''Farz'' () is a 2001 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 de ...
-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 ...
starring
Sunny Deol
Ajay Singh Deol (born 19 October 1956), better known by his stage name Sunny Deol, is an Indian actor, film director, producer, politician and current Member of Parliament from Gurdaspur (Lok Sabha constituency) of Punjab, India. As an actor, ...
,
Preity Zinta
Preity G Zinta (pronounced ; born 31 January 1975) is an Indian actress and entrepreneur primarily known for her work in Hindi cinema, Hindi films. After graduating with degrees in English literature, English honours and criminal psychology, Z ...
and
Jackie Shroff
Jaikishan Kakubhai Shroff (born 1 February 1957), popularly known as Jackie Shroff, is an Indian actor and former model. He has been in the Bollywood industry for over four decades, and , has appeared in over 220 films in 13 languages namely Hi ...
.
Plot
Mumbai is being terrorized by a dreaded criminal Gawa Firozi (
Jackie Shroff
Jaikishan Kakubhai Shroff (born 1 February 1957), popularly known as Jackie Shroff, is an Indian actor and former model. He has been in the Bollywood industry for over four decades, and , has appeared in over 220 films in 13 languages namely Hi ...
) and his brother Sikander (
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 ...
). ACP Arjun Singh (
Om Puri
Om Prakash Puri (18 October 1950 – 6 January 2017) was an Indian actor who appeared in mainstream commercial Hindi films as well as Bengali, Kannada,English, Punjabi and one Telugu film, as well as independent and art films and also starred ...
) and his brother-in-law, Tayaji (
Dara Singh
Dara Singh Randhawa (born Deedar Singh Randhawa; 19 November 1928 – 12 July 2012) was an Indian professional wrestler, actor, director and politician. He started acting in 1952 and was the first sportsman to be nominated to the Rajya Sab ...
), work with the crime branch of the city's police department, but when Tayaji is killed while trying to save the Chief Minister from Gawa's attack, Arjun is devastated by his death. Arjun's wife Rukmani (
Farida Jalal
Farida Jalal (born Farida Sami; 18 May 1950) is an Indian actress who primarily worked in Hindi films. In a film career spanning almost fifty years, Jalal appeared in over 200 films. Best known for her character-driven roles in independent cin ...
), daughter Kajal (
Preity Zinta
Preity G Zinta (pronounced ; born 31 January 1975) is an Indian actress and entrepreneur primarily known for her work in Hindi cinema, Hindi films. After graduating with degrees in English literature, English honours and criminal psychology, Z ...
) and son Rahul are also equally shattered, and Arjun is fearful that the same person who killed his brother-in-law will come after him or his family.
While Arjun is still mourning Tayaji's death, he is told that a new officer ACP Karan Singh (
Sunny Deol
Ajay Singh Deol (born 19 October 1956), better known by his stage name Sunny Deol, is an Indian actor, film director, producer, politician and current Member of Parliament from Gurdaspur (Lok Sabha constituency) of Punjab, India. As an actor, ...
) will be joining the department as a substitute for Tayaji. Just the next day at work, Arjun is informed that some criminals have entered a college and have taken some students as hostages including his daughter Kajal. Arjun reaches the spot and while he is negotiating with the assailants, Karan storms into the building and single-handedly wipes out all the perpetrators and manages to save Kajal who instantly falls in love with him. Arjun is not happy with Karan's methods of dealing with criminals as Karan rarely leaves anyone alive at the crime scene. To cap Arjun's frustrations, Karan starts reciprocating Kajal's feelings and a flustered Arjun starts venting out his frustration on petty offenders before eventually being stopped by Karan.
Over the next few days, Arjun and Karan raid several hideouts and illicit ammunition factories belonging to Gawa and Sikandar but are unable to do much since Sikandar is an influential person in the city. One day Kajal's friend who was in an illicit relationship with Sikandar is killed by him after she tries to blackmail him into marrying her. While escaping, Sikandar bumps into Kajal who informs Karan and Arjun about the murder. Karan asks Kajal to identify the killer. However, Arjun advises against it fearing for his family.
