Scoundrel (2009)

The desperate lives of two estranged twin brothers converge over missing drugs, politics, racial prejudice, corrupt cops and an unplanned pregnancy.

Director:

Vishal Bhardwaj

Writers:

Cajetan Boy (based on an idea by), Supratik Sen (screenplay)

Stars:

Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Deb Mukherjee

9 wins & 29 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shahid Kapoor	...	Guddu / Charlie (as Shahid Kapur)
Priyanka Chopra	...	Sweety
Deb Mukherjee	...	Mujib
Shivkumar Subramaniam	...	Lobo (as Shiv Subrahmanyam)
Chandan Roy Sanyal	...	Mikhail (as Chandan Roysanyal)
Tenzing Nima	...	Tashi
Hrishikesh Joshi	...	Lele
Rajatabha Dutta	...	Shumon (as Rajatva Dutta)
Harish Khanna	...	Afghani
Carlos Paca	...	Cajetan
Eric Santos	...	Ragos
Amole Gupte	...	Bhope
Sagar	...	Young Guddu
Samrat	...	Young Charlie
Vijay Raj	...	Kishen

Storyline

Guddu and Charlie are identical twins born and raised in the slums of Mumbai. They dream of leaving the squalor behind and moving into a life of prosperity and dignity. Though they look alike, the two are as different as chalk and cheese: one lisps while the other stammers; one is an honest, diligent social worker while the other hedges bets at a racecourse. The brothers want nothing to do with each other, but when Charlie gets mixed up in a deadly get-rich-quick scheme and Guddu realizes that the love of his life has unwittingly put a price on his head, their lives begin to collide. Faced with rogue politicians, drug dealers and crooked cops, they uncover a sinister plot laid out by the 'political-police-underworld' nexus. Their stories finally converge to a point when they realize they only have each other.

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Plot Keywords:

cell phone | twin | cop | identical twins | crooked cop | 

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Taglines:

Difcover your mean fide

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Trademark: The song in the first trailer is sung by either Vishal Dadlani or Sukhvinder Singh.

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Goofs

In the opening shot, Charlie is shown to be standing amidst railway tracks, beside whom a fast long-distance train passes. The area is said to be Cotton Green, Mumbai, through a text below. However, unlike shown in the movie, the area around Cotton Green does not have so many railway lines but, only two. Besides, no long distance trains pass through Cotton Green.

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Quotes

Bhope Bhau: Is this your culture, to lure innocent girls and screw them? When did you arrive here?
Guddu: Here in Bombay?
Bhope Bhau: [correcting] Mumbai.
Guddu: I was born here, but Father arrived in B... Bombay in 1984.
Bhope Bhau: [again correcting] Mumbai.
Guddu: It was called Bombay back then.
Ganesh: You bastard! It was Mumbai then and it is Mumbai now!
Bhope Bhau: You bloody migrants are chewing the city hollow like termites. The city is bursting at its seams and you people swarm like flies to rob our share of the pie.
Guddu: My father used to say that we are like sugar added to ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The song "Pehli Baar mohabbat ki" pictured on Shahid Kapur and Priyanka Chopra is shown alongside the credits.

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Connections

Referenced in Gang of Ghosts (2014)

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Soundtracks

Go Charlie Go - Theme Piece
Composed by Vishal Bhardwaj
Courtesy of Super Cassettes Industries Limited (T-Series)

User Reviews

Yeah Baby!!!

Vishal Bharadwaj has done it again. After tense stories of Maqbool & Omkaara, he takes a deliberate take away from Shakespeare and delivers instead an awesome dark and twisted tale of two brothers each with his own share of mess to take care of, not to mention their speech impediments that provide some great sounding dialog to the audience and depth to the characters.

The film does not try to emulate one as the good brother and the other gone wrong. That's not what the director wants to show.

One brother knocks up a Don's sister unknowingly (the buildup to this is awesome) and the other one chances upon a guitar full of cocaine.As the plot thickens, both the brothers must gets their hands on the same cocaine to save their lives. Then, the director takes on a joyride through the shanty towns of Mumbai.

The film has strong overtones of the current issues in Mumbai politics and a leading lady in Priyanka Chopra, who is very much representative of present day Indian girl. She is no arm candy, she has a pivotal role and takes the film to its climax. A climax that drags on with one little twist after another, but it is't boring. by the end of it, you would want another.

The music is very good and does not interfere with the pace of the film. Gulzar has again delivered deep meaning lyrics that are more in sync with the film's theme than with classic poetry.

There are a lot of characters to take care of in the film and it's easy to lose to track, but none is less important than the other. Each one has a defined part and is intertwined in the destinies of Guddu & Charlie. It does remind you of Guy Ritchie films like Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels etc but it is in no way an imitation of such works. It is a complete masterwork in its own right.

With Jab We Met, Shahid Kapur showed that he can carry a film on his own, Kaminey shows that that two of him are better than one. He plays both his parts with such panache that its hard to see that its the same actor. This could well be the point when he lands more serious roles and less of the boy next door.

The film is dark with everybody fighting for survival but the presentation is such that you do feel for the people in it but can't help but sadistically laugh at them. that is what Bhardwaj has been able to achieve with Kaminey which very few directors in India can manage to.

Definitely one of the best works of contemporary Indian cinema.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi Marathi Bengali English Portuguese

Release Date:

14 August 2009 (India)

Also Known As:

Scoundrel

Filming Locations:

Casa Colvale, Goa, India

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$726,834, 16 August 2009

Gross USA:

$1,291,827

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$9,610,033

Company Credits

Production Co:

UTV Motion Pictures, Vishal Bhardwaj Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1