# Aks (अक्स)
**Aks** (अक्स; "reflection") is a 2001 Indian Hindi-language supernatural thriller directed by [Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra](https://www.edgepedia.org/rakeysh-omprakash-mehra) in his feature debut, starring [Amitabh Bachchan](https://www.edgepedia.org/amitabh-bachchan) as police officer Manu Verma and [Manoj Bajpayee](https://www.edgepedia.org/manoj-bajpayee) as the killer Raghavan, whose spirit enters Verma's body after Verma shoots him dead.[1](https://www.tuliresearchcentre.org/aks-2001/cast-credit) • [2](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/bollywood/-aks/articleshow/20117980.cms) The film was released on 13 July 2001, was a box-office failure, and later drew renewed attention for its technical craft and for Bachchan's and Bajpayee's performances.[1](https://www.tuliresearchcentre.org/aks-2001/cast-credit) • [3](https://www.boxofficeindia.com/movie.php?movieid=674)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 13 July 2001, Hindi language, India[1](https://www.tuliresearchcentre.org/aks-2001/cast-credit) |
| Director | Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, his feature directorial debut[1](https://www.tuliresearchcentre.org/aks-2001/cast-credit) • [4](https://nfaindia.org/images/pdf/57th%20National%20Film%20Award%20Catalogue.pdf) |
| Lead cast | Amitabh Bachchan, Manoj Bajpai, Nandita Das, Raveena Tandon[1](https://www.tuliresearchcentre.org/aks-2001/cast-credit) |
| Premise | After Verma shoots the assassin Raghavan, Raghavan's spirit enters Verma's body and continues killing[2](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/bollywood/-aks/articleshow/20117980.cms) |
| Music | Anu Malik and Ranjit Barot (music), Gulzar (lyrics)[1](https://www.tuliresearchcentre.org/aks-2001/cast-credit) |
| Box office | Flop; budget 100,000,000 rupees against a total nett gross of 80,000,000 rupees in India[3](https://www.boxofficeindia.com/movie.php?movieid=674) |
| Notable awards | Filmfare Critics' Award for Best Actor (Bachchan); Filmfare Best Background Score (Ranjit Barot)[5](https://www.filmfare.com/awards/filmfare-awards/winners.amp) • [6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289845/awards/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The story begins in Budapest, where the Indian Defence Minister is on a foreign visit accompanied by Manu Verma, the security officer who heads the National Security. The minister is assassinated, and a floppy disk containing the names of major threats to national security disappears.[7](https://www.rediff.com/entertai/2001/jul/13aks.htm) The killer is Raghavan, a deranged criminal who enjoys killing for its own sake; in one account of the plot he wears Verma's mask during the shooting, and his mentally challenged brother is a mask expert.[2](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/bollywood/-aks/articleshow/20117980.cms)
Verma pursues Raghavan to his abode in the wilderness, captures him after losing a close colleague, and brings him to trial, where he is sentenced to death. During an escape attempt on the night before the execution, Verma shoots him dead.[2](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/bollywood/-aks/articleshow/20117980.cms) At that moment Raghavan's spirit passes into Verma's body, and the possessed officer commits further crimes, including violence against his own wife Supriya ([Nandita Das](https://www.edgepedia.org/nandita-das)). Supriya seeks the help of a moral healer, a sadhu, and the film ends with good triumphing over evil.[2](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/bollywood/-aks/articleshow/20117980.cms) [Raveena Tandon](https://www.edgepedia.org/raveena-tandon) plays Neeta, a club dancer drawn to Raghavan.[7](https://www.rediff.com/entertai/2001/jul/13aks.htm)
The film frames this possession story as a modern rendition of an Indian philosophical idea: that the ultimate battlefield between good and evil is the human body, and the prize is the soul.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/aks)
