Prahaar: The Final Attack

Prahaar is simply one of the best or perhaps the best hindi film I have ever seen in my life . The pain , anger and frustration of an army officer when he faces the inner layers and reality of our society and criminal thugs . Nana Patekar gives the best acting performance of his lifetime . In terms of acting Nana Patekar is up there with Pacino and Deniro

CLASSIC

10/10

Prahaar (1991) : Brief Review -

A tight slap on Dusty Minded Society with right perception and Nana Patekar's stone-breaking characterization but with wrong objects. Prahaar is front loaded material if you're fan of 90s Nana Patekar films but somehow it tries to clean the dust of society which was too late by then. Mainly it comes with less action but solid characterization of almost every single artist present in the film. The film is about an Army officer who is outraged by the the muteness and deafness of the society against Evils. The officer takes law in hands to complete a revenge of his loving fella by giving it a name of his duty of cleaning enemies of country. The script seems bit offbeat and hard-hitting looking at it's period of early 90s when Bollywood was in relationship with mainstream action/romace films. Another offbeat or may i say new thing was to introduce Army training camp in Bollywood in strict manners. It was pleasing and interesting throughout the narrative and it was also shockingly acceptable in the climax when we realise the importance of Army Training. Now how much sense it made is a different topic to argue anyways because every brain has different definitions of Freedom and Independence that we have got. Nana Patekar as strict army officer is in sublime form and all his physical, endurance and training acts are real treat to watch. Rest of the cast don't get too much to show so i should say it's decent. Technically and cinematically there are few mistakes which are ignorable but some big falters in the writing must not be spared. This is the only thing which goes wrong with the film that it used the wrong objects to tell this overwhelming storyline. It should have came from a common man from the same dusty society rather than Decorated Army Officer. Overall, a Fantastic Social Drama.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest

the brilliance and the superb acting done by nana patekar is the show stealer here...have any one wondered almost every stunt was performed by himself, or its just me...,i m not very aged person just 26 and i saw this movie when i was just a little kid it made sense then and it made sense now....its not just a movie its a art...a mirror display the reality of us.We live in world we want to dress and look good, we want to live a good life, for that we step on and ignore so many things that happen besides us that are also important, it was so funny that in the end they decided to put him in a mental cell....he just fought for others sake

Granted my copy of the VCD print was horrible - but the movie in itself it phenomenal. The credible footage of commando training is awesome - and seeing Nana himself do some of the scenes seems unbelievable.

The final 15 minutes of the movie are to die for. His dialogue delivery is superb - as one might come to expect from a stalwart like Nana.

It was nice to see my old Regiment (Maratha Light Infantry) on film - we boys do kick a**! :-) I could find myself nodding with Nan's take on society... for it's the sad truth! A bitter pill we all need to realise.

I also found my self drawing parallels with this film and the major theme of Tom Clancy's excellent book "Without Remorse".

In any case, a deserving film to see. The print isn't great and there are some glaring editing gaffes - but it's a 1991 film, and the gaffes aren't so horrible that they stick out like sore thumbs. The flow is non-stop. The story solid.

Budgetary constraints are readily apparent - and as are certain scenes which seem contrived rather than believable (some scenes with the terrorists makes it seem like it is easier than it is). But one can write this off to keeping the theme simple to sell to the masses.

Watch this film - you won't regret it.

"And that's a soldier's word" :-)

Prahaar review :

Nana Patekar chose an unconventional subject for his directorial debut; Prahaar revolved around an army man whose favourite cadet is murdered in broad daylight by street goons who were extorting 'hafta' from his shop. The unfortunate incident makes him realise that the enemy within the country is as dangerous as the one across the border...

Being a perfectionist that he is, Nana actually took commando training before the filming started. Infact the film's first half is dedicated to the tough training his character imparts to the new recruits. "Mushkil waqt, commando saqt!!"; the training sequences are the highlight of Prahaar and I really enjoyed the way Patekar finds out which of his student had whistled at a passerby lady!!

Coming to the ladies, Patekar hired two divine beauties Dimple Kapadia and Madhuri Dixit and presented them without any makeup throughout the film. Dimple played a widow who is troubled by the neighborhood goons. She looked simply mesmerizing even in a white saree. Madhuri played the murdered cadet's fiancée who tries to cope over her personal loss. Ankush Mohite showed promise as the goonda extortionist whom Nana bumps off brutally in the end.

Prahaar was quite offbeat in approach though it was within the realms of commercial cinema. The movie wasn't a box office success appealing more to the younger urban generation. I still remember as school kids, we used to fight with each other reciting Nana's punchline "COME ON, KILL ME!!". Epic stuff, I tell ya.

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.