Players is a 2012 Indian heist action thriller film[4] directed by the duo Abbas–Mustan and jointly produced by Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Burmawala Partners.

The film features an ensemble cast of Vinod Khanna, Abhishek Bachchan, Bobby Deol, Sonam Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Sikandar Kher, Omi Vaidya while Aftab Shivdasani appears in a cameo.

At Raj's funeral, his wife Shaila hands Charlie a CD containing information about the transfer of gold ingots by train from Russia to Romania.

The group includes Spider, a world-class hacker; Bilal Bashir, an explosives expert; Sunny, a prosthetic makeup artist; and Ronnie, a magician.

While the players celebrate their success, Ronnie reveals to the team that he has a daughter who is hospitalized because she got paralyzed during one of his magic performances and hopes to help her recover soon.

Charlie explains to Naina that the gang only wanted to steal the gold so they could help achieve Victor's dream of building a big orphanage.

The gang takes the real Mini Coopers and leaves for India, but the Mafia stops them to check the cars, and once again, they are found to be empty.

[23] Rumours circulated of different names being linked and approached including Sonakshi Sinha, who opted out due to date problems,[24] to Anushka Sharma supposedly being called in to replace her.

[40][41] Vinod Khanna made a comeback since his cameo appearance in Dabangg (2010), and was chosen to play a small but key role as the mastermind of the heist over the likes of Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor and Dharmendra.

[49][50] Basu was required to wear a bikini during one of the songs,[51] had gained weight during the year and worked with personal trainer Paul Britto, to ensure the perfect body.

[52][53] Shweta Bhardwaj, who was playing a pivotal character in the film, was also required to physically tone up for an entirely different bikini scene.

[61] Scenes were shot across the City to Sea Bridge, Okarito Lagoon on New Zealand's South Island, Te Papa's Awesome Forces Museum, Cuba Mall and in the Tulsi Indian restaurant.

[62] The replication of the "Mini Coopers" scene from the 2003 version of The Italian Job was filmed at Wellington Airport, which Bachchan had difficulty with due to his height, as he could not get in and out of the cars quickly.

[63] There was some controversy when airport officials refused to give permission for filming when they felt it was dangerous; the scene required a plane to overfly three Minis, which were being driven by Bachchan, Kapoor and Kher, and miss by inches.

Sixth months before shooting had commenced in New Zealand, Abbas Mustan met with the Tourism Board and Film Council in Wellington and they put up LED signs, to notify local residents of the street closure during that weekend.

Describing this ordeal, Mustan Burmawalla said, "We had to seek lot of permissions for a traffic jam scene to be shot in New Zealand and that took a long time.

The cast flew back to India, finalised a few last minute shots and songs, before the film went into the post-production stage.

[87] Before its release, Players garnered a lot of curiosity from Bollywood movie buffs and critics, ever since the first preview which generated a positive response from the audience.

[91][92][93] Another reason the film had created curiosity was because none of the actors except Basu had enjoyed much box office success,[94] while the rest were relative newcomers.

[96][97][98][99] The first look at the film, along with teasers and an extended promo was revealed on 3 November 2011, on Kaun Banega Crorepati, which featured Abhishek's father, Amitabh Bachchan as the host.

[104][105] The campaign began at the music launch on 12 December 2011, where the team promoted the film in a first event of its kind, as the lead actors Abhishek Bachchan, Bobby Deol, Bipasha Basu, Sonam Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Sikandar Kher and Omi Vaidya performed live stunts.

[115][116] Kapoor featured as a guest on Imagine TV's Nachle Ve with Saroj Khan[117] and Bachchan promoted the film on Arjun Rampal's show Love 2 Hate U, where he met his biggest hater.

[119] Players was heavily promoted in London with help from the cast of the 2003 remake of The Italian Job, including Charlize Theron, Mark Wahlberg, Edward Norton and the director F. Gary Gray.

[124][125] Kapoor caused controversy over the outfit she had worn during the premiere, giving her a busty look and was verbally attacked by Fashion bloggers.

[127] Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India gave the film a rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "Music by Pritam is good while it lasts.

[133] Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama gave it 2 out of 5 stars and wrote, "On the whole, Players rides mainly on the clout of its credible director duo [Abbas-Mustan], daredevil stunts and stunning visuals.

[136] Aniruddha Guha from DNA India awarded it 2 out of 5 and wrote, "The writing is juvenile, the dialogues a joke, the acting over-the-top, yet everyone seems to be taking themselves so seriously".

[34][166] However Abbas Burmawalla cleared Bachchan's name, saying "The star cast of The Italian Job was finalized long time back.

Controversy erupted regarding the Censor Boards clarification to a scene in which Kapoor is seen making the middle finger gesture, which was clearly visible in the promos of the film.

[171][172] The issue was brought to light once again, when cricketer Virat Kohli famously made the gesture at Australian fans (two days before the film's release) during the Australia vs India 2011–12 series.