''China Gate'' is a 1998 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 Revisionist Western

action 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 D ...

directed by Rajkumar Santoshi. It was released on 27 November 1998. China Gate follows the basic storyline of the ''

Seven Samurai is a 1954 Japanese epic samurai action film directed by Akira Kurosawa from a screenplay co-written with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni. Taking place in 1586 in the Sengoku period of Japanese history, it follows the story of a villag ...

''. The song " Chamma Chamma" picturised on

Urmila Matondkar Urmila Matondkar (born 4 February 1974) is an Indian actress and politician. Known for her work primarily in Hindi cinema, Hindi films, in addition to Telugu cinema, Telugu, Malayalam cinema, Malayalam, Marathi cinema, Marathi and Tamil cinema ...

became a chart buster and was used in

Baz Luhrmann Mark Anthony "Baz" Luhrmann (born 17 September 1962) is an Australian film director, producer, writer, and actor whose various projects extend from film and television into opera, theatre, music, and the recording industries. He is regarded by ...

's film '' Moulin Rouge!''. The film won

Filmfare Award for Best Dialogue The Filmfare Best Dialogue Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films. Here is a list of the award winners since 1958 and the films for which they won. Superlatives ; Achla Nagar, Juhi Chaturvedi ...

Plot

Colonel Krishnakant Puri and ten men from his unit were dishonourably discharged from the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

for failing in a critical mission. Krishnakant challenged the decision of the military high command and pursued the case in civil courts for 17 years, but the final verdict is given against him and his team. Frustrated, he is about to commit suicide when a young lady named Sandhya knocks on his door. Having witnessed the brutal murder of her father, Forest Officer Sunder Rajan, at the hands of dreaded dacoit Jageera, Sandhya has come to the Colonel to ask for his assistance in bringing an end to Jageera's reign of terror in the Devdurg region. Krishnakant agrees to assist her and summons his fellow disgraced officers and subordinates to assist him in this mission. They assemble at Devdurg with the necessary ammunition and arms to combat Jageera, not realising that Jageera has influence over the local police, who try to prevent Krishnakant and his men to possess any guns and weapons. This does not deter the men, and they continue to stay on in Devdurg. They gain the confidence of the villagers too. The villagers do not know that Krishnakant and his men had been dishonorably discharged from the army for what was perceived as cowardice. At the time of the first encounter with Jageera and his gang, Krishnakant and his team realise that they are out of shape and have lost instincts and fighting capabilities due to age. With Krishnakant's permission, Major Gurung starts to train them again. One day, Jageera captures them with the help of corrupt police officer Barot, but they escape and, in turn, capture Jageera. Colonel Keval Krishan Puri and a few other officers intend to kill him, but Krishnakant hands him over to Barot. As a result, Jageera is again set free and kills Major Sarfaraz. This causes Krishnakant to go full force against Jageera, and he and the other officers, with support from the villagers, chase Jageera to seek revenge. Krishnakant learns that Sandhya and the rest of the residents are held hostage by Jageera. Udit is able to save her. After a deadly fight, the soldiers including an outraged Keval kill Jageera to avenge Sarfaraz's death and end his reign of terror. The film ends with the remaining team getting felicitated and praised by Brigadier Anoop Kumar, who expresses pride even though he had court-martialed them. The team eventually sets out for their next adventure to accomplish a new mission, and Udit becomes Sandhya's husband as well, later joining the Army and following his father's footsteps.

Cast

Om Puri Om Prakash Puri, (18 October 1950 – 6 January 2017) was an Indian actor who appeared in mainstream commercial Hindi films as well as Urdu, Malayalam, Bengali, Kannada, English, Punjabi, Gujarati, Telugu, and Marathi films, as well as ind ...

