# Jungle (2000 film)

Jungle is a 2000 Indian Hindi-language survival thriller film produced and directed by Ram Gopal Varma. The movie is about a group of bandits, led by forest brigand, "Durga Narayan Chaudhary" (Sushant Singh), that hold a bunch of tourists hostage. It stars Suniel Shetty as Shivraj, the head of police, Urmila Matondkar as Anu Malhotra, one of the hostages, and Fardeen Khan as Siddhu, her love interest. The ensemble cast film has received positive reviews upon release and was declared a hit.
Jungle received many accolades and nominations, including the Filmfare Award for Best Background Score at the 46th Filmfare Awards. For his performance, Sushant Singh won an IIFA Award and Zee Cine Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role.

## Plot

Anu Malhotra (Urmila Matondkar) and Siddharth "Siddhu" Mishra (Fardeen Khan) are in love with each other and would like to get married. Anu is ready to inform her parents about her future lifepartner, but everything is put on hold, as the family decides to go out on a group safari-like expedition. Siddhu also decides to go incognito. The group gets to view wildlife from fairly close distances.
Tragedy strikes when the group (except Siddhu) is kidnapped by the bandit Durga Narayan Choudhary (Sushant Singh) and his gang. The bandits commit atrocities on the kidnapped people and finally behead one of the women in order to terrorize the government and extract ransom as well as release one of their men who is in police custody. Once their demands are met, the bandits release the remaining hostages, except Anu, whom the chief Durga Narayan Choudhary has started liking. This is unacceptable for his girlfriend Bali (Kashmera Shah), the only female bandit of the gang. When Siddhu does not find Anu among the released hostages, he sends the illegal arms supplier Dorai (Makrand Deshpande) to request Durga Narayan Choudhary for Anu's release. He secretly follows Dorai and finally reaches Anu. In the ensuing commotion, he is able to run away with her, with the bandits in their pursuit. They keep searching their way out of the dense forest.
Meanwhile, the goons started to reduce in numbers as they get shot one by one during repeated police encounters. Finally, Durga is the only one left. Still mad about Anu, he searches for her. He is about to take Anu away once more but is intercepted by Shivraj (Sunil Shetty), whom he eventually murders, but finally Siddhu beats up Durga and he is arrested. He re-unites with Anu and the movie ends on a happy note.

## Cast

* Sunil Shetty as Shivraj Mittal
* Fardeen Khan as Siddharth "Siddhu" Mishra
* Urmila Matondkar as Anu Malhotra
* Makrand Deshpande as Doraiswamy 'Madrasi'
* Sushant Singh as Durga Narayan Chaudhary
* Kashmera Shah as Bali
* Himanshu Malik as Pawan Birla
* Raju Kher as Mr. Shekhar Malhotra
* Swati Chitnis as Mrs. Sonia Malhotra
* Rajpal Yadav as Sippa
* Vijay Raaz as Deshu
* Ram Awana as Jinda
* Gurinder Makna as Makna
* Sanjay Kumar as Phoda
* Anil Yadav as Bhura
* Avtar Gill as Minister
* Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Khabri Jaiswal

## Reception
### Critical reception

Jungle received generally positive reviews from critics. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Director Ram Gopal Varma deserves a pat on his back for choosing an offbeat subject, going in for a star cast that will not make the distributors' heart beat faster and handling the subject with utmost honesty. To state that this is his finest effort, better than Shiva, Rangeela and Satya, would be absolutely right ... Every character in Jungle has a well-defined role, which is why every performance stands out at the end of the day." Aparajita Saha of Rediff said, "Jungle is a movie where the violence is believable, the tension palpable, the emotions credible and the performances real."

## Soundtrack

The music for the film was composed by Sandeep Chowta and Sameer penned the lyrics.
| # | Title | Singer(s) |
| 1 | "Jaan Kahan Hai Tu" | Kumar Sanu, Sunidhi Chauhan |
| 2 | "Aiyo Aiyo Rama" | Sonu Nigam, Sunidhi Chauhan, Sowmya Raoh, Makrand Deshpande |
| 3 | "Do Pyar Karne Wale" | Sonu Nigam, Sunidhi Chauhan |
| 4 | "Patli Kamar" | Sukhwinder Singh, Sapna Awasthi, Sandeep Chowta, Jolly Mukherjee |
| 5 | "Pehli Baar" | Sonu Nigam, Sunidhi Chauhan |
| 6 | "Sorry Baba" | Sonu Nigam, Sadhana Sargam |

## Awards and nominations

| Award | Date | Category | Recipient(s) and nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
| Filmfare Awards | 17 February 2001 | Best Background Score | Sandeep Chowta | Won |
| International Indian Film Academy Awards | 16 June 2001 | Best Actor in a Negative Role | Sushant Singh | Won | [5] [6] [7] |
| Screen Awards | 20 January 2001 | Best Director | Ram Gopal Varma | Nominated | |
| Screen Awards | 20 January 2001 | Best Actor in a Negative Role | Rajpal Yadav | Won | |
| Screen Awards | 20 January 2001 | Best Actor in a Negative Role | Kashmera Shah | Nominated | |
| Screen Awards | 20 January 2001 | Best Action | Allan Amin | Nominated | |
| Screen Awards | 20 January 2001 | Best Background Music | Sandeep Chowta | Nominated | |
| Screen Awards | 20 January 2001 | Best Editing | Chandan Arora | Nominated | |
| Screen Awards | 20 January 2001 | Best Screenplay | Jaideep Sahni | Nominated | |
| Screen Awards | 20 January 2001 | Best Sound Design | Dwarak Warrier | Nominated | |
| Zee Cine Awards | 3 March 2001 | Best Actor in a Negative Role | Sushant Singh | Won | |