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

Dilwale (2015)

Dilwale (translation: The Big Hearted) is a 2015 Indian romantic action film directed by Rohit Shetty, and produced by Gauri Khan and Rohit Shetty under the banner of Red Chillies Entertainment and Rohit Shetty Productions respectively.


The film stars Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Varun Dhawan, and Kriti Sanon in lead roles, with Johnny Lever and Varun Sharma in supporting roles.


Dilwale has grossed over ₹372 crore (US$58 million) worldwide, becoming the second highest-grossing film starring Shah Rukh Khan after Chennai Express, also directed by Shetty. Dilwale is the highest-grossing film starring Shah Rukh Khan in overseas markets. The song "Gerua" performed well in the charts. However, Khan expressed disappointment with the box office collections and the film's performance, especially in India, as did Kajol, who stated that she regretted doing the film.

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Production
  • 3.1 Development
  • 3.2 Filming
• 4 Release
• 5 Critical reception
• 6 Box office
  • 6.1 India
  • 6.2 Overseas
• 7 Awards and nominations
• 8 Soundtrack
  • 8.1 Track listing
• 9 External links

 

Plot

The movie begins in Goa, where Raj leaves his auto repair shop to confront Mani for stealing a man’s cell phone. Mani tells Raj that he is stealing it for his younger brother, whom he must care for after both of their parents died. While out driving, Veer sees a woman, Ishita, hitchhiking but his friend refuses to pick her up. However, after he stops the car to urinate and leave his friend and went back to ishita, and he agrees to take her where she needs to go, damaging the car in his rush to get there. For penance, Raj forces Veer to work in the shop day and night. Veer’s friend Siddhu provides him with coffee so he can stay awake to fix the car. However, he falls asleep anyway and awakes to find that the car’s sound system has been stolen. Siddhu takes it to a pawn shop to sell it, having stolen the sound system while Veer was asleep.


The men of the local gang leader, King, try to sell drugs at a crab shack. Veer beats them up after they threaten Ishita. They then come back later to exact revenge on Veer, but Raj breaks up the fight. Raj’s men find him at the hospital where Veer is staying and tell him they know where to find King’s men. Raj goes to King's hideout, incapacitates the gang members, and burns their drug stash. Raj tells King’s men his gangster name, Kaali. King stops by Raj’s shop the next day to present a deal where Raj will fix all of King’s cars in exchange for protection.


The film then flashes back to Bulgaria. Raj is in a car chase with a rival gang, trying to make off with a container of gold, when he accidentally runs over a woman, Meera. When he gets out to help her, the rival gang catches up with him, and he has to leave. Later, Raj runs into Meera again, who works as a sketch artist. He reveals to her that he is a gangster, and that he is the son of Randhir Bakshi, the leader of the gang. Veer attends a boarding school where Raj only comes to visit once a month.

Randhir and Raj talk about how Raj was adopted. Raj meets with Meera again, and she asks him to take care of some guys who are troubling her. She also asks him to celebrate her birthday with her the next day. He promises to take care of a job early and then meet her in the evening. The next day, Raj is engaged in a car chase. His car gets blown up and rolls over, trapping him inside. He is confronted by Meera, who he finds out is the daughter of the rival gang’s leader, Malik. She reveals that their entire relationship so far was designed so that Malik’s gang could have a chance to kill him. She holds a gun to his head, but she chooses to spare his life this time. Later, Raj gets a new car and engages in a car chase with Meera, eventually pushing her car to the edge of a cliff. He saves Meera from falling off the cliff, then tells her that the next time he sees her, he will kill her. Despite this warning, she later comes to his home and tells him that she loves him. At first he refuses to listen to her, but then he admits that he loves her, too. They make plans to tell their parents about their relationship.


The film quickly flashes back to Goa, where Veer discovers that Siddhu has been putting sleeping pills in Veer’s coffee so that he fell asleep on his shift, allowing Siddhu to steal items from the shop. Veer is upset, but Siddhu explains it is for his girlfriend, Jenny. They agree to help each other secure girlfriends. As a consequence, Veer reveals his feelings to Ishita. Upon finding out about their relationship, Raj wants to meet Ishita’s family. When Raj visits Ishita’s house, he discovers that Meera is Ishita’s older sister.


The film then quickly flashes back to Bulgaria, where Malik agrees to meet Randhir, but, secretly, he plans to kill him. The meeting breaks into a shootout, during which Malik shoots Randhir. Randhir then shoots Malik, and both men die. Raj holds Randhir and takes the gun out of his hand. Meera finds Raj and believes that he killed her father, for which she shoots Raj; however, he survives the gunshot. Both Meera and Raj decide to move far away from Bulgaria and start a new life.


The film is again in Goa, where Veer and Ishita come up with several plots to bring Meera and Raj together. As a side plot, Mani steals King’s car and brings it to the shop, where Veer discovers drugs in the trunk and decides to burn them. Ishita tells Raj that Meera has not forgotten her first love. King comes to Meera’s house one night, but Raj, as Kaali, shows up and stops them from causing her any harm. King asks Meera later if she knows Kaali, but she refuses to acknowledge their relationship.
Meera issues an ultimatum that in order to marry Ishita, Veer must move in with Meera. Meera also tells him that Raj is adopted and not his blood brother. Veer says that he loves Ishita, but he cannot abandon his brother. Raghav, one of Malik’s men, decides to tell Meera that Raj did not kill Malik, but that Malik had shot Randhir, who had shot Malik in return. Upon learning this, Meera tells Veer that he can marry Ishita and stay with Raj. At this process Raj and Meera gets reconciled.


