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Showing posts with label Indian Thriller Films. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indian Thriller Films. Show all posts

Thursday, August 31, 2017

Baazigar (1993)

Baazigar (English: Gambler) is a 1993 Indian crime thriller film directed by AbbasMustan starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in the lead roles. It is a contemporary thriller about a young man who stops at nothing to get what he wants. This was Shah Rukh Khan's breakthrough role as the sole lead and Kajol's first commercial success. Actress Shilpa Shetty was supposed to debut with Gaata Rahe Mera Dil, however, it remained unreleased and this became her debut movie. Baazigar was the first film in which Shah Rukh Khan played the role of an anti-hero and the first which earned Khan a Filmfare Award for Best Actor. Initially this movie was offered to Armaan Kohli and Salman Khan to play the lead role, but they all rejected it as the role had negative shades .


Baazigar was a major commercial success at its release and the first film of the famous Shahrukh Khan-Kajol pair.
It was remade in Tamil as Samrat with Ramki; in Telugu as Vetagaadu with Rajasekhar; and in Kannada as Nagarahavu with Upendra.


The film brought actors Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Shilpa Shetty and composer Anu Malik to the limelight. It is an adaptation of the movie A Kiss Before Dying.


Contents


  • 1 Plot
  • 2 Cast
  • 3 Soundtrack
  • 4 Box office
  • 5 Awards and nominations
    • 5.1 39th Filmfare Awards
  • 6 External links


 

Plot



A boy named Ajay (Master Sumeet) asks a doctor to come see his mother Shobha (Rakhee), who is unconscious. Ajay promises Shobha that he will get revenge on the people, who are responsible for making them cry. The deaths of Ajay's father (Anant Mahadevan) and his baby sister have made Shobha fall unconscious.


Years later, Ajay (Shah Rukh Khan) meets Madan Chopra's (Dalip Tahil) daughter Seema (Shilpa Shetty). Ajay cozies up to Seema, and she falls in love with him. Meanwhile, Ajay pretends to be Vicky Malhotra to create a good impression in the minds of Chopra and his younger daughter Priya (Kajol). Ajay keeps his affair with Seema a secret, under the impression that Seema too doesn't let anybody know she is in love. When Chopra decides to get Seema married, she decides to elope with Ajay. Ajay takes advantage of the opportunity and tricks her into writing a suicide letter.


Later, on premise of getting married secretly, Ajay calls Seema to the office for marriages in Bombay. He takes her to the terrace and suddenly pushes her down, using her suicide note to close the case as suicide. Chopra hastily has the case closed to prevent any further embarrassment. Ajay uses Seema's death to get close to Priya and Chopra. Priya, however, suspects that her sister didn't commit suicide. With help of her college friend and police inspector Karan Saxena (Siddharth Ray), she investigates the matter secretly.


Ravi, a friend of Seema, who had a crush on her, tells Priya about Seema's secret lover. Ravi finds a photo of Seema and Ajay together at a birthday party but is killed by Ajay. Ajay forces Ravi to sign a suicide note, making Priya and Karan believe that Ravi must have been Seema's lover and murderer. Ajay began a double game whilst keeping both the parties in dark. When Ajay puts contact lenses in his eyes to use his fake ID Vicky again, it's revealed that Madan is the person responsible for making Ajay and Shobha cry.


The next day when Ajay sees Madan's chair at Madan's company, a flashback is shown.


When Ajay's father Vishwanath Sharma (Anant Mahadevan), a reputed businessman, discovers that his manager Madan is embezzling money under his nose, Sharma has Madan thrown in jail. After Madan completes his jail term, he re-approaches Sharma and asks for forgiveness. Vishwanath rebukes him, but his wife Shobha takes pity on Chopra's daughters and pleads to her husband. Chopra is reappointed in the company. However, Chopra has come back to exact revenge on his former boss. Slowly, but surely, Chopra regains the confidence of Sharma. One day, when Sharma has to go for a business tour, he hands over power of attorney to Chopra so he can run the company in his absence. Chopra, who has been waiting for such chance, usurps Sharma's company and becomes its de facto owner. Sharma learns of this treachery, by which time his family is ejected from their home after Chopra takes a loan out in their name. More tragedy strikes the Sharma household when his newborn daughter dies of fever and Sharma himself dies of a heart attack while trying to buy medicines for her. Devastated by the turn of events, Shobha goes insane, while Ajay decided to avenge the wrongdoings by making Chopra pay for what he did.


