Taarzan: The Wonder Car

About the film

Taarzan: The Wonder Car, or simply called Taarzan, is a 2004 Indian Hindi-language supernatural action thriller film directed by Abbas–Mustan. The film stars Vatsal Sheth, Ayesha Takia, and Ajay Devgn, while Farida Jalal, Pankaj Dheer, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Amrish Puri, Shakti Kapoor, Gulshan Grover and Mukesh Tiwari play supporting roles. It is loosely based on the American film Christine (1983) which was itself based on Stephen King novel Christine. This also marked the debut of Ayesha Takia, for which she won the Filmfare Best Debut Award.

Plot

Automobile engineer Deven Chaudhary, who lives with his mother Suhasini and ten-year-old son Raj, builds a futuristic car with advanced features. He names this design DC.

He also owns and maintains an older Morris Minor car that was handed down to him by his late father that he calls "Taarzan," based on the car's mirror ornament that resembles the fictional character Tarzan. Deven meets with FourFox, a private company, to discuss his design. FourFox executive Rakesh Kapoor and his partners Kailash Chopra, Anthony D'Costa, and Mahesh Saxena praise the design but disagree over royalties. However, they steal the design and register it under their own name. This infuriates Deven, and he files a complaint with the police. Unfortunately, the police inspector Sanjay Sharma, who takes his case, is secretly on Rakesh's payroll. He, along with Rakesh and his cronies, attacks Deven, gags him, and locks him in his car. They then push the car into a lake, causing Deven's death, with his family never knowing what happened to him.

Twelve years later, Raj, now a 22-year-old young man, attends college, where he falls in love with Priya, a rich girl. Raj also works as a part-time mechanic at a garage owned by Kartar Singh. One day, he discovers his father's old car, Taarzan, in a scrapyard. He pools money demanded by the owner of the scrapyard and buys it for ₹5000.

Soundtrack

The music is composed by Himesh Reshammiya with lyrics by Sameer.

Critical response

Taran Adarsh of IndiaFM gave the film 2.5 stars out of 5, writing, ″On the whole, TAARZAN THE WONDER CAR is a different experience that will find its share of supporters and adversaries. At the box-office, the film will have to rely on kid-power to make it big. Had the film released during vacations, the outcome would've been much better. Dhawan G of Rediff.com wrote, ″The Abbas-Mustan film will actually delight kids more than adults. It's funny, Hollywood's king of horror Stephen King would never have seen his horror fest Christine becoming a family film, where the car—instead of scaring the audience—entertains them.″ Goher Iqbal Punn of BBC.com wrote, ″On the whole, Tarzan - The Wonder Car is a stylishly and creatively executed enterprise, which will have you glued to your seat till the end. A great entertainer overall.″

Key details