Sehar
 |
| Sehar | |
|---|---|
 Movie poster for Sehar | |
| Directed by | Kabeer Kaushik |
| Written by | Kabeer Kaushik |
| Produced by | Ashwin Patel |
| Starring | Arshad Warsi Mahima Chaudhary Sushant Singh Pankaj Kapur |
| Cinematography | R A Krishna |
| Edited by | Amitabh Shukla |
| Music by | Daniel B George |
Release date | 29 July 2005 |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
Sehar (2005) is an Indian Hindi language action crime drama film directed by Kabeer Kaushik, starring Arshad Warsi, Pankaj Kapur, Sushant Singh and Mahima Chaudhary. Based on real-life incidents and individuals, the film depicts organized crime in the late 1990s in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, 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, played by Arshad Warsi, instrumental in bringing together a group of committed police 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 contracts, Inter-Services Intelligence 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. He was not only a dreaded gangster but also a connection between the underworld and the politicians.
The character of SSP Ajay Kumar is based on SSP and the then STF chief Arun Kumar, a 1985 batch IPS Officer.
Plot
The movie starts with a TV crew interviewing Prof. Tiwari (Pankaj Kapur) about the events that had occurred in reference to the movie shootouts and eradication of organized crime in Lucknow and surrounding areas. Since a young age, Ajay Kumar (Arshad Warsi) has been traumatized by the death of his army officer father, who killed himself with his service revolver when accused of being a deserter, leaving his widow Prabha (Suhasini Mulay) to bring up Ajay on her own. Ajay grows up, studies hard and successfully becomes an Indian Police Service 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 (Sushant Singh). 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. 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 of characters
- Arshad Warsi as SSP Ajay Kumar
- Sushant Singh as Gajraj Singh
- Pankaj Kapur as Professor Bhole Shankar Tiwari
- Mahima Chaudhry as Anamika Kant
- Suhasini Mulay as Prabha Kumar
- Rajendra Gupta as ADG (Law and Order) Arun Kapoor
- Naved Aslam as Inspector Joginder Singh Solanki
- Surendra Pal as Ramnath Mishra
- Ravi Jhankal as Dwivedi, Mishra's Secretary
- Rajendra Sethi 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 Mukherji as Rituraj/ Hemraj Chaudhary
- Vikram Sahu as Hariprasad Singh, CM's friend
Critical reception
Sehar was one of the films included in Avijit Ghosh's book, 40 Retakes: Bollywood Classics You May Have Missed.