Dostana (2008-movie) : Bollywood Hindi Film

Dostana Movie Details :

Dostana is a 2008 Indian romantic comedy film directer is Tarun Mansukhani and producer are Karan Johar and Hiroo Yash Johar. The film stars Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham and Priyanka Chopra, with Bobby Deol, Kirron Kher, Sushmita Mukherjee and Boman Irani in supporting roles. Dostana tells the story of two men who pretend to be gay to share an apartment with a girl; eventually, both fall in love with her.

Mansukhani conceived the film as a tale of three friends living together, drawing inspiration by his own experience. Wanting to add something different to the script, he later decided to introduce homosexuality (which he thought was unexplored by Bollywood) to shed light on the issue for the Indian audience. Manish Malhotra designed Chopra’s costumes, and Aki Narula designed costumes for the rest of the cast. The soundtrack was composed by Vishal–Shekhar and Anvita Dutt Guptan; Kumaar and Vishal Dadlani wrote its lyrics.

film shooting took place in Miami, Florida over a two-month period in the first half of 2008. Dostana was the first mainstream Indian film with a gay element and has been credited for exploring a topic largely ignored by Hindi cinema. The film was released on 14 November 2008 to positive reviews, with praise for its performances, direction, music, costumes and style. A box-office success, Dostana grossed over ₹871 million, becoming the eighth-highest-grossing Bollywood film of the year.

Dostana received nine nominations for the 54th Filmfare Awards, including Best Film, Best Actor (Bachchan), and Best Music Director. The film was influential in creating fashion trends in India, with Chopra’s silver sari (worn in the song “Desi Girl”) becoming popular. Abraham’s yellow trunks, Chopra’s golden swimsuit and the actors’ looks and style received considerable attention and were popular with youngsters. Dostana is regarded as one of the most stylish and trend-setting of Indian films, with Filmfare ranking it first in a 2013 poll. A sequel, Dostana 2, is scheduled to release in 2020.

• Directer : Tarun Mansukhani
• Producer : Hiroo Yash Johar,Karan Johar
• Screenplay : Tarun Mansukhani
• Starring : Abhishek Bachchan,John Abraham,Priyanka Chopra,Bobby Deol
• Music : Vishal–Shekhar,Salim–Sulaiman
• Cinematography : Ayananka Bose
• Editer : Manan Sagar
• Casting : Dee Miller
• Art Direction : Jp Gutierrez,Amrita Mahal
• Costume Design : Manish Malhotra,Aki Nirula,Nakul Sen
• Makeup Department : Rory Lee,Alexis Renny
• Production Management : Gopal Babel,Rahul Dindilkar,Prashant Kunder,Sanjay Solanki
• Special Effects : Ariel Castillo
• Visual Effects : Vikas Agarwal,Tushar Anchan,Abhishek Arya,Supriya Avate
• Production company : Dharma Productions
• Distributer : Yash Raj Films
• Genres : Comedy,Drama,Romance
• Release date : 14 November 2008
• Running time : 139 minutes
• Country : India
• Language : Hindi

Dostana Movie Official Trailer :

Star Cast of The Film :

• Abhishek Bachchan as a Sameer ‘Sam’ Acharya
• John Abraham as a Kunal Chauhan
• Priyanka Chopra as a Neha Melwani
• Kirron Kher as a Mrs. Acharya (as Kiron Kher)
• Bobby Deol as a Abhimanyu ‘Abhi’ Singh
• Boman Irani as a Murli ‘M’
• Sushmita Mukherjee as a Ms. Melwani
• Eduardo M. Freyre as a Paul McCartney
• Liannette Altuve as a Motorcycle Babe
• Steven Baker as a Magazine Editor
• Everlayn Borges as a Model
• Claudia Camacho as a Girl at the park
• Anthony Correa as a Fan
• Aoife Dineen as a Clapping Girl
• Monika Gaba as a Anaita
• Harry Key as a Auctioneer
• Alyona Khmara as a Dancer
• Aubree Marchione as a Business Woman
• Harrison Myles as a Kunal’s Imposter
• Robert Nuzzie as a Clubber
• Shree Rammy Pandey as a Miscellaneous (as Rammy C. Pandey)
• Ben Schneider as a Basketball Fan
• Shilpa Shetty Kundra as a Item Girl (singing voice) (as Shilpa Shetty)
• Ryan Paul Simmons as a Self
• Edward Sonnenblick as a Magazine Editor
• Thomas Tevana as a Salim Khan
• Ana Villafañe as a Runway Model
• Sam Yazbeck as a Dancer

