Gupt: The Hidden Truth

Gupt: The Hidden Truth (transl. Secret: The Hidden Truth), shortly called Gupt, is a 1997 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Rajiv Rai. The film has Bobby Deol, Manisha Koirala, Kajol in the lead roles. Distributed under the banner of Trimurti Films, it also stars Raj Babbar, Prem Chopra, Raza Murad, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Paresh Rawal, Dalip Tahil, Sharat Saxena, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Om Puri, Mukesh Rishi, Priya Tendulkar and others in supporting roles. The soundtrack was composed by Viju Shah. With its plot based on the novel Good Children Don't Kill (1967) by Louis Thomas, it is considered as one of the best thriller films from Hindi Cinema.

At the 43rd Filmfare Awards, Gupt received 8 nominations, including Best Film and Best Director (Rai), and won 3 awards, including Best Villain.

Plot

Governor Jaisingh Sinha, a respected leader, is in talks about FDI with key figures, including industrialist Meghnad Choudhary and socialist leader Vilas Rao. Meanwhile, his stepson Sahil, who never accepted him as his father, lives a carefree life and is in love with Isha, the daughter of Sinha’s secretary, Ishwar Dewan. They were childhood friends but got separated when Isha was sent to boarding school.

Trouble starts when Sinha announces Sahil’s engagement to Sheetal, Choudhary’s daughter, without his consent. Furious, Sahil argues with Sinha and, in a moment of rage, tries to stab him but is stopped by his mother. He storms out and drowns his anger in alcohol at Dr. Gandhi’s house, who advises him to reconsider his feelings. When Sahil returned home, he found Sinha fatally stabbed. Just before dying, Sinha tries to say something, but Sahil can’t understand. His mother sees him holding a knife near the body and assumes the worst. Sahil is arrested, and in court, everyone testifies against him. He is sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Determined to prove his innocence, Sahil escapes with Sheetal’s help. Inspector Uddham Singh is put on the case. Sahil secretly meets Isha and later goes to Dr. Gandhi for help, only to find him murdered, too. Now accused of two murders, Sahil investigates those who could have a motive—Thanawala, Choudhary, and Vilas Rao—but finds no proof. Along with Sheetal and Isha, he abducts Minister Sadanand Bose ("Mantriji") to force the truth out, but it leads nowhere.

Uddham Singh, however, notices an important clue: Two identical knives were used in the murders. This leads him to Dewan’s house, where the same set of knives is found, with two missing. Dewan is arrested and confesses—but not to the murders. He reveals that the real killer is his daughter, Isha.

Sahil confused, realizes the truth when he finds a locket in which Sinha was clutching at his death—it has pictures of him and Isha. Dewan explains that Isha has had severe anger issues since childhood. She once killed Dr. Gandhi’s dog after it bit Sahil. Years ago, Sinha and Dr. Gandhi sent her away to boarding school to keep her away from Sahil. On the day of Sinha’s murder, Isha and Dewan had gone to plead for Sahil and Isha’s marriage, but Sinha insulted them and rejected the idea. Enraged, Isha killed him. When Dr. Gandhi found out, she killed him too.

Sahil rushes to save Sheetal, realizing Isha will come after her next. At Sheetal’s house, Isha pretends to apologizeS but suddenly attacks her. Just then, Sahil arrives, and a fight breaks out. An assassin hired earlier to kill Sahil and Isha tries to intervene but gets killed. In the final moments, a wounded Uddham Singh arrives and fatally shoots Isha. Before dying, Isha asks Sahil for forgiveness.

The film ends with Sahil moving on, now with Sheetal by his side.

Cast

Bobby Deol as Sahil Sinha
Manisha Koirala as Sheetal Chaudhary
Kajol as Isha Diwan
Prem Chopra as Minister Sadanand Bose
Raza Murad as Advocate Mushir Thanawala
Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Dr. Shubham Gandhi
Paresh Rawal as Ishwar Diwan
Dalip Tahil as Meghnad Chaudhary
Sharat Saxena as Vilasrao Mhatre
Sadashiv Amrapurkar as Inspector Neelkanth Pandey
Om Puri as Inspector Udham Singh
Ashok Saraf as Constable Pandu
Raj Babbar as Governor Jaisingh Sinha (Special Appearance)
Mukesh Rishi as Babu Anna (Special Appearance)
Harish Patel as Phoolchand Raje
Tej Sapru as Jailor
Anjan Srivastav as Police Commissioner Manoj Patwardhan
Vishwajeet Pradhan as Hunter
Dinesh Hingoo as Thanawala's Servant
Priya Tendulkar as Sharda Sinha
Aparajita as Surbhi Chaudhary
Harsh Lunia as Harsh Sinha
Bob Christo as Boat organiser

Music

The music was composed by Viju Shah and the lyrics were written by Anand Bakshi. The title track of the film, "Gupt Gupt", samples the electronica track "Deep Forest" from the eponymous album by Deep Forest and the titular tracks from Mike Oldfield's seminal prog-rock orchestral debut Tubular Bells (revisited and sampled numerous times since). "Duniya Hasino Ka Mela" was sampled from "Matsuri" included in the new age album Kojiki by Japanese keyboardist Kitarō.

Shah's work on the soundtrack was well received. It won the Best Background Score and Shah was nominated for the Best Music Director, whereas Alka Yagnik was also nominated for the Best Female Playback Singer for "Mere Khwabon Me Tu".

Box office

On the opening day it collected ₹9.6 million and by the opening weekend it had grossed ₹27.8 million. The first week collections were ₹53.45 million with an India gross of ₹317.2 million. Worldwide gross collections were ₹332.3 million, with an overseas gross of US$425,000. The adjusted net-gross of the film is ₹1.68 billion.