Bunty Aur Babli
Bunty Aur Babli (transl. Bunty and Babli) is a 2005 Indian Hindi-language crime comedy film directed by Shaad Ali, with Aditya Chopra as writer and producer. The film stars Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukerji in the title roles, along with Amitabh Bachchan, marking the first motion picture starring the Bachchan father-son duo together.[2] Bachchan Jr. and Mukerji play con-artist partners-in-crime, Bunty and Babli, while Bachchan Sr. plays JCP Dashrath, whose focus is solely to catch them.
| Bunty Aur Babli | |
|---|---|
 Thearetical Poster of Bunty Aur Babli | |
| Directed by | Shaad Ali |
| Produced by | Aditya Chopra |
| Screenplay by | Jaideep Sahni |
| Story by | Aditya Chopra |
| Starring | Amitabh Bachchan Abhishek Bachchan Rani Mukerji |
| Narrated by | Amitabh Bachchan |
| Music by | Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy |
| Cinematography | Abhik Mukhopadhyay |
| Edited by | Ritesh Soni |
| Distributed by | Yash Raj Films |
Release date | 27 May 2005 |
Running time | 177 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Budget | ₹ 12 crore |
| Box office | est. ₹ 63.4 crore[1] |
The film's music was composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, with lyrics done by Gulzar and Blaaze together, and released under the banner YRF Music. Released worldwide on 27 May 2005, Bunty Aur Babli was a commercial success, grossing ₹ 634 million at the worldwide box office on a budget of ₹ 120 million, and was the second highest-grossing Indian film of the year. The film earned 8 nominations at the 51st Filmfare Awards including Best Film, Best Actor for Bachchan Jr., Best Actress for Mukerji and Best Supporting Actor for Bachchan Sr. and won 3 - Best Music for Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Best Lyrics for Gulzar and Best Female Playback for Alisha Chinai, the latter two for the song "Kajra Re".
A spiritual sequel under the title of Bunty Aur Babli 2 is set to be released in 2020.
The movie was remade in Telugu as Bhale Dongalu starring Tharun and Ileana D'Cruz.
Plot
Rakesh Trivedi (Abhishek Bachchan) is from a small village named Fursatganj. His father is a ticket collector on a train and wants him to get into a similar occupation as well. However, Rakesh has big dreams; he is forever coming up with new business schemes and is convinced he will make it big one day. He adamantly refuses any notion that he will one day work in a 9-to-5 environment.
Vimmi Saluja (Rani Mukerji) is the daughter of a Punjabi family in another small village named Pankinagar; she spends her hours watching films and studying supermodels and dreams of becoming Miss India.
Vimmi's parents tell her they have arranged her marriage to a young man with a decent job. At the same time, Rakesh's father gives him an ultimatum – go on the job interview he has arranged or get out of the house.
Rakesh and Vimmi pack their bags and sneak out in the dark of night. They bump into each other at a train station and become friends after realising their stories are similar. They support and encourage each other to achieve their dreams: Vimmi tries to enter the Miss India contest but gets thrown out after an argument. Rakesh tries to sell his ideas for an investment scheme, but a businessman turns him away. In fact, a man he had met at a restaurant stole ideas from Rakesh's presentation file and, when he enters the office, the interviewer states someone before he came in with the same idea. After finding out that the businessman who Rakesh had approached, used his idea to make money, he and Vimmi con him and take the money they believe is rightfully theirs.
Once they realise how easy it is to con people, they decide to run some more cons to raise money to make it to Bombay.
Unfortunately, they find the lifestyle too exciting to give up. Adopting the names of 'Bunty' and 'Babli', they successfully pull off con after con, looting the rich dressed as local guides, religious priests, health inspectors, business partners, etc. Their flamboyant antics make them famous in newspapers nationwide. Soon their friendship leads to romance and they decide to continue conning as husband and wife.
Little do Rakesh and Vimmi know that JCP Dashrath Singh (Amitabh Bachchan) is catching up with their cons and pranks, getting closer each day. He relentlessly pursues them across India in the hopes of putting them behind bars. To complicate matters, Rakesh and Vimmi have a child and, after a very close call eluding Dashrath, they decide to quit conning for their child's sake. This decision leads to their capture by Dashrath. While in custody, their heartfelt confessions and conversation soften the policeman's heart and he lets them go, certain he had destroyed Bunty and Babli's career as criminals.
