The Tashkent Files
The Tashkent Files is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language thriller film about the death of former Indian prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. Written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri, it stars Shweta Basu Prasad, Naseeruddin Shah and Mithun Chakraborty in leading roles.
| The Tashkent Files | |
|---|---|
| File:The Tashkent Files poster.jpg Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Vivek Agnihotri |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Vivek Agnihotri |
| Screenplay by | Vivek Agnihotri |
| Starring | |
| Music by |
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| Cinematography | Udaysingh Mohite |
| Edited by | Sattyajit Gazmer |
Production company |
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| Distributed by | Zee Studios |
Release date |
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Running time | 144 minutes[2] |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Box office | ₹20.84 crore[3] |
The film released on 12 April 2019 and received mostly positive reviews from critics and became a box-office sleeper hit.[4][5]
CastEdit
- Mithun Chakraborty as Shyam Sunder Tripathi[6][7]
- Naseeruddin Shah as PKR Natrajan [8]
- Shweta Basu Prasad as Raagini Phule[9]
- Mandira Bedi as Indira Joseph Roy[10]
- Pallavi Joshi as Aiysha Ali Shah[11]
- Rajesh Sharma as Omkar Kashyap[12]
- Vinay Pathak as Mukhtar[13]
- Pankaj Tripathi as Gangaram Jha[14]
- Vishwa Mohan Badola as Justice Kurian Abraham[15]
- Asif Basra as News Channel Editor
- Prakash Belawadi as GK Ananthasuresh[16]
- Achint Kaur as Mrs. Natarajan
- Yusuf Hussain as Mr. Bakshi
- Prashant Gupta as Vishvendra Pratap Singh Rana[17]
- Ankur Rathee as Imran Qureshi[1]
- Francisco Raymond as Vasili Nikitich Mitrokhin
- Kaushik Chakraborty as R. N. Chug
- Alina Bejenaru as E. G. Yeremenko
ProductionEdit
The film was announced in January 2018; Agnihotri stated of the film to be country's first crowd-sourced thriller. Principal photography began in January 2018.[7]
In February 2018 he invited from the public any information, book, link or memory related to Lal Bahadur Shastri’s mysterious death in Tashkent to help him solve the 'decades old enigma' surrounding the death of former prime minister of India.[18]
Books referenced for and referred in the film include Political Mysteries by K. R. Malkani, Conversations with the Crow by Gregory Douglas, and Mitrokhin Archive by Vasili Mitrokhin.[19]
Marketing and releaseEdit
First look poster was released on 19 March 2019, and on the same occasion, the release date of the film was announced as 12 April 2019.[1]
Critical responseEdit
Rachit Gupta of The Times of India rated the film with three and a half stars out of five and praised its theme and talent in its characters of a star-studded cast. Praising its direction, story-telling and songs, he concluded that:- "It also helps that the final slide of the movie tells the audience that the authenticity of all the facts displayed in the film can be verified."[20] Devesh Sharma of Filmfare gives the film three and half stars out of five and noted the film to be a 'non melodramatic' episode with not so loud and bombastic dialogues. [21] Prashant Sisodia of NDTV India gave the film 3 out 5 stats[22] whilst Shashank Shekhar of Desimartini gave the film 4.5 out 5.[23]
Rahul Desai writing for Film Companion rated the film with three star out of five. Noting it to be well informed enough to be a documentary, balanced enough to be a docudrama and smart enough to be an investigative thriller. Saibal Chatterjee, writing for NDTV rated the film with three star out of five and concludes "Well, the star cast may be brilliant , but its the direction by Agnihotri that makes it a must watch .
The film won the Surprise Hit of the Year award at the 2020 ETC Bollywood Business Awards.[citation needed]
SoundtrackEdit
| The Tashkent Files | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | 30 April 2019[24] | |||
| Recorded | 2018 | |||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | |||
| Length | 19:03 | |||
| Label | Zee Music Company | |||
| Rohit Sharma chronology | ||||
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The music of the film is composed by Rohit Sharma while the lyrics are penned by Aazad, Rohit Sharma and Vivek Agnihotri.
