Players (2012 film)

This article is about the film. For other uses, see Players (disambiguation).

Players
File:Players Official.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Abbas-Mustan
Screenplay by	Rohit Jugraj Sudip Sharma
Produced by	Viacom 18 Mohammed Burmawala
Starring	Abhishek Bachchan Bobby Deol Sonam Kapoor Neil Nitin Mukesh Bipasha Basu Sikander Kher Omi Vaidya
Cinematography	Ravi Yadav
Edited by	Hussain Burmawala
Music by	Songs: Pritam Background Score: Sandeep Shirodkar
Distributed by	Viacom 18 Burmawala Partners
Release dates	4 January 2012 (2012-01-04) (Dubai) 5 January 2012 (2012-01-05) (Kuwait) 6 January 2012 (2012-01-06) (London, India and worldwide)
Running time	167 mins (2hrs 47 mins)
Country	Template:Film India
Languages	Hindi, English, Russian
Budget	₹45 crore (US$5.4 million)
Box office	₹30 crore (US$3.6 million)

Players (Hindi: प्लेयर्स) is a 2012 Indian action thriller, heist film directed by duo Abbas-Mustan and produced jointly under Viacom 18 Motion Pictures and Burmawala Partners. The film has an all star ensemble cast, featuring Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Bipasha Basu, Bobby Deol, Sikander Kher and Omi Vaidya in the lead roles, whilst Aftab Shivdasani makes a cameo appearance. The theatrical trailer was revealed on 3 November 2011, and the film was released on 6 January 2012. It is an official remake of 2003 Hollywood blockbuster, The Italian Job,whose rights were bought by Players producers Viacom 18 and carries over the basic plot-line.

Players was filmed extensively in foreign locations such as New Zealand, Russia and even The North Pole, thus becoming the first ever Bollywood film to be shot there. The story follows a team of players, consisting of a con-man, a con woman, an illusionist, a explosives expert, a professional hacker and a disguise master who plan to rob gold worth 100 thousand crores, from a moving train. During the process they are double crossed by some of their own team members.

Upon release the film received mixed reviews from critics, and despite the multistar cast and the film being heavily hyped, it turned to be a surprise failure at the box office. The shocking failure of the film led to many trade industry analysts reinstating the belief of a "jinx" in Bollywood that the first-released film of the year "always fails at the box office", as seen before with films such as Halla Bol (2008), Chandni Chowk To China (2009), Pyaar Impossible! and Dulha Mil Gaya (2010).

Plot

Mastermind Charlie Mascarenhas (Abhishek Bachchan) and his wife Riya (Bipasha Basu) are one of the greatest thieves duo in India. A friend of Charlie, Raj (Aftab Shivdasani) is killed by the Russian mafia. At Raj's funeral his wife hands over a CD to Charlie, which contains details of how Russian gold will be transferred to Romania. Charlie decides to rob the train with the help of imprisoned don Victor Braganza (Vinod Khanna). They hire a team of people to join them in the robbery. The group includes Spider (Neil Nitin Mukesh) who is a best hacker in the whole world, an explosives expert Bilal Bashir (Sikander Kher), a master-disguiser Sunny (Omi Vaidya), and an illusionist Ronnie (Bobby Deol).

Charlie is also having an affair with Victor's daughter, Naina (Sonam Kapoor), who doesn't know anything about her father and Charlie's dirty business. The group hatch a plan to rob the Russian train in the sliest way possible. Spider hacks the Russian satellite system while Ronnie uses his illusion to trick the soldiers guarding the gold and the rest of the Players transfer the gold off the train. The robbery is executed successfully. However, whilst celebrating their success, it is revealed that Spider has double crossed the players, and tries to flee with the whole gold, though is stopped by Ronnie, who is then shot multiple times by Spider's assassins. The group are then chased by them, only leading to Ronnie and Riya's death. Charlie, Bilal and Sunny manage to escape when Spider bombs the place and flees with the whole gold.

