The Burning Train
Encyclopedia
The Burning Train is a Bollywood
action film released in 1980 directed by Ravi Chopra
and featuring a huge all-star cast. The plot revolves around a fast train named Super Fast Express, that catches fire on its inaugural run from New Delhi to Mumbai.
) who is a wealthy industrialist's only son passionate about cars from childhood befriends Vinod (Vinod Khanna
) who is passionate about trains and its his dream to make India's fastest train and Rakesh (Vinod Mehra
) shares same passion as vinod is also his friend, and Randhir (Danny Denzongpa
) in tussle from childhood to make a better train than Vinod's. Childhood turns into adulthood and one day both attend a dance function organized by the Indian Railways, this is where Ashok and Vinod fall in love with two beautiful women Seema (Hema Malini
) and Sheetal (Parveen Babi
). Ashok is now deeply in love with Seema (Hema Malini
) and both are planning to get married after their engagement. Vinod is married to Sheetal(Parveen Babi
) and they have a son Raju. One day Vinod, who is now a top notch railway engineer, gets awarded with the contract to build a Super-fast express train between New Delhi and Mumbai. Rakesh(Vinod Mehra
)is his assistant. Randhir the losing engineer and ex-lover of Sheetal (Parveen Babi
) swears revenge and leaves.
As the three friends celebrate Vinod's success, Seema leaves for a pilgrimage. Ashok hears that his father has died. He rushes to his funeral also to find out that his entire wealth is debt-ridden and he is left with nothing. As he is still recovering, he gets a letter from Seema breaking off their relationship stating that she was interested in him as a rich man and since he is now poor, she is not interested anymore. Heartbroken, Ashok leaves town.
Six years pass by. Vinod has completely focused on building the train, completely ignoring his wife and son. On the day of the train's inauguration, she comes to fetch him for their anniversary party. He refuses to go since the next day is the day of the train's inaugural journey. Heartbroken, she puts her son, Raju, on the train to go to her mother, and leaves Vinod. Iftekhar, their boss, asks Vinod to go to Mumbai by flight for the arrival of the train. Vinod refuses saying that he needs to be in the control room. So his assistant and friend, Rakesh (Vinod Mehra
) goes instead.
The train starts from New Delhi where a lot of the characters board the train. Prem Nath is a devout Hindu priest. Om Shiv Puri is a royal king, Raja Mam Mohan, traveling with his wife Padmini. Ranjeet is a smuggler fleeing with stolen diamonds and his girlfriend Raziya. Sujeet Kumar is an undercover police officer dressed as a Christian priest and following Ranjeet the smuggler. Asrani is an ex-Army Colonel P.K. Bhandari. Keshto Mukherjee and Paintail are traveling without tickets hiding in train's lavatories. Simi Grewal is a school teacher, taking a group of students on a visit to Mumbai. Neetu Singh is fleeing home to escape a forced marriage. Ravi (Jeetendra) is a small-time thief who tries to befriend Neetu Singh in order to steal her jewellery. Seema is traveling to Mumbai with her cousin (Navin Nischol
), who is a doctor. Rakesh's pregnant wife is traveling to Mumbai with her mother. Ashok also quietly boards the train so that he can be a part of his friend Vinod's success and is shocked to see Seema. he sees her with her cousin and mistakes him as her husband. He snaps at her before she can say anything, but befriends Raju after recognizing him.
Unknown to all of them, Randhir (the engineer who swore revenge) has put a bomb in the engine at the Mathura Railway station and disengaged the vacuum brakes so that even guard wouldn't be able to stop the train. The bomb was timed to explode halfway through the journey. He hopes to sabotage the train and thereby destroy Vinod's reputation without a scant thought to the lives of the passengers. Meanwhile Ashok leaves the train as he does not wanted to travel with Seema in the train. He meets Randheer in a bar where Randheer tells him that he has fulfilled his and Ashok's revenge. (He was misunderstood that Ashok must be seeking revenge from Seema for her betrayal). Knowing this Ashok immediately leaves to catch the train before explosion time so that he can save his friend's train and save passengers. He manages to catch the train at Kota Railway station, but was unfortunately late.
