''Pukar'' () is a 2000 Indian Hindi-language

action thriller 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 ...

film co-written and directed by Rajkumar Santoshi with cinematography by Ashok Mehta,

Santosh Sivan Santosh Sivan ISC (born 8 February 1964) is an Indian cinematographer, film director, producer and actor known for his works in Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi cinema. Santosh graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India and has, to ...

, Baba Azmi and Chota K. Naidu. It stars

Anil Kapoor Anil Kapoor (born 24 December 1956) is an Indian actor and producer who works primarily in Hindi cinema, Hindi films, in addition to Indian television and international films. In a career spanning over 40 years as an actor and since 2005 as a ...

Madhuri Dixit Madhuri Dixit Nene (Maiden and married names, née Dixit, ; born 15 May 1967) is an Indian actress and television personality. She has appeared in Madhuri Dixit filmography, over 70 Hindi films. Praised by critics for her performances and danc ...

, Namrata Shirodkar, Danny Denzongpa, Shivaji Satam and

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 ...

. The

score SCORE may refer to: *SCORE (software), a music scorewriter program * SCORE (television), a weekend sports service of the defunct Financial News Network *SCORE! Educational Centers *SCORE International, an offroad racing organization *Sarawak Corrido ...

and

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

were composed by

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinem ...

. ''Pukar'' was released on 5 February 2000 and received critical acclaim, and was Semihit at the box office. At the 48th National Film Awards, ''Pukar'' won 2

National Film Awards The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India ...

– the

Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration The Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration was one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organization set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry ...

and Best Actor (Kapoor). At the

46th Filmfare Awards The 46th Filmfare Awards were held on 17 February 2001, to honor the best films of 2000. ''Mohabbatein'' led the ceremony with 12 nominations, followed by ''Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai'' with 11 nominations. ''Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai'' won 9 awards, ...

, ''Pukar'' received 2 nominations – Best Actor (Kapoor) and Best Actress (Dixit).

Plot

Para (Special Forces) officer Major Jaidev "Jai" Rajvansh and his fellow officer manage to rescue a leading politician as well as capture his kidnapper, Pakistani terrorist Abhrush. The terrorist has been wanted for years, and he is finally captured by the two officers. Jai returns to a joyous welcome and is declared a national hero. His senior offers him to take leave for a week, Jai accepts it and returns to his hometown. There he meets his childhood friend Anjali who has always harboured love for Jai. Anjali wants to make most of Jai's holiday and tries to get close to him and spend time with him as much as she can. At a party, he meets Miss India, Pooja Mallapa. As they spend time together, they begin to fall in love. As Jai's parents are arranging his marriage to Anjali, Jai admits his love for Pooja and that he always thought of Anjali as a close friend. Heartbroken and jealous, Anjali wants revenge for Jai's rejection. Realizing her frustration with Jai, Abhrush takes advantage (via the said "kidnapped" politician who is hand in glove with Abhrush) and together they plot to destroy Jai's reputation and life. Anjali manages to steal confidential documents detailing plans for Abhrush's movement from prison to prison. The following events lead to Jai being court-martialed and declared a traitor to the country. Pooja leaves him due to family pressure. Jai, determined to prove his innocence and redeem himself, decides to pursue Abhrush alone. Ultimately Anjali comes to her senses and realizes her mistake. To atone for it, she single-handedly tries to thwart Abhrush's plans and help Jai prove his innocence. Jai overpowers Abhrush. Finally, Jai expresses his love for Anjali and forgives her and both unite to live happily.

Cast

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 ...

Jaidev Rajvansh (Jai) *

as Anjali * Sudhir Joshi as Anjali's Father * Namrata Shirodkar as Pooja Mallapa *

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 ...

