Zanjeer (2013 film)

Zanjeer (transl. Shackles) (simultaneously shot in Telugu as Thoofan (transl. Typhoon)), is a 2013 Indian action film directed by Apoorva Lakhia, shot simultaneously in Hindi and Telugu. It is a remake of the 1973 Hindi film of the same name. The film marked the Bollywood debut of Tollywood actor Ram Charan in the lead role along with Priyanka Chopra.[1] Reliance BIG Entertainment bought worldwide distribution rights for ₹1.05 billion (US$15 million). Upon release the film got mostly negative reviews.

Zanjeer / Thoofan
Directed byApoorva Lakhia
Produced byReliance Entertainment
Puneet Prakash Mehra
Sumeet Prakash Mehra
Flying Turtle Films
Written byScreenplay and Additional Story:
Suresh Nair
Apoorva Lakhia
Dialogues:
Chintan Gandhi
Story bySalim–Javed
Based onZanjeer
by Prakash Mehra
StarringRam Charan
Priyanka Chopra
Sanjay Dutt
Prakash Raj
Atul Kulkarni
Mahie Gill
Music bySongs:
Meet Bros Anjjan
Anand Raj Anand
Chirantan Bhatt
Background Score:
Gaurang Doshi
CinematographyGururaj R. Jois
Edited byChintu Singh
Production
company
Prakash Mehra Productions
Flying Turtle Films
Rampage Motion Pictures
Distributed byReliance Entertainment
Release date
  • 6 September 2013 (2013-09-06)
Running time
138 minutes
CountryIndia

Plot

ACP Vijay Khanna is a brutally honest police officer who has been transferred yet again by the system for chasing the corrupt underworld goons. He is continuously disturbed by the killing of his parents years back. He keeps remembering a man in a black raincoat on his birthday

Vijay is in charge of a case where the district collector has been murdered and burned to death. The key eyewitness, Mala, has seen the murder by Teja's (Prakash Raj) gang and refuses to cooperate. Teja is the head of an oil mafia operation and does not want Mala alive. Vijay manages to convince Mala to give a statement which makes her perpetrators come after her. He gives her shelter in his house to protect her, and she starts to like him, while Vijay does not reciprocate the same. This includes her giving him a potato and egg for lunch at his office and then annoying him by celebrating his birthday. He shouts at her, and she begins to cry. Vijay tells her that he did not want to celebrate because his parents were killed on the very day and reveal his past to her. He finally reciprocates her love as he realized that Mala is slowly becoming an important part of his life.

Vijay also encounters Sher Khan, who is into buying and selling of illegal cars. Seeing Vijay's honesty and determination, Sher Khan turns over a new leaf and mends his ways to transform into a person who now only goes by the book. He has made Vijay a friend for life and will do anything to help him out. Vijay also encounters Jaydev a.k.a. JD, a reporter who had written bad comments about Vijay in the newspaper. Seeing Vijay's honesty and integrity, Jaydev becomes an admirer of Vijay and begins to give him all the information he has regarding the oil mafia.

Meanwhile, Kataria the man who murdered the collector, has been caught by Vijay. Kataria is revealed to be Teja's man, and he reveals that they steal petrol and oil from container trucks, add kerosene in them, and smuggle them around and outside the country. Vijay uses this information and puts Kataria in custody, but the next day, he is found murdered in custody. In the middle of this, Vijay also finds about a man named Prashant Khanna, who was killed years back by Teja. Due to certain incidents that gave Vijay wrong information about the oil mafia that Teja is handling, Vijay is suspended until the investigation is done with. Now, Vijay warns Teja that there are no seniors or rules that bind him, and now, Vijay will finish Teja in his own style. Slowly, Vijay begins to destroy almost all of Teja's oil refineries, but Mala says that all these activities that Vijay is doing can have dangerous consequences.

One night, Vijay and Mala go to a restaurant for dinner, where Vijay gets attacked by two of Teja's men in the bathroom. Vijay kills both the men and calls Teja and warns him that even if he sends the rest of his 248 men (it was earlier mentioned by Teja that he has 250 workers under him), nothing will happen to Vijay. A few days later, Sher Khan invites Vijay and Mala to a party. Later on, when they are returning home, they are attacked once again by 10 of Teja's men. Vijay manages to lock Mala in a small room there and gets badly injured fighting them. He is almost killed, but just in time, Sher Khan comes there, handles the rest of the goons, and along with Mala, and takes Vijay to the hospital.

