Yateem (1988)

Dutta returned to his favourite Rajasthan desert locale with camerawork placing people in huge spaces for this revivalist tale of a policeman, Shivkumar Yadav (Kharbanda). Responsible for the death of Krishna’s bandit parents, he adopts the boy (Deol) who goes to a police academy and returns home a commissioned officer to find his foster-father remarried. Yadav’s new wife Chanchal (Sujata Mehta) mistreats her stepdaughter Gauri (Farha), Krishna’s lover, while lusting for Krishna and having an affair with a junior officer, Girivar Mathur (Denzongpa). Rejected by Krishna, Chanchal accuses him of attempted rape and has him jailed. Krishna escapes and lives as a fugitive with Gauri until he is captured by a bandit. Escaping again, Gauri gives birth to a child which forces Krishna to surrender to his foster father. Earlier, Chanchal had been shot by Girivar, who blamed Yadav for the killing and is later killed himself by Krishna. Yadav dies protecting Krishna who then kills the bandits.