| The Shaukeens | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Abhishek Sharma |
| Written by | Tigmanshu Dhulia Sai Kabir |
| Based on | Shaukeen by Basu Chatterjee |
| Produced by | Ashwin Varde Murad Khetani |
| Starring | Anupam Kher Annu Kapoor Piyush Mishra Lisa Haydon |
| Cinematography | Amalendu Chaudhary |
| Edited by | Rameshwar S. Bhagat |
| Music by | Sandeep Chowta |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | AA Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 117 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Budget | ₹46.30 crore[1] |
| Box office | est.₹46.3 crore[2] |
The Shaukeens (transl. The enthusiasts) is a 2014 Indiancomedy film directed byAbhishek Sharma. A remake of the 1982 filmShoukheen directed byBasu Chatterjee and starringAshok Kumar,Utpal Dutt,A. K. Hangal,Rati Agnihotri, andMithun Chakraborty, the film starsAnupam Kher,Annu Kapoor,Piyush Mishra, andLisa Haydon in the lead roles, whileAkshay Kumar is a fictionalized version of himself in an extended cameo. Agnihotri plays a different, supporting role as the only actress to appear in both films, whileSuparna Marwah,Gaurav Gera,Subrat Dutta andManoj Joshi star in additional roles.
Partly shot inMauritius,The Shaukeens was released on 7 November 2014.[3][4]
The film revolves around three elderly men. Ashok "Lali" Lalwani is not happy with his wife, who is a staunch believer of God and doesn't spend time with him. Kamaldheer "KD" Sharma has remained unmarried for undisclosed reason, while Harishankar "Pinky" Goyal is secretly in love with a young Chinese woman, who only knowsEnglish but he himself being uneducated, is unable to express his feelings. The three men plan a holiday toMauritius to have some fun, where they meet Ahana Bakshi, who is a social media addict and gets annoyed because her rival influencers have moreFacebook likes and her ex-boyfriend has been commenting and liking their posts and condemning her at the same time.
The three men try to seduce her by pretending to like her collections made from weird things like animal body parts. However, her Facebook obsession reaches heights and Ahana decides to commit suicide, but is interrupted when she sees her idol, Rajiv Bhatia a.k.a.Akshay Kumar, shooting for a song nearby. She tells the three men that she is a huge fan of Akshay and wishes to meet him. The three men try to get her to meet Akshay, much to his annoyance. Meanwhile, Akshay is revealed to be secretly an alcoholic. He agrees to work with Ranjit Basu, a filmmaker, who is well known for his films earning more than ₹3 billion and National Awards, since working with him would make Akshay a better competitor to other superstars, and also earn him a National Award. However, Basu occasionally tells him that he's not able to get into the character. The frustration of not getting into the required character and drinking too much alcohol causes Akshay to burst out in front of the public and the media on Pinky, who says that Ahana had promised sex if he got her to meet Akshay. Akshay publicly humiliates the three men and Ahana, by calling them perverts and slut shaming Ahana. But this, however, backfires on him as he is a public figure. Moreover, he realises his mistake when Lali's wife blames KD and Pinky for this.
This time, Akshay visits just as the three men are about to leave, and asks them to forgive him and meets Ahana to apologise to her. It is revealed that KD remained a bachelor because he loved Lali's younger sister, who is a divorcee but KD didn't want this to ruin his friendship with Lali. Akshay tells Ahana that to rectify his mistake, he has kept a conference, and that he intends to correct their public image. He tells the media in the press conference that he is working in a film Alcoholic, and what he did earlier was a promotional strategy and Lali, KD and Pinky are his uncles. He also says that Ahana is the new heroine of the film. While the three men happily leave for India, Akshay finds himself even more frustrated, when he isn't able to get a good shot from Ahana, although he somehow manages to shoot the title track.
The shooting of the film started on 25 April 2014 inCape Town, South Africa.[6] The indoor scenes were shot in a hotel room. Next schedule of filming started inMauritius in early May 2014. The next schedule began inDelhi in May itself.[7]Anupam Kher twitted that he was going to Delhi for outdoor shooting in Delhi on 11 May 2014.[8] Last schedule was shot inCape Town in August 2014.
Musical artistHoney Singh was signed for a song in the film. Singh has earlier collaborated withAkshay Kumar a few times, and on his request to the rapper-performer for one special number for the film, Singh offered him three songs for the film.[9]
Initially,Nargis Fakhri was signed for the film but when she left the project for a Hollywood film,Spy[10] the role was offered toShraddha Kapoor.[11] The part was finally offered toLisa Haydon who accepted it. It was her first solo heroine film.[12]Akshay Kumar was signed to play partner of Ahana played by Haydon, a role whichMithun Chakraborty had portrayed in the original film.[13]
The songs in the film are composed byYo Yo Honey Singh,Arko,Hard Kaur & Vikram Negi. Thefilm score is composed bySandeep Chowta.
| No. | Title | Music | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Alcoholic" | Yo Yo Honey Singh | Yo Yo Honey Singh | 3:20 |
| 2. | "Meherbani" | Arko | Jubin Nautiyal | 4:04 |
| 3. | "Manali Trance" | Yo Yo Honey Singh | Neha Kakkar, Lil Golu | 3:23 |
| 4. | "Aashiq Mizaaj" | Hard Kaur | Aman Trikha | 3:46 |
| 5. | "Ishq Kutta Hai" | Vikram Negi | Mika Singh | 4:44 |
| 6. | "Lonely" | Vikram Negi | Anu Malik | 3:04 |
The Shaukeens collected₹324 million (US$3.8 million) from the domestic box office and was declared "Average".[2][14]