Talaash

Aamir Khan learned to swim for the film, a process that took him about four months.

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The idea for the film came from an unexplained incident that co-writer Zoya Akhtar and a group of friends witnessed one night while driving along a deserted road, an event that has stayed in their minds ever since.

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Before Aamir Khan, the producers' first choice, took on the role, Saif Ali Khan, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan all turned down the lead.

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Aamir Khan and director Reema Kagti decided to grow a moustache to give the police character a darker air. Khan, however, let his hair grow long enough to violate police regulations, and only allowed the hair and makeup team to cut it after getting advice on the matter from a real police officer.

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Nawazuddin Siddiqui's character is named Tehmur and walks with a limp, a reference to Timur the Lame (also known as Tamerlane and Timurlenk), the leading Mongol conqueror of the late 14th century and ancestor of the Mughal dynasty that would rule India from the 16th to the 18th century.

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Kareena Kapoor had also starred nine years earlier in the completely unrelated film Talaash: The Hunt Begins… (2003).

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In some ways the film recalls the genres director Raj Khosla worked in during the sixties. Coincidentally, Aamir Khan currently lives in Khosla's former apartment.

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The script's original title was too revealing, so the film needed a new one. Three producers and two writers struggled to agree on a title, and many titles were considered before Talaash was chosen.

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Nawazuddin Siddiqui worked with Aamir Khan twice, on Sarfarosh (1999) and Talaash (2012). Sarfarosh was Nawazuddin's first film.

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Although the film is set strikingly in Mumbai and its dark underbelly, it drew much of its inspiration from Don't Look Now (1973), which is largely set in Venice, Italy.

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A rumour during production claimed that the ending was similar to that of Kahaani (2012) and therefore had to be reshot. It turned out to be nothing but idle gossip.

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The underwater sequence was cancelled due to visibility problems and was later shot at an unnamed water studio in London.

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The film was previously titled Dhuaan, then Act of Murder, and then Zakhmi.

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Rani Mukherji won the Best Actress in a Supporting Role award at the 2013 South African Indian Film Awards.

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Although the film is set almost entirely in Mumbai and was extensively shot there, many key scenes were actually filmed 1000 km away in Puducherry, on the other side of India, and one underwater scene was shot at Pinewood Studios in London.

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This film is the third collaboration between Aamir Khan and Rani Mukerji, after Ghulam (1998) and Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005).

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It was also reported that much of the shooting was inspired by the 2010 Hollywood film Rabbit Hole, starring Aaron Eckhart and Nicole Kidman.

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The title of Talaash is a play on words in Hindi, where "The laash" can mean the corpse. Aamir Khan ultimately finds Kareena's body and gives her an honorary funeral.

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Originally planned for release in October 2011, the film was pushed to a provisional release date of 1 June 2012, but was then postponed again because of IPL matches.

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Aamir, who did not know how to swim at all, underwent rigorous training for this underwater scene.

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Jee Le Zara was composed by Ram Sampath roughly four years earlier for an album titled "Raat/Din". The album was to be recorded by Sona Mohapatra. It appears the album was never released, though a few songs from it came out as singles. Javed Akhtar kept the hook lines of the original song written by Ram Sampath but wrote new lyrics for the rest of the song.

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Talaash: The Answer Lies Within tied in with Windows 8 for its marketing.

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Omi Vaidya was cast to play the villain but ultimately left the project.

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The name of Nawazuddin Siddiqui's character, Teimur, is the name of Kareena Kapoor Khan's son in real life.

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After the premiere of her first film, Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. (2007), Kagti was approached by various production companies and offered several films to direct. Unable to find a film that interested her, she began working on a new script with her friend Zoya Akhtar in early 2010.

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In November 2011, Khan confirmed that the film's title was Talaash: The Answer Lies Within.

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Before principal photography began, the actors attended acting workshops and signed a non-disclosure agreement.

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Khan took swimming lessons to prepare for a key scene in the film.

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The film collaborated with Windows 8 for its marketing.

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Talaash grossed over Rs 1.74 billion worldwide. It became one of the highest-grossing Indian films of 2012.

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Principal photography for the film took place between March and November 2011, mainly in Mumbai, Pondicherry and London.

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Aamir Khan promoted the police detective series C. I. D. The episodes aired on 23 and 24 November 2012.

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The film Ajnabee (2001) carried the title "Talaash" when it was released in 1999. Kareena Kapoor was to appear in two films with that title.

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Although it is an Indian film, there is a single line of dialogue in Tamil at 39:20.

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It was inspired by the film Portrait of Jennie. Portrait of Jennie had previously been remade as Ek Paheli, starring Feroz Khan and Tanuja.

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'Aamir Khan' and 'Kareena Kapoor Khan' worked together for the second time after '3 Idiots' (2009).

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When Aamir Khan was approached for the film, he decided to also produce it.

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The film had no title at first; it was earlier titled 'Zakhmi' and later 'An Act of Murder'. Eventually it was decided that the title would be 'Talaash'.

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After completing the story, Kagti handed the script to Aamir Khan in November 2010, and he agreed to produce the film and take the lead role.

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It was reported that both Khan and Kapoor would shoot a scene in a red-light area, but Kagti denied this and stated that doing so would not be safe. The scene was later filmed at Leopold Cafe on Colaba Causeway.

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The premiere of Talaash was held on 29 November 2012 at PVR Cinema in Mumbai.

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The film collected 93 cr approx. in India box office revenue.

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The film's music was composed by Ram Sampath and its lyrics were written by Javed Akhtar.

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Aamir Khan visited Lucknow to promote Talaash: The Answer Lies Within.

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Filming was completed in November 2011 after some of the remaining shooting was done at Bandstand Promenade.

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It is Reema Kagti's first film in the five years following her 2007 film Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd.

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The film was produced by Excel Entertainment and Aamir Khan Productions.

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The film received a UA certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification of India.

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In an interview with The Indian Express, Kagti revealed that Khan had approached her for another project a few months before she cast him in the film.

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The second phase of the film continued in Pondicherry with the entire cast and was completed at the end of August.

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The final phase was expected to begin the following month with an underwater shoot in Khopoli.

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Aamir Khan appeared in a TV special titled 'Nayi Soch Ki Talaash Aamir Ke Saath' to promote Talaash.

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The opening average on single screens was as low as 40%.

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The film's principal photography began in March 2011 in Mumbai with Khan and Mukerji.

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In February 2012, Reliance Entertainment bought the film's distribution rights for Rs 900 million.

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The film collected Rs 125.0 million nett on its opening day.

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The satellite rights were sold for Rs 400 million.

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The film was released in cinemas in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.

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The film's soundtrack album was released on 19 October 2012 by T-Series.

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On 26 January 2012, the first teaser trailer for Talaash: The Answer Lies Within was shown in cinemas alongside the film's digital poster.

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Initially planned for release in October 2011, the film was pushed to a provisional release date of 1 June 2012.

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Co-producer Ritesh Sidhwani announced that, due to Khan's prior commitments and plans regarding a television series, the film could not be released on the provisional date as planned and would officially release on 30 November 2012.

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Talaash premiered on 520 screens in overseas markets, a new overseas record for lead actor Aamir Khan. (3 Idiots premiered on 415 screens overseas.)

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Advance bookings for Talaash: The Answer Lies Within opened on 25 November 2012 at multiplexes across India.

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The estimate for the number of release screens in India is around 2,500.

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