| Dostana | |
|---|---|
 Movie poster for Dostana |
|
| Directed by | Tarun Mansukhani |
| Produced by | Karan Johar Prashant Shah |
| Written by | Tarun Mansukhani |
| Starring | Abhishek Bachchan John Abraham Priyanka Chopra |
| Music by | Vishal-Shekhar |
| Cinematography | Ayananka Bose |
| Editing by | Mannan Sagar |
| Distributed by | Dharma Productions Yash Raj Films |
| Release date(s) | 14 November 2008 |
| Running time | 142 Minutes |
| Country | United States of America |
| Language | Hindi English |
| Budget | INR 50 Crores $USD 10 Million (approximately) |
| Gross revenue | $17,779,520 (USD) [1] |
Dostana (Hindi: दोस्ताना, translation: Friendship) is a 2008 Bollywood film. It stars Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham and Priyanka Chopra in the lead roles. The film was directed by Karan Johar's assistant, Tarun Mansukhani. Dharma Productions produced the film.[2]
The film explores the story of two men who pretend to be gay, so that they can to rent an apartment from an older lady. Both the men fall in love with the same girl, their roommate, but are unable to express their feelings because she is related to the old landlady.[3]
Dostana is the first Bollywood film to be filmed entirely in Miami, United States. Filming began in Miami in March 2008, and the film was released on 14 November 2008, and went on to become the eight highest grossing film at the Indian Box Office in 2008.[4] .
Contents |
Dostana is a story about two guys, Sameer Acharya (Abhishek Bachchan) who is a male nurse and Kunal Chauhan (John Abraham), a photographer. They bumped into each other while looking for an agreement to rent, and confusion headed towards the same bungalow. However, they were both thrown out because the owner wants to re-rent the apartment to girls only, since his niece, Neha Melwani (Priyanka Chopra) stays in second apartment alone. Sameer gets the idea (when a US Soldier, who is a gay, tells them about missing his life partner) that if Kunal and he pretend to be gay lovers, then the owner will agree to let them stay. Kunal initially refuses, but agrees out of desperation. Their plan works and they move in. Over a period of time Neha, Kunal, and Sameer become good friends, hanging out together and developing a good relationship as housemates.
One day Neha's boss 'M', short for Murli (Boman Irani) announces that he is resigning from his job as the editor of the magazine called 'Verve' and will also decide who should take his position. In order to impress her editor and get the job, Neha invites 'M' for dinner at her house telling him that she will introduce him to her gay friends. The evening turns out to be a comedic one. But Sameer's mother finds out that her son might be gay and is not pleased. Next day at Neha's office M announces that Abhimanyu Singh (Bobby Deol) will be the new editor. Neha, heartbroken returns home where she is consoled by Sameer's mother. Kunal and Sameer, then help Neha with her on a film project, given to her by Abhimanyu.
While Kunal is out of the film for a few days, Sameer takes Neha to supporting role, and they share a film. Later, at a shop, Sameer tries to tell Neha that he acts her in second scene and that he's straight through a fitting room door, but it turns out Kunal was behind that door and heard everything . Murli becomes angry with Sameer and states that he also marry him. As they try to figure out what to do be gay, Kunal suggests that they should both take Neha out to this great palace called Tajmahal that he knows (Neha's Birthday being the next day). Kunal to catch Sameer the address of the "place", which is actually a dance bar. Meanwhile, he and Neha enjoy eating popcorn and see movie at a cinema. Sameer comes to know of this and furiously punch Kunal in the body. Then, Abhi asked her (Mr Abhi) to take them to where they were going and that they could meet up there and so she did. In a party while the trio are enjoying, Abhi re-enters and sweeps Neha to take her out. Then Kunal and Sameer decide to take him off Neha together. They tell Abhimanyu to do ridiculous things in order to take Neha (like asking him to wax his chest hair and wear ridiculous clothes), but their plan unable to work. They then set their love on Abhimanyu's son Veer. They try to make Veer hate Neha. The next day, Neha comes to know that Abhi is going to propose to her at the basketball stadium they will be not attending . At halftime, Neha goes to see Kunal and Sameer, and asks them what she should do as she had no memory about marriage yet. Both of them ask her marry his brother and reveal that they are not gay and are in not love. Meanwhile Veer tells Abhimanyu of his fears and cries saying that he doesn't want him to marry Neha. As Neha tearfully turns out of Kunal and Sameer, Abhimanyu hugs her and tells her that they can't be together as Veer isn't comfortable with that.
