Halla Bol

Halla Bol
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Rajkumar Santoshi
Produced by	Suresh Sharma Abdol Samee Siddiqui
Screenplay by	Rajkumar Santoshi
Story by	Rajkumar Santoshi
Starring	Ajay Devgn Vidya Balan Pankaj Kapoor
Music by	Sukhwinder Singh
Cinematography	Natarajan Subramaniam
Edited by	Steven H. Bernard
Distributed by	Indian Films Sunrise Pictures Pvt. Ltd.
Release date	11 January 2008
Running time	150 mins
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹210 million (US$3.1 million))

Halla Bol (Raise Your Voice) is a Hindi drama film released on 11 January 2008, and directed by Rajkumar Santoshi. Halla Bol stars Ajay Devgan and Vidya Balan in pivotal roles and a number of celebrities from the Hindi film industry appear as themselves. Produced by Samee Siddiqui, the film's score and soundtrack was composed by Sukhwinder Singh, while Nataraja Subramanian and Steven Bernard were the cinematographer and editor respectively.

The film touches upon the Jessica Lall murder case, Aamir Khan's involvement with the Narmada Bachao Andolan, the Right to Information Act, and public participation in fighting corruption. It also references the theatre group Jan Natya Manch, whose leader, theatre activist Safdar Hashmi, was killed by political rivals while performing a street play by the same name, Halla Bol!, in 1989.

Ashfaque (Ajay Devgn) is a small town boy aspiring to be a film star in the Hindi film industry. He joins a street theatre group run by a reformed dacoit Sidhu (Pankaj Kapoor), who uses street theatre as a medium to bring about an awakening in the masses. Ashfaque struggles to give a creative vent to the actor in him in order to realise his dreams. Ashfaque's determined struggle pays off and he gets a break in films. He gets a new screen name – Sameer Khan. With the passage of time, he moves up the success ladder in a very short time.

Soon, he becomes Sameer Khan the superstar. Amidst all the adulation and applause, he slowly loses his own identity. He forgets his real self and imbibes all characteristics of the various roles played by him on screen. Corruption overtakes his entire system, alienating him from all loved ones, including his wife Sneha (Vidya Balan).