Baaz: A Bird in Danger 2003

The film opens with the life of a child born with a strange disorder who tends to destroy anything that fascinates him. His father has committed suicide, and his mother is declared mentally ill. Doctors diagnose that he has inherited this condition genetically, and he is looked after by his grandmother.

Seventeen years later in Nainital, Neha Chopra, Karisma Kapoor from Delhi, arrives to work as an interior designer for Jai Singh Dabral, Jackie Shroff, the city’s Mayor who is also a womaniser and attracted to Neha, at one of his secluded and deserted mansions. A serial killer is said to be on the prowl, ruthlessly targeting beautiful women and always eluding the police or any solid evidence if he’s arrested.

Neha soon meets Raj Singh, Dino Morea, a loafer whom everyone in the city avoids because he is the prime suspect in the murders, yet she feels drawn to him and they fall in love. The city’s police commissioner Harshvardhan Bhatti, Suniel Shetty, and his subordinate Preeti Rastogi, Preeti Jhangiani, monitor the couple’s every move and warn Neha that Raj could be the killer, making her his next potential victim. Neha is reluctant to believe it, especially since Raj saves her life on one occasion. But when she later discovers murder evidence in Raj’s house, she becomes convinced of his guilt.

Heartbroken, she decides to leave Nainital for good, though Dabral opposes the move. Harshvardhan and Preeti encourage her to stay and help nab Raj. Raj goes to see Neha but finds her spirit dampened, sensing that something is wrong. One of the killer’s victims’ sisters comes out of a coma and tells Preeti she can identify the killer. When Preeti and Harshvardhan reach the house, the comatose girl dies suddenly from shock. That night, Preeti contemplates the case and questions Harshvardhan, while Dabral notices her racing through the city in the dark.

The next day, Preeti is found murdered in Raj’s house. Raj is pursued by Harshvardhan and the police, eventually jumping off a waterfall and seeking refuge in Neha’s home. Dabral threatens to demote Harshvardhan if he does not capture the killer within 24 hours, and the inspector insists on results. Harshvardhan hands Neha a mobile phone and tells her that if Raj calls, she must immediately inform the police. Raj visits Neha to explain his situation, but she pushes him away and leaves a voicemail for Harshvardhan stating that Raj is the killer. Raj briefly argues with Neha, and in the heat of the moment she is knocked unconscious.

The climax unfolds when Harshvardhan appears, taking Raj and the unconscious Neha to a temple they had visited before and chaining them there. He reveals himself as the serial killer terrorizing the town—the child from the opening scenes, neglected by peers and kept company only by his mother at the asylum. His mother urged him to “make his own world,” which set off his killing spree. Harshvardhan admits to all the murders and hiding the bodies in an underground lair, including Preeti, whom he killed after she uncovered the truth and stumbled upon his lair. He also confesses that he never truly loved Preeti, though she loved him, and that his search for love ended when he first saw Neha and he would take her by any means necessary.

He reveals that he framed Raj Singh by planting the murder evidence and recording Neha’s voice message to condemn Raj. He proclaims, > Kaam mera, naam tera, the crime is mine and the name will be Raj’s. He hustles Neha to his underground enclosure to kill her, where the remains of previous victims lie in glass boxes as if in a morbid park.

Dabral bursts in, frees Raj, and a brutal fight erupts among the three. In a dramatic turn, grandmother, Suhasini Mulay, appears and shoots Harshvardhan multiple times, ending his terror. The film closes with Raj and Neha planning their wedding, and Dabral gifting them the deserted house to make a new life together.