Players is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by the duo Abbas–Mustan and jointly produced by Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Burmawala Partners. The film features an ensemble cast of Vinod Khanna, Abhishek Bachchan (Delhi-6 - 2009), Bobby Deol, Sonam Kapoor (Delhi-6 - 2009), Bipasha Basu (Aa Dekhen Zara - 2009), Neil Nitin Mukesh (Aa Dekhen Zara - 2009), Sikandar Kher and Omi Vaidya, while Aftab Shivdasani appears in a cameo. The theatrical trailer premiered on 3 November 2011, and the film was released on 6 January 2012. It is an official remake of The Italian Job, and is the second remake of the 1969 British film after the 2003 American remake of the same name. Players employs the same plot as the 2003 version, while making the characters and incidents completely different.
The story follows a team of players, consisting of a don, a con-man, a lady thief, a seductress, a magician, an explosives expert, an expert hacker and a prosthetic makeup artist, who plan to steal gold worth from a moving train. During the robbery they are double crossed by members of their own team.
Players was named one of the most anticipated Bollywood films of 2012, as it received hype ever since it was announced to be a remake of The Italian Job, was made on a huge budget, had a multi-star cast, was filmed in foreign locations as New Zealand, Russia and even the North Pole—which was a first for a Bollywood film— and was heavily promoted. Upon release the film received mixed reviews from critics. It opened to a poor response at the box office, despite having a wide release.
Plot Charlie's friend, Raj, is killed by the Russian mafia. At Raj's funeral, his wife Shaila hands Charlie a CD containing information about the transfer of gold ingots by train from Russia to Romania. Charlie decides to rob the train with the help of his mentor and conman, Victor Braganza. They hire a team of criminals to join them in the robbery, the group includes Spider, a world-class hacker, Riya Thapar a seductress and auto-mobile expert, Bilal Bashir, an explosives expert; Sunny, a prosthetic makeup artist; and Ronnie, a magician.
Before the heist, Victor's daughter Naina returns to India from Australia to receive Victor when he is released from prison. The group of players devises a plan to rob the Russian train in the sleaziest way possible. Spider hacks into a Russian satellite system, Riya seduces a high-ranking Russian officer so Charlie can impersonate him using a mask and wig provided by Sunny, and Ronnie creates an illusion to trick the soldiers guarding the gold while the rest of the team transfers the gold from the train. The robbery is executed successfully. Charlie calls Victor to inform him of the successful robbery, but Naina overhears the call and realises Victor broke a promise to her to never return to his life of crime.
While the players celebrate their success, Ronnie reveals to the team that he has a daughter who is hospitalised because she got paralysed during one of his magic performances and hopes to help her recover soon. Spider double-crosses the gang and explains that he got to know about the gold from Shaila before Charlie while seducing her, then tries to flee with all of the gold. Spider is stopped by Ronnie, who is then shot multiple times by Spider's assassins. The group is chased by the assassins as Ronnie and Riya are killed by Spider. Charlie, Bilal, and Sunny manage to escape after Spider blows up the location and flees with the gold. At the same time, Spider's assassins break into the house and murders Victor. Naina decides to cut off all contact with Charlie. Over the course of a year, Charlie contacts various gold dealers to learn which one has the stolen gold that Spider escaped with.
In New Zealand, the gang locates a dealer who is in contact with Spider. Charlie explains to Naina that the gang only wanted to steal the gold so they could help achieve Victor's dream of building a big orphanage. Naina understands and teams up with Charlie to exact revenge on Spider. In New Zealand, they discover that Riya is still alive and living there. She explains that she also wants revenge on Spider and provides the gang with the information about Spider's residence. Unaware of her plans, Spider flirts with Naina and takes her to his villa. Spider finds a hidden camera in Naina's dress and realises that she is working with Charlie, who breaks into Spider's mansion in an armored truck to rescue her and tells Spider that he will steal all of the gold within 48 hours. Spider tries to move the gold to another country, but the gang, using three large trucks and hacking into the traffic system, takes the gold and hides it inside three Mini Coopers. Just as they are about to leave New Zealand, they are caught by Spider and discover that Riya was working with Spider all along.
Spider tries to force the gang to hand over the gold, but the trunks of the Mini Coopers are empty. Spider betrays Riya and threatens to kill her. Before Charlie can reveal the real location of the gold, Riya shoots herself, and Spider stabs Charlie. Spider tries to escape, but Sunny and Bilal stop him and beat him up badly. Naina, who wants revenge for the death of Victor, shoots Spider three times. It is then revealed that the real Mini Coopers containing the gold are elsewhere. As the four leave the scene, Spider makes a final call to the Russian mafia and tells them that Charlie has stolen Russian gold. The gang takes the real Mini Coopers and leaves for India, but the Mafia stops them to check the cars, and once again, they are found to be empty. It is then revealed that the Mini Coopers were made out of the actual gold itself. In the end, Bilal opens a car dealership business, Sunny becomes a theatre actor, Charlie and Naina open Victor's dream orphanage, and Charlie raises Ronnie's daughter as his own.