Charlie calls Victor to tell him about the betrayal, but Naina hears everything. Spider's assassin breaks into the house and murder Victor. Naina decides to end contact with Charlie. For over a year, Charlie contacts Gold-dealers to find which one has the same gold as Spider stole. In New Zealand, they find a dealer who is in contact with Spider, and are able to track him down. Charlie explains to Naina that they only wanted to steal the gold so they could help achieve Victor's dream to make an big orphanage. Naina understands, and teams up with Charlie to get revenge on Spider.

In New-Zealand they find Riya, who is still alive and living there. She explains that she also wants revenge on Spider and provides them with the information of Spider's living place. Spider then flirts with Naina (unknowing her plan) and takes her to his villa. But soon enough, he gets her on gunpoint, finding out she was with Charlie as he sees a camera inside her hair. Charlie runs in to rescue her and challenges Spider that he will steal all the gold within 48 hours. Spider tries to move the gold to another country, but the Players using three large trucks and by hacking the traffic system successfully manage to take the gold before hiding it inside three Mini Coopers. Just as they are about to leave the country, they are caught by Spider, and it turns out that Riya was working with Spider the whole time.

Spider tries to force them for the gold, but when they open the Mini Cooper trunks, it turns out they are empty. Spider betrays Riya, threatening them that he would kill her. Before Charlie can give away the real hideout of the gold, Riya shoots herself. Spider then stabs Charlie, and tries to run, but is stopped by Sunny and Bilal who beat him up badly. Naina who wants revenge for the death of Victor, shoots Spider twice. It is revealed that the real Mini Coopers containing the gold are elsewhere. As the four leave the scene, Spider manages to make a final call to the Russian mafia, and tells them that Charlie has stolen Russian gold. They get the cars and leave for India, but the Mafia stops them to check the cars, and once again the Mini Coopers are empty. It is then revealed that the Mini Coopers they were driving were actually made out of the gold itself.

In the end, Bilal opens a car business. Sunny becomes a theatre actor. Charlie and Naina make Victor's dream orphanage and Charlie raises Ronnie's daughter as his own.

Cast and Crew

Cast

• Abhishek Bachchan as Charlie Mascarenhas
• Sonam Kapoor as Naina Braganza
• Neil Nitin Mukesh as Spider
• Bipasha Basu as Riya
• Omi Vaidya as Sunny Mehra
• Sikander Kher as Bilal Bashir
• Bobby Deol as Ronnie
• Johnny Lever as Mungal Chopra / Bhud Chopra
• Vinod Khanna as Victor Braganza
• Shweta Bhardwaj as Shayla
• Aftab Shivdasani as Raj (Cameo Appearance)
• Vyacheslav Razbegaev as Russian Army General
• Luna Rioumina as Pamela
• Richard Whiteside as Ramu Kaka

Crew

• Directors - Abbas Mustan
• Producers - Mohammed Burmawala, Pappu Vaswani
• Music director - Pritam Chakraborty, Sandeep Shirodkar
• Singers - Abhishek Bachchan, Siddharth Basrur, Mohit Chauhan, Nikhil D'Souza, Mauli Dave, Neeraj Shridhar, Priyani Vani, Arjit Singh
• Lyricist - Ashiesh Pandit
• Costume Design - Anaita Shroff Adajania, Rhea Kapoor (for Sonam Kapoor)
• Screenplay - Rohit Jugraj, Sudip Sharma
• Special Effects - Devendra Bhave
• Editor - Hussain Burmawala
• Stunt Director - Allan Amin
• Choreography - Bosco Martis
• Sound Designer - Rakesh Ranjan

Production

Development

Development and pre production work for the project began in late 2009, when Viacom 18 approached Abbas-Mustan with the idea of remaking the 2003 Italian Job into a desi Indian version, they also bought the remake rights from the original producers Paramount Pictures. At first Abbas-Mustan were hesitant, but after watching The Italian Job they decided it would be a good idea to Indianise it. They spent around a year working on the script and making a few tweaks including two new characters.

