Band Baaja Baaraat

Band Baaja Baaraat
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Maneesh Sharma
Produced by	Aditya Chopra
Screenplay by	Habib Faisal
Story by	Maneesh Sharma
Starring	Anushka Sharma Ranveer Singh
Music by	Salim-Sulaiman
Cinematography	Aseem Mishra
Editing by	Namrata Rao
Studio	Yash Raj Studios
Distributed by	Yash Raj Films
Release date(s)	10 December 2010 (2010-12-10)
Running time	140 Minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi English
Budget	150 million (US$2.7 million)
Box office	233.1 million (US$4.3 million)

Band Baaja Baaraat (English translation: Bands Horns and Revelry), also known by the abbreviated form BBB, is a 2010 Bollywood romance comedy directed by debutant Maneesh Sharma and stars Anushka Sharma and newcomer Ranveer Singh in the lead roles. Produced and distributed by Yash Raj Films, the film is a romantic comedy set in the world of wedding planning. It was released worldwide on 10 December 2010. It is rated 6.5/10 on the Hindi film review aggregator website ReviewGang, indicating generally favourable reviews. The film was a critical and commercial success despite initial competition from No Problem and Tees Maar Khan. The film became popular for its fresh subject and screenplay, which even lead to unofficial remakes such as Jabardasth, a Telugu film in 2013.

Plot

Bittoo Sharma (Ranveer Singh) is street-smart and fun-loving. The movie opens with Bittoo collecting money from others to gatecrash a wedding for tasty food. Intelligent and quirky, Shruti Kakkar (Anushka Sharma), who assists the wedding coordinator, suspects that he is from neither the groom nor bride's side and is just stealing food. Bittoo's friend, the videographer at the wedding, pretends that Bittoo is part of the film crew and has a right to be there. After watching her dance at the wedding, Bittoo makes a video of her during the dance routine. The next day he figures out her name and college and chases her down to give her the DVD to impress her. She accepts it and tells him her dream of opening a wedding-planning company.

After exams are over Shruti makes a deal with her parents that she has five years to get her business up and running before they arrange a marriage for her. When Bittoo's father comes to take him back to his village to work chopping sugar cane, Bittoo refuses and lies that he and Shruti are going into business together. He goes to Shruti with this idea but she refuses because she was worried that a romantic complication would rise between the two of them. She tells Bittoo that the number one rule of business is not to let love get in the way. Bittoo promises that that will never be a problem. Shruti still refuses but Bittoo follows her around anyways.

Shruti goes to meet with Chanda, a famous wedding planner, in the hopes that Chanda will hire her and teach her about "high-class weddings." However, too over-eager, Shruti ruins her chance at getting hired and is just about to be thrown out when Chanda sees Bittoo waiting for her. Needing a strong person for heavy lifting, Chanda offers him a job. Bittoo accepts with the condition that she hires Shruti as well, saying that they are partners and refusing to work without her. Chanda agrees and the two of them get to work helping with the wedding. While checking the arrangements, Shruti learns that Chanda is cheating her clients - she orders a cheaper arrangement of flowers and decorations than the family requested so she can keep more of the commission. Later that day, when the irate father of the bride confronts Chanda, she blames Shruti, claiming it was her fault that the flowers hadn't been ordered correctly. Bittoo, angry at Chanda for accusing Shruti, yells back that she has no right to treat her employees like this. He tells her they quit and Shruti, calling him her partner, leaves with him, warning Chanda that they'll "see her around the market."

The two then begin their own company "Shaadi Mubarak" (Happy Weddings), and with the work equally split between the two, their enterprise becomes a success. Their first project is low-budget but very successful. The flamboyant duo then go on to plan many more small weddings, working incredibly well as a team. finally, they migrate to posh colonies of Delhi and get their first big client by stealing them away from Chanda. After working night and day, the wedding is a huge success. That night, after the event, they dance to celebrate and both end up slightly drunk. A simple hug turns into more, and the two make love that night. Afterwards, Bittoo lies awake all night, worried about what had happened.

