Rakshak

Rakshak
Directed by	Ashok Honda
Produced by	Ashok Honda
Written by	Naeem Ejaz
Starring	Sunil Shetty Karisma Kapoor Sonali Bendre
Music by	Anand-Milind
Cinematography	Teja
Edited by	Ashok Honda
Release dates	29 November 1996 (1996-11-29)
Running time	164 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Rakshak is 1996 Bollywood action film directed by Ashok Honda and starring Sunil Shetty, Karisma Kapoor, Raghuvaran, Sonali Bendre, Alok Nath, Aruna Irani.

Plot

Raghavan alias Raghu (Raghuvaran) has been ignored and demeaned all his life. He decides to teach the world a lesson, by printing the best ever fake currency notes. This does get him some conditional recognition by a gangster named Bardha (Pramod Moutho). But Raghavan's goal is much higher than getting some recognition, and his plans materialize when he is able to get Bardha killed, and takes over as the unchallenged leader of the underworld. Raghavan decides to put a temporary halt to all criminal operations when he comes to know that his brother-in-law, Asst. Superintendent of Police, Raj Sinha (Sunil Shetty), along with his wife, Suman (Karisma Kapoor), her mother (Aruna Irani), and his young son, Bunty, are coming for a visit. Raghavan's instructions are not followed, and Raj realizes that Raghavan is the head of the crime syndicate. Raghavan then decides to use his position and abducts Suman, her mother, and Bunty, and uses them as a shield against Raj. But Raj is bent upon capturing Raghavan by any means possible, and as a result, Suman and her mother are killed. Now the only one left alive from Sinha family is Bunty, but if Raj continues to pursue Raghavan, it does not look like Bunty will be alive for very long. Raj's revenge against Raghavan forms the crux of the film.

The movie has action scenes lifted from ' Hard Target' and 'Hard to Kill'.

Cast

• Sunil Shetty as ASP Raj Sinha
• Karisma Kapoor as Suman Sinha
• Sonali Bendre as Dr. Pooja Malhotra
• Raghuvaran as Raghu / Raghavan
• Aruna Irani as Raj's mom
• Mushtaq Khan as Bhola
• Dinesh Hingoo as Suman's Father
• Pramod Moutho as Bardha Seth
• Alok Nath as Commissioner of Police
• Harish Patel as Rokde
• Deepak Shirke as ACP Shirke
• Arun Bakshi as Advocate
• Shiv Kumar Subramaniam as The photographer
• Raveena Tandon as Special Appearance (song 'Shehar Ki Ladki')

Soundtrack

After average success with the movie Anth (which did good business at the box-office), producer-director Ashok Honda again employed music directors Anand-Milind for Rakshak. Lyricist Sameer (lyricist) was also re-hired, but for only one song (Kuchi Kuchi). New lyricist Deepak Chowdhary wrote the remaining songs. With almost no expectations from the music of a Sunil Shetty starrer, the music of Rakshak arrived rather quietly on the stands. But the moment Shahar Ki Ladki hit the TV channels, the song caught on with youthful listeners and the music topped the charts. Kuchi Kuchi was another song that soon climbed the charts. With this new interest in the film's music, Ashok Honda picturised another song Sundara Sundara. The music of Rakshak topped the charts for several weeks and Shahar Ki Ladki and Sundara Sundara still enjoy popularity.

Awards

For this film, choreographers, Chinni Prakash and Rekha Prakash, won the Filmfare Award for Best Choreography for the song "Shehar Ki Ladki" at the Filmfare Awards 1997.

Reception

This movie was a hit at the Box Office. This Movie was a direct remake of the Tamil film Honest Raj (1994) starring Vijayakanth. This movie was a remake of the 1990 movie, Hard to Kill starring Steven Seagal. A few action scenes were also directly taken from the 1993 Jean-Claude Van Damme's movie Hard Target.

External links

• Rakshak at the Internet Movie Database