Bhagam Bhag

{{Infobox film

| name = Bhagam Bhag

| image = BhagamBhag.jpg

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = Priyadarshan

| writer = Neeraj Vora (screenplay and dialogues)

| story =

| based_on = {{based on|Mannar Mathai Speaking|Siddique–Lal}}

| producer = Sunil Shetty
Dhilin Mehta

| starring = {{Plainlist|

}}

| music = Songs:
Pritam Chakraborty
Background Score:
Salim-Sulaiman

| cinematography = Jeeva

| editing = Arun Kumar
N. Gopalakrishnan

| studio = Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision
Popcorn Entertainment

| distributor = UTV Motion Pictures
Indian Films

| released = {{Film date|df=yes|2006|12|22}}

| runtime = 159 minutes

| language = Hindi

| budget = ₹32 crore{{Cite web|url=https://boxofficeindia.com/movie.php?movieid=284 |title=Bhagam Bhag |website=boxofficeindia.com |access-date=2024-04-10}}

| gross = ₹67.82 crore

| country = India

}}

Bhagam Bhag ({{Translation|Mad rush}}) is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language comedy film directed by Priyadarshan and written by Neeraj Vora. It was produced by Sunil Shetty and Dhilin Mehta. The film stars Akshay Kumar, Govinda and Paresh Rawal as the three leads alongside Lara Dutta, Rajpal Yadav, Jackie Shroff, Arbaaz Khan, Shakti Kapoor, Manoj Joshi, Razak Khan, Sharat Saxena and Asrani. The film tells the story of a theatre group which travels to London for a show and need a heroine to complete their play, only to be entangled in a murder mystery they did not commit, as well as mistakenly becoming the enemies of a drug cartel and a street gang, in the process.

The film adapted certain subplots of the Malayalam film Mannar Mathai Speaking which itself was based on the 1958 film Vertigo.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2021-02-17 |title=Best Sequels of Malayalam Cinema, Ranked: From Kireedam To Oru CBI Diary Kurippu |url=https://www.filmcompanion.in/features/malayalam-features/best-malayalam-movies-on-netflix-amazon-prime-hotstar-sequels-ranked-drishyam-kireedam-oru-cbi-diary-kurippu-for-the-people-mohanlal/ |access-date=2021-08-02 |website=Film Companion |language=en-US}} The film was remade in Telugu as Brahmanandam Drama Company (2008).{{cite web |title=Sriramachandrulu films prod. No1 muhurat - Telugu cinema function - Sivaji, Ravi Krishna & Brahmanandam |url=http://www.idlebrain.com/news/functions/muhurat-srcfilms.html |website=idlebrain.com}}

The film was released theatrically on 22 December 2006, during Christmas holidays and received mixed reviews from critics but was a commercial success and became the 9th highest-grossing film of the year.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

Plot

Champak Chaturvedi runs a theatrical troupe in India. His two men, Bunty and Babla, are assigned to either play the role of their play's hero, or the villain. Both men end up squabbling with each other, as both want the hero's part. Champak finds out that Bunty has harassed the play's heroine, Anjali, and punishes him. The group gets a contract to stage 30 plays in Britain by Ravinder Taneja; however, on the day of the departure, Anjali opts out, leaving Champak no alternative but to travel without a heroine, hoping to recruit one while in Britain. Upon arrival in London, Champak declares that whoever brings him a heroine will be given the role of the main hero.

Babla sets about to find a suitable heroine from the Indian population. In order to find one, on the advice of Gullu, a cab driver, he goes to a garden where he is followed by Bunty, and the two agree to take the turns in the role of the hero. While there, Bunty and Babla have their suitcase accidentally switched by two men with one containing heroin, and as a result, both men end up being considered suspects by the local police, whose commissioner is J. D. Mehra. The two men who switched the suitcase are revealed to be working under Manubhai Gandhi, a builder and drug smuggler who is trying to sell drugs to his buyer, Sher Khan. He and his men immediately suspect the trio to be secret police after hearing from Sher Khan that his men had been arrested by the police, and comedy ensues whenever Gandhi and his men bump into them. Gullu takes Bunty to two goons, Guru and Hakka, who know a woman who lives in Germany, but they insist to drive there with the two along with all of their men. Not wanting to go along with this condition, the two trick all the goons into exiting the car while they escape, though Guru is still inside the car.