Halfway, the bomb explodes killing the drivers Jeevan Lal and Dango, and destroying the brakes and accelerator. Ashok goes outside the train and goes to the engine compartment and saves the guard (Osman Ali) and brings him back. Vinod, who is desperately trying to save their lives, talks to them through All India Radio
and asks them to go to the engine compartment and apply the emergency brakes.
The radio broadcast completely panics all passengers and the train cooks come running to find out what happened. In their haste, they leave the cooking gas on. The news also panics all the relatives who are waiting at Mumbai and they besiege Vinod. Sheetal also comes to him and shouts at him asking him to save their son, Raju.
Ashok, Ravi and the guard climb on top of the train and try to reach the engine. Meanwhile, Rakesh's wife enters labor and Seema's doctor cousin attends to her, asking for some hot water. A cook lights a match to heat up some water in the kitchen. The open gas explodes killing the guard Osman Ali, the cook and several passengers and half the train starts burning. Ashok and Ravi barely make it back and with the help of some passengers put up some gaps between the burning compartments and the passengers.
Vinod tries another effort by sending a helicopter and trying to get someone to land on the engine compartment. Randhir sabotages this mission by volunteering to go on the helicopter. He drops on to the engine compartment but does nothing leading Ashok and his superiors to believe he is dead.
Meanwhile Ashok finds out why Seema left him. She had lost her leg on the way back from the pilgrimage. She didn't want to be a burden on him in his poverty and decided to go away. They patch up. Ravi and Neetu also fall in love. Sheetal also comes back to Vinod and apologizes for her behavior. She gives him courage for his last attempt to save the train.
Rakesh, who is in Mumbai, tries to build a steep incline quickly which will reduce the speed of the train once it reaches Mumbai and may yet stop the train but he is running out of time as the train is speeding towards Mumbai and is just hours from reaching it.
Vinod tries one last effort by getting an engine to drive along the Super fast train. He asks Ashok and Ravi to come up top and throws a rope saying that he will come over to the train and stop the train himself. Ranjeet tries to escape by using the same rope to the other train knowing that he will be arrested in Mumbai. Asrani tries to stop but Ranjeet throws him off the train. Ashok fights Ranjeet who falls off the train. Vinod comes over to the train.
He says that he has brought fireproof suits and some dynamite(just in case). They will wear fireproof suits and go to the engine and apply the emergency brakes. Vinod, Ashok and Ravi go through the fire to the engine where they find Randhir. Randhir tries to kill Vinod but falls off the train in the scuffle.
They reach the engine to find that the drivers are dead and all systems have failed. Ashok comes up with an idea of blasting the couplings of the compartments from the engine. Vinod disagrees saying that passenger compartments will derail if blasted off at this speed, but then remembers the incline being built by Rakesh. They send Ravi back to warn the passengers and to ask eeryone to tie themselves to their seat.
Vinod asks Rakesh over wireless to clear the incline area even though it isn't completely ready and then Ashok and he set up the dynamite charges on the couplings. As the train starts climbing the incline, they blast the dynamite and jump off the slowing engine. The engine blasts through Mumbai station and stops on the road. But the passenger compartment slows down and comes to a complete halt. All passengers get off safely. Vinod and Ashok happily come walking they're hurt but alive.
Everyone connects with their relatives and the film ends as a tribute to the soul of India.
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
action film released in 1980 directed by Ravi Chopra
Ravi Chopra
Ravi Chopra is an Indian movie producer and director.Ravi has directed thus far the movies, Zameer , The Burning Train , Mazdoor , Dehleez , Baghban , and Baabul...
and featuring a huge all-star cast. The plot revolves around a fast train named Super Fast Express, that catches fire on its inaugural run from New Delhi to Mumbai.
