Bunty Aur Babli
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2009) |
| Bunty Aur Babli | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Shaad Ali |
| Produced by | Aditya Chopra |
| Screenplay by | Jaideep Sahni |
| Story by | Aditya Chopra |
| Narrated by | Amitabh Bachchan |
| Starring | Amitabh Bachchan Rani Mukerji Abhishek Bachchan Aishwarya Rai Raj Babbar |
| Music by | Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy |
| Cinematography | Abhik Mukhopadhyay |
| Editing by | Ritesh Soni |
| Distributed by | Yash Raj Films |
| Release date(s) | May 27, 2005 |
| Running time | 177 mins |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Budget |  12 crore[citation needed] |
| Box office | 63.20 crore[1] |
Bunty Aur Babli (Hindi: बंटी और बबली, translation: Bunty and Babli), released in 2005, is an Indian Bollywood film directed by Shaad Ali and starring Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukerji and Abhishek Bachchan. It was the first film to feature both Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek Bachchan, and featured guest appearances by Aishwarya Rai and Tania Zaetta. It was one of the biggest hits of the year.[2]
Contents |
Plot [edit]
Rakesh Trivedi (Abhishek Bachchan) comes from a small village. His father is a ticket collector on the train, and wants him to get into a similar occupation as well. However, Rakesh has big dreams; he is forever coming up with new business plans and is convinced he will make it big one day. He adamantly refuses any notion that he will one day work in a 9-to-5 environment.
Vimmi Saluja (Rani Mukerji) is the daughter of a Punjabi family in another small village; she spends her hours watching films and studying supermodels, and dreams of becoming Miss India one day.
One day Vimmi's parents tell her they have arranged her marriage to a young man with a decent job. At the same time Rakesh's father gives him an ultimatum – go to the interview for the job his father has arranged for him, or get out of the house.
Rakesh and Vimmi both pack their bags in their respective homes and sneak out in the dark of the night. They bump into each other at a train station, and become friends after realizing their stories are similar. Both support and encourage each other to achieve their dreams: Vimmi tries to enter herself in the Miss India contest but gets thrown out after an argument, and Rakesh tries to sell his ideas for an investment scheme, but a businessman turns him away. In fact, a man he had met at a restaurant stole ideas from Rakesh's presentation file and when he enters the office, the interviewer states someone before him came in with the same idea. After finding out that the businessman who Rakesh had approached has used his idea to make money for himself, he and Vimmi con him and take money they believe is rightly theirs.
Once they realize how easy it is to con people, they decide to run some more scams in order to raise money to make it to Bombay.
Unfortunately for India, they find the lifestyle too exciting to give up. Adopting the fake names of 'Bunty' and 'Babli', they successfully pull off scam after scam, looting and conning rich people dressed as local guides, religious priests, health inspectors, business partners, etc. Their flamboyant antics make them famous in newspapers nationwide. Soon their friendship leads to romance and they decide to continue scamming the rich as husband and wife.
Little do Rakesh and Vimmi know that ACP Dashrath Singh (Amitabh Bachchan) is catching up with their scams and pranks, getting closer each time. He relentlessly pursues them across India in the hopes of putting them behind bars. To complicate matters, Rakesh and Vimmi have a child, and after a very close call eluding Dashrath they decide to quit conning for their child's sake. Ironically, this decision leads to their capture by Dashrath. While in custody, their heartfelt confessions and conversation soften the detective's heart and he lets them go, certain he has destroyed Bunty and Babli's career as criminals.
Years later, Dashrath rescues them from their mundane and domestic lives to work for the nation thwarting the activities of other scammers.
The plot, although it draws on the idea of two rather lovable crooks, does not contain much violence. In fact each of the adventures of Bunty and Babli are thoroughly Indianised, like the fake selling of the Taj Mahal. It draws comparisons to the American classic "Bonnie and Clyde", however there are no dark elements to the film. In fact, as stated above, there is minimal violence and the characters do not die a bloody death, unlike their American counterparts. The robberies done were usually to teach a lesson or exact revenge for some previous altercation.
Cast [edit]
- Amitabh Bachchan as Dashrath Singh
- Abhishek Bachchan as Rakesh Trivedi / Bunty
- Rani Mukerji as Vimmi Saluja / Babli
- Raj Babbar as Bunty's Father
- Talluri Rameshwari as Bunty's Mother
- Puneet Issar as Papaji (Babli's Father)
- Kiran Juneja as Babli's Mother
- Pratima Kazmi as Phoolsakhi
- Prem Chopra as a Truck Driver
- Sanjay Mishra as Q.Q Qureshi
- Ravi Baswani as Hotel Owner
- Virendra Saxena as Police Commissioner
- Yunus Parvez as a Hotel Owner
- Tania Zaetta as Kate
- Anupam Shyam as Raj Kapoor Tiwari
- Rajesh Vivek as a Protestor
- Aishwarya Rai in a Special Appearance in song 'Kajra Re'
- Shaad Ali in a Guest Appearance
- J. Brandon Hill as Harry
- Kunal Kumar as Newspaper Salesman
Reception [edit]
The film was a critical and commercial success becoming one of the biggest hits of 2005.[2] Designer Aki Narula dressed Rani Mukerji a new look Patiala salwars and kurtis, which became quite popular.[3]
Soundtrack [edit]
| Bunty Aur Babli | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Soundtrack album by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy | ||||
| Released |
13 April 2005 (India)
|
|||
| Recorded | 2004 | |||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | |||
| Length | 37:09 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer | Yash Chopra Aditya Chopra |
|||
| Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy chronology | ||||
|
||||
The soundtrack of the film includes six tracks composed by the musical trio Shankar Ehsaan Loy and was released on 13 April 2005 by Yash Raj Music.[4] The lead actors Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherji danced to the tunes of the album.[5] The lyrics are penned by Gulzar and Blaaze.
