Dilwale (2015 film)

Dilwale is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language rom-com action film directed by Rohit Shetty, who co-produced the film with Gauri Khan under Red Chillies Entertainment and Rohit Shetty Entertainments. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Varun Dhawan, and Kriti Sanon, alongside Pankaj Tripathi, Mukesh Tiwari, Varun Sharma, Boman Irani, Vinod Khanna, Kabir Bedi and Johnny Lever. The film marks the final appearance of Vinod Khanna, before his death on 27 April 2017.

Dilwale was released theatrically worldwide on 18 December 2015, a week prior to the Christmas period. The film became a commercial success, earning over inr 3768500000 worldwide and becoming the thirteenth highest-grossing Indian film overseas. At the 61st Filmfare Awards, Dilwale received 5 nominations, including Best Actor (Khan) and Best Actress (Kajol).

Plot
Veer Bakshi and Raj Bakshi are brothers who work as car tuners in Panaji, Goa. Veer meets an educated young girl named Ishita, where he helps her and damages the car of a customer in the process. As a penance, Raj makes Veer to fix the car in the night. Veer falls asleep while fixing the car and awakes to find that the car's sound system is stolen. Veer soon gets into a tussle with a drug baron named King, whose henchmen threatened Ishita. Veer gets knocked out and gets admitted to the hospital. Raj learns about this and kills the gang members with the help of his friends Shakti and Anwar. Raj also burn their stash and reveals himself as Kaali. King suspects Raj to be Kaali due to the tussle between him and Veer. However, Raj's humbleness convinces King that he is harmless and makes a deal to fix their car in exchange for their safety and protection.

2000: In Sofia, Bulgaria, Kaali and Veer are sons of a crime boss, Randhir Bakshi. Kaali comes across Meera during one of their chases with Randhir's rival, Dev Narayan Malik. Kaali falls in love with her and the two begin to spend time with each other. During a shipment delivery to his father, Kaali gets attacked by Dev's henchmen where Meera reveals herself as Malik's daughter. Meera spares Kaali's life as it was her birthday. Kaali confronts Meera shortly, chases her car and saves her life when she almost falls off a cliff. Overcome by remorse, Meera declares her love for Kaali, who then, eventually forgives her. Kaali and Meera reveal their relationship to Randhir and Dev who agree to meet each other. However, Dev tries to kill Kaali and his father in a shootout. Dev and Randhir end up shooting each other to death. Meera sees Kaali holding a gun next to Dev's body and, convinced that Kaali has betrayed her, shoots him. Kaali survives and is convinced by Shakti and Anwar to forget about the past and start a new life with his brother Veer, while Meera starts a new life with her sister Ishita.

Present: Veer discovers that his friend, Shakti's brother Siddhu, was the thief who stole the car's parts, but spares him as Siddhu reveals that he did this for his girlfriend Jenny. Veer proposes to Ishita. Raj learns about their relationship and decide to meet Ishita's family. However, Ishita's family is Meera, her elder sister. Upon meeting Raj, Meera immediately forbids Ishita from meeting Veer again. Veer and Ishita try to figure about why their siblings dislike each other so much. Veer and Siddhu try to confront Shakti and Anwar. They panic and cook up a ridiculous story that Raj was a washerman named "Ramlal" and Meera was a girl named "Pogo" who left him for money. Veer and Ishita scheme together to rekindle Raj and Meera's relationship, but they are unsuccessful. Raj's lieutenant Mani steals one of King's cars and brings it to the shop. Veer, Mani and Siddhu discover drugs in the car's decklid and burn them. Upon realizing Ishita loves Veer greatly, Meera issues an ultimatum that Veer must move in with Meera in order to marry Ishita, leaving Raj in the process.

