Brothers (2015 film)

Brothers (international title: Brothers: Blood Against Blood) is a 2015 Indian sports drama film, based on Mixed Martial arts (MMA) directed by Karan Malhotra and produced by Dharma Productions, Lionsgate Films and Endemol India. The film is an official remake of the 2011 American film Warrior. It stars Sidharth Malhotra and Akshay Kumar in the lead roles with Jacqueline Fernandez, Jackie Shroff and Shefali Shah in supporting roles. The first look poster of the film was released on 9 March 2015 and film released on 14 August 2015 on Independence Day weekend.

Plot
The film opens in medias res where street fighting issues are raised in Mumbai. Sports chairman Peter Braganza (Kiran Kumar) expresses his desire of making street fighting a legal sport and decides to open a league called Right 2 Fight (R2F). Meanwhile, imprisoned Garson "Gary" Fernandes (Jackie Shroff), a recovering alcoholic and former MMA expert under rehabilitation, is released from his jail term and his younger son Monty (Sidharth Malhotra) comes to pick him up. Monty gets tensed when his father asks about his elder son David and takes him away to their home. At home Gary acts protective of all the belongings of his wife Maria, who died many years ago. David (Akshay Kumar), now a physics teacher, has a daughter with kidney ailment. Unable to arrange money from the bank and other sources he earns money through street fights. This stresses out his wife Jenny (Jacqueline Fernandez) as she is worried about David. Meanwhile, Gary, who misses his wife Maria (Shefali Shah), starts hallucinating about her. Gary then tries to meet David but the latter ends up throwing Monty and Gary out of his house in rage.

Monty is then revealed to be Gary's illegitimate child. Maria nevertheless loved Monty, as she did David. The two brothers had a close, loving relationship until David was 18 and Monty was 15. On the night of Monty's 15th birthday, Gary came home drunk and apologizes to Maria for destroying the family, but mentions his lover Sarah's name, instead of Maria's. An enraged Maria confronts Gary about this. In a drunken state Gary hits Maria who is injured and dies. A furious David pushes Gary aside. When Monty comes close to Maria, David angrily pushes him away, holding his father and half-brother equally responsible for his mother's death. This creates a rift between Gary, Monty and David.

David later loses his job in the school when the principal Shobhit Desai (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) learn's about David's involvement in street fights. Monty, who wants to be a fighter, is then introduced to Suleiman Pasha (Ashutosh Rana), a fight agent. Suleiman fixes a match with Mustafa in which Monty is defeated. This enrages Gary but Monty has a rematch with Mustafa, where Monty defeats Mustafa and is declared a selected fighter for R2F by Peter. The fight is recorded and uploaded to YouTube and soon Monty becomes an internet sensation. Monty undergoes training to become the R2F champion. Meanwhile, David too decides to be a full-time fighter and Jenny encourages him to do so. Suleiman trains David and arranges a match while Monty celebrates his victory at a bar. David soon is victorious in the fight. R2F soon becomes a sensation and fighters from all over the world show their interest in the league. Eventually, brothers David and Monty make it to the finals.

Gary, feeling guilty leaves the arena. During the fight, David breaks Monty's shoulder. Gary rushes towards David and apologises for his mistake and tells David not to release his anger towards his brother. Monty continues to play but is again overpowered by David. David tells Monty not to fight anymore. Monty in turn says to continue to hit him because David is selfish. David moved to tears and finally apologises and Monty allows David to win the championship. David takes away Monty in his arms.

Cast

 * Akshay Kumar as David Fernandes
 * Jacqueline Fernandez as Jenny Fernandes
 * Siddharth Malhotra as Monty Fernandes
 * Jackie Shroff as Garson "Gary" Fernandes
 * Shefali Shah as Maria Fernandes
 * Prateik Bhanushali as Monty Fernandes (as a teenager)
 * Meghan Jadhav as David Fernandes (as a teenager)
 * Ashutosh Rana as Suleiman Pasha
 * Kareena Kapoor as Mary in a special appearance in the song "Mera Naam Mary Hai"
 * Kiran Kumar as Peter Braganza (Former Mixed Martial Art Champion and now a Chairman)
 * Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Principal Shobhit Desai
 * Raj Zutshi as Baaz Raut, ex-fighter - commentator 1
 * Kavi Shastri as Sachin Nehra, a sports journalist - commentator 2
 * Ashok Lokhande as Gary's best friend and Monty's coach
 * Harssh A. Singh as Santosh Desai, News Anchor
 * Naisha Khanna as Maria David Fernandes aka Poopoo (David's and Jenny's daughter)
 * Zubin Vicky Driver as Swami
 * Abbas Hyder as Suleman
 * Honey Sharma as Mustafa
 * Ramneeka Dhillon Lobo as Suzan

Development
The film was announced in late August 2014. Producer Karan Johar had announced the project on his Twitter blog. Special stunt co-ordinators Eric Brown and Justin Yu from Los Angeles choreographed the film's stunt and MMA sequences.

For the role of an MMA fighter, Kumar had taken up a weight-specific diet and shot scenes depicting his actual workout. He also underwent a six-month training of several martial art forms including judo, kyudo, aikido, karate

Actor Sidharth Malhotra took training sessions in Jujitsu and aikido, it is rumoured that he gained 10 kilograms for the role.

