Do we actually know the truth of Bihar? Killings, kidnappings, corruption-that’s all we know. And Prakash Jha decides to do a brave attempt of presenting to the viewers the actual truth of Bihar in the movie ‘Apaharan’
The main characters in this movie:
Ajay Shastri (Ajay Devgan): He is a simple young man with simple hopes. He dreams of becoming a police officer and to do something in this life. He had failed many times in becoming a police officer and now was ready to anything to fulfill his dream.
Tabrez Alam (Nana Patekar): He is a minority political leader. He runs an empire and has a lot of followers and supporters. He does not forgive anyone who breaks his rule.
Megha (Bipasha Basu): Megha is a girl-next-door type of girl. She is a sensible and practical, loves Ajay and always helps Ajay.
Professor Raghuvansh Shastri (Mohan Agashe): Father of Ajay Shastri. He is a courageous old man. He is an honest man and thinks that the system should improve and become non-corrupt. A great man but perhaps a failed father.
Anwar Khan (Mukesh Tiwari): A very honest officer and in fact, the only non-corrupt officer in the whole of Bihar! He is loyal, does his duty properly and wants to prove that he is honest though he is Muslim.
Gaya Singh (Yashpal Sharma): The right hand of Tabrez. He controls the business of kidnappings within the walls of the prison.
Usman (Mukul Nag): Tabrez’s brother. He is very loyal to Tabrez and will do anything for him.
Muralidhar (Murali Sharma): He is the middleman in the business of kidnappings. He is the one who takes the money in return of the victims.
Kashinath (Ayub Khan): He is Ajay’s closed pal. He too is unemployed. He always helps Ajay with whatever way he can.
Dinkar Pandey (Chetan Pandit): He is a opportunist of Tabrez. He is intelligent and does the right thing at the right time. He was a student of Prof. Raghuvansh Shastri but now completely opposite of him!
Akash Ranjan (Anoop Soni): He is an excellent journalist in ‘Aaj Tak’ and never gets afraid to speak and to do something against the politics.
The story: Ajay Shastri had failed many times in the IPS exam and was now willing to do anything in order to become a police officer. The moderator of the exam was willing to put Ajay’s name in the merit list only if he gives him Rs. 5 lakhs. Ajay’s friend Kashinath and others brings the money from Muralidhar and promises to return it back. Ajay’s name gets entry in the merit list. He becomes happy. Burt his happiness is shortlived. Prof. Raghuvansh Shastri insults the works of Dinkar Pandey and Dinkar cuts off the name of Ajay from the merit list. Now Muralidhar wanted back the money. He threatens Ajay that if he will not get the money, he will kill his father. Kashnath meets a gang of kidnappers and they were willing to give the money to Ajay only if he kidnaps their target. Ajay and his pals, with great difficuly abducts the victim. But the victim was a closed associate of Tabrez Alam. So, Ajay gets arrested and Gaya Singh beats and tortures Ajay. Soon, Ajay gets a bail and takes his revenge by killing Gaya Singh. Very soon, Ajay replaces Gaya Singh and become his right hand! So till which height will Ajay go? Will he succeed?
Ajay Devgan proves that he is one of the best actor in bollywood. He gives a fine performance and acts well. I hope that his forthcoming movie ‘Shikhar’ fares well at the box-office.
Bipasha Basu was simply wasted in the movie. She was not at all needed in the movie. Her role was only of 10 mins and not more than that.
Nana Patekar was excellent. From the starting till the end, Nana Patekar was excellent. In fact, Apaharan is successful just because of Nana Patekar’s performance.
Mukesh Tiwari does a total justice to his role. He totally acts well, speaks well. I am sure that his name would be there in the Best Supporting Actor award. Yashpal Sharma, too was good, and had the role in the first half. But I think that he should get some positive roles! Mukul Nag was very nice and totally natural. Murali Sharma was not so good. He has acted well only in Main Hoon Na and Black Friday. He was not suited for this role and looked worst!
Ayub Khan, too, does total justice to his role. I hope that he gets role other than from Prakash Jha! Mohan Agashe was mind-blowing. He is one of the best veteran actor presently. Anoop Soni was nice and speaks very well. Chetan Pandit was okay(never heard of him before). Daya Shankar Pandey (Mela Ram in ‘Swades’) as Daya Shankar had a very little role and was fine. Others did a good job.
Prakash Jha’s direction was nice and very well-suited the movie. He did a brave attempt by taking the topic of kidnapping in Bihar for making a movie. He has shown as the truth which no one has ever dared to show. Hats off to Prakash Jha!
There was only one song in the movie which was not at all needed in the movie. Wayne Sharpe’s music was okay but his background score was praiseworthy! Jai Singh’s action, Arvind K’s cinematography, screenplay etc was all perfect!
On the whole, Apaharan is a very well made movie and has to be seen. It is a movie, which is totally different from the other movies. It has to be seen by the today’s youth who avoids such movies and instead watches ‘Kya Kool Hai Hum’ type of movies!
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