''Sehar'' (''

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: The morning'') is a 2005 Indian

crime drama film In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

directed by

Kabeer Kaushik Kabeer Kaushik is an Indian film director and screenwriter. Born and brought up in a Bihari family in Patna and graduated from Frank Anthony Public School in New Delhi. He debuted with Sehar ''Sehar'' (''English: The morning'') is a 2005 ...

, starring

Arshad Warsi Arshad Warsi (born 19 April 1968) is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films. He is the recipient of several awards including a Filmfare Award from five nominations and is noted for acting in varied film genres. Before making his acting deb ...

and

Mahima Chaudhry Mahima Chaudhry is an Indian actress and model who worked in Hindi films. During the 1990s, Chaudhry did a few modelling assignments and appeared in several television commercials before venturing into films. She made her acting debut in the 1997 ...

in the lead roles with

Sushant Singh Sushant Singh (born 9 March 1972) is an Indian character actor, television actor, author and Television presenter, presenter known for his works predominantly in Hindi cinema, and Telugu cinema. He made his screen debut in 1998 with Ram Gopal V ...

and

Pankaj Kapur Pankaj Kapur (born 29 May 1954) is an Indian actor who has worked in Hindi theatre, television and films. He has appeared in several television serials and films. He is the recipient of several awards, including a Filmfare Award and three Nat ...

in supporting roles. Based on real-life incidents and individuals, the film depicts

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

in the state of

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 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, 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 Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

, played by Arshad Warsi, instrumental in bringing together a group of committed

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

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 Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

contracts,

Inter-Services Intelligence The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI; ur, , bayn khadamatiy mukhabarati) is the premier intelligence agency of Pakistan. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant ...

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 The Uttar Pradesh Police (UP Police), (IAST: ), is the primary law enforcement agency within the Uttar Pradesh state of India. Established in 1863 as the Office of the Inspector General of Police, United Provinces under the ''Police Act, 1861'' ...

. 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 Shoojit Sircar (born ) is an Indian filmmaker, director and producer known for his work in Hindi films. He has received several awards, including two National Film Awards and a Filmfare Award from five nominations. Sircar made his directoria ...

Yahaan ''Yahaan'' () is a 2005 Indian Hindi war drama, romance film jointly produced by Sahara One Motion Pictures and Red Ice Films with Shoojit Sircar as the director in his directorial debut. The film stars Jimmy Sheirgill, Minissha Lamba (in her ...

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 (

) being interviewed about police encounters and bids to eradicate organised crime from

and its surrounding areas. It then showcases Ajay Kumar (

). 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 The Indian Police Service ( IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became independent from the British Raj. Along with the Indian Administrative Service (IAS ...

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 (

). Meanwhile, he falls in love with his childhood friend Anamika Kant (

), 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 Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station (station code: NZM) is a railway station in South Delhi, India. It is under the administrative control of the Delhi Division of the Northern Railway zone of the Indian Railways. It is one of the five main s ...

. 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

as SSP Ajay Kumar *

as Anamika Kant *

as Gajraj Singh *

as Professor Bhole Shankar Tiwari * Suhasini Mulay as Prabha Kumar *

Rajendra Gupta Rajendra Gupta (born 17 October 1947) is an Indian film, television and theatre actor and director who is known for his television roles of Adina Beg Khan Sahib e Azam in 2010 series of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Pandit Jagannath in the 1990s Doorda ...

as ADG (Law and Order) Arun Kapoor *

Naved Aslam Naved Aslam (born 23 November) is an Indian film, television and theatre actor and screenwriter. He has been an actor, director and screenwriter, respectively for TV shows, theater plays and feature films. In 2018, Aslam made his digital debut ...

as Inspector Joginder Singh Solanki * Surendra Pal as Ramnath Mishra *

Ravi Jhankal Ravi Jhankal is an Indian television, stage and film actor, most known for working in Shyam Benegal's films, including '' Welcome to Sajjanpur'' (2008) and ''Well Done Abba'' (2010) and for the role of P. V. Narasimha Rao in '' Pradhanmantri (TV ...

as Dwivedi, Mishra's Secretary *

Rajendra Sethi Rajendra may refer to: * Rajendra (name), a male given name (including a list of persons with the name) * ''Rajendra'' (moth), a moth genus * Rajendra Radar Rajendra is a passive electronically scanned array radar developed by the Defence ...

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 Kali Prasad Mukherjee (born 20 November 1966) is an Indian film and television actor who is best known for playing supporting roles in Bollywood films and Indian soap opera Indian television drama (in Indian English Indian serials) are tel ...

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 Adnan Sami Khan (born 15 August 1971) is an Indian singer, musician, music composer and pianist. He performs Indian and Western music, including for Hindi, Kannada, Telugu and Tamil movies. He has been awarded with Padma Shri (India's fourth hi ...

#"Sapno Ka Sehar Ho" –

Alka Yagnik Alka, AlkA or ALKA may refer to: People * Alka Ajith (born c. 1997), Indian multilingual playback singer * Alka Amin (active from 2011), Indian television actress * Alka Balram Kshatriya, Indian politician, Member of the Parliament of India repr ...

#"Faiz" (Sehar) – Pankaj Kapur #"Palke Jhukao Na" (force) – Adnan Sami,

#"Palke Jhukao Na" (sacrifice) – Adnan Sami,

#"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''".

References

External links