## Production
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra came to the film from advertising and music videos. He had directed more than 200 ad films and Amitabh Bachchan's music video "Eir Bir Patte" before making Aks, his first feature.[4](https://nfaindia.org/images/pdf/57th%20National%20Film%20Award%20Catalogue.pdf) In a 2000 interview he said he wrote the story and screenplay with a friend over two nights, and that he handed a 30-page script to Bachchan, who agreed to the film before his plane landed.[9](https://www.rediff.com/movies/2000/aug/19rakesh.htm)
The production carried the banners A.B. Corporation and Flicks Motion Picture Company, with Jhamu Sughand presenting.[1](https://www.tuliresearchcentre.org/aks-2001/cast-credit) Filming included locations at the Royal Castle in Budapest, Hungary.[10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289845/maindetails) The role-swapping premise required Bachchan and Bajpayee to impersonate each other on screen; the production used face-mask prosthetics credited to Nick Dudman (make-up effects and creature design) and visual effects supervised by Paul Sims, allowing characters to tear off masks in a single unedited shot.[7](https://www.rediff.com/entertai/2001/jul/13aks.htm)
The music went through a label change before release: rights initially held by T-Series were taken over by H.M.V., which released the soundtrack about two weeks before the film opened.[11](https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/amitabh-announces-plans-for-abcl/)
## Style and reception
**Visual design.** Cinematographer Kiran Deohans, who also served as director of photography coordinating costume, sets, and make-up, built the film's look around dark contrasting colors, using purple, neon, and aquamarine blue with little red, and used lenses normally meant for indoor shooting outdoors to give exteriors a colder, eerier feel.[12](https://getahead.rediff.com/movies/2001/jul/12kd.htm) Reviewers singled out this work: Rediff called Deohans's cinematography "on par with the world's best," noting his use of blue lenses to bring out shadiness in the surroundings, and Film Information's trade review called the cinematography superb and praised the computer animation and special effects.[7](https://www.rediff.com/entertai/2001/jul/13aks.htm) • [13](https://filminformation.com/flash-back/flashback-14-july-2026-from-our-issue-dated-14th-july-2001/)
**Critical response.** Reviews were divided along a consistent line: strong technique, weak storytelling. Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film 2 out of 5, writing that it "scores in terms of technique, not content" and faulting an unexplained climax.[14](https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movie/aks/critic-review/aks-movie-review/) The Times of India reviewer rated it three and a half stars, called the first half captivating but said the script loses its grip after the interval, and judged the film a take-off from the Hollywood films Face/Off and Fallen.[2](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/bollywood/-aks/articleshow/20117980.cms) Film Information, inspired by the English film Fallen (1998), found the second half "very boring" and predicted losses for distributors.[13](https://filminformation.com/flash-back/flashback-14-july-2026-from-our-issue-dated-14th-july-2001/) Performances drew broad praise: Bachchan was called outstanding, with the Rediff review calling it a film "you can't afford to miss him in," and Bajpayee's voice work, including laughter used to punctuate Bachchan's possessed dialogues, was highlighted.[2](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/bollywood/-aks/articleshow/20117980.cms) • [7](https://www.rediff.com/entertai/2001/jul/13aks.htm) On IMDb the film holds a weighted rating of 5.8/10 from about 1,900 votes.[15](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289845/ratings/)
## Box office
Aks opened strongly but failed commercially. Box Office India classifies it as a flop: against a budget of 100,000,000 rupees it earned a total nett gross of 80,000,000 rupees in India, with a first week of 51,500,000 rupees, India gross of 134,300,000 rupees, overseas gross of $425,000, and worldwide gross of 154,275,000 rupees, on about 4,857,000 footfalls.[3](https://www.boxofficeindia.com/movie.php?movieid=674) It was released on 13 July 2001 at Novelty, New Empire, and 20 other Bombay cinemas through UTV-Shringar Films, with an impressive opening everywhere.[13](https://filminformation.com/flash-back/flashback-14-july-2026-from-our-issue-dated-14th-july-2001/)