Iqbal Hussain (Commanding Officer of the Unit) * Danny Denzongpa as Abhrush (Ruthless Terrorist) *

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 General in the Indian Army (serving as Colonel Commandant) * Shivaji Satam as Lieutenant Colonel Suraj Dev Rana (2IC of the Unit) *

Farida Jalal Farida Jalal (born Farida Sami; 18 May 1950) is an Indian actress who primarily worked in Hindi films. In a film career spanning almost fifty years, Jalal appeared in over 200 films. Best known for her character-driven roles in independent cin ...

as Gayetri Rajvansh * Rohini Hattangadi as Mrs. Mallapa (Pooja's Mother) *

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 Ret. Gen. Rajvansh * Govind Namdeo as Mr. Mishra *

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 Tiwari (Mishra's Assistant) *

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 ...

as Bakshi (Abhrush's Assistant) * Yashpal Sharma as

Kartar Singh * K.D Chandran as

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Mallapa (Pooja's Father) *

Major Ravi Major A. K. Raveendran SM (born 13 June 1958) is a retired officer of the Indian Army, former National Security Guard commando, film actor and film director predominantly works in Malayalam cinema and some films in Tamil and Hindi. He was aw ...

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 Dayanand Awasthi * Neeraj Vora as Mayor *

Prabhu Deva Prabhu Deva (born 3 April 1973) is an Indian dance choreographer, film director, producer and actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil language, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu language, Telugu language films also appeared in few Kannada and Malayal ...

as himself in song, "Kay Sera Sera" *

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar (; born Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. He ...

as herself in song, "Ek Tu Hi Bharosa"

Soundtrack

The music is given by

, while the lyrics were written by

Majrooh Sultanpuri Asrar ul Hassan Khan (1 October 1919 − 24 May 2000), better known as Majrooh Sultanpuri, was an Indian Urdu poet and lyricist in the Hindi language film industry. He wrote lyrics for numerous Hindi film soundtracks. He was one of the dom ...

and

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 ...

. The song Kay Sera Sera is based on "Kadhal Niagara" from '' En Swasa Kaatre''. Rahman reused the song "Oh Bosnia" as "Ek Tu Hi Bharosa". The song was composed and performed by Rahman in his

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

n concert in 1996 that was in aid of Bosnian victims. The

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

was played by Rahman himself. "Hai Jaana" has two parts within the film version and soundtrack version. The song "Sunta Hai Mera Khuda" was shot at

Arches National Park Arches National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in eastern Utah. The park is adjacent to the Colorado River, north of Moab, Utah. The park contains more than 2,000 natural arch, natural ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, United States. The song " Kismat Se Tum Humko Mile Ho" was shot at

Mount Marcus Baker Mount Marcus Baker (Ahtna: ''Ts'itonhna Dghilaaye’''; Dena'ina: ''Ch'atanhtnu Dghelaya'') is the highest peak of the Chugach Mountains of Alaska. It is located approximately east of Anchorage. This peak is very prominent because of its proxi ...

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

, United States.

Track list

Reception

Sify Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology (ICT) company providing telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation integration services, and ...

gave the film three out of five, writing, "Its ultimately the actors who carry the film through. Not that the plot does not work, in fact its engrossing, but it simply fails to carry you through." V Gangadhar of Rediff.com praised the first half but criticed the second half, writing, "The film falls to pieces in the second half. The action scenes are highly contrived. Abrush tries to project a larger-than-life presence by constantly rolling his huge eyes and grunting with vigour. And Santoshi's handling of the military scenes is rather amateurish. Does the army strip a court-martialled officer even of his clothes?"

Awards

References

External links

* {{Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration 2000 films 2000 action drama films 2000 action thriller films Indian action drama films Films directed by Rajkumar Santoshi Films featuring a Best Actor National Award–winning performance 2000s Hindi-language films Films scored by A. R. Rahman Indian Army in films Films about Islamic terrorism in India Films about jihadism Films shot in Utah Films shot in Alaska Best Film on National Integration National Film Award winners Films shot in Jammu and Kashmir Films shot in Thrissur Films shot in Chalakudy India–Pakistan relations in popular culture Films produced by Bharat Shah Films produced by Boney Kapoor