Khosla Ka Ghosla

Kamal Kishore Khosla (played by Anupam Kher) is an ordinary middle-class man residing in New Delhi. He has recently purchased a plot of land to build a new house for his family, which includes his wife Sudha Khosla (Kiran Juneja), younger son Chiraunji Lal Khosla, a software engineer (a.k.a. Cherry, portrayed by Parvin Dabas), elder son Balwant Khosla (a.k.a. Bunty, portrayed by Ranvir Shorey), and his tomboy daughter Nikki (Rupam Bajwa).

Kamal Khosla has invested all his hard-earned savings from his provident fund into acquiring a plot in South Delhi. While Cherry, a software engineer planning to move to the United States for a job, is not enthusiastic about his father's plans, Kamal hopes the location will be convenient for Cherry's office. However, Cherry hasn't revealed his intentions to leave for the States to his family yet.

When Cherry applies for a visa to visit the US, the visa agent, Asif Iqbal (Vinay Pathak), mocks his name, Chiraunji Lal, causing Cherry to feel ashamed. As a result, Cherry decides to change his name and eventually informs his family about this decision. Although Kamal initially taunts Cherry for his decision to change his name, he gradually realises that times have changed and starts to understand Cherry's perspective.

A disagreement between Cherry and his father leads to a temporary strained relationship. To bring them closer, Cherry's friend and colleague, Mr. Amar Sahni (Vinod Nagpal), suggests that Kamal spends some quality time with Cherry over drinks. However, upon arrival from work, Cherry reveals that he doesn't drink, leading to an argument between him and his father. Kamal insists that Cherry must participate in family matters and fulfil his responsibilities, while Cherry reveals his plans to move to the United States after a formal job interview.

Cherry's girlfriend, Meghna (Tara Sharma), an actor, is surprised by Cherry's decision and feels that he should stay and support his family. However, she gets upset with him due to Cherry leaving for the States soon and not quite supporting his father in the interim.

During a visit to their new plot for a ritual called Bhumipujan, the Khoslas discover that their plot has been encroached upon by a group of squatters connected to a corrupt local tycoon named Kishen Khurrana (Boman Irani). With the help of Vijendar (Rajendra Sethi), the property dealer who facilitated the plot purchase, Kamal is advised to bid on their plot to reclaim it. However, the cost demanded is a significant portion of the Khoslas' plot, around 50% of the initial price, amounting to ₹15 lakh.

Vijendar later suggests they personally meet Khurrana at his farmhouse to negotiate directly. Kamal finds the deal proposed by Khurrana to be ethically questionable and seeks assistance from local government authorities and political agencies. Unfortunately, these entities only offer to mediate the deal in exchange for hefty commissions and a reduced amount demanded by Khurrana. Kamal feels dejected due to such events.

Spurred by his father's helplessness, Bunty decides to take action. He seeks help from a gang of local wrestlers who forcefully reclaim the plot by demolishing the boundary walls erected by Khurrana's men. However, this victory is short-lived as Kamal is arrested on false charges of trespassing, orchestrated by Khurrana.

Kamal is released from custody at Khurrana's cunning behest, leaving him broken and disheartened. He urges his family to avoid further action, feeling incapable of fighting back, and encourages Cherry to focus on his prospective job abroad. Meanwhile, Meghna cheers up Cherry to support his family and then they visit Asif, who offers them help to deceive Khurrana and obtain money from him. With the aid of Meghna's friends and Asif's astute plan, they orchestrate a scheme to deceive Khurrana and extract money from him. They create a ruse involving a large piece of vacant land owned by the Fisheries Department, with Bapu (Navin Nischol), Meghna's mentor and the manager of a drama theatre group, posing as M.L. Sethi, a Dubai-based businessman and the owner of the land. Bapu's theatre group helps create a convincing scenario for Khurrana, making him believe in the authenticity of the land and its owner.

