''Baaghi: A Rebel for Love'' is a 1990 Indian
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
-language
romantic action drama
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-gen ...
film, starring
Salman Khan
Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan (; 27 December 1965) is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. In a film career spanning over thirty years, Khan has received numerous awards, including two Nation ...
,
Nagma
Nagma Arvind Morarji (born Nandita Arvind Morarji on 25 December 1974) is an Indian politician and former actress. She was a popular lead actress in the 1990s. She made her cinematic debut in the film '' Baaghi'' opposite Salman Khan in 1990. ...
,
Kiran Kumar
Kiran Kumar (born as Deepak Dhar; 20 October 1953) is an Indian screen and theatre actor. He has worked in numerous Hindi, Bhojpuri and Gujarati television and film productions. His latest work in drama is ''Charlie 2''.
Personal life
Kumar co ...
and
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 600 films. In the 1980s and 1990s, Kapoor teame ...
, which was released on 21 December 1990.The movie was a blockbuster and was the seventh highest grossing film of 1990. It was Nagma's first role in Bollywood; as the opening credits note, she was 15 years old when the film was released. The DVD cover has a warning noting that the movie is "suitable only for persons of 15 years and older," presumably because the plot revolves around
prostitution
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
. The subtitle "A Rebel for Love" does not appear on the DVD box, nor in the Hindi titles or license at the start of the movie.
The movie opens with a dedication, which reads: "''In this year of the girl child, we dedicate our film to those women, who have been victimised by lust and greed and are subjected to social rejection and also laud those who strive to uplift them''." The story of ''Baaghi: A Rebel for Love'' was Salman Khan's idea.
Plot
The story centres on Saajan, the son of a colonel in the Indian army, and Kaajal, a modest girl from a respectable family. The film opens with Saajan travelling in a bus, when he catches a glimpse of Kaajal on another bus, and they are both smitten. They do not formally meet and, since Saajan is off to start at college, he does not think he will ever see her again. But his new friends at college, Buddha, Tempo and Refill, one night insist on visiting a
brothel
A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...
in a seedier part of
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
. Saajan only reluctantly agrees, but ultimately refuses to select a prostitute – until he hears a new girl being beaten by her pimp and decides to protect her. To his surprise, it is Kaajal (called Paro at the brothel), who has been kidnapped by a pimp after she was tricked by a job offer in Bombay.
Kaajal, who has only recently arrived at the brothel and is still a virgin, has adamantly refused to be a prostitute. This is why Jaggu, who runs the brothel, is beating her. When finally alone with Saajan as a paying client (although he does not do anything with her), Kaajal explains to him how she was forced to look for work after her parents' deaths: This ultimately led to her travelling to Bombay and being kidnapped by Dhanraj and forced to work in Jaggu's brothel. Thanks to Leelabai, the madame who helps run the brothel, Saajan is able to spend time with Kaajal, and Kaajal is somehow able to resist becoming a prostitute. Saajan and Kaajal fall in love, and he tries to find a way to get her out of the brothel before Kaajal gives up hope.
When Saajan is finally able to introduce Kaajal to his parents, they — not surprisingly — reject the idea of his marrying a girl from a brothel, even if she was taken there against her will and is from a respectable family. Since Saajan's father, Col. Sood, was already angry with his son for refusing to follow family tradition to join the Indian army, this is the last straw. Saajan is kicked out of his house. He becomes, in his own words, a rebel, a word which is repeated several times in the movie. Since Kaajal is already rebelling against Jaggu, because she believes in love, they are now both "rebels for love." Saajan's college friends help Kaajal escape the brothel and flee to
Ooty
Ooty (), officially known as Udhagamandalam (also known as Ootacamund (); abbreviated as Udhagai), is a city and a municipality in the Nilgiris district of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located north west of Coimbatore and so ...
, near where her grandparents live. But just as they are about to be married with Kaajal's grandparents' consent, if not Saajan's father's, the police arrive and take them back to Bombay, where they claim he's wanted for kidnapping "Paro".
Saajan's father, on hearing of his heroics fighting Dhanraj's men to rescue Kaajal, has a newfound respect for his son, who had previously been a lazy drifter. With the help of Saajan's friends, Col. Sood finds his son outside Jaggu's brothel. There the "police" (who are actually working for Dhanraj) have returned Saajan and Kaajal to Dhanraj, who is preparing to punish them for her leaving the brothel. The intervention of Leelabai on Kaajal's behalf leads to yet another fight, with several people switching alliances.
Cast
*
Salman Khan
Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan (; 27 December 1965) is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. In a film career spanning over thirty years, Khan has received numerous awards, including two Nation ...
as Saajan Sood
*
Nagma
Nagma Arvind Morarji (born Nandita Arvind Morarji on 25 December 1974) is an Indian politician and former actress. She was a popular lead actress in the 1990s. She made her cinematic debut in the film '' Baaghi'' opposite Salman Khan in 1990. ...
as ''Kaajal'' aka ''Paro''
*
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 600 films. In the 1980s and 1990s, Kapoor teame ...
as Dhanraj
*
Kiran Kumar
Kiran Kumar (born as Deepak Dhar; 20 October 1953) is an Indian screen and theatre actor. He has worked in numerous Hindi, Bhojpuri and Gujarati television and film productions. His latest work in drama is ''Charlie 2''.
