It stars Anil Kapoor, Tabu, Amrish Puri, Pooja Batra, Milind Gunaji and Govind Namdeo.

After completing his studies in London, Shakti Thakur (Anil Kapoor) returns to his ancestral village in India.

Accompanying him is his girlfriend, Anita (Pooja Batra), whom he is in love with and wants to marry, much to the disapproval of his family.

Shakti spends time in the village with his girlfriend by re-visiting his childhood memories including a game of sticks with Bali Thakur men, which he wins.

To prevent a further escalation of the situation Shakti, with permission from his father, enlists the help of his friend in the government and opens the temple for all legally.

Shakti and his father invite them for talks at village Panchayat to resolve the standoff due to the riots and flooding.

Although understanding and willing, the land owner, is afraid of Bali Thakur's backlash especially since he has a young daughter Gehna (Tabu).

Shakti assuages his fear by arranging marriage between a well-to-do person from his village to the land owner's daughter.

Bali Thakur, enraged by the opening of the land, plants a bomb during the village festival despite the pleas of his mother and own father to stop the violence.

Although other villagers are willing to take the blame for Bali Thakur's murder, Shakti gives himself up to the police to end the cycle of violence once and for all.

Kumar's refusal prompted Haasan to become disillusioned with the project, and led him to offering the script to Anil Kapoor.

The songs featured in the movie were composed by Anu Malik, while the lyrics have been penned by Javed Akhtar.

K. S. Chithra received the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer for the song "Payalay Chunmun".

Incidentally, S. Janaki had earlier won the national award for the original version of this song composed by Ilayaraja for film Thevar Magan.