General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20267 min read

Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (बड़े मियाँ छोटे मियाँ) (2024 film)

Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (बड़े मियाँ छोटे मियाँ; often shortened to BMCM) is a 2024 Hindi-language action film directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, starring Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff as two elite soldiers recruited for a mission against a masked villain who threatens India's defenses. Produced by Pooja Entertainment in association with AAZ Films and released in theaters on 11 April 2024 for Eid, it was mounted on a reported budget of over Rs 3.5 billion (Rs 350 crore) and became one of the biggest box-office failures of Hindi cinema that year.¹^•²^•³

Key fact	Detail
Director and writers	Written and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, co-written with Aditya Basu; dialogues by Suraj Gianani⁴
Lead cast	Akshay Kumar (Captain Firoz / Freddy), Tiger Shroff (Captain Rakesh / Rocky), with Prithviraj Sukumaran as the antagonist Kabir, plus Sonakshi Sinha, Manushi Chhillar, Alaya F, and Ronit Roy⁵^•⁶
Release	11 April 2024 in India (Eid); 10 April in some international markets; runtime 2 hours 44 minutes; U/A certificate⁵^•⁷
Budget	Reportedly crossed the Rs 3.5 billion (Rs 350 crore) mark²
Box office	India net Rs 591.7 million (Rs 59.17 crore) and worldwide gross Rs 1.022 billion (Rs 102.16 crore) by Bollywood Hungama's tally; Sacnilk reports Rs 1.115 billion (Rs 111.50 crore) worldwide and a "Disaster" verdict⁸^•⁵
Critical response	17% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 12 reviews; 67% audience score⁹
Streaming	Available on Netflix from June 2024¹⁰

Spoilers

Plot and premise

The story follows two former soldiers with troubled pasts who are enlisted for a dangerous mission when a masked enemy steals India's most dangerous weapon. Colonel Azad (Ronit Roy) sends his best officer to bring back two legendary men from his unit, the brooding Bade Miyan and the cocky Chote Miyan, who must overcome their contrasting personalities to stop the villain Kabir (Prithviraj Sukumaran) and restore justice.⁷^•¹¹ In the film, India has developed a defense technology called Karan Kavach, meant to protect the country from missile attacks, and the plot turns on the theft of this "package" by the masked antagonist.¹¹^•¹² Reviewers noted that the premise involves cloning soldiers with AI and modern warfare elements, with action set pieces including car chases, explosions, missile strikes, and cloned combatants.¹¹

Production

Origins of the project. Producer Vashu Bhagnani, whose Pooja Entertainment had made the 1998 comedy of the same title starring Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda, held the title and asked his son Jackky Bhagnani how to build a film around it. Jackky suggested taking it to the action genre and bringing in Ali Abbas Zafar, whose earlier films include Sultan, Bharat, and Tiger Zinda Hai. The script took about six months to finalize, shooting began in January 2023, and the film reached theaters within 14 months. Bhagnani said the intention was to grow the title into a multi-genre franchise that later generations could continue.¹

Real action and locations. Zafar insisted on real action performed by the two leads with minimal VFX and little use of body doubles, and he shot extensively on real locations, including the deserts of Saudi Arabia and the Jordanian desert of Wadi Rum, at a time when recent Hindi blockbusters such as Pathaan, Jawan, and Fighter had relied largely on studio sets and green screens. He described VFX as a support tool rather than the primary way of telling the story.²^•¹³ Filming also took the unit to London, Scotland, Luton, Abu Dhabi, and Mumbai.¹⁴

Jordan schedule and completion. In January and February 2024 the team shot song sequences in Jordan, with Akshay Kumar completing three songs over an 11-day schedule that involved about 260 foreign and 75 local dancers. Four song picturizations in Jordan marked the completion of shooting, and the producers, together with the Jordan tourism ministry, hosted a media contingent and screened behind-the-scenes footage emphasizing the film's real stunts.¹³^•¹⁵^•¹⁶ Zafar called it the most challenging and difficult film of his career, and reported daily shoot costs ran Rs 30 million to 40 million (Rs 3 to 4 crore), with cars worth Rs 3 million to 4 million (Rs 30 to 40 lakh) blown up for stunts.¹⁷^•² The crew included action directors Craig Macrae and Parvez Shaikh, cinematographer Marcin Laskawiec, editor Steven Bernard, and composer Vishal Mishra, with lyrics by Irshad Kamil.⁴

Relationship to the 1998 film

The title comes from the 1998 David Dhawan comedy starring Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda, which Vashu Bhagnani had also produced. The 2024 film is not a remake and belongs to a different genre; it instead pays homage to the earlier film, and its credits acknowledge Bachchan and Govinda. The new title track borrows only the "bade to bade miyan, chote miyan subhanallah" phrase from the original song.¹⁸^•¹⁹^•²⁰ The 2024 film was also the first time Sonakshi Sinha, Alaya F, and Manushi Chhillar appeared together in a movie, and the first big-screen pairing of Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff.⁶^•¹⁴

Reception

Critical response. Reviews were largely negative. The film scored 17% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 12 reviews, against a 67% audience score.⁹ Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express called it "a complete snoozefest" and rated it one star, finding the writing flavorless despite the kernel of an idea about AI-cloned soldiers.¹² India Today gave it 1.5 stars, criticizing forgettable songs and a 2 hour 44 minute runtime, while praising Prithviraj Sukumaran's performance as the antagonist.²¹ Bollywood Hungama rated it 2.5, attributing its problems to a weak script and poor dialogues, and the trade paper Film Information judged it too ordinary a fare to make any mark at the box office given its huge budget.²²^•²³ Hindustan Times was more positive, calling it a formulaic action spectacle whose highlight was the chemistry between the two leads.²⁴

Box office. The film opened to Rs 160.7 million (Rs 16.07 crore) net in India on its first day, fell about 60 percent on day two, and finished its Indian run at Rs 591.7 million (Rs 59.17 crore) net, with Bollywood Hungama reporting Rs 704.4 million (Rs 70.44 crore) India gross, Rs 317.2 million (Rs 31.72 crore) overseas gross, and Rs 1.022 billion (Rs 102.16 crore) worldwide gross. Sacnilk's tally puts worldwide gross at Rs 1.115 billion (Rs 111.50 crore) and assigns the verdict "Disaster."⁸^•⁵ Against a reported budget above Rs 3.5 billion (Rs 350 crore), trade analysis in April 2024 judged the chances of recovering the budget theatrically bleak, and the film was described as one of the biggest recent disasters of Hindi cinema.³ A Film Companion analysis cited poor marketing, dull writing, and high production costs as possible reasons, and reported that Akshay Kumar had charged Rs 1.65 billion (Rs 165 crore) as his fee, a figure the industry reportedly began correcting after the failure.³ Year-end roundups listed it among 2024's biggest flops, attributing the failure to poor storytelling and lackluster execution.²⁵

Streaming. The film arrived on Netflix in June 2024, where it remains available with audio tracks in Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu.¹⁰^•²⁶

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026