Aladin

<p>The film opens with the family of Arun Chatterjee, who lives with his wife, Riya, and their baby son, Aladin. When out on a holiday, Arun is attacked by a gang searching for a , which Arun has found, but has hidden somewhere. Arun and Riya Chatterjee are murdered; Aladin is raised by his grandfather. After his granddad’s death, a now grown-up Aladin Chatterjee ( ) lives in the fictional city of Khwaish (wish). He is lonely, and Kasim ( ) and his gang members have bullied Aladin since his childhood. His life changes when Jasmine ( ) enters the city, and Aladin immediately falls for her. Kasim arranges a birthday party for Aladin, and as a present, Jasmine gives Aladin a for his birthday because Kasim said that Aladin loves lamps to embarrass him in front of Jasmine. However, this lamp turns out to be the magic lamp that the murderers of Aladin’s parents were trying to find. Aladin rubs the lamp and releases the , Genius ( ). Desperate to grant him three wishes so that his contract with the magic lamp can end, the rock-star Genius suddenly makes Aladin’s life very interesting but chaotic. Aladin does not want to make any wish, but Genius enters Aladin’s dreams and finds out what he wants, getting his sleeping mind to make a wish: to make Jasmine fall in love with him. When he wakes up, he does not like what Genius has done and uses his second wish to turn Jasmine into normal. His third wish is for Genius to help him woo Jasmine without using magic to make it happen. Genius does his best, but magic is really his strong suit. Still, with Genius’s help, Aladin stands up to Kasim and starts a relationship with Jasmine, and Genius teaches Kasim a lesson. Aladin’s future looks perfect, until the real threat looms on the horizon – the ex-genie, Ringmaster ( ). Ringmaster in disguise visits Aladin and informs him that Genius has killed his parents. Aladin insults Genius and tells him to leave. Ringmaster steals the magic lamp and wishes for Genius to kill Aladin, but Genius refuses to do it, and loses his magical powers because he did not grant the wish, just as Ringmaster had planned. Aladin learns that Genius is innocent and arrives to help him, and they succeed in rescuing Jasmine. Ringmaster’s plan is then completely revealed: he plans to perform a ritual to steal the reflection of an approaching comet, getting back his genie powers as a result. Genius, Aladdin and Jasmine intervene, and Aladdin steals the comet’s reflection, giving genie powers back to Genius instead of Ringmaster. Genius seals Ringmaster inside a mirror and then shatters it, defeating him. The Ringmaster’s gang is also defeated. In the end, the trio happily gets back to the city, Aladin and Jasmine are a couple, and after earning special superpowers from the comet, Aladin gives Kasim yet another lesson. The music of the film is composed by , lyrics penned by and (Bachke O Bachke). grossed an estimated (US$1.2 million). ‘s one star review for stated, “On the whole, ALADIN is a terrible waste of a terrific opportunity. Hugely disappointing!.” of stated, “At 65, Amitabh Bachchan’s on-screen presence is likely to get scarcer with age. Audiences are still interested in his work. If only he wouldn’t green-light unbelievable, hollow, expensive rubbish that’d be pelted on us merely because, he said yes.” of wrote, “Despite the Rs 80 crore of special effects wasted on the film, Aladin has neither magic nor is it magical.”</p>