Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (transl. Big master little master) is a 2024 Indian Hindi-language science fiction action film directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, who co-produced the film with Jackky Bhagnani, Vashu Bhagnani, Deepshikha Deshmukh and Himanshu Kishan Mehra under Pooja Entertainment and AAZ Films. The film stars Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff in the titular roles, alongside Prithviraj Sukumaran, Manushi Chhillar, Alaya F, Sonakshi Sinha and Ronit Roy in pivotal roles. In the film, two former soldiers race against time to save India from an imminent attack orchestrated by a vengeful evil scientist.

The film was announced in February 2022. Principal photography began in January 2023 and ended by February 2024 with filming held in Mumbai, Scotland, London, Luton, Abu Dhabi, and Jordan. The soundtrack and musical score were composed by Vishal Mishra and Julius Packiam, while the cinematography and editing were handled by Marcin Laskawiec and Steven H. Bernard. With a budget of ₹350 crore (US$42 million), it is one of the most expensive Indian films ever made.^[7]

Bade Miyan Chote Miyan was theatrically released on 11 April 2024, coinciding with Eid. The film received negative reviews from critics and became a disaster at the box office.

Plot[edit]

A masked perpetrator attacks an Indian convoy which contains a deadly weapon. The perpetrator tells the Indian Army that they will have to race-against-time to prevent the destruction of India. Captain Misha faces off against a masked attacker in Shanghai; she impales him, but his wounds inexplicably heal instantly. Misha reports the incident to Col. Azad, who instructs her to enlist court-martialed soldiers Firoz (Freddy) and Rakesh (Rocky) for the mission.

Misha and Rocky arrive in London and meet Parminder (Pam), an IT specialist assigned to assist them. In London, Azad gets shot by the masked perpetrator. The team infiltrates the London tube to retrieve the stolen package. Freddy arrives in time to help them fight off the masked men. Pam unlocks the vault, revealing that the package is actually Captain Priya Dixit, Freddy's ex-girlfriend. Since the hard drives were at the risk of being hacked, the codes to Karan Kavach, a highly advanced defence system, were encrypted inside Priya's brain. The masked perpetrator and his army take Priya hostage and the perpetrator reveals himself as Kabir, a scientist and former friend of Freddy and Rocky.

Past: Kabir intends to help the Indian Army with his latest invention: a cloning program where clones based on Freddy and Rocky's DNA could be programmed with orders and win wars without being killed. When Kabir reveals his intentions to conquer the world using this invention, Azad orders him to shut it down since it would go against ethics. Kabir switches sides and sells the invention to India's enemies. Priya reveals this information to Azad, where Freddy and Rocky are given orders to destroy the program and capture Kabir alive, but they end up killing Kabir and are court-martialed for not following orders, after which Freddy breaks up with Priya.

Present: Kabir reveals that he survived because the person, who died due to Rocky and Freddy, was actually his clone Eklavya. Eklavya's death left him vengeful as he loved the clone like a son. The masked men were actually Freddy and Rocky's clones; Kabir reveals that he has also cloned Azad and killed the real one. Kabir kidnaps Priya and leaves Freddy and Rocky to die, but they kill Kabir's henchmen and reveal to the team that Kabir plans to turn Pakistan and China against India by deactivating the Karan Kavach and launching airstrikes against the two countries, which would cause India's reputation to be tarnished globally.

Freddy, Rocky, Misha and Pam infiltrate Kabir's base, where Kabir decrypts the password from Priya's brain. Freddy and Rocky eventually face off against their own clones, who keep rejuvenating due to an internal power source. The duo kills all the clones by luring them into a power grid, causing them to explode. Kabir launches the airstrikes before Freddy and Rocky kill him. Priya reveals that "Eklavya" is the password. The Karan Kavach is reactivated, averting the airstrike and a potential war. The team leaves the base while Kabir survives.

Cast[edit]

Production[edit]

Development[edit]

In December 2021, Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff were signed for Ali Abbas Zafar's next action film under the production of Pooja Entertainment, which also backed the 1998 film of the same name.^[8] Eventually, the film was announced on 8 February 2022.^[9] Zafar, apart from being the writer and director, also co-produced it under his own banner, AAZ Films.

Casting[edit]

Manushi Chhillar was signed to play an action-packed role, reuniting with Kumar after Samrat Prithviraj (2022).^[10][11] In December 2022, Prithviraj Sukumaran was roped in to play the main antagonist named Kabir.^[12] Sonakshi Sinha was cast in March 2023.^[13][14] Prior to that, Alaya F and Ronit Roy joined the film in January 2023.^[15]

Filming[edit]

Principal photography began on 17 January 2023 at Yash Raj Studios in Mumbai.^[16] The first schedule included an action scene shot in a set of Bunker before it moved to Film City where other action scenes were shot. On 19 February 2023, Zafar confirmed the first schedule wrap.^[17]

On 28 February 2023, the second schedule took place in the United Kingdom in which a major chunk of the film was shot in Scotland, London and Luton before it ended on 12 April 2023. Some high-octane action sequences were filmed featuring cars, bikes, helicopters and tanks.^[18] An action scene was shot at night in Paisley where a street was recreated as Shanghai.^[19] Kumar also got injured while shooting a bike chase sequence.^[20]

On 16 April 2023, last schedule began in Abu Dhabi with the shooting of few portions of the title track at Emirates Palace.^[21] Action scenes featuring Cars, Bikes, Tanks, Horses, Dune Buggies, Plane, and Chinook helicopter were shot.^[22] A set of Indian Army Airstrip was recreated at Liwa Dessert. Filming wrapped on 9 May 2023 except patchwork.^[23]

On 21 January 2024, the filming for four final songs choreographed by Bosco-Caesar kicked off in Jordan with Kumar, and Shroff which took place for 12 days. Firstly the title track was shot at Roman Theatre and other locations of Jerash. Filming then moved to the Dead Sea where a romantic track with Kumar, Shroff, Sinha, Chhillar and Alaya F and a party track which also includes Prithviraj and Roy were shot. Last song shoot took place at Wadi Rum where an Arabic style song was shot.^[24][25][26] On 1 February 2024, Kumar confirmed the schedule wrap.^[27]