''Sehar'' (''

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

: The morning'') is a 2005 Indian

crime drama 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

Kabeer Kaushik Kabeer Kaushik is an Indian film director and screenwriter. Born and brought up in a Bihari people, Bihari family in Patna and graduated from Frank Anthony Public School in New Delhi. He debuted with Sehar in 2005. Filmography References ...

, starring

Arshad Warsi Arshad Khan (born 19 April 1968) is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films. He is the recipient of List of roles and awards of Arshad Warsi, several awards including a Filmfare Award from five nominations and is noted for acting in varied f ...

and

Mahima Chaudhry Mahima Chaudhry (born Ritu Chaudhry; 13 September 1973), is an Indian actress who primarily works in Hindi films. Chaudhry did a few modelling assignments and television commercials before venturing into films, with the 1997 romantic drama film ' ...

Sushant Singh Sushant Singh (born 9 March 1972) is an Indian actor and television presenter known for his work in Hindi cinema. He made his acting debut in 1998 with Ram Gopal Varma's ''Satya'' and gained critical acclaim for his role as the bandit Durgaa N ...

and

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'' ...

. The film depicts

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

in the state of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, and how the State Police worked to tackle it. It shows the turbulent journey of Ajay Kumar, a newly appointed 31-year-old SSP of

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

, played by Arshad Warsi, instrumental in bringing together a group of committed

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

officers under the aegis of the Special Task Force. The film is loosely based on the encounter of

Prakash Shukla Shri Prakash Shukla (6 October, 1973-22 September, 1998) was an Indian gangster active during the 1990's mainly in the state of Uttar Pradesh. He used to be hired by primarily politicians to kill their opponents. He was killed on 22 September 1 ...

, who was eliminated by the newly formed Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh Police.

Plot

The film begins with Professor Tiwari being interviewed about police encounters and bids to eradicate organised crime from

and its surrounding areas. It then showcases Ajay Kumar. Since he was young, Ajay has been traumatised by the death of his army officer father, who killed himself when accused of being a deserter, leaving his widow Prabha to bring up Ajay on her own. Ajay studies hard and successfully becomes an

Indian Police Service The Indian Police Service (IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became Partition of India, independent from the British Empire. Along with the Indian Admini ...

officer with the title of Senior Superintendent of Police of Lucknow. Due to his honesty, he gets transferred to various states in India, around 14 times in eight years. At his new posting in Uttar Pradesh, he comes to terms with a new criminal boss and ruthless killer, Gajraj Singh. Meanwhile, he falls in love with his childhood friend Anamika Kant, with his mother subsequently deciding to get them married. Ajay engineers the setting up of a Special Task Force to deal with Gajraj. However, he also runs into problems as Gajraj is politically well-connected. Gajraj continues to elude the Task Force, using more modern technology such as the use of cell phones. But the Task Force recovers and is able to monitor Gajraj's cell phones with the help of Prof. Tiwari. They find out that Gajraj is planning to contest the elections and if he wins, no police officer of any rank, even the Task Force, would then dare to arrest him or even consider him a suspect, which may well result in the Task Force being mere paper tigers. They have a final confrontation inside a train which leaves from Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station. All the officers in the Task Force as well as members of Gajraj's gang kill each other in the fight, leaving Prof. Tiwari as the only witness. Shukla

Cast

as SSP Ajay Kumar *

as Anamika Kant *

as Gajraj Singh *

as Professor Bhole Shankar Tiwari *

Suhasini Mulay Suhasini Mulay (born 20 November 1950) is an Indian actress in Assamese, Bollywood and Marathi films as well as television. She won five National Film Awards. Early life and education Suhasini was born in a Marathi-speaking family in Patna w ...

as Prabha Kumar, Ajay's mother *

Rajendra Gupta Rajendra Gupta (born 17 October 1947) is an Indian film, television and theatre actor and director who is known for his television roles of Adina Beg Khan Sahib e Azam in 2010 series of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Pandit Jagannath in the 1990s Doorda ...

as ADG (Law and Order) Arun Kapoor *

Naved Aslam Naved Aslam is an Indian actor and screenwriter. He predominantly works in Indian TV shows, theatre plays and feature films. He is best known for his portrayal of Bhishma in Suryaputra Karn. In 2018, Aslam made his digital debut in the web serie ...

as Inspector Joginder Singh Solanki *

Surendra Pal Surendrapal Singh (born 25 September 1953) is an Indian film and television character actor who works in Hindi films and TV series. He is best known for his roles of Dronacharya in ''Mahabharat'', Amatya Rakshas in ''Chanakya'', Tamraj Kilvish ...

