An oasis in the desert or a repentant sinner. This film, undoubtedly, can be ranked among the best films, in which the main role was played by Nana Patekar, and one of his most powerful and rare roles. This is also one of the best works of director Parto Ghosh.
I've known about this movie for many years, about 20 years. I've seen it on Indian film tapes, but I haven't seen it on discs. But, it was never possible to watch, and in fact it was even voiced at that time, still by the studio Elegy film, only in Russia it is almost unknown (like other films of Nana Patekhar, those years). And then yesterday, after flipping through the list of films to watch, I checked this movie again. And luckily, I found him. And of course, I immediately rushed to watch it. I’ve been waiting for this movie for so many years, but it’s not in vain.
The film is very emotional and very touching. The title "Gulam-i-Mustafa" translates as "Servant of God", and this epic exploration of one man's inner struggle against his violent upbringing, against his devout religious beliefs is indeed something worth seeing. Mustafa, a small street orphan, is adopted by a political criminal authority whom the boy calls “Abba” or “father.” He learns to be a murderer and grows into a quiet, lonely man who knows little but murder and prayer. And when a chance meeting with a beautiful nightclub dancer awakens human emotions in Mustafa, he is forced to rethink his life. He is the henchman and right-hand man of Shanta Prasad (known as Abba among his people and in the underworld). Abba adopted and raised him, and therefore Mustafa feels indebted to him for life, doing whatever he wants without thinking about the consequences.
He meets the dancer Kavita, and for the first time in his life, his heart is illuminated by love. Kavita reciprocates him, despite knowing everything about his past, present and, of course, future, without any regrets. His death was a revelation to him. Mustafa understands that the violence he has been involved in for many years in the name of Abba's work, considering it his duty, is nothing more than a blatantly useless and reprehensible phenomenon that has made him guilty of taking innocent lives. The pain of losing a loved one and the deep grief of Mustafa make him empathize with the pain of his own victims. The completely changed Mustafa leaves the path of violence and the home of Abba. Abba loves him so much that he is aware of all the pain and the subsequent change in him and therefore allows him to go his new way.
Now Mustafa is finding his way to the home of Dayananda Dikshita, an honest government official who is unreasonably trapped by an anti-corruption officer and sentenced to prison, which has led to the plight of his family supporting his wife, son and daughter.
Mustafa is a film in which Nana Patekar shows the depth of her acting talent. He is an actor by and large, and this role demonstrates why he has such a huge crowd of fans.
Ravina Tandon as Kavita is very charming and impressive (although initially this role was offered Juhi Chawla, but she turned it down due to the workload and the main role in another film). Ravina did a good job, despite the fact that she has a small role.
The supporting cast also did a great job, including the villains. Paresh Raval played a criminal, mentor Nana, who loves him with all his heart. Paresh-ji once again proved that he is a very versatile actor, able to breathe life into any type of positive or negative character. In "Mustafa" the character of Paresh is neither positive nor completely negative, it is a character with gray shades, whose activity is contradictory, but quite logical.
Among other actors, special mention should be made of Shivaji Satam as Dayananda Diksita and Aruna Irani as his wife Bhagyalakshmi Diksit, who played their roles with the highest level of sensitivity and naturalness.
The music is not very good, but very touching. Very melodic and meaningful . Lovers of emotional songs should definitely listen "Tera Gham, Mera Gham, Ek Jaisa Sanam"
The film shows that anyone can be a good person or become a good person. Like many Bollywood films, this film is rich in many different genres. Powerful drama, political espionage and romance go hand in hand with comedy, violent violence and... musical numbers!
This will be a real discovery for lovers of great, albeit little-known cinema, and the topic of Islam is very relevant. In fact, the film serves as a perfect example and sheds light on the most misunderstood religion on Earth, portraying a deeply sympathetic Muslim man who has a deep love and respect for the lives of others, regardless of religion. "Mustafa" - is an epic story of violence, power, greed and redemption.
10 out of 10