Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho! (Summons for Mohan Joshi, 1984) Directed by Saeed Akhtar Mirza and adapted from his own story, the film emerged during the height of India's Parallel Cinema movement as one of its most incisive works. Universally acclaimed by critics, the film was hailed as a sharp, deeply relevant satire on the country's judicial and social systems. Though its commercial reach remained limited—as was typical of art-house cinema—it has since been canonized as a classic of Indian parallel cinema.

Shot across Kamathipura, Bapty Road, and Duncan Road (Two Tanks/Do Tanki) in Mumbai, the film captures the texture of a middle-class, Hindu–Muslim neighborhood with documentary realism. Its distinguished ensemble cast includes Bhisham Sahni in the title role as Mohan Joshi, with Dina Pathak as his wife Rohini Joshi. Naseeruddin Shah and Satish Shah play the opportunistic lawyers Advocate Malkani and Advocate Gokhale, while Rohini Hattangadi appears as the opposing counsel, Advocate Rani. Amjad Khan delivers a menacing turn as the unscrupulous landlord Kundan Kapadia. The supporting cast features Deepti Naval, Mohan Gokhale, Pankaj Kapur, Salim Ghouse, Anjali Paigankar, Deepak Qazir, and Arvind Deshpande.

The narrative centres on an elderly couple who take their landlord to court over his refusal to maintain their dangerously dilapidated apartment building. Seeking justice, they hire two crafty lawyers, only to find themselves ensnared in a legal battle that drags on interminably. As the case languishes in the courts, the lawyers prosper, while the couple is financially and emotionally drained. Within their housing society, they are mocked and ostracized for daring to challenge the landlord, yet they persist in their struggle.

The film reaches its devastating climax when a judge arrives to inspect the chawl. In a calculated deception, the landlord's men temporarily shore up the structure, successfully presenting an illusion of safety. In a final act of despair and defiance, Mohan Joshi pulls down the makeshift supports, triggering the collapse of the building upon himself.

It stands as a biting comic satire of a judicial system in which cases languish for decades, plaintiffs are exhausted or destroyed, and corruption thrives through the collusion of landlords, lawyers, and institutions. The film's enduring relevance was recognized with the National Film Award for Best Film on Family Welfare in 1984.