| Track listing | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "Saare Jahan Se Acchha" | Jayaraman Mohan, Arya Acharya, RJ Archana, RJ Anuraag Pandey, RJ Rohini, Ekdant Kalakshetra, Swara Sharma, Nyonishi Cousins | 3:42 | ||||||
| 2. | "Radha Tori Batiyaan Thumri" | Ritesh Rajnish Mishra | 3:42 | ||||||
| 3. | "Thumri Jugalbandi Rock" | Ritesh Rajnish Mishra, Geet Sagar | 3:14 | ||||||
| 4. | "Sab Chalta Hai Rock" | Geet Sagar | 3:50 | ||||||
| 5. | "Sab Chalta Hai Electronica" | Rohit Sharma | 2:18 | ||||||
| 6. | "Sach Chalta Hai" | Geet Sagar | 2:17 | ||||||
Total length: |
19:03 | ||||||||
AccoladesEdit
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | National Film Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Pallavi Joshi | Won | [25] |
| Best Dialogues | Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri | Won | [26] |
Home mediaEdit
The film was released on Video on demand service ZEE5 on 12 April 2019.[27]
Who Killed Shastri?Edit
Who Killed Shastri?: The Tashkent Files is a non-fiction book by director Vivek Agnihotri about his research for the film and outlines various theories about the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri. It was released in August 2020 by Bloomsbury India.[19]
ReferencesEdit
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Taran Adarsh [@taran_adarsh] (19 March 2019). "Mithun Chakraborty, Naseeruddin Shah, Shweta Basu, Pankaj Tripathi, Vinay Pathak, Mandira Bedi, Pallavi Joshi, Ankur Rathee and Prakash Belawadi... #TheTashkentFiles to release on 12 April 2019... Directed by Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri... Zee Studios release... First look poster: t.co/huxc6BQ10s" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ↑ "The Tashkent Files". Golden Village. 12 April 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
- ↑ "The Tashkent Files Box Office". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
- ↑ "The Tashkent Files: Small-budget film's dream run at box office, completes 100 days". The Financial Express. 19 July 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
- ↑ "Bollywood makes bank". The Asian Age. 1 July 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
- ↑ Adarsh, Taran [@taran_adarsh] (23 March 2019). "Naseeruddin Shah..." (Tweet). Retrieved 6 December 2019 – via Twitter.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "The Tashkent Files: Naseeruddin Shah and Mithun Chakraborty to star in film on Lal Bahadur Shashtri". Indian Express. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
- ↑ Adarsh, Taran [@taran_adarsh] (22 March 2019). "Mithun Chakraborty is #ShyamSundarTripathi..." (Tweet). Retrieved 6 December 2019 – via Twitter.
- ↑ Adarsh, Taran [@taran_adarsh] (22 March 2019). "Shweta Basu Prasad is #RaaginiPhule..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ↑ Adarsh, Taran [@taran_adarsh] (24 March 2019). "Mandira Bedi..." (Tweet). Retrieved 6 December 2019 – via Twitter.
- ↑ Adash, Taran [@taran_adarsh] (22 March 2019). "Pallavi Joshi is #AiyshaAliShah..." (Tweet). Retrieved 6 December 2019 – via Twitter.
- ↑ The Tashkent Files [@TashkentMovie] (23 March 2019). "#OmkarKashyap, a man manipulating situations in order to survive.Trailer out on Monday" (Tweet). Retrieved 6 December 2019 – via Twitter.
- ↑ The Tashkent Files [@TashkentMovie] (25 March 2019). "Vinay Pathak as #Mukhtar An ex-raw guy and a double agent, who knows everything, or does he really? Find out in #TheTashkentFiles trailer releasing this Monday" (Tweet). Retrieved 6 December 2019 – via Twitter.
- ↑ Adarsh, Taran [@taran_adarsh] (22 March 2019). "Pankaj Tripathi is #GangaramJha..." (Tweet). Retrieved 6 December 2019 – via Twitter.
- ↑ The Tashkent Files [@TashkentMovie] (25 March 2019). "#JusticeKurianAbraham, a retired supreme court judge still fighting to stay relevant in present time. Trailer out on Monday" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ↑ The Tashkent Files [@TashkentMovie] (23 March 2019). "How far this former secret agent will go for the truth or will he go against it? #GKSAnanthasuresh" (Tweet). Retrieved 6 December 2019 – via Twitter.
- ↑ The Tashkent Files [@TashkentMovie] (25 March 2019). "#VishvendraPratapSinghRana, a young leader and eminently dangerous if you get in his way. Trailer out on Monday" (Tweet). Retrieved 6 December 2019 – via Twitter.
- ↑ "The Tashkent Files: Vivek Agnihotri urges fans to help solve Lal Bahadur Shastri's mysterious death". Times Now. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 "Who killed Lal Bahadur Shastri?". Dailyo.
- ↑ Gupta, Rachit. "The Tashkent Files". Times of India. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
- ↑ Sharma, Devesh. "Movie Review: The Tashkent Files". Filmfare. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
- ↑ "The Tashkent Files Film Review by Prashant Sisodia – फिल्म रिव्यू: द ताशकंत फाइल्ज वीडियो – हिन्दी न्यूज़ वीडियो एनडीटीवी ख़बर". khabar.ndtv.com. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
- ↑ Shekhar, Shashank. "A Valiant & Well Researched Attempt to Uncover the Truth with Thrilling Insights..... - Desimartini.com". Desimartini. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
- ↑ "The Tashkent Files – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack". Jio Saavn.
- ↑ "Pallavi Joshi on National Film Award Win for Tashkent Files: This will Definitely Shut Critics Up". News18. 22 March 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
- ↑ "Exclusive! Vivek Agnihotri on National Award win for 'Tashkent Files': I dedicate this award to Shastriji - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
- ↑ "The Tashkent Files". ZEE5. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
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