Enraged, Veer proceeds to storm out and Meera reveals to Veer that Raj was actually Randhir's adopted son and not Veer's biological brother. Raj confirms this and embraces Veer. Raj confronts Meera for trying to ruin his relationship with his brother, where he reveals that he never betrayed her. Malik's right hand Raghav meets Meera and reveals Raj's innocence. Meera takes Ishita to Raj's house, declaring that Veer can live with Raj and Ishita after marriage. Meera apologizes to Raj and they rekindle their relationship. At Siddhu and Jenny's wedding in a church, King finds his car (which was being used as a wedding car) and brings Mani, Oscar and Veer, demanding to know about his drugs. He loses his temper when he learns what happened and a fight ensues where Raj reveals himself as Kaali and thrashes King. King tries to kill Raj, but Meera takes the bullet and King is beaten to death by Raj's men. Meera is admitted to the hospital, where she recovers, reconciles and reunites with Raj.

Development
In January 2015, Rohit Shetty announced a project with Shah Rukh Khan in the lead which would be their second collaboration after the 2013 film Chennai Express. Shetty stated that he would start filming in March 2015. Shetty paired actress Kajol with Khan, making it the seventh time they were cast opposite each other. He also signed actor Varun Dhawan who was reportedly playing Khan's brother, while actress Kriti Sanon was signed opposite him and Kajol's sister.

Filming
Principal photography began on 20 March 2015 with Dhawan in Goa. Khan and Kajol first joined the crew for filming in Bulgaria from June 2015. Later that month, the first song from the film was shot on Dhawan and Kriti Sanon, in Bulgaria. The schedule there was wrapped up by late July. In August 2015, a romantic song featuring the lead pair was shot in Iceland. The entire team then left for Hyderabad in early September to shoot what was touted to be the final schedule of filming. However, the work in Hyderabad was completed by late October, and filming officially came to an end with a brief schedule in Goa, the same location where it was started. In December, after the promotions had commenced, another song was shot in haste. It featured all four lead actors and had to be played simultaneously with the end-credits.

Theatrical
Dilwale was released in the United Arab Emirates a day before its worldwide release on 18 December 2015. The film was released in around 3100 screens in India.

On 14 December 2015, in the United Kingdom, the film received a 12A classification from the British Board of Film Classification for "moderate violence". The film's UK distributor chose to remove thirteen seconds to obtain this rating (the excised material being scenes involving stronger violence than possible for a 12A rating). An uncut 15-rated version is available.

Home media
The satellite rights of the film were sold to Sony Pictures Networks as part of a deal worth inr 2200000000.

Box office
Dilwale made around inr 1500000000 worldwide in its opening weekend, the third highest of the year.

India
The film, releasing alongside Bajirao Mastani, opened number one at the box office, and collected inr 210000000 nett in India on its opening day, the third highest of the year after Prem Ratan Dhan Payo and Bajrangi Bhaijaan. The film showed little drop on its second day, and earned nearly inr 200000000 nett. On its first Sunday, Dilwale took in approximately inr 230000000 nett, bringing the three-day nett to an estimated inr 640000000. Dilwale had a first week of inr 970000000 nett in the domestic market.

The film earned around inr 210000000 nett in its second weekend. It grossed little over inr 310000000 nett in week two, taking its business to inr 1270000000 nett. The film made around inr 110000000 nett more in the third week.

Khan expressed disappointment with the film's domestic performance in India. Kajol was also reportedly disappointed, with reports claiming that she regretted turning down the lead role in a Sujoy Ghosh film in favour of Dilwale.

Other territories
Dilwale had the highest opening of 2015 abroad and the second highest ever, with a weekend gross of around 8.5 million. The film also set an all-time record opening in the Persian Gulf region. In Pakistan, the film earned inr 65000000 in its first three days. The film collected ₹9.13 crore in Pakistan in the first week. The film went on to earn over $13 million overseas in the first week, again the highest of the year.

Dilwale grossed another $3.75 million in the second weekend, for an overall $16.75 million in ten days. After two weeks, the film's earnings abroad were more than $20.5 million. The film had grossed around $23.3 million outside India as of 12 January 2016 to become the highest-grossing film starring Shah Rukh Khan in overseas markets.

