Template:More citations nery 2017

Nagina is 1986 Indian fantasy film, produced and directed by Harmesh Malhotra, with a screenplay written by Ravi Kapoor and story by Jagmohan Kapoor. Starring Sridevi in the lead role, the film revolves around Rajni, a Nāginī who marries a civilian to avenge the death of her spouse at the hands of an evil saint. The film also stars Rishi Kapoor, Komal Mahuvakar, Amrish Puri, Sushma Seth and Prem Chopra in supporting roles.

The film upon its release was a widespread success grossing ₹13 crore at the box office, becoming the second-highest-grossing Indian film of 1986. The success of the film proved to be a major watershed moment in Indian Cinema, as the film, despite being a woman-centric movie became a massive commercial success. A sequel to the film was released; Nigahen: Nagina Part II (1989), which made the former the first Indian movie ever to have a sequel, although the sequel failed commercially. Today, Nagina is considered a cult classic and one of Sridevi's finest performances.

Rajiv (Rishi Kapoor) comes from a wealthy land-owning family, and lives in a palatial home with his mother (Sushma Seth), who would like him to get married to a beautiful young woman named Vijaya Singh (Komal Mahuvakar), the only daughter of Thakur Ajay Singh (Prem Chopra). Rajiv, however, is in love with Rajni (Sridevi), who is an orphan without connections. When Rajiv informs his mother of his intent to marry Rajni, she refuses to give her blessings, but relents after a favourable meeting with Rajni. The marriage is arranged and they enjoy their marriage – until the arrival of Bhairo Nath (Amrish Puri), a sadhu capable of controlling snakes. He informs Rajiv's mother that Rajni is a shape-shifting venomous snake who has married Rajiv to avenge the death of her spouse during Rajiv's childhood. To remove her from the household, Bhairo and his disciples do a snake dance song, forcing Rajni to dance for them as she is a snake. However, when Rajiv comes into the house, Rajni escapes, only to be caught by Bhairo, who reveals his plot, to control the world with the Mani, a sacred jewel that only Rajni knows where is hidden. However, Rajiv comes and engages in a fight with Bhairo. Bhairo is bitten by two snakes and dies. Rajiv and Rajni live happily ever after.

According to Taran Adarsh, Nagina turned out to be the biggest blockbuster of the year,^[1][2] with Box Office India stating that Sridevi remained "the undisputed No.1".^[3] The movie was appreciated for its screenplay, dialogues and direction.^[4] Named one of the best snake fantasy films by Yahoo,^[5] Times of India ranked Nagina as one of the 'Top 10 Snake Films of Hindi Cinema'.^[6] Sridevi's climax dance number "Main Teri Dushman" also remains one of the best snake dances in Bollywood^[7] with Desi Hits calling it "one of Sridevi's most iconic dance numbers... that still gives fans goose bumps"^[8] and iDiva describing it as "the stuff of movie legends".^[9]

In 2013, Sridevi was given the Filmfare Special Award for her performances in Nagina as well as Mr. India (1987) to recognise her work at that time.

This movie was followed by a sequel in 1989 called Nigahen: Nagina Part II.^[10]

The film's music was provided by Laxmikant-Pyarelal, with lyrics by Anand Bakshi, and had classic songs like, Main Teri Dushman originally sung by Lata Mangeshkar.

According to the Bengali author Suman Sen, Nagina was the main inspiration to write his novel Sarpa Manav: Nagmoni Rohosyo. The author also had mentioned the film's name in a small part.^[11]