INTERMISSION

In the morning, Bittoo pretends to be asleep while Shruti wakes and dresses. When Shruti starts calling him "dear" he is obviously uncomfortable with it. Not wanting to hurt her feelings, Bittoo behaves awkwardly around her over the next few days, while Shruti realizes that she has fallen in love with him. Knowing that he is worried about what happened, Shruti tries to reassure Bitto that she's not like other women he's been with who follow him around everywhere. Bittoo, misunderstanding, believes that she's telling him that the night didn't mean anything to her. Relieved, he tells her it meant nothing to him as well, citing her own rule that business and love don't mix. Shruti pretends to agree but cries after he leaves. This creates a tense atmosphere between the two, eventually leading to Shruti making a mistake with the sound board at a wedding. They have a huge fight resulting in Shruti breaking the partnership and forcing Bittoo to leave the company. Bittoo vows to start his own wedding planning business and the two go their separate ways. Both of them attempt to prove themselves in the industry while badmouthing the other's business to clients. However, they don't do as well by themselves, unable to handle the workload without their partner and both enterprises end up suffering huge losses, plunging them into debt.

They finally get a big contract, but it is contingent upon them working together as a team. The bride had been a guest at the first big wedding they'd done and wanted the same level for her own wedding. Facing debt collectors, they agree to partner up again for this one wedding for the sake of recovering their own losses. They divvy up the workload and each focus on their own departments, eventually falling back into their old rhythm. When the lead entertainer is forced to back out at the last minute due to suffering an injury, Bittoo and Shruti perform together for the wedding, something they hadn't done since before their falling out. The performance is a success and the next day, Bittoo tells Shruti that they should be partners again, saying that Shaadi Mubarak was never as successful as when they were together. Shruti refuses his offer, telling him that she is getting married in two months to her fiance, Chetan, and will move to Dubai with him after the wedding. Bittoo is stunned and immediately argues with her that she can't get married, saying it it is "totally wrong."

During the rest of the wedding preparations Bittoo pesters Shruti about her engagement, claiming that she'd be moving too far from her mother and father, or that Dubai wouldn't suit her. When none of those reason dissuade her, Bittoo asks if her engagement was an attempt to make him jealous, claiming that she'd fallen in love with him and that this marriage was a way to get revenge because he paid her no heed after their night together. Shruti refuses to answer. He finally goes too far when he cuts off a call from Chetan in a effort to get Shruti to answer his question. Livid, Shruti answers that she is not doing it for revenge, but for her own security and her parents' satisfaction to see her well-settled in life. She admits that she did fall in love with Bittoo, but since he didn't feel the same, she had moved on. Shruti answers a call from Chetan and walks away sadly, leaving Bittoo alone.

At the sudden thought of losing her forever, Bittoo realizes that he has always been in love with Shruti, but was too scared to acknowledge it in fear of jeopardizing the business. Desperate to win her back, Bittoo steals Chetan's phone number from Shruti's cell and calls him, telling him to back off and that Shruti was his. Hearing what Bittoo had done from Cheten, Shruti angrily runs off to find Bittoo and confronts him where he is waiting for her on a rooftop. Bittoo tells Shruti that he'd loved her all along and was a fool to have run away from her love. Shruti calls off her engagement and the two share a passionate kiss.

The film ends with both of them dancing at their own wedding, their friends and family celebrating with them.

Cast

• Anushka Sharma as Shruti Kakkar
• Ranveer Singh as Bittoo Sharma
• Manu Rishi as Inspector (Special Appearance)
• Puru Chibber as Bittoo's best friend (Mika)
• Revant Shergill as Santy (Musician)
• Manmeet Singh as Rajinder Singh (Caterer)
• Neeraj Sood as Maqsood (Florist)
• Vinod Verma as Shruti's father
• Nirupama Chopra as Shruti's mother
• Pushvinder Rathore as Shruti's sister
• Shena Gamat as Chanda Narang, the famous wedding planner
• Govind Pandey as Bittoo's father

Production

Development

Yash Raj Films announced the then-untitled project on 4 February 2010. Maneesh Sharma, who has been an associate or assistant director on a number of Yash Raj Films productions such as Fanaa, Aaja Nachle and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, makes his feature directing debut with this film. Sharma also came up with the film's story, however the actual screenplay was written by Habib Faisal, a writer who has worked on a number of other romantic comedies for the company, such as Salaam Namaste, Ta Ra Rum Pum and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. Sharma described the story as "a quintessential Delhi tale, inspired by events in his own life". A relatively low-budget film costing 100 Million Rupees (a little more than US$2 million at the time), Band Baaja Baaraat is produced by Aditya Chopra and executive producers Aashish Singh and Sanjay Shivalkarr.