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Krishnakant Puri ( Regiment of Artillery) *

Amrish Puri Amrish Puri (22 June 1932 – 12 January 2005) was an Indian actor, who was one of the most notable and important figures in Cinema of India, Indian cinema and Theatre of India, theatre. He acted in more than 450 films, established himsel ...

as Colonel Keval Krishan Puri (

Grenadiers A grenadier ( , ; derived from the word ''grenade'') was historically an assault-specialist soldier who threw hand grenades in siege operation battles. The distinct combat function of the grenadier was established in the mid-17th century, when ...

) *

Naseeruddin Shah Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950) is an Indian actor. He was notable in Indian parallel cinema and has starred in various international productions. He has won numerous awards in his career, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfa ...

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Sarfaraz Khan ( Gorkha Rifles) * Danny Denzongpa as Major Ranjit Singh Gurung (

Sharpshooter A sharpshooter is one who is highly proficient at firing firearms or other projectile weapons accurately. Military units composed of sharpshooters were important factors in 19th-century combat. Along with " marksman" and "expert", "sharpshooter" ...

) * Samir Soni as Uditanshu "Udit" Tandon *

Kulbhushan Kharbanda Kulbhushan Kharbanda (born 21 October 1944) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi and Punjabi films. He is best known for his role as the antagonist Shakaal in '' Shaan'' (1980), Starting off with the Delhi-based theatre group ' Yatrik' in the ...

as Major Kulbhushan Gupta (Planner) * Tinu Anand as

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Bijon Dasgupta (Batchmate of Major Gurung from NDA) ( Explosive Expert) ( Corps of Engineers) *

Viju Khote Viju Khote (17 December 1941 – 30 September 2019) was an Indian actor best known for his role as Kaalia, a dacoit in the 1975 film ''Sholay'' with the iconic dialogue, “Sardar, maine aapka namak khaya hai.” His career spanned six deca ...

as Nb Subedar Ghanshyam ( Regiment of Artillery) ( Gunner) * Jagdeep as

Havaldar Havildar or havaldar ( Hindustani: or (Devanagari), (Perso-Arabic)) is a rank in the Indian and Pakistani armies, equivalent to sergeant. It is not used in cavalry and armoured units, where the equivalent is daffadar. Like a British serge ...

Ramaiyah *

Anjan 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 Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capi ...

as Havaldar Dharti Kumar Pandey * K D Chandran as Army Doctor Ambi *

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 Jagvira aka Jageera *

Paresh Rawal Paresh Rawal (born 30 May 1955) is an Indian actor, comedian, film producer and politician known for his works primarily in Hindi cinema, Hindi films. He has Paresh Rawal filmography, appeared in over 240 films and is the recipient of various L ...

Inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia The rank of Inspector is present in all Australian police forces excep ...

Baarot * Ila Arun as Gopinath's wife * Shivaji Satam as Gopinath (Village Sarpanch) * Razak Khan as Sadhuram (Lali's Uncle) * Anupam Kher as

Brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

Anoop Kumar / Governor (Special appearance) *

Girish Karnad Girish Karnad (19 May 1938 – 10 June 2019) was an Indian playwright, actor, film director, Kannada writer, and a Jnanpith awardee, who predominantly worked in Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Marathi films. His rise as a playwr ...

as Forest Officer Sundar Rajan (Sandhya's Dad, Special appearance) * Rahul Singh * Mamta Kulkarni as Sandhya * Benaf Dadachandji as Lali * Harish Patel as Local Villager * Shreechand Makhija as Local Villager *

in a special appearance in the song " Chamma Chamma"

Production

The film was conceived as a tribute to

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who List of works by Akira Kurosawa, directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the History of film, history of cinema ...

's ''

''. The film was made on the budget of 20 crores, the most expensive

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

production at that point of time.

Soundtrack

The music for this movie was composed by

Anu Malik Anwar Sardar "Anu" Malik (born 2 November 1960) is an Indian music composer, singer, music arranger and score composer. He is the recipient of a National Film Award and three Filmfare Awards, who primarily composes music for the Hindi film ...

and the item song " Chamma Chamma" became extremely popular, which was later used in Hollywood film '' Moulin Rouge!'' and was recreated for the film, '' Fraud Saiyyan''.

References

External links