Baabul

Balraj Kapoor (Amitabh Bachchan) is a rich businessman, happy and content with his world. He and his wife Shobhna (Hema Malini) live happily together and they wait for their only son Avinash 'Avi' (Salman Khan) to return from his studies aboard. After 7 years, Avinash tells his parents that he is returning home. Avi reunites with his parents at the airport and races home. Back home, Avi is promoted a job from his father to work in his business.

One day they decide to go golfing and Balraj accidentally hits the ball which ruins a painting. The young woman, Mallika 'Milli' (Rani Mukherjee) gets angry with Balraj and leaves angrily. Later on, Avi runs into Milli on the golf course, and they start to talk. Milli tells him that a stupid old man ruined her painting and points out that it was Balraj; but Milli doesn't know that Balraj is Avi's father and Avi doesn't tell her. They start to have lunch together and hanging out while slowly falling in love with each other.

When Milli comes home, she is visited by her childhood friend Rajat (John Abraham). She tells him that she loves someone (Avi), which devastates Rajat because he is also in love with her. One day, Milli goes to Avi's office to drop off a painting and finds out that Balraj is Avi's father. When Avi shows up, she leaves the office crying. Avi chases after her and says that the only reason he lied to her was because he loves her. She doesn't accept his apology right then, but when Balraj apologies to her for ruining her painting, she then forgives Avi and Balraj.

Avi asks Milli to get dressed up for a party at his house. When she arrives, there is no one except Avi. He proposes to her and she accepts. The whole family visits Milli's house to discuss marriage and everyone agrees, except Rajat. He tells Avi that he'll let him marry her if only he promises to always keep her happy and never let her get sad. They get married and soon they're expecting a child. Time goes on, Milli's water soon breaks while in yoga and Avi and Milli flee to the hospital where they are blessed with a healthy baby boy.

Their child grows up to be a sweet and intelligent boy. They throw a birthday bash for their son and wait for Avi because he is in a meeting. They wait for the call but he never arrives home. Avi is involved in an accident and he dies. A widowed Milli is devastated and the family starts to fall apart. Balraj seeks to bring happiness back into Milli's life and he gets into contact with Rajat. Rajat was Milli's close friend and he secretly loved her but never told her. Balraj asks Rajat to marry Milli but he faces opposition from his traditional and older brother Balwant (Om Puri). Balwant is completely opposed to the marriage but after Balraj talks to him, he consents. In the end, Rajat and Milli get married, and everything is well. Avinash comes in as a ghost and blesses his dad with happiness

Cast

Amitabh Bachchan ... Balraj Kapoor

Hema Malini ... Shobhna Kapoor (wife of Amitabh)

Salman Khan ... Avinash Kapoor (son of Amitabh)

Rani Mukerji ... Malvika Talwar-Kapoor (Milli)

John Abraham ... Rajat Verma

Om Puri ... Balwant Kapoor (Elder Brother of Amitabh)

Sarika .... Pushpa (Widowed sister-in-law of Balwant and Balraj)

Aman Verma ... Shobhna's brother

Parmeet Sethi .... Balwant's son

Sharat Saxena .... Malvika's father

Smita Jaykar .... Malvika's mother

Rajpal Yadav .... Servant

Crew

Director: Ravi Chopra

Screenplay: Suresh Nair

Story: Dr. Achala Nagar

Dialogue: Ravi Chopra

Producer: B. R. Chopra

Music: Aadesh Shrivastava

Cinematography: Barun Mukherjee

Editor: Godfrey Gonsalves

Art Direction: Keshto Mandal

Choreography: Farah Khan, Remo D’Souza , Vaibhavi Merchant & Rajeev Surti

Lyrics: Sameer

Action: Mahendra Verma

Costume Designs:

Sabyasachi Mukherjee- Rani Mukerji

Neeta Lulla- Hema Malini

Alvira Khan- Salman Khan

Narendra Kumar Ahmed- John Abraham

Gabbana Akhbar- Amitabh Bachchan

Response

[edit] Box office

Baabul opened really well in Mumbai with a decent response of 75%. However the rest of the country saw an average opening. The small centres opened to poor response and overall the film did not do quite well in India but was an above average grosser.[1] However it did great business overseas, entering at the 8th position on the UK charts in its first week.[2] It was a big hit in the overseas market.[3]

[edit] Reviews

Reviews have been generally mixed. The first reviews of the film were positive [4], [5], but it has generally gathered some sharp criticism along the way. Film critic Samrat Sharma calls the first half "irrelevant in most parts", and also "hollow and undeveloped"[6]. Reviewer Baradwaj Rangan was even more scathing when he said that, "the casting of the leads and the high-gloss setting of their lives just do not make the subsequent events convincing."[7]

[edit] Awards

Nominated

2007: Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award - John Abraham

2007: Bollywood Movie Award - Best Supporting Actor - John Abraham

See also

Babul

[edit] References

1.^ Subhash K. Jha, (December 5, 2006). "Richa Sharma sings Bollywood's longest track". Bollywood Hungama. http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/2006/12/05/8347/index.html.

External links

Baabul (2006 film) at the Internet Movie Database