Ajooba

Ajooba
Indian Theatrical release poster
Directed byShashi Kapoor
Gennady Vasilyev
Written byYu Avetikov
Bharat B. Bhalla
Valentin Ezhov
Brij Katyal
Prayag Raj
Produced byShashi Kapoor
StarringAmitabh Bachchan
Rishi Kapoor
Dimple Kapadia
Sonam
Shammi Kapoor
Dara Singh
Saeed Jaffery
Amrish Puri
CinematographySergei Anufriyev
Aleksandr Kovalchuk
Peter Pereira
Edited byBhanudas Divakar
Tatyana Malyavina
Music bySongs:
Laxmikant–Pyarelal
Background Score:
Vanraj Bhatia
Distributed byAasia Films Pvt. Ltd.
Gorky Film Studio
Release dates
  • July 1990 (1990-07) (USSR)
  • 12 April 1991 (1991-04-12) (India)
Running time
170 minutes
CountriesIndia
USSR
LanguagesHindi
Russian

Ajooba (transl.Wonder) is a 1990 superhero film, produced and directed by Shashi Kapoor and co-directed by Soviet filmmaker Gennadi Vasilyev. An Indian-Soviet co-production, it is loosely based on Arabic folklore such as One Thousand and One Nights. The film had a Russian language version released in the Soviet Union, Черный принц Аджуба (Black Prince Ajuba), in 1990, before its Indian release in 1991. The film starred Amitabh Bachchan as the titular superhero Ajooba, along with Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Sonam, Shammi Kapoor, Dara Singh, Saeed Jaffery and Amrish Puri in pivotal roles.Made on a budget of 80 million, it was the most expensive Indian film made until then.[1]

Ajooba released worldwide on 12 April 1991, on the Eid weekend. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the performances, special effects and music, but criticised the story, screenplay and direction.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ajoobabudget was invoked but never defined (see the help page).