Baazigar

''Baazigar'' () is a 1993 Indian Hindi-language neo-noir action thriller film directed by Abbas–Mustan and produced by Venus Movies. It stars Shah Rukh Khan in the lead role alongside Kajol, Siddharth, Shilpa Shetty (in her film debut), Raakhee, Dalip Tahil, and Johnny Lever. Its soundtrack was composed by Anu Malik. The film follows a young man seeking to avenge the fall of his family by going on a murderous rampage.

The story is loosely based on Ira Levin's 1953 novel '' A Kiss Before Dying'' and its 1991 film adaptation of the same name. ''Baazigar'' proved to be Khan's breakthrough role as the sole lead (his first as an antihero), in addition to Kajol's first commercial success and Shetty's film debut.

''Baazigar'' was released on 12 November 1993, coinciding with the festival of Diwali. Made on a budget of 40 million, the film was declared a ''blockbuster'' at the box office with a worldwide gross of 320 million, ranking as the fourth highest-grossing Hindi film of the year. Apart from emerging as a major financial success, the film has become a cult film over the years due to its suspense, story, screenplay, soundtrack and performances of the cast. It was the first collaboration between Khan and Kajol, who went on to become one of India's most iconic on-screen couples. It helped establish Khan, Kajol, Shetty and Malik in Hindi films, and the soundtrack sold over 10million units, thus becoming the highest-selling album of the year.

At the 39th Filmfare Awards, ''Baazigar'' received 10 nominations, including Best Film, Best Supporting Actress and Best Female Debut (both for Shetty), and won 4 awards, including Best Actor (Khan) and Best Music Director (Malik).

Plot

Madan Chopra, a wealthy businessman, has two daughters—Seema and Priya. During a car race in Madras, Chopra meets Vicky Malhotra, a seemingly charming young man who allows him to win the race to earn his trust. Chopra becomes impressed by Vicky, and Priya gradually falls in love with him. However, Vicky is revealed to be Ajay Sharma, who has assumed a false identity to take revenge on Chopra.

Seema, who is in a secret relationship with Ajay, faces pressure from her father to marry someone else. Ajay tricks her into writing a suicide note and later pushes her off a building, staging her death as a suicide. To avoid scandal, Chopra quickly closes the case. Suspicious of her sister’s death, Priya begins investigating with the help of Inspector Karan Saxena, an old college friend.

Seema’s friend Ravi discovers a photograph of Seema and Ajay together. Before Priya can see it, Ajay kills Ravi and forces him to write a suicide note, framing him as Seema's murderer. Meanwhile, Chopra plans Priya’s engagement to Vicky, still unaware of his true identity.

Through flashbacks, it is revealed that Chopra once worked for Ajay’s father, Mr. Sharma. When Sharma caught him embezzling company funds, Chopra was jailed. Upon his release, Chopra pretended to repent but betrayed Sharma when he gave Madan power of attorney, taking over his business and leaving the Sharma family destitute. This led to Sharma’s death from a heart attack, the death of Ajay’s baby sister, and his mother Shobna’s mental breakdown. Witnessing Chopra's cruelty, Ajay vowed to destroy him.

Back in the present, Priya meets the real Vicky Malhotra and begins to suspect Ajay. She discovers a locket with photos of Ajay and Seema, confirming her suspicions and confronts Ajay who reveals Chopra's theft of his family's wealth to a shocked Priya who feels sympathy for him despite his crimes. Chopra, becomes aware of Ajay’s identity after giving him power of attorney which Ajay uses to steal his company. Chopra confronts him at his home with goons. A brutal fight ensues, during which Chopra's goons badly beat Ajay and Madan hits Shobna, who regains her sanity upon hearing Madan's voice. In the end, Ajay fights back but Chopra fatally impales Ajay with a rod, but Ajay retaliates, fatally wounding Chopra who dies immediately. A wounded Ajay struggles back to his mother, promising her he has reclaimed everything that was meant to be their's. Now only wanting to rest peacefully in his mothers arms, a despondent Priya and Karan watch as Ajay dies in his mothers arms, finally at peace.

Cast

Cast listed as per film credits:-

Production

Development

The film's premise is a subversion of a concept loosely inspired by a Hollywood film, '' A Kiss Before Dying'' (1991), which itself was based on a novel of the same name. While it borrows the basic premise, ''Baazigar'' tells a different, subversive story. While Matt Dillon's character in ''A Kiss Before Dying'' is a villain who murders for money, ''Baazigar'' subverts this, with Shah Rukh Khan's character instead being a sympathetic anti-hero seeking vengeance for the brutal injustices done to his family.

