Aladin (film)

Aladin
Movie Poster
Directed by	Sujoy Ghosh
Produced by	Sujoy Ghosh
Written by	Sujoy Ghosh Suresh Nair Ritesh Shah
Starring	Amitabh Bachchan Ritesh Deshmukh Jacqueline Fernandez Sanjay Dutt
Music by	Vishal-Shekhar Background Score: Jody J Jenkins[1]
Cinematography	Shirsha Roy
Release dates	30 October 2009 (2009-10-30)
Running time	129 Minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹200 million (US$2.9 million)
Box office	₹135 million (US$2.0 million)[2]

Aladin is a 2009 Bollywood fantasy adventure film directed by Sujoy Ghosh. Amitabh Bachchan, Ritesh Deshmukh, Jacqueline Fernandez and Sanjay Dutt appear in pivotal roles in the movie. Sabu Cyril designed the sets of this film.

Plot

The film opens with the family of archeologist Arun Chatterjee, who lives with his wife, Riya, and baby son, Aladin. When out on a holiday, Arun is attacked by a gang searching for a magic lamp, which Chatterjee has found, but has hidden somewhere. Arun and Riya Chatterjee are murdered; Aladin is raised by his grandfather. After his granddad's death, a now grown-up Aladin Chatterjee (Ritesh Deshmukh) lives in the fictional city of Khwaish. He is lonely, and Kasim (Sahil Khan) and his gang members have bullied Aladin since his childhood. His life changes when Jasmine (Jacqueline Fernandez) enters the city, and the two fall in love with each other.

Jasmine has a birthday party for Aladin, and as a present Kasim gives Aladin a magic lamp for his birthday to embarrass him in front of Jasmine. However, this lamp turns out to be the magic lamp that Aladin's father's murderers were trying to find. Aladin rubs the lamp and releases the genie, Genius (Amitabh Bachchan). Desperate to grant him three wishes so his contract with the magic lamp can end, the rock-star Genius suddenly makes Aladin's life very interesting but chaotic. Aladin does not want to make any wishes, but Genius enters Aladin's dreams and finds out what he wants, getting his sleeping mind to make a wish: to make Jasmine fall in love with him. When he wakes up, he does not like what Genius has done and uses his second wish to return Jasmine to normal. His third wish is for Genius to help him woo Jasmine without using magic to make it happen. Genius does his best, but magic is really his strong suit. Still, as a result of Genius's help/interference, Aladin stands up to Kasim and starts a relationship with Jasmine, and Genius teaches Kasim a lesson. Aladin's future looks perfect, until the real threat looms on the horizon - the ex-genie, Ringmaster (Sanjay Dutt).

Ringmaster is searching for the magic lamp and kidnaps Jasmine with the help of his circus gang. Shortly after Genius and Aladin realize she has been kidnapped, an informer (really Ringmaster in disguise) tells Aladin that it was Genius who murdered his parents. Aladin insults Genius and tells him to leave. Heartbroken, Genius goes to rescue Jasmine alone. As he arrives, it is revealed that Ringmaster is the one who actually killed Aladin's family, as he has been searching for the magic lamp for a long time; Aladin's parents found it first, and Ringmaster punished them for it. Ringmaster steals the magic lamp and wishes for Genius to kill Aladin, but Genius refuses to do it, and loses his magic because he did not grant the wish, just as Ringmaster had planned. Aladin learns that Genius is innocent and arrives to help him, and they succeed in rescuing Jasmine. Ringmaster's plan is then completely revealed: he plans to perform a ritual to steal the reflection of an approaching comet, getting back his genie powers as a result. Genius, Aladdin and Jasmine intervene, however, and Aladdin steals the comet's reflection, giving genie powers back to Genius instead of Ringmaster. Genius seals Ringmaster inside a mirror and then shatters it, and Ringmaster's gang is finished as well.

In the end, the trio happily gets back to the city, Aladin and Jasmine are a couple, and after earning special superpowers from the comet, Aladin gives Kasim yet another lesson.

Backstory

Long ago, Ringmaster was once a genie, but he used his powers only for himself, not to grant wishes to humans, so the other genies decided to strip him of his powers. He was still immortal, however, and still possessed great strength and knowledge. He vowed to regain his powers someday and get his revenge.

Aladin's parents, Arun and Riya, believed that the story of Aladdin and his lamp from the Arabian Nights was based on reality. They named their son Aladin in hopes that it would bring them luck on their quest to find the real magic lamp, and after years of searching, they finally found it. However, not long after that, Ringmaster and his gang attacked them. Riya secretly rubbed the lamp and summoned Genius, wishing for him to save Aladin, who was then only a very young child. Genius was barely able to save Aladin from Ringmaster, but while he was occupied, Ringmaster's gang killed Arun and Riya. However, Ringmaster got away with only a piece of the lamp. The rest of it was lost until Kasim found it in an antique store and decided to give it to Aladin as a prank gift in order to embarrass him in front of Jasmine.

