Aman Joshi (Aman Verma) is on a research assignment. His subject is the chawl dwellers in Bombay City. He rents a small tenement there and talks to the people living there. He soon gets involved in their lives, and even gets attracted to plain-looking Saundarya (Divya Mirza), who he transforms into a beauty, after a cosmetic makeover. Aman's kindness is mistaken for generosity by all the chawl dwellers, and they swarm him for his money, trying to get loans and gifts, to improve their lives. Then the lives of this small community are turned upside down, when the owner announces that he intends to tear the building down.
Acting
Sushmita Sen's cameo radiates impossible star power
Production
Authentic chawl set design captures cramped poetry
Writing
Satire that actually likes its characters
Director
Sanjay Jha
Raveena Tandon
Laxmi Rathod
Namrata Shirodkar
Mona
Rinke Khanna
Suman
Divya Dutta
Dulari
Shweta Menon
Sheela
Sushmita Sen
Sushmita
Vijay Raaz
Ganpat
Aman Verma
Aman Joshi
Sachin Khedekar
Parveen Seth
Dia Mirza
Saundarya
Mahesh Manjrekar
Munna Bhai Hatela
Shivaji Satham
Pandhari
Sayaji Shinde
Sayaji Rane
Vivek Shauq
Sukhwinder
Reema Lagoo
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The title riffs on a famous Amitabh dialogue ('Praan Jaye Par Vachan Na Jaye'), swapping 'vachan' (promise) for 'shaan' (pride/dignity).
Released during Mumbai's 2000s gentrification wave, it captures chawl life before luxury towers erased these neighborhoods. The ensemble of 90s heroines in character roles reflects how Bollywood sidelined them.
No ratings yet
Sign in to join the discussion — comments are spoiler-gated to your watch progress.
Discussion starters
IN
