| Bichhoo | |
|---|---|
 Poster | |
| Directed by | Guddu Dhanoa |
| Screenplay by | Dilip Shukla |
| Story by | Santosh Dhanoa |
| Based on | Leon: The Professional by Luc Besson |
| Produced by | Guddu Dhanoa |
| Starring | Bobby Deol Rani Mukerji Ashish Vidyarthi Malaika Arora |
| Cinematography | Shripad Natu |
| Edited by | V. N. Mayekar |
| Music by | Anand Raaj Anand |
Production company | Bhagwan Chitra Mandir |
| Distributed by | Video Sound Inc. |
Release date | 7 July 2000 |
Running time | 162 minutes[1] |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
| Budget | ₹7.50 crore[2] |
| Box office | ₹18.75 crore[2] |
Bichhoo (transl. Scorpion) is a 2000 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Guddu Dhanoa, starring Bobby Deol and Rani Mukerji. It is a remake of the 1994 film Léon: The Professional.[3][4][5][6]
Synopsis
Jeeva (Bobby Deol) comes from a struggling family. He falls in love with Kiran (Malaika Arora) but her father, who is rich but scheming, in retaliation to Jeeva and Kiran's relationship, bribes the police into falsely arresting Jeeva's mother (Farida Jalal) and two sisters for prostitution, leading the three to kill themselves. Kiran also commits suicide, ashamed of how her father ruined Jeeva's life. Jeeva murders Kiran's father for revenge.
He later becomes a professional killer, residing in Mumbai who kills anybody for a price, other than women and children. He lives in an apartment next to the Bali family. Their youngest daughter, also named Kiran (Rani Mukherji) strongly dislikes them and tries many a time to befriend Jeeva, who is too engrossed in his killings to have any time for her. Kiran Bali's father (Ishrat Ali) has been supplying drugs for a corrupt police officer named Devraj Khatri (Ashish Vidyarthi). Khatri learns that Bali has been hiding drugs from him and so, in retaliation leads his men to kill the entire family. Kiran is the only one to survive as she was delivering milk to Jeeva in his apartment.
Jeeva emphasises with Kiran, mostly due to his own tragic past which involved losing loved ones. Kiran soon enough learns that Jeeva is a professional killer and despite the latter's initial objections, learns how to handle weapons to avenge the death of her family. Meanwhile, Khatri and his men learn that there is a sole survivor of their brutal murder of the Bali family, and so decide to hunt down and kill Kiran. So, Jeeva must stop at nothing to protect Kiran from Khatri.
Relationship to Léon: The Professional
Bichhoo is similar to the 1994 English-language French action thriller film Léon: The Professional, written and directed by Luc Besson. Léon: The Professional stars Jean Reno as the titular mob hitman; Gary Oldman as corrupt and unhinged DEA agent Norman Stansfield; a young Natalie Portman, in her feature film debut, as Mathilda, a 12-year-old girl who is reluctantly taken in by Léon after her family is murdered; and Danny Aiello as Tony, the mobster who gives the hitman his assignments. Léon and Mathilda form an unusual relationship, as she becomes his protégée and learns the hitman's trade. A notable difference is that Mathilda is 12 years old and Kiran about 10 years older.
Cast
- Bobby Deol as Jeeva Khandelwal
- Rani Mukherji as Kiran Bali
- Malaika Arora as Kiran Sabarwal
- Farida Jalal as Neha Khandelwal, Jeeva's mother
- Ashish Vidyarthi as Corrupt Assistant Commissioner Of Police Officer Devraj Khatri (in Narcotics Department)
- Sachin Khedekar as Kiran Bedi (Rani Mukherji's brother)
- Suresh Chatwal as Shopkeeper
- Veerendra Saxena as Madan Bhai, Jeeva's Friend
- Pramod Moutho as Pankaj Kharbanda
- Mohan Joshi as Kiran 's Father
- Avtar Gill as S.K. Puri (Police Commissioner)
- Mahavir Shah as Inspector Khan
- Bhakti Barve as TV Interviewer on television who takes interview of Police Commissioner
- Ishrat Ali as Vikas Bali, Kiran Bali's Father
- Dolly Bindra as Mrs Bali, Kiran Bali's Step Mother
- Shweta Shetty as Guest Role (Totte Totte Song)
- Hans Raj Hans as himself
- Janardhan Parab as Security Guard of Society
- Santosh Gupta(actor) as Mumbai Local Train passenger
Soundtrack
| Bichhoo | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | |
| Released | 6 May 2000 |
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack |
| Label | T-Series |
All songs written composed by Anand Raaj Anand and lyrics written by Sameer. The album consists of 8 songs, including two instrumental tracks. Harry Anand, one of the first musicians to start the trend of bringing out remix music videos in India, singing two songs from the tracks. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 16,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's eleventh highest-selling.[7]
Track listing
| # | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Pyar Tu Dil Tu" | Alka Yagnik, Vinod Rathod | 5:39 |
| 2 | "Dil Tote Tote Ho Gaya" | Hans Raj Hans, Shweta Shetty | 5:38 |
| 3 | "Jeevan Mein Jaane Jaana" | Harry Anand, Jaspinder Narula | 5:15 |
| 4 | "Tere Hothon Ki Hansi" (Deleted song) | Hariharan, Swarnalatha | 4:26 |
| 5 | "Pyar Ho Na Jaye" | Shankar Mahadevan, Ram Shankar, Raj Bhatt | 6:39 |
| 6 | "Ekwari Tak Le" | Harry Anand, Sunidhi Chauhan | 5:25 |
| 7 | "Jeevan Mein Jaane Jaana (Instrumental)" | 5:14 | |
| 8 | "Dil Tote Tote Ho Gaya (Instrumental)" | 5:37 |
Reception
The reviews for Bichhoo were mostly positive. Much praise was given to Deol and Mukherjee's performances.
Sequel
Director Guddu Dhanoa has announced that he would make Bichhoo 2, a sequel with Bobby Deol in the central role. The production of the movie is in its preliminary phase; selection of the lead actress is to be done, among other pivotal tasks. In retrospect of the success of Bichhoo, Dhanoa has said that the new venture is special for him. Though he is tentative about the cut and dried date of release of the movie, the director is certain of the movie hitting the screens in the near future.[8][9]
References
- ↑ "Bichhoo". British Board of Film Classification.
- 1 2 "Bichhoo – Movie". Box Office India.
- ↑ "Bichhoo Review 2.0/5 | Bichhoo Movie Review | Bichhoo 2000 Public Review | Film Review". Bollywood Hungama. 7 July 2000.
- ↑ "The Bichhoo review". Rediff.com. 7 July 2000. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
- ↑ "Bichhoo - movie review by Rahul Abrol - Planet Bollywood".
- ↑ "Bichhoo review: Bichhoo (Hindi) Movie Review". fullhyd.com. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
- ↑ "Music Hits 2000–2009 (Figures in Units)". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 15 February 2008. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
- ↑ "Bobby Deol to play lead in Bichhoo 2". Times of India. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
- ↑ "Bobby Deol to play lead in Bichhoo 2". India Today. Retrieved 17 May 2014.