Ajnabee (2001)

Directors:

Abbas Alibhai Burmawalla
Mastan Alibhai Burmawalla

Writers:

Robin Bhatt (screenplay)
Sanjeev Duggal (screenplay)

Release Date:

21 September 2001 (India)

Genre:

Thriller | Crime | Mystery

Tagline:

Never talk to a stranger.

Plot:

Bobby Deol and Kareena Kapoor play a new couple who get married and move to Switzerland. They make friends with their new neighbours Akshay Kumar and Bipasha Basu. Life seems perfect until one day when Bobby Deol wakes up in Akshay's house and finds out that Akshay's wife has been murdered. Bobby Deol is accussed of the murder but flees from the authorities in order to prove himself innocent.

Plot Keywords:

Remake | Remake Of American Film

Awards:

2 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Akshay Kumar	...	Vikram Bajaj ((Vicky)
Bobby Deol	...	Raj Malhotra
Kareena Kapoor	...	Priya Malhotra
Bipasha Basu	...	'Fake' Sonia / Neeta
Johnny Lever	...	Banu Pradhan (B.P.)
Amita Nangia	...	Champa Devi
Sheela Sharma	...	Vina Chandra Devi
Narendra Bedi	...	Lakhan Pal (L.P.)
Amrit Patel
Sharat Saxena	...	(special appearance)
Dalip Tahil	...	Priya's father
Mink Singh	...	Lady in Mauritius / "Real" Sonia
Jakob Tritten		(as J. Tritten)
John Peter
Alain Bedard

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Bahrain

Company:

Film Folks

Movie Connections:

Remake of Consenting Adults (1992)

Soundtrack:

Yeh Hi Mohabbat Hai

Average film, but great fun for someone who lives in Switzerland :)

Of all the Bollywood-films I've seen, "Ajnabi" is one of the mediocre ones. The songs didn't work for me, the tension was flat and the actors were average. Bipashu Basu made a gorgeous debut, but that's about it. Oh and the comic relief was bad. Really.

But, as many Bollywood films do, this one has some scenes in Switzerland. Actually about 50% of the movie takes place somewhere in the country. I don't want to blame the film because many movies treat geography rather loose, but "Ajnabi" is a hoot on that level. I'll start with the policemen. They swap languages in every scene - from English to German to French. Trust me, I know that Switzerland has a French part, but then the Police-cars should be labeled "Police" not "Polizei" - the film does it vice versa: In Luzern (German speaking part. With many *bad* extras!), no police car would be labeled "Police".

The funniest stuff is in the court room sequence. This doesn't look like a Swiss court room at all, but I didn't mind. Then, Raj jumps out of the window and runs. He runs through streets with many Asian looking people. Tourists perhaps? Well, even some Chinese signs. And what's that? A subway? There aren't any subways in Switzerland! Wow! It's Singapore! He ran around the world in a couple of seconds, hunted by Swiss policemen. Well, what shall I say ... I had great fun with stuff like this.

But the film itself is mediocre, so I give it a

5/10