Tango Charlie

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Tango Charlie
Tango Charlie poster
Directed by	Mani Shankar
Produced by	Nitin Manmohan
Written by	Mani Shankar
Starring	Ajay Devgan Nandana Sen Bobby Deol Sanjay Dutt Suniel Shetty
Music by	Anu Malik
Release date(s)	March 6, 2005 (India)
Running time	110 min
Language	Hindi
Budget	$3,000,000 US (est.)
IMDb profile

Tango Charlie is a film directed by Mani Shankar, and released in summer of 2005. It got rave reviews and was well received by audiences, but did not perform well commercially. The movie aims to portray the different aspects of war and grief, and does not glorify these acts.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Reception 3 The Bodo Controversy 4 Piracy 5 DVD Sales And International market

[edit] Plot

Tango Charlie is a 2005 Bollywood film. It begins with the unauthorised helicopter rescue of an unnamed Sepoy of the Border Security Force branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The two unconventional pilots, Sqd Ldr Vikram Rathore (Sanjay Dutt) and Flt Lt Shehzad Khan (Sunil Shetty) discover a diary tucked away in the coat of the injured soldier while treating his injuries. To pass the time during their long journey back to base, Rathore and Khan read through their unfortunate comrade's thoughts and observations while serving his nation. The majority of the rest of the film consists of flashbacks that describe the young sepoy's experiences and thoughts up to the present.

The viewer learns the injured soldier is Sepoy Tarun Chauhan (code-name "Tango Charlie"; Bobby Deol), whom the viewer first finds assigned to proceed to Manipur in Northeastern India, one of the country's many regions embroiled in insurgency (we can safely assume that the rebels/terrorists are Bodos). He reports to his superior, Havildar Mohammed Ali (Ajay Devgan), who at first appears gruff and haughty. Once there, he comes to know that things can be quiet for weeks, following by sporadic violence, and casualties on both sides. His group also comes under attack by vicious terrorists, who like to cut an ear from a dead body, then leave the body as bait, in order to kill anyone who comes to the rescue. This is where Tarun makes his first kill.

The next assignment for Chauhan's unit is to go to Northern Andhra Pradesh, where the BSF is sent to counter Maoist insurgents (most probably the People's War Group) wreaking havoc on the countryside. Here, the young Sepoy experiences even more harrowing combat-related brutality; not only does he see the Maoists blow up a jeep carrying the innocent family members (women and children) of a senior officer, but he is also forced to intervene in an attempted rape of a captured female rebel by a seargent with deadly consequences. Upon seeing his integrity and bravery, is havildar (Ali) slowly becomes a close friend and important mentor in Chauhan's life

The unit is subsequently sent to quell communal tensions in Gujarat, where the troopers are forced to use lethal force to break up a riot the police have lost control of. The loss of the lives of civilians - many of whom were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time - has a profound impact on Chauhan. He even goes to funeral of one innocent victim fatally caught in the crossfire - the patriarch of a large extended family - attempting apologise for his role in the unnecessary but unavoidable death; Ali saves him in the nick of time when the now-angry funeral participants attempt to beat Chauhan to death. While recovering in the hospital, Ali again berates his protege for being a fool ("bevaquuf") yet again; however, Ali unexpectedly opens up and tells Chauhan his own tragic story, involving the beginnings of the Naxalite movement in Northern West Bengal. Ali was sent undercover to rescue the family of zamindars in a badly-hit district; Ali proposes that in spite of a planned wedding, the family escape, but the patriarch of the family refuses to cancel his plans. The Naxals infiltrate the wedding party and massacre most of the family; Ali attempts to fight them off and manages to outwit and destroy much of the Naxal cell, but is tragically unable to fulfil his mission.

When the Kargil War breaks out between India and Pakistan-backed mujahideen terrorists, Ali and Chauhan's BSF platoon is posted at a strategic bridge providing a key supply link for Army units fighting to recapture Indian land. Everything that Chauhan has learned and experienced is tested at this crucial point in the film, as the entire platoon bravely fights to maintain the bridge against the ruthless terrorists. The platoon wins a Pyrrhic victory: by the time relief units reach the bridge, Chauhan is the only one left alive. Using everything Ali has taught him and with the memory of his martyred colleagues, Chauhan uses guile and bravery to defeat a far more numerous force of terrorists. As he lies waiting to die, Rathore and Khan rescue him.

In addition to everything service-related, the film explores Chauhan's other life in a dusty rural village, presumably in (Madhya Pradesh as in one of bus it was written as Bilaspur) or Haryana or Punjab. While he visits his family and friends, viewers are shown how he falls in love and eventually marries Lachhi (Tanisha Mukherjee), the well-educated and beautiful doctor's daughter who grows to understand the enormous sacrifices that soldiers like Chauhan have to make to protect the safety and prosperity of fellow Indians. Perhaps most importantly, we also realise how little recognition these selfless soldiers get from society at large, even as they have to give up so much in fulfilling their chosen duties. The precarious geopolitical and communal/ethnic situation of India, even amidst growing wealth in large cities and rapid economic development, is emphasised; in spite of all the progress made, India not only finds itself surrounded by hostile neighbours who are deeply involved and interested in its territorial destruction (namely Pakistan, Bangladesh, and China, each of whom supply weapons and ideological support to myriad terrorist groups tearing the country apart), but also seems to be forgetting vast swathes of its rural and peripheral populations, creating a vacuum in which such terror and political violence can thrive.

[edit] Reception

"Tango Charlie", was reviewed as one of the best Bollywood war movies made. Critically it became a huge success. Critics also praised Bobby Deol, for his brilliant performance, which was rarely seen in any of his other films.

Tango Charlie was commercially, an average film, but nonetheless gained tremendous critical acclaim on its director, Mani Shankar

[edit] The Bodo Controversy

The film shows Bodo's a North Indian militant group to have been in Manipur, and were ruthless enough to cut off ears of their victims. This was wrongly portrayed, and the film was banned from the North Eastern States of India, which was partly responsible for its commercial averageness, But the score was settled once again, after the writer, and Director of the movie Mani Shankar. publicly apologized. But although the film was banned, it did not stop the iewers from North India to watch it on pirated videos.

[edit] Piracy

The Indian Piracy market is huge, and in 2005, Tango Charlie, had the highest distributed pirated disk sales of the year, which amounted to five million, more that its competeitor, Bunty or Bubli, which sold two million.

[edit] DVD Sales And International market

Tango Charlie was an insant success, in the American Market. it earned over six million dollars, which hugely covered up for the loss in the Indian market. Its DVD slaes sky rocketed, and stands to be the fourth highest selling bollywood DVD of the year.