Soldier
Directed byAbbas–Mustan
Screenplay bySachin Bhowmick
Shyam Goel
Story byShyam Goel
Produced byKumar S. Taurani
Ramesh Taurani
StarringRaakhee
Bobby Deol
Preity Zinta
CinematographyThomas A. Xavier
Edited byHussain A. Burmawala
Music bySongs:
Anu Malik
Background Score:
Surinder Sodhi
Production
company
Distributed byTips Industries
Eros Entertainment
Release date
  • 20 November 1998 (1998-11-20)
Running time
155 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget₹8.25 crore[1]
Box office₹38.88 crore[1]

Soldier is a 1998 Indian Hindi-language action thriller directed by Abbas–Mustan starring Raakhee, Bobby Deol, Preity Zinta in lead roles. This was the first of several films between Abbas–Mustan and Deol.

Although Soldier was Zinta's first film, Mani Ratnam's Dil Se.. ended up being released before Soldier and was thus Zinta's Hindi film debut. Soldier was the first film in Abbas–Mustan's career which was not a Hollywood remake or adaptation.

According to film writer Shyam Goel, it was inspired by a real incident that happened in Punjab where a woman's forehead was branded with the message that her husband was a traitor. Her husband, a soldier, was accused of treachery, and she was thrown out of her village. The story was already made as a film in Tamil in 1989 titled Thaai Naadu, starring Sathyaraj in dual roles.

Soldier released on 20 November 1998 and was declared as a superhit by Box Office India, becoming the second highest-grossing film of the year in India after Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.[2]

At the 44th Filmfare Awards, Soldier received 5 nominations, including Best Director (Abbas–Mustan) and Best Supporting Actress (Raakhee), and won 2 awards, including Best Female Debut (Zinta, also for Dil Se..).

The film was remade in Dhallywood as Jamin Nai by Syed Harun starring Shabnur, Shakti Kapoor and Mizu Ahmed in 2000 and Tamil as Villu by Prabhu Deva starring Vijay & Nayanthara in 2009.[3][4]

Plot

In Barmer, 1978, corrupt Indian Army officials Pratap Singh, Virender Sinha, Baldev Sinha and Jaswant Dalal have been stealing arms and ammunition led by a mysterious man known only as DK. Major Vijay Malhotra, a competent and high-ranking soldier, catches them in the act but is murdered by DK.

20 years later, the Mumbai Police get a fax from the Australian Interpol branch regarding Jaswant, now a wanted illegal arms supplier. An operation to capture him is handed over to ACP Dinesh Kapoor, an old friend of the late Major Vijay Malhotra, who informs a mysterious man known as Vicky. He wants Vicky to intercept Jaswant and not let the police capture him. Vicky succeeds but when Jaswant tries to kill him, Vicky shoots him.

Vicky travels to Sydney using information from Dinesh and woos Pratap Singh's daughter, Preeti. After all these years, Pratap, Virender, and Baldev have become high-profile arms dealers and live in Australia. After hearing of Jaswant's death and DK's involvement, they worry about betrayal from one another as each of them have secret files that incriminates the entire group.

Vicky meets with Pratap, who identifies him as Jaswant's killer and proposes a way to help make him more powerful. Baldev and his son Jojo realize that Vicky's mother is none other than Virender's wife, Shanti. Vicky is welcomed into Virender's gang. Virender is ecstatic to reunite with his son and happier to learn that he is in love with Pratap's daughter. He wants to use this to his advantage and have Vicky retrieve Pratap's secret file. Vicky instead shoots his father dead and retrieves his secret file, with which he discovers who DK actually is. Vicky convinces Baldev that Pratap betrayed them and killed Virender. Baldev rallies all his henchmen to launch an attack on Pratap but they are killed by Pratap's men. It is revealed that Vicky was working with Pratap to eliminate Virender's gang.

