<P> In this acclaimed cop - drama, the protagonist, played by Om Puri, is a policeman struggling with the evils around him and with his own frailties . The film also stars Amrish Puri, Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah, and Sadashiv Amrapurkar, and features a theme poem by the Marathi writer Dilip Chitre . Nihalani was looking for a new actor to play the role of Rama Shetty when writer Tendulkar convinced him to see the play of Amrapurkar . It was a Marathi play called "Hands Up". The title of the film came from a poem written by Dilip Chitre . </P> <P> Ardh Satya won many awards and went on to become a landmark film in Indian film history . It is still considered to be one of the best cop films made in India . A sequel titled Party was released in 1984 . </P> <P> The film opens at a party where Anant Welankar (Om Puri), a police officer, meets Jyotsna Gokhale (Smita Patil), a lecturer in literature at a local college . Anant is a sub-inspector with Bombay police . They seem to hit it off despite some initial skirmishing about ideology, and the friendship blossoms into a relationship . </P> <P> Anant brings diligence, enthusiasm and a definite idealism to his job . But the job is harsh . There is a deep nexus between the local mafia, the cops and the (corrupt) politicians . Honest himself, Anant falls among the lower rungs of the police hierarchy and has very limited scope of authority on the state of affairs in his area . </P>

Who played the role of anant velankar in the movie ardh satya