Thanedaar

About the film

Thanedaar (transl. Station House Officer) is a 1990 Indian Hindi-language action film, produced by Sanjay Roy and Sudhir Roy under the Shiva Arts International banner and directed by Raj N. Sippy. It stars Jeetendra, Jaya Prada, Sanjay Dutt, Madhuri Dixit with music composed by Bappi Lahiri. The film is perhaps best remembered for the song "Tamma Tamma Loge". It is a remake of the Tamil-Telugu bilingual film Anbukku Naan Adimai (1980).

Plot

The film begins in Jaalkot village, where Thakur Ajgar Singh is the tyrant of the region. Inspector Jagdish Chandar strongly opposes his cruelty. Jagdish lives with his motherless children, Avinash and Brijesh (aka Birju).

Ajgar conspires to have him killed by two professional assassins: Lawrence and Peter. One night, the killers slay Jagdish and abduct Briju, whereas Avinash is adopted by a police commissioner.

Years roll by, and Avinash becomes a stout-hearted police official and leads a delightful life with his wife Sudha and daughter Bubbly.

Soundtrack

The song "Tamma Tamma Loge" (or "Tamma Tamma"), by Anuradha Paudwal and Bappi Lahiri, is inspired by two songs from Mory Kanté's 1987 album Akwaba Beach - "Tama" and "Yé ké yé ké". It was recorded in a single day. The same Mory Kanté songs went onto serve as the basis of another popular hit "Jumma Chumma De De" from the 1991 film Hum.

Choreographed by Saroj Khan and picturised on Sanjay Dutt and Madhuri Dixit, the dance steps are similar to Michael Jackson's "Bad". Dutt had great difficulty performing the dance moves, especially a scene with chairs though he had spent almost a month training.

It was remade for the 2017 film Badrinath Ki Dulhania by Tanishk Bagchi and for the 2026 film Dhurandhar: The Revenge by Shashwat Sachdev.

Reception

The film scored well at the box office grossing ₹10.25 crore. It was also the fourth highest-grossing film of the year 1990.

Key details