Musafir (2004)

A small-time criminal, betrayed by his girlfriend and owing money to a fearsome crime lord, agrees to travel to Goa for a drug deal and becomes involved with a local woman and her much older husband, both of who want to kill each other.

Director:

Sanjay Gupta

Writers:

Sanjay Gupta, Sameer Malhotra,

Stars:

Anil Kapoor, Sameera Reddy, Aditya Pancholi

2 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anil Kapoor	...	Lucky
Sameera Reddy	...	Sam
Aditya Pancholi	...	Inspector Tiger (as Aditya Panscholi)
Mahesh Manjrekar	...	Lukka
Shakti Kapoor	...	Whacko Jacko
Sanjay Dutt	...	Billa
Koena Mitra	...	Lara
Manoj Pahwa	...	(as Manoj Pahwa)
Ashwini Khalsekar	...	Angela (as Ashwini Kalsekar)
Sanjay Swaraj
Pankaj Kalra
Nawab
Sudhir Nema	...	(as Sudhir Neema)
Harry Singh
Aksha Pardasany	...	young Sam

Storyline

Lucky (Anil Kapoor) had had enough of change. From orphanages to juvenile delinquent homes! From odd jobs to petty crimes! From home addresses to jail addresses! He wanted his innocence back. A plot of land in Bangalore; a family... a dog; a new beginning. One last con-job, girlfriend in tow, sunset in background, and he would be well on his way. Twenty-four hours later, he's been betrayed by his girlfriend, hunted by a drug lord, orphaned by the death of his three partners and sent to Goa to do a drug deal to buy his life back.

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Plot Keywords:

drugs | drug deal | drug lord | money | tattoo parlor | 

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Taglines:

Blood. Money. Sex. Tears. Murder. Betrayal. Get the picture!!

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

White Feather Films [in] (English)

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

10 December 2004 (India)

Filming Locations:

Goa, India

Company Credits

Production Co:

White Feather Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

151 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

After spending more than 20 years in the film industry this is Sanjay Dutt and Anil Kapoor's first movie together.

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Quotes

Billa: My two valuable gems, one is Ram other is Lakhan. Who will die first-Ram Or Lakhan?

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Connections

Remake of U Turn (1997)

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Soundtracks

"Rabba - III"
Written by Dev Kohli
Composed by Shekhar Ravjiani and Vishal Dadlani
Performed by Richa Sharma
Courtesy of Super Cassettes Industries Limited (T-Series)

User Reviews

Stylish, slick eye candy

Musafir is the most technically advanced film of 2004. It has awesome production design, awesome cinematography, awesome editing, awesome music and good background score. But it has a confusing and complicated plot that is difficult to follow at most places.

Inspired from Oliver Stone's "U-Turn", the plot takes a U-turn at many places. Just when you think everything will be fine from now on, you are wrong. Gupta turns the story completely. The characters are rugged and unendearing. Every character has shades of grey. One is a petty thief while other is an underworld bollywood-loving gangster. The heroine has a very interesting character that suffers from her husband's psychotic behavior and the next moment, dances to Vishal-Shekhar's raunchy tunes in a nightclub. We also have a corrupt cop who is all set to steal the gangster's money from his carrier. Thrown into this bag is an item girl who uses her sexuality to trap men and steal their money.

The film is filled with lot of sex scenes, gunfights and item songs. There are four songs picturised on the two leading ladies and also a sufi song in the middle of an interesting turn in the plot. Gupta defies the basics of film-making and comes up with a serpentine story that moves exactly opposite to Indian films. It is worth watching for the shock value in the second hour during the heroine's flashback. The scene is a bit lengthy but confuses you completely if the heroine or her husband is honest.

Anil Kapoor gets an amusing role. Sporting an unshaven look and uttering boorish words, he lives through all the twists in the story. One wonders if a person can find himself in so many ugly situations one after the other in just four days! Sanjay Dutt plays within his repertoire and entertains in every scene he appears in. He gets the best of the dialogues. Koena Mitra dances well, flaunts her naked body but is in dire need of improvement in acting. Although, I agree, she is perfectly cast keeping in mind the Saaki song. Shakti Kapoor is back after a long time and fits the bill. Aditya Pancholi is convincing as the corrupt cop. Mahesh Manjrekar plays what he is very good at and is the best choice for the role. Sameera Reddy gets the meatiest role. She looks a zillion bucks and acts with effortless ease. She is not uncomfortable doing the intimate scenes with Manjrekar or Kapoor or even dancing aggressively to 'Ishq Kabhi Kariyo Na.' She is the most interesting heroine of all those of gangster films.

Vishal-Shekhar, Anand Raj Anand and Dev Kohli give the year's best soundtrack and the best of all gangster films. It is a progressive techno album with multiple versions of many songs. Raaba appears in an exhaustive four different versions which sound unlike each other. Ishq kabhi Kariyo Na by Anand is an instant winner. Door Se Paas has the best ever techno and trance by Indian composers. Saaki is a good psychedelic techno song with Sukhwinder Singh and Sunidhi Chauhan in top form. The lyrics by Kohli are in sync with the psychedelic mood. Tez Dhaar is for Sanjay Dutt fans and Ek Dil Ne for duet lovers. Hema Sardesai finally gets her song in the form of Sun Suniyo. Kaante's best songs – Mahi Ve, Ishq Samundar and Rama Re add extra flavour to the album as 'Back to Life mixes'. Try the album for sure if not the movie.

Sanjay Gupta is a very good director even if he copies from foreign films. He can make a great film if given the right script and this is evident at many places in Zinda, Musafir and Kaante. Though all the three films remain the worst for many (for being unofficial remakes and scene-to-scene copy at places), I suggest watching them as they take Indian films to different levels altogether with their exquisite production values, excellent technical work and groundbreaking soundtracks. Waiting for the day when Sanjay packs new wine in his opulent bottles.