This movie is gulzar's most personal film till date. It depicts the terrorism in punjab after Mrs.Indira Gandhi's assassination. Chandrachur singh gives a fantastic performance as a young man who is forced to join a terrorist group run by kulbushan kharbanda and om puri. Its hard to believe that this was the first film of chandrachur singh. Tabu gives a performance which changed her career. She got a national award for this film. Om puri, raj zutshi, jimmy shergill and kulbushan kharbanda give superb performances in the supporting cast. The screenplay/story/dialogues are written by gulzar. As with most gulzar's films , maachis too has story told in form of flashbacks. The script is very engrossing and does not let the viewer move till the end. This movie was banned in some places in punjab & kashmir. It was also send for a re-censor. A cinema hall strike in january 1997 and good publicity of songs meant that this became india's second biggest word-of-mouth hit. This record was only recently beaten by "Satya". The first one being "Sholay". Gulzar won filmfare award for Best story and Best dialogues. Gulzar also won a national award for the most popular film of the year. This is a must see movie. Like most of gulzar's film this is a CLASSIC.
