Baahubali: The Beginning (2015)

Baahubali: The Beginning (stylized as bãhubali; English: The One with Strong Arms: The Beginning), also known by the initialism BBTB, is an Indian epic historical fiction film directed by S. S. Rajamouli. The film was produced by Shobu Yarlagadda and Prasad Devineni and was shot as a bilingual in Telugu and Tamil. The film stars Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty, and Tamannaah in the lead roles, with Ramya Krishnan, Sathyaraj, and Nassar in supporting roles. The first of two cinematic parts, The Beginning is a tale of the lost rightful heir of the fictional kingdom of Mahishmati, who learns about his true identity while falling in love with a rebellious warrior, who (among with her group) intends to rescue the former queen of Mahismati.

The film was conceived by Rajamouli's father K. V. Vijayendra Prasad, who randomly told him a story about Sivagami, a woman who carries a baby in her hand while crossing a river, and a few years later about Kattapa, which intrigued Rajamouli. His fascination with mythology and the tales of Amar Chitra Katha comics further fueled his interest in the story. However, it took the writers three months to finalise the final draft. The soundtrack and background score were composed by M. M. Keeravani while the cinematography, production design, and VFX were handled by K. K. Senthil Kumar, Sabu Cyril and V. Srinivas Mohan respectively.

The film was made on a budget of ₹180 crore (~ $27.9 million), making it the most expensive Indian film at its time of release. The film opened worldwide on 10 July 2015, garnering critical acclaim and record breaking box office success. With the worldwide box office gross of ₹6.5 billion (~ $100.9 million), it became the highest-grossing film in India and the third-highest grossing Indian film worldwide, and the highest-grossing South Indian film at the time of its release. Its Hindi dubbed version also broke several records by becoming the highest grossing dubbed film in India. Both budget and box office records since has been surpassed by its sequel, Baahubali 2: The Conclusion. The Beginning is the highest grossing Indian film of 2015 and the fourth highest grossing Indian film of all time.

It received several accolades. It won the National Film Award for Best Special Effects and Best Feature Film, becoming the first Telugu film to win the award. At the 63rd Filmfare Awards South, the Telugu version won five awards from ten nominations, including Best Film, Best Director for Rajamouli and Best Supporting Actress for Krishnan. The Beginning became the first Indian film to be nominated for Saturn Awards, receiving five nominations at the 42nd ceremony, including Best Fantasy Film and Best Supporting Actress for Tamannaah. The film's second and final cinematic part was released on 28 April 2017.

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Production
  • 3.1 Visual effects
  • 3.2 Kilikili language
• 4 Music
• 5 Release
  • 5.1 Re-release
  • 5.2 Marketing
  • 5.3 Distribution
• 6 Critical reception
• 7 Box office
  • 7.1 India
  • 7.2 Overseas
• 8 Accolades
• 9 Sequel
• 10 See also
• 11 External links

Plot

In the ancient kingdom of Mahismati, Sivagami (Ramya Krishnan) emerges from a cave while carrying a baby. She kills two soldiers pursuing her and attempts to wade towards a village across a raging river, but fails and falls in. She clutches a branch, before pleading to God Parameshwara that "Mahendra Baahubali must live!" and holds the baby in one hand above her head before dying.

Local villagers notice the baby and rescue it. Sanga (Rohini) and her husband name the infant Sivudu and raise him as their own son. The villagers seal the staircase leading up the waterfall, fearing that someone may come to take away the child.

Sivudu (Prabhas) grows up to be a strong, adventurous young man who tries to climb the waterfall, with minimal success. After carrying a stone Shiva lingam to the waterfalls, he finds a wooden mask on the ground. Driven to find the owner of the mask, he attempts to climb the waterfall again and succeeds. After his ascent, Sivudu discovers that the mask belongs to Avantika (Tamannaah), a rebellious warrior of a group engaged in guerrilla warfare against Emperor Bhallaladeva (Rana Daggubati) of Mahismati. The group, led by Devasena's brother (Balireddy Pruthviraj), intends to rescue their former queen Devasena (Anushka Shetty) who has been imprisoned in the kingdom for the past twenty-five years. Avantika is given the opportunity to rescue the queen.

Avantika falls in love with Sivudu after finding out that he climbed the waterfall for her. Sivudu pledges to help her in her mission and sneaks into Mahishmati to rescue Devasena. Sivudu rescues Devasena and flees with her, but is chased down by Bhallaladeva's son, Bhadra (Adivi Sesh) and the king's royal slave warrior Kattappa (Sathyaraj). After Sivudu beheads Bhadra, Kattappa drops his weapon, realizing that Sivudu is Mahendra Baahubali, the son of late king Amarendra Baahubali. Kattappa narrates the story of Amarendra's past.

Amarendra's mother had died giving birth to him, while his father had died long before that. His uncle Bijjaladeva (Nassar) was deemed unfit to rule due to his crooked nature, however he believes he was denied the throne due to the fact that one of his arms is disabled. Bijjaladeva's wife Sivagami assumed control of the kingdom with Kattappa's assistance until a new king could be selected. Amarendra Baahubali was brought up together with Bijjaladeva and Sivagami's son, his cousin Bhallaladeva. Both young men were trained in arts, science, disguise, politics, and warfare, but they had different approaches towards kingship. Amarendra Baahubali was gracious to everyone, and was loved by the people. Bhallaladeva was violent and achieved his goals by any means possible.
It was then discovered that Mahismathi was about to be attacked by an army of savages called Kalakeyas. Bijjaladeva proposed that the prince who killed Inkoshi, the king of Kalakeyas, would be the future king of Mahismati and the chief minister agrees. Sivagami, nevertheless, said that it was prince's duty to protect and defend their country and orders that Mahismati's war resources be distributed fairly among the two men. Bijjaladeva used his guile to make sure Bhallaladeva got the maximum war resources.

The Kalakeyas were given an opportunity to change their minds. The Kalakeya king Inkoshi rejected Queen Sivagami's offer and insulted her by saying he will have children with her. An enraged Sivagami said she wants Inkoshi brought to her alive, but with his limbs chopped off, so that she could feed him to the vultures. During the battle, the Kalakeyas used a dirty tactic of using the prisoners of Mahismati as shields. Bhallaladeva plowed through the line of innocent prisoners with his chariot which had blades turning and killed them. Amarendra, on the other hand, caused them to fall down and attacked the Kalakeyas behind them, thus saving the prisoners. When it seems that Mahishmati would end up being defeated, Amarendra inspired his soldiers to fight back and they ended up crushing the enemy. While Amarendra defeated Inkoshi and was about to obey the words of Sivagami by chopping off his limbs, Bhallaladeva swung his weapon from a distance and killed him. Despite Bhallaladeva being the one to kill Inkoshi, Sivagami announced Amarendra Baahubali as the new emperor because of his courage and leadership and also because of the fact that he shielded and protected his own countrymen throughout the war.

After the flashback, when asked about Amarendra's current whereabouts, a tearful Kattappa reveals that Amarendra is dead, and that he is the one who killed him.

Cast

Main article: List of Baahubali characters

• Prabhas as Amarendra Baahubali and Mahendra Baahubali alias Sivudu (Telugu) / Shivu (Tamil)
• Rana Daggubati as Bhallaladeva (Telugu)/Pallvalathevan in (Tamil)
• Anushka Shetty as Devasena (Telugu) / Thevasenai (Tamil)
• Ramya Krishnan as Rajamatha (Queen Mother) Sivagami (Telugu) / Shivakami (Tamil)
• Tamannaah as a rebel warrior Avantika (Telugu and Tamil)
• Sathyaraj as Kattappa (Telugu and Tamil), as a royal slave and warrior
• Nassar as Bijjaladeva (Telugu) / Pingalathevan (Tamil)
• Rohini as Sanga (Telugu and Tamil)
• Meka Ramakrishna as Jayasena, leader of the rebel group and the King of Kunthala Kingdom
• Tanikella Bharani as Swamiji
• Adivi Sesh as Bhadra (Telugu and Tamil), son of Bhallaladeva
• Prabhakar as king of the Kalakeyas Inkoshi (Telugu) / Inkhozhi (Tamil)
• Sudeep as Aslam Khan
• S. S. Rajamouli as spirit seller
• Nora Fatehi as dancer in green blouse
• Scarlett Mellish Wilson as dancer in orange blouse
• Sneha Upadhyay (cameo) as dancer in blue blouse
• Rakesh Varre as Bhallaladeva's friend
• Teja Kakumanu as Sakethudu
• Bharani as Marthanda
• Subbaraya Sharma
• Adatya as Raj Guru
• John Kokken as Kalki Brothers
• Gabriela Bertante

