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October 24, 2005
ONG BAK + BOLLYWOOD = EK AJNABEE
Bollywood's living legend, Amitabh Bachchan, has been having a good year: BLACK, SARKAR, BUNTY AUR BABLI and now EK AJNABEE. Shot in Bangkok, the movie is an action flick about a burnt-out bodyguard who takes a job protecting a little girl. When she gets kidnapped he has to pick up guns (a lot of guns) and use extreme violence to ensure that the little innocent lamb is brought to safety.
Hitting theaters on December 9 (all over the world, it looks like) EK AJNABEE has guest appearances by Amitabh's son, Abhishek; former Ms. Universe, Lara Dutta; at least one big song n'dance sequence, and stunt choreography by Thailand's very own Kawee Sirikhanaerat, also known as Seng. His stunt team is the one that did the tuk-tuk chase in ONG BAK, and I believe Kawee was involved in Panna Ritthikrai's BORN TO FIGHT (he's one of Panna's proteges), and he's in BATMAN BEGINS.
It's been a lousy year for Westerners interested in Bollywood movies, but this right here looks like the payoff.
Go to the official site to check out a slick trailer.
October 24, 2005 at 10:40 AM in News | Permalink
Comments
this movie looks really good, although i could have sworn i saw it last year when it was called man on fire.
Posted by: jacob | Oct 25, 2005 11:10:12 PM
Yep - a lot of Bollywood movies swipe their plots from Hollywood flicks (BLACK = THE MIRACLE WORKER; AKS = FALLEN; BUNTY AUR BABLI = BONNIE AND CLYDE) but I like seeing the twists they get.
Posted by: Grady Hendrix | Oct 26, 2005 7:07:38 AM
true, but I've never seen one quite so blatant before. i could have swore some of the shorts in the trailer were actually originally FROM man on fire. i hear the upcoming kyonn ki is a bollywood musical take on one flew over the cuckoo's nest. that should be classic.
Posted by: jacob | Oct 26, 2005 2:01:41 PM
I've always heard rumors that there is a Bollywood knock-off of VALLEY OF THE DOLLS - if anyone knows the title, let me know. I would sell my own blood to see that one.
Also, Twitch has a link to an upcoming Bollywood remake of OLDBOY:
http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/003964.html
There are some remakes I like better than the originals. I love PEOPLE'S HERO, which is Derek Yee's remake of DOG DAY AFTERNOON, and think it's way better than DOG DAY AFTERNOON. Some people have called Johnnie To's LIFELINE a rip-off of BACKDRAFT (although Jackie Chan says it's a rip-off of his idea for a firefighter movie) but I'll take LIFELINE over BACKDRAFT any day.
Posted by: Grady Hendrix | Oct 31, 2005 6:06:43 AM
can't the bloody indians make anything original? it is such a rip-off of 'man on fire'. 'Extreme violence'?!?? Thailand is a predominantly budhdhist country with peaceloving people. Such an injustice shooting that movie over there....
Posted by: seya | Nov 7, 2005 9:35:09 AM
can't the bloody indians make anything original? it is such a rip-off of 'man on fire'. 'Extreme violence'?!?? Thailand is a predominantly budhdhist country with peaceloving people. Such an injustice shooting that movie over there....
Posted by: seya | Nov 7, 2005 9:35:28 AM
the policeman in EK AJNABEE is Lara Dutta`s boyfriend!
Posted by: @mbar | Jan 3, 2006 3:31:10 PM
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