Aan: Men at Work

About the film

Aan: Men at Work (translation: Pride: Men at Work) is a 2004 Indian Hindi-language action drama film directed by Madhur Bhandarkar. It stars an ensemble cast consisting of Shatrughan Sinha, Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal in the leading roles, with Jackie Shroff, Irrfan Khan, Raveena Tandon, Lara Dutta, Om Puri, Rahul Dev, Manoj Joshi, Rajpal Yadav, Preeti Jhangiani and Ravi Kishan in supporting roles. It was released on 4 June 2004.

Plot

Crime is at its highest peak in Mumbai, with it split in three ways. Gautam Walia, a ruthless businessman, has one-third, Manik Rao, the Home Minister, has one-third, and Yusuf Pathan, a big-time goon, has a third of the territory. The trio warns Raghu Shetty not to interfere with their business. Raghu pays no heed to their warning and ambushes Walia at a horse derby. Walia is alive, but Pathan kills Shetty's man, who carried on the hit. Shetty is then jailed. The crime rate rises with more smuggling, trading, and illegal activities soaring. Meanwhile, the detection unit cops of the Mumbai Crime Branch work constantly to stop this.

Senior Inspector Vikram Singh, who was a hero once upon a time in the crime department, now prefers to handle the easy jobs. Sub-Inspector Appa Kadam Naik is an encounter specialist who goes after the henchmen instead of the bosses; he is married to Janki, and they have a son named Rahul. Head Constable Khaled Ansari is a happy-go-lucky cop and chews Paan all the time. Kelkar is another cop who talks on the phone all the time. The four men's fate changes with the arrival of their new boss.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Officer Hari Om Pattnaik arrives and realizes that the other cops are not serious and that no one is following the rules and regulations. Hari has a girlfriend, Kiran, whom he intends to marry. He is hesitant about his promotion, as he thinks that this promotion is done deliberately to kick him out, but he learns to accept it. He witnesses the way the others treat the henchmen and orders them to be released. Meanwhile, tensions between a businessman named Ajit Pradhan and the trio of Pathans, Walia and Manik Rao, force Pradhan to be on their side and is killed by Yusuf Pathan's younger brother, Baba "Yeda" Pathan, when the former refuses. But during an encounter at a dance bar where Yeda is found with his gang, a shootout ensues, and Khaled is killed during the shootout, making the policemen seek revenge.

Music

"Dil Se Dilbar" - Kumar Sanu, Anuradha Paudwal

"Hamare Baad" - Shabbir Kumar, Udit Narayan, Ujwala, Sarika Kapoor

"Jab Tak Rahega" - Abhijeet, Anuradha Paudwal (Deleted Song)

Reception

Taran Adarsh of IndiaFM gave the film two stars out of five, writing, ″On the whole, those who prefer hardcore masala flicks [with loads of action] to feel-good entertainers will like AAN. At the box-office, the film has better chances at mass-oriented theatres [single screens], not multiplexes. While the masses will love the action scenes, the critics, gentry and family audiences, especially ladies, may not really go for it. Business in circuits like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab should prove to be the best.″ H S Bunty of Rediff.com wrote, ″The action is ripped off every Hollywood film you know and is relentless. The tuneless songs, mercifully only three, are played just partially in the first half. The script is like a train that keeps going on and off the track after being late for 40 minutes.″

Key details