Casting

Abhishek Bachchan was the first actor to be signed, along with Katrina Kaif and Neil Nitin Mukesh. Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra were also rumoured to have been approached to play the leading female roles opposite Kunal Kapoor and Akshaye Khanna. Priyanka Chopra was eventually dropped, citing differences with Abhishek Bachchan and the directors. Katrina Kaif also backed out of the project due to date problems and since the directors wanted a younger girl she was replaced by Sonam Kapoor instead. Bipasha Basu was next approached and she immediately agreed after she read the script and was "blown away" by it. She had previously worked with Abbas-Mustan in her debut film Ajnabee and in Race. Sikandar Kher son of actors Anupam Kher and Kirron Kher, who had worked with Abhishek earlier in Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey was cast to play a main supporting role along with veteran actor Vinod Khanna who was to play a small but key role and Aftab Shivdasani was roped in to play a guest cameo appearance.

The entire cast had to undergo physical training, to the requirement of the roles they were playing. Abhishek required to tone up the most as he was the lead character and had to perform dangerous train stunts, that needed extra physical training. Bipasha Basu who was required to do a bikini scene during one of the songs had gained alot over weight during the year and worked with personal trainer Paul Britto, to ensure the perfect body, which included functional training with an abs routine, kickboxing, cardio, stretching and normal weight training. Shweta Bhardwaj who was playing a pivotal character in the film was also required to physically tone up for an entirely different bikini scene.

Filming

Filming began on 9 November 2010 till the end of December, in India and mainly Goa. The song "Buddhi Do Bhagwaan" was shot on Goa's Miramar beach.

The second phase began from mid January 2011, in parts of New Zealand's prime locations across Wellington and Auckland. Wellington City Council closed certain area's of the city centre for two weeks so there would be no problems in shooting. Scenes where shot across the City to Sea Bridge, New Zealand's South Island Okarito Lagoon, Te Papa's Awesome Forces Museum, Cuba Mall and even in the Tulsi Indian restaurant. Shooting in New Zealand lasted until till March 2011.

The third schedule of shooting, which was the longest and most important began on April 2011, in Russia in parts of Siberia, St Petersburg and Murmansk. The action sequences involving the train were directed by Filmfare award winning, stunt director Allan Amin. Abhishek refused to have a body double for the scenes and performed all the dangerous stunts by himself. During the sequence he had to balance himself atop of two trains which were running around the speed of 100kmph. He even hit his head on a rod on top of the train, but still managed to complete the scene. During another scene he was left hanging by a rack of the train for around 20 hours. Also while filming there, a group of Russian soldiers, learned about an Indian film shooting nearby and joined the crew on the sets, requesting to meet all the stars.

Lastly some of the scenes where filmed close to the Arctic Circle, Arctic Ocean and even in the North Pole, which was the first time for a Bollywood film. However a slight problem arose there after no food was available to eat, due to the extremely cold climate and everyone had to manage on packets of soups. Shooting in Russia ended in late July 2011. The cast flew back to India, finalizing a few last minute shots and songs, before the film went into post production stage.

Release

Players was initially planned for a Diwali release but was delayed since it required more time to complete as the story demanded extensive filming of action scenes. Therefore the film was expected to hit theatres on 9 December 2011 alongside Ladies vs Ricky Bahl and Agent Vinod but was further pushed forward to 26 December. Abhishek Bachchan then requested for the film to be released to a later date as he wanted to avoid clash with Shahrukh Khan's Don 2. Players was pushed to 6 January 2012 making it the first released Bollywood film of 2012.

Pre Release

Players had garnered a lot of curiosity among Bollywood movie buffs and critics alike pre-release, ever since the first look was revealed, which had generated a very good response itself from the audience. Abbas-Mustan who were known to adapt Hollywood films and turn them into desi classic thrillers, returned to direction after quite some time, had promised to break the boundaries of the action genre, as the major action stunts and sequences in the film were performed on par Hollywood level by the actors themselves, who carried out all the stunts without the body doubles. This was never seen or done in Bollywood before. Another reason the film had created curiousness was because despite the film having a multistar cast none of the actors expect Bipasha Basu, had tasted much box office success. While the rest where almost newcomers, actors like Abhishek Bachchan who had been in the industry for over 10 years was on a bad run with a string of flops, in spite of this the directors were pretty confident about him. There was also some speculation regarding the music being completed on time as the directors, could not pick which songs where to be filmed.

