Apaharan is a hard hitting movie dealing with many social issues such as the descent of educated youth into the world of crime, the politician-gangster nexus, the kidnapping business which is a thriving & lucrative profession in Bihar...mainly it deals with the practice of kidnapping for money, which has been honed into a fine art in states like Bihar & which is patronised by shady, influential politicians, hence the name of the movie...
Ajay Shashtri (Ajay Devgan) is an unemployed, educated, talented young man who dreams of joining the police force...his father is a high-principled, moralistic man and a social activist, who expects his son to follow in his steps...when his ideals start clashing with Ajay's ambitions & dreams, naturally a rift emerges.
Though Ajay qualifies to join the force on his merit, he discovers that it is impossible to get in without bribing higher officials..as his father refuses to finance his cause, Ajay with his friend's help takes a huge loan to bribe his way in...when things go awry, Ajay and his friend decide to kidnap a Government Official to repay the amount...Ajay loves Megha (Bipasha Basu), who is also in love with him, but their worlds are far apart.
At the last minute it turns out the official is in fact one of Tabrez Alam's men (Nana Patekar), a powerful and influential minority leader..Tabrez runs a parallel government; an empire which lives off money and fear and one which Tabrez has under his thumb with the help of his right-hand man; Gaya Singh (Yashpal Sharma)...murders, extortion, bribery, rape and, above all, kidnappings are just some of the illegal activities that are conducted by Tabrez...meanwhile Ajay voluntarily distances himself from Megha as he begins his descent into crime as he does not want her associating with a criminal...
Ajay plans to exact retribution from Gaya who had humiliated him & also kills him in cold blood...instead of fleeing from Tabrez he asks him to take him into his gang...Tabrez sees potential in Ajay and takes him under his wing...soon Ajay exceeds Tabrez's expectations by being ruthlessly cruel & eliminating other rival gangs...Tabrez persuades Ajay to surrender himself to the law & run his illegal activities from inside the safe haven of his cell (which has been converted into a luxury apartment & was previously used by Gaya Singh)...this showcases the manner in which politicians & gangsters blatantly abuse the law to achieve their own ends...Tabrez reveals that he has been using Ajay the whole time & betrays him...the movie ends with Ajay killing Tabrez...
The events in the movie is portrayed in such a realistic manner that it is eerie...the mannerisms of the gangsters, the professional way they run their business, the finer points of kidnapping wealthy individuals, everything is handled masterfully...Ajay Devgan turns in a intense, convincing performance as a disturbed young man who is drawn into crime though not by entirely his choice, but his desire to be successful & earn respect...Mukesh Tiwari as the honest Police officer SP Anwar Khan is excellent...Nana Patekar is well, Nana Patekar...he breathes life effortlessly in his role & its a joy to watch him act...
This movie is directed by Prakash Jha & is as good as, if not better than his earlier directorial venture on the same lines, Gangajaal, which is another of my favourite movies...
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