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188 Responses to “Singham, Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara (ongoing), the rest of the box office”
Singham has taken a huge opening at single screens with collections on average 90%, the Maharashtra and CP Berar single screens are phenomenal with Gujarat and UP also very good.
Multiplexes are mixed with good start (70%) at places and below the mark (40%) at others. Overall the low start has come in Delhi city, East Punjab, West Bengal and South while the rest of the country can be called good or better. Mumbai city has average occupancies of 50-55% but thats the case with most films as Mumbai city is always an over saturated release especially at multiplexes
Overall it should manage to get the second biggest first day of the year on the strength of the single screens and huge release but it remains to be seen if it goes far ahead of the 7.50 crore nett approx first days of films like Yamla Pagla Deewana, Double Dhamaal and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara or finishes up in the same range.
Delhi Belly has collected around 55 crore nett in three weeks. Third week say a drop of around 70% due to the release of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. The approx three week collections so far are.
Week One – 36 crore nett
Week Two – 14.50 crore nett
Week Three – 4.50 crore nett approx
TOTAL – 55 crore nett.
Delhi Belly will do an all India distributor share of around 28 crore.
Oldgold: @satyam [responding to this]
My fingers are still stuttering and stammering on the keyboard with shock of reading Amir and shakespeare being mentioned together.
I won’t even bother to discuss the reasons why it isn’t the same at all considering the half century time lapse in sensibilities and contemporariness.
You are making a mountain out of a molehill about my disliking one vulgarity *MORE* than the other abuse.
Seems you want me to have your kind of priorities/sensibilities to have any credentials at all.
Anyway SRK’s bawdiness is more on the lines of shakespearen bawdiness, but DB abuses are a totally different matter. I don’t know of any maother/sister fu*ç” abuses in shakespeare plays, and even if there were they don’t seem to be the anthem of the readers – as so very proudly put for the song in DB becoming the anthem of (pitiable) youth.
Pray, what’s Bhindi Baazar??? Never heard of it. Which supports what I’m saying about something having the backing of an Amir, and getting the stamp of approval from him.
*I’ve said all this before*, but for some reason or other you want to continue beating a dead horse, and taking this particular discussion in circles (like many other discussions). BUT…if that gives you pleasure…???
As for your ‘neutral’ views about films regardless of actors, I’m not buying it. Note how you explain away Amir’s films having to ‘balance’ for the sake of public appeal and entertainment, but use this very ‘balance’ in any other film to whip it and pull it down.
The problem is that you’re focusing on just one specific choice that is DB’s. You claim you are only offending with such words. Otherwise obscenity or any other kind of language along these lines doesn’t bother you at all! It is a bit hard for me to believe that if this had happened in a SRK film and if Aamir’s film had just been obscene that you wouldn’t have had the opposite view!
But for the moment let me take you at face value. You still haven’t answered my question. When all these ‘words’ (and worse) occur in lots of novels (literary and ‘un-literary’) do you object in the same way? If not why not? The same question with respect to scores of Hollywood movies where too once upon a time this sort of language was never used in cinema.
Again you still haven’t presented a ‘theory of the case’ that doesn’t make it look as if the only kind of coarseness you object to is the kind found in DB!
It’s amusing to claim I am making a mountain out of a molehill when you’ve been on a crusade against DB forever on this score!
Bhindi Bazaar released at the same time as DB by the way!
On Aamir anyone who likes can refer to my original comment here to see how you’ve ripped things out of context and quite deliberately ignored the rest of it as well. When I use the word ‘balance’ there it’s quite clear what I mean. That Aamir takes on risky genres and so on and finds a way to get success in them. But having found incredible success this way for more than a decade he could perhaps now risk more and do even edgier stuff or in other words risk flops. But I also said there that I understand why he doesn’t because we’ve seen what happens when you try to do this and fail. Both the audience and the media are merciless. And there isn’t the US sort of film culture in India to give a risky film its due even if it fails at the box office. In India you come a total cropper if the box office isn’t on your side. Because by and large critics too don’t celebrate films they think won’t work at the box office. This is what I meant by ‘balance’.