In his autobiography *The Stranger in the Mirror*, Mehra recalled that the film opened to mixed responses, did not set the box office on fire, and that he recovered only part of his investment, later recouping 80 lacs more through sales of VHS, satellite, digital, and television rights, which he returned to ABCL; he covered losses over the following three years with ad films.[16](https://scroll.in/reel/1000747/scroll_in)
## Awards
At the [Filmfare Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/filmfare-awards), Bachchan won the Critics' Award for Best Actor for Aks, and the film's other honors recognized its craft and villain: Filmfare awards for Best Sound Recording (Rakesh Ranjan) and Best Background Score (Ranjit Barot), with nominations for Bachchan as Best Actor and Bajpayee as Best Actor in a Negative Role; Screen Awards for Best Villain (Bajpayee) and Best Supporting Actress (Raveena Tandon); and an IIFA Award for Technical Excellence for Best Special Effects (Visual) for Paul Sims.[5](https://www.filmfare.com/awards/filmfare-awards/winners.amp) • [6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289845/awards/)
## Legacy
Aks remained Mehra's only box-office failure among his early features; he was later noticed for his second film, [Rang De Basanti](https://www.edgepedia.org/rang-de-basanti) (2007).[4](https://nfaindia.org/images/pdf/57th%20National%20Film%20Award%20Catalogue.pdf) Mehra has described the film as an incomplete product that nonetheless made him a feature film director, and the film has since been reappraised by cinema lovers despite its commercial underperformance.[16](https://scroll.in/reel/1000747/scroll_in) Its runtime is reported differently across databases: 184 minutes on IMDb, 180 minutes on Box Office India, and 2 hours 37 minutes on Rotten Tomatoes.[10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289845/maindetails) • [3](https://www.boxofficeindia.com/movie.php?movieid=674) • [8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/aks)
## References
1. [Aks (2001), Tuli Research Centre for India Studies](https://www.tuliresearchcentre.org/aks-2001/cast-credit)
2. [Aks review, The Times of India (26 July 2001)](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/bollywood/-aks/articleshow/20117980.cms)
3. [Aks, Box Office India](https://www.boxofficeindia.com/movie.php?movieid=674)
4. [57th National Film Award Catalogue, Directorate of Film Festivals](https://nfaindia.org/images/pdf/57th%20National%20Film%20Award%20Catalogue.pdf)
5. [Filmfare Awards Winners List (1954–Present)](https://www.filmfare.com/awards/filmfare-awards/winners.amp)
6. [Aks (2001) Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289845/awards/)
7. [The review of Aks, Rediff.com (13 July 2001)](https://www.rediff.com/entertai/2001/jul/13aks.htm)
8. [Aks, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/aks)
9. [Rakesh Mehra pulls off a casting coup!, Rediff.com (19 August 2000)](https://www.rediff.com/movies/2000/aug/19rakesh.htm)
10. [Aks (2001), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289845/maindetails)
11. [Amitabh announces plans for ABCL, Bollywood Hungama (4 May 2001)](https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/amitabh-announces-plans-for-abcl/)
12. ['I expect the world of Aks!', Rediff.com (12 July 2001)](https://getahead.rediff.com/movies/2001/jul/12kd.htm)
13. [Flashback: Film Information, 14 July 2001 issue](https://filminformation.com/flash-back/flashback-14-july-2026-from-our-issue-dated-14th-july-2001/)
14. [Aks Movie Review by Taran Adarsh, Bollywood Hungama](https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movie/aks/critic-review/aks-movie-review/)
15. [Aks (2001) Ratings, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289845/ratings/)
16. [Aks revisited: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra on the Amitabh Bachchan-Manoj Bajpayee film, Scroll.in (30 July 2021)](https://scroll.in/reel/1000747/scroll_in)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Indian films (individual works) › Hindi films of the 2000s › Horror, fantasy, and science fiction films*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license