Dilwale sales reached more than $25 million following openings in new markets such as Germany, Netherlands and Indonesia. The film went on to earn approximately $26.6 million (INR 1756.5 million) by February 2016. The film's final overseas gross was US$30.2 million (₹194crore), the highest ever for a Shah Rukh Khan film, and making it the twelfth highest-grossing Indian film overseas.

Critical response
Dilwale received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 20% approval rating based on 15 critical reviews.

Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama gave the film 4/5 stars, saying, "On the whole, Dilwale is akin to a mouthwatering meal that satiates the craving of those who relish masalathons, besides being an absolute treat for SRK-Kajol fans. An unadulterated crowd-pleaser, Dilwale delivers what you expect from a Rohit Shetty film: King-sized entertainment. Go for it!". Komal Nahta in his review of the film said, "Dilwale is a masala entertainer from the start till the end." Rachit Gupta from Filmfare gave it 4/5 stars and added, "Dilwale is the quintessential popcorn flick. It's colorful, bright and entertaining. It smartly keeps its play on the SRK-Kajol chemistry (watch out for the brilliant ending). It has fantastic music. Decent laughs too. Definitely worth a dekho." Sarita A Tanwar of DNA gave the film 3/5 stars, saying "Dilwale is flawed, but it's right for those who believe that love does conquer it all, actually."

Ananya Bhattacharya of India Today also rated the film 3/5 and concluded, "Dilwale is immensely enjoyable despite an oh-my-god-this-is-so-predictable story. Keep your brains out of the picture, and you have an out-and-out entertainer which fits perfectly in the mould of a guilty pleasure. Go indulge!" Shubha Shetty-Saha of Mid-Day gave the film 3 stars as well and said, "Watch this for the chemistry between SRK and Kajol which refuses to simmer down even after all these years." Meena Iyer from The Times of India gave the film 3/5 stars, criticizing the plot, and stated, "Dilwale leans heavily on Shah Rukh's mega-stardom, Varun's effervescence, breathtaking locales (Iceland and Bulgaria), orchestrated car chases and over-the-top situations, which have you chuckling."

NDTV felt that the film's plot "went in circles" and that while Kajol was great, the film overall failed to appeal. The Economic Times gave the film 2.5/5 stars and felt that it "lacked soul and freshness" and stated that it would only appeal to fans of Khan and Kajol. Rajeev Masand of IBN Live gave the film 2 out of 5 and said, "The real problem with Dilwale is the sheer artificiality of the enterprise. From the rainbow-hued sets and the touched-up landscapes in the Gerua song, to many moments of comedic and emotional payoff, so much of it just feels fake." Namrata Joshi of The Hindu commented, "With Dilwale, Rohit Shetty goes hopelessly wrong despite much that he had at his disposal, including a power-packed cast and producer". Joshi also felt that the attempt to repackage Khan and Kajol had backfired. Rohit Vats of Hindustan Times gave the film a 1.5/5 rating and called the plot "highly predictable". Anupama Chopra of Hindustan Times gave the film 2 out of 5 stars and said, "Even in the context of Shetty's oeuvre, Dilwale is a low. It made me nostalgic for Chennai Express...Rohit and leading man Shah Rukh Khan have clearly positioned Dilwale as a masala entertainer. Which means that we must not expect logic, coherence, characters or depth." Raja Sen of Rediff gave the film 1 out of 5 stars and said, "Budget and access. These have long been Shetty's favoured Lego blocks, and they have never been more visible than in Dilwale, where the greatest on screen pair in modern Hindi cinema are reduced to insignificance."

Soundtrack
The songs featured in the film as are composed by Pritam, and lyrics are written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. Amar Mohile has composed the film score.

A track titled "Gerua" was released on 18 November 2015 as the first single prior to the soundtrack album's release. The second single to be released was "Manma Emotion Jaage" which was released on 26 November 2015. The album features seven tracks and was released on 4 December 2015 by Sony Music India. Sony Music India acquired the music rights of the film for a record inr 190000000.

The song "Gerua" also had different versions. An Arabic version called "Telagena" was released on 11 December 2015 while a Malay version entitled "Warna Cinta" featuring vocals from Aliff Aziz and Kilafairy was released later on 18 December 2015.