Kurukshetra – An Underrated Cult Movie

The relation between Sanjay Dutt and cult is a forever one. It is one of those relations which will make people posting “best hubby” and “best wifey” photos insanely jealous. Shah Jahan famously said about Sanju Bawa and Cult, and I quote, “Agar Firdaus bar rōy-e zamin ast, hamin ast-o hamin ast-o hamin ast”. Haters will say this was a couplet by Amir Khusrau upon watching the magnificence of Shalimar Bagh. Damn you bitches. It’s bawa! Everything can be morphed to suit his stature, lest you don’t bother getting some AK47 bullets in your damn head. Of course, he would be aiming at your tiny winy chest, but cocaine can make you see things in a different light. Yes. That’s the aura of Sanjay Dutt. A mere thought of bawa brings “pachas tola” in front of your eyes in Vaastav.. Ta-Da!! (P.S. Whoever didn’t get the references, click here). However, we often tend to forget another cult by Sanju Bawa – Kurukshetra. The only disappointment regarding this movie is its IMDb ratings. They say, it’s just 6.1, I say, IMDb is not worth it. Fuckers, ain’t know anything movie.

IMDb aint know nothing!

The Fooking Plot:

Kurukshetra was a movie released in 2000 and it had Mr. Dutt playing a cop. Well, a good cop. A very very good cop. Irony had forgotten this. I reminded it last night and I can still hear the screams of its slow death. He is honest and all things that an average Indian wants to see in a cop. He is married to Mahima Chaudhary and has a sister. They are good looking and love the man of the house. I said, there are all things an average Indian wants to see. So, this dude ACP Prithviraj Singh is a brave officer. Wiki says, “All dishonest police officers, rogues, criminals and corrupt politicians are scared of him.” Wiki’s words, not mine. Prithvi, on the day of joining, destroys all the illegal business of Iqbal Pasina, a character played by Mukesh Rishi aka Bulla.

Identity Crisis

Usne pasina bahake itna paisa ikatha kiya tha, prithvi ne ik baal bhi nahin socha usko todne se pehle. Damn! So, Pasina, after all his businesses are gone, starts to admire Prithvi with too-heavy-to-write-here dialogues to compliment the scene well. Everything is going well, but it can’t happen forever, because bawa! Enter the antagonists – CM and His Son. Om Puri plays the role of the cunning corrupt CM to perfection. But, he is no match to his opposition which is played by Shivaji Satam aka ACP Pradyumn. Shivaji Satam plays the character of the Sambhaji Yadav, the opposition leader who acts to be all humble and good till the climax of the scene. Several scenes establish the fact that Sambhaji is a good politician who didn’t get elected to the CM position. But, climax climax..

Mujhse ACP post koi nahin chheen sakta

Sambhaji turns his back towards Prithvi, ditches him and joins hands with Om Puri. Prithvi is shocked by the true nature of politics, which is appalling given Sanju Bawa has escaped IPC due to the same. He shoots both Sambhaji and Om Puri. Movie Ends. It seems ek kurukshetra mein do ACP nahin rah sakte. Kya sochte ho, Abhijit!

Why Cult?

{This movie is a cult one because it shows the true face of irony and politics without overdoing any of it.}

This movie is a cult one because of the random characters in it. At a point of time, there is a goon getting beaten up by Prithvi, which reinforces the fact that ACP Prithviraj is a loveable person who stands up for the rights and is never afraid to take up arms. Sounds familiar, right! The build-up to this scene is one of the best you will ever witness. The goons are smacking the local dealers left, right and center whereas the police officer is sitting idly in the van. (Just police things, according to Bollywood). All this happens right in front of a clinic where Prithvi and his family have gone to check that Prithviraj’s wife is pregnant. The build-up to this clinic scene is as iconic as Marlon Brando’s cat scene. Will come to it later.. (Here’s a tab). So, Prithvi asks the police officer something which vaguely meant What the hell, dude? Stop acting like a Bollywood stereotype. To which the police officer replies, Fuck off nigga. Go and do the same stereotype shit to establish that you are a good cop. The police officer in question fails to recognize his own ACP. I don’t blame him though. In a movie where ACP Pradyumn is there, no amount of Cocaine wielding Bawa can take that position. The goons get beaten up real bad. The police now come and try to hit Prithvi to which he shows his ID card. Police officer, at this point, was like, “Daal mein kuchh kala hai Abhijit”.

>>Tab: Prithvi’s sister, Aarti, and his junior, Avinash, are in a pub dancing to weird music. Avinash is played by Salil Ankola. Ankola is one of the best imports for Bollywood from Cricket, considering the other options were Ajay Jadeja and Md. Azharuddin. Oops, sorry! Not Azhar. He took a thing or two from Bollyland and lived his life in eternal exile thereafter. Ankola made his debut alongside Sachin Tendulkar and Waqar Younis. Only, they couldn’t make it to TV and Film screens. Dedication tha hi nahin! Anyway, Avinash and Aarti were deeply in love and dancing to weird songs. Prithvi comes to the party looking for Aarti and is surprised and happy to see her with his adarsh junior Avinash. Avinash looked like he was high on some stuff. Exactly how bawa likes them! In this loud music, some awkward conversations take place which results in Prithvi knowing that “woh baap banne wala hai”. Have you noticed that often the information is given to the man by saying “tum baap banne wale ho”? Why not say, “Tumhaari biwi maa banne wali hai”! Pahlaj was seen screaming at this idea. Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, this was the buildup.<<

With random characters like the goon, the police, the Salil Ankola, the Aarti, Iqbal the Pasina (who used to keep khulla), the CM, the ACP Pradyumn, and The Rakhi Sawant nailing their part to perfection, Kurukshetra can be termed as a cult. Below is a screenshot of the plot of Kurukshetra some hooligan has edited for the sake of making it a cult. Please look at it to understand Rakhi Sawant’s character.