Story of The Film :

After the passing of her parents, Neha Melwani lives in Miami with her aunt. She rents out a room in her apartment to two seemingly gay Indian men, Kunal Chauhan and Sameer Acharya, a photographer and nurser respectively. She introduces them to her departing gay boss, Murli, and falls in love with her new boss, Abhimanyu Singh. She will soon realize that she has two rivals for her new love – none other than Kunal and Sameer.

Production :

Development :

During the production of Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006), Tarun Mansukhani conceived a film about three friends who share an apartment. After the production wrapped, Karan Johar told him that Mansukhani was ready to direct a film and should write a script; if Johar liked it, he would produce the film. He set the film in Miami, since he liked its lifestyle and culture: “People in Miami work hard and party harder and I wanted to capture that in my film.” Mansukhani worked for eight months on the script; Johar liked it, and asked him about the cast.In an interview, Manuskhani described Dostana as a story of “how the three strangers come together, live together in an apartment and have their moments of happiness and sorrow.”

The director was inspired by his own experiences: “The germ for that comes from my own childhood memories of school-time friends. I have lived in boarding school for most of my childhood and the friends that I have today are the ones whom I got in touch with during 4th/5th standard. I may not speak to them for years but they are a family whom I can call up at 4 am without hesitation.” Manuskhani soon realised that Bollywood had explored friendship, live–in relationships, marriage and divorce many times, and he wanted to do something different for his debut film. He decided to use sexuality to shed light on the issue, untouched by Bollywood, for the Indian audience.

Mansukhani later added the gay storyline because he thought it was an issue that needed to be touched on. However, the director did not want the film to be serious or preachy: “I also realise that when you preach via cinema nobody wants to hear it”. “The film has a message, if you get it, great. If you don’t, no problem, sit back, relax and enjoy the film”, he said about making it a romantic comedy In February 2008, Johar announced the film’s title Dostana; the producer named it after a 1980 film producer is his father, Yash Johar. Asked if his film was also a love triangle, he replied: “Well, yes and no. Though it’s a love story, there’s a never-before twist in the tale. All I can say on record is that we’ve never had a love triangle like this before.”The gay storyline was not disclosed until the trailers were released. Manan Sagar was hired to edit the film, and the duo Salim–Sulaiman composed the background score.

Film Casting :

Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham and Priyanka Chopra were cast in the lead roles. Aishwarya Rai was originally offered the lead role, but she refused it because she did not want to end up with another man in her first film with her husband (Bachchan) after their marriage. After Dostana’s release, she regretted the decision. Saif Ali Khan refused the role of Kunal because he was uncomfortable with a husband and wife (Bachchan and Rai) playing the other two leads. In early April 2008, Shilpa Shetty was signed for a special appearance in one of the film’s songs.

Bachchan said that Sam was his most difficult character to play, and he worked hard on his gestures and mannerisms: “I had to work very hard to portray a straight man acting gay. It could easily have gone over-board. I wanted to avoid making the character caricatural. Barring one portion … we kept it controlled.” Bachchan and Abraham, who had gained weight for their earlier films, had to lose the weight and become more muscular. Although Chopra agreed to wear a swimsuit, she refused to wear a bikini. The actress said that she did not lose any weight (as the media speculated), but worked out for a toned look in her films; she was also filming Fashion (2008) at the time. According to Chopra, “For Fashion, I had to put on six kilos and later had to shed chip by chip as the character progressed in the film. My body structure in Dostana is more toned than in Fashion as it is a completely beach film. I’ve worked very hard on my body.”

Costume design :

Manish Malhotra and Aki Narula designed Dostana’s costumes (Malhotra for Chopra and Narula for the rest of the cast). It was Malhotra’s second time working with Chopra; the first was for Andaaz (2003). Since the film was set in Miami, he decided on a holiday look; Chopra’s character, a fashion editor, would wear stylish, chic clothes. The actress had “a lot of shorts, tank tops, tees, formal jackets and bikini tops”, and her wardrobe had a “beach vibe.”Malhotra gave her a very young, “girlie” look. He designed clean lines with many colours, toning down Chopra’s accessories: “You will notice that none of her dresses have any embroidery or designs either. All her outfits are mainly in satin, chiffon and georgette.”

