36 Years Of ArdhSatya (18/11/1983)
Ardh Satya is a 1983 film directed by Govind Nihalani, his second offering after another angst-ridden movie Aakrosh (1980). The screenplay of both movies was by Vijay Tendulkar, the noted Marathi playwright; this one was based on the short story, ‘Surya’, by S. D. Panvalkar, and featured dialogues by Vasant Dev.
In this acclaimed cop-drama, the protagonist, played by Om Puri, is a policeman struggling with the evils around him and with his own frailties. The film also stars Amrish Puri, Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah, and Sadashiv Amrapurkar, and features a theme poem by the Marathi writer Dilip Chitre. Nihalani was looking for a new actor to play the role of Rama Shetty when writer Tendulkar convinced him to see the play of Amrapurkar. It was a Marathi play called “Hands Up”. The title of the film came from a poem written by Dilip Chitre.
Ardh Satya won many awards and went on to become a landmark film in Indian film history. It is still considered to be one of the best cop films made in India. A sequel titled Party was released in 1984.