Vicky then reveals to Pratap that he is not actually Virender's son. He used Shanti to get closer to Virender and did the same for Pratap by using Preeti. The reason for all this is because DK gave him a contract to kill not just Jaswant but all the other partners so that he can own 100% of their crime organization. Vicky says that because of Preeti, he will instead kill DK and make Pratap the king. Pratap agrees to go to India with Vicky to kill DK.

After overhearing this, Preeti reveals it to Shanti. Shanti acknowledges that Vicky is not her son and that she had masterminded the plan to kill her husband and his business partners, whose weapons had accidentally killed her own son, unbeknownst to Virender. She reveals that Vicky is actually Raju, the son of Vijay. After Vijay's death, he had been framed for the gang's crimes and labeled a traitor. He was stripped of all medals, and their community ostracized his wife, Geeta, and son Raju. The villagers prevented Vijay's body from being cremated and threw it in the desert, where it became lost in a sandstorm. Raju separated from his mother, who stayed at a temple while he was raised with Shanti. Raju had been seeking revenge and justice for his father, and upon learning everything, Preeti agrees to assist him.

Dinesh releases Jaswant, who is revealed to be alive and had been helping Raju to finish off Virender's gang. Raju arrives in Barmer with Pratap and takes him to his mother's temple. He reveals to a shocked Pratap that he is Vijay Malhotra's son. DK is revealed to be none other than Jaswant in disguise. Jaswant's henchmen overpower Raju and Dinesh. A sandstorm ensues and gives Raju an advantage to kill the henchmen. Pratap and Jaswant confess their crimes to the villagers brought by Preeti. The two are then left to be eaten alive by vultures. With his name cleared, Major Vijay Malhotra is declared a martyr and given an honorable memorial ceremony.

Cast

Soundtrack

Soldier
Soundtrack album by
Anu Malik
Released8 September 1998
GenreFeature film soundtrack
LabelTips Industries

The soundtrack was composed by Anu Malik and was a hit amongst the audience. It was a key point in the success of the film. The songs "Tera Rang Bale Bale", "Soldier Soldier", "Hum To Dil Chahen", "Mere Dil Jigar Se" and "Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aye" were chartbusters and the album was the third best-selling album of 1998 after Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Dil Se... Lyrics were penned by Sameer. The song "Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye" can easily be confused with a song of the same name from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995).

#TitleSinger(s)Length
1 "Soldier Soldier" Kumar Sanu & Alka Yagnik 06:13
2 "Tera Rang Balle Balle" Sonu Nigam & Jaspinder Narula 04:50
3 "Mehfil Mein Baar Baar" Kumar Sanu & Alka Yagnik 05:40
4 "Mere Dil Jigar Se" Kumar Sanu & Alka Yagnik 05:32
5 "Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aye" Alka Yagnik 04:23
6 "Meri Saanson Mein Samaye" Sonu Nigam 04:23
7 "Hum To Dil Chahe Tumhara" Kumar Sanu & Hema Sardesai 05:18
8 "Theme of Soldier (Instrumental)" 04:47

Reception

Khalid Mohamed gave Soldier 2 out of 5 stars, writing that it "leaves you feeling ever so much older and colder."[5] Madhur Mittal of The Tribune said that it "boasts of terrific production and technical values", calling it a "a taut thriller".[6]

Awards

44th Filmfare Awards:

winners

Nominated

References

  1. 1 2 "Soldier – Movie". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  2. ↑ "Box Office 1998". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2008.
  3. ↑ "Villu music: Only for Vijay fans". Archived from the original on 25 February 2023. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  4. ↑ "'Villu's like a Bond movie'". The Times of India. 7 January 2009.
  5. ↑ Mohamed, Khalid. "From Hair To Eternity". Filmfare. Times Group. Archived from the original on 2 October 1999.
  6. ↑ Mittal, Madhur (15 November 1998). "A salute to Soldier". The Tribune. Archived from the original on 28 April 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
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