as Ramnath Mishra *

Ravi Jhankal Ravi Jhankal is an Indian television, stage and film actor, mostly known for working in Shyam Benegal's films, including '' Welcome to Sajjanpur'' (2008) and '' Well Done Abba'' (2010) and for the role of P. V. Narasimha Rao in '' Pradhanmantr ...

as Dwivedi, Mishra's Secretary * Rajendra Sethi as Satyapal Mehra, Builder *Ghanshyam Garg as Sub Inspector Baidyanath Mishra *

Ujjwal Chopra Ujjawal Chopra is an Indian actor who plays in films and television. He played the character of Gora Singh in Sanjay Leela Bhansali Sanjay Leela Bhansali (born 24 February 1963) is an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter, editor an ...

as Inspector Sayyed *Vishnu Sharma as Chief Minister Raghuvir Singh *

Kali Prasad Mukherjee Kali Prasad Mukherjee is an Indian film and television actor who is best known for playing supporting roles in Bollywood films and Indian soap opera Indian television dramas, often called Indian series or serials, are scripted television ...

as Rituraj/ Hemraj Chaudhary *Vikram Sahu as Hariprasad Singh, CM's friend *Vivek k Rawat as Qaasim. * Abhijeet Lahiri as Heeralal Gupta * Ahmed Khan as PS Dheeraj Pandey * Madan Joshi as Tarkeshwari Singh * Jeetpal as Inspector Yadav *Kuldeep Sareen as Constable Lokpal * Amit Bhalla as SSP Gupta * Anup Karan as Ranjan Munshi * Vishal Saini as Shridhar Pandey * Abhay Bhargav as Narayan Pandey

Music

All the songs were composed by Daniel B George, all lyrics were written by Nilanjana Kishore and Swanand Kirkire. #"Nakhredaar Banno Aae Piya" –

Shubha Mudgal Shubha Mudgal (born 1 January 1959) is an Indian singer, and composer, known for her works in Hindustani classical music, Indian pop, and Tamil cinema. Her repertoire includes the genres of khyal, thumri, and dadra. She has received the Padma S ...

#"Dil To Hai Bezubaan" –

Adnan Sami Adnan Sami Khan (born 15 August 1969) is an Indian singer, musician, composer, actor and pianist. He performs Indian and Western music in many languages, such as Hindi, Urdu, English, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam. He has been awarded ...

#"Sapno Ka Sehar Ho" –

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 ...

#"Faiz" (Sehar) – Pankaj Kapur #"Palke Jhukao Na" (force) – Adnan Sami,

#"Palke Jhukao Na" (sacrifice) – Adnan Sami,

#"Palken Jhukao Na" (Duet) – Meenal Jain, Swanand Kirkire #"Prayer" -Swanand Kirkire

Critical reception

Namrata Joshi Namrata Joshi is an Indian film critic based in New Delhi. Originally working for ''Outlook'', she remained there from 1999 till 2015, when she joined ''The Hindu''. She won the National Film Award for Best Film Critic in 2004. Career Joshi i ...

Outlook India ''Outlook'' is a weekly general interest English and Hindi news magazine published in India. History and profile ''Outlook'' was first issued in October 1995 with Vinod Mehta as the editor in chief. It is owned by the Rajan Raheja Group. Th ...

gave the film 3 out of 4, writing "It's a film that left me flummoxed. It's engrossing, well-made, a good first effort. But what do I make of its message? That you can't escape bloodshed? That taking to arms is the only way out in a decaying society? That unbridled machismo is the way to cleanse the corrupt system?" She also mentioned the film in her book ″Reel India: Cinema Off the Beaten Track″, stating ″Sehar succeeds in creating an authentic feel of the city ucknowand state ttar Pradeshas they are today, a virtual dystopia where things rarely function smoothly and law and order are flouted too often for comfort. It is vital, throbbing, real.″ Conversely,

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 ...

IndiaFM 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 ...

gave the film 1 star out of 5, writing "On the whole, SEHAR is a dull and dry subject that will appeal to a very thin segment of moviegoers."

Rediff.com 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 ...

listed the film in ″Bollywood's Best Cop Films″ in 2009, stating ″This gritty cop drama from director Kabeer Kaushik features Arshad Warsi as an IPS officer posted in Lucknow. Warsi delivers a stellar performance and the film is one of the better police portrayals in recent cinema.″

References

External links