Kandahar (2010 film)

Major Mahadevan and his unit undertake a mission to deal with an international terrorist organisation after a group of hardcore terrorists hijack a plane.

Suryanatha Sharma (Ganesh Venkatraman) is an educated, unemployed man. His father, Lokanatha Sharma (played by Amitabh Bachchan), wants to see his son victorious in life. Things change when he meets Major Mahadevan (Mohanlal). Though, their initial encounter is hostile at first, Suryanath apologizes to Mahadevan for his rudeness, and impressed with Suryanath and seeing potential in him, he suggests him to join the Army. Though he struggles a bit in the beginning, Suryanath is able to pass out of the Indian Military Academy with flying colours.

After graduating, he joins the NSG (National Security Guard) as a commando where he joins Mahadevan's crew. Soon after, an Air India flight becomes hijacked by hardcore terrorists whose objective was to have the Indian government release their leader who was caught by Mahadevan himself. They are then forced to land in New Delhi to refuel. Mahadevan and his crew are able to infiltrate the plane through the wheels, even though their superior ordered them not to.

Once inside the plane they are able to find out the number of terrorists who are inside and quickly kill them and their leader and retake the plane. However a sleeper cell reveals himself and shoot the pilots and Suryanath injuring them. Mahadevan and Suryanath take control of the plane and with the pilot's guidance are able to land plane. But Suryanath unfortunately dies from his injuries. He is given a hero's funeral with honour after which Mahadevan consoles Lokanath, who reveals that he is proud of his son and thanks Major Mahadevan for making his son a hero. Mahadevan then takes his leave

• Mohanlal as Major Mahadevan,NSG
• Amitabh Bachchan as Lokanatha Sharma
• Ganesh Venkatraman as Captain.Suryanatha Sharma,NSG
• Sumalatha as Sumangaly, wife of Sharma
• Ananya as a student
• Ragini Dwivedi as Aishwarya, Surya's girlfriend
• Major Ravi as Company Havaldar Major Shiva
• K. P. A. C. Lalitha as Pathumma
• Mamukkoya as Mullah
• N. L. Balakrishnan as Ballston
• Major Kishore
• Naveen Arakkal as NSG Commando Naveen
• Suresh Nair as Cadet
• Saju Attingal as NSG Commando
• Renjith Reghu by
• Anoop Chandran as Selvan
• Pradeep Chandran as Senior Officer
• Jaffer Idukki as Mani
• S.P.Sreekumar as Cadet
• Joemon Joshy as Cadet Kishore
• Ragasya as item number
• Shrikant Kamat

The film was released on 16 December 2010 in 111 theatres in Kerala, 9 theatres in Bengaluru, 5 theatres in Chennai, and around 18 theatres in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Hyderabad. Kandahar has collected ₹ 5.25 crores revenue from before releasing through selling satellite rights, audio rights, video rights, overseas distribution rights, and theatre advances.

Kandahar received negative reviews upon release.[10] Though it was one of the most-awaited films of the year, it failed to attain a good word-of-mouth.[3][10] A review by Sify, which rated it "below average" said, "There are moments when every Indian would feel proud about being born in this great land, but the shaky script, ordinary action sequences and a faulty climax lets the film down."[11] Rediff published a nearly negative review saying, "A better script would have perhaps made the return of Major Mahadevan more appealing." It rated the film 2.5 in a scale of five.[12] OneIndia gave the movie a 3/5 rating,[13] and Now Running a 2/5.[14]

Asianet Film Awards

• Best Feature Film on National Integration Award - Major Ravi

The soundtrack features five songs composed by Shamir Tandon, who is known for his compositions in Madhur Bhandarkar's films,[15] with lyrics by Sandeep Nath, Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma, Sudhakar Sharma, and Kaushal Kishor.

• Kandahar at IMDb