Daag (1999 film)
Daag: The Fire (English: Stain) is a 1999 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film written, produced and directed by Raj Kanwar, starring Sanjay Dutt, Chandrachur Singh and Mahima Chaudhry in the lead roles. The film received mixed reviews but achieved Superhit status at the end of its theatrical run.[2][3] One of the strongest criticisms was that despite the title, there was neither a stain nor a fire. Raj Kanwar claimed that the title was a reference to the dualism intrinsic to nature, such as the Yin and the Yang. This was, however, lost on viewers. The plot was inspired from the 1991 movie, Regarding Henry.[4]
| Daag: The Fire | |
|---|---|
 Movie Title | |
| Directed by | Raj Kanwar |
| Written by | Raj Kanwar Jainendra Jain (dialogues) |
| Screenplay by | Robin Bhatt Akash Khurana |
| Produced by | Raj Kanwar |
| Starring | Sanjay Dutt Chandrachur Singh Mahima Chaudhry Shakti Kapoor |
| Cinematography | Harmeet Singh |
| Edited by | A. Muthu |
| Music by | Rajesh Roshan |
| Distributed by | Inderjit Films |
Release date | 12 February 1999 |
Running time | 165 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Budget | ₹67.5 million[1] |
| Box office | ₹202.8 million[1] |
Plot
A former Indian soldier Karan Singh (Sanjay Dutt), wants to seek revenge for his upright father Satya Prakash Singh (Shivaji Satam), who was wrongly placed in jail because he is falsely accused and prosecuted by a shrewd lawyer Ravi Verma (Chandrachur Singh) who is backed up by his father in law Singhal (Raj Babbar).
Singhal's daughter Kajal, is the wife of corrupt lawyer Ravi, who can win almost any case. During a court case, he falsely accuses and gets a righteous man convicted of corruption, and he commits suicide out of disgrace. His son major Karan swears revenge and one day after a party that Kajal and Ravi attended, fires a pistol directly at Ravi, but his wife Kajal (Mahima Chaudhry) comes in to save her husband using her body as a shield. Karan fires a second time, and Ravi is shot in the spinal cord and loses part of his memory, and the doctors diagnose him with 'retrograde amnesia".
In the hospital, Kajal succumbs to her wound and dies. As an attempt to restore Ravi's memory, Singhal requests the help of a street women Kajri, who looks exactly like Kajal (Mahima Chaudhry, in a dual role), to pretend to be Ravi's wife temporarily.
However, obstinate Karan is still seeking his revenge by stalking Ravi in the hospital and hatches a plan to kill Ravi. Karan and Kajri collect all the evidence that proves Karan's father's innocence. Ravi regains his memory and starts to sympathise with Karan. With the help of Kajri, he promises Karan that once he gains full recovery, he will prove to the court that Karan's father was genuinely innocent, but wrongly persecuted, presenting all the proof. Learning of this turn of events, Singhal turns the tables on Ravi.
A significant family feud ensues between Singhal and Ravi. Ravi, with the help from Karan, wins over the final court case, and finally, the real perpetrators are placed behind bars (including Singhal, who had instigated this). Ravi and Kajri unite happily at last, and Karan gives himself up to the police voluntarily and asks Ravi to defend his case.
Cast
- Sanjay Dutt as Captain Karan Singh
- Chandrachur Singh as Ravi Verma
- Mahima Chaudhry - as Kajal Verma (Nee Singhal) / Kajri (Double Role)
- Shakti Kapoor - as Dr. Anand
- Sachin Khedekar - as Inspector Vinay Kumar
- Raj Babbar - as Mr. Singhal
- Kunika - as Nurse
- Johnny Lever- as Sunder
- Shivaji Satam - as Satya Prakash Singh, Karan's father
Soundtrack
| Daag: The Fire | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | |
| Released | 30 December 1998 |
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack |
| Label | T-Series |
"Pardesiya Itna Bata Sajna, dil deewana na jaane ( Anuradha Paudwal solo)" was very famous at the time of the movie release. All Music by Rajesh Roshan. and Lyrics by Sameer.
| # | Title | Singer(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Dil Deewana" | Kumar Sanu, Anuradha Paudwal |
| 2 | "Piya Lagi Lagan" | Anuradha Paudwal, Jaspinder Narula |
| 3 | "Dil Deewana Naa Jaane Kab (Female)" | Anuradha Paudwal |
| 4 | "Pardesiya Itna Bata Sajna" | Udit Narayan, Anuradha Paudwal |
| 5 | "Pyar Hamein Pyar Tum" | Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik |
| 6 | "Lucky Kabootar" | Sukhwinder Singh |
| 7 | "Chehra Tera Chehra" | Kumar Sanu, Anuradha Paudwal |
| 8 | "Dil Dhak Dhak Dhadke" | Jaspinder Narula |
| 9 | "Pyar Hamein Pyar Tum (Instrumental)" |
Reception
A critic from Deccan Herald opined that "Sanjay Dutt runs along the fringes of the storyline, making occasional incursions of zero impact. Chandrachur. with his flair and self-assured air puts Sanjay’s laboured outbursts to shame. A few spirited songs by Rajesh Roshan add some spice".[5]
References
- "Daag: The Fire – Movie". Box Office India.
- Suparn Verma (13 February 1999). "Revenge and amnesia". Rediff. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
- "review (Planet Bollywood)". Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- Chopra, Anupama (22 February 1999). "Film review: 'Daag - the Fire', starring Sanjay Dutt, Chandrachur Singh". India Today. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
- "Cinema Reviews -- Entertainment - Deccan Herald". www.cscsarchive.org. Archived from the original on 14 February 2008. Retrieved 18 September 2022.