Bunty eventually recruits a woman named Nisha Chauhan a.k.a. "Munni" who suffers from suicidal tendencies, after she attempts to commit suicide in front of their car, with Guru falling out and breaking his leg in the process. Munni is accepted as the heroine of the play, and through the course of time, both Nisha and Bunty fall in love with each other. Guru and his men find the troupe and chase Bunty to get their revenge, but Bunty escapes, and Hakka accidentally breaks Guru's other leg instead. Nisha's husband, Vikram Chauhan, soon arrives, thanks everyone, and takes his wife back home to Liverpool. A few days later, Bunty receives a phone call from a frantic Nisha, who tells him to come over immediately. He, along with Champak and Babla, arrive there to find her body in flames.

Later, Bunty briefly sees Nisha on the streets, but no one believes him. The group ultimately decide to enact a play in which there is no need for a heroine. On the night of the play, a frightened Champak also sees Nisha in the restroom. Suddenly, Vikram bumps into the trio with a gun in his hand, and Bunty accidentally presses the trigger of the gun, killing him. They hide Vikram's body and Champak's bloodstained kurta in an AC duct to avoid any suspicion. They go on to perform the play, but Vikram's body slides down the vents and falls onto the stage. Mehra, who was present in the audience, investigates the case and finds Champak's kurta and Babla's chain on Vikram's body and has the trio arrested. While the trio is being taken, Gandhi's men throw a grenade in the police car in an attempt to kill them, compelling them to escape.

Bunty suggests that they find Nisha to prove their innocence. After breaking into her house, they find out that Nisha has booked a ticket to Mumbai under the name of Aditi Desai. They call at the number she registered for booking and find out that another girl named Sheetal, who is a friend of Nisha, has brought the ticket for her. Champak accidentally allows himself to get kidnapped by Gandhi's men, and they torture him to get the information that they suspect he knows about their drug smuggling business. Meanwhile, Guru and his men take Gullu's taxi, and won't return it until Gullu brings Bunty to them; he is then captured by his boss, the taxi's owner, who threatens he will imprison Gullu if he doesn't retrieve the taxi. Babla and Bunty follow Sheetal to a train station, where they witness her handing the ticket to Nisha. Bunty catches her and chases her to the top of a clocktower, while Babla calls Mehra about their location. Gullu witnesses this and calls Guru to take Bunty and return the taxi, and the taxi owner to take the taxi back. Gandhi also chooses the clocktower as his destination to complete his deal with Khan and asks him to come there.

Nisha reveals to Bunty and Babla that her actual name is Aditi Desai, and she was hired by Vikram Chauhan to act as her real wife, Nisha Chauhan, for sometime, and make everyone believe she had suicidal tendencies in exchange for 20 lakh and a ticket back to India, as she was currently stranded without her passport. But when her work was done, she witnessed Vikram killing her real wife to extort money from her, and tried to save Nisha but failed to do so; it was the real Nisha who got burnt and died. On the play night, Aditi had come to tell the truth to Bunty and the others, but she was seen by Vikram, who was also there and wanted to kill Aditi for being the only witness in his wife's murder. However, Mehra, in a shocking turn of events, appeared and shot him; he was already wounded when he encountered the trio. Mehra then arrives and tells his side of the story—that he killed Vikram to avenge Nisha, who he reveals was his sister; Vikram drugged her in order to gain control of her wealth inheritance.

Mehra tries to kill Aditi for helping Vikram and being the only witness in his murder, but Gandhi, Khan, and their men (with Champak as their prisoner), Guru and his men (who have kidnapped Taneja as they believe he is Bunty's boss who told him to deceive them), Gullu, and the taxi owner and his men simultaneously arrive, and the convergence causes chaos. In the confusion, Gandhi, who believes everyone present is undercover police, accidentally shoots a hive of bees, who attack and chase everyone (apart from Mehra, who escapes) outside onto the clock on the top floor. A fire brigade team tries to rescue them, but the mechanical ladder malfunctions from their combined weight and begins to fall apart, sending everyone flying off the ladder and getting injured (except Aditi) as they fall and land in different places. All of them are admitted to the hospital, where Mehra visits Champak's team and Aditi, returns their passports, and surrenders himself to the police.

