''Mere Baap Pehle Aap'' (
translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...
: ''My father, You first'') is a 2008 Indian
Hindi-language comedy-drama film
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
directed by
Priyadarshan
Priyadarshan (born 30 January 1957) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer who works predominantly in Malayalam and Hindi films, while also having done six films in Tamil and two films in Telugu. He has done about 31 films in ...
. The film stars
Akshaye Khanna
Akshaye Khanna (born 28 March 1975) is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films. He is the son of actor Vinod Khanna. He has won numerous awards in his career including two Filmfare Awards, three Screen Awards and two IIFA Awards in varied ac ...
,
Genelia D'Souza,
Paresh Rawal,
Om Puri,
Manoj Joshi,
Archana Puran Singh,
Shobana
Shobana Chandrakumar Pillai (born 21 March 1970) is an Indian actress and Bharatanatyam dancer. She acts predominantly in Malayalam films along with Telugu and Tamil films with few Hindi, Kannada and English films. She has won two National Fil ...
and
Rajpal Yadav
Rajpal Yadav (born 16 March 1971) is an Indian actor which works in Hindi, Punjabi Marathi, Telugu and one Gujarati and one Bengali and one avadhi, comedian and film maker known for his work in Indian Film industry. His breakthrough came in ...
. The film is remake of 2001
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...
film
''Ishtam'' directed by
Sibi Malayil
Sibi (Sindhi: سيوي ur, ) is a city situated in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. The city is the headquarters of the district and tehsil of the same name.
Etymology
The origin of the town's name is attributed to Rani Sewi, a Hindu lad ...
.
Plot
Janaradhan Wishvanbhar Rane is a widower who has spent his life bringing up his two kids, Chirag and Gaurav. Janaradhan has done everything to bring them up in the best possible manner, ever since they were toddlers.
Now the duo has grown up, and Gaurav has taken up the responsibility for his father. They manage the household chores and their business to the best of their abilities. He treats his father as his son. Gaurav is on his guard with the vigilance of a disciplined parent. He shouts, threatens, fights, and even locks up his father occasionally so that Rane's best friend Madhav Mathur – who is a divorcé and desperate to marry – does not spoil him. Madhav and Janaradhan who are always in search of a bride for Madhav forever land up in trouble and Gaurav always has to bail them out and face embarrassment.
Gaurav, busy managing his business, starts getting prank calls from a girl who turns out to be his old college classmate he once bullied, Shikha Kapoor. Shikha is currently staying with her guardian Anuradha who turns out to be Janardhan's first love. Gaurav and Shikha notice changes in the behaviour of Janaradhan and Anuradha when they come face to face after many years. They learn about their past relationship. Now Gaurav wants his father to marry his lost love. Gaurav and Shikha embark upon a rib-tickling journey to arrange his father's and her guardian's love marriage and, in the process, find soul mates in each other. However, the path is not so smooth; with obstacles, Madhav's desperate desire for a bride comes in handy.
However, Shikha's father Nirmal, seemingly not pleased with the fact that his daughter will be marrying into a family where her would-be father-in-law is arranging his own honeymoon', threatens to terminate Gaurav and Shikha's relationship. In addition, Chirag's wife Rupali (Preity Pundir) as well as her family, shows anger at such a relationship. Despite all these, after a chain of events, Gaurav gets Rane married to Anuradha, against the wishes of many. However, at the end, Nirmal reveals that in fact, if Gaurav had decided not to conduct his father's remarriage and courted Shikha instead, he would actually have been very disappointed. The film ends with Shikha's father giving Shikha's hand to Gaurav.
Cast
*
Paresh Rawal as Janaradhan Vishambhar Rane
*
Shobana
Shobana Chandrakumar Pillai (born 21 March 1970) is an Indian actress and Bharatanatyam dancer. She acts predominantly in Malayalam films along with Telugu and Tamil films with few Hindi, Kannada and English films. She has won two National Fil ...
as Anuradha "Anu" Joshi a.k.a. Teacher
*
Akshaye Khanna
Akshaye Khanna (born 28 March 1975) is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films. He is the son of actor Vinod Khanna. He has won numerous awards in his career including two Filmfare Awards, three Screen Awards and two IIFA Awards in varied ac ...
as Gaurav Rane
*
Genelia D'Souza as Shikha Kapoor “Rose”
*
Om Puri as Madhav Mathur
*
Archana Puran Singh as SP Bhavani Bhaagmaar Mathur
*
Rajpal Yadav
Rajpal Yadav (born 16 March 1971) is an Indian actor which works in Hindi, Punjabi Marathi, Telugu and one Gujarati and one Bengali and one avadhi, comedian and film maker known for his work in Indian Film industry. His breakthrough came in ...
as Mannu
*
Manoj Joshi as Chirag Rane, Gaurav's brother
*
Naseeruddin Shah as Nirmal Kapoor, Shikha's father
*Arjun Hansda as Gourav Kumar
*Preity Pundir as Rupali, Gaurav's sister-in-law
*
Arzoo Govitrikar
Arzoo Govitrikar is an Indian model and film and television actress.