Later, Priya and Vicky coincidentally meet Seema's college friend, Anjali (Resham Tipnis) at a jewelry store. Anjali thinks that she recognizes Vicky. When she finds the photo as well, she calls the Sharma household during Vicky's and Priya's engagement party. Vicky intercepts the call, impersonates Chopra, and arrives at her place. He throttles her, stuffs her body in a suitcase, and throws it in the river. A man and his dog find the body soon after. Priya and Karan realize that the murderer is still alive. Meanwhile, history repeats itself, with Chopra handing over the power of attorney to "Vicky". Ajay decides to hasten up his plans on learning that Priya and Karan are bent on finding the killer.


Ajay's plan hits a glitch when he and Priya run into the real Vicky Malhotra (Adi Irani), Ajay's friend whose identity he had taken. Priya becomes suspicious and decides to contact this Vicky. After returning from his business trip, Chopra is shocked to find that the company is run by a Sharma group. Ajay reveals the truth to Chopra and kicks him out of the company after humiliating him.


Meanwhile, Priya learns of Ajay's true identity from Vicky and rushes to Ajay's home in Panvel. She is shocked to see a picture of Ajay and finds a marriage locket with photos of him with her sister.
Ajay comes home, where she confronts him with his misdeeds. He tells her the whole story, and she is dumbstruck by what her father did to Ajay's family. Chopra arrives at Vicky's house with his henchmen to kill Ajay and exact revenge. Ajay goes outside to see some cars coming to his house and is shot by Chopra. After seeing Ajay being beaten by Chopra and hearing Chopra's name being repeated, Shobha regains her sanity and runs to her son's defense. Ajay starts bashing Chopra's goons and overpowers Chopra. Despite the circumstances, Karan and Priya sympathize with Ajay.


In a standoff with Chopra, Ajay spares his life. Chopra impales Ajay with a long iron bar and laughs about his victory. Ajay begins to laugh maniacally as well and rams the bar into Chopra's stomach, with both plummeting from a high wall, killing Chopra and mortally wounding Ajay.


Ajay makes it back to his mother who finally recognizes her son. Ajay promises her that he's gotten revenge for their family misfortunes and reacquired everything that was meant to be theirs — now wanting only to rest peacefully in her embrace. Priya and Karan watch despondently as Ajay dies in his mother's arms at peace.


Cast


  • Shah Rukh Khan as Ajay Sharma/Vicky Malhotra
  • Kajol as Priya Chopra
  • Shilpa Shetty as Seema Chopra, Priya's sister
  • Raakhee Gulzar in a special appearance as Ajay's mother
  • Dalip Tahil as Madan Chopra, Priya and Seema's father
  • Siddharth Ray as Inspector Karan Saxena
  • Johnny Lever as Babu Lal, the head servant
  • Anant Mahadevan as Vishwanath Sharma
  • Resham Tipnis as Anjali Sinha, Seema's friend
  • Dinesh Hingoo as Bajodia Seth
  • Manmauji Taalia as the servant
  • Adi Irani as the real Vicky Malhotra
  • Master Sumeet as Young Ajay
  • Sharad Sankla as Charlie (a guy in party)
  • Daboo Malik as Ramesh
  • Raju Srivastav as a guy in party with Charlie
  • Harpal as Motu the cook
  • Amrut Patel as Seema's driver

Soundtrack



The music was composed by Anu Malik and won him the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. The song "Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein" bagged singer Kumar Sanu his fourth consecutive Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer after Aashiqui, Saajan and Deewana. Other singers featured in the album are Asha Bhosle, Pankaj Udhas, Alka Yagnik, Vinod Rathod and Anuradha Paudwal. The soundtrack was released by Venus Music. Dr. Alban's song "It's My life" was also featured.


