''Shiva'' 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

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

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, known for his works in Telugu cinema in addition to Bollywood, Hindi, Kannada cinema, Kannada language ...

. It was a remake of Varma's debut Telugu film, '' Siva'' (1989). The film has

Nagarjuna Nāgārjuna . 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thinker, scholar-saint and philosopher. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of ...

(in his Hindi debut) and

Amala Amala may refer to: People * Amala Akkineni, South Indian actress * Amala Chebolu, playback singer in the Telugu film industry, also known as Tollywood * Amala Paul (born 1991), South Indian actress * Amala Shankar (1919–2020), Indian dancer * ...

in lead roles. The film became a blockbuster. The success led to Ram Gopal Varma 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 a (fictional) 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 was 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 lead 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 to the nerdy friend Naresh to stand for the president-ship. 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 a worker's union leader Krishna Rao. Krishna Rao takes his plight to Shiva; Shiva 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 Bhavani. 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, also 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 *

as Asha *

Paresh Rawal Paresh Rawal (born 30 May 1955) is an Indian actor, comedian, film producer and politician known for his works notably in Hindi films, and Telugu, and a few Gujarati and a few Tamil films. He has appeared in over 240 films and is the recipient ...

as Tilakdhari Azaad *

Raghuvaran Raghuvaran Velayutham (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, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films. According to the ''Hindustan T ...

as Bhavani *

J. D. Chakravarthy Nagulapati Srinivasa Chakravarthy, known professionally as J. D. Chakravarthy, is an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, producer, composer, and singer known for his work primarily with Telugu cinema in addition to Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, an ...

as Jagdish Dave "J.D." *

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

as Nanaji *

Iftekhar Sayedna Iftekhar Ahmed Sharif (22 February 1924 – 4 March 1995), often mononymously credited as Iftekhar, was an Indian actor who mainly worked in Hindi cinema. He is known for his role as a police officer. Career Iftekhar was born in ...

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 ''Alif Laila'' is an Indian television series based on the ''One Thousand and One Nights'', also known as the ''Arabian Nights''. It was produced by Sagar Arts. It was made in two seasons. The series from 1993 to 1997 for 143 episodes on DD N ...

as Inspector Tejesh *

Raj Zutshi Rajendranath Zutshi, more commonly known as Raj 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, India into a Kashmiri Pandit family. Raj Zu ...

as Prakash *

Ajit Vachani Ajit Vachhani (10 August, 1951 – 25 August, 2003) was an India, Indian film and television actor. He had worked in many Hindi films as a character actor, including ''Mr. India (1987 film), Mr. India'' (1987) (as "Teja"), ''Maine Pyar Kiya'' ...

as Krishna Rao *

Goga Kapoor Ravinder Kapoor (15 December 1940 – 3 March 2011), popularly known as Goga Kapoor, was an Indian actor, who appeared mostly in Bollywood films. He has acted in over 120 films, majorly known for playing supporting roles of that of villain's h ...

as Kanta Prasad *Brij Gopal as Ganesh *

Dilip Dhawan Dilip Dhawan (1955 – 15 February 2000) was an Indian film and television actor. He started his career as a child in '' Sangharsh'' (1968), featuring Dilip Kumar, Dhawan acted in over 50 films. Career He acted as the hero in the movie ''Arvin ...

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) # Ooru ki monagadu (1995) #'' Deyyam'' (1996) #'' Preyasi Rave'' (1999) # '' Annayya'' (2000) #''Shock'' (2 ...

as Naresh *

Brahmaji Brahmaji (born 25 April 1965) is an Indian actor best known for his work 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''. ...

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 note ...

as Yadagiri *

Rohini Hattangadi Rohini Hattangadi (''née'' Oak; born 11 April 1955) is an Indian actress, known for her work in Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, and Gujarati films, and Marathi soap operas and theatre. She has won two Filmfare Awards, one National Film ...

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 films and television. Biography Beena Banerjee was born as Beena Batabyal on 19 February 1943, the daughter of film actor Pradeep ...

as Shiva's Sister-In-Law *Baby Sushma as Keerthi

Production

The college campus depicted in the film was shot at

Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU) is a public agricultural university with its headquarters at the village Lam, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, India. History The original Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University was est ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

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 India's Hindi language film industry. He wrote Hindustani lyrics for numerous Hindi film soundtracks. He was ...

. All songs are blockbuster hits. Music was released on Venus Cassettes.

References

External links

*
Documentary on Shiva
{{Ram Gopal Varma 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 Indian political thriller films Indian action thriller films 1990 action thriller films 1990s political thriller films