Baabul (2006 film)

Balraj Kapoor (Amitabh Bachchan) is a rich businessman, happy and content with his world. He and his wife Shobhna (Hema Malini) live happily together and they wait for their only son Avinash a.k.a. 'Avi' (Salman Khan) to return from his studies in the United States. After an absence of 7 years, Avinash comes back to India. He reunites with his parents at the airport and races home. Back home, Avi joins his father's business.

One day they decide to go golfing and Balraj accidentally hits the ball which ruins a painting. The young woman painting the picture, Malvika a.k.a. 'Millie' (Rani Mukerji) gets furious with Balraj and leaves. Later on, Avi runs into Millie on the golf course, and they start to talk. Millie tells him that a stupid old man ruined her painting and points out that it was Balraj, but she doesn't know that the 'old man' is Avi's father and he doesn't tell her. They start to hang out together while slowly falling in love with each other.

When Millie comes home, she is visited by her childhood friend Rajat (John Abraham). She tells him that she loves someone, which devastates him because he is also in love with her. One day, Millie goes to Avi's office to drop off a painting and finds out that Balraj is Avi's father. When Avi shows up, she leaves the office crying. He chases after her and says that the only reason he lied to her was that he loves her. She doesn't accept his apology right then, but when Balraj apologizes to her for ruining her painting, she forgives them both.

Avi asks Millie to get dressed up for a party at his house. When she arrives, there is no one except Avi. He proposes to her and she accepts. The whole family visits Millie's house to discuss marriage and everyone agrees, except Rajat. He tells Avi that he will let Avi marry Millie if only he promises to always keep her happy and never let her get sad. Avi and Millie get married and soon they are expecting a child. Millie's birth-pains begin while she is in yoga class. Avi rushes her to the hospital where they are blessed with a healthy baby boy. They name the child Ansh.

Ansh grows up to be a sweet and intelligent boy. The family throws a birthday bash for him on his birthday. They wait for Avi to get back home from work, but he never turns up. He meets with a road accident and dies; Millie is devastated.

Balraj seeks to bring happiness back into his widowed daughter-in-law's life. He gets into contact with Rajat. He learns that Rajat still loves Millie. Balraj asks Rajat to marry Millie. However, there is stiff opposition from Shobhna (Avi's mother) and Balraj's conservative older brother Balwant (Om Puri). Shobhna fears to lose her grandson Ansh, while Balwant takes the traditional Indian view that a widow with a child should devote herself to raising her child and think of nothing else and that a woman marrying twice is committing a mortal sin. However, Balraj stands firm and convinces everyone. In the end, Rajat and Millie get married, and everything is well. Avinash comes in as a spirit and blesses his dad with happiness.

• Amitabh Bachchan as Balraj Kapoor (Younger brother to Balwant) / Buddy
• Salman Khan as Avinash Kapoor (Avi) / Buddy
• John Abraham as Rajat Verma
• Rani Mukherjee as Malvika Avinash Kapoor/ Malvika Rajat Verma nee Talwar (Avinash's wife (widow) Rajat's wife) (Millie)
• Hema Malini as Shobhna Kapoor as Memuna Reborn (Balraj's wife)
• Om Puri as Balwant Kapoor (Elder Brother of Balraj)
• Sarika as Pushpa (Widowed sister-in-law of Balwant and Balraj)
• Aman Verma as Shobhna's brother
• Parmeet Sethi as Balwant's son
• Sharat Saxena as Malvika's father
• Smita Jaykar as Malvika's mother
• Rajpal Yadav as Servant
• Shriya Saran in a cameo appearance
• Vaishnavi Mahant

It took a long time to finalize some roles. Before principal photography started, Chopra originally selected Ameesha Patel to play the role of Millie. Although she liked the script and initially agreed to do the role, she couldn't fulfill it due to her other commitments. Subsequently, Chopra cast Priyanka Chopra to play that role. However, the latter walked out of the film, because she wanted to avoid confusion with her own full name and the director's full name. After that, he chose Aishwarya Rai, Kajol, Preity Zinta, Shilpa Shetty, and Kareena Kapoor in that order to fulfill that role. However, they all rejected it due to date issues. Eventually, Chopra finalized Rani Mukerji to play that role. Chopra signed Amrish Puri to play the role, but due to his sudden death, his brother Om Puri replaced him. Originally, Shah Rukh Khan was intended to play the role of Rajat Verma, but due to his other commitments, he walked out of the film. Sanjay Dutt was next to do that role, but he was unable to proceed with it because he was working on Lage Raho Munna Bhai. After that, he considered Abhishek Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Ajay Devgan, Vivek Oberoi, Fardeen Khan, Anil Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna, and Arjun Rampal in that order to play that role. Unfortunately, none of them were available, so he eventually finalized John Abraham to do that role.

The music is composed by Aadesh Shrivastava. The soundtrack has 11 songs. The soundtrack was one of the most successful soundtracks of 2006. The song “Come On Come On” will be recreated by Tanishk Bagchi in Salman Khan’s upcoming movie Radhe.

Nominated

• 2007: Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award - John Abraham

• Babul

• Baabul on IMDb