Ghulam-E-Musthafa

Good watch. Very convincing acting. Good watch. Very convincing acting Good watch. Very convincing acting

The title "Ghulam-E-Musthafa" translates into "slave of God," and this epic study of one man's inner struggle with his violent upbringing versus his devout religious beliefs, is truly something to behold. Musthafa, as a young street orphan, is adopted by a political crime boss, whom the boy calls Abba, or "father." The Muslim youth is trained to be a killer, and grows into a quiet, lonely man who knows little more than killing, and prayer. A volatile mix, and when a chance encounter with a beautiful nightclub dancer awakens human emotion in Musthafa, he is forced to re-think his life, and how Allah expects him to live. When a car bomb, planted by a rival crime family, takes the life of his woman, Musthafa takes it as a sign from God, and sets about changing his ways. But not before a deliriously stylish and violent revenge is carried out on the men who took the life of his beloved. As with many Bollywood films, "Ghulam-e-Mustapha" is rich with many different genres. Powerful drama, political espionage, and romance go hand in hand with comedy, brutal violence, and... musical numbers! However don't expect a light, sugar-coated film here; this is some serious stuff indeed, and the few music set pieces are cleverly integrated into the film without sacrificing authenticity; those segments are either nightclub performances or fantasy scenes, and the actors don't break out in song, rather the songs are there as a backdrop. The first portion of the film introduces us to the highly developed characters, and sets up the events to come. the second portion, when Musthafa moves into the home of a proud Hindu family, and the struggle that develops over religious beliefs and customs, is both fitfully funny and profoundly touching, and the final portion features some surprising violence, and a shocking ending that you will never forget. This one will be quite a discovery for fans of great, if obscure cinema, and it's topic of Islam is quite timely now. In fact 'Ghulam' serves as a beautiful example, and sheds light on the most misunderstood religion on Earth, by portraying a deeply sympathetic Muslim male, who has a profound love and respect for the lives of others, regardless of religion. In the tradition of DePalma's "Scarface," "Ghulam-e-Musthafa" is an epic tale of violence, power, greed, and redemption.

This is a story of a Muslim man, named Ghulam-e Mustafa, who was raised as the right hand of a political mafia boss. He maintains his boss' orders and at the same time his religion. A bar dancer loses her mother and gets involved with him. When both fall in love with each other, an unexpected event shatters everything. Lonely Mustafa leaves his past behind and takes shelter in a Hindu family's home. Only to protect their daughter from evil. Thus situation forces him to take the last job which leads to an unexpected tragedy.

None other than Nana Patekar can do better as Mustafa. He is irreplaceable in some of his movies like Prahaar, Krantiveer, Agni Sakshi, and this one.

The song, tera ghum mera ghum ek jaisa sanam, is very good.

Direction, editing, and writing (despite some mistakes) are very good. Especially the dialogues.

I have watched its advertisement, now we called it a trailer, on various channels of that time in 1997. When I was in class 5. A little boy. From that time to till yesterday, I have seen this movie more than 4-5 times. But yesterday's watch reminds me of one thing about the relationship between the two religious people in India, Hindus, and Muslims. This movie influence people maintaining a good relation with other religion people, especially Hindus and Muslims. On the other hand, there is a movie named The Kashmir Files, which only teach Hindus how to hate Muslims. So you've to decide, on which side you are.

This is one of Nana's best films ever. If you like Nana Patekar then you should not miss GEM.

The story is about a hit-man who goes to any lengths to please his superiors, but soon finds that his activities have begun to affect his near and dear ones too, and he probably will have to change for the better.

The acting on Nana's art is the most outstanding thing - no one beats him really. The songs are good but all have a minor scale tone in them, the storyline is good, some action scenes are cool, and so are Nana's dialogs.

Hard to find a movie like this nowadays

Ghulam-E-Musthafa review :

Coming after the super success of Agnisakshi (1996), director Parto Ghosh and Nana Patekar teamed up for Ghulam-E-Musthafa, an underworld thriller with a family touch. Nana was outstanding as the kind hearted Muslim goon who protects a Hindu family of Shivaji Satam and Aruna Irani. Even the charming Raveena Tandon impressed in a small role of a bar dancer who falls in love with Nana. Their chemistry was quite crackling despite the age gap.

The film was titled Musthafa first after Nana Patekar's character but certain Muslim groups raised objections to it after which the makers added "Ghulam-E" to the title and made everyone happy!!

Though the movie revolves around the underworld nexus with politicians, it is essentially a family drama at its core and the scenes where Nana Patekar stays and interacts with the Hindu Brahmin family are truly endearing. Nana refusing the non-vegetarian food sent for him in order to respect the sentiments of the Brahmin family is another striking moment. "Yeh meetha danda hai. Isse khaa sakte ho aur khaa bhi sakte ho. Kaise khana hai soch lo!" was a solid punchline.

Despite being a watch-worthy film, Ghulam-E-Musthafa turned a box office flop as the audience preferred Yash Chopra's candy floss Dil To Pagal Hai and Sunil Shetty's surprise success Bhai which released on same day. In my opinion, Ghulam-E-Musthafa would've worked well as a solo release instead of clashing with these two movies. Sometimes going solo is the best plan of action!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.