As for his peers clearly they’re not doing the same things (ironically when they are they are because of what he started! Each and every one! If Aamir deserves so much blame for changing the culture with DB I hope you will give him as much credit for all the wonderful films others are doing because he started this trend! Johar himself keeps praising Aamir on this score. Hope you will chalk up SRK’s choices like Swades and CDI and MNIK to Aamir!). Nor do I criticize anyone for commercial films. I just criticize them for certain kinds of commercial (and for that matter ‘different’ films). To keep saying ‘I don’t buy it’ doesn’t mean anything in the absence of a serious counter-argument.
And again let’s not be coy here. Let’s get some very specific answers on many of the questions I’ve raised. I’ve always been willing to do as much when quizzed on my positions including by yourself.
To answer the first part of your comment.
Are we discussing books here?
Do books affect the same way as a film…with anthem songs, which one may not want to hear, but is blaring away somewhere?
Do people discuss or use words from a book the way with films?
People don’t even read anymore.
As for Hollywood films. I don’t watch them at all as I can’t relate to them. I like some of the old musicals, like My fair lady etc that’s all. I’m not even familiar with the stars.
The rest of your comment is better left unresponded to. It’s the same stuff.
PS: please don’t take any note of a comment that got submitted by mistake and is up for moderation.
even though you don’t watch Hollywood you would concede that inasmuch as this industry started using a certain language akin to DB’s in the 70s and so on and increasingly so with passing decades this too would be problematic? On your own terms? You need not have seen the films to agree with this nor do you have to be interested in American culture. The general point should hold either way. If films and songs corrupt the culture at large then the same should be true in the US in terms of the cinema and the music. Would you agree to all of this?
But getting back to DB and ‘books’ are you offended by the language used or just the fact that it’s so used in a vehicle of popular entertainment? In other words you don’t consider something so bad if it is kept ‘concealed’ like a secret in a book which few people read? Just trying to figure out the principle here.
>if the only kind of coarseness you object to is the kind found in DB!
Your obsession in trying to prove my opinion wrong is unbelievable.
My objection to DB was in ******CONTEXT*****…… to its release, its discussion here (as every new film is discussed), the song’s popularity etc etc
That’s it. I’m not losing any sleep over it.
If you had discussed bhindi baazar I would have said the same thing.
It’s you who’s taking the matter further by first bringing in SRK, then Shakespeare, then books, then Hollywood films.
LOL!!!
PS: I do think that films in Hollywood by and large reflect the culture there, and not vice versa, whereas films from Bollywood do not, most of the time. They reflect a wannabe culture and to a greater or lesser extent do influence the ‘wannabe’ crowd.
And yes, I discussed DB because it’s AK film, and not others because they don’t matter.
AArrggghhhhh! I’m repeating again!!!
So, satyam, you can have the last word now. I’m feeling dizzy with going in circles…..and I don’t agree with you!!!!!!!!!!
OK here you go.
>are you offended by the language used or just the fact that it’s so used in a vehicle of popular entertainment? In other words you don’t consider something so bad if it is kept ‘concealed’ like a secret in a book which few people read?
YES!!!!!
It is perfectly evident that you are trying to forestall me by using these words (conceal/secret).
I wouldn’t call it ‘concealed’/secret, it’s just not overt (as in heraldic), in your face, brazen, and above all celebrating the abuses in a song.
>If films and songs corrupt the culture at large then the same should be true in the US in terms of the cinema and the music. Would you agree to all of this?
Haven’t I answered this question already? I don’t want to get into more detail with serious indepth discussions about this on the internet.
As for corrupting cultures it is included in my answer in the earlier comment, briefly.
Yes because now more questions are opened up. There are a number of literary works in the 20th century (Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Ulysses for example) that were banned/censored at different points on the very grounds that offend you. In other words there was a sense that these works were corrupting the culture and so on. If you read the legal opinion in some of these instance you’ll find this kind of language. In other words a book is really not different in principle from a movie. Many people read popular books too. How does one decide what the number is beyond which the real audience of he movie begins? But leaving this aside clearly the controversies in those instances did not shield those books from exactly the charges you’re bringing up against DB?
The related problem here is that in the masala of the 70s many words became current that were never used before this. The conservative audiences of that period objected to those words on the very same grounds! Now these seem common but they weren’t so for an audience used to the lingo of the 50s and the 60s. Much as 20-30 years from now people will find DB completely passe on this score. These trends change. The protests though remain the same and are formulated in the very same ways!
