Ajnabee (2001 film)

Ajnabee
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Abbas–Mustan
Screenplay by	Sanjeev Duggal Neeraj Vora Robin Bhatt Shyam Goel
Story by	Neeraj Vora
Produced by	Vijay Galani
Starring	Akshay Kumar Bobby Deol Kareena Kapoor Khan Bipasha Basu Singh Grover
Cinematography	Rajan Kinagi
Edited by	Hussain A Burmawala
Music by	Songs: Anu Malik Background Score: Surinder Sodhi
Distributed by	Film Folks, Venus Records, Tips Tapes Pvt. Ltd.
Release date	21 September 2001 (2001-09-21)
Running time	165 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹17 crore
Box office	₹31.83 crore

Ajnabee (transl. Stranger) is a 2001 Indian Hindi-language mystery thriller film directed by Abbas–Mustan and produced by Vijay Galani. It stars Akshay Kumar, Bobby Deol, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Bipasha Basu in the lead, with Johnny Lever, Dalip Tahil, Narendra Bedi and Sharat Saxena in supporting roles. The film is an adaptation of the 1992 American thriller Consenting Adults, directed by Alan J. Pakula. It was the second film of Akshay Kumar and Abbas-Mustan after Khiladi and the second film of Bobby Deol and Abbas-Mustan after Soldier. Upon release, it received mixed-to-positive from critics, and was a superhit at the box office. However, Akshay Kumar's performance was praised by both critics and audiences. This film also launched actress Bipasha Basu’s acting career, after having run a successful modelling career in the late 90s.

Plot

Raj Malhotra (Bobby Deol) and Priya Malhotra (Kareena Kapoor Khan) meet by chance and fall in love after a whirlwind romance. They marry and reside in Switzerland, where they meet another Indian couple: Vikram "Vicky" Bajaj (Akshay Kumar) and Sonia Bajaj (Bipasha Basu). The couples quickly become friends and decide to go on a Christmas vacation together to Mauritius.

During their vacation, Raj sees Vikram with another woman, kissing and looking intimate. At the same time, Sonia begins to try to seduce Raj, who rejects her. Vikram notices Raj looking at Sonia and casually talks to him about wife swapping, this upsets Raj and an argument breaks out between the two men. However, a couple of days later, they resolve their issues and become friends again. On Vikram's birthday, the two men celebrate by getting drunk together, sharing bottles of alcohol. Once again, Vikram asks whether he could become Raj for one night and tells Raj to become Vikram, which Raj rebuffs, but still, both men end up in opposite houses.

The next day Raj wakes up to find a semi-naked woman in bed with him and realizes he is in Vicky's house. After talking to Priya about last night, Raj imagines Vicky successfully convincing Priya to continue the wife swapping overnight and imagines Vicky seducing Priya And Later Priya satisfying Vicky by allowing Vicky to have sexual intercourse over a semi-naked Priya . After some time, Sonia is found dead, and Raj is accused of her murder since his fingerprints are found on the murder weapon – an alcohol bottle. Determined to prove his innocence, Raj manages to escape from the court and is chased by the Swiss police. He meets Priya, who eventually believes his innocence and aids him in finding out what really happened. He decides to search Vikram's house, only to be interrupted by Vikram, who calls the police and then reveals that everything was planned in advance. Raj escapes in Vikram's car with Priya.

Raj finds a boarding pass that belongs to Sonia Bajaj, which states that Sonia arrived in Zürich on 29 December – however, Sonia was supposedly murdered on that night. Raj suspects her to be the woman he saw with Vikram, traveling to Geneva together. In Geneva, Raj meets an insurance officer who is trying to find evidence that Vikram was involved in the death of his wife, in order to receive her life insurance payment of $100 million. Working with the insurance agent, Raj traces Vikram to a cruise ship. There, he sees Vikram dancing with a woman who is revealed to be 'Sonia', alive and well. Raj confronts Vikram, who finally explains the whole devious plan – the woman whom he kissed in Mauritius was his actual wife Sonia Bajaj (Mink Brar), while the woman with him that Priya and Raj were introduced to in Switzerland is his girlfriend Neeta. Vikram, a struggling musician, married the wealthy and glamorous Sonia and convinced her to take out an insurance plan of $100 million on herself. He then formulated a plan with Neeta to have Sonia murdered so that they could collect the money.

