Pagalpanti (transl. Madness) is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language comedy film directed by Anees Bazmee and produced by Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar under the banner of T-Series along with Kumar Mangat Pathak and Abhishek Pathak under the banner of Panorama Studios. The film stars an ensemble cast of Anil Kapoor, John Abraham, Ileana D’Cruz, Arshad Warsi, Urvashi Rautela, Pulkit Samrat, Kriti Kharbanda and Saurabh Shukla in the lead roles.
Principal photography of the film commenced on 17 February 2019 in London. It was theatrically released in India on 22 November 2019. It received generally unfavorable reviews from critics who mainly criticized the writing.
Plot
Raj Kishore is plagued by bad luck, which also follows his longtime friends Junky and Chandu. Any venture the trio engage in results in losses or setbacks; even their fire-cracker shop burns down on its inaugural day. The trio fool Sanjana by making her fall in love with Raj and getting them a bank loan to start a new package delivery business. Having similarly been fooled by them before, her uncle catches wind of them and demands their money back. The trio escapes and inadvertently ends up making their first delivery: an expensive sports car for Jhanvi, the daughter of a gangster Raja Saahab, and the niece of WiFi Bhai, Raja’s brother. They deliver the car in a destroyed condition for which Raja Saahab and his goons torture them. They offer their services as servants, a suggestion which WiFi accepts; he convinces Raja Saahab to hire them against the wishes of their astrologer, who is aware of Kishore’s lousy luck. They get employed as disposable servants; Junky and Chandu are used for testing food that Raja Saahab’s and WiFi’s enemies may have poisoned, while Kishore serves as their decoy during travel. In the process, Chandu and Jhanvi fall for each other.
During one of their traveling assignments, old enemies Bulli and Tulli Seth attack their convoy, revealing that WiFi is a coward. Fed up with their constant rivalry, businessman-turned-don Niraj Modi, who absconded India after taking huge loans, proposes to end their conflict by offering each party ₹700 crores to invest. By their continued stroke of lousy luck, Kishore, Junky, and Chandu end up causing a fire that burns the whole stack of money. In a bid to save what’s left of their money, Raja Saahab and WiFi send the trio to bet on their lucky horse. They instead overhear a conversation about another horse and bet on it, which instead loses the race. Unable to pay Raja and WiFi, the trio escape with Jhanvi and Sanjana and her uncle following them. The group ends up on a glue truck where Jhanvi’s lips get stuck to Chandu’s cheeks, and Sanjana and her uncle get stuck on their backs. They arrive in an abandoned house where they meet Kavya, staying there posing as a ghost after facing rejection in her acting career. There, Raj accidentally discovers a basement where Niraj Modi keeps his stockpiles of cash. The trio steals the money and arrives at Raja Saahab’s and WiFi’s house just when they are about to be executed by Modi for not paying them. They settle the money and buy out Niraj Modi’s properties.
Eventually, Modi discovers that the trio pulled a fast one on him by stealing his own money to buy his properties. He arrives at Raja Saahab’s house and threatens to kill them all. Kishore reminds him that his money is not his own but stolen from India and Kishore himself is an ex-employee of one of the banks Modi took loans from and thus was one of many people who lost jobs because of Modi. Kishore also goads Modi’s henchmen into keeping the money for themselves. A skirmish ensues involving two escaped lions and concludes with detectives arriving to take Modi into custody. Kishore, Junky, and Chandu reconcile their differences with Raja Saahab and WiFi. They live happily ever after.
Cast
- Anil Kapoor as Wifi Bhai
- John Abraham as Raj Kishore
- Ileana D’Cruz as Sanjana
- Arshad Warsi as Junky
- Urvashi Rautela as Kavya
- Pulkit Samrat as Chandu
- Kriti Kharbanda as Jhanvi
- Saurabh Shukla as Raja Sahab
- Inaamulhaq as Niraj Modi
- Zakir Hussain as Tulli Seth
- Ashok Samarth as Bulli Seth
- Brijendra Kala as Mamaji
- Mukesh Tiwari as Baba Jani
- Dolly Bindra as Raja Sahab’s Wife
Production
Development
Pagalpanti was announced on 21 September 2018. In April 2019, Bazmee shared his experience of shooting in London. In a statement he said, “Shooting in London was not less then a roller-coaster ride. We had a few difficulties considering the weather conditions there.”
