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78 Responses to “Dhobi Ghat, Yamla Pagla Deewana (ongoing), the rest of the box office”
Dhobi Ghat had a slow start this morning in its first two shows at multiplexes but this was expected as it does not have the commercial elements in the film where the youth comes in on the first morning.
The opening was in the 25-30% region. There were some high end multiplexes which were around 35-40% but on the other hand there were other multiplexes with just 15% collections. The film has been released in an Hindi version and an Hindi/English version.
The Hindi/English version has been released at high end multiplexes of metroes while the Hindi version elsewhere.
Dhobi Ghat is a safe film as its costs should be recovered from non theatrical rights like Satellite and Video but its theatrical fate will depend on what happens from Friday evening onwards. These type of films normally depend on what happens from the Friday 6pm shows onwards and sometimes jump is very rapid in the evening.
B.O. update: ‘Dhobi Ghat’ excellent at main properties of urban centres
– By Taran Adarsh, January 21, 2011 – 18:34 IST
DHOBI GHAT, a film catering to a niche audience, opened to a superb response at select properties across all urban centres. The opening at the main 25/30 odd properties was in 80% to 90% range, while the occupancy at non-urban centres/mass belt properties ranged from 30% to 40%. The film has been released in 325 screens in India, which, some people feel, is still on the higher side given the genre of this film [art house cinema]. However, with Aamir Khan as the producer and also one of the actors of this film, the screen count seems appropriate, since the week is very good [Wednesday, 26 January is a holiday] and the producers, who are also its distributors, feel that a tidy sum can be recovered in its initial week.
The evening and night shows of DHOBI GHAT are expected to be very good at urban centres [the advance booking has been very good] and a healthy weekend is on the cards.
What goes in its favor is its low cost. The cost of production is Rs. 5 cr [the figure has been confirmed by Aamir Khan to this writer] and an additional Rs. 2.5 cr to Rs. 3 cr has been spent on P & A, which takes the total cost to approx. Rs. 7.5 cr to Rs. 8 cr. While Aamir is in talks for the Satellite Rights of the film, he should be able to recover the entire figure [Rs. 8 cr] from Satellite itself, while the theatrical business in India, Overseas and also the revenue generated from Home Video should come as bonus.
Internationally, DHOBI GHAT, which opened on Thursday in U.A.E., has embarked on an excellent start, garnering better opening figures than TAARE ZAMEEN PAR, according to UTV.
lol.. isnt it strange.. most of the times BOI and Taran Adarsh have exactly opposite things to say about the opening of any film.. ranging from 20 – 30%opening (BOI) to 80-90%(Taran Adarsh.. However, by the time the week ends, the first week BO numbers from both sources are exactly the same.
I just had one of those emotional roller coaster moments. I noticed that Dhobi Ghat was listed in the “New Releases” in today’s paper. Great! But wait, in the last three days, I and/or friends who visited my house got stuck in the snow for significant lengths of time, so did I really want to take the chance of an hour long drive in these weather conditions? H’mm. Then I looked at the theater listing and realized it is the Hindi version, which I don’t want to see (I’d rather see the English version), so I’m off the hook about driving in snow (yea!) but then I’m bummed about having to wait for the dvd (sigh).
I prefer to see films in their original languages as much as possible, especially if I can understand them. I saw Robot (in Hindi) because I knew that Enthiran would never be shown where I live, but I intend to get the Tamil dvd.
My understanding is that it was shot in English. It was only later that Aamir felt, to increase its box office chances, that it should also be dubbed into Hindi. There were articles posted to that effect here on SS itself. Sorry I can’t find the links now.
I think there is some confusion here.
What most of us will be seeing is the so called Englsih version where 40% of dialogues are in Englsih
and rest in Hindi There is a separate ‘dubbed’ Hindi version for single screens and heartland where even those English dialogues have been dubbed. My understanding is that the version in the metroes and overseas is the so called English version with the 60-40 mix.
Thanks for clearing that up, Rajen – sm’s note about the Hindi dubbed version being shown in her neck of the woods (which I’m assuming is overseas) doesn’t make sense given the dubbed version as I see here is only for the single screens in India.
Some overseas viewers reported seeing the Hindi version where they said it was obvious that the actors were speaking in English, even though the soundtrack was in Hindi. And yes, it is reviewed as “Mumbai Diaries” in the American reviews I have read.
Rajen, as far as sense goes, I reciprocate your feelings.
Dhobi Ghat Picks Up In Evening Yamla Pagla Deewana Very Good First Week
Saturday 22nd January 2011 09.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Dhobi Ghat started slowly but was better in the evening shows at multiplexes in the metroes. Where the morning was 20%, evening was 40% and where the morning was 35% evening was 70%. Collections outside metroes were lower. Overall the film could have a decent weekend due to pick up on Friday but reports are mixed. The film should do best in Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore.
Yamla Pagla Deewana did very well in its first week with around 35 crore nett. The film was very good in East Punjab and Delhi/UP while Gujarat, Saurashtra, CP Berar, CI and Rajasthan yielded good results. The second weekend should also be good.
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No One Killed Jessica had a decent second weekend of around 6.25 crore nett taking its two week business to 25.75 crore nett. SEMI HIT
wteva any1 or aamir says—“cracking” or “tryin to crack” the oscars is his burning desire/ motivation rite now—
nothing wrong with this ambition, as long as its not some1 like david dhawan harbouring this ambition!
and if it makes aamir to produce films like tzp, peepli and dg–he is doing fine!
have never felt like peepli somehow& it appeared a but “staged”..
do feel like watching DG—more up my alley—but dont feel it will do anything in the oscars—maybe something new here but nothing novel for there…
anyhow, seems an original bold attempt—hope it does well!
Good review by Rangan. It’s a very classy movie but devoid of entertainment and the conclusion is abstract. But the music is enchanting, the camera work beautiful and performances are wonderful. It’s a very delicate fine piece of art.
Sunday 23rd January 2011 14.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Dhobi Ghat did well on Saturday as it showed growth at places like Mumbai, Pune, Delhi NCR, Kolkata and Bangalore. The non metro areas were down 15-20%.
The business on Saturday was in the 3-3.25 crore nett region which gives the film a two day total of 6 crore nett approx. The film’s best circuit Mysore was affected by a bandh and theatres only opened after 6 pm and therefore the film lost around 15-20 lakhs nett business.
The film should have a good Sunday in the metroes and it could add another 3.50 crore nett for a 9.50 crore nett weekend.
“What goes in its favor is its low cost. The cost of production is Rs. 5 cr [the figure has been confirmed by Aamir Khan to this writer] and an additional Rs. 2.5 cr to Rs. 3 cr has been spent on P & A, which takes the total cost to approx. Rs. 7.5 cr to Rs. 8 cr.”
– Now this is Lehman Brothers’ accounting – creative! Why wouldn’t you factor in Aamir’s market value in its budget?! After all, he acts in it and the film is marketed thus!
The same issue was with ‘Paa’ wherein they didn’t factor in Balki’s fee and the two Bachchans’ to give a figure of 15 crores.
It’s just a clever ploy to tag the film a hit. So, to make a profitable 10 crore film – bring in all the family and friends. Don’t pay them until the film’s a hit!
Yamla Pagla Deewana had a solid second weekend as it grossed around 8.50 crore nett in its second weekend. This takes the films business to 43 crore nett plus in ten days.
Despite the release of Dhobi Ghat, Yamla Pagla Deewana was still first choice in all circuits except Mumbai, Bengal and South. The North is still going very strong and Sunday was excellent across the board.
Yamla Pagla Deewana is the first outright hit of 2011 and may do a distributor share of around 30 crore. In East Punjab the film is a blockbuster while in Delhi/UP its a Super Hit where the lifetime share could be 5 and 9 crore respectively.
I think BOI is overstating the numbers marginally. Most of the people have 33+ and 18-19 crore distributor share. BOI has 35 and 21.5.
