Kasoor

About the film

Kasoor (transl. Fault) is a 2001 Indian Hindi-language legal thriller film directed by Vikram Bhatt and produced b Mukesh Bhatt's Vishesh Films. It stars Aftab Shivdasani and Lisa Ray in her Hindi film debut. Ray's voice was dubbed by Divya Dutta, while Shivdasani's voice was dubbed by Bhatt himself. Apoorva Agnihotri, Irrfan Khan and Ashutosh Rana appear in supporting roles. The film was released on 2 February 2001, and was a critical and commercial success. It is notable for the soundtrack composed by Nadeem–Shravan.

The film is an unofficial remake of the 1985 American film Jagged Edge, with the climax being borrowed from the 2000 American horror film What Lies Beneath, which was also adapted unofficially by Bhatt into a full-fledged film in 2002.

Plot

The film starts with the murder of Priti, wife of Shekhar, a wealthy and well-known journalist. Inspector Lokhande investigates the case and accuses Shekhar of the murder, saying he has enough evidence to arrest and convict him. However, upon getting bail from the court, Shekhar asks his lawyer to fight his case for him; however, his lawyer tells him that he will not be able to fight his case because he is a corporate lawyer and only fights civil cases. He suggests Shekhar ask Simran Bhargav, who is a skilled criminal lawyer in his firm, to fight his case.

Shekhar goes to Simran's house to convince her to take his case. Simran tells Shekhar that she'll defend him only if she is convinced that he is innocent. Simran is battling inner demons over a case in which she got a man convicted for a crime he had not committed. Her guilt increases when she learns that the innocent man had committed suicide in custody.

While representing Shekhar, whom she considers innocent, Simran falls in love with him – a part of Shekhar's plan to win her trust. They end up spending the night together. Throughout the case, a mysterious man sends clues to Simran, which helps her prove Shekhar's innocence. It is revealed that Shekhar was having an affair with another woman, and his wife Priti was having an affair with Jimmy Pereira. When Simran learns this, she is heartbroken and decides to leave the case, but Amit tells her to keep fighting the case. After the court declares Shekhar innocent, Simran spends the night with Shekhar at his house. The next morning, while opening his closet, she finds a typewriter hidden between sheets.

Soundtrack

This was Nadeem-Shravan's second album after comeback. The song "Dil Mera Tod Diya" was unofficial remake of Pakistani song "Wo Mera Ho Na Saka" by Noor Jehan from movie Azmat.

Reception

The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama praised the performance of the lead cast saying, "Kasoor scores the most in that one important department — performances. Credit for this must go primarily to the two principal performers — Aftab Shivdasani and Lisa Ray — who come up with proficient performances." Aparajita Saha of Rediff.com stated, "this is a film that attempted an intriguing premise but failed when it didn't fully explore that very premise and take it to its logical and rightful conclusion."

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