The designer gave Chopra shorts and singlets with loose silhouettes. Malhotra said that although the actress prefers grey, black and white, he decided to experiment with bright solid colours like “the ones in the citrus family.” Chopra was initially apprehensive about the colours, but Malhotra changed her mind: “Priyanka has worn colour like never before in this film. There’s lime, tangerine, cranberry, pink, yellow, purple … the rainbow.” He wanted to design the swimsuit in a metallic gold or silver; he and Chopra settled on gold because of her dusky skin, which they thought a perfect foil for the colour. The golden swimsuit was created by combining two swimsuits; because they were small, Malhotra attached the second one to make the swimsuit seen in the film.

Although Johar and Mansukhani wanted Chopra to wear a gown for the song “Desi Girl”, Malhotra suggested a sari. They considered it unsuitable for a character in Miami, but Malhotra said that if they could do a song like “Desi Girl” in Miami Chopra could wear a sari and “treat it like a dress”. They later agreed on the sari, Chopra’s only Indian costume in the film. Malhotra designed a modern sari, giving it a Western feel with a long, silver-sequined skirt and a bikini-type blouse. The designer chose silver because only a silver sari could compete with the golden swimsuit.

Unfamiliar with Miami culture, Aki Narula spent time there before filming began to learn how Miamians dressed and gave Bachachan long cargo shorts and cotton shirts in bright colours. According to the designer, the most interesting parts of his styling were the matching scarves, which resembled extended shirt collars. Narula gave Bachachan cargo and embroidered pants and sunglasses. The embroidery, primarily dragons and palm trees, conveyed a tropical summer look.

Narula gave Abraham (who plays a fashion photographer who works and lives on the beach) cargo and boxer shorts, trunks for swimming scenes,and jerseys and football shorts in windcheater fabrics. He also gave him flip-flops, canvas shoes and T-shirts with slogans such as a “Use A Condom”, which the designer considered important. Malhotra and Narula collaborated on the colour palette: “If Manish would give Priyanka yellow, then I would go for a green for John and a pink for Abhishek.” Narula also designed for Deol, Irani, Kher and Mukherjee. He chose brands such as Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci for Deol (the Verve editor), giving him sleek suits with short jackets and skinny pants with narrow bottoms.Kirron Kher, who played Bachchan’s mother, was styled as a typical Punjabi salwar-kameez-clad woman with gota embroidery.For Sushmita Mukherjee, who played Chopra’s aunt, Narula chose animal prints and diamonds, pearls, silver and gold: “When we shopped for her it was like ‘oh god, this is so tacky let’s buy it or oh, I hate it. It’ll be fabulous'”.

Film Shooting :

The film shooting took place over a two-month period from mid-March to May 2008 in Miami. Dostana’s art director was Amrita Mahal. Mahal assisted Sharmishta Roy for four years, worked with her on Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna and became friends with Tarun Mansukhani. When Mansukhani asked her to work on his directorial debut, she jumped at the opportunity. Three large sets were created for the film in Miami: the apartment, the Verve office and the “Desi Girl” set. Smaller sets had simple floor plans. The types of houses in Miami were researched, and Mahal described them as “large and spacious compared to cramped apartments in New York.”

A three-bedroom apartment with an outdoor pool was created, and the bedrooms were designed to suit their occupants. After toying with colours for the Verve office, Mahal decided to make it black and used four colours for the apartment. Her team gave the furniture a Victorian look; Mahal was pleased with the chandeliers, which she considered lavish for an office. Construction of the “Desi Girl” set, the last to be built, was stressful because of its light-generated heat. Over 100 sketches were drawn to reach the final version, which used plaster of Paris, moulding fibre and wood. A dance floor was surrounded by tables and chairs for a stage-like appearance.

Ayananka Bose was the film’s cinematographer. According to Bose, its location was the big factor in his work: “Dostana is based in Miami and to me Miami means sunshine and beaches. That is what stayed in my mind.” Bose chose a bright frame because the film was a comedy about friendship, and the bright frame conveyed vibrancy: “That is what automatically gave Dostana its expression.”He found the office set challenging, since there was nowhere to put lights and the room had glass on one side and a wall on the other. However, Bose enjoyed filming on the apartment and office sets.