“Despite the release of Dhobi Ghat, Yamla Pagla Deewana was still first choice in all circuits except Mumbai, Bengal and South”
How? A movie 1/4th size is doing same business over weekend!
regarding the dip in collection on sunday….the final cricket ODI match between SA and India should be factored in as it was done for justifying the saturday drop of YPD……Let the playing field be equal for all….:-)
Four good films and profits: Bollywood gets 2011 kickstart
After a dull 2010, Bollywood has started 2011 on a high note. Four much anticipated films – “No One Killed Jessica”, “Yamla Pagla Deewana”, “Turning 30” and “Dhobi Ghat” – have opened to good reviews and profits at the box office.
“No One Killed Jessica”, the year’s first release Jan 7 that stars Rani Mukerji and Vidya Balan, is still going strong at the box office two weeks on and has grossed Rs.380 million ($8.3 million) so far. It has been co-produced by UTV Spotboy.
The film by Raj Kumar Gupta is based on the murder of model Jessica Lall in 1999 by Manu Sharma, son of former minister Venod Sharma, after she refused to serve him a drink at a club in New Delhi.
While Vidya triumphed with her non-glamorous and distraught portrayal of Jessica’s sister Sabrina, Rani’s unprecedented use of abuses as a journalist raised quite a few eyebrows.
“The film is still going strong at the box office and people are really appreciating the content as well as the acting by both the actresses. The occupancy is still 83 percent,” Amit Awasthi, senior manager (programming and operations) of Spice Cinemas in Noida, told IANS.
The second film, which promised to be a lot of fun, was comedy caper “Yamla Pagla Deewana” starring Bollywood’s Punjabi father and sons – Dharmendra, Bobby Deol and Sunny Deol. After “Apne”, the Deols once again struck a chord with the audience but this time in a funny way.
Directed by Samir Karnik, the film also marks screen legend Dharmendra’s 50 years in the industry. Made at a budget of Rs.260 million ($5.6 million) and released Jan 14, it raked in Rs.230 million ($5 million) in the opening weekend and the first week fetched Rs.350 million ($7.6 million).
” ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana’ is a complete masala film with romance, drama, thrill and emotion. The Deol family has a good fan following that is pulling crowds to the theatres,” Yogesh Raizada, corporate head (cinemas) of Wave Cinemas, told IANS.
Awasthi added: “The hilarious last 30-minute climax has audiences in splits and they are really enjoying it.”
“Turning 30”, which released alongside “Yamla Pagla Deewana”, is also doing well at the box office. Starring Gul Panag and Purab Kohli, it is made at a budget of approximately Rs.25 million ($550,000) and it has so far collected around Rs.50 million (over $1 million).
The movie is a light-hearted take on women either hitting a subconscious halt or turning a new leaf at the milestone age of 30.
After a year-long hiatus, Bollywood’s ‘Mr.Perfectionist’ Aamir Khan returned to the big screen with “Dhobi Ghat”. Made with a budget of Rs.50 million ($1 million), the film is Aamir’s wife Kiran Rao’s directorial debut and also stars Prateik Babbar.
This much-anticipated film also opened to good reviews Jan 21 and has grossed Rs.93 million in the first two days.
January ends with Madhur Bhandakar’s debut attempt at a romantic comedy with “Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji” starring Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi, Omi Vaidya, Shruti Haasan and Shraddha Kapoor.
The Hindi film industry failed to set the cash registers ringing last year despite big budget outings starring A-listers. With only five hits in “Dabangg”, “Golmaal 3”, “Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai”, “Peepli Live” and “Love Sex Aur Dhokha (LSD)”, Bollywood suffered a net loss of about Rs.3 billion ($66 million) in 2010.
More Movie Gold for Natalie Portman
By BROOKS BARNES; Compiled by RACHEL LEE HARRIS
When you’re hot, you’re hot. Natalie Portman, steaming toward the Academy Awards for her disturbing portrayal of a deranged ballerina in “Black Swan,” helped power the romantic comedy “No Strings Attached” from Paramount Pictures to No. 1 at the North American box office over the weekend. The movie, which also stars Ashton Kutcher (above with Ms. Portman), sold an estimated $20.3 million in tickets, an unexpectedly firm performance. All of the others in the top five were holdovers. “The Green Hornet” (Sony Pictures Entertainment) was second with about $18 million for a two-week total of $63.4 million, according to Hollywood.com, which compiles box-office statistics. “The Dilemma,” a buddy comedy from Universal Pictures, sold about $9.7 million in its second weekend ($33.4 million total) for third place. “The King’s Speech” (the Weinstein Company) was a close fourth with roughly $9.2 million ($58.6 million total), while “True Grit” (Paramount) chugged away in fifth place with $8 million, lifting its five-week total to $138.7 million.
I saw it yesterday. Liked it, but not sure how much. I will try to write on it at some point. The gist of it is this is a special film with some resonant moments but that could have “done” more. Very much like a Sofia Coppola ode, if a bit more substantive and concerned with the spectrum of ground realities of urban life. To me it has more interesting things to say about voyeurism than LSD and it really presents an interesting world through its use of a lot of different visual forms (painting, photography and videography) that it ends up working best as a kind of artist’s travelogue of the city. The performances are uneven as is some of the storytelling here. As many have noted, Prateik is excellent and endearing, the true star (if there is one) of the film. The girl who plays Yasmin has some good moments, Aamir is fine if a bit forced at times, and Monica Dogra’s character was a bit annoying even if she looks great and has some authentic scenes.
|Sundance 2011 | 10 Choice Kevin Smith Quotes From His “Red State” Rant
by Peter Knegt
First, there was the Westboro Baptist Church’s protest prior to the screening, where about a half dozen members of the ultra fundamentalist organization faced off against Smith himself and close to 100 counterprotesters. Then, there was the movie itself. A satirical horror film, it takes on a Westboro-like church who is kidnapping, torturing and murdering sexually aberrant men.
But both the protest and the film (which received mixed notices at best) took a backseat to the night’s third act, which saw Smith ramble for over 25 minutes in a lead-up to the announcement that he would self-distribute “Red State” after previously announcing he would auction the film on stage after the screening to any interested distributor. But when it came time for the auction, Smith himself bid $20 and announced that he “couldn’t think of anything fucking worse 17 years [after ‘Clerks’] than selling our movie to people who just don’t fucking get it.” He’ll release the film in theaters in October, but he’ll take it on a nationwide tour first (beginning on March 5th, check out tour dates here.
While Smith’s rant ran to the tedious (after announcing the self-distribution, he spent 10 minutes explaining his business model), it certainly had its moments, as did his opening monologue. Here’s 10 highlights from Smith’s time on stage, both before and after “Red State” made its debut:
Upon taking the stage: “Sorry, we’re running a little late. My family came and they were out in the parking lot holding up signs.”
On how long it took to make “Red State”: “We started making the very movie you’re about to watch on September 21st. So that’s about two days over four months ago. In the course of four months we started shooting, wrapped, cut and we’re all ready to fucking unzip and pull out our big, fat ‘Red State’ cock and show it right here to everybody.”
On what to expect from the film: “I promise you, ladies and gentlemen, that for the next 95 minutes all levity is going to leave this room. You’re going to enter a world of hate and fucking hopelessness. I’m so not shitting. ‘Red State’ is not a comedy. This is hands down a horror movie, like ‘Jersey Girl.’ Be forewarned. You might get nauseous or run out of the screening. It’s that kind of movie.”
On Sundance sponsor Southwest Airlines: “One of the sponsors of this festival told me that if I wanted to sit I’d have to buy two fucking seats. Fuck that.”
Reflecting on his history with Sundance: “Seventeen years ago, I came to this festival and took my shot. And it was amazing. My life changed in an evening. Everything fucking changed. And from that moment forward, we kept pretty busy working. We came back here a couple years after ‘Clerks’ with ‘Chasing Amy’ and that was nice because after ‘Clerks’ I’d made ‘Mallrats’ and everybody hated ‘Mallrats’ for some reason. But when I came back here with ‘Chasing Amy’ and everybody was like ‘good job, you’re back’ and I got pats on the back… The last movie I made was ‘Cop Out.’ So naturally I had to get back here fucking quick.”
