''Amba'' is a 1990

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

film produced and directed by Mohan Kumar. It stars

Anil Kapoor Anil Kapoor (born 24 December 1956) is an Indian actor and producer who works primarily in Hindi films, besides television and international films and television. In a career spanning over 40 years as an actor and since 2005 as a producer, Kapo ...

Meenakshi Seshadri Meenakshi Seshadri (; born 16 November 1963) is a former Indian actress, model and dancer who worked primarily in Hindi films, with a few films in Telugu and Tamil. She made her debut with the film ''Painter Babu'' (1983) produced by Manoj Kuma ...

Kiran Juneja Kiran Juneja is an Indian actress who works in Hindi cinema. Personal life She is second wife of filmmaker Ramesh Sippy. She hails from Punjabi Bagh area of New Delhi, India and her father was a doctor. Career In 1984, she started her actin ...

, and

Shabana Azmi Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of Hindi film, television and theatre. One of India's most acclaimed actresses, Azmi is known for her portrayals of distinctive, often unconventional female characters across several ge ...

in the title role as Amba.

Plot

Prabha lives a wealthy lifestyle with her widowed father Thakur Jasbir Singh and her brother Kunwar Ranvir. She receives a marriage proposal from equally wealthy Thakur Shamsher Singh but immediately rejects him and marries Rajendra. Prabha re-locates to move in with him and his widowed and principled mother, Amba Bhanupratap Singh, and his wayward brother, Suraj. Prabha soon gives birth to Rajat. Rajendra, who secretly visits local courtesan, Munnibai, returns home intoxicated one night and sexually molests and then kills Geeta, who is their servant, Bhiku's daughter, but is treated like a family member. Then, when Amba returns home after watching Ram Leela, she apprehends Rajendra, has him arrested, he is eventually tried in Court, found guilty after Amba's testimony, and hanged. A devastated and humiliated Prabha swears to avenge his death, and leaves to live with her equally vengeful dad and brother, and together they plot to turn Amba and Suraj's lives upside down - so much so that Amba and Suraj not only lose their ancestral estate, their house is burned down, they are blacklisted by the community, where Amba is the Sarpanch, and to top it all up, Suraj is arrested for killing Shamsher and sexually molesting Prabha, and if found guilty will also be hanged like his brother.

Cast

as Amba Bhanupratap Singh, mother of Suraj *

as Suraj "Sarju" B. Singh *

as Lajjo *

Kanwaljit Singh Kanwaljit Singh may refer to: * Kanwaljit Singh (politician), Indian politician * Kanwaljit Singh (actor), Indian actor * Kanwaljit Singh (cricketer), Indian former first-class cricketer * Prince Kanwaljit Singh, Indian Punjabi film actor See al ...

as Rajendra 'Raja' B. Singh *

as Prabha R. Singh *

Rajan Sippy Rajan Sippy ( hi, राजन सिप्पी) is a Emirati businessman and former actor who acted in several films in the 1980s and also produced the film ''Shehzaade'' (1989). He is currently a businessman in Dubai and runs the restaurant ...

as Kunwar Ranvir J. Singh, Brother of Prabha *

Mangal Dhillon Mangal Singh Dhillon, better known as Mangal Dhillon is an Indian actor, writer, director and film producer. He was born in Wander Jatana near Kotkapura in Faridkot district, Punjab. Early life He was born in a Sikh family in a village Wander ...

as Thakur Shamsher Singh *

Sudhir Pandey Sudhir Pandey is an Indian film and serial television actor.Sujit Kumar Sujit Kumar (7 February 1934 – 5 February 2010) was an Indian actor and producer. He appeared in over 150 Hindi films in the 1960s through the 1990s, and in at least 20 Bhojpuri films. Sujit played the major lead actor in many films in ...

as Bhiku, servant *

Satish Shah Satish Shah (born 25 June 1951) is an Indian actor. He is best known for his comic roles in films like ''Jaane bhi Do Yaaro'' (1983), ''Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi'' (1984), ''Sarabhai vs Sarabhai'' (2004), ''Main Hoon Na'' (2004), ''Kal Ho Naa Ho'' (200 ...

as Neelkanth *

Yunus Parvez Yunus Parvez (1931/1932 – 11 February 2007) was an Indian actor who played supporting roles in over 200 films from the late 1960s to the 2000s. He is best known for his roles in films like ''Garm Hava'' (1974), ''Deewaar'' (1975), '' Trishul' ...

as Banne Miya *

Upasana Singh Upasana Singh (born 29 June 1975) is an Indian actress and stand-up comedian. Singh is known for her role as a deaf-mute in the 1997 film ''Judaai (1997 film), Judaai''. Later on, she got famous for her negative portrayal in ''Son Pari'' as C ...

as Munnibai *

Shivraj Shivraj ( hi, शिवराज; 1920 - 3 June 2017) was an Indian actor. Selected filmography *''Singaar'' (1949) *'' Andolan'' (1951) (He played a key role) *'' Patita'' (1953) *''Devdas'' (1955) *'' Seema'' (1955) *''Dekh Kabira Roya'' ( ...

as Gurghand * Dulari as Naanima *

Ram Mohan Ram Mohan (26 August 1931 – 11 October 2019) was an Indian animator, title designer and design educator, who was also known as father of Indian Animation and was a veteran in the Indian animation industry, who started his career at the Cartoo ...

as Judge *

Jaya Mathur Jaya may refer to: Media *''Jaya'', self titled albums by Jaya (singer), released in 1989, 1996 and 2001 * ''Jaya'' (film), a 2002 Indian Tamil film Mythology *''Jaya'', a name of Karna in Mahabharata; the core portion of the ''Mahabharata'' ...

as Geeta Yadav *

Birbal Birbal (; born Mahesh Das; 1528 16 February 1586), or Raja Birbal, was a Saraswat Hindu Bhatt Brahmin advisor and main commander (''Mukhya Senapati'') of army in the court of the Mughal emperor, Akbar. He is mostly known in the Indian subcon ...

as Amba's supporter * Kamaldeep as Police Inspector

Soundtrack

Anand Bakshi Anand Bakshi (21 July 1930 – 30 March 2002) was an Indian poet and lyricist. He was nominated for the Filmfare award for Best lyricist a total of 40 times, resulting in 4 wins. Early life Anand Bakshi (Bakshi Anand Prakash Vaid) was born ...

penned the lyrics. The soundtrack includes the following songs:

Reception

Bob Chinn of ''Cult Movies'' magazine wrote in 2003, "While this is obviously a star vehicle for Azmi, one must remember that there are stars and there are actresses. Shabana Azmi is that rare combination of both."

Sukanya Verma Sukanya Verma is an Indian journalist and film critic. She has been the principal movie reviewer with web portal ''Rediff.com''. She has written a number of columns as a freelance writer for ''The Hindu''. She is a member of the Film Critics Gui ...

Rediff.com Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 e ...

, however, criticised Azmi's choice of the part as "strange" and further writing, "The film shamelessly tries to fit in the Mother India mould dumbing down Azmi’s fiery brilliance to a cringe-worthy stereotype that’s as bearable as the tacky silver wig on her head".

References

External links

* 1990s Hindi-language films 1990 films Films scored by Laxmikant–Pyarelal Films directed by Mohan Kumar {{1990s-Hindi-film-stub