Bunty Aur Babli

Plot

Rakesh Trivedi (Abhishek Bachchan) comes from a small village. His father is a ticket collector on a 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. She dreams of becoming Miss India.

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 on the job interview he has arranged or get out of the house.

Rakesh and Vimmi pack their bags and sneak out in the dark of the night. They bump into each other at a train station and become friends after realising their stories are similar. They support and encourage each other to achieve their dreams: Vimmi tries to enter the Miss India contest but gets thrown out after an argument. Rakesh tries to sell his ideas for an investment scheme, but a businessman turns him away. In fact, a man he had met at a restaurant stole ideas from Rakesh's presentation file and, when he enters the office, the interviewer states someone before him came in with the same idea. After finding out that the businessman who Rakesh approached has used his idea to make money, he and Vimmi con him and take the money that they believe is rightfully theirs.

Once they realise how easy it is to con people, they decide to run some more cons to raise money to make it to Bombay.

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

Little do Rakesh and Vimmi know that JCP Dashrath Singh (Amitabh Bachchan) is catching up with their cons and pranks, getting closer each day. 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. This decision leads to their capture by Dashrath. While in custody, their heartfelt confessions and conversation soften the policeman's heart and he lets them go, certain he has destroyed Bunty and Babli's career as criminals.

Three years later, Dashrath rescues them from their mundane domestic lives by offering them to work for the nation thwarting the activities of other scammers.

Cast

Reception

The film was a critical and commercial success becoming one of the biggest hits of 2005. Designer Aki Narula dressed Rani Mukerji a new look Patiala salwars and kurtis, which became quite popular.

Soundtrack

A. R. Rahman was initially approached to compose the film's music, but he declined due to his busy schedule. The soundtrack includes six tracks composed by the musical trio Shankar Ehsaan Loy and was released on 13 April 2005 by Yash Raj Music. The lead actors Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukerji danced to the tunes of the album. The lyrics were penned by Gulzar and Blaaze. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 19,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's second highest-selling.

Reception

The music of Bunty Aur Babli received favourable reviews from almost all critics. Sukanya Verma of Rediff, said in her review, "On the whole, the music of Bunty Aur Babli, with its over the top, uninhibited, rustic and teasing spices, makes for one helluva musical masala." Planet Bollywood's review concluded, "Overall, Shakhar-Ehsaan-Loy do an excellent job of getting different singers for each track, trying to infuse different beats together and creating an album worth buying. It’ll take a few listens to pick your favourites, but its fresh and an above average album to own. Enjoy!" "Bunty Aur Babli does not contain your routine Yash Chopra genre of music that are choreographed around the meadows and Swiss alps. They are more of situational rhythmic tracks that take a story forward" Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama said in his review. The Glamsham was full of praise for the lyrics by Gulzar, "Throughout this zany zingy and zippy album the 70-year-old Gulzar imbues a youthfulness that comes from being young at heart. Indeed that's the quality, which flows freely out of this album. You can't miss its zest for life… or its lunge towards a luscious nirvana obtained from looking at life through rose-tinted glasses." Avijit Ghosh wrote in The Telegraph, "In essence, Bunty Aur Babli is an on-the-road flick about a boy and girl in search of fun and freedom rather than a story of two cons. To capture the splintered yearnings of smalltown India which watches Aastha channel in the morning and FTV at night is a difficult and ambitious task. But like his protagonists, director Shaad Ali Sahgal pulls it off. Bravely. Almost." 10

Legacy

"Kajra Re" was voted as the best of 2005 overwhelmingly by listeners of three radio stations catering for South African Indians.

Hidekaz Himaruya, the manga artist who created Hetalia, embedded the video of "Dhadak Dhadak" on his blog around Christmas time, which caused a sudden influx of Himaruya fans commenting on the video.

Influence of movie

The glorification of crime in the movie inspired many people to emulate the glamorous couple, resulting in a trend of real-life Buntys and Bablis. One such case is that of Shushant and Kajal, a married couple who conned two businesses out of money using a photo frame. "The Darjeeling-based couple did a 'Bunty Aur Babli' on their victims, and were caught and arrested." Another case of the movie's influence on crime is that of another married couple, Suresh and Rekha. Their crimes also mirrored those committed in the movie "Bunty Aur Babli", and they admitted to committing the crimes they were accused of in a "Bunty Aur Babli" style. Yet another couple, a sister and brother-in-law, were caught for crimes that mirrored those committed in the movie. Shahnaaz Bano and Sajid Ahmed were caught smuggling and shoplifting diamonds and other expensive merchandise out of stores, using disguises.