Aankhen (2002 film)

Aankhen
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Vipul Amrutlal Shah
Produced by Gaurang Doshi
Screenplay by Aatish Kapadia
Vipul Amrutlal Shah
Story by Aatish Kapadia
Vipul Amrutlal Shah
Starring Amitabh Bachchan
Akshay Kumar
Sushmita Sen
Arjun Rampal
Paresh Rawal
Aditya Pancholi
Music by Jatin Lalit
Aadesh Shrivastava
Nitin Raikwar
Cinematography Ashok Mehta
Edited by Shirish Kunder
Distributed by V R Films
Release date
  • 5 April 2002 (2002-04-05)
Running time
 165 minutes
Country India
Language Hindi
Box office ₹471.9 million (US$6.6 million)[1]

Aankhen (lit. Eyes) is a 2002 Indian heist thriller film directed by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Sushmita Sen, Arjun Rampal and Paresh Rawal in the lead roles. Aditya Pancholi is featured in an important supporting role. The film is an adaptation of Shah's own Gujarati play Andhalo Pato (Blindman's Buff).[2]

The film tells the story of Vijay Singh Rajput (Bachchan) a hard-working but temperamental man, who has spent all his life working for one bank and even achieving them International recognition. When Vijay loses his mind and goes on a violent rampage beating up another employee, he is subsequently fired. He decides to take vengeance by organising a full on heist, and having the same bank robbed by three blind men, as no one will suspect them.[3]

Aankhen had its worldwide premiere in Malaysia at the 3rd IIFA Awards ceremony on 5 April 2002.[4][5] Upon release Aankhen received acclaim from critics and cinema-goers alike, for its unusual storyline, well executed direction and acting, with Bachchan and Akshay Kumar drawing maximum accolades for their performances. The film was nominated in several award categories in 2002/03, although it didn't win any.[6]

Plot

Obsessive and temperamental bank manager Vijay Singh Rajput (Amitabh Bachchan) loses his job for badly beating up a bank clerk who tried to embezzle money. Angered at losing his job he plots revenge on the bank by intending to stage a heist. He employs three blind men – Vishwas (Akshay Kumar), a blind person who has the power of the sixth sense, Elias (Paresh Rawal) and Arjun (Arjun Rampal) — when, after passing by school for the blind, he understands that blind people can be trained to do things like sighted people. He blackmails and enlists the help of Neha (Sushmita Sen) who is a teacher at the school to train the trio to do the seemingly impossible heist. He chose blind people because they, as thieves, would never be suspected as no one would believe blind people can rob a bank.

The bank robbery is successful, with the jewels safely captured by the three. However, in the process of robbing the bank, Elias's face is exposed, captured in footage and prompting citywide posters with his face. Meanwhile, Mr. Rajput anxiously tries to extort information from Vishwas and Arjun regarding the jewels and their location. Unable to answer, as they did not collect the items, they try to defer the answer by changing subjects. Ultimately, it is revealed that Elias is the one with complete knowledge of the box's belongings. Meanwhile, tensions rise between Rajput and Neha; the latter resists the abusive nature of Rajput and his obnoxious harassing of Vishwas and Arjun. Arjun confesses his love to Neha, who reveals that she is associated in the plot only for the well-being of her younger brother, Rahul, who has been kidnapped by Rajput.

In a furious attempt, the police try to locate Elias. Elias lands up at Rajput's place after getting drunk. Rajput tries several ways to force Elias into revealing the location of the box. Unable to generate an answer, he slams Elias, who falls on the ground and injures his eyes, causing bleeding. Even in this scenario, Rajput tries to get the information, but Vishwas and Arjun resist and claim that they will reveal the location if Elias is treated by paramedics. Rajput send them to get Dr. Siddiqui. Vishwas senses that Elias is in danger and Arjun and Vishwas double back to the training center to save him. Rajput starts to harass Elias by tickling him to force him to reveal the answer. In the action, Elias falls of the balcony and dies. Unable to bear the shock of the death, Neha pulls a gun on Rajput and threatens to reveal everything to the police if he does not leave her and the other two alone. Rajput notifies Neha that all these acts were done under her training, and he is spotless. Unable to bear this fact, Neha shoots herself, just as Vishwas and Arjun return after hearing loud screams.

Both men gang up on Rajput and try to attack him. Once Rajput realises that the men are ignorant about the jewels, he starts shooting them. The police arrive, and confusion ensues. Vishwas and Arjun come out and claim that Rajput is abusing them while he claims that there is a big conspiracy involving the two men, Neha and Elias. Unable to believe that blind men can ransack a bank and amidst Rajput's impassioned defence, the police start getting suspicious. In the heat of defending himself, Rajput reveals that he had sent over Elias, thus confessing his crime.

In the end Rajput is locked away. Vishwas and Arjun decide to take care of Rahul and ultimately find the jewels – they were hidden in Elias' musical instrument.

Alternate ending

In an alternate ending for overseas viewers[7] Rajput bribes the cop (Aditya Pancholi) and is set free, in return to get him his share and gets his manager Bhandari (Ajit Vachani) arrested. Vishwas and Arjun are sitting in a train (waiting for it to depart) and Rajput is standing on the platform with a smile on his face. He then warns them that "A dangerous game is about to begin", after which Vishwas and Arjun both draw their guns, and the film ends.