Production

Baahubali: The Beginning was produced in Tollywood, the center of Telugu language films in India. As of July 2015, the film series was considered the most expensive in India. In February 2011, S. S. Rajamouli announced that Prabhas will star in his upcoming movie. In January 2013, he announced that the working title as Baahubali and the actual film production started at Rock Gardens in Kurnool on 6 July 2013. The waterfall scenes in the film were shot at Athirappilly Falls in Kerala, huge sets for the Mahishmati kingdom were constructed at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad and the snow episodes in the film were shot in Bulgaria. The screen writer, K. V. Vijayendra Prasad who wrote stories for most of Rajamouli's films once again penned the story for Baahubali. The film boasts of one year pre production work where in 15,000 story board sketches for the film were created which is highest for any Indian Film till date. More than 90 percent of the film had visually enhanced shots and according to the producer, more than 600 VFX artists worked for the film from 18 facilities around the world led by Makuta VFX and Firefly in Hyderabad, Prasad Studios in Hyderabad and Chennai, Annapurna Studios in Hyderabad, Tau Films in Malaysia, and Dancing Digital Animation and Macrograph in South Korea. Makuta VFX which had prior experience of working with S.S.Rajamouli was chosen as principal visual effects studio. The cinematography of the movie was done by KK Senthil Kumar for 380 days using Arri Alexa XT camera with Master Prime lens marking Rajamouli's first film using digital camera. Most of the film was shot in ARRIRAW format in 4:3 aspect ratio while ARRIRAW 16.9 was used for slow motion shots at 120 fps. Open Gate format, which can utilise the full 3.4K sensor in the camera to produce frames larger than the standard ARRIRAW format was tapped in to get the maximum image quality in VFX shots.
For the first time in Indian movies, 4K movie print was rendered with an aspect ratio of 1:1.88 as compared to Cinemascope at 1:2.35 to get the best cinematic experience in screens that support the 4K projection claimed the Producer. Sabu Cyril, production designer for the film created 10,000 different kinds of weaponry ranging from swords, helmets and armors required for the soldiers. To make the swords light weight Carbon-fibre was used instead of steel, the same material used in manufacture of Helicopter blades claimed the art director. 3D printing technology was used to create the head of 100 foot Bhallaladeva's character in the movie and flexi foam was used to create amours to make them light weight and to have the look of leather. V. Srinivas Mohan was chosen as visual effects supervisor and Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao was the Editor. PM Satheesh was the sound designer and Peter Hein was responsible for the action sequences. The costume designers were Rama Rajamouli and Prasanthi Tipirneni. The line producer was M. M. Srivalli.

Visual effects

National Award Winner V. Srinivas Mohan was roped in as Visual effects supervisor for Baahubali. The film boasts of 90% CGI work which accounts for 2500 VFX shots. Makuta VFX which is based out of Hyderabad was chosen as principal visual effects studio and was responsible for more than 50% of the computer-generated imagery in the film. The majority of work done by Makuta involved bringing the 1500 foot mystical waterfall to life, creating enormous mountains and huge landscapes including the kingdom of Mahishmati, with its massive temples and courtyards. Creating the mammoth waterfall took nearly 2 years as Makuta has to deal with a lot of complexity in fluid dynamics and simulations. Each frame involving the water fall sequence was treated as creating a new set and employed a different set of methodology claims Makuta.

Firefly Creative Studio which is also based out of Hyderabad worked primarily on the avalanche and the war sequences which accounts for nearly 25 minutes of the film. Firefly Creative was also involved in creating underwater VFX shots and in establishing backstories for Kalakeya characters. Tau Films from Malaysia was responsible for creating the CGI bison, while Prasad EFX from Hyderabad was responsible for some shots in pre and post battle episodes involving digital multiplication. Prasad was also responsible for creating a 3D image of Kattappa and mapping his head on to a duplicate actor in one of the scenes.

Srushti VFX from Hyderabad was involved in digitally creating some of the shots in the war sequence along with Firefly studios. Annapurna Studios from Hyderabad was chosen as digital intermediate partner for the film which is responsible for generating the digital feed with the best color and audio for editing. For the first time in Indian movies, Academy Color Encoding System workflows were implemented along with Infinitely Scalable Information Storage keeping in mind the mammoth scale of digitally enhanced shots in the film. Arka Media Works, production company of Baahubali, teamed up with AMD to utilise the state of the art FirePro GPUs W9100 and W8100 during the post production of the film which are capable of rendering 4K content in real time and are considered the best in Industry to date.

Reacting to media reports on the same VFX team for Baahubali and Jurassic World, producer Shobu Yarlagadda denied outright any such collaboration, calling such claims an internet rumor. In an interview with Quartz, the co-founder of Makuta VFX stated, "Most of Baahubali was developed in Hyderabad, home to Tollywood, and used local talent. It was principally a homegrown feature produced by homegrown talent." 

Kilikili language

The fictional language Kilikili (also referred to as Kiliki) used as the language of the Kalakeyas - a ferocious warrior tribe, was created by Madhan Karky for the film. It is said to be the first fictitious language to be created for an Indian film character.

While Karky was pursuing PhD in Australia, he took up a part-time job of teaching and baby-sitting children. During one such interaction, he thought it would be fun to create a new language that could be easily grasped. Basic words were first made up and opposites were represented by word reversals - me was min and you was nim. The language which introduced 100 new words was called "Click" to highlight its simplicity. This formed the foundation for Kiliki.

• Kilikili consists of at least 750 words and more than 40 concrete grammar rules
• It was designed to be an intuitive language - Karky said he used hard consonants and soft consonants depending on the nature of the word's meaning.
• The language was created keeping in mind that the Kalakeya warriors had to be portrayed as terrifying brutes.
• The language sounds the same in all the versions - Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam - of Baahubali.

Music

Main article: Baahubali: The Beginning (soundtrack)

Rajamouli's cousin M. M. Keeravani composed the music for this film and the sound supervision is done by Kalyan Koduri.

Release

The film released on 10 July 2015 in 4,000 screens worldwide in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam languages. A record number of 1600 screens in Telugu, 1500 screens in Hindi, 350 in Tamil and 225 screens in Malayalam were booked for the release. The film was released in USA a day earlier by BlueSky Cinemas in 135 screens. A premier show was also held on 9 July at Prasads IMAX Hyderabad. The film's release in Kerala was hindered amidst a close down by a section of theatres over the piracy issue of Malayalm film Premam and released only in few theatres. The Telugu version of the film was presented by K. Raghavendra Rao, Tamil version by K.E. Gnanavel Raja, Sri Thenandal Films and UV Creations, Karan Johar presented the Hindi version and Global United Media presented the Malayalam theatrical version. International version of the film which is 20 mins shorter than the original one, done by Vincent Tabaillon was screened at Busan International Film Festival . Producers of the film have planned to release the film in China in over 5000 screens in November 2015 by E Stars Films. Baahubali will be the biggest release in China for an Indian film, beating PK which was released on 22 May 2015. The film is also set to release in Japan. Twin Co which is a leading distributor for international films in Japan has acquired the rights for screening of the film. The producer Shobu Yarlagadda who struck the deal at Busan Asian Film Market also revealed his plans to release the movie in Latin America, Germany and European countries. MVP Entertainment is set to release the movie in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Timor-Leste countries. Sun Distribution acquired the distribution rights of the movie in Latin American countries while Creative Century Entertainment got the rights for Taiwan. In Korea, the movie is scheduled to be released via Entermode Corp. Arka International, which is the sales arm for International release has made arrangements to release the movie in Germany and 70 other territories.

The Tamil version of the film faced a controversy relating to a word used in the film. On 22 July 2015, activists of Dalit group Puratchi Pulikal Iyakkam hurled petrol bombs outside the 'Tamil, Jaya' multiplex in Madurai screening the Tamil version of the film. Dalit group Puratchi Pulikal Iyakkam protested against the movie featuring a line Pagadaikku Pirandhavan, words considered derogatory against dalits as they are contemptuous terms used by caste Hindus to address members of the Arunthathiyar Dalit sub-caste. Dialogue Writer of Tamil version, Madhan Karky issued an apology for offending Dalits.

