Batwara

Batwara is a 1989 Bollywood film directed by J.P. Dutta. The film stars Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna, Dimple Kapadia, Amrita Singh, Poonam Dhillon, Shammi Kapoor, Mohsin Khan and Amrish Puri.

Plot

Vikram & Sumer are two close friends, who's close bond is well known in village. Vikram belongs to upper cast Thakurs, who are landlords. Sumer belongs to lower caste & serves as a cop.

The film is set post independence & a new land sealing law is drafted by Govt, which states that individuals cannot own land beyond a certain limit. This is a big blow to the Thakurs, since they owe 100s of acres of land. As per new law they would have surrender the excess land to govt, which would be distributed to the farmers. The Bade Thakur & his eldest son Deven cannot come to terms with this new change. Deven plans a plot, in which he will distribute the land amongst their relatives by back dating the transaction dates. For this they would need signature / thumb impression of the farmers who are tilling the land (the land is mortgaged to the Thakurs). The Sarpanch (Village Head) is on their side & agrees to help in manipulating the records as well as convincing the farmers to give their approval.

They have a meeting, wherein the farmers are adamant on sticking with their land. Heated argument leads to Deven getting panicked & shooting from his rifle killing one villager. This infuriates the rest & the mob lynch him to death. Vikram rushes back to his village to perform last rites of his brother. He cannot bear the pain of loss of his brother & sets of towards the dwellings of the farmer with his rifle. He kills many farmers & sets fire to their home. From their he escapes to ravines & joins hand with the bandits. Vikram gets his gang, in return the bandits get money & protective from the influential Thakur family. Meanwhile, Vikram's youngest brother Rajendra who is also a cop returns to his village. He is disappointed to see that his brother has turned Bandit. His father urges him to protect Vikram from law and exact revenge from the villagers who have defied their supremacy. Rajendra true to his vow as a cop, refuses to do this.

When Sumer return to his village, he cannot come to terms with what has happened & deeply anguished that his best friend has done it. He marries his love interest Jina immediately since she is orphaned as her brother was killed by Vikram. Sumer meets Vikram & declare that this is the end of their friendship. Meanwhile, Bade Thakur ( Vikram's Dad) invites Hanumant Thakur (Rajendra's Junior Cop) to suppress rebellion led by Sumer. Hanumant says that his hands are tied by his boss Rajendra. Bade Thakur arranges for his transfer & Hanumant takes the charge from Rajendra. He then releases a reign of terror. In one such incident he kicks pregnant Jina, which causes her abortion. This infuriates Sumer & he attacks the police station & kills all the cops & assumes that Hanumant has also died, but he survives. He loots of the arsenal from the police & distributes it to the villagers. Now Sumer also turns a bandit & joins hand with rival gang of Vikram.

This gives rise to game of cat & mouse. Sumer loots the granary of Thakurs & Vikram loots the money they earned after selling the produce in the market. In response Sumer loots the Haveli (Mansion) of Thakurs. At this point Rajendra is restored back to his position & takes charge of the situation. Vikram now plans to burn up the entire village. Meanwhile, Vikram's gang leader plot to get him killed in police encounter by leaking this information to police for an hefty price. As planned Vikram arrives in the village, but is trapped by the police. He manages to escape, but most of his gang members are killed. Sumer plans to retaliate by raiding the Haveli of Thakurs once more. It is now clear that there would be a major showdown between the two rivals. Rajendra gets to investigate of the rebellion & comes across brutalities committed by Hanumant. He plans to get him & his accomplices suspended from the police force. Hanumant plans to eliminate Rajendra in upcoming showdown between the two rival. This is overheard by a cop, who relays this to Vikram. At this point the two ladies (Vikram's wife & Sumer's wife) intervene. They reveal how the gang leaders of their respective gangs are betraying them for money.

Sumer & Vikram now join hands, first eliminate the gang leaders of their respective gangs & then reach the designated point where the showdown is supposed to happen. The police is already present there & have trapped them well. They feign to surrender & kidnap Hanumant. Later they rekindle their memories of childhood & kill Hanumant like a hunting a wild boar, meanwhile bullets piercing their bodies like cold hailstorm(just as they had described in one of their childhood memory)

Cast

• Dharmendra...Sumer Singh
• Vinod Khanna...Vikram Singh
• Shammi Kapoor...Bade Thakur
• Dimple Kapadia...Jinna
• Poonam Dhillon...Rajendra's wife
• Amrita Singh...Roopa
• Asha Parekh...Bade Thakur's wife
• Amrish Puri...Hanumant Singh
• Mohsin Khan...Thakur Rajendra Singh
• Vijayendra Ghatge...Devan
• Neena Gupta...Devan's wife
• Amitabh Bachchan...Narrator

Soundtrack

1. "Thare Vaste Re Dhola Nain Mhare Jage" - Kavita Krishnamurthy, Alka Yagnik, Anuradha Paudwal
2. "Aa Idhar Aa Meri Jaan Tujhko Mai Jawani Ka Jalwa Dikha Du" - Kavita Krishnamurthy, Sudesh Bhosle, Mohammed Aziz
3. "Ye Ishq Dunk Bichhua Ka, Are Isse Raam Bachaye" - Lata Mangeshkar, Ila Arun
4. "Jo Mai Aisa Janati Prit Kiye Duhkh Hoy" - Kavita Krishnamurthy, Anuradha Paudwal

The lyrics were penned by Hasan Kamal.^[1]

References

External links

• Batwara on IMDb