Kasoor (transl. Fault) is a 2001 Indian Hindi-language legal thriller film produced under Mukesh Bhatt's Vishesh Films and directed by Vikram Bhatt. It features Aftab Shivdasani in his second Bollywood appearance and Lisa Ray in her Bollywood debut.[4] Ray's voice was dubbed by Divya Dutta,[5][6] while Shivdasani's voice was dubbed by Bhatt himself.[7] Featuring Apoorva Agnihotri, Irrfan Khan and Ashutosh Rana in supporting roles, the film was released on 2 February 2001.[8] It was a moderate commercial success,[9][10] and continues to remain notable for the soundtrack composed by Nadeem–Shravan.[11]
| Kasoor | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Vikram Bhatt |
| Written by | Mahesh Bhatt Girish Dhamija |
| Produced by | Mukesh Bhatt |
| Starring | Aftab Shivdasani Lisa Ray Divya Dutta Apurva Agnihotri Irrfan Khan Ashutosh Rana Pushkar Dwivedi |
| Cinematography | Pravin Bhatt |
| Edited by | Amit Saxena |
| Music by | Nadeem-Shravan |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Eros International Sony Pictures Networks India |
Release date |
|
Running time | 151 minutes[1] |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Budget | ₹3 crore[2] |
| Box office | ₹14.1 crore[3] |
The film is mainly an unofficial remake of the 1985 American film Jagged Edge,[12] while the climax is borrowed from the 2000 American horror film What Lies Beneath, which was also adapted unofficially by Bhatt into a full-fledged film in 2002.[13][14][15]
Plot
editThe film starts with the murder of Priti, wife of Shekhar, a wealthy and well-known journalist. Inspector Lokhande investigates the case and accuses Shekhar of the murder, saying he has enough evidence to arrest and convict him. However, upon getting bail from the court, Shekhar asks his lawyer to fight his case for him; however, his lawyer tells him that he will not be able to fight his case because he is a corporate lawyer and only fights civil cases. He suggests Shekhar ask Simran Bhargav, who is a skilled criminal lawyer in his firm, to fight his case.
Shekhar goes to Simran's house to convince her to take his case. Simran tells Shekhar that she'll defend him only if she is convinced that he is innocent. Simran is battling inner demons over a case in which she got a man convicted for a crime he had not committed. Her guilt increases when she learns that the innocent man had committed suicide in custody.
While representing Shekhar, whom she considers innocent, Simran falls in love with him – a part of Shekhar's plan to win her trust. They end up spending the night together. Throughout the case, a mysterious man sends clues to Simran, which helps her prove Shekhar's innocence. It is revealed that Shekhar was having an affair with another woman, and his wife Priti was having an affair with Jimmy Pereira. When Simran learns this, she is heartbroken and decides to leave the case, but Amit tells her to keep fighting the case. After the court declares Shekhar innocent, Simran spends the night with Shekhar at his house. The next morning, while opening his closet, she finds a typewriter hidden between sheets.
The typewriter proved to be the one the mysterious man used to write clue letters to Simran with earlier. Simran realizes this because the typed letters all have a flyaway 't' on them.
Simran realizes that Shekhar is the murderer and the mysterious man who wrote the letters to her. She then contacts Inspector Lokhande about the typewriter. He tells her to come to the police station with the typewriter. She continuously ignores Shekhar, who asks her for dinner. Shekhar realizes that Simran knows the truth. Shekhar quickly reaches her house and tries to kill her, but Simran kills him in self-defense and reconciles with Amit.
Production
editThe whole film was shot in Himachal Pradesh in four months.
Cast
edit- Aftab Shivdasani as Shekhar Saxena, dubbing by Vikram Bhatt.
- Lisa Ray as Advocate Simran Bhargav, dubbing by Divya Dutta.
- Apurva Agnihotri as Amit Bajpai, friend-Assistant Advocate of Simran Bhargav.
- Irrfan Khan as Public Prosecutor Nitin Mehta
- Divya Dutta as Payal Malhotra, dubbing by Mona Ghosh Shetty. Jimmy Pereira's former girlfriend.
- Ashutosh Rana as Senior Inspector Lokhande
- Chittaranjan Giri as Sub Inspector
- Anupam Shyam as Sub Inspector Powar
- Vineet Sharma as himself (special appearance)
- Firdaus Mevawala as Judge
- Maleeka Ghai as Preeti Shekhar Saxena
- Vishwajeet Pradhan as witness Jimmy Pereira, Preeti's boyfriend.
- Prithvi Zutshi as Mr. Rajit Singh, Civil Lawyer.
- Sucheta Khanna as witness Shalini, Priti's friend.