Promotion

The first look of the film was unveiled on 3 November 2011, on Kaun Banega Crorepati, which featured Abhishek Bachchan's father, Amitabh Bachchan as the host. Amitabh Bachchan also helped to promote the film on his Blog and Twitter. The theatrical trailer was also released on 3rd November 2011 on Players official Youtube channel and Facebook page.

Players had an extended promotion schedule since the film was delayed for an extra month. Promotion began at the music launch on 13 December 2011 where the entire team promoted the film in a first of its kind event in Bollywood, as the lead actors including Abhishek Bachchan, Bobby Deol, Bipasha Basu, Sonam Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Sikandar Kher and Omi Vaidya themselves performed live stunts. Abhishek Bachchan even fractured one of his fingers during the stunt, when he drove bike through a sheet of glass and further performed the doughnut act by doing a 360 degree wheelie. Players was also heavily promoted at airport and train stations, like the Delhi Metro where Abhishek Bachchan, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Sonam Kapoor travelled inside the Metro in order to promote the film. and Chandigarh Airport where the actors spoke about their characters and signed autographs. Players was also promoted around other locations in India such as the Ambience Mall.

Sonam Kapoor featured as a guest on Saroj Khan's, Nachle Ve and Abhishek promoted the film on Arjun Rampal's show Love 2 Hate U, where he got to meet his biggest hater. Players was also promoted in the UK London, with help from the cast of the 2003 Italian Job, including Charlize Theron, Mark Wahlberg, Edward Norton and even the director F. Gary Gray. The film was to be released in theatres across the UK, by B4U Pictures. Players also released "Go for Gold" competitions where the winner would get to meet the cast members and spend the day with them.

Premiere

Players had worldwide premieres in the UK, London and in Dubai's Global Village at the Grand Cineplex on January 4 2012. The event was attended by Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, Sonam Kapoor and Neil Nitin Mukesh. Instead of the traditional red carpet, a golden carpet was used instead to go with the theme of the film.

Reception

Critical reception

Players received a mixed reception from critics. Joginder Tuteja from IndiaGlitz gave it a positive 4 out of 5 stars and said "Fantastic - That's what you end up exclaiming once the last twist of 'Players' takes you by complete surprise. Oh yes, there are around half a dozen or more twists in this film, something which was pretty much expected since the men at the helm of affairs are Abbas-Mustan". Oneindia.in also gave a positive review commenting that "Players electrifies movie buffs with its hi-voltage action. The highlights of the movie are wonderful performances by the lead actors, stylised stunts, adrenaline-pumping chases, stunning visuals, Pritam's songs and comic sequences. But the editing work is a big let down". Nikhat Kazmi of Times of India gave the film a rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars saying "Music by Pritam is good while it lasts. Some editing sorely needed, visual imagery quite polished, and the look as usual is of new age Bollywood." Dailybhaskar.com rated it 3 out of 5 saying "Direction by Abbas-Mustan, cinematography and an edgy plotline are the strong points. Music, dialogues and performances (besides Bipasha and Neil's performance) are the weak points". Piyali Dasgupta from NDTV gave it 3 out of 5 stars and said "Players ends up as a fun weekend flick, especially for action buffs. Abhishek Bachchan shows some of the style of the Dhoom series. Neil Nitin Mukesh, largely off the radar after an intense performance. Bipasha too shows a hint of Race with her glamourous role and that red bikini. Sonam Kapoor somewhat redeems herself as an actor playing the good geek Naina. But don't expect much from Pritam’s music. Zee News gave it 3 from 5 stars saying "Abbas Mustan’s ‘Players’ is a slick, fast paced and racy thriller. Technically the film is brilliant, but when it comes to drama and emotions, the film falls flat on its face. In comparison to ‘The Italian Job’, ‘Players’ is long and overstretched. Kaveree Bamzai of India Today also gave it 3 out of 5.