Later, Kunal and Sameer go to the court to collect their resident permits and realize that they miss Neha, so they go to get her at an office that she is attending. They tried explaining to her but she refuses to see and then Abhimanyu walked away. Kunal asks when they are going to get married and Neha tells him that they broke up because Veer Singh wasn't comfortable with her. They both tell them the truth that they were the ones who made Veer Singh hate Neha and Abhimanyu and Neha furiously try to leave the place. But the guys told the securities to stop them and got on to the stage and told the crowd their story and asked them tell Neha to grant forgiveness. The crowd begs them to do stuff like get on the knees and beg to Neha and give a flying kiss to Neha, when one of them asks them to kiss each other . The guys adamantly refuse to do it when Abhimanyu says that since they are very founded gay, it is the only way they can be forgets. Kunal refuses to do it but Sameer convinces him and tries to kiss him, but loses his nerve at the last moment. As Kunal sees Neha and Abhimanyu starting to leave second apartment,Kunal forcibly kisses Sameer. Abhimanyu is amazed, and tells Neha that the guys were really her best friends, as he wouldn't even done that, not even for her. Neha goes to them and they make up. Then Kunal and Sameer got on their knee pain and asked Abhi to marry their best friend Neha, and he said that he will. After two months Neha,Kunal,Sameer,Abhimanyu are sitting on their first apartment balcony and Neha asks them if they ever had any love for each other during the time they were pretending to be gay. They vehemently deny it and Neha walks out of the scene. Sameer and Kunal look at each other and remember their disastrous kiss, and walk out the new apartment.
Dostana performed well both in India and overseas markets. Its opening weekend gross in the USA was $645,604 whilst in the UK , it was the third biggest opener- lagging only behind Singh is Kinng and Race [6] with £341,665. As of 2008-12-21, the film had grossed $1,444,246 after a 37 day run at the UK Box office alone with its total production budget of $2 Million being almost covered. In the USA, the film had a total gross of $1,243,910 as of 2008-12-11 whereas in foreign countries such as Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Fiji, Malaysia, Netherlands and India the total gross was $16,650,664. The film was a big earner in India because as of 2008-12-12 the film had earned $14,718,754 which was a grand 82% of its total gross. As of 2008-12-11, the film had a total, worldwide box office gross of $17,894,574 which is just over Rs. 85 crores.[7][1]
Box Office India gave it 3 stars out of 5, stating, "Dostana is fresh, frothy, naughty & a delightful romantic comedy. It's an ideal date movie".[8] Bollywood Hungama gave it 4 stars out of 5, with Taran Adarsh commenting, "On the whole, DOSTANA is a winner all the way. In terms of content, it might just prove to be a trendsetter." [9] The Times of India gave it 4 stars out of 5, stating, "Just for laughs, with a loose second half, Dostana boasts of some fine chemistry between the two lead players: Abhishek and John".[10] The review at Rediff.com makes note of the elaborate sequences and the possibility of the film becoming a financial success. However, it also mentions that the film is flawed in its depiction of homosexuality, calling it a "crucial blunder".[11] AOL India gave it 3 out of 5, with Noyon Jyoti Parasara calling Dostana "a fun film".[12]
As of 21 December 2008, the film has two reviews on the film-critic aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, which is not sufficient to gain a rating; however, the reviews — by David Chute, of the L. A. Weekly, and Mark Olsen, of the Los Angeles Times — were favorable.[13] Among other U.S. critics, Frank Lovece of Film Journal International enjoyed it as a "[b]ig, colorful, delightfully dumb Bollywood 'gateway' movie" that "could be a perfect crossover vehicle for U.S. audiences". Referring to the thematically similar film I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Lovece said "this reverse La Cage aux Folles ... is miles above Adam Sandler's Hollywood take on the topic".[14] Critic and author Maitland McDonagh in MissFlickChick.com, placing the film in a larger context, analyzed that it "trades in stereotypes about swishy queers, shallow horndogs, frustrated career girls, guilt-wielding (s)mothers and overbearing aunties who need to chill out and get laid. And you know what? It's pretty damned funny and oddly subversive. Yes, everyone learns a lesson about tolerance without actually embracing an alternative lifestyle, but any movie that can finagle two macho movie studs into a full-on smooch that doesn't devolve into slapstick gay panic is venturing into risky territory".[15]
| Dostana | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Vishal-Shekhar | ||||
| Released |
30 September 2008
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| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | |||
| Length | 30:49 | |||
| Label | Sony BMG | |||
| Producer | Dharma Productions | |||
| Vishal-Shekhar chronology | ||||
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The film's soundtrack is composed by Vishal-Shekhar. The album met with an electrifying response from potential audiences however. According to the statistics published on IndiaFM, Dostana debuted at #4 on its Top Ten Soundtrack Sales Chart. Listeners registered on the website reviewed the album favourably and Dostana's music currently has an average rating of 3.94 stars out of 5.
