''Bardaasht'' ( Tolerance) is a 2004 Indian

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

-language

vigilante Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating, and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority. A vigilante is a person who practices or partakes in vigilantism, or undertakes public safety and retributive justice ...

action-thriller film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as ...

produced by Vijay Galani and directed by

Eeshwar Nivas Eshwar Niwas also known as E.Niwas (born April 11, 1974) in the city of Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh and is now living in the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra, is an Indian film director, known for his works predominantly in Bollywood and Tollywood. ...

. It is based on the screenplay written by

Vikram Bhatt Vikram Bhatt is an Indian director, producer, screenwriter and actor. He is best known for directing the ''Raaz'' film series, an Indian horror series produced by Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt and for directing '' Ghulam'' (1998) starring Aam ...

. The film stars

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 ...

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 ...

Ritesh Deshmukh Riteish Deshmukh (born 17 December 1978) is an Indian actor, filmmaker and television presenter who predominantly works in Hindi cinema, Hindi and Marathi cinema, Marathi films. Known for his comic portrayals, Deshmukh is a recipient of several ...

Tara Sharma Tara Sharma (born 11 January 1982) is a British actress, entrepreneur, creator, co-producer and host of ''The Tara Sharma Show''. She is the daughter of authors Partap Sharma and Susan Sharma. She made her Bollywood debut in Anupam Kher direc ...

, and

Rahul Dev Rahul Dev Kaushal (born 27 September 1968) is an Indian actor and former model who predominantly works in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia language films He also participated in Bigg Boss (Hindi season 10) and was evicted on ...

, with

Vishwajeet Pradhan Vishwajeet Pradhan (born 11 September 1965) is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Bollywood films, theatre and television. He is well-known for his role as Pakistani Captain in Kya Dilli Kya Lahore and as Thakur Rudra Pratap in Ek Boon ...

, Ganesh Yadav,

Nagesh Bhonsle Nagesh Bhosale is an Indian film, television and theatre actor. He acted in ''Anuja'' which is nominated at the 97th Academy Awards (Oscar 2025) in the live action short film category. He also worked on the 2018 film ''Hotel Mumbai'', alongs ...

Shivaji Satam Shivaji Satam (born 21 April 1950/1953) is an Indian television and film actor. He is best known for his role as ACP Pradyuman in the detective television series '' CID''. Early life and education Shivaji Satam attended school at the Antonio ...

, and

Virendra Saxena Virendra Saxena (born 23 November 1961) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi theatre, film, and television. He is an alumnus of the National School of Drama. Saxena is known for his character roles as well as his unique voice. He has acted i ...

in important supporting roles. The film focuses on the issue of

police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or Public order policing, a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, b ...

Plot

Aditya Shrivastava (

) is a court martialled army officer. He has a brother, Anuj Shrivastava (

). Anuj gets angry at Aditya one day and runs away. Corrupt ACP Yashwant Thakur (

) helps Aditya find Anuj and later tells him that Anuj was killed in an encounter. Aditya reads a police report which states that Anuj was running away with drugs and was shot dead on the spot. Aditya can't quite believe this, so he investigates it. He later meets Anuj's traumatised girlfriend Ramona (

), who reveals that ACP Yashwant Thakur and his two other police officers brutally killed Anuj for no apparent reason and lied to cover it up. Aditya wants to take the matter to court and chooses Payal (

) as his lawyer. However, after losing the case, Aditya decides to take matters into his own hands by holding and torturing the three captives until they confess their crime. He is successful and, having secretly recorded this evidence, shows it to the police commissioner; thus avenging his brother's death as the culprits are arrested. The last scene shows Aditya performing the final rites of Anuj.