Meanwhile Karan and Kajal's romance reaches a crescendo and the two promptly marry, against Arjun's wishes though with Rukmini's blessing. However, on their first night, the couple are attacked by Sikandar and his cronies. They manage to escape unhurt and Karan pursues and captures Sikandar, presenting him before the judge the next day. While Sikandar is being transferred to the prison, Gawa attacks the police convoy and frees Sikandar. A gunfight ensues, and Karan shoots Sikandar and kills him but is unable to kill Gawa as he runs out of bullets. Gawa is captured and vows to avenge his brother's death while Karan receives widespread admiration from the citizens as well as his colleagues and seniors and is promoted to DCP making Arjun even more jealous of him.
Some time later, Gawa manages to escape by faking his own death. Karan and Kajal are shown to be doting on an orphan named Kabir and are good friends with Kabir's guardian, a catholic priest who runs an orphanage. Gawa decides to use this to his advantage. He murders the priest and writes a fake suicide note indicting Karan which says that the priest, with Karan's help ran the orphanage as a front for child trafficking. As a result, Karan is set to face a CBI enquiry. Gawa then starts showing up in front of Karan at unusual instances and even enters his house and drugs and molests Kajal when she's alone one night. These events take a heavy toll on Karan's life, driving him to near madness. To top it all, Karan is dismissed from service and takes to drinking, consequently becoming abusive towards Kajal, putting their marriage in jeopardy. Karan's informer Taxi (
Johny Lever
Johnny Lever (born John Prakash Rao Janumala; 14 August 1957) is an Indian actor and popular comedian who is known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is one of the first stand-up comedians in India. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, inc ...
) who worked for Gawa earlier, sympathizes with him since he wants revenge for his brother, who was killed by Gawa for no fault of his. One night, when Karan is roaming around in a drunken state along with Taxi, the duo sense that they are being followed. Taxi realizes that it's Gawa who's following them and raises the alarm. But Gawa shoots Taxi and escapes after throwing the gun at Karan, framing him for the murder.
Karan now finds himself in a tight spot, dealing with his crumbling marriage, his duty-bound father-in-law who is leaving no stone unturned to get him and worst of all, Gawa Firozi, who is still roaming scot-free. Only Rukmani, who considers Karan as her own son openly states that she believes he is innocent and will support him no matter what. Somehow, Karan is able to meet Kajal in the temple on the day of Karwa Chauth. Kajal tells him that she still believes in him and knows that he is innocent and also that she is observing a fast for him during the day. Karan tells her that he is going to go all-out after Gawa Firozi and Kajal wishes him luck. Just as they finish their conversation, Arjun lays siege to the temple ordering Karan to surrender. However, Kajal intervenes just as Arjun points a gun at Karan, and Karan escapes, leaving Arjun fuming.
However, Karan's cup of woes is not yet full and he receives a final bolt when Kabir informs him that Kajal has been kidnapped by Gawa Firozi. Furious, Karan infiltrates Gawa's hideout, killing many of his henchmen and finds Kajal tied up next to a mechanical blade. Karan fights Gawa, who reminds Karan of his brother's death and says that he too will see his wife die right before his eyes. However, Karan suddenly gains the upper hand and beats up Gawa telling him that his brother was a criminal who deserved no sympathy and that Gawa himself will also meet the same fate now. Karan saves Kajal and chases Gawa who has boarded a helicopter. Karan manages to cling on the threshold of the helicopter and it takes off just as Arjun arrives at the scene with a huge police force in tow. During the fight Karan falls off taking Gawa down along with him. Karan is saved by a hanging wire while Gawa lands onto a minefield below which blows up, killing him for once and for all. Karan and Kajal reunite and Arjun, smiling, approaches them, imitating Karan's habit of munching on a carrot, indicating that he has accepted Karan.