Song Singer Picturised on Lyricist
"Baazigar O Baazigar" Kumar Sanu & Alka Yagnik Shahrukh Khan & Kajol Nawab Arzoo
"Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein" Kumar Sanu, Anu Malik Shahrukh Khan & Kajol Dev Kohli
"Kitabein Bahut Si" Asha Bhosle & Vinod Rathod Shahrukh Khan & Shilpa Shetty Zafar Gorakhpuri
"Chhupana Bhi Nahi Aata" Vinod Rathod Siddharth & Kajol Rani Malik
"Chhupana Bhi Nahi Aata" Pankaj Udhas In soundtrack, excluded in the film Rani Malik
"Samajh Kar Chand Jis Ko" Alka Yagnik & Vinod Rathod In soundtrack, excluded in the film Zameer Kazmi
"Ae Mere Humsafar" Alka Yagnik & Vinod Rathod Shahrukh Khan & Shilpa Shetty Gauhar Kanpuri
"Tere Chehre Pe" Kumar Sanu & Sonali Vajpai In soundtrack, excluded in the film Rani Malik


Box office


Baazigar was a commercial success declared as "Super Hit" and the fourth highest grossing Hindi film of 1993.


Awards and nominations



39th Filmfare Awards

Won
 
  • Best ActorShah Rukh Khan
  • Best Music DirectionAnu Malik
  • Best Male Playback SingerKumar Sanu for "Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein"
  • Best ScreenplayRobin Bhatt, Javed Siddiqui, Akash Khurana

 
Nominated
 
  • Lux New Face — Shilpa Shetty
  • Best Supporting Actress — Shilpa Shetty
  • Best Performance in a Comic RoleJohnny Lever
  • Best Lyricist — Dev Kohli for "Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhen"
  • Best Male Playback SingerKumar Sanu for "Baazigar O Baazigar"
  • Best Female Playback SingerAlka Yagnik for "Baazigar O Baazigar"



External links





Saturday, November 12, 2016

House No.44 (1955)

House No. 44 is a 1955 Hindi film directed by M. K. Burman and produced by Dev Anand for his banner Navketan Films. The movie stars Dev Anand and Kalpana Kartik in a lead role. The film is also noted for its popular songs with music by Sachin Dev Burman with lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi, including Teri Duniya Mein Jeene Se and Chup Hai Dharti Chup Hain Chand Sitaare sung by Hemant Kumar.


Contents


  • 1 Plot
  • 2 Cast
  • 3 Songs
  • 4 External links

 

Plot


Ashok works for the notorious gangster Sunder and his men. One day he comes across a dead body and he reports it to the police. Ashok then meets Nimmo and falls in love with her. Nimmo asks Ashok to leave the life of a gangster and settle down with her. Ashok agrees but after a few days of not having any food, Ashok realizes that he was better off being a gangster. The rest of the movie portrays the struggle of Ashok trying to stay with Nimmo or with Sunder.


Cast


  • Dev Anand as Ashok
  • Kalpana Kartik as Nimmo
  • K. N. Singh as Captain
  • Bhagwan Sinha as Sunder
  • Rashid Khan as Jibbo
  • Kumkum


Songs


The film's music score was given by Sachin Dev Burman with lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi.


#TitleSinger(s)LyricistLength
1Aag lagi bangle meinAsha BhosleSahir Ludhianvi3:33
2Chup Hai Dharti Chup Hain Chand SitaareHemant KumarSahir Ludhianvi3:01
3Dekh Idhar O JaadugarAsha BhonsleSahir Ludhianvi3:28
4Dum Hai Baaki To Gum NahinAsha BhonsleSahir Ludhianvi5:00
5Oonche Sur Mein Gaaye JaaKishore KumarSahir Ludhianvi3:57
6Peeche Peeche AakarLata Mangeshkar, Hemant KumarSahir Ludhianvi3:55
7Phaili Hui Hain Sapnon Ki BaahenLata Mangeshkar Sahir Ludhianvi3:46
8Teri Duniya Mein Jeene SeHemant KumarSahir Ludhianvi2:55