Prior to its release, Band Baaja Baaraat was accused of being a rip-off of the 2001 American film The Wedding Planner, which was denied by a Yash Raj Films representative. The two storylines are different however, as in 'The Wedding Planner', the main character falls in love with a groom whose wedding she is planning, and in 'Band Baaja Baaraat,' the main characters fall in love while working together planning weddings.

Casting

"[Anushka Sharma] and I have been friends for a long time, and we have a very comfortable love-hate relationship – more hate and less love from her side!"

—Maneesh Sharma

Actress Anushka Sharma was given the female lead in the film, thus completing the three-film contract she signed to do Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, her first film. Her role was described as "challenging" by media publications prior to the film's release. Describing the way the lead characters in the film talk as "crude but cute", the actress declared that the hardest part of her job was speaking like a typical Delhi Punjabi girl, which called for her to "talk fast, sometimes mix words and even omit words completely". Director Maneesh Sharma, with whom she's been great friends since her first film, said that the model-turned-actress was a very feisty person, and a natural actress who didn't like doing multiple takes. She described the film as "very much a young love story set in Delhi".

The male lead was given to Mumbai native Ranveer Singh, a complete newcomer with no prior acting or modelling experience whatsoever, who impressed producer Aditya Chopra so much that he cast him after his first audition, signing a three-film contract with the actor. Singh, who took acting classes, and hung out at Delhi University prior to shooting said about his casting “I’m the first solo hero Yash Raj is launching. It’s a huge deal for me. I don’t know how I got here. I guess I happened to be in the right place at the right time”. As such, this marks the first time a film rests mainly on Anushka Sharma's shoulders, as opposed to her prior films Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and Badmaash Company where she shared the screen with more experienced co-stars, respectively Shahrukh Khan and Shahid Kapoor, a fact the actress remarked upon, stating "some people will refer to Band Baaja Baraat as Anushka Sharma’s film because they have seen me in another film before".

Filming

Filming started in Delhi on 4 February 2010, the same day the production company announcement was made. Ranveer Singh was very nervous about his first day but was eventually proud that his first scene only took three takes to shoot. A 18 February article by Minakshi Saini for the Hindustan Times' entertainment supplement HT City reported that during the previous day's early morning shoot in West Delhi’s Subhash Nagar, Ranveer Singh's newcomer status led many to speculate on whether he was Ranbir Kapoor, Ranvir Shorey or even Ritesh Deshmukh. Police officers were eventually called in to secure the set from curious onlookers, however some expressed discontentment at having to be out in the cold despite both lead actors being virtual unknowns. The film features a kiss between the lead actors, which only necessitated a single take. Reportedly, Singh accidentally hit Sharma while filming an undisclosed intense scene. Other than Subhash Nagar DDA Market, locations in Delhi include Janakpuri, Delhi University, North and West Delhi, Ring Road, Mehrauli Farms and Akbar Road. Some scenes were also shot in director Maneesh Sharma's almamater, Hans Raj College in University campus. The film was additionally shot in Mumbai in March and Rajasthan in April.

The assistant directors for the film were Akshat Kapil and Rohit Philip who'd previously held the job on Aaja Nachle and Do Dooni Chaar respectively. Aseem Mishra handled the cinematography after working on such films as Contract, New York and Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai. The various dance sequences were choreographed by Vaibhavi Merchant, who has previously worked on countless films including such hits as Lagaan, Swades, Devdas and Veer-Zaara. Sonal Choudhry and T.P. Abid were the film's production designers while Niharika Khan was the costume designer.