On the business side of filmmaking: “I never wanted to know jackshit about business. I’m a fat, masturbating stoner. That’s why I got into the movie business. It seemed like the place fat, masturbating stoners went. And if somebody had told me at the beginning of my career that ‘you’re going to have learn so much about business, finance, monetization and all this shit,’ I would have said ‘fuck this, I’m just going to stay home and masturbate.’ Because that’s too much work.”
On marketing and opening films these days: “It took seven years for ‘Clerks’ – a movie that cost $27,575 – to go into profit. When that’s happening… When you’re spending four, five times the amount to market or open a movie than you are to make it, that’s not inspiring to me at all. No kid can get into it now. I look at the fucking film world now and I’m like, there’s no way I would try that. I wouldn’t try ‘Clerks’ today. Because it’s impenetrable. Even if you’re lucky enough to make a movie, how the fuck are you going to open a movie? It takes so much fucking money, time and effort… And everything is fetishized about those fucking three days. They’ll spend 30, 40, 50 million… Just for those three fucking days. I spent 25 days working on this. I’m not going to sit there and bank everything on three days. There’s no fucking point.”
On the pre-Sundance promotion of “Red State”: “I had so much fun making this movie. I have had so much fun getting the movie ready for Sundance. Call it what you will – marketing, spinning, turning it into a circus – but I did from my fucking desk in my office while smoking joints and going ‘this might be fun.’ And it was a blast, and it was creative… Suddenly, it was like ‘a movie doesn’t need to end after you make it.’”
Why he’s going to distribute “Red State” himself: “Selling my film is akin to having a baby and then handing it over to somebody else to raise. I know how to raise my kid. It’s been 17 years that I’ve been doing this. I’ve been out there in the world and I’ve been listening. I think I know how to fucking do this. So, I know there’s a lot of cats are in the audience waiting for an auction. I was going to pick my distributor in the room, auction style… I came here 17 years ago and all I wanted to do was sell my movie. And I can’t think of anything fucking worse 17 years later than selling our movie to people who just don’t fucking get it.”
On his release plans: “We’re going to release this picture ourselves through my SMODCast Pictures banner. On October 19th, that’s when we hope to be in theaters… October 19th is a special day for me because it’s the 17th anniversary of the theatrical release of ‘Clerks.’ So we figured, let’s hit that day because it’s kind of similar. We’re starting over, so to speak. This time, it’s not enough to just make the movie. We have to learn to how to release the movie. Because true independence isn’t making a film and selling it to some jackass. True independence is schlepping that shit to people yourself. And that’s what I intend to do.”
Check out video from the protests and Smith’s introduction. Full video of the post-screening rant will be up shortly.
Dhobi Ghat Is Decent Overseas Yamla Pagla Deewana Good
Tuesday 25th January 2010 09.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Dhobi Ghat did decent business overseas. The film grossed around $950,000 (INR 4.25 crore) from all overseas markets. The weekend figures from major markets were as follows.
United Kingdom – £100,000
North America – $365,000
UAE – $240,000
Australia – $65,000
Yamla Pagla Deewana is continuing good run overseas as it has nearly touched $2.5 million (INR 11.25 crore) from all markets. The business in Canada is on par the with the legendary hits in the country like Singh is Kinng, Three Idiots and Mel Karade Rabba (Punjabi).
Tuesday 25th January 2011 15.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Dhobi Ghat dropped on Monday as it grossed around 1.25 crore nett. The drops ranged from 55-70% from Friday depending on location.
The better multiplexes in metroes had the smallest drops while circuits like CP Berar, CI and Rajasthan dropped heavily be it multiplexes or the limited single screens.
The four day business of the film is around 10 crore nett and it should get a boost on Wednesday due Republic Day holiday but as collections are pretty low the boost may just be of 40-50 lakhs. The week is looking to finish at 13 crore nett.
BOI doesnt disappoint.
Sneaky, smarmy underhanded reporting.
They first choose the lowest end of the estimate and try to exemplify the negatives in their commentary.
Such f***ing c***suckers.
Aamir’s golden run continues with Dhobi Ghat
With the success of Dhobi Ghat, Aamir Khan has proved again that he’s capable of creating magic with not just commercial movies, but also off-beat movies like Peepli Live and Dhobi Ghat.
Dhobi Ghat, an arthouse film, directed by Khan’s wife Kiran Rao has opened to “superb response at select properties across all urban centres,” reports Bollywood Hungama.
Taran Adarsh says, “The opening at the main 25/30 odd properties was in 80% to 90% range, while the occupancy at non-urban centres/mass belt properties ranged from 30% to 40%. The film has been released in 325 screens in India, which, some people feel, is still on the higher side given the genre of this film [art house cinema].”
The producers, who are also its distributors, feel that a tidy sum can be recovered in its initial week.
The film that is made on a budget of around 7.5-8 crore is expected to recover its costs from the satellite rights itself. Any other additional earning would be profit.
Dhobi Ghat, which opened on Thursday in U.A.E., has made an excellent start, and has got better opening than Taare Zameen Par, according to UTV.
I wonder why they even bothered to release it at “non-urban centers/mass belt properties”, since it was highly unlikely to appeal to those audiences?
Aamir has certainly shown how to discipline the budget to the genre of film that is being made, to make it successful. Now I wish he or someone else would understand and introduce the concept of targeted/limited release of a film, to markets where it would have a good chance of finding an appreciative audience.
Yamla Pagla Deewana made the best of the Republic Day holiday as the collections jumped 300% at places compared to Tuesday. The film grossed around 8 crore nett over the weekend but weekdays look like adding over 6 crore thanks to the jump on Republic Day. Single screens were huge across the country as even house full boards went up again in some screens of UP.
Yamla Pagla Deewana should cross the 55 crore nett mark and may even hit 60 crore nett if next two weeks can put up good collections.
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Republic Day also gave Dhobi Ghat a boost but not as much as Yamla Pagla Deewana. It looks like the Yamla Pagla Deewana second week will be better that the first week of Dhobi Ghat thanks to the jump by Yamla Pagla Deewana yesterday.
If Dhobi Ghat does 20-25 crores finally this to my mind will be even more creditable than Peepli’s 30-33 crores. Because this truly is an offbeat ‘artsy’ deal and would be so in any film culture. Without Aamir’s association Peepli would have made Rs 5 and DG Rs 2!
@ oldgold—I have to say this loud and clear and not just because I am an aamir fan/supporter ; rather I am saying this despite being an aamir supporter/ believer/whatever….Aamir has IMO been absolutely open and ABOVE BOARD in his publicity for his films–esp DG, and certainly PL too.
Aamir rightly understands that a section of his regular audience will support and try out his film productions that are not mainstream or only partially mainstream. Which is why he is willing to risk his money and reputation on such films; he takes calculated risks, but still he is nervous enough i’m sure to understand that his risky film productions may or may not pay off. Those of us who have been members of his blog since 3 + years, have followed his line of thought, understood how he feels–hopeful, but never super confident, pretty nervous actually.
I am saying this, because I have seen some young fans speak harshly about aamir’s decision to indulge in a DG, PL and the like. They wonder why he does not do a mainstream film quickly and cash in on the success of 3 idiots; one chap continuously spoke out on aamir’s blog against aamir’s decision to do even the new Reema Katgi film—not mainstream enough for him i guess.
With DG, Aamir in fact took care to continuously point out that the film may not appeal to all his regulars, especially people who have particularly loved Ghajini and 3 idiots; the reason i’m guessing is—Aamir got a new group of fans after these two films became successful. And not surprisingly it looks like a section of this new group is particularly disenchanted and unhappy with aamir and DG, PL too to an extent. His older fans are willing to try out Aamir’s films on trust–and my belief is that most such fans have appreciated DG at least to a small extent.
I personally will be happy to see the Aamir I watched in films like 1947Earth, Sarfarosh and other such serious but entertaining dramas; and maybe he could balance them out with a breezy semi-light film like DCH or a hard hitting mainstream yet entertaing film like Ghulam. And I am glad he decided to step out of his comfort zone and do a role like Arun, in his wife’s film.