Marketing
Vroovy a joint venture of Hungama and Gameshastra had released the 3D video game titled "Brothers: Clash of Fighters" available for Android phones.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack of the album is composed by Ajay−Atul while the lyrics are written by Amitabh Bhattacharya. Critic Joginder Tuteja from Bollywood Hungama gave 3 stars of 5 quoting, "The music of Brothers doesn't really go all the way when it comes to good expectations that came from it being a big chartbuster album in the making. However, from situational numbers perspective, it does well to keep you engaged for most part of it. Expect the 'Brothers Anthem' to haunt you all the more once you are through experiencing it with the film." Kasmin Fernandes from Times of India rated 3 out of 5 with mixed reviews.

Reception
Fernandez received critical acclaim for her role and it is said to be her best performance yet. Trade Analyst Komal Nahta said, "On the whole, Brothers, a mixed martial arts film, may carry mixed reports but it will ultimately prove to be a paying proposal for all concerned. It will do good business in multiplexes and single-screen cinemas, and in 'A', 'B', 'C' and 'D' class centres." Film critic Subhash K Jha gave 4 stars out of 5 and said "Brothers may not appeal to those who look for laughter in times of despair. There is barely room for a whiff of a smile in this dark sanguinary and seductive tale of destruction and redemption told in a free-wheeling style that accommodates derivations and innovations without apology or awkwardness." The Times of India(TOI) gave 3 stars out of 5. Bollywood Hungama gave 3 stars out of 5. Koimoi(koimoi.com) gave 2.5 stars out of 5. Film critic Raja Sen for Rediff wrote, "Weighing 158 unbearable minutes, Brothers is nearly 600-times as long as the Rousey win – and not one-millionth as thrilling." Sen reviewed the characters of the film and concluded, "But that's all this film has, a ball-busting Kumar and one particular fight that ends with delightful abruptness. Everything else is exhausting." He gave the film 1.5 stars out of 5. Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV opines, "For all the hoopla, Brothers, in going for the jugular, punches well below its weight. It makes so much noise that any sensible point about brotherly bonding and filial fidelity that it might be trying to make is completely drowned out by the decibels. Take your earplugs along." He gave the film 2.5 stars out of 5. Anuj Kumar of The Hindu newspaper reviewed, "The problem is, be it emotion or action, Karan is in no hurry to say cut. At times it works for the emotion to seep in but many times over elaboration dilutes the punch. The music is a let down. Kareena Kapoor deserved a better song and choreography for the special appearance." Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express summarized, "Akshay Kumar, Sidharth Malhotra's film gets dragged down by its over-wrought mawkishness." At firstpost, critic Deepanjana Pal stated, "Akshay Kumar is hot but with Jackie Shroff and Sidharth Malhotra this film is a hot mess. A few more films like Brothers and Bollywood will have achieved what no amount of litigation can manage — the freedom to copy freely. Because if Gavin O'Connor, who directed and co-wrote Warrior, ever sees how his story has been brutalised, he might just go on a campaign claiming that intellectual property rights be damned, Hollywood is better off not being associated with Bollywood remakes." Martin D'souza from Glamsham stated "The fight director makes BROTHERS look good" and gave 2 stars out of 5. Subhash K. Jha from skjbollywoodnews stated "Definitely one of Akshay Kumar's glorious achievements." and gave 4 stars out of 5.

Box office
Brothers made Rs.52.08 crore in its opening weekend in India. The film brought in inr 153600000 internationally. Adding the film's gross India business of 70.30 crores, after week one Brothers' worldwide business stands at 106 crores at the Box Office.

India
In the season where films have started doing well at the Box Office, Brothers has managed to find audience for itself over the weekend. If the start was good, if not phenomenal, there was some good escalation waiting to take place on the rest of the weekend. Saturday was always going to be the key for the film and the Karan Malhotra film managed to cross the 21 crore mark. Sunday did not see as many footfalls as Saturday but still did better than Friday, as a result of which 52.08 crores came in once the weekend was through. Brothers made quite a low business on its 3rd day i.e. 1st Sunday at the Box Office. The movie collected 15.45 crores on Sunday, which is almost equal to its Friday business (15.20 crores). Nevertheless, thanks to its super jump on Day 2, the film's overall opening weekend collections have come to a good amount of 52.08 crores. The film now stands as the 2nd Highest Weekend Grosser of the year. Bajrangi Bhaijaan, with 102.60 crores, holds the record of Top weekend grosser of 2015. The film went on to collect just 64.80 crores net in its first week in India which is a poor result because it has a big holiday. Brothers crashed 88% in its second weekend as it grossed just 5.25 crore nett apprx in its second weekend. The ten days business of film is just 69.83 crores. Brothers grossed 80 lakhs nett on its second Monday and has grossed just 6 crore nett apprx in its first four days of the second week.

Overseas
Brothers performed poorly overseas but managed to garner around $2.4 million in the first weekend, the Gulf, Pakistan USA and UK were the top markets Brothers did $3.6 Million after 12 days.