Several rumours surrounded the film's shoot, such as speculation that the lead pair were more than just friends. Early media reports alternatively titled the film Shaadi Mubarak or Shaadi Mubarak Ho, however Yash Raj Films eventually issued a press release in late April claiming that this was not the film's title, and that film was actually still untitled. The title was eventually revealed to be Band Baaja Baaraat in late July.

Lead actors Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma got along well during the shoot, and are strongly believed to have dated and broken up before the film's release. Speaking about his co-star, Singh declared “She’s intelligent, well read and great to hang out with. Actually, she’s pretty close to my dream girl”. Later he joked "She is the best co-star I have ever worked with! It's also because she is the only co-star I have ever worked with!".

Post-Production

Namrata Rao edited the film.

Music

Band Baaja Baaraat
Soundtrack album by Salim-Sulaiman
Released	3 November 2010 (2010-11-03)
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	37:59
Label	YRF Music
Salim-Sulaiman chronology
Aashayein (2010) Band Baaja Baaraat (2010) Anaganaga O Dheerudu (2011)

The score and songs of the film were composed by the duo Salim-Sulaiman who've composed music for many other Yash Raj Films productions before, including Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, which had already united actress Anushka Sharma with director Maneesh Sharma, who was then still an assistant director. The lyrics to the various songs were written by Amitabh Bhattacharya and playback singers include Sunidhi Chauhan, Benny Dayal, Shreya Ghoshal, Natalie Di Luccio, Himani Kapoor, Harshdeep Kaur, Labh Janjua, Shrraddha Pandit, Master Saleem, Sukhwinder Singh, Amitabh Bhattacharya and Salim Merchant.

The soundtrack was revealed on 19 October 2010, at the Yash Raj Studios in Andheri, Mumbai, and was commercially released on 3 November with a launch event happening at the Reliance TimeOut store in Bandra. The album consists of nine tracks, including two remixes and Yash Raj Films issued a press release giving a description of each track. They described the opening song Ainvayi Ainvayi as "a funky, energetic number", Tarkeebein as a "youthful song with cool lyrics", Aadha Ishq as a "perfect love ballad", Dum Dum as a "unique, unabashed item number with a Sufi-rock feel", Mitra as "cool and contemporary", Baari Barsi as a "superbly re-orchestrated" traditional Punjabi wedding song and Band Baaja Baaraat (Theme) as "a pulsating track which perfectly represents the spirit of the movie".

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Ainvayi Ainvayi"	Salim Merchant & Sunidhi Chauhan	4:27
2.	"Tarkeebein"	Benny Dayal & Salim Merchant	4:49
3.	"Aadha Ishq"	Shreya Ghoshal & Natalie Di Luccio	4:43
4.	"Dum Dum"	Benny Dayal & Himani Kapoor	5:10
5.	"Mitra"	Amitabh Bhattacharya & Salim Merchant	4:02
6.	"Baari Barsi"	Harshdeep Kaur, Labh Janjua & Salim Merchant	4:42
7.	"Band Baaja Baaraat (Theme)"	Salim Merchant & Shrraddha Pandit	1:52
8.	"Ainvayi Ainvayi (Dilli Club Mix)" (Remix by Abhijit Vaghani)	Master Saleem & Sunidhi Chauhan	3:45
9.	"Dum Dum (Sufi Mix)" (Remix by Abhijit Vaghani)	Sukhwinder Singh & Himani Kapoor	4:29
Total length:			37:59

