Baadshah (Hindi: बादशाह, Urdu: بادشاہ, translation: King) is a 1999 Bollywood action comedy film directed by Abbas-Mustan. The film stars Shahrukh Khan opposite Twinkle Khanna in lead roles. It released on 27 August 1999, and had an excellent opening at the box office, however didn't manage to do well upon critics. Shahrukh Khan earned a Filmfare Award nomination for Best Performance in a Comic Role. The storyline has influences of other contemporary movies such as Mr Nice Guy, Nick of Time and Rush Hour.

Plot[link]

Raj (Shahrukh Khan) is a young man still living with his mother who wishes to follow in his late father's footsteps by working as a detective. Under a pseudonym, "Baadshah", he runs Baadshah Detective Agency out of a Mumbai office full of cheesy detective gadgetry that can be converted to an apartment or doctor's office by means of a rotating wall panel system. In his employ are several occasionally helpful, yet very simple, individuals - Rocky, Bhola, Chauki Lal, and chief assistant Ram Lal (Johnny Lever) - who help him with his work. Though Baadshah tries hard (and likely fails) to pass his agency off as highly-sophisticated and constantly busy, he actually receives little business, and is desperate for a big break. Though he manages to retrieve a businessman's diamonds from a moustached Wild West-style villain named Manikchand (who happens to be working in collaboration with the businessman's crooked underling, Saxena) in a casino through trickery and athleticism, he ends up losing the reward money as a result of being responsible for the casino needing extensive repairs. As a result of such misfortune, Baadshah's time as a detective seems to be running out, as his mother's patience for his unfruitful mischief-making is wearing thin.

Suraj Singh Thapar (Amrish Puri) is a business tycoon whose bio-chemical plant is due to be shut down following a preventable industrial accident by the popular and uncompromising Chief Minister of Goa, Gayatri Bachchan. When bribery attempts fail, he resolves to have her killed. For the job, he has Rani, his young henchwoman, hire Shiva, Mumbai's notorious contract-killer.

Meanwhile, a man by the name of K. Jhunjhunwala comes to Baadshah with a strange case. Jhunjhunwala claims that he is dying as a result of a brain tumor and wants to see his daughter married to the suitable bachelor accompanying him, Nitin, before he dies. The young woman, Seema (Twinkle Khanna), is, however, unprepared to marry Nitin, who she knows as a friend - hence the need for Baadshah's help. Baadshah takes it upon himself to woo the girl and later dump her in order to fulfil the dying man's request and create some much-needed revenue.

Baadshah pretends to be blind and, after serenading Seema in a hotel lobby and subsequently getting slapped, draws her to his "apartment", which his assistants have created using the detective agency's convertibility. There, as "Raj", he gains her sympathy and affection, telling her such things as, "My mother died before I was born." Completely taken, Seema gives in to his request for money for an eye operation that might restore his vision. Hilarity ensues, as Ram Lal poses as a trembling eye doctor and fakes performing the restorative operation at the eye clinic (another manifestation of the agency office). Overjoyed, Seema embraces Raj, her new love, and they begin a romance. Though Baadshah seems genuinely involved in the relationship for a time, he is quickly brought back to reality by Jhunjhunwala, and promptly breaks Seema's heart by revealing the lies and making clear her stupidity. Nitin rushes to comfort her, and Baadshah collects his payment. However, his feelings for her prove to be genuine, though he blows them off for the time being and celebrates with his assistants.

Unbeknownst to Baadshah, Jhunjhunwala and Nitin are actually a father-son bank fraud team wanted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The marriage of Nitin to Seema, who is actually the sister of CBI Secret Agent Deepak Malhotra, is actually meant to stop investigation into the bank fraud case by way of family connections. The plan fails, however, when Agent Malhotra promptly arrests the Jhunjhunwalas before the marriage can take place.