Sadly, aamir seems to have angered a few fans with his decision to back DG.
Aamir himself has repeatedly been saying that he does not want his audience to feel cheated, that they work hard for their 100, 200, 300 buck tickets–and he does not wish to fool them–so watch DG only if you feel it will resonate with you, this is what it is like…no actor-producer has to my knowledge given so much warning to prospective consumers of his film!
DG seems to have found acceptance among the niche audience it targetted.. and going by the reactions of some of the people online and few of my friends, niche audience doesnt necessarily mean multiplex audience..
Happy for Dhobi Ghaat, yet I wish we were more open minded.
actually there is no trending problem with the film as far as I can tell. Given that this isn’t even an offbeat film but really something beyond this even less than average trending wouldn’t be bad at all here. If it gets to 20-25 crores I think it would be fine in terms of trending.
well BOI seem to be underplaying it much as they’re going hyper on YMD! Let’s look at some of the other numbers. This time their total was mysteriously almost 2 crores behind taran’s (when it’s usually the same) and behind Komal’s by 50 lakhs. This wouldn’t matter as much for a bigger release but this is significant percentage at that gross. also there should be less doubt about this one because it’s basically doing well in select multiplexes and one would assume ticket sales can be verified very easily in these.
Box Office: Tees Maar Khan ends as pedestrian, YPD counting on single screens; Hollywood and regional shares rising in India
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Last few weeks saw the end of the new decade’s first year with Farah Khan’s Tees Maar Khan (Akshay Kumar -Katrina Kaif) starrer ending up in a damp squib after heavy hype and media publicity. The film was expected to match up the ‘Chulbul Pandey’ box office success story generated by Abhinav Kashyap’s Dabangg featuring Salman Khan but it ended up with barely a third of the business of Dabangg despite a huge print release.
However Dabangg too wasn’t the sweeping blockbuster it may appear at Bollywood award functions, because its occupancies were far from 100%. As such the biggest blockbuster of 2010 in India was, for the first time ever, a non-Bollywood film. Indeed, Endhiran-The Robot was the biggest grosser ahead of all Bollywood releases last year, as the latter mostly offered in big budget releases not so popular choices like My Name Is Khan (Shahrukh Khan), or Raavan (Abhishek Bachchan). Even the earlier parlayed Hrithik Roshan-Aishwarya Rai screen pairing found the audiences growing weary of the stars, with Guzaarish failing to take even a respectable initial. The trend in general points to the lack of appealing topics and dearth of new generation of legitimate stars for Hindi cinema, who can appeal to the masses. Most of the Bollywood films, even hit ones, in recent times are getting smaller and smaller market share. The Bollywood industry is in need of fresh talent that actually caters to the Hindi market mainstream. Once bankable names like Amitabh Bachchan are approaching 70 and primarily seen as television figures these days, while the younger ones simply can’t seem to register with the critical mass.
In the meanwhile, mediocre to decent fares continue to release. Yamla Pagla Deewana, featuring the Deol klan is the first major release of 2011 and the film fortunately for Deols hasn’t done too badly in the opening week. The single screens for this film were good while the multiplexes were decent to so-so, registering occupancies from 25-50% range in the major centers. The film may gross 60-70 crores.
No One Killed Jessica, conversely has fared best in the multiplexes registering gross collections to the tune of 40 crores.
In the Hollywood circuit in India, release of Gullivers Travels didn’t fare well. However recently, James Cameron’s Avatar completed a year of popular theatrical run in India, having taken in a haul of over Rs. 120 crores in process.
DIL TOH BACCHA HAI JI started on a 40% note at big city multiplexes [premium properties were 65%], while single screens were lower. The noon shows showed an escalation at various centres and the distributors and exhibitors are confident that the business should pick up further by Friday evening/night, since the audience response is very positive and also because the advance booking at certain properties is good. Besides, the film enjoys a solo release period, which goes in its favour.
SATYAMSHOT 
January 21, 2011 at 9:22 AM
Dhobi Ghat Has Slow Start
Friday 21st January 2011 11.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Dhobi Ghat had a slow start this morning in its first two shows at multiplexes but this was expected as it does not have the commercial elements in the film where the youth comes in on the first morning.
The opening was in the 25-30% region. There were some high end multiplexes which were around 35-40% but on the other hand there were other multiplexes with just 15% collections. The film has been released in an Hindi version and an Hindi/English version.
The Hindi/English version has been released at high end multiplexes of metroes while the Hindi version elsewhere.
Dhobi Ghat is a safe film as its costs should be recovered from non theatrical rights like Satellite and Video but its theatrical fate will depend on what happens from Friday evening onwards. These type of films normally depend on what happens from the Friday 6pm shows onwards and sometimes jump is very rapid in the evening.
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January 21, 2011 at 9:28 AM
B.O. update: ‘Dhobi Ghat’ excellent at main properties of urban centres
– By Taran Adarsh, January 21, 2011 – 18:34 IST
DHOBI GHAT, a film catering to a niche audience, opened to a superb response at select properties across all urban centres. The opening at the main 25/30 odd properties was in 80% to 90% range, while the occupancy at non-urban centres/mass belt properties ranged from 30% to 40%. The film has been released in 325 screens in India, which, some people feel, is still on the higher side given the genre of this film [art house cinema]. However, with Aamir Khan as the producer and also one of the actors of this film, the screen count seems appropriate, since the week is very good [Wednesday, 26 January is a holiday] and the producers, who are also its distributors, feel that a tidy sum can be recovered in its initial week.
The evening and night shows of DHOBI GHAT are expected to be very good at urban centres [the advance booking has been very good] and a healthy weekend is on the cards.
What goes in its favor is its low cost. The cost of production is Rs. 5 cr [the figure has been confirmed by Aamir Khan to this writer] and an additional Rs. 2.5 cr to Rs. 3 cr has been spent on P & A, which takes the total cost to approx. Rs. 7.5 cr to Rs. 8 cr. While Aamir is in talks for the Satellite Rights of the film, he should be able to recover the entire figure [Rs. 8 cr] from Satellite itself, while the theatrical business in India, Overseas and also the revenue generated from Home Video should come as bonus.
Internationally, DHOBI GHAT, which opened on Thursday in U.A.E., has embarked on an excellent start, garnering better opening figures than TAARE ZAMEEN PAR, according to UTV.
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January 21, 2011 at 9:35 AM
lol.. isnt it strange.. most of the times BOI and Taran Adarsh have exactly opposite things to say about the opening of any film.. ranging from 20 – 30%opening (BOI) to 80-90%(Taran Adarsh.. However, by the time the week ends, the first week BO numbers from both sources are exactly the same.
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January 21, 2011 at 9:28 AM
Top 5: ‘YPD’ collects Rs. 35 cr nett in Week 1
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January 21, 2011 at 10:40 AM
DG – washout?!
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January 21, 2011 at 11:44 AM
When will you stop watching Exam? 🙂
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January 21, 2011 at 1:35 PM
LOL, forgot to change this.. have seen a number of films since!
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January 21, 2011 at 1:42 PM
made the change..
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January 21, 2011 at 5:56 PM
I just had one of those emotional roller coaster moments. I noticed that Dhobi Ghat was listed in the “New Releases” in today’s paper. Great! But wait, in the last three days, I and/or friends who visited my house got stuck in the snow for significant lengths of time, so did I really want to take the chance of an hour long drive in these weather conditions? H’mm. Then I looked at the theater listing and realized it is the Hindi version, which I don’t want to see (I’d rather see the English version), so I’m off the hook about driving in snow (yea!) but then I’m bummed about having to wait for the dvd (sigh).
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January 21, 2011 at 6:00 PM
Why the hesitation to see the Hindi?
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January 21, 2011 at 6:49 PM
I prefer to see films in their original languages as much as possible, especially if I can understand them. I saw Robot (in Hindi) because I knew that Enthiran would never be shown where I live, but I intend to get the Tamil dvd.
