Rakshak

Plot

Raghavan alias Raghu (Raghuvaran) has been ignored and demeaned all his life. He decides to teach the world a lesson, by printing the best ever fake currency notes. This does get him some conditional recognition by a gangster named Bardha (Pramod Moutho). But Raghavan's goal is much higher than getting some recognition, and his plans materialize when he is able to get Bardha killed, and takes over as the unchallenged leader of the underworld. Raghavan decides to put a temporary halt to all criminal operations when he comes to know that his brother-in-law, Asst. Superintendent of Police, Raj Sinha (Sunil Shetty), along with his wife, Suman (Karisma Kapoor), her mother (Aruna Irani), and his young son, Bunty, are coming for a visit. Raghavan's instructions are not followed, and Raj realizes that Raghavan is the head of the crime syndicate. Raghavan then decides to use his position and abducts Suman, her mother, and Bunty, and uses them as a shield against Raj. But Raj is bent upon capturing Raghavan by any means possible, and as a result, Suman and her mother are killed. Now the only one left alive from Sinha family is Bunty, but if Raj continues to pursue Raghavan, it does not look like Bunty will be alive for very long. Raj's revenge against Raghavan forms the crux of the film.

The movie has action scenes lifted from ' Hard Target' and 'Hard to Kill'.

Cast

Soundtrack

After average success with the movie Anth (which did good business at the box-office), producer-director Ashok Honda again employed music directors Anand-Milind for Rakshak. Lyricist Sameer (lyricist) was also re-hired, but for only one song (Kuchi Kuchi). New lyricist Deepak Chowdhary wrote the remaining songs. With almost no expectations from the music of a Sunil Shetty starrer, the music of Rakshak arrived rather quietly on the stands. But the moment Shahar Ki Ladki hit the TV channels, the song caught on with youthful listeners and the music topped the charts. Kuchi Kuchi was another song that soon climbed the charts. With this new interest in the film's music, Ashok Honda picturised another song Sundara Sundara. The music of Rakshak topped the charts for several weeks and Shahar Ki Ladki and Sundara Sundara still enjoy popularity.

Awards

For this film, choreographers, Chinni Prakash and Rekha Prakash, won the Filmfare Award for Best Choreography for the song "Shehar Ki Ladki" at the Filmfare Awards 1997.

Reception

This movie was a hit at the Box Office. This Movie was a direct remake of the Tamil film Honest Raj (1994) starring Vijayakanth. This movie was a remake of the 1990 movie, Hard to Kill starring Steven Seagal. A few action scenes were also directly taken from the 1993 Jean-Claude Van Damme's movie Hard Target.