# Ghatak: Lethal

Ghatak: Lethal is an Indian 1996 Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, starring Sunny Deol, Meenakshi Seshadri, Amrish Puri, and Danny Denzongpa. It earned 32 crore India Nett at the domestic box office to become the highest-grossing Bollywood film in terms of domestic Box office collection and 2nd highest grossing overall in terms of worldwide collection that year, and won three awards including Best Supporting Actor for Puri at the 42nd Filmfare Awards, where it was also nominated for three other awards: Best Director for Santoshi, Best Actor for Deol, and Best Villain for Denzongpa. Ghatak is Seshadri's last film to date. The film was later remade in Telugu as Aapthudu (2004) starring Rajasekhar and Anjala Zaveri. The film's dialogues emerged as a cult over the years.

## Plot

Kashi Nath is a kind-hearted wrestler and the dutiful adopted son of Shambhu Nath, living in Banaras. Shambhu Nath, who was a freedom fighter awarded with the Tambra Patra, is an honourable and respectable man in town. Kashi, along with Shambhu, comes to Mumbai for medical treatment for Shambhu and stays with his brother, Shiv Nath. Kashi meets Gauri in the colony and starts liking her. He learns that the colony is being terrorized by the tyrannical gangster, Katya, along with his six brothers. Before Kashi's arrival, a resident named Sachdev tried to initiate a revolt against Katya, but got ruthlessly killed by him, thereby making Malti, Sachdev's wife, go mad. Katya and his brothers become enemies with Kashi when he beats up their goons in the process of roughing up Malti.
Shambhu is later diagnosed with terminal throat cancer and only has a few days to live. When Kashi refuses to join Katya's gang, Katya becomes furious and humiliates Shambhu before the entire colony, by making him bark like a dog. After a series of dramatic events, Shiv is run over to death by Jeena, one of Katya's brothers. In retaliation, Kashi then kills Antya, another one of Katya's brothers, and gets arrested. Meanwhile, Shambhu passes away. When Kashi tries to disperse his father's ashes at the Ghat with the police, the police van gets attacked by Katya's brothers and goons. Kashi kills all of them, including Katya's three brothers, and reaches Katya's home. There he kills Jeena, thereby causing only two brothers to survive, including Katya; however, Kashi is captured in the process.
As Katya had Shambhu bark like a dog, he tries to make Kashi behave like an ox in front of the colony, to re-establish his supremacy. Gauri however stands up, arousing the audience to attack as well. Kashi frees himself from the shackles and beats Katya to death. Katya's entire gang is attacked by the residents. Katya's sixth and the last remaining brother, Bhiku, is killed by the mob. For retribution, Kashi makes Katya bark like a dog just like Shambhu. He then kills him in front of the residents, but loses control over himself as he keeps beating Katya's corpse. His nephew then brings him Shambhu's ashes from crematory rites which brings him back to senses. The ending is a bittersweet one, where Kashi loses every one he loved, but the colony has its freedom at last.

## Cast

| Actor | Character | Role | Notes |
| Sunny Deol | Kashi Nath | Wrestler from Benaras | |
| Meenakshi Seshadri | Gauri | | |
| Danny Denzongpa | Katya | Main Antagonist | |
| K. K. Raina | Shivnath | Elder Brother and Sister in Law of Kashinaath | Shop Owner |
| Sheela Sharma | Sheela | Elder Brother and Sister in Law of Kashinaath | |
| Om Puri | Sachdev | Shop Owners | Special Appearance |
| Viju Khote | | Shop Owners | |
| Anjan Srivastav | | Shop Owners | |
| Suresh Bhagwat | Gopal | Shop Owners | |
| Deep Dhillon | Antya | Brothers of Katya | |
| Mukesh Rishi | Jeena | Brothers of Katya | |
| Tinu Verma | Bhiku | Brothers of Katya | |
| Harish Patel | | Brother- In- Law of Katya | |
| Amrish Puri | | Shambu Nath | Kashi's Father |
| Ponnambalam | Akram Khan Pakhtuni | Ring Fighter | Special Appearance |
| Makrand Deshpande | | Goon of Katya | |
| Ila Arun | Malti | Wife of Sachdev | |
| Navni Parihar | | Elder Sister and Brother- In- law of Gauri | |
| Shiva Rindani | Chandru | Elder Sister and Brother- In- law of Gauri | |
| Tinnu Anand | | Police Inspector | Husband and Wife |
| Rohini Hattangadi | Savitri | | Husband and Wife |
| Ahmed Khan | | Doctor | Hospital Staff |
| Ghanashyam Nayak | | Receptionist | Hospital Staff |
| Santosh Gupta | | Ward Boy | Hospital Staff |
| Madhav Moghe | | Taxi Driver |
| Amitabh Bachchan | Himself | Friendly Appearance | |
| Atul Tiwari | Batuk/Munna | Friendly Appearance | |
| Mamta Kulkarni | | Special Appearances and Dancers in the Song "Koi Aaye Toh le Jaye" | |
| Ganesh Acharya | | Special Appearances and Dancers in the Song "Koi Aaye Toh le Jaye" | |

## Production

Kamal Haasan was originally signed to play the lead role and an advertisement was commissioned to appear in Screen magazine noting "Welcome back to the Hindi screen", pointing at the actor's return to Hindi films after 1985's Dekha Pyaar Tumhara. However, due to no producer willing to back the actor in the film, Rajkumar Santoshi changed the star cast.

## Soundtrack

The music for the movie was mainly composed by R. D. Burman. The song "Koi Jaye To Le Aaye" was the only song composed by Anu Malik, and it became popular.
| # | Song | Singer(s) | Length | Music Director | Lyricist |
| 1 | "Koi Jaye To Le Aaye" | Alka Yagnik, Shankar Mahadevan | 04:09 | Anu Malik | Rahat Indori |
| 2 | "Nigahon Ne Chheda" | Suresh Wadkar, Sadhana Sargam | 06:24 | R.D. Burman | Majrooh Sultanpuri |
| 3 | "Badan Mein Chandni" | Kavita Krishnamurthy | 05:55 | R.D. Burman | Majrooh Sultanpuri |
| 4 | "Aaki Naaki" | Asha Bhosle | 08:57 | R.D. Burman | Majrooh Sultanpuri |
| 5 | "Ek Dil Ki Diwani" | Suresh Wadkar, Sadhana Sargam | 07:29 | R.D. Burman | Majrooh Sultanpuri |
| 6 | "Theme of Ghatak" (Instrumental) | shadmehr aghili | 02:28 |

## Box office

The film was made at a budget of Rs. 62.5 million, did collections of Rs. 327 million India Nett.

## Awards
### 42nd Filmfare Awards

Won
* Best Supporting Actor – Amrish Puri
* Best Screenplay – Rajkumar Santoshi
* Best Editing – V. N. Mayekar
Nominated
* Best Director – Rajkumar Santoshi
* Best Actor – Sunny Deol
* Best Villain – Danny Denzongpa
Screen Awards:
Won
* Best Supporting Actor – Amrish Puri