Criminal (1994)

Criminal: Directed by Mahesh Bhatt. With Nagarjuna Akkineni, Manisha Koirala, Ramya Krishnan, Laxmikant Berde. After witnessing the sudden death of a woman, who was unable to afford hospital treatment, Dr. Ajay Kumar cancels his immigration to America and instead sets out to build a hospital that will cater to people who cannot afford treatment. Soon a hospital is built and is named “Amma People’s Hospital”. This attracts everyone’s attention, and he becomes popular, especially with two women, Shweta and Sub-Inspector Ramya, and decides to marry Shweta. Shortly after Shweta gets pregnant, Ramya gets a distress call from her, claiming that she is being attacked by “Ajay”. The police arrive to find her dead body and arrest Ajay for murder. Ajay’s motive for killing her was monetary, as she is a wealthy heiress, and he is convicted and sentenced to death. While being transported to prison, the police van meets with an accident and Ajay escapes. With the police hot on his tail, he secretly meets with Ramya and tells her that he did not kill Shweta, and wants her help to catch the real killer. Will Ramya assist him, or conclude that he is using her to escape the death penalty?

“For starters, this is a copy of the 1993 Harrison Ford/Tommy Lee Jones starer Fugitive.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe plot is basically the same, the first half drags on with the love story which is made unnecessarily boring with a triangle sub-plot and some typical couple dance numbers.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003ethe movie gains pace in the second half, and the acting by Nagarjuna/Ramya is quite good. Background score is super and haunting and personally my favourite part of the movie. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOverall, its a decent flick.. Fugitive thriller plot + bollywood mirch masala of love triangle and songs.”