Cash

About the film

Cash is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language heist film directed by Anubhav Sinha. The film stars an ensemble cast consisting of Ajay Devgn, Suniel Shetty, Ritesh Deshmukh, Zayed Khan, Esha Deol, Shamita Shetty and Dia Mirza. The film was released on 3 August 2007.

Plot

The film begins with Dhananjay "Danny" Jhumbevalkar, also known as DJ, meeting Rhea—whose real name is Preeti—on an airplane. They quickly strike up a friendship. During the flight, Danny recounts a historical tale about a legendary diamond. He explains that it was discovered by a South Indian miner in 1836 and presented to his king, who later gifted it to a British viceroy. Tragically, the ship carrying the viceroy to Britain sank, and the diamond was lost at sea.

A century later, a fisherman discovered the diamond and gave it to his master. The master divided the stone into three separate pieces, distributing them among his three sons. Each piece met a different fate: one was lost through gambling, the second was seized by a general, and the third was lost following the murder of the youngest brother.

By 1994, two of the three diamonds were recovered and housed in a Belgian museum. The location of the third remained a mystery until a Gujarati diamond dealer contacted Shanaya, a security manager at the South African High Commission. The dealer was subsequently robbed of the diamond by thugs in a pre-planned car accident. Meanwhile, a notorious criminal known as "The Uncle" orchestrates a heist, tasking his henchman, Angad, with stealing the two diamonds from the Belgian museum.

Production

Cash was primarily shot in Cape Town, South Africa.

The film consists of 20 minutes of animated segments. Sinha told Rediff.com, "While writing the film, I thought we should incorporate animation but we dropped the idea because of cost constraints, but after we returned from South Africa and saw the rushes, everyone suggested that animation should be included."

Reception

Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama rated the film 2 out of 5, writing, "On the whole, CASH has style, but rests on a thin plot and that is its biggest flaw. At the box-office, the film might attract the audience in its initial weekend, but a weak script will throw a spanner". Raja Sen of Rediff.com gave the film 1.5 out of 5, writing "Cash could have been a ride -- if only they paid half as much attention to the script as they did to the title song". Andy Webster of The New York Times gave the film negative review, writing, "Cash, for all its flash, leaves you hungry. But not for more".

Jyoti Kanyal of India Today in a retrospective review in 2020, called the film, "So bad it's good."

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film was composed by Vishal–Shekhar. The song "Raham Kare" has been penned by Panchhi Jalonvi, and all other songs were penned by Vishal Dadlani.

According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 12 lakh units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's ninth highest-selling.

Key details