Baazigar

Baazigar
Release poster
बाजीगर
Directed by	Abbas-Mustan
Produced by	Ganesh Jain
Written by	Robin Bhatt Akash Khurana Javed Siddiqui
Starring	Shah Rukh Khan Kajol Siddharth Ray Shilpa Shetty Raakhee
Music by	Anu Malik
Cinematography	Thomas A. Xavier
Distributed by	Eros Labs
Release dates	12 November 1993
Running time	182 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Box office	est.₹74.5 million[1]

Baazigar (English: Gambler) is a 1993 Indian crime thriller film directed by Abbas–Mustan starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in the lead roles. It is a contemporary thriller about a young man who stops at nothing to get what he wants. This was Shah Rukh Khan's breakthrough role as the sole lead and Kajol's first commercial success.^[2] Actress Shilpa Shetty was supposed to debut with Gaata Rahe Mera Dil, however,it remained unreleased and this was her debut movie.^[3] Baazigar was the first film in which Shah Rukh Khan played the role of an anti-hero^[4] and the first which earned Khan a Filmfare Award for Best Actor.^[5] Initially Salman Khan was the choice to play the lead.^[6][7]

Baazigar was a major commercial success at its release^[8][2] and the first film of the famous Shahrukh Khan-Kajol pair.^[9]

It was remade in Tamil as Samrat with Ramki; in Telugu as Vetagaadu with Rajasekhar; and in Kannada as Nagarahavu with Upendra.

The film brought actors Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Shilpa Shetty and composer Anu Malik to the limelight. It is a remake of 1991's A Kiss Before Dying.^[10]

Plot

A boy named Ajay asks a doctor to come see his mother Shobha (Rakhee), who is unconscious. Ajay promises Shobha that he will get revenge on the people, who are responsible for making them cry. The deaths of Ajay's father (Anant Mahadevan) and baby sister have made Shobha fall unconscious.

Years later, Ajay (Shah Rukh Khan) meets Madan Chopra's (Dalip Tahil) daughter Seema (Shilpa Shetty). Ajay cozies up to Seema, and she falls in love with him. Meanwhile, Ajay pretends to be Vicky Malhotra to create a good impression in the minds of Chopra and his younger daughter Priya (Kajol). Ajay keeps his affair with Seema a secret, under the impression that Seema too doesn't let anybody know she is in love. When Chopra decides to get Seema married, she decides to elope with Ajay. Ajay takes advantage of the opportunity and tricks her into writing a suicide letter.

Later, on premise of getting married secretly, Ajay calls Seema to the office for marriages in Bombay. He takes her to the terrace and suddenly pushes her down, using her suicide note to close the case as suicide. Chopra hastily has the case closed to prevent any further embarrassment. Ajay uses Seema's death to gets close to Priya and Chopra. Priya, however, suspects that her sister didn't commit suicide. With help of her college friend and police inspector Karan Saxena, she investigates the matter secretly.

Ravi, a friend of Seema, who had a crush on her, tells Priya about Seema's secret lover. Ravi finds a photo of Seema and Ajay together at a birthday party but is killed by Ajay. Ajay forces Ravi to sign a suicide note, making Priya and Karan believe that Ravi must have been Seema's lover and murderer. Ajay began a double game whilst keeping both the parties in dark. When Ajay puts contact lenses in his eyes to use his fake ID Vicky again, it's revealed that Madan is the person responsible for making Ajay and Shobha cry.

The next day when Ajay sees Madan's chair at Madan's company, a flashback is shown.

When Ajay's father Vishwanath Sharma, a reputed businessman, discovers that his manager Madan is embezzling money under his nose, Sharma has Madan thrown in jail. After Madan completes his jail term, he re-approaches Sharma and asks for forgiveness. Vishwanath rebukes him, but his wife Shobha takes pity on Chopra's daughters and pleads to her husband. Chopra is reappointed in the company. However, Chopra has come back to exact revenge on his former boss. Slowly, but surely, Chopra regains the confidence of Sharma. One day, when Sharma has to go for a business tour, he hands over power of attorney to Chopra so he can run the company in his absence. Chopra, who has been waiting for such chance, usurps Sharma's company and becomes its de facto owner. Sharma learns of this treachery, by which time his family is ejected from their home after Chopra takes a loan out in their name. More tragedy strikes the Sharma household when his newborn daughter dies of fever and Sharma himself dies of a heart attack while trying to buy medicines for her. Devastated by the turn of events, Shobha goes insane, while Ajay decided to avenge the wrongdoings by making Chopra pay.

