''Alag'' () is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language science-fiction film directed by Ashu Trikha, starring Akshay Kapoor and

Dia Mirza Dia Mirza Rekhi (born Dia Handrich; 9 December 1981) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Hindi films. She won the title of Miss Asia Pacific International in 2000 after being crowned Femina Miss India Asia Pacific 2000. Mirza made her ...

. The protagonist is a man with extraordinary

supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

powers and with no hair on his entire body. This film was made at a budget of ₹ 8

crore Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the India ...

, but earned only ₹ 56

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2, 2, 3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. F ...

, approximately one-sixteenth of its budget. Several critics noted similarities between the film and 1995 American film

Powder A powder is a dry solid composed of many very fine particles that may flow freely when shaken or tilted. Powders are a special sub-class of granular materials, although the terms ''powder'' and ''granular'' are sometimes used to distinguish se ...

Plot

Widower Hemant Rastogi lives in scenic Mahabaleshwar, seemingly alone. One night, he suffers a heart attack and dies. When the police search his residence, they discover Tejas, Hemant's only son, in the basement of the house. Tejas has spent his entire life in the basement due to his extreme sensitivity to sunlight, as per the doctors who examined him when Hemant brought him in after noticing Tejas' eyes turning red. The police then request Purva Rana, head of the P.R. Institute (an institute for the rehabilitation of young criminals), to take care of Tejas, whose only interactions with other people so far have been with his father and the books provided to him. Tejas soon begins to display signs of

telekinesis Telekinesis () (alternatively called psychokinesis) is a purported psychic ability allowing an individual to influence a physical system without physical interaction. Experiments to prove the existence of telekinesis have historically been cri ...

and is ostracised by the other boys at the institute, leading to a near-fatal accident involving a security guard and the death of a fellow student. However, Tejas redeems himself in the eyes of Purva’s wealthy father, Pushkar, when he manages to wake Pushkar's wife, Gayatri Rana, from a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

-like state. It appears that Tejas has been accepted into the Rana household, but he is soon harassed by doctors and scientists eager to perform experiments on him. When both Tejas and Pushkar refuse, Tejas is abducted and imprisoned in a glass chamber by Dr. Richard Dyer, who seeks to exploit his powers for personal gain. Purva realises that Tejas has been abducted and, during a rescue attempt, is fatally injured by Dr. Dyer. Witnessing this, Tejas’ anger causes his powers to surge, shattering the glass cage, killing Dr. Dyer, and electrocuting Purva. Tejas attempts to revive her but fails. Heartbroken, he returns to his basement home, haunted by her memories and the weight of guilt in the darkness.

Cast

* Akshay Kapoor as Tejas Rastogi *

as Purva Rana *

Mukesh Tiwari Mukesh Tiwari is an Indian actor, who has worked predominantly in Bollywood and few Tamil, Punjabi, Kannada and Telugu films. He is known for playing negative and comic side roles. He graduated from National School of Drama National Scho ...

as Mr. Singh *

Sharat Saxena Sharat Saxena (born 17 August 1950) is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films along with Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil films. He has acted in more than 250 Bollywood films. Saxena started his career in the early 1970s and has mainly played ...

as Inspector * Yatin Karyekar as Hemant Rastogi *

Beena Banerjee Beena Banerjee (born 19 February 1943), also known as Beena or Bina, is an Indian actress in Bengali and Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustan ...

as Gayatri Rana * Jayant Kripalani as Pushkar Rana *

Tom Alter Thomas Beach Alter (22 June 1950 – 29 September 2017) was an Indian actor. He was best known for his works in Hindi cinema, and Indian theatre. In 2008, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India. Early life Born in Mussoorie ...

as Dr. Richard Dyer *

Avtar Gill Avtar Gill (born 14 May 1950) is an Indian actor who appears predominantly in Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the De ...

as Teacher Following celebrities appeared in the song "Sabse Judaa Sabse Alag": *

Arjun Rampal Arjun Rampal (born 26 November 1972) is an Indian actor and model who mainly works in Hindi films. He made his acting debut in Rajiv Rai's romance film ''Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat'' (2001) and has since gone on to Arjun Rampal filmography, act in ...

Shah Rukh Khan Shah Rukh Khan (; born 2 November 1965), also known by the initialism SRK, is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi cinema. Referred to in the media as the "Padishah, Baadshah of Bollywood" and "King Khan", he has Shah Rukh K ...

Abhishek Bachchan Abhishek Bachchan (; born 5 February 1976) is an Indian actor and film producer known for his work in Hindi films. Part of the Bachchan family, he is the son of actors Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan. From 2012 to 2016, Bachchan appeared in ...

Bobby Deol Vijay Singh Deol (born 27 January 1969), better known by his screen name Bobby Deol, is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi cinema. A member of the List of Hindi film families#Deol family, Deol family, he is the younger son of actor Dha ...

Sushmita Sen Sushmita Sen (; born 19 November 1975) is an Indian actress and beauty pageant titleholder, who was crowned Miss Universe 1994, becoming the first Indian people, Indian woman to win the title. Sen has since predominantly worked in Hindi films, ...

