Dilwale (2015 film)

Present day: One day in Goa, a boy named Veer Bakshi (Varun Dhawan) works as a car modifier with his elder brother Raj Bashi (Shah Rukh Khan). He meets a passer-by Ishita (Kriti Sanon), a beautiful and educated young girl and befriends her by helping her, damaging the car of his customer in the process. For penance, Raj makes him fix it during which Veer sleeps and awakes to find that the car's music system has been stolen.

The men of a local gang leader, King (Boman Irani), try to sell drugs at a crab shack. Veer beats them up after they threaten Ishita. They then come back later to exact revenge on Veer, but Raj breaks up the fight. Raj visits him in hospital and learns King's hideout. He goes there, incapacitates the gang members, and burns their drug stash. Raj, his face shrouded by a hood, tells King's men his original name, Kaali. The next day, King suspecting Raj as Kaali as he is Veer’s older brother, stops by Raj's shop to present to assess if Raj is Kaali. Raj appears humble and unthreatening, which leads to King thinking that Raj cannot be the tough Kaali. King makes a deal where Raj will fix all of King's cars in exchange for King’s protection.

Bulgaria, 2000: Raj accidentally runs over a woman named Meera Dev Malik (Kajol) while in a car chase. When he gets out to help her, the rival gang catches up with him, and he has to leave. After the car crash, Raj reveals that he and Veer are the sons of a businessman (don), Randhir Bakshi (Vinod Khanna). After the date with Meera, Raj has to leave the next day, to deliver a shipment for his father. Meera asks to come as it’s her birthday and she wants Raj( Kaali) to spend her birthday with her, but he says it’s too dangerous.

Raj and his team are driving on a roadway when a series of vehicles come out of nowhere. Gun and car fights occur leading to all of Raj’s(Kaali’s) vehicles scattering on the roadway and Raj’s (Kaali’s)car flipping upside down. Out of one of the vehicles a female foot is shown stepping out, who turns out to be Meera. She walks over to Raj(Kaali) with a gun in hand, leans down and tells him she is actually the daughter of the rival gang's leader, Dev Malik (Kabir Bedi). Meera reveals that she betrayed Raj on Malik's advice though she is sparing his life, as it’s her birthday.

When they follow each other in their cars, Raj saves Meera from dying promising to kill if he sees her again. She declares her love for him and he forgives her. They make plans to tell their parents about their relationship.

Present day: The film flashes back to Goa, where Veer discovers that his friend, Siddharth Segal aka Sidhu (Varun Sharma), drugged his coffee with sleeping pills and stole the sound system amongst other parts. Veer is upset, but Sidhu explains it is for his girlfriend, Jenny (Chetna Pande). Both agree to help each other secure girlfriends. As a consequence, Veer reveals his feelings to Ishita. Upon finding out about their relationship, Raj wants to meet Ishita's family. When Raj goes there, he discovers that Ishita is Malik's younger daughter and Meera's younger sister.

Bulgaria, 2000: After talks, Malik agrees to meet Randhir, but secretly, Malik plans to kill Randhir. The meeting breaks into a shootout, during which Malik and Randhir shoot each other. Meera finds Raj with the gun, for which she shoots him; however, he survives the gunshot. Meera decides to move far away from Bulgaria and start a new life. Raj must forget as well and moves to start a new life.

Present day: Now in Goa, Veer and Ishita try to figure out why their older siblings dislike each other.

They are told a wildly inaccurate story by Raj’s lieutenants as they scramble to make up a story, taking inspiration from flashes of shows they see on the restaurant TV as a customer flips channels. After this, they come up with several plots to bring Meera and Raj together. Mani (Johnny Lever) steals King's car and brings it to the shop, where Veer discovers drugs in the back and burns them. King sees them burning something and asks to fix his white car, as he grows increasingly suspicious based on the drunk rantings of Mani. King's men come to Meera's house one night, but Raj shows up as Kaali and stops them from causing her any harm. Later in front of the church, King asks Meera about Kaali which she refuses sparing Raj's life. Meera issues an ultimatum that in order to marry Ishita, Veer must move in with Meera, leaving his brother in the process. As an angered Veer proceeds to storm out, it is revealed to him by Meera that Raj was actually Randhir's adopted son and is not Veer's older brother. After a confrontation where Raj reveals that he indeed is not Veer’s actual brother, Raj goes and tells Meera the truth, telling him that he didn’t kill her father. Raghav (Nawab Shah), Malik's right hand, confirms when talking to Meera that Raj indeed did not kill Malik, but that Randhir had shot Malik in return to his bullet. Upon learning this, Meera is distraught with regret and remorse and takes Ishita to Raj’s house, declaring that Veer can take Ishita home after marriage.

At Sidhu and Jenny's wedding, King shows up and sees a car and confirms that it’s his stolen car after close examination. King starts to cause a disturbance, bringing Mani, Oscar(the bride's brother) and then Veer out. A fight ensues with Veer holding his own well until one blow sends him falling back and rolling when he stops at Meera’s deer as she walks outside, she calls for Kaali, and Raj comes out and takes out everyone in his path, beating King up. King stands up as Raj walks away to check in on Veer, and seizing the opportunity tries to shoot Raj, but Meera seeing this pushes Raj away, stepping in front of him and is instead shot as she tried to save Raj. Consequentially, King gets beaten by Raj’s men as they rush him after he shoots Meera. Meera survives and both Raj and Meera reunite in a hospital.

