Almost 18 years ago was released a movie which dared to Dream Big without the Big names of Bollywood. Rajkumar Santoshi, the man who gave us mega bumper movies like Day mini, Ghayal, Ghatak.He is also the guy who gave us the greatest cult comedy movie of bollywood "Andaz Apna Apna"..China Gate was Santoshis labour of love, his magnum opus of sorts.The movie boasted of one of the "biggest line up of actors" and "not the greatest star cast"...The finest actors and performers of Hindi cinema and some of Santoshi favourite and regular actors were part of this powerful film..The movie unfortunately didn't do too well at the box office, thus reinforcing one of the great lessons of that time, that you need stars to get audience to theaters
A movie about court martial led ex army men who find a mission to redeem their lost honour, pride and self respect..The mission is to protect the residents of a village called Devdurgh from the clutches of a menacing and mean Dacoit called Jageera....
Before understanding who played Jageera let's see who all were these army men ..Most of these bollywood actors have been theater biggies and harbingers of parallel cinema movement in bollywood for years together
The Great "Om Puri" who plays the team lead
Naseerudin Shah plays Sarfaraaz, a toughie
Late Amrish Puri Sahaab, playing Colonel kidhar kant puri, a perpetually irritated, frustrated, large hearted , Punjabi , angry old man with a heart filled with biases, insecurities but a warm person
Danny Denzongonpa as the Tough Man, Major Gurung, who suffer a from a terminal illness and like a true soldier, his mission is to die with his boots on
The Veteran, Kulbushan Kharbanda, another of Santoshis favourites, playing a man hounded by his family
Tinu Anand as Captain Beejoy
Viju khote, Jagdeep in important roles..The movie also had the bollywood siren of late 1990s, Mamta kulkarni, in perhaps her most author backed and de glamorised role ever
The Theater legend, Girish kannad, playing a small part in the movie as the forest officer whose daughter is played by Mamta kulkarni, who wishes to avenge her fathers death and fulfill his mission of helping the villagers overcome the menace and wrath of Jageera
Paresh Rawal also plays a very interesting cameo of Inspector Barut, who is a corrupt officer and makes life hell for the ex armymen in the village.His role comes as a much needed and we'll timed comic relief in the movie
And with so many powerful performers on board, you have a young debutant playing the powerful role of the menacing "Jageera", named Mukesh Tiwari...While many may not even know or remember Mukesh tiwari, personally for me,his was one of the most powerful performances in the history of dacoit themed movies in bollywood...At one time in 1970s to 1980s, movies based on Dacoit and their exploits were the flavour of bollywood, fresh in the wake of Sholays mega success
Mukesh tiwari, held his own, in front of seasoned theater veterans and gave a career defining performance ..Unfortunately the movie did not fare too well at the box office and Tiwari was striving to find a foothold , till Golmaal series happened and he went on to become the Famous character called "Vasuli Bhai".China Gate was also Santoshis tribute to the great Japanese film maker Akio Morita
China Gate was one of the boldest attempts in Hindi Cinema to go ahead and create a big movie without the Big star cast and wanted to depend only on the abilities of its more than able actors..In terms of story it may be a often repeated and done to death storyline of a dacoit and some saviors attempt to catch hold of him, where China Gate differed was in terms of its treatment of each character, the screenplay, the fact that aged and worn out men were trying one last time to redeem their lost glory and the underlying message that you don't need uniform to serve the country
One of my favourite movies of all times
A movie about court martial led ex army men who find a mission to redeem their lost honour, pride and self respect..The mission is to protect the residents of a village called Devdurgh from the clutches of a menacing and mean Dacoit called Jageera....
Before understanding who played Jageera let's see who all were these army men ..Most of these bollywood actors have been theater biggies and harbingers of parallel cinema movement in bollywood for years together
The Great "Om Puri" who plays the team lead
Naseerudin Shah plays Sarfaraaz, a toughie
Late Amrish Puri Sahaab, playing Colonel kidhar kant puri, a perpetually irritated, frustrated, large hearted , Punjabi , angry old man with a heart filled with biases, insecurities but a warm person
Danny Denzongonpa as the Tough Man, Major Gurung, who suffer a from a terminal illness and like a true soldier, his mission is to die with his boots on
The Veteran, Kulbushan Kharbanda, another of Santoshis favourites, playing a man hounded by his family
Tinu Anand as Captain Beejoy
Viju khote, Jagdeep in important roles..The movie also had the bollywood siren of late 1990s, Mamta kulkarni, in perhaps her most author backed and de glamorised role ever
The Theater legend, Girish kannad, playing a small part in the movie as the forest officer whose daughter is played by Mamta kulkarni, who wishes to avenge her fathers death and fulfill his mission of helping the villagers overcome the menace and wrath of Jageera
Paresh Rawal also plays a very interesting cameo of Inspector Barut, who is a corrupt officer and makes life hell for the ex armymen in the village.His role comes as a much needed and we'll timed comic relief in the movie
And with so many powerful performers on board, you have a young debutant playing the powerful role of the menacing "Jageera", named Mukesh Tiwari...While many may not even know or remember Mukesh tiwari, personally for me,his was one of the most powerful performances in the history of dacoit themed movies in bollywood...At one time in 1970s to 1980s, movies based on Dacoit and their exploits were the flavour of bollywood, fresh in the wake of Sholays mega success
Mukesh tiwari, held his own, in front of seasoned theater veterans and gave a career defining performance ..Unfortunately the movie did not fare too well at the box office and Tiwari was striving to find a foothold , till Golmaal series happened and he went on to become the Famous character called "Vasuli Bhai".China Gate was also Santoshis tribute to the great Japanese film maker Akio Morita
China Gate was one of the boldest attempts in Hindi Cinema to go ahead and create a big movie without the Big star cast and wanted to depend only on the abilities of its more than able actors..In terms of story it may be a often repeated and done to death storyline of a dacoit and some saviors attempt to catch hold of him, where China Gate differed was in terms of its treatment of each character, the screenplay, the fact that aged and worn out men were trying one last time to redeem their lost glory and the underlying message that you don't need uniform to serve the country
One of my favourite movies of all times
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