Vikram boasts about having pinned the murder on Raj. However, Raj takes Vikram to a computer and shows him his empty bank account. Raj says that he had guessed the password, "Everything is planned", something that Vikram used to say a lot, and used it to transfer the money back to the insurance company. Raj also reveals that everything Vikram said had been recorded. A fight erupts between the two and Neeta dies in the conflict. Angered at losing Neeta, Vikram gets aggressive, killing the insurance officer. He chases Priya to kill her, but Raj impales Vikram with an anchor from the cruise ship, killing him. Raj and Priya return to India in the end.

Cast

• Akshay Kumar as Vikram Bajaj
• Bobby Deol as Raj Malhotra
• Kareena Kapoor as Priya Malhotra
• Bipasha Basu as Neeta (fake Sonia Bajaj)
• Johnny Lever as Banu Pradhan
• Amita Nangia as Sheena Devi
• Dalip Tahil as Priya's father
• Sharat Saxena as Insurance Officer
• Sheela Sharma as Vina Chandra Devi
• Narendra Bedi as Lakhan Pal
• Mink Brar as real Sonia Bajaj

Soundtrack

Ajnabee 2.0 With Tips Jhankar
Soundtrack album by Anu Malik
Released	2001
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	50:38
Label	Tips Music
Producer	ABBAS MUSTAAN TIPS FILM 2022

The soundtrack for Ajnabee is composed by Anu Malik and the lyrics are penned by Sameer. It is released by Tips Music.

In 2011, ten years after the release of Ajnabee, Malik claimed that the song "Character Dheela" from the film Ready is an unauthorised copy of the song "Mohabbat Naam Hai" while informing the media that he will likely file a suit against composer, Pritam for plagiarism. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 22,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's sixth highest-selling.

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Length
1	"Mohabbat Naam Hai"	Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik	6:19
2	"Mehbooba Mehbooba"	Adnan Sami, Sunidhi Chauhan	7:27
3	"Meri Zindagi Mein Ajnabee"	Kumar Sanu, Sunidhi Chauhan	6:57
4	"Mujhko Neend Aa Rahi Hai"	Sonu Nigam, Sunidhi Chauhan	4:46
5	"Dance Music"	Anu Malik	1:22
6	"Kaun Main Haan Tum"	Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Bobby Deol, Akshay Kumar, Bipasha Basu, Kareena Kapoor	6:44
7	"Kasam Se Teri Aankhen Aaiya Re Aaiya"	Udit Narayan, Sonu Nigam, Alka Yagnik, Hema Sardesai	5:55
8	"Jab Tumhe Aashiqui Maloom"	Kumar Sanu	6:48
9	"Mehbooba Mehbooba (E-Groove Mix)"	Udit Narayan, Adnan Sami, Sunidhi Chauhan, DJ Khalif	4:20

Production

Originally, actress Mahek Chahal was cast in the role of Neeta (Fake Sonia) which eventually was given to Bipasha Basu. The climax of the film was shot in Muscat, Dubai and Bahrain on the Indian-owned cruise liner Ocean Majesty.

Reception

Ajnabee received positive reviews from critics, particularly the performance of Akshay Kumar which was praised by both critics and audiences.

Cultural Impact

Ajnabee was crucial in the resolution of the conflict surrounding Bengal and Punjab. The comic relief characters played by Johnny Lever and Narendra Bedi as the Bengali and Punjabi neighbours respectively was a major cause for the communal tensions to dissipate. In a recent interview Abbas Mustan said "showing Bengali and Punjabi people getting along on screen, joking around and even teasing wife swapping was something we knew that could be controversial but we're so glad that it all worked out for the good, we both sleep really well at night knowing we have inadvertently saved thousands of lives through cinema".

Box office

The film grossed ₹ 31.83 crore worldwide.

Awards and nominations

• 'Filmfare Awards'

Won

• Best Villain – Akshay Kumar
• Best Female Debut – Bipasha Basu

Nominated

• Best Male Playback Singer – Adnan Sami – 'Mehbooba Mehbooba'
• Best Comedian – Johnny Lever

External links

• Ajnabee at IMDb 
• Ajnabee at Bollywood Hungama