Mohra
1994 · Directed by Rajiv Rai
Original language: Hindi
- action
- thriller
The story
Journalist Roma Singh is the daughter of a jailer. While taking a tour of the jail, she is molested by some of the inmates, and an inmate, Vishal Agnihotri comes to her assistance. She finds out that Vishal is in for four homicides, and decides to investigate further. She finds out, with the help of the owner of her publications, Jindal that Vishal was compelled to take the law in his own hands when the courts failed to punish the assailants of his sister and sweetheart. Soon, Vishal is released from prison, and begins to work for Jindal. It is then that he realizes that he has just walked from a walled prison, to an open prison, as the truth behind his release slowly but surely starts to dawn on him.
What it’s like
Glossy mid-1990s Bollywood gloss: saturated studio colour, sweeping crane shots, and a drenched monsoon romance that turns the screen into a rain-soaked, sun-washed dream. The prison sections run on bleak grey concrete and harsh overhead light, and the city scenes shift into bright, busy streets and polished interiors. Action arrives in loud, kinetic bursts of fistfights and gunfire, set against a score of big synth-tinged romantic songs and pounding chase cues. The rhythm is brisk and melodramatic, with emotional beats played broadly and a revenge-fuelled drive that keeps the energy high. Violence is frequent and stylised, with shootouts and beatings that land with cartoonish force rather than grit; sexual threat is raised but not shown, and there is no gore. The overall register is theatrical and earnest, with bold swings between tenderness and fury. It suits a rainy weekend afternoon or a comfort rewatch for viewers who enjoy big-hearted, music-heavy action, and fans of 1990s Hindi commercial cinema who want spectacle, romance and a hero driven by grief.
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