Happy New Year

About the film

Happy New Year (abbreviated as HNY: 2014) is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language heist action comedy film written and directed by Farah Khan and produced by Gauri Khan under Red Chillies Entertainment. The film features an ensemble cast of Deepika Padukone, Shah Rukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Sonu Sood, Boman Irani, Vivaan Shah and Jackie Shroff. The film was planned in 2005 but was shelved for unknown reasons and Farah Khan went on to make Om Shanti Om (2007) and Tees Maar Khan (2010). The film was distributed worldwide by Yash Raj Films. In the film, Charlie assembles a team of non-dancers to take part in a dance competition at a hotel in Dubai in a quest to pull off a diamond heist.

Made on a total budget of ₹140 crore (US$22.94 million), the film marked the third collaboration of the actor, producer and director; they previously worked on Main Hoon Na (2004) and Om Shanti Om (2007), the latter of which also featured Deepika Padukone as the female lead in her debut.

Plot

Chandramohan "Charlie" Manohar Sharma is a smalltime street boxer who has spent eight years plotting revenge on business tycoon Charan Grover, who was responsible for Charlie's father Manohar being falsely convicted and imprisoned as a thief. Charlie learns that some diamonds owned by Grover will be moved on Christmas Eve to the most secure safe in the world, Shalimar in Dubai. He finds out that Shalimar is located beneath the Atlantis Hotel, which is hosting the World Dance Championship. The night the diamonds come, Charlie plans to steal the diamonds and frame Grover.

He assembles a team that includes hard-of-hearing strongman and explosives expert Jagmohan "Jag" Prakash, seizure-prone safecracker Tehamton "Tammy" Irani, Jag's nephew and master hacker Rohan Singh, and Nandu Bhide, who looks identical to Grover's son Vicky. Jag and Tammy also resent Grover, as they both were close to and worked with Manohar to build Shalimar, while Nandu agrees to join the heist because he needs money to pay for his mother's surgery. Charlie reveals to Nandu that eight years ago, Grover, who at the time was an African diamonds dealer, had hired Manohar to build the most secure safe in the world to store some diamonds. As the project had been completed, Grover drugged Manohar and stole his own diamonds for the insurance money. He framed Manohar for the theft, sending him to prison for 12 years.

Nandu eventually enlists the help of Mohini, a bar dancer who aspires to open her own classical dance school, in order to teach them and represent Team India in the contest, and she develops feelings for Charlie. Thanks to Rohan's rigging and the men blackmailing the judges with evidence of their homosexuality, the team qualifies and travels to Dubai, where they are initially the subjects of controversy and ridicule. After a party for all the participants in the World Dance Championship, the gang excluding Mohini goes over the plan to rob the diamonds after the semis and camouflage them in Charile's drink for the flight home. During a rehearsal, Charlie sees Team Korea's leader bully the youngest member and sticks up for him, which results in a brawl between the two leaders. Charlie almost falls off the building but manages to get himself up, and Team Korea's leader almost falls but Charlie saves him.

Production

In 2005, Farah Khan originally planned Happy New Year as her second film after Main Hoon Na (2004). The film was planned with an ensemble cast consisting of Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Juhi Chawla, Manisha Koirala, Ameesha Patel, Priyanka Chopra, Raveena Tandon, and Zayed Khan. In 2006, Farah Khan signed then-model Deepika Padukone for the film. However, for unknown reasons, the film was shelved, and Farah went on to direct Om Shanti Om (2007), which starred Shah Rukh Khan and Padukone. Farah Khan eventually decided to revive the project in 2012, with screenwriting completed by October that year.

Upon the film's revival in 2012, Priyanka Chopra was initially cast alongside Khan as the female lead, but opted out due to scheduling conflicts. Several other actresses including Sonakshi Sinha, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Parineeti Chopra and Katrina Kaif were considered; however Padukone was finalized, marking her third film opposite Khan after Om Shanti Om and Chennai Express. John Abraham and Prithviraj Sukumaran were also approached for the film; however they both declined and Sonu Sood was cast. Boman Irani's involvement in the film was confirmed by Farah in an interview. In August 2013, Jackie Shroff was cast as the antagonist. Farah's brother, Sajid Khan and actress Malaika Arora were confirmed to make guest appearances. Prabhu Deva appears as himself in a cameo appearance.

Farah Khan announced that filming would begin in September 2013. The first schedule began in Dubai in November 2013. The film was shot extensively at the Atlantis, The Palm in Palm Jumeirah, Dubai.

Marketing

For promotion, digitally personalized posters written in cast members' handwriting were made available to social media users. The team of Shahrukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Boman Irani, Sonu Sood and Vivaan Shah went to the set of the famous Indian television show Tarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma (TMKOC) for the promotion of their movie.

Key details