Double Bachchan treat for Cinegoers with 'Cheeni Kum'

New Delhi, May 25 (UNI) It will be a double Bachchan treat for cinegoers this week with two releases featuring the superstar of the millennium hitting screens today.

Releasing in cinema screens across the world are Apoorva Lakhia's 'Shootout At Lokhandwala' and R Balakrishnan's 'Cheeni Kum', both of them featuring Big B in key roles.

What comes as an added attraction for the cinebuffs is the fact that both films belong to different genres and thus bring into focus the tremendous versatility of the Big B as an actor.

While 'Shootout at Lokhandwala' is a realistic action drama based on a true incident, 'Cheeni kum' is a comedy dealing with the love affair between a 64-year-old played by Amitabh Bachchan, and a 34-year-old played by Tabu.

Being produced by Balaji films of Ekta Kapoor in association with Sanjay Gupta's White Feather films, 'Shootout at Lokhandwala' is inspired by a real life encounter between the Police and the Mumbai underworld.

In the 1991 incident, the bustling Lokhandwala Complex in Mumbai became a virtual war zone when ACP A A Khan opened fire on five underworld gangsters residing in a building in the area. This daylight encounter lasted six hours and ended with the five gangsters being killed.

The film has evoked tremendous excitement in film circles because of the presence of a ensemble cast comprising Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Vivek Oberoi, Suneil Shetty, Tushar Kapoor, Arbaaz Khan, Rohit Roy, Shabbir Ahluwalia and Abhishek Bachchan in a guest appearance.

While the film has Sanjay Dutt playing the role of ACP Khan, it has Vivek Oberoi playing Maya Dolas, the gangster who was shot dead in the encounter, Tushar Kapoor in the role of Maya Dolas's right hand Dilip Buwa. Sunil Shetty, Abhishek Bachchan and Arbaaz Khan play policemen who were part of the team which surrounded the Lokhandwala Building during the encounter.

Amitabh Bachchan plays a lawyer Dhingra in the film.

'Shootout At Lokhandwala' marks a comeback attempt for actor Vivek Oberoi after many of his films in recent years, barring 'Omkara' have met with a lukewarm response at the box office.

'Cheeni Kum', the second film this week featuring Amitabh Bachchan in a romantic musical comedy dealing with the love afair between a 64-year-old man Budhadev Gupta and a 34-year-old woman Nina Verma, played by Tabu.

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