Siddhu and Jenny get married. King shows up at the wedding, having tracked down his stolen car, which is now being used as the bride and groom’s getaway car. King starts to cause a disturbance, but Raj beats him up. King then tries to shoot Raj, but accidentally shoots Meera who tries to save Raj, however Meera survives and King gets beaten to death hence Raj and Meera reunite in hospital.

Cast

• Shah Rukh Khan as Raj Randhir Bakshi/Kaali
• Kajol as Meera Dev Malik
• Varun Dhawan as Veer Randhir Bakshi
• Kriti Sanon as Ishita Dev Malik
• Boman Irani as King
• Johnny Lever as Mani Bhai
• Sanjay Mishra as Oscar Bhai
• Varun Sharma as Sidhu
• Chetna Pande as Jenny, Sidhu's girlfriend (Oscar Bhai's sister)
• Mukesh Tiwari as Shakti, Sidhu's brother
• Pankaj Tripathi as Anwar
• Vinod Khanna as Randhir Bakshi
• Kabir Bedi as Dev Malik
• Nawab Shah as Raghav, Malik's right-hand

Production

Development

In January 2015, Rohit Shetty announced a project with Shah Rukh Khan in the lead which would be their second collaboration after the 2013 film Chennai Express. Shetty stated that he would start filming in March 2015. Shetty paired actress Kajol with Khan, making it the seventh time they were cast opposite each other. He also signed actor Varun Dhawan who was reportedly playing Khan's brother while actress Kriti Sanon was signed opposite him.

Filming

Principal photography began on 20 March 2015 with Dhawan in Goa. Khan and Kajol first joined the crew for filming in Bulgaria from June 2015. Later that month, the first song from the film was shot on Dhawan and Kriti Sanon, in Bulgaria. The schedule there was wrapped up by late July. In August 2015, a romantic song featuring the lead pair was shot in Iceland. The entire team then left for Hyderabad in early September to shoot what was touted to be the final schedule of filming. However, the work in Hyderabad was completed by late October, and filming officially came to an end with a brief schedule in Goa, the same location where it was started. In December, after the promotions had commenced, another song was shot in haste. It featured all four lead actors and had to be played simultaneously with the end-credits.

Release

Dilwale was released in the United Arab Emirates a day before its worldwide release on 18 December 2015. The film was released in around 3100 screens in India.


The satellite rights of the film were sold to Sony Pictures Networks as part of a deal worth ₹220 crore (US$34 million), along with the next two or three Red Chillies Entertainment productions. The valuation of Dilwale alone was approximately ₹60 crore (US$9.4 million).


On 14 December 2015, in the United Kingdom, the film received a 12A classification from the British Board of Film Classification for "moderate violence". The film's UK distributor chose to remove thirteen seconds in order to obtain this rating (the excised material being scenes involving stronger violence than possible for a 12A rating). An uncut 15-rated version is available.

Critical reception

Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama gave the film 4/5 stars, saying, "On the whole, Dilwale is akin to a mouthwatering meal that satiates the craving of those who relish masalathons, besides being an absolute treat for SRK-Kajol fans. An unadulterated crowd-pleaser, Dilwale delivers what you expect from a Rohit Shetty film: King-sized entertainment. Go for it!". Komal Nahta in his review of the film said, "Dilwale is a masala entertainer from the start till the end." Rachit Gupta from Filmfare gave it 4/5 stars and added, "Dilwale is the quintessential popcorn flick. It’s colorful, bright and entertaining. It smartly keeps its play on the SRK-Kajol chemistry (watch out for the brilliant ending). It has fantastic music. Decent laughs too. Definitely worth a dekho." Sarita A Tanwar of DNA gave the film 3/5 stars, saying "Dilwale is flawed, but it's right for those who believe that love does conquer it all, actually."


Ananya Bhattacharya of India Today also rated the film 3/5 and concluded, "Dilwale is immensely enjoyable despite an oh-my-god-this-is-so-predictable story. Keep your brains out of the picture, and you have an out-and-out entertainer which fits perfectly in the mould of a guilty pleasure. Go indulge!" Shubha Shetty-Saha of Mid Day gave the film 3 stars as well and said, "Watch this for the chemistry between SRK and Kajol which refuses to simmer down even after all these years." Meena Iyer from The Times of India gave the film 3/5 stars, criticizing the plot, and stated, "Dilwale leans heavily on Shah Rukh's mega-stardom, Varun's effervescence, breathtaking locales (Iceland and Bulgaria), orchestrated car chases and over-the-top situations, which have you chuckling."
NDTV felt that the film's plot "went in circles" and that while Kajol was great, the film overall failed to appeal. The Economic Times gave the film 2.5/5 stars and felt that it "lacked soul and freshness" and stated that it would only appeal to fans of Khan and Kajol. Rajeev Masand of IBN Live gave the film 2 out of 5 and said, "The real problem with Dilwale is the sheer artificiality of the enterprise. From the rainbow-hued sets and the touched-up landscapes in the Gerua song, to many moments of comedic and emotional payoff, so much of it just feels fake." Namrata Joshi of The Hindu commented, "With Dilwale, Rohit Shetty goes hopelessly wrong despite much that he had at his disposal, including a power-packed cast and producer". Joshi also felt that the attempt to repackage Khan and Kajol had backfired. Rohit Vats of Hindustan Times gave the film a 1.5/5 rating and called the plot "highly predictable".

