (1996) # ''Master'' (1997) #'' Preyasi Rave'' (1999) # '' Annayy ...

as Naresh *

Brahmaji Brahmaji (born 25 April 1965) is an Indian who works in Telugu cinema. He is a regular actor in director Krishna Vamsi's films. Brahmaji appeared in an important role in Krishna Vamsi's debut film as a director, '' Gulabi''. He appeared in Kri ...

as Kanta Prasad's Driver *

Uttej Uttej is an Indian actor and screenwriter who works in Telugu films. He won the Nandi Award for Best Male Comedian for the film ''Chandamama'' (2007). Personal life Uttej was born and brought up in Nalgonda district. He is the nephew of no ...

as Yadagiri *

Rohini Hattangadi Rohini Hattangadi (''née'' Oak; born 11 April 1951) is an Indian actress, known for her work in Marathi, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Gujarati films, and Marathi soap operas and theatre. She has won two Filmfare Awards, one ...

as Prakash's Mother *

Beena Banerjee Beena Banerjee (born 19 February 1943), also known as Beena or Bina, is an Indian actress in Bengali and Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustan ...

as Shiva's Sister-In-Law *

Puri Jagannadh Petla "Puri" Jagannadh (born 28 September 1966) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer, who works primarily in the Telugu film Industry. He made his directorial debut in 2000 with the Telugu film '' Badri'' starring Pawan Kaly ...

in a cameo *Baby Sushma as Keerthi

Production

The college campus depicted in the film was shot at State Agricultural University in

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

Soundtrack

Music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja. Lyrics were written by

Majrooh Sultanpuri Asrar ul Hassan Khan (1 October 1919 − 24 May 2000), better known as Majrooh Sultanpuri, was an Indian Urdu poet and lyricist in the Hindi language film industry. He wrote lyrics for numerous Hindi film soundtracks. He was one of the dom ...

References

External links

*
Documentary on Shiva
{{Ram Gopal Varma, state

collapsed 1990 films Films directed by Ram Gopal Varma Films set in Hyderabad, India Hindi remakes of Telugu films Films scored by Ilaiyaraaja 1990s Hindi-language films 1990s Indian films Indian political thriller films Indian action thriller films 1990 action thriller films 1990s political thriller films