Bluffmaster!

Bluffmaster!
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Rohan Sippy
Produced by	Ramesh Sippy
Written by	Shridhar Raghavan Rajat Arora (dialogue)
Starring	Abhishek Bachchan Priyanka Chopra Ritesh Deshmukh
Music by	Vishal-Shekhar Trickbaby Sameeruddin
Cinematography	Himman Dhamija
Edited by	Amitabh Shukla
Production company	Entertainment One Pvt. Ltd
Distributed by	UTV Motion Pictures
Release date	16 December 2005
Running time	139 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹80 million (US$1.2 million)
Box office	₹313 million (US$4.9 million)

Bluffmaster is a 2005 Indian Hindi romance comedy film directed by Rohan Sippy and produced by Ramesh Sippy. The film stars Abhishek Bachchan, Ritesh Deshmukh and Priyanka Chopra in the lead roles, along with Boman Irani and Nana Patekar in supporting roles.^[1] The storyline resembles the Argentinian film Nine Queens. Bluffmaster released on 16 December 2005, and received positive response from critics. The film became a moderate box office success earning a "semi hit" verdict, as well as being the 17th highest-grossing Bollywood film of the year 2005.^[2] Sanjay Dutt was the original choice for the role of "Roy Kapoor" and Aishwarya Rai for the role of "Simi".

Story

Roy Kapoor (Abhishek Bachchan) is a conman who cons everybody, even his girlfriend Simi (Priyanka Chopra). On the day of their engagement, however, Roy's true face is exposed and he loses Simi. As if that were not enough, Roy finds out that he has a tumor and is going to die in less than three months. An amateur conman named Dittu (Ritesh Deshmukh) enters his life. He learns from Dittu that a man named Chandrakant Parekh aka Chandru (Nana Patekar) had duped Dittu's father and countless other of their life savings.

Chandru is a whimsical, irate, and ruthless man, who will not hesitate in resorting to violence even on the slightest pretext. Before dying, Roy decides to do one good deed for Dittu, which is conning Chandru off all his stolen money & wealth. However, whilst planning the biggest con of his life, the stages of his tumor begin to start. Roy is now between devil and the deep sea. Can the greatest conman con death itself?

The movie has borrowed most of its story from an American film Criminal (2004) which itself is based upon the Argentine film Nine Queens.

Cast

• Abhishek Bachchan as Roy Kapoor
• Priyanka Chopra as Simran Saxena (Simi)
• Ritesh Deshmukh as Aditya Srivastav (Dittu)/ Arjun Bajaj
• Nana Patekar as Chandrakant Parekh (Chandru)/ Sridhar
• Boman Irani as Dr. Bhalerao
• Sanjay Mishra as Jassi
• Tinnu Anand as Parimal Bajaj
• Supriya Pilgaonkar as Mrs. Malhotra
• Arash Labaf in a special appearance in song "Buro Buro"
• Pia Trivedi special appearance, promotional video
• Carol Gracias special appearance promotional video

Allusions

• When Roy and Dittu attempt a con in a cinema hall, the movie playing is Ramesh Sippy's hit film Shaan. This film starred Abhishek Bachchan's father Amitabh Bachchan.
• The song "Do Aur Do Paanch" is originally from the film of the same name, which starred Amitabh Bachchan, the father of Abhishek, lead actor of this film.
• The majority of the background music of the film and some dialogues were taken straight from films of Sippy Productions.
• Bluffmaster is based on the movies Criminal and Nine Queens.
• The movie bears many resemblances to the Hollywood film Matchstick Men, a Ridley Scott work starring Nicolas Cage. Interestingly Cage's name in Matchstick Men was Roy and Bachchan's name in Bluffmaster is Roy Kapoor.
• The ending is inspired from the 1997 Michael Douglas film The Game.
• The number plate MH-01-C-9211 was the same taxi used in Bluffmaster (2005) when Abhishek Bachchan chases Rietish Deshmukh for his car, as well as in Ramesh Sippy's next 2006 venture Taxi No 9211

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released on 20 November 2005. The background score was done by Sameeruddin. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 14,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's tenth highest-selling.^[3]

Track listing

1. Sabse Bada Rupaiyya: Mehmood, Chetan, Saira Hussain, TrickBaby – 4:09
2. Say Na Say Na: Aneela Mirza, Robert Uhlmann, Arash – 3:16
3. Right Here Right Now: Abhishek Bachchan, Sunidhi Chauhan – 3:02
4. 9 Parts of Desire: TrickBaby (Hussain, Ager) – 3:48
5. The Gateway Theme: Sameeruddin – 2:47
6. Boro Boro: Robert Uhlmann, Arash – 3:06
7. Do Aur Do Paanch: Sameeruddin – 4:29
8. Indi-Yarn: TrickBaby (Hussain, Ager) – 3:58
9. Neela: TrickBaby (Hussain, Ager) – 3:06
10. Parde Ke Peechhe: Jaideep Sahni, TrickBaby (Hussain, Ager) – 3:37
11. Come Fishing (Bluffmaster Theme): Sameeruddin – 2:42
12. Right Here Right Now (Hip Hop Mix): Abhishek Bachchan, Sunidhi Chauhan – 3:43
13. Tadbeer Se Bigdi Hui Taqdeer (Destiny Mix): Geeta Dutt – 3:26

Reception

Bluffmaster received mixed to positive response from critics. Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama rated the film 1.5/5 and added that the film was disappointing. At the box office, the film had an below average opening due to the poor word-of-mouth, however, managed to pick up and recover throughout its theatrical run. The film turned out to be a moderate success at the box office, earning the verdict "average" by Boxofficeindia.com.

References

External links

• Bluff Master on IMDb