''Aladin'' is a 2009 Indian

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

-language

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

action comedy film Action comedy is a genre that combines aspects of action and comedy. The genre is most prevalent in film with action comedy films, though several TV series fit this genre. Film The action comedy film is a film genre that combines aspects of acti ...

directed by

Sujoy Ghosh Sujoy Ghosh is an Indian film director, actor, producer, and screenwriter who works in Hindi films. He has directed ''Jhankaar Beats'' (2003), '' Home Delivery: Aapko... Ghar Tak'' (2005), '' Aladin'' (2009), ''Kahaani'' (2012), ''Kahaani 2'' (2 ...

. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan,

Sanjay Dutt Sanjay Balraj Dutt (born 29 July 1959) is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi cinema. In a career spanning over four decades, Dutt has won several accolades and acted in over 100 films, ranging from romance to comedy genres, though u ...

Riteish Deshmukh Riteish Vilasrao Deshmukh (born 17 December 1978) is an Indian actor, comedian, television presenter, writer, director and film producer. He is the son of former Chief Minister of Maharashtra Vilasrao Deshmukh. He works in Hindi and Marathi ci ...

and

Jacqueline Fernandez Jacqueline Fernandez (born 11 August 1985) is a Sri Lankan actress and model. She has worked in Indian films, predominantly in Hindi, besides appearing in reality shows and music videos. Debuting with ''Aladin'' in 2009 she has since then es ...

(in her film debut). The film performed poorly at the box office.

Plot

The film opens with the family of

archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

Arun Chatterjee, who lives with his wife, Riya, and their baby son, Aladin. When out on a holiday, Arun is attacked by a gang searching for a magic lamp, which Chatterjee has found, but has hidden somewhere. Arun and Riya Chatterjee are murdered; Aladin is raised by his grandfather. After his granddad's death, a now grown-up Aladin Chatterjee (

Ritesh Deshmukh Riteish Vilasrao Deshmukh (born 17 December 1978) is an Indian actor, comedian, television presenter, writer, director and film producer. He is the son of former Chief Minister of Maharashtra Vilasrao Deshmukh. He works in Hindi and Marathi ci ...

) lives in the fictional city of Khwaish (wish). He is lonely, and Kasim (

Sahil Khan Sahil Khan is an Indian actor, fitness entrepreneur and YouTuber. He is known for increasing fitness awareness, and has won awards from several bodies in Mumbai. His YouTube channel has over 2.8 million subscribers. He is also associated with ...

) and his gang members have bullied Aladin since his childhood. His life changes when Jasmine (

) enters the city, and Aladin immediately falls for her. Jasmine arranges a birthday party for Aladin, and as a present, Kasim gives Aladin a magic lamp for his birthday to embarrass him in front of Jasmine. However, this lamp turns out to be the magic lamp that the murderers of Aladin's parents were trying to find. Aladin rubs the lamp and releases the

genie Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic myt ...

, Genius ( Amitabh Bachchan). Desperate to grant him three wishes so that his contract with the magic lamp can end, the rock-star Genius suddenly makes Aladin's life very interesting but chaotic. Aladin does not want to make any wish, but Genius enters Aladin's dreams and finds out what he wants, getting his sleeping mind to make a wish: to make Jasmine fall in love with him. When he wakes up, he does not like what Genius has done and uses his second wish to turn Jasmine into normal. His third wish is for Genius to help him woo Jasmine without using magic to make it happen. Genius does his best, but magic is really his strong suit. Still, as a result of Genius's help/interference, Aladin stands up to Kasim and starts a relationship with Jasmine, and Genius teaches Kasim a lesson. Aladin's future looks perfect, until the real threat looms on the horizon - the ex-genie, Ringmaster (

). Ringmaster is searching for the magic lamp and kidnaps Jasmine with the help of his circus gang. Shortly after Genius and Aladin realize that she has been kidnapped, an informer (really Ringmaster in disguise) tells Aladin that it was Genius who murdered his parents. Aladin insults Genius and tells him to leave. Heartbroken, Genius goes to rescue Jasmine alone. As he arrives, it is revealed that Ringmaster is the one who actually killed Aladin's parents, as he has been searching for the magic lamp for a long time; Aladin's parents found it first, and Ringmaster punished them for it. Ringmaster steals the magic lamp and wishes for Genius to kill Aladin, but Genius refuses to do it, and loses his magical powers because he did not grant the wish, just as Ringmaster had planned. Aladin learns that Genius is innocent and arrives to help him, and they succeed in rescuing Jasmine. Ringmaster's plan is then completely revealed: he plans to perform a ritual to steal the reflection of an approaching comet, getting back his genie powers as a result. Genius, Aladdin and Jasmine intervene, and Aladdin steals the comet's reflection, giving genie powers back to Genius instead of Ringmaster. Genius seals Ringmaster inside a mirror and then shatters it, defeating him. The Ringmaster's gang is also defeated. In the end, the trio happily gets back to the city, Aladin and Jasmine are a couple, and after earning special superpowers from the comet, Aladin gives Kasim yet another lesson.

