General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Naajayaz (नाजायज़)

Naajayaz (नाजायज़) is a 1995 Hindi-language action drama film directed by Mahesh Bhatt and produced by Mukesh Bhatt, in which an upright police officer hunting a Bombay crime lord discovers that the gangster is his biological father.¹^•² It was released in India on 17 March 1995 and stars Ajay Devgn, Juhi Chawla, and Naseeruddin Shah.¹

Key fact	Detail
Release	17 March 1995 (India), Hindi language¹
Director / producer	Mahesh Bhatt / Mukesh Bhatt, banner Vishesh Films³
Lead cast	Ajay Devgn as Inspector Jai Bakshi, Juhi Chawla as Inspector Sandhya, Naseeruddin Shah as Raj Solanki⁴
Runtime / certificate	157 minutes (2h 37m); UA⁵
Music	Anu Malik; the song "Barsaat Ke Mausam Mein" which IMDb notes became a rage³^•⁵
Box office	Budget 32,500,000; total nett gross 58,975,000; India gross 94,000,000; verdict "Average"⁶
Awards	Two Filmfare Award nominations at the 1996 ceremony: Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor⁷

Spoilers

Plot

Inspector Jai Bakshi (Ajay Devgn) is an honest, fearless officer assigned to dismantle the criminal empire of Raj Solanki (Naseeruddin Shah), the don who controls the city. He works alongside Inspector Sandhya (Juhi Chawla), his partner and love interest.⁵^•⁸ When Jai accumulates enough evidence to arrest Raj, his superiors take him off the case and give him the reason: Raj Solanki is his biological father.⁷

The backstory, as summarized by Box Office India, has Raj migrating to Bombay with his wife and his servant friend Ratan, becoming a criminal and then the city's big don. Twenty-five years later, leading a prosperous life with his wife and legitimate son Deepak (Deepak Tijori), he is informed that he has an illegitimate son, Jay Bakshi, who is a police officer working to eradicate the very crime Raj lives by. Deepak sends a killer after Jai; Raj's timely intervention saves the officer's life, raising the question of why a don would save a policeman. The drama turns again when Jai's mother is kidnapped.⁶ Reema Lagoo plays Naina Bakshi, Jai's mother.⁴

India Today's reviewer described the film as using Bollywood's staple themes to tell the story of an honest police officer who discovers he is the illegitimate son of an underworld don, with the son seeking to legitimize his existence by capturing his father.⁹

Cast and crew

The credited cast includes Ajay Devgn (Inspector Jai Bakshi), Juhi Chawla (Inspector Sandhya), Naseeruddin Shah (Raj Solanki), Deepak Tijori (Deepak Solanki, Jai's brother), Reema Lagoo (Naina Bakshi), Gulshan Grover (David), Ashish Vidyarthi (Ratan), Tiku Talsania (ACP Malhotra), Shri Vallabh Vyas (Pascal), Disco Shanti (item dancer), Makarand Deshpande (street singer), and Abhimanyu Singh.⁴^•⁶

Behind the camera, Jay Dixit wrote the story, screenplay, and dialogue; Sameer Arya handled cinematography; Sanjay Sankla edited; and Anu Malik composed the music, with lyrics by Indeevar, Maya Govind, Surdarshan Faakir, and Rahat Indori. Playback singers included Kumar Sanu, Alka Yagnik, Ila Arun, Sonu Nigam, and Roop Kumar Rathod.³^•¹⁰ Some databases also credit Amar Haldipur alongside Anu Malik for music.¹¹

Production and filming

The film was shot partly in Hyderabad, Telangana, with memorable scenes filmed at Golconda Fort.⁵^•¹² In 2015, when Ajay Devgn returned to the fort to shoot a song sequence for Singham Returns, reports noted that he had shot there for Naajayaz two decades earlier and became nostalgic about the location.¹² The Central Board of Film Certification number recorded on Google Play is U/A (1518/1995-MUM).¹³

Reception and box office

Box Office India lists the film's budget as 3,25,00,000, first-week nett earnings of 2,62,50,000, a total nett gross of 5,89,75,000, an India gross of 9,40,00,000, and worldwide gross of 95,890,000 (including $60,000 overseas), on about 7,296,000 footfalls across 195 screens; its verdict is "Average".⁶

In a contemporaneous review, Anupama Chopra of India Today wrote that Mahesh Bhatt was "back in form" after a run of films she called tired, rediscovering his forte of exploring human relations and emotions, while judging that the film still fell short of the talent he had shown in earlier work such as Arth, Naam, and much of Sadak and Sir.⁹ At the 1996 Filmfare Awards the film received two nominations, for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.⁷ IMDb records an audience rating of 5.6/10 from about 847 votes.⁵

Music

Anu Malik composed the score and songs. IMDb's trivia notes that the song "Barsaat Ke Mausam Mein" became a rage.⁵ A Times of India retrospective on Mahesh Bhatt's 1990s films singles out "Barsat Ke Mausam Mein" as striking the right emotional notes, and describes the film as showcasing Bhatt's ability to mix action with emotional storytelling.¹⁴ Rotten Tomatoes audience reviews likewise name the melodic "Kya Tum Mujhse Pyaar" and "Tujhe Pyaar Karte" among the film's strengths.¹⁵

Availability

The film is not currently available on major streaming services in India or the United States. JustWatch records that it last streamed on Google Play Movies until December 2022, and previously on Amazon Prime Video from January 2018 to October 2019.² Netflix lists the title in its catalog but marks it unavailable to watch in the current country.¹⁶

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Indian films (individual works) › Hindi films of the 1990s › Action and thriller films › Released 1990 to 1995

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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