Bunty Aur Babli

Bunty Aur Babli (transl. Bunty and Babli) is a 2005 Indian Hindi-language crime comedy film directed by Shaad Ali and written by Jaideep Sahni, based on a story by Aditya Chopra, who serves as producer under Yash Raj Films. The film, inspired by the 1967 American film Bonnie and Clyde, stars Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, and Rani Mukerji in lead roles and marks the first of the many collaborations between the father and son duo. Bachchan Jr. and Mukerji play the titular con-artist partners-in-crime, while Bachchan Sr. plays JCP Dashrath Singh whose focus is solely to catch them.
The soundtrack of Bunty Aur Babli was composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, with lyrics written by Gulzar and Blaaze together, and was released under the banner YRF Music. Bunty Aur Babli was released worldwide on 27 May 2005, and proved to be a commercial success at the box-office, grossing ₹90.4 crore worldwide, thus becoming the second highest-grossing Indian film of 2005. It received positive reviews from critics upon release, with praise for its direction, novel story, screenplay, soundtrack, humor, costumes, styling and performances of the cast.
At the 51st Filmfare Awards, Bunty Aur Babli received 8 nominations, including Best Film, Best Actor (Abhishek Bachchan), Best Actress (Mukerji) and Best Supporting Actor (Amitabh Bachchan) and won – Best Music Director (Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy), Best Lyricist (Gulzar) and Best Female Playback Singer (Alisha Chinai), the latter two for the song "Kajra Re".
The film was remade in Telugu as Bhale Dongalu (2008). A sequel under the title of Bunty Aur Babli 2, starring Mukerji, Siddhant Chaturvedi, and Sharvari Wagh, was released theatrically on November 19, 2021, with Saif Ali Khan replacing Bachchan. Unlike the original the sequel received overwhelmingly negative reviews and was a failure at the box office.
Rakesh Trivedi 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. Rakesh's father gives him an ultimatum: go on the job interview he has arranged or get out of the house.
Vimmi Saluja 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. However, Vimmi's parents tell her they have arranged her marriage to a young man with a decent job, which she is not interested in.
Rakesh and Vimmi pack their bags and sneak out in the dark of the night. They bump into each other at a train station and become friends after realizing 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 when she refuses to sleep with someone to get a part. Rakesh tries to sell his ideas for an investment scheme, but a businessman turns him away. 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 him 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 realize 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 and business partners among others. 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 Bunty and Babli know that JCP Dashrath Singh is catching up with their cons, getting closer each day. He relentlessly pursues them across India in the hopes of putting them behind bars. To complicate matters, Bunty and Babli 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 careers as criminals.
Three years later, Dashrath rescues Bunty and Babli from their mundane domestic lives by offering them to work for the nation, thwarting the activities of other scammers.
During production, Abhishek had to "shed 12 kilos" for his character. Designer Aki Narula dressed Mukerji a new look Patiala salwars and kurtis, which became popular.
Namrata Joshi of Outlook wrote of the performances: "Abhishek is perfect as Bunty—naughty, twisted yet unspoilt at heart. Rani plays to the gallery with ease. And Amitabh delivers another starry turn. The scene where he describes his unrequited love affair is a hoot. And so is the brilliant item number Kajrare with Ash letting herself go along with the father and the son." Sukanya Verma of Rediff stated, "Aditya Chopra's story slices a bit of Bonnie and Clyde and a lot of Catch Me If You Can, soaks it in Indian essence and dishes out a delicious dessert," and further wrote that the movie "wouldn't be the same without Abhishek and Mukerji's enthusiastic performances." Sudhish Kamath of The Hindu claimed that the movie "totally banks on charm," yet opined that it works "simply because of the colourful characters and the casual air with which the charismatic actors carry off the roles," and concluded that the movie "is only for those blessed with a generous sense of humour." 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 Ali pulls it off. Bravely. Almost."
The film was a critical and commercial success, becoming the second highest-grossing Indian film of the year.
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. 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 film, and they admitted to committing the crimes they were accused of in a "Bunty Aur Babli" style.
Yet another couple, a sister and brother-in-law, were caught for crimes that mirrored those committed in the film. Shahnaaz Bano and Sajid Ahmed were caught smuggling and shoplifting diamonds and other expensive merchandise out of stores, using disguises.
The soundtrack was composed by the musical trio Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy and was released on 15 April 2005 by Yash Raj Music. Initially, A. R. Rahman was approached to compose the film's music, having worked on Ali's previous film Saathiya (2002), but he declined due to his date issues. The lead actors Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukerji danced to the tunes of the album. 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.
Lyrics by Gulzar except where noted.
The music of Bunty Aur Babli received positive 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." Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama wrote, "Bunty Aur Babli does not contain your routine Yash Chopra genre of music that is choreographed around the meadows and Swiss alps. They are more of situational rhythmic tracks that take a story forward.” 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."
In December 2019, Yash Raj Films announced a sequel, Bunty Aur Babli 2, to be directed by Varun V. Sharma and produced by Aditya Chopra. The film stars Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukerji, Siddhant Chaturvedi and debutante Sharvari Wagh as the leads, and was scheduled to be released on 26 June 2020, but postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic. It released theatrically on 19 November 2021. Although the film is a direct sequel and takes places after 16 years of the first film but the character of Bunty is portrayed by Saif Ali Khan replacing Abhishek Bachchan. The sequel of the film was received negative reviews from critics and was box office disaster.
Mukerji's performance has been noted as one of her notable works. Her character Babli, became a popular and recognizable character. She was also named by Rediff as one of Bollywood's most beloved characters. Mukerji and Bachchan were named in Bollywood Hungama's list of the top 10 best romantic couples of the decade.
The songs of the film became popular. "Kajra Re" was voted as the best song of 2005 by listeners of 3 radio stations catering for South African Indians. 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. The film was remade in Telugu as Bhale Dongalu (2008), starring Tarun, Ileana and Jagapati Babu. Time Out placed the film at 63rd position in its "The 100 best Bollywood movies" list.