Aankhen

Story:

Aankhen is a 2002 Indian Hindi-language heist thriller film directed by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Arjun Rampal, Sushmita Sen, Paresh Rawal and Aditya Pancholi. The film is an adaptation of Shah’s own Gujarati stage play Andhalo Pato (Blindman’s Buff).

PLOT

Obsessive, temperamental and schizophrenic bank manager Vijay Singh Rajput (Amitabh Bachchan) loses his job for badly beating up a bank clerk who tried to embezzle money. Enraged at losing his job, he plots revenge on the bank by intending to stage a heist. He employs three blind men Vishwas (Akshay Kumar), a person who after becoming blind in an accident, gains a powerful sixth sense, Illyaas (Paresh Rawal)and Arjun (Arjun Rampal) when, after passing by school for the blind, he understands that blind people can be trained to do things like sighted people. He blackmails and enlists the help of Neha (Sushmita Sen) who is a teacher at the school to train the trio to do the seemingly impossible heist. He chooses blind people because they, as thieves, would never be suspected as no one would believe blind people can rob a bank.

The bank robbery is successful, with the jewels safely captured by the three. However, in the process of robbing the bank, Illyaas’ face is exposed by a nearby civilian, captured in footage and prompting citywide posters with his face. Meanwhile, Mr. Rajput anxiously tries to extort information from Vishwas and Arjun regarding the jewels and their location. Unable to answer, as they did not collect the items, they try to defer the answer by changing subjects. Ultimately, it is revealed that Illyaas is the one with complete knowledge of the box’s belongings. Meanwhile, tensions rise between Rajput and Neha; the latter resists the abusive nature of Rajput and his obnoxious harassing of Vishwas and Arjun. Arjun confesses his love to Neha, who reveals that she is associated in the plot only for the well-being of her younger brother, Rahul, who has been kidnapped by Rajput, and she cannot kill him even if she has any weapon in her hand.

In a furious attempt, the police try to locate Illyaas. Illyaas lands up at Rajput’s place after getting drunk. Rajput tries several ways to force Illyaas into revealing the location of the box. Unable to generate an answer, he slams Illyaas, who falls on the ground and injures his eyes, causing bleeding. Even in this scenario, Rajput tries to get the information, but Vishwas and Arjun resist and claim that they will reveal the location if Illyaas is treated by paramedics. Rajput sends them to get Dr. Siddiqui. When both go to shamim street to get Dr. Siddiqui, Vishwas senses that Illyaas is in danger and Arjun and Vishwas double back to the training center to save him. Rajput starts to harass Illyaas by tickling him to force him to reveal the answer. In the action, Illyaas falls off the balcony and dies. Unable to bear the shock of the death, Neha pulls a gun on Rajput and threatens to reveal everything to the police if he does not leave her and the other two alone. Rajput notifies Neha that all these acts were done under her training, and he is spotless, and that until Neha is alive, nothing can happen to him. Realizing that she has to die in order to save Arjun and Vishwas, Neha shoots herself, just as both of them return after hearing loud screams.

Both men gang up on Rajput and try to attack him. Once Rajput realises that only Illyaas knew where the jewellery was, he starts shooting them and tries to kill them. The police arrive, and confusion ensues. Vishwas and Arjun come out and claim that Rajput is abusing them while he claims that there is a big conspiracy involving the two people, Neha and Illyaas. Unable to believe that blind men can ransack a bank and amidst Rajput’s impassioned defence, the police start getting suspicious. In the heat of defending himself, Rajput reveals that he had sent over Illyaas, thus confessing his crime.
In the end, Rajput has been locked away. Vishwas and Arjun decide to take care of Rahul and ultimately find the jewels – they were hidden in Illyaas’ harmonium.