By 1995, I had read and heard a lot about the great movies Govind Nihalani had made but I had seen none of them.One afternoon while watching a weekly programme India This Week on DD-Metro I saw the preview of his then forthcoming movie-Drohkaal.Alongwith the preview there was series of behind the camera scenes and interviews about the movie which had wooed audience in film-festivals even before its release.From what I saw I realised that Drohkaal was a hard-hitting movie.At that time I was a fan of Ajay Devgan stunts but his carrier was on a low phase.I just dreamt that if ever Govind made a commercial film with Ajay Devgan as its hero what will be like.4 years later when Thakshak was released I smiled pleasantly on seeing that the dream was realised.However the flopping of the film made me feel that it is not good.Then one of my friends called it a damp-squib as he had a big hang-over of Vaastav-on similar lines and released around the same time.In all this I almost missed watching Thakshak.However when one of my other hostel-mate gave me rave review about it and said that it is a must watch for intense movie buffs we brought the VCD to hostel and I still remember that we watched it in one of our seniors computer on the day of Eid and finished it before going to our friends place to celebrate the festival.The movie is an amazing intense tale.
Bombay as we know is in the hands of underworld.One of the biggest ganglords is Joda Bhai.Joda Bhai runs a crime syndicate which has strong connections with police and politicians.His main man is Nahar Singh(Amrish Puri).Ishaan(Ajay Devgan) is Nahar’s son who is also working in the syndicate.He alongwith Joda Bhai’s grandson Sunny(Rahul Bose) represent the younger strata of crime whereas Nahar and Joda are the experienced administrators.Joda’s syndicate include taking plots and construction work.This has made them a major land-shark in the crime city.The rival gang is that of Feroz Bhai whose set-up include giving refuge to a Pakistani agent.Both the gangs have an eye on the plot named-Amritkunj.An elderly man lives with his family there and he is not willing to sell his property.What follows is a chain of events where both the gangs try to capture Amritkunj.
On the other side Ishaan falls in love with Suman(Tabu) who is a budding poet and classical dancer.Suman hates violence and criminals.Ishaan is not able to tell Suman about the reality as he is scared that she might turn away from him.Meanwhile Sunny loses all patience and goes armed with his men-including Ishaan- to Amritkunj and murders the entire family after getting the required signature.However the young girl of the man survives and is able to see the face of Ishaan.She is paralysed and becomes the only witness in the case which is now handled by Inspector Khan(Govind Namdeo).Alongwith all this is the rising madness of Sunny.He goes on a rampage and kills Nahar as he feels that both Nahar and Ishaan have betrayed him.He is eventually killed by Ishaan after Ishaan goes through a fabulously shown confused state of mind.
The story of Thakshak is brilliant.Although the concept of land-shark was shown in Mahesh Bhatt’s Kabzaa-1986 as well but in Thakshak it is shown in a really complex way.The police-crime-politics nexus is also shown brilliantly.The movie shows a complexity in almost every character and it is portrayed in a good way.Like all famous Nihalani movies-Ardh Satya, Aakrosh and Drohkaal, Thakshak has a strong undercurrent of violence.But the violence is shown in a chilling way and does not become gory and over-done.The cinematography, screenplay, editing, background score and setting is brilliant.The music by A.R.rahman is excellent although too many songs distueb the narrative at times.Rahman himself considers his score of Thakshak as one of his best.He feels that if the movie had done well the music would have done much better.Still the songs ’’Khamosh Raat..’’, ’’Boondon Se Baatein.’’ and ’’Mujhe Rang de’’’’ are still very popular on various radio channels.Tabu’s classical dance and the brilliant poetry she reads in the title credits give the film an earthy touch to it.Govind Nihalini is brilliant as a director in the movie.He is succesful in conveying the complexity of characters and intensity of plot with ease through his direction.The scene where Rahul Bose shoots an old A.K.Hangal leaves u stunned and so does many sequences.
Ajay Devgan gives a brilliant performance as Ishan.Although the movie did not do wonders for him still he got acclaim for his portrayal of a man caught in a web of crime.It is totally different from his performance in Company-2002.Tabu as Suman is excellent.She gives new dimension to the role and proves that even heroines can make a solid impact in violent male oriented movies.The mature romantic scenes between the couple are very well executed and one cannot believe that this is the same pair which acted in potboilers liek Vjaypath and Haqeeqat.Amrish Puri is alsobrilliant.A regular of Nihalani Puri again proves his mettle as an actor.However the performance which haunts you the most is that of Rahul Bose.This was his debut in commercial Hindi movies and he did a brilliant work in it.The character itself was very different.Nihalani showed the power hungry-angst ridden-impulsive and slightly unbalanced rich youth of the country through Rahul Bose.His penchant for guns, his broken affair and his madness make the character one of the most menacing youth shown in Hindi cinema.Bose gives a terrific performance and his scenes with the deadly Devgan are the best scenes of the movie.A must watch fro crime saga lovers.