Mumbai Xpress is a 2005

2005 in film

- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...

 Hindi-language Indian

Cinema of India

The cinema of India consists of films produced across India, which includes the cinematic culture of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. Indian films came to be followed throughout South Asia and...

 feature film

Feature film

In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...

 directed

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

 by Singeetham Sreenivasa Rao, starring Kamal Haasan

Kamal Haasan

Kamal Haasan is an Indian film actor, screenwriter and director, considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting...

, Manisha Koirala

Manisha Koirala

Manisha B. Koirala is a Nepali-Indian actress who works in Indian films, as well as a UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador and social activist. Koirala has primarily worked in Hindi cinema, though she has appeared in several Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films as well...

, Om Puri

Om Puri

Om Puri is an Indian actor who has appeared in both mainstream Indian films and art films. His credits also include appearances in British and American films. He has received an honorary OBE.-Early life:...

, Vijay Raaz

Vijay Raaz

Vijay Raaz is an Indian film actor. His breakthrough came when he played the role of Dubeyji in the movie Monsoon Wedding. Since then, Raaz has been cast in small, often comedic roles, in many Hindi movies, often depicting the character of a common man.-Early life and career:Raaz was born and...

, Ramesh Aravind

Ramesh Aravind

Ramesh Aravind or Ramesh is a popular Kannada, Tamil and Telugu movie actor. He is considered one of the most versatile actors in Indian cinema.-Early days:...

 and Sharat Saxena

Sharat Saxena

Sharat Saxena is an Indian actor working in Bollywood films. He has acted in nearly 160 Bollywood films.Saxena started his career in the early 70s and has mainly played either supporting roles of a father, uncle or villainous roles....

. The film was simultaneously made in Tamil-language

Tamil language

Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...

 as Mumbai Express

Mumbai Express

Mumbai Express is a Tamil film directed by Singeetham Sreenivasa Rao, starring Kamal Haasan and Manisha Koirala. This film was produced by Kamal Haasan himself and music was composed by Ilayaraaja. This movie, released on Tamil New Year 2005 along with Chandramukhi and Sachien surprisingly failed...

 with a different starcast except the lead pair. Bollywood

Bollywood

Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...

 expected more from Kamal Haasan

Kamal Haasan

Kamal Haasan is an Indian film actor, screenwriter and director, considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting...

-Singeetham Sreenivasa Rao team, as they have already given successful films Appu Raja and Pushpak

Pushpak

Pushpaka Vimana is a silent black comedy released in 1987. This Indian film was directed by Singeetham Srinivasa Rao and written by Singeetham Srinivasa Rao. Set in a large unnamed Indian city , the film is based on the king-for-a-day story. The film is notable for its inventive re-casting of the...

Plot

Mumbai Xpress is a comedy of errors on kidnapping the wrong person starring Kamal Haasan

Kamal Haasan

Kamal Haasan is an Indian film actor, screenwriter and director, considered to be one of the leading method actors of Indian cinema. He is widely acclaimed as an actor and is well known for his versatility in acting...

 in lead role supported by Om Puri

Om Puri

Om Puri is an Indian actor who has appeared in both mainstream Indian films and art films. His credits also include appearances in British and American films. He has received an honorary OBE.-Early life:...

, Vijay Raaz

Vijay Raaz

Vijay Raaz is an Indian film actor. His breakthrough came when he played the role of Dubeyji in the movie Monsoon Wedding. Since then, Raaz has been cast in small, often comedic roles, in many Hindi movies, often depicting the character of a common man.-Early life and career:Raaz was born and...

, Ramesh Aravind

Ramesh Aravind

Ramesh Aravind or Ramesh is a popular Kannada, Tamil and Telugu movie actor. He is considered one of the most versatile actors in Indian cinema.-Early days:...

, Sharat Saxena

Sharat Saxena

Sharat Saxena is an Indian actor working in Bollywood films. He has acted in nearly 160 Bollywood films.Saxena started his career in the early 70s and has mainly played either supporting roles of a father, uncle or villainous roles....

 and Manisha Koirala

Manisha Koirala

Manisha B. Koirala is a Nepali-Indian actress who works in Indian films, as well as a UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador and social activist. Koirala has primarily worked in Hindi cinema, though she has appeared in several Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films as well...

.

Summary

Three amateur thieves plot to kidnap a wealthy person’s (Saurabh Shukla) son from the boy's school. They do a trial run. However on the eve of the kidnap, the guy whose job is to operate a crane in this plan is hospitalized. The services of Avinasi aka Mumbai Xpress (Kamal Haasan), a deaf stunt man performing daredevil bike acts is roped in. Twists and turns take place where the other two gang members are hurt and invariably Mumbai Xpress is left to perform the all tasks by himself. He kidnaps a wrong boy Daddu (Hardhik), the illegitimate son of Ahalya (Manisha Koirala) and police officer Rao (Om Puri), but manages to get a huge ransom from Mehta by default. A brawl takes place between the original kidnap planners-Digambar (Vijay Raaz), Johnson (Dinesh Lamba) and Avinasi in handling Ahalya’s child but Avinasi delivers the child unhurt to his mother. He secretly listen to Ahalya's tele-con with Rao where Rao wants to settle both the ransom and sever his ties with her. Ahalya pleads and coaxes him to help her get the ransom which Rao is willing to pay. The child takes a fancy to Avinasi and wants him to be the man in their life, and gets him to agree.Ahalaya wants either Rao’s or Mehta'a money which Avinasi is holding, whereas Avinasi is in love and wants to be that protective person. Rao appoints Mehta to handle the ransom and what follows is a series of mix-ups.

Cast

• Kamal Haasan...... Avinash/Mumbai Xpress
• Manisha Koirala...... Ahalya
• Om Puri...... ACP S.P. Rao
• Vijay Raaz...... Digambar
• Saurabh Shukla...... Kishore Mehta
• Pratima Kazmi...... Durga, Avinash's sister
• Dinesh Lamba...... Johnson
• Ramesh Arvind...... Thambu, Insurance agent
• Sharat Saxena...... Inspector Saxena
• Shama Deshpande
• Hardik Thakkar...... Daddu
• Raza Murad
• Rakhi Sawant...... Special Appearance
• Moon Moon...... Special Appearance as Moon Moon

Reception & Technology

Eventhough the film won good reviews, it did not do well at the box-office because the cinematography was done experimentally with digital movie camera and mainly due to the Digital film implementation resulting in slight dark output which left the viewer uneasy. The film although widely considered a loss was a great victory technology wise in Indian cinema industry. As per " ibosnetwork ", India's leading Box-Office portal, Mumbai Xpress collected Rs.4 Crores in Hindi Belt alone.

Trivia

In the climaxes of both versions (Hindi & Tamil), you would see opposite casts viewing the newly opened Mumbai Xpress "death well". In this case, Kovai Serala, Vaiyapuri, Pasupathi, & Santhana Bharathy make a brief cameo during the climax of the Tamil version, while Vijay Raaz, Dinesh Lambha, & Saurabh Shulka appear in the Hindi version.