Ladies vs Ricky Bahl

Ladies vs Ricky Bahl
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Maneesh Sharma
Produced by	Aditya Chopra
Written by	Habib Faisal (Dialogue)
Screenplay by	Devika Bhagat Additional Screenplay: Habib Faisal
Story by	Aditya Chopra
Starring	Ranveer Singh Anushka Sharma Parineeti Chopra Dipannita Sharma Aditi Sharma
Music by	Salim-Sulaiman
Cinematography	Aseem Mishra Ravi K. Chandran
Edited by	Namrata Rao[1]
Distributed by	Yash Raj Films
Release date	9 December 2011 (2011-12-09)
Running time	140 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹200 million (US$3.1 million)[2]
Box office	100 CRORES

Ladies vs Ricky Bahl is a 2011 Indian romantic comedy film directed by Maneesh Sharma and produced by Aditya Chopra of Yash Raj Films. It stars Ranveer Singh opposite Anushka Sharma in lead roles along with Dipannita Sharma, Aditi Sharma and debutant Parineeti Chopra. Ranveer plays a conman named Ricky Bahl who cons women until three of these women unite to con him back. The story was inspired by Jeffrey Archer's novel Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less and the Hollywood comedy John Tucker Must Die. It was released on 9 December 2011 to a mixed response from critics but eventually ended up being a commercial success, earning ₹84 crores gross from the box office on a budget of ₹20 crores.^[3]

Plot

Story 1: Delhi

Dimple Chaddha (Parineeti Chopra) is a spoilt brat since her father Suresh Chaddha ('Shireesh Sharma') is the creator of "Chaddha Industries", a huge finance company in Delhi. Dimple is used to meeting her boyfriend, Sunny Singh (Ranveer Singh) secretly. The two party all night, and one day, eventually Dimple passes out of alcohol. Sunny then drops her home, and wanders off. He breaks into a bungalow nearby and starts to throw stones on windows and consequently chased by the residents. Later he explains to Dimple that the bungalow actually belongs to his father, who died shortly before, and was encroached by tenants, but he gets taxed. Dimple convinces Suresh to help him but Suresh tries to make profit out of it by buying the property at less valuation. Her father claims later as if he had fooled Sunny big time, though he is later arrested when the police claims that the family living there had a stay order, and that he entered there with no permission. Dimple realizes she has been conned, and starts to cry out loud. Then, Sunny is spotted in an airport leaving for Mumbai, with the Rs.20 lakhs which he receives as an advance from Dimple's father.

Story 2: Mumbai

Raina Parulekar ('Dipannita Sharma') is a businesswoman in Mumbai who is paranoid for everything. She has been ordered by her boss to deliver an M.F. Hussain painting, which is sold out everywhere. She meets Deven 'Idiot' Shah (Ranveer Singh), who presumably leads an art gallery that comprises the painting. Raina fails to identify the fake painting and she contacts Deven for the M.F. Hussain over the phone, and he acts to be the owner of the painting and sells it to Raina. She gives Rs. 70 lakhs to Deven but later her boss realizes its a fake, and fires her. She then reveals to the media about a guy named Deven 'Idiot' Shah, who conned her for a fake Hussain painting. Dimple sees the news on TV, and suspects that maybe Deven Shah could be Sunny.

Story 3: Lucknow

A widow named Saira Rashid ('Aditi Sharma') explains her story of being conned by a person named Iqbal Khan (Ranveer Singh) into giving away lakhs through her father and duping his business.

Story 4: Goa and Beyond

Raina calls over Dimple and Saira to her town, where they make a plan to find and con the number one conman who they name "Bloody Kameena" or "BK".

To trace BK they uses his ringtone clue to find his name as Diego Vaz from Goa. They hire a sales woman, Ishika Desai ('Anushka Sharma') to act as a millionaire, Ishika Patel, who wants to open a restaurant in India with the help of the Bloody Kameena, so that if he invested money in the restaurant, they could sneakly steal the money and escape, thus ruining the BK. The four divas set out to Goa, and start their trap. The BK slowly starts falling into it,but he never realizes it. Ishika says she can't con him anymore because they love each other, and the BK has no clue of it. Dimple begins to argue loudly with her, and is overheared by Diego Vaz (Ranveer Singh) who was waiting outside the door for Ishika.

