''Khuda Gawah'' (, also translated and released as ''God Is My Witness'') is a 1992 Indian epic drama film written and directed by

Mukul S. Anand Mukul S. Anand (11 October 1951 – 7 September 1997) was an Indian film director and producer. He was the nephew of veteran film scriptwriter Inder Raj Anand and cousin of actor and director Tinnu Anand. Career Mukul S. Anand made his debut as ...

. It stars

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; born as Amitabh Shrivastav; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor, film producer, television host, occasional playback singer and former politician known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the most succe ...

, Nagarjuna,

Sridevi Shree Amma Yanger Ayyappan (13 August 1963 – 24 February 2018), professionally credited with her stage name Sridevi, was an Indian actress who worked in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada language films. Cited as the "First Female ...

, Shilpa Shirodkar, Danny Denzongpa, Kiran Kumar in pivotal roles. The music was composed by Laxmikant–Pyarelal. The film marked Sridevi and Bachchan's third collaboration. In the film, Badshah Khan travels from Afghanistan to India to find the killer of Benazir's father so that he can impress her. He succeeds but soon finds himself framed for a murder and trapped in an Indian prison. ''Khuda Gawah'' was released theatrically on May 8, 1992, to critical and commercial success. It was praised for its direction, screenplay, performances, soundtrack, and production values, and grossed 17.05 crore worldwide, becoming the third highest grossing Indian film of 1992. It entered '' Limca Book of Records'' as the first Indian film to use surround sound technique. The film was dubbed in Telugu and was later adapted into a Pakistani television series of the same name. It is one of the most watched Indian films in Afghanistan's history. At the

38th Filmfare Awards The 38th Filmfare Awards were held in 1993. ''Beta','' ''Deewana'' and ''Khuda Gawah'' led the ceremony with 9 nominations each, followed by ''Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar'' with 8 nominations. ''Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar'' won Best Film without ...

, ''Khuda Gawah'' received a leading 9 nominations, including Best Film,

Best Actor Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film, television series, television film or play. The term most often refers to th ...

(Bachchan), Best Actress (Sridevi) and Best Supporting Actress (Shirodkar) and won 4 awards including Best Director (Anand) and Best Supporting Actor (Denzongpa) and Best Action.

Plot

During a Buzkashi competition with a neighboring tribe in Afghanistan, Badshah Khan falls in love with Benazir and wants to marry her. Benazir agrees to marry him, on the condition that he must bring her the head of Habibullah, who killed her father. Badshah Khan goes to India to search for Habibullah. He finds Habibullah in a prison and breaks him out to take him back. He has the jailor Ranveer Singh on his trail. He chops off Habibullah's head. When confronted by Ranveer, he tells him that he would be back in a month to receive punishment for taking Habibullah. Badshah goes back to Afghanistan and marries Benazir; after the time limit, he comes back to India and surrenders himself to Ranveer Singh, who he addresses as "Rajput Khan" and is jailed for five years. While Badshah Khan is away, his childhood friend Khuda Baksh assumes the role of a guardian for Benazir. To revenge Habibullah's death, his brother Pasha kidnaps Heena, the daughter of jailor Ranveer, ransoming her in return for Badshah. Badshah finds out about this and escapes from jail; he confronts Pasha, only to have Inspector Aziz Mirza kill Ranveer Singh. With Ranveer Singh's daughter as a pawn in Pasha's hands, Badshah admits to killing Ranveer Singh and is sentenced to 15 years. When Aziz's wife Salma, who thinks of Badshah as her brother, visits Badshah and ends up killing her husband to protect Badshah, Badshah takes the blame for that murder as well, since he believes that her son Raja needs her. At that time, Benazir sends Khuda Baksh to check on Badshah. Due to his very extended stay in prison, Badshah makes Khuda Baksh promise to take care of his daughter Mehndi and tell his wife Benazir that he is now dead so that she can move on rather than wait for him. Benazir goes mad when she hears the news that her husband is dead. On coming out of prison, Badshah meets with his now-grown daughter, Mehndi, who has found out that her father is still alive and has come to India to look for her father; the daughter of Ranveer Singh, Heena, who is also in the police force and knows all about Badshah's past and respects him as her uncle; and the son of Inspector Aziz Mirza, Inspector Raja Mirza, who has found out that it was Badshah who had killed his father and is out for vengeance. In a twist of fate, Raja is in love with Mehndi, even though he wants to kill her father. Pasha, now a major crime lord, gets involved. Benazir and Khuda Baksh are kidnapped by him. The truth is eventually revealed to Raja about his father, and he joins hands with Badshah and Heena to kill their mutual enemy. Badshah and Benazir grab one arm each of Pasha as they ride on separate horses like at the beginning of the film and throw him into a huge rock, killing him. They ride off into the sunset, finally together.

Cast

Filming

''Khuda Gawah'' had lavish production values and was extensively shot in and around the cities of Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan as well as Nepal and India. Then-Afghan President Mohammad Najibullah, a fan of Bachchan, provided security from the

Afghan Air Force The Air Force of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Air Force and the Afghan Air Force, is the air force branch of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The Royal Afghan Air Force was e ...

during the 18-day shooting of the film in 1991. Sanjay Dutt was initially cast in the film, and filmed some scenes, but due to his highly published legal issues, he was unable to complete the film.

Soundtrack

The music is composed by Laxmikant–Pyarelal. Lyrics are penned by

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 ...

Reception

The film was the third-highest-grossing Indian film of 1992. The film received critical acclaim for all its actors and especially the lead pair

and

. Both stars won Filmfare nominations for their work. With Khuda Gawah, Sridevi became the only actress in the history of Indian cinema to play a double role opposite Amitabh Bachchan till date. The film won three Filmfare awards, including Best Director. It entered India's '' Limca Book of Records'' as the first Bollywood film to use surround sound technique. BBC reported that "It ran to packed houses for 10 weeks in Kabul". ''Khuda Gawah'' still remains popular in Afghanistan. '' Rediff'' reported that the film is "in great demand in the country" when cinemas reopened in 2001.

Awards

;

: Won * Best Director –

* Best Supporting Actor – Danny Denzongpa *

Best Sound This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow List of film awards, film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awa ...

– Bhagat Singh Rathod & Kuldeep Sood Nominated * Best Film – Nazir Ahmed & Manoj Desai *

–

* Best Actress –

* Best Supporting Actress – Shilpa Shirodkar * Best Villain – Kiran Kumar * 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 "Main Tujhe Kabool"

References

External links

* {{end 1990s Hindi-language films Filmfare Awards winners 1992 films Films set in Afghanistan Films shot in Afghanistan Films shot in Bhutan Films shot in Nepal Films shot in Kathmandu Films shot in Mumbai Films shot in Rajasthan Films directed by Mukul S. Anand Films scored by Laxmikant–Pyarelal Indian historical action films Indian epic films Indian drama films