The heart and soul of Avtaar is Rajesh Khanna and his brilliant portrayal of the title role. He is ably supported amongst others by Shabana Azmi as Avtaar's wife and A. K. Hangal as a friend with similar problems. Mohan Kumar is a director who has made several successful films but not any that gained critical acclaim, that is until Avtaar. Avtaar not only was a huge commercial hit, but it is a film that was very highly reviewed. It is unfortunate that Rajesh Khanna had to miss out on the Best Actor award to another great acting performance of 1983, Naseeruddin Shah for Masoom. Avtaar in my opinion was one of the three best films of 1983 and is a must see, specially for Rajesh Khanna fans.