Taarzan: The Wonder Car

Taarzan : The Wonder Car, or simply called Taarzan, is a 2004 Indian Hindi-language supernatural action thriller film directed by Abbas–Mustan. The film stars Vatsal Sheth, Ayesha Takia, and Ajay Devgn, while Farida Jalal, Pankaj Dheer, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Amrish Puri, Shakti Kapoor, Gulshan Grover and Mukesh Tiwari play supporting roles. It is loosely based on the American film Christine (1983) which was itself based on Stephen King novel Christine.^[2] This also marked the debut of Ayesha Takia, for which she won the Filmfare Best Debut Award.

Automobile engineer Deven Chaudhary, who lives with his mother Suhasini and ten-year-old son Raj, builds a futuristic car with advanced features. He names this design DC.

He also owns and maintains an older Morris Minor car that was handed down to him by his late father that he calls "Taarzan," based on the car's mirror ornament that resembles the fictional character Tarzan. Deven meets with FourFox, a private company, to discuss his design. FourFox executive Rakesh Kapoor and his partners Kailash Chopra, Anthony D'Costa, and Mahesh Saxena praise the design but disagree over royalties. However, they steal the design and register it under their own name. This infuriates Deven, and he files a complaint with the police. Unfortunately, the police inspector Sanjay Sharma, who takes his case, is secretly on Rakesh's payroll. He, along with Rakesh and his cronies, attack Deven, gag him, and lock him in his car. They then push the car into a lake, causing Deven to die, his family never knowing what happened to him.

Twelve years later, Raj, now a 22-year-old young man, attends college, where he falls in love with Priya, a rich girl. Raj also works as a part-time mechanic at a garage owned by Kartar Singh. One day, he discovers his father's older car, Taarzan in a scrapyard. He pools money demanded by the owner of the scrapyard and buys it for ₹5000.

Raj works with Kartar Singh to repair and upgrade the car in memory of his father. They revamp the car into a more advanced version than Deven's original design, and Raj decides to rename it DC to honor his father's memory. However, the car would not start due to a damaged fuel pump, and it could not seem attainable, depressing Raj.

One night however, Deven's spirit powers the car, making it run miraculously. Raj, Priya, Suhasini, and Karter celebrate. While taking Priya and Suahsini out, he grabs his rival classmates, Rocky and his goon's attention and pick a fight with him. Deven's spirit witnesses this and decides to drive the car later that night and go after the boys. Eventually, he injures them which makes them apologize to Raj, who they think is driving the car. The next day, Rocky and his friends approach Raj and apologize once again and beg for mercy, which confuses Raj. However, he accepts their apology, and they all become friends.

Meanwhile, when Raj leaves his car unattended, Deven takes controls of it to seek revenge on his murderers. When Rakesh is abroad, Deven's spirit uses the car to kill Kailash, Anthony, Mahesh, and Sanjay. His power and control of the car also made it so he can miraculously repair itself as if nothing happened, making Raj unaware of the activities. Since the car belongs to Raj, he becomes a suspect in the eyes of Inspector Khurana, the investigating officer. Khurana takes Raj in for questioning when Mahesh's widow was allegedly attacked by DC/Taarzan without the "driver" exiting the vehicle. (Deven blew his horn heavily which caused a sound shockwave, destroying Mahesh's property.) However, he releases him after Raj had alibi with him, Priya, and his class rivals-turned-friends all present with him at a nightclub during the night in question. When Rakesh returns to India, he learns all his partners' fate.

Rakesh is revealed to be Priya's father and meets Raj on her insistence. After knowing Raj is Deven's son and with the deaths of his partners, Rakesh assumes that Raj has discovered the truth and is using Priya as a pawn and he's next. Deven, meanwhile, tries to pursue Rakesh. Rakesh, however, believing it is Raj after him decides to try and kill Raj before he kills him. During the chase, Taarzan gets destroyed, which was witnessed by Raj and his grandmother, them suspecting how the car moved on its own. With Priya witnessing her father's actions, Rakesh attacks Suhasini, knocking her out, then attacks and kidnaps Raj. Still believing Raj was after him, Rakesh reveals the truth about Deven's death, horrifying Raj. Rakesh tries to drown Raj, however, Deven's spirit magically repairs the car in front of his mother, revealing himself to her before driving in the water and saving Raj. Deven then reveals himself as ghost to Raj and Rakesh. Terrified with seeing Deven's spirit and learning it was him that killed his partners, Rakesh confesses his crime before everyone, which Inspector Khurana also witnesses, fully clearing Raj's name.

Khurana arrests Rakesh. Everyone watches as Deven says his last goodbye to Suhasini and Raj. With Raj, Suhasini, and Priya united, Deven's spirit becomes free, and he ascends to heaven.

• Vatsal Sheth as Raj Choudhary, Deven's son and Priya's boyfriend.
• Ayesha Takia as Priya Kapoor, Raj's girlfriend and Rakesh's daughter.
• Ajay Devgan as Deven Choudhary, Suhasini's son, Raj's father. (guest appearance)
• Farida Jalal as Suhasini Choudhary (Dadi), Deven's mother, Raj's grandmother.
• Pankaj Dheer as Rakesh Kapoor, 1st partner, Priya's father and Deven's murderer.
• Sumeet Pathak as Vikram "Vicky" Jain, Raj's best friend.
• Amrish Puri as Kartar Singh (Paaji): Raj's boss.
• Sadashiv Amrapurkar as Anthony D'Çosta Jojo's father, 2nd partner, Deven's murderer.
• Shakti Kapoor as Mahesh Saxena, 3rd partner, Deven's murderer.
• Mukesh Tiwari as Kailash Chopra, 4th partner, Deven's murderer.
• Sheela Sharma as Mrs. Chopra, Kailash's wife.
• Gulshan Grover as Police Inspector S. Khurana.
• Rajpal Yadav as Police Constable Havaldar Sitaram.
• Deepak Shirke as Inspector Sanjay Sharma, Deven's murderer.
• Jeetu Verma as Jojo D'Çosta
• Sikandar Kharbanda as Rocky, Raj's bully-turned-friend.
• Narendra Bedi as Truck Driver
• Amrit Patel as Scrapeyard
• Sharad Sankla as Police Constable

The music is composed by Himesh Reshammiya with lyrics by Sameer.

Taran Adarsh of IndiaFM gave the film 2.5 stars out of 5, writing, ″On the whole, TAARZAN THE WONDER CAR is a different experience that will find its share of supporters and adversaries. At the box-office, the film will have to rely on kid-power to make it big. Had the film released during vacations, the outcome would've been much better.^[2] Dhawan G of Rediff.com wrote, ″The Abbas-Mustan film will actually delight kids more than adults. It's funny, Hollywood's king of horror Stephen King would never have seen his horror fest Christine becoming a family film, where the car—instead of scaring the audience—entertains them.″^[3] Goher Iqbal Punn of BBC.com wrote, ″On the whole, Tarzan - The Wonder Car is a stylishly and creatively executed enterprise, which will have you glued to your seat till the end. A great entertainer overall.″^[4]

• Taarzan: The Wonder Car at IMDb