Dilwale (2015 film)


Dilwale is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language romantic action comedy film produced by Gauri Khan and directed by Rohit Shetty. The film is distributed by Red Chillies Entertainment. Dialogue was written by Sajid-Farhad and soundtrack composed by Pritam. It stars Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in their seventh film together; Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon also have starring roles.
The film co-features Boman Irani, Johnny Lever, Varun Sharma, Vinod Khanna, Kabir Bedi and Sanjay Mishra in brief roles. Released on 18 December 2015, it marked the last screen appearance of Khanna.
The film opened well and earned worldwide, becoming one of the highest-grossing Indian films. Dilwale is also the highest-grossing film starring Shah Rukh Khan in overseas markets. The song "Gerua" also performed well in the charts. While the film's domestic box office performance in India was below expectations, it was an overseas success, the sixth-highest-grossing Indian film overseas. On 16 January 2016, the film was nominated for six categories at the 61st Filmfare Awards including Best Actor for Shah Rukh Khan and Best Actress for Kajol.

Plot

Present day: One day in Goa, a boy named Veer Bakshi works as a car modifier with his elder brother Raj Bakshi. He meets a passer-by Ishita, a beautiful and educated young girl and befriends her by helping her, damaging the car of his customer in the process. For penance, Raj makes him fix it during which Veer sleeps and awakes to find that the car's music system has been stolen.
The men of a local gang leader, King, try to sell drugs at a crab shack. Veer beats them up after they threaten Ishita. They then come back later to exact revenge on Veer, but Raj breaks up the fight. Raj visits him in hospital and learns King's hideout. He goes there, incapacitates the gang members, and burns their drug stash. Raj, his face shrouded by a hood, tells King's men his original name, Kaali. The next day, King suspecting Raj as Kaali as he is Veer’s older brother, stops by Raj's shop to present to assess if Raj is Kaali. Raj appears humble and unthreatening, which leads to King thinking that Raj cannot be the tough Kaali. King makes a deal where Raj will fix all of King's cars in exchange for King’s protection.
Bulgaria, 2000: Raj accidentally runs over a woman named Meera Dev Malik while in a car chase. When he gets out to help her, the rival gang catches up with him, and he has to leave. After the car crash, Raj reveals that he and Veer are the sons of a mafia boss, Randhir Bakshi. After the date with Meera, Raj has to leave the next day, to deliver a shipment for his father. Meera asks to come as it’s her birthday and she wants Raj to spend her birthday with her, but he says it’s too dangerous.
Raj and his team are driving on a roadway when a series of vehicles come out of nowhere. Gun and car fights occur leading to all of Raj’s vehicles scattering on the roadway and Raj’s car flipping upside down. Out of one of the vehicles a female foot is shown stepping out, who turns out to be Meera. She walks over to Raj with a gun in hand, leans down and tells him she is actually the daughter of the rival gang's leader, Dev Malik. Meera reveals that she betrayed Raj on Malik's advice though she is sparing his life, as it’s her birthday.
When they follow each other in their cars, Raj saves Meera from dying promising to kill if he sees her again. She declares her love for him and he forgives her. They make plans to tell their parents about their relationship.
Present day: The film flashes back to Goa, where Veer discovers that his friend, Siddharth Segal aka Sidhu, drugged his coffee with sleeping pills and stole the sound system amongst other parts. Veer is upset, but Sidhu explains it is for his girlfriend, Jenny. Both agree to help each other secure girlfriends. As a consequence, Veer reveals his feelings to Ishita. Upon finding out about their relationship, Raj wants to meet Ishita's family. When Raj goes there, he discovers that Ishita is Malik's younger daughter and Meera's younger sister.
Bulgaria, 2000: After talks, Malik agrees to meet Randhir, but secretly, Malik plans to kill Randhir. The meeting breaks into a shootout, during which Malik and Randhir shoot each other. Meera finds Raj with the gun, for which she shoots him; however, he survives the gunshot. Meera decides to move far away from Bulgaria and start a new life. Raj must forget as well and moves to start a new life.
Present day: Now in Goa, Veer and Ishita try to figure out why their older siblings dislike each other.
They are told a wildly inaccurate story by Raj’s lieutenants as they scramble to make up a story, taking inspiration from flashes of shows they see on the restaurant TV as a customer flips channels. After this, they come up with several plots to bring Meera and Raj together. Mani steals King's car and brings it to the shop, where Veer discovers drugs in the back and burns them. King sees them burning something and asks to fix his white car, as he grows increasingly suspicious based on the drunk rantings of Mani. King's men come to Meera's house one night, but Raj shows up as Kaali and stops them from causing her any harm. Later in front of the church, King asks Meera about Kaali which she refuses sparing Raj's life. Meera issues an ultimatum that in order to marry Ishita, Veer must move in with Meera, leaving his brother in the process. As an angered Veer proceeds to storm out, it is revealed to him by Meera that Raj was actually Randhir's adopted son and is not Veer's older brother. After a confrontation where Raj reveals that he indeed is not Veer’s full brother, Raj goes and tells Meera the truth, telling him that he didn’t kill her father. Raghav, Malik's right hand, confirms when talking to Meera that Raj indeed did not kill Malik, but that Randhir had shot Malik in return to his bullet. Upon learning this, Meera is distraught with regret and remorse and takes Ishita to Raj’s house, declaring that Veer can take Ishita home after marriage.
At Sidhu and Jenny's wedding, King shows up and sees a car and confirms that it’s his stolen car after close examination. King starts to cause a disturbance, bringing Mani, Oscar and then Veer out. A fight ensues with Veer holding his own well until one blow sends him falling back and rolling when he stops at Meera’s deer as she walks outside, she calls for Kaali, and Raj comes out and takes out everyone in his path, beating King up. King stands up as Raj walks away to check in on Veer, and seizing the opportunity tries to shoot Raj, but Meera seeing this pushes Raj away, stepping in front of him and is instead shot as she tried to save Raj. Consequentially, King gets beaten by Raj’s men as they rush him after he shoots Meera. Meera survives and both Raj and Meera reunite in a hospital.

