''Kohram'' is a 1999 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

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 D ...

directed by

Mehul Kumar Mohammed Ibrahim Baloch (or Bloch; born 1949), better known as Mehul Kumar, is an Indian filmmaker and writer in Bollywood.ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that comprises many principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to the po ...

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema. He is often considered one of the greatest, most accomplished and commercially successful actors in the history of Indian cinema.* * * * * With a cinemati ...

Nana Patekar Vishwanath Patekar (born 1 January 1951), better known as Nana Patekar, is an Indian actor, film maker, mainly working in Hindi language, Hindi and Marathi language, Marathi cinema. Widely regarded as one of the finest and most influential actors ...

Jaya Prada Jaya Prada Nahata (born Lalitha Rani Rao; 3 April 1962) is an Indian actress and politician known for her works majorly in Telugu cinema and Hindi cinema as well as in Tamil films in late '70s, '80s and early '90s. Jayaprada is the recipient ...

, Tabu, Mukul Dev,

Mukesh Rishi Mukesh Rishi (born 19 April 1956) is an Indian actor and film producer who works primarily in Hindi and Telugu films. He has also appeared in Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, Marathi and Tamil films. He got his first break in Hindi in 1993 with ...

, Danny Denzongpa,

Jackie Shroff Jaikishan Kakubhai Shroff (born 1 February 1957), known by his screen name Jackie Shroff, is an Indian actor and former model from Mumbai, Maharashtra, who primarily works in the Hindi film industry. In a career spanning over four decades, he ...

, Kabir Bedi and

Ayesha Jhulka Ayesha Jhulka (born 28 July 1972) is an Indian actress who primarily appears in Hindi films, in addition to Bengali, Kannada and Telugu films. In a career spanning over three decades, she has worked in over 60 films. Jhulka is best known for ...

. The film is notable for being the only occasion when Bachchan and Patekar costarred on screen. The film released worldwide on 13 August 1999 to mixed reviews, with praise for the performances of the principal cast, but criticism for the story and screenplay. Commercially the film was an average grosser.

Plot

The story starts with the death of an army officer, and it is believed to be the act of a terrorist group headed by Changezi.

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 ...

Balbir Singh Sodhi is asked to investigate this matter, and he discovers that minister Veerbhadra Singh is involved in this conspiracy. Colonel Sodhi stages his death in an attempt to kill Changezi and starts living as Dadabhai/Devraj Hathoda in Mumbai. Major Ajit Arya is sent in the guise of a Bengali journalist to discover the true identity of Dadabhai/Devraj Hathoda. Once Arya discovers the truth, he joins hands with Colonel Sodhi to bring the minister to justice and terminate the terrorist group.

Cast

as Colonel Balbir Singh Sodhi/Devraj Hathoda (Dadabhai) *

as Major Ajit Arya/Basu Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay (BBC) *

as Namrata B. Sodhi * Tabu as Inspector Kiran Patkar *

as Major Rathod (cameo) * Danny Denzongpa as Minister Virbhadra Singh * Kabir Bedi as Brig. Bedi *

as Ghafoor Changezi * Mukul Dev as Monty *

as Sweety *

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 Police Commissioner * Kishori Godbole as Virbhadra Singh's daughter

Songs

Music by the duo Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen. #"Jay Mata Dee He Ambe Baliharee" – Sanjeevani,

Sukhwinder Singh Sukhwinder Singh (born 18 July 1971) is an Indian playback singer who primarily sings Bollywood songs. He sang " Jai Ho" in the film '' Slumdog Millionaire'', for which he won a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Televisi ...

#"Palakon Ko Kalam Banaa Ke, To Meraa Naam Nahin" –

Alka Yagnik Alka Yagnik (born 20 March 1966) is an Indian playback singer who works predominantly in Hindi cinema. One of the most prominent singers of 1990s era Bollywood, she has received several accolades, including two National Film Awards, two Ben ...

, Hariharan (Not in the film) #"Satanaam Vaaheguru, Baabaa Naanak Dukhiyaan De Naath Ve" – Kishanpal Singh #"Janeman Janeman Ladakee Too Number One" –

Udit Narayan Udit Narayan Jha (born 1 December 1955) is an Nepali and Indian playback singer whose songs have been featured mainly in Hindi cinema, Hindi films. He has also sung in various other languages including Telugu language, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil ...

Kavita Krishnamurthy Kavita Krishnamurthy (born as Sharada Krishnamurthy), is an Indian playback and classical singer. She has recorded numerous songs in various Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Rajasthani, Bhojpuri, Telugu, Odia, Marathi, ...

#"Pagal Huwa Huwa Huwa" –

Shankar Mahadevan Shankar Mahadevan (born 3 March 1967) is an Indian singer and composer who is part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio that writes music for Indian films. In 2023, he was awarded an honorary doctorate (''honoris causa'' degree) by Birmingham Ci ...

, Jaspinder Narula #"Ik Mashuka Hai Yeh Jindagee Tum Ho Isape Shaida" – Sudesh Bhosle,

Amit Kumar Amit Kumar (born 3 July 1952) is an Indian playback singer, actor, music composer. Kumar launched his own music production company, named Kumar Brothers Music. He predominantly worked in Bollywood and regional film songs since the 1970s, ...

#"Ladakee Ladakee Too Woh Ladakee" –

, Abhijeet (Not in the film) #"Hum Hai Banaras Ke Bhaya" – Sudesh Bhosle,

Release

Initially the film was slated to release on 6 August, but then Mehul Kumar advanced it to 13 August.

Critical response

Sharmila Taliculam of Rediff.com criticised the storyline but praised the performances of Patekar and Bchchan. She further wrote, "Kohram would pass for quite an average film, hadn't it been for these two characters. If it's performance you are seeking, go right ahead and see it. If it's a great film, you want, forget it."

Anupama Chopra Anupama Vinod Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist and film critic who served as the festival director of the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image, MAMI Mumbai Film Festival from 2015 to 2023. She is also the founder and editor of the now-de ...

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, "Kohram has Krantiveer-like crude energy and the first half moves at breakneck speed with Amitabh Bachchan and Nana Patekar, both army men, matching wits in a cat-and-mouse game. But proceedings slow to a crawl in the second half and the novelty of watching Bachchan and Patekar palls."

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0213775 1990s Hindi-language films 1999 films Films scored by Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen Films about Islamic terrorism in India Fictional portrayals of the Maharashtra Police Films directed by Mehul Kumar Indian Army in films