Ghanchakkar (film)

Ghanchakkar
Poster
Directed by	Rajkumar Gupta
Produced by	Ronnie Screwvala Siddharth Roy Kapur
Screenplay by	Parveez Shaikh Rajkumar Gupta
Starring	Emraan Hashmi Vidya Balan Rajesh Sharma Namit Das
Music by	Amit Trivedi
Cinematography	Setu
Editing by	Aarti Bajaj
Distributed by	UTV Motion Pictures
Release dates	28 June 2013 (2013-06-28)
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	300 million (US$4.8 million)
Box office	355 million (US$5.7 million)

Ghanchakkar (English: Crazy) is a Bollywood suspense comedy caper film directed by Rajkumar Gupta^[1] and produced by Ronnie Screwvala and Siddharth Roy Kapur from UTV Motion Pictures. The film stars Emraan Hashmi opposite Vidya Balan in the lead.^[2] The theatrical trailer unveiled on 28 March 2013, attached with Himmatwala.^[3] The film was released on 28 June 2013, receiving mixed reviews from critics. The film turned out to be a Box Office Flop. ^[4]

Plot

Sanjay (Emraan Hashmi), a suave, master safe cracker lives with his wife Neetu (Vidya Balan) in a casual lifestyle, and is constantly phoned by his mother, to which he replies that he will speak to her some other time. Sanjay is offered the chance to commit an audacious heist with two dangerous criminals, Pandit and Idris. The bank robbery will ensure that he never has to worry about money again, so he consequently accepts the offer. Together, the three clean out a bank vault and make off with a large sum of 35 crores. While his criminal associates lie low until the heat dies down, Sanjay hides the ill-gotten gains. When Pandit and Idris return for their share, they find that Sanjay has apparently lost his memory and may be suffering from amnesia. To make sure they're not being ripped off, the two men move in with Sanjay and until he remembers where he hid the money.

Sanjay soon suspects Neetu of knowing the hide-out of the money and conspiring with his friend Uttam Nagpal (Parvin Dabas) when he learns that his friend has become an overnight millionaire by apparently winning an lottery and upon his confrontation has moved to London. Furthermore, Sanjay meets up with a real-estate agent, who had shown him a flat and reveals to him that Neetu and Uttam were seeing an even bigger flat than what he intended to sell them. Soon enough, he finds an one-way ticket for London was bought by Neetu. In midst of all this, an unknown person contacts Sanjay and warns him to stop acting and divulge the location of the money. Under pressure, Pandit and Idris kidnap Neetu and ask Sanjay to come to a train station, on the third bogey at 1am. As both Pandit and Idris confront Sanjay to give them the money, Sanjay claims he doesn't even recognise the two.

Following an argument between Sanjay and Neetu in which Sanjay demands that she knew where the money was, Idris begins to lose his mind, and as soon as he pulls his gun out, he is shot by Baba (Shashank Shende), an unknown man sitting at the back of the train. He reveals himself to be the same unknown person who called Sanjay earlier. It turns out, he was the original master of the plan and wants his money under any circumstances. In a rage, he kills both Pandit and Idris. Sanjay tries to battle Baba with his weapon: a dinner fork (on which Baba meekly laughs). Upon persistent questioning and blackmailing, he shoots Neetu, hoping that the traumatic vision of his wife suffering, Sanjay will reveal the truth. However, it fails, as it appears that Sanjay has truly lost his memory and can't remember. He searched Sanjay's pockets, only to find his second weapon: a banana. In retribution, he shoots them both non-fatally and leaves the train.

Sanjay's phone rings and upon picking up, realises its his mother on the line. Sanjay completely forgets his identity and doesn't recognise his mother, to which his mother replies by saying that she has still got an suitcase that Sanju gave her to keep 3 months ago, and if he doesn't come soon, she'll give it to the junk/scrap dealer, revealing that Sanju's mother had the money all along. As the trains starts, Baba overhears this and jumps on the train but slips on Sanjay's banana and got his neck impaled by Sanjay's fork. Sanjay, all bereft, confused and tired, throws his phone out of the train, whilst Neetu smiles. Sanjay has no idea what's going on, and the train continues on riding with the dead bodies of Baba, Pandit and Idris.^[5]

Cast

• Emraan Hashmi as Sanjay Atre
• Vidya Balan as Neetu Atre
• Rajesh Sharma as Pandit
• Namit Das as Idris
• Parvin Dabas as Uttam Nagpal
• Shashank Shende as Baba
• Akshay Khanna

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of Ghanchakkar is composed by Amit Trivedi. The lyrics are written by Amitabh Bhattacharya.

The song "Lazy Lad" is notable for its use of colours and seamless movement without much editing. The songs "Lazy Lad" and "Jholu Ram" is directed by Sajeed.A.^{[citation needed]}

Track listing

Promotions

Promotions for Ghanchakkar started, with both Emraan Hashmi and Vidya Balan striving for the film to reach a wider audience. The on-screen couple visited the sets of India's hit TV shows like Dance India Dance, Chidiyaghar, India's Dancing Superstars and Comedy Nights with Kapil.^[6]

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews from critics.

VjMOVIews noted that, "Despite being a foursome act, the move failed to reach its high and have its Orgasm".^[7] Neha Gupta of Bollywood3 reviewed Ghanchakkar as a total Vidya Balan film and stated: "The sizzling chemistry between Vidya and Emraan Hashmi is to watch out for along with the witty one liners."Mohar Basur of Koimoi.com stated "Ghanchakkar is a  nail-biting thrilling comedy with stellar performances of the film’s cast".Mohar ultimately gave it 3/5 stars.^[8]

Wassupbollywood.com rated the movie 2/5 and said, "Ghanchakkar is a terribly executed film. Watch it to feel better in your college lecture or job this Monday."^[9] "Ghanchakkar stops being funny somewhere through the second half," wrote Raja Sen of Rediff.com. "Vidya Balan, in particular, deserves to be singled out for applause simply because of her willingness as a leading lady to take on a role this farcical. One time watch only for Vidya Balan." Sen ultimately rated the film 2/5 stars.^[10][11]

Internationally, Pakistani film critic Mohammad Kamran Jawaid from Dawn gave Ghanchakkar a positive review, stating that Vidya Balan "gets the short end of the stick" and is "a few hundred miles away from any original appeal". He notes that "Ghanchakkar’s “big reveal” is hardly a revelation. And as frightening as the hoodlums want themselves to appear, their sense of menace never surfaces the way it ought to. Also, their good-cop, bad-cop attitude, gets old fast, and we never get to know much about them.However, these minor grumbles are just that – minor grumbles".^[12]

Box office

The film opened well, gathering an occupancy of 40–50% at morning and afternoon screenings. At evening and night screenings, it achieved a higher occupancy of 55–60%. Its first day collection was 72 million and on the second day, 75.5 million. Ghanchakkar's opening weekend generated 227.5 million, beating Ek Thi Daayan's weekend business of 180 million at the domestic box office. The film made around 30 million on its first Monday, making an overall 260 million in 4 days. On Tuesday, it collected another 22.5 million, making a total of 280 million. The film had cost 200 million originally, with another 100 million spent on worldwide P+A, making a total budget of 300 million. Its first week total came up to 380 million.^[13] Final verdict for the movie at the Box Office was a 'Flop'.

References

External links

• Ghanchakkar at the Internet Movie Database
• Ghanchakkar at Bollywood Hungama
• Ghanchakkar Review at SocialDhabba
• Rediff.com Review: Ghanchakkar ends up forgetting what its about
• Ghanchakkar Review at ReelWorld