He is heartbroken, and realizes the pain he gave to everyone when he conned them. But still out of ego-driven vengeance, he now makes a plan to con the four girls. He himself originally purchases a swamp worth Rs. 3 lakh and as a con blows its cost to 90 lakhs. All girls blame Ishika for cheating and take their anger out on her. The three now return home, only to find Diego Vaz (Ranveer Singh) sitting in their garden, with the Rs.1 crore. He explains why he came back, and that he didn't feel good about conning the girl he truly loved, and that the four girls have changed him into now becoming an honest and decent man. He returns the money he stole from them, and leaves.

The girls realize the love Ishika has for Diego and reunite them. He proposes to her but Ishika asks his real name, to which he reveals himself as "Ricky Bahl", and the story ends with a kiss, as the three girls leave.

Cast

• Ranveer Singh as Ricky Bahl and also Sunny Singh in Delhi, Deven 'Idiot' Shah in Mumbai, Iqbal Khan in Lucknow, Vikram Thapar, and Diego Vaz in Goa
• Anushka Sharma as Ishika Desai, impersonated as Ishika Patel
• Parineeti Chopra as Dimple Chaddha
• Dipannita Sharma as Raina Parulekar
• Aditi Sharma as Saira Rashid
• Shireesh Sharma as Mr. Suresh Chaddha, Dimple's father
• Avijit Dutt as Raina's boss
• Akshay Anand as Raina's colleague
• Sheena Bajaj in a cameo appearance as the nurse in the title track

Equipment

Aseem Mishra and Ravi K Chandran have used as zoom lens an Angenieux Optimo.^[4]

Reception

Release

The film was released in India on 9 December 2011. Upon release, it received mixed response from critics. Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra's cousin, Parineeti Chopra, made her acting debut in the film and most critics have praised her highly for her acting skills. Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama gave 3 out of 5 stars and said: "Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl is, at best, a decent fare, which appeals in parts. The film starts well, even ends well. It's the in between that's plain ordinary. Ideally, the film merits a two-and-a-half star rating, but that extra half star is for Ranveer and Anushka, who steal your heart with truly striking performances.^[5] Nikhat Kazmi from The Times of India gave 2.5 of 5 stars adding: "There is no humour, no earthy flavour, no tingling chemistry between the lead pair. What does work in favour of the film are its performances and its non-hysterical tenor."^[6] Komal Nahta from Koimoi gave it a 3-star as well stating: Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl is a fair entertainer. What is good about it is: The basic plotline; some con-game sequences; performances; music NDTV gave the film 3.5 stars from 5, calling it predictable and adding that the loses out on the great chemistry between the two leads. But it is still great to watch. However, he praised the performance of Ranveer Singh.^[7] So did Rajeev Masand who, in his review for IBN Live, described it as watchable but thought that it could've been so much more fun.^[8] Zee News gave it 3/5 stars, stating that "A good option to get entertained this weekend and reconnect with the BBB jodi for some laughter and foot stomping again! go watch Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl."

Unlike their last success, Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma, despite receiving good reviews from critics. Parineeti Chopra, the only one to get appreciation of the whole cast, received accolades for her bubbly performance.

Box office

Ladies vs Ricky Bahl had a biggest first day with many places recording high first day collections, but some multiplexes recording 90–100% for the first day. The collection improved well in Delhi and Punjab area throughout the day. The multiplex-dominated areas saw good to decent occupancy while single-screened areas remain on lower side. The film had a decent first day collections of ₹ 198.5 million.^[9][10] During the second day of release, it showed good improvement and collected ₹ 445 million. Collections rose once again on Sunday and it collected a whopping sum of ₹ 767.5 million which brings the 3-day total to ₹ 805 million approx.^[11] The film remained steady on Monday, with collections around ₹ 815 million nett, taking the four-day total to  million nett approx.^[12] The film also put up a decent first week collection, grossing ₹ 730 million nett.^[13][14] Overall, it did decent business at the box office and earned ₹ 840 million in full theatrical run and declared Blockbuster at the box office.^[15]

Awards

Soundtrack

The song "Jigar Da Tukda" won the most atrocious lyrics award at the Golden Kela Awards in 2012. ^[17]

Track listing

References

External links

• Official Website
• Ladies vs Ricky Bahl on IMDb