Game (2011 film)

Game
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Abhinay Deo
Produced by	Farhan Akhtar Ritesh Sidhwani
Screenplay by	Althea Delmas Kaushal
Story by	Althea Delmas Kaushal
Starring	Abhishek Bachchan Kangna Ranaut Sarah-Jane Dias Jimmy Shergill Boman Irani Anupam Kher Shahana Goswami
Music by	Original Songs: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy Original Score: Ram Sampath
Cinematography	Kartik Vijay
Editing by	Amitabh Shukla
Distributed by	Excel Entertainment Eros International Ltd.
Release date(s)	April 1, 2011 (2011-04-01)
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Box office	6.59 Crore[1]

Game (Hindi: गेम) is a 2011 Hindi action film directed by Abhinay Deo and produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani of Excel Entertainment.^[2] It stars Abhishek Bachchan, Kangna Ranaut, Sarah-Jane Dias, Shahana Goswami, Boman Irani and Jimmy Shergill among others.

The film is a stylish action thriller and is shot at locations in Mumbai, Greece, Istanbul, London and Bangkok. It is said to be in the same type of genre as The Bourne Identity trilogy.^[3] The theatrical trailer was premièred in theatres with Anees Bazmee's No Problem on December 10, 2010. The film was released on 1 April 2011.

Plot

Kabir Malhotra (Anupam Kher) is a billionaire tycoon who invites four people to his island home in Greece. None of these people have ever met each other before, and Kabir sends a different letter to each, luring them with different promises. These four people are:

• Neil Menon (Abhishek Bachchan), a Malayalee casino owner in Turkey. He has financial problems with mob bosses that Kabir offers to help with.
• Vikram Kapoor (Jimmy Shergill), an actor with drug and career problems. Kabir writes to him that he wants to finance the biggest film ever made, and offers Vikram a role in it.
• OP Ramsay (Boman Irani), a political leader in Thailand. His campaign is under threat of scandal, and Kabir offers to provide new funding to him.
• Tisha Khanna (Shahana Goswami), a crime journalist in the United Kingdom who is looking for her big break. Kabir writes to her saying that he has a huge story on his hands and invites her to cover it.

The four individuals arrive at the island, where they are greeted by Kabir's personal assistant Samara Shroff (Gauhar Khan) who takes them into a dining room that is being secretly filmed. There, Kabir reveals that he has invited all of them because of their link to his daughter, Maya (Sarah-Jane Dias), whom Kabir has spent years trying to find. Maya was trafficked as a child by OP Ramsay, as an adult brought into the crime world by Neil Menon, and in the end killed in a car accident by Vikram Kapoor. Kabir has gathered evidence against all three of them and has invited the International Vigilance Squad (IVS) to the island to arrest them. Tisha Khanna, the only innocent one of the group, was invited because, previously unknown to her, she is Maya's fraternal twin sister and Kabir's remaining biological child. Tisha rejects Kabir's attempts to forge a relationship with her, claiming that she doesn't want his fortune.

Unable to escape the island, the group await the arrival of the IVS. In the morning, they hear what sounds like a gunshot from Kabir's room. Kabir Malhotra is dead on his study, seemingly having committed suicide with a gun.

The IVS, led by Sia Agnihotri (Kangna Ranaut), arrive at the island. She watches the video of the previous night's reveal by Kabir Malhotra to the guests, but as they are unable to find the evidence that Kabir supposedly had, they let all the guests go. Sia puts all four of Kabir's guests under surveillance, despite her supervisor telling her to drop the case that has been declared a suicide.

Through flashback, it is revealed that Neil was in love with Maya, who saved his life during a shootout at his casino. She left him when she became pregnant, not knowing that Neil still wanted to be with her. In the present day, Neil decides to take revenge on OP Ramsay and Vikram for what they did to her. Neil tricks both of them into giving public confessions about their crimes. Vikram commits suicide and OP Ramsay dies of a heart attack (his medication having been stolen by Neil). Sia, who has been watching Vikram and OP Ramsay, knows that Neil is responsible.

It is then revealed that Neil is also on the IVS, but has been under deep cover for many years. He, too, doesn't believe that Kabir committed suicide, and decides to work together with Sia to find the true culprit. Neil noticed that Kabir was left-handed, yet the gun that killed him was in his right hand.

Tisha, as Kabir Malhotra's only child, is to inherit everything of Kabir's fortune. However, Neil and Sia receive news that Tisha attempted suicide. When she wakes up, she tells them that it wasn't suicide, but someone attacked her in her house. Meanwhile, Neil has found that Kabir had a brother, Iqbal, who is next in line to inherit his fortune. Sia and Neil travel to the missionary that Iqbal is currently living at, where they find him too ill to speak to them. A nurse tells them that he had a daughter who died, but Neil notices that there are letters sent to him dated after her supposed to death, so she must still be alive.