Reception

Critical reception for the soundtrack was generally average, leaning somewhat towards the positive, with everyone praising Ainvayi Ainvayi (with SawfNews even stating that one would "probably want to see the movie just for this song") and agreeing that the album was a superior effort than the composing duo's previous solo soundtrack for Teen Patti, while several criticised the track Dum Dum and lamented the similarity to previous Salim-Sulaiman scores. Writing for ApunKa Choice, Usha Lakra titled her review "Band, Baaja, Bland" and noted that while "the album has its moments" and "the tracks are composed strictly keeping in mind the theme of the movie", all-in-all Ainvayi Ainvayi was the only chartbuster of the album. Lakra listed Ainvayi Ainvayi, Aadha Ishq and Band Baaja Baaraat (Theme) as the album's best tracks. Prateeksha Khot of Bolly Spice only truly disliked Dum Dum and praised the "unconventional" lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya but felt the album failed "to live up to the expectation generated by the initial tracks" and criticised the similarities with previous Salim-Sulaiman efforts such as Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year and Aaja Nachle. The Economic Times writer Ruchika Kher gave a positive review, describing the album as a "fun-filled soundtrack" and noting the similarities between Tarkeebein and compositions by A. R. Rahman. Music Aloud also published a positive review, noting that while the soundtrack wasn't Salim-Sulaiman's best, it was still "a definite winner with some fantastic tracks". The reviewer however did dislike the song Dum Dum, and remarked that while Ainvayi Ainvayi resembled the song Dance Pe Chance from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, it was "far more engaging". One of the album's most enthusiastic reviews was written by Joginder Tuteja for Bollywood Hungama. Tuteja described the music as "one of the better soundtracks that one has heard from the house of Yash Raj Films in last couple of years", "one of the best works of Salim-Sulaiman" and "much more than just a regular fun album". He selected Ainvayi Ainvayi, Aadha Ishq and Dum Dum (Sufi Mix) as the disc's best tracks. Moviehattan's Gurpreet Bhuller also liked the soundtrack, which he described as a "quality album" with "a good collection of songs".

Release

Marketing

"We’re like a tiny paan shop if you compare us with the other releases in the same week or month, but this paan shop is the best of the lot"

— Anushka Sharma

As with all films from the studio since Mohabbatein, publicity design was handled by Fayyaz Badruddin. Stills were taken by Abhay Singh and Zahir Abbas Khan.

Anushka Sharma at a Band Baaja Baaraat press event, 2010

Prior to the film's release, Anushka Sharma referred to it as her "best film till date". Band Baaja Baaraat's trailer and official website were both unveiled on 19 October 2010, a couple of months before the theatrical release. In addition to the film's synopsis and trailer, the website initially also contained five wallpapers and a press kit for visitors to download. The number of available wallpapers later grew to twenty-five and the website eventually allowed visitors to send e-cards to their acquaintances, with the virtual cards dubbed "Band Baaj-O-Grams". A number of contests were organised by Yash Raj Films, including one where the company, along with partners Radio Mirchi and BIG Cinemas, offered the winning couple a free wedding in December, in time for the film's release and supposedly planned the film's heroes, and another in which a couple would win a trip to Switzerland and visit the filming locations of the various Yash Raj Films productions to have been shot there. In addition to the website, Yash Raj Films also had regularly updated official pages on Facebook and Twitter and a Blogspot blog in an effort to reach the widest audience possible. The company finally uploaded a number of videos on their YouTube account, including the trailer but also several videos promoting the songs Tarkeebein and Ainvayi Ainvayi.

Lead actor Ranveer Singh at a promotional event for Band Baaja Baaraat

On 21 October, lead actors Anushka Sharma and Ranveer Singh went to the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi with director Maneesh Sharma to take part in their annual festival and promote the film. The next day, the trio appeared at the GIP Mall in Noida. On 26 October, a fight broke out between Ranveer Singh and a man alternatively described as a 29-year-old called Uday Khanolkar or a 30-year-old called Uday Sahay. The incident occurred on Kingfisher Airlines flight IT 331 from Mumbai to Delhi, where both Singh and Anushka Sharma were travelling in business class to promote the movie. The two actors noticed a passenger taking pictures of them with his cellphone, and demanded that he hand over his phone so that they could delete the pictures. The man refused and claimed to be an IAS officer. The ensuing argument grew so heated that the cabin crew had to intervene and both parties went to the police station upon arrival and stayed there for over an hour-and-a-half, eventually sorting the matter out amicably without lodging any complaints.

Prior to Band Baaja Baaraat's release, some pundits have expressed doubts that the film would be successful, citing the middling response to Yash Raj Films' last few productions, the lack of a male star and the fact that the female lead, Anushka Sharma, was by then an "almost-forgotten" actress. Some have even speculated that the 22-year-old's career might not thrive for much longer with her three film contract with Yash Raj Films being over.

