2024 Film Bade Miyan Chote Miyan

The film stars Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff in the titular roles with Prithviraj Sukumaran as the antagonist. It also features Manushi Chhillar, Alaya F, Sonakshi Sinha and Ronit Bose Roy in pivotal roles. The film follows two former soldiers who reunite and race against time to save India from an imminent attack orchestrated by a vengeful mad scientist.

Bade Miyan Chote Miyan
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ali Abbas Zafar
Written by	Suraj Gianani Ali Abbas Zafar
Screenplay by	Ali Abbas Zafar Aditya Basu
Story by	Ali Abbas Zafar
Produced by	Jackky Bhagnani Vashu Bhagnani Deepshikha Deshmukh Ali Abbas Zafar Himanshu Kishan Mehra
Starring	Akshay Kumar Tiger Shroff Prithviraj Sukumaran Manushi Chhillar Alaya F Sonakshi Sinha Ronit Roy
Narrated by	Ali Abbas Zafar
Cinematography	Marcin Laskawiec
Edited by	Steven H. Bernard
Music by	Score: Julius Packiam Songs: Vishal Mishra
Production companies	Pooja Entertainment AAZ Films
Distributed by	PVR Inox Pictures (India) Yash Raj Films (International)
Release date	11 April 2024 (2024-04-11)
Running time	164 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹350 crore
Box office	est. ₹88.81 crore

The film was announced in February 2022. Principal photography began in January 2023 and ended by February 2024 with filming held in Mumbai, Scotland, London, Luton, Abu Dhabi, and Jordan. The soundtrack is composed by Vishal Mishra, while Julius Packiam gave the background score, with Marcin Laskawiec as the cinematographer and Steven H. Bernard as the editor. The visual effects are handled by DNEG. With a budget of ₹250–300 crore, it is one of the most expensive Indian films ever made.

Bade Miyan Chote Miyan was theatrically released on 11 April 2024, coinciding with Eid to mixed reviews from critics with praise for cast performances, action scenes and technical aspects, but critisism for plot and screenplay.

An Indian convoy carrying a deadly weapon is ambushed and the soldiers guarding it are killed in the process. The perpetrator is a masked man who leaves a message for the Indian Army telling them that he has stolen their weapon and they will have to race against time in order to prevent the destruction of India. Captain Misha meets an agent in Shanghai who warns her about the same before he gets killed by another masked attacker. Misha chases after him and gets into a fistfight, impaling him with a sharp weapon. However, the man's wounds heal instantly and he flees the scene. Misha reports to Colonel Azad and explains how the attacker's wounds healed magically. Azad tells her to keep it a secret and instructs her to enlist court martialed soldiers Firoz (Freddy) and Rakesh (Rocky) for the mission.

Misha meets the duo and while Rocky agrees to accompany her, Freddy refuses, feeling that his job got him nothing but disrespect in the end. Misha and Rocky arrive in London and meet an IT Specialist named Parminder aka Pam, who is assigned to assist them in the mission. Azad also arrives in London, but gets shot by the masked villain. Meanwhile, the team infiltrate a London Subway in order to retrieve the stolen package. Just as the team is cornered and nearly defeated, Freddy arrives and fights off the masked men. Pam unlocks the vault and it is revealed that the package is actually a woman named Priya, who was once engaged to Freddy. Since the hard drives were at the risk of being hacked or falling into wrong hands, the codes to a highly advanced defence system named Karan Kavach were encrypted inside Priya's brain. However, the masked man and his army take Priya hostage and following a sustained chase, the group are cornered and the masked man reveals himself as Kabir, a former friend of the duo. He also reveals the nearly immortal masked men were none other than the duo's clones.