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January 21, 2011 at 7:56 PM
I didn’t realize the English version was the “original” language, hence the question. Gotchya.
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January 21, 2011 at 10:29 PM
Didnt know english was the oriignal language…i saw the hindi version
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January 22, 2011 at 12:57 AM
Is it written somewhere that this is an official English language film? I’m perplexed because I understood it to be a Hindi film…
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January 22, 2011 at 1:33 AM
My understanding is that it was shot in English. It was only later that Aamir felt, to increase its box office chances, that it should also be dubbed into Hindi. There were articles posted to that effect here on SS itself. Sorry I can’t find the links now.
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January 22, 2011 at 5:30 PM
I think it’s called Mumbai Diaries.
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January 22, 2011 at 6:20 PM
I think there is some confusion here.
What most of us will be seeing is the so called Englsih version where 40% of dialogues are in Englsih
and rest in Hindi There is a separate ‘dubbed’ Hindi version for single screens and heartland where even those English dialogues have been dubbed. My understanding is that the version in the metroes and overseas is the so called English version with the 60-40 mix.
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January 22, 2011 at 6:22 PM
Ha! Found a link:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Dhobi-Ghat-to-be-dubbed-in-Hindi/Article1-635521.aspx
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January 22, 2011 at 6:31 PM
Thanks for clearing that up, Rajen – sm’s note about the Hindi dubbed version being shown in her neck of the woods (which I’m assuming is overseas) doesn’t make sense given the dubbed version as I see here is only for the single screens in India.
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January 22, 2011 at 6:34 PM
Hmm, but then SM seldom makes sense!
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January 22, 2011 at 6:39 PM
Some overseas viewers reported seeing the Hindi version where they said it was obvious that the actors were speaking in English, even though the soundtrack was in Hindi. And yes, it is reviewed as “Mumbai Diaries” in the American reviews I have read.
Rajen, as far as sense goes, I reciprocate your feelings.
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January 22, 2011 at 6:40 PM
Also, on NG it was reported that there were three versions releasing in India itself — an all English one, a “Hinglish” one, and an all Hindi one.
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January 22, 2011 at 3:51 AM
Dhobi Ghat First Day Business
http://www.boxofficeindia.com/boxnewsdetail.php?page=shownews&articleid=2461&nCat=box_office_news
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January 22, 2011 at 8:34 AM
these are very good numbers for this kind of film.
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January 22, 2011 at 9:06 AM
Dhobi Ghat Picks Up In Evening Yamla Pagla Deewana Very Good First Week
Saturday 22nd January 2011 09.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Dhobi Ghat started slowly but was better in the evening shows at multiplexes in the metroes. Where the morning was 20%, evening was 40% and where the morning was 35% evening was 70%. Collections outside metroes were lower. Overall the film could have a decent weekend due to pick up on Friday but reports are mixed. The film should do best in Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore.
Yamla Pagla Deewana did very well in its first week with around 35 crore nett. The film was very good in East Punjab and Delhi/UP while Gujarat, Saurashtra, CP Berar, CI and Rajasthan yielded good results. The second weekend should also be good.
Click Here!
No One Killed Jessica had a decent second weekend of around 6.25 crore nett taking its two week business to 25.75 crore nett. SEMI HIT
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January 22, 2011 at 5:24 AM
wteva any1 or aamir says—“cracking” or “tryin to crack” the oscars is his burning desire/ motivation rite now—
nothing wrong with this ambition, as long as its not some1 like david dhawan harbouring this ambition!
and if it makes aamir to produce films like tzp, peepli and dg–he is doing fine!
have never felt like peepli somehow& it appeared a but “staged”..
do feel like watching DG—more up my alley—but dont feel it will do anything in the oscars—maybe something new here but nothing novel for there…
anyhow, seems an original bold attempt—hope it does well!
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January 22, 2011 at 4:58 PM
Bhardwaj Rangan’s Review of Dhobi Ghat
proves yet again why he is called the best critic of the country…portrays perfectly what the film wanted to say…
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January 23, 2011 at 4:54 AM
Good review by Rangan. It’s a very classy movie but devoid of entertainment and the conclusion is abstract. But the music is enchanting, the camera work beautiful and performances are wonderful. It’s a very delicate fine piece of art.
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January 23, 2011 at 5:13 AM
OT,
Gulzar almost creates a stampede at Jaipur Literature festival
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_gulzar-almost-creates-a-stampede-at-jaipur-literature-festival_1497777
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January 23, 2011 at 4:17 PM
Saturday Update: Dhobi Ghat
Sunday 23rd January 2011 14.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Dhobi Ghat did well on Saturday as it showed growth at places like Mumbai, Pune, Delhi NCR, Kolkata and Bangalore. The non metro areas were down 15-20%.
The business on Saturday was in the 3-3.25 crore nett region which gives the film a two day total of 6 crore nett approx. The film’s best circuit Mysore was affected by a bandh and theatres only opened after 6 pm and therefore the film lost around 15-20 lakhs nett business.
The film should have a good Sunday in the metroes and it could add another 3.50 crore nett for a 9.50 crore nett weekend.
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January 23, 2011 at 4:30 PM
Great news
Going to see the film tomorrow. Not read any reviews etc.
Hope the film is a good HIT
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January 24, 2011 at 4:34 AM
“What goes in its favor is its low cost. The cost of production is Rs. 5 cr [the figure has been confirmed by Aamir Khan to this writer] and an additional Rs. 2.5 cr to Rs. 3 cr has been spent on P & A, which takes the total cost to approx. Rs. 7.5 cr to Rs. 8 cr.”
– Now this is Lehman Brothers’ accounting – creative! Why wouldn’t you factor in Aamir’s market value in its budget?! After all, he acts in it and the film is marketed thus!
The same issue was with ‘Paa’ wherein they didn’t factor in Balki’s fee and the two Bachchans’ to give a figure of 15 crores.
It’s just a clever ploy to tag the film a hit. So, to make a profitable 10 crore film – bring in all the family and friends. Don’t pay them until the film’s a hit!
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January 24, 2011 at 5:55 AM
Midweek B.O.: ‘Dhobi Ghat’ collects Rs. 10.05 cr in Wknd 1
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/trade/top5/index.html
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January 24, 2011 at 5:55 AM
Komal Nahta: Dhobi Ghat Box-Office: Rs. 9.25 Crore In 1st Weekend
http://www.koimoi.com/featured/dhobi-ghat-box-office-rs-9-25-crore-in-1st-weekend/
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January 24, 2011 at 5:57 AM
Dhobi Ghat Has 8.75 Crore Nett Weekend: BOI
http://www.boxofficeindia.com/boxnewsdetail.php?page=shownews&articleid=2467&nCat=box_office_news
BOI is under reporting this one clearly. hopefully rectify the same soon
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January 24, 2011 at 11:59 AM
Yamla Pagla Deewana Has Solid Second Weekend
Monday 24th January 2010 11.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Yamla Pagla Deewana had a solid second weekend as it grossed around 8.50 crore nett in its second weekend. This takes the films business to 43 crore nett plus in ten days.
Despite the release of Dhobi Ghat, Yamla Pagla Deewana was still first choice in all circuits except Mumbai, Bengal and South. The North is still going very strong and Sunday was excellent across the board.
Yamla Pagla Deewana is the first outright hit of 2011 and may do a distributor share of around 30 crore. In East Punjab the film is a blockbuster while in Delhi/UP its a Super Hit where the lifetime share could be 5 and 9 crore respectively.
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January 24, 2011 at 12:27 PM
I think BOI is overstating the numbers marginally. Most of the people have 33+ and 18-19 crore distributor share. BOI has 35 and 21.5.
“Despite the release of Dhobi Ghat, Yamla Pagla Deewana was still first choice in all circuits except Mumbai, Bengal and South”
How? A movie 1/4th size is doing same business over weekend!
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January 24, 2011 at 5:58 AM
How Much Profit Will Dhobi Ghat Make And Will It Be A Hit?