Cast

Development

In January 2015, Rohit Shetty announced a project with Shah Rukh Khan in the lead which would be their second collaboration after the 2013 film Chennai Express. Shetty stated that he would start filming in March 2015. Shetty paired actress Kajol with Khan, making it the seventh time they were cast opposite each other. He also signed actor Varun Dhawan who was reportedly playing Khan's brother while actress Kriti Sanon was signed opposite him.

Filming

began on 20 March 2015 with Dhawan in Goa. Khan and Kajol first joined the crew for filming in Bulgaria from June 2015. Later that month, the first song from the film was shot on Dhawan and Kriti Sanon, in Bulgaria. The schedule there was wrapped up by late July. In August 2015, a romantic song featuring the lead pair was shot in Iceland. The entire team then left for Hyderabad in early September to shoot what was touted to be the final schedule of filming. However, the work in Hyderabad was completed by late October, and filming officially came to an end with a brief schedule in Goa, the same location where it was started. In December, after the promotions had commenced, another song was shot in haste. It featured all four lead actors and had to be played simultaneously with the end-credits.

Release

Dilwale was released in the United Arab Emirates a day before its worldwide release on 18 December 2015. The film was released in around 3100 screens in India.
The satellite rights of the film were sold to Sony Pictures Networks as part of a deal worth, along with the next two or three Red Chillies Entertainment productions. The valuation of Dilwale alone was approximately.
On 14 December 2015, in the United Kingdom, the film received a 12A classification from the British Board of Film Classification for "moderate violence". The film's UK distributor chose to remove thirteen seconds in order to obtain this rating. An uncut 15-rated version is available.