External links



 

 

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Ek Villain (2014)

Ek Villain (English: One Villain) is a 2014 Indian romantic thriller directed by Mohit Suri. The film stars Sidharth Malhotra, Riteish Deshmukh and Shraddha Kapoor in lead roles, and tells the story of a hardened criminal whose terminally ill wife is murdered by a serial killer. The film was produced by Ekta Kapoor and Shobha Kapoor under Balaji Motion Pictures and ALT Entertainment. The film is an unofficial remake of the 2010 South Korean action thriller film I Saw The Devil. Upon its release on 27 June 2014, the film received mixed to positive reviews from the critics, and was a commercial success.


Contents


  • 1 Plot
  • 2 Cast
  • 3 Production
    • 3.1 Development
    • 3.2 Marketing and promotions
  • 4 Soundtrack
    • 4.1 Reception
  • 5 Release
    • 5.1 Critical reception
    • 5.2 Box office
  • 6 References
  • 7 External links


Plot


The movie starts with Aisha (Shraddha Kapoor) calling her husband and leaving a message for him. A mysterious man in a hood breaks into her house, murders her with a screwdriver, and throws her out of the window. At her funeral, CBI officer Aditya Rathore (Shaad Randhawa) points out to the police that it is vital to track down the murderer or else Guru Pratap Singh (Sidharth Malhotra), Aisha's husband, would go on a killing spree. He misguides Guru by blaming Guru's former boss, gangster Caeser (Remo Fernandes), for killing Aisha. In a flashback, he reveals that Guru used to work as a hitman for Caeser. Two years back, Guru had mercilessly killed a young man in a fit of anger, in front of his mother and younger brother. She told Guru that one day God would make him pay for his crimes.
Guru meets Aisha, a free spirited girl in love with life, who requests him to help her with reuniting two aged lovers. They soon become friends and Aisha reveals to him that she has a terminal illness, and tells him about her bucket list. Guru helps her fulfill most of those wishes but her health deteriorates. Falling in love with her, Guru marries Aisha. He tries every means to save her. She receives treatment in Mumbai and miraculously recovers. Few days later she discovers she is pregnant but the doctor tells her that she might die while delivering the baby. She conceals this fact from Guru. In a parallel story, Rakesh Mahadkar (Riteish Deshmukh) is an unsuccessful and henpecked man who is constantly nagged and ridiculed by his wife Sulochana (Aamna Sharif) for being useless and poor. He vents out his frustration by murdering women who speak rudely to him, and Aisha turns out to be one of them.

In present day, Guru aims to track down Aisha's killer. After finding out that it was not Caeser behind the murder, he finally tracks down Rakesh, while he is assaulting another victim. Guru beats Rakesh brutally but later admits him to a hospital and pays for the expenses, intending to return. While at the hospital, Guru finds out that Aisha was pregnant which makes him angrier. While assaulting a nurse who had earlier spoken rudely to him, Rakesh is again intercepted by Guru who almost kills him, but revives him again after delivering an adrenaline shot and sets him free. Meanwhile, the police finds out the truth about Rakesh and takes his wife for questioning. Rakesh goes to his friend Brijesh Yadav (Kamaal R Khan), who suggests that Guru must be the husband of one of his victims and is thus taking revenge. He realizes that Guru is Aisha's husband as she had begged him not to kill her by saying that she is pregnant.

Rakesh, who now knows Guru's identity, taunts him over the phone before killing Aisha's father, and then surrenders to Aditya. Rakesh expects Guru to kill him so that he would become a "hero" in the eyes of his wife and everyone else, while Guru would become a "villain". However, Caesar calls Guru at that moment and says that he has killed Rakesh's wife and asks Guru to finish off his son. Enraged, Rakesh injures Guru and is about to kill him when he is run over by a car and dies on the spot. Guru later adopts Rakesh's son instead of killing him, and completes the remaining wishes on Aisha's bucket list.