Three years later, Dashrath rescues them from their mundane domestic lives by offering them to work for the nation thwarting the activities of other scammers.
Cast
- Amitabh Bachchan as JCP Dashrath Singh
- Abhishek Bachchan as Rakesh Trivedi/Bunty
- Rani Mukerji as Vimmi Saluja Trivedi/Babli
- Raj Babbar as Bunty's Father
- Talluri Rameshwari as Bunty's Mother
- Puneet Issar as Babli's Father
- Kiran Juneja as Babli's Mother
- Pratima Kazmi as Phoolsakhi
- Prem Chopra as a Truck Driver
- Sanjay Mishra as Q.Q. Qureshi
- Ravi Baswani as Hotel Owner in Mussoorie
- Virendra Saxena as Police Commissioner
- Yunus Parvez as a Hotel Owner
- Tania Zaetta as Kate
- Anupam Shyam as Raj Kapoor Tiwari
- Rajesh Vivek as a Protestor
- J. Brandon Hill as Harry Epstein
- Kunal Kumar as Newspaper Salesman
- Ranjeet as Showroom manager
- Rajiv Gupta as Police Inspector
- Shiamak Davar in a special appearance in song 'Nach Baliye'
- Sushant Singh Rajput as background dancer in 'Nach Baliye'
- Shaad Ali in a guest appearance in title song
- Antara Biswas in a guest appearance in title song
- Lilliput as Band Trumpet Player
- Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as Guest Appearance in song 'Kajra Re'
Reception
The film was a critical and commercial success becoming one of the biggest hits of 2005.[2] Designer Aki Narula dressed Rani Mukerji a new look Patiala salwars and kurtis, which became quite popular.[3]
Influence
The glorification of crime in the movie inspired many people to emulate the glamorous couple, resulting in a trend of real-life Buntys and Bablis. One such case is that of Sushant and Kajal, a married couple who conned two businesses out of money using a photo frame.[4] "The Darjeeling-based couple did a 'Bunty Aur Babli' on their victims, and were caught and arrested." Another case of the movie's influence on crime is that of another married couple, Suresh and Rekha. Their crimes also mirrored those committed in the movie "Bunty Aur Babli", and they admitted to committing the crimes they were accused of in a "Bunty Aur Babli" style.[5] Yet another couple, a sister and brother-in-law, were caught for crimes that mirrored those committed in the movie. Shahnaaz Bano and Sajid Ahmed were caught smuggling and shoplifting diamonds and other expensive merchandise out of stores, using disguises.[6]
Soundtrack
| Bunty Aur Babli | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | 13 April 2005 (India) | |||
| Recorded | 2004 | |||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | |||
| Length | 37:09 | |||
| Label | Yash Raj Music | |||
| Producer | Yash Chopra Aditya Chopra | |||
| Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Bunty Aur Babli | ||||
| ||||
A. R. Rahman was initially approached to compose the film's music, but he declined due to his busy schedule. The soundtrack includes 6 tracks composed by the musical trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and was released on 13 April 2005 by Yash Raj Music.[7] The lead actors Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukerji danced to the tunes of the album.[8] The lyrics were penned by Gulzar and Blaaze. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 19,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's second highest-selling.[9]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "B N B" | Blaaze | Shankar Mahadevan, Blaaze, Loy Mendonsa | 3:38 |
| 2. | "Bunty Aur Babli" | Gulzar | Shankar Mahadevan, Siddharth Mahadevan, Sukhwinder Singh, Jaspinder Narula | 5:42 |
| 3. | "Chup Chup Ke" | Gulzar | Sonu Nigam, Mahalakshmi Iyer | 7:13 |
| 4. | "Dhadak Dhadak" | Gulzar | Udit Narayan, Sunidhi Chauhan, Nihira Joshi | 6:33 |
| 5. | "Kajra Re" | Gulzar | Alisha Chinai, Shankar Mahadevan, Javed Ali | 8:02 |
| 6. | "Nach Baliye" | Gulzar | Sukhwinder Singh, Jaspinder Narula, Shankar Mahadevan, Siddharth Mahadevan, Sowmya Raoh | 6:02 |
| Total length: | 37:09 | |||
Reception
