• Friday, January 23, 2004

• Country:

  India

• Language:

  Hindi

• Runtime:

  174 min

2004

DCP Anant Shrivastav (Amitabh Bachchan) has been assigned the mission to escort terrorist Iqbal Ansari (Atul Kulkarni) from Chandangarh to Mumbai. His terrorist organization are determined to obtain him again. The plan for this is led by Yashwant Angre (Ajay Devgan), a ruthless killer and a former police officer. Anant's team consists of Inspector Shekhar Sachdev (Akshay Kumar), rookie cop Ashwin Gupte (Tusshar Kapoor) and two more inspectors.

Soon Mahalakshmi (Aishwarya Rai) joins them as she is the only witness to have seen Yashwant. The team are armed and ready to go but danger lurks everywhere as the terrorist organization are determined to make sure the officers do not make it to Mumbai. The trip turns into survival when the team are attacked at various times. Finally the team make it to an abandoned cottage in the forest but there is a shoot out and the team are heavily outnumbered. Shekhar tries to force an exchange but against Anant's and Ashwin's judgement. Finally Ansari, after weeks of frustration, reveals that the terrorists are also out to kill him.

He reveals a corrupt world involving the police and politicians. The officers soon realize the enemy they have been fighting is closer to them...In the end, Shekhar is killed by Mahalakshmi and her associate Angre. This killing spites anger into Anant and he hunts down each one of the corrupt officers and in the end, captures Angre after a fight during which, Despite Anant needing his medication often, he wins, and Angre is successfully captured.

The movie ends as Angre is tried and sentenced to prison, and is being carried to his sentence; when he decides to flee, as a nut is lose in the bar to which he is handcuffed in the police van. Angre has Ashwin on gun point using a constable's rifle, when Ashwin reveals that Angre's lose nut was a setup to allow the killing of Angre, and that the bullets of the rifle had been emptied. Ashwin then shoots Angre, and reports his death as murder in an encounter.

Goofs

• Continuity: While driving the jeep, Shekhar is holding a revolver (with his finger on the trigger) in close-ups. However in the wider shots he has no gun.

Taglines

• From the director of Ghayal, Damini, Andaz Apna Apna, Barsaat, Ghatak, China Gate, Pukar, Lajja & The Legend of Bhagat Singh
• The Protector...The Lover...The Destroyer

Trivias

• Akshaye Khanna was initially approached to play Sub Inspector Ashwin Gupte.
• Aishwarya Rai injured her leg in a jeep accident during filming.
• Jayapradha had a full-fledged role, but because of her commitment to her sick husband who was hospitalized, her role was trimmed down to a guest appearance.
• Rajkumar Santoshi wanted to make a film about cops with Amitabh Bachchan ever since he was involved as an assistant in Ardh Satya (1983).
• Rajkumar Santoshi had wanted Aishwarya Rai to be in his film since he dropped her out of Lajja (2001).
• The director's initial plan was to hire all the main actors with names starting with alphabet A. Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai, Atul Kulkarni, Amrish Puri and Akshaye Khanna. However, Akshaye Khanna dropped out and was replaced with Tushhar Kapoor on short notice (hence the odd one out).
• Aishwarya Rai's first role as a villain.

Awards

1. Filmfare Award
   Event: Filmfare Awards
   Result: Nominated
   Category: Best Director
   Recipient(s): Rajkumar Santoshi
2. Filmfare Award
   Event: Filmfare Awards
   Result: Nominated
   Category: Best Actor in a Villainous Role
   Recipient(s): Ajay Devgan
3. Filmfare Award
   Event: Filmfare Awards
   Result: Nominated
   Category: Best Actor in a Supporting Role
   Recipient(s): Akshay Kumar
4. Filmfare Award
   Event: Filmfare Awards
   Result: Nominated
   Category: Best Actor
   Recipient(s): Amitabh Bachchan
5. Screen
   Event: Screen Weekly Awards
   Result: Nominated
   Category: Best Performance in a Negative Role
   Recipient(s): Ajay Devgan
6. Screen
   Event: Screen Weekly Awards
   Result: Nominated
   Category: Best Action Director
   Recipient(s): Tinnu Verma
7. Popular Award
   Event: Zee Cine Awards
   Result: Nominated
   Category: Best Playback Singer (Male)
   Recipient(s): Arnav Chakravarthy
8. Popular Award
   Event: Zee Cine Awards
   Result: Nominated
   Category: Best Playback Singer (Female)
   Recipient(s): Sunidhi Chauhan
9. Popular Award
   Event: Zee Cine Awards
   Result: Nominated
   Category: Best Music Director
   Recipient(s): Ram Sampath
10. Popular Award
    Event: Zee Cine Awards
    Result: Nominated
    Category: Best Actor in a Supporting Role
    Recipient(s): Akshay Kumar