Deshdrohi


Deshdrohi is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Jagdish A. Sharma. It was scripted and produced by KRK, who also appeared in the lead role alongside Manoj Tiwari, Hrishitaa Bhatt, Gracy Singh and Zulfi Syed. Released on 14 November 2008, it was subject to negative reviews from critics, and is considered as one of the worst Bollywood films.

Plot

The themes of the film consist of politics, prostitution, pimping, and corruption. At the start of the film, a man named Raja Yadav arrives in Mumbai from Uttar Pradesh searching for a watchman's job after leaving his father and neighbour, Neha, both behind in his village in Uttar Pradesh.
In Mumbai, Raja meets Shekhar, a gangster, who works as a watchman, and Sonia, who works for a drug dealer named Baba Kadam. At one point, Raja helps Sonia escape from an attack by a group working for another drug dealer called Rajan Nayak, Baba Kadam's rival. The two eventually fall in love.
After realising that living in Mumbai is difficult for North Indians, Raja petitions Shrivastav, a North Indian politician who exploits common people for his political career, for help. The drug mafia of Mumbai city is assisted by politicians, and the media want to reveal the corruption prevalent in the city.
Due to his involvement, Raja is marked for death by Rajan Nayak, who contracts a police inspector to kill both him and Sonia. However, he fails and is killed. The police pursue Raja and Sonia, who are also hiding from Rajan Nayak. Raja attempts to obtain help from Shrivastav to no avail, and even Sonia's boss, Baba Kadam, abandons the pair.
Pushed to the limit, Raja resolves to kill all involved, in which he is helped by Inspector Rohit Raghav, the new husband of Raja's village sweetheart.

Cast

Music

Soundtrack was composed by Nikhil-Vinay.

Controversy

There were accusations that the movie was attempting to profit off of the 2008 attacks on Uttar Pradeshi and Bihari migrants in Maharashtra. The head of the Mumbai office of the Central Board of Film Certification opined that the movie has scenes that were derogatory to a particular community. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena expressed their protests against the movie. The Mumbai police served a notice for a special screening to find any objectionable content that might trigger unrest. Due to the protests and problems with exhibitors, the release date of the movie was postponed by a week from the original date of 7 November. The movie was released on 14 November, except in Maharashtra, where it was banned by the state government for 60 days under the Bombay Cinema Regulation Act. The producers of the film petitioned the Bombay High Court to lift the ban on the movie. After a two-month ban it was released on 23 January 2009 in Maharashtra.