| Yuva | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Mani Ratnam |
| Written by | Mani Ratnam |
| Dialogues by | Anurag Kashyap |
| Screenplay by | Mani Ratnam |
| Produced by | Mani Ratnam G. Srinivasan |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Ravi K. Chandran |
| Edited by | A. Sreekar Prasad |
| Music by | A. R. Rahman |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Madras Talkies |
Release date |
|
Running time | 162 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Budget | ₹12 crore[1] |
| Box office | ₹24.48 crore[1] |
Yuva (transl. Youth) is a 2004 Indian Hindi-language political action drama film written, produced, and directed by Mani Ratnam. It stars Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan, Vivek Oberoi, Rani Mukerji, Kareena Kapoor, and Esha Deol. It was simultaneously shot in Tamil as Aayutha Ezhuthu but with a completely different cast, excluding Deol.[2] The film's rights are owned by Red Chillies Entertainment.[3]
At the 50th Filmfare Awards, Yuva won a leading six awards, including Best Film (Critics), Best Supporting Actor (Bachchan), and Best Supporting Actress (Mukerji). Yuva was also a breakthrough for Bachchan as he won the Stardust Award for Actor of the Year – Male for his performance.
Plot
The film begins with Lallan Singh shooting Michael "Mike" Mukherjee on his bike, resulting in him falling off the Vidyasagar Setu into the water below, which is witnessed by Arjun Balachandran. The film then unveils the characters' pre-incident flashbacks.
Lallan is a goon, originally from Bihar but settled in Kolkata, West Bengal, because his brother Gopal Singh has left him alone and he has no option of earning money back home. He loves, marries, and abuses his wife, Shashi Biswas. He gets into a contract under Gopal's recommendation to run errands and work as a hitman for Prosenjit Bhattacharya, a politician.
Michael is an influential student leader who wants politicians like Prosenjit to keep away from college elections. His closest associates are his best friends Vishnu and Trilok. Among the two, Vishnu acts as a right-hand man to Michael. Michael, in his personal life, is in love with his neighbour Radhika, who lives with her uncle and aunt. Prosenjit is worried when he hears news of students standing in the election. He uses every possible way to get them out of politics. First, he provides a scholarship to a prestigious foreign university to Michael. When Michael refuses the bribe, he orders his goon, Gopal, to take control. Gopal orders Lallan to beat up Trilok, which he does, but faces very strong retaliation from Michael and his fellow students.
Arjun Balachandran is the carefree and spoiled son of an IAS officer. He wants to relocate to the U.S. for a better future. He falls in love with Meera, whom he has just met. Arjun asks Meera for coffee, takes her to the beach, and realizes that Meera loves him back. One day, Arjun proposes to Meera, prompting her to playfully avoid him by getting into a taxi. Arjun gets a lift from Michael, who is travelling in the same direction to catch up with Meera, who is going that way. Suddenly, Michael is hit by three bullets (shot by Lallan) and falls off the bridge. He is critically injured but is saved by Arjun and Meera.
Lallan finds out that Michael is recovering from his injuries, and this is witnessed by Arjun, who follows him to apprehend him, only for Lallan to beat him up badly and leave him with a broken arm. After staying by his side until his recovery, Arjun changes his mind and joins hands with Michael to contest in the elections. Lallan later kills Gopal when he finds out that he had been instructed by Prosenjit to take him out due to Lallan leaving an eyewitness (Arjun) behind the bridge incident. He confronts Prosenjit, who brainwashes him to work for him and orders him to kidnap Arjun, Vishnu, and Trilok. However, they escape with the help of Lallan's ally Dablu, who has a change of heart after realizing that their profession was interfering with their personal lives, causing Sashi to leave Lallan for her hometown. He convinces Lallan, however, to no avail, and is killed by him when he aids Arjun's escape.
While running, Arjun calls Michael for help, but Lallan easily catches and beats him up. Michael arrives at the nick of time to rescue Arjun at Vidyasagar Setu. A fight ensues between the three men, where Lallan is overpowered by Michael, who spares him and leaves him for the police. Lallan is handed over to the police. Michael, Arjun, Vishnu, and Trilok win the four seats they had contested for and thus enter politics.
