Bunty Aur Babli (Hindi: बंटी और बब्ली, Urdu: بنٹی اور ببلی, translation: Bunty and Babli), released in 2005, is an Indian Bollywood film directed by Shaad Ali and starring Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, and Rani Mukerji. It was the first film to feature both Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek Bachchan, and featured guest appearances by Aishwarya Rai and Tania Zaetta. It was one of the biggest hits of the year.

The plot, although it draws on the idea of two rather lovable crooks (much on the same lines as the 1967 Hollywood film Bonnie and Clyde starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway), does not contain much violence. In fact each of the adventures of Bunty and Babli are thoroughly Indianised, like the fake selling of the Taj Mahal.

Synopsis

Rakesh Trivedi (Abhishek Bachchan) comes from a small village. His father is a ticket collector on the train, and wants him to get into a similar occupation as well. However, Rakesh has big dreams; he is forever coming up with new business plans and is convinced he will make it big one day. He adamantly refuses any notion that he will one day work in a 9-to-5 environment.

Vimmi Saluja (Rani Mukerji) is the daughter of a Punjabi family in another small village; she spends her hours watching films and studying supermodels, and dreams of becoming Miss India one day.

One day Vimmi's parents tell her they have arranged her marriage to a young man with a decent job. At the same time Rakesh's father gives him an ultimatum – go to the interview for the job his father has arranged for him, or get out of the house.

Rakesh and Vimmi both pack their bags in their respective homes and sneak out in the dark of the night. They bump into each other at a train station, and become friends after realizing their stories are similar. Both try to achieve their dreams: Vimmi tries to enter herself in the Miss India contest but gets thrown out after an argument, and Rakesh tries to sell his ideas for an investment scheme, but a businessman turns him away. They support and encourage each other. But after finding out that the businessman who Rakesh had approached has used his idea to make money for himself, they con him and take money they believe is rightly theirs.

They realise how easy it was to con some people, and they decide to be do some more scams in order to raise money to make it in Bombay.

Unfortunately for India, they find the lifestyle too exciting to give up. Adopting the fake names of 'Bunty' and 'Babli', they successfully pull off scam after scam, looting and conning rich people dressed as local guides, religious priests, health inspectors, business partner,s etc. Their flamboyant antics make them famous in newspapers nationwide. Soon their friendship leads to romance and they decide to continue scamming the rich as husband and wife.

Little do Rakesh and Vimmi know that ACP Dashrath Singh (Amitabh Bachchan) is catching up with their scams and pranks, getting closer each time. He relentlessly pursues them across India in the hopes of putting them behind bars. To complicate matters, Rakesh and Vimmi have a child, and after a very close call eluding Dashrath they decide to quit conning for their child's sake. Ironically, this decision leads to their capture by Dashrath. While in custody, their heartfelt confessions and conversation soften the detective's heart and he lets them go, certain he has destroyed Bunty and Babli's career as criminals.

Years later, Dashrath rescues them from their mundane and domestic lives to work for the nation thwarting the activities of other scammers.

Music

The music of Bunty Aur Babli was written by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and lyrics were provided by Gulzar. There are total number of six songs in the film.

1. "Dhadak Dhadak" - Udit Narayan, Sunidhi Chauhan, Nihira Joshi
2. "Chup Chup Ke" - Sonu Nigam, Mahalaxmi Iyer
3. "Nach Baliye" - Shankar Mahadevan, Somya Raoh, Loy Mendonsa
4. "Bunty Aur Babli" - Sukhwinder Singh, Jaspinder Narula, Shankar Mahadevan, Siddharth Mahadevan
5. "BnB" - Blaaze, Shankar Mahadevan, Loy Mendonsa
6. "Kajra Re" - Alisha Chinai, Shankar Mahadevan, Javed Ali

Trivia

• Earlier Hrithik Roshan and Vivek Oberoi were offered the lead role but both of them declined the lead role claiming date problems.

Awards

The film received seven nominations at the Filmfare Awards, winning three altogether. It won the awards in the female playback, music director and lyricist categories.

• Best Movie - Aditya Chopra
• Best Actor - Abhishek Bachchan
• Best Actress - Rani Mukerji
• Best Supporting Actor - Amitabh Bachchan
• Best Music Director - Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy WON
• Best Female Playback - Alisha Chinai for "Kajra Re" WON
• Best Lyricist - Gulzar WON
• Star Screen Award Jodi No. 1 - Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherji WON

References

External links

• More about: Bunty-Aur-Babli
• Bunty Aur Babli Music Tracks