Chandni Bar

Chandni Bar
Directed by	Madhur Bhandarkar
Written by	Mohan Azaad (screenplay & dialogues) Masud Mirza (dialogues)
Produced by	Lata Mohan
Starring	Tabu, Atul Kulkarni, Rajpal Yadav, Ananya Khare, Vishal Thakkar, Minakshi Sahani
Cinematography	Rajeev Ravi
Music by	Raju Singh (background)
Release date	28 September 2001
Running time	150 min
Language	Hindi

Chandni Bar is a 2001 Hindi film directed by Madhur Bhandarkar. It depicts the gritty life of the Mumbai underworld, including prostitution, dance bars and gun crime. The film stars Tabu and Atul Kulkarni in lead roles. It also stars Ananya Khare, Rajpal Yadav, Minakshi Sahani and Vishal Thakkar. The film was a critically acclaimed hit and it won four National Film Awards. Tabu came into the limelight with this movie, along with Rajpal Yadav.

Synopsis

Mumtaz (Tabu) is a young village woman whose family is killed in communal riots. She moves to Mumbai with her uncle, the only family member she has left. They are desperately poor and her uncle persuades her to become a bar girl at Chandni Bar. This is merely temporary, he promises, until he gets a job. Mumtaz is shy and loathes the work, but she forces herself to dance and flirt. However, the uncle doesn't keep his promise; he lives on her earnings, drinking them away, and never gets a job. He adds one final, unforgivable crime to the list when he gets drunk and rapes her.

By this time she has caught the eye of a gangster called Potiya Sawant (Atul Kulkarni). When she tells Potiya what her uncle did to her, Potiya decides to "defend her honor." Potiya kills the uncle and marries her. She lives with him for several years and gives birth to a son, Abhay, and daughter, Payal. She wants Abhay and Payal to be educated and stay far away from her world of dancing girls and Potiya's gangsters.

Potiya gets in the bad books of other gangsters, loses his connections, becomes a target for the police, and is killed in a planned "encounter," leaving Mumtaz to return back to dancing at the Chandni Bar.

Years pass and Abhay and Payal are in their teens and attending school. Mumtaz still works at Chandni Bar, not as a dancer, but as a waitress. Then the unexpected happens — Abhay is arrested by the police for extortion and held in a juvenile home for the crime he had not committed. At the home, Abhay gets raped by a couple of other inmates.

Mumtaz attempts to talk to the police, to no avail. She then meets with some influential people, who agree to help her out for a price, which she must bring to them in less than two days. Mumtaz hustles and sells her body to obtain the money but is still short. seeing her mother's plight Payal takes up dancing at Chandni Bar and brings the rest of the money to her troubled mother.

With the money turned over to release Abhay, the family heave a sigh of relief — until Mumtaz notices that it is not the same Abhay she had known two days earlier. This one is cold, ruthless, and has only purpose in life: vengeance. Abhay takes his revenge and shoots the inmates that raped him. It looks like Payal is going in her mother's footsteps, and Abhay is set to be another Potiya.

Cast

• Tabu as Mumtaz
• Atul Kulkarni as Pothya Sawant
• Rajpal Yadav as Iqbal Chamdi
• Vallabh Vyas as Habib Bhai
• Vinay Apte as Inspector Gaikwad
• Ananya Khare as Deepa Pandey (bar-girl)
• Upendra Limaye as Deepa's Husband
• Rajanna as Uma Shankar Pande
• Minakshi Sahani as Payal Sawant (Mumtaz's daughter)
• Vishal Thakkar as Abhay Sawant (Mumtaz's son)
• Abhay Bhargav as Hedge Anna
• Suhas Palshikar as Irfan Mamu (Mumtaz's uncle)

Awards

The film won four National Awards. Tabu also received Best Actress nominations at the Filmfare Awards and Bollywood Awards. Atul Kulkarni also received a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the Star Screen Awards. Madhur Bhandarkar was nominated for Best Director in several venues, but did not win.

2002 National Film Awards (India)

• Best Actress - Tabu
• Best Supporting Actor - Atul Kulkarni
• Best Supporting Actress - Ananya Khare
• National Film Award for Best Film on Other Social Issues

2002 IIFA Awards (India)

• Best Actress - Tabu

2002 Star Screen Awards (India)

• Star Screen Award Best Story - Madhur Bhandarkar

2002 Zee Cine Awards (India)

• Best Actress - Tabu

Soundtrack

The film does not feature any of original tracks of its own. But many Bollywood Hindi songs feature many times in various scenes in the dancing bar. The theme music is a classical aalap rendered by Shubha Mudgal.

External links

• Chandini Bar at IMDb