Personal life
Arzoo Govitrikar was born in Panvel, Raigad, Maharashtra in a Chitpavan Brahmin family on India and raised in Mumbai. Her elder sister Aditi Govitrikar i ...
as Anjana 'Anju'
*
Sunil Barve
Sunil Barve ( mr, सुनील बर्वे) is an Indian film, television and theatre actor, singer and producer. Predominantly working in Marathi, he has also worked in Hindi and Gujarati entertainment industry. He is also a radio jocke ...
*
Mumaith Khan
Mumaith Khan (born 1 September 1985) is an Indian actress and model. She has appeared in numerous item numbers in Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Bengali and Odia language films.
Early life
Khan was born on 1 September 1985. She was born and ...
as
item number
In Indian cinema, an item number or item song is a musical number inserted into a film that may or may not have any relevance to the plot. The term is commonly used within Indian films (Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, and ...
"Shamma Shamma"
Music
Score
The original score of the film was composed and produced by
Ranjit Barot
Ranjit Barot (born 1959) is an Indian film score composer, music director, music arranger, drummer and singer based in Mumbai, India. He is a longtime associate of A. R. Rahman.
He has been described by guitar legend John McLaughlin as "one of ...
.
Songs
The soundtrack features songs composed by
Vidyasagar. Guest composer Tauseef Akhtar composed one song, "Ishq Subhan Allah" and its remix.
Sameer
Samir (variantly spelled Sameer) is a male name found commonly in the Middle East, Central Asia and Europe. In Arabic, Samir () means holy, jovial, loyal or charming. In Albanian, it translates literally as “so good” but the connotation is clo ...
wrote the lyrics for all the songs.
Reception
Box offoce
After a decent opening the film performed moderately well at the box office eventually grossing 22,70,50,000 in India. According to Box Office India it was declared "Average".
Critical response
Anupama Chopra
Anupama Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist, film critic and director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. She is also the founder and editor of the digital platform Film Companion, which offers a curated look at cinema. She has written sev ...
writing for
NDTV
New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. The company is considered to be a legacy brand that pioneered independent news broadcasting in India, and is credited for launching t ...
gave a negative review, writing ″The story had potential for comedy and heart-warming drama. But Priyadarshan and his cast rework it into a crude, loud, singularly unfunny film. The lead actors—Paresh Rawal and Akshaye Khanna—seem to be on auto-pilot and even the divine, National award winning actress Shobhana is reduced to a prop. Mere Baap is cinema as Chinese torture. Steer clear″
Sukanya Verma of
Rediff.com
Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City.
, it had more than 300 e ...
gave the film 2.5 stars out of 5, writing ″It starts off like a B-grade version of
Basu Chatterjee
Basu Chatterjee ( bn, বাসু চ্যাটার্জ্জী; 10 January 1927 – 4 June 2020) was an Indian film director and screenwriter.
Through the 1970s and 1980s, Chatterjee became associated with what came to be known as mi ...
's
Shaukeen
''Shaukeen'' () is a 1982 Indian Hindi-language comedy film directed by Basu Chatterjee dealing with the psychological aspects of people reaching the dusk of their life. The movie stars Ashok Kumar, Utpal Dutt, A.K. Hangal, Rati Agnihotri and ...
, changes into a crazy game of Chinese Whispers, develops into a feel-good tale of a father-son and his fun-loving girlfriend, detours to do some heavy-duty Kerala tourism only to drastically meander into a old-fashioned social melodrama followed by a proverbial 'kahani mein twist'.″
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 ...
of
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 provides ...
gave the film 2.5 stars out of 5, writing ″On the whole, MERE BAAP PEHLE AAP is enjoyable in parts -- an entertaining first hour, a not-too-entertaining second hour. At the box-office, it's at best an average fare. However, the prospects should improve if the makers trim the film from 2.40 hours to 2.10 hours.″
References
External links
*
{{Priyadarshan
2008 films
Films directed by Priyadarshan
2000s Hindi-language films
Films scored by Vidyasagar
Indian comedy-drama films
Hindi remakes of Malayalam films
2008 comedy-drama films