Nobody knows when this Ajay Devgn film released and flopped, Sanjay Dutt also made a film with same name 38 years ago which was a superhit

Anees Bazmee's first three films as a director - Hulchul (1995), Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha (1998), and Deewangee (2002) - starred Ajay Devgn in the leading role. Their fourth consecutive film Naam was completed in 2004 and was slated to release on February 25, 2005, but kept getting delayed and finally hit the theatres after 20 years on November 22, 2024.

Apart from Ajay Devgn, Naam also starred Sameera Reddy, Bhumika Chawla, Rahul Dev, Shriya Sharma, Yashpal Sharma, Vijay Raaz, Rajpal Yadav, Mukesh Tiwari and Sharat Saxena. The film received extremely negative reviews upon its release and bombed at the box office. Made in Rs 20 crore, Naam just earned Rs 1.20 crore and was a massive commercial failure.

Before Ajay Devgn's Naam, Sanjay Dutt also headlined a film with the same title in 1986. Directed by Mahesh Bhatt, the crime thriller Naam also starred Nutan, Kumar Gaurav, Poonam Dhillon, Amrita Singh and Paresh Rawal. The film became superhit and was one of the highest-earning movies in 1986.

Naam proved to be a turning point in Sanjay Dutt's career after several of his movies flopped after his debut Rocky in 1981. The film also changed the fortunes for Mahesh Bhatt, who had previously made critically acclaimed art-house films such as Arth and Saaransh. Naam was his first commercial success.

One of the major reasons behind Naam's success was the fact that it was written by the legendary screenwriter and Salman Khan's father Salim Khan after his split from Javed Akhtar. Salim-Javed had given multiple blockbusters such as Sholay, Zanjeer, and Deewaar among others in the 1970s.

Composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal, sung by Pankaj Udhas, and written by Anand Bakshi, the song Chithi Aayi Hai, Aayi Hai, Chitthi Aayi Hai from the Sanjay Dutt-starrer became a chartbuster and is still popular. The late ghazal singer Pankaj Udhas, who passed away in 2024, himself appeared in the song's video in the film.