In a flashback, it is revealed that Kabir intended to help the Indian armed forces with the help of his latest invention: a cloning program where clones based on Freddy and Rocky's DNA could be programmed with orders by Azad and win wars without being killed. However, when he revealed his intentions to conquer the world using this invention, Azad reprimanded him in front of everyone and ordered him to shut down the program since it would go against ethics. Feeling betrayed, Kabir decided to switch sides and sell the invention to India's enemies. Priya alerted the team about the plan, and Freddy and Rocky were ordered to destroy the program and capture Kabir alive. However, they ended up killing him and were court-martialed for not following orders, after which Freddy broke off his engagement with Priya. However, Kabir reveals that he survived because it was actually his clone Eklavya, whom he loved like a son, that was killed and his death left Kabir traumatised and vengeful.

Back to the present, Kabir reveals that he has cloned Azad and kills the real one. He kidnaps Priya and leaves Freddy and Rocky to die. The duo manage to kill Kabir's henchmen and return to the base where they reveal to the team that since India has never initiated any of the wars it has participated in, Kabir plans to turn Pakistan and China against India by deactivating the Karan Kavach and launching airstrikes against the two countries, eventually causing India's reputation to be tarnished globally. Freddy, Rocky, Misha and Pam infiltrate Kabir's base where the latter decrypts the password from Priya's brain. Freddy and Rocky fight off Kabir's army, and eventually face off against their own clones, who keep rejuvenating due to an internal power source. Pam suggests destroying them using a high amount of electricity, and the duo kills all the clones by luring them into a power grid, causing them to explode. Kabir launches the airstrikes before Freddy and Rocky fight him off and kill him by impaling him on a spear. Amid failed password attempts, Priya awakens and suggests using "Eklavya", the name of Kabir's own clone. It works and the Karan Kavach is reactivated, averting the airstrike and a potential war. The team reunites and leaves the base, while Kabir awakens and is revealed to be alive.

Development

In December 2021, Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff were signed for Ali Abbas Zafar's next action film under the production of Pooja Entertainment, which also backed the 1998 film of the same name. Eventually, the film was announced on 8 February 2022. Zafar, apart from being the writer and director, also co-produced it under his own banner, AAZ Films.

Casting

Manushi Chhillar was signed to play an action-packed role, reuniting with Kumar after Samrat Prithviraj (2022). In December 2022, Prithviraj Sukumaran was roped in to play the main antagonist named Kabir. Sonakshi Sinha was cast in March 2023. Prior to that, Alaya F and Ronit Roy joined the film in January 2023.

Filming

Principal photography began on 17 January 2023 at Yash Raj Studios in Mumbai. The first schedule included an action scene shot in a set of Bunker before it moved to Film City where other action scenes were shot. On 19 February 2023, Zafar confirmed the first schedule wrap.

On 28 February 2023, the second schedule took place in the United Kingdom in which a major chunk of the film was shot in Scotland, London and Luton before it ended on 12 April 2023. Some high-octane action sequences were filmed featuring cars, bikes, helicopters and tanks. An action scene was shot at night in Paisley where a street was recreated as Shanghai. Kumar also got injured while shooting a bike chase sequence.

On 16 April 2023, last schedule began in Abu Dhabi with the shooting of few portions of the title track at Emirates Palace. Action scenes featuring Cars, Bikes, Tanks, Horses, Dune Buggies, Plane, and Chinook helicopter were shot. A set of Indian Army Airstrip was recreated at Liwa Dessert. Filming wrapped on 9 May 2023 except patchwork.

On 21 January 2024, the filming for four final songs choreographed by Bosco-Caesar kicked off in Jordan with Kumar, and Shroff which took place for 12 days. Firstly the title track was shot at Roman Theatre and other locations of Jerash. Filming then moved to the Dead Sea where a romantic track with Kumar, Shroff, Sinha, Chhillar and Alaya F and a party track which also includes Prithviraj and Roy were shot. Last song shoot took place at Wadi Rum where an Arabic style song was shot. On 1 February 2024, Kumar confirmed the schedule wrap.

Post-production

The VFX work of the film is done by DNEG.

