Mohra

Mohra
Mohra
Soundtrack album by Viju Shah
Released	2 April 1994
Studio	Trimurti Films
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	42:16 min
Language	Hindi
Label	Venus Records & Tapes
Producer	Viju Shah
Viju Shah chronology

Mohra
Mohra
	Poster
Directed by	Rajiv Rai
Written by	Rajiv Rai; Shabbir Boxwala
Produced by	Gulshan Rai
Starring	Naseeruddin Shah; Akshay Kumar; Sunil Shetty; Raveena Tandon; Paresh Rawal;
Cinematography	Damodar Naidu
Edited by	Rajiv Rai
Music by	Viju Shah
Distributed by	Trimurti Films Pvt. Ltd.
Release date	1 July 1994
Running time	177 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹3.75 crore
Box office	₹22.65 crore (equivalent to ₹149 crore or US$19 million in 2023)

Mohra (transl. Pawn) is a 1994 Indian

Sunil Shetty and Paresh Rawal, who went on to collaborate several times later on.^[2]

Originally, Divya Bharti was cast as the female lead but she died very early in the production. Raveena Tandon was cast as her replacement, just like the movie Dilwale, which was released earlier in the same year. The film was reported to be inspired by the 1987 film Death Wish 4: The Crackdown.^[3] while the climax was inspired by the 1992 Hong Kong film, Hard Boiled. The film was remade in Bengali Bangladesh as Gupto Ghatak (1998).

The film was a major box office success, and went on to become the

Bollywood soundtrack album of 1994, behind only Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!

.

Plot

Vishal Agnihotri is imprisoned for killing four criminals who raped and killed his sister-in-law, Rita. However, a corrupt public prosecutor helps the criminals escape punishment.

In revenge, the criminals attempt to rape Vishal's wife, Priya, but she kills herself with a knife and the criminals flee. Vishal decides to take matters into his own hands and murders the four criminals.

Journalist Roma Singh visits Vishal in prison and becomes a target from some of the convicts. Vishal comes to her rescue. Roma is determined to help him regain his freedom. She goes to the police station to meet Inspector Amar Saxena to obtain Vishal's case file.

Roma's boss, Mr. Jindal who is supposedly blind and the owner of "Samadhan Newspaper," reopens Vishal's case by presenting new evidence to the legal authorities. The judge reviewing the case accepts the new evidence and makes arrangements for Vishal's release from prison.

After being freed, Vishal starts working for Jindal. He is given the task of eliminating Jibran, Tyson and their associates. He is also instructed to kill Kamdev Kulkarni, the Commissioner of Police. Vishal begins eliminating the drug suspects one by one, alternating between Jibran's gang and Tyson's gang, in order to incite a rivalry between them.

After being informed by Kashinath that Vishal is the hitman responsible for killing his gang members, Jibran calls Tyson to meet and clear up any misunderstanding. During the meeting, Vishal shoots Tyson with a sniper rifle from a distance, causing both gangs to start shooting at each other. Tyson shoots Jibran, but he fakes his death and witnesses Vishal shooting Tyson up close.

Vishal intends to assassinate Kamdev at his house, but overhears a conversation between a drunk Kamdev and Constable Kranti Kumar. Kamdev discloses that the mysterious killer is actually benefiting society by eliminating criminals, which the police couldn't do because of the legal system. Vishal decides not to kill Kamdev.

Vishal informs Jindal that he spared Kamdev because he is a good man and not involved in protecting drug lords. Jindal becomes furious upon hearing this and slaps Vishal. Vishal throws a bowl at Jindal, but Jindal catches it. To Vishal's surprise, Jindal reveals he is not blind and used Vishal as a Mohra (pawn). Vishal is about to shoot Jindal, but Jibran arrives and saves Jindal. Jibran and Jindal tie up Vishal.

There is a flashback to Jindal’s past. He had approached Jibran and Tyson to sell drugs and make more money, but Inspector Karan Saxena (Amar's father) was assigned to stop the drug lords. Jindal stole Karan's police uniform to proceed with the drug deal.

When Karan found out, Jindal killed him. His wife Pooja witnessed the murder and Jindal kills her too. Jindal pretended to be blind to the police to avoid prison. Jindal and Jibran leave Vishal to die by placing a bomb next to him but he escapes just in time.

