Zakhm

Infobox Film
name = Zakhm


caption = Movie poster for "Zakhm"
director = Mahesh Bhatt
producer = Mukesh Bhatt
Pooja Bhatt
writer = Mahesh Bhatt
Tanuja Chandra
Girish Dhamija
starring = Ajay Devgan
Pooja Bhatt
Sonali Bendre
Kunal Khemu
Akshay Anand
Nagarjuna Akkineni
music = M.M. Kreem
cinematography = Nirmal Jani
lyrics =
editing = Sanjay Sankla
distributor =
released = flagicon|India 15 December 1998
runtime =
country = India
language = Hindi
budget =
imdb_id = 0211126

"Zakhm" (Devnagari: ज़ख़्म, meaning "wound") is a 1998 Bollywood film directed by Mahesh Bhatt, starring Ajay Devgan,Pooja Bhatt, Sonali Bendre, Kunal Khemu and Nagarjuna Akkineni.

Plot

The film opens with an argument between the music director Ajay (Ajay Devgan) and his wife Sonia (Sonali Bendre) over whether to give birth to their child in a foreign country or in India (because of the insecurity caused by 1992 riots). Ajay soon learns that his mother (Pooja Bhatt) has been burned by a group of Muslim rioters while leaving a church and is in critical condition. Via flashback, there are presented the struggles his mother had to undergo in order to raise her children. She was in love with a Hindu film producer (Nagarjuna Akkineni) but was not allowed to marry him on account of her Muslim faith. He marries her but does not document or acknowledge their marriage as it was done without any traditional upholdings. The fact that she had children with a Hindu man forces her to hide her faith and live her life as a christian women even in front of her kid. After his father's death, Ajay realises his mother is a muslim and makes him promise to bury her according to the Muslim faith when she dies, for it is only through a proper burial that she will be able to find herself reunited with her lover in heaven. Ajay's mother succumbs to the burns, however the impedance in Ajay's task comes in the form of the fundamentalist leader Subodhbhai (Ashutosh Rana) and his disciple Anand (Akshay Anand), who happens to be Ajay's own brother.

The lyrics were written by Mrs. Pushpa Patel, who was a Professor of English literature at the Bombay University. The song Gali me chand... became very popular and even today it's heard repeatedly by all parts of society.

Pushpa died of cancer on 14th January 2008.

Cast

*Ajay Devgan - Ajay R. Desai
*Pooja Bhatt - Mrs. Desai
*Sonali Bendre - Sonia A. Desai
*Kunal Khemu - Young Ajay R. Desai
*Akshay Anand - Anand R. Desai
*Nagarjuna Akkineni - Raman Desai

Awards

1999 Filmfare Awards
*Won - Best Story - Mahesh Bhatt
*Nominated - Best Actor - Ajay Devgan

1999 National Film Awards
*Won - Silver Lotus Award Best Actor - Ajay Devgan

"'1999 Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration
*Won

External links

* [http://www.planetbollywood.com/Film/zakhm.html Review at Planet Bollywood]