“Desi Girl” was choreographed by Farah Khan, and Vaibhavi Merchant choreographed the other songs. The item number “Shut Up & Bounce” was shot in Miami in early April 2008; “Desi Girl”, with the three lead actors, was filmed in September. Filming ended with a music video, a remix of “Ma Da Laadla”, which appears in the closing credits. The video was shot in mid-October 2008 at Filmistan Studio in Mumbai, where the lead actors filmed their scenes separately.

Dostana Movie Songs / Music :

Dostana’s soundtrack was composer are the duo Vishal–Shekhar. Anvita Dutt Guptan wrote the lyrics for three songs, and Kumaar wrote two songs. In addition to co-composing the soundtrack and providing vocals on four songs, Vishal Dadlani wrote the lyrics for one. The album, which contains six original songs with vocals by Vishal Dadlani, Shankar Mahadevan, Sunidhi Chauhan, Master Saleem, Shreya Ghoshal, Amanat Ali and Shaan, was released on 30 September 2008 by Sony Music.

The soundtrack received positive reviews from music critics. Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama rated it four out of five, calling it an “excellent album”: “There is not one single number which doesn’t work. In fact if three soft numbers ‘Kuch Kum’, ‘Khabar Nahi’ and ‘Jaane Kyun’ are the pick of the lot, then ‘Desi Girl’ is a definite must for the dance floors. ‘Maa Da Laadla’ and ‘Shut up & Bounce’ have their own place under the sun.” Planet Bollywood rated the album eight out of ten and called it Vishal–Shekhar’s best album of the year: “Whether it be through the touching vocal, musical, and lyrical poetry of Kuch Kum, Vishal’s riveting vocal performance in Jaane Kyun, the soothing depths of Khabar Nahin, or the uplifting, feel-good breeze of Desi Girl, Dostana has music for everyone to savor.”

Hindustan Times also gave it a positive review, calling it “a surefire chartbuster.” According to CNN-News18, “Except for ‘Shut Up and Bounce’, each song in Dostana is wrapped in fun and peppiness on the one hand and melody and rhythm on the other.”According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 1,700,000 units sold, this film’s soundtrack album was the year’s fourth highest-selling.

• “Jaane Kyun” – Vishal Dadlani
• “Desi Girl” – Shankar Mahadevan, Sunidhi Chauhan, Vishal Dadlani
• “Shut Up & Bounce” – Vishal Dadlani, Sunidhi Chauhan
• “Khabar Nahin” – Vishal Dadlani, Shreya Ghoshal, Amanat Ali
• “Maa Da Laadla” – Master Saleem, Sunidhi Chauhan
• “Kuch Kum” – Shaan

“Desi Girl” Full Video Song :

• Singer – Shankar Mahadevan, Sunidhi Chauhan & Vishal Dadlani
• Lyrics – Kumaar
• Music – Vishal & Shekhar
• Studio – Dharma Productions Pvt. Ltd.
• Music Label – Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd.

“Maa Da Laadla”Full Video Song :

• Singer – Master Saleem
• Lyrics – Kumaar
• Music – Vishal & Shekhar
• Studio – Dharma Productions Pvt. Ltd.
• Music Label – Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd.

Dostana Movie Review :

This film review are Mostly Positive from Critics, IMDB Public Reviewing site give 6.5 Star Out Of 10 Star with Reviewers are 13,727.

Well what to say about this movie. I watched this movie on the day of its release and let me tell you one thing….you should go for it. Priyanka’s looks…Abhishek’s acting and john Abraham’s physique can kill you. Though its not a family movie and the topic is new to traditional Indian audience but the humor of the movie is great and it is made with a view to please the youth audience. This movie is a superb combination of comedy, emotion and friendship. Also Karan Johar has proved that he is not trapped only in making some emotional drama…in fact he has made an outstanding comedy movie which can compel you to be fixed on your seat till the end of the movie. Overall Dostana is a complete entertaining package and you should go for it….

Critics Ratingby Taran Adarsh, from Bollywood Hungama give 4 star out of 5 Star.

Dostana Movie Box Office Collection :

INDIA

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