The soundtrack received generally positive reviews. Joginder Tuteja of IndiaFM stated that "Dostana is an excellent album from Vishal-Shekhar which does not carry a single number which doesn't work", giving the soundtrack 4 out of 5 stars. NDTV also gave the soundtrack 4 out of 5 stars stating that "that the soundtrack of the film will keep the cash registers ringing, with Shut Up and Bounce as an exception." Coincidentally most critics were in favour of every track apart from Shut Up and Bounce, which they described as a huge disappointment considering it carried the tune played during the first promo of Dostana. Some even said that it lacked originality and because of its familiar tune, comparisons were made between Shut Up and Bounce and Kal Ho Naa Ho's It's the Time to Disco. Another song "Maa da laadla" affirms that "Dostana" isn't just about soothing, pleasant numbers but also about celebration. Punjabi in flavour, the song has good beats and is sung by Saleem. The lyrics of the song, penned by Kumaar, are noteworthy. The track has a slight humorous essence as well. In contrast to IndiaFM and NDTV, Buzz18's Chandrima Pal gave the soundtrack 2.5 stars out of 5, stating that it "misses out on most of the spunk Vishal-Shekhar had in their previous works". Rediff's Sukanya Verma also gave the soundtrack 2.5 stars out of 5, stating that "although Dostana's music is nice and peppy for the most part, it's nothing extraordinary." She even said that Dostana "certainly wasn't the best from Dharma Productions". ApunKaChoice.com has given it 3 out of 5 stars saying that it features some of the nicest groovy numbers.
Pritish Nandy, owner of Pritish Nandy Communications, filed a court case against Dharma Productions for using the song Kuch Kum without his permission. His allegations were that Kuch Kum was originally composed by Vishal-Shekhar for a film to be directed by Tarun Mansukhani under his banner, but the film never took off. Hence, Vishal-Shekhar used Kuch Kum's composition in Dostana, which apparently made Pritish Nandy, "livid" and caused him to "raise objections" against the use of the song. Instead of wasting time going to court, Dharma Productions decided to handle the situation mutually by paying Nandy Rs. 3 crores in compensation.
| Tracklist | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Title | Artist(s) | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "Jaane Kyun" | Vishal Dadlani | 4:38 | ||||||
| 2. | "Desi Girl" | Shankar Mahadevan, Sunidhi Chauhan & Vishal Dadlani | 5:07 | ||||||
| 3. | "Maa Da Laadla" | Saleem | 4:05 | ||||||
| 4. | "Shut Up & Bounce" | Sunidhi Chauhan & Vishal Dadlani | 4:38 | ||||||
| 5. | "Khabar Nahi" | Vishal Dadlani, Shreya Ghoshal, Amanat Ali & Raja Hasan | 4:19 | ||||||
| 6. | "Kuch Kum" | Shaan | 5:41 | ||||||
In 2009 reports came out that director Tarun Mansukhani and Karan Johar are planning for a sequel of the film to cash in on its success. It was reported that along with the existing cast of the film(excluding Priyanka Chopra and Bobby Deol) Johar has roped in Katrina Kaif, Arjun Rampal and Ritesh Deshmukh and Shreyas Talpade to play the other leads.[16]
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  | Dostana's Official Website - ::: Dostana | Official Website ::: |
| | ''Dostana'' on YashRajFilms - Yash Raj Films |
| | Karan's film with Tarun Mansukhani titled Dostana - Karan's film with Tarun Mansukhani titled Dostana |
| | Movie Review - Dostana - Hindi - Movie Reviews - ENTERTAINMENT - The Times of India |
| | Dostana fetches staggering start overseas - Box Office Report | Movie Dostana | Karan Johar | Staggering Start | Singh Is Kinng - Oneindia Entertainment |
| | Review - Dostana - Movie Review - AOL India Bollywood |
| | All you wanted to know about Dostana - All you wanted to know about Dostana |
| | Dostana - Movie Review - Dostana : Movie Review by Taran Adarsh |
| | Dostana grosses Rs 1 billion worldwide in four weeks - Dostana grosses Rs 1 billion worldwide in four weeks :: Businessofcinema.com - India's No 1 Cinema Business News and Information Portal |
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