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 movie defines modern Indian screenplay with mind-bending twists. Irrespective of the commercial success, the film remains as a classic example of suspense in Indian cinema. It was also hailed to be much ahead of its time, courtesy Ram Gopal Varma and Anurag Kashyap.

[Spoiler Alert] 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). Kaun was an inventively minimalistic film using only one set and a cast of three actors (excluding a dead body and a brief appearance of a room full of silent, motionless extras). The only costume change occurs in the film's final scene when Matondkar reappears the following morning.

Plot[link]

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 employee of Mr. Malhotra. 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. 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, he finds Mr Malhotra's dead body and Ma'am behind him with a knife in her hand. He realises that the killer is none other than Ma'am and tries his best to save himself. But, he is misunderstood by Qureshi who kills him while trying to "save" Ma'am. She then herself kills Qureshi and dances merrily in the rain.

The next day, she cleans all the blood in the house and responds positively to another person who has come to see Mr Malhotra. She smiles eerily and the movie ends.

Cast[link]

• 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.

Trivia[link]

Sushant Singh initially tries to pass himself off as a police inspector named Qureshi. Ram Gopal Varma later reprised the name in his 2003 film Bhoot when Nana Patekar played a character named Inspector Liyaqat Qureshi.

Also, all these same actors appeared in the Ram Gopal Varma-directed movie, Satya in 1997.

External links[link]

• Kaun at the Internet Movie Database
• Kaun at AllRovi
• Kaun at Allmovie
• Kaun at Bollywood Movies Online