Two blundering terrorists with lofty ideologies, but ordinary talent, are on a mission to change the world.
'Bangistan' is a whip-smart, uproarious satire on fundamentalism and the story of two unlikely terrorists, the antitheses of each other, with a common destructive goal. Concerned by the unrest in the name of religion, Subcontinental leaders of Muslims and Hindus, the Imam and the Shankaracharya, announce that they're attending the International Peace Conference in Krakow in a joint effort to help unite the two religions in perpetual harmony. Rival rabble-rousing ragtag organizations, the Islamist Al-Kaam Tamam and right-wing political party Maa Ka Dal, separately recruit and brainwash Hafeez and Praveen to suicide-bomb the conference so they can continue to wield their local influence. After a rigorous and hilarious 'training' period, the two men switch their religious identities to stay under the radar. Hafeez, the jihadi, masquerades as a conservative Hindu, Ishwarchand; while Praveen, the Hindu soldier, dons the garb of a practicing Muslim, Allahrakha. Focused on the mission, they reach Krakow and end up staying together in the same apartment. The two men go to great lengths to protect their real identities from the world and each other as they acquire bombs and plan their mission, teetering on the edge of revelation at key moments. Their adventures involve a local cop on their scent and desperate to make a name for himself, the foxy pub owner who takes the two under her wings, a Bangladeshi fixer out to make a quick buck, the assortment of locals they meet, and the cultural impact of their exotic experiences in the city thrown into the mix. A series of serendipitous comic events ends in an epic, dramatic finale that brings the world to Krakow and covers the range of emotions, leaving you breathless while sending across a universally affirmative message that all religions are but different doorways to the same destination.—Dhruvi Dokania
Bangistan is a country divided between Muslims (who rule North Bangistan) and Hindus (who rule South Bangistan). There is always religious tension between the 2 regions due to acts of violence enacted by terrorists on both sides. The religious heads (Shankaracharya (Shivkumar Subramaniam) & Imam (Tom Alter)) of both factions are in constant touch with each other & want to work together to diffuse tensions & decide to send representatives to the international Religion conference in Krakow, Poland, to advertise their message of peace.
Hafeez Bin Ali (Ritesh Deshmukh) works at a BPO in North Bangistan & is disgusted that he is treated as a terrorist due to his faith. One day he quits his job as he can no longer tolerate the humiliation from customers and visits a local Muslim community.On the other side Praveen Chaturvedi (Pulkit Samrat) is a staunch Hindu who wants to avenge the death of Hindus in riots.
Guruji (Kumud Mishra) is a politician who incites radicals like Praveen to carry out acts of violence against each other. Guruji has a groups Maa Ka Dal for Hindus which he uses to recruit radicals. Guruji is angry that Imam and Shankaracharya are getting cozy & diluting his message of religious hatred, which he uses to win elections and hold on to power.Praveen is a big fan of Guruji and believes staunchly that if something is not done, one day the Hindus will be minorities in their own country.
The leader of the community Abba & his son Zulfi (Arya Babbar) brainwashes Hafeez and persuades him to conduct terrorist attack at World Religious Conference in Poland, by convincing him that he will go to heaven if he dies in a suicide bomb blast. Abba has a terrorist group named Al-Kaam Tamaam for Muslims.To cover his identity and his relationship with the leader, Hafeez uses a fake identity to enter Poland-a Hindu named Ishwarchand Sharma.
For political reasons, Guruji asks Praveen to conduct terrorist attack at the World Religious Conference in Poland, the same event that Hafeez is going to conduct blast at. To cover his identity and relationship with Guruji, Praveen also uses a fake identity to enter Poland-a Muslim named Allah Rakha Khan.
Hafeez and Praveen reach Poland at the same time and become friends when Hafeez objects to the "random" immigration searches applied to Praveen (who is now travelling as a Muslim). They both end up sharing a duplex apartment (basically 2 apartments one top of each other, but the floor had a huge hole in it and so it became a duplex) and start preparations to acquire a bomb. Hafeez's local taxi driver is Tamim Iqbal (Chandan Roy Sanyal), who gets him an apartment in Poland.
Hafeez goes to a Polish arm dealer Mikhail Bobbitsky (Janusz Chaboir) to acquire the bomb, but don't have enough funds and hence only can assemble one by reading the instructions to bomb making.Meanwhile, Praveen buys bomb parts that were made in China.
When they go to a bar, they meet an Indian girl Rosie (Jacqueline Fernandez) and both fall in love with her.A local Muslim group approaches Praveen and ask him to keep a lamb safe till Eid. They say that they landlord does not allow animals in apartments and since Praveen is new, nobody would suspect him. Praveen does not believe in animal sacrifices and hides the lamb with Hafeez. When the lamb is discovered, Praveen saves it by saying that the lamb is now a Hindu and hence cannot be used in a Muslim ceremony.
They both assemble bombs in their respective hotel rooms.The guys separately complete their bombs in time for the religious conference. Then they discover that the other is also making a bomb & become good friends, who share a common cause. A little later they realize that Ishwarchand is in fact Hafeez and Allah is in fact Praveen. They both feel betrayed by the other & become sworn mortal enemies. In their tussle, the bombs go off and both are arrested by Polish police.
Learning their arrest from news, Guruji & Abba decide to go to Poland to conduct the attack by their own terrorists. Abba sends a killer to kill Hafeez in the hospital, making Hafeez totally realize he was used. Police saves Hafeez from the killer and transfers him and Praveen to jail.In custody both Hafeez and Praveen realize that they have been made fools by religious zealots. They decide to stop the bomb from going off at the world religious conference. On their way to jail, they escape from police. Hafeez decides to stop his boss from bombing the Conference and save lives. He also tries to persuade Praveen to abolish his plan and save lives too. Praveen pretends to have agreed but is actually still in contact with Guruji to conduct the attack.
At the Conference, Hafeez catches Praveen red handed when the latter is tying bombs around his body. They break up a fight again and Hafeez successfully persuades Praveen to abolish his plan for real. Another bomber sent by Hafeez's boss tried to set an explosion at the event but is stopped and taken down by Hafeez. Hafeez takes his bomb. However, the crowd did not see Hafeez taking bomb from him but only see Hafeez has bomb in hand. They think Hafeez is a terrorist and going to making a blast. They begin to panic, and police arrive to arrest Hafeez.
In the chaos, the bomber takes the bomb back from Hafeez, Hafeez and Praveen fight with him to get the bomb back. The bomber sets off the bomb, but Hafeez and Praveen sacrifice themselves by holding the bomb and breaking out the window and jumping from the building. However, they survived the blast as it was not powerful enough to kill them. The Polish arm dealer saw the scene from TV and laughs out: Must be a Chinese bomb. He is right.
