Insaniyat Ke Dushman review:
The first week of the year is considered a jinx in Bollywood as most films released on that friday have invariably tanked at the box office. The one movie which broke this so called jinx was Raj Kumar Kohli's multistarrer rape revenge actioner Insaniyat Ke Dushman which released on 2nd January 1987 and became one of the biggest hits of that year.
Kohli, known for his multi cast actioners particularly Nagin (1976) and Jaani Dushman (1979), delivered his last superhit with this one and then went downhill launching and re-launching his son Armaan Kohli in multiple duds throughout the '90s.
Insaniyat Ke Dushman had an ensemble cast comprising Dharmendra, Shatrughan Sinha, Raj Babbar, Dimple Kapadia, Anita Raj, debutant Sumeet Saigal and Smita Patil (in a cameo). The plot, revolving around Babbar's sister Anita who is raped by Shakti Kapoor and driven to suicide by the defence lawyer Shatru, offered nothing new in terms of content. In fact, the movie trivialised a serious crime like rape and offered raping your enemy's sister as a solution to get even. Truly terrible!!
Raj Babbar got the better role amongst all which was similar to his Aaj Ki Awaz (1984) playing the tormentor of villains Shakti Kapoor and Amjad Khan. He keeps torturing Shakti but somehow he is saved everytime and then the camera pans closer to Kapoor and he sighs in relief "Bach gaya"!! This is repeated multiple times..providing the unintentional hilarity to the proceedings.
Insaniyat Ke Dushman had all the excesses associated with the '80s - Over the top courtroom sequences, loud dialogues akin to a yell and the mandatory rape scene picturised in a cringe manner here using some tech gadgets to pin Anita on the wall before Shakti satisfies his lust for her. Almost every actor was in a ham mode perfectly in sync with the mood of the film.
This was Dharmendra's first release of 1987. A year which belonged to him. After this super hit, Dharam went on to give eight more hits that year including Loha, Aag Hi Aag, Dadagiri, Hukumat, Watan Ke Rakhwale, Mard Ki Zabaan and Insaf Ki Pukar. And trust me, most of these hits had the same revenge action we saw in Insaniyat Ke Dushman. '80s ka masala bro!!
Regards,
Sumeet Nadkarni.
