Ladies vs Ricky Bahl is a 2011 Indian romantic comedy film directed by Maneesh Sharma and produced by Aditya Chopra of Yash Raj Films. It stars Ranveer Singh opposite Anushka Sharma in lead roles along with Dipannita Sharma, Aditi Sharma and Parineeti Chopra in supporting roles. Singh plays a conman named Ricky Bahl who cons women until three of these women unite to con him back. The story was inspired by Jeffrey Archer's novel Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less. It was released on 9 December 2011 to a mixed response from critics but ended up being a commercial success, earning ₹84 crores gross from the box office on a budget of ₹20 crores.
Plot
Story 1: Delhi Dimple Chaddha is presented as a spoilt brat since her father Suresh Chaddha is the creator of "Chaddha Industries", a huge finance company in Delhi. Dimple is used to meeting her boyfriend, Sunny Singh secretly. The two party all night, and one day, eventually Dimple passes out of alcohol. Sunny then drops her home and faces her parents before wandering off. He breaks into a bungalow nearby and starts to throw stones on windows claiming it was part of his family inheritance and consequently is chased by the residents. Later he explains to Dimple that the bungalow actually belongs to his father, who died shortly before, and was encroached by tenants, but he gets taxed. Dimple convinces her father to help him but he tries to make profit out of it by buying the property at less valuation. Her father claims later as if he had fooled Sunny big time, though he is later arrested when the police claims that the family living there had a stay order, and that he entered there with no permission. Dimple realizes she has been conned, and starts to cry out loud. Then, Sunny is spotted in an airport leaving for Mumbai, with the Rs.20 lakhs which he receives as an advance from Dimple's father. Story 2: Mumbai Raina Parulekar is a businesswoman in Mumbai who is paranoid about everything. She has been ordered by her boss to deliver an M.F. Hussain painting, which is sold out everywhere. She meets Deven Shah, who presumably owns an art gallery that comprises the painting she needs. Raina fails to identify the fake painting and she contacts Deven for the M.F. Hussain over the phone, and he acts to be the owner of the painting and sells it to Raina. She gives Rs. 60 lakhs to Deven but later her boss realizes its a fake, and fires her immediately. She expresses her story of being conned by a man named Deven Shah to the media which, spreads like wildfire. This news is seen by Dimple and suspects that maybe Deven Shah could be Sunny and they may have been conned by the same person. Story 3: Lucknow A young widow named Saira Rashid calls Raina and explains her story of being conned by a person named Iqbal Khan into giving away Rs. 10 lakhs through her father-in-law and duping his garment business. Story 4: Goa and Beyond Raina calls over Dimple and Saira to Mumbai, where they make a plan, locate and con the man who conned them and name him "Bloody Kameena". To trace BK, they use his ringtone clue to find his name as Diego Vaz from Goa. They hire a sales woman, Ishika Desai to act as a millionaire heiress, Ishika Patel, who wants to open a restaurant chain in India with the help of the "Bloody Kameena", so that if he invested money in the restaurant, they could sneakily steal the money and escape, thus ruining the BK. The four divas set out to Goa, and start their trap. The BK slowly starts falling into it, but he never realises he is being conned. Ishika says she can't con him anymore because they love each other, and the BK has no clue of it. Dimple begins to argue loudly with her, and is overheard by Vikram Thapar who was waiting outside the door for Ishika. He is heartbroken, and realizes the pain he gave to everyone when he conned them but still out of ego-driven vengeance, he makes a plan to con the four girls. He himself originally purchases a swamp worth Rs. 3 lakh and as the con blows it cost to 90 lakhs. All girls blame Ishika for cheating and take their anger out on her. The three now return home, only to find Vikram Thapar sitting in their garden, with the Rs.1 crore. He explains why he came back, and that he didn't feel good about conning the girl he truly loved, and that the four girls have changed him into now becoming an honest and decent man. He returns the money he stole from them, and leaves. The girls realize the love Ishika has for Vikram and reunite them. He proposes to her but Ishika asks his real name, to which he reveals himself as "Ricky Bahl", and the story ends with a kiss, as the three girls leave.
The film was released in India on 9 December 2011. Upon release, it received mixed response from critics. Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra's cousin, Parineeti Chopra, made her acting debut in the film and most critics have praised her highly for her acting skills. Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama gave 3 out of 5 stars and said: "Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl is, at best, a decent fare, which appeals in parts. The film starts well, even ends well. It's the in between that's plain ordinary. Ideally, the film merits a two-and-a-half star rating, but that extra half star is for Ranveer and Anushka, who steal your heart with truly striking performances. Nikhat Kazmi from The Times of India gave 2.5 of 5 stars adding: "There is no humour, no earthy flavour, no tingling chemistry between the lead pair. What does work in favour of the film are its performances and its non-hysterical tenor." Komal Nahta from Koimoi gave it a 3-star as well stating: Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl is a fair entertainer. What is good about it is: The basic plotline; some con-game sequences; performances; music NDTV gave the film 3.5 stars from 5, calling it predictable and adding that the loses out on the great chemistry between the two leads. But it is still great to watch. However, he praised the performance of Ranveer Singh. So did Rajeev Masand who, in his review for IBN Live, described it as watchable but thought that it could've been so much more fun. Zee News gave it 3/5 stars, stating that "A good option to get entertained this weekend and reconnect with the BBB jodi for some laughter and foot stomping again! go watch Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl." Parineeti Chopra received accolades for her bubbly performance in the film.
Box office
Ladies vs Ricky Bahl had a biggest first day with many places recording high first day collections, but some multiplexes recording 90–100% for the first day. The collection improved well in Delhi and Punjab area throughout the day. The multiplex-dominated areas saw good to decent occupancy while single-screened areas remain on lower side. The film had a decent first day collections of 198.5 million. During the second day of release, it showed good improvement and collected 445 million. Collections rose once again on Sunday and it collected a whopping sum of 767.5 million which brings the 3-day total to 805 million approx. The film remained steady on Monday, with collections around 815 million nett, taking the four-day total to million nett approx. The film also put up a decent first week collection, grossing 730 million nett. Overall, it did decent business at the box office and earned 840 million in full theatrical run and declared Blockbuster at the box office.
Awards
Soundtrack
The song "Jigar Da Tukda" won the most atrocious lyrics award at the Golden Kela Awards in 2012.
Track listing
Plagiarism allegations
Director Selva accused the makers of Ladies vs Ricky Bahl of plagiarising his 2007 Tamil film Naan Avanillai and its 2009 sequel, both which followed con man marrying several women under various identities. British novelist Jeffrey Archer accused the makers of plagiarising his 1976 novel Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less.