Later, Priya and Vicky coincidentally meet Seema's college friend, Anjali at a jewelry store. Anjali thinks that she recognizes Vicky. When she finds the photo as well, she calls the Sharma household during Vicky's and Priya's engagement party. Vicky intercepts the call, impersonates Chopra, and arrives at her place. He strangles her, stuffs her body in a suitcase, and throws it in the river. A man and his dog find the body soon after. Priya and Karan realize that the murderer is still alive. Meanwhile, history repeats itself, with Chopra handing over the power of attorney to "Vicky". Ajay decides to hasten up his plans on learning that Priya and Karan are bent on finding the killer.

Ajay's plan hits a glitch when he and Priya run into the real Vicky Malhotra, Ajay's friend whose identity he had taken. Priya becomes suspicious and decides to contact this Vicky. After returning from his business trip, Chopra is shocked to find that the company is run by a Sharma group. Ajay reveals the truth to Chopra and kicks him out of the company after humiliating him.

Meanwhile, Priya learns of Ajay's true identity from Vicky and rushes to Ajay's home in Panvel. She is shocked to see a poster of Ajay and finds a marriage locket with photos of him with her sister. Ajay comes home, where she confronts him with his misdeeds. He tells her the whole story, and she is shocked by what her father did to Ajay's family. Although Ajay killed innocent Seema, Priya has sympathy for Ajay. Chopra arrives at Vicky's house with his henchmen to kill Ajay and exact revenge. Ajay goes outside to see some cars coming to his house and is shot by Chopra. After seeing Ajay being beaten by Chopra and hearing Chopra's name being repeated, Shobha regains her sanity and runs to her son's defense. Ajay starts bashing Chopra's goons and overpowers Chopra. Despite the circumstances, Karan and Priya sympathize with Ajay.

In a standoff with Chopra, Ajay spares his life. Chopra impales Ajay with a long iron bar and laughs about his victory. Ajay begins to laugh maniacally as well and rams the bar into Chopra's stomach, with both plummeting from a high wall, killing Chopra and mortally wounding Ajay.

Ajay makes it back to his mother who finally recognizes her son. Ajay promises her that he's gotten revenge for their family misfortunes and reacquired everything that was meant to be theirs — now wanting only to rest peacefully in her embrace. Priya and Karan watch despondently as Ajay dies in his mother's arms at peace.

Cast

• Shah Rukh Khan as Ajay Sharma/Vicky Malhotra
• Kajol as Priya Chopra
• Shilpa Shetty as Seema Chopra, Priya's sister
• Raakhee in a special appearance as Ajay's mother
• Dalip Tahil as Madan Chopra, Priya and Seema's father
• Siddharth Ray as Inspector Karan Saxena
• Johnny Lever as Babu Lal, the head servant
• Anant Mahadevan as Vishvanath Sharma
• Resham Tipnis as Anjali Sinha, Seema's friend
• Dinesh Hingoo as Bajodia Seth
• Manmauji Taalia as the servant
• Adi Irani as real Vicky Malhotra
• Master Sumeet as Young Ajay
• Sharad Sankla as Charlie (a guy in party)
• Daboo Malik as Ramesh
• Raju Srivastav as a guy in party with Charlie
• Harpal as Motu the cook
• Amrut Patel as Seema's driver

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Anu Malik and won him the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director.^[11] The song "Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein" bagged singer Kumar Sanu his fourth consecutive Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer after Aashiqui, Saajan and Deewana.^[12] Other singers featured in the album are Asha Bhosle, Pankaj Udhas, Alka Yagnik, Vinod Rathod and Sonali Bajpai. The soundtrack was released by Venus Music.^[13] Dr. Alban's song "It's My life" was also featured.

Box office

Baazigar was a commercial success and the fourth highest grossing Hindi film of 1993.^[14]

Awards and nominations

39th Filmfare Awards

Won

• Best Actor — Shah Rukh Khan^[15]
• Best Music Direction — Anu Malik^[11]
• Best Male Playback Singer — Kumar Sanu for "Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhein"^[12]
• Best Screenplay — Robin Bhatt, Javed Siddiqui, Akash Khurana^[16]

Nominated

• Lux New Face — Shilpa Shetty
• Best Supporting Actress — Shilpa Shetty
• Best Performance in a Comic Role — Johnny Lever
• Best Lyricist — Dev Kohli for "Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhen"
• Best Male Playback Singer — Kumar Sanu for "Baazigar O Baazigar"
• Best Female Playback Singer — Alka Yagnik for "Baazigar O Baazigar"

References

External links

• Baazigar at the Internet Movie Database