Cast


  • Sidharth Malhotra as Guru / Dipu Pratap Singh
  • Shraddha Kapoor as Aisha Verma
  • Riteish Deshmukh as Rakesh Mahadkar / Manish
  • Aamna Sharif as Sulochana Mahadkar, Rakesh's wife
  • Shaad Randhawa as ACP Aditya Rathore
  • Remo Fernandes as Caesar
  • Nihar Gite as Manish Mahadkar
  • Asif Basra as Aisha's father
  • Jack Wayne as Simon
  • Rishina Khandare as Nurse
  • Maharangiz Acharya as female boss
  • Praveena Deshpande as Dipu's mother
  • Anagha Joshi as Brijesh's wife
  • Vidyadhar Karmarkar as Chhotu
  • Aradhana Uppal as Lady doctor
  • Vikas Shrivastav as Wagle
  • Geet Vaghela as Sachin Anand
  • Sandeep as Ajit Borkar
  • Harsh Mehta as Rohan
  • Kamal Karamchandani as doctor
  • Rini Das as escort
  • Vinita Amar as judge
  • Yash Acharya as child Guru
  • Manoj Sharma as Guru's father
  • Shobha Gori as Guru's mother
  • Prachi Desai in a special appearance in song "Awari"
  • Kamaal R. Khan as Brijesh Yadav (Manish's new Friend and colleague)


Production


Development


Ekta Kapoor signed Mohit Suri to direct a romantic thriller. Ek Villain was earlier reported to be a remake of the Korean film I Saw the Devil, though Suri, the director, refuted the claim. Suri stated that every character in the film would have grey shades.


Marketing and promotions


The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) cleared the film after a total of eight cuts designed to tone down the action sequences and mute a particular word. Tanuj Garg, representative of Balaji Motion Pictures stated the cuts were less than a minute of screen time.

The movie's official teaser which was released on 4 April 2014 with the film Main Tera Hero, got 1 million views on YouTube within three days of release. The official trailer of 2 minutes 18 secs was launched later and was well received by critics, as well as garnered praise from around the industry including Karan Johar, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif among others.

Sidharth Malhotra, Shraddha Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh, Mohit Suri and the film’s music directors attended a musical event in Mumbai to promote the soundtrack of the film. Further, Malhotra and Kapoor promoted the movie at the IPL semi finals as well as on reality shows like Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa. Promotion campaigns were also organized across the country in cities like Jaipur, Kolkata and Delhi. As a part of the promtional strategy, a television show based on Bollywood villains was hosted by Malhotra.


Soundtrack


The songs are composed by Mithoon, Ankit Tiwari and the band Soch. The lyrics are written by Manoj Muntashir, Mithoon and members of Soch . The album consists of six songs with Tiwari composing "Galliyan", Mithoon composing "Zaroorat", "Humdard" and "Banjaara" while the remaining track "Awari" is composed by Soch.

The film score was composed by Raju Singh.

Track listing

No. Title Lyrics Music Singer(s) Length
1. "Galliyan" Manoj Muntashir Ankit Tiwari Ankit Tiwari 5:40
2. "Banjaara" Mithoon Mithoon Mohd. Irfan 5:36
3. "Zaroorat" Mithoon Mithoon Mustafa Zahid 6:08
4. "Awari" Rabbi Ahmed, Adnan Dhool Rabbi Ahmed, Adnan Dhool Adnan Dhool, Momina Mustehsan 5:20
5. "Hamdard" Mithoon Mithoon Arijit Singh 4:20
6. "Galliyan (Unplugged)" Manoj Muntashir Ankit Tiwari Shraddha Kapoor, Ankit Tiwari 4:14
7. "Ek Villain (Mashup)" DJ Kiran Kamath 4:28


Reception


Mohar Basu of Koimoi gave the album 4/5 stars and wrote, "Mohit Suri’s taste for melody cannot be doubted as the filmmaker uses an album that is fine blend of ballads and rock, infusing the right octave of harmony is every single song. In a long time there hasn’t come an album which has such perfectly pitched songs, each of them a winner. Music Directors get all the credit for creating a wholesome album like this." Rediff also awarded the album 4 out of 5 stars and noted, "The music of Ek Villain meets the high expectations that one had from it. Mohit Suri maintains his record of coming up with memorable music for each of his films." Filmfare wrote, "All-in-all, The OST of Ek Villain is another winner for Mohit Suri who has a knack for bringing out the best in his music directors. Go for it if you like soulful romantic tracks with loads of fusion thrown in."