Track listing [edit]
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "B N B" | Blaaze | Shankar Mahadevan, Blaaze, Loy Mendonsa | 3:38 | |
| 2. | "Bunty Aur Babli" | Gulzar | Shankar Mahadevan, Siddarth Mahadevan, Sukhwinder Singh, Jaspinder Narula | 5:42 | |
| 3. | "Chup Chup Ke" | Gulzar | Sonu Nigam, Mahalakshmi Iyer | 7:13 | |
| 4. | "Dhadak Dhadak" | Gulzar | Udit Narayan, Sunidhi Chauhan, Nihira Joshi | 6:33 | |
| 5. | "Kajra Re" | Gulzar | Alisha Chinoy, Shankar Mahadevan, Javed Ali | 8:02 | |
| 6. | "Nach Baliye" | Gulzar | Sukhwinder Singh, Jaspinder Narula, Shankar Mahadevan, Siddharth Mahadevan, Sowmya Raoh | 6:02 |
Reception [edit]
The music of Bunty Aur Babli received favourable review from almost all critics. Sukanya Verma of Rediff, said in her review, "On the whole, the music of Bunty Aur Babli, with its over the top, uninhibited, rustic and teasing spices, makes for one helluva musical masala."[6] Planet Bollywood's review concluded, "Overall, Shakhar-Ehsaan-Loy do an excellent job of getting different singers for each track, trying to infuse different beats together and creating an album worth buying. It’ll take a few listens to pick your favourites, but its fresh and an above average album to own. Enjoy!"[7] "Bunty Aur Babli does not contain your routine Yash Chopra genre of music that are choreographed around the meadows and Swiss alps. They are more of situational rhythmic tracks that take a story forward.", Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama said in his review.[8] The Glamsham was full of praise for the lyrics by Gulzar, "Throughout this zany zingy and zippy album the 70-year old Gulzar imbues a youthfulness that comes from being young at heart. Indeed that's the quality, which flows freely out of this album. You can't miss its zest for life… or its lunge towards a luscious nirvana obtained from looking at life through rose-tinted glasses."[9]
Legacy [edit]
Kajra Re was voted as the best of 2005 overwhelmingly by listeners of three radio stations catering for South African Indians.[10] Himaruya Hidekaz, the manga artist who created Hetalia, embeded the video of Dhadak Dhadak on his blog around Christmas time, which caused a sudden influx of Himaruya fans commenting on the video.[11]
Awards [edit]
|
|
This section needs additional citations for verification. (June 2009) |
- Filmfare Awards [12]
- Best Music Director – Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
- Best Female Playback – Alisha Chinai for "Kajra Re"
- Best Lyricist – Gulzar
- Best Movie – Aditya Chopra (Nominated)
- Best Actor – Abhishek Bachchan (Nominated)
- Best Actress – Rani Mukerji (Nominated)
- Best Supporting Actor – Amitabh Bachchan (Nominated)
- Screen Awards
- Star Screen Award Jodi No. 1 – Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukerji
- IIFA Awards[13]
- IIFA Award for Best Music Director – Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
- IIFA Award for Best Lyricist – Gulzar for "Kajra Re"
- IIFA Award for Best Female Playback – Alisha Chinai for "Kajra Re"
- Zee Cine Awards[14]
- Zee Cine Award Best Music Director – Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
- Zee Cine Award for Best Popular Track Of The Year – "Kajra Re"
- MTV Immies
- Best Album (Film Category) – Bunty Aur Babli
References [edit]
- ^ "Top Lifetime Grossers Worldwide (IND Rs)". Boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 22 May 2011.
- ^ a b "Box Office 2005". Boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
- ^ "FASHION: How to Dress a Rockstar". Tehelka Magazine, Vol 8, Issue 39. October 1, 2011.
- ^ "Yash Raj Music – Bunty Aur Babli Audio CD". Yash Raj Music. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
- ^ "Bunty Aur Babli Music Launch". Yashraj Films. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
- ^ Verma, Sukanya. "Bunty Aur Babli's Music Rocks!". Rediff.com. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
- ^ "Bollywood – Music Review – Bunty Aur Babli". Planetbollywood.com. 1996-08-20. Retrieved 2011-06-25.
- ^ "Bunty Aur Babli : Music Review by Joginder Tuteja". Bollywoodhungama.com. Retrieved 2011-06-25.
- ^ "Bunty Aur Babli music review". glamsham.com. Retrieved 2011-06-25.
- ^ "Kajra Re is song of season in S Africa". Hindustan Times. 2006-01-05. Retrieved 2011-06-25.
- ^ "Broadcast Yourself". YouTube. Retrieved 2011-06-25.
- ^ http://entertainment.oneindia.in/bollywood/movies/bunty-aur-babli/awards.html
- ^ "Showcase: IIFA 2006 – Dubai | Award Winners". IIFA. Retrieved 2011-06-25.
- ^ "Winners of Zee Cine Awards 2006". Bollywoodhungama.com. 2006-03-04. Retrieved 2011-06-25.