Re-release

As the sequel Baahubali: The Conclusion was released on 28 April 2017, the producers and distributors re-released the first part(Hindi) again on 7 April 2017.

The film was screened at various film festivals like Open Cinema Strand of Busan International Film Festival, Indian Film Festival The Hague, Sitges Film Festival in Spain, Utopiales Film Festival in France, Golden Horse Film Festival in Taipei, Taiwan, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia, L'Etrange International Film Festival in Paris, Five Flavours Film Festival in Poland, Hawaii International Film Festival in Honolulu, Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival in Brussels, Belgium, Cannes Film Festival in France, Transilvania International Film Festival in Romania, Le Grand Rex in Paris, Kurja Polt Horror Film Festival, Festival de Lacamo, 8th BRICS summit, and the 2016 Indian Panorama section of the International Film Festival of India, Goa. The international version of the film was released in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines, Timor-Leste along with some European and Latin American countries.

Marketing

Marketing of the film started 2 years before the shoot by S. S. Rajamouli with the audition campaign in Facebook and YouTube. A number of short promotional Making-of videos were released on ArkaMediaworks YouTube channel and the team unveiled first look posters and videos featuring the film's lead stars on the occasions of their birthdays. The film used an augmented reality application to play the trailer on smart phones and tablets. The crown used by the character of Baahubali in the film was exhibited at Comic Con, Hyderabad as a part of the film's promotion. A cosplay event was held in which chosen winners were given a chance to visit the sets of the film. The film's unit also launched a WhatsApp messenger to give regular updates about the film to the subscribers. On 22 July 2015, Guinness World Records approved the poster created during the audio launch of Baahubali in Kochi on 27 June 2015 as the world's largest poster. The poster has an area of 4,793.65 m² (51,598.21 ft²) and it was achieved by Global United Media Company Pvt Ltd. (This record has since been broken with a 5,969.61 m² poster for the film MSG-2 The Messenger.) A special skit was performed by the Baahubali team for the event named Memu Saitham to help the victims affected by Cyclone Hudhud. After the film's release, an interactive quiz was conducted by marketing team on storygag allowing users to find out which Baahubali movie character they were. Producers are also has planning to create a film museum at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad which will showcase the weapons, armours and costumes used by actors in the film which is first of its kind for any Indian movie till date. Museum is expected to be ready before or right after the release of Baahubali: The Conclusion. The film's website hosts merchandise which includes apparels, accessories and film's collectibles.

It is also one of the films featured in BBC's documentary on 100 Years of Indian cinema directed by Sanjeev Bhaskar.

Distribution

In early July 2014, the film first part's Karnataka and Ceded (Rayalaseema) region distribution rights were sold to a prominent distributor for ₹23 crore (US$3.6 million) out of which the Ceded region, which included Kadapa, Kurnool, Anantapur, Chittoor and Bellary areas, the rights alone fetched ₹14 crore (US$2.2 million) At the same time, the film's Nizam region theatrical distribution rights were purchased by Dil Raju for an amount of ₹25 crore (US$3.9 million). only for the first part. Though he did not confirm the price, Dil Raju said in an interview to Deccan Chronicle that he purchased the first part's Nizam region rights and added that he would acquire the rights of the second part also for this region. BlueSky Cinemas, Inc. acquired the theatrical screening and distribution rights in United States and Canada.

Critical reception

Critics praised the film for its direction, technical values, and the actors' performances. Lisa Tsering based on The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "The story has been told many times before — a child is born destined for greatness and as a man vanquishes the forces of evil — but in the confident hands of accomplished South Indian director S.S. Rajamouli the tale gets potent new life in Baahubali: The Beginning." Allan Hunter, writing for Screen Daily noted that "The broad brushstrokes storytelling and the director's over-fondness for slow-motion sequences are among the film's failings but this is still a rousing film, easily accessible epic. There's rarely a dull moment in Baahubali: The Beginning, part one of a gung-ho, crowd-pleasing Telugu-language epic that has been shattering box-office records throughout India." Mike McCahill of The Guardian rated the film four stars out of five, praising the film, "Rajamouli defers on the latter for now, but his skilful choreography of these elements shucks off any cynicism one might carry into Screen 1: wide-eyed and wondrous, his film could be a blockbuster reboot, or the first blockbuster ever made, a reinvigoration of archetypes that is always entertaining, and often thrilling, to behold." Suprateek Chatterjee of The Huffington Post wrote, "However, all said and done, Baahubali: The Beginning is a remarkable achievement. What Rajamouli has pulled off here, despite its flaws, is nothing short of a miracle, especially when you take into account India's notoriously risk-averse filmmaking environment and when the film ends on a tantalising cliffhanger (paving the way for Baahubali: The Conclusion, due to release next year), one can't help but applaud his singularly brave vision. As the cliché goes, a journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step, but it doesn't really matter if that first step is shaky as long as it lands firmly and confidently."
 
Deepanjana Pal of Firstpost wrote, "This battle is Rajamouli's tour de force. It's elaborate, well-choreographed and has some breathtaking moments. Prabhas and Dagubatti are both in their elements as the warriors who approach warfare in two distinctive styles. The outcome of the battle is no surprise, but there are enough clever tactics and twists to keep the audience hooked. The biggest surprise, however, lies in the film's final shot, which gives you a glimpse into the sequel that will come out next year. And it's good enough to make you wish 2016 was here already." Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV India rated the film with three stars out of five and stated, "The spectacular universe that the film conjures up is filled with magic, but the larger-than-life characters that populate its extraordinary expanse do not belong to any known mythic landscape. To that extent, Baahubali, driven by the titular superhero who pulls off mind-boggling feats both in love and in war, throws up many a surprise that isn't altogether meaningless." Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express praised the film: "Right from its opening frames, 'Baahubali' holds out many promises: of adventure and romance, love and betrayal, valour and weakness. And it delivers magnificently on each of them. This is full-tilt, fully-assured filmmaking of a very high order. 'Baahubali' is simply spectacular." IN her review for The Hindu, Sangeetha Devi Dundoo wrote, "The war formations that form a chunk of the latter portions of the film are the best we've seen in Indian cinema so far. These portions are spectacular and show the technical finesse of the cinematographer (K.K. Senthil Kumar) and the visual effects teams. The waterfall, the mystical forests and water bodies above the cliffs and the lead pair escaping an avalanche all add to the spectacle. Give into its magic, without drawing comparisons to Hollywood flicks."

Sukanya Varma of Rediff gave the film four out of five stars, calling it 'mega, ingenious and envelope pushing!'. Critic Archita Kashyap based at Koimoi also gave the same ratings, "Be it the war sequences, or sword fighting; or a visual spectacle, or pure entertainment it is worth a watch. Kudos to the dedication of S S Rajamouli and his leading men, Prabhas and Rana, for spending years putting this film together. Actually, in its imagination and Indianness, Baahubali might just be a whole new start." Rachit Gupta of Filmfare gave the film four stars (out of 5) and summarised, "Baahubali is truly an epic experience. Had the story not been so jaded, this would've gone into the history books as an all-time classic. But that's not the case. It has its set of storytelling flaws, but even those are overshadowed by Rajamouli's ideas and execution. This is definitely worthy of being India's most expensive film. It's a definite movie watching experience." Suparna Sharma of Deccan Chronicle praised the second half of the film, writing, "Rajamouli has reserved all the grander and grandstanding for later, after interval. That's when the film stands up and begins to strut like an epic." Suhani Singh of India Today pointed out that the film is best enjoyed keeping logic at bay. She added, "SS Rajamouli and his team put up a fascinating wild, wild east adventure. It takes pluck to conceive a world like the one seen in Baahubali and to pull it off on a level which is on par with the international standards. The almost 45-minute-long battle sequence at the end is not just one of the biggest climaxes, but also the action spectacle rarely seen in Indian cinema. And if Rajamouli can present another one like that in part 2, then he is on course to register his name in cinema's history books. We can't wait to revisit Mahishmati kingdom." Critical reception penned by Shubha Shetty Saha for Mid Day rates the film with four stars out of film, exclaiming, "While watching Baahubali, you might have to periodically pick up your jaw off the floor. Because this is not merely a movie, it is an unbelievably thrilling fantasy ride." The review extends praising the aspects, "It is to the director's credit that every aspect of the film – action, mind-boggling set design and choreography – lives up to this epic film of gigantic scale. The choreography in the song that has Shiva disrobing Avantika to get her in touch with her feminine side, is an absolute gem."

