Underplayed Gems

Vaastav: The Reality (1999)

Vaastav: The Reality poster
Original title
Vaastav
Directed by
Mahesh Manjrekar
Genre
drama film, action film, thriller film
Country
India
Runtime
2h 25m
Rated
A
Rating
7.2 of 10 from 59 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A young man gets pulled into the violent world of the Mumbai underworld. The film follows his rise and the harsh consequences that come with that life.

harshgrittyintensedarkrawseriousslow-burngroundedemotional

What happens

Vaastav: The Reality is a 1999 Indian Hindi-language crime action film written and directed by Mahesh Manjrekar in his Bollywood directorial debut, and starring Sanjay Dutt, Namrata Shirodkar, and Sanjay Narvekar in lead roles, with Mohnish Behl, Paresh Rawal, Reema Lagoo and Shivaji Satam in supporting roles. Vaastav was promoted with the tagline "The Reality", referring to the harsh realities of life in the Mumbai underworld. The film is said to be loosely based on the life of Mumbai underworld gangster Chhota Rajan. Released on 7 October 1999, Vaastav: The Reality received positive reviews from critics, with major praise directed towards Dutt's performance, which is widely considered as his career-best. It emerged as a major commercial success at the domestic and overseas box-office. At the 45th Filmfare Awards, Vaastav: The Reality received 6 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (Manjrekar), Best Supporting Actor (Narvekar) and Best Supporting Actress (Lagoo), and won 2 awards – Best Actor (Dutt) and Filmfare–Sony Award (Manjrekar). Dutt's performance received universal critical acclaim and was unanimously regarded by critics amongst one of Indian cinema's most memorable onscreen characters. Over the years, it has become a cult film. The film was remade into Telugu as Bhavani (2000), in Kannada as Bhagavan Dada (2000) and in Tamil language as Don Chera (2006). It was followed by the 2002 sequel Hathyar. In 2013, it was dubbed in Bhojpuri as Tohar Ko Thok Debe (I will shoot you). (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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