''Tezaab'' () is a 1988 Indian Hindi-language

action romance Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

film starring Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit in lead roles. The film gave Dixit her first big break, making her an overnight star. in addition to reaffirming Kapoor's star status, after a successful ''

Mr. India Mr. or Mister India may refer to: Pageants * Rubaru Mister India, a national Indian beauty pageant in India that sends its winners to Mister International, Mister Global, Mister Model International and other international competitions * Mister Indi ...

'' (1987). The film was produced and directed by

N. Chandra Chandrashekhar Narvekar (born 4 April 1952) is an Indian producer, writer and director, known for gritty realism, in his early dark and loud films. His most successful commercial films are ''Ankush'', ''Pratighaat'', ''Tezaab'' and '' Narsimha''. ...

. The music was composed by Laxmikant–Pyarelal. ''Tezaab'' released on 11 November 1988, and proved to be a major commercial success at the box office, becoming the highest-grossing film of the year. It ran in theatres for more than 50 weeks, becoming a golden jubilee success. With ''Tezaab'', N. Chandra scored a box office hat-trick with his previous hits ''

Ankush ''Ankush'' is a 1986 Hindi action drama movie starring Nana Patekar, which was written, directed, edited and co-produced by N. Chandra. Made on a modest budget of Rs 13 lakhs, the film grossed Rs 95 lakhs to become a surprise hit of 1986, th ...

'' (1986) and ''

Pratighaat ''Pratighaat'' () is a 1987 Hindi feminist drama film directed by N. Chandra, starring Sujata Mehta as lead. It was a remake of the Telugu film ''Pratighatana'' (1985), directed by T. Krishna, with Vijayshanti as the lead. Made on a low-budget ...

'' (1987). The film is also popular for the song " Ek Do Teen", which was a chartbusting success. It received positive reviews from critics upon release, with praise for its story, screenplay, dialogues, soundtrack, and performances of the cast. At the

34th Filmfare Awards The 34th Filmfare Awards were held in 1988, after a 2-year gap. ''Tezaab'' led the ceremony with 12 nominations, followed by ''Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak'' with 11 nominations and ''Khoon Bhari Maang'' with 7 nominations. ''Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak ...

, ''Tezaab'' received a leading 12 nominations, Best Film,

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * BA ...

(Chandra), Best Actress (Dixit) and Best Supporting Actor (Pandey), and won 4 awards, including

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 ...

(Kapoor), Best Female Playback Singer (

Alka Yagnik Alka, AlkA or ALKA may refer to: People * Alka Ajith (born c. 1997), Indian multilingual playback singer * Alka Amin (active from 2011), Indian television actress * Alka Balram Kshatriya, Indian politician, Member of the Parliament of India repr ...

) and

Best Choreography The MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography is a craft award given to the artist, the artist's manager, and choreographer of the music video. From 1984 to 2007, the full name of the award was Best Choreography in a Video. The biggest winner ...

(

Saroj Khan Saroj Khan (born Nirmala Nagpal; 22 November 1948 – 3 July 2020) was an Indian dance choreographer in Hindi cinema. She was born in Bombay State (present day Maharashtra), India. She was best known for the dance form mujra and the fir ...

), the latter two for the song "Ek Do Teen". At the ceremony, Kapoor scored his first Best Actor win, while Dixit garnered her first-ever Best Actress nomination. The film was remade in Telugu as ''

Two Town Rowdy ''Two Town Rowdy'' is a 1989 Telugu-language action film produced by C. Venkat Raju and B. Sivaraju under the Sri Vijaya Lakshmi Productions banner and directed by Dasari Narayana Rao. It stars Venkatesh and Radha , with music composed by Raj– ...

'', with

Daggubati Venkatesh Daggubati Venkatesh (born 13 December 1960) is an Indian actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema and a few hindi films. Venkatesh debuted with the 1986 film ''Kaliyuga Pandavulu'' for which he won his first Nandi Award. In a ca ...

and in Tamil ''

Rojavai Killathe ''Rojavai Killathe'' () is a 1993 Indian Tamil-language romantic action film directed by Suresh Krissna. The film stars Arjun and Khushbu with Tiger Prabhakar as the antagonist. The film, produced by K. Sukumar, had musical score by Deva and wa ...

'', with Arjun. The core storyline is loosely based on the 1984 film ''

Streets of Fire ''Streets of Fire'' is a 1984 American neo-noir rock musical film directed by Walter Hill and co-written by Hill and Larry Gross. It is described in the opening credits and posters as "A Rock & Roll Fable" and is a mix of various movie genres wi ...

''.

