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Sehar
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Wikipedia article
'Sehar' ('English: The morning') is a 2005 Indian crime drama film directed by Kabeer Kaushik, starring Arshad Warsi and Mahima Chaudhry in the lead roles with Sushant Singh and Pankaj Kapur in supporting roles. Based on real-life incidents and individuals, the film depicts organized crime in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, and how the State Police worked to tackle it. It shows the turbulent journey of Ajay Kumar, a newly appointed 31-year-old SSP of Lucknow, played by Arshad Warsi, instrumental in bringing together a group of committed police officers under the aegis of Special Task Force. The force, given with a single agenda, succeeds in challenging the might of organized crime in the Uttar Pradesh. In the process, what unfolds is the ever-changing dynamics of Uttar Pradesh's 'Siyaasat': railway contracts, Inter-Services Intelligence involvement, politician-Mafia-police-builder nexus, pro-activism of criminal gangs, sophisticated yet rigid red tape and criminalization of university students.
The movie is loosely based on the encounter of the notorious criminal Shiv Prakash Shukla (alias Shri Prakash Shukla) who was eliminated by the newly formed Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh Police. He was not only a dreaded gangster but also a connection between the underworld and the politicians.
This movie was released along with director Shoojit Sircar's Yahaan on 25 July 2005. However, business for both movies were highly affected due to heavy flood in Mumbai on 26 July 2005. Therefore, both the movies flopped at box office. Although, both the movies have special mention of good performance and good story.
Sehar was one of the films featured in Avijit Ghosh's book, '40 Retakes: Bollywood Classics You May Have Missed.'
Plot
The film begins with Professor Tiwari (Pankaj Kapur) being interviewed about police encounters and bids to eradicate organised crime from Lucknow and its surrounding areas. It then showcases Ajay Kumar (Arshad Warsi). Since he was young, Ajay has been traumatised by the death of his army officer father, who killed himself when accused of being a deserter, leaving his widow Prabha (Suhasini Mulay) to bring up Ajay on her own. Ajay studies hard and successfully becomes an Indian Police Service officer with the title of Senior Superintendent of Police of Lucknow. Due to his honesty, he gets transferred to various states in India, around 14 times in eight years. At his new posting in Uttar Pradesh, he comes to terms with a new criminal boss and ruthless killer, Gajraj Singh (Sushant Singh). Meanwhile, he falls in love with his childhood friend Anamika Kant (Mahima Chaudhry), with his mother subsequently deciding to get them married. Ajay engineers the setting up of a Special Task Force to deal with Gajraj. However, he also runs into problems as Gajraj is politically well-connected. Gajraj continues to elude the Task Force, using more modern technology such as the use of cell phones. But the Task Force recovers and is able to monitor Gajraj's cell phones with the help of Prof. Tiwari. They find out that Gajraj is planning to contest the elections and if he wins, no police officer of any rank, even the Task Force, would then dare to arrest him or even consider him a suspect, which may well result in the Task Force being mere paper tigers. They have a final confrontation inside a train which leaves from Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station. All the officers in the Task Force as well as members of Gajraj's gang kill each other in the fight, leaving Prof. Tiwari as the only witness.
Cast
*Arshad Warsi as SSP Ajay Kumar
*Mahima Chaudhry as Anamika Kant
*Sushant Singh as Gajraj Singh
*Pankaj Kapur as Professor Bhole Shankar Tiwari
*Suhasini Mulay as Prabha Kumar
*Rajendra Gupta as ADG (Law and Order) Arun Kapoor
*Naved Aslam as Inspector Joginder Singh Solanki
*Surendra Pal as Ramnath Mishra
*Ravi Jhankal as Dwivedi, Mishra's Secretary
*Rajendra Sethi as Satyapal Mehra, Builder
*Ghanshyam Garg as Sub Inspector Baidyanath Mishra
*Ujjwal Chopra as Inspector Sayyed
*Vishnu Sharma as Chief Minister Raghuvir Singh
*Kali Prasad Mukherjee as Rituraj/ Hemraj Chaudhary
*Vikram Sahu as Hariprasad Singh, CM's friend
*Vivek k. Rawat as Qaasim.
Music
All the songs were composed by Daniel B George, all lyrics were written by Nilanjana Kishore and Swanand Kirkire.
#"Nakhredaar Banno Aae Piya" Shubha Mudgal
#"Dil To Hai Bezubaan" Adnan Sami
#"Sapno Ka Sehar Ho" Alka Yagnik
#"Faiz" (Sehar) Pankaj Kapur
#"Palke Jhukao Na" (force) Adnan Sami, Alka Yagnik
#"Palke Jhukao Na" (sacrifice) Adnan Sami, Alka Yagnik
#"Palken Jhukao Na" (Duet) Meenal Jain, Swanand Kirkire
#"Prayer" -Swanand Kirkire
Critical reception
The film received mixed reviews.
Sehar was featured in Avijit Ghosh's book, "'40 Retakes: Bollywood Classics You May Have Missed'".
See also
*ZEE5's Rangbaaz (web series) - Also based on the same character Shri Prakash Shukla which is played by Saqib Saleem in this movie.
References
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