Plot
The plot is an intricately woven one. Starts from childhood with story of Ashok (also called Shoki by his childhod friend Vinod) (DharmendraDharmendra
Dharmendra Singh Deol |Punjab]]), better known as Dharmendra, is an award-winning Hindi film actor who has appeared in more than 247 Hindi-language films as of 2011. In 1997, he received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to Hindi cinema and also another Lifetime...
) who is a wealthy industrialist's only son passionate about cars from childhood befriends Vinod (Vinod Khanna
Vinod Khanna
-Early life:Khanna was born to Kamla and Kishanchand Khanna, a textiles, dyes and chemicals businessman of Hindu Punjabi Khatri origin, on 6 October 1946, in Peshawar, British India . He has three sisters and one brother...
) who is passionate about trains and its his dream to make India's fastest train and Rakesh (Vinod Mehra
Vinod Mehra
Vinod Mehra was an Indian actor in Bollywood films. He started out as a child actor in a few films in the late 1950s and early 1960s before starting his adult film career in 1971 acting in over 100 films throughout the 1970s through to the 1990s...
) shares same passion as vinod is also his friend, and Randhir (Danny Denzongpa
Danny Denzongpa
Tshering Phintso Denzongpa , widely known by his acting name "Danny" Denzongpa, is an Indian actor of Sikkimese ancestry working in Bollywood films....
) in tussle from childhood to make a better train than Vinod's. Childhood turns into adulthood and one day both attend a dance function organized by the Indian Railways, this is where Ashok and Vinod fall in love with two beautiful women Seema (Hema Malini
Hema Malini
Hema Malini is an Indian actress, director and producer, as well as a Bharatanatyam dancer-choreographer. Making her acting debut in Sapno Ka Saudagar , she went on to appear in numerous Bollywood films, most notably those with actor and future-husband Dharmendra. She was initially promoted as...
) and Sheetal (Parveen Babi
Parveen Babi
Parveen Babi was an Indian actress, who is most remembered for her glamorous roles alongside top heroes of the 1970s and early 1980s in blockbusters like Deewar, Namak Halaal, Amar Akbar Anthony and Shaan...
). Ashok is now deeply in love with Seema (Hema Malini
Hema Malini
Hema Malini is an Indian actress, director and producer, as well as a Bharatanatyam dancer-choreographer. Making her acting debut in Sapno Ka Saudagar , she went on to appear in numerous Bollywood films, most notably those with actor and future-husband Dharmendra. She was initially promoted as...
) and both are planning to get married after their engagement. Vinod is married to Sheetal(Parveen Babi
Parveen Babi
Parveen Babi was an Indian actress, who is most remembered for her glamorous roles alongside top heroes of the 1970s and early 1980s in blockbusters like Deewar, Namak Halaal, Amar Akbar Anthony and Shaan...
) and they have a son Raju. One day Vinod, who is now a top notch railway engineer, gets awarded with the contract to build a Super-fast express train between New Delhi and Mumbai. Rakesh(Vinod Mehra
Vinod Mehra
Vinod Mehra was an Indian actor in Bollywood films. He started out as a child actor in a few films in the late 1950s and early 1960s before starting his adult film career in 1971 acting in over 100 films throughout the 1970s through to the 1990s...
)is his assistant. Randhir the losing engineer and ex-lover of Sheetal (Parveen Babi
Parveen Babi
Parveen Babi was an Indian actress, who is most remembered for her glamorous roles alongside top heroes of the 1970s and early 1980s in blockbusters like Deewar, Namak Halaal, Amar Akbar Anthony and Shaan...
) swears revenge and leaves.