Box office

See also: List of highest-grossing Indian films

Baahubali: The Beginning on the first day of its release collected ₹75 crore (US$12 million) worldwide which was the highest opening ever for an Indian film until Kabali surpassed it in 2016 by earning ₹87.5 crore (US$14 million). The film collected ₹15 crore (US$2.3 million) alone from United States on its first day. First weekend collections stood around ₹162 crore (US$25 million) worldwide from all its versions, the third biggest ever for an Indian film. The film grossed around ₹255 crore (US$40 million) worldwide in the first week of its release. It became the first South Indian film to gross ₹300 crore (US$47 million) worldwide, reaching there in 9 days, and subsequently grossed ₹401 crore (US$63 million) worldwide in 15 days. And has successfully crossed ₹500 crore (US$78 million) mark in 24 days. By the end of 50 days, the film grossed an approximate ₹595 crore (US$93 million) crore worldwide, based on estimates from International Business Times. Overall collections of the film stood at ₹650 crore (US$100 million) as of today. Baahubali: The Beginning grossed ₹518 crore (US$81 million) in all languages in India alone, and became the highest-grossing movie in India surpassing the gross of PK (2015) of ₹440 crore (US$69 million) from India.

India

Baahubali: The Beginning opened to 100 percent occupancy in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and close to 70 percent occupancy in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. It grossed around ₹50 crore (US$7.8 million) on its first day of release in India from all four versions (Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi). The Hindi version earned around ₹5 crore (US$780,000) nett which was the highest opening for any film dubbed into Hindi. Baahubali grossed ₹49.48 crore (US$7.7 million) on the first day in India. The Hindi version grossed around ₹19.5 crore (US$3.0 million) nett in the first weekend.

The Telugu version alone earned around ₹65 crore (US$10 million) nett in first weekend in India. The film, from all its versions, earned almost ₹100 crore (US$16 million) nett in its first weekend. It had the fourth biggest opening weekend ever in India. The Hindi version collected around ₹40 crore (US$6.2 million) nett in its first week. Baahubali: The Beginning grossed more than ₹178 crore (US$28 million) nett from all its versions in India in the first week. It added a further ₹45 crore (US$7.0 million) nett in its second weekend to take its total to around ₹224 crore (US$35 million) nett in ten days. The Hindi version grossed over ₹40 crore (US$6.2 million) nett in the Mumbai circuit.

Overseas

The film collected around ₹20 crore (US$3.1 million) in its first day from the international markets. The film opened on the ninth spot for its weekend, collecting around US$3.5 million with a per-screen average of $15,148. The film debuted in the ninth position for the US and Canadian box office collecting $4,630,000 for three days and $3,250,000 for the weekend of 10–12 July 2015 Baahubali: The Beginning grossed £66,659 from its Telugu version in United Kingdom and Ireland and A$194,405 from its Tamil version in Australia in till its second weekend (17 – 19 July 2015). The film also grossed MYR 663,869 in Malaysia from its Tamil version. The film grossed US$540,000 on its opening weekend in China. It has grossed a total of CN¥7.49 million(₹7.78 crore) in the country. The film totally earned $10.94 million at the overseas box office.

Accolades

Main article: List of accolades received by Baahubali: The Beginning

At the 63rd National Film Awards, The Beginning won the Best Feature Film, becoming the first Telugu film to win the award, and Best Special Effects. At the 63rd Filmfare Awards South, the Telugu version won five awards from ten nominations, including Best Film, Best Director for Rajamouli and Best Supporting Actress for Krishnan. Both the Tamil and Telugu versions won several awards in their respective categories, including Best Film, Best Director for Rajamouli, and Best Supporting Actress for Krishnan at the 1st IIFA Utsavam. The Beginning became the first Indian film to be nominated for Saturn Awards, receiving five nominations at the 42nd ceremony, including Best Fantasy Film and Best Supporting Actress for Tamannaah.

Sequel

Main article: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

The second part, entitled Baahubali 2: The Conclusion was released worldwide on 28 April 2017.

See also

• List of most expensive Indian films
• List of highest-grossing Indian films

External links

Raees (2017)

Raees (English: Wealthy) is a 2017 Indian crime drama film directed by Rahul Dholakia and produced by Gauri Khan, Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar under their banners Red Chillies Entertainment and Excel Entertainment. It stars Shah Rukh Khan, Mahira Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. The film was a critical and commercial success.

Raees was said to be based on criminal Abdul Latif's life but, the filmmakers denied this, saying "The story of the film is a pure work of fiction, not based on any person; living or dead." The film was released on 25 January 2017.

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Production
  • 3.1 Filming and development
• 4 Release
• 5 Box office
• 6 Critical reception
  • 6.1 India
  • 6.2 Overseas
• 7 Controversy
• 8 Soundtrack
• 9 Marketing
• 10 External links

 

Plot

Raees (Shah Rukh Khan) lives in Gujarat, a state where Prohibition is in force and gets involved in illegal liquor trade at a very young age. Along with Sadiq (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub), Raees works for a gangster Jairaj (Atul Kulkarni), who smuggles alcohol illegally by bribing the police. Raees lives by the philosophy of his mother that every occupation is good, and no religion is greater than any occupation as long as it does not cause any harm to anyone. He decides to part ways with Jairaj and start operating on his own. He meets Musabhai (Narendra Jha) in Mumbai, and with his help he starts his bootlegging business. Meanwhile, an honest police officer of the IPS cadre, J. A. Majmudar (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) gets transferred to Fatehpur, and starts a major crackdown on alcohol dealers.

Gujarat's Chief Minister and Pashabhai, a shrewd politician supports Raees for liquor and money. With his money, intelligence and tact, Raees consistently find ways to avert Majmudar and continues on with his trade. He also assists his community by offering employment to women to sew cloth bags, which he uses to smuggle alcohol and get them delivered to homes. In the meantime, Raees marries Aasiya (Mahira Khan). Due to his differences with Raees, Jairaj tries to get him killed but survives and kills Jairaj.

Raees and Aasiya have a baby son named Faizan. Raees invites CM, Pashabhai and many others to celebrate with him. Raees is then offered a project by the CM to eliminate the illegal occupants at a land and construct a housing project. Raees manages to get Majmudar transferred to control room department. However, tables turn as Majmudar starts tapping Raees' telephonic conversations. Raees assaults Pashabhai during his election campaign. The CM advises Raees to go to jail for a while for his act. While still locked up, the CM and Pasha form an alliance. To counter them, Raees decides to fight the election from jail and wins.

Meanwhile, Majmudar gets transferred back to Fatehpura. Communal riots break out in the state. Considering Raees a threat, the CM puts the housing project in green zone. Raees suddenly finds himself broke with all his money dwindled on housing project, elections and dispatching food supplies during riots.

Musabhai offers Raees by offering money for an assignment to smuggle gold. Serial bomb blasts rock North India. Police investigations lead to Raees, where the gold he smuggled, contained RDX. Raees kills Musabhai for betraying his trust and killing innocent people to incite communal riots. Majmudar orders his officers to shoot Raees at sight, but Raees brings press with him and surrenders and is well aware Majmudar would kill him. Majmudar takes him to an isolated place and shoots him.

Cast

• Shah Rukh Khan as Raees Alam
• Mahira Khan as Aasiya Alam, Raees' wife
• Nawazuddin Siddiqui as IPS Jaideep Ambalal Majmudar
• Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Sadiq, Raees' friend and confidante
• Sheeba Chaddha as Amina Alam, Raees' mother
• Atul Kulkarni as Jairaj Seth
• Narendra Jha as Musa
• Jaideep Ahlawat as Nawab, Musabhai's assistant
• Uday Tikekar as Pasha Bhai
• Pramod Pathak as Chief Minister of Gujarat
• Utkarsh Mazumdar as Dr. Sanjanwala, Eye Specialist
• Kundan Roy as Kalupor
• Ashutosh Jha as Rasul
• Sunil Upadhyay as Taufiq
• Fareed Arif as Eijaz
• Loveleen Mishra as Ratna madam, School teacher
• Anil Mange as Qasim
• Anurag Arora as Damla
• Sanjay Gurbaxani as Commissioner
• Raj Arjun as Ilyas
• Bhagwan Tiwari as Inspector Devji
• Shubham Chintamani as young Raees
• Shubham Tukaram as young Sadiq
• Sunny Leone as Guest appearance in song "Laila Main Laila"

Production

Filming and development

Shooting of the film began in April 2015. The film has been shot in Mumbai, and sets were re-designed to depict Ahmedabad slums. The last schedule of the film was shot in Gujarat in January 2016. Despite protests, the film was shot in Bhuj without disruptions between January and February 2016.

