Producer :Romesh Taurani and Kumar S. Taurani
Director : Abbas-Mustan
*ing: Bobby Deol, Preity Zinta, Raakhee, Farida Jalal, Suresh Oberoi, Dalip Tahil, Sharat Saxena, Ashish Vidayarathi, Salim Ghouse, Johny Lever, and Special Appearance by Pankaj Dheeer
Music: Anu Malik

Released on : November 20, 1998

Reviewed by: Aniket Joshi
aniket@indolink.com

out of 
Soldier is not as quite as good as Abbas-Mustan’s earlier films Khiladi and Baazigar, however it’s a little better than their last offering, Daraar. Soldier is supposed to be a suspense thriller, but near interval one can already guess what the suspense is. The film has been made on a large scale, with about 70% being shot in Australia and New Zealand.

Vijay Malhotra (Pankaj Dheer) is an army officer in charge of safely transporting weapons from one place to another. A group of three corrupt army officers, Virender (Dalip Tahil), Pratap (Suresh Oberoi), Jaswant (Salim Ghouse), and a smuggler by the name of DK (you will have to watch the film to see which actor plays this character) murder Vijay Malhotra so they can continue smuggling weapons. Vijay is survived by his wife (Raakhee), his son, and Kapoor (Ashish Vidayarathi) who is his best friend.

Virender and his younger brother (Sharat Saxena) along with Pratap flee to Australia and smuggle weapons there to become tycoons. Jaswant and DK stay in India. Twenty years later we see Vicky (Bobby Deol) get a fax from Kapoor, who is now the Police Commissioner. Vicky is ordered to murder Jaswant, and he does. Then Vicky goes to Australia, and his mission there is to kill Pratap and Virender. In Australia, Vicky comes across Preity (Preity Zinta) who is Pratap’s daughter, and they both fall in love. Who is Vicky? Why is he killing all the baddies one by one? To find out, watch the film.

Bobby Deol performs well in the action and some comic scenes. He still needs to work on his emoting skills. He has improved his dialogue delivery a little bit, but he still has that dull look on his face sometimes. Preity Zinta is wonderful in the comic scenes in the first half, but all she gets to do in the second half is dance around. Dalip Tahil has done a good job with the bihari accent, but he is not as good as Amrish Puri in Koyla. Ashish Vidayarathi gives a good performance even though he has a short role.

The cinematography is excellent. The title song and “Mere Dil Jigar Se Guzri Hai…” are picturized beautifully. What the film lacks though is a stronger script and crisp editing. The songs interfere a lot, a couple should’ve been chopped off. Being a suspense thriller the film is supposed to keep you glued to your seat, this is what Soldier lacks. Only in the second half you get interested in the film because Vicky is murdering people and more secrets are revealed. Direction by Abbas-Mustan is ok, but can't lift the film above mediocre level.