In an interview, Deepak Tijori revealed that when he first saw ''A'' ''Kiss Before Dying'', he wanted to appear as the lead in the Hindi adaptation of the film. So he showed it to Abbas-Mustan and later to producer Pahlaj Nihalani. They liked it and was ready to do the film, but after meeting Nihalani, Abbas-Mustan told that they want Shah Rukh Khan in the lead and already have other producers aboard. They told Tijori that they will definitely do a film with him in the near future, but that never happened and he (Tijori) lost the part. Although Nihalani was ready to make the film with Tijori with another director, he also told him to go-ahead and film the adaptation of the film.

Casting

Several A-list Bollywood stars were approached for the lead role, but they turned it down, due to the character being a murderous antihero. Akshay Kumar was the first choice to play the leading role though he turned it down due to the negativity of the role. Arbaaz Khan also turned down the role for the same reason but would go on to play a full fledged villain in Abbas-Mastan's next film ''Daraar'' (1996). Salman Khan and Anil Kapoor also turned down the role due to its negativity. Shah Rukh Khan eventually convinced producer Ratan Jain and Ganesh Jain that only he could pull off the role; Jain liked his confidence, and cast him in the role. However, his casting was criticized by trade pundits who incorrectly predicted that "a boy with cute dimples" would never be accepted as an anti-hero.

Initially, Sridevi was supposed to play both the female roles (as twin sisters) as did Sean Young in the original film, but the director later realized that because to her massive popularity, the audience would not sympathize with the hero, if he killed the character played by Sridevi, hence they decided to cast two different actresses. Madhuri Dixit was then offered the role of Seema, but she rejected. Juhi Chawla was then approached for the same role, but she rejected it too.

Filming

The filming began December 1992 and lasted till June 1993. The director filmed two endings, the first where the police arrest Vicky Malhotra (Ajay Sharma) and the second, which eventually they kept in the film, where Ajay eliminates the villain.

Music

The music was composed by Anu Malik and won him the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. The song "Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein" earned singer Kumar Sanu his fourth consecutive Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer after '' Aashiqui'', '' Saajan'' and '' Deewana''. Sanu and Vinod Rathod supplied vocals for Khan as "Vicky" and Ajay, respectively. Other singers featured in the album are Asha Bhosle, Pankaj Udhas, Alka Yagnik, and Sonali Vajpai. The lyrics were written by Gauhar Kanpuri, Rani Mallik, Zafar Gorakhpuri, Zameer Kazmi, Nawab Arzoo & Dev Kohli. The soundtrack was released by Venus Music. Dr. Alban's song " It's My Life" is also featured in the film.

A soundtrack was also released in Marathi. The film's soundtrack album sold 10million units, making it the best-selling Bollywood soundtrack album of 1993. The soundtrack was ranked #67 on the list of "100 Greatest Bollywood Soundtracks of All Time", as compiled by ''Planet Bollywood''.

Track listing

Box office

''Baazigar'' emerged a major commercial success at the box-office, ranking as the fourth highest-grossing Hindi film of the year, behind another Shah Rukh Khan-starrer, '' Darr''. ''Baazigar''s collections in India were net and gross, equivalent to adjusted for inflation.

Accolades

Remakes

A Telugu remake, ''Vetagadu'', released in 1995, followed by a Tamil remake, '' Samrat'', which released in 1997 and a Kannada remake, '' Nagarahavu'', which released in 2002. The Bengali remake, ''Prem'' was released in 2007. ''Baazigar'' is a remake of the film ''A Kiss Before Dying'' (1956).

References

External links

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1990s Hindi-language films
1990s Indian films
1990s erotic thriller films
1990s pregnancy films
1990s psychological thriller films
1990s romantic thriller films
1993 crime thriller films
1993 films
Films about businesspeople
Films about identity theft
Films based on American novels
Films based on crime novels
Films based on thriller novels
Films based on works by Ira Levin
Films directed by Abbas–Mustan
Films scored by Anu Malik
Films set in 1993
Films set in Chennai
Films set in Mumbai
Films set in the 1990s
Films shot in Chennai
Films shot in Madh Fort
Films shot in Mumbai
Films with screenplays by Akash Khurana
Films with screenplays by Robin Bhatt
Hindi films remade in other languages
Hindi-language crime thriller films
Hindi-language romantic thriller films
Indian auto racing films
Indian business films
Indian crime thriller films
Indian erotic thriller films
Indian films about revenge
Indian neo-noir films
Indian pregnancy films
Indian psychological thriller films
Indian remakes of American films
Indian romantic thriller films
Indian serial killer films
Indian thriller films
Romantic crime films
Unofficial film adaptations
Films based on adaptations
Hindi remakes of English films