''Deshdrohi'' ( Traitor) is a 2008 Indian

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

-language

action thriller film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

directed by Jagdish A. Sharma. It was scripted and produced by

KRK Krk (; it, Veglia; ruo, Krk; dlm, label= Vegliot Dalmatian, Vikla; la, Curicta; grc-gre, Κύρικον, Kyrikon) is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, located near Rijeka in the Bay of Kvarner and part of Primorje-Gorski Kot ...

, who also appeared in the lead role alongside Manoj Tiwari,

Hrishitaa Bhatt Hrishitaa Bhatt (born 10 May 1981), also spelled as Hrishita Bhat, is an Indian actress and model. She debuted in the film ''Asoka'' (2001) opposite Shah Rukh Khan, but it was '' Haasil'' (2003) that brought her fame. Bhatt received critical acc ...

Gracy Singh Gracy Singh (born 20 July 1980) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Hindi films. She is best known for her role in the films ''Lagaan'' and '' Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.'' ''Singh'' is also a trained Bharatnatyam and Odissi dancer. Career B ...

and

Zulfi Syed Zulfi Syed also known as Zulfikar Syed is an Indian model and actor. Syed Zulfi is a former winner of ''Gladrags Manhunt Contest''. He was a contestant in ''Bigg Boss (Hindi TV series), Bigg Boss''. Biography Syed was first noticed when he won ' ...

. Released on 14 November 2008, it was subject to negative reviews from critics, and is considered as one of the worst Bollywood films.

Plot

The themes of the film consists of politics, prostitution, pimping, and corruption. At the start of the film, a man named Raja Yadav ( Kamaal Rashid Khan) arrives in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

from

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

searching for a watchman's job, after leaving his father and neighbour, Neha, both behind in his village in Uttar Pradesh. In Mumbai, Raja meets Shekhar, a gangster, who works as a watchman, and Sonia, who works for a drug dealer named Baba Kadam. At one point, Raja helps Sonia escape from an attack by a group working for another drug dealer called Rajan Nayak, Baba Kadam's rival. The two eventually fall in love. After realising that living in Mumbai is difficult for North Indians, Raja petitions Shrivastav, a North Indian politician who exploits common people for his political career, for help. The drug mafia of Mumbai city is assisted by politicians, and the media want to reveal the corruption prevalent in the city. Due to his involvement, Raja is marked for death by Rajan Nayak, who contracts a police inspector to kill both him and Sonia. However, he fails and is killed. The police pursue Raja and Sonia, who are also hiding from Rajan Nayak. Raja attempts to obtain help from Shrivastav to no avail, and even Sonia's boss, Baba Kadam, abandons the pair. Pushed to the limit, Raja resolves to kill all involved, in which he is helped by Inspector Rohit Raghav, the new husband of Raja's village sweetheart.

Cast

* Kamaal Rashid Khan as Raja Yadav *

as Sonia Patil * Aman Verma as Minister Shrivastav *

as Neha Rohit Raghav (Few lines as

Mona Ghosh Shetty Mona Ghosh Shetty is an Indian voice-dubbing actor and dubbing director. She has dubbed in Hindi, Bengali, English, Marathi, and Urdu languages. Personal life Mona Ghosh Shetty is the daughter of former voice-dubbing artist Leela Roy Ghosh. ...

) * Manoj Tiwari as Shekhar *

Kader Khan Kader Khan (22 October 1937 – 31 December 2018) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and film director. As an actor, he appeared in over 300 Bollywood films after his debut film in the 1973 film '' Daag'', starring Rajesh Khanna, in which h ...

as Abdul Bhai *

Mukesh Tiwari Mukesh Tiwari (born 24 August 1969) is an Indian actor, who has worked predominantly in Bollywood. and few Tamil films. He is known for playing negative and comic side roles. He entered the film industry in the year 1998 with the movie '' China ...

as Rajan Naik, a corrupt politician *

as Inspector Rohit Raghav *

Ranjeet Ranjeet Bedi (born 13 September 1942 as Gopal Bedi) popularly known as Ranjeet, is an Indian actor and film director born in Jandiala Guru near Amritsar (Punjab), best known for his work in Bollywood.Singh, Nonika (1999)Ranjeet's triple love", ...

as Raja's father *

Avtar Gill Avtar Gill is an Indian actor who appears predominantly in Hindi and Punjabi language films and television serials. He has done many plays with Indian People's Theatre Association Mumbai. Selected filmography Films * ''Noorie'' (1979) * ''A ...

as Raja's grandfather *

Aryan Vaid Aryan Vaid (born 4 July 1976) is an Indian model, who won the Graviera Mister India World modelling pageant in the year 2000. He also went on to win the Mr. International, Mister International Award in 2000. He was a contestant in the realit ...

in cameo appearance in a song * Yashpal Sharma as Baba Kadam *

Raza Murad Raza Murad (born 23 November 1950) is an Indian actor who appears primarily in Hindi films. He has over 250 Bollywood film credits. Murad has also appeared in Bhojpuri and other regional-language films and on Hindi television. Early life He ...

as Chief Minister of Maharashtra * Kim Sharma as Herself *

Nirmal Pandey Nirmal Pandey (10 August 1962 – 18 February 2010) was an Indian Bollywood actor who was known for his role of Vikram Mallah in Shekhar Kapur's '' Bandit Queen'' (1994),and Dajjal in Television Series Hatim, for portraying a transvestite in ' ...

as Deputy Chief Minister Nagesh Kulkarni *

Shiva Rindani Shiva Rindani (born Mukesh Rindani) is an Indian actor who appeared in Hindi films - mostly - in either villainous roles or in comic roles. He has appeared in more than 100 films. His latest film was ''Deshdrohi ''Deshdrohi'' ( Traitor) i ...

as Encounter specialist Rajesh Sharma *

Arun Bakshi Arun Bakshi is an Indian film and television actor and also a singer. He has acted as a character actor in over 100 Hindi films, and as a playback singer has also sung 298 songs. He has also worked in Punjabi and Bhojpuri cinema. He also playe ...

as Shrivastav's P.A.

Music

Controversy

There were accusations that the movie was attempting to profit off of the 2008 attacks on North Indians in Maharashtra. The head of the Mumbai office of the

Central Board of Film Certification The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India. It is tasked with "regulating the public exhibition of films under the provision ...

opined that the movie has scenes that were derogatory to a particular community. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena expressed their protests against the movie. The Mumbai police served a notice for a special screening to find any objectionable content that might trigger unrest. Due to the protests and problems with exhibitors, the release date of the movie was postponed by a week from the original date of 7 November. The movie was released on 14 November, except in Maharashtra, where it was banned by the state government for 60 days under the Bombay Cinema Regulation Act. The producers of the film petitioned the Bombay High Court to lift the ban on the movie. After a two-month ban it was released on 23 January 2009 in Maharashtra.

Reviews

The film received negative reviews overall.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 1158700 2008 films 2000s Hindi-language films 2008 action thriller films Indian action thriller films 2008 directorial debut films Films scored by Nikhil-Vinay Films about race and ethnicity Fictional portrayals of the Maharashtra Police Films about politicians Indian political thriller films Film controversies in India Film censorship in India