Pehchaan

Pehchaan review :

Suniel Shetty's first attempt to break away from his maar dhaad wali image; Pehchaan turned out to be a semi hit in 1993 and is memorable today for Madhoo's assured performance and Saif's steamy bedroom number with Shilpa Shirodkar.

Suniel Anna and Saif are rich brothers whose dad Raza Murad had disowned his own wife Beena for falling prey to the lustful villain Kiran Kumar. In reality, Kiran Kumar had not touched Beena at all and it was just his "chaal" to teach Raza Murad a lesson.

Anyway, Anna realises one day that hooker Madhoo who is in Kiran Kumar's tutelage is none other than his blood sister. The rest of the film is about how and if at all, he gets her back.

Directed by Deepak Shivadasani, Pehchaan had some great songs composed by Anand Milind. "Tu mere dil mein rehti hai", "Sanam o sanam" and ofcourse the "Aankhon mein kya chehra tera" number which had Saif in bed with Shilpa Shirodkar. This song created a controversy when aired "as is" on Doordarshan and an edited version was later released on tv while the original sensuous item retained for the theatres.

I saw Pehchaan at Dadar's Kohinoor cinema with housefull crowd on its first Sunday. The film was quite good for the 90s and Sunil Anna's attempt at mature acting was noteworthy though not entirely successful. He came in to his own a couple of years later with JP Dutta's Border (1997)..

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.