As the three friends celebrate Vinod's success, Seema leaves for a pilgrimage. Ashok hears that his father has died. He rushes to his funeral also to find out that his entire wealth is debt-ridden and he is left with nothing. As he is still recovering, he gets a letter from Seema breaking off their relationship stating that she was interested in him as a rich man and since he is now poor, she is not interested anymore. Heartbroken, Ashok leaves town.
Six years pass by. Vinod has completely focused on building the train, completely ignoring his wife and son. On the day of the train's inauguration, she comes to fetch him for their anniversary party. He refuses to go since the next day is the day of the train's inaugural journey. Heartbroken, she puts her son, Raju, on the train to go to her mother, and leaves Vinod. Iftekhar, their boss, asks Vinod to go to Mumbai by flight for the arrival of the train. Vinod refuses saying that he needs to be in the control room. So his assistant and friend, Rakesh (Vinod Mehra
Vinod Mehra
Vinod Mehra was an Indian actor in Bollywood films. He started out as a child actor in a few films in the late 1950s and early 1960s before starting his adult film career in 1971 acting in over 100 films throughout the 1970s through to the 1990s...
) goes instead.
The train starts from New Delhi where a lot of the characters board the train. Prem Nath is a devout Hindu priest. Om Shiv Puri is a royal king, Raja Mam Mohan, traveling with his wife Padmini. Ranjeet is a smuggler fleeing with stolen diamonds and his girlfriend Raziya. Sujeet Kumar is an undercover police officer dressed as a Christian priest and following Ranjeet the smuggler. Asrani is an ex-Army Colonel P.K. Bhandari. Keshto Mukherjee and Paintail are traveling without tickets hiding in train's lavatories. Simi Grewal is a school teacher, taking a group of students on a visit to Mumbai. Neetu Singh is fleeing home to escape a forced marriage. Ravi (Jeetendra) is a small-time thief who tries to befriend Neetu Singh in order to steal her jewellery. Seema is traveling to Mumbai with her cousin (Navin Nischol
Navin Nischol
Navin Nischol was an Indian actor. He made his debut with the Hindi film Sawan Bhadon in 1970.-Early life:...
), who is a doctor. Rakesh's pregnant wife is traveling to Mumbai with her mother. Ashok also quietly boards the train so that he can be a part of his friend Vinod's success and is shocked to see Seema. he sees her with her cousin and mistakes him as her husband. He snaps at her before she can say anything, but befriends Raju after recognizing him.
Unknown to all of them, Randhir (the engineer who swore revenge) has put a bomb in the engine at the Mathura Railway station and disengaged the vacuum brakes so that even guard wouldn't be able to stop the train. The bomb was timed to explode halfway through the journey. He hopes to sabotage the train and thereby destroy Vinod's reputation without a scant thought to the lives of the passengers. Meanwhile Ashok leaves the train as he does not wanted to travel with Seema in the train. He meets Randheer in a bar where Randheer tells him that he has fulfilled his and Ashok's revenge. (He was misunderstood that Ashok must be seeking revenge from Seema for her betrayal). Knowing this Ashok immediately leaves to catch the train before explosion time so that he can save his friend's train and save passengers. He manages to catch the train at Kota Railway station, but was unfortunately late.
Halfway, the bomb explodes killing the drivers Jeevan Lal and Dango, and destroying the brakes and accelerator. Ashok goes outside the train and goes to the engine compartment and saves the guard (Osman Ali) and brings him back. Vinod, who is desperately trying to save their lives, talks to them through All India Radio
All India Radio
All India Radio , officially known since 1956 as Akashvani , is the radio broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati. Established in 1936, it is the sister service of Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster. All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks...
and asks them to go to the engine compartment and apply the emergency brakes.
The radio broadcast completely panics all passengers and the train cooks come running to find out what happened. In their haste, they leave the cooking gas on. The news also panics all the relatives who are waiting at Mumbai and they besiege Vinod. Sheetal also comes to him and shouts at him asking him to save their son, Raju.
