Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho! (Summons for Mohan Joshi ) is a
1984 Hindi art film, made by
Saeed Akhtar Mirza, based on his own story, during the
Parallel Cinema period of
Indian cinema.
One Hundred Indian Feature Films: An Annotated Filmography, by Shampa Banerjee, Anil Srivastava. Taylor & Francis, 1988. ISBN 0824094832.
page 123.
The film is a comic satire on a judicial system, where cases drag on for decades, where plaintives either die or lose hope and money, while the corrupt run scot free, thanks to their nexus with corrupt lawyers.
The film won the 1984
National Film Award for Best Film on Family Welfare.
Synopsis
An old couple, Mohan Joshi (
Bhisham Sahni) and his wife (
Dina Pathak) decides to sue their landlord (
Amjad Khan) for not maintaining their 'collapsing' apartment building. For this, they hire two cunning lawyers (
Naseeruddin Shah and
Satish Shah), while
Rohini Hattangadi is the opposition lawyer.
The court case drags on for years and the lawyers milk the old couple dry, while they become rich. Back home in the society, the old couple is ridiculed for fighting the landlord, but they fight on nevertheless.
In the end when the judge comes to check the condition of the chawl, Kapadia's men prop up the place thus convincing the judge that all is well with the chawl. Finally, Joshi gathers all his strength and pulls down the temporary supports put up by the men causing the building to collapse on himself.
The film provides...
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