Director Ali Abbas Zafar's 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan' starring Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Disha Patani, Manushi Chhillar, Alaya F and south film super star Prithviraj Sukumaran is an out and out action film with a comic streak. This was of course expected.
The original 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan', a Diwali 1998 release, was directed by David Dhawan and starred Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda. The plot: two policemen are charged with crimes they never committed. It was a case of mistaken identities as the policemen and criminals in that film looked identical (double roles for both Senior Bachchan and David Dhawan's favourite lead actor, obviously). The 2024 version, while it gives a hat-tip to the original, is its own film.
Prithviraj Sukumar, a veteran of Malayalam cinema, is essaying the role of the villain, Mr X, in this film. He brings it a gravitas that makes it easier to see the action Firoz 'Freddy' (Akshay Kumar) and Rakesh aka Rocky (Tiger Shroff) unleash as proportional and necessary.
With Akshay Kumar and Prithviraj Sukumaran in the cast, the expectation was that the film would rise above the run-of-the-mill action drama. To be fair, BMCM tries - and tries quite hard. Ironically, this translates as a propensity for too much dialogue in the film, a repeated search and set-up for something pithy to say. And this is what lets the film down. Add to that the explosive sound that outdoes the explosive action, and you could have a recipe for a headache.
Thankfully, Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff's sheer muscularity is given both purpose and platform in the film. Ronit Roy has a smaller but significant role as Col Adil Shekhar Azad. A seasoned actor, Roy remakes what has now become a stock character of the armyman in Hindi cinema.
Among the women cast in the film, Manushi Chhillar plays Captain Misha and Alaya F is an IT specialist with a key role to play in the fight of good against evil. Sonakshi Sinha makes a special appearance in the film, as Priya.
The action in 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan' (2024) goes international, with filming locations spread across continents - London, Scotland, Luton, Abu Dhabi, Jordan and of course, Mumbai - provide the scenic backgrounds for explosive action and scintillating dance sequences in the film.
There have been comparisons - mostly unfavourable - to iconic Hollywood films like 'Mission Impossible' and 'Fast and Furious'. But these comparisons ignore both context and commercials.
This is not Ali Abbas Zafar's first rodeo as the director of a mega-starrer, big-budget action film, of course. He's given Bollywood successful films like Sultan (2016), Tiger Zinda Hai (2017) and Bharat (2019) - all starring Salman Khan.
'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan' (2024) is the first time Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff are being seen together on the big screen. The stars reported commanded around Rs 80 crore and Rs40-45 crore, respectively, out of the film's total budget of around Rs 350 crore.
Advance bookings suggest that 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan' (BMCM) may pull ahead of Ajay Devgn starrer 'Maidaan' which is also releasing on Eid 2024. BMCM had crossed Rs 4.8 crore in advance booking. 'Maidaan', a sports biopic, opened to good reviews on April 10.
Indeed, the makers of 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan' advanced the release of the film by a day (it was originally slated for an April 12 release), to keep their promise of releasing on Eid 2024. It's also a decision that makes business sense, since Thursday is a bank holiday in India and the additional day could put even more wind in BMCM's sails.
On opening day, there are nearly 6,000 shows (5,928 to be exact) of BMCM, and over 1.8 lakh tickets sold in advance booking. To be sure, action films have got a lot of love from audiences lately - Atlee and Shah Rukh Khan's Jawan, and another Tiger Shroff starrer War are the perfect examples. 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan' may not be the biggest release of 2024 eventually, but it has made a splash.
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