Ready (2011 film)

Plot

Ready starts with ready-witted Prem (Salman Khan) helping his childhood friend Khushi (Zarine Khan) to elope with Raju (Ajay Devgn). Khushi's intended bridegroom Gaurav (Arbaaz Khan) reveals that he also has a girlfriend, Kiran (Kangana Ranaut), whom he wants to marry. The elopement angers Khushi's father, Mr. Pathak (Mithilesh Chaturvedi) and Prem's family, the Kapoors. Prem manages to pacify his family members.

The Kapoors decide to get Prem engaged to Pooja. Prem is sent to receive Pooja at the airport; however, he deliberately goes to the wrong terminal to avoid meeting her. A young woman named Sanjana (Asin), who has just run away from her own wedding, overhears Prem telling his uncle about ditching Pooja. Since nobody from Prem's family has ever seen Pooja, Sanjana pretends to be Prem's intended fiancée. Sanjana, posing as Pooja, goes to stay with the Kapoors and wins the hearts of the entire family, except Prem, who gets irritated with her.

Meanwhile, Sanjana's maternal uncles, Amar Choudhary (Akhilendra Mishra) and Suraj Choudhary (Sharat Saxena), who are rivals, try to search for her. Each uncle wants Sanjana to marry his respective brother-in-law to inherit her wealth. Sanjana and Prem escape from Suraj Chaudhary's goons by taking a lift in the car of Mr. Lehri (Sudesh Lehri). Prem outwits the goons and sends Suraj's son Aryan into a coma while escaping. Suraj Choudhary takes the help of Mr. Lehri to get to know who ran away with Sanjana.

By then, Prem finds out Sanjana's true identity, and she tells him about her uncles trying to get her married. Prem and Sanjana fall in love and decide to marry. However, her uncle Suraj Chaudhary takes her away. Then the Kapoors come to know about her true identity; they still want her as Prem's wife. Prem assures Sanjana that she should stay with her uncle, and he will find a way to marry her as well as reunite her whole family.

Prem pretends to be the nephew of CA Balidaan Bhardwaaj a.k.a. Bali (Paresh Rawal), a chartered accountant who serves Sanjana's uncles. Prem convinces Suraj and Amar Chaudhary not to get either of their brothers-in-law married to Sanjana. Instead, he suggests the daughters of America's billionaires K.K. and B.K. Modi as suitable brides for the two brothers-in-law. What the Choudharies do not know is that K.K. and B.K. Modi are actually Prem's dad and uncle in disguise. Prem gets the rest of his family to play characters to trick Sanjana's family into letting her marry him. He also manages to change the Chaudhary family's negative attitudes.

But on the wedding day, Aryan recovers from his coma, and reveals the truth about Prem. A physical fight follows, in which Prem gets the upper hand of Sanjana's uncles and their men. He then explains to Amar and Suraj how Sanjana's late mother wanted them to unite and get their niece married. The Chaudharies realise their mistake and are deeply apologetic for their behaviour. In the end, Prem and Sanjana get married and their wedding picture is taken with the Kapoors and Chaudharies, a.k.a. the 'Chapoors'. In the end, a spinoff is placed for a sequel in the future as the third brother of the Chauderies returns.

Cast

Production

The film was originally to be shot in Mauritius. However, on the request of Salman Khan, the location was changed to Sri Lanka. Khan described his decision to choose Sri Lanka as its proximity to India and its suitable landscape for Indian productions.

Shooting started on 20 June 2010 in Colombo. The first schedule of shooting lasted for over 27 days at locations in Colombo and the neighbouring Bentota, during which approximately 40% of the filming was completed.

The second schedule of shooting was slated to start in October 2010 but was delayed due to eye problems faced by Salman Khan. The lead actor requested Anees Bazmee to delay the shoot until his condition improved. Shooting started again in Mumbai from 3 November 2010. Portions of Ready were shot at Film City in Mumbai and Cherish Studios at Madh Island in the north of Mumbai. During filming, media reports emerged that Asin had shot an intimate scene, though the reports were later denied by the actress.

