Mashaal

About the film

Mashaal (lit. 'Torch') is a 1984 Indian Hindi-language action film. Produced and directed by Yash Chopra, it starred Dilip Kumar, Waheeda Rehman, Anil Kapoor and Rati Agnihotri. The role played by Anil Kapoor was first offered to Amitabh Bachchan and then to Kamal Haasan, but after they declined the offer, the role went to Anil Kapoor. The project marked Anil's primary on-screen collaboration with Dilip Kumar. Vinod Kumar (Dilip Kumar) plays a respected, law-abiding citizen who turns to crime for exacting revenge. The film was based on the Marathi play Ashroonchi Zhali Phule written by Marathi writer Vasant Kanetkar. The film was remade in Malayalam as Ithile Iniyum Varu with Mammootty playing the lead role.

Plot

Vinod Kumar is an upright and honest man, who runs a newspaper named "Mashaal". Vinod exposes the ills in society with the help of his newspaper. Vinod's wife, Sudha, sees a vagabond named Raja and tries to instill some values and culture in him. Vinod is sceptical about this, but accepts when Raja tells them of his tragic childhood and comes to regard Sudha as a maternal figure. Finally, Vinod decides to help Raja by sending him to Bangalore to complete his education and become a journalist. During frequent meetings with Vinod and Sudha, Raja befriends Geeta, an aspiring journalist and an assistant in Vinod's paper, and they fall in love.

During his investigations, Vinod finds that S.K. Vardhan, a wealthy and respected man in society, is behind many malpractices. Vinod starts exposing S.K's illicit business of drug-trafficking and selling hooch. Initially, S.K. tries to buy Vinod's silence by bribing him, but when Vinod decides to stand up to S.K., the latter inflicts misery on Vinod by having him thrown out of his rented house via the landlord. That very night, Vinod's newspaper office is burnt down by S.K.'s men. Helpless, and on the streets, tragedy strikes Vinod and Sudha further when Sudha, who is ailing, dies on the road, leaving Vinod distraught and heartbroken.

A disillusioned Vinod realizes that S.K. will always trump him, since people also support him. Instead of trying to expose S.K., Vinod now decides to follow S.K's footsteps in order to destroy him. Vinod, in association with Kishorilal, starts to produce illicit hooch and engages in other illegal businesses to earn money – the thing, Vinod retrospectively feels, he lacked, and the shortage of which led to the tragedies in his life. Soon, Vinod becomes rich. Meanwhile, Raja, who is in Bangalore for his studies, is unaware of these developments. The only other person exposed to this truth is Geeta, who has grown resentful of Vinod and has started to work in another newspaper.

Box office

The film was declared 'Flop' by Box Office India for not even being able to recover its budget, generating only 25 million rupees at the box office despite a budget of 29 million. The film was Dilip Kumar's first flop in the year before Kumar's second flop Duniya. However, his performance is appreciated in both movies, specially Mashaal.

Influence

The film is based on the well-known Marathi play Ashroonchi Zhali Phule written by famous Marathi writer playwright Vasant Kanetkar.

A film called Aansoo Ban Gaye Phool based on the same Marathi play, but presented differently was released in 1969, which was directed by Satyen Bose. It starred Ashok Kumar, Debu Mukherji and Pran in key roles.

Key details