• Shah Rukh Khan as Raj Bakshi / Kaali / Ramlal– Randhir's adopted son, Veer's adoptive brother, Shakti and Anwar's friend, Meera's love
• Kajol as Meera Malik / Pogo– Dev's daughter, Ishita's sister, Raj's love
• Varun Dhawan as Veer Bakshi– Randhir's biological son, Raj's adoptive brother, Sidhu's friend, Ishita's love
• Kriti Sanon as Ishita “Ishu” Malik– Dev's daughter, Meera's sister, Veer's love
• Boman Irani as King– Local Gang Leader
• Johnny Lever as Mani Chabbra– Raj and Veer's neighbour
• Sanjay Mishra as Oscar D'Costa– Jenny's brother
• Varun Sharma as Siddhanth "Sidhu" Saigal– Shakti's brother, Veer's friend and buddy, Jenny's boyfriend
• Chetna Pande as Jenny D'Costa– Oscar's sister, Sidhu's girlfriend
• Mukesh Tiwari as Shakti Saigal– Sidhu's brother, Raj and Anwar's friend, Raj's closest ally
• Pankaj Tripathi as Anwar Ansari– Raj and Shakti's friend, Raj's closest ally
• Vinod Khanna as Randhir Bakshi– Raj's adoptive father, Veer's father
• Kabir Bedi as Dev Malik– Meera and Ishita's father
• Nawab Shah as Raghav– Dev's right hand

Dilwale was released in the United Arab Emirates a day before its worldwide release on 18 December 2015. The film was released in around 3100 screens in India.[20]

The satellite rights of the film were sold to Sony Pictures Networks as part of a deal worth ₹220 crore (US$31 million), along with the next two or three Red Chillies Entertainment productions. The valuation of Dilwale alone was approximately ₹60 crore (US$8.4 million).[21]

On 14 December 2015, in the United Kingdom, the film received a 12A classification from the British Board of Film Classification for "moderate violence". The film's UK distributor chose to remove thirteen seconds in order to obtain this rating (the excised material being scenes involving stronger violence than possible for a 12A rating). An uncut 15-rated version is available.[1]

Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama gave the film 4/5 stars, saying, "On the whole, Dilwale is akin to a mouthwatering meal that satiates the craving of those who relish masalathons, besides being an absolute treat for SRK-Kajol fans. An unadulterated crowd-pleaser, Dilwale delivers what you expect from a Rohit Shetty film: King-sized entertainment. Go for it!".[22] Komal Nahta in his review of the film said, "Dilwale is a masala entertainer from the start till the end."[23] Rachit Gupta from Filmfare gave it 4/5 stars and added, "Dilwale is the quintessential popcorn flick. It’s colorful, bright and entertaining. It smartly keeps its play on the SRK-Kajol chemistry (watch out for the brilliant ending). It has fantastic music. Decent laughs too. Definitely worth a dekho."[24] Sarita A Tanwar of DNA gave the film 3/5 stars, saying "Dilwale is flawed, but it's right for those who believe that love does conquer it all, actually."[25]

Ananya Bhattacharya of India Today also rated the film 3/5 and concluded, "Dilwale is immensely enjoyable despite an oh-my-god-this-is-so-predictable story. Keep your brains out of the picture, and you have an out-and-out entertainer which fits perfectly in the mould of a guilty pleasure. Go indulge!"[26] Shubha Shetty-Saha of Mid Day gave the film 3 stars as well and said, "Watch this for the chemistry between SRK and Kajol which refuses to simmer down even after all these years."[27] Meena Iyer from The Times of India gave the film 3/5 stars, criticizing the plot, and stated, "Dilwale leans heavily on Shah Rukh's mega-stardom, Varun's effervescence, breathtaking locales (Iceland and Bulgaria), orchestrated car chases and over-the-top situations, which have you chuckling."[28]

NDTV felt that the film's plot "went in circles" and that while Kajol was great, the film overall failed to appeal.[29] The Economic Times gave the film 2.5/5 stars and felt that it "lacked soul and freshness" and stated that it would only appeal to fans of Khan and Kajol.[30] Rajeev Masand of IBN Live gave the film 2 out of 5 and said, "The real problem with Dilwale is the sheer artificiality of the enterprise. From the rainbow-hued sets and the touched-up landscapes in the Gerua song, to many moments of comedic and emotional payoff, so much of it just feels fake."[31] Namrata Joshi of The Hindu commented, "With Dilwale, Rohit Shetty goes hopelessly wrong despite much that he had at his disposal, including a power-packed cast and producer". Joshi also felt that the attempt to repackage Khan and Kajol had backfired.[32] Rohit Vats of Hindustan Times gave the film a 1.5/5 rating and called the plot "highly predictable".[33]

Dilwale made around ₹150 crore (US$21 million) worldwide in its opening weekend, the third highest of the year. [34] The film went on to gross ₹408.15 crore (US$57 million) worldwide.[lower-alpha 1]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Bollywood Hungama	[58]
India West	[59]
The Times of India	[60]
Bollywood Life	[61]

The songs featured in the film as are composed by Pritam and lyrics are written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. Amar Mohile has composed the film score.

A track titled "Gerua" was released on 18 November 2015 as the first single prior to the soundtrack album's release. The second single to be released was "Manma Emotion Jaage" which was released on 26 November 2015.[62][63] The second single to be released was "Manma Emotion Jaage".[64] The album features seven tracks and was released on 4 December 2015 by Sony Music India.[65] Sony Music India acquired the music rights of the film for a record ₹19 crore (US$2.7 million).[21]

The song "Gerua" also had different versions. An Arabic version called "Telagena" was released on 11 December 2015[66] while a Malay version entitled "Warna Cinta" featuring vocals from Aliff Aziz and Kilafairy was released later on 18 December 2015.[67]

• Dilwale on IMDb
• Dilwale at Rotten Tomatoes
• Dilwale at Box Office Mojo