Meanwhile, it is revealed by the CBI that Shiva's attempt on Chief Minister Gayatri Bachchan's life failed as a result of his death in a car accident. Fearing a second attempt, CBI headquarters tasks Agent Malhotra with investigating and providing further protection for the minister in Goa. The mission is given the codename "Operation Maa", and Malhotra is assigned the codename "Baadshah". Rani, by listening in on Malhotra's communications with a fellow agent, finds out his flight information, and unites with her boyfriend, Moti, who was recently released from prison. As per Thapar's instructions, she is to travel with Moti to the airport, where the latter will eliminate Secret Agent "Baadshah" and assume his identity in order to gain access to Bachchan and carry out the assassination.

At the same time, Baadshah (the detective) gets a second job from the businessman he first worked for. Manikchand and Saxena, wanting to regain the diamonds they originally stole, kidnapped the businessman's daughter for ransom. Baadshah and his assistants are given tickets to Goa, where the girl is being held. As luck has it, both "Baadshahs" are scheduled to be on the same flight. Baadshah, through a misunderstanding, receives Agent Malhotra's ticket at the counter, while Agent Malhotra, who received Baadshah's ticket, is identified as the CBI's "Baadshah" by Rani when he picks it up. Moti shoots Malhotra, who is briefly seen by Baadshah being wheeled away. A computer disk drops from his wheel chair, which Baadshah keeps after trying to give back.

At this point, Baadshah has functionally switched places with the deceased agent. Because he is sitting in the agent's assigned seat on the plane, another CBI agent dispatched to aid him approaches and gives him an identification flower. This draws the attention of Rani, who now thinks that Moti killed the wrong man. Rani poisons the remaining CBI agent, and tries to poison Baadshah, but fails. When the passengers disembark, yet another CBI agent identifies Baadshah as the secret agent by the flower he is wearing, and rushes him away to a CBI laboratory. As they pass, Seema and her partner, Uncle Tom, previously expecting Agent Malhotra, identify Baadshah as Raj, the heartbreaking liar, and wonder what happened to Malhotra (Seema's brother). At the laboratory, confusion prevails, as nobody is able to come to the realization that things are not as they are supposed to be. Baadshah is equipped with a James Bond-style car and an assortment of top-secret gadgets. He is also congratulated on the Jhunjhunwala case, which he initially thinks is his marriage setup. A newspaper article on it reveals the truth, and though he realizes that Seema could yet be his for the taking, he is unable to see the bigger picture.

Baadshah is followed on the road after departing, both by Moti and Rani and by Seema. While trying to roll down the high-tech car's windows, he accidentally fends off the murderous couple. Failing to attract Seema's attention, he retires to his hotel for the night. By this time, his companions have been taken by Manikchand and Saxena to their rented hideout, where they also secretly hold the girl. Baadshah learns that the two men now hold all of his friends hostage, and that he must now rescue the lot of them.

At the hotel, Baadshah discovers that Seema has taken the computer disk from his possession. He is then given a note from Seema, requesting a meeting. He goes to see her in the parking garage, where she confronts him with an obviously uncocked pistol. While demonstrating the proper usage of the weapon, Baadshah is jumped by Moti. The two fight back and forth, until a dog forces both of them to seek safety on top of a car. Baadshah escapes by singing to the dog, while Moti is mauled and is driven into a trash can. Seema flees. She and Uncle Tom search the computer disk and see that Agent Malhotra suspected Thapar as the man behind the assassination attempt. Seema goes to Thapar's night club in order to get information from him, only to encounter Baadshah there as well. More confusion ensues, as Baadshah is mistaken as Moti by Thapar and a hitman by Seema, and Thapar is mistaken as the businessman's assistant by Baadshah. Baadshah says that he will deliver the girl to Thapar's address. Thapar thinks this is code for the delivery of Bachchan's dead body. To cap off the eventful night, Baadshah performs an epic musical number in front of a raucous crowd.

Having been in communication with Manikchand and Saxena all along, Baadshah arranges an exchange of the hostages for the diamonds at an abandoned construction site after meeting them at a school event where Gayatri Bachchan was speaking. Finding the girl and his men unharmed, Baadshah attacks the criminal duo with exploding toffee and comes away with all of the stolen goods and the culprits in custody. Sending Ram Lal and the others to Thapar's address (where he thinks they are to meet up with the businessman), Baadshah drives the kidnappers towards town. While en route, he finds Seema being chased by armed men, who were sent after her by a corrupt security agent at the chief minister's event after she tried alerting him of Baadshah's potentially deadly presence. The detective saves Seema, and tells her and Uncle Tom his side of the story and the truth about earlier events. Seema, in turn, briefs Baadshah on the overall situation. Though they are able to kiss and make up, they find themselves in dire straits. Seema's brother is now known to be dead, and Baadshah's friends are in Thapar's custody.