Personal life
Kumar co ...
as Colonel D.N. Sood
*
Bharat Bhushan
''Bharatbhushan Bhalla'' better known as ''Bharat Bhushan'' (14 June 1920 – 27 January 1992) was an Indian actor in Hindi language films, scriptwriter and producer, who is best remembered for playing Baiju Bawra in the 1952 film of the sam ...
as Kaajal Father
* Asha Sharma as Kaajal Mother
*
Jagdish Raj
Jagdish Raj Khurana (1928 – 28 July 2013) was a Bollywood actor who holds a Guinness World Record for being the most type-cast actor. He played the role of a police inspector in 144 films.
Early life and career
He was born in 1928 in the tow ...
as Police Commissioner
*
Beena Banerjee
Beena Banerjee (born 19 February 1943), also known as Beena or Bina, is an Indian actress in Bengali and Hindi films and television.
Biography
Beena Banerjee was born as Beena Batabyal on 19 February 1943, the daughter of film actor Pradeep ...
as Mrs. Vandana Sood
*
Javed Khan Amrohi
Javed Khan Amrohi is an Indian film and television actor who has acted in various films, amounting to approx. 150 Hindi films.
He is best known for his role in Academy Award-nominated '' Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India'' (2001), ''Andaz Apna ...
as Col Sood Servant
*
Avtaar Gill
Avtar Gill is an Indian actor who appears predominantly in Hindi and Punjabi language films and television serials. He has done many plays with Indian People's Theatre Association Mumbai.
Selected filmography Films
* '' Noorie'' (1979)
* '' ...
as False Police Officer
*
Kunika
Kunika Sadanand Lal is an Indian TV actor, advocate, producer and social activist. She is known for her various characters in many Indian films as a villain and in comic roles.
Also a singer, she has released three pop albums titled ''Lakhon Me ...
as Dhanraj Girlfriend as Kunika
*
Mohnish Behl
Mohnish Bahl (born 14 August 1961) is an Indian actor working in the Indian film industry and on Indian television.
Career
Mohnish Bahl debuted with the film ''Bekarar'' in a supporting role opposite Padmini Kolhapure and co Starring Sanjay Dutt ...
as Jaggu
*
Asha Sachdev
Nafeesa Sultan, better known by her screen name Asha Sachdev is an Indian actress known for her roles as a supporting actress in Bollywood films of the 1970s and 1980s. She acted in a few early films as a lead actress as well, including the hit ...
as Leelabai
* Indra Vardhan Purohit as Chotu Working in a brothel
*
MacMohan
Mohan Makijany (24 April 1938 – 10 May 2010), popularly known as Mac Mohan, was an Indian actor, who worked in Hindi cinema. He was known for his villainous roles in films throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He appeared in over 200 films, in ...
as Kaajal's Job Interviewer
*
Salim Khan
Salim Abdul Rashid Khan (born 24 November 1935) is an Indian actor, film producer and screenwriter. As a screenwriter, he wrote the screenplays, stories and scripts for numerous Bollywood films. Khan is one half of the prolific screenwriting d ...
as Salim
*
Pradeep Singh Rawat as "Buddha"
*
Raju Shrestha
Fahim Ajani or Raju Shrestha, initially credited as Master Raju or Master Rajoo, is an Indian film and television actor, who started his film career as a child actor, in the 1970s.
Raju has acted in films like Gulzar's '' Parichay'', Hrishikes ...
as Raju / Refill
*
Dinesh Hingoo
Dinesh Hingoo (born 13 April 1940) is an Indian actor who plays comic & supporting roles in Hindi films. He had appeared in over 300 films, from ''Taqdeer (1967)'' to ''Be Careful (2011)'', and is known for his laughter and impersonations inclu ...
as College Principal
*
Kishore Bhanushali
Kishore Bhanushali is an Indian actor and stand-up comedian notable for his works in Hindi films and television serials. He has a likeness to late Bollywood actor Dev Anand. He had the main lead in many films like ''Hum Hain Khalnayak'', ''Jai ...
as College Ex Student come to meet the principal
*
Amita Nangia
Amita Nangia (also known as Ameeta Nangia) is a TV actress in Bollywood. Her initial popularity was from her role as Sheena daughter Shreya in the very famous TV serial '' Tara'', in Season 2 broadcast on Zee TV in 1993. She has acted in Bollywoo ...
as Jaggu's sister
*
Arun Bakshi
Arun Bakshi is an Indian film and television actor and also a singer. He has acted as a character actor in over 100 Hindi films, and as a playback singer has also sung 298 songs. He has also worked in Punjabi and Bhojpuri cinema. He also played ...
as Mahesh
*
Kim Yashpal
Kim (born as Satyakim Yashpal, also known as Kim Yashpal) is a retired Indian actress and model, who is recognized for her work in Hindi cinema, particularly for starring in supporting roles, with the exception of her lead roles in ''Phir Wahi ...
in a guest appearance
Box office
The film was a commercial success. According to
Taran Adarsh
Taran Adarsh (born 13 June 1965) is an Indian film critic and trade analyst. He is best known for giving trade figures and box office updates on social media.