The final schedule of shooting started in February 2011 in Bangkok. According to reports, actors Ajay Devgan, Sanjay Dutt and Kangana Ranaut, who were shooting in Bangkok for David Dhawan's film, Rascals were called by Salman Khan to become part of the movie. The trio shot for a day doing cameo appearances. Arbaaz Khan and Zarine Khan were also confirmed to have shot for small cameos in the film. The final schedule of shooting was completed in March 2011. Two songs from Ready, "Character Dheela" and "Dhinka Chika", which were filmed in Bangkok were re-shot in Mumbai's Film City studios. According to Producer Bhushan Kumar, "the whole [production] team felt that the visuals didn't suit the song." The song "Character Dheela", which features Salman Khan and Zarine Khan (in a cameo appearance) is a tribute to veteran actors Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dharmendra.

Release

Ready’s release date was first set as 27 May but was later pushed back to 3 June. Advance bookings were opened on 29 May (five days before release) in several multiplexes. It became the first Indian film to release on at least 1000 UFO digital prints and almost 1900 prints in all. The advance at single screens matched that of Dabangg and even bettered it at places. The world premiére took place at Grand Cineplex, Dubai on 1 June 2011.

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Nikhat Kazmi of the Times of India gave it three stars out of five saying, "The film is an unabashed ode to Salman Khan, the entertainer rather than the actor. And yes, it works at that level." Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama awarded the movie four out of five saying, "On the whole, Ready is strictly for the masses and for those who relish typically formulaic masala entertainers. The film prides itself with super music ['Character Dheela' and 'Dhinka Chika'], gags and gimmicks aplenty and of course, Salman Khan, the beloved of the masses and the mainstay of this film." Filmfare also awarded four stars out of five, while commenting, "When it comes to a Salman Khan or a Rajnikant film, their performance is not important. It’s the audience performance that counts." Komal Nahta of Koimoi.com gave it a rating of three and a half stars and stated, "Ready will score at the box-office, thanks to a great start, super-hit music, Salman Khan and entertainment in a good dose."

Anupama Chopra of NDTV Movies awarded two stars while commenting, "Thankfully, Ready isn’t in the same soul-sucking category as director Anees Bazmee’s last two movies: Thank You and No Problem. But it still falls very much into his special brand of brain-dead, anything-for-a-laugh comedy." Raja Sen of Rediff.com awarded the film one and a half stars saying, "Ready doesn't even try to make sense and therefore falls flat.....only it's more extortionate than value for money." Sonia Chopra of Sify awarded two and a half stars while commenting, "The film is unabashedly Salman-centric. He’s doing it all: the wise-cracks, gregarious dancing, beating the bad guys, and romancing the girl. All this with his characteristic drawl and swagger." Kunal Guha of Yahoo! Movies gave the movie one star and stated, "...the movie refuses to end, as unnecessary confusions and complications pile up and you wonder if there's enough reel left to clear it all up." Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN awarded the movie one and a half stars out of five, commenting "'Ready' is strictly for die-hard Salman Khan fans (are there any other kind?) who're willing to forgive the fact that this tasteless, senseless film has no plot to speak of, yet lazily unfolds over two hours and thirty minutes... Salman Khan deserves better than this." Shubhra Gupta from The Indian Express gave the film one star and said "What really kills this film is that its nonsense is neither inventive nor high energy."

Khaleej Times awarded the film three stars commenting, "Bazmi’s script, a shoot off of a Telugu hit, accommodates more characters than Goa during the tourist season. Every character is over-dressed and over-the-top." Mayank Shekhar of Hindustan Times gave two stars stating, "Salman's re-grounded masala (Wanted, Dabanng) is still novel for the time being. He walks into Gaiety to briefly say hi to his audiences... It's a pop-cultural experience all right, and fully worth it." Shubha Shetty-Saha of Mid Day rated it with two and a half stars saying, "The best thing about the movie, of course is Salman Khan. His fans will not be disappointed and yes, they will get to see him topless in the climax." Shalini Saksena of The Pioneer gave the film six out of ten saying, "Believe it or not but Salman Khan is on a roll. After the success of films like Wanted and Dabangg, he is ready with Ready which has his stamp all over it... Though there is nothing spectacular about the storyline, it manages to make you laugh." Preeti Arora from Rediff gave a score of two out of five and said "Ready isn't a tribute to Salman Khan. It's a vehicle which showcases the 'Best of Salman' one has seen over the last twenty years. It entertains in bits."