The music of Bunty Aur Babli received favourable reviews from critics. Sukanya Verma of Rediff, said in her review, "On the whole, the music of Bunty Aur Babli, with its over the top, uninhibited, rustic and teasing spices, makes for one helluva musical masala."[10] Planet Bollywood's review concluded, "Overall, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy do an excellent job of getting different singers for each track, trying to infuse different beats together and creating an album worth buying. It’ll take a few listens to pick your favourites, but its fresh and an above average album to own. Enjoy!"[11] "Bunty Aur Babli does not contain your routine Yash Chopra genre of music that are choreographed around the meadows and Swiss alps. They are more of situational rhythmic tracks that take a story forward" Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama said in his review.[12] Glamsham was full of praise for the lyrics by Gulzar, "Throughout this zany zingy and zippy album the 70-year-old Gulzar imbues a youthfulness that comes from being young at heart. Indeed that's the quality, which flows freely out of this album. You can't miss its zest for life… or its lunge towards a luscious nirvana obtained from looking at life through rose-tinted glasses."[13] Avijit Ghosh wrote in The Telegraph, "In essence, Bunty Aur Babli is an on-the-road flick about a boy and girl in search of fun and freedom rather than a story of two cons. To capture the splintered yearnings of smalltown India which watches Aastha channel in the morning and FTV at night is a difficult and ambitious task. But like his protagonists, director Shaad Ali Sahgal pulls it off. Bravely. Almost."[14]
Legacy
"Kajra Re" was voted as the best of 2005 overwhelmingly by listeners of 3 radio stations catering for South African Indians.[15]
Hidekaz Himaruya, the manga artist who created Hetalia, embedded the video of "Dhadak Dhadak" on his blog around Christmas time, which caused a sudden influx of Himaruya fans commenting on the video.[16]
Sequel
In December 2019, Yash Raj Films announced a spiritual sequel, Bunty Aur Babli 2, to be directed by Varun V. Sharma and produced by Aditya Chopra. The film stars Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukherji, Siddhant Chaturvedi and debutante Sharvari Wagh as the leads,[17][18] and was scheduled to be released on 26 June 2020, but postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic.[19]
Awards and nominations
Notes
- "Top Lifetime Grossers Worldwide (IND Rs)". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2011.
- "Box Office 2005". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
- "FASHION: How to Dress a Rockstar". Tehelka. Vol. 8 no. 39. 1 October 2011. Archived from the original on 24 September 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
- "Real life 'Bunty Aur Babli' couple held for cheating Archies". Hindustan Times. HT Media Ltd. ProQuest 470024645.
- "The Pioneer". 'Bunty Aur Babli' held in Dehradun. HT Media Ltd. ProQuest 1143849740.
- "Bunty aur Babli plot goes wrong, woman thief held". Hindustan Times. HT Media Ltd. ProQuest 471194997.
- "Yash Raj Music – Bunty Aur Babli Audio CD". Yash Raj Music. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
- "Bunty Aur Babli Music Launch". Yashraj Films. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
- "Music Hits 2000–2009 (Figures in Units)". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 15 February 2008.
- Verma, Sukanya. "Bunty Aur Babli's Music Rocks!". Rediff.com. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
- "Bollywood – Music Review – Bunty Aur Babli". Planetbollywood.com. 20 August 1996. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
- "Bunty Aur Babli : Music Review by Joginder Tuteja". Bollywoodhungama.com. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
- "Bunty Aur Babli music review". glamsham.com. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
- "The Telegraph - Calcutta : etc". The Telegraph. Kolkota.
- "Kajra Re is song of season in S Africa". Hindustan Times. 5 January 2006. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
- "Broadcast Yourself". Retrieved 25 June 2011 – via YouTube.
- "Bunty Aur Babli 2: Saif Ali Khan Joins Rani Mukerji Because 'Things Didn't Work Out' With Abhishek Bachchan". NDTV. 19 December 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
- "Rani Mukerji to Team up with Saif Ali Khan on Bunty Aur Babli 2". News18. 19 December 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
- "Rani Mukerji, Saif Ali Khan to have Hum Tum reunion in Bunty Aur Babli 2". Hindustan Times. 19 December 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.