Baaghi: A Rebel For Love

About the film

Baaghi: A Rebel for Love is a 1990 Indian Hindi-language romantic action drama film, starring Salman Khan, Nagma, Kiran Kumar and Shakti Kapoor, which was released on 21 December 1990.

Plot

The story centres on Saajan, the son of a colonel in the Indian army, and Kaajal, a modest girl from a respectable family. The film opens with Saajan travelling in a bus when he catches a glimpse of Kaajal on another bus, and they are both smitten. They do not formally meet, and since Saajan is off to start college, he does not think he will ever see her again. But his new friends at college, Buddha, Tempo, and Refill, one night insist on visiting a brothel in a seedier part of Bombay. Saajan only reluctantly agrees but ultimately refuses to select a prostitute – until he hears a new girl being beaten by her pimp and decides to protect her. To his surprise, it is Kaajal (called Paro at the brothel), who has been kidnapped by a pimp after she was tricked with a job offer in Bombay.

Kaajal, who has only recently arrived at the brothel and is a virgin, has adamantly refused to be a prostitute. This is why Jaggu, who runs the brothel, is thrashing her. When finally alone with Saajan as a paying client (although he does not do anything with her), Kaajal explains to him how she was forced to look for work after her parents' deaths: This ultimately led to her travelling to Bombay and being kidnapped by Dhanraj and forcibly brought to Jaggu's brothel. Thanks to Leelabai, the madame who helps run the brothel, Saajan is able to spend time with Kaajal, and Kaajal is somehow able to resist becoming a prostitute. Saajan and Kaajal fall in love, and he tries to find a way to get her out of the brothel before Kaajal gives up hope.

When Saajan is finally able to introduce Kaajal to his parents, they — not surprisingly — reject the idea of his marrying a girl from a brothel, even if she was taken there against her will and is from a respectable family. Since Saajan's father, Col. Sood, was already angry with his son for refusing to follow family tradition to join the Indian army, this is the last straw. Saajan is kicked out of his house. He becomes, in his own words, a rebel, a word which is repeated several times in the movie. Since Kaajal is already rebelling against Jaggu because she believes in love, they are now both "rebels for love." Saajan's college friends help Kaajal escape the brothel and flee to Ooty, near where her grandparents live. But just as they are about to be married with Kaajal's grandparents' consent, the police arrive and take them back to Bombay, where they claim he's wanted for kidnapping "Paro."

Music

The soundtrack has nine songs, composed by Anand–Milind, with lyrics by Sameer. The music was hugely popular when it released and enjoys the honour of being played on radio stations even today. The most popular song of this film is "Kaisa Lagta Hai," sung by Anuradha Paudwal and Amit Kumar. Abhijeet and Anand–Milind went on to record several songs together since.

The songs "Tapori" and "Chandni Raat Hai" were copied from the Ilaiyaraaja compositions "Rajathi Raja" (Agni Natchathiram) and "Keladi Kanmani" (Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal) respectively.

Anand–Milind were nominated at the Filmfare awards for Best Music, but lost to Nadeem-Shravan for Aashiqui. A minor controversy arose when singer Amit Kumar was mistakenly nominated for "Chandini Raat Hai" at the Filmfare awards ceremony.

Box office

The film was a commercial success. According to Taran Adarsh, the film is reported to have been the seventh highest-grossing film of 1990, despite its release during the mid-December holiday.

Awards

Best Male Playback Singer – Amit Kumar for "Kaisa Lagta Hai"

Best Female Playback Singer – Kavita Krishnamurthy for "Chandni Raat"

Key details