BOI:. It will have a return on investment similar to Peepli [Live] and double its investment. Theatrically it remains to be seen where it goes.
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January 24, 2011 at 6:00 AM
regarding the dip in collection on sunday….the final cricket ODI match between SA and India should be factored in as it was done for justifying the saturday drop of YPD……Let the playing field be equal for all….:-)
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January 24, 2011 at 8:33 AM
Aamir fans are talking Akshay fans language.
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January 24, 2011 at 8:42 AM
dont forget no clock gives right time!!!!!!!!!
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January 24, 2011 at 7:58 AM
Four good films and profits: Bollywood gets 2011 kickstart
After a dull 2010, Bollywood has started 2011 on a high note. Four much anticipated films – “No One Killed Jessica”, “Yamla Pagla Deewana”, “Turning 30” and “Dhobi Ghat” – have opened to good reviews and profits at the box office.
“No One Killed Jessica”, the year’s first release Jan 7 that stars Rani Mukerji and Vidya Balan, is still going strong at the box office two weeks on and has grossed Rs.380 million ($8.3 million) so far. It has been co-produced by UTV Spotboy.
The film by Raj Kumar Gupta is based on the murder of model Jessica Lall in 1999 by Manu Sharma, son of former minister Venod Sharma, after she refused to serve him a drink at a club in New Delhi.
While Vidya triumphed with her non-glamorous and distraught portrayal of Jessica’s sister Sabrina, Rani’s unprecedented use of abuses as a journalist raised quite a few eyebrows.
“The film is still going strong at the box office and people are really appreciating the content as well as the acting by both the actresses. The occupancy is still 83 percent,” Amit Awasthi, senior manager (programming and operations) of Spice Cinemas in Noida, told IANS.
The second film, which promised to be a lot of fun, was comedy caper “Yamla Pagla Deewana” starring Bollywood’s Punjabi father and sons – Dharmendra, Bobby Deol and Sunny Deol. After “Apne”, the Deols once again struck a chord with the audience but this time in a funny way.
Directed by Samir Karnik, the film also marks screen legend Dharmendra’s 50 years in the industry. Made at a budget of Rs.260 million ($5.6 million) and released Jan 14, it raked in Rs.230 million ($5 million) in the opening weekend and the first week fetched Rs.350 million ($7.6 million).
” ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana’ is a complete masala film with romance, drama, thrill and emotion. The Deol family has a good fan following that is pulling crowds to the theatres,” Yogesh Raizada, corporate head (cinemas) of Wave Cinemas, told IANS.
Awasthi added: “The hilarious last 30-minute climax has audiences in splits and they are really enjoying it.”
“Turning 30”, which released alongside “Yamla Pagla Deewana”, is also doing well at the box office. Starring Gul Panag and Purab Kohli, it is made at a budget of approximately Rs.25 million ($550,000) and it has so far collected around Rs.50 million (over $1 million).
The movie is a light-hearted take on women either hitting a subconscious halt or turning a new leaf at the milestone age of 30.
After a year-long hiatus, Bollywood’s ‘Mr.Perfectionist’ Aamir Khan returned to the big screen with “Dhobi Ghat”. Made with a budget of Rs.50 million ($1 million), the film is Aamir’s wife Kiran Rao’s directorial debut and also stars Prateik Babbar.
This much-anticipated film also opened to good reviews Jan 21 and has grossed Rs.93 million in the first two days.
January ends with Madhur Bhandakar’s debut attempt at a romantic comedy with “Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji” starring Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi, Omi Vaidya, Shruti Haasan and Shraddha Kapoor.
The Hindi film industry failed to set the cash registers ringing last year despite big budget outings starring A-listers. With only five hits in “Dabangg”, “Golmaal 3”, “Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai”, “Peepli Live” and “Love Sex Aur Dhokha (LSD)”, Bollywood suffered a net loss of about Rs.3 billion ($66 million) in 2010.
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January 24, 2011 at 12:00 PM
More Movie Gold for Natalie Portman
By BROOKS BARNES; Compiled by RACHEL LEE HARRIS
When you’re hot, you’re hot. Natalie Portman, steaming toward the Academy Awards for her disturbing portrayal of a deranged ballerina in “Black Swan,” helped power the romantic comedy “No Strings Attached” from Paramount Pictures to No. 1 at the North American box office over the weekend. The movie, which also stars Ashton Kutcher (above with Ms. Portman), sold an estimated $20.3 million in tickets, an unexpectedly firm performance. All of the others in the top five were holdovers. “The Green Hornet” (Sony Pictures Entertainment) was second with about $18 million for a two-week total of $63.4 million, according to Hollywood.com, which compiles box-office statistics. “The Dilemma,” a buddy comedy from Universal Pictures, sold about $9.7 million in its second weekend ($33.4 million total) for third place. “The King’s Speech” (the Weinstein Company) was a close fourth with roughly $9.2 million ($58.6 million total), while “True Grit” (Paramount) chugged away in fifth place with $8 million, lifting its five-week total to $138.7 million.
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January 24, 2011 at 12:51 PM
Does Dhobi Ghat have more shows per day considering its shorter duration?
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January 24, 2011 at 1:31 PM
Satyam, GF etc – Did you guys see DG ? Any thoughts?
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January 24, 2011 at 1:59 PM
I saw it yesterday. Liked it, but not sure how much. I will try to write on it at some point. The gist of it is this is a special film with some resonant moments but that could have “done” more. Very much like a Sofia Coppola ode, if a bit more substantive and concerned with the spectrum of ground realities of urban life. To me it has more interesting things to say about voyeurism than LSD and it really presents an interesting world through its use of a lot of different visual forms (painting, photography and videography) that it ends up working best as a kind of artist’s travelogue of the city. The performances are uneven as is some of the storytelling here. As many have noted, Prateik is excellent and endearing, the true star (if there is one) of the film. The girl who plays Yasmin has some good moments, Aamir is fine if a bit forced at times, and Monica Dogra’s character was a bit annoying even if she looks great and has some authentic scenes.
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January 24, 2011 at 2:07 PM
Haven’t yet.. GF has..
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January 24, 2011 at 4:59 PM
|Sundance 2011 | 10 Choice Kevin Smith Quotes From His “Red State” Rant
by Peter Knegt
First, there was the Westboro Baptist Church’s protest prior to the screening, where about a half dozen members of the ultra fundamentalist organization faced off against Smith himself and close to 100 counterprotesters. Then, there was the movie itself. A satirical horror film, it takes on a Westboro-like church who is kidnapping, torturing and murdering sexually aberrant men.
But both the protest and the film (which received mixed notices at best) took a backseat to the night’s third act, which saw Smith ramble for over 25 minutes in a lead-up to the announcement that he would self-distribute “Red State” after previously announcing he would auction the film on stage after the screening to any interested distributor. But when it came time for the auction, Smith himself bid $20 and announced that he “couldn’t think of anything fucking worse 17 years [after ‘Clerks’] than selling our movie to people who just don’t fucking get it.” He’ll release the film in theaters in October, but he’ll take it on a nationwide tour first (beginning on March 5th, check out tour dates here.
While Smith’s rant ran to the tedious (after announcing the self-distribution, he spent 10 minutes explaining his business model), it certainly had its moments, as did his opening monologue. Here’s 10 highlights from Smith’s time on stage, both before and after “Red State” made its debut:
Upon taking the stage: “Sorry, we’re running a little late. My family came and they were out in the parking lot holding up signs.”
On how long it took to make “Red State”: “We started making the very movie you’re about to watch on September 21st. So that’s about two days over four months ago. In the course of four months we started shooting, wrapped, cut and we’re all ready to fucking unzip and pull out our big, fat ‘Red State’ cock and show it right here to everybody.”
On what to expect from the film: “I promise you, ladies and gentlemen, that for the next 95 minutes all levity is going to leave this room. You’re going to enter a world of hate and fucking hopelessness. I’m so not shitting. ‘Red State’ is not a comedy. This is hands down a horror movie, like ‘Jersey Girl.’ Be forewarned. You might get nauseous or run out of the screening. It’s that kind of movie.”
