Karam (film)

Karam
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySanjay F. Gupta
Screenplay bySuparn Verma
Story bySuparn Verma
Produced byPammi Baweja
StarringJohn Abraham
Priyanka Chopra
Bharat Dabholkar
CinematographyNarendra Khanna
Edited byMerzin Tavaria
Music bySongs:
Vishal–Shekhar
Pankaj Awasthi
Score
Amar Mohile
Distributed byBaweja Movies
Release date
  • 11 March 2005 (2005-03-11)
Running time
117 minutes[1]
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget₹5.75 crore[2]
Box office₹7.76 crore[2]

Karam (transl.Blessing) is a 2005 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film[3][4][5] directed by cinematographer Sanjay F. Gupta, in his directorial debut. Starring John Abraham, Priyanka Chopra and Bharat Dabholkar, the film follows John, a professional assassin who ends up unintentionally killing an innocent family during a mission and becomes traumatized, eventually tendering his resignation. This does not go down well with his boss, who kidnaps John's wife and holds her hostage. In order to win back her freedom, John must complete one last job: killing some of the city's top men within a limited period of time. The film co-stars Vishwajeet Pradhan, Shiney Ahuja, Murli Sharma, Rajesh Khera and Aanjjan Srivastav.

Having directed several music videos, Gupta decided to direct the film after being impressed with the script written by Suparn Verma. Confirming that it was not inspired by any Hong Kong film, Gupta decided to do his own take on it despite feeling the script was not novel. With a strong feeling that John Abraham suited the role from the beginning, Gupta cast him as the lead alongside Priyanka Chopra, and named the protagonist after Abraham.[6] Producer Harry Baweja revealed the film was based on a true story and shot entirely in Mumbai.[3]

Karam was released theatrically on 11 March 2005, opening to mixed reviews from critics and audiences.[6] It was a commercial failure both domestically and overseas.[7][8] In 2011 during an interview for his film Force, John Abraham revealed a number of people came up and told him Karam was their favorite film.[9]

  1. ^ "KARAM". British Board of Film Classification.
  2. ^ a b "Karam – Movie". Box Office India.
  3. ^ a b "On the sets of Priyanka Chopra's Karam!". Rediff.com. The film, despite being an action thriller, has got a number of emotional scenes.
  4. ^ "Karam (2005) - Sanjay . Gupta". AllMovie.
  5. ^ "Karam (2005)". FilmAffinity.
  6. ^ a b "Priyanka's finger was chopped off: Sanjay F. Gupta". SantaBanta.com. Retrieved 14 March 2005.
  7. ^ "Exploring the box office journey of Priyanka Chopra – Part 2". Bollywood Hungama. 22 June 2012. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  8. ^ "Business Takes A Dip!". Bollywood Hungama. 16 March 2005. Retrieved 16 March 2005.
  9. ^ ""I'd like to see John Abraham do a lot of action movies" – John Abraham". Bollywood Hungama. 24 November 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2011. You won't believe but many people have come up to me and said that Karam was their favourite film. How strange is that?