Soldier (1998 Indian film)

In Barmer, corrupt Indian army officials Pratap Singh, Virender Sinha, and Jaswant Dalal have been stealing arms and ammunition with the help of a mysterious fourth partner known only as DK. Major Vijay Malhotra, a competent and high-ranking soldier, asks to be in charge of the next shipment. DK warns the group of this and they plan a distraction but are unsuccessful as Vijay ultimately catches them in the act. Vijay subdues Pratap, Virender, and Virender's brother Baldev before being shot dead by DK.

20 years later the Mumbai Police get a fax from the Australian Interpol branch regarding Jaswant Dalal, a wanted illegal arms supplier, entering India by ship. An operation to capture him alive is handed over to ACP Inspector Dinesh Kapoor, an old friend of the late Major Vijay Malhotra. He informs a mysterious man later known as Vicky about this operation and wants him to intercept Jaswant and not let the police capture him. Vicky succeeds in this but when Jaswant tries to kill him to erase witnesses, Vicky is forced to shoot him.

Vicky then flees to Sydney. Using more information from Dinesh, he meets Pratap Singh's daughter, Preeti, and woos her while getting into trouble with Baldev Sinha's son, Jojo. It is revealed that after all these years Pratap, Virender, and Baldev have become high-profile arms dealers and live in Australia. After hearing of Jaswant's death and DK's possible involvement, they are all tense and worry about betrayal from one another. It is revealed that each of them contain secret files with information that incriminates the entire group.

Vicky meets with Pratap, who identifies him as Jaswant's killer, and proposes a way to help make him more powerful. After an intense feud with Vicky, Baldev and Jojo realize that Vicky's mother is none other than Virender's estranged wife, Shanti. Vicky is then welcomed into Virender's gang. Virender is ecstatic to be with his son again after many years and is even happier to learn that he is in love with Pratap's daughter. He wants to use this to his advantage and have Vicky retrieve Pratap's secret file. Vicky instead shoots his father dead and retrieves his secret file. After examining the file he discovers who DK actually is. Vicky convinces Baldev that Pratap betrayed them and killed Virender. Baldev rallies all his henchmen to launch an attack on Pratap but they are ambushed and killed by Pratap's men. It is revealed that Vicky was working with Pratap to eliminate Virender's gang. Vicky then reveals to Pratap that he is not actually Virender's son. He explains that he used Shanti to get closer to Virender and did the same for Pratap by using Preeti. He ultimately reveals that the reason for all this is because DK gave him a contract to kill not just Jaswant but all the other partners so that he can own 100% of their crime organization. Vicky says that because of Preeti he will instead kill DK and make Pratap the king. Pratap entrusts Vicky and agrees to go to India with him to kill DK.

After overhearing this conversation, Preeti reveals it all to Shanti. Shanti calmly acknowledges that she knows Vicky is not her son and that she had assisted him to kill her husband, whose weapons had accidentally killed her own son, unbeknownst to him. She reveals that Vicky is actually Raju, the son of the late Major Vijay Malhotra'. She explains the wrongdoings of Virender, Pratap, Jaswant, and DK. After Vijay's death he had been framed for their crimes and labeled a traitor. He was mercilessly stripped of all medals and his wife, Geeta, and son were ostracized by their community. The villagers even prevented Vijay's body from being cremated and threw it in the desert where it became lost in a sandstorm. Raju eventually separated from his mother who stayed desolately at a temple at their village outskirts while he was raised elsewhere with assistance from Shanti. Raju had been seeking revenge and justice for his father and upon learning everything, Preeti agrees to assist him.

After speaking to Raju about the impeding plan, Dinesh releases Jaswant, who is revealed to be alive and had been helping provide Raju the information to finish off Virender's gang. Raju arrives in Barmer with Pratap and takes him to the temple where his mother is. Upon reuniting with her he reveals to a shocked Pratap that he is her and Major Vijay Malhotra's son. DK arrives and is revealed to be none other than Jaswant in disguise. Jaswant's henchmen then arrive and overpower Raju and Dinesh. In a climactic moment, a sandstorm ensues and gives Raju an advantage to kill all the henchmen. Pratap and Jaswant are held up and confess their crimes to the onlooking villagers brought by Preeti. The two are then left to be eaten alive by vultures. With his name cleared, Major Vijay Malhotra is declared a martyr and given an honorable memorial ceremony.

• Jasveer Kaur as a dancer in the song"Tera Rang Balle Balle"

The soundtrack was composed by Anu Malik and was very hit amongst the audience. It was a key point in the success of the film. The songs "Tera Rang Bale Bale", "Soldier Soldier", "Hum to Dil Chahen", "Mere Dil Jigar Sei" and " Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aye" were chartbuster and the album was the third best selling album of 1998 after Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Dil Se. Lyrics were penned by Sameer. Parts of "Soldier Soldier" are based on "Cheri, Cheri Lady" by Modern Talking.[2]

Khalid Mohamed gave Soldier 2 out of 5 stars, writing that it "leaves you feeling ever so much older and colder."[3] Madhur Mittal of The Tribune noted that it "boasts of terrific production and technical values", calling it a "a taut thriller".[4]

Soldier won the following awards.

• Filmfare Best Female Debut Award – Preity Zinta
• Filmfare Award for Best Action – Late Akbar Bakshi

• Soldier at IMDb