The music of the film is composed by Vishal Mishra and lyrics are written by Irshad Kamil while the background score is composed by Julius Packiam. The first single titled "Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (Title Track)" was released on 19 February 2024. The second single titled "Mast Malang Jhoom" was released on 28 February 2024. The third single titled "Wallah Habibi" was released on 13 March 2024. The original Title Track from the original film Bade Miyan Chote Miyan sung by Udit Narayan and Sudesh Bhosle was used during a scene in the film.

The first look poster was unveiled on 20 January 2024 and the teaser of the film was released on 24 January 2024. On 26 February 2024, a promotional event for the film was held in Lucknow, where Kumar and Shroff performed live stunts and interacted with the crowd. The film was promoted at India Today Conclave 2024 in Delhi. On 22 March 2024, Kumar and Shroff performed live at the 2024 Indian Premier League Opening Ceremony. The trailer of the film was launched at an event in Mumbai on 26 March 2024.

Theatrical

In February 2022, the release date of the film was announced as 22 December 2023 (in the week of Christmas). However, in May 2023, a new release date of Eid 2024 was announced by Pooja Entertainment.

The film was released on 11 April in standard formats, 3D, and IMAX in Hindi alongside dubbed version of Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada languages.

The film is Box-office bomb. This marks Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff disaster of 2024.

Distribution

PVR Inox Pictures acquired the theatrical rights for India and Yash Raj Films for Overseas.

Home media

The digital streaming rights were acquired by Netflix.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 20% of 10 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.3/10.

The film received mixed reviews from critics with praise for cast performances, action scenes and technical aspects, but critisism for plot and screenplay. Bollywood Hungama critic rated 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Bade Miyan Chote Miyan suffers due to a weak script and poor dialogues, however, it is a decent watch for the fans of Akshay Kumar, and Tiger Shroff."

Reviewing for The Hindu Anuj Kumar wrote "The problem is that every emotion, like the action choreography, is spelled out in capital letters and Zafar takes a bit too long to arrive at the point."

Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated only 1 star out of 5 and opined "The story is astonishingly hollow."

Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express awarded the movie 1 star and commented that it is "complete snoozefest". Gupta further wrote "If only the film had fully embraced its cartoonish qualities, it may have become enjoyable."

Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com rated 1/5 stars and observed "Forget comic chops, you'll not find an ounce of camaraderie between Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff as they go about firing ammo and flexing abs at a zombie-like army for nearly three excruciating hours of this noisy drivel."

Monika Rawal Kukreja of Hindustan Times stated that "For those with a penchant for action films, good, bad or ugly, BMCM will definitely make for a one-time watch. If nothing else, Akshay and Tiger's onscreen camaraderie and bromance is quite impressive, and it translates well from real to reel."

Zinia Bandyopadhyay of India Today opined that "If you are in a state where your cognitive abilities are compromised, and you just want to see a lot of ‘maar-dhaar’(action) that makes no sense at all, then you may consider going for this one."

Ronak Kotecha of Times of India gave the film 3.5 stars out of 5, writing "Director Ali Abbas Zafar, who is known for giving explosive entertainers like the Tiger series, once again displays his expertise in the genre. Bade Miyan Chote Miyan goes out all guns blazing to make for an entertaining potboiler with heart-pounding action, cheeky humour and barely a dull moment."

Titas Chowdhury of News18 awarded the movie 3 stars out of 5 and wrote that "To be honest, it would be wrong to call Bade Miyan Chote Miyan just an action entertainer."

Pratikshya Mishra of The Quint awarded the movie 2 stars out of 5 and stated that "Bade Miyan Chote Miyan doesn’t, however, rely on portraying its heroes with the same ol’ hypermasculinity – these heroes like to have fun instead."

Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in praised director Zafar's work and stated "Zafar also has a credit for creating the characters. It’s brave, to say the least, given how derivative the movie is."

WION reviewer Pragati Awasthi stated that "The first half of the movie was fine with decent, action and humour. But, in the second half, the movie kind of gets slow with the addition of unnecessary elements, and an exaggerated plot that didn't sit well with the overall vibe of the movie."