Cast
- Ajay Devgn as Michael "Mike" Mukherjee, an activist who wants to encourage students to enter politics (Loosely based on George Reddy)
- Abhishek Bachchan as Lallan Singh, a goon working as muscle for politician Prosenjit Bhattacharya
- Vivek Oberoi as Arjun Balachandran, a wealthy young man who dreams of going to the United States
- Rani Mukerji as Shashi Biswas Singh, Lallan's wife
- Kareena Kapoor as Meera, a girl who is going to Kanpur and Arjun's love interest
- Esha Deol as Professor Radhika, Michael's neighbor and also his love interest
- Om Puri as Prosenjit Bhattacharya, a ruthless politician and Lallan's boss who wants to get the college students out of politics
- Anant Nag as IAS Avinash Balachandran, Arjun's father
- Vijay Raaz as Dablu, Lallan's friend who helps Arjun, Vishnu, and Trilok escape
- Sonu Sood as Gopal Singh, Lallan's brother, a goon who had left his brother alone and later gets killed by him
- Saurabh Shukla as Dr. Gopal, Radhika's uncle
- Karthik Kumar as Vishnu, Michael's close associate who acts as a right-hand man to him
- Abhinav Kashyap as Trilok, Michael's close associate who once gets beaten up by Lallan Singh
- Paras Arora as Arvind Balachandran, Arjun's younger brother
- Tanusree Chakraborty as Arjun's classmate
- Kharaj Mukherjee as Advocate Vishal Ghoshal
- Brijendra Kala as Sheshadri, a newspaper editor
- Sujata Sehgal as Joe Mukherjee, Michael's sister
- Lekha Washington as the girl at the embassy
- Simran (uncredited)
Production
Hrithik Roshan was initially offered the role of Lallan Singh, but was replaced by Abhishek Bachchan.[4]
The film was shot at different locations, including Kolkata, Chennai, Bhopal, Theni, Pollachi and other areas of West Bengal. During the shoot in Chennai, ambassador cars were painted yellow to make them look like Kolkata taxis.[5]
Soundtrack
| Yuva | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | 18 March 2004 (India) | |||
| Recorded | Panchathan Record Inn | |||
| Genre | Film soundtrack | |||
| Label | Ishtar Music | |||
| Producer | A.R. Rahman | |||
| A. R. Rahman chronology | ||||
| ||||
The soundtrack features six songs by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Mehboob. The rap and lyrics for the song "Dol Dol" were written by Blaaze.
All tracks are written by Mehboob.
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Dhakka Dhakka" | A. R. Rahman, Karthik, Mehboob | 04:56 |
| 2. | "Khuda Hafiz" | Sunitha Sarathy, Lucky Ali, Karthik | 05:02 |
| 3. | "Kabhi Neem Neem" | A. R. Rahman, Madhushree | 04:49 |
| 4. | "Dol Dol" | Blaaze, Shahin Badar | 03:59 |
| 5. | "Baadal" | Adnan Sami, Alka Yagnik | 05:25 |
| 6. | "Fanaa" | A. R. Rahman, Sunitha Sarathy, Tanvi Shah | 04:41 |
Reception
Critical reception
The film received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, with Bachchan and Mukerji's performances receiving particular praise.[6] A critic from The New York Times wrote that the film "has a sharp political edge that is rare in Hindi-language films, celebrated as they are for their wildly exuberant production numbers and sugary love stories".[7] It was reported that the movie had the narrative style of the 2000 Mexican film Amores Perros.[8][9]
Box office
Yuva grossed ₹209.1 million (US$2.5 million) at the Indian box office.[1] It did well in multiplexes, but not in single-screen theatres. Compared to other parts of the country, it fared better in Mumbai. The Mumbai distributors recovered the cost of the film, but the sub-territory distributors in places like Surat and Baroda lost money. In places like Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and even South India, distributors lost around ₹50 lakh to ₹1 crore. In states like Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the viewers couldn't relate to the film, hence leading to dismal business. Overseas, too, the film did average business.[10][11]
Accolades
The film received several accolades, including a leading 6 Filmfare Awards, one IIFA Award, one Producers Guild Film Awards, four Screen Awards and two Stardust Awards.[12]
References
- ^ a b c "Yuva – Movie". Box Office India.
- ^ "Esha Deol recalls talking to Mani Ratnam in Tamil on sets of Yuva: 'It left Ajay Devgn wondering what on earth was being said'". The Indian Express. 23 May 2024. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
- ^ "Yuva – Red Chillies Entertainment". www.redchillies.com. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
- ^ "16 Years Of 'Yuva': 9 Interesting Facts About One Of Mani Ratnam's Most Underrated Films!". Indiatimes. Retrieved 3 March 2026.
- ^ "Latest on Mani Ratnam's mov(i)e! - Sify.com". Sify. 2 September 2003. Archived from the original on 2 September 2003.
- ^ "Box Offfice Decade in Review: 2004 – Veer Zaara, Dhoom 1, Main Hoon Naa".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ Kehr, Dave (21 May 2004). "FILM IN REVIEW; 'Yuva'". Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023 – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ Kumar, S. Shiva (5 October 2018). "Mani is the matter: on Chekka Chivantha Vaanam". The Hindu. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ^ Jha, Subhash K. (16 November 2013). "Was 'Nayakan' inspired by 'The Godfather'?". DNA India. Archived from the original on 20 October 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ "Yuva a loser?". Rediff. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
- ^ "Give Yuva a chance. Don't kill it!". Rediff. Archived from the original on 24 October 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
- ^ Dhirad, Sandeep (2006). "Filmfare Nominees and Winners" (PDF). Filmfare. pp. 116–119. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 October 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
External links
- Yuva at IMDb
- Yuva at Bollywood Hungama
- 2004 films
- 2004 Hindi-language films
- 2000s political drama films
- 2000s political thriller films
- Indian multilingual films
- Indian nonlinear narrative films
- Films directed by Mani Ratnam
- Indian political thriller films
- Hyperlink films
- Films set in Kolkata
- Films set in West Bengal
- Films scored by A. R. Rahman
- 2004 multilingual films
- Films shot in Kolkata
- Films shot in Chennai
- Films shot in Madhya Pradesh
- Films shot in Pollachi
- Films shot in West Bengal
- Student politics in India
- Films set in universities and colleges
- Films produced by Mani Ratnam
- Hindi-language drama films
- Madras Talkies films