Plot

Inspector Singh ( Suresh Oberoi) gets a tip about Munna ( Anil Kapoor), entering his jurisdiction, so he checks Munna's file. Inspector Singh recognises Munna as cadet Mahesh Deshmukh, a brilliant cadet whom he met a few years ago at a bank robbery crime scene in

Nasik Nashik (, Marathi: aːʃik, also called as Nasik ) is a city in the northern region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Situated on the banks of river Godavari, Nashik is the third largest city in Maharashtra, after Mumbai and Pune. Nashik ...

, whereby Mahesh's parents and many other bank employees were mercilessly killed by a gang of robbers. Inspector Singh tracks Munna, re-kindles his relationship and asks him where he disappeared after the bank incident. To which Munna/Mahesh replies: He had shifted to Bombay with his sister Jyoti, where he met an impoverished and unfortunate but kind-hearted and gentlewoman, Mohini, who was forced to dance to make money for her father Shyamlal (Anupam Kher). He is a drunkard who does not want to marry off Mohini because she made money for him by dancing in nearby nightclubs. He behaved similarly with his wife (Suhas Joshi), and when she had refused to do as he wished, he threw acid on her. Mohini's Mother committed suicide thereafter. In his youth, Shyamlal had taken a huge loan from Lotiya Pathan (a dreaded gangster) and the only way to repay it was to make Mohini dance. Shyamlal also has to deal with Chote Khan, the younger brother of Lotiya, who was involved in the Bank robbery and had killed Mahesh/Munna's parents, and also Chote Khan was arrested due to Mahesh/Munna. After release/bailout, immediately Chote Khan had attempted to rape Jyoti, but Mahesh killed Chote Khan in self-defense. For this, Mahesh/Munna was arrested and sentenced to one year in jail, after which he changed his name to Munna. On learning the whole story from Mahesh/Munna, Inspector Singh allows him to complete his task and stipulates some conditions, including the time and date of return/surrender. When Lotiya hears that Mahesh/Munna is back in town, he kidnaps Mohini. Shyamlal now approaches/begs Munna to get Mohini rescued ASAP and requires that she be returned to him only. Mahesh rescues Mohini, and they rejoice to see each other again after a long time, but Mahesh asks Mohini to return to her father; Mohini becomes sad again as she had expected to follow with her lover. As he had promised Inspector Singh, Munna surrenders whereupon he is tried and tested in Court and then sent to prison for some time. After a retrial, Munna is acquitted of his charges and plans to start afresh in another city – Goa. However, his sister Jyoti convinces Mahesh/ Munna not to forget his lover Mohini – so Mahesh/Munna sends his friends- Guldasta and Baban – to explain to Mohini where her lover is now. The evil father, Shyamlal, overhears Mohini's plans to escape and is enraged, and he tries to stop Mohini from leaving. Guldasta and Shyamlal have a fight in which both die, but Mohini manages to escape safely, and Mohini meets Munna again. However, Lotiya, learning of Munna's acquittal, conspires to kill him as revenge for his brother's death – so they all meet up at a dockyard. Baban ( Chunky Pandey) gets a tip of Lotiya's conspiracy and challenges Lotiya. Lotiya gets enraged, and a fight between him and Baban ends in Lotiya getting defeated. Baban wants to kill Lotiya in the fit of rage, but Munna intercepts him and stops him from committing murder. Meanwhile, Lotiya regains his strength and goes to attack Munna with a club. Baban dies, deflecting the attack. Munna fights back at Lotiya and is about to kill him, but Inspector Singh interrupts just in time to stop him from taking the law into his hands. Inspector Singh recognizes he's breaking the law but allows Munna to fight Lotiya as he sees this as a way of Munna letting go of his anger and hatred he holds within himself. As Munna defeats Lotiya, Lotiya quickly gets up and tries to attack and kill Munna, but Inspector Singh kills him with his service pistol, and justice is served finally. ; Alternate ending Baban does not die here; excluding this fact, the rest of the ending is exactly like the original.