The next day, Teja comes there and criticizes Vijay, saying that he is one who can only talk and does not have the guts to face Teja. After he leaves, Mala finally tells Vijay to finish Teja once and for all. That night, Teja's men, along with Teja's trusted man Bosco, kill Jaydev, and the whole city begins to panic. Meanwhile, two sub-inspectors who work under Vijay give Sher Khan information that on the night when Kataria was murdered, Inspector Saalwe had arrested a man for a petty case, but Saalwe did not record the case, and so they suspect that Saalwe and the man he arrested had killed Kataria. So, using some of his informers, Sher Khan finds Saalwe and Bosco, who was hiding himself and Saalwe in a colony. Then, he puts them in front of the commissioner, and they agree that they had killed Kataria by breaking his neck, and they had done it on Teja's saying, as he feared that Kataria might leak all the information about his gang. The commissioner realizes Vijay's innocence and claims Teja as a wanted criminal.

Out of fear, Teja runs away into an old mine with Mona, but Vijay manages to track him down. Teja manages to get Vijay at gunpoint and pulls his coat's sleeve back. Then, Vijay notices a tattoo on Teja's arm and realizes that he is the one who killed his parents. Then, Vijay says that Prashant, who Teja killed years back, was Vijay's father. Teja is shocked and reveals that Prashant had filed a case against him, and so, Teja had to kill Prashant. In a fit of rage, Vijay begins to beat Teja badly. Vijay then breaks Teja's arm, kicks him into a bundle of petroleum barrels, and then shoots the barrels, causing Teja to die in the blast. The government announces all the wealth to be given to Mona, who was also said to be in all of Teja's nefarious activities. The film ends with Sher Khan and Mala coming to visit Vijay at the station, Mala finally being able to cook some food for him, and Vijay smiling at Sher Khan when he sees a drug mafia case coming on TV.

Cast
Actor (Hindi)Actor (Telugu)Role
Ram CharanACP Vijay Khanna
Priyanka ChopraMala
Sanjay DuttSrihariSher Khan
Prakash RajTeja
Elisha KriisShital
Mahie GillMona Darling
Atul KulkarniTanikella BharaniJayadev
Ankur BhatiaBosco
Bikramjeet KanwarpalKataria
Daya Shankar PandeyInspector Prem
Charanpreet SinghVilas (Informer)
Chetan PanditPolice Commissioner
Apoorva LakhiaShip Captain (uncredited)
Kavita Kaushikitem number "Shakila Banoo" / "Shakila Scentu"

Marketing
Telugu version

Zanjeer in USA by BlueSky.[2] The first look and official theatrical trailer of Thoofan (Telugu version) were launched by Reliance Entertainment on its YouTube Official Channel on 25 March 2013 featuring Ram Charan, Priyanka Chopra, Prakash Raj and Srihari. Zanjeer's worldwide distribution rights were bought by Reliance BIG Entertainment for ₹105 crore (US$15 million). The Telugu version was then dubbed and released in Tamil during January 2017 as Super Police.[3]

Hindi version

The first look and theatrical trailer of Zanjeer (Hindi version) were released on 4 July 2013. The dubbing process started from 26 March 2013, where Sanjay Dutt plays the role played by Srihari. Sanjay Dutt finished Zanjeer filming − with only a few days left at his disposal before returning to jail. One of India's leading male voice artist Viraj Adhav dubbed the voice of Ramcharan.

