Wazir (film)

Wazir

Poster of Wazir

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Bejoy Nambiar
Produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Written by
  • Vidhu Vinod Chopra
  • Abhijat Joshi
  • Dialogue:
  • Abhijeet Deshpande
  • Additional dialogue:
  • Gazal Dhaliwal
Screenplay by Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Abhijat Joshi
Starring
Music by
Cinematography Sanu Varghese
Edited by
  • Vidhu Vinod Chopra
  • Abhijat Joshi
Production
companies
Distributed by Reliance Entertainment
Release dates
  • 8 January 2016 (2016-01-08)
Running time
 104 minutes[1]
Country India
Language Hindi
Budget ₹35 crore (US$5.2 million)[2]
Box office est.₹62 crore (US$9.2 million)[3]

Wazir (English: Vizier) is a 2016 Indian crime thriller film directed by Bejoy Nambiar and written by Abhijat Joshi and Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Produced by Chopra, the film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar in the lead roles alongside Aditi Rao Hydari, Manav Kaul, Neil Nitin Mukesh and John Abraham in supporting roles.

The film tells the story of two unusual friends, a wheelchair-bound chess grandmaster and a grief-stricken ATS officer, who are brought together by a peculiar twist of fate as part of a wider conspiracy that has cast a dark shadow over their lives.[4] The game of chess is a recurring metaphor and forms the backbone of the story.[5] The first shot was taken on 28 September 2014 in Mumbai.[6] The trailer of the film was released on 18 November 2015,[7] and the film was released worldwide on 8 January 2016.[8]

The film received mostly positive reviews from critics.[9]

Plot

Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officer Daanish Ali (Farhan Akhtar) lives a blissful life with his wife Ruhana (Aditi Rao Hydari) and little daughter Noorie. One day, while Daanish is driving with Noorie, he spots a known terrorist, Farooq Rameez, driving by and chases him. Rameez and his gang ambush Daanish's vehicle and Noorie is killed in the ensuing firefight while Rameez escapes.

Ruhana is shattered and blames Daanish for Noorie's death, completely shutting him out from her life. Daanish moves to his friend and colleague Sartaj's house where Sartaj gives him sleeping pills; however, Daanish overhears Sartaj discussing Rameez's location with their senior in the Intelligence Bureau (John Abraham). Unexpectedly, Daanish then turns up at Rameez's location while a police operation is ongoing and starts a shootout, eventually killing Rameez. The ATS bosses are enraged as they wanted to capture Rameez alive and find out which politician intelligence sources say he was in Delhi to meet. Daanish is sent away on medical leave.

A grief-stricken Daanish is about to kill himself at his daughter's grave when a mysterious van appears, driving off when Daanish yells at it. Daanish gets up and finds a wallet lying with an address in it. He goes to return the wallet and meets its owner, a wheelchair-bound chess master named Pandit Omkar Nath Dhar (Amitabh Bachchan), who tells him he was Noorie's chess teacher. The Pandit starts teaching Daanish chess and tells him about his own late daughter Nina, who used to teach chess to Ruhi, the daughter of Welfare Minister Yazaad Qureshi (Manav Kaul). Nina mysteriously slipped down the stairs at Qureshi's house, dying on the spot. The Pandit is convinced this was not an accident but the police believe Qureshi's version of how Nina died. Daanish finds out that Qureshi and his daughter were the lone survivors of a terrorist attack on their village in Kashmir, after which Qureshi became a poster-boy for peace and a political force. Intrigued, Daanish goes to meet Qureshi, but meets senior Delhi police officers at Qureshi's office, who threaten Daanish with arrest if he troubles the minister. Daanish then tries to meet Ruhana at their house, but she refuses to let him in. He then goes to the Pandit's house and they play vodka-fuelled chess, during which Daanish finally beats the Pandit. The Pandit then meets Ruhana and tells her she should help his class of children complete a dance-drama that Nina wrote, for Noorie's sake. Daanish goes to meet Qureshi's daughter Ruhi at her school and goes through her sketchbook, in which there is a sketch of Nina. He asks Ruhi about where she was when Nina died, but Ruhi's minder takes her away.

Ruhana meets Daanish at the drama's rehearsal and the Pandit tells her how Daanish had almost committed suicide and how the Pandit himself had lost his wife in a driving accident, leaving him with no-one to share his grief when Nina died. Meanwhile, Qureshi threatens Ruhi for talking to Daanish, warning her to never do so again. The police close Nina's case file, despite the Pandit's protest. The Pandit awaits Qureshi's cavalcade and throws his shoe at Qureshi's car, breaking the minister's red beacon. That night, the Pandit is attacked by Wazir (Neil Nitin Mukesh), an assassin sent by Qureshi. Wazir brutally attacks Pandit with a knife and sets his wheelchair and chess set on fire. He also warns Pandit and Daanish to stop chasing Qureshi. Even more determined, Daanish persuades Sartaj to tap Qureshi's phone. As Qureshi travels to Kashmir, Wazir repeatedly phones Daanish and taunts him, pressuring him to stop Pandit from following Qureshi to Kashmir.

