Waqt: The Race Against Time

Ishwarchand Thakur and Sumitra Thakur are a married couple who run a toy factory together. They have a son named Aditya Thakur, who is spoiled and has no interest in responsibility or his direction in life except wanting to become a film actor. Sumitra scolds Ishwar for always spoiling Aditya and pampering him too much. After refusing to show up for a marriage proposal, The situation deteriorates when Aditya elopes and secretly marries his girlfriend Pooja, the daughter of Ishwar's rival Nattu without telling his parents. When Pooja becomes pregnant, Ishwar and Sumitra decide to force Aditya to understand his responsibilities in caring for his wife and child. They throw Aditya and Pooja out of their house, and the couple moves into a small house in the garden at the back of the house. Ishwar makes it very difficult for Aditya to live on his own by removing the fuse for the fan and not allowing him to take food from home. Ishwar loathes that Aditya is a selfish person and fears his soon-to-be-born child would be an orphan with someone like him as his father. Aditya then starts to change and works hard to become a responsible father and husband by taking a job as a risky stuntman for films. However, Aditya also begins to hate his father; they do not speak to each other for a long time, during which Aditya becomes aware of his role as a father. Ishwar, who wants to ensure his son is secure and responsible, is suffering from final stage lung cancer. He fears telling Aditya the truth about it, as he knows it will devastate him the most; therefore, he hides it and covers it up every time by being strict and harsh towards him. Ishwar and Sumitra entrust Nattu and his wife Ashalata to keep an eye on Aditya, but Ishwar intends to separate him from Pooja due to her pregnancy, which Nattu accidentally blurts out to the young couple. Aditya becomes a responsible man and finds out about his father's illness when he attends Aditya's performance on stage. Aditya steps onto the stage and asks the audience to pray for his father to stay alive until his son's birth. Ishwar survives until the birth; the child is a boy, whom Ishwar names after himself, and he dies. Aditya welcomes children into his father's toy factory and, in the presence of his family, including his toddler Ishwar, plays with a lonely, disabled boy. The spirit of Ishwar touches the flowers in Sumitra's hair, reminding her of earlier times. == Cast ==

The cast is listed below: • Amitabh Bachchan as Ishwar Chandra Thakur, Aditya's father • Akshay Kumar as Aditya "Adi" Thakur, Ishwar's son • Priyanka Chopra as Pooja Singh Thakur, Aditya's wife and Ishwar's daughter-in-law • Shefali Shetty Shah as Sumitra Thakur, Ishwar's wife and Aditya's mother • Boman Irani as Natham "Nattu" Singh, Pooja's father • Rajpal Yadav as Laxman Singh, Servant • Asawari Joshi as Ashalata Singh, Pooja's mother • Rajeev Mehta as Jolly • Hemant Pandey • Benjamin Gilani as a Director • Anu Malik (Cameo) as a DJ in the song, "Miraksam" == Production ==

Development and casting Director Vipul Amrutlal Shah wanted to make a film about a father-son relationship that would be different from "standard Bollywood father-son" stories. Shah wanted to explore nuances of the relationship and touch upon themes about a father-son relationship that is grounded in reality, which had not yet been depicted in Bollywood. Kapadia, who had co-written Shah's 2002 heist thriller Aankhen with him, adapted his play for the screen. Shah said of the film's theme; "It is an unusual story of a father and a son. It is very, very real and believable. I can assure you that any father-son duo of any economic strata will be able to identify with the father and son in my film." Shah said he felt the film's title suits its theme perfectly, saying "Waqt is called The Race Against Time because there is a target that both father and son have set out to achieve, and for that they've got limited time. So there really is a race against the clock. If they don't achieve their targets in that time, life will take a very disastrous turn. They each have their own target." It was the first major co-production for Eros International. Shah cast the film's six main characters. In late May 2003, he said he had cast Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar, both of whom starred in his previous film Aankhen, as the father and son characters and that he hoped to cast his wife Shefali Shah as one of the film's two female leads. Rajpal Yadav and Boman Irani completed the cast. The director wanted to cast a female actor who had not been paired opposite Bachchan before and while discussing potential contenders for the role, Bachchan suggested Shefali, who he thought would be perfect for the role. He said, "I was attracted to just these facts—how these relationships have been built up; and how the interactions, the situations, are brought up; what the characters do, how they behave; the events that take place; and the eventual solution". Kumar said it was his "most personal film" and that he worked "very honestly" on it. According to Kumar, at one point he was in talks to produce the film with Shah but it could not work out. Shefali said the film's strengths are its "simplicity and honesty", and that she found playing a fifty-year-old woman whose life revolves around her child and husband to be challenging. She felt her character is strong and different from the mothers usually portrayed in Bollywood films, saying: She is someone who has come up the hard way in life and understands the importance of whatever her husband has achieved. She wants her son to understand that and stand on his own feet and achieve what her husband has been able to achieve. Her ability to laugh at situations and her sense of humour when her world is falling apart is her strength. Irani called his character a "loud, brazen, shameless, egotistical" man who "keeps reminding [Bachchan's character] that his son is a useless character because he himself has a wonderful daughter"; he found the character easy to portray, saying he "is a reasonably an easy connect because we do have so many people like that around". Vikram Phadnis designed the costumes for the actors. Several scenes were shot out of chronological order; the scenes based in one particular set were filmed together to save time. The songs were choreographed by Remo D'Souza. Bachchan, who has featured in a number of Holi songs in his film career, does not appear in the film's Holi number "Do Me A Favour, Let's Play Holi". Shah tried putting Bachchan in the song but decided it did not fit in the script, calling it a "tough decision". Chopra had an accident while filming the Holi song; The set was wet and so was Chopra while filming the Holi dance sequences. After the choreographer called for break, Chopra went to dry off in the trailer and she was electrocuted as she turned the door knob. Her hand stuck to the knob but her hairdresser knocked her away from it. After the incident, Chopra was unconscious and was rushed to the nearby Lilavati hospital. After two hours, she returned to the studio to complete filming the same night. In early December 2004, Shah said he was looking for another 20 days of filming before wrapping the film, followed by three to four months of post-production and an April 2005 release. The film was edited by Shirish Kunder. == Soundtrack ==