Release


Ek Villain was released theatrically on 27 June 2014, in 2539 screens in the domestic market.


Critical reception


Ek Villain received mixed to positive reviews from critics with praise towards performances of Malhotra and Deshmukh.

Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama awarded the movie 4/5 stars and wrote that, "On the whole, Ek Villain is a stylish, spellbinding and terrifying edge-of-the-seat thriller. It's a step forward in this genre, without doubt. A sure-shot winner!" Raedita Tandon from Filmfare gave the film 4/5 stars and stated that, "Though indulgent in parts, Ek Villain packs in a punch. Copy of a Korean film or not, it’s ‘good’ paisa vasool entertainment. ." Meena Iyer of The Times of India gave the film 3 stars in a scale of 5, stating that "You cannot fault the scale of Ek Villain or berate its lead star cast. But you wish you could celebrate this thriller like you did Suri's last movie outing  Aashiqui 2. This one lacks soul." 
 
Aparna Mudi of Zee News gave the film a rating of 2.5/5 stars, concluding her review that "The unveiling of the visceral saga has a lot of strong characters and Mohit has done a good job in adapting a foreign film and complimenting it with the drama that the Indian audience is used to. But he has gone a tad over in making a thriller. Maybe, filmmakers should step out of this trap more often and we wouldn`t be too far from making beacons of world cinema." Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN stated that "I'm going with two-and-a-half out of five for 'Ek Villain'. If you're still wondering, the real villain here is the lousy script".

Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave the film 2 stars, commenting that "Suri is an innate story-teller, and can keep things moving. All he needs is a strong, all-the-way credible, original plot." Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated the film 2/5 and wrote that "As a whole, this film, besides its surface flair, does not have too much to fall back upon. Watch it only if that is good enough for you." Raja Sen of Rediff gave the film 1.5 stars out of 5, stating that "Given free tickets, sure, you could escape Humshakals in theatres this weekend with this mediocre effort, but I say do yourself a favour and seek out the Korean DVD. (Uncover it, even.) Now that’s bloody special."


Box office


Ek Villain had what Box Office India called "very good" opening, with occupancies at around 55–60%. The film earned around 167.2 million (US$2.5 million) in its first day and around 507 million (US$7.5 million) in its first weekend, collecting around 165.4 million (US$2.5 million) and 174.4 million (US$2.6 million) in its second and third days respectively. The film collected around 81 million (US$1.2 million) in its fourth day and around 68 million (US$1.0 million) in its fifth day. The film collected 1.013 billion (US$15 million) in two weeks and around 1.056 billion (US$16 million) in three weeks. Box Office India reported that it will earn around 1.08 billion (US$16 million) in India alone. The film earned a distributor share of around 51 crore (US$7.6 million)(Share).

Ek Villain collected 132.4 million (US$2.0 million) outside India in its first weekend.


External links







Ugly (2013)

Ugly is a 2014 Indian neo-noir psychological thriller film written and directed by Anurag Kashyap. The film was screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. It also opened in the 2014 New York Indian Film Festival. The film stars Girish Kulkarni, Ronit Roy, Tejaswini Kolhapure, Vineet Kumar Singh and Surveen Chawla in pivotal roles. It also features model turned TV actor Rahul Bhat in an important role and TV actor Abir Goswami in his last film appearance before his death in 2013. The circumstances that led to the birth of Kali, the little girl, was separately made as 'Kali Katha': the prologue, and was released on YouTube. The digital poster of the film was released on 8 May 2013.

