[2] In this acclaimed cop-drama, Anant Velankar, played by Om Puri, is a policeman struggling with the evils around him and with his own frailties.

The film also stars Amrish Puri, Smita Patil, and Sadashiv Amrapurkar, and features a theme poem by the Marathi writer Dilip Chitre.

[3] The film opens at a party where Anant Welankar, a police officer, meets Jyotsna Gokhale, a lecturer in literature at a local college.

Honest himself, Anant falls among the lower rungs of the police hierarchy and has very limited scope of authority on the state of affairs in his area.

When Anant arrests three common thugs, he is asked to meet with their boss, Rama Shetty, a don in the local mafia.

Anant is initially baffled but goes along with Haider's plan to bring in Desai, a mediator or middle-man with connections in New Delhi, the "Centre" or national seat of power.

Things get interesting when Anant finds one of Rama Shetty's goons, badly beaten, burnt, and left to die.

Haider Ali explains yet again: Rama Shetty plans to run for city council in the upcoming municipal elections and simply cannot afford to let a petty matter distract his ambitions.

He suffers another career setback when he leads an assault team to capture a dangerous bandit in the hills outside Mumbai, and the credit for the arrest is ultimately handed to another officer.

Things go completely out of control one night soon after as a small-time thief, accused of stealing a small radio, is brought into custody.

Rama Shetty receives Anant cordially, and invites him into his inner sanctum alone – possibly aware that this righteous cop is finally on his knees before him.

In an interview with India Today, Nihalani said "Though it's still an uphill task to find backers, 10 years ago it wouldn't have been possible at all.