Release

The film was scheduled to be released on Eid, 6 July 2016, but was postponed to avoid box office competition with Salman Khan starrer Sultan. The film was then rescheduled to be released on 26 January 2017, India's Republic Day, which conflicted with Hrithik Roshan starrer Kaabil, but then both films were moved to 25 January 2017. Raees opened to 3500 screens worldwide.

Box office

Raees grossed ₹ 129 crore worldwide in its opening weekend. Raees grossed ₹ 271 crore worldwide at the end of its theatrical run. With a total nett collection of 128.77 crore, the film was declared as a "Semi - Hit" by the Box Office India

Critical reception

India

Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama rated the film 4 out of 5 stars and said director Dholakia "depicts the power play and the cat and mouse chase between Raees and the honest cop Jaideep with flourish and that, in my opinion, is the mainstay of the enterprise."

Nihit Bhave of The Times of India rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "The movie can feel a bit long, but if you're going for a great SRK performance and some good ol' popcorn-entertainment, it might just 'raees' to the occasion."

Devarshi Ghosh of India Today rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "The filmmaking is pure masala and this is one well cooked masala movie. The story is not suprprising, but Rahul Dholakia's treatment seems fresh."

Writing for The Hindu, Namrata Joshi gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote, "In Raees, he (SRK) and Dholakia would rather dare than play it safe. The character, a complicated portrayal, is in line with grounding SRK in his faith, and making him rise above it."

Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and commented, "Raees might be markedly unfamiliar territory, but [Dholakia] doesn't let that fact undermine the content and its context. The balance that he achieves lends the film sustained solidity."

Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "SRK breaks through in some moments but is stymied by florid, seen-too-many-times flourishes in Raees. It is Nawazuddin Siddiqui who really shines through."

Rohit Bhatnagar of Deccan Chronicle rated the film 2 out of 5 stars and said, "The film could have been much more thrilling and gut-wrenching."

Raghav Jaitly from Zee News rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and applauded its "powerhouse performances". He described the film "From dialogue delivery to slow motion sequences, the movie will give you goosebumps at times. If you want to witness high-octane actions, intense emotions and sincere filmmaking, then go for 'Raees'. It amalgamates Shah Rukh's charm and Rahul's intelligence."

Writing for Hindustan Times, Sarit Ray gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, saying "Raees also deserves credit for going with a principal set of Muslim protagonists, a rarity for present-day Bollywood. Nawazuddin Siddiqui has the best lines. Raees perhaps works only as an SRK showcase.", and Anupama Chopra gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, saying "The best way to enjoy Raees then is to manage expectations first. This is an uneven film. In places, you will applaud and whistle. But you might also find yourself utterly exhausted."

Overseas

Sneha May Francis and Mahwash Ajaz of Dawn respectively commented, "This isn't a fine film. It's vintage Bollywood fluff, which SRK will manage to turn into box-office gold." and, "Raees is the story of neither a hero nor a villain – it is the story of a man who lived in a corrupted system with corrupted morals."

Manjusha Radhakrishnan of Gulf News gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and wrote, "While the film is engaging, what lets it down are some of the contrived and ridiculous twists in the second half. But the climax packs a punch and that misgiving — 'where is this film going?' — is erased."

Rachel Saltz of The New York Times stated that "Avoiding flabby subplots, Mr. Dholakia keeps "Raees" taut and suspenseful, even at two and a half hours, though it probably has a song too many."

Controversy

There was a clearance issue by Archaeological Survey of India for shooting at Ahmedabad at the ancient mosque and tomb complex, Sarkhej Roza. In March 2016, a legal notice was sent by an alleged gangster, Abdul Latif's son, Mustak, asking how or why a film on his father's life is being made.

A few days after the 2016 Uri terror attack, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) asked for ban on films featuring Pakistani actors on the basis that the actors were not openly condemning terrorism. Raees was on their list, because cast member Mahira Khan is Pakistani. MNS put forward a condition to lift up the ban, that producers shall never cast Pakistani artistes in future and they have to give ₹5 crore as penance to the Indian Army welfare fund, but Indian Army refused to accept it by saying sacrifices should not be politicised. Later, ban was lifted without the conditions on Raees as demanded by MNS.

Farhan Akhtar, co-producer of the film said Raees will never pay, and was threatened by MNS. The Chief Minister of Maharashtra and member of the BJP and the RSS, Devendra Fadnavis said at the meeting with MNS and the producers ₹5 crore as contribution to the Indian Army welfare fund was not quoted compulsory and was never a condition for lifting ban on films featuring Pakistani actors demanded by MNS, and earlier at an event praised Shah Rukh Khan as an "icon" and a "proud Mumbaikar".

Ankita Shorey was the first choice for the female lead of the film, but Mahira Khan got the role, Shorey confirmed that the consideration was not due to the nationality. Shorey later stated that she did not speak about replacement, and did not spell part of the project phrase in her last interview regarding Raees, the actual phrase was "strongly considered for the project", the journalist who took her interview apologised for it. Farhan Akhtar clearly stated that Mahira Khan is in the film like before and nothing has been changed for her part, and the film is ready to release, he further said that if they started the whole film shooting after the terror attack then they would never have signed her depending on the present situation, and concluded by saying showing solidarity to Indian Army is up to them, and only Indian government has the authority to brief them regarding dealing with their conscience, and not by any outsiders.

A day after the release of the trailer of the film, members of the city's Shia community protested the use of religious symbols in the film and lodged a police report. The letter to the police has requested Khan to withdraw all such scenes, and intimated them about a possible peaceful protest in case the request is not met. When contacted, Shilpa Handa from the film's PR agency Spice said that they were still trying to understand the nature of the complaints.

On 11 December 2016, Shah Rukh Khan met MNS supreme Raj Thackeray to assure him that Mahira Khan won't be coming to India to promote the film. On 11 January 2017, it was reported that Shiv Sena again demanded for ban on the movie. They have threatened the cinemas' owners in Chhattisgarh not to screen the film.

Three days before the release of the film, Kailash Vijayvargiya, National General Secretary of BJP, termed Raees as "dishonest" and "anti-national" film, while termed Kaabil as "Patriotic" film, and said earlier in 2015 that Shah Rukh Khan is a defector and he also didn't react to 1993 Bombay bombings and 2008 Mumbai attacks.

The film is banned in Pakistan due to its "objectionable content" by Central Board of Film Censors, the regulatory body and censorship board of Pakistan.

Soundtrack

Main article: Raees (soundtrack)

Marketing

Raees was promoted on various shows which includes The Kapil Sharma Show and Bigg Boss 10, and was also promoted in Dubai. Shah Rukh Khan and Sunny Leone even took a special train ride on August Kranti Rajdhani Express from Mumbai to Delhi on 23–24 January 2017 for promotions, but Farid Khan Sherani, fan of Shah Rukh Khan, also a member of Samajwadi Party died in hospital due to stampede on Vadodara railway platform when the train was leaving the station after a long halt for the promotion in front of huge crowd, many were injured too. Shah Rukh Khan later condoled for his fan's death.

External links

Rustom (2016)

Rustom is a 2016 Indian period crime thriller film written by Vipul K. Rawal, directed by Tinu Suresh Desai and produced by Neeraj Pandey. It features Akshay Kumar, Ileana D'Cruz, Arjan Bajwa and Esha Gupta in the lead roles.

The film is based on the real life incident of Naval Officer K. M. Nanavati and businessman Prem Ahuja.

Principal photography of the film was commenced in February 2016 and it was released on 12 August 2016.

Akshay Kumar received the National Film Award for Best Actor at the 64th National Film Awards for his performance in the film.

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Production
• 4 Box office
  • 4.1 India
  • 4.2 International
• 5 Music
  • 5.1 Score
  • 5.2 Songs
• 6 Awards
• 7 Track listing
• 8 External links

 

Plot

The story dates back to the late 1950s and revolves around an Indian Naval Officer Rustom Pavri (Akshay Kumar), who is happily married to Cynthia Pavri (Ileana D'Cruz). Their marriage hits the rocks when Rustom discovers about his wife's affair with his friend Vikram Makhija (Arjan Bajwa). After returning early from his ship's deployment, Rustom discovers Vikram's love letters in Cynthia's cupboard. While trying to find her, Rustom sees them together. He returns home and waits for Cynthia to return and then confronts her with the love letters, but walks away before Cynthia can explain. Rustom then gets himself a pistol from the Naval Ship's Armory and makes a Trunk call to Defence HQ, New Delhi. Afterwards, he searches for Vikram, first in his office and then at his home. After Rustom enters Vikram's bedroom, the servant hears three gun shots and rushes to the room, to discover Vikram's body in a pool of blood and Rustom walking away with the pistol in his hand. Rustom immediately surrenders to the police and Inspector Vincent Lobo (Pawan Malhotra) starts the investigation.


