Meri Jung

Meri Jung
Poster
Directed by	Subhash Ghai
Written by	Javed Akhtar
Produced by	N. N. Sippy
Starring	Nutan Anil Kapoor Meenakshi Seshadri Amrish Puri Javed Jaffrey
Music by	Laxmikant–Pyarelal
Production company	N. N. Sippy Productions
Release date	11 August 1985 (1985-08-11)
Running time	167 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Meri Jung (transl. My War) is a 1985 Indian Hindi-language legal drama film produced by N. N. Sippy and directed by Subhash Ghai. The film stars Nutan, Anil Kapoor, Meenakshi Seshadri, Amrish Puri, Javed Jaffrey (in his debut film), A. K. Hangal, Iftekhar, Khushbu and Parikshit Sahni. The film's music was by Laxmikant-Pyarelal and lyrics were by Anand Bakshi. The film was a box office success.^[1][2] Puri won Best Supporting Actor and Nutan won Best supporting actress.^[3]

Plot

The story follows Arun Verma, an 8-year-old boy, who lives with his 5-year-old sister Komal and their parents in a lower-middle-class family. They share a peaceful life until Arun's father is wrongfully convicted of murder. Despite his innocence, he is found guilty by the ruthless lawyer G. D. Thakral and is sentenced to death. Arun's mother, devastated by her husband's execution, suffers a mental breakdown and is placed in a mental institution. On the other hand, the lawyer in defense of Arun's father realizes that Thakral knew his innocence yet manipulated the law for his own gains. Arun's house and all his property are auctioned off by the court. Filled with anger and a desire for revenge, Arun then grows up to become a successful defense lawyer with the singular goal of defeating Thakral in court.

Years later, Arun is approached by Geeta Srivatsav to defend her sister, Dr. Asha Mathur, who is accused of causing a patient's death with a poisoned medicine while on duty. Arun is initially hesitant, but a reminder of his own mother's plight convinces him to take on the case. While in police custody, Asha reveals while on her way to the hospital, somebody replaced the medicine bottle from her purse with a look-alike bottle of poison, resulting in the patient's death. Arun then meets her husband, Dr. Dinesh Mathur, who reveals that the poison would result in death within 2 to 15 minutes, depending on the body's resistance. During the trial, Arun exposes the truth by drinking the medicine in court, proving it was not the cause of death. It is then revealed that the medicine which he drank contained poison. Asha is acquitted and Arun narrowly escapes death.

Arun and Geeta fall in love, but their happiness is short-lived when Thakral's son, Vikram Thakral, attempts to harm Geeta. Arun and Vikram's rivalry escalates into a physical confrontation. Meanwhile, Arun discovers that the piano in Dr. Mathur's house once belonged to his father, stirring memories of his past. He also learns that his mother, who is Dr. Mathur's patient, is alive and brings her home, where she slowly recovers her memory.

Vikram, seeking revenge against Arun, manipulates Komal, who is studying at the same college, into falling for him, intending to publicly humiliate Arun. However, when Vikram's ex-girlfriend reveals his intentions to Komal, an altercation ensues, and Vikram kills her, witnessed by Dr. Mathur's family. Arun sees this as an opportunity to bring Thakral to justice and steps in as the prosecutor against Thakral, who is defending his son. As the trial progresses, Thakral resorts to kidnapping Arun's mother to force him into backing down. However, Arun manages to save his mother despite being attacked by Thakral's goons. In a final confrontation, Thakral accidentally shoots his own associate's son while trying to kill Arun. Vikram is sentenced to death, and Thakral becomes mentally unstable. The film concludes with Arun and his family finally reuniting, having achieved justice and peace.

Cast

Actor/actress	Name	Character	Notes
Nutan	Aarti Verma
Anil Kapoor	Arun Verma	Defence Lawyer	Son of Aarti Verma
Meenakshi Seshadri	Geeta Srivastav	Sister of Asha Mathur
Javed Jaffrey	Vikram Thakral	Son of G.D Thakral
Khushbu	Komal Verma	Arun's Sister
Girish Karnad	Deepak Verma	Husband of Aarti Verma
Amrish Puri	G. D. Thakral	Public Prosecutor	Senior Lawyers
A. K. Hangal	Gupta	Defence
Rabia Amin	Indu Gupta,	Advocate Gupta Daughter
Viju Khote		Arun Verma Assistant
Beena Banerjee	Asha Mathur	Doctors
Parikshit Sahni	Dinesh Mathur
Kamal Kapoor	Dhaaga sahab	Smuggler
Iftekhar	Mr. Garewal	Public Prosecutors (lawyers)(Special Appearances)
Pradeep Rawat	Rawat
Sudhir	Bhosale	Police Inspector
Rajan Haksar	Oberoi	(Special Appearance)
Subhash Ghai	Subhash Ghai	Himself as Special Appearance in the Song "Bol Baby Bol"

Soundtrack

Music was composed by Laxmikant–Pyarelal and lyrics were penned by Anand Bakshi.

Song	Singer
"Zindagi Har Kadam Ek Nayi Jung Hai" – 1	Lata Mangeshkar, Nitin Mukesh
"Zindagi Har Kadam Ek Nayi Jung Hai" – 2	Lata Mangeshkar, Shabbir Kumar
"Zindagi Har Kadam Ek Nayi Jung Hai" (Short)	Lata Mangeshkar
"Ae Mere Khwabon Ke Shehzade"	Anuradha Paudwal
"Jhoom Le, Jhoom Le"	Laxmikant Kudalkar, Subhash Ghai
"Bol Baby Bol, Rock-N-Roll, Mere Sang Dol, Duniya Hai Gol"	Kishore Kumar, Javed Jaffrey, S. Janaki

Remakes

Year	Title	Language	Ref.
1986	Vijrumbhana	Telugu	[4]
1987	Oru Thayin Sabhatham	Tamil	[5]
1989	Yuddha Kanda	Kannada	[4]

Awards

33rd Filmfare Awards:

Won

• Best Supporting Actor – Amrish Puri
• Best Supporting Actress – Nutan

Nominated

• Best Film – N. N. Sippy
• Best Director – Subhash Ghai
• Best Actor – Anil Kapoor
• Best Music Director – Laxmikant–Pyarelal
• Best Lyricist – Anand Bakshi for "Zindagi Har Kadam"

References

1. "'Meri Jung' changed my life: Anil Kapoor". Business Standard. IANS. 11 October 2018. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
2. "Happy birthday Anil Kapoor: The actor who has livened up decade after decade with his polished performances". The Indian Express. 24 December 2017. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
3. "Anil Kapoor Turns 60 Today. Here's A Flashback Of His 25 Best Performances Till Date". Scoopwhoop. 24 December 2016. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
4. Arunachalam, Param (2020). BollySwar: 1981–1990. Mavrix Infotech. p. 612. ISBN 9788193848227.
5. Krishnaswamy, N. (24 April 1987). "'Set' thinking". The Indian Express. p. 12. Retrieved 28 December 2018.

External links

• Meri Jung at IMDb