India

In India, Ready opened to an overwhelming response at the box office and packed cinema halls with single screens reporting nearly 95%–100% occupancy, while multiplexes reported 60% to 100% occupancy, depending on session times. The film collected ₹130 million (US$2.0 million) nett on its first day of business, thus becoming the second highest opening-day grosser across India after Dabangg. On its second day of business, it went on to collect ₹123.7 million (US$1.9 million), therefore taking the two days nett total to ₹253.7 million (US$4.0 million). The opening weekend collections of the film have been around ₹422.5 million (US$6.6 million) nett, making it the second highest opening weekend ever as well as the biggest non-holiday weekend ever. It showed steady collections on Monday with more than ₹70 million (US$1.1 million) nett, and Tuesday with around ₹65 million (US$1.0 million) nett, taking the first week nett to ₹695.0 million (US$11 million) nett. The film collected ₹200 million (US$3.1 million) nett over its second weekend, taking the ten-day total revenue to ₹897.5 million (US$14 million) nett. In the second week, the film collected ₹322.5 million (US$5.0 million), taking the two-week total to ₹1,015.0 million (US$16 million). Ready thus became the fifth in Bollywood history to collect more than ₹ 1 billion in the domestic market. During the third week, the film fetched a further ₹ 185.5 million bringing the three-week total to ₹1,180.5 million (US$18 million). Ready collected ₹100.3 million (US$1.6 million) nett in its fourth week, taking the nett collections to ₹1,286.3 million (US$20 million). In its fifth week, the film collected around ₹19.6 million (US$310,000), taking the nett collections to ₹1,305.9 million (US$20 million).

The film grossed ₹1.83 billion (US$29 million) worldwide and managed an all-India distributor share of ₹645.8 million (US$10 million), the third highest ever at the time of its release. Box Office India declared it to be a 'Blockbuster'.Ready held the record for the eighth highest grossing Bollywood film ever made domestically after its theatrical run.

Overseas

In the overseas markets, the film went on to collect ₹80 million (US$1.2 million) from US, UK, UAE and other foreign markets over the opening weekend. It did particularly well in the United Arab Emirates grossing $1,200,000 at the end of its second weekend. In the United Kingdom, Ready grossed £495,000 while in North America, it grossed $780,000 at the end of its second weekend. The overall business from all overseas markets reached ₹163.9 million (US$2.6 million) in ten days. At the end of its fourth week, it collected around ₹233.5 million (US$3.6 million) from all overseas markets.

Theatrical rights

The theatrical rights of Ready were sold to Ponty Chaddha for ₹250 million (US$3.9 million).

Awards and nominations

Soundtrack

All songs of Ready, except one are composed by Pritam while the lyrics are penned by Amitabh Bhattacharya, Ashish Pandit, Neelesh Misra and Kumaar. It was launched on 25 April 2011 at Filmcity, Goregoan, under the banner of T-Series. The album contains four original tracks and four remixes. The item song "Ringa Ringa" from the Telugu movie Arya 2 was tweaked and composed for the film by its original composer, Devi Sri Prasad. The song underwent changes to suit the nativity of North India, an example being the change of "Ringa Ringa" to "Dhinka Chika". Composer Anu Malik alleged that the song "Character Dheela" is an unauthorised copy of his "Mohabbat Naam Hai" from the 2001 film Ajnabee. He told the media that he will likely file a suit against Pritam for plagiarism. The songwriter Turkish Mohammed Azam filed a plagiarism suit against Pritam, claiming the lyrics for "Character Dheela" were copied from a song he wrote in 2007. The Bombay High Court dismissed the case, ruling that since Pritam is not the lyricist he could not be held liable.

The film score is composed by Sandeep Shirodkar.

Reception

Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama rated the album favourably, awarding it four stars out of five, stating "with only four songs in the album, one longs to lay hands on a lot more. Nonetheless, from what is made e4hqa4w5tgq available, there are good enough reasons to celebrate with "Dhinka Chika" and "Character Dheela" all set to be not just huge hits musically but also turn out to be massive crowd pullers. On the other hand, 'Meri Ada Bhi' ends up adding good variety to the album with 'Humko Pyaar Hua' carrying a potential to gather steam once the film releases. Sukanya Verma of Rediff while giving it two and a half stars out of five saying "Ready isn't a song-heavy album despite a ditzy remixed counterpart for each. Nor is it a game changer. Still, it's got at least two potential mass favourites, complementing its leading man's stylish, crowd-pleasing personality, to offer. And that ought to be good enough for Ready to hit steady and go." Shivesh Kumar of IndiaWeekly awarded the album 4 out of 5 stars. Rahul Gangwani of Filmfare gave it 4 out of 5 stars quoting "Rarely do we come across music albums which completely personify the lead actor’s personality. Ready does that."

Character map of remakes