Kaun? (Hindi: कौन, English: Who's There?) is a 1999 Hindi suspense thriller directed by Ram Gopal Verma, written by Anurag Kashyap, and starring Urmila Matondkar, Manoj Bajpai and Sushant Singh. Other titles for the film were Evaru (Telugu title) and Thriller (English title). The film features a man claiming to be a white collar worker (Bajpai) and another man claiming to be a police inspector (Singh), both attempting to get into the house of a young woman (Matondkar). The film is considered one of the finest works from the combo Ramgopal Varma and Urmila Matondkar. It is also hailed as one of the best thrillers from Indian Cinema from many critics.

Plot

In the Malhotra household, a young woman (Urmila Matondkar) is preparing to spend a quiet evening with her pet kitty, watching cable television. The doorbell rings, and she sees through the peephole that it is a young man, who later identifies himself as Sameer A. Purnavale (Manoj Bajpai), claiming to be an business partner of Mr. Malhotra and the house belongs to Mr Gupta. She is reluctant to open the door, even to talk to this stranger, as the police had just issued a warning about a killer at large in this area and denies that it is Malhotra house but Gupta's. She does offer him a sandwich, but he tricks her into opening the door, and lets himself in on the pretext of protecting her from an unknown person, who is making a noise elsewhere in the house.

When no one is found, she asks him to leave, and opens the door, and finds another man with a gun, who later identifies himself as Police Inspector Qureshi (Sushant Singh). The two doubt his credentials, and Sameer phones the nearest police station and calls for help. The two men then get into a fight, and she gets hold of Qureshi's gun, and asks them to sit quietly. It is then revealed that the man claiming to be Inspector Qureshi is in fact a thief. She telephones her mother and ask her to contact the police.

Purnavale tries to kill Qureshi, thinking that he is the serial killer and then uses the telephone to call the police, but finds that the phone is not working. He is unable to understand what is happening and asks Ma'am to hide somewhere safe inside the house while trying to figure out a solution to the problem. There is ring at the door bell and Purnavale answers. He starts looking around for Miss Malhotra in the house and tells her that there was a man who was asking for Mr Malhotra and questions her this house is Gupta's and not Malhotra's as she had told him earlier to which she runs away to the top floor without answering him as she is scared of him. He starts to look for her for the answer to his question when he stumbles upon a dead body and identifies that the dead body is that of Mr Malhotra. Purnavale panics when he looks around as she attacks him and in self-defense he tries to kill her. In this confusion the thief who is mortally wounded stabs him to death assuming that he is the killer. When the thief checks on Purnavale's body Ms Malhotra starts singing like a psycho while she stabs him to his death thus revealing that she is the killer.

At the end of the movie, she is shown speaking to her mother and pleading her mother to return home from a disconnected telephone line, establishing that she is mentally ill. Before the credits it is shown there is yet another door bell and a man asking for Mr. Malhotra while she smiles evilly looking into the peephole.

Cast

• Urmila Matondkar as Ma'am: She is the main character in the film. Her real name is unknown, but it is known that she owns the mansion in the area. A man claiming to be Sameer A. Purnavale knocks on her door multiple times attempting to get inside the house.

• Manoj Bajpai as Sameer A. Purnavale: A man identifying himself as "Sameer A. Purnavale" who knocks on the Ma'am's door numerous times trying to get her attention in order to open the door. Sameer tries telling Ma'am that he is not the killer on the news she heard about in the area, and eventually manages to find his way into the house.

• Sushant Singh as Qureshi: A man identifying himself as "Police Inspector Qureshi" and claiming to carry out a police investigation at Mr. Malhotra's house.

Reception

Kaun became just a moderate success when it released. But during the years, the film has found a cult status and often regarded as one finest thrillers of Hindi cinema.^{[1] [2] [3]}

References

External links

• Kaun at IMDb
• Kaun at AllMovie
• Kaun at Bollywood Movies Online