Inspector Dhanush

Inspector Dhanush review :

An unofficial remake of Shatrughan Sinha starrer Kalicharan (1976); Inspector Dhanush introduced Kannada superstar Vishnuvardhan to Hindi cinema. He played the titular character who is a tough cop assigned to wipe out the crime from Mumbai. Only no one knows who the real kingpin is...

On discovering the truth (Kalicharan's No 17 is replaced by a double sword tattoo here) behind the villain's identity, Dhanush is killed. Next, the police commissioner (Suresh Oberoi) replaces him with his doppelganger goon Vishnu Dada who then creates a havoc in the villain's life.

The film was directed by Ramsay Brothers but the posters only included their first names Tulsi - Shyam so that the audience wouldn't confuse this to be a horror film. The gorgeous Sangeeta Bijalani was cast opposite the much older looking Vishnu but was relegated to the songs and dance routine. Roopa Ganguly had the meatier role of Dhanush's wife who is unaware of her husbands death. She looked hot and sexy in the seduction number with Vishnu. Sadashiv Amrapurkar was his usual self playing to the gallery with his accented Hindi.

Inspector Dhanush was made in Hindi and Kannada and while the Hindi version failed at the box office, Kannada version was a roaring success. I had seen the film at Paradise Cinema Mahim where the crowd, mostly Kannadigas, was euphoric whenever Vishnu spoke in their local language. Such was his star power!!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.