Vikram's sister Priti Makhija (Esha Gupta) meets with public prosecutor, Lakshman Khangani (Sachin Khedekar) to get Rustom the toughest punishment possible. Truth, a local newspaper, publishes the news adding some spice to it, which creates a stir in the city. On the one side the Navy supports its officer and asks the police to hand over his custody to them while on the other side the Parsi community offers help by hiring a good defense lawyer. Rustom refuses everybody's help and decides to fight the case on his own and prefers police custody. While the Editor in Chief of Truth, Erich Billimoria (Kumud Mishra), creates a sympathetic image for Rustom in public, Rustom's senior Naval officer Rear Admiral Prashant Kamat (Parmeet Sethi) sends two goons to his house to search for a set of documents, but they fail to find anything. Scared, Cynthia rushes to jail to inform Rustom, who hasn't talked to her ever since he is in custody. Rustom finally meets and listens to Cynthia's story, about how she was lonely and upset when Rustom went away to London for many months. With the connivance of Priti, Vikram took advantage of Cynthia's loneliness and she fell for him. However, on the day of Vikram's murder, Cynthia had already broken-up with him for the sake of her marriage. Vikram cannot bear her spurning him and slaps her hard. She gets injured and walks out of Vikram's house.


On Rustom's instructions, Cynthia blackmails Rear Admiral Prashant Kamat for Rs 5 crore in exchange for the vital documents he needed. In the court hearing, Rustom unexpectedly pleads not guilty in front of the Judge Patel (Anang Desai), which leads to a 9-member jury trial. At the culmination of the trial, Rustom is found not guilty by the jury since he shot Vikram in self-defence. Meanwhile, it is found that Vincent Lobo was in Delhi and he had met the office secretary of the Ministry of Defence to obtain the recording of the trunk call that Rustom had made. When back in Bombay, the trunk call is played, convincing almost everyone that Rustom is guilty, and the court proceedings end for the jury to decide on their opinion. In the police station on the night of the court proceeding, Rustom tells Vincent Lobo the truth: he was posted in London for several months inspecting an aircraft carrier that the Navy wants to purchase, but on inspection, it was found by Rustom that the carrier's hull was corroded, and it would have to be repaired and modified before the carrier could be transferred to India. Vikram was in charge of the aircraft carrier, and he attempted to bribe him in order to convince him to say that the carrier is seaworthy. When Rustom attempted to notify the defence secretary in London, the secretary also attempted to bribe him and get the carrier to India. Vikram attempted to persuade him and Rustom then slapped him showing his power of his uniform. The next day it is shown that Rustom is proved not guilty by the jury and he walks free. Then it is shown in the flashback that Vikram had dated Cynthia to show Rustom his power of money and take revenge on him, but not for her beauty. Lobo is told that Rustom did not reveal about the aircraft carrier as then everyone would think the navy to be corrupt and then not believe in them just because of few officers. Rustom and Cynthia walk out of the court with their heads held up high and then the film rolls into the credits. In the end it is shown that after Rustom's trial, the jury system is abolished in India. And also Defence Secretary K.G.Bakshi committed suicide by shooting himself on INS Vishal unexpectedly.

Cast

• Akshay Kumar as Commander Rustom Pavri
• Ileana D'Cruz as Cynthia Pavri, Commander Rustom Pavri's wife
• Arjan Bajwa as Vikram Makhija
• Esha Gupta as Preeti Makhija, Vikram's sister
• Pawan Malhotra as Senior Inspector Vincent Lobo
• Usha Nadkarni as Jamnabai, Cdr Pavri's maid servant
• Sachin Khedekar as Public Prosecutor Lakshman Khangani
• Kumud Mishra as Erich Billimoria
• Anang Desai as Judge Patel
• Parmeet Sethi as Rear Admiral Prashant Kamath
• Indraneel Bhattacharya as Captain C. P. Cherian
• Kanwaljit Singh as Defense Secretary K. G. Bakshi
• Brijendra Kala as head constable Tukaram
• Gireesh Sahedev as Lt Cdr Pujari
• Abhay Kulkarni as Inspector Patil
• Varun Verma as Lt Bisht
• Sammanika Singh as Rosy, receptionist in Vikram's office
• Deepak Gheewala as Bhanabhai, Vikram's house help
• Ishteyak Khan as Chandu
• Naman Jain as Dagdu
• Subhashis Chakraborty as Ranjit Das, hotel waiter
• Vipul K. Rawal as Captain
• Suresh Sippy as Chief saheb
• Rajesh S. Khatri as Damodar
• Samir Shah as Ramesh Shirke
• Haresh Khatri as Dr Asher
• Nagraj Manjule as Advocate Sohrab Khandwala
• Mohit Satyanand as Jamshedji Jeejabhoy

Production

The Rustom production filmed on location in Kent in April 2016 for the romantic montage where Rustom (Akshay Kumar) and Cynthia (Ileana D'Cruz) visit England including The Chequers Inn pub in Aylesford, Canterbury, Maidstone, Leeds Castle, Dover seafront and South Foreland Lighthouse. The Historic Dockyard Chatham also features for the naval port and ship scenes.

Box office

India

The film was released alongside Mohenjo Daro on 2317 screens across India on August 12, 2016. Rustom collected approximately ₹14.11 crore on its opening day. The film collected ₹50 crore in its opening weekend and ₹90.9 crore in its first week in India.

International

The film also performed well internationally, grossing approximately $3 million in its opening weekend.

Music

Score

The film score was composed by Surinder Sodhi.

Songs

The songs featured in Rustom were composed by Arko Pravo Mukherjee, Raghav Sachar, Ankit Tiwari, and Jeet Gannguli, with lyrics written by Manoj Muntashir.


The first song from the film's soundtrack album, "Tere Sang Yaara", sung by Atif Aslam and composed by Arko Pravo Mukherjee was released on 6 July 2016. The second track of the film, titled "Rustom Vahi" was released on 13 July 2016. All lyrics are penned by Manoj Muntashir. The full music album was released on 14 July 2016.

Awards

Akshay Kumar won the best actor for his role in the movie at 64th National Film Awards.

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Tere Sang Yaara"	Manoj Muntashir	Arko Pravo Mukherjee	Atif Aslam	4:50
2.	"Rustom Vahi"	Manoj Muntashir	Raghav Sachar	Sukriti Kakar	3:20
3.	"Tay Hai"	Manoj Muntashir	Ankit Tiwari	Ankit Tiwari	3:48
4.	"Dekha Hazaro Dafaa"	Manoj Muntashir	Jeet Gannguli	Arijit Singh, Palak Muchhal	3:30
5.	"Dhal Jaun Main"	Manoj Muntashir	Jeet Gannguli	Jubin Nautiyal, Akanksha Sharma	4:53
6.	"Jab Tum Hote Ho"	Manoj Muntashir	Ankit Tiwari	Shreya Ghoshal	4:18
7.	"Rustom Vahi Theme"		Raghav Sachar		1:23
8.	"Rustom Vahi - Marathi"	Manoj Muntashir	Raghav Sachar	Jasraj Joshi	3:07
9.	"Rustom Vahi - Male"	Manoj Muntashir	Raghav Sachar	Jasraj Joshi	3:10
10.	"Tere Bin Yaara (Reprise)"	Manoj Muntashir	Arko Pravo Mukherjee	Arko Pravo Mukherjee	3:46

External links

Raabta (2017)

Raabta (English: Connection) is an Indian romantic thriller film directed and produced by Dinesh Vijan co-produced by Homi Adajania and Bhushan Kumar. The film stars Sushant Singh Rajput, Kriti Sanon and Jim Sarbh in the lead roles. It was released worldwide on 9 June 2017.