Kasim has a strange fixation on Aladin and constantly teases him about his name, bringing him oil lamps, forcing him to rub them, and taunting him when no genie appears. He has always done this, ever since he and Aladin were both children.

Aladin's grandfather taught him a magic trick: he can put a small object in his hand, close it, say the magic words "Tak Dinah Din," and open his hand to reveal a different small object. It is not real magic; he's secretly transferred the object to his other hand. It is entertaining, though, and sometimes useful.

Genies have certain rules they must abide by. First of all, there is the well-known three wishes rule: whoever rubs the genie's lamp and summons the genie gets three wishes. Also, a genie may not harm anyone who possesses either their lamp or any part of it --- this protects Ringmaster, because he still has the piece that broke off Genius's lamp. If a genie refuses to grant a wish, he loses his powers and becomes mortal. There is also some sort of code of ethics that genies must abide by, stating that genies must use their powers to grant wishes to humans and not use them selfishly—this is not a magical rule like the others, but it is enforced by genie society. It is possible for genies to band together and take away a misbehaving genie's powers.

It is unstated how many genies there are in existence and how many of them are free to do as they please, or whether they are mostly confined to lamps.

There is a magical mirror that genies can use to obtain information and answer questions they have. It can be broken, but if its pieces are reassembled, it returns to its original flawless shape. A human had just found and reassembled the mirror when Ringmaster and his gang killed him and stole it.

There appears to be a magical comet that approaches Earth once every million years. Its magic can restore an ex-genie's power, although what else it may be able to do is unknown. Ringmaster originally plans to wish for Genius to transport him to the comet, but after Genius also loses his powers, Ringmaster changes his plan, because he knows that the comet's reflection will work just as well. Aladin handles the comet's reflection only briefly, but it seems to have granted him some sort of magic power as well, although the extent of this power is unclear.

Genius turns Aladin's guitar into a colorful frog that makes guitar-like sounds; it remains a frog for the rest of the film.

Cast

• Amitabh Bachchan as Genius
• Riteish Deshmukh as Aladin Chatterjee
• Jacqueline Fernandez as Jasmine (Mona Ghosh Shetty as the dubbing voice)
• Sanjay Dutt as Ringmaster - Negative Role^[3]
• Victor Banerjee as Grandfather
• Ratna Pathak Shah as Marjina
• Sahil Khan as Kasim
• Joy Sengupta as Aladin's father
• Sohini Ghosh as Riya (Aladin's mother)
• Arif Zakaria as Prof. Nazir
• William Ong as Xi Guang Lee
• Boman Irani as Narrator
• Erina as Fire Breathing Lady

Awards

• Stardust Awards - Best Female Debut - Jacqueline Fernandez^[4]
• IIFA Best Female Debut - Jacqueline Fernandez
• Best Art Direction - Sabu Cyril
• Best Special Effects (Visual) - Charles Darby (Eyecube Labs)

Soundtrack

Aladin
Soundtrack album by Vishal-Shekhar
Released	27 September 2009 (2009-09-27)
Recorded	Eros Studios
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	35:42
Label	Eros Music
Producer	Vishal-Shekhar
Vishal-Shekhar chronology
Dostana (2008) Aladin (2009) 12 The Movie (2009)

Music of film is composed by Vishal Shekhar,lyrics penned by Vishal Dadlani and Anvita Dutt Guptan(Bachke O Bachke). The song Genie Rap used in British English and Hindi version of TV Series Galaxy World of Alisa, in episode The Singing Duels, extra scene when Puper watching the song, that Puper create rap.

Reception

Zoom TV gave the film 2.5/5, stating "Aladin fails to enchant". They have also criticized that Jacqueline has been put in the cast for the sake of an actress and she has not got much to do. However, according to the scale 2.5/5 is an average. Amitabh Bachchan was praised for his performance as "Genius." Entertainment Daily has given the verdict saying that "Aladin is surely a let down." Nonetheless they have praised the special-effects used in the film. Noyon Jyoti Parasara from AOL India praised the SFX but also pointed out, "Despite a good enough story to carry the film ahead, Aladin falls due to blunders in screenplay. Attempts to rush up things and add entertainment make the story go haywire." He rated the film 2 out of 5. Rajeev Masand of IBN Live gave the film 3 stars and noticed the movie bought fable to life.

Box office

Aladin did not perform well at the box office either. Its lifetime gross was 135 million with the budget - 200 million - not being recovered; it was rated as a disaster by India Boxoffice.^[5]

See also

• Bollywood films of 2009

References

External links

• Official website
• Aladin at the Internet Movie Database