Cast

* Anil Kapoor as Mahesh "Munna" Deshmukh * Madhuri Dixit as Mohini Dhanyekar * Anupam Kher as Shyamlal Dhanyekar, Mohini's father * Chunky Pandey as Sushim "Baban" Choudhry, Munna's friend *

Suparna Anand Suparna Anand is an Indian people, Indian actress from New Delhi. She has appeared in Cinema of Kerala, Malayalam and Bollywood, Hindi films. She is known for her portrayal of the titular Vaisali in the movie ''Vaisali (film), Vaisali'', direct ...

as Jyoti Deshmukh, Munna's younger sister * Kiran Kumar as Lotiya Pathan * Annu Kapoor as Abbas Ali / Guldasta * Suresh Oberoi as Inspector Gagan Singh * Tej Sapru as Rantej Saxena * Johnny Lever as Kainchee Singh, Munna's friend *

Mahavir Shah Mahavir Shah (5 April 1960 – 31 August 2000) was a noted Indian television and stage actor who worked in Hindi and Gujarati movies. He is remembered for portraying several villainous roles. He died in a car crash in 2000, when he was in the U ...

as Inspector Tarachand Gupta * Salman Khan as Rookki * Jack Gaud as Mukut Bihari * Dinesh Hingoo as Marwadi Seth * Achyut Potdar as Namrish Deshmukh, Munna's father * Vijay Patkar as Chiraunji Surwadhre, Munna's friend * Jaywant Wadkar as Aman Pratap Ahuja, Munna's friend * Mandakini as Nikita Sharma ( Cameo appearance) * Suhas Joshi as Sumira Dhanyekar, Mohini's mother (Cameo appearance) * Ravi Patwardhan as Lawyer, Public Prosecutor

Soundtrack

The song ''Ek Do Teen'' was inspired by the opening bars of an old popular song "Chanda Mama Door Ke" composed by the famous yesteryears music composer

Ravi Ravi may refer to: People * Ravi (name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Ravi (composer) (1926–2012), Indian music director * Ravi (Ivar Johansen) (born 1976), Norwegian musical artist * Ravi (music director) (1926–201 ...

for the film '' Vachan'' (1955). The film's

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ...

sold more than 8million units, becoming the second best-selling Bollywood music album of 1988, behind only ''

Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak ''Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak'' (), also known by the initialism ''QSQT'', is a 1988 Indian Hindi-language romantic musical film, directed by Mansoor Khan, written and produced by Nasir Hussain, and starring Aamir Khan (in his leading film debut) a ...

''. ''Ek Do Teen'' was subsequently recreated for another movie '' Baaghi 2'', sung this time by Shreya Ghoshal. ''So Gaya Yeh Jahan'' also remade for another film. In 2013, this song was remade for Nautanki Saala! sung by Nitin Mukesh with composer Laxmikant–Pyarelal. On 2019, this song remade again for movie

Bypass Road A bypass is a road or highway that avoids or "bypasses" a built-up area, town, or village, to let through traffic flow without interference from local traffic, to reduce congestion in the built-up area, and to improve road safety. A bypass spec ...

, sung by Nitin Mukesh featuring Jubin Nautiyal and Saloni Thakkar with composer

Raaj Aashoo Raaj Aashoo is an Indian music composer, singer and film director working mainly in Bollywood film industry. As a music director Raaj Aashoo has worked in Hindi films like Tera Intezaar, Romeo Akbar Walter, Luckhnowi Ishq, Sweetiee Weds NRI, ...

Awards

;

: ;;Won *

– Anil Kapoor * Best Female Playback Singer –

for "Ek Do Teen" *

–

for "Ek Do Teen" * Best Dialogue – Kamlesh Pandey ;; Nominated * Best Film –

– N. Chandra * Best Actress – Madhuri Dixit * Best Supporting Actor –

Chunkey Pandey Suyash Panday (born 26 September 1962), better known by his stage name Chunky Panday, is an Indian actor who works in Bollywood films. He has appeared in over 100 films in a career that has spanned over three decades. His most successful films ...

* Best Music Director – Laxmikant–Pyarelal * Best Lyricist –

Javed Akhtar Javed Akhtar (born 17 January 1945) is an Indian poet, lyricist, screenwriter and political activist. Known for his work in Hindi cinema, he has won five National Film Awards, and received the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 200 ...

for "Ek Do Teen" * Best Male Playback Singer – Amit Kumar for "Ek Do Teen" * Best Female Playback Singer – Anuradha Paudwal for "Keh Do Ke Tum"

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0096252, title=Tezaab 1988 films 1980s Hindi-language films 1980s crime action films Indian crime action films Indian action thriller films Indian romantic musical films Indian romantic thriller films Indian crime thriller films Indian vigilante films Indian nonlinear narrative films 1980s romantic musical films 1988 action thriller films 1980s romantic thriller films 1980s crime thriller films Films directed by N. Chandra Films scored by Laxmikant–Pyarelal Indian remakes of American films Hindi films remade in other languages Films set in Maharashtra Films set in Mumbai Films shot in Maharashtra Films shot in Mumbai Indian romantic action films 1980s masala films 1980s romantic action films 1980s vigilante films