Box office

Dilwale made around ₹150 crore (US$23 million) worldwide in its opening weekend, the third highest of the year.

India

The film, releasing alongside Bajirao Mastani, opened number one at the box office, and collected ₹21 crore (US$3.3 million) nett in India on its opening day, the third highest of the year after Prem Ratan Dhan Payo and Bajrangi Bhaijaan. The film showed little drop on its second day, and earned nearly ₹20 crore (US$3.1 million) nett. On its first Sunday, Dilwale took in approximately ₹23 crore (US$3.6 million) nett, bringing the three-day nett to an estimated ₹64 crore (US$10 million). Dilwale had a first week of ₹97 crore (US$15 million) nett in the domestic market.


The film earned around ₹21 crore (US$3.3 million) nett in its second weekend. It grossed little over ₹31 crore (US$4.8 million) nett in week two, taking its business to ₹127 crore (US$20 million) nett. The film made around ₹11 crore (US$1.7 million) nett more in the third week, and finished with a total of ₹140 crore (US$22 million) nett in India.

Overseas

Dilwale had the highest opening of 2015 abroad and the second highest ever, with a weekend gross of around $8.5 million. The film also set an all-time record opening in the Gulf. In Pakistan, the film earned ₹6.5 crore (US$1.0 million) in its first three days. The film collected ₹9.13 crore in Pakistan in three weeks. The film went on to earn over $13 million overseas in the first week, again the highest of the year.


Dilwale grossed another $3.75 million in the second weekend, for an overall $16.75 million in ten days. After two weeks, the film's earnings abroad were more than $20.5 million. The film had grossed around $23.3 million outside India as of 12 January 2016 to become the highest-grossing film starring Shah Rukh Khan in overseas markets.


Dilwale had expanded its business abroad to higher than $25 million following release in new markets like Germany, Netherlands and Indonesia. At the end of its theatrical run in overseas, the film has earned approximately $26.6 million (INR 175.65 crore).

Awards and nominations

Soundtrack

Dilwale's songs are composed by Pritam and lyrics are written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. Amar Mohile has composed the film score.


Dilwale, the film's soundtrack album, was composed by Pritam. A track titled "Gerua" was released on 18 November 2015 as the first single prior to the soundtrack album's release. The second single to be released was "Manma Emotion Jaage". The album features seven tracks, and was released on 4 December 2015. Sony Music India acquired the music rights of the film for a record ₹19 crore (US$3.0 million).


The song "Gerua" also had different versions. An Arabic version called "Telagena" was released on 11 December 2015 while a Malay version entitled "Warna Cinta" featuring vocals from Aliff Aziz and Kilafairy was released later on 18 December 2015.

Track listing

All lyrics are penned by Amitabh Bhattacharya.

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Gerua"	Amitabh Bhattacharya	Arijit Singh, Antara Mitra	05:45
2.	"Manma Emotion Jaage"		Amit Mishra, Anushka Manchanda, Antara Mitra	03:29
3.	"Janam Janam"		Arijit Singh, Antara Mitra	03:57
4.	"Tukur Tukur"		Arijit Singh, Kanika Kapoor, Neha Kakkar, Nakash Aziz, Siddharth Mahadevan	04:07
5.	"Daayre"		Arijit Singh	04:50
6.	"Premika"		Benny Dayal, Kanika Kapoor	03:45
7.	"Theme of Dilwale (Dj Chetas)"		Arijit Singh	03:42

External links

Badlapur (2015)

Badlapur is a 2015 Indian crime drama film directed by Sriram Raghavan and produced by Dinesh Vijan and Sunil Lulla. The film stars Varun Dhawan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, with Huma Qureshi, Yami Gautam, Vinay Pathak, Divya Dutta and Radhika Apte in supporting roles. The film was released on 20 February 2015. Box Office India reported that Badlapur grossed approximately ₹77 crore (US$12 million) worldwide.


On January 11, 2016, The film was nominated for Best Film in the 61st Filmfare Awards, as well as other categories.

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Production
• 4 Critical reception
• 5 Box office
• 6 Soundtrack
• 7 Further reading
• 8 References
• 9 External links

 

Plot

Misha (Yami Gautam) and her son Robin become the victims of a bank robbery getaway during a shopping trip. Liak (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) and his friend Harman (Vinay Pathak) rob a bank and use Misha's car to flee. Robin falls out of the moving vehicle during the struggle, and Misha is shot by Liak. Harman jumps out of the car to protect the money while Liak is arrested. Both mother and son die from their injuries in the hospital.


Raghu (Varun Dhawan), shattered from the loss of both his wife and son, immerses himself in seeking revenge on both culprits. Liak is sentenced to 20 years in prison, but refuses to reveal the identity of his partner in crime. Raghu learns about Jhimli (Huma Qureshi), a prostitute who is Liak's girlfriend, and visits her to inquire about the missing partner. After Liak's sentence, Raghu exiles himself to a reclusive life at a train station he gets off at – Badlapur.