Cast

{{Cast listing|

Akshay Kumar as Bunty. Munni's love interest
Govinda as Babla
Paresh Rawal as Champak Chaturvedi a.k.a. "Sethji"
Lara Dutta as Aditi Desai {{a.k.a.}} "Munni". Bunty's love interest
Arbaaz Khan as Vikram Chauhan, Nisha's husband
Sharat Saxena as Fredrick
Asrani as Ravinder Taneja
Manoj Joshi as Manubhai "M. G." Gandhi
Rajpal Yadav as Gulab "Gullu" Singh Lakhan Singh Haryanewaale
Jackie Shroff as J. D. Mehra, London Police Commissioner.
Shakti Kapoor as Guru
Razak Khan as Hakka
Amita Nangia as Vaijanti
Gurleen Chopra as Nisha Mehra Chauhan (special appearance)
Tanushree Dutta as Anjali Singh (cameo appearance)
Prerna Arora as Sheetal, Aditi's friend

}}

Production

Shooting took place in Oxford, United Kingdom in July–August 2006, filming at several University of Oxford landmarks. The film borrows core plot from the Malayalam film Mannar Mathai Speaking[http://www.realbollywood.com/news/2006/12/bhagam-bhag-pay-royalty-to-malyalam-film-maker.html "Bhagam Bhag pay royalty to Malyalam film maker"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090404155928/http://www.realbollywood.com/news/2006/12/bhagam-bhag-pay-royalty-to-malyalam-film-maker.html|date=4 April 2009}}. Realbollywood.com. 13 December 2006. with certain comedy sub-plot borrowed from Nadodikattu.https://www.ottplay.com/amp/news/18-years-of-bhagam-bhag-duo-of-akshay-kumar-govinda-that-had-fans-in-splits/3b705f768d646.The plot twist in the climax was borrowed from the 1999 Marathi thriller Bindhaast which Priyadarshan had earlier remade in Tamil as Snegithiye and Malayalam as Raakilipattu.{{Cite web|url=https://www.livemint.com/Consumer/KYhiSTqNNAPN9bzm8JlAhP/Ten-Marathi-films-remade-in-other-languages.html|title=Ten Marathi films remade in other languages|first=Lata|last=Jha|date=11 September 2017|website=Livemint}}The climax comedy sequence was adapted from the 1963 classic It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025}}

Soundtrack

{{Infobox album

| name = Bhagam Bhag

| type = soundtrack

| artist = Pritam Chakraborty

| cover =

| alt =

| released = 18 November 2006

| recorded =

| venue =

| studio =

| genre =

| length = 60:05

| label = T-Series

| producer = Pritam Chakraborty

| prev_title = Dhoom 2

| prev_year = 2006

| next_title = Hattrick

| next_year = 2007

}}

{{Track listing

| headline =

| extra_column = Singer(s)

