Jungle is a 2000 Indian Hindi-language survival thriller film produced and directed by Ram Gopal Varma. The movie is about a group of bandits, led by forest brigand, "Durga Narayan Chaudhary" (Sushant Singh), that hold a bunch of tourists hostage. It stars Suniel Shetty as Shivraj, the head of police, Urmila Matondkar as Anu Malhotra, one of the hostages, and Fardeen Khan as Siddhu, her love interest.[2] The ensemble cast film has received positive reviews upon release and was declared a Hit.

Jungle
Movie poster
Directed byRam Gopal Varma
Written byJaideep Sahni
Produced byRam Gopal Varma
StarringSunil Shetty
Fardeen Khan
Urmila Matondkar
Makrand Deshpande
Sushant Singh
Himanshu Malik
CinematographyVijay Kumar Arora
Edited byChandan Arora
Music bySandeep Chowta
Release date
  • 14 July 2000 (2000-07-14)
Running time
153 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budgetest. ₹4.75 crore[1]
Box officeest. ₹14.34 crore[1]

Jungle received many accolades and nominations, including Filmfare Award for Best Background Score at the 46th Filmfare Awards. For his performance, Sushant Singh won an IIFA Award and Zee Cine Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role.

Plot edit

Anu Malhotra (Urmila Matondkar) and Siddharth "Siddhu" Mishra (Fardeen Khan) are in love with each other and would like to get married. Anu is ready to inform her parents about her future life-partner, but everything is put on hold, as the family decides to go out on a group safari-like expedition. Siddhu also decides to go incognito. The group gets to view wildlife from fairly close distances.

Tragedy strikes when the group (except Siddhu) is kidnapped by the Bandit Durga Narayan Choudhary (Sushant Singh) and his gang. The bandits commit atrocities on the kidnapped people and finally behead one of the women in order to terrorize the government and extract ransom as well as release of one of their men who is in police custody. Once their demands are met, the bandits release remaining hostages, except Anu, whom the chief Durga Narayan Choudhary has started liking. This is unacceptable for his girlfriend Bali (Kashmera Shah), the only female bandit of the gang. When Siddhu does not find Anu among the released hostages, he sends the illegal arms supplier Dorai (Makrand Deshpande) to request Durga Narayan Choudhary for Anu's release. He secretly follows Dorai and finally reaches Anu. In the ensuing commotion, he is able to run away with her, with the bandits in their pursuit. They keep searching their way out of the dense forest.

Meanwhile, the goons started to reduce in numbers as they get shot one by one during repeated police encounters. Finally, Durga is the only one left. Still mad about Anu, he searches for her. He is about to take Anu away once more but is intercepted by Shivraj (Sunil Shetty), whom he eventually murders, but finally Siddhu beats up Durga and he is arrested. He re-unites with Anu and the movie ends on a happy note.

Cast edit

Reception edit

Critical reception edit

Jungle received generally positive reviews from critics. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Director Ram Gopal Varma deserves a pat on his back for choosing an offbeat subject, going in for a star cast that will not make the distributors' heart beat faster and handling the subject with utmost honesty. To state that this is his finest effort, better than Shiva, Rangeela and Satya, would be absolutely right ... Every character in Jungle has a well-defined role, which is why every performance stands out at the end of the day."[3] Aparajita Saha of Rediff said, "Jungle is a movie where the violence is believable, the tension palpable, the emotions credible and the performances real."[4]

Soundtrack edit

Jungle
Soundtrack album by
Released8 June 2000
GenreFeature film soundtrack
LabelUniversal Music India

The music for the film was composed by Sandeep Chowta and Sameer penned the lyrics.

# Title Singer(s)
1 "Jaan Kahan Hai Tu" Kumar Sanu, Sunidhi Chauhan
2 "Aiyo Aiyo Rama" Sonu Nigam, Sunidhi Chauhan, Sowmya Raoh, Makrand Deshpande
3 "Do Pyar Karne Wale" Sonu Nigam, Sunidhi Chauhan
4 "Patli Kamar" Sukhwinder Singh, Sapna Awasthi, Sandeep Chowta, Jolly Mukherjee
5 "Pehli Baar" Sonu Nigam, Sunidhi Chauhan
6 "Sorry Baba" Sonu Nigam, Sadhana Sargam

Awards and nominations edit

Award Date[a] Category Recipient(s) and nominee(s) Result Ref.
Filmfare Awards 17 February 2001 Best Background Score Sandeep Chowta Won
International Indian Film Academy Awards 16 June 2001 Best Actor in a Negative Role Sushant Singh Won [5]
[6]
[7]
Screen Awards 20 January 2001 Best Director Ram Gopal Varma Nominated [8]
Best Actor in a Negative Role Rajpal Yadav Won
Kashmera Shah Nominated
Best Action Allan Amin Nominated
Best Background Music Sandeep Chowta Nominated
Best Editing Chandan Arora Nominated
Best Screenplay Jaideep Sahni Nominated
Best Sound Design Dwarak Warrier Nominated
Zee Cine Awards 3 March 2001 Best Actor in a Negative Role Sushant Singh Won [9]

Notes edit

  1. ^ Linked to the article about the awards held that year, wherever possible.

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Jungle – Movie". Box Office India. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  2. ^ "Jungle 2000". Bollywoodhungama.com. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  3. ^ Jungle (2000) | Hindi Movie Critic Review By Taran Adarsh - Bollywood Hungama
  4. ^ Saha, Aparajita (14 July 2000). "Terror stalks the Jungle". Rediff. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  5. ^ "2nd IIFA Awards 2001 Nominations". MSN. Microsoft. Archived from the original on 26 August 2001. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  6. ^ "2nd IIFA Awards 2001 Winners". MSN. Microsoft. Archived from the original on 26 August 2001. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  7. ^ "IIFA Through the Years - IIFA 2001: South Africa". IIFA. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  8. ^ "Star Screen Awards 2001". Awards and Shows. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  9. ^ "Zee Cine Awards 2001". Zee Cine Awards. Retrieved 15 August 2020.

External links edit