Production

Casting

Director Apoorva Lakhia signed up Telugu star Ram Charan[4] and Priyanka Chopra for the lead roles.[5][6] Prakash Raj was roped in to play the character of Teja.[7] There were reports that Sonu Sood and Arjun Rampal were being considered for the role of Sher Khan. It was also reported that Sanjay Dutt was cast for the role.[8] In September 2012, The Times of India reported that both Arjun Rampal and Sanjay Dutt opted out citing date issues and the makers had finalised Sonu Sood for the role. Later Sanjay Dutt was chosen to play the character in the Hindi version, while Srihari portrayed the same character in the Telugu version.[9] Bindu's iconic 'Mona Darling' act was taken over by Mahi Gill, after talks with actresses Jacqueline Fernandez, Mallika Sherawat and Malaika Arora Khan fell through.[10] Atul Kulkarni was seen in a new role in this film.[11] After Sonu Sood was injured in the CCL match playing for Mumbai Heroes, he was replaced with Srihari for the Sher Khan role in Thoofan.[12] Popular TV artist Kavitha Kaushik was roped in for a special song in the movie.[13] Zanjeer's script cost ₹6 crore (US$840,000) and was re-bought by Apoorva Lakhia.[14]

Filming

The Telugu version of the film is titled Thoofan.[15] Priyanka Chopra took an acting fee of ₹9 crore (US$1.3 million) while Ram charan was paid as highest debut hero with an acting fee of ₹12 crore (US$1.7 million) including Toofan. The director planned for a 25-day schedule in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh from 14 November to 5 December 2012.

Soundtrack
Zanjeer
Soundtrack album by
Released12 August 2013 (2013-08-12)
Recorded2013
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length32:28
LanguageHindi
LabelT-Series
ProducerAnand Raj Anand
Meet Bros Anjjan
Devi Sri Prasad

All lyrics are written by Manoj Yadav and Shabbir Ahmed.

Hindi Sound-Track
No.TitleMusicSinger(s)Length
1."Mumbai Ke Hero"Chirantan BhattMika Singh, Talia Bentson4:40
2."Pinky"Meet Bros AnjjanMamta Sharma, Meet Bros Anjjan4:11
3."Lamha Tera Mera"Chirantan BhattWajhi Farooki, Palak Muchhal5:03
4."Khochey Pathan Ki Zubaan (Qawaali)"Meet Bros AnjjanSukhwinder Singh, Shabab Sabri, Meet Bros Anjjan6:15
5."Kaatilana"Meet Bros AnjjanShweta Pandit5:03
6."Shakila Banoo"Anand Raj AnandShreya Ghoshal3:43
7."Kaatilana" (Club Mix)Meet Bros AnjjanShweta Pandit, Meet Bros Anjjan3:33
Total length:32:28
Thoofan
Soundtrack album by
Released27 August 2013 (2013-08-27)[16]
Recorded2013
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length21:17
LanguageTelugu
LabelT-Series
ProducerAnand Raj Anand
Meet Bros Anjjan
Chirantan Bhatt

All lyrics are written by Chandrabose.

Telugu Sound-Track
No.TitleMusicSinger(s)Length
1."Mumbai Ke Hero"Chirantan BhattRam Charan, Jaspreet Jasz, Roshni Baptist,4:38
2."Pinkie"Meet Bros AnjjanMamta Sharma4:10
3."Preminchaa.."Chirantan BhattMynampati Sreerama Chandra, Shalmali Kholgade3:43
4."Vechchanaina"Meet Bros AnjjanShweta Pandit5:03
5."Shakila Scentu"Anand Raj AnandShreya Ghoshal3:43
Total length:21:17

Critical reception

The film received mixed to negative reviews from the critics. Taran Adarsh rated 3/5 telling "The new Zanjeer borrows from the original, but it is more of an updated avatar of that film. On the whole, Zanjeer is a triumph for Ram Charan, who gets abundant opportunity to exhibit his talent and scores exceedingly well. However, the film comes across as a regular masala fare that caters to the single screen spectator mainly and also for enthusiasts of typical Bollywood entertainers."[17] Meena Iyer of The Times of India rates 3/5 telling "Yet, this film should be judged as a stand-alone offering because attempts to compare the two versions will find the current one falling short, especially in the dialogue and music departments. Ram Charan, as the brooding policeman, excels in action. His dark eyes with long lashes adeptly convey anger. Sanjay Dutt is competent and lovable."[18]

Its affiliation newspaper Mumbai Mirror gave a 1.5 star rating and the reviewer Karan Anshuman said "If Salim-Javed do watch this film, one wouldn't be surprised if they decided to give the money and 'core story' credit back and disassociate themselves from this embarrassment of a "remake".[19] Anupama Chopra termed the movie 'a ramshackle remake' and wrote, "This remake is wrong on so many levels that I don’t know where to begin. This isn’t a film. It’s sacrilege."[20]

