Hathyar, originally titled Pratibimb, as everybody knows is a sequel to Vaastav. What is not known is that it is also a copy of Vaastav.
Vaastav was the story of a gangster, Raghu. In Vaastav, Raghu dies in the end and is survived by a son Rohit. How Rohit struggles to shake off his father’s identity and eventually continues his father’s law breaking streak and meets with the same end is what the film is all about.
The film starts from the point when Rohit(Sanjay Dutt) is shot by his sidekick Pakya(Sharad Kapoor). Then the film lapses into flashback (remember Sunny Deol’s Arjun) about the incidents that led to this situation. Rohit was sidelined by everybody as a child, save his friend Munna(Sachin Khedekar) because of his father’s misdeeds. Rohit grows up to become a boxer, and then is unfairly treated by the cops. In a drunk state, he commits a murder and is then adopted by the underworld. The predictable happens and Rohit becomes Boxerbhai, the king of dons. He rescues his sweetheart Gauri(Shilpa Shetty) from a disastrous marriage and marries her. Pakya creates a misunderstanding and in anger, Rohit kills Munna. Then Pakya tries to kill Rohit with the help of rival gangs. Rohit recovers and starts a spate of killings. Law takes it’s course and Rohit’s gang is destroyed. Rohit prefers to kill himself rather than surrender to the law.
The story is very predictable and comparisons with Vaastav are inevitable. This is where Hathyar loses brownie points. Neither is the script strong enough nor does the acting leave any impact. Sanjay Dutt is the sole saving grace, but Sanju baba has played the negative character so many times that it reminds you of Vaastav, Naam, Khalnayak, etc. Rest of the cast is restrained. Overall, Hathyar fails to achieve the heights of it’s prequel.