Yamraaj

Producer & Director: Rajiv Babbar
*ing: Mithun Chakrovarti, Jackie Shroff, Mink Singh, Sneha,Gulshan Grover, Jack Gaud, Ashish Vidhyarthi, and Altaf Raja in Guest App.
Music: Anand Milind

Released on : July 31, 1998

Reviewed by: Tanmeet Kumar
tanmeet@indolink.com

outof 

Rajiv Babbar's Yamraaj:A Tale Of Greed is one enjoyable film. While most Mithun debacles are only worthyof a 4.5 or a 5 rating, Yamraaj actually ends up being a half decent film due to goodperformances, a decent plot line (which most Mithun movies lack), and awesome music.Yamraaj is a tale of greed. The film is about two thieves (Jackie and Mithun) who have adream to become the biggest dons of their city. They start working for the city's biggestyamraaj (Gulshan Grover), performing assassinations, robberies, etc. While Mithun has noproblem with killing and looting, Jackie's conscience starts to trouble him. One day, heassassinates an honest police officer named Hussain, who is bent on ending all crime inthe city. Wherever Jackie goes, he keeps envisioning Officer Hussain's face and cannottake the weight of the death on his conscience. He leaves his life of crime and tries tostart a new life with his lover (played by the sexy Mink). Mithun, in the meanwhile, takesover his boss' position and becomes the city's new yamraaj. He starts leading a rich lifewith his new love interest, a beautiful ex-hooker named Nisha (Sneha). Jackie pleads withMithun to reconsider his decision to be a criminal but Mithun, enamoured with his life ofcrime, refuses. Will Mithun return to a life of good, or will he continue to live a lifeof darkness?

Most of the readers are probably looking at my rating for this film and are wondering:"Is this guy an idiot or what? It's a MITHUN movie for god sakes". But I promiseyou, rent the film and you will be entertained. The movie is no award winner or evenworthy of any real critical acclaim (except for Mithun's brilliant performance) but is agreat action flick with great music and plenty of entertainment. The Jackie-Mink combo ishot. They look great together on screen. I can't wait for Rajiv Babbar's next film HarfanMaula with Jackie and Mink. This film is leagues ahead of Shapath (Mithun Chakrovarthi, Jackie Shroff, Ramya, andGuddi Maruthi), Rajiv Babbar's other Mithun-Jackie adventure and is much more entertainingthan Chandaal (Also with Mithun and Sneha). The direction is justaverage. Performances on the parts of Jackie and Mithun are good. Mithun is excellent andhis Bihari accent in the film puts Laloo Prasad's accent to shame. Jackie is good as theex-thief turned angel. Mink looks amazingly sexy and even acts well. Boy is she *grown up*since Dev Anand's Pyaar Ka Taraana and Gangster. She looks very nice. Snehadoes well as the dukhi prostitute. She looks very pretty. Imagine if she wasintroduced by a big name instead of Rajiv Babbar in Chandaal. She would have gone places.Instead, she's stuck in B grade cinema. She has many more releases with Mithun in thefuture, including the newly released comedy Do Numbri. So the audiencewill be seeing a lot of her smashing figure in future releases. The music is awesome.Altaf Raja's Hum Hai Aise Chor is the best song from the movieand he has a special appearance in the song. The song sequence is well done. Otherfantastic tunes from the movie are Ude Ude Hain Hosh and BalleBalle Ho Gayi. The plot has some holes but the movie is still entertaining.Don't believe me now but when you watch the movie, you may agree. It's not Yugpurush or Satyabut it's still a time pass film. It's watchable, which is not a quality that most Mithunfilms have. Hats off to Mithun for FINALLY making a half decent film.

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