Cast
*
Sunny Deol
Ajay Singh Deol (born 19 October 1956), better known by his stage name Sunny Deol, is an Indian actor, film director, producer, politician and current Member of Parliament from Gurdaspur (Lok Sabha constituency) of Punjab, India. As an actor, ...
as DCP Karan Singh
*
Preity Zinta
Preity G Zinta (pronounced ; born 31 January 1975) is an Indian actress and entrepreneur primarily known for her work in Hindi cinema, Hindi films. After graduating with degrees in English literature, English honours and criminal psychology, Z ...
as Kajal Singh
*
Jackie Shroff
Jaikishan Kakubhai Shroff (born 1 February 1957), popularly known as Jackie Shroff, is an Indian actor and former model. He has been in the Bollywood industry for over four decades, and , has appeared in over 220 films in 13 languages namely Hi ...
as Gawa Firozi
*
Farida Jalal
Farida Jalal (born Farida Sami; 18 May 1950) is an Indian actress who primarily worked in Hindi films. In a film career spanning almost fifty years, Jalal appeared in over 200 films. Best known for her character-driven roles in independent cin ...
as Rukmani Singh
*
Johnny Lever
Johnny Lever (born John Prakash Rao Janumala; 14 August 1957) is an Indian actor and popular comedian who is known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is one of the first stand-up comedians in India. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, inc ...
as Taxi
*
Om Puri
Om Prakash Puri (18 October 1950 – 6 January 2017) was an Indian actor who appeared in mainstream commercial Hindi films as well as Bengali, Kannada,English, Punjabi and one Telugu film, as well as independent and art films and also starred ...
as ACP Arjun Singh
*
Dara Singh
Dara Singh Randhawa (born Deedar Singh Randhawa; 19 November 1928 – 12 July 2012) was an Indian professional wrestler, actor, director and politician. He started acting in 1952 and was the first sportsman to be nominated to the Rajya Sab ...
as Tayaji
*
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 Sikander Firozi
*
Pooja Batra
Pooja Batra Shah (born 27 October) is an Indian-American actress and model who primarily works in Hindi films. She was crowned Femina Miss India International in 1993.
Early life and background
Batra was born on 27 October to Ravi Batra, an a ...
as herself in a song
*
Achyut Potdar as Police Commissioner
Production
The outdoor scenes of ''Farz'' were shot in
Bernese Oberland
The Bernese Oberland ( en, Bernese Highlands, german: Berner Oberland; gsw, Bärner Oberland; french: Oberland bernois), the highest and southernmost part of the canton of Bern, is one of the canton's five administrative regions (in which context ...
in central
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. The film was made on a budget of $3 million.
Soundtrack
All songs are written by
Sameer Anjaan
Shitala Pandey, better known as Sameer Anjaan, is an Indian lyricist, writing songs such as "Mujhe Raat Din Bas", predominantly in Hindi language films. He is a Guinness World Record holder for writing the most songs. He was awarded this hono ...
.
Reception
Suparn Verma of Rediff criticised the film for being heavily influenced by ''
Lethal Weapon
''Lethal Weapon'' is a 1987 American buddy cop action comedy film directed and co-produced by Richard Donner, written by Shane Black, and co-produced by Joel Silver. It stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover alongside Gary Busey, Tom Atkins, Darle ...
'' and ''
Ricochet
A ricochet ( ; ) is a rebound, bounce, or skip off a surface, particularly in the case of a projectile. Most ricochets are caused by accident and while the force of the deflection decelerates the projectile, it can still be energetic and almost ...
'' including the climax scene from ''
Metro
Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to:
Geography
* Metro (city), a city in Indonesia
* A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center
Public transport
* Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
''.
Nikhat Kazmi
Nikhat Kazmi ( hi, निखत काजमी; 1958/59 – 20 January 2012) was a senior correspondent and well-known film critic from, born Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, who had been writing for ''The Times of India'' since 1987. She died of breast ...
of ''
Filmfare
''Filmfare'' is an Indian English language, English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of Indian most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, r ...
'' rated it 2.5 out of 5 stars.
References
External links
* {{IMDb title, id=0272607, title=Farz
2001 films
2000s Hindi-language films
Indian action thriller films
2001 action thriller films
Films scored by Uttam Singh
Indian films about revenge
Films directed by Raj Kanwar