Taarzan: The Wonder Car
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Abbas–Mustan
Written by	Lalit Mahajan Sunny Mahajan
Produced by	Gordhan Tanwani
Starring	Ajay Devgn Vatsal Sheth Ayesha Takia
Cinematography	Ravi Yadav
Edited by	Hussain A. Burmawala
Music by	Songs: Himesh Reshammiya Background Score: Surinder Sodhi
Production company	Baba Films
Distributed by	Baba Films Zee Films
Release date	6 August 2004 (2004-08-06) (India)
Running time	162 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹14 crore[1]
Box office	₹6.20 crore[1]

Taarzan: The Wonder Car, or simply called Taarzan, is a 2004 Indian Hindi-language supernatural action thriller film directed by Abbas–Mustan. The film stars Ajay Devgn, Vatsal Sheth and Ayesha Takia, while Farida Jalal, Pankaj Dheer, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Amrish Puri, Shakti Kapoor, Gulshan Grover and Mukesh Tiwari play supporting roles. Upon release, the film was a box office disaster but gained popularity among children and television audiences. It is loosely based on the American film Christine (1983).^[2] This also marked the debut of Ayesha Takia, for which she won the Filmfare Best Debut Award.

Plot

Automobile engineer Deven Chaudhary, who lives with his mother Suhasini and ten-year-old son Raj, builds a futuristic car with advanced features. He names this design as DC (Dilip Chhabria) .

He also owns and maintains an older Morris Minor car that was handed down to him by his late father that he calls "Taarzan", based on the car's mirror ornament that resembles Edgar Rice Burroughs character Tarzan. Deven meets FourFox, a private company to discuss his design. FourFox executive Rakesh Kapoor and his partners Kailash Chopra, Anthony D'Costa and Mahesh Saxena praise the design but disagree over royalties. However, they steal the design and registered it under their own name. This infuriates Deven and he files a complaint with the police. However, the police inspector Sanjay Sharma who takes his case is secretly on Rakesh's payroll. He, along with Rakesh and his cronies, attack Deven, gag him and lock him in his car. The car is pushed into a river, causing a gagged Deven to die.

Twelve years later, his son Raj, now a 22-year-old boy goes to college where he falls in love with Priya, a rich girl. Raj also works as a part-time mechanic at a garage owned by Kartar Singh. One day, he discovers his father's older car Taarzan. He pools money and buys it at 5000 rupees.

Raj works with Kartar Singh to repair and upgrade the car in memory of his father. They revamp the car into a more advanced version than Deven's original design, and Raj decides to rename it DC to honor his father's memory.

Deven's spirit possesses the car and controls it to seek revenge on his murderers. When Rakesh is abroad, Deven's spirit uses the car to kill his cronies Kailash, Anthony, Mahesh and the police inspector Sanjay. Since the car belongs to Raj, he becomes a suspect in the eyes of Inspector Khurana, the investigating officer. When Rakesh returns to India and learns all his partners have died.

Rakesh is revealed to be Priya's father and meets Raj on her insistence. After knowing Raj is Deven's son, Rakesh assumes that Raj has found the truth and is using Priya as a pawn. He decides to kill Raj and take Priya back with him to London and get Priya married to a man of his choice. Raj is shocked as Rakesh tells him the truth about Deven's death. Before Rakesh could kill Raj, Deven's spirit appears and saves Raj. Terrified, Rakesh confesses his crime before everyone.

Inspector Khurana arrests Rakesh. Deven says his last goodbye to Suhasini and Raj. With Raj, Suhasini and Priya united, Deven's spirit becomes free, and he ascends to heaven. Raj and Priya live a happy life afterwards.

Cast

• Ajay Devgn as Deven Choudhary, Raj's father (Extended Cameo)
• Vatsal Sheth as Raj Choudhary, Deven's son and Priya's boyfriend
• Ayesha Takia as Priya Kapoor, Raj's girlfriend and Rakesh's daughter
• Farida Jalal as Mrs. Suhasini Choudhary, Deven's mother and Raj's grandmother
• Pankaj Dheer as Rakesh Kapoor, Deven's enemy and Priya's father
• Sumeet Pathak as Vikram "Vicky" Jain, Raj's best friend
• Amrish Puri as Kartar "Kaakha" Singh / Paaji, Raj's boss
• Sadashiv Amrapurkar as Anthony D'Costa, Jojo's father
• Shakti Kapoor as Mahesh Saxena
• Mukesh Tiwari as Kailash Chopra
• Sheela Sharma as Mrs. Priya Chopra, Kailash's wife
• Gulshan Grover as Inspector Khurana
• Rajpal Yadav as Constable Sitaram Agashe
• Deepak Shirke as Inspector Sanjay Sharma
• Jeetu Verma as Jojo D'Costa
• Sikandar Kharbanda as Rocky Bedi, Raj's bully-turned-friend
• Narendra Bedi as Truck Driver
• Amrit Patel as Scrapeyard Junk Owner
• Sharad Sankla as Constable

Soundtrack

The music is composed by Himesh Reshammiya with lyrics by Sameer.

Critical response

Taran Adarsh of IndiaFM gave the film 2.5 stars out of 5, writing ″On the whole, TAARZAN THE WONDER CAR is a different experience that will find its share of supporters and adversaries. At the box-office, the film will have to rely on kid-power to make it big. Had the film released during vacations, the outcome would've been much better.^[2] Dhawan G of Rediff.com wrote ″The Abbas-Mustan film will actually delight kids more than adults. It's funny, Hollywood's king of horror Stephen King would never have seen his horror fest Christine becoming a family film, where the car—instead of scaring the audience—entertains them.″^[3] Goher Iqbal Punn of BBC.com wrote ″On the whole, Tarzan - The Wonder Car is a stylishly and creatively executed enterprise, which will have you glued to your seat till the end. A great entertainer overall.″^[4]

References

External links

• Taarzan: The Wonder Car at IMDb