As the sham deal worth ₹1.4 crore nears completion, Vijendar asks for 3% share of the plot deal, he is quietly excluded. Khurrana requests to visit the land again, unaware that the Khoslas themselves have taken on the roles of workers and labourers as the Bapu's theatre group crew have gone to perform at film festivals. After the visit, Khurrana takes M.L. Sethi (Bapu) and his assistant Mani (Nitesh Pandey) to his farmhouse for drinks. Khurrana's assistant, Munjal (Rajesh Sharma), receives a tip that Sethi Associates (Bapu) is not a legitimate party and is about to tell Khurrana about it, but quietly leaves in disappointment as Khurrana calls his associates a bunch of 'less-privileged people.' Bapu and his assistant successfully deceive Khurrana, taking ₹35 lakh in cash from his farmhouse, which they give to Cherry and Asif, leaving both of them ecstatic.

With the obtained cash, Kamal pays the ransom demanded by Khurrana and regains possession of his plot, while Khurrana is forced to vacate their land. The remaining cash is divided equally between the Khoslas, Asif, and Bapu's theatre group. Cherry decides to change his name to Chirag and abandons his plans to move to the US. He marries Meghna and settles down with his family in their newly constructed house (New Khosla Kunj) on the plot. Bunty starts his own real estate business, and the film concludes with Khurrana realising he has been duped and deciding to cover up the sham deal with Sethi Associates to protect his reputation.

• Anupam Kher as Kamal Kishore Khosla
• Boman Irani as Kishen Khurana
• Parvin Dabas as Chiraunji Lal "Cherry" Khosla
• Vinay Pathak as Asif Iqbal
• Ranvir Shorey as Balwant "Bunty" Khosla
• Tara Sharma as Meghna Chopra
• Kiran Juneja as Sudha Khosla
• Rajendra Sethi as Vijendar
• Rupam Bajwa as Nikki Khosla
• Vinod Nagpal as Mr Amar Sawhney
• Navin Nischol as Bapu / Mr. Rohit Sethi
• Nitesh Pandey as Mani
• Anusha Lall as Katori
• V K Sharma as Insan Singh
• Rajesh Sharma as Munjal
• Danish Aslam as Inspector

Dibakar Banerjee, who was making advertisement films in Delhi, wished to make a feature film "which portrayed Delhi as it is".[2] The initial idea of the generation gap was conceived by Savita Raj Hiremath and her writer friend Jaideep Sahni, who had worked with Banerjee on advertising films. Sahni said the soul of Khosla Ka Ghosla was derived from their experience of growing up in a middle-class house in Delhi.[2] The first half of the film was based on Sahni's personal experience of an incident in his family which left an impression on him. He thought about "how our entire system can so callously and efficiently come together in no time to exploit a common man in trouble."[2] Later Sahni informed Banerjee that he had found a producer from Delhi and asked him if he wanted to direct the film; Banerjee agreed to do so.[3] Banerjee said a real life experience when Sahni witnessed his father being insulted by someone powerful, helped them to develop the character of the antagonist Khurana.[3] Sahni worked on the story for a year-and-a-half and finished in 2003.[4] Both Banerjee and Sahni first approached Anupam Kher to play Kamal Kishore Khosla; he was "hooked" after their discussions.[2]

Vinay Pathak had auditioned for Khurana's character for which Boman Irani was eventually selected, but the team liked Pathak's audition and offered him the role of Asif Iqbal. Ranvir Shorey was selected for the role of Balwant after two or three rounds of auditions.[2] The role of Khurana was also offered to Rishi Kapoor who refused it. Hiremath felt this was because "commercially, it (the role) wasn't working for him."[2] Irani had also initially refused the offer to play Khurana as he felt he was unsuitable for the role of a builder from Delhi since he was a Mumbai-born Parsi. He accepted the role after "a lot of people had raised their eyebrows" at his decision and he felt determined to make it work. Irani drove around and listened to interviews recorded with actual property dealers.[2] He also watched real footage captured using hidden cameras to understand how they behaved.[5] Kher said that he tried to boost the team's morale as the film was made while enduring a lot of stress. Tara Sharma was selected for the role of Meghna after an audition.[2] Banerjee was initially reluctant to give Parvin Dabas the role of Chiraunjilal as he thought the latter would not be able to do justice to the "layered character." Dabas but later cast in the role after a recommendation and an audition.[2] Navin Nischol was cast as Bapu.[6]