15 years later, a terminally-ill Liak is paroled from prison on compassionate grounds. Unknown to Liak, Raghu has facilitated the release by providing a letter of pardon for Liak to the court, in exchange for being told the partner's name by Liak's mother. Bent on vengeance, Raghu finds Harman, who now runs a well-established restaurant. Liak is kept under watch by police as they believe he will lead them to the unknown partner. Liak contacts Harman, and arranges to take his share of the money. However, Raghu has already interrogated Harman and Harman's wife Kanchan (Radhika Apte). Harman tells Raghu that it was Liak and not him who killed his son and wife. Raghu is not convinced and takes Liak's share of the money, killing both Harman and his wife.


Raghu meets Shobha (Divya Dutta), the worker instrumental in arranging Liak's parole, pretending to be in love with her to create his alibi. He buries Harman and Kanchan's bodies, and police start investigating Harman. Liak learns from his mother that Raghu came to know about Harman and breaks into Raghu's house in search of the money. Raghu beats him senseless, and Liak tells Raghu that it was him, not Harman, who killed Raghu's wife and child, but he did it in a moment of panic, unlike Raghu who, Liak points out, planned his murders with a cool mind and without guilt.


Liak meets Jhimli one last time; she, now a keep of a local businessman, breaks down, knowing Liak is nearing death. The police now has circumstantial evidence that Raghu murdered Harman. Liak walks into the police station and takes Raghu's blame, giving him a second chance to live his life, and also doing one good thing in his own life before dying.


After seven months, Liak succumbs to cancer in jail. Jhimli meets Raghu and tells him that he has a second chance thanks to Liak, and should not waste it. She also asks Raghu that, now that his revenge is complete and all the guilty are dead, what good it did for him. Raghu is silent as Jhimli drives away.

Cast

• Varun Dhawan as Raghav "Raghu" Purohit
• Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Liak Mohammed Tungrekar
• Huma Qureshi as Jhimli
• Yami Gautam as Misha Purohit
• Divya Dutta as Shobha
• Vinay Pathak as Harman
• Radhika Apte as Kanchan (Koko)
• Ashwini Kalsekar as Mrs. Joshi
• Murali Sharma as Michael Dada
• Pratima Kazmi as Liak's Mother
• Zakir Hussain as Patil
• Kumud Mishra as Inspector Govind Mishra
• Devansh Shah as Raghu's son
• Mateen Shaikh as Raghu's friend

Production

The film began shooting in May 2014.

Critical reception

Raja Sen from Rediff.com rated it 4 out of 5 and said "Badlapur is a dark, unflinching, fantastic film." Sudhish Kamath from The Hindu wrote that the film was "darkly ambitious and very well made." Rachit Gupta from Filmfare stated that it had "exhilarating performances, stellar storytelling."


Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated it 3/5 and noted the pervasive contemptful treatment of women in the film, writing, "If one can ignore the overt misogyny on show all through the film, Badlapur throws up enough surprises to hold the viewer's interest right until the bitter end."


Mohar Basu of The Times of India rated Badlapur 4 out of 5. Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express rated the movie 2.5 stars out of 5, describing it as riveting, but also noting that the film "comes off too contrived in many places, and leaves us hanging in others." Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN rated it 3.5 out of 5 and wrote: "The pace slackens post-intermission, plot contrivances are many, and you might say the film is misogynistic in its treatment of women ... [However], the film keeps you on your toes, curious to see where its twists and turns will lead."


In December 2015, Badlapur got 15 nominations at the Stardust Awards, having the maximum number of award nominations from one film for the year. Both Varun Dhawan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui were nominated for Best Actor category. The film was nominated for awards in Story (2), Screenplay (2), Direction, Lyrics (2), Best Playback Singer (Male), Best Choreographer, Music Direction (2), Best Actor (2), Best Supporting Actor (Female) (2).

Box office

According to Koimoi, the film collected ₹32 crore (US$5.0 million) in five days at the domestic box-office, with ₹7 crore (US$1.1 million) on the first day. By the end of the third weekend, Badlapur grossed ₹48.3 crore (US$7.5 million). By the end of its third week run, the movie grossed ₹50 crore (US$7.8 million) nett at India box offices, leading Koimoi to estimate the film has taken in double its expenses. Box Office India reported that Badlapur grossed approximately ₹77 crore (US$12 million) worldwide.

Soundtrack

 The soundtrack is composed entirely by Sachin-Jigar, while the lyrics were written by Dinesh Vijan and Priya Saraiya. The first song, "Jee Karda", was released as a single on 9 December 2014. The song "Jeena Jeena" was released on 14 February 2015. Jeena Jeena reached number one on the Indian iTunes charts, Radio Mirchi charts, and Bollywood Planet charts for several weeks.

