''Kachche Dhaage'' () is a 1999 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 directed by Milan Luthria and starring

Ajay Devgn Vishal Veeru Devgan (born 2 April 1969), known professionally as Ajay Devgn, is an Indian actor, film director and producer who works in Hindi cinema. Devgn has appeared in over a hundred films and has won numerous accolades, including four ...

Saif Ali Khan Saif Ali Khan (; born Sajid Ali Khan Pataudi; 16 August 1970) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi films. Part of the Pataudi family, he is the son of actress Sharmila Tagore and cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi. Khan ...

and

Manisha Koirala Manisha Koirala (; born 16 August 1970) is a Nepalese actress who works in Indian films, predominantly in Hindi and Tamil films and has also worked in few Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam, Nepali and English films. Known for her work in both commer ...

. The film features Devgan as a smuggler, delivering goods across the

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

border, was filmed in the deserts of Rajasthan and in

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 ...

. It premiered on 19 February 1999 in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

Plot

Dhananjay (

) and Aaftab (

) are two half-brothers who meet for the first time. Each one has a selfish approach to life; Aaftab is a petty smuggler, specializing in smuggling goods across the Rajasthan border into

whilst Dhananjay is a corporate yuppy from the city, with a high-flying lifestyle. Aaftab is in love with Rukshana (

) but is rejected by her family because he is illegitimate. Dhananjay is dating Ragini (

Namrata Shirodkar Namrata Shirodkar (born 22 January 1972) is an Indian actress and former model primarily known for her work in Hindi films. She won the Femina Miss India title in 1993. She is best known for her works in films such as the ''Kachche Dhaage'' (19 ...

) and has his father's death to contend with. When the brothers meet for the first time, they instantly loathe each other, having nothing in common. One night, Aaftab blows up a loaded truck while trying to steal from it and attracts a mass of unwanted enforcers. Soon, Aaftab is forced to send Dhananjay into a trap but ends up with them both being handcuffed and escaping from the

Border Security Force The Border Security Force (BSF) is India's border guarding organisation on its border with Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) of India, and was raised in the wake of the 1965 war on 1 December 1 ...

, the

Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and government ...

, and the border mafia who are attempting to incriminate the brothers for anti-national activities and murder. Fate has it such that they are forced to escape on foot, on motorbikes, cars, stolen trucks, and even handcuffed to each other on a moving goods train. They run into difficult circumstances on the run, not in the least made better by their hatred for each other. Despite their initial differences, the two gradually learn to like and understand each other, eventually proving their innocence. The climax of this film was shot around

Jaisalmer Jaisalmer , nicknamed "The Golden city", is a city in the Indian state of Rajasthan, located west of the state capital Jaipur. The town stands on a ridge of yellowish sandstone and is crowned by the ancient Jaisalmer Fort. This fort contains a ...

, especially in

Kuldhara Kuldhara is an abandoned village in the Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan, India. Established around the 13th century, it was once a prosperous village inhabited by Paliwal Brahmins. It was abandoned by the early 19th century for unknown reasons, ...

, the deserted village of Paliwal Brahmins.

Cast

as Aftab *

as Dhananjay Pandit "Jai" *

as Rukhsana *

as Ragini Pandit *

Sadashiv Amrapurkar Sadashiv Dattaray Amrapurkar (11 May 1950 – 3 November 2014) was an Indian actor, best known for his performances in Marathi and Hindi films from 1983 to 1999. He acted in more than 300 movies in Hindi, Marathi, and other regional language ...

as CBI Officer Jadeja * Govind Namdeo as Rana Baikunth *

Maya Alagh Maya Alagh is an Indian television and film actress. Personal life Maya is married to Sunil Alagh, who is a former managing director and CEO of Britannia Industries. Their daughter Anjori Alagh is also an actress. Maya started off her care ...

as Mariam * Anupam Shyam as Ramakant Pandit *

Vineet Kumar Vineet Kumar is an Indian actor. The veteran actor from National School of Drama, is known for his works in Hindi, Telugu, and English language films and Television. He is best known for his works in films such as ''Masaan'','' Drohkaal'', '' ...

