Baabul (2006 film)

Baabul
Directed by	Ravi Chopra
Produced by	B. R. Chopra
Starring	Amitabh Bachchan Hema Malini Salman Khan Rani Mukerji John Abraham Om Puri
Music by	Aadesh Shrivastav
Cinematography	Barun Mukherjee
Distributed by	B. R. Films
Release dates	8 December 2006
Running time	169 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Baabul (Hindi: बाबुल, Urdu: بابُل, English: Father's Affection to daughter) is a 2006 Bollywood drama film, directed by Ravi Chopra. The movie stars Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukerji, Salman Khan, John Abraham and Hema Malini. The movie was dubbed in Telugu as Premabhishekam. The movie celebrates B. R. Chopra's 50 years in cinema.

Synopsis

Balraj Kapoor (Amitabh Bachchan) is a rich businessman, happy and content with his world. He and his wife Shobhna (Hema Malini) live happily together and they wait for their only son Avinash a.k.a. 'Avi' (Salman Khan) to return from his studies in the United States. After an absence of 7 years, Avinash comes back to India. He reunites with his parents at the airport and races home. Back home, Avi joins his father's business.

One day they decide to go golfing and Balraj accidentally hits the ball which ruins a painting. The young woman painting the picture, Malvika a.k.a. 'Millie' (Rani Mukerji) gets furious with Balraj and leaves. Later on, Avi runs into Millie on the golf course, and they start to talk. Millie tells him that a stupid old man ruined her painting and points out that it was Balraj; but she doesn't know that the 'old man' is Avi's father and he doesn't tell her. They start to hang out together while slowly falling in love with each other.

When Millie comes home, she is visited by her childhood friend Rajat (John Abraham). She tells him that she loves someone, which devastates him because he is also in love with her. One day, Millie goes to Avi's office to drop off a painting and finds out that Balraj is Avi's father. When Avi shows up, she leaves the office crying. He chases after her and says that the only reason he lied to her was because he loves her. She doesn't accept his apology right then, but when Balraj apologizes to her for ruining her painting, she forgives them both.

Avi asks Millie to get dressed up for a party at his house. When she arrives, there is no one except Avi. He proposes to her and she accepts. The whole family visits Millie's house to discuss marriage and everyone agrees, except Rajat. He tells Avi that he'll let him marry her if only he promises to always keep her happy and never let her get sad. Avi and Millie get married and soon they're expecting a child. Time goes on, Millie's water breaks while in yoga class and Avi and she flee to the hospital where they are blessed with a healthy baby boy.

Their child Ansh grows up to be a sweet and intelligent boy. The family throws a birthday bash for Ansh and wait for Avi who is in a meeting. But Avi never arrives home. He is involved in an accident and dies. Millie is devastated. Balraj seeks to bring happiness back into Millie's life and gets into contact with Rajat. He learns that Rajat still loves Millie. Balraj asks Rajat to marry Millie. However, there is stiff opposition from Shobhna and Balraj's conservative older brother Balwant (Om Puri). Shobhna fears losing her grandson Ansh, while Balwant thinks a widow's remarriage is a sin. However, Balraj stands firm and convinces everyone. In the end, Rajat and Millie get married, and everything is well. Avinash comes in as a spirit and blesses his dad with happiness.

Cast

• John Abraham (actor)...Rajat Verma
• Amitabh Bachchan ... Balraj Kapoor (Younger brother to Balwant)
• Hema Malini ... Shobhna Kapoor (Balraj's wife)
• Salman Khan ... Avinash Kapoor (Avi)
• Rani Mukherjee... Malvika Talwar (Millie)
• Om Puri ... Balwant Kapoor (Elder Brother of Balraj)
• Sarika .... Pushpa (Widowed sister-in-law of Balwant and Balraj)
• Aman Verma ... Shobhna's brother
• Parmeet Sethi .... Balwant's son
• Sharat Saxena .... Malvika's father
• Smita Jaykar .... Malvika's mother
• Rajpal Yadav .... Servant
• Shriya Saran ... appeared in title track

Music

The music is composed by Aadesh Shrivastava. The soundtrack has 11 songs. The soundtrack was one of the most successful soundtrack of 2006.

Crew

• Director: Ravi Chopra
• Screenplay: Suresh Nair
• Story: Dr. Achala Nagar
• Dialogue: Ravi Chopra
• Producer: B. R. Chopra
• Music: Aadesh Shrivastava
• Cinematography: Barun Mukherjee
• Editor: Godfrey Gonsalves
• Art Direction: Keshto Mandal
• Choreography: Farah Khan, Remo D’Souza, Vaibhavi Merchant & Rajeev Surti
• Lyrics: Sameer
• Action: Mahendra Verma
• Costume Designs:
  • Sabyasachi Mukherjee- Rani Mukerji
  • Neeta Lulla- Hema Malini
  • Alvira Khan- Salman Khan
  • Narendra Kumar Ahmed- John Abraham
  • Gabbana Akhbar- Amitabh Bachchan

Response

Box office

Baabul opened really well in Mumbai with a decent response of 75%. However the rest of the country saw an average opening. The small centres opened to poor response and overall the film did not do quite well in India but was an above average grosser.^[2] However it did great business overseas, entering at the 8th position on the UK charts in its first week.^[3] It was a big hit in the overseas market.^[4]

Reviews

Reviews have been generally mixed. The first reviews of the film were positive,^[5][6] but it has generally gathered some sharp criticism along the way. Film critic Samrat Sharma calls the first half "irrelevant in most parts", and also "hollow and undeveloped".^[7] Reviewer Baradwaj Rangan was even more scathing when he said that, "the casting of the leads and the high-gloss setting of their lives just do not make the subsequent events convincing."^[8]

Awards

Nominated

• 2007: Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award - John Abraham

See also

• Babul

References

External links

• Baabul at the Internet Movie Database