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Jee Karda"	Divya Kumar	4:01
2.	"Jeena Jeena"	Atif Aslam	3:49
3.	"Jee Karda" (Rock Version)	Divya Kumar	4:00
4.	"Judaai"	Rekha Bhardwaj, Arijit Singh	4:32
5.	"Jeena Jeena" (Remix)	Atif Aslam	3:39
6.	"Badla Badla"	Vishal Dadlani, Jasleen Royal, Suraj Jagan	3:13
7.	"Sone Ka Pani"	Priya Saraiya	1:52

External links

ABCD 2 (2015)

ABCD 2 (also known as Anybody Can Dance 2) is a 2015 Indian 3D dance drama film directed by Remo D'Souza and produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur under Walt Disney Pictures. The film stars Prabhu Deva, Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor, in lead roles with Lauren Gottlieb, Raghav Juyal, Punit Pathak and Dharmesh Yelande in supporting roles. It is the sequel to the 2013 film ABCD: Any Body Can Dance. ABCD 2 released on 19 June 2015. The decommissioned warship INS Vikrant was featured as a backdrop behind the dance group's practice area during the first half of the film.


After time, Walt Disney Pictures sold the film's satellite rights to Sony Entertainment Television (India), thereby breaking its chain trend of selling the rights to Zee Entertainment Enterprises. The film first entered a World Television Premiere on 10 October 2015, Saturday. On 29 November 2015, Sunday, the film had an exclusive channel premiere on Sony Max.The film is probably the only independent venture Walt Disney Pictures has ever taken up in India under its own brand.

 
The film explores the career journey of Suresh and Vernon of the "fictitious dance crew", who went on to win the World Hip Hop Dance Championship in Las Vegas.

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Filming
• 4 Release
• 5 Critical reception
• 6 Soundtrack
• 7 See also
• 8 References
• 9 External links

 
 

Plot

Suresh 'Suru' Mukund (Varun Dhawan) wants to be a big dancer to fulfill his mother's wish. Vinnie (Shraddha Kapoor) wants to be the best hip-hop dancer. Childhood friends from suburban Nalasopara, Mumbai, they form a team and participate in a national level competition Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin where they are disqualified from the grand finale as their moves are revealed to be copied from the performance act of the Philippine All Stars and the judges term them cheaters. Everyone departs to search for jobs. Suru returns to work in a bar as a waiter, Vinnie rejoins a beauty parlour and Vernon (Sushant Pujari) gets back as a delivery boy where, on and off, they are insulted as cheaters. The departure of angry teammates adds insult to injury, and nothing is set to be corrected.


Suru hopes to remove the negative tag by planning to win a grander hip-hop competition in Las Vegas. One day he watches Vishnu (Prabhudeva) prove his dance mettle to a betting visitor in the bar Hari Bala and convinces him repeatedly to be their choreographer. They audition for people and formulate the team. They visit the qualifiers in Bangalore, where they are pre-insulted as cheaters, but manage to win it after Vishnu begs the audience for one last chance for the team. Although things are fine, Suru is broken when Shetty Anna (Murli Sharma), the owner of the bar where he is employed, refuses to provide him financial support extending to Rs. 25 lakhs, something he had earlier publicly promised to Suru at the time of the Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin finale, and Suru leaves the place, angry at Anna's insulting language for Vinnie. However, Vishnu manages to get the money from Crocxz's (Raghav Juyal) uncle who he convinces, after Suru loses hope when Vishnu gets angry at his inability to arrange team funds. Later they prepare to go to Las Vegas, but Vinod (Punit Pathak), a deaf-mute dancer, learns that Vishnu has ulterior motives to go to Vegas, and, as a matter of fact, he had deliberately impressed Suru and friends to procure a way out for his plan. In Las Vegas they win the qualifiers. Later Vishnu leaves the hotel with team money to meet his son Manu (Jineet Rath), whose mother, Swati (Tisca Chopra) is married to another man and has moved on in life. He talks to Manu and leaves with a contented heart.


In the meantime, Vinnie gets injured due to excessive rehearsal and is replaced by Olive (Lauren Gottlieb), and Vishnu discovers this while thanking friend Gopi (Ganesh Acharya), who works in a bar-cum-hotel. At the same time, Suru is enraged when he finds Vishnu missing and tries to proceed with jam sessions all on his own, but in vain. Vishnu returns while trying to save the day for Suru from the German team as they get into a fight, later admitting he had made a 'mistake' leaving without permission although he didn't want to lose a family he had yearned to create in years, apologizes, is forgiven by Suru, and the team enters the finals. Across rehearsals, Olive gets close to Suru and a jealous Vinnie tells Suru she loves him. Although Olive has feelings for Suru, an in-person conversation with Vinnie assures Olive that Suru had that inherent charm with nothing to do about his sweetness, and she agrees to continue with the Indian Stunners after Vinnie recovers. The team enters the final, where Vinod's health worsens during a fictitious assemblage and the Indian Stunners end up making this grave mistake in the formation only to fall down, since D (Dharmesh Yelande) knew about Vinod's tuberculosis problem. Everyone has almost given up after the accident, when Vinod tries to encourage Suru, who forgoes the accident and the others return to make the formation with success with Vinod at the bottom. They didn't win the competition but they won the hearts of millions, with Suru lending a voiceover narrative about his mother's motivational lessons on dance.

