Chennai Express
Chennai Express is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language action comedy film directed by Rohit Shetty and produced by UTV Motion Pictures and Red Chillies Entertainment. It stars Deepika Padukone and Shah Rukh Khan with Nikitin Dheer, Sathyaraj, Kamini Kaushal and Lekh Tandon in supporting roles. The film revolves around Rahul Mithaiwala, a rich man who accidentally boards the eponymous train and journeys from Mumbai to Rameswaram with the daughter of an influential don.
Chennai Express | |
---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Rohit Shetty |
Written by | Yunus Sajawal Farhad-Sajid (dialogues) |
Story by | K. Subash |
Produced by | Ronnie Screwvala Siddharth Roy Kapur Gauri Khan Karim Morani |
Starring | Deepika Padukone Shah Rukh Khan |
Cinematography | Dudley |
Edited by | Steven H. Bernard |
Music by | Original Soundtrack: Vishal–Shekhar Background Score: Amar Mohile Guest Composer: Yo Yo Honey Singh |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | UTV Motion Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 141 minutes |
Country | India |
Language | Hindi |
Budget | ₹70 crores |
Box office | est. ₹423 crores |
The first planned collaboration between Khan and Shetty was a remake of Angoor (1982). The script of Chennai Express, which was initially written as a backup project for Khan, was chosen instead. Conceived as a "commercial romance", the film was originally titled Ready Steady Po. Filming began in Mehboob Studio in October 2012 and was completed by May 2013. A large part of the film was set in Ooty, for which sets were constructed in Wai and also in Ramoji Film City. The soundtrack for Chennai Express was composed by Vishal–Shekhar, with the background score being composed by Amar Mohile. UTV Motion Pictures came on board as producer and distributor, marking its first active project with Khan after Swades (2004).
Chennai Express was released theatrically in overseas markets on 8 August 2013 and a day later in India. The film received positive reviews from critics and it broke several box office records in India and abroad, becoming the quickest film to collect ₹1 billion (US$17.07 million) net domestically. The film surpassed 3 Idiots (2009) to become the highest-grossing Bollywood film worldwide at that point.
At the 59th Filmfare Awards, Chennai Express received 7 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (Shetty), Best Actor (Khan) and Best Actress (Padukone).