22 years of Aankhen: Starring Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Sushmita Sen and Arjun Rampal, the film was directed by Vipul Shah
A still from Aankhen
Vipul Shah’s cult classic 'Aankhen' clocks 22 years today. The film, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Arjun Rampal, Sushmita Sen, Paresh Rawal, and Aditya Pancholi, was released on April 2, 2002. Based on Shah’s Gujarati play Andhalo Pato, the film garnered rave reviews and became an instant box office success.
But did you know that the film had two climax? The makers had one ending for the Indian audience in the country and another one that was released abroad. In an earlier interview with mid-day.com, director Vipul Shah spoke about the climax of the film. "We had one trial, I won’t be able to name where it was held. In that trial, there were some very intelligent people with whom I had long arguments the whole night, where they all felt that the film itself was so new and unusual, and on top of that an open ending is not a good idea. Eventually, the whole team discussed and at 6 in the morning decided that overseas we will keep the open ending and in India we will end the film where they find the jewellery in the harmonium owned by Paresh Rawal. That is how we went ahead with it. The only person who was against this decision with me was Abhishek Bachchan. AB never wanted it to be changed and after the release we all regretted doing it. But AB was the only one who found the ending brilliant and said, ‘Don’t change’. But a lot of people convinced us otherwise," he said.
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There was a lot of things that was not in favour of the film. Talking about the same, the filmmaker said, "When ‘Aankhen’ was being made, there were bets in the industry that this film would not work. There were too many things against this film. One, Amitabh Bachchan, the biggest star of India, was playing a negative character. All the heroes were blind. Akshay Kumar did not have a romantic track in the film. Three blind guys robbing a bank; who will watch this film in the interiors of India? So, there were a lot of bets and a lot of people discouraged the actors from doing the film.
While Aankhen is one of the best creations by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, he has consistently delivered amazing films to the audience. Recently, he created a stir among the audience with The Kerala Story co-produced by Aashin A. Shah, which left an indelible impact, becoming the ninth-highest-grossing Hindi film of 2023. Moreover, as a producer, his recent release, Bastar: The Naxal Story co-produced by Aashin A. Shah.
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