Hatya (1988) User Reviews

An excellent movie

[sumitra_balaji · 8/10 · 4 June 2006]

Hatya was a venture from the house of Govinda - Govinda starred in it and the director was his brother Kirti Kumar. It was the remake Tamil hit "Poovizhi Vaasalilei".

The story involves around a deaf, and therefore dumb, 5-year old child, who has witnessed the murder of his mother and fled the scene. As fate would have it, Sagar (Govinda) finds the child in a dumpster, and takes him into his care. He tries to find the child's family, but as the child can't speak and there is no registered complaint for a missing child, Sagar becomes the foster parent. Getting Raja(he names the child that) helps him fill a void in his life, left by the death of his own wife and child.

The murderer however traces Raja back to Sagar, and wants to kill the sole witness of his crime. With that starts the hide and seek chronicle of protecting the child, while trying to uncover the crime story. The killer however, implicates Sagar in the murder of Raja's mother and he lands up in jail.

The climax is a chilling sequence of events, very deftly handled by the director.

The story is quite original, and the director did a good job in keeping the pace tight. Performances are very good, especially Govinda's. From his imagery of the song and dance actor, he took on a completely different role, and delivered with aplomb.

One of the best of Govinda

[merchantkabir-26363 · 8/10 · 26 September 2018]

This movie is spine chilling I saw it when I was 9yrs old I was so scared to go alone to washroom also anupam kher & his henchmen both were scary watch it u will not regret

Ya ya it's a classic

[vic_j · 8/10 · 18 August 2009]

I remembered this film from when i was a kid even up until we were adults me and my brothers, cousins still remembered the classic tune and the ya ya ya ya etc.

Even so i wasn't quite sure I actually watched the whole film when I was a kid so recently brought the DVD online, yes its a dated movie but I wasn't disappointed this is quality Indian cinema which still deserves some recognition today. Govinda's a class act although his standards have dropped recently.

I haven't seen all his films but I'm confident this is still one of his best.

One of the best Bollywood movie.

[ozilomil · 10/10 · 11 May 2018]

This is surely the best movie of Govinda and of course must watch movie.

A remake which is watchable but doesn't quite live up to the previous versions

[Peter_Young · 5/10 · 29 September 2021]

Hatya is a remake of the Malayalam thriller Poovinu Puthiya Poonthennal, which spawned several remakes in different languages, including a fantastic Telugu version Pasivadi Pranam starring Chiranjeevi, which is my favourite. Hatya is a scene-by-scene replicate of the other versions, and it is not up to the level of the Telugu film, which really is a rare thriller in how affecting and chilling it is. Hatya adds up several new elements, including some randomly infused moments of high melodrama, some nice but a little redundant songs, and other such ingredients that would meet the standards of a Hindi fare of the times and probably the requirements of a fixed audience as well. This is not to say the original versions lacked all of this, but Hatya takes a good few steps down in this regard as it places emphasis on the emotional side than the actual suspense.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm fond of Govinda - he is one of the most energetic and charismatic actors I can think of. He's young and vibrant here, and does well enough even if honestly I preferred Chiranjeevi's excellent performance. The starlet of yore, Neelam, is as beautiful and gentle as she always was. Like all the other five versions, the film actually recasts two actors from the original - Sujitha, who plays the little precocious deaf-mute boy, who does a good job although clearly the material is too familiar to this child actor, and Babu Antony, who is equally as scary as he was in other versions in the role of the villainous hired killer. Anupam Kher is also here in a pretty common negative role he started doing around that time, and there other familiar faces like Raj Kiran, among others. The music by Bappi Lahiri is quite good, but often redundant.

For Hindi film buffs, this is a nice go since the familiarity of the cast, the language obviously, and the narrative style is easier to digest. Other than that, personally I was much more impressed with the Telugu version (and I don't usually watch many regional Indian films, frankly speaking), which I had the pleasure to come across.

Yuck !!!

[winak · 4/10 · 28 December 2020]

Overacting and melodrama galore. Back in the days when overacting was an accepted norm this movie must have been popular but if you are watching this in the 21st century you'll want to throw up. The kid was good in the role as a mute child. Kirti Kumar, Govinda's director brother known mostly for his overly filmy and melodramatic movies and dialogues really made this movie unbearable to watch. Neelam was used as an eye candy without much to do. A safe movie to skip.