Criminal (1994 film)
Criminal is a 1994 Indian action thriller film directed by Mahesh Bhatt, starring Nagarjuna, Ramya Krishna and Manisha Koirala. Shot simultaneously in Telugu and Hindi languages, the film is produced by K. S. Rama Rao under the Creative Commercials banner in Telugu, and by Mukesh Bhatt under the Vishesh Films banner in Hindi with the music composed by M. M. Keeravani (credited as MM Kreem in Hindi). The film is inspired by the American film, "The Fugitive" (1993). The Telugu version is released on 14 October 1994, while the Hindi version is released on 21 July 1995 . This is the last film of the Hindi film actor Ajit Khan. Plot. After witnessing the unfortunate death of a woman, who was unable to afford hospital treatment, Dr. Ajay Kumar cancels his planned immigration to the U.S. and instead sets out to develop a plan to open a hospital that will be accessible to people who cannot afford treatment in regular hospitals, called "Amma Hospital". This draws quite a lot of attention, and he becomes popular, especially with two young women, Dr. Swetha and ACP Ramya. He falls in love with Swetha, and both get married, breaking Ramya 's heart in the process. Shortly thereafter, much to their delight, Swetha becomes pregnant. When Swetha discovers a frightening organ-smuggling operation in her hospital while going through a friend's diagnostic report, she calls Ramya. Soon after, Swetha is attacked by a killer and rings the police. Ajay enters their home to find Swetha, who soon succumbs to her injuries. The police arrive to find her dead body and arrest Ajay for murder. They deduce that Ajay's motive for killing Swetha was money, as Swetha was a wealthy heiress. Furthermore, she shouted Ajay's name as she was  on the phone with the police. The court finds Ajay guilty, and he is sentenced to death. While being transported to the jail for the sentence to be carried out, the police bus meets with an accident as the other prisoners have staged a riot. Ajay escapes and changes his appearance. The police launch a manhunt for him but are unable to catch him. Ajay goes to Ramya's house to prove his innocence. Meanwhile, he used to know Ramya had a crush on him. Ajay catches the real killer and discovers the man behind everything - including the smuggling - was  Ajay's friend Dr. Pratap. Finally, he reopens the hospital and puts garland on Swetha's picture. He and Ramya remain as friends. Cast. Hindi version. The lead cast and the characters portrayed by Grover, Nassar, Babu, Subramanyam, Kanakala, Visweswara Rao, Husain, and Jenny were retained from the Telugu version in the Hindi version. Trishna performed an item number in both versions. Soundtrack. All the music is composed by M. M. Keeravani. The track Telusaa Manasa/Tum Mile is inspired by the song "Age of Loneliness" by the German group Enigma. K. S. Chithra recreated the same humming for all  the versions, for which she practised for four days to sing it perfectly and making the song an evergreen hit. The song "Keemti Keemti" is copied from "Lonely,Lonely,Monday" by The Snow. Hindi Version. Hindi lyrics were written by Indeevar. Original audio was released on HMV audio. Release and reception. Alluru Rahim of "Zamin Ryot", reviewing the Telugu version of the film on 21 October 1994, described it as "the film which drives the audience out the theatres ["sic"]." While appreciating the Nagarjuna's performance and the soundtrack by Keeravani, Rahim opined that the film lacked good story and  screenplay. After the film's success, it was later dubbed and released in Tamil as "Ellame En Kadhali". K. Vijayan reviewing the Tamil dubbed version for "New Straits Times" on 3 July 1995, opined that Bhatt had made a faithful remake of "The Fugitive" (1993).