''Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro'' () is a 1983 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

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

film directed by

Kundan Shah Kundan Shah (19 October 1947 – 7 October 2017) was an Indian film director and writer. He is known for his comedy classic '' Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro'' (1983) and his 1986–1987 TV series '' Nukkad'' with Saeed Akhtar Mirza. Biography Kundan Shah ...

and produced by the NFDC. It is a dark satire on the rampant corruption in Indian politics,

bureaucracy Bureaucracy ( ) is a system of organization where laws or regulatory authority are implemented by civil servants or non-elected officials (most of the time). Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments ...

news media The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public. These include News agency, news agencies, newspapers, news magazines, News broadcasting, news channels etc. History Some of the fir ...

, and business. The film stars an ensemble cast including

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 ...

Ravi Baswani Ravi Baswani (29 September 1946 – 27 July 2010) was an Indian film actor, best known for his role in Sai Paranjpe's '' Chashme Buddoor'' (1981) and Kundan Shah's cult comedy '' Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro'' (1983), for which he won Filmfare Best Com ...

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 ...

Pankaj Kapur Pankaj Kapur (born 29 May 1954) is an Indian actor who has worked in Hindi theatre, television and films. Recipient of a Filmfare Award and three National Film Awards, his most acclaimed film roles include that of Inspector P.K. in '' Raakh'' ...

Satish Shah Satish Ravilal Shah is an Indian actor. He is best known for his comic roles in films like '' Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro'' (1983), '' Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi'' (1984), '' Sarabhai vs Sarabhai'' (2004), '' Main Hoon Na'' (2004), ''Kal Ho Naa Ho'' (2003), '' ...

Satish Kaushik Satish Chandra Kaushik (13 April 1956 – 9 March 2023) was an Indian actor, director, producer, comedian, editor and screenwriter. He found his fame in Hindi cinema, Bollywood with ''Mr. India (1987 film), Mr. India'' starring Anil Kapoor, Sri ...

Bhakti Barve Bhakti Barve (10 September 1948 – 12 February 2001) was an Indian film, theatre and television actress in Marathi, Hindi and Gujarati. She is best known for the title role in the Marathi play '' Ti Phularani and'' for her role in Kundan Sh ...

and

Neena Gupta Neena Gupta (born 4 June 1959) is an Indian actress and television director who works in Hindi films and television along with few Malayalam films. She has received several awards including three National Film Awards, a Filmfare Award and two ...

. ''Blow-Up'', a 1966 English-language film directed by

Michelangelo Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni ( ; ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and editor. He is best known for his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents", ''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and '' ...

in which a photographer believes he may have witnessed a murder and unwittingly takes photographs of the killing, was an inspiration for ''Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro''. Kundan Shah won the 1984

Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director The National Film Award for Best Debut Film of a Director is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the National Film Development Corporation of India. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with Gold ...

for his work. The film was part of the NFDC Retrospective at India International Film Festival in 2006.

Plot

Professional photographers Vinod Chopra and Sudhir Mishra open a photo studio in the prestigious

Haji Ali The Haji Ali Dargah is a Sufi shrine, and the monument of Pir Haji Ali Shah Bukhari, that is located on an islet off the coast of Worli in southern Mumbai, in the state of Maharashtra, India. An exquisite example of Indo-Islamic architecture, ...

area in Bombay. After a disastrous start, they are given some work by Shobha Sen, the editor of ''Khabardar'' (, a pun on ''khabar'' meaning news), a publication that exposes the scandalous lives of the rich and the famous. Impressed with their work, Shobha hires them for a story about the connection between the Municipal Commissioner D'Mello and Tarneja, a builder. They find Tarneja and his business rival Ahuja working together to bribe D'Mello in order to win the contracts for construction of four fly-overs. Shobha asks the two photographers to create a rift between Tarneja and Ahuja. Vinod, impersonating Albert Pinto, leads Tarneja to believe that Ahuja, with Shobha's assistance, is trying to cheat him. Tarneja and Ahuja fight until Tarneja's secretary Priya arrives with Assistant Municipal Commissioner Srivastav and tells them that D'Mello has given the contracts to neither Tarneja nor Ahuja but to someone else. Meanwhile, Sudhir and Vinod decide to enter a photography contest promising Rs. 5000/- and take a number of photos all over the city. In one of the photos, they see a man shooting someone and after enlarging it, they realize that the killer is Tarneja. They return to the park where they shot that photo and eventually find out the crime scene. They find the body lying behind the bushes but before the duo can get to the body, it disappears, but they manage to retrieve one of a pair of gold cuff links. Sometime later, Srivastav has become the new commissioner. Tarneja has built a fly-over, dedicating it to the memory of late D'Mello, who he says died of a terminal disease. Vinod and Sudhir attend the inauguration of the fly-over and discover the other cuff link there. They return at night and dig up the area and unearth a coffin containing the dead body of D'Mello. They take several photos but lose the corpse again. Shobha starts blackmailing Tarneja with the photos. He invites her, Vinod and Sudhir for dinner and plants a time bomb to kill them. The bomb explodes after the three escape. They later find out from the news that the fly-over built in the memory of D'Mello collapsed and the police suspect sabotage from Vinod and Sudhir. The duo learn about Shobha's blackmail and disassociate from her. Vinod and Sudhir find out that the body is with Ahuja who had, in an inebriated condition, carried the coffin to his farmhouse. They steal the corpse but not before Tarneja, Ahuja, Srivastav, Shobha and others also get involved resulting in a series of comic mix-ups. Vinod and Sudhir present their evidence to the police. Tarneja threatens to take Ahuja, Shobha and Srivastav down with him. Srivastav brokers a deal between the four of them. He frames Vinod and Sudhir for the collapse of the bridge, jailing the two. In the final scene, Vinod and Sudhir are shown released from prison. Still in their prison clothes, they make a symbolic cut-throat gesture.

