Kismat
- Director
- Harmesh MalhotraSrinivas Avasarala
- Studio
- Eastern Films
- Release Date
- 16 June 1995
- Language
- Hindi
- Budget
- ₹2.75 Cr
- Box Office
- ₹4.50 Cr
Review
Look, "Kismat" swings for the fences with a genuinely compelling premise—the whole "unknowingly working for your biological father" angle has genuine dramatic teeth. But the execution is where this film stumbles badly. The direction feels scattered, jumping between melodrama and crime thriller without ever committing fully to either tone. The performances are uneven; while there are moments of raw intensity, too often the actors seem trapped delivering overwrought dialogue that belonged in a 1980s potboiler. The story mechanics creak audibly—convenient coincidences pile up like traffic on the Mumbai expressway, and the emotional beats that should land with impact instead feel telegraphed from a mile away.
What really grinds my gears is how the film wastes its central moral conflict. Rajan's redemption arc could've been something genuinely moving, but instead it's rushed through in the climax like a contractual obligation. The screenplay treats us like we can't handle ambiguity or real consequences—everything gets wrapped up in a neat little bow with speeches about family love that feel cheap given how much damage these characters have actually inflicted on each other. For all its melodramatic setup, "Kismat" never earns the emotional payoff it's desperately reaching for.
Rating: 5/10
Storyline
Rajan's careless rejection of Geeta sends her life spiraling—she's pregnant, alone, and desperate, so she makes the heartbreaking choice to abandon her newborn at an orphanage. Years later, Geeta has remarried the honorable ACP Anand, and through a twist of fate, they adopt the very same boy without ever knowing he's their biological son! Meanwhile, Rajan has vanished abroad, leaving behind a trail of forgotten promises and shattered lives.
Then Rajan shows up again, older and darker, having turned to crime, and wouldn't you know it—he ends up hiring the grown man as his right hand! The young guy has no idea he's working for his own father, and the tension builds as secrets threaten to explode in everyone's faces. Anand starts suspecting something's off, and the walls close in on this dangerous deception that's been hiding in plain sight.
When the truth finally crashes down like a ton of bricks, it shatters everyone—the son realizes who Rajan really is, and Anand's world crumbles knowing his "adopted" son is tangled up with a criminal who's also his biological father! But love and redemption win out as the family fights to protect each other, and Rajan ultimately chooses his son over his criminal empire, turning his back on the darkness forever.