Cast Vinod Khanna as Victor Braganza, Naina's father and Charlie's mentor. Abhishek Bachchan as Charlie Mascrenhas, the team leader and main protagonist. (Delhi-6 - 2009) Bobby Deol as Ronnie Grewal, an illusionist and magician. Bipasha Basu as Riya Thapar (Aa Dekhen Zara - 2009) Sonam Kapoor as Naina Braganza, Victor's daughter. (Delhi-6 - 2009) Neil Nitin Mukesh as Spider, a skilled hacker who betrayed Charlie and his team, Victor and Ronnie's killer and the main antagonist. (Aa Dekhen Zara - 2009) Sikandar Kher as Bilal Basheer, an explosives expert who is deaf in one ear. Omi Vaidya as Sunny Mehra, a makeup artist and wannabe actor. Johnny Lever as MC / Mangal Chopra and BC / Budh Chopra, a mechanic who aids the team with their vehicles. Vyacheslav Razbegaev as General Sumit Sarkar as Commissioner of Police Aftab Shivdasani as Raj Malhotra, Charlie's friend. (special appearance) Shweta Bhardwaj as Shaila, Raj's wife. (special appearance) Jo Holley as Head Cop
Production
Development Development on the project began in late 2009, when Viacom 18 approached Abbas–Mustan with the idea of remaking The Italian Job into a desi Indian version, and bought the remake rights from the original producers Paramount Pictures. At first, Abbas–Mustan were hesitant, but after watching the 2003 remake of The Italian Job, they decided it would be a good idea to Indianise it. They spent around a year working on the script and making a few tweaks including two new characters, played by Basu and Deol.
Casting Abhishek Bachchan was the first actor to be signed, along with Katrina Kaif and Neil Nitin Mukesh, to play the roles originally played by Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron and Edward Norton in the 2003 American remake. Mukesh was approached for the negative role, as the directors were impressed by his performance in Johnny Gaddaar (2007). Rumours circulated of different names being linked and approached including Sonakshi Sinha, who opted out due to date problems, to Anushka Sharma supposedly being called in to replace her. Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra had also been approached to play the leading female roles opposite Kunal Kapoor and Akshaye Khanna. Khanna later claimed he was never approached and expressed disappointment in not being cast. Kapoor left the film out due to her family problems with the Bachchan's. Deepika Padukone was also backed out, as she just like Chopra felt "the female lead does not have a strong part to play". Chopra was eventually dropped in a controversial matter, citing differences with Bachchan and the directors. Later Abbas Mustan claimed that the film was never offered to Chopra.
At one point the film had no three male leads and no female lead, which caused the directors to panic, after Kaif also backed out due to date problems. As the directors wanted a younger girl she was eventually replaced by Sonam Kapoor. Kapoor walked out of the film, as the director she was working with on another film, Mausam, asked to concentrate solely on his film. However, she was signed again, as she managed to a lot dates, but due to heavy pressure from both projects, she passed out on the sets of Mausam.
Rumours circulated that Mukesh had been dropped, due to the poor commercial business of his Lafangey Parindey (2010), although it had been a profitable venture. He later slammed the rumours saying "Arrey issme real ya unreal status ki kya baat hai? (There is no question of real and unreal status) It's sad that I am giving clarification on this when the fact is that I am already preparing for my role. The film is pretty much on and I am also not going anywhere". As Basu was approached, she immediately agreed after she read the script and was "blown away" by it. She had previously worked with Abbas-Mustan in her debut film Ajnabee (2001) and in Race (2008). Vinod Khanna made a comeback since his cameo appearance in Dabangg (2010), and was chosen to play a small but key role as the mastermind of the heist over the likes of Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor and Dharmendra. Aftab Shivdasani was hired to play a guest cameo appearance.
It was Abbas Mustan's first time working with all the actors except for Basu and Deol, who they had previously cast together in Ajnabee. The latter in five films, along with Johnny Lever who has played minor roles in all but two of their films. It was also the second pairing of Bachchan and Kapoor, who reunited after Delhi-6 (2009). Bachchan had also worked with Basu and Sikandar Kher (son of actors Anupam Kher and Kirron Kher) in Dhoom 2 (2006) and Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey respectively.
Pre-production Before shooting could begin, the entire cast underwent physical training to the requirement of the roles they were playing. Bachchan was required to tone up the most as he was the lead character and had to perform dangerous train stunts. For her role Kapoor, was required to learn to drive a car, although she had no previous experience. She practised in the small lanes of Juhu and after reassurance from her father Anil Kapoor to the directors, Kapoor drove, only to crash the car. Abbas Burmawalla commented on this "Our action director Allan Amin felt that she should get comfortable zipping around in the Mini Cooper. So about 10 days before we started shooting, Sonam started practicing driving the Mini. However, on the first day, she accelerated while reversing, and banged into a lamppost". Basu was required to wear a bikini during one of the songs, had gained weight during the year and worked with personal trainer Paul Britto, to ensure the perfect body. Her regime included functional training with abdominal exercises, kickboxing, aerobic exercise, stretching and weight training. Shweta Bhardwaj, who was playing a pivotal character in the film, was also required to physically tone up for an entirely different bikini scene.
Filming
Filming in India, mainly in Goa, began on 9 November 2010 and continued until the end of December 2010. The song "Buddhi Do Bhagwaan" was filmed on Miramar beach in Goa.