Aks (2001)

Raghavan Ghatge, a psychotic terrorist, and Manu Verma, the cop who tracks him down, shoot each other simultaneously, the result being that Raghavan's soul is transferred into Verma's body...

Director:

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

Writers:

Renzil D'Silva (story), Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (screenplay),

Stars:

Amitabh Bachchan, Raveena Tandon, Manoj Bajpayee

9 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Amitabh Bachchan	...	Insp. Manu Verma
Raveena Tandon	...	Neeta
Manoj Bajpayee	...	Raghavan Ghatge (as Manoj Bajpai)
Nandita Das	...	Supriya Verma
K.K. Raina	...	Mahadevan Ghatge
Kamal Chopra	...	ACP Pradhan
Tanvi Azmi	...	Madhu Pradhan
Vineeth Kumar	...	Narang
Pramod Moutho	...	Justice Balwant Chaudhry (as Pramod Muthu)
Salim Ghouse	...	Blind Guru
Veerendra Saxena	...	Hanif Kasai (as Virendra Saxena)
Vijay Raaz	...	Yeda Yakub
Vrajesh Hirjee	...	Raw Officer 1
Gajraj Rao	...	Raw Officer 2
Mithilesh Chaturvedi	...	PM's Aide

Storyline

Aks is the story of a hunter and his prey. A cop and a killer. Aks is the story of Manu Verma and Raghuvan. The story begins in the heart of Budapest. The Indian Defence minister is on a routine foreign visit. He reveals the true details of his diplomatic trip to his head of Security Manu Verma by informing him about the floppy which has valuable information that could affect the very destiny of the nation. On the other hand Intelligence sources have revealed to Manu Verma that a lone assassin long feared for his ruthlessness has been paid to eliminate the Defence minister. The shadowy figure is called Raguhvan, Manu Verma reaches the Indian Defence Minister just moments too late to save him and finds the statesman in a pool of blood Raguhvan has struck and vanished into thin air. Now the hunter becomes the hunted as Manu Verma tries to find Raghuvan. When he does find him something unexpected happens, which changes both Manu and Raguhvan forever.

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Plot Keywords:

ghost | reflection | mirror | film with ambiguous title | dark

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Taglines:

There is a stranger in your mirror

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Genres:

Thriller | Mystery

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Details

Official Sites:

Indiatimes

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

13 July 2001 (India)

Filming Locations:

Royal Castle, Budapest, Hungary

Box Office

Budget:

$2,200,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£46,312 (UK) (13 July 2001)

Gross:

£46,312 (UK) (13 July 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited (A.B.C.L.), Flicks Motion Pictures Co. Pvt. Ltd., Jhamu Sughand Productions

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

At the age of 58, Amitabh Bachchan jumped from a height of 30 feet, along with co-star Manoj Bajpayee, for the waterfall scene in this movie.

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Goofs

Yeda Yakub can be seen blinking in the sauna, after Raghavan kills him.

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Quotes

Mahadevan Ghatge: [confronting Manu] Brother?... your face... it's different...

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Connections

References Justice Chowdhary (1982)

User Reviews

Two thumbs Up! Waaaay Up! (written 7/21/01)

Wowsa!

Okay, okay. Those of you who know me know I'm prone to hyperbole. You all know that, too. But I *just* finished watching the movie AKS, which just came out this week, on DVD and felt compelled to sit down and write about it. I would venture to say that this is possibly his most challenging role and phenomenal performance of his career (and yes I've seen DEEWAR, AGNEEPATH, and AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY). Amitabh is both diabolical and heroic. Suave, yet disturbed. He's a badass but also scared at the loss of control; all in the same film.

In short, except for maybe comedy, he displayed the full range of his acting talent in this one.

In addition to Amitabh's performance, I was fearful that this movie would suffer from the Phantom Menace Effect (i.e. – big let down after enormous hype.) After all, I've been anxiously awaiting this movie for almost two months; especially after seeing it's preview site on the web two weeks ago. Yet despite the build up, this movie gripped me; right to the very end.

Probably because I've NEVER seen a Hindi movie like this before. I think this was Rakesh Mehra's debut film. And he threw out what your idea of a typical Hindi film is. Love songs through a field. *Dishum Dishum.* Hero and heroine walking off into the sunset after the bag guy goes to jail. This movie was as close to THAT as Dubya is to Humility

This movie was dark and ominous. It was sexy. It was supernatural. It was for the most part masterfully produced. Although there were a few technical special effects that were subpar (Bollywood still can't seem to get explosions right), the closest thing that I can compare this film to is FACE/OFF, crossed with a heavy dosage of the X-FILES and SEVEN and the original BATMAN with a sprinkle of MI:2 at the beginning. Heck, I think Nine Inch Nails should have done the soundtrack…

I don't think I'd seen a Manoj Bajpai film before but his role became increasingly compelling as the movie wore on. Raveena was absolutely stunning. I believe she blazed new trails as far as Hindi film actresses go by playing a provocative stripper who chooses her path not out of `majboori,' but because that's who she is.

This movie is definitely NOT for everyone. I'm not even sure this what the initial reaction is in India...especially for those that WANT lubby/dubby cookie cutter stories with happy endings. But if you want something COMPLETELY different, You guys GOTTA check this movie out!