Produced by DAR Motion Pictures and Phantom Films, the film was theatrically released on December 26, 2014 after a delay about the inclusion of a warning about smoking. Upon release, the film received critical acclaim and has grossed over ₹138 million worldwide.


Contents


  • 1 Plot
  • 2 Cast
  • 3 Soundtrack
  • 4 Delayed release over depiction of smoking
  • 5 Reception
  • 6 External links

    Plot


    The film opens with Shalini (Tejaswini Kolhapure) a lonely and troubled housewife addicted to alcohol, battling depression. She contemplates suicide, hoping to evoke some reaction from her stoic second husband, police chief Shoumik Bose (Ronit Roy), who behaves as if she doesn't exist.

    Shalini feels trapped in the marriage as Shoumik doesn't talk, taps her phone calls and treats her like a criminal. When she is about to shoot herself in the head with her husband's gun, she is interrupted by her 10-year-old daughter (from her first marriage) Kali (Anishika Shrivastava). Unaware of her mother's state of mind, Kali asks her to call her father, Shalini's estranged ex-husband, Rahul (Rahul Bhat). Rahul is a struggling actor. It is a Saturday, and Kali wishes to spend the day with her father, as decided in the custody agreement of the divorce.

    Rahul takes Kali for a drive but is preoccupied with phone calls to further his career. He ends up taking Kali for a work assignment. This irritates her. She chooses to stay in the car while her father goes to see his agent Chaitanya (Vineet Kumar Singh) at his house. Whilst Rahul is waiting in the house for Chaitanya to arrive, a street seller tries to catch Kali's attention with children's masks.

    Chaitanya then arrives at the house and informs Rahul that his car door was open and Kali was not in the car. Rahul rushes down to the car and much to his horror, he sees that Kali is missing. Chaitanya and Rahul start looking for leads in the busy marketplace street where the car was parked. Chaitanya asks the mask seller about Kali and notices that he has Kali's phone. Rahul and Chaitanya try to stop the seller from running off, but he runs into the road and is hit by a car and dies on the spot.

    Rahul and Chaitanya go to the police station to inform about what happened and that Kali is missing. The local police inspector Jadhav (Girish Kulkarni) makes jokes about the situation and does not take it seriously until he realises that Kali is the step-daughter of his police-chief Bose. Things quickly turn mean and Jadhav accuses Rahul and his friend Chaitanya of orchestrating the kidnapping as this is Bose's opinion when Jadhav informs him of the kidnap.

    Rahul and Bose have known each other since College, where the popular Rahul had the studious Bose beaten up when Bose had approached Shalini. Bose suspects Rahul and plays a telephone call clip back to Rahul in which he stated to his ex-wife that he will kidnap Kali if she continues stopping Kali from seeing him.

    Chaitanya is allowed to leave the station. Chaitanya is then seen to be making a phone call to Bose in a disguised voice asking for a ransom. Rahul is released. What follows is a game of one-upmanship as Bose and Rahul search for Kali while simultaneously attempting to upstage the other. Both of them accuse each other at various times of orchestrating the kidnapping. Chaitanya is also suspected at times, but Bose cannot find any firm evidence.

    Shalini's good-for-nothing brother Siddhant (Siddhanth Kapoor) and B-grade-actress item-girl Rakhee (Surveen Chawla) seem involved too. Siddhant makes a ransom call for 50 Lacs rupees to Shalini on her parent's home telephone, and Shalini asks her dad for 65 Lac rupees of which she delivers the 50 Laca but hides the extra 15 Lacs for herself under the care of her friend Rakhee. Rakhee moves out of her shared flat stealing this money.

    Siddhant is later arrested with the money whilst Shalini later implies to Bose that she had kept some of the money for herself so she can leave him. Rakhee is seen to be forwarding Chaitanya's ransom calls to Rahul. Every character seems like a culprit as they all have ulterior motives.

