Ферзь (2016)

Wazir (transl. Vizier) is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language neo-noir action thriller film directed by Bejoy Nambiar and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Written and edited by Abhijat Joshi and Chopra, the film stars Amitabh Bachchan and Farhan Akhtar alongside Aditi Rao Hydari, Manav Kaul and Neil Nitin Mukesh (as the title character). John Abraham makes a special appearance. The film's dialogues and additional dialogues were written by Abhijeet Deshpande and Gazal Dhaliwal, respectively. The music was composed by Shantanu Moitra, Ankit Tiwari, Advaita, Prashant Pillai, Rochak Kohli and Gaurav Godkhindi, with the background score composed by Rohit Kulkarni. Sanu Varghese served as the film's cinematographer. Based on an original story by Chopra, Wazir follows the story of a suspended Anti-Terrorism Squad officer who befriends a chess player who is a wheelchair user. The idea of the film came to Chopra in the 1990s and he started writing it in English with Joshi over a period of four years starting in 2000. It was supposed to be Chopra's first Hollywood film, with Dustin Hoffman playing the protagonist. However, its producer died and the film was shelved for nearly eight years. Chopra and Joshi later re-wrote the script so it could be produced as a Hindi film. Principal photography began on 28 September 2014. Wazir was released on 8 January 2016 and mixed-to-positive reviews from critics who particularly praised the action sequences and performances of both Bachchan and Akhtar, but criticised the predictable nature of the film. The film performed well at the box-office, with approximate worldwide revenues of ₹78.69 crore (US$12 million). Wazir – Official Action Game, an action mobile video game tie-in was released by Zapak along with the release of the film.