Cast

• Prabhu Deva as Vishnu
• Varun Dhawan as Suresh 'Suru' Mukund
• Shraddha Kapoor as Vini
• Sushant Pujari as Vernon Monteiro
• Murli Sharma in a friendly appearance as Shetty Anna, the owner of a bar where Suru works
• Tisca Chopra as Swati, Vishnu's ex-wife
• Lauren Gottlieb as Olive
• Dharmesh Yelande as Dharmesh a.k.a. D
• Raghav Juyal as Raghav a.k.a Croaxz
• Punit Pathak as Vinod
• Dipak Salve as Dipak
• Sandip Sable as Sandi
• Pravin Bhosale as Chotu
• Karthik as Raju
• Prachi Shah in a special apeearance as Padmashree Durga Devi, Suru's mother
• Alina Kumar as Mayuri Sharma
• Kaveen Bagaria as Suresh in a flashback
• Les Twins in special appear in "Tattoo" song
• Jineet Rath as Manu, Vishnu's son
• Sachin-Jigar in a cameo appearance as themselves
• Navjot Singh Sidhu in a cameo appearance as himself in Comedy Nights with Kapil
• Kapil Sharma in a cameo appearance as himself in Comedy Nights with Kapil
• Remo D'Souza in a cameo appearance as himself
• Terence Lewis (choreographer) in a cameo appearance as himself
• Pooja Batra in a cameo appearance as Pooja
• Phillip Allen Hall III as Dancer

Filming

ABCD 2 was shot in Mumbai, Bangalore and Las Vegas. the shooting was finally over in March 2015. The young-talented French duo Les Twins (Laurent and Larry Bourgeois) were also roped in for a special freestyle dance in the song "Tattoo".

Release

The film was released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures on 19 June 2015. However, the film's choreographer & director Remo D'Souza wanted to pre-release it on 18 June 2015 due to the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. He stated, We just come to know that the Holy month of Ramadan starts on 19 June, the day we have scheduled the release of ABCD2. I've been receiving so many emails and messages from my Muslim friends requesting not to release on that day, as they would be unable to go for the film.

Critical reception

On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 80%, based on 5 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10.


Meena Iyre from The Times of India gave it 3 out of 5 stars stating the film raises the bar from its first part. Sukanya Verma of Rediff liked the choreography but thought that "because of its poorly paced beginning, ABCD 2 feels a bit of stretch at 154 minutes." She gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars. Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN also gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars writing that the film "makes up for its amateurish storytelling with its often jaw-dropping set pieces and the sheer hard work of its leads. Varun and Shraddha are so earnest, you're willing to forgive their less-than-convincing histrionics because their dancing – particularly Varun's – is mighty impressive. Both actors hold their own against the professionals without losing face."


The film got a negative review from Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express who gave it 1.5 out of 5 stars. She wrote "A dance movie needs to electrify. That's missing in this Shraddha Kapoor, Varun Dhawan starrer".

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of ABCD 2 is composed entirely by Jigar Saraiya and Sachin Sanghvi, while the lyrics were written by Mayur Puri, Badshah, Rimi Nique, D. Soldierz and Priya Saraiya. The audio album was released on 22 May 2015. For the year 2015–16, Disney-UTV had decided to sell out the music rights to Zee Music Company. The film's soundtrack is the first step in the series.


All music composed by Sachin-Jigar.

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Bezubaan Phir Se"	Mayur Puri	Vishal Dadlani, Anushka Manchanda, Madhav Krishna	4:32
2.	"Sun Saathiya"	Priya Saraiya	Priya Saraiya, Divya Kumar	3:38
3.	"Chunar"	Mayur Puri	Arijit Singh, Step-up rap by: Divya Kumar	4:29
4.	"Happy Birthday"	D Soldierz, Mayur Puri	Varun Dhawan, Sachin-Jigar, D Soldierz	3:05
5.	"If You Hold My Hand"	Mayur Puri	Benny Dayal	3:33
6.	"Hey Ganaraya"	Mayur Puri	Divya Kumar	4:52
7.	"Happy Hour"	Mayur Puri	Mika Singh	3:44
8.	"Naach Meri Jaan"	Rimi Nique, Mayur Puri	Benny Dayal, Shalmali Kholgade, Siddharth Basrur, Rimi Nique	4:04
9.	"Tattoo"	Mayur Puri	Shefali Alvares	4:20
10.	"Vande Mataram"	Mayur Puri	Daler Mehndi, Tanishka Sanghvi, Badshah, Divya Kumar	7:14

See also

• ABCD: Any Body Can Dance (2013)

External links

Brothers (2015)

Brothers (international title: Brothers: Blood Against Blood) is an 2015 Indian sports drama film, based on Mixed Martial arts (MMA) directed by Karan Malhotra and produced by Dharma Productions, Lionsgate Films and Endemol India. The film is an official remake of the 2011 Hollywood film Warrior. It stars Akshay Kumar and Sidharth Malhotra, with Jacqueline Fernandez, Jackie Shroff and Shefali Shah in supporting roles. The first look poster of the film was released on 9 March 2015 and film released on 14 August 2015 on Independence Day weekend.