Career
Taran Adarsh started his journalism career at the age of 15 with ''Trade Gui ...
, The film is reported to have been the seventh highest-grossing film of 1990, despite its release in the mid-December holiday.
Awards
;
36th Filmfare Awards
The 36th Filmfare Awards were held in 1991.
'' Dil'' and '' Ghayal'' led the ceremony with eight nominations each, followed by ''Aashiqui'' with seven nominations and '' Agneepath'' and ''Pratibandh'' with five nominations each.
''Ghayal'' wo ...
:
Nominated
*
Best Music Director –
Anand–Milind
Anand and Milind Srivastava are a duo of Indian film music composers. Born to composer Chitragupt, they have composed music for over 200 Bollywood films. The brothers debuted in 1984 with '' Ab Ayega Mazaa'' and had their major breakthrough with ...
*
Best Male Playback Singer –
Amit Kumar
Amit Kumar (born 3 July 1952) is an Indian playback singer, actor, music composer. Kumar launched his own music production company, named Kumar Brothers Music. He predominantly worked in Bollywood and regional film songs since the 1970s, inc ...
for "Kaisa Lagta Hai"
*
Best Female Playback Singer –
Kavita Krishnamurthy
Sharada Krishnamurthy, popularly known as Kavita Krishnamurthy or Kavita Subramaniam, is an Indian playback and classical singer. She has recorded 50,000 songs in 45 various Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Rajasthani, Bhojp ...
for "Chandni Raat"
Music
The soundtrack has nine songs, composed by
Anand–Milind
Anand and Milind Srivastava are a duo of Indian film music composers. Born to composer Chitragupt, they have composed music for over 200 Bollywood films. The brothers debuted in 1984 with '' Ab Ayega Mazaa'' and had their major breakthrough with ...
, with lyrics by
Sameer
Samir (variantly spelled Sameer) is a male name found commonly in the Middle East, Central Asia and Europe. In Arabic, Samir () means holy, jovial, loyal or charming. In Albanian, it translates literally as “so good” but the connotation is clo ...
. The music was hugely popular when it released and enjoys the honour of being played on radio stations even today. The most popular song of this film is "Kaisa Lagta Hai," sung by
Anuradha Paudwal
Anuradha Paudwal (born 27 October 1954) is an Indian playback singer who works predominantly in Hindi cinema. She has been described in media as one of the most prominent Bhajan singer and also as one of the most successful playback singers ...
and
Amit Kumar
Amit Kumar (born 3 July 1952) is an Indian playback singer, actor, music composer. Kumar launched his own music production company, named Kumar Brothers Music. He predominantly worked in Bollywood and regional film songs since the 1970s, inc ...
. Abhijeet and Anand–Milind went on to record several songs together since.
The songs "Tapori" and "Chandni Raat Hai" were copied from the
Ilaiyaraaja
Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one of ...
compositions "Rajathi Raja" (''
Agni Natchathiram
''Agni Natchathiram'' () is a 1988 Indian Tamil-language masala film that was written and directed by Mani Ratnam. The film stars Prabhu, Karthik, Amala and newcomer Nirosha, with Vijayakumar, Jayachitra, Sumithra, Tara, S. N. Lakshmi an ...
'') and "Keladi Kanmani" (''
Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal
''Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal'' () is a 1989 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language romantic drama film, written and directed by K. Balachander. The film stars Rahman (actor), Rahman (credited as Raghu) and Geetha (actress), Geetha, with Sowcar Janak ...
'') respectively.
Anand–Milind were nominated at the
Filmfare
''Filmfare'' is an Indian English language, English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of Indian most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, r ...
awards for Best Music, but lost to
Nadeem-Shravan for ''
Aashiqui
Aashiqui () is a 1990 Indian Hindi musical romantic drama film and first installment of Aashiqui series directed by Mahesh Bhatt, starring Rahul Roy, Anu Aggarwal and Deepak Tijori in pivotal roles. The film was known for its music, by compose ...
''. A minor controversy arose when singer
Amit Kumar
Amit Kumar (born 3 July 1952) is an Indian playback singer, actor, music composer. Kumar launched his own music production company, named Kumar Brothers Music. He predominantly worked in Bollywood and regional film songs since the 1970s, inc ...
was mistakenly nominated for "Chandini Raat Hai" at the
Filmfare
''Filmfare'' is an Indian English language, English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of Indian most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, r ...
awards ceremony.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baaghi: A Rebel For Love
1990 films
1990s Hindi-language films
1990s action drama films
1990 romantic drama films
Films scored by Anand–Milind
Cross-dressing in Indian films
Indian action drama films
Indian romantic drama films
Indian romantic action films
1990s romantic action films
Films directed by Deepak Shivdasani