Cast

as Vinod Chopra *

as Sudhir Mishra *

as Ahuja, a corrupt contractor *

as Tarneja, a corrupt contractor who murders D'Mello *

as D'Mello, Municipal Commissioner *

as Shobha Sen, editor of the "Khabardar" magazine (voice dubbed by

Anita Kanwar Anita Kanwar is an Indian film and television actor who is best known for her role as ''Lajjo ji'' in the 1980s Doordarshan mega soap opera '' Buniyaad''. An alumnus of the National School of Drama (1978 batch), Kanwar has also worked in film ...

) *

Rajesh Puri Rajesh Puri is an Indian television actor. He acted in comedy serials like '' Yeh Duniya Gazab Ki''. Rajesh also acted in a DD1 serial Aamrapali (TV serial) in 2002. He is also identified as Lalit Prasad (a.k.a. Lalloo) of Hum Log, the Televis ...

as Kamdar, assistant editor of the "Khabardar" magazine *

as Ashok Namboodirippad, Tarneja's assistant *

as Priya, Tarneja's secretary * Deepak Qazir as Srivastav, Assistant Municipal Commissioner * Zafar Sanjari *

Ashok Banthia Ashok Banthia, sometimes referred as Ashok Bathia or Ashok Bhatia, is an Indian actor and director associated with Hindi film, television and theatre actor. He is a NSD (National School of Drama) alumnus known for his roles in Australian TV ...

as News correspondent *

Vidhu Vinod Chopra Vidhu Vinod Chopra (born 5 September 1952) is an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. He is the recipient of several accolades, including four National Film Awards and eleven Filmfare Awards. He is known for directing films ...

as theater actor playing

Dushasana Dushasana (), also spelled Duhshasana, Dussasana or Duhsasana, also known as Sushasana, is an antagonist in the Hindu epic '' Mahabharata''. He was second eldest among the Kaurava princes and the younger brother of Duryodhana. Dushasana's jea ...

Anupam Kher Anupam Kher (born 7 March 1955) is an Indian actor, director and producer who works primarily in Hindi cinema. In a career spanning over four decades, he has acted in more than 540 films. A veteran of Indian cinema, Kher is recipient of two Na ...

as voiceover for Architect Tulyaani at construction site *

Ajay Wadhavkar Ajay Wadhavkar was a Bollywood, Hindi and Marathi cinema, Marathi film and television actor. Career Wadhavkar's notable TV serial roles include that of the bumbling cop Ganpat Hawaldar, from the yesteryear milestone TV serial ''Nukkad'' in 1986 ...

Police Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an police officer, officer within a police ser ...

under the bridge

Reception

In 2010, Dhiraj Nayyar in his

op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page," is a type of written prose commonly found in newspapers, magazines, and online publications. They usually represent a writer's strong and focused opinion on an issue of relevance to a targeted a ...

for

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

wrote, "In 1983,the average cinema-goer would perhaps have empathised closely with the two heroes and their tangle with the establishment. In contrast,in 2010,the average cinema-goer can perhaps only sympathise with the heroes given that it is perfectly possible to prosper without seeking favour from or getting entangled with a small cabal of crooks." In a retrospective review in 2020, Jyoti Kanyal of ''

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 ...

'' wrote, "The film was released in 1983, but it is still relevant in the current times, given the current socio-political state of the country. In 1983, the year before Indira Gandhi's assassination, the nation was not in the best of moods. People were raising voices against corruption and intolerance. Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro chose to laugh away the bruise. It didn't hesitate from references and cross-references to politicians and scams."

Re-release

A digitally restored print of the film was released on 2 November 2012 at selected theaters. The film opened to an enthusiastic welcome from the media.

Awards

31st National Film Awards The 31st National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1983. Ceremony took place in Jun ...

: *

'Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro' on NFDC website
/ref> ;

32nd Filmfare Awards The 32nd Filmfare Awards were held in 1985. ''Sharaabi'' led the ceremony with 11 nominations, followed by ''Aaj Ki Awaaz'' and ''Saaransh'' with 7 nominations and Sohni Mahiwal (1984 film), ''Sohni Mahiwal'' and Sparsh (film), ''Sparsh'' with ...

: Won * Best Comedian –

Nominated *

Best Film The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Bes ...

–

National Film Development Corporation of India The National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC) based in Mumbai is the central agency established in 1975, to encourage high quality Indian cinema. It functions in areas of film financing, production and distribution and under the Min ...

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * As ...

–

* Best Comedian –

References

External links

What makes a perfect comedy?
* * {{Kundan Shah 1983 films 1980s Hindi-language films 1980s Indian films Indian black comedy films Films about photojournalists Indian satirical films Films about corruption in India Films set in Mumbai Corruption in Maharashtra Best Debut Feature Film of a Director National Film Award winners Indian avant-garde and experimental films 1980s avant-garde and experimental films Films shot in Mumbai 1983 directorial debut films Films directed by Kundan Shah