The soundtrack of Waqt: The Race Against Time was composed by Anu Malik and the lyrics were written by Sameer, with an exception of one song, which was written by Aatish Kapadia. The album consists of six original songs and an original instrumental. The song's vocals were sung by Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Adnan Sami, Sonu Nigam, Sudesh Bhosle, Mahalakshmi Iyer, Sunidhi Chauhan, Malik and Kailash Kher. Bollywood Hungama said the album is "satisfying", writing "The opening tracks of Waqt are good, but subsequent songs, starting from "Chhup Ja" get you all excited about the music. The Holi number and the club track are the pick of the lot, while "Miraksam" would also stay on for a few weeks at least." == Marketing and release ==

Marketing of Waqt: The Race Against Time started in November 2004 with the film's launch at Mumbai's Juhu Beach, which was held to attract public attention to the film. This strategy was intended to showcase the "quiet bond of fathers and sons"; the cards had sections titled "Dear Father" and "Dear Son", and the sections included Bachchan's autograph and Kumar's personalised message, respectively. Taran Adarsh noted the trailers created a "stir" and that it was "creating a lot of buzz in the industry circles". In March 2005, the producers released a brochure that was written by Bachchan, who wrote a story describing the relationship between his character with his son. (pictured with his wife Shefali) wanted the film to reach a wider audience and hence the marketing was planned accordingly To promote the film, a contest titled "Waqt: Dad & I with Akshay" was held with collaboration with the Fame Cinemas chain, offering a bicycle ride with Kumar, movie tickets, merchandise, clothing, autographed music CDs and brochures of the film as prizes. In a collaboration with greeting-card retailer Archies, the film's producers launched a toy called Geri Giraffe, greeting cards, soft toys, stationery and posters that were sold through Archies outlets. Bachchan promoted the film internationally by participating in press interviews in New York. Kumar had bought the rights of the film to pay tribute to his father, and included a photograph of his father before the opening credits of the film, saying the film felt "autobiographical" to him because he shared a similar relationship with his own father. Kumar said: I'm dedicating this film to my father. I've bought the distribution rights, so that I can see my father's photograph there. It's personally a very close film to me. I've worked very honestly in this film. I haven't bought the rights to the film in order to make money, but to pay a respectful tribute to my father. The film was distributed by Eros International and was made on a production and marketing budget of 160 million, and was released on 22 April 2005 on 400 screens. It collected over 19 million on its opening day and 57.8 million in its opening weekend at the domestic box office, and collected over 133.5 million on its international opening weekend. In its first week, the film collected 93.7 million at the domestic box office and over 200 million worldwide. The film was a box-office success, becoming the seventh highest-grossing Bollywood film of the year. The DVD includes bonus features such as the making of the film, press meet and interviews, and the film's premiere. The video CD version was released at the same time. The film had its television premiere on the Indian subscriber channel Sony Max on 8 January 2006. == Reception ==

Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave Waqt: The Race Against Time 3.5 out of 5, calling it a "must-see for every parent and every child" and writing, "Waqt: The Race Against Time is a well-made family entertainer that makes you laugh and cry, thanks to the strong emotional quotient in the film. Here's a film that should strike a chord with every family." Adarsh also praised the "first-rate" cinematography that makes the film look "visually rich" and the "opulent" production design. Ziya Us Salam of The Hindu described the movie as a "real, rollicking comedy with just a bit of emotion thrown in, with some of the most natural comic sequences that one has seen in recent times." She was positive of the performances of Bachchan, Irani, and Shah, but opined that the depiction of the father-son relationship is "when the film sinks to melodrama, hyperbole reigns as the director struggles to keep his grip on the script." Variety called the film a "belt-and-braces Bollywood family drama" and wrote "pitched squarely at Indian [audiences], both at home and overseas, who like their entertainment traditional. For Western viewers, [this film] just gets by on its unabashed charm and minor wrinkles to the formula." Indo-Asian News Service critic Subhash K. Jha praised Kapadia's writing and said his "one-liners and quips flow out with constant and instant comic consequences". Jha also wrote the film's "inherent transparency of purpose and sincerity of expression guide the lengthy family saga through a series of carefully nurtured slopes and dips that culminate in a rabble-rousing emotionally cataclysmic climax". Jha said the film did not require so many songs and praised the performances, noting Bachchan's "leonine strides" across the film that create an "atmosphere conducive to pleasurable acting for the entire cast"; Kumar's performance "beyond anything he has done so far"; Shah's expressive eyes that convey "spousal and matriarchal pain that you come home with"; Chopra for creating and leaving "a sinewy impression" despite not being pivotal to the plot; the outstanding characterisation of Yadav and his "deadpan depiction of the exasperatingly daft" domestic servant; and Irani's "ever-bubbling brilliancy" and sarcasm that "brings miles of smiles and acres of chuckles". == Accolades ==