Contents

• 1 Plot
• 2 Cast
• 3 Production
  • 3.1 Development
  • 3.2 Marketing
• 4 Soundtrack
• 5 Reception
• 6 Box office
  • 6.1 India
  • 6.2 Overseas
• 7 References
• 8 External links

 

Plot

The film opens in medias res where street fighting issues are raised in Mumbai. Sports chairman Peter Braganza (Kiran Kumar) expresses his desire of making street fighting a legal sport and decides to open a league called Right 2 Fight (R2F). Meanwhile, in prison, Garson "Gary" Fernandes (Jackie Shroff), a recovering alcoholic MMA expert under rehabilitation, is released from his jail term and his younger son Monty (Sidharth Malhotra) comes to pick him up. Monty gets angry when his father asks about his elder son David and takes him away to their home. At home Gary acts protective of all the belongings of his wife Maria, who died many years ago. David (Akshay Kumar), now a physics teacher, has a daughter suffering from a kidney disease. Unable to arrange money from the bank and other sources he arranges money through street fights. This enrages his wife Jenny (Jacqueline Fernandez) as she is worried about David. Meanwhile, Gary, who misses his wife Maria (Shefali Shah), starts hallucinating about her. Gary then tries to meet David but the latter ends up throwing Monty and Gary out of his house in rage.

Monty is then revealed to be Gary's foster son, rather an illegitimate child. Maria nevertheless loved Monty, and he was loved by David who was an overprotective elder brother. The two brothers had a close, loving relationship when David was aged 18 and Monty was aged 14. One night on Monty's 15th birthday, Gary came home drunk and apologized to Maria for destroying the family but instead of Maria he pronounced his lover Sarah's name. This enraged Maria, who confronted Gary about this in private and expressed her anger at having to tolerate his mistakes and put up with his behaviour. In a drunken stupor, Gary accidentally hit Maria as David ran and pushed Gary aside as he was extremely enraged at Gary for what he did to Maria as she died due to the injury in front of David and Monty. As she breathed her last, she also stretched her arm out to Monty; when Monty came near Maria, David angrily pushed him away and blamed him for Maria's condition. This created a rift between Gary, Monty and David.

David later loses his job as school principal Shobhit Desai (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) is perplexed after learning about David's involvement in street fights and his daughter's disease. Monty, who wants to be a fighter, is then introduced to Suleiman Pasha (Ashutosh Rana), a fight agent. Suleman fixes a match with Mustafa in which Monty gets defeated. This enrages Gary and Monty decides a rematch with Mustafa, where Monty defeats Mustafa and is declared a selected fighter for R2F by Peter. The fight gets recorded and uploaded on YouTube and soon Monty becomes an internet sensation. Monty undergoes training to become the R2F champion. Meanwhile, David too decides to be a full-time fighter and Jenny encourages him to do so. Suleiman trains David and fixes a match while Monty celebrates his victory at a bar. David soon is victorious in the fight. Peter gathers fighters from all over the world to compete in R2F. R2F soon becomes a sensation and receives much appreciation. Soon David and Monty defeat their opponents and make their way to the finals and the fight ensues.
Gary, feeling guilty, leaves the arena as he thinks that he is responsible for the conflict between the brothers. Pasha advises David to not let his relationship with Monty get in the way of his win. The match begins. Both David and Monty put up a strong fight, however David eventually ends up breaking Monty's shoulder. He immediately shows care and checks on his younger brother, but Pasha keeps telling him to keep fighting and not care about Monty's arm. Gary rushes to David and apologizes for his mistakes. He asks David to not take out his anger towards him on Monty, and reminds him that Monty is his brother. David, already conflicted, turns to Monty and envisions kid Monty instead. Monty, on the other hand, agrees to continue the match despite a broken shoulder and blurred vision. The match continues. David overpowers Monty once again. While David keeps Monty pinned to the ground, he asks Monty to stop fighting because "he can't hit Monty any longer." Monty, in turn, says that David definitely can continue. He says that David has always only thought of himself as he deserted Monty out of anger once Maria died. David is overridden with guilt and sorrow; Monty's comment brings him to tears as he apologizes. Seeing this, Monty surrenders the match. Monty reconciles with David and the latter takes Monty away in his arms.

Cast

• Akshay Kumar as David Fernandes
• Sidharth Malhotra as Monty Fernandes
• Jacqueline Fernandez as Jenny Fernandes
• Jackie Shroff as Garson "Gary" Fernandes
• Shefali Shah as Maria Fernandes (cameo)
• Meghan Jadhav as David Fernandes in his teens
• Ashutosh Rana as Suleiman Pasha
• Kareena Kapoor in a special appearance in the song "Mera Naam Mary Hai"
• Kiran Kumar as Peter Briganza (Former Mixed Martial Art Champion and now a chairman)
• Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Principal Shobhit Desai
• Raj Zutshi as Baaz Raut, ex-fighter - commentator 1
• Kavi Shastri as Sachin Nehra, a sports journalist - commentator 2
• Ashok Lokhande as Gary's best friend
• Harssh A. Singh as News Anchor

Production

Development

The film was announced in late August 2014. Producer Karan Johar had announced the project on his Twitter blog. Special stunt co-ordinators Eric Brown and Justin Yu from Los Angeles choreographed the film's stunt and MMA sequences.

For the role of a MMA fighter, Kumar had taken weight-specific diet and shot his scenes depicting his workout. Kumar had gone in six-month training of several martial arts including judo, kyudo, aikido, karate

Actor Sidharth Malhotra underwent into training sessions of Jujitsu and aikido and the actor apparently gained 10 kilograms for the role.