Amar breaks into Vishal's house and discovers the files of all the individuals Jindal instructed Vishal to eliminate. Amar locates Vishal at Roma's residence and reveals that he has the files, leaving no room for denial regarding the killings. Amar wants to arrest Vishal for his crimes, but the encounter escalates, resulting in Vishal losing consciousness when Roma distracts him and gets knocked out by Amar.

Kashinath tells Jindal that Vishal is alive and will tell Amar and Kamdev the truth by the morning. Afterwards, Jindal reveals his attraction for Roma and demands she marries him, Roma also discovers Jindal is not blind. Jindal then grabs Roma forcefully. The sub-editor Siddiqui sees this, but is killed by Jindal.

Kamdev releases Vishal. Vishal tells Amar the truth about Jindal and everything that transpired in detail. Amar, Vishal and Kamdev go to Jindal's office, but they find Siddiqui’s body instead. Jindal calls and says he has kidnapped Roma. Kashinath helps Vishal and Amar trace Jindal to an abandoned fort where drug lords have assembled.

Amar and Vishal kill most of the drug lords. Jindal forces Roma to go with him but is confronted by Vishal. Amar kills Jindal and avenges the death of his father just as Vishal dies in Amar's lap, saluting him for one last time.

Cast

Naseeruddin Shah as Mr Sandeep Jindal the main antagonist
Suniel Shetty as Vishal Agnihotri, Priya's husband.
Akshay Kumar as Inspector Amar Saxena, Roma's love interest.
Raveena Tandon as Roma Singh, Amar's love interest.
Paresh Rawal as Sub-Inspector Kashinath Sahoo
Raza Murad as Jibran, a drug lord
Gulshan Grover as Tyson, a drug lord
Sadashiv Amrapurkar as Police Commissioner Officer Kamdev Kulkarni
Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Mr Singh, Jailor Roma's father.
Avtar Gill as Inspector Karan Saxena, Amar's father
Harish Patel as Constable Kranti Kumar
Priya Tendulkar as Pooja Jindal, Jindal's wife.
Yunus Parvez as Siddiqui, an editor
Vinay Sapru as Tony, Rita's friend
Razak Khan as Rizwan, Jibran's brother.
Tej Sapru as Irfan, Jibran's nephew.
Vishwajeet Pradhan as Jackson, Tyson's brother.
Kunika as Flora, Tyson's kept.
Gavin Packard as Douglas, a drug lord.
John Gabriel as Rampal
Poonam Jhawer as Priya Agnihotri, Vishal's wife. (extended cameo appearance)
Sonali Singh as Rita, Priya's sister (special appearance)

Soundtrack

The music for the film was composed by

Kalyanji-Anandji, the father and uncle of Viju Shah, and sung by Mukesh, for a shelved film, meaning that the song was unreleased. Viju Shah added the song to this film, and got singers Pankaj Udhas and Sadhana Sargam

to sing it.

The film's

Bollywood soundtrack album of 1994, behind only Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!^[8] The soundtrack was #81 on the list of "100 Greatest Bollywood Soundtracks of All Time", as compiled by Planet Bollywood. The song "Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast" was remade as "Cheez Badi" for the 2017 film Machine.^[9] The song "Tip Tip Barsa Pani" was remade as "Tip Tip" for the 2021 film Sooryavanshi.^[10] The background score consisted of plagiarised versions of "The Terminator theme" and "I feel you (Babylon Mix)" by Depeche Mode.^{[citation needed}

]

Track list

#	Title	Singer(s)	Lyrics
1	"Tip Tip Barsa Pani"	Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik	Anand Bakshi
2	"Ae Kaash Kahin Aisa Hota"	Kumar Sanu	Anand Bakshi
3	"Main Cheez Badi Hoon Mast Mast"	Kavita Krishnamurthy, Udit Narayan	Anand Bakshi
4	"Na Kajre Ki Dhaar" (Duet)	Pankaj Udhas, Sadhana Sargam	Indeevar
5	"Na Kajre Ki Dhaar" (Male)	Pankaj Udhas	Indeevar
6	"Na Kajre Ki Dhaar" (Female)	Sadhana Sargam	Indeevar
7	"Subah Se Lekar"	Sadhana Sargam, Udit Narayan	Anand Bakshi
8	"Dil Har Koi"	Kumar Sanu, Alka Yagnik	Indeevar
9	"Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast"	Kavita Krishnamurthy	Anand Bakshi