Producer: Rajkumar Santoshi 
Director: RajKumar Santoshi 
Cast: Sunny Deol, Meenakshi Seshadhri, Danny Denzongpa, Mamta kulkarni, Amrish Puri, Amitabh Bachchan (Sp. App.)
Music: Anu Malik - R.D. Burman

Kashinath (Sunny deol), abandoned on the ghats of Banaras when he was an infant, is reard under the tutelage of Shambhunath an honest and reighteous man.

Shambhunath (Amrish Puri), a good samaritan, freedom fighter and social worker, commands great respect in the town; to the extent that the locals do not even want to name their offspring without his blessings and consent.

On his part, Shambhunath also loves the townfolk as his own children; advising, counselling and admonishing them all for their own good. But the person most dear to him is Kashi.

A young, strong and handsome lad, Kashinath too adores his foster father more than anybody else in the world. The father and son due share a very speacial reationship.

When the local 'Vaid' advises Kashinath to take his ailing father to Bombay for medical treatment, he is overjoyed. He goes about ecstatically telling everybody in town about departure to the city of his dreams, where he is sure he would make it big some day. Besides, he would also be meeting his brother Shiv (K.K.Raina), Shambhunath's real son, who lives in Bombay with his family.

On their arrival in Bombay the father and son are baffled by the eerie and stony silence in the locality where Shiv resides. And gradually, their myths about the city, where everything is supposed to be within the realm of possibility, are redely shattered. The doctor diagnoses shambhunath's disease as cancer in the advanced stage, and says there is little that can be done about it at such a late stage.

Kashi also realizes that the existence of his brothers, and the fellow shopkeepers depends on the mercy of the blood-thirsty Katiya and his brother, who have unleashed a reign of terror to grab their land by hook or crook. His dreams turn into a nightmare!

However, for Kashi, the only silve lining is Gauri (Meenakshi Sheshadri) who understands the problems of Kashi, and is the only solace during his depressing and difficult moments. She is the inspiration who impels him to move on even in the most trying times.

The heartless Katiya with the help of his notorious brothers heaps atrocities on the hapless people, and Shiv too becomes a victim of it. It is then that the simple hearted and undesigning Kashi realizes that things have actually reached a point of no return,. Just as Gandhiji had said that if I were to choose between cowardice and violence, I would choose the latter, Kashi embraces violence to eliminate Katiya and his brothers one-by-one.

And, Kashi had his reasons for choosing this lethal (Ghatak) path!

Could he forget the humiliation of his father at he hands of the hardhearted Katiya, who forced him to come down on all fours and bark like a dog.

The cold-blooded killing of his brother and other people in the locality.

In the deadly fight that ensues between Kashi and Katiya, the latter's entire family is wiped out before the axe finally falls on Katiya's head.