Wanted (2009 film)

Facts

Plot

Radhe (Salman Khan), a gangster with a mysterious past, kills others for money. He meets Jhanvi (Ayesha Takia) while she's doing fitness training and instantly falls in love with her. Even though their first meeting leads Jhanvi to think negatively about Radhe, she later begins to reciprocate his feelings. However, Talpade (Mahesh Manjrekar), a selfish and perverted Inspector, lusts after Jhanvi and tells her to marry him with the threat that he would rape Jhanvi's mother (Prateeksha Lonkar) if she decides to go against his decision. Talpade is tipped off about Radhe's existence by Jhanvi's landlord. Talpades tries to threaten Radhe but ends up getting frightened of Radhe after getting outsmarted by Radhe .

Gani Bhai (Prakash Raj), an international don, arrives in India for an assassination and hires Radhe. Gani Bhai operates his gang from outside of India. Golden Bhai(Aseem Merchant) the gang leader of Gani Bhai. Two gangs, Datta Pawle's (Raju Mavani) and Gani Bhai's, fight for the biggest part of Mumbai. Due to this, Commissioner Ashraf Khan (Govind Namdeo) decides to make Mumbai free of crime. He arrests Gani Bhai, who makes various attempts to contact Radhe, however, in vain. Ashraf Khan is blackmailed to release Gani Bhai, after his men release an explicit video of his daughter online after kidnapping her. Under the influence of drugs, his daughter reveals a mission that involves an IPS officer, Rajveer Singh Shekhawat, murdering Gani Bhai. Since Rajveer Shekhawat's identity is difficult to decipher, Gani Bhai holds his father, Shrikant Shekhawat (Vinod Khanna), captive. Shrikant proudly tells him about his son, without revealing his true identity. Gani Bhai mistakes Ajay (Inder Kumar), Radhe's adopted brother, for Rajveer Shekhawat and kills him. Gani Bhai realises his mistake and pressures Shrikant to reveal Rajveer's identity. Shrikant is murdered by Gani Bhai after he refuses to tell him. His son, Rajveer Shekhawat, who is revealed to be Radhe, arrives at the place of his father's death. Radhe is infuriated and decides to avenge the deaths of his father and brother. Through threatening Talpade, he locates Gani Bhai. After an intense combat, Radhe finally manages to kill Gani Bhai and his co-conspirator Talpade.

Cast

Production

 Director Prabhu Deva was also the director of the previous Tamil remake, Pokkiri. Asin Thottumkal was first approached for the role of Jhanvi, but due to other commitments she rejected the offer. Consequently, the role went to Ayesha Takia. Salman Khan became very excited after hearing the script and agreed to the role.

Soundtrack

The music of the film is given by Sajid Wajid. The music received mixed to negative reviews from critics, with a few songs seeing a positive response. Bollywood Hungama gave it an overall rating of 2.5/5. "Jalwa" and "Love Me Love Me" were declared the most successful tracks and topped the charts with its release.

Critical reception

Nikhat Kazmi from The Times of India gave it 4 out of 5, so did Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama, who added "Wanted will run only on Salman's star power." Raja Sen from Rediff gave a negative rating of 2/5 and said "Khan might be having fun, but the fact a film like Wanted underscores is how badly Bollywood needs a breed of younger leading men. And how the existing lot need roles that fit." Indicine rated it 3/5, calling it "watchable for Salman Khan" and the "best out and out action flick of Bollywood" Rotten Tomatoes rated 3.7/5

Awards

2010 Filmfare Awards

2010 IIFA Awards

Stardust Awards

Star Screen Awards

Remakes

The original Telugu film Pokiri, directed by Puri Jagannadh, was remade in several other languages and still found success in the respective regional cinemas. Pokkiri is the first remake. The second one was Wanted, the Hindi version in 2009. Both Pokkiri and Wanted were directed by Prabhu Deva. Prakash Raj reprises his role as the villain in both the remakes. After that, a Kannada version, Porki, directed by M. D. Sridhar, was released on 14 January 2010. Below is an actor map of the lead actors in the story of Pokiri and its remakes.

Sequel

Film producer Boney Kapoor announced his ideas to make Wanted 2 during 2011. Salman Khan had also requested director Prabhu Deva to create a script. In 2012, Kapoor reported that he has thought of casting Khan opposite Asin for the lead role, and that the project is under the title of Most Wanted. However, Prabhu Deva announced that he is unsure about the sequel, and if it is being made, it would happen in the near future.