Cast

Production

The film's working title was "All The Best" but was later changed for numerology reasons and to better suit Indian audiences.[8] Originally Raveena Tandon was cast for the role of Neha, but she was unexpectedly dropped and replaced by Sushmita Sen. Sen in turn made a lot of preparations for her role as a teacher to the blind. She visited schools for the blind and interacted with the students for a more-realistic feel to her role.Akshaye Khanna was the original choice for the role played by Arjun Rampal but things didn't work out after Akshaye Khanna rejected Saif Ali Khan was approached to play the role but he was busy with Kal Ho Naa Ho.[9]

Reception

Aankhen opened well at the Indian box office. The film made Rs 471.9 million net altogether and was declared a "Hit" at the end of its theatrical run thus making it the third highest grosser of 2002.[1] It was also the second-highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2002. The film was also a success in South Africa, opening to packed houses and grossing $14,600 on the weekend, despite a limited release.[10]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Aadesh Shrivastav and Jatin-Lalit. Lyrics were penned by Prasoon Joshi, Praveen Bharadwaj and Nitin Raikwar.[11]

Track listing

No.TitleArtist(s)ComposerLyricist(s)
1.Amitabh SolilogiAmitabh Bachchan, Sonu Nigam & Remo FernandesAadesh ShrivastavaAatish Kapadia conceived by Vipul Amrutlal Shah
2.GustakhiyanAadesh Shrivastava & Vasundhara DasAadesh ShrivastavaPrasoon Joshi
3.Kuchh KasmeSonu Nigam & Alka YagnikJatin-LalitPraveen Bhardwaj
4.Theme SongRemo FernandesJatin-LalitN/A
5.Phatela JebArun Bakshi, Aadesh Shrivastava & Nitin RaikwarAadesh Shrivastava, Jatin-Lalit and Nitin RaikwarNitin Raikwar
6.Chalka ChalkaAlka Yagnik & JavedJatin-LalitPraveen Bhardwaj
7.Nazron Ne TeriKavita Krishnamurthy & Udit NarayanJatin-LalitPraveen Bhardwaj
8.All The BestRemo FernandesJatin-LalitPraveen Bhardwaj
9.Title SongRemo Fernandes & Sonu NigamAadesh ShrivastavaPrasoon Joshi

Awards

Controversy

Aankhen broiled into controversy when producer Doshi did not give the director Shah any credit on the film's DVD. The fallout began between the two on the sets, after a number of creative differences, which led to allegations of plagiarism and counter-allegations. The DVD's front cover had Doshi's name on it and the back had the director's name as Vipul Doshi instead of Vipul Shah. Shah took legal action against Doshi, who refused to take responsibility for the director’s missing credit.[13]

Copycat crimes

Between 2004/05, two bank robberies occurred on Mira Road in Maharashtra by a man named Feroz Sheikh and several accomplices, who were said to have been inspired by the film. The robbers took several lakh rupees (100,000), and planned to use it to start a business. The culprits were eventually nabbed but not all the money was recovered.[14][15][16]

PC Game

A computer game based on film was created for promotional purposes in a tie in with IndiaFM and Hungama.com (Now collectively known as Bollywood Hungama). It was launched at the IIFA press conference on 14 March 2002.[17][18]

Sequel

The sequel was first announced in 2006 and has been in production since shortly after the release on Aankhen. The director Shah was dropped due to differences with producer Doshi, and directing duties will be taken over by Sachin.[19] Pre-production work has been wrapped up, but shooting is yet to begin as Bachchan has been unable to give dates due to his health declining.[20] However, on 19 March 2016 in an interview with Anees Bazmee about his film "No Entry Mein Entry", Anees stated that he is currently working on a script for "Aankhen 2".

References

  1. 1 2 "Box Office 2002". Boxofficeindia. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
  2. ↑ Suresh Nair (24 May 2002). "It's playtime in Bollywood!". Times of India. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
  3. ↑ Sukanya Verma (19 March 2002). "A Game with no Rules". Rediff.com. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
  4. ↑ "IIFA 2002 Malaysia". IIFA. Archived from the original on 28 May 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
  5. ↑ "Looking IIFA". Rediff.com. 28 March 2002. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
  6. ↑ "Aankhen 2002 Awards". IMDB. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
  7. ↑ Subhash K Jha (23 May 2003). "For Hollywood's eyes only". Rediff.com. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
  8. ↑ "From All the Best To Aankhen!". Times of India. 23 August 2001. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
  9. ↑ Vivek Fernandes (3 April 2002). "Movies: A guide to Aankhen". Rediff.com. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
  10. ↑ Andrew Worsdale (17 April 2002). "Amitabh Bachchan's Aankhen packs South African cinemas". Screen Daily. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  11. ↑ "Aankhen (2002) Soundtrack". DeSi-RaDiO. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
  12. 1 2 "Nominees- The 51st Filmfare Awards". Indiatimes. Archived from the original on 16 July 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
  13. ↑ Dharam Pal (29 December 2002). "The Aankhen row". The Tribune. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
  14. ↑ "Aankhen-style robbers' leader held". Mid Day. 20 January 2005. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  15. ↑ Nitasha Natu (20 January 2005). "Mastermind of 'Aankhen-style' robberies held". Times of India. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  16. ↑ "Children of a lesser god". Rediff.com. 8 February 2005. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  17. ↑ "Amitabh Bachchan launches the Aankhen game". Bollywood Hungama. 14 March 2002. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
  18. ↑ "Taking Indian films to the Highlands". Mid Day. 14 March 2002. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
  19. ↑ Nikhil Kumar (13 September 2006). "'Aankhen' sequel : Amitabh in, Akshay out!". Apunkachoice. Archived from the original on 22 April 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
  20. ↑ Priyanka Srivastava (13 March 2012). "No Aankhen sequel if ill Big B doesn't take projects". Dailymail. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
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