Worldsnap gave it 2.5 out of 5 stars saying "Camera work of movie needs appreciation but overall, its bad treatment of Blockbuster movie's script with many unwanted twists". Martin D'Souza from Glamsham rated it 2.5/5 and said "PLAYERS is a slick treat of high adrenaline action scenes that rates up there with the best in Bollywood. With thrillers being their forte, and action their main course, Abbas-Mustan do not disappoint in this department. But there are enough loopholes in the plot which will have you leave your mouth open gaping in disbelief". Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama gave it 2 out of 5 stars stating that "On the whole, PLAYERS rides mainly on the clout of its credible director duo [Abbas-Mustan], daredevil stunts and stunning visuals. But, most importantly, it is deficient of a captivating screenplay".

Players also received a number of negative reviews. Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN rated it 2 out of 5 saying "Players is a fastpaced khichdi. Abhishek Bachchan is earnest, and thankfully dials down his trademark smugness to play the ringleader of the team. Neil Nitin Mukesh gets some interesting scenes to sink his teeth into. Bipasha Basu fills out a bikini nicely, but poor Sonam Kapoor changes her costumes and her hairstyle more frequently than her expressions. What could have been a satisfying entertainer doesn't quite achieve its potential. Karan Anshuman of Mumbai Mirror gave it 2 out of 5 stars. Aniruddha Guha from DNA India giving it 2 out of 5 said "Players is a laugh riot". Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com also gave the film a rating of 2 out of 5 stars while commenting "Players is lacklustre and unimaginative". Mayank Shekhar of Hindustan Times gave it 1.5/5. Komal Nahta from Koimoi.com rated it 1/5 and said "Whats good? The train robbery sequence; some comedy in the second half; Omi Vaidya and Neil Nitin Mukesh’s acting. Whats bad? The loose and uninteresting screenplay; the poor music; the dull acting of Abhishek, Sonam and Bobby". Yahoo! Movies gave a Rating of "Game Over", while mentioning that "the remake of "The Italian Job is definitely a job taken not so seriously".

Players has received an average rating of 5/10 on review aggregator website Review Gang.

Box office

India

Players was screened in 1023 UFO digital theatres. Despite the film having an extensive promotion schedule it didn't manage to make a decent opening. Players opened to around 20-30% occupancy, as the film failed to make any headway over the weekend, grossing ₹14.75 crore (US$1.8 million). Daily collections were ₹4.60 crore (US$550,000) on Friday and ₹4.50 crore (US$540,000) on Saturday. There was a small rise on Sunday as the film made ₹5.75 crore (US$690,000). On Monday it took a heavy fall as it made just ₹2.25 crore (US$270,000). Players also had a poor opening overseas, only collecting around ₹4.40 crore (US$530,000) to ₹4.50 crore (US$540,000).

Collections continued to drop everyday through out the week. On Tuesday the film grossed ₹1.65 crore (US$200,000), on Wednesday it made ₹1.45 crore (US$170,000) and on Thursday ₹1.25 crore (US$150,000), taking the total first week collections to ₹21.50 crore (US$2.6 million). The second Friday was extremely poor with a massive drop as Players grossed just 60 lakhs compared to its reasonable first Friday gross of ₹4.65 crore (US$560,000). Over its second weekend, even with a small jump on Saturday the film only managed to make a low ₹2.50 crore (US$300,000), taking its total 10 day collections to around ₹24 crore (US$2.9 million). In its full second week Players grossed ₹5.92 crore (US$710,000) and in its third week it grossed ₹2.25 crore (US$270,000) taking the total three week collections to around ₹29 crore (US$3.5 million).

Players saw a further drop in its fourth week grossing just 8 lakhs, due to the release of Agneepath and 2 lakhs in its fifth week. Players ended its total lifetime collections at ₹30 crore (US$3.6 million). It was declared a "Disaster" by Boxoffice-India.

Overseas

Players also failed to make an impact overseas. It was dismal in Australia and performed "Below average" in the UK and USA, although it did decent business in the UAE, New Zealand and Fiji.

Controversy

During the shooting in New Zealand, authorities at an airport refused to give permission for shooting as they felt it was to dangerous. In the scene a plane was to fly above three cars, which were being driven by Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor and Sikandar Kher themselves and was to fly over the cars, missing them just narrowly by inches. The stunt directors Mark and Allan Amin, did a lot of rehearsals and practise for the scene and the airport authorities finally gave a go ahead, as it was an important scene.