The Hollywood example is a very similar one in every sense. Here you have movies which feature a kind of language and really extraordinary instances of it which would have completely appalled an older generation of viewers.
The overall point I’m trying to make is that there is never really any consistency to these debates. If there were you would find certain bachchan films which use certain words as objectionable as DB. Films evolve because society evolves. Whether for better or worse is not the debate here. DB I would say is actually behind the curve, way behind the curve in terms of representing how its target audience often speaks. It could hardly be said that it is encouraging something that predates it in much greater measure. The kids who supposedly learn this language from DB were saying far worse when I was in school let alone higher grades! So ultimately it is only a question of representing or not something that exists anyway. And here too who is really offended? A certain family segment? Who are always the purveyors of morals and values? Obviously the people using that kind of language anyway don’t find it less than welcome on screen.
As a personal choice you have every right to find this offensive. That’s not at all what I’m questioning. But when you just pick on an Aamir film more than other kinds of obscenity elsewhere (from stuff in KHNH to SRK’s references to circumcision) allow me to be a little skeptical. What system of bourgeois values considers one ok and not the other? Aren’t as many people watching KHNH? Don’t people have access to SRK’s videos online? You have every right to be more offended by abuse than people mentioning circumcision unprompted as a rather lewd response, that too to a female journalist (one would think these gender issues would be important to purveyors of culture and values)!
And I’m not just getting on your case for no reason. You have consistently used this reason to beat up on Aamir. Since you never seem to find SRK as offensive on obscenity grounds and since you use all kinds of excuses to pick on Aamir anyway I am just a bit skeptical as to how genuine your ire is on DB. Not that I don’t believe you. I’m just unsure if you would be quite as angry if SRK did the same. And you prove it by walking away from the SRK example. I have to quote it everytime because I wonder why you think you’re done with it after saying something perfunctory about it once while on the other hand you never quite seem to be done with DB!
So if I am raising all these questions it is because these naturally emerge and you don’t have convincing responses.
>it is because these naturally emerge and you don’t have convincing responses.
LOL! I’m not at all trying to convince you of anything.
It’s your personal wish to pretend you want to be convinced when all the time you are actually trying to trap me and confuse me, but it’s you who’s floundering around there about books, cultures, and what not. 😀
So next time I say I don’t like the red colour……you’ll start questioning me whether I’d hate it equally if I was gifted a ferari…and oh, what about the red apple which you must have for good health. And yes, your blood is red, so will you hate that too.
thanks for these pieces.. interesting reads.. on the film Gandu the post featuring the trailer and so on has got an amazing number of hits here since day 1 and I routinely see people inquiring about the film one way or the other.
B.O. update: ‘Singham’ roars, greeted with ceetees, taalis, standing ovation
– By Taran Adarsh, July 22, 2011 – 14:30 IST
The audience verdict is out: SINGHAM is likely to ‘rule’ the box-office in weeks to come. The keenly-anticipated biggie, which won unanimous praise in the pre-release screenings, has started with gusto at the ticket window.
Almost all single screens reported 80% to 90% to 100% occupancy, with the audience greeting the film with whistles and claps. But what really came as a surprise was that at a cineplex in Ahmedabad, the audience gave a standing ovation to the film after the show concluded. In another instance, the Rajasthan distributor’s phone has been ringing incessantly since 3 a.m. on Friday, after a midnight screening of the film [that began on Thursday night] concluded in the wee hours. In fact, SINGHAM is expected to accumulate a mammoth total from single screens and is likely to remain a favorite for the next few weeks, given the response to the film.
The business of SINGHAM got affected at plexes on Friday morning/noon since its release was uncertain till Thursday night and therefore, the show timings were undecided and hence not publicized in newspapers. Also, the plexes did not sell the tickets in advance, since the two factions [distributors and multiplexes] had not resolved the issue [revenue sharing terms] till Thursday night. Despite this, the opening shows [morning and noon] were decent, depending on the circuit. In the Hindi heartland, where action and masala films rule, the plexes started on a 50% to 70% note, while in urban centres, the business was in 40% to 50% range. The business at multiplexes is likely to improve by evening, since the audience feedback is extra-ordinary.
Looking at the initial trends and also the reports pouring in from all quarters, SINGHAM is expected to be amongst the biggest openers of all times.
Singham Roars – And How!