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Production
  • 3.1 Casting
  • 3.2 Controversy
• 4 Critical reception
• 5 Soundtrack
• 6 External links

Plot

The film opens with Shiv (Sushant Singh Rajput) moving from India to Budapest for a job as a banker, along with his friend Radha (Varun Sharma). Shiv is shown to have been a fun-loving womanizer back home and continues this behavior in Budapest. Saira (Kriti Sanon) is haunted by mysterious nightmares of drowning to death. She lives by herself in Budapest and works as a chocolatier. Shiv happens upon Saira's shop while on a date with a woman, but finds himself deeply attracted to Saira. Though she initially rejects his advances, she eventually succumbs and sleeps with Shiv, revealing the next day that she actually has a boyfriend and what happened with Shiv was a mistake. Unwilling to let go of their connection, Shiv interrupts their date and shows Saira that she would rather be with him than with her boyfriend. Saira's boyfriend angrily breaks up with her, and Shiv and Saira start spending time together, growing close. One night, they go to a club with Radha, where they happen upon an eccentric psychic who knows about Saira's nightmares and tells her that the events of her previous life will repeat themselves, and only she can fix them. Saira tearfully reveals to Shiv that she has a fear of water because her parents drowned after a car accident when she was two years old.


While trying to test their love a final time, Shiv and Saira make a pact. Shiv flirts with multiple women, but Saira finds herself strongly drawn to a young businessman Zakir "Zak" Merchant (Jim Sarbh). Shiv reveals he has to leave for a business trip for a week and he and Saira decide to see how they feel after a week's separation. If they still feel strongly about each other, they will start considering marriage. During Shiv's absence, Saira gets to know Zakir better and confides in him about her nightmares. During one of their dinners, Zakir drugs Saira and kidnaps her.


Saira wakes up and finds herself trapped in Zakir's isolated mansion on an island off the coast of Croatia. She demands that he let her go, but he refuses, saying that he spent his whole life looking for her. He explains that they were madly in love in a previous life, but were separated. He refuses to let this happen again. When she does not believe him, he shows her a collection of uncannily accurate paintings he made of her at various ages and says she will find the explanation for her nightmares. Thinking he is crazy, she attempts to escape but ends up falling into the ocean, which triggers her memories of her previous life.


Hundreds of years ago, Saira was the warrior princess Saiba. She was in love with Kaabir (Jim Sarbh), a fellow warrior from her tribe. Their kingdom was threatened by the Muraakis, led by a wise old ruler (Rajkummar Rao). Kaabir is severely wounded by the fierce Muraaki warrior Jilaan (Sushant Singh Rajput), who gives Kaabir an ultimatum to surrender. Saiba challenges Jilaan, and they find themselves attracted to each other. Saiba accepts defeat, surrendering the kingdom to the Muraakis and herself to Jilaan. Kaabir attempts to take Saiba back, but she reveals that she and Jilaan have fallen in love. On their wedding night, a comet falls and the Muraaki ruler realizes that this will be a fateful night. Kaabir ambushes Jilaan and Saiba, and murders Jilaan by wounding him and having him thrown in the ocean. Saiba jumps into the ocean to save him, but to no avail. When she herself dies in the water, Kaabir slits his own throat, killing himself. The Muraaki ruler forebodes that these events will repeat.


However, this time, when Shiv shows up to get Saira back, Saira, convinced that Shiv loves her, decides to fight back against Zakir. When their previous lives' events repeat - Zakir throwing Shiv into the ocean - Shiv drags Zakir down with him and Zakir dies. Saira jumps into the water and is able to save Shiv this time.


The film ends with Shiv humorously telling their children to not believe Saira if she tells them any far-fetched stories about reincarnation, implying that he is still oblivious to the fact that they had a past life.

Cast

• Sushant Singh Rajput as Shiv Kakkar/ Jilaan
• Kriti Sanon as Saira Singh / Saiba
• Jim Sarbh as Zakir (Zak) Merchant / Kaabir
• Varun Sharma as Radha
• Nidhi Subbaiah (uncredited)
• Satendra Bagasi as Dhruv
• Navdeep Tomar as Gujjar
• Rahul Kohli as Kabir
• Karan Singh Chhabra as Happy
• Irrfan as the narrator
• Suneel Sinha as King
• Rajkummar Rao in a special appearance as the 324-year old Muraaki ruler
• Deepika Padukone in a special appearance in Raabta Title Song

Production

The film production began in 2015 and it was set to release in 2016. But the film was delayed for a year due to casting issues. In March 2016, a new release date of 9 June 2017 was announced. The film has been majorly shot in Budapest, Hungary and India. Title song Raabta was shot at Tata Castle in Tata, Hungary. The song Sadda Move was shot at Partition Muesum, Amritsar. Budget of the film Raabta is ₹33 Crores (₹330 Million). The total number of screen count in India is 1820 and 330 in overseas.

Casting

Alia Bhatt was initially considered to play the lead role opposite Sushant Singh Rajput, but turned down the role over scheduling conflicts. In December 2015, Asin was approached to play the lead role opposite Rajput but she turned down the offer because of her decision to not act post marriage, Kriti Sanon was signed on to play the leading female role in the film in February 2016.

Controversy

Raabta makers received a legal notice over plagiarism from Magadheera producer Allu Arvind, they offered to show him the film. They also offered to deposit an escrow amount with the court, but Arvind reportedly rejected both. A source says it was likely Arvind wanted Magadheera to be remade in Hindi, and was concerned no one would be interested after Raabta. On 8 June 2017, the courts ruled in favor of Raabta makers.

Critical reception

Bollywood Hungama rated it 3.5/5. The Times of India rated it 3.5/5, writing "If sparks flew more organically, it would have been easier to make a connection with this epic tale of love." Koimoi rated it 2/5, writing "Raabta is a confused film that never establishes a firm balance between its crossover love stories." Raabta Movie Review:Shubhra Gupta from The Indian Express rated it 1.5/5, writing "Some questions arise after Raabta has been seen, chief amongst which is one that comes up every time Bollywood tries, and fails, to do a cracking romance. Why is Bollywood incapable of pulling off a full-length film with a pair of lovers connecting, pulling apart, coming together?" India Today rated it 1/5, calling it "A comet-crossed romance which never hits the target."

Soundtrack

The film's musc was composed by Pritam and JAM8 with lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya, Irshad Kamil and Kumaar. The first song of the film "Ik Vaari Aa" sung by Arijit Singh was released on 21 April 2017. The second track of the film "Raabta" (Title Track) is a remake from 2012 film Agent Vinod's "Raabta (Kehte Hain Khuda)" by Irshad Kamil, and by original makers Amitabh Bhattacharya and Pritam is sung Arijit Singh and Nikhita Gandhi and was released on 2 May 2017. The third song "Sadda Move" sung by Diljit Dosanjh and Pardeep Singh Sran and rapped by Raftaar was released on 9 May 2017. The fourth song titled "Lambiyaan Si Judaiyaan" sung by Arijit Singh, Shadab Faridi and Altamash Faridi was released on 18 May 2017. The fifth track of the film "Main Tera Boyfriend" from J Star's 2015 single "Na Na Na Na", originally written by Kumaar and composed Sohrabuddin and Sourav Roy has been recreated for this film and was released on 22 May 2017. The sixth and the last song titled as "Darasal" voiced by Atif Aslam was released on 1 June 2017. The full soundtrack album of the film consists of 7 songs and was released on 3rd June 2017.

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Ik Vaari Aa"	Amitabh Bhattacharya	Pritam	Arijit Singh	4:34
2.	"Raabta" (Title Track)	Amitabh Bhattacharya, Irshad Kamil	Pritam	Arijit Singh, Nikhita Gandhi	4:57
3.	"Sadda Move"	Amitabh Bhattacharya, Irshad Kamil	Pritam	Diljit Dosanjh, Pardeep Singh Sran, Raftaar	3:31
4.	"Lambiyaan Si Judaiyaan"	Amitabh Bhattacharya	JAM8	Arijit Singh, Shadab Faridi, Altamash Faridi	3:58
5.	"Main Tera Boyfriend"	Kumaar	Sohrabuddin, Sourav Roy	Arijit Singh, Neha Kakkar, Meet Bros	4:36
6.	"Darasal"	Irshad Kamil	JAM8	Atif Aslam	4:34
7.	"Ik Vaari Aa" (Jubin Version)	Amitabh Bhattacharya	Pritam	Jubin Nautiyal	4:34

External links

Phata Poster Nikhla Hero (2013)

Phata Poster Nikhla Hero (English: The Torn Poster Let Out A Hero) is a 2013 Indian Hindi action comedy film directed by Rajkumar Santoshi. The film features Shahid Kapoor and Ileana D'Cruz in the lead roles, and was released on 20 September 2013 to a mixed to positive response from critics. It is loosely based on 1988's movie Guru starring Mithun, Sridevi, Shakti Kapoor in which Mithun also pretends to be police inspector and accidentally catches the criminals of a specific gang on different occasions whereas in reality he doesn't get selected for the police job due to a corrupt police officer played by Yunus Parvez.