Ashok, Ravi and the guard climb on top of the train and try to reach the engine. Meanwhile, Rakesh's wife enters labor and Seema's doctor cousin attends to her, asking for some hot water. A cook lights a match to heat up some water in the kitchen. The open gas explodes killing the guard Osman Ali, the cook and several passengers and half the train starts burning. Ashok and Ravi barely make it back and with the help of some passengers put up some gaps between the burning compartments and the passengers.
Vinod tries another effort by sending a helicopter and trying to get someone to land on the engine compartment. Randhir sabotages this mission by volunteering to go on the helicopter. He drops on to the engine compartment but does nothing leading Ashok and his superiors to believe he is dead.
Meanwhile Ashok finds out why Seema left him. She had lost her leg on the way back from the pilgrimage. She didn't want to be a burden on him in his poverty and decided to go away. They patch up. Ravi and Neetu also fall in love. Sheetal also comes back to Vinod and apologizes for her behavior. She gives him courage for his last attempt to save the train.
Rakesh, who is in Mumbai, tries to build a steep incline quickly which will reduce the speed of the train once it reaches Mumbai and may yet stop the train but he is running out of time as the train is speeding towards Mumbai and is just hours from reaching it.
Vinod tries one last effort by getting an engine to drive along the Super fast train. He asks Ashok and Ravi to come up top and throws a rope saying that he will come over to the train and stop the train himself. Ranjeet tries to escape by using the same rope to the other train knowing that he will be arrested in Mumbai. Asrani tries to stop but Ranjeet throws him off the train. Ashok fights Ranjeet who falls off the train. Vinod comes over to the train.
He says that he has brought fireproof suits and some dynamite(just in case). They will wear fireproof suits and go to the engine and apply the emergency brakes. Vinod, Ashok and Ravi go through the fire to the engine where they find Randhir. Randhir tries to kill Vinod but falls off the train in the scuffle.
They reach the engine to find that the drivers are dead and all systems have failed. Ashok comes up with an idea of blasting the couplings of the compartments from the engine. Vinod disagrees saying that passenger compartments will derail if blasted off at this speed, but then remembers the incline being built by Rakesh. They send Ravi back to warn the passengers and to ask eeryone to tie themselves to their seat.
Vinod asks Rakesh over wireless to clear the incline area even though it isn't completely ready and then Ashok and he set up the dynamite charges on the couplings. As the train starts climbing the incline, they blast the dynamite and jump off the slowing engine. The engine blasts through Mumbai station and stops on the road. But the passenger compartment slows down and comes to a complete halt. All passengers get off safely. Vinod and Ashok happily come walking they're hurt but alive.
Everyone connects with their relatives and the film ends as a tribute to the soul of India.
Cast
The film had a multi star cast.- DharmendraDharmendraDharmendra Singh Deol |Punjab]]), better known as Dharmendra, is an award-winning Hindi film actor who has appeared in more than 247 Hindi-language films as of 2011. In 1997, he received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to Hindi cinema and also another Lifetime...
-- Ashok (Shoki) - Vinod KhannaVinod Khanna-Early life:Khanna was born to Kamla and Kishanchand Khanna, a textiles, dyes and chemicals businessman of Hindu Punjabi Khatri origin, on 6 October 1946, in Peshawar, British India . He has three sisters and one brother...
-- Vinod (Design engineer) - JeetendraJeetendraJeetendra born Ravi Kapoor is an Indian actor and television producer...
-- Ravi - Hema MaliniHema MaliniHema Malini is an Indian actress, director and producer, as well as a Bharatanatyam dancer-choreographer. Making her acting debut in Sapno Ka Saudagar , she went on to appear in numerous Bollywood films, most notably those with actor and future-husband Dharmendra. She was initially promoted as...
-- Seema - Parveen BabiParveen BabiParveen Babi was an Indian actress, who is most remembered for her glamorous roles alongside top heroes of the 1970s and early 1980s in blockbusters like Deewar, Namak Halaal, Amar Akbar Anthony and Shaan...
