Deewangee

About the film

Deewangee (transl. Madness) is a 2002 Indian Hindi-language psychological thriller film directed by Anees Bazmee and produced by Nitin Manmohan. The film stars Akshaye Khanna, and Urmila Matondkar and Ajay Devgan.The music was composed by Ismail Darbar, with lyrics by Salim Bijnori and Nusrat Badr. This was Devgn's first negative role for which he won the Filmfare Award for Best Villain.

It is inspired and has its first half adapted from Primal Fear (1996) by Gregory Hoblit which was itself based on William Diehl's novel of the same name. Released on 25 October 2002, the film was a commercial success at the box office. It was remade in Tamil as Kadhal Kirukkan in 2003 and in Telugu as Aadi Lakshmi in 2006.

Plot

Raj Goyal (Akshaye Khanna), a young and successful criminal lawyer, famous for never having lost a case, is introduced to popular singer Sargam (Urmila Matondkar) by music magnate Ashwin Mehta (Vijayendra Ghatge). The following day, Ashwin is brutally murdered in his own house. The murderer, Tarang Bharadwaj (Ajay Devgn), who is Sargam's childhood friend and music mentor, is caught red-handed at the crime scene. He claims he is innocent, and Sargam, who believes in Tarang's innocence, approaches Raj to defend him, to which he agrees after meeting Tarang.

Realising Tarang has a mental illness, Raj hires a psychiatrist (Seema Biswas) to study his case. The psychiatrist finds out that Tarang has dissociative identity disorder, and his other personality goes by the name of Ranjeet. Meanwhile, Raj and Sargam grow closer due to their frequent meetings and eventually fall in love.

Raj speaks to Ranjeet, who is the complete opposite of the innocent and simple Tarang. Ranjeet admits to killing Ashwin, who had tried to molest Sargam at the party. Ranjeet sees Tarang as his friend, who in turn considers Sargam his wife. Bringing his split personality to the court, Raj is able to win the case and free Tarang.

Music

The soundtrack of the film contains 11 songs and was released on 14 September 2002. The music is conducted by composer Ismail Darbar. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 12,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's ninth highest-selling.

Reception

Deewangee received mixed reviews from critics. Bollywood Hungama rated the film 2.5/5, stating, "In an enterprise that boasts of two powerful performers-Ajay and Akshaye, comparisons are inevitable. But, to be honest, it's difficult to gauge who's better. Ajay Devgan essays a complex role with utmost ease, alternating between a simpleton and the shrewd (as part of the split personality!). Akshaye Khanna enacts a suave character with terrific understanding, proving yet again that he's amongst the best in the business today. Urmila Matondkar makes her presence felt in a male-dominated film. Her performance towards the end is praiseworthy. Amongst character artistes, Seema Biswas, Suresh Oberoi and Tanaz Currim are adequate. On the whole, DEEWANGEE has a novel story with several poignant moments as its USP. A well-made film with a few loose ends nonetheless, it has much to offer as compared to the vendetta fares and mushy love stories being dished out in the garb of entertainment. At the box-office, the impressive cast and the aggressive promotion have resulted in tremendous hype for the film, which in turn should translate into good business, keeping its investors smiling."

Awards

Star Screen Award Best Villain – Ajay Devgn

Zee Cine Award Best Actor in a Negative Role – Ajay Devgn

Star Screen Award for Best Actor – Akshaye Khanna

Key details