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Crew
• 4 Development
• 5 Music
• 6 Filming
• 7 Critical response
  • 7.1 India
• 8 External links

Plot

Savitri Rao (Padmini Kolhapure), a widow, hopes that her only son, Vishwas (Shahid Kapoor) will grow up to be a brave Inspector. But Vishwas wants to become an actor. Dressed as a Police Inspector for a photo shoot, he meets social worker Kajal (Ileana D'Cruz) during a car chase. Kajal mistakes him as an inspector and thanks him for helping her catch the goons, while Vishwas plays along. He is mistakenly published in the newspaper as an Inspector, which Savitri sees. She arrives in Mumbai to see her dream come true, and circumstances lead Vishwas to carry on his lie not only to Kajal, but also to his mother.


While shooting for a film, Vishwas's mother comes to know that he is not an inspector. She faints and is admitted in the hospital, where the doctor tells him that she needs to be operated and the amount required is ₹ 10 lakhs. He agrees to work for Gundappa (Saurabh Shukla) (the boss of the goons Vishwas and Kajal caught) for money where he needs to bring a CD for them. While escaping after getting the CD he is caught by police and accidentally shoots two police officers. Since he is now a murderer, he is left with no choice but to join Gundappa's gang. Meanwhile, Kajal, who is under the impression that Vishwas has gone bad, along with some men plans to save him from doing any crime. So they go to the gangs den purposely and tells the foolish Gundappa that she came to marry Vishwas. Hence, creating a confusion so that Gundappa leaves Vishwas. On the other hand, Joint Commissioner (Darshan Jariwala) (who was also kidnapped) tells Savitri that Vishwas is actually not doing any crime but is working for the police. Kajal learns this from Savitri later and goes to apologise to Vishwas for misunderstanding him. Not knowing that they are being watched on CCTV, she apologises to Vishwas and leaks details of his plans. Somehow, Vishwas and his mates are able to flee. But his mother and Kajal are held by Napoleon (Mukesh Tiwari) (the ultimate Don, boss of Gundappa). After fighting the goons, Vishwas hands over Napoleon (who is revealed to be his own father) to the police and tells everyone that he will become a police officer as they are real life heroes. He did all the filmy actions as a fake police officer and now wants to be a real police man and do his duty for his country. His mother's dream is finally fulfilled.

Cast

• Shahid Kapoor as Vishwas Rao, Savitri's son
• Ileana D'Cruz as Kajal (Vishwas's love interest)
• Padmini Kolhapure as Savitri Rao
• Rajeev Khandelwal as Kunal (Vishwas's friend)
• Darshan Jariwala as Commissioner
• Saurabh Shukla as Gundappa Das
• Sanjay Mishra as Jogi Bhai
• Zakir Hussain as Officer Ghorpade
• Mukesh Tiwari as Napoleon and Vishwas's Father Yashwanth Rao
• Rana Jung Bahadur
• Deepika Kamaiah as chief security officer's daughter
• Tinnu Anand as Director
• Salman Khan as Himself
• Nargis Fakhri in the song "Dhating Naach" (Special Appearance)

Crew

• Director – Rajkumar Santoshi
• Producer – Ramesh S Taurani
• Screenplay – Rajkumar Santoshi
• Cinematographer – Ravi Yadav
• Creative Producer – Jay Shewakramani
• Production Designer – Priya Suhaash
• Music – Pritam
• Choreographer – Bosco-Caesar
• First Assistant Director – Manish Harishankar
• Editor – Steven Bernard
• Background Score – Raju Singh
• Lyricist – Irshad Kamil, Amitabh Bhattacharya
• Action – Kanal Kannan, Tinu Verma
• Sound Engineer – Rakesh Ranjan

Development

The film has often been termed as a full-on "masala" commercial entertainer. Other than the casting and genre, the makers refused to divulge further details. In early August 2012, it was confirmed by director Rajkumar Santoshi that he had been offered the film along with actor Arpit Sharma and that he had been in talks for the previous six months. Soon after, when asked, Kapoor confirmed he had not yet signed on for the film, but was on the verge of doing so. It was also reported at the time that actress Diana Penty had been signed on as the female lead, though Ileana D'Cruz later replaced her. Actress Padmini Kolhapure has been signed on to play the role of Kapoor's mother in the film. It was later revealed that newcomer Deepika Kamainah will play an important role alongside Shahid Kapoor and Ileana D'Cruz.

Music

The songs were composed by Pritam, with lyrics penned by Irshad Kamil and Amitabh Bhattacharya. The first song, "Tu Mere Agal Bagal Hai", was released on 26 July. The song is sung by Mika Singh.


"Hey Mr DJ" is a club song sung by Benny Dayal, Shefali Alvares and Shalmali Kholgade. The song "Rang Sharbaton Ka" is sung by Atif Aslam and Chinmayi, and the Reprise version of "Main Rang Sharbaton Ka" is sung by Arijit Singh. "Dhating Naach" is another number featuring Nargis Fakhri and sung by Shefali Alvares and Nakash. Songs are arranged by Vishal S.


The four tracks were released exclusively on the music streaming service Saavn.


The film score was composed by Raju Singh.

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Length
1.	"Tu Mere Agal Bagal Hai"	Mika Singh	4:25
2.	"Main Rang Sharbaton Ka"	Atif Aslam & Chinmayi Sripada	4:26
3.	"Hey Mr. DJ"	Benny Dayal, Shefali Alvares & Shalmali Kholgade	4:22
4.	"Mere Bina Tu" (duet version)	Rahat Fateh Ali Khan & Harshdeep Kaur	4:23
5.	"Dhating Naach"	Nakash Aziz & Shefali Alvares	3:10
6.	"Janam Janam"	Atif Aslam	4:48
7.	"Main Rang Sharbaton Ka" (reprise version)	Arijit Singh	4:38
8.	"Janam Janam" (reprise version)	Sunidhi Chauhan	3:06
9.	"Mere Bina Tu"	Rahat Fateh Ali Khan	4:11
10.	"Janam Janam" (sad version)	Atif Aslam	1:45

Filming

The film was expected to begin shooting in November 2012 after Kapoor completed Maneesh Sharma's next project for Yash Raj Films, but the actor opted out of that film due to other commitments. Shahid Kapoor announced via Twitter that filming began on 2 November 2012. The film was expected to be completed by February 2013 but due to delay issues it was completed in March 2013.

Critical response

India

Taran Adarsh gave the film 3.5/5 and wrote, "Phata Poster Nikhla Hero brings back memories of old-fashioned comic entertainers. There's not much of a plot here, but you go with the flow without making much effort. You laugh, celebrate the silly gags and by the time the story reaches its conclusion, you realize that the film has won you over with its unfussy plot and basic characters, who don't have a serious bone in their body. On the whole, Phata Poster Nikhla Hero is an entertainer all the way. If you relished Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani from the team of Taurani and Santoshi, chances are you will also lap up this vibrant, kaleidoscopic, light-hearted entertainer."


Madureeta Mukherjee of The Times of India gave the film 3.5 and felt, "The first half offers loads of cackles, chuckles, witticisms and spoofy scenes. Post-interval the comedy collapses for a bit with forced OTT drama, khaali-peeli action, and too many song breaks, but makes a comeback with delightfully funny moments. This one's worth it for the 'howlarity' of it all. And Shahid in his element. Note: You may not like this film if you don't have a taste for silly humour & mindless gags!"


Faheem Ruhani of India Today gave the film 3 and judged, "Santoshi as writer, director and the dialogue writer is in good form. He would have been terrific if could have captured your interest in the same way as he did in the first half of the film. Still, the film is worth more than a few laughs. More because of the way the director spoofs Bollywood's tried and tested conventions and the jokes he cracks at the expense of an industry he is only too familiar with."


Rummana Ahmed of Yahoo! Movies awarded the film 3 stars and summarised, "Phata Poster Nikhla Hero will entertain if you are willing to overlook its little indulgences."

External links