Yugandhar review:
A lesser known and underrated dacoit drama; Yugandhar was directed by 'Tezaab' director N. Chandra and featured Mithun Chakraborty in one of the finest performances of his career. He played an aam villager called Krishna who has no choice but to turn dacoit after an unscrupulous foreign returned thakur (Mangal Dhillon) usurps the entire village land in connivance with the district collector (Dilip Tahil), opportunist zamindar (Paresh Rawal) and top cop (Kiran Kumar).
N. Chandra's landscape shots and crowd scenes were spectacular to watch. The Rajasthan locales were amazingly captured on celluloid. The ever charming Sangeeta Bijlani was cast as Paresh Rawal's daughter who loves Krishna and then rebels to become his accomplice cum wife. Johnny Lever got a meaty role and even a fight scene with Mithunda. Kabir Bedi was gracious as the kind hearted army man on duty. Om Shivpuri's voice as the Police Commissioner was dubbed after his death.
On the flipside, the film was overlong especially the song sequences. Laxmikant Pyarelal had composed amazing score for Chandra's Tezaab (1988) and Narsimha (1991) but the songs of Yugandhar were below average except for the 'Krishna aayega' number which had thoughtful lyrics. There was one more innovatively executed song where Mithun da challenges the proposal of Mangal Dhillon to buy the farm land. It was one of a kind concept but again, the tune was quite ordinary!! Another sore point was Mangal Dhillon's casting as the main villain and ideally, Kiran Kumar should have done that role.
Nevertheless, Yugandhar had many positive things going for it including a massive hype and was expected to be another blockbuster like Tezaab!! Unfortunately, it released in the first week of January 1993 right in midst of the communal riots which rocked India (particularly the all important Mumbai territory) after Babri Masjid demolition. Most of Mumbai was under curfew that time which severely impacted the film's box office prospects and it was declared a box office flop even with its tax free status in many states.
Today, Chandra is known for Ankush (1986), Pratighaat (1987) and Tezaab (1988). Yugandhar had the potential to enter that success list but alas..!!
Regards,
Sumeet Nadkarni.