Critical reception

from Bollywood Hungama gave the film 4/5 stars, saying, "On the whole, Dilwale is akin to a mouthwatering meal that satiates the craving of those who relish masalathons, besides being an absolute treat for SRK-Kajol fans. An unadulterated crowd-pleaser, Dilwale delivers what you expect from a Rohit Shetty film: King-sized entertainment. Go for it!". Komal Nahta in his review of the film said, "Dilwale is a masala entertainer from the start till the end." Rachit Gupta from Filmfare gave it 4/5 stars and added, "Dilwale is the quintessential popcorn flick. It’s colorful, bright and entertaining. It smartly keeps its play on the SRK-Kajol chemistry. It has fantastic music. Decent laughs too. Definitely worth a dekho." Sarita A Tanwar of DNA gave the film 3/5 stars, saying "Dilwale is flawed, but it's right for those who believe that love does conquer it all, actually."
Ananya Bhattacharya of India Today also rated the film 3/5 and concluded, "Dilwale is immensely enjoyable despite an oh-my-god-this-is-so-predictable story. Keep your brains out of the picture, and you have an out-and-out entertainer which fits perfectly in the mould of a guilty pleasure. Go indulge!" Shubha Shetty-Saha of Mid Day gave the film 3 stars as well and said, "Watch this for the chemistry between SRK and Kajol which refuses to simmer down even after all these years." Meena Iyer from The Times of India gave the film 3/5 stars, criticizing the plot, and stated, "Dilwale leans heavily on Shah Rukh's mega-stardom, Varun's effervescence, breathtaking locales, orchestrated car chases and over-the-top situations, which have you chuckling."
NDTV felt that the film's plot "went in circles" and that while Kajol was great, the film overall failed to appeal. The Economic Times gave the film 2.5/5 stars and felt that it "lacked soul and freshness" and stated that it would only appeal to fans of Khan and Kajol. Rajeev Masand of IBN Live gave the film 2 out of 5 and said, "The real problem with Dilwale is the sheer artificiality of the enterprise. From the rainbow-hued sets and the touched-up landscapes in the Gerua song, to many moments of comedic and emotional payoff, so much of it just feels fake." Namrata Joshi of The Hindu commented, "With Dilwale, Rohit Shetty goes hopelessly wrong despite much that he had at his disposal, including a power-packed cast and producer". Joshi also felt that the attempt to repackage Khan and Kajol had backfired. Rohit Vats of Hindustan Times gave the film a 1.5/5 rating and called the plot "highly predictable". Anupama Chopra of Hindustan Times gave the film 2 out of 5 stars and said, "Even in the context of Shetty’s oeuvre, Dilwale is a low. It made me nostalgic for Chennai Express...Rohit and leading man Shah Rukh Khan have clearly positioned Dilwale as a masala entertainer. Which means that we must not expect logic, coherence, characters or depth."

Box office

Dilwale made around worldwide in its opening weekend, the third highest of the year. The film went on to gross worldwide.

India

The film, releasing alongside Bajirao Mastani, opened number one at the box office, and collected nett in India on its opening day, the third highest of the year after Prem Ratan Dhan Payo and Bajrangi Bhaijaan. The film showed little drop on its second day, and earned nearly nett. On its first Sunday, Dilwale took in approximately nett, bringing the three-day nett to an estimated. Dilwale had a first week of nett in the domestic market.
The film earned around nett in its second weekend. It grossed little over nett in week two, taking its business to nett. The film made around nett more in the third week. Its final domestic gross was, including a nett of.
Khan expressed disappointment with the film's domestic performance in India. Kajol was also reportedly disappointed, with reports claiming that she regretted turning down the lead role in a Sujoy Ghosh film in favour of Dilwale.

Overseas

Dilwale had the highest opening of 2015 abroad and the second highest ever, with a weekend gross of around 8.5 million. The film also set an all-time record opening in the Gulf. In Pakistan, the film earned in its first three days. The film collected 9.13 crore in Pakistan in three weeks. The film went on to earn over $13 million overseas in the first week, again the highest of the year.
Dilwale grossed another $3.75 million in the second weekend, for an overall $16.75 million in ten days. After two weeks, the film's earnings abroad were more than $20.5 million. The film had grossed around $23.3 million outside India as of 12 January 2016 to become the highest-grossing film starring Shah Rukh Khan in overseas markets.
Dilwale sales reached more than $25 million following openings in new markets such as Germany, Netherlands and Indonesia. The film went on to earn approximately $26.6 million by February 2016. The film's final overseas gross was US$30.2 million, the highest ever for a Shah Rukh Khan film, and making it the sixth highest-grossing Indian film overseas.

Awards and nominations

Soundtrack

The songs featured in the film as are composed by Pritam and lyrics are written by Amitabh Bhattacharya.
Amar Mohile has composed the film score.
A track titled "Gerua" was released on 18 November 2015 as the first single prior to the soundtrack album's release. The second single to be released was "Manma Emotion Jaage" which was released on 26 November 2015. The second single to be released was "Manma Emotion Jaage". The album features seven tracks and was released on 4 December 2015 by Sony Music India. Sony Music India acquired the music rights of the film for a record.
The song "Gerua" also had different versions. An Arabic version called "Telagena" was released on 11 December 2015 while a Malay version entitled "Warna Cinta" featuring vocals from Aliff Aziz and Kilafairy was released later on 18 December 2015.