Inspired by the 1974 Hollywood disaster film The Towering Inferno, the film released worldwide on 28 March 1980 and received mainly positive reviews from critics for the performances of the cast, the action sequences, and the music. Negative criticism was mainly directed towards its length. At the box office, the film earned ₹65 million[1] worldwide and performed moderately despite being the 7th highest-grossing film of 1980 due to its expensive budget. The film is widely regarded as a cult classic today.[4]
Plot
The film begins with three best friends Ashok, Vinod and Randhir. Ashok is the son of a wealthy businessman and is passionate about cars, whereas Vinod and Randhir are passionate about trains and grow up to become railway engineers. Their dream is to build the fastest-moving train in the country. Randhir is tetchy and wild and envies Vinod. Ashok falls for Seema and Vinod falls for Sheetal. Sheetal marries Vinod and gives birth to a boy, Raju.
One day Vinod, who is now a top notch railway engineer, gets awarded the contract to build a super-fast express train between New Delhi and Mumbai. Rakesh is his assistant. Randhir, the losing engineer and ex-lover of Sheetal swears revenge and leaves.
Tragedy strikes when Ashok gets the news that his father, Seth Dharmdas, committed suicide after losses in his business. Seema deceives him, and forlorn Ashok turns wanderer.
After six years of hard work, Vinod triumphs in building the train. This intense focus on his work takes a toll on his marriage. A day before the train's maiden journey, Sheetal tries to fetch Vinod for their anniversary party but he refuses, choosing to prepare for the train journey. An estranged Sheetal leaves Vinod with their son, Raju, on the train to go to her mother.
The train is set to cover the journey from Delhi to Bombay in 14 hours. Many passengers board from Delhi, including Raja Ram Mohan and his wife, Padmini; absconding smuggler Chander and his fiancée Razia with Inspector Ranveer in their chase them in a disguise; Major P. K. Bhandari, a Pandit Shambhunath; a Muslim Abdul Rahim; ticketless passengers; a schoolteacher with students; Rakesh's pregnant wife; Seema with her doctor cousin and Ashok who is confounded to see Seema; and above all, Ravi, a prowler tailing Madhu, is running from a forcible splice with the jewelry, and they crush.
Randhir escorts the train, seemingly meaning no harm, but later sabotages the vacuum brakes and sealthily plants a bomb in the engine room before leaving. Ashok also departs after checking on Seema, he encounters and accompanies Randhir when he divulges his gruesome plan. Forthwith, Ashok rushes and catches the train but it is too late. Halfway through, the bomb explodes killing the drivers and the caravan moves on without breaks. Panic-stricken Vinod and the Railway Board are desperately trying to save the passengers. Vinod successfully converses with the passengers via All India Radio and outlines how to apply emergency brakes. Hence, Ashok, Ravi, and the guard Usman Ali moved to the engine with the plucky endeavor.
Meanwhile, Rakesh's wife is in labor, so the doctor calls for hot water. Tragically, the petrified cook failed to switch off the gas which explodes. Whereat, Usman Ali and several passengers die but Ashok and Ravi barely make it back by erecting gaps between the compartments. Consequently, Ashok understands Seema's 'betrayal' as her disability had led to an amputation in a mishap, and they reconcile. Vinod makes plan B by sending a helicopter to land one on the engine, which Randhir successfully sabotages but seemingly forges his own death as the helicopter blasts.
Parallelly, Ravi divulges his identity to Madhu, but she still accepts him. Sheetal also returns to Vinod and boasts of his courage. At Bombay, Rakesh plans to build a steep incline to reduce the speed. Beyond, as an end-run, dauntless Vinod jeopardizes by arriving at the Super Express from one car to another with fireproof suits and dynamite. Soon, Vinod, Ashok and Ravi cross the fire where Randhir awaits, whom they stop. Here, Vinod detects that all systems will fail if Ashok's plan of blasting the couplings from the engine is carried out, and will pose a threat of derailinment, and then he picks up the incline. Ravi backs him and instructs passengers to tie themselves to their seats. Vinod and Ashok explode the couplings while climbing the slope and jump off the slowing engine.
The engine explodes at the Bombay Railway Station, but the compartments slow down and halt. Finally, the film ends on a happy note, with the passengers conjoining with their relatives and giving tribute to the soul of India.
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