July 22nd, 2011 by Komal Nahta
Singham opened to bumper houses in most parts of the country today (July 22). If in some multiplexes, collections were below the mark, it was because of the uncertainty about the release in those multiplexes. It is common knowledge that the dispute between Reliance Entertainment (producers of Singham) and the multiplex chains got settled only last (July 21) night. As a result of this, the public was not sure whether the much awaited film would or would not be released in the multiplexes.
The audience is clapping, whistling, cheering, screaming & shouting in the cinemas.
What is noteworthy is that the public reaction in every multiplex and every single-screen cinema, irrespective of the kind of initial, is out of the world. People are clapping and applauding the scenes and the dialogues, the action and the star performances so loudly that it is impossible to hear all the dialogues in the cinema. Reports from different parts of India have it that women folk are as animated in their reactions in the cinema halls as the men folk. The audience is clapping, whistling, cheering, applauding, screaming and shouting in the cinemas. It is as if the audience has become part of the action on screen. In one word, it is C-R-A-Z-Y!
It’s always amusing how they even use the same language, the same anecdotes!
Leaving this aside the multiplexes have started slow or slower (and I suspect that there’s some exaggeration on the opening on this score because they’re all mostly focusing on the single screens) as expected for this film (or at least I did). If the film is to do a Ready or a Dabanng in these screens this pickup will easily take place by the evening at the latest. Neither the youth nor the family demographic turns up for this sort of film in a big way in multiplexes in the initial rounds even if times are changing. But in any case if that pickup happens and if this film becomes another massive grosser it would be extremely thrilling.
Not that there’s anything wrong with the Wanted formula either. If single screens are massive and multiplexes decent that’s still a winning combo. It just doesn’t get you the biggest grosses.
But yeah these masala remakes are certainly getting hot with all kinds of stars. The tide has been steadily turning. What a nightmare for Johar! LOL!
“But yeah these masala remakes are certainly getting hot with all kinds of stars. The tide has been steadily turning. What a nightmare for Johar! LOL!”
What is there to laugh??? How this scenario is better than the bollywood churning out NRI romances??? These are not even originals…borrowed from south industry…
I think if you hate remakes, hate NRI romances then i don’t know how can u cheer for these kind of films…
KJo will not have any night mare…he has money..he will hire a south director and make a south masala film in hindi…every producer will start to do so…Once we used to see a lot of NRI romnaces..in coming future we will see a lot of south films..so Cheer…
I think I’ve explained myself enough on this score.. why I prefer masala and so on.. as I have as well with respect to why this gives Johar nightmares.
By the time RaOne, Don 2 releases, all these south remakes will throw up Sallu, Ajay etc as desi challenges and big draw superstars. SRK must be getting jitters. Now no one can say like that silly girl that only sex and srk sell. Silly girl, properly packaged, even Imran, Emraan sell.
that’s the point I’ve been trying to make. SRK has been ‘catching up’ for a long time and the list is growing. But also the audience at large isn’t obsessed about 80 crores or 100 crores and so on. IT’s about what films create a splash and what films have a lasting impact. SRK is currently behind on both scores and has been for at least half a decade. Dabanng has made itself part of the popular culture vocabulary in very many ways. 3I needs no explanations on this score. Then you have these massive initials and grossers being thrown up with different stars. In the meantime you have DB setting the cult/edgy parameters. A ZNMD doing very well. So on and so forth. What’s the space here for SRK to define himself if not as the biggest star (that hasn’t been true for a while and it will never be true again) at least as a true-blue A-lister. No one’s denying he’s up there but he doesn’t have tone-setting films either in a critical or commercial sense. So it’s not even about Ra 1 or Don 2 doing well. That’s the minimum he needs just to survive as a real A-lister. But how much gross can he get out of each of these? Don 2 cannot be a defining film in any sense but can he get a Robot-like, Krrish-like success out of Ra 1? So on and so forth. The top star has to keep beating the competition one way or the other. Someone like Aamir does it at both ends (and everywhere in between). Salman is currently red hot, might have his third 100 crore grosser in a row. This isn’t a joke! The trade that used to eat out of SRK’s hand is itself not calling SRK the topmost star, it’s not just me! In an increasingly Hollywood-like system all this stuff matters.