Marketing

Vroovy a joint venture of Hungama and Gameshastra had released the 3D video game titled "Brothers: Clash of Fighters" available for Android phones.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the album is composed by Ajay-Atul while the lyrics are written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. Critic Joginder Tuteja from Bollywood Hungama gave 3 stars of 5 quoting, "The music of Brothers doesn't really go all the way when it comes to good expectations that came from it being a big chartbuster album in the making. However, from situational numbers perspective, it does well to keep you engaged for most part of it. Expect the 'Brothers Anthem' to haunt you all the more once you are through experiencing it with the film. " Kasmin Fernandes from Times of India rated 3 out of 5 with mixed reviews.

TrackList

No.	Title	Singers	Length
1.	"Brothers Anthem"	Vishal Dadlani	05:53
2.	"Gaaye Jaa (Female Version)"	Shreya Ghoshal	05:42
3.	"Sapna Jahan"	Sonu Nigam, Neeti Mohan	05:41
4.	"Mera Naam Mary"	Chinmayi Sripada	05:11
5.	"Gaaye Jaa (Male Version)"	Mohammed Irfan	05:29

Reception

Trade Analyst Komal Nahta said, "On the whole, Brothers, a mixed martial arts film, may carry mixed reports but it will ultimately prove to be a paying proposal for all concerned. It will do good business in multiplexes and single-screen cinemas, and in 'A', 'B', 'C' and 'D' class centres." Film critic Subhash K Jha gave 4 stars out of 5 and said "Brothers may not appeal to those who look for laughter in times of despair.There is barely room for a whiff of a smile in this dark sanguinary and seductive tale of destruction and redemption told in a free-wheeling style that accommodates derivations and innovations without apology or awkwardness." The Times of India (TOI) gave 3 stars out of 5. Bollywood Hungama gave 3 stars out of 5. Koimoi (koimoi.com) gave 2.5 stars out of 5. Film critic Raja Sen for Rediff wrote, "Weighing 158 unbearable minutes, Brothers is nearly 600-times as long as the Rousey win – and not one-millionth as thrilling." Sen reviewed the characters of the film and concluded, "But that's all this film has, a ball-busting Kumar and one particular fight that ends with delightful abruptness. Everything else is exhausting." He gave the film 1.5 stars out of 5. Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV opines, "For all the hoopla, Brothers, in going for the jugular, punches well below its weight. It makes so much noise that any sensible point about brotherly bonding and filial fidelity that it might be trying to make is completely drowned out by the decibels. Take your earplugs along." He gave the film 2.5 stars out of 5. Anuj Kumar of The Hindu newspaper reviewed, "The problem is, be it emotion or action, Karan is in no hurry to say cut. At times it works for the emotion to seep in but many times over elaboration dilutes the punch. The music is a let down. Kareena Kapoor deserved a better song and choreography for the special appearance." Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express summarized, "Akshay Kumar, Sidharth Malhotra's film gets dragged down by its over-wrought mawkishness." At firstpost, critic Deepanjana Pal stated, "Akshay Kumar is hot but with Jackie Shroff and Sidharth Malhotra this film is a hot mess. A few more films like Brothers and Bollywood will have achieved what no amount of litigation can manage — the freedom to copy freely. Because if Gavin O'Connor, who directed and co-wrote Warrior, ever sees how his story has been brutalised, he might just go on a campaign claiming that intellectual property rights be damned, Hollywood is better off not being associated with Bollywood remakes." Martin D'souza from Glamsham stated "The fight director makes BROTHERS look good" and gave 2 stars out of 5. Subhash K. Jha from skjbollywoodnews stated "Definitely one of Akshay Kumar's glorious achievements." and gave 4 stars out of 5.

Box office

Brothers made Rs.52.08 crore in its opening weekend in India. The film brought in ₹15.36 crore (US$2.3 million) internationally. Adding the film's gross India business of 70.30 crores, after week one Brothers' worldwide business stands at 106 crores at the Box Office.

India

In the season where films have started doing well at the Box Office, Brothers has managed to find audience for itself over the weekend. If the start was good, if not phenomenal, there was some good escalation waiting to take place on the rest of the weekend. Saturday was always going to be the key for the film and the Karan Malhotra film managed to cross the 21 crore mark. Sunday did not see as many footfalls as Saturday but still did better than Friday, as a result of which 52.08 crores came in once the weekend was through. Brothers made quite a low business on its 3rd day i.e. 1st Sunday at the Box Office. The movie collected 15.45 crores on Sunday, which is almost equal to its Friday business (15.20 crores). Nevertheless, thanks to its super jump on Day 2, the film's overall opening weekend collections have come to a good amount of 52.08 crores. The film now stands as the 2nd Highest Weekend Grosser of the year. Bajrangi Bhaijaan, with 102.60 crores, holds the record of Top weekend grosser of 2015. The film went on to collect just 64.80 crores net in its first week in India which is a poor result because it has a big holiday. Brothers crashed 88% in its second weekend as it grossed just 5.25 crore nett apprx in its second weekend. The ten days business of film is just 69.83 crores. Brothers grossed 80 lakhs nett on its second Monday and has grossed just 6 crore nett apprx in its first four days of the second week.

Overseas

Brothers has performed low in Overseas but it's a decent business, the collections is around $2.4 million in first weekend, as business in Gulf (850k approx) and Pakistan is pretty good but with US at $400,000 apprx and UK at £175,000 approx, the film won't be going best.  Brothers did $3.6 Million after 12 days.

External links