Released on 11 August 2000, the film Deewane has completed 25 years today. Directed by Harry Baweja, the film featured Ajay Devgn in a double role an honest police officer Vishal on one side and a dacoit Arun on the other. This was the third film of Ajay’s career in which he played a double role, before this he had done so in Hindustan Ki Kasam and Gair.

The film also featured Urmila Matondkar, Mahima Chaudhary, Paresh Rawal, Johnny Lever, Shivaji Satam and Gulshan Grover in important roles. Interestingly, the release of ‘Deewane’ clashed with Dhadkan, which starred Mahima Chaudhary along with Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Shilpa Shetty. Both the films released on the same day, but Dhadkan won the box office. Urmila Matondkar was not the first choice for this film; The role was first offered to Karisma Kapoor, but she turned it down. The music album of the film was special as it included dialogues from the film along with the songs, just like Harry Baweja had done in his previous films Dilwale and Diljale.

During the shooting, Mahima Chaudhary met with a serious accident. This accident happened while going to the set of Dil Kya Kare, in which 67 pieces of glass hit her face. Ajay Devgan and Kajol supported her during this difficult time and kept her recovery a secret so that the films would not be lost.

There was also a controversy on the sets of Deewane regarding a close-up scene. Mahima refused to do a close-up due to the injury on her face, but the director was not ready to agree. Then Ajay Devgan came forward and said that the scene would be done later. After this incident, rumours of their affair started flying in the media, which further upset Mahima.