On Sundance sponsor Southwest Airlines: “One of the sponsors of this festival told me that if I wanted to sit I’d have to buy two fucking seats. Fuck that.”
Reflecting on his history with Sundance: “Seventeen years ago, I came to this festival and took my shot. And it was amazing. My life changed in an evening. Everything fucking changed. And from that moment forward, we kept pretty busy working. We came back here a couple years after ‘Clerks’ with ‘Chasing Amy’ and that was nice because after ‘Clerks’ I’d made ‘Mallrats’ and everybody hated ‘Mallrats’ for some reason. But when I came back here with ‘Chasing Amy’ and everybody was like ‘good job, you’re back’ and I got pats on the back… The last movie I made was ‘Cop Out.’ So naturally I had to get back here fucking quick.”
On the business side of filmmaking: “I never wanted to know jackshit about business. I’m a fat, masturbating stoner. That’s why I got into the movie business. It seemed like the place fat, masturbating stoners went. And if somebody had told me at the beginning of my career that ‘you’re going to have learn so much about business, finance, monetization and all this shit,’ I would have said ‘fuck this, I’m just going to stay home and masturbate.’ Because that’s too much work.”
On marketing and opening films these days: “It took seven years for ‘Clerks’ – a movie that cost $27,575 – to go into profit. When that’s happening… When you’re spending four, five times the amount to market or open a movie than you are to make it, that’s not inspiring to me at all. No kid can get into it now. I look at the fucking film world now and I’m like, there’s no way I would try that. I wouldn’t try ‘Clerks’ today. Because it’s impenetrable. Even if you’re lucky enough to make a movie, how the fuck are you going to open a movie? It takes so much fucking money, time and effort… And everything is fetishized about those fucking three days. They’ll spend 30, 40, 50 million… Just for those three fucking days. I spent 25 days working on this. I’m not going to sit there and bank everything on three days. There’s no fucking point.”
On the pre-Sundance promotion of “Red State”: “I had so much fun making this movie. I have had so much fun getting the movie ready for Sundance. Call it what you will – marketing, spinning, turning it into a circus – but I did from my fucking desk in my office while smoking joints and going ‘this might be fun.’ And it was a blast, and it was creative… Suddenly, it was like ‘a movie doesn’t need to end after you make it.’”
Why he’s going to distribute “Red State” himself: “Selling my film is akin to having a baby and then handing it over to somebody else to raise. I know how to raise my kid. It’s been 17 years that I’ve been doing this. I’ve been out there in the world and I’ve been listening. I think I know how to fucking do this. So, I know there’s a lot of cats are in the audience waiting for an auction. I was going to pick my distributor in the room, auction style… I came here 17 years ago and all I wanted to do was sell my movie. And I can’t think of anything fucking worse 17 years later than selling our movie to people who just don’t fucking get it.”
On his release plans: “We’re going to release this picture ourselves through my SMODCast Pictures banner. On October 19th, that’s when we hope to be in theaters… October 19th is a special day for me because it’s the 17th anniversary of the theatrical release of ‘Clerks.’ So we figured, let’s hit that day because it’s kind of similar. We’re starting over, so to speak. This time, it’s not enough to just make the movie. We have to learn to how to release the movie. Because true independence isn’t making a film and selling it to some jackass. True independence is schlepping that shit to people yourself. And that’s what I intend to do.”
Check out video from the protests and Smith’s introduction. Full video of the post-screening rant will be up shortly.
http://www.indiewire.com/article/10_choice_kevin_smith_quotes_from_his_red_state_rant/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_content=Twitter
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January 24, 2011 at 5:00 PM
I’m not a fan but he is right about the business of movies nowadays.
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January 24, 2011 at 5:38 PM
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/21/133055615/mumbai-diaries-old-and-new-colliding-in-the-city
And please read the comments also.
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January 24, 2011 at 6:44 PM
Dhobi Ghat is a beautiful movie with its own drawbacks. Khhjs would have been made with this kind of budjet.
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January 25, 2011 at 3:09 AM
Dhobi Ghat Is Decent Overseas Yamla Pagla Deewana Good
Tuesday 25th January 2010 09.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Dhobi Ghat did decent business overseas. The film grossed around $950,000 (INR 4.25 crore) from all overseas markets. The weekend figures from major markets were as follows.
United Kingdom – £100,000
North America – $365,000
UAE – $240,000
Australia – $65,000
Yamla Pagla Deewana is continuing good run overseas as it has nearly touched $2.5 million (INR 11.25 crore) from all markets. The business in Canada is on par the with the legendary hits in the country like Singh is Kinng, Three Idiots and Mel Karade Rabba (Punjabi).
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January 25, 2011 at 3:51 AM
Jaipur literature festival
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January 25, 2011 at 3:53 AM
amazing, where he starts and where he ends…..
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January 25, 2011 at 8:17 AM
Dhobi Ghat Drops On Monday
Tuesday 25th January 2011 15.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Dhobi Ghat dropped on Monday as it grossed around 1.25 crore nett. The drops ranged from 55-70% from Friday depending on location.
The better multiplexes in metroes had the smallest drops while circuits like CP Berar, CI and Rajasthan dropped heavily be it multiplexes or the limited single screens.
The four day business of the film is around 10 crore nett and it should get a boost on Wednesday due Republic Day holiday but as collections are pretty low the boost may just be of 40-50 lakhs. The week is looking to finish at 13 crore nett.
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January 25, 2011 at 8:25 AM
the range for the weekend here has been from BOI’s 8.75 crores to Taran’s 10.5 crores with Nahata at 9.25 crores.
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January 25, 2011 at 9:58 AM
BOI doesnt disappoint.
Sneaky, smarmy underhanded reporting.
They first choose the lowest end of the estimate and try to exemplify the negatives in their commentary.
Such f***ing c***suckers.
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January 25, 2011 at 8:26 AM
HT:
Aamir’s golden run continues with Dhobi Ghat
With the success of Dhobi Ghat, Aamir Khan has proved again that he’s capable of creating magic with not just commercial movies, but also off-beat movies like Peepli Live and Dhobi Ghat.
Dhobi Ghat, an arthouse film, directed by Khan’s wife Kiran Rao has opened to “superb response at select properties across all urban centres,” reports Bollywood Hungama.
Taran Adarsh says, “The opening at the main 25/30 odd properties was in 80% to 90% range, while the occupancy at non-urban centres/mass belt properties ranged from 30% to 40%. The film has been released in 325 screens in India, which, some people feel, is still on the higher side given the genre of this film [art house cinema].”
The producers, who are also its distributors, feel that a tidy sum can be recovered in its initial week.
The film that is made on a budget of around 7.5-8 crore is expected to recover its costs from the satellite rights itself. Any other additional earning would be profit.
Dhobi Ghat, which opened on Thursday in U.A.E., has made an excellent start, and has got better opening than Taare Zameen Par, according to UTV.
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January 25, 2011 at 8:41 AM
I wonder why they even bothered to release it at “non-urban centers/mass belt properties”, since it was highly unlikely to appeal to those audiences?
Aamir has certainly shown how to discipline the budget to the genre of film that is being made, to make it successful. Now I wish he or someone else would understand and introduce the concept of targeted/limited release of a film, to markets where it would have a good chance of finding an appreciative audience.
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January 27, 2011 at 8:45 AM
Yamla Pagla Deewana Has Huge Jump On Republic Day
Thursday 27th January 2011 09.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Yamla Pagla Deewana made the best of the Republic Day holiday as the collections jumped 300% at places compared to Tuesday. The film grossed around 8 crore nett over the weekend but weekdays look like adding over 6 crore thanks to the jump on Republic Day. Single screens were huge across the country as even house full boards went up again in some screens of UP.
Yamla Pagla Deewana should cross the 55 crore nett mark and may even hit 60 crore nett if next two weeks can put up good collections.