Preity Zinta Preity G. Zinta (pronounced ; born 31 January 1975) is an Indian actress primarily known for her work in Hindi films. After graduating with degrees in English honours and criminal psychology, Zinta made her acting debut in '' Dil Se..'' in 19 ...

Priyanka Chopra Priyanka Chopra Jonas (; born 18 July 1982) is an Indian actress and producer. The winner of the Miss World 2000 pageant, Chopra is India's highest-paid actress and has received numerous accolades, including two National Film Awards and fiv ...

Bipasha Basu Bipasha Basu (born 7 January 1979) is an Indian actress. Primarily known for her work in Hindi films, she List of awards and nominations received by Bipasha Basu, has received a Filmfare Awards, Filmfare Award. In the 2000s and 2010s, she was ...

Lara Dutta Lara Dutta Bhupathi ( Dutta; born 16 April 1978) is an Indian actress. She won the Miss Universe 2000, and has since predominantly worked in Hindi films and series. Dutta is a recipient of a Filmfare Awards, Filmfare Award and established hers ...

Karan Johar Karan Yash Johar (born Rahul Kumar Johar; 25 May 1972), often informally referred to as KJo, is an Indian filmmaker, producer and television personality who primarily works in Hindi cinema. He has launched the careers of several successful ac ...

Music

#"Sabse Judaa Sabse" - Hemachandra,

Kunal Ganjawala Kunal Ganjawala (born 14 April 1972) is an Indian playback singer whose songs are mostly featured in Hindi, Bengali, and Kannada films. He has also sung in Marathi, and other official languages of India. Kunal began his career by singing ji ...

, Shaan,

Gayatri Ganjawala Gayatri Ganjawala () is an Indian playback singer, primarily in Bollywood. She landed up with the part of Princess Anjuli in the West End of London musical production of M. M. Kaye's ''The Far Pavilions'', which opened in the summer of 2007. ...

#"Apun Kee Toli Bindhast Boli" -

Kailash Kher Kailash Kher (born 7 July 1973) is an Indian playback singer, live performer, and composer. He sings songs with a music style influenced by Indian folk music and Sufi music. He was inspired by the classical musicians Kumar Gandharva, Hrida ...

, Shaan #"Leke Dil Lamha Tanhai Ka" -

#"Hai Junu The Dj Suketu Mix" (Arranged by AKS) -

Vasundhara Das Vasundhara Das (born 18 August 1977) is an Indian playback singer and former actress. Vasundhara's acting career includes '' Hey Ram'' (Tamil/Hindi), '' Monsoon Wedding'' (English), ''Citizen'' (Tamil), '' Ravana Prabhu'' (Malayalam), '' Lanke ...

, Shaan #"Hain Junun Jaga Abb Jine Kaa" - Shaan #"Sanjh Kee Pighalti Dhup Me Makhamali" -

Ujjaini Mukherjee Ujjaini Mukherjee is an Indian singer. Early years Her first recording was for the composer Debojyoti Mishra. At the age of 16 she participated in the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2005, ''Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge'' in 2005 and finished in the ...

, Anand Sharma, Krishna #"The Soul Of Alag" -

Vedala Hemachandra Vedala Hemachandra (born 2 June 1988) is an Indian independent artist, playback singer, and music director known for his works in Telugu cinema Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Cinema of India, Indian cinema de ...

Reception

Raja Sen of

Rediff Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...

gave the film 3 out of 5, writing "Overall, Alag is quite a stimulating watch. It is certainly a groundbreaking project in terms of theme, and is cleanly handled by director Ashu Trikha. Except for the awful and completely out of place -- song bits, that is. Why would our brilliant hero lie in bed and wistfully dream of a life with hair and Hrithik-esque dance steps?"

Taran Adarsh Taran Adarsh (born 13 June 1965) is an Indian film critic and trade analyst. He is best known for giving trade figures and box office updates on social media, as well as his reviews for Bollywood Hungama. Career Taran Adarsh started his journ ...

IndiaFM Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is an Indian entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000. The website provides ...

gave the film 1.5 out of 5, he praised Akshay Kapoor's performance writing "ALAG rests on Akshay Kapoor's firm shoulders and the actor handles the complex role with confidence. He succeeds in making you feel for the character and that's one big achievement. Besides, he imparts that certain freshness to the role since he comes in without the baggage of an image. Overall, a commendable job!" but criticized the film, writing "ALAG consistently avoids taking chances. The protagonist always does the right thing. No matter how unjustly he's treated, he never lashes out. It's only towards the end that he uses his superpowers, while fighting the deceitful scientist om Alter Even the romance between Akshay and Dia is half baked. A few more delicate moments would've only helped in making the emotional climax even more compelling."

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0813996 2006 films 2000s Hindi-language films 2000s Indian films 2006 science fiction action films Indian science fiction action films Indian films with live action and animation Films about telepresence Films about technology 2006 computer-animated films Indian action thriller films Films scored by Aadesh Shrivastava Indian science fiction thriller films 2006 action thriller films Films directed by Ashu Trikha Indian superhero films Indian science fiction films Hindi-language science fiction films