-- Sheetal - Neetu SinghNeetu SinghNeetu Singh is an Indian Bollywood actress. She worked as a child actor under the name Baby Sonia. She played Roopa in the 1966 movie Dus Lakh and a dual role in the film Do Kaliyaan. Her other notable films were Waris and Pavitra Paapi.-Career:Neetu Singh made her debut as an actress in 1972 with...
-- Madhu - Danny DenzongpaDanny DenzongpaTshering Phintso Denzongpa , widely known by his acting name "Danny" Denzongpa, is an Indian actor of Sikkimese ancestry working in Bollywood films....
-- Randhir - Vinod MehraVinod MehraVinod Mehra was an Indian actor in Bollywood films. He started out as a child actor in a few films in the late 1950s and early 1960s before starting his adult film career in 1971 acting in over 100 films throughout the 1970s through to the 1990s...
-- Rakesh - IftekharIftekharIftekhar was a character actor in Bollywood films, especially known for his roles as police officers in several films.-Career:...
-- Railway Board Chairman - Simi GarewalSimi GarewalSimi Garewal is an Indian actress. She is known for her work in Mera Naam Joker, Siddhartha and Karz.-Early life:Simi Garewal was born in a Jatt Sikh family in Delhi, her father, J S Garewal served in the army rising to the rank of brigadier...
-- School Teacher - RanjeetRanjeetGopal Bedi is an actor in Indian films and television, born in Jandiala Guru near Amritsar . He has played mostly character roles, with roles as the villain dominating his over 200 Hindi films...
-- Chander - Prem Nath -- Vinod's father
- Sujeet Kumar -- Undercover cop
- Om ShivpuriOm ShivpuriOm Shivpuri was an Indian theatre actor-director and character actor in Hindi films.A National School of Drama, New Delhi alumni, Om Shivpuri became the first chief of the National School of Drama Repertory Company and one of its actors; he later founded an important theatre group of its era, in...
-- Raja RamMohan - Keshto MukherjeeKeshto MukherjeeKeshto Mukherjee was an Indian actor. He specialised in comic drunkard roles in the Hindi films. Though he was famous for his drunkard typecast role in Hindi films, he used to share a very good relation with the iconic Ritwik Ghatak and had very tiny but important roles in the maestro's films...
-- Ticketless passenger - Gufi PaintalGufi PaintalGufi Paintal is an Indian actor who appeared in some notable Bollywood movies in 1980s, as well as television serials and plays. His brother Kanwarjit Paintal and his nephew Hiten Paintal are also actors. He was born as a Sikh....
-- Ticketless passenger - Navin NischolNavin NischolNavin Nischol was an Indian actor. He made his debut with the Hindi film Sawan Bhadon in 1970.-Early life:...
-- Doctor - Asha SachdevAsha SachdevAsha Sachdev is a former Bollywood character artist who won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for Priyatama in 1978.Asha was an alumna of the Pune Film Institute and joined Bollywood with the passion to make it as a leading lady. She began her career in a low-budget film Double Cross in...
-- Raziya - Madan PuriMadan PuriMadan Puri was an actor in Hindi and Punjabi films.-Early life:Madan Singh Puri was born in Nawanshahr, Punjab to S. Nihal Singh Puri and Ved Kaur...
-- Ashok's father - Kushboo -- Student as part of the excursion group
Box office
The film had a 100% opening but collections fell and it didn't perform to well and was given the final verdict of a below average performer.Songs
- 1.Kisi Ke Vade Pe Kyon Eitbar
- 2.Meri Nazar Hai Tujh Pe
- 3.Wada Han Wada
- 4.Pal Do Pal Ka Saath Humara
- 5.Teri Hai Zameen Tera Aasman
- 6.Pehli Nazar Men Humne Apna Dil
- 7.The Burning Train Reprise
- 8.The Burning Train Theme