A teenage girl watches her father murdered. You think she's gonna cry? Think again.
Basanti is a brave working class teenage girl whose father Shankar is respected in the village for his honesty. Bhavani Shankar wants to force him to support his puppet candidate in the next election, but his brother, Basanti's father, supports another good man, Aftab Ahmad Khan. Bhavani Shankar's henchmen kill Basanti's father and Aftab Khan in front of the girl's eyes.
Acting
Durgesh Nandini's raw teenage fury carries the entire film.
Direction
Bashir Babbar's no-nonsense pacing wastes zero time.
Director
Bashir Babbar
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Basanti arrived during Bollywood's late-90s wave of rural vigilante heroines, reflecting anxieties about political violence in heartland India.
Shakti Kapoor plays against type here—no comic relief, just pure menace as Bhavani Shankar's enforcer.
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