Aks () is a 2001 Indian Hindi-language supernatural action thriller film directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra in his directorial debut. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Raveena Tandon, Manoj Bajpayee, and Nandita Das. The film's music was composed by Anu Malik.
Aks was released on 13 July 2001. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics and being declared as a commercial failure, it won three awards at the 47th Filmfare Awards: Best Actor — Critics (Bachchan), Special Award Performance (Tandon), and Best Sound Design (Ranjan). Bachchan and Bajpayee were nominated for the Best Actor and Best Villain awards at the same ceremony as well.
Synopsis Aks is a supernatural thriller centering on two characters― a cop named Manu Verma and a shadowy killer named Raghavan. During a conference in Budapest, the defence minister is found murdered. Manu Verma investigates the case and discovers that the culprit is Raghavan Ghatge, a sociopathic serial killer who works as a hitman.
Raghavan is caught. As he is about to be executed by hanging, his spirit goes into Manu's body and starts to manipulate the cop into performing acts that Raghavan wanted to perform. But he couldn't save himself. He goes to another town but is not able to find peace.
Eventually, Raghavan's spirit leaves Manu's body. Everything seems to be normal. Manu and his family go on vacation. Unfortunately, Raghavan's spirit is still alive and possesses Raghavan's brother.
Cast Amitabh Bachchan as Inspector Manu Verma Raveena Tandon as Neeta Manoj Bajpayee as Raghavan Ghatge Nandita Das as Supriya Verma K.K. Raina as Mahadevan Ghatge Kamal Chopra as ACP Pradhan Tanvi Azmi as Madhu Pradhan Vineet Kumar as Narang Pramod Moutho as Justice Balwant Chaudhry Salim Ghouse as Blind Guru Veerendra Saxena as Hanif Kasai Vijay Raaz as Yeda Yakub Vrajesh Hirjee as RAW Officer 1 Ramesh Gajraj Rao as RAW Officer 2 Chakradhari Mithilesh Chaturvedi as PM's Aide Pathak Amol Palekar as Defence Minister Alok Patel Mohan Agashe as Prime Minister Abhimanyu Singh as ACP Arjun Shrivastav
Production Amitabh Bachchan sported a French beard to portray his character.
Music The soundtrack was composed by Anu Malik, with lyrics penned by Gulzar. The background score was composed by Ranjit Barot.
Reception Sukanya Verma of Rediff appreciated the album saying that Aks is a "captivating album with funky, experimental, new age music".
Reception The Hindu praised the cinematography and music of the film along with the acting performances of all actors, particularly Amitabh Bachchan's. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film two out of five stars, praising the visuals and music of the film but criticized the film for being too complicated and slow.
Awards and nominations
Ceremony Category Recipient Result47th Filmfare Awards Best Actor Amitabh Bachchan Best Actor (Critics)rowspan="4" Special AwardRaveena Tandon Best Sound DesignRanjit Ranjan Best Background ScoreRanjit Barot Best Actor in a Negative RoleManoj Bajpayee
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