    Rahul delivers the money for the ransom but the caller Chaitanya evades police interception. Rahul is seen getting into the caller's car with the bag of money. Rahul, Chaitanya and Rakhee are then seen together with the bag of money and Chaitanya jokes around with Rakhee as they wait for a ferry. Rahul telephones Bose to taunt him that he thinks he is a really big police inspector but did not find Kali.

    Bose replies by asking Rahul if Kali is with him and reflects that the situation has not helped anyone. Rahul is despondent as he realises that Bose does not know where Kali is either and she is still missing, Rahul flies into a rage at Chaitanya stating that Chaitanya had reassured him that Bose had taken Kali. Rahul states he has been treated as a fool by Chaitanya and kills Chaitanya in his rage whilst Rakhee quietly leaves the two of them taking the bag of money.

    The Police revisit the marketplace and talk again to an Aunty of the mask seller who died. The two of them had a history of abducting children. A policewoman advises the Aunty that it would be better if she shows them where Kali is as the public will lynch her for what has happened.

    It has been at least six days that Kali has been missing and the cops finally discover Kali's dead body after being led to her by the Aunty. The police discover that she was actually kidnapped by the mask seller, who hid her and then was unable to release her since he died in the chase. An image of the dead Kali is seen as the film ends.


    Cast


    • Rahul Bhat as Rahul Kapoor/Varshney
    • Ronit Roy as Shoumik Bose
    • Tejaswini Kolhapure as Shalini Bose
    • Vineet Kumar Singh as Chaitanya Mishra
    • Surveen Chawla as Rakhi Malhotra
    • Siddhanth Kapoor as Siddhant
    • Girish Kulkarni as Inspector Jadhav
    • Abir Goswami as ACP Gupta
    • Madhavi Singh as ACP Upadhyay
    • Anshika Shrivastava as Kali Varshney
    • Alia Bhatt in a Cameo as young Shalini Bose
    • Saharsh Kumar Shukla as Gangster Pujari


      Soundtrack


      The film's soundtrack is composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar and Brian McOmber, with the latter composing two songs and the background score.

      Track listing

      No. Title Lyrics Singer(s) Length
      1. "Suraj Hai Kahan" Gaurav Solanki G. V. Prakash Kumar 5:16
      2. "Papa" Gaurav Solanki Shilpa Rao 3:16
      3. "Ni Chod De" Gaurav Solanki Barkha Swaroop Saxena 4:03
      4. "Money" Gaurav Solanki Christopher Stanley 3:42
      5. "Ugly" Vineet Singh Ishq Bector, Vineet Singh, Shree D 3:39


      Delayed release over depiction of smoking


      Anurag Kashyap had initially intended for Ugly to release in mid to late 2013. The Indian Censor Board required a "Smoking is Injurious to Health" sign to be posted in the lower right corner of the frame whenever a character in the film is shown smoking. Kashyap fought this regulation stating " it's the Health Ministry that should take the responsibility of curbing use of tobacco and work towards measures to control it and films should not be a medium to advertise non-smoking." For a while Kashyap stated that he was not going to release the film until the Board decided to get rid of the rule, but after several months of negotiations, Kashyap decided that he would release the movie with the "Smoking is Injurious to Health" sign while continuing to challenge the rule. It was released on 26 December 2014.


      Reception


      Upon release, Ugly received widespread critical acclaim. The film was premiered at the Cannes film festival and received what Filmfare called a "great response" as a result of standing ovation. The film released in France in May 2014 with Business of Cinema stating that it had a "brilliant script and amazing performance."

      On 23 December 2014 a special screening was held in Mumbai. First Post said, "Ironically, Ugly looks beautiful. It's all dark, dank and disgusting, and yet impossible to look away from."

      Koimoi gave 4/5 stars praising the direction and scripts. Times of India gave 4/5 stars saying " Anurag Kashyap is in top form in this suspense thriller." Rediff.com gave 4.5/5 star saying it is Kashyap's finest work. Hindustan Times, Glamsham and Deccan Chronicle gave the film 4 to 4.75 stars out of 5. Yahoo and Zee News gave the film 4/5 stars.


      External links