''Banjo'' is a 2016

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n Hindi-language

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

, directed by

Ravi Jadhav Ravindra Jadhav (born 22 September 1971) known professionally as Ravi Jadhav is an Indian film director, actor, screenwriter and producer. He made his directorial debut with the Marathi musical drama ''Natarang'' in 2010. Ravi studied in Sir J.J ...

and produced by Krishika Lulla under the banner of

Eros International Eros International Media Ltd. (also known as Eros India) is an Indian motion picture production and distribution company, based and originated in Mumbai, India. Founded by Arjan Lulla in 1977, it is one of the leading production and distribu ...

. Principal photography began at the end of January 2016 and the film was released on 23 September 2016.

Riteish Deshmukh Riteish Deshmukh (born 17 December 1978) is an Indian actor, filmmaker and television presenter who predominantly works in Hindi cinema, Hindi and Marathi cinema, Marathi films. Known for his comic portrayals, Deshmukh is a recipient of several ...

and

Nargis Fakhri Nargis Fakhri is an American actress who primarily works in Hindi-language films of India. After working as a model in America, Fakhri came to prominence in India with the 2011 romantic drama film ''Rockstar (2011 film), Rockstar''. She subseque ...

starred in the film. The film received mixed reviews upon its release and was declared a flop at the

box office A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicket. ...

Plot

Mickey (Luke Kenny) is an American, temporarily based in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

, who is in search of an instrumentalist capable of playing the (Indian) banjo. While trying to contact his music festival aspirant friend Christina (

), he comes across a local concert organised by a band of poor friends: five of them, led by Taraat (

), who, unknown to Mickey, is the right match for him and Christina to show up at the festival. Christina, upon arrival in Mumbai, is forced to seek out odd jobs and portray Mumbai as dirty, but when, through a local MLA, she meets Taraat, who falls in love with her at first sight, she begins recognising the city as a good place. Taraat is at loggerheads with the leader of an underpaid rival band, who frames him wrongly for the assassination of the MLA who had introduced Taraat to Christina. By that time, in a twist of fate, Christina, while trying to chase the sounds of a banjo being perfectly played, discovers it is Taraat, and convinces him. Following the assassination, Taraat is disowned by his friends, who accuse him of committing a crime, under what is obviously a false impression. However, when the rival band's lead musician admits his mistake, the friends get back together. Finally, they are given a chance by popular music baron Shamin Nair (

Mohan Kapoor Mohan Kapur is an Indian actor and television host who works predominantly in Hindi films and television. Career Kapur is known as the host of the first Indian original program produced by a satellite network (Zee TV), ''Saanp Seedi'' (Snakes ...

). However, shortly after Christina returns to the States, Nair humiliates Taraat, who threatens Nair and dares him to steal the show. When the band makes an entry, Nair is convinced of the band's power as it plays a sway-away song based around Lord Ganesha. Finally, after Mickey sends a recording of the song to Christina, Taraat is contacted by her to come to the US to attend the festival.

Cast

as Nandkishore/Taraat *

as Christina/Chris *

Dharmesh Yelande Dharmesh Yelande (born 31 October 1983) also known as D-sir, is an Indian dancer, choreographer, and television personality. Career Yelande participated in '' Dance India Dance'' (2009–2010), '' Dance India Dance Li'l Masters'' (2010) and ' ...

as Grease * Aditya Kumar as Paper * Ram Menon as Vajya * Mahesh Shetty as Pakkaya *

Luke Kenny Luke Kenny is an Indian actor, film director, producer, music director, composer, and former VJ. He began his career as a DJ, followed by a successful stint as the first male VJ on Channel V. He gained widespread recognition for his role in t ...

as Mickey a.k.a. Mic *

as music baron Shamin Nair * Anand Ingale

Reception

Critical response

''Banjo'' received mixed reviews from critics.

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

rated the film 3.5/5, writing that "If you are familiar with Mumbai's working-class neighbourhoods, where the hearts of the poor are bigger than the pay packages of those residing in the mushrooming high-rises, you'll be able to notice the beauty of Banjo. It also makes you respect the street musicians a little more."

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...

rated the film 3/5, stating that "there's a lot to like in Riteish Deshmukh film." Koimoi.com rated the film 2/5, writing that "Banjo is easily passable. Why would you waste your money to watch Nargis’ acting and Riteish juggling between his Lai Bhaari an '' Rockstar'' character.

Rediff.com Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...

rated the film 2/5, writing that it has "nothing much to beat about."

NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. It was founded in 1984 by economist Prannoy Roy and journalist Radhika Roy. NDTV began as a production house for news segments, ...

rated the film 1.5/5, writing that "Riteish Deshmukh's film is a pale shadow of ''

Rock On!! ''Rock On!!'' is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language musical drama film written and directed by Abhishek Kapoor, produced by Farhan Akhtar, and with music by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy. The film marks the Bollywood debut of Akhtar and Prachi Desai. A ...

''."

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

rated the film 0.5/5, writing that "Riteish Deshmukh, Nargis Fakhri film has no redeeming features."

Box Office

India

The film's first weekend produced a net collection of 5.92 crore. In the next four days, the film collected 2.03 crore, which took its first week collection to a total of 7.95 crore. The film's net collection from India is 8.80 crore while its grossing in India is .

Overseas

The film collected from

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

(USA & Canada), from Australia and from New Zealand. The film's worldwide lifetime grossing is .

Soundtrack

The background score for the film was composed by Sourav Roy. The soundtrack album of ''Banjo'' consists of seven songs composed by Vishal–Shekhar with lyrics written by

Amitabh Bhattacharya Amitabh Bhattacharya (born 16 November 1976) is an Indian Bengali lyricist and playback singer who works in Bollywood films. At the beginning of his career back in 2000's, he was working for few musicians as a singer & met Pritam, who gave him ...

. The

music rights Music licensing is the licensed use of copyrighted music. Music licensing is intended to ensure that the owners of copyrights on musical works are compensated for certain uses of their work. A purchaser has limited rights to use the work without a ...

are acquired by

Eros Music Eros Now Music is an Indian music studio and distributor based in Mumbai, India. It is the dependent and domestic music label of Eros International Eros International Media Ltd. (also known as Eros India) is an Indian motion picture pro ...

. The first song of the film "Bappa" was released on 18 August 2016. The Song "Bappa" and "Om Ganapataye Namah Deva" become most popular songs in Ganesh Utsav in 2016. The full music album was released on 23 August 2016.Even today, this film is remembered on the performance of Ritesh Deshmukh.

References

External links

* * {{BH movie, banjo 2010s Hindi-language films 2010s Indian films 2016 films 2016 action drama films 2010s musical drama films Films shot in Mumbai Indian action drama films Indian musical drama films Films shot in New York (state) Films about musical groups Films directed by Ravi Jadhav 2016 musical films