- Kurush Deboo as witness, Rustam Sodabottleopenerwala
- Sushmita Daan as Witness, Miss Rita Desai Shekhar's former girlfriend.
- Murali Sharma as Mr. Singal, Simran Bhargav's boss. (special appearance)
- Pushkar Dwivedi as Chotu
- Ishwar Patel
- Kiran Randhawa
Soundtrack
edit| Kasoor | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | December 2000 | |||
| Recorded | 2000 | |||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | |||
| Label | Sa Re Ga Ma | |||
| Producer | Nadeem-Shravan | |||
| Nadeem-Shravan chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Planet Bollywood |   [16] |
The music of Kasoor was composed by Nadeem-Shravan. This was their second album after comeback. The lyrics were penned by Sameer. Singer such as Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu and Alka Yagnik lent their voices for the album. The soundtrack received a rating of 8/10 from Planet Bollywood.
Track listing
edit| No | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Kitni Bechain Hoke" | Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan | 07:25 |
| 2 | "Koi To Saathi Chahiye" | Kumar Sanu | 05:32 |
| 3 | "Zindagi Ban Gaye Ho Tum" | Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik | 05:35 |
| 4 | "Dil Mera Tod Diya" | Alka Yagnik | 05:07 |
| 5 | "Kal Raat Ho Gayi" | Alka Yagnik, Kumar Sanu | 07:32 |
| 6 | "Mohabbat Ho Na Jaaye" | Kumar Sanu, Alka Yagnik | 06:35 |
Reception
editThe film received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama praised the performance of the lead cast saying, "Kasoor scores the most in that one important department — performances. Credit for this must go primarily to the two principal performers — Aftab Shivdasani and Lisa Ray — who come up with proficient performances."[17] Aparajita Saha of Rediff.com stated, "this is a film that attempted an intriguing premise but failed when it didn't fully explore that very premise and take it to its logical and rightful conclusion."[18]
References
edit- ^ "Kasoor". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on 6 September 2024. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ Chopra, Anupama (12 March 2001). "Size doesn't matter". India Today. Archived from the original on 6 September 2024. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- ^ "New film releases: Kasoor, Aashiq, Grahan". India Today. 19 March 2001. Archived from the original on 6 September 2024. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- ^ "'Kasoor'". Apunkachoice. Archived from the original on 27 February 2010. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
- ^ "Lisa's voice dubbed by Divya in Kasoor". IndiaFM. 8 November 2000. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
- ^ "I'm loving it: Lisa Ray". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 3 September 2024. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
- ^ "Sushmita Sen walked out of Kasoor after break-up with Vikram Bhatt. On Tuesday Trivia". India Today. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
Did you know Vikram Bhatt dubbed for both Aftab and Dino in Kasoor and Raaz, respectively? Well, yes he did. Vikram does that for all his heroes. Listen harder the next time.
- ^ "Kasoor — Cast and crew details". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 4 November 2010. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
- ^ "Kasoor - Movie". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 3 September 2024. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ "Our weekly box office update: One 2 Ka 4 -- the danger sign". Rediff.com.
Kasoor, a small-budget film, brought small smiles on distributors' lips.
- ^ "Aftab Shivdasani celebrates 23 years of 'Kasoor': I wanted to play something completely opposite to what I did in 'Mast'; Vikram Bhatt helped me in my transition - Exclusive". Times of India. Archived from the original on 3 September 2024. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ "'I never saw myself gyrating to Govinda'". Rediff.com. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
Though the Bollywood spotlight did not light up Lisa's world, she couldn't let it slip by entirely either. So she tried her hand at Vikram Bhatt's 2001 film Kasoor, an unofficial remake of the Hollywood film Jagged Edge. It was a hit.
- ^ "The bad boys of Bollywood!". Rediff.com.
- ^ "Indianizing Hollywood: The Debate over Copyright Infringement by Bollywood" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 September 2024. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
The climax scene is nearly a direct copy of the climax of WHAT LIES BENEATH, with the male lead attempting to kill the female lead by administering a paralysis-inducing drug and then leaving her to drown in a bathtub so that she would not expose his murderous past.
- ^ "Dino Morea on Raaz clocking 20 years: The off screen romance with Bipasha helped us on screen". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
While Morea says it wasn't an official remake, there were references that were taken from the Robert Zemeckis directed Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer starrer.
- ^ "Kasoor Music Review". Archived from the original on 6 September 2024. Retrieved 5 November 2012.
- ^ "Kasoor: Movie Review". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 4 September 2008. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
- ^ "Kasoor — Review". Rediff. Archived from the original on 3 September 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2010.