| Thanedaar | |
| Producer: | Sanjay Ray Sudhir Roy |
| Director: | Raj N. Sippy |
| Starring: | Jeetendra Jaya Prada Sanjay Dutt Madhuri Dixit |
| Music: | Bappi Lahri |
| Cinematography: | Anwar Siraj |
| Editing: | Ashok Honda |
| Based On: | Anbukku Naan Adimai (1980) |
| Studio: | Shiva Arts International |
| Runtime: | 151 minutes |
| Country: | India |
| Language: | Hindi |
Thanedaar is a 1990 Indian Hindi-language action film, produced by Sanjay Ray and Sudhir Roy under the Shiva Arts International banner and directed by Raj N. Sippy. It stars Jeetendra, Jaya Prada, Sanjay Dutt, and Madhuri Dixit with music composed by Bappi Lahiri.[1] The film is perhaps most remembered for the hit song Tamma Tamma Loge and its quirky dancing moves. It was the 23rd time that Jeetendra and Prada paired together and the third pairing of Dutt and Dixit, who went on to star in 7 films together including big box office blockbusters Saajan (1991) and Khalnayak (1993). Thanedaar was the fourth highest-grossing film of 1990.[2] The film is a remake of the Tamil movie Anbukku Naan Adimai (1980).[3]
The film begins in Jaalkot village, where Thakur Ajgar Singh is the tyrant of the region. Inspector Jagdish Chandar strongly opposes his cruelty. Jagdish lives with his motherless children Avinash and Brijesh (aka Birju).
Ajgar conspires to have him killed by two professional assassins: Lawrence and Peter. One night, the killers slay Jagdish and abduct Briju, whereas Avinash is adopted by a police commissioner.
Years roll by, and Avinash becomes a stout-hearted police official and leads a delightful life with his wife Sudha and daughter Bubbly.
Birju, on the other hand, has turned into a criminal under the tutelage of Lawrence and Peter. The duo gets him to commit crimes and live off the proceeds. They assign him a final task — to steal a jewel — soon after he is released from prison.
Meanwhile, Chanda — a victim of Ajgar — approaches Birju for help to destroy the tyrant. In turn, Birju recruits Chanda for the theft, but Chanda is apprehended.
Through Chanda, Avinash learns about Ajgar and recalls the past. He then gets himself transferred to Jaalkot.
Meanwhile, Lawrence and Peter betray Briju, but he evades them and runs away with the jewel.
Avanish encounters Birju on a train as a copassenger, and a brawl erupts. Here, Avanish recognizes Birju as his brother by his tattoo. However, he falls out of the train and is presumed dead.
Birju lands up in Jaalkot, where everyone welcomes him as Avinash. Despite being initially reckless and suborned to Ajgar, Birju breaks rank after witnessing the tyrant's atrocities. Surprisingly, an unknown person under the veil always shields him. Meanwhile, Chanda witnesses how Birju has transformed and falls for him.
One day, Sudha reaches the village with Bubbly, setting up a potential reveal, but Briju handles the situation. Soon, he realizes that Avinash is his brother over what happened on the train.
Eventually, he reforms Ajgar’s henchmen Sunny and Mangal, turning them into approvers. However, they are slaughtered. Undeterred, Briju continues to accumulate evidence against Ajgar.
Meanwhile, Sudha learns of what happened on the train and, outraged, seeks to kill Birju, but is stopped by the man in the veil.
He is revealed to be Avinash, who apparently survived the fall from the train. The brothers then join hands in exacting revenge from those who wronged them.
| Song | Singer |
|---|---|
| "Tamma Tamma" | Anuradha Paudwal, Bappi Lahiri |
| "Aur Bhala kya Mangu Main rab se" | |
| "Jab Se Hui Hai" | Amit Kumar |
| "Pehli Pehli Baar" | Alka Yagnik, Amit Kumar |
| "Jeena Hai To" - 1 | Asha Bhosle, Amit Kumar |
| "Jeena Hai To" - 2 | Asha Bhosle, Amit Kumar |
| "Jeena Hai To" - 3 | Asha Bhosle |
| "Zulmi Saiyan" | Asha Bhosle |
| "Kamaal Ho Gaya" | Asha Bhosle |
The dance steps are similar to the famous Michael Jackson song "Bad". It is well known that Dutt had great difficulty performing the dance moves, especially the scene with the chairs, and though he spent almost a month training, In an interview, choreographer Saroj Khan talked about the shooting the song, which took 48 takes to get okayed.[4]
The tune was inspired by two songs from Mory Kanté's 1987 album Akwaba Beach: "Tama" and "Yé ké yé ké".[5] [2] There were also plans to remix the song by director duo Abbas Mustan for their film Players, but later these plans were scrapped due to there not being enough time before the release of the film.[6] The song was reprised for the 2017 film Badrinath Ki Dulhania, by Tanishk Bagchi.
The film scored well at the box office grossing 10.25 crore nett and was declared a superhit.[7] It was also the fourth highest-grossing film of the year 1990.