Raja Sen of Rediff.com gave a zero rating and said it was an unforgivably bad remake.[21] Shubra Gupta of The Indian Express said "It's neither faithful remake nor campy, knowing tribute. It's just a poor copy".[22] Rajeev Masand of IBN-live gave 0/5 saying "The new 'Zanjeer' isn't just a bad film, it's a shameless exercise in laziness."[23]

India Today – "Zanjeer makes it to the list of the worst films ever made".[24] Times of Oman – "It would be a sin to compare this lazy attempt to the original. Even as a standalone film, it fails miserably".[25]

MSN India – "Thoofan is like paying money to dig your own grave."[26] Sunday Guardian – "Two and a half hours of uninterrupted idiocy".[27]

Box office

Zanjeer/Toofan was released in 2,085 theatres in India and about 3550 theatres worldwide.[28] The total collections of both versions was around 18.2 crore (INR). Toofan collected 10.2C (INR) and Zanjeer collected 8C (INR). Worldwide distribution rights of Zanjeer and all its versions were sold for ₹105 crore (US$15 million). The movie had a budget of 60 crore.

References
  1. "Will it be Ram Charan instead of Abhishek?". The Times of India. 4 March 2012. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
  2. "Zanjeer in USA". idlebrain.com. 6 August 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  3. http://filminfo.ticketgreen.com/
  4. "Ram Charan to debut in Bollywood with 'Zanjeer' remake". IBNLive. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  5. "Priyanka to play female lead in 'Zanjeer' remake". IBNLive. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  6. "Priyanka becomes highest paid Indian Actress". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  7. "Prakash Raj in Zanjeer remake". The Times of India. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  8. "Prakash Raj to play Sher Khan in Zanjeer remake". The Times of India. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
  9. Sharma, Garima (3 September 2012). "Sonu replaces Dutt, Rampal in Zanjeer Remake". The Times of India. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  10. "'Zanjeer' remake: Mahie Gill plays Mona Darling". IBNLive. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
  11. "Atul Kulkarni joins Priyanka Chopra and Sanjay Dutt in Zanjeer remake". Firstpost. 19 November 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2012.
  12. "Srihari to replace injured Sonu Soon in Zanjeer Telugu Version". cinesiren. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  13. "Zanjeer filming song on Kavitha Kaushik". The Times of India. 26 February 2013. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  14. 'Himmatwala' and 'Zanjeer'remakes, the weakest contendors of 2013. daily.bhaskar.com (1 January 2013). Retrieved on 2016-01-27.
  15. "Thoofan in Post Production". idlebrain.com. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
  16. "Ram Charan's Thoofan Audio Launch LIVE". YouTube. 27 August 2013.
  17. Zanjeer Review. Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved on 27 January 2016.
  18. Zanjeer Movie Review, Trailer, & Show timings at Times of India. Timesofindia.indiatimes.com (5 September 2013). Retrieved on 2016-01-27.
  19. "Mumbai Mirror's Zanjeer review". Mumbaimirror.com. 6 September 2013.
  20. Chopra, Anupama (7 September 2013) Anupama Chopra's review: Zanjeer, a ramshackle remake Archived 8 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Hindustan Times, Mumbai
  21. Review: Zanjeer is an unforgivably bad remake – Rediff.com Movies. Rediff.com (6 September 2013). Retrieved on 2016-01-27.
  22. "Zanjeer review, The Indian Express". The Indian Express. 7 September 2013.
  23. 'Zanjeer' review: The film is a shameless exercise in laziness:IBNLive Videos. Ibnlive.in.com. Retrieved on 27 January 2016.
  24. "India Today Zanjeer". India Today. 9 September 2013.
  25. "TOO Zanjeer review". Timesofoman.com. 9 September 2013.
  26. Ians (10 September 2013). "MSN Thoofan". MSN. Archived from the original on 11 October 2013. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  27. Replete with clichés. Sunday-guardian.com (7 September 2013). Retrieved on 2016-01-27.
  28. Shekhar. "Zanjeer 1st Weekend Collection at Box Office". OneIndia.
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