Censor Board

Players received a 12A certificate. There was also a minor controversy regarding the Censor Board's objection over a scene where Sonam Kapoor is seen showing the middle finger, which was clearly visible in the promos of the film. It was initially blurred out, but was later given the green light, after appeals from the directors and Sonam herself, who felt "It was natural with today's youth".

Soundtrack

Untitled

The official soundtrack was composed by Pritam and background score composed by Sandeep Shirodkar. The lyrics were penned by Ashish Pandit. The music rights were sold to T-Series and released on 30 November 2011. The main track used in the teaser promo is Anti You originally from Blue Stahli's self titled album Blue Stahli.

Track listing

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Jis Jagah Pe Khatam (Players Theme)"	Neeraj Shridhar, Siddharth Basrur, Mauli Dave	4:12
2.	"Jhoom Jhoom Ta Ja"	Ritu Pathak	5:02
3.	"Ho Gayi Tun"	Yashita Yashpal, Bob	3:47
4.	"Buddhi Do Bhagwaan"	Shruti Pathak, Abhishek Bachchan	4:42
5.	"Dil Yeh Bekaraar Kyun Hai"	Mohit Chauhan, Shreya Ghoshal	4:38
6.	"Jhoom Jhoom Ta Hoon Main"	Siddharth Basrur	4:49
7.	"Dil Yeh Bekaraar Kyun Hai (Reprise)"	Nikhil D'Souza, Priyani Vani	5:17
8.	"Jhoom Jhoom Ta Hoon Main (Film Version)"	Arijit Singh	5:09
9.	"Jis Jagah Pe Khatam (Remix)"	Neeraj Shridhar, Siddharth Basrur, Mauli Dave	3:30
10.	"Dil Yeh Bekaraar Kyun Hai (Remix)"	Mohit Chauhan, Shreya Ghoshal	5:17
Total length:			46:24

Reception

The soundtrack album received positive reviews. Satyajit from Glamsham said "Players, a stylish packed hi-voltage action thriller has cool and reasonably good listening soundtrack to its credit". Vanessa Barnes of Bolly Spice stated that "Pritam has created exactly the type of soundtrack to perfectly fit and complement the material onscreen. I think that in conjunction with visuals, some of which we’ve already had a taste of in the promising, well-received trailer – the songs will be effective. Sukanya Verma from Rediff.com gave the album 2.5/5 stars and said "After four very popular albums this year, Ready, Bodygaurd, Dum Maaro Dum and Mausam, Pritam dishes out yet another album that is a mix of sure-shot winners and drab space fillers.

Aftermath

With the poor outcome of Players at the box office, Abhishek Bachchan's string of flops continued, costing him his next film, from which he was dropped.

It also lead to trade analysts once again reinstating belief in the January jinx in Bollywood, that the first released film of the year always performed poorly at the box office, this had been happening for years in Bollywood, until 2011 when No One Killed Jessica became a "Semi hit" supposedly breaking the jinx and trade analysts were confident Players would carry that success, although the outcome turned out otherwise.

Players was also supposed to have a sequel but plans were scrapped after major disputes began between the directors Abbas-Mustan and producers Viacom 18, who claimed that Abbas-Mustan had made changes to the script without their consent and that the film had gone over budget causing them extra loss. Due to this Abhishek Bachchan, who was signed for approximately Rs 7 crore, forfeited his payment of Rs 2.8 crore, claiming he was "happy with the way the film was shot" and turned down the balance fee owed to him. In the end the film initially recovered most of its cost through theatrical rights, sold for Rs 35 crore to Ponty Chadha, music rights bought by T-Series for Rs 3.5 crore, and satellite rights that were sold to Zee TV for an approximate Rs 17 crore. The total loss amounted to around Rs 8 crore.

Home media

Players was released on a one disc DVD, without any added features on February 10 and on Blu-Ray on February 12.

See also

• Bollywood films of 2012
• The Italian Job (1969)
• The Italian Job (2003), a remake of the 1969 film

External links

• Official Website
• Official Youtube Channel
• Players at IMDb