Theatrical run

On 24 September 2010, Yash Raj Films announced that the film would release worldwide on 10 December of that year, almost two years since the release of Anushka Sharma's debut Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. Some people have speculated that this was not coincidence but an attempt to repeat the success of her first film.

Awards and nominations

2011 IIFA Awards

• Hot Pair – Anushka Sharma and Ranveer Singh
• Best Debut (Male) – Ranveer Singh
• Best Actress – Anushka Sharma
• Best Costume Designing – Niharika Khan
• Best Editing – Harshitha Kakani
• Best Song Recording – Vijay Dayal, Ainvayi Ainvayi

2011 Star Screen Awards

Won

• Star Screen Award for Most Promising Debut Director – Maneesh Sharma
• Star Screen Award for Most Promising Newcomer - Male – Ranveer Singh
• Star Screen Award for Best Dialogue – Habib Faisal
• Star Screen Award for Best Editing – Namrata Rao

Nominated

• Star Screen Award for Best Actress – Anushka Sharma
• Star Screen Award for Best Director – Maneesh Sharma
• Star Screen Award for Best Film – Band Baaja Baaraat
• Star Screen Award for Best Screenplay – Habib Faisal
• Star Screen Award for Best Choreography – Vaibhavi Merchant "Ainvayi Ainvayi"

6th Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards

Won

• Apsara Award for Best Editing – Namrata Rao
• Apsara Award for Best Costume Designer – Niharika Khan
• Apsara Award for Best Debut Male – Ranveer Singh
• Apsara Award for Best Debutante Director – Maneesh Sharma
• Apsara Award for Best Art Direction – Sonal Choudhry and T.P. Abid
• Apsara Award for Best Actress in a leading role – Anushka Sharma

Nominated

• Apsara Award for Best Film – Band Baaja Baaraat
• Apsara Award for Best Female Singer – Sunidhi Chauhan "Ainvayi Ainvayi"
• Apsara Award for Best Choreography – Vaibhavi Merchant "Ainvayi Ainvayi"
• Apsara Award for Best Dialogue – Habib Faisal
• Apsara Award for Best Screenplay – Habib Faisal

2011 Zee Cine Awards

Won

• Best Male Debut – Ranveer Singh

Nominated

• Best Actress – Anushka Sharma
• Best Story – Maneesh Sharma
• Best Debutante Director – Maneesh Sharma

2011 Filmfare Awards

Won

• Best Male Debut – Ranveer Singh
• Filmfare Award for Best Debut Director – Maneesh Sharma

Nominated

• Filmfare Award for Best Movie – Band Baaja Baaraat
• Filmfare Best Scene of the Year Award
• Filmfare Award for Best Director – Maneesh Sharma
• Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Anushka Sharma

2011 17th Lions Gold Award

Won

• Lions Favourite Debutant Actor – Ranveer Singh
• Lions Favourite Jodi – Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma

2011 BIG Star Entertainment Awards

Nominated

• Most Entertaining Film Actor Male– Ranveer Singh
• Most Entertaining Film Actor Female– Anushka Sharma

2011 Stardust Awards

Won

• Superstar of Tomorrow (Male) – Ranveer Singh

Nominated

• Best Actress – Comedy / Romance – Anushka Sharma
• Best Actor – Comedy / Romance – Ranveer Singh
• Hottest New Director – Maneesh Sharma
• New Musical Sensation – Himani Kapoor for Dum Dum
• Best Film – Comedy / Romance – Band Baaja Baaraat
• Best Director – Comedy / Romance – Maneesh Sharma

2011 Dadasaheb Phalke Award

Won

• Excellent Performance in a Film – Anushka Sharma
• Best Debut Male – Ranveer Singh

Telugu film, Jabardasth, directed my Nandini Reddy is an unofficial remake of BBB.

See also

• Jamuna Paar, an Indian TV serial inspired by Band Baaja Baaraat
• Jabardasth, a Telugu film inspired from Band Baaja Baaraat
• Bollywood films of 2010

External links

• Official website
• Band Baaja Baaraat at the Internet Movie Database