Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (1998)

Director:

David Dhawan

Writer:

Rumi Jaffery (written by)

Release Date:

6 October 1998 (India)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Musical

Tagline:

The Great Entertainer

Plot:

Fellow Police Inspectors Arjun and Pyare work in the same Police Station in Mumbai, India. Although they work together...

Plot Keywords:

Filming | Thief | Diamond Theft | Breaking The Fourth Wall | Suitcase

Cast

Amitabh Bachchan	...	Dual Role (Insp. Arjun Singh & Bade Miyan)
Govinda	...	Pyare Mohan / Chotey Miyan
Raveena Tandon	...	Seema Singh
Ramya Krishna	...	Neha (as Ramya Krishnan)
Anupam Kher	...	Police Commissioner Shyamlal
Paresh Rawal	...	Zorawar Bhai
Satish Kaushik	...	Sharafat Ali
Sharat Saxena	...	Zorawar's henchman, Sharad (as Sharad Saxena)
Madhuri Dixit	...	Herself (Special Appearance)
Rakesh Bedi	...	Makkan (watchman)
Sushma Seth	...	Arjun and Seema's mother
Divya Dutta	...	Madhu
G. Asrani	...	Museum Security Officer (as Asrani)
Mahavir Shah	...	Zorawar's Client
Avtar Gill	...	Sundar Kala

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

DTS

Filming Locations:

Delhi, India

Movie Connections:

Version of Heeralal Pannalal (1999)

Comic return to form for Amitabh

This is a David Dhavan slapstick comedy starring Govinda as usual but also Amitabh in his third come back film after Mrityudaata and Major Saab. Although the other two have not been so succesful, I think this one will be. Govinda and Amitabh star as two police inspectors under the auspices of their senior, Anupam Kher. The beginning part is very reminiscent of the Will Smith film Bad Boys. Basically, the two heroes are sent to investigate a series of murders which have involved the bad guy Paresh Rawal. For a string of reasons, one of the main witnesses (Ramiya) will only speak to Pyare Mohan (Govinda) but at the time only Inspector Arjun (Amitabh) is available, so Amitabh has to assume the identity of Govinda's character and take the lady to Pyare's flat where he has to pretend to be Pyare. Obviously as a result, the real Pyare has to go to live in Arjun's house, where Arjun's mother and younger sister live. To spice matters up Govinda is in love with Arjun's sister (played by Raveena Tandon) and Amitabh is not at all pleased by this.

All seems to be going well until just before the interval when Bade Miya (Amitabh again in a dual role) and Chote Miya (Govinda in a dual role) arrive. These two are petty theives from the village. Inevitably, confusion ensues as the two sets of characters are mistaken. Our inspector heroes are suspended for a string of misdemeanours which they have not been a party to and they cannot understand why! All of this leads up to a climactic ending.

This film is very funny. It won't change your life or make you think but it will definitely keep you entertained for its duration. Amitabh is on top form. His comedy is up to Don or Laawaris standard and his dancing is great. He may not have the muscles of Sunny or Shahrukh but he is convincing in his action scenes. Govinda, however, is fantastic. He is now a master of this type of role after the likes of Raja Babu and Coolie no 1. Our female leads do not have much to do, but there is a very welcome guest appearance from Madhuri, including the song "Makhna". This is a treat for film fans as it is the first combined screen appearance of Amitabh and Madhuri.

In short, I highly recommend this film but only to those who watch films to be entertained rather than educated or to have their lives changed!