Daanish takes the Pandit to his home where the Pandit rekindles the love between Ruhaana and Daanish. However, the Pandit takes advantage of the opportunity and leaves the house quietly for the airport to travel to Kashmir. Wazir calls Daanish, tells him where the Pandit is heading and threatens to kill him. Daanish frantically chases the Pandit's van and eventually stops him. As he does so, Wazir blows up the Pandit's vehicle. Daanish is now determined to go to Kashmir, exact revenge from Qureshi and discover who Wazir is. He goes to Srinagar and meets the IB senior (John Abraham), with whom he plans to get to Qureshi during a speech. During the speech, the SP detonates explosives amongst Qureshi's supporters, causing panic. The SP then holds off commandos, giving Daanish time. Daanish chases Qureshi and eventually breaks into his room. He demands to know where Wazir is - Qureshi claims he doesn't know anybody called Wazir. Qureshi's daughter Ruhi emerges and confides to Daanish that Qureshi is not her father - he is actually one of the militants who massacred Ruhi's entire village and posed as her father (threatening her not to tell anybody) when Indian Army troops arrived to secure the village. Ruhi had told Nina this, so Qureshi killed Nina by pushing her down the stairs. Ruhi also tells Daanish that terrorists continued to meet Qureshi in Delhi. Daanish realises that Rameez had come to Delhi to meet Qureshi, and shoots Qureshi dead.

A few days later, while watching the Pandit's dance-drama enacted by kids, Daanish realises that the Pandit was in fact the play's 'weak pawn' who befriended a 'strong rook' (Daanish) who would kill a 'wicked king' (Qureshi). Daanish leaves and rushes to find the Pandit's housekeeper, Pammi, who say she didn't actually see Wazir on the night he supposedly attacked the Pandit. Pammi gives Daanish a USB stick fashioned out of a queen chess piece (which the Pandit had told her to give him if he came looking for 'Wazir'). On the USB is a video of the Pandit explaining what he did. Daanish realises that Wazir never existed and was just a persona made up by the Pandit, who knew he was powerless against Qureshi. The Pandit intentionally dropped his wallet near Noorie's grave, so Daanish could find it and then befriend him. All the Pandit's knife wounds were self-inflicted, and he had used voice recordings to pose as Wazir. The Pandit knew that he would have to sacrifice himself in order to ensure that Daanish would kill Qureshi and take revenge for both of them. Daanish and Ruhana are then reunited.

Cast

Production

Development

The idea of Wazir came to Vidhu Vinod Chopra after badminton player Syed Modi was murdered on 28 July 1988 in Lucknow. However, Chopra claims that this film is completely different from the incident.[10] When Chopra met his writer Abhijat Joshi in 1994, he told him about the idea of setting a thriller around two chess players.[11] The title of the film had gone through several changes including Fifth Move, 64 Squares and Chess being some of them.[10] Later, between 2000 to 2004, they both wrote it in English. It was supposed to be Chopra's first Hollywood film, with Dustin Hoffman playing the protagonist. In 2005, their producer Robert Newmyer suddenly passed away.[11] The script of Wazir took five years to complete.[12] Then Chopra saw the black-and-white portions of Bejoy Nambiar's David (2013), which he liked. Later Chopra recalls: "I called him (Bejoy), and I have an almirah (Cupboard) full of scripts, so I opened it and asked him ‘Which one? He picked this one. Then we worked for two more years on it."[11]

The working title of the film was Do, which was changed to Wazir in October 2014.[13] Both Chopra and Joshi consulted chess experts from America for the film.[10] The cinematography of the film is done by Sanu Varghese, who had previously worked with Nambiar in David.[10] The films story was tweaked constantly during its seven-month editing period.[10] This is the first film edited by Chopra after his directorial venture Parinda (1989).[14] Joshi, who is also first time editor of this film, believed that "a film is rewritten on the editing table."[10] Visual effects were used to hide Bachchan's leg, and to make him look disabled.[15] The wheelchair on which he sits throughout the film was chosen among 40 to 50 wheelchairs.[15] When Neil Nitin Mukesh was offered the role, the film was titled Ek Aur Ek Do, which was later changed by Chopra to Wazir; based on the character name of Neil Nitin Mukesh in it.[16]

