Vaastav: The Reality

Vaastav: The Reality
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMahesh Manjrekar
Screenplay byMahesh Manjrekar
Story byMahesh Manjrekar
Dialogue by
Produced byDeepak Nikalje
Starring
Narrated byReema Lagoo
CinematographyVijay Kumar Arora
Edited byV. N. Mayekar
Music byJatin–Lalit
Rahul Ranade
Production
company
Adishakti Films
Release date
  • 7 October 1999 (1999-10-07)
[1]
Running time
144 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget₹7.5 crores
Box office₹20.7 crores

Vaastav: The Reality is a 1999 Indian Hindi-language action film[2] written and directed by Mahesh Manjrekar in his directorial debut, and starring Sanjay Dutt, Namrata Shirodkar, and Sanjay Narvekar in lead roles, with Mohnish Behl, Paresh Rawal, Reema Lagoo and Shivaji Satam in supporting roles.

Vaastav was promoted with the tag-line "The Reality", referring to the harsh realities of life in the Mumbai underworld. The film is said to be loosely based on the life of Mumbai underworld gangster Chhota Rajan.[3]

Released on 7 October 1999, Vaastav: The Reality received positive reviews from critics, with major praise directed towards Dutt's performance, which is widely considered as his career-best. It emerged as a major commercial success at the domestic and overseas box-office.[4][5]

At the 45th Filmfare Awards, Vaastav: The Reality received 6 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (Manjrekar), Best Supporting Actor (Narvekar) and Best Supporting Actress (Lagoo), and won 2 awards – Best Actor (Dutt) and FilmfareSony Award (Manjrekar).

Dutt's performance received universal critical acclaim and was unanimously regarded by critics amongst one of Indian cinema's most memorable onscreen characters.[6] Over the years, it has become a cult film.[7]

The film was remade into Telugu as Bhavani (2000), in Kannada as Bhagavan Dada (2000) and in Tamil language as Don Chera (2006).[8][9] It was followed by the 2002 sequel Hathyar. In 2013, it was dubbed in Bhojpuri as Tohar Ko Thok Debe.

  1. ^ IMDb
  2. ^ "Vaastav". British Board of Film Classification.
  3. ^ "Chhota Rajan's brother Deepak Nikalje held". Daily News and Analysis. 5 December 2006. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  4. ^ "Box Office 1999". Boxofficeindia.com. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  5. ^ "Vaastav - Movie - Box Office India". boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  6. ^ "The very best of Sanjay Dutt". Rediff. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  7. ^ "1999-2000: Sanjay Dutt for 'Vaastav'". MSN. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2011.
  8. ^ "Don Sera review. Don Sera Tamil movie review, story, rating  - IndiaGlitz.com". IndiaGlitz.com. 7 June 2006. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  9. ^ "Hindi film songs - Vaastav The Reality (1999)". MySwar. Retrieved 24 August 2023.