99 Movie Preview
Synopsis of Movie 99
99 is an original story inspired by real events. It is as much "what could have been" as it is "what really happened." In other words, it is historical fiction – fiction being the keyword. It is a genre-bender – spanning a few genres – it is slick, fast-paced, realistic and importantly, very funny. It is the story of two different men in two different cities, who are bound by a common feeling of always being stuck at '99'. They never seem to make it to a 'century'- figuratively speaking. It is a journey of two men who want to break away from the rut and 'strike it big'. What follows is an unpredictable and hilarious ride through two cities with extremely likeable and very grounded characters, unbelievable circumstances, real twists of fate, small-time crooks, big-time conspiracies, fateful car crashes, a briefcase full of money, two cricket matches with hundreds of crores riding on them, ups of friendship, downs of love and a climax that will keep everybody on the edge of their seats.
MUMBAI
Sachin has a lot of big ideas. Implementation is always the problem. He is ambitious, he is street-smart, and he is also an engineering college dropout. At the moment he is content doing small scams with his cousin and best buddy, Zaramud. Only problem is that Zaramud is the antithesis of tact and commonsense and has the uncanny knack of landing them both into trouble. So, thanks to Zaramud, one such scam goes wrong. Making their getaway they end up stealing, of all the cars around, the one car they shouldn't have! And they don't just steal it, they crash it as well! The car belongs to – AGM. Enter AGM (Mahesh Manjrekar) - a mean small-time bookie, who runs a cyber café as a front for his operations. The 'dramatic', but shrewd, AGM takes them both on to do his dirty work until they 'work off' the car that they crashed. And that's gonna take a long, long time paying.
DELHI
Rahul (Boman Irani) is an ordinary guy with a pretty ordinary job – he is a bank manager. He has one extraordinary quality though: he always has the luck of the draw. When it comes to gambling, Rahul can do no wrong. Or so it seems. He thinks he has figured it all out: gambling is all about timing. The right bet at the right time and one can never lose a bet. His corny approach to discovering the 'right time' is a hilarious story in itself. Silly and amusing as his methods may appear, one thing is true. Rahul has never lost a bet so far. However, Rahul has had to curb his enthusiasm for betting. Jahnavi (Simone Singh) – his wife does not think that gambling is an honorable activity. And since he does love her, he decides to keep away from it, at least for a while. Eventually the 'gambler's itch' gets to him. He places that one important bet: On the India-New Zealand one-day match in November 1999. What he doesn't know is, that the result of the match was determined even before the first ball was bowled. Between phone calls, cash-filled suitcases, brand-new Maruti cars and untraceable SIM cards, this match was fixed. Rahul loses the bet and ends up owing money to — AGM. Now, he has 3 months to pay up.
4 MONTHS LATER
It starts off as a routine call to collect money, when AGM asks his 'employees', Sachin and Zaramud to go to Delhi. But when the hardcore Mumbaites land in the 'land of snobs', they are taken for a wild ride. Everybody from the cabbie to the street urchins seems to think that these two are fair game. In the meantime, Rahul is in the pits. Under pressure from Sachin, atop already existing pressure from his local debt-collector, Kuber (Amit Mistry), Rahul comes up with a plan. To temporarily 'borrow' money from his bank and bet on another match that's coming up. Then he can use the winnings to pay off his debtors and replace the money in the bank. And no one will be the wiser. However, fate has other plans. Before Rahul can bet the 'borrowed' money – which he has safely stowed away in his briefcase - Sachin and Zaramud get their hands on the briefcase. Having 'recovered' AGM's money they plan to return to Mumbai. But leaving Delhi proves harder than it seems as Sachin's 'trusted' cabbie has his own designs. In the unlikeliest of ways Sachin and Zaramud have to part with the briefcase. Now Sachin owes a lot more to AGM than he previously did. Non-payment could cost him his life. Rahul does not owe AGM money anymore but he does owe the bank the money he took. Non-payment could cost him life - in prison. They hatch a plot to make money - lots of it - and change their lives forever. No more routine bank jobs. No more taking orders from AGM. They want to score that one elusive 'century' that will once again put them in control of their lives. And in their own small way they end up making history!
THE CRUX
In a refreshing style that uses humor and drama as well as shows the manner in which the game of cricket can play with a whole country's emotions, 99 draws a parallel between the highs and lows of the game and the lives of the two leading characters. In a series of events, where the lines between fiction and fact blur, Rahul and Sachin are catapulted headlong into what the rest of the world doesn't see: the murky world of match fixing behind our national craze. Full of anecdotes and quirky characters that leave an impact, the core cultural clash between Mumbai and Delhi is set against this backdrop of real events in history, which adds to its authenticity. But the key aspect of this crime comedy is its grounded characters, tight logic, its magical realism and its skillful and realistic portrayal of life in these two cities.
99 movie is a wild ride as fact-meets-fiction-meets-fact. It is the story of two simple men who thrown into complicated circumstances refuse to give up attempting the impossible. Because cricket, as they say, can just make the impossible possible!
Directors: Krishna DK, Raj Nidimoru
Producers: Aditya Shastri, Anupam Mittal
Cinematography: Rajeev Ravi
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