Baazi (lit. Gamble) is a 1995 Indian action thriller film directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar and starring Aamir Khan and Mamta Kulkarni.
Contents
Plot
The story opens with a group of people travelling in a bus. The bus is stopped on its way and a bunch of hooligans board the bus and create a nuisance when a man tricks them into getting off the bus. Later, the bus stops for a tea break and the hooligans arrive at the same time, when suddenly a passing convoy is attacked and the assassins try to kill the man inside one of the cars. The man, using his swiftness, foils the attack and manages to nab and arrest one of the attackers while killing a few others. Two of the gang members manage to escape the hotel.
This man is Inspector Amar Damjee Rathod (Aamir Khan) and the person in the car turns out to be Chief Minister Vishwasrao Chowdhury (Raza Murad), who was impressed with Amar and delegates to him the task of locating the people behind a multi-crore rupee international scandal to Amar. Amar promises to fulfill the job to the best of his ability.
It is shown that Chaubey (Paresh Rawal) was the one who committed the fraud and is trying to ensure that he is not caught, and hence he had asked the assassins to attack the CM. Amar tries to break the back of crime and this starts irritating Chaubey, who senses how close Amar is getting. Chaubey then frames Amar for the murder of the daughter of the Police Commissioner Mazumdar (Kulbhushan Kharbanda).
Amar, after a long fight with the head assassin Raghu, escapes prison along with several others. He then plots a scheme to go undercover as a woman to find the man behind all of this. He finds Chaubey and recognizes him as the man who killed both his parents. Eventually, Chaubey's assassins take everyone hostage in a 12-story tower in attempt to attack the CM once again, but Amar slowly but surely gets rid them all. As Chaubey tries to escape the scene via a helicopter on the terrace, Amar prevents him and eventually knocks him into a satellite dish, electrocuting Chaubey to death. Amar is congratulated by the CM and the Police Commissioner.
Cast
Aamir Khan as Inspector Amar Damjee Rathore / Miss Julie Braganza
Mamta Kulkarni as Sanjana Roy, journalist and Amar's love interest.
Paresh Rawal as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra Deputy CM Chaturvedi alias Chaubey
Ashish Vidyarthi as Shiva
Mukesh Rishi as Raghu
Avtar Gill as Sub Inspector Deshpande
Mushtaq Khan as Sub Inspector Jamdare
Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Commissioner of the Greater Mumbai Police Commissioner Mazumdar
Haidar Ali as Inspector Damjee Kunwar Singh Rathore, Amar's father.
Aparajita as Shanti Rathore, Amar's mother
Raza Murad as Chief Minister of Maharashtra Chief Minister Vishwasrao Chowdhury
Satish Shah as Editor Roy
Jaya Mathur as Anjali
Asrani as Hiranandani
Daya Shankar Pandey as Small Thief
Dinesh Anand as Deputy Chief Minister Chaturvedi's Nephew.
Kunickaa Sadanand as Shiva's girlfriend
Soundtrack
The music of the film was composed by Anu Malik. The lyrics were written by Majrooh Sultanpuri and Anwar Sagar.
Reception
Box office
The film grossed ₹88.05 million at box office.
Reviews
It received mixed reviews from critics, with an India Today reviewer at its release calling it "an ambitious collage of foreign films - Die Hard, Point Break, Rambo - that just doesn't work." Film director Satyajit Bhatkal, after calling it a "Die Hard remake", stated that "the masala created massive indigestion both critically and commercially."