''Charas'' 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

crime thriller film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as drama or gangster film, but al ...

directed by

Tigmanshu Dhulia Tigmanshu Dhulia (born 3 July 1967) is an Indian film dialogue writer, director, actor, screenwriter, producer and casting director known for his works in Hindi cinema and Television. He wrote the dialogue for the 1998 film ''Dil Se..'', the fir ...

. Set in Kasol, a village near Manikaran in

Kullu Kullu () is a municipal council town that serves as the administrative headquarters of the Kullu district of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It is located on the banks of the Beas River in the Kullu Valley about north of the airport ...

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

, the film explores the

illegal drug trade The illegal drug trade, drug trafficking, or narcotrafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of drug prohibition, prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibitionism, prohibit trade, exce ...

. It stars

Jimmy Sheirgill Jimmy Sheirgill (born Jasjit Singh Gill; 3 December 1970), also known as Jimmy Shergill, is an Indian actor and producer who primarily works in Hindi and Punjabi language, Punjabi films. Sheirgill began his film career with the 1996 thriller ...

Uday Chopra Uday Raj Chopra (born 5 January 1973) is an Indian actor and producer. He is the son of filmmaker Yash Chopra. He made his acting debut in the 2000 film ''Mohabbatein'' and featured in several other films including ''Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai'' ...

and

Irrfan Khan Irrfan Khan () (born Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan; 7 January 196729 April 2020) was an Indian actor who worked in Indian cinema as well as British and American films. Widely regarded as one of the finest actors in world cinema, Khan's career spa ...

with Kabir Sadanand, Namrata Shirodkar, and Hrishita Bhatt in supporting roles. Charas (2004) is an Indian crime drama film directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia. The story follows a group of friends, led by a young man named Raghav (Abhay Deol), who are involved in the illegal drug trade in the picturesque town of Manali. When one of their friends is mysteriously killed, Raghav returns to Manali to investigate the circumstances of the death. As he uncovers secrets, he learns about the complex web of drug cartels, corrupt officials, and betrayal. The film explores the consequences of the drug trade and the moral dilemmas faced by the characters as they try to navigate a dangerous underworld.

Cast

as Dev Anand *

as ACP Ashraf A. Khan *

as Policeman/DCP Randhir Singh Rathore * Namrata Shirodkar as Piya Goswami * Hrishita Bhatt as Naina Thakur *

Anup Soni Anup Soni (born 30 January 1975) is an Indian actor and anchor. He is an alumnus of the National School of Drama. Soni began his career with roles in television serials such as '' Sea Hawks'' and '' Saaya''. He then took a break from televisi ...

as ACP Yashpal Chaturvedi *

Varun Badola Varun Badola (born 7 January 1974) is an Indian actor, known largely for his roles in Hindi television. Early life Varun Badola was born on 7 January 1974. His father is a known artist, Vishwa Mohan Badola. He has two elder sisters – Alka, ...

as Amin Mohammed * Kabir Sadanand ACP Siddharth Negi * Sanjay Mishra as the blind man *

Deepak Dobriyal Deepak Dobriyal (born 1 September 1975) is an Indian actor known for his work in several films and theatre productions. He is a recipient of several awards including a Filmfare Award and a Filmfare Award Marathi. He has acted in films such as ...

as Afghan militant * Adam Bedi as Sam Higgins * Rajiv Gupta

Music

The soundtrack of Charas was composed by

Raju Singh Raju Singh (Full name: Rajinder Singh Panesar) is an Indian film score composer, session musician, singer and a guitarist. His first collaboration was with Malkit Singh of Hai Jamalo fame. Together with Aadesh Shrivastava, Adesh Srivastav they ...

with the lyrics being written by

Javed Akhtar Javed Akhtar (born 1945) is an Indian screenwriter, lyricist and poet. Known for his work in Hindi cinema, he has won five National Film Awards, and received the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2007, two of India's highest civili ...

and Tigmanshu Dhulia.

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews.

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 ...

from

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 ...

rated 1 out of 5, terming it as "a half-baked product that disappoints". Vivek Fernandes from

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 ...

stated the film as "compelling watch. So catch it, even if it is just for kicks." Kaveree Bamzai from

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media, Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' laun ...

criticised the film as a "completely flat entertainer".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0410952, title=Charas: A Joint Effort *
Charas
' at

Yash Raj Films Yash Raj Films (YRF) is an Indian film production and distribution company founded by filmmaker Yash Chopra in 1970. Since 2012, it has been led by his son Aditya Chopra. The company mainly produces and distributes Hindi films. History In 19 ...

portal 2004 films Films about organised crime in India 2004 action thriller films Indian action thriller films Indian crime action films Indian crime thriller films Films about the illegal drug trade Indian films about cannabis Films set in Himachal Pradesh 2000s Hindi-language films 2000s buddy cop films Films distributed by Yash Raj Films Films directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia 2004 crime thriller films Films about the Narcotics Control Bureau Buddy action films