Daag: The Fire Explained

Daag: The Fire
Director:Raj Kanwar
Producer:Raj Kanwar
Screenplay:Robin Bhatt
Akash Khurana
Starring:Sanjay Dutt
Chandrachur Singh
Mahima Chaudhry
Shakti Kapoor
Music:Rajesh Roshan
Cinematography:Harmeet Singh
Editing:A. Muthu
Distributor:Inderjit Films
Runtime:165 minutes
Country:India
Language:Hindi
Budget:67.5 million[1]
Gross:202.8 million

Daag: The Fire 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 was successful at the box office .[2] [3] The plot was inspired from the 1991 American film Regarding Henry.[4]

Plot

Former Indian soldier Karan Singh (Sanjay Dutt) wants to seek revenge for his upright father Satya Prakash Singh (Shivaji Satam) who was wrongfully jailed. His sentence resulted from a false charge and prosecution by a shrewd lawyer, Ravi Verma (Chandrachur Singh), backed 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 attend, he 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 woman 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 sympathize 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

Soundtrack

Daag: The Fire
Type:Soundtrack album
Artist:Rajesh Roshan
Released:30 December 1998
Genre:Feature film soundtrack
Label:T-Series

All music by Rajesh Roshan and lyrics by Sameer. "Pardesiya Itna Bata Sajna, "Dil Deewana Na Jaane (Anuradha Paudwal solo)" was very famous at the time of the movie release. The song "Dil Deewana" borrows its charanam from "Pehli Pehli Baar Mohabbat Ki Hai" from Sirf Tum (1999).[5]

Title Singer(s)
1"Dil Deewana"
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".[6]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Daag: The Fire – Movie. Box Office India. 23 February 2023. 23 February 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230223124614/https://boxofficeindia.com/movie.php?movieid=2453. live.
  2. Web site: Revenge and amnesia . . 13 February 1999 . 10 February 2016 . Suparn Verma . 3 October 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231003055823/https://www.rediff.com/movies/1999/feb/13daag.htm . live .
  3. Web site: review (Planet Bollywood) . 19 December 2013 . 7 April 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220407055634/https://planetbollywood.com/music/daag.html . live .
  4. Web site: February 22, 1999. Anupama. Chopra. Film review: 'Daag - the Fire', starring Sanjay Dutt, Chandrachur Singh. 2021-08-06. India Today. en. 6 August 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210806032339/https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/films/story/19990222-film-review-daag-the-fire-starring-sanjay-dutt-chandrachur-singh-780229-1999-02-22. live.
  5. Sylvianism . 1713460227511624131. Engal Veetil (2000) is a photocopy of Dil Deewana (Daag, 1999). But Dil Deewana shares the charanam with Pehli Pehli (Siri Tum, 1999).. Sylvian. Patrick. Medium (website).
  6. Web site: Cinema Reviews -- Entertainment - Deccan Herald . www.cscsarchive.org . 18 September 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080214151332/http://www.cscsarchive.org/MediaArchive/art.nsf/(docid)/6DAFFE93F21EFCB765256941003DC8B0?OpenDocument . 14 February 2008 . dead.