If there’s one thing that’s being talked about the most with respect to Tees Maar Khan – apart from Sheila Ki Jawani of course! – is the train robbery scene which forms the climax of the movie. Apparently, more than 75 lakhs were spent on building the train. In case, you are among the few who still don’t know about this grand train sequence, then here’s the scoop. The biggest heist of Mr. Tees Maar Khan’s life will be carried out in a moving train! However, if we take a look at Bollywood history there are some pretty popular movies which already have ‘been-there-done-that’! Before TMK starts carrying out his train heist from tomorrow, here’s a quick look at some of Bollywood’s train robbery sequences.
1. DHOOM 2
It would be a crime if this movie is not mentioned (besides, I think Hrithik fans would never forgive us!). One of the most stylishly shot train robbery sequences in the history of Bollywood, we believe that TMK’s sequence has a lot to live up to. The first robbery of Mr. A aka Aryan in the movie who steals the British Queen’s crown from the heavily guarded train guised as the Queen herself! Who can forget the entry of the extremely sexy looking Hrithik as he escapes the guards through the deserts of Namibia. This scene is always worth a rewatch.
2. ROOP KI RANI CHORON KA RAJA
The most talked about sequence of the movie prior to its release, for many, this scene turned out to be a bit of a letdown after the generated hype. Anil Kapoor and Sridevi as Romeo and Seema, carry out this long, action packed robbery – to steal diamonds worth two billion – from a running train in return for the name of Seema’s father’s killer’s name. Though not among the best, it still was a pretty good effort on Boney Kapoor’s
part.
3. SHOLAY
Probably one of the first such scenes to be shot in Bollywood, this is an important sequence of the epic movie. Jai(Amitabh Bachchan) and Veeru (Dharmendra) during a train robbery attempt get caught Thakur (Sanjeev Kumar) but are let go. For those who don’t know, this scene was shot on the Mumbai-Pune railway route near Panvel and according to Ramesh Sippy took nearly seven weeks to complete the shoot.
4. VEER
If you don’t remember the sequence, we won’t blame you. Very few people had the courage to sit through the entire movie, so for those gave this one a miss : Veer’s Veer (Salman) pulls off a train robbery carrying the treasure of his arch enemy. It is here that he first catches the glimpse of his to-be love Yashodhara (Zarina) as he returns her grandmother’s brooch to her. Very filmy and typical, this one fails to evoke any response
from the viewer
5. RANG DE BASANTI
Kakori robbery lead by Chandrashekar Azad (Aamir) was shown in this historic movie. Although, we admit that it is a short sequence, it was instrumental in showing the changing mindsets of DJ and his friends. And since, Bhagat Singh is indeed popular with Bollywood, we did see the Kakori loot shown in The Legend of Bhagat Singh and the other four Bhagat Singh based movies as well.
A special mention should also be done of the daylight robbery of the treasury at the Assam Bengal Railway by Suriya Sen depicted in the recent Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey.
Different robberies for different reasons but with one thing in common – the train. And Farah looks all set to join in this list. The only thing left to see is whether the audiences will give her version of ‘The Great Train Robbery’ a thumbs up or a direct thumbs down. We will soon find out.