During the course of filming, Banerjee kept Irani separate from the rest of the cast as he did not want them to meet.[7] During filming, the investors demanded the addition of action sequences, an item song and changes in the cast. The team did not fancy these changes so Padmalaya Telefilms, their first investor, backed out of the project. Hiremath said that she had to "shell out cash" from her other company.[2] The film's small budget meant there were limited reels to shoot. After the filming finished, the team had no money for post-production. The entire film was shot in 45 days in Delhi during the summer.[2][8]

The entire opening dream sequence was filmed in one take using a hand-held camera to give it a "separate look from the rest of the film".[7] Amitabha Singh served as the director of photography, while Sejal Painter was the editor.[6] Banerjee had a different, sad ending for the film, but opted for Sahni's version of a more optimistic ending after realising his idea would make the film darker.[3] The film did not have any buyers for two years. During this period editing continued. The team showed the film to several people who loved it but were unwilling to back it.[9] Banerjee said that he gave up on releasing the film after several rejections.[7] Later, in 2006, UTV Motion Pictures stepped in and distributed the film.[2]

The soundtrack album of Khosla Ka Ghosla was composed by Dhruv Dhalla and Bapi–Tutul while the lyrics were written by Jaideep Sahni.[10] It consists of five songs with vocals by Kailash Kher, Kunal Ganjawala, Sowmya Raoh, Adnan Sami and Qadar Niazi Qawwal. Savita, the film's producer, managed to raise some funds for the music and Sahni wrote the lyrics the same day as he was worried they might miss the opportunity.[2] This was Dhalla's debut film. Banerjee called him after hearing his music samples and asked him to create "a Punjabi number based on the loud attitude of Delhi." Dhalla composed the tune for "Chak De Phattey" in three hours.[11]

The album received moderate reviews. Joginder Tuteja of IndiaFM called it an "average soundtrack with two songs standing out." Further writing: "While 'Chak De Phattey' is a potential chartbuster, 'Intezar Aitbaar Tumse Pyaar' makes for an easy-on-ears listening."[10]

Khosla Ka Ghosla was screened at the 2006 Kara Film Festival and the Hay Festival in 2012.[12][13] It was released theatrically on 22 September 2006 on 125 screens throughout the country.[14] The film was released on the DVD format on 6 November 2006 and is also available on the online streaming platform, Disney+ Hotstar.[15]

Khosla Ka Ghosla is considered by many critics as one of the best films by Banerjee.[30][31][32] It was included in Filmfare's 100 Days series—"With no big stars, relatively unheard of a director and a subject that you wouldn't rate on paper as the most exciting, Khosla Ka Ghosla manages to impress one and all."[5] It was also mentioned in critic and author Shubhra Gupta's book, 50 Films That Changed Bollywood, 1995–2015.[33]

In 2013, The Delhi Police Crime Branch caught a gang of cheats who duped several people by selling them plots belonging to the Delhi Development Authority by using forged documents. The officials said that the method adopted by the gang appeared to have been inspired by the film.[34] The film was remade in Tamil as Poi Solla Porom. Directed by A. L. Vijay, the film starred Karthik Kumar, Piaa Bajpai, and Nedumudi Venu in the lead roles. It was released on 12 September 2008.[35] It was unofficially remade in Kannada by T. N. Nagesh as Rame Gowda Vs. Krishna Reddy in 2010.[36][37] [38]

• Chaturvedi, Preeti; Kumar, Nirmal (2015). Brave New Bollywood: In Conversation with Contemporary Hindi Filmmakers. India: SAGE Publishing. ISBN 9789351504955.

• Khosla Ka Ghosla at IMDb