Cast

as Major Aditya Shrivastava (ex-army officer) *

as Payal Lawyer, Aditya's fiancé *

Riteish Deshmukh Riteish Deshmukh (born 17 December 1978) is an Indian actor, filmmaker and television presenter who predominantly works in Hindi cinema, Hindi and Marathi cinema, Marathi films. Known for his comic portrayals, Deshmukh is a recipient of several ...

as Anuj Shrivastava, Aditya's younger brother *

as Ramona (Anuj's girlfriend) *

as a Corrupt Assistant Commissioner Of Police Officer Yashwant Thakur, the main antagonist *

as Police Commissioner *

as Corrupt Inspector Deepak Sawant *

as Constable Mehmood *

Aanjjan Srivastav Aanjjan Srivastav (born 2 June 1948) is an Indian film, television and stage actor, associated with Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) in Mumbai of which he remained Vice-President for several years. Outside theatre, he is best known as ...

as Dinanth Shrivastava *

Surendra Pal Surendrapal Singh (born 25 September 1953) is an Indian film and television character actor who works in Hindi films and TV series. He is best known for his roles of Dronacharya in ''Mahabharat'', Amatya Rakshas in ''Chanakya'', Tamraj Kilvish ...

as Payal's Father and Army Lieutenant Colonel Senior Officer Of Major And Captain *

Raju Kher Raju Kher (born 11 September 1957) is an Indian actor and director. He has acted in many television serials and films. He directed the television serial ''Sanskaar'' in 1999. He is the brother of actor Anupam Kher. Personal life Raju Kher was ...

as A. Saxena, Ramona's Father * Naresh Suri as College Principal * Ganesh Yadav as Corrupt Inspector Sunil Yadav *

as Advocate *

Harsh Chhaya Harsh Chhaya (born 2 December 1966) is an Indian actor. He debuted in a minor role as "Jijo" in the early 1990s Zee TV series '' Tara'', but first came into prominence in the role of Krishnakant Trivedi (KT) in mid 1990s TV series ''Hasratein'' ...

as Psychiatrist *Ashwin Kumar as Amit Chhabra * Kunal S. Kapur as Mohit Varshney * Chandrashekhar Gautam as Karan Bhanushali * Shruti Ulfat as Priya Agnihotri * Avni Mehta as Maya Chauhan * Gopal K Singh as Man at the morgue

Critical reception

Released in April 2004 ''Bardaasht'' received acclaimed critical reception.

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 ...

Bollywood Hungama 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 n ...

praised Bobby Deol's performance and wrote, "''Bardaasht'' is a triumph for Bobby Deol, who takes full advantage of the role offered to him and gives his best shot. He displays the gamut of emotions like a seasoned performer and delivers a knock-out performance. In fact, it won't be wrong to state that this is amongst Bobby's best performance to date!" Critic Subash K Jha praised the film wrote, "At a time when the film industry is busy showcasing cops as romanticised idealistic super-heroes, "Bardaasht" takes a cynical view of the police force. But the film portrays the reality. Every day law-abiding god-fearing citizen gets a taste of the criminalisation of the police force." Jha praises Deol's performance and writes, "Bobby Deol, who plays the lead role, drops his habitually languorous look and laidback demeanour to deliver a performance of substantial velocity. Deol makes the best of his silently simmering and suffering army man-turned-civilian role. As Aditya Shrivastava, Bobby is what his brother Sunny has repeatedly played in films like " Arjun" and " Ghayal". But Bobby gives the seething role his own spin." Rediff.com praises ''Bardaasht'' and writes "Bardaasht is pretty strong on the performance front. Bobby Deol does a good job. Look out for him in the scene where he sees his kid brother's dead body. His body language is frail, broken and numb," citing Deol's power-packed performance.

Soundtrack

Lyrics by

Sameer Samir (also spelled Sameer) is a male name found commonly in South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia. In Arabic, Samir () means "holy", "jovial", "loyal", or "charming". In Albanian, it literally means "so good" but loosely "exquisite", ...

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0409724, Bardaasht Films scored by Himesh Reshammiya 2000s Hindi-language films 2004 films Films about drugs Films about social issues in India 2004 action thriller films Indian action thriller films Indian vigilante films Films directed by Eeshwar Nivas 2000s vigilante films Indian films about revenge Films about police brutality Encounters in India Indian police films Fictional portrayals of the Maharashtra Police Films about murder