Cast

* Amitabh Bachchan as

Genius Genius is a characteristic of original and exceptional insight in the performance of some art or endeavor that surpasses expectations, sets new standards for future works, establishes better methods of operation, or remains outside the capabili ...

as Jaffar the Ringmaster *

as Aladin "Aloo" Chatterjee * Dev Kantawala as young Aladin *

as Jasmine *

as Kasim Kejriwal *

Ratna Pathak Shah Ratna Pathak Shah (born 18 March 1957) is an Indian actress and director known for her work in Hindi theatre, television, and films. Her extensive work in theatre includes a series of plays in both English and Hindi. She rose to prominence when ...

as Marjina *

Victor Banerjee Victor Banerjee is an Indian actor who appears in English, Hindi, Bengali and Assamese language films. He has worked for directors such as Roman Polanski, James Ivory, Sir David Lean, Jerry London, Ronald Neame, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Shyam ...

as Mr. Chaterjee *

Joy Sengupta Joy Sengupta (born 14 December 1968) is an Indian film and stage actor works Bollywood cinema and Bengali cinema as well as theatre. He is best known for his debut feature, ''Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa'' (1998) directed by Govind Nihalani. Sen ...

as Arun Chaterjee * Sohini Ghosh as Riya Chaterjee *

Arif Zakaria Arif Zakaria (born 11 November 1966) is an Indian actor. He has had roles in many films, beginning with his debut film ''Darmiyaan'' (1997), ''1947 Earth'' (1998), ''Dance like a man'' (2004), and biographical projects '' Mardana'' and the contr ...

as Professor Nazir * William Ong as Xi Guang Lee * Erina as Fire Breathing Lady

Awards

Stardust Awards The Stardust Awards was an award ceremony for Hindi movies, which was sponsored by '' Stardust'' magazine. Here is a list of the award winners and the films for which they won. The first ceremony was held in 2004 for films released in 2003. The ...

- Best Female Debut -

* IIFA Best Female Debut -

* Best Art Direction - Sabu Cyril * Best Special Effects (Visual) - Charles Darby (Eyecube Labs)

Soundtrack

The music of the film is composed by

Vishal–Shekhar Vishal–Shekhar are an Indian music composer, production, singing and songwriting duo consisting of Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani from Mumbai. Known predominantly for their work as music composers in Hindi cinema, Vishal–Shekhar have a ...

, lyrics penned by

Vishal Dadlani Vishal Dadlani (born 28 June 1973) is an Indian singer, songwriter and music composer. He is one half of the duo Vishal–Shekhar, Front Man and vocalist of one of India's leading rock bands called Pentagram. As a singer he has sung various ...

and Anvita Dutt Guptan (Bachke O Bachke).

Reception

Box office

''Aladin'' grossed an estimated .

Critical response

Taran Adarsh Taran Adarsh (born 13 June 1965) is an Indian film critic and trade analyst. He is best known for giving trade figures and box office updates on social media. Career Taran Adarsh started his journalism career at the age of 15 with ''Trade Gui ...

's one star review for

Bollywood Hungama Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is a Bollywood entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000. The website provide ...

stated "On the whole, ALADIN is a terrible waste of a terrific opportunity. Hugely disappointing!." Mayank Shekhar of

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Ly ...

stated "At 65, Amitabh Bachchan's on-screen presence is likely to get scarcer with age. Audiences are still interested in his work. If only he wouldn’t green-light unbelievable, hollow, expensive rubbish that’d be pelted on us merely because, he said yes. Kaveree Bamzai writing for

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new o ...

said "Despite the Rs 80 crore of special effects wasted on the film, Aladin has neither magic nor is it magical."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aladin 2000s Hindi-language films 2009 films Films based on Aladdin Films scored by Vishal–Shekhar Indian fantasy action films 2000s fantasy action films Genies in film Films with screenplays by Ritesh Shah Films directed by Sujoy Ghosh Films based on One Thousand and One Nights