Police Public review :
The legendary Raj Kumar Saahab is known for his hard hitting dialogue delivery and enigmatic screen presence, particularly in films like 'Waqt' (1965), 'Saudagar' (1991) and 'Tirangaa' (1993). Not many people are aware of this 1990 movie called Police Public where the veteran star shone in the role of a CBI officer out to solve a seemingly difficult murder mystery...Oh yeah!
Police Public was a decent box office earner in its time completing a 10 week run at the Minerva cinema, Mumbai where it premiered but is largely forgotten today.
Supposedly inspired from a Malayalam film I haven't seen, the film revolved around the murder of Karuna (the pretty Poonam Dhillon mostly posing as a corpse) whose affluent in- laws (Prem Chopra and co) are trying to pass off as a depression induced suicide.
Corrupt cop Mahaad Singh Gadhwal (Naseeruddin Shah, efficient as ever) helps the crooks till the case is handed over to CBI officer Jagmohan Azad (Raj Kumar).
Reema Lagoo had a small but an interesting role of a sexy seductive maid servant Dulaari whom Mahaad Singh takes a fancy for. This is a film she signed before Maine Pyaar Kiya (1989) after which she got typecast as the new age mom.
The confrontation scene between Raj Kumar and Naseer is superbly executed (the one upmanship shaayari, specially) and the build-up to the climax is interesting as well as intriguing. As for the whodunit part, it turns out to be someone least expected though a better actor was needed for that role. Seriously, man!!
Still, Police Public is worth a watch in these times when the whodunit genre is fast disappearing in Bollywood.
Just one sincere advice : Fast forward all those speed breaker songs (Ram Laxman at his atrocious worst) which appear at regular intervals.
Regards,
Sumeet Nadkarni.