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Republic Day also gave Dhobi Ghat a boost but not as much as Yamla Pagla Deewana. It looks like the Yamla Pagla Deewana second week will be better that the first week of Dhobi Ghat thanks to the jump by Yamla Pagla Deewana yesterday.
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January 27, 2011 at 8:47 AM
If Dhobi Ghat does 20-25 crores finally this to my mind will be even more creditable than Peepli’s 30-33 crores. Because this truly is an offbeat ‘artsy’ deal and would be so in any film culture. Without Aamir’s association Peepli would have made Rs 5 and DG Rs 2!
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January 27, 2011 at 9:14 AM
And he knows it. That’s why I found all that reverse publicity such a sham, and very very underhanded.
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January 27, 2011 at 1:07 PM
@ oldgold—I have to say this loud and clear and not just because I am an aamir fan/supporter ; rather I am saying this despite being an aamir supporter/ believer/whatever….Aamir has IMO been absolutely open and ABOVE BOARD in his publicity for his films–esp DG, and certainly PL too.
Aamir rightly understands that a section of his regular audience will support and try out his film productions that are not mainstream or only partially mainstream. Which is why he is willing to risk his money and reputation on such films; he takes calculated risks, but still he is nervous enough i’m sure to understand that his risky film productions may or may not pay off. Those of us who have been members of his blog since 3 + years, have followed his line of thought, understood how he feels–hopeful, but never super confident, pretty nervous actually.
I am saying this, because I have seen some young fans speak harshly about aamir’s decision to indulge in a DG, PL and the like. They wonder why he does not do a mainstream film quickly and cash in on the success of 3 idiots; one chap continuously spoke out on aamir’s blog against aamir’s decision to do even the new Reema Katgi film—not mainstream enough for him i guess.
With DG, Aamir in fact took care to continuously point out that the film may not appeal to all his regulars, especially people who have particularly loved Ghajini and 3 idiots; the reason i’m guessing is—Aamir got a new group of fans after these two films became successful. And not surprisingly it looks like a section of this new group is particularly disenchanted and unhappy with aamir and DG, PL too to an extent. His older fans are willing to try out Aamir’s films on trust–and my belief is that most such fans have appreciated DG at least to a small extent.
I personally will be happy to see the Aamir I watched in films like 1947Earth, Sarfarosh and other such serious but entertaining dramas; and maybe he could balance them out with a breezy semi-light film like DCH or a hard hitting mainstream yet entertaing film like Ghulam. And I am glad he decided to step out of his comfort zone and do a role like Arun, in his wife’s film.
Sadly, aamir seems to have angered a few fans with his decision to back DG.
Aamir himself has repeatedly been saying that he does not want his audience to feel cheated, that they work hard for their 100, 200, 300 buck tickets–and he does not wish to fool them–so watch DG only if you feel it will resonate with you, this is what it is like…no actor-producer has to my knowledge given so much warning to prospective consumers of his film!
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January 27, 2011 at 9:20 AM
DG seems to have found acceptance among the niche audience it targetted.. and going by the reactions of some of the people online and few of my friends, niche audience doesnt necessarily mean multiplex audience..
Happy for Dhobi Ghaat, yet I wish we were more open minded.
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January 27, 2011 at 9:22 AM
I agree completely.. this film has been liked by a niche audience.. had it been a multiplex audience it would have made hugely more.
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January 27, 2011 at 12:13 PM
From now Aamir fans wont use words like collapse, trending.
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January 27, 2011 at 12:27 PM
actually there is no trending problem with the film as far as I can tell. Given that this isn’t even an offbeat film but really something beyond this even less than average trending wouldn’t be bad at all here. If it gets to 20-25 crores I think it would be fine in terms of trending.
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January 27, 2011 at 1:11 PM
dg wont gross 20 crores.Maximum 17 crores.
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January 27, 2011 at 1:26 PM
well BOI seem to be underplaying it much as they’re going hyper on YMD! Let’s look at some of the other numbers. This time their total was mysteriously almost 2 crores behind taran’s (when it’s usually the same) and behind Komal’s by 50 lakhs. This wouldn’t matter as much for a bigger release but this is significant percentage at that gross. also there should be less doubt about this one because it’s basically doing well in select multiplexes and one would assume ticket sales can be verified very easily in these.
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January 27, 2011 at 1:26 PM
Incidentally let’s get serious Sunil!
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January 27, 2011 at 2:03 PM
LOL. Sunil and serious?
You know there are some out there who are a sandwich or two short of a picnic basket. Better not to respond to their comments.
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January 27, 2011 at 4:12 PM
LMAO sunil thanks for the entertainment (far better entertainment than tmk)
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January 27, 2011 at 12:30 PM
IBOS:
Box Office: Tees Maar Khan ends as pedestrian, YPD counting on single screens; Hollywood and regional shares rising in India
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Last few weeks saw the end of the new decade’s first year with Farah Khan’s Tees Maar Khan (Akshay Kumar -Katrina Kaif) starrer ending up in a damp squib after heavy hype and media publicity. The film was expected to match up the ‘Chulbul Pandey’ box office success story generated by Abhinav Kashyap’s Dabangg featuring Salman Khan but it ended up with barely a third of the business of Dabangg despite a huge print release.
However Dabangg too wasn’t the sweeping blockbuster it may appear at Bollywood award functions, because its occupancies were far from 100%. As such the biggest blockbuster of 2010 in India was, for the first time ever, a non-Bollywood film. Indeed, Endhiran-The Robot was the biggest grosser ahead of all Bollywood releases last year, as the latter mostly offered in big budget releases not so popular choices like My Name Is Khan (Shahrukh Khan), or Raavan (Abhishek Bachchan). Even the earlier parlayed Hrithik Roshan-Aishwarya Rai screen pairing found the audiences growing weary of the stars, with Guzaarish failing to take even a respectable initial. The trend in general points to the lack of appealing topics and dearth of new generation of legitimate stars for Hindi cinema, who can appeal to the masses. Most of the Bollywood films, even hit ones, in recent times are getting smaller and smaller market share. The Bollywood industry is in need of fresh talent that actually caters to the Hindi market mainstream. Once bankable names like Amitabh Bachchan are approaching 70 and primarily seen as television figures these days, while the younger ones simply can’t seem to register with the critical mass.
In the meanwhile, mediocre to decent fares continue to release. Yamla Pagla Deewana, featuring the Deol klan is the first major release of 2011 and the film fortunately for Deols hasn’t done too badly in the opening week. The single screens for this film were good while the multiplexes were decent to so-so, registering occupancies from 25-50% range in the major centers. The film may gross 60-70 crores.
No One Killed Jessica, conversely has fared best in the multiplexes registering gross collections to the tune of 40 crores.
In the Hollywood circuit in India, release of Gullivers Travels didn’t fare well. However recently, James Cameron’s Avatar completed a year of popular theatrical run in India, having taken in a haul of over Rs. 120 crores in process.
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January 27, 2011 at 2:23 PM
BTW, DTBHJ might do quite well at BO.
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January 27, 2011 at 4:05 PM
agreed..
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January 27, 2011 at 4:14 PM
hopefully it will rajen
btw am extremely happy that tmk fell flat on its face. Yessssssss
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January 28, 2011 at 7:38 AM
Box-Office Top5
Top 5: ‘Y.P.D.’ 2-wk Rs 50 cr, ‘Dhobi Ghat’ Wk 1 Rs 13.6 cr nett
– By Taran Adarsh, January 28, 2011 – 16:23 IST
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/trade/top5/index.html
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January 28, 2011 at 7:38 AM
B.O. update: ‘D.T.B.H.J.’ starts quite well at big city plexes, reports good
– By Taran Adarsh, January 28, 2011 – 16:49 IST
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/trade/boxoffice_update/index.html
DIL TOH BACCHA HAI JI started on a 40% note at big city multiplexes [premium properties were 65%], while single screens were lower. The noon shows showed an escalation at various centres and the distributors and exhibitors are confident that the business should pick up further by Friday evening/night, since the audience response is very positive and also because the advance booking at certain properties is good. Besides, the film enjoys a solo release period, which goes in its favour.
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