Casting

At the screening of Lakshya (2004), Chopra informed Farhan Akhtar about the script of Wazir, and wanted his feedback on that. The next time they met him in 2014, after which Akhtar heard the script and agreed to do the film.[17] He went through intense training and put on eight kilograms of weight to play the role of an Anti Terrorist Squad officer.[13][18][19] He also changed his diet and met some of his friends who were ATS officers for the preparation.[20] Akhtar agreeing for the role puzzled Chopra, who recalls: "At that time, Javed Akhtar (Farhan’s father) and I were engaged in a public verbal duel. When I asked Farhan what made him agree to take up the role, he said, ‘The script is so good that I will bear with you".[10] The film’s scale kept growing by time when it was being written, and Chopra recalls: "We realised the protagonist can’t be American. We had to bring in our own sensibilities. Our cinema is more flamboyant. So the protagonist needed to be flamboyant too. We thought of making the chess master an Indian and approached [Amitabh] Bachchan for it". Bachchan had also read the original script 12 years ago, but remembered it when Chopra mentioned.[10] Aditi Rao Hydari was cast after Nambiar saw her pictures when she had walked the ramp for a designer and Chopra saw her dancing. Post this, she went through three set of auditions: dance, acting and a look test.[21] John Abraham and Neil Nitin Mukesh make extended cameo appearances in the film.[22]

Filming

Principal photography commenced on 28 September 2014 in Mumbai. Parts of the film were also shot in Delhi.[23] Few scenes in the film were improvised on the set, including a joke about the Russian vodka and Russian girls between Bachchan and Akhtar.[11] Akhtar did his own stunts in the film.[24] He completed his schedule in March at Srinagar, while Bachchan filmed his last remaining scenes in April, 2015.[23][25][26]

Soundtrack

Wazir
Soundtrack album by Various artists
Released 18 December 2015 (2015-12-18)
Genre Feature film soundtrack, sufi music, qawwali
Length 26:47
Language Hindi
Label T-Series
T-Series chronology
Hate Story 3
(2015)		 Wazir
(2015)		 Airlift (film)
(2016)
Singles from Wazir
  1. "Tere Bin"
    Released: December 04, 2015[27]
  2. "Tu Mere Paas"
    Released: December 11, 2015[28]

The film's soundtrack album was composed by various artists: Shantanu Moitra, Ankit Tiwari, Advaita (band), Prashant Pillai, Rochak Kohli, and Gaurav Godkhindi. The background score was composed by Rohit Kulkarni while the lyrics were penned by Chopra, Swanand Kirkire, A. M. Turaz, Manoj Muntashir and Abhijeet Deshpande.[29] The album rights of the film were acquired by T-Series. The first single track "Tere Bin" released on 4 December 2015.[30] The video focuses on Farhan Akhtar and Aditi Rao Hydari; the song is sung by Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal and composed by Shantanu Moitra, with lyrics penned by Chopra.[31] The second single track, "Tu Mere Pass", composed and sung by Ankit Tiwari with lyrics by Manoj Muntashir, was released on 11 December 2015.[32] The third single track, "Maula Mere Maula", was released on 18 December 2015. The song was composed by Shantanu Moitra, sung by Javed Ali and written by Chopra and Swanand Kirkire.[33] The song "Khel Khel Mein" was composed by Advaita in the band's first motion picture.

Wazir (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)[34]
No. TitleLyricsMusicSinger(s) Length
1. "Tere Bin"  Vidhu Vinod ChopraShantanu MoitraSonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal 04:05
2. "Tu Mere Paas"  Manoj MuntashirAnkit TiwariAnkit Tiwari 03:46
3. "Maula Mere Maula"  Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Swanand KirkireShantanu MoitraJaved Ali 06:42
4. "Tere Liye"  A. M. TurazPrashant PillaiGagan Baderiya, Prashant Pillai 02:58
5. "Khel Khel Mein"  Abhijeet DeshpandeAdvaita (band)Amitabh Bachchan 03:59
6. "Atrangi Yaari"  Gurpreet Saini, Deepak RamolaRochak KohliAmitabh Bachchan & Farhan Akhtar 03:37
7. "Wazir Theme"  InstrumentalGaurav GodkhindiInstrumental 03:00
Total length:
 26:47

Release

Critical reception

The Indian Express gave the film 2.5/5 stars, saying, "Watching Farhan Akhtar and Amitabh Bachchan joust and manoeuver around each other is this film’s high point".[35] Behindwoods gave it 2.5/5 stars,saying,"The chessmaster fails to checkmate the critics".[36] The first post mentions, "If first impressions are the lasting impressions, then Bejoy Nambiar's Wazir gets it right from the outset". The Hindustan times gave the film 3/5 stars, saying, "In a remarkable deviation from the typical Bollywood style, Wazir’s characters do not delve into the sadistic pleasure of avenging a wrong but concentrate on the final target".Subhash K. Jha gave it 4/5 stars,saying,"In its 1 hour and 40 minutes of playing-time Wazir gives us no time to stop and ruminate. ".[37] Magic Of Bollywood gave the film 3/5 stars, calling it 'A gutsy attempt at a film which keeps you engaged for the most part, Farhan Akhtar and Amitabh Bachchan deliver.'[38]

Box office

The film did well at the box office, bringing back approximately twice its budget.

