Kambakkht Ishq

About the film

Kambakkht Ishq (originally released in the United States as Incredible Love) is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film directed by Sabbir Khan and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala. The film is based on the 2002 Tamil film Pammal K. Sambandam which in turn was based on the 1999 film The Bachelor. The film stars Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor in the lead roles, alongside Aftab Shivdasani, Amrita Arora, Jaaved Jaafrey and Kirron Kher in supporting roles. Sylvester Stallone, Denise Richards, Brandon Routh, Whoopi Goldberg, and Holly Valance appear as themselves in cameos.

Initially scheduled to release in December 2008, the film was postponed due to extensive production work and was released on 3 July 2009. It was a moderate success at the box-office.

Plot

When stuntman Viraj Shergill and medical student Simrita Rai come across each other at his brother Lucky's and her best friend Kamini Sandhu's hastily planned wedding ceremony, they instantly develop a dislike for each other. Both have a very low opinion of the opposite sex, and staunchly believe marriage is not the way to go for the two newlyweds, whom they try to discourage from proceeding further.

Simrita convinces Kamini to test out her theory that men are after only one thing, by forcing Lucky to delay their marriage vows for three months. She is sure, Lucky will not be able to do so and this will prove to Kamini that Lucky was just another man, like all others, and her claims of him being different from most men are unfounded. Viraj, upon hearing about this new development, tries to do the exact opposite. This results in a hilarious scene at a local disco bar, where Viraj lures Kamini with the hope of her finding Lucky with a "girlfriend" that he has planted in the lap of Lucky in order to make Kamini jealous. The plan backfires because of a police raid and Kamini and Lucky end up in divorce court where the judge puts them on a three-month probation and marriage counselling. Simrita keeps on telling Kamini that all men are the same and that all they want is sex. Lucky tries to make love with Kamini but she never lets him come near her.

Meanwhile, Simrita and Viraj keep bumping into each other when they both travel to Italy independently; the former to make some quick cash as a model to pay her medical bills, and the latter, with Lucky, to chill out and take a vacation from all of the marital stress Lucky has been facing back home. Upon returning home, Simrita is given a watch pendant by her aunt Dolly to wear as a good luck charm. The pendant hangs from a bracelet on her wrist. Viraj gets seriously hurt in an accident at work and is brought for emergency surgery to the hospital where Simrita is an intern. Much to each other's irritation, Simrita is given the charge to perform surgery on Viraj. After the surgery, while looking at the X-rays, she is horrified to discover that the watch on her wrist has accidentally ended up in Viraj's stomach.

Production

In November 2007, producer Sajid Nadiadwala signed on Akshay Kumar to play the lead role in his film. Later that month Kareena Kapoor was signed on to play the female lead. It is the seventh time Kumar and Kapoor are paired on-screen. Kumar plays a Hollywood stuntman in the film and Kapoor plays an up-and-coming model. According to Nadiadwala, "It will be an international love story on a lavish scale."

The project was originally expected to commence filming in January 2008 in Los Angeles with nine actors from Hollywood but due to extensive pre-production work on the film, it was later shifted to May 2008. Reports indicated that actor and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger was signed on to do a cameo and that the film would feature a performance by singer and actress Beyoncé. Prashant Shah, line producer of Kambakkht Ishq in L.A. commented, "We are in talks with Beyoncé and we have also received a letter from Arnold's office...Things will be confirmed shortly and we will be making a formal announcement when that happens." It was later reported that neither star would be appearing in the film.

In March 2008, Nadiadwala announced that "this would be the first Indian film to be shot within Universal Studios." However, when a fire broke out on the backlot of Universal Studios on 1 June 2008, the shooting of the film was expected to be delayed. But the producer indicated, "so far the area where we are supposed to shoot remains unaffected. So for now, we are proceeding on schedule." Later that month, the cast finally began filming for the project in Los Angeles, California, where pivotal scenes were shot at the Kodak Theatre and Universal Studios. In August 2008, reports had indicated that the film was 50–60% complete and the cast would continue filming for the project in Venice, Italy. After completing their overseas schedule, the production team later headed to shoot in Mumbai, India.

Music

The music was composed by Anu Malik, with RDB and Salim–Sulaiman as guest composers.

Reception

Before the film's worldwide release of 3 July 2009, advance bookings for Kambakkht Ishq officially commenced from 28 June onwards to positive response from the public. The film grossed over Rs 10 million from its 125 advanced paid previews shown on Thursday [2 July 2009] night. On 3 July 2009, Kambakkht Ishq opened to an average response of 50-60% all over India. Making a first day total of Rs 85.0 million, the film emerged as the second biggest opening day gross of all time for a Bollywood film. For its opening weekend in India, Kambakkht Ishq accumulated a total of Rs 245.0 million from 1,400 screens. The following Monday, it grossed another Rs 40 million, and the following Tuesday it grossed Rs 30 million. At the end of its first week, Kambakkht Ishq collected a total of Rs 359.5 million. During its second week at the box office, the film showed a 70% drop in its collections; the movie was a semi-hit grosser overall at the box office.

Key details