Baadshah, equipped with a radio link to Seema, goes to Thapar's house to try talking his way out of the mess. Thapar, now wise to the goings on, forces Baadshah to assassinate Bachchan himself using his secret agent status. Should he fail to do so, Thapar will kill everyone.

All of the key players travel to the Holiday Inn where the Chief Minister is to speak. The girl is forced to wear a bomb vest and sit in a van watched by Moti. Baadshah's assistants are kept in a high-rise room with a gun trained on them by Rani. The entire on-site security force is in cahoots with Thapar, keeping tabs on Baadshah inside the hotel. He manages to escape momentarily, with the help of a secretary, informing the chief minister's husband of the plot. Unfortunately, the husband is in on it himself, and, after killing the secretary, forces Baadshah to get back to the task. Now, with additional help desperately needed, Seema recruits the hotel staff, who give Baadshah his CBI-issued bag of tricks. This allows him to rescue his assistants from Rani. He proceeds to shoot Moti, leaving Ram Lal and the others to tend to the bomb. Seema puts a message in with the chief minister's speech script. Baadshah is forced to approach the chief minister, as Thapar still has control of the bomb. At that moment, she reads the note and learns of the impending danger, as well as her husbands' involvement in the plot. However, it being too late, Baadshah is forced to open fire upon the security personal, wounding a great many of them. Thapar, in response, takes a few shots at Bachchan himself, but her Sikh bodyguard comes between her and the bullets. Thapar prepares to fire once more, but Baadshah disarms him. Thapar then goes for the bomb switch, but the van containing the girl comes crashing through a glass wall and comes to rest in the midst of the action. Needing room to detonate the bomb, Thapar flees, and is pursued by Baadshah while the CBI scientist works on the bomb. The two men struggle for control of the remote on some scaffolding, but eventually it is Thapar who comes away with it. While Baadshah clings to a pipe, Thapar runs outside, and has Moti and Rani detonate the bomb while he sits in his getaway car. Unfortunately for him, the bomb was previously removed from the girl and thrown under said car, leading to his explosive demise.

Baadshah, having been rescued by his friends using a curtain slide, is seen to have booming business back at the detective agency. Ram Lal receives a call from Mr. Clint Eastwood, apparently secretary to American President Bill Clinton, offering $1,000,000 for assistance with the "Monica Case". Baadshah then announces his prioritization of "wife duty", refusing the case and disappearing with Seema on a retractable bed into the wall of the detective agency. The audience is left with a framed photograph of Baadshah, as a baby wearing a fireman's helmet.

Cast[link]

• Shahrukh Khan as Raj (Baadshah)
• Twinkle Khanna as Seema Malhotra
• Rakhee as Gayatri Bachchan
• Johny Lever as Ramlal
• Shashikala as Baadshah's mother
• Sachin Khedekar as Tyagraj Bachchan
• Pankaj Dheer as Khanna
• Deepshikha as Rani
• Sharat Saxena as Moti
• Saurabh Shukla as Saxena
• Prem Chopra as CBI Chief
• Deepak Tijori as Deepak Malhotra
• Amrish Puri as Suraj Singh Thapar
• Avtar Gill as K. Jhunjhunwala
• Razzak Khan as Manikchand
• Viju Khote as Vijoo
• Dinesh Hingoo as Dr. Rustom
• Neeraj Vora as CBI Dr. Rusi Surti
• Shakti Kapoor
• Anant Mahadevan as Seth. Mahendra

Soundtrack[link]

Reception[link]

The movie got an excellent opening, netting 14 crore (US$2.79 million) and grossing 23.25 crore (US$4.64 million).^[1] However, was a below average grosser worldwide.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Baadshah at the Internet Movie Database