as Bhagta * Anu Kapoor as Kawali singer (Cameo appearance) in Is Shaan-e-Karam Ka Kya Kehna * Parmeet Sethi (Cameo appearance) in Khali Dil Nahi * Simran (

Cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

) in Khali Dil Nahi *

Mahavir Shah Mahavir Shah (5 April 1960 – 31 August 2000) was a noted Indian television and stage actor who worked in Hindi and Gujarati movies. He is remembered for portraying several villainous roles. He died in a car crash in 2000, when he was in the ...

as Lawyer Chinoy *

Rajeev Verma Rajeev Verma (born 28 June 1949) is an Indian actor. He has worked in film and television. Early life Rajeev Verma is a veteran Indian actor who works mainly in film and television. Verma was born in Narmadapuram, Madhya Pradesh Madhya P ...

as Justice Nariman Sohrab * Rajesh Vivek as Noora * Ishrat Ali as Maulvi

Reception

Critical response

Suparn Verma of '' Rediff.com'' described Devgan as "effective" but disapproved of Koirala's performance, believing it was wasted. Verma noted a similarity with that of ''

Soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' deri ...

'' (1998) in that film too there was a troubled hero, a great many red herrings and a mysterious villain who pulls all the strings, but critics believed that ''Kachche Dhaage'' was a weaker film because it lacked the pace and focus.

Box office

The film was a box office success grossing 277 million at the domestic box office.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack, which featured a number of Punjabi folk tunes, proved popular amongst non Hindi audiences of the film. The music was composed by

Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan ( pa, ; born Pervez Fateh Ali Khan; 13 October 1948 – 16 August 1997) was a Pakistani singer, songwriter, and music director. He was primarily a singer of qawwali — a form of Sufi devotional music. Sometimes ...

, with lyrics by

Anand Bakshi Anand Bakshi (21 July 1930 – 30 March 2002) was an Indian poet and lyricist. He was nominated for the Filmfare award for Best lyricist a total of 40 times, resulting in 4 wins. Early life Anand Bakshi (Bakshi Anand Prakash Vaid) was bor ...

. The song "Tere Bin Nahin Jeena" sung by

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her con ...

is a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...

of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's famous Qawwali song "Tere Bin Nahin Lagda". *"Band Lifafa Dil Mera" –

Kumar Sanu Kedarnath Bhattacharya (born 20 October 1957), better known as Kumar Sanu, is an Indian playback singer. He is known as the King of Melody in Bollywood. He is famous for singing thousands of Bollywood Hindi songs. Apart from Hindi, he has al ...

*"Ek Jawani Teri" – Kumar Sanu,

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 ...

*"Upar Khuda Aasmaan Neeche" – Female – Lata Mangeshkar *"Upar Khuda Aasmaan Neeche" – Male –

Sukhwinder Singh Sukhwinder Singh (born 18 July 1971) is an internationally acclaimed Indian playback singer who primarily sings Bollywood songs. He is famous internationally for singing " Jai Ho" from the film '' Slumdog Millionaire'' which won an Academy Awa ...

*"Dil Pardesi Ho Gaya" – Lata Mangeshkar, Kumar Sanu *"Khali Dil Nahi" –

Hans Raj Hans Hans Raj Hans is an Indian singer who later became a politician. He is a member of Bharatiya Janata Party and a recipient of the civilian honour of Padma Shri. He sings Punjabi folk and Sufi music as well as in movies and has also released hi ...

*"Pyar Nahi Karna" -Kumar Sanu, Alka Yagnik *"Is Shaan-e-Karam Ka Kya Kehna" –

*"Tere Bin Nahin Jeena" – Lata Mangeshkar

References

External links

* {{Milan Luthria 1999 films Indian action thriller films 1990s Hindi-language films 1999 action thriller films Films scored by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Films shot in Switzerland 1999 directorial debut films Films directed by Milan Luthria