Aks (2001 film)


Aks is an Indian 2001 Hindi-language supernatural action thriller film directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, and starring Amitabh Bachchan, Raveena Tandon, and Manoj Bajpayee in leading roles. The music was composed by Ranjit Ranjan. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics and being a box office flop, it won three awards at the 47th Filmfare Awards: Best Actor — Critics, Special Award Performance, and Best Sound Design. Bachchan and Bajpayee were nominated for the Best Actor and Best Villain at the same ceremony as well.

Plot synopsis

Aks is a supernatural thriller centering on two characters― a cop named Manu Verma and a shadowy killer namely Raghavan.
Raghavan is caught. As he is about to be executed by hanging, his spirit goes into Manu's body and starts to manipulate the cop into performing acts that Raghavan wanted to perform. But he couldn't save himself. He goes to another town but is not able to find peace.
Eventually, Raghavan's spirit leaves Manu's body. Everything seems to be normal. Manu & his family go on vacation. Unfortunately, Raghavan's spirit is still alive to conquer Manu's friend's body.

Cast

Aks is the directorial debut of Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. Amitabh Bachchan sported a French beard to portray his character.

Music

The film score was composed by Ranjit Barot while the songs were composed by Anu Malik. Lyrics for the songs were penned by Gulzar. Sunder of Planet Bollywood praised the album for being experimental and creative in nature and gave it a rating of 9 out of 10. Sukanya Verma of Rediff appreciated the album saying that Aks is a "captivating album with funky, experimental, new age music".

Reception

The Hindu praised the cinematography and music of the film along with the acting performances of all actors, specially Amitabh Bachchan. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama praised the visuals and music of the film but criticized the film for being too complicated and slow. Taran gave the film a rating of 2 out of 5.

Awards and Nominations

CeremonyCategoryRecipientResult
47th Filmfare AwardsBest ActorAmitabh Bachchan
47th Filmfare AwardsBest Actor Amitabh Bachchanrowspan="4"
47th Filmfare AwardsSpecial AwardRaveena Tandon-
47th Filmfare AwardsBest Sound DesignRanjit Ranjan-
47th Filmfare AwardsBest Background ScoreRanjit Barot-
47th Filmfare AwardsBest Actor in a Negative RoleManoj Bajpayee