| total_length = 60:05

| all_writing =

| all_lyrics = Sameer

| all_music = Pritam Chakraborty

| title1 = Tere Bin

| extra1 = Kunal Ganjawala, Sunidhi Chauhan

| length1 = 5:40

| title2 = Signal

| extra2 = Remo Fernandes, Suzanne D'Mello

| length2 = 5:00

| title3 = Bhagam Bhag

| extra3 = Neeraj Shridhar

| length3 = 4:39

| title4 = Afreen

| extra4 = KK, Sunidhi Chauhan

| length4 = 6:06

| title5 = Signal

| note5 = Remix

| extra5 = Remo Fernandes, Suzanne D'Mello

| length5 = 4:56

| title6 = Tere Bin

| note6 = Remix

| extra6 = Kunal Ganjawala, Sunidhi Chauhan

| length6 = 4:44

| title7 = Afreen

| note7 = Remix

| extra7 = KK, Sunidhi Chauhan

| length7 = 4:47

| title8 = Bhagam Bhag

| note8 = Press Play Mix

| extra8 = Neeraj Shridhar

| length8 = 4:37

| title9 = Tere Bin

| note9 = Reprised

| extra9 = Kunal Ganjawala, Shreya Ghoshal

| length9 = 5:46

| title10 = Bhagam Bhag

| note10 = Ragga Mix

| extra10 = Neeraj Shridhar

| length10 = 5:01

| title11 = Chal Ud Chalein

| note11 = Run Run

| extra11 = Jojo, Suhail Kaul

| length11 = 4:42

}}

Note: the Soundtrack also contains "Aa Khushi Se Khud Kushi Kar Le", which is the Solo Version Sung by Sunidhi Chauhan, which was not used in the movie, it was Later Remade with Shaan and included in the 2007 film "Darling".

The music for "Afreen" is taken from "Heaven on Their Minds" from the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical, Jesus Christ Superstar.

Release

The film was worldwide released on 22 December 2006. The distribution rights of the movie were sold to UTV Motion Pictures. The DVD of the movie was released by T-Series Home Entertainment. The film has been made streaming available on JioCinema, Zee5, MX Player and Amazon Prime Video since 2020.

Reception

The Times of India gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and stated, "The actors try hard, but the script and the dialogues let them down. Even the situations aren't funny enough, except for a few. Case in point, watch Paresh trying to chew a grenade and Govinda asking for a bite too. Funny!"{{Citation|title=Bhagam Bhaag Movie Review |work=The Times of India|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/movie-reviews/bhagam-bhaag/movie-review/903798.cms|access-date=2021-07-09}} Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and stated, "Bhagam Bhag will be loved for its comedy in the first hour, but the whodunit in the second hour tapers the impact."{{Cite web|last=Hungama|first=Bollywood|title=Bhagam Bhag Review 3/5 {{!}} Bhagam Bhag Movie Review {{!}} Bhagam Bhag 2006 Public Review {{!}} Film Review|website=Bollywood Hungama |date=22 December 2006 |url=https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movie/bhagam-bhag/critic-review/bhagam-bhag-movie-review/|access-date=2021-07-09|language=en}}

Gullu Singh of Rediff.com gave the film 2 out of 5 stars and stated, "The real hero of the film is Kumar. He outshines everyone and has some of the best dialogues in the film. He is a treat to watch."{{Cite web|title=Bhagam Bhag: Akshay top, Govinda flop|url=https://www.rediff.com/movies/2006/dec/22bb.htm|access-date=2021-07-09|website=rediff.com}} Indu Mirani of DNA India gave the film 0.5 out of 5 stars and stated, "Ever since Priyadarshan made Hera Pheri in 2000, he has been continually repeating the formula. When he doesn't do so, as with Kyon Ki (2005), he fails miserably."{{Cite web|last=Mirani|first=Indu|date=2006-12-22|title=Review: Bhagam Bhag|url=https://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report-review-bhagam-bhag-1070669|access-date=2021-07-09|website=Daily News and Analysis|language=en}}

Sequel

In November 2024, it was reported that Akshay Kumar has acquired the rights to Bhagam Bhag from Shemaroo and is working on the development of Bhagam Bhag 2.{{Cite web |date=7 November 2024 |title=Akshay Kumar to reunite with Govinda and Paresh Rawal for 'Bhagam Bhag 2': Report |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/akshay-kumar-to-reunite-with-govinda-and-paresh-rawal-for-bhagam-bhag-2-report/articleshow/115028073.cms |access-date=7 November 2024 |website=The Times of India}}{{Cite web |date=6 November 2024 |title=EXCLUSIVE: Akshay Kumar set for Bhagam Bhag again with Govinda and Paresh Rawal; Rights acquired for Part 2 |url=https://www.pinkvilla.com/entertainment/box-office/exclusive-akshay-kumar-set-for-bhagam-bhag-again-with-govinda-and-paresh-rawal-acquires-rights-for-part-2-1357046 |access-date=7 November 2024 |website=Pinkvilla}}