All of us love a classic Abbas-Mustan movie. Their movies have the perfect mix of twists and turns against the backdrop of a suspense movie, an action movie, or a romantic thriller. They have perfected this genre and made it their own. You cannot miss their movies, and neither this filmmaking duo because they are always dressed in white.
Abbas-Mustan have been making hit movies since 1990, but their filmography consists of movies which have been inspired or based on Hollywood movies. Here are 10 Abbas Mustan films that are inspired from Western movies.
1. Baazigar (1993)
Starring Shah Rukh Khan, Shilpa Shetty, and Kajol, this movie is a remake of a Hollywood action erotic thriller, A Kiss Before Dying. In the Hollywood movie, the hero murders for money. But in this desi edition, Shah Rukh’s anti-hero seeks vengeance for the injustice meted to his family. Baazigar went on to get nominated for 10 Filmfare Awards, out of which it won four of them.
2. Baadshah (1999)
With Shah Rukh Khan and Twinkle Khanna in the lead roles, the core plot of this movie is inspired by not one, but two Hollywood movies – Nick of Time and Rush Hour. Abbas Mustan produced a trail mix with the two plots and gave us Raj who is mistaken as a CBI agent.
3. Chori Chori Chupke Chupke (2001)
Inspired by a Julia Roberts’ rom-com, Pretty Woman, this movie starred Salman Khan, Rani Mukherjee, and Preity Zinta. Apart from being inspired by a Hollywood movie, it was also inspired by a Tamil movie (Avan Aval Adhu) and a Bollywood movie (Doosri Dulhan). Keeping all of this aside, the movie was the first to explore the topic of surrogacy in Bollywood.
4. Ajnabee (2001)
Akshay Kumar won the award for the Best Villain and Bipasha Basu won the award for the Best Female Debut. But the best part is how this movie is an actually adaptation of an American thriller, Consenting Adults. The plot of both the movies is similar – that is, crazy right from the beginning till the end. Think of the plot like Gone Girl, but set in the Abbas-Mustan multiverse of madness.
5. Race (2008)
Okay, but we have to agree the first movie of this franchise was actually good, albeit it went downhill in the second part (the third part was not directed by this duo). Starring Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Katrina Kaif, and Bipasha Basu, Race was an adaptation of a 1998 neo-noir comedy film – Goodbye Lover. Barring the comedy, almost everything was lifted from the movie.
6. 36 China Town (2006)
While most of Abbas Mustan’s films are action or romance, the duo experimented with a comedy-mystery thriller in this movie. The movie is an adaptation of a black comedy mystery film – Once Upon a Crime. The only difference is that a dog is substituted with a child in this desi adaptation.
7. Players (2012)
Before Money Heist, we had Players. This movie is an official remake of the American movie, The Italian Job. But here’s the fun part. The American film was actually a remake of a 1969 British film of the same name. The movie starred Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, and Neil Nitin Mukesh and it stayed true to the American film.
8. Taarzan: The Wonder Car (2004)
How can one forget this blue car? Starring Vatsal Sheth, and Ayesha Takia, the movie is based on a 1983 American supernatural thriller horror film- Christine. Parts of the plot have been Indian-ized for the audience and the colour of the car was changed from red to blue.
9. Aitraaz (2004)
This movie gave us one of Priyanka Chopra’s best performances in a negative role. However, the movie is based on an American erotic thriller film, Disclosure. The plot was loosely borrowed from the American movie and Kareena’s role was a new addition.
10. Humraaz (2002)
Starring Bobby Deol, Akshaye Khanna, and Ameesha Patel, this movie is based on an American crime thriller film, A Perfect Murder. The American movie was, in fact, a remake of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. The plot was loosely borrowed and here a Wall Street financier was substituted for a dance troupe, very filmy indeed.
Keeping these inspirations aside, we gotta admit that no one does thriller better than Abbas-Mustan.