Ghulam-E-Musthafa 1997

Mustafa, Nana Patekar, is a feared contract killer who will go to any length to satisfy his superiors. He is portrayed as a devout Muslim who observes Namaz five times a day, a detail that colours his discipline and ritual in the violence that surrounds him. He was taken in as a child by a powerful crime lord, Shanta Prasad, Paresh Rawal—the man the world knows as Abba—who becomes a father figure and architect of Mustafa’s brutal education in crime. Under Abba’s tutelage, Mustafa is groomed to be a weapon for his illicit schemes, moving with precision through the shadows of the criminal underworld. His only steadfast ally is Sudama, his childhood friend, a quiet presence who witnesses the shaping of Mustafa’s dual life.

Abba’s enmity with the Verma brothers, Mahesh Verma and Rohan, drives a tide of conflict that threatens to consume everyone around them. The Verma clan runs a bustling dance club where Kavita, Raveena Tandon, performs. Mustafa’s path crosses Kavita’s, and as he opens up about the life he has led, she begins to see the man beneath the mask. This fragile connection grows into love, and Mustafa and Kavita marry, offering a rare glimmer of peace in a life defined by loyalty and violence.

Tragedy soon strikes when Kavita is killed in a car bombing orchestrated by the Vermas in a calculated attempt to strike Abba at the heart of his empire. Kavita’s death shatters Mustafa, hardening his resolve to leave crime behind. Yet in a brutal counter-move, he murders Mahesh Verma’s son by planting a bomb on his forehead, a chilling act that deepens the Verma feud and showcases the calamitous reach of Mustafa’s past.

Seeking refuge, Mustafa turns toward the Dixit family. Bhagyalaxmi Dixit, Aruna Irani, is initially wary of the hardened exiled killer, but Mustafa’s evolving compassion gradually wins over the Dixit clan. Abba, pleased to see Mustafa wrestling with his trauma, supports him in practical ways—helping Vikram for education and employment and assisting Dayanand Dixit in a bribery-related jail release, while also aiding Vidya’s marriage to Arun, Mohnish Behl. The plot thickens as Bipin Verma, driven by desire and ambition, allies with the Vermas to exact revenge on Mustafa, setting the stage for a tense confrontation that blends romance, politics, and revenge.

Amid elections and political maneuvering, Mustafa becomes entangled in a violent clash that results in the deaths of Mahesh and his brother in a bomb blast, advancing the ambitions of the politician Imtiaz who wields influence behind the scenes. This sequence pushes Mustafa toward a moment of surrender, as he longs to leave the cycle of bloodshed behind, even as Imtiaz and Abba pull him back into their world of crime. On the wedding night, Bipin storms the house and attempts to rape Vidya, but Mustafa defends her, ending Bipin’s life with a sliver of mirrored glass. The police arrive as Mustafa braces to surrender, and Abba returns with an offer to reinstate Mustafa in his old role, a proposal Mustafa rejects. In a quiet act of faith, Mustafa offers Namaz in gratitude for a chance at redemption, but Abba, pressed by Imtiaz’s orders, commands his men to shoot Mustafa. The movie closes on a heart-wrenching note as Sudama, Mustafa’s lifelong friend, destroys Abba in a final, poetic act of vengeance, leaving a trail of broken loyalties and unanswered questions about the price of loyalty and the cost of a life spent between crime and humanity.