Neil and Sia travel back to the island, where they confront the late Kabir's personal assistant, Samara. It is revealed that Samara is Kabir's biological niece, though Kabir never knew. Neil realized that there was foul play when, at the missionary, he saw a picture of Kabir and Iqbal when they were children, and they were identical twins. The man in the missionary could not have been Kabir's brother. Iqbal reveals himself, pointing a gun at Neil and Sia. He explains that he has been working with his daughter to get Kabir's fortune.Tisha was a surprise they hadn't anticipated, so they had to take her out of the picture. They used Kabir's three guilty guests in order to deflect suspicion from Samara, predicting correctly that the police would suspect one of the guests as responsible.

In the end Neil shoots Iqbal, and Samara is arrested for murder.

Cast

• Abhishek Bachchan as Neil Menon, a casino owner in Turkey
• Kangna Ranaut as Sia Agnihotri, British police officer
• Sarah-Jane Dias as Maya
• Jimmy Shergill as Vikram Kapoor, a film actor
• Shahana Goswami as Tisha Khanna, a crime journalist
• Boman Irani as OP Ramsay, a political leader
• Anupam Kher as Kabir Malhotra, Iqbal Malhotra
• Gauhar Khan as Samara Shroff, Natasha Malhotra

Production

This film's title was changed from Crooked to the Game by the producers at Excel Entertainment.^[4] Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was initially considered for the female lead in the film.^[5][6][3] However, a new face and two other actresses were later cast for the film.^[7] The film has three major leading ladies. Besides Kangna Ranaut, there is Sarah Jane Dias, and Shahana Goswami, who shot to fame with the same banner’s Rock On!! three years ago.^[8][9] The film went on the floors in Mumbai on January 15, 2010. Production was postponed due to Deo's wife's health issues.

Reception

Game grossed only 6.59 crore in its first week and was rated a disaster at the box office.^[1]

Soundtrack

The film's audio containing seven original songs. The music has been composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. Lyrics are penned by Javed Akhtar. The film score is composed by Ram Sampath. The soundtrack was released online on the film's official website.

Game
Soundtrack album by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Released	February 21, 2011
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Label	T-Series
Producer	Farhan Akhtar Ritesh Sidhwani
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy chronology
West Is West (2011) Game (2011) Zokkomon (2011)

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"It's A Game"	Javed Akhtar	Vishal Dadlani	3:09
2.	"It's A Game - Reprise"	Javed Akhtar	Sunitha Sarathy	4:34
3.	"Kaun Hai Ajnabi"	Javed Akhtar	KK, Aditi Singh Sharma	3:58
4.	"Maine Yeh Kab Socha Tha"	Javed Akhtar	Shaan, Anusha Mani, Loy Mendonsa	5:15
5.	"Mehki Mehki"	Javed Akhtar	Shreya Ghoshal, Kshitij Wagh	4:05
6.	"Kaun Hai Ajnabi - Remix"	Javed Akhtar	KK, Aditi Singh Sharma	3:44
7.	"Mehki Mehki - Remix"	Javed Akhtar	Shreya Ghoshal, Kshitij Wagh	3:41

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "GAME Week One Territorial Breakdown". Boxofficeindia. http://boxofficeindia.com/arounddetail.php?page=shownews&articleid=2746&nCat=box_office_collection. Retrieved 2011-04-13. 
2. ^ "Excel Entertainment". http://www.excelmovies.com/. Retrieved 2011-04-01. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Crooked... Abhi & Ash!". Times of India. 10 April 2009. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Entertainment/Crooked-Abhi--Ash/articleshow/4384038.cms. Retrieved 2011-04-01. 
4. ^ "'Game' changes for 'Crooked'". Times of India. 28 March 2010. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Game-changes-for-Crooked/articleshow/5731628.cms. Retrieved 2011-04-01. 
5. ^ "Abhi-Ash to star in Excel Entertainment's next to be directed by Abhinay Deo". Bollywood Hungama. 7 January 2009. http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/2009/01/07/12399/index.htm. Retrieved 2011-04-01. 
6. ^ "Excel Entertainment's Abhishek - Aishwarya Bachchan film hits floors in July". Business of Cinema. 24 February 2009. http://www.businessofcinema.com/news.php?newsid=12171. Retrieved 2011-04-01. 
7. ^ "Crooked exit, this". Mumbai Mirror. 19 November 2009. http://www.mumbaimirror.com/article/30/2009111920091119021624781cd932ddc/Crooked-exit-this.html. Retrieved 2011-04-01. 
8. ^ "The big switch". Mumbai Mirror. 18 January 2010. http://www.mumbaimirror.com/article/30/20100118201001180322089396dbb8e7a/The-big-switch.html. Retrieved 2011-04-01. 
9. ^ "Blimey, it’s Kangna". Mumbai Mirror. 1 February 2010. http://www.mumbaimirror.com/article/30/201002022010020203403522423a2d2f5/Blimey-it%E2%80%99s-Kangna.html. Retrieved 2011-04-01. 

External links

• Official website
• Game at AllRovi
• Game at the Internet Movie Database
• Game at Rotten Tomatoes