''Ek Ajnabee – A Man Apart'' () is a 2005 Indian

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

-language action-thriller film directed by Apoorva Lakhia. The film stars

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema. He is often considered one of the greatest, most accomplished and commercially successful actors in the history of Indian cinema.* * * * * With a cinemati ...

, Arjun Rampal and Perizaad Zorabian. It is a remake of

Tony Scott Anthony David Leighton Scott (21 June 1944 – 19 August 2012) was a British film director and producer. He made his theatrical film debut with ''The Hunger (1983 film), The Hunger'' (1983) and went on to direct highly successful action and t ...

's '' Man on Fire'', a film based on a novel of the same name, which was also adapted into another film in 1987. ''Ek Ajnabee'' was released theatrically on 9 December 2005.

Plot

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Suryaveer "Surya" Singh is a bitter man and ex-Army officer, hired by his friend and former comrade Captain Shekhar Verma to protect a little girl, Anamika R. Rathore, who resides in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

with her Non-resident Indian (NRI) family. He is an alcoholic and is not interested in befriending the girl. Eventually, she wins his heart, and he helps her to prepare for a swim meet. One day Anamika gets kidnapped, and Surya receives serious injuries in his attempt to prevent the kidnapping. Her father is not able to pay the sum to release his daughter. So Suryaveer uses all his skills to save the life of the child, only to find out about the conspiracy that is behind the little girl's kidnapping. Surya learns that Chang, Shekhar's lawyer, is behind some of this. The real mastermind behind this is Chang's brother. Surya holds Chang hostage, while Chang's brother holds Anamika hostage. When they come to exchange the people, Chang's brother then reveals a great secret to Surya. Surya learns that Shekhar was behind the kidnappings. Shekhar tells Surya that he all he cares about is money, and only wanted him to do the dirty work of eliminating all his enemies and that's why he got him involved in Bangkok, and despite Shekhar trying to send him away once the job was done, Surya chose his fate to die now at Shekhar's hands, by choosing to return to help Anamika. Surya kills Chang's brother's men. A fight between Shekhar and Surya ensues and Shekhar is killed, and Surya spends the rest of his life with Anamika and her mother. In the end, it is shown that Anamika has a new bodyguard, with Surya as her mentor 15 years later.

Cast

as Col. Suryaveer "Surya" Singh * Arjun Rampal as Captain Shekhar Verma * Baby Rucha Vaidya as Anamika R. Rathore * Perizaad Zorabian as Nikasha R. Rathore * Vikram Chatwal as Ravi Rathore * Daya Shankar Pandey as Kripa "Krispi" Shankar * Akhilendra Mishra as ACP Harvinder "Harry" Singh * Aditya Lakhia as Sammy * Denzil Smith as Lee Kap * Rajendranath "Raj" Zutshi as Wong *

Kelly Dorjee Kalden Sonam Dorji (born 4 January 1971), known professionally as Kelly Dorji, is a Bhutanese actor, model, and artist who works primarily in Cinema of India, Indian movies. Early life Dorji's father is Lynpo Paljor Dorji, widely known as Dasho ...

Police Officer Inspector Kelly * Abhishek Bachchan as Bodyguard (special appearance) *

Lara Dutta Lara Dutta Bhupathi ( Dutta; born 16 April 1978) is an Indian actress. She won the Miss Universe 2000, and has since predominantly worked in Hindi films and series. Dutta is a recipient of a Filmfare Awards, Filmfare Award and established hers ...

as Adult Anamika * Sanjay Dutt as Hip-Hop MC in the song "They Don't Know" (special appearance)

Production

Apoorva Lakhia said that the script was written with the lead actor,

, in mind." Lakhia explained that "'' Man on Fire'' has been made into four films in five different languages. So this is the Indian version. It has all the necessary ingredients required for a movie to come out of India." Vikram Chatwal, who plays Ravi Rathore in the film, said, "People talk a lot about cross cultural films. These films don't necessarily have to be like '' Monsoon Wedding'' or '' Bend It Like Beckham''. This is not another Hindi film. This is not a remake of '' Man on Fire''. If you see the way it is shot, edited and directed, it is setting new standards. Mr Bachchan is reinventing himself. So please don't turn this film into another Bollywood film." The film was shot on location in

, for 35 days. Lakhia said that he and Bunty Walia, a producer, chose Bangkok because "we wanted our characters to stand out. When they are walking on the street, they will look different. Both my heroes are over six feet, and Thai men are not as tall. So it was really important to be in a place where they could stand out."

Soundtrack

The film's music was composed by Vishal–Shekhar and Amar Mohile, with lyrics written by Sameer, Vishal Dadlani, Jaideep Sahni, and Lalit Tiwari.

Review

Vipin Vijayan of Rediff.com said, "The film's music is funky and may soon rock discotheques."

Track listing

Reception

Critical response

Manish Gajjar of BBC Shropshire wrote, "Overall, this thriller is a must-see if you are an Amitabh fan." Vipin Vijayan of '' Rediff.com'' said that the film "reinvents Vijay Dinanath Chauhan (Bachchan's very popular character in ''Agneepath'')," and that the film has "a racy first" act but that it "loses steam in the second half." Bunty Walia, the producer, said that there had been accusations that the film had been plagiarised. He said "To our credit, Apoorva Lakhia">/nowiki> Apoorva Lakhia/nowiki> and I never hid the fact that Ek Ajnabee was adapted from ''Man on Fire''. Quite unlike some others who borrow blindly and presume others are blind to their intentions." In 2006 the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...

stated an interest in acquiring a copy of the ''Ek Ajnabee'' screenplay for its collection. Walia said that this was an "honour" after the plagiarism accusations. Subhash K. Jha of the ''

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 ...

'' said, "Isn't it ironical that the Americans want a copy of a script, which is straightaway inspired by the Hollywood film ''Man on Fire''?"

Box office

In the United Kingdom, the film was screened in 20 cinemas during its opening weekend, making £35,058, with an average of £1,757 per showing. Manish Gajjar of BBC Shropshire said, "It has not done so well in the UK cinemas."

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ajnabee, Ek 2000s Hindi-language films 2000s Indian films 2000s vigilante films 2005 action drama films 2005 action thriller films 2005 films Fiction about Indian diaspora Films about alcoholism Films about bodyguards Films about child abduction Films about families Films about kidnapping in Thailand Films about lawyers Films about murderers Films about veterans Films based on British novels Films based on crime novels Films directed by Apoorva Lakhia Films scored by Amar Mohile Films scored by Vishal–Shekhar Films set in 2005 Films set in Bangkok Films set in Thailand Films shot in Bangkok Films shot in Mumbai Films shot in Thailand Hindi remakes of English films Indian Army in films Indian action drama films Indian action thriller films Indian films about revenge Indian remakes of American films Indian thriller films Indian vigilante films Films based on adaptations