Chandni Bar

About the film

Chandni Bar is a 2001 Indian Hindi-language crime drama film directed by Madhur Bhandarkar. It depicts the gritty life of the Mumbai underworld, including prostitution, dance bars and gun crime. The film stars Tabu and Atul Kulkarni in lead roles. Ananya Khare, Rajpal Yadav, Minakshi Sahani and Vishal Thakkar appear in supporting roles. The film received critical acclaim from critics, and was declared a box office hit. At the 49th National Film Awards, it won four awards: the National Film Award for Best Film on Other Social Issues, Best Actress (Tabu), Best Supporting Actor (Kulkarni) and Best Supporting Actress (Khare).

Plot

Mumtaz is a naive young rural woman whose family is killed in communal riots. After her village is burnt to the ground, she moves to Mumbai with her uncle, the only family member she has left. They are desperately poor and her uncle persuades her to become a bar girl (dancer) at Chandni Bar and emotionally blackmails her when she refuses. He promises her that this is merely temporary, until he is able to get a job. Mumtaz is shy and loathes the work, but she forces herself to dance and flirt. However, her uncle doesn't keep his word; he lives on her earnings, drinking them away, and never gets a job. One night, after spending time drinking and watching the girls dance at the bar, Mumtaz's uncle rapes her. Mumtaz is distraught and emotionally confides in the other dancers. Even though they console her, Mumtaz is given a reality check when she realises that many other women at the bar have equally disturbing and painful stories. She manages to pull herself together and immerses herself in her work at the bar.

Eventually, Mumtaz catches the eye of a gangster called Pottya Sawant. He attempts to seduce her and finally resorts to paying her for sex. Mumtaz, however, cannot go through with the deed and tells Pottya about her rape. Enraged, Pottya kills her uncle and marries Mumtaz. Mumtaz leaves the bar, and Pottya rises up the criminal ranks quickly, despite his volatile temper. The couple live a happy life with their son, Abhay, and daughter, Payal. Mumtaz wishes for Abhay and Payal to be educated, and stay far away from her world of dancing girls and Pottya's world of gangsters.

Pottya's attitude and temper cause him to prematurely kill a police informant, which results in him losing friends and connections in the criminal world. He becomes a target for the police. He is captured and killed in an operation to 'eliminate' various Mumbai gangsters. A grieving Mumtaz slowly runs out of money and soon realises that Pottya has left behind a large amount of debt. With no source of income, she is forced to return to work at Chandni Bar.

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