Filming
Principal photography began in February 2019 in London. The London schedule lasted two months and ended in the final week of April 2019, wrapping up principal photography. John Abraham was injured while filming an action scene for the film in Mumbai. The production filmed scenes in Faversham, where Market Street doubled as a busy London market and Guild Hall was converted into a fireworks shop. The Historic Dockyard Chatham was used for a car chase scene along Slip 5, Museum Square, Ropery Street and Anchor Wharf.
Marketing and release
Ahead of the release of the film a sequel has been planned. Kumar Mangat, the producer said “It is going to be a big franchise, and our team has started work on the script for part two….” The first teaser poster was released on 18 October 2019. On the same day the character posters of the ensemble cast were released.
The release date of the film was advanced and was released on 22 November 2019.
Reception
Pagalpanti received generally unfavorable reviews from critics.
Bollywood Hungama gave it 2.5 stars out of 5 and praised the background score, cinematography, production design and costumes but criticized the writing, direction, music and VFX. Ronak Kotecha from The Times of India gave it 2 stars out of 5, praising the action sequences and cinematography but criticized the writing, placement of songs and the characterization of heroines. Priyanka Sinha Jha from CNN-News18 gave the film 2 stars out of 5 and praised Arshad Warsi and Brijendra Kala but criticized the writing, heroines and clichéd humor. A reviewer from Times Now similarly gave it 2 stars out 5 and praised the performances, a few jokes, cinematography and production values. The criticism was aimed at the length, writing and editing.
Vinamra Mathur from Mid Day gave the film 1.5 stars out of 5 and found it unintentionally funny. Suparno Sarkar from International Business Times similarly gave it 1.5 stars out of 5 and felt a few scenes were funny, further praising Anil Kapoor and Saurabh Shukla’s partnership. However, the reviewer criticized the screenplay, lack of good comedy and punchlines, and the forced songs. Sukanya Verma from Rediff.com gave it 1 star out of 5 and criticized the humor, VFX, labelled the script as a “stuff of pre-schooler dreams” and found the performances to be “better suited for a school play.” Jyoti Sharma Bawa from Hindustan Times criticized the humor, writing, dialogues, music, heroines and forced patriotism.
Soundtrack
| Pagalpanti | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by
Sajid–Wajid, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Tanishk Bagchi and Nayeem-Shabir
|
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| Released | 21 November 2019 | ||||
| Recorded | 2018–2019 | ||||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | ||||
| Length | 17:44 | ||||
| Language | Hindi | ||||
| Label | T-Series | ||||
|
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The music of the film is composed by Sajid–Wajid, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Tanishk Bagchi and Nayeem-Shabir, with lyrics written by Shabbir Ahmed, Arafat Mehmood, Yo Yo Honey Singh and Danish Sabri.
The song “Tum Par Hum Hai Aatke” from the film Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya which was originally composed by Himesh Reshammiya, lyrics by Sudhakar Sharma and sung by Kumar Sanu and Kavita Krishnamurthy, was recreated by Tanishk Bagchi.
The song “Bimar Dil” from the film ChaalBaaz which was originally composed by Laxmikant–Pyarelal, lyrics by Anand Bakshi and sung by Mohammed Aziz and Kavita Krishnamurthy, was also recreated by Bagchi.
The title track, “Pagalpanti”, composed by Sajid-Wajid, has its theme music sampled from the title track of Bazmee’s 2007 film Welcome.
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | “Tum Par Hum Hai Atke” | Shabbir Ahmed | Tanishk Bagchi | Mika Singh, Neha Kakkar | 2:58 |
| 2. | “Walla Walla” | Arafat Mehmood | Nayeem-Shabir | Nakash Aziz, Neeti Mohan, Nayeem Shah | 3:46 |
| 3. | “Thumka” | Yo Yo Honey Singh | Yo Yo Honey Singh | Yo Yo Honey Singh | 2:50 |
| 4. | “Bimar Dil” | Shabbir Ahmed | Tanishk Bagchi | Jubin Nautiyal, Asees Kaur | 5:00 |
| 5. | “Pagalpanti (Title Track)” | Danish Sabri | Sajid-Wajid | Sajid Khan, Ipsitaa, Rahul Kothari | 3:10 |
| Total length: | 17:44 | ||||
Box office
Pagalpanti‘s opening day domestic collection was ₹4.75 crore. On the second day, the film collected ₹6.50 crore. On the third day, the film collected ₹8.25 crore, taking total opening weekend collection to ₹19.50 crore.
As of 23 December 2019, with a gross of ₹39.3 crore in India and ₹9.87 crore overseas, the film has a worldwide gross collection of ₹49.17 crore.