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lot Colonel Suryaveer "Surya" Singh (Amitabh Bachchan) is a bitter man and ex-Army officer, hired by his friend and former comrade Captain Shekhar Verma (Arjun Rampal) to protect a little girl, Anamika R. Rathore (Rucha Vaidya), who resides in Bangkok, Thailand with her Non-resident Indian (NRI) family. He drinks alcohol frequently, and is not interested in befriending the girl. Eventually, she wins his heart, and he helps her to prepare for a swim meet. One day Anamika gets kidnapped, and Surya receives serious injuries in his attempt to prevent the kidnapping. Her father is not able to pay the sum to release his daughter. So Suryaveer uses all his skills to save the life of the child, only to find out about the conspiracy that is behind the little girl's kidnapping. Surya learns that Chang, Shekhar's lawyer, is behind some of this. The real mastermind behind this is Chang's brother. Surya holds Chang hostag e, while Chang's brother holds Anamika hostage. When they come to exchange the people, Chang's brother reveals a great secret to Surya. Surya learns that Shekhar was all behind this. Surya kills Chang's brother's men. A great fight between Shekhar and Surya starts. Shekhar is killed, and Surya spends the rest of his life with Anamika and her mother. In the end, Anamika gets a new bodyguard, and the film shows her during her swimming practice, with Surya and her new bodyguard 15 years later. Production Apoorva Lakhia said that the script was written with the lead actor, Amitabh Bachchan, in mind. Lakhia explained that "Man on Fire has been made into four films in five different languages. So this is the Indian version. It has all the necessarily ingredients required for a movie to come out of India." Vikram Chatwal, who plays Ravi Rathore in the film, said, "People talk a lot about cross cultural films. These films don't necessarily have to be like Monsoon Wedding or Bend It Like Beckham. This is not another Hindi film. This is not a remake of Man on Fire. If you see the way it is shot, edited and directed, it is setting new standards. Mr Bachchan is reinventing himself. So please don't turn this film into another Bollywood film." The film was shot on location in Bangkok, Thailand, for 35 days. Lakhia said that he and Bunty Walia, a producer, chose Bangkok because "we wanted our characters to stand out. When they are walking on the street, they will look different. Both my heroes are over six feet, and Thai men are not as tall. So it was really important to be in a place where they could stand out." Release and distribution Eros International released the film on 16 December 2005. It had been selected for the Bangkok Film Festival. Cast Amitabh Bachchan as Col. Suryaveer "Surya" Singh Surya has a drinking habit because he accidentally shot two children while serving as a soldier in the Kashmir Val ley. Vipin Vijayan of Rediff.com said that "Amitabh and child actor Rucha are pillars of this movie and can give this racy caper a good start at the box office." Manish Gajjar of BBC Shropshire Bollywood said that "Ek Ajnabee belongs to Amitabh Bachchan and little Rucha. They manage to carry this film on their shoulders all the way. The remaining stars are mainly there to provide able support for these two." Arjun Rampal as Captain Shekhar Verma Shekhar, a former compatriot of Surya from the military service, pretends to be Surya's friend and uses him to try to gain money for himself through Anamika's kidnapping. Shekhar tries to buy Surya a ticket to India after Anamika's assumed death, but Surya refuses to go on the aircraft and does not tell Shekhar that he began the revenge campaign. Shekhar uses Surya to kill the others involved in the scheme, so he does not have to kill them. After Surya shoots Shekhar's bodyguards, he and Surya get into a p hysical fight. Surya shoots him fatally, while his bullets hit him non-fatally. Vijayan said that Rampal, as Shekhar, "tries to do justice to his role, but in vain." Gajjar said that the actor, as Shekhar, "is well defined in this film and seems to be popular with the girls since he has adorned a totally different getup in this movie." Gajjar added that "A small twist towards the end involving does not seem convinci