Tejas Nair I've not been a Prakash Jha fan, though I cherish his creations. And Apaharan is one of them, which talks about politics, idealism & crime on a very larger scale.Ajay Devgn's performance is apt as the protagonist living life with constant intimidation from his idealism-stricken father. Things turn into a state of disarray as he gets involved into corruption, murder & kidnapping. What unfolds is a grave example of the real times and the writers have written it well.Editing is poor, sadly, whereas the direction & cinematography is fine. Songs are off (with one unnecessary item song). The audience is kept at tenterhooks throughout the first half; second half goes a tad monotonous, yet it is a revealing cinema worth watching & interpreting.BOTTOM LINE: A humble 6.8 out of 10 for this authentic story & attempt. Recommended!Can be watched with a typical Indian family? NOProfanity: Mediocre | Vulgarity/Porn/Sex:Foreplay: No | Nudity: Mild | Violence: Very Critical | Gore: Strong | Smoking/Alcohol: Strong | Drugs: No

Dr Sandip Agrawal I watched Apharan today and I must say, the movie is definitely worth watching BUT watch it in theater only.after Gangajal, Prakash Jha again brought the truth prevailing in Bihar on screen.... The movie makes u think what is going on in this heartbreaking corrupt political scenario..The movie is about relationship between politicians & gangsters in Bihar and how gangsters kidnap people in Bihar with full support of police officers & politicians. They have succeeded to show the reality to people, they way gangsters live in jail, the way they keep the police in their pocket. Ajay Devgan, Nana Patekar,Mukesh Tiwari and even Bipasha Basu all did real justice with the movie. It'll be a great hit everywhere. We think the new government under CMship of Nitish Kumar will do his best for the betterment of BIHAR.

SinglePlex At a basic level, "Apaharan" traces the evolution of Ajay Shastri (Devgan), an innocent lad being pushed around by the system to becoming the system himself. There are two influences working on him, viz, his father's Gandhian idealism and acceptance of corruption as a way of life all around him. He tries to escape the insult and exploitation that his father's idealistic stand begets him--- only to get insulted and exploited by the likes of Tabrez Alam (Patekar) who use him for their own purpose. Yet, Devgan's don is a reluctant hero. He takes to crime because as an honest and hard-working citizen, society treated him as a "freak"!"Apaharan" then talks a State held at ransom by the greed and corruption of a system meant to protect it. It talks of the kidnapping of a child's innocence by a greedy system where merit has no role. It talks of society's resignation to the state of affairs and how we all give in... for there are no options.What I liked about "Apaharan" is that it does not have any good guys and bad guys, nor does it offer any magic solutions. It tells it like it is. It shows every member of society as responsible for the decay-- right from the ministers to religious leaders to traders to teachers to the youth "experimenting" with crime at a corner tea-shop! At the same time, it is not a cynical story. It has optimism and power of positive action.To believe that this movie has anything to do with Bihar would be entering a fool's paradise. Yes, it is set in Bihar-- although shot in Satara (Maharashtra), if one goes by the credit acknowledgment. Yes, it speaks of a situation that Bihar is going through. Yes, it uses a Bihari idiom and dialect to move the story.The characters, their motivations and their reactions are not limited to Bihar, though. If that were the case, it would not find such a wide appeal.Like all good cinema, "Apaharan (2005)" tells a story. That's it. And kudos to Prakash Jha for telling us an "art house" story with "masala potboiler" action. But for the trademark Prakash Jha finesse, this movie reminds one of typical Bollywood fare like "Vaastav", "Nayakan" and "Company". Good action and powerful performances!

Naresh Kanyal I went in to watch this movie expecting something very good from Prakash Jha and it was worth. The promos of the movie were released just a week or two in advance of the movie; so there was not much hype, hoopla or curiosity surrounding the movie. As always, director has done a lot of research in writing the script and his efforts have paid well.As the title suggests, it is about the thriving kidnapping industry in the Indian state of bihar. Many of the characters may actually resemble the real life people. The movie makes you aware of the whole kidnapping process. The hostage is referred as "delivery" and it exchanges hands with 2 or more different parties, before landing with the one who decided, planned and ordered the kidnap. Each party (or intermediary) keeps account of all the expenses/cost incurred during their task (including vehicles, arms and meals). Everyone in the state administration - includes police, ministers - gets cut in the ransom - WOW, what a perfect business model. Alongwith is a story of a Professor Shastri who wants to fight the corruption in the old Gandhian ways and will in no way compromise with his value system, not even for his unemployed son, who is unable to make his way in this system through honest ways. When he tries to bend and makes slight adjustments (by offering bribe, even when his name was there in the first merit list for state police officers), his unluck prevails landing himself into big trouble. He decides to get into the kidnapping industry - the one he once wanted to fight against. First half of the movie is awesome, but it looses its steam in the last one hour and is just like any other movie of this kind. End was not at all good - I still can't understand, why even directors of this genre believe that movies always have to end on a positive note. The main characters have delivered power packed performance. Ajay Devagan and Nana Patekar once again prove themselves. Other Parkash Jha regulars like Mohan Agashe, Yashpal Sharma and Ayub Khan are also good. Once in the lifetime opportunity to watch fully clothed Bipasha Basu, but her role is useless and movie was very much possible without her.