References

  1. ↑ "WAZIR (12A)". British Board of Film Classification. 4 January 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  2. ↑ "Checkmate: Wazir crumbles with just Rs 21 crore opening weekend". Hindustan Times. 11 January 2016. Archived from the original on 11 January 2016. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  3. ↑ "‘Wazir’ numbers not disappointing: Vidhu Vinod Chopra". The Indian Express. 2 February 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  4. ↑ "Bejoy Nambiar's Do is now Wazir". The Asian Age. 24 October 2014. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
  5. ↑ "Wazir Movie Review".
  6. ↑ "Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar begin shooting for DO". Glamsham. 28 September 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  7. ↑ "Average response of Wazir at the box office".
  8. ↑ 2nd teaser of the movie. Ndtv.com (3 June 2015). Retrieved on 2015-06-07.
  9. ↑ "Wazir movie review: A revenge saga that is not angry but devious". Retrieved 2016-01-26.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Sahani, Alaka (22 December 2015). "Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Abhijat Joshi on writing and editing Wazir". The Indian Express. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Rege, Harshada (11 December 2015). "When you're not intellectually strong, strength comes from your bank balance: Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Abhijat Joshi". Daily News and Analysis. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  12. ↑ "‘Wazir’ script took 5 years to complete: Vidhu Vinod Chopra". The Indian Express. 4 June 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  13. 1 2 Goswami, Parismita (28 October 2014). "Amitabh Bachchan and Farhan Akhtar Starrer 'Do' Renamed as 'Wazir'". International Business Times. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  14. ↑ "Vidhu Vinod Chopra". Vinod Chopra Films. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  15. 1 2 "‘Wazir’ wheelchair stint physically challenging: Amitabh Bachchan". The Indian Express. 27 December 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  16. ↑ "Neil Nitin Mukesh Says Wazir Was Renamed Because of His Performance". NDTV. 30 December 2015. Archived from the original on 1 January 2016. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  17. ↑ "Why Farhan Akhtar Was 'Blown Away' by Wazir Script". NDTV. 19 November 2015. Archived from the original on 16 December 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  18. ↑ "Farhan Akhtar undergoes vigorous training for 'Wazir'". Mid Day. 21 November 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  19. ↑ "'Wazir' is a complete film for me: Farhan Akhtar". The Times of India. 9 January 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  20. ↑ "It is easy to work with Amitabh Bachchan: Farhan Akhtar". News Nation. 30 October 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  21. ↑ Bhagat, Priyanka (7 January 2016). "Aditi Rao Hydari: I was overwhelmed by Amitabh Bachchan's presence". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 21 January 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  22. ↑ Sinha, Seema (4 June 2015). "John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh are the surprise elements in 'Wazir'". The Times of India. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  23. 1 2 "Wazir: It's the 'last minute leftover' shots for Amitabh Bachchan now". India Today. 27 April 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  24. ↑ Jha, Subhash K (5 January 2016). "Farhan Akhtar did his own stunts for the first time: Ten fascinating facts about Wazir". Firstpost. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  25. ↑ "Farhan Akhtar heads to Srinagar for ‘Wazir’ shoot". The Indian Express. 1 March 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  26. ↑ "Farhan Akhtar Wraps up Wazir Shoot". NDTV. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  27. ↑ "Tere Bin (From "Wazir") - Single". iTunes Store. 4 December 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  28. ↑ "Tu Mere Paas (From "Wazir") - Single". iTunes Store. 11 December 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  29. ↑ "Wazir - Official Trailer". YouTube. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  30. ↑ "Wazir' song Tere Bin: Beautiful track that compliments Farhan Akhtar-Aditi Rao Hydari's chemistry". International Business Times. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  31. ↑ "Vidhu Vinod Chopra turns lyricist with 'Wazir'". Times Of India. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  32. ↑ "Watch : Farhan & Aditi’s Emotional Journey In ‘Tu Mere Pass Hai’ Song". Koimoi. 11 December 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  33. ↑ "Wazir song Maula Mere Maula: Singer Javed Ali adds another gem to his collection". India.com. 18 December 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  34. ↑ "Wazir (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) on iTunes". iTunes Store. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  35. ↑ http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/wazir-movie-review-two-and-half-stars-amitabh-bachchan-farhan-akhtar-high-point/
  36. ↑ http://www.behindwoods.com/hindi-movies/wazir/wazir-review.html
  37. ↑ http://skjbollywoodnews.com/2016/01/wazir-movie-review/4151012.html
  38. ↑ Magic of Bollywood http://www.magicofbollywood.com/movies/movieReview/51. Retrieved 29 January 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

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