''Shotru'' (Bengali: ''শত্রু'' ; English: ''Enemy)'' is a 2011 Indian
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
-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 ...
co-written and directed by
Raj Chakraborty
Raj Chakraborty (born 21 February 1975) is an Indian film director, actor, producer and politician. He is one of the most commercially successful film-makers in Cinema of West Bengal, Tollywood. Before directing his debut film, he was busy in Be ...
.' The film was produced by
Ashok Dhanuka under the banner of
Eskay Movies. It stars
Jeet,
Supriyo Dutta
Supriyo Dutta is an Indian Bengali language film and theatre artist from West Bengal. He is prominently known for his diverse roles in the Tollywood industry. He started his career as a background artist in the Indian Bengali film and establi ...
and
Nusrat Jahan in lead roles, while
Kharaj Mukherjee
Kharaj Mukherjee or Kharaj Mukhopadhyay is an Indian actor, comedian and singer. He won the Bengal Film Journalists' Association – Best Male Playback Award in 2004 for the film '' Patalghar''. Over the years, he has established himself as on ...
,
Dipankar De
Dipankar Dey is an Indian actor in the Bengali film industry. He has worked in movies as a hero, villain and character artist.
He starred in Ray's ''Seemabaddha'' (''Company Limited, 1971''), '' Jana Aranya'' (''The Middleman'', 1976), '' G ...
,
Biswajit Chakraborty
Biswajit Chakraborty, (born 1 May 1958) is an Indian film actor who appears predominantly in Bengali movies. He was born in Kolkata, West Bengal. His debut movie was '' Sunya Theke Suru'' directed by Ashoke Viswanathan. He has acted in more t ...
,
Saayoni Ghosh
Saayoni Ghosh is an Indian Bengali film and television actress currently serving as a Member of Parliament representing Jadavpur parliamentary constituency. She is also a singer and a politician. Her acting debut was with a telefilm ''Ichhe D ...
, Raja Dutta and
Biplab Chatterjee
Biplab Chatterjee is an Indian actor and director of television and films, mostly associated with the Bengali Film industry.
Career
Biplab started his film career with Satyajit Ray in his film '' Pratidwandi''. He is popular for his antagonis ...
played other pivotal roles. It marks the debut of Nusrat Jahan. The soundtrack and background score was composed by
Indraadip Dasgupta
Indraadip Dasgupta (born 17 January 1973) is an Indian composer whose range of music is well known in various Bengali Films.
In 2017 he worked in ''Begum Jaan (2017 film), Begum Jaan'', for which he composed the background score.
Film direc ...
, with screenplay and dialogues written by Padmanabha Dasgupta and Abhimanyu Mukherjee. The movie is a remake of 2010
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
People, culture and language
* Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka
** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
movie ''
Singam''.
Clashing with
Dev and
Koel Mallick
Koel Mallick (; born Rukmini Mallick on 28 April 1982), known mononymously as Koel, is an Indian actress known for her work primarily in Bengali films. Often referred to as the "Tolly-Queen", she is the recipient numerous accolades, including ...
starrer ''
Paglu
''Paglu'' (English: ''Crazy'') is a 2011 Indian Bengali-language action film directed by Rajib Biswas. Produced by Surinder Films, the film stars Dev, Koel and Rajatava Dutta in lead roles. The screenplay and the dialogues were written b ...
'', it was an all time blockbuster at the box office, with a successful run of over 210 days in theatres. It received positive reviews from critics. Critics appreciated the social messages and portrayals with Jeet and Dutta's performance and stylized action sequences which plays a very pivotal role in this film.
''Shotru'' marks the 2nd collaboration between Jeet and Raj Chakraborty. The signature dialogue of Jeet in the film, "Ami kono ishwar noi je chhere debo aar rakshas noi je mere debo, ami holam police, saala chhara aar marar majhkhane lotke rekhe debo" (Neither I am the god that you will be forgiven nor a monster that you will be killed, I am a police, will hang you scoundrel between forgiving and killing), became memorable among the masses. It was later dubbed into
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 ...
as ''Ek Policewale Ki Taaqat''.
Plot
Dibakar Singha is a police sub-inspector from
Hridaypur, working in the city of
Howrah
Howrah (; ; alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River, opposite to its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively ...
. Arjun Sarkar uses a job as a real estate agent to cover for crimes, including kidnapping and extortion, getting
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 ...
. Dibakar learns of his crimes and decides to try and kill him.
Dibakar falls in love with Puja, a woman who is visiting her grandfather on vacation. She convinces Dibakar to fight the corruption in the police department and Arjun.
Dibakar is promoted to the head of an anti-kidnapping squad by the Home Minister. He conducts raids on Arjun's hideout and imprisons Arjun's brother Karna, who is innocent. To free his brother, Arjun plans to kidnap Puja's younger sister, Diya, but Dibakar foils the attempt by catching two of the kidnappers. One of the kidnappers confesses that they were hired by Arjun, providing Dibakar with the necessary evidence to prove Arjun's involvement in 62 kidnappings. Dibakar announces that two kidnappers were apprehended and the money was recovered and will be used as a government asset unless someone lays claim to it.
Almost exposed for his involvement, Arjun plans to lure Dibakar to his hideout to kill him. Dibakar, however, learns of Arjun's plan to have him killed and decides to go meet Arjun in disguise. There he kills Ratan, a close friend of Arjun. Then, Dibakar tells Arjun that Ratan has agreed to be a state witness against him. To prevent this from happening, Arjun sends someone to kill Ratan in the hospital. When Karna, the assassin, arrives at the hospital, he is killed by Dibakar while on the phone with Arjun. Angered by this, tries to kill Puja, who escapes with a bullet in her arm.
Dibakar exposes his superior, the
DSP, as Arjun's mole in the police department. Having been exposed, the DSP is then forced into aiding Dibakar in exposing Arjun.
Arjun kidnaps the daughter of the Assam Home Minister and takes her to Jharkhand. Dibakar pursues him and kills Arjun.
At a ceremony to honour Dibakar for his actions, Dibakar announces that he will return to his village and that he has finished what he set out to do in the city. Puja is shown accompanying him on this journey.
Cast
Soundtrack
Cancelled sequel
In June 2018, it was revealed that
Raj Chakraborty
Raj Chakraborty (born 21 February 1975) is an Indian film director, actor, producer and politician. He is one of the most commercially successful film-makers in Cinema of West Bengal, Tollywood. Before directing his debut film, he was busy in Be ...
is going to collaborate with
Jeet for ''Jeet 50'' after
''Abhimaan'' (2016). Rumours reported it to be the sequel of ''Shotru'', in which
Subhashree Ganguly was being approached as Puja, replacing
Nusrat Jahan as she rejected the role. Then in an interview, Chakraborty revealed that there were no plans of making ''Shotru 2''
without a true story that would reflect the core plot, where the previous film was itself based on true events. But he also told that his collaboration with Jeet would be itself a standalone project. Later, the film was announced to be Jeet's 50th film under the title ''
Shesh Theke Shuru'' (2019) and released on the occasion of
Eid 2019.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shotru
Bengali-language Indian films
2011 films
Indian action thriller films
Indian police films
2010s Bengali-language films
2011 action thriller films
2011 masala films
Films directed by Raj Chakraborty
Films scored by Indradeep Dasgupta
Fictional portrayals of the West Bengal Police
Indian films based on actual events
Films about kidnapping in India
Films about rape in India
Eskay Movies
Bengali remakes of Tamil films