Murder (film)

This article is about 2004 Bollywood film. For the Alfred Hitchcock film, see Murder!. For other uses, see Murder (disambiguation).
Murder

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Anurag Basu
Produced by Mukesh Bhatt
Mahesh Bhatt
Story by Anurag Basu
Starring Mallika Sherawat
Emraan Hashmi
Ashmit Patel
Music by Anu Malik
Amir Jamal
Najam Sheraz
Miles (band)
Cinematography Fuwad Khan
Edited by Akiv Ali
Distributed by Vishesh Films
Release dates
  • 2 April 2004
Running time
 130 minutes
Country India
Language Hindi
Box office INR72 crore (US$11 million)

Murder is a 2004 Hindi erotic thriller film directed by Anurag Basu and produced by Mukesh Bhatt. It stars Mallika Sherawat, Emraan Hashmi and Ashmit Patel in lead roles and is set in Bangkok, Thailand.

Murder released on 2 April 2004 and, despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, managed to become a highly successful venture at the box office, earning the super hit status.[1] The film was a huge breakthrough for its lead actors, particularly Hashmi and Sherawat. It received an A certificate from the Indian Censor Board for its erotic subject and scenes.

Today, it has become a film series spawning over two sequels, Murder 2 in 2011 and Murder 3 in 2013. The film established Emraan Hashmi as a Superstar.

Plot

Plot of the movie and the iconic scenes of the movie are clear replication of Unfaithful (2002) movie. The story follows Simran (Mallika Sherawat), a young woman married to Sudhir (Ashmit Patel), a workaholic. Due to her lonely, passionless married life, she begins an affair with her college love, Sunny (Emraan Hashmi), whom she accidentally meets. She starts telling lies to Sudhir so as to meet Sunny daily. She gets so engrossed in their affair that she forgets all her commitments as a wife and mother, and she realises that it is grossly wrong. She decides to end the affair but, to her surprise, she finds another woman named Radhika with him. Simran then realises the mistake of sleeping with Sunny just because of an unhappy marital life. She laments her unfaithful act.

Meanwhile, Sudhir starts to have doubts about his wife, and hires a detective to trace Simran's whereabouts. His doubts are confirmed when the detective provides him with photographs of the two together. He also finds out that Sunny is a womaniser, with many girlfriends. The next day, Sunny suddenly goes missing. The police come to their house and inquire about him on a report registered by his girlfriend. Simran sees the photographs of her and Sunny in Sudhir's pants, and realises that Sudhir has something to do with Sunny being missing. It is revealed that when Sudhir goes to Sunny's apartment asking him to end the affair, he fatally beats him and buries his body, in the heat of the moment. Simran accepts her mistake, supports Sudhir, and then tries to take the blame of Sunny's murder on herself. This develops and strengthens their love and faith. With Sunny murdered, she is arrested by the police and pleads guilty. On the other hand, Sudhir claims that it is he who killed Sunny. This confuses the police. Moreover, the body is missing from the burial spot.

The story takes a U-turn when it is found that this "murder" never took place; rather it was a plot planned by Sunny with the aid of Radhika to separate Simran and Sudhir, so that he could continue his love affair with Simran. Only Simran comes to realise this, and she is trapped by Sunny. Sunny chases Simran into a jungle, where Sudhir arrives and has another fight with Sunny. He manages to beat him, and Sunny leaves as he sees the two together, seemingly realising their love for each other. However, Sunny then runs up behind Sudhir with a shovel but is then shot in the back by a police officer, who arrives just in time. The couple reunites with the love developed on the strong foundations of the test of mutual support and understanding to lead a happily married life.

Reception

Murder received mixed reviews from top film critics in India. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama rated it 3 out of 5. ReviewGang gave it a 6.5/10 score. At the box office, it opened well and grossed over INR580 million worldwide. The film was elevated to 'Super Hit' verdict by Box Office India after its second weekend. It was also the ninth highest-grossing film of the year 2004.[1] It remains the 29th highest-grossing film of all time in Bollywood (worldwide) and the 23rd highest-grossing film domestically (approximately INR460 million).

The soundtrack for the film has been criticized as being copied from other sources. In particular, the song "Jaana Jaane Jaana" is a reported copy of the song "Firiye Dao" by Miles, a pop band from Bangladesh. Miles later sued the filmmakers, which resulted in the song being removed from the film's original soundtrack. The Bangladeshi band also sought compensation for 'hurting it's business interests'. However, due to challenges in terms of uncertainty about the outcome, lack of information and lack of initiative from the relevant authorities on either side, compensation has not (as of 2005) been yet awarded.[2][3]

Cast

Soundtrack

The music is composed by Anu Malik, Miles Band, Amir Jamal & Nazam Sheraj. Though the music was remastered by Anu Malik in form of sounds and keeping the Indian tastes in mind. The original composers were given their credit to prevent increased plagiarism in India. Lyrics are penned by Sayeed Quadri and Rahat Indori.

Track listing

No. TitleLyricsSinger(s) Length
1. "Bheege Hont"  Sayeed QuadriKunal Ganjawala 4:32
2. "Bheege Hont – Instrumental"   Instrumental 4:30
3. "Dil Ko Hazar Bar"  Rahat IndoriAlisha Chinoy 4:34
4. "Jaana Jaane Jaana"  Sayeed QuadriAmir Jamal 4:22
5. "Kaho Na Kaho"  Sayeed QuadriAmir Jamal 5:08
6. "Kaho Na Kaho – Instrumental"   Instrumental 5:08
7. "Zindagi Iss Tarah"  Sayeed QuadriAnuradha Paudwal 5:37
8. "Zindagi Iss Tarah"  Sayeed QuadriSonu Nigam 5:37

Remake

The film was remade in to Kannada as Ganda Hendathi in 2006.


Sequel

A sequel titled Murder 2 was released on 8 July 2011 with Emraan Hashmi and Jacqueline Fernandez in lead roles. Commercially, the sequel surpassed the collections of Murder, becoming a blockbuster.[4] After the success of the first two instalments, the producers released a third instalment Murder 3,[5] on 15 February 2013. The film, which was an official remake of Spanish film The Hidden Face,[6] starred Randeep Hooda, Aditi Rao Hydari and Sara Loren in lead roles. However, unlike the earlier parts, it only performed moderately well at the box office[7]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Box Office 2004" Retrieved 2013-03-16
  2. ↑ http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=KWOGfYYI2BQC&pg=PA53&lpg=PA53&dq=murder+miles+firiye+dao+copy&source=bl&ots=hVQ3cSbEuK&sig=T-IVG2S4go3PM-d3kz9bYvS4BHk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=n6T9UZfxBqz60gWWt4DQDg&ved=0CCwQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=murder%20miles%20firiye%20dao%20copy&f=false
  3. ↑ http://www.telegraphindia.com/archives/archive.html
  4. ↑ "Huge July With Surprise MURDER 2 Topping". Retrieved 2013-03-16.
  5. ↑ Murder 3 next year, Hindustan Times, 15 July 2011, retrieved 12 August 2011
  6. ↑ "Murder 3 is a remake of Spanish film". Retrieved 2013-03-16.
  7. ↑ Adarsh, Taran (22 February 2013). "Top 5: 'Murder 3' recovers cost, in profit zone!". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 19 October 2013.

External links