Aankhen (1993 film)
Aankhen (transl. Eyes) is a 1993 Indian Hindi-language action comedy film directed by David Dhawan and written by Anees Bazmee. It stars Govinda in a double role, along with Chunky Pandey. It was an all-time blockbuster at the box office, the highest-grossing Indian film of 1993.[2] It was also remade into Telugu as Pokiri Raja in 1995, starring Venkatesh and Ali.
The movie was reported to have been inspired by the 1977 Kannada movie Kittu Puttu [3] which itself was inspired by the 1967 Tamil movie Anubavi Raja Anubavi which had earlier been remade in Hindi in 1973 as Do Phool.
Hasmukh Rai (Kader Khan) has a problem. As a matter of fact, two problems — his two sons: Munnu (Chunky Pandey) and Gulshan “Bunnu” (Govinda Ahuja). The brothers are notorious slackers up to no good, and involved in elaborate practical jokes. It comes to Hasmukh’s attention that his sons have been lying to him about their college grades — in studies and sports — and have not been attending school for the last three years. As a result, they are kicked out of college and, ultimately, their home. Later, one of their practical jokes gets out of hand, and Bunnu disappears, presumed dead. Munnu gets involved in the conspiracy of killing Bunnu. Meanwhile, from a small Indian village, Bunnu’s identical cousin, Gauri Shankar, arrives in town. He is mistaken for Bunnu which leads to hilarious misunderstandings and constant uproar.
The movie was 1993’s biggest Bollywood hit and ran in the theaters for 12 weeks. The domestic distribution share was ₹8.5 crore against a ₹1.96 crore budget.[4] The film had a net income of ₹12.5 crore, and grossed ₹25.25 crore[1] ($8.2 million).[5]
Aankhen was responsible for jump-starting or re-energizing the careers of a few actors. Govinda, for example, struggling at the time, spawned a number of comedy hits such as Raja Babu, Coolie No. 1, and Saajan Chale Sasural, after the commercial success of Aankhen. Although he starred in hits like Hatya (1988), Swarg (1990), and Shola aur Shabnam (1992), his double role in Aankhen established him as the “Comedy King of Bollywood” at that time. One of the lead heroines of the movie, Raageshwari Loomba started singing later.
