Baadshah (1999)

K. Jhunjhunwala would like to locate his missing/runaway daughter, Seema Malhotra, so that he can get her married to Nitin Dharampal; Prominent businessman, Mahindra, would like to ... See full summary »

Directors:

Abbas Alibhai Burmawalla, Mastan Alibhai Burmawalla

Writers:

Shyam Goel (screenplay), Neeraj Vora

Stars:

Rakhee Gulzar, Shah Rukh Khan, Twinkle Khanna

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rakhee Gulzar	...	Chief Minister Gayetri Bachchan
Shah Rukh Khan	...	Raj 'Baadshah'
Twinkle Khanna	...	Seema Malhotra
Amrish Puri	...	Suraj Singh Thaper
Johnny Lever	...	Ram Lal
Prem Chopra	...	CBI Chief
Shashikala	...	Baadshah's Mother
Deepak Tijori	...	CBI Agent Deepak Malhotra
Sharat Saxena	...	Moti
Sachin Khedekar	...	Tyagraj Bachchan
Pankaj Dheer	...	Chief Security Officer Khanna
Deepshika	...	Rani
Saurabh Shukla	...	Saxena
Avtar Gill	...	K. Jhunjhunwala
Razak Khan	...	Manikchand (as Razzak Khan)

Storyline

K. Jhunjhunwala would like to locate his missing/runaway daughter, Seema Malhotra, so that he can get her married to Nitin Dharampal; Prominent businessman, Mahindra, would like to negotiate with his daughter, Sonu's kidnappers, and secure her release. And the Central Bureau of Investigation would like to protect the life of Chief Minister Gayetri Bachchan under the mission code-named "Maa", and the CBI Officer in Charge to be code-named "Baadshah". Now Baadshah happens to be a bumbling and out of work Private Investigator, who has agreed to assist Jhunjhunwala and Mahindra, and while doing so is mistaken for the CBI Agent, ends up working for the assassins, and must assassinate Gayetri or end up losing his team of four fellow-bumblers, and Mahindra's daughter. What results is hilarious chaos, with no one knowing what the other is doing, and each one being each other's suspect(s). To make matters worse Jhunjhunwala is not really Seema's dad, but someone else with an ulterior motive.

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Plot Keywords:

politician | mistaken identity | conspiracy | airport | exploding car | 

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Taglines:

World's most favorite detective

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Musical

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Details

Official Sites:

United7. Shockwave only Venus Movies - Official Site

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

27 August 1999 (India)

Filming Locations:

Film City, Goregaon, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£97,236 (UK) (27 August 1999)

Gross:

£217,418 (UK) (3 September 1999)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Venus Records & Tapes

Technical Specs

Runtime:

175 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

During the filming of "Hum to Deewane Huye," while Twinkle Khanna was dancing in the rain in a sari, she tripped and fell down and was drenched in mud.

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Goofs

Twinkle Khanna who has short hair suddenly has shoulder touching hair in the climax.

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Quotes

Raj: The amalgamation before the fluctuation and ramification of the constitutional ambiguity and the judicial paradoxical position can be a verbal turmoil.
Casino manager: He's right!

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Connections

References Teen Agent (1991)

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Soundtracks

"Main To Hoon Pagal"
Written by Sameer
Composed by Anu Malik
Performed by Abhijeet and Shah Rukh Khan (as Shahrukh Khan)
Courtesy of Venus Records and Tapes Ltd.

User Reviews

Just gotta love it

Only a complete curmudgeon could dislike this film. It's a brilliant slapstick parody of the spy/private eye genres with the Baadshah of Bollywood himself, Shahrukh Khan, hamming it up gloriously as a slightly dim-witted private detective who is innocently drawn into a conspiracy to assassinate the prime minister of India. The hilariously complex plot of mistaken identities and spy/counter spy is so twisted it took me several viewings to actually make it all out. (The fact that I was having to read subtitles didn't help) Surprisingly, the story holds together much better than it seemed to at first.

Bollywood is notorious for stealing from Hollywood, and Baadshah is no exception. (For all you other non-Hindi speakers, "Baadshah" means King, like the one in a deck of cards) The opening dance number, Main Te Hoon Pagal, is clearly inspired by the "Cuban Pete" song from "The Mask", and later on whole scenes are copied nearly frame for frame from a couple of Jackie Chan movies: Mr. Nice Guy and Rush Hour. The results are just great good fun.

The high point has to be the campy, outrageous "Baadshah, O Baadshah" nightclub number with Khan strutting his stuff amid a huge chorus of dancers in a whirl of silver lame and pyrotechnics. For a guy who claims to be a very bad dancer, he has an easy grace and agility that makes him a joy to watch.

Khan's performance in Baadshah is perfect. The comedy is fantastic, and there isn't a dull moment. The supporting cast, including Twinkle Khanna, Johnny Lever (if you can stand him), and the ever-essential villain, Amrish Puri, are wonderful. Like most Hindi films, there's a mish-mash of everything you can imagine: drama, slapstick comedy, teary-eyed pathos (gotta see the Khan cry at least once in every film), romance (gotta see the hero dance around trees at least once in every film) high-tech James Bond gadgets, hilariously bad special effects; Baadshah has it all!