I doubt that Johar will get any nightmare. Barring Aamir and maybe to some extent Salman, Johar can get just about any actor to work for his production house. With the Agneepath remake, he is already showing the change in his movie making ways. I am sure that he will mix and match his movies now instead of making stricly sweet little love stories like I HATE LOVE STORYS.
@ TheCoolDude – according to the TOI Salman has already refused a film with KJO so I don’t see that happening any time soon if ever.
To be honest I don’t think they will be good for each other. What can KJO make that will suit Salman. He can get SRK to do such roles and SRK will do more justice to them.
Will be interesting to see how Agneepath has shaped us and does also. His Kurbaan and WAF were BORINGGGGG!!!!
Is Komal crazy? Why is he going overboard? In fact, I wacted it in the 11 AM show this morning which was about 35% full. People did laugh at the comic scenes and comic-action scenes but to say that people are going crazy is an overstatement.
Anyways its PVR Saket – Delhi Im talking about. Dont know the situation in other multiplexes and single screens of the country
I have also heard similar feedback which is decent but nothin mindblasting which komal and taran are making it to be. But this is the sorry state of affairs in the trade keep their pockets happy they will show ur films to be blockbuster even before release. Infact pay them some more and they will provide negative commentary for ur competitors movie as well. It’s all a game be a part of it or suffer.
It’s complete exaggeration. They’re focusing on the single screens. Which is fine since these are doing very well. The multiplexes in Maharashtra are probably better overall but this is as I long expected very much the Wanted deal. I’ve seen the original here and if this were big in multiplexes I would have been quite surprised. This isn’t like Dabanng or Ready or Ghajini leaving aside individual star equations. But as usual the dishonesty here is that this is all they’ll talk. I am to be honest skeptical about some of the numbers to Taran has 9 crores, says it’s the revised Fri number. BOI have over 8 or so. These are higher than ZNMD’s day 1. But skeptical whether a film that is huge is single screens and not more than decent (at best) in multiplexes can match or exceed a film that does very well in multiplexes. a 9 crore gross is hard no matter how big the single screens.
July 21, 2011
A Cop Meets Bollywood
By RACHEL SALTZ
According to “Singham,” a fists-of-steel throwback of a Bollywood film, India suffers from three things: “pollution, population and corruption.” As for the first two, well, what to do? For corruption, though, the movie has a solution: Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgn), a superman cop grown in village soil, with bulging muscles and rock-hard morals.
What makes “Singham” old-fashioned? Let me count the ways. First, there’s the 2-hour-20-minute running time, which bucks the new Bollywood trend to keep it short and lean. Then there’s the full complement of songs and dances — a treat, now that so many movies forgo musical numbers or include them only as spoofs.
Stylewise, “Singham,” directed by Rohit Shetty, recalls the 1970s and films like “Zanjeer,” Amitabh Bachchan’s Angry Young Man breakthrough. Singham, transferred from his village to Goa, is also angry about injustice and quick to fight all comers. When he does, things go flying: his fists and feet; cars and vans; legions of bad, bad men.
“Singham” has a doozy of an old-school villain too, a politically ambitious Goan kingpin (Prakash Raj) who kidnaps children, murders at will — he strangles a little boy! — and asks again and again, “Do you know who I am?” Well, yes, we do. You’re the face of corrupt city life, and Singham is your very opposite.
More and more, Bollywood movies are urban tales for urban audiences. What feels most backward-glancing about “Singham” is its uncomplicated, even cartoonish insistence on the benefits of village soil over city dirt for cultivating bedrock Indian values.
Don 2 carrying negative vibes?
By: Bollywood Mantra Staff on 22nd July 2011
Things have lately not seemed all hunky-dory for the superstar who was known to make women go weak in their knees and their men envious in his best days. Post the negative twitter vibes; it seems that fans have not taken the Don 2 trailer too kindly either.
When the official, full-length trailer was uploaded on YouTube recently, a majority of viewers gave it a major thumb-down. While a small percentage of fans were gung-ho about the 90-second sneak preview by calling it the most looked forward to film of the year, others have simply panned it. According to a portion of the Bollywood fanatics of YouTube, the film’s first look is even worse than SRK’s previous Don, which itself was a remake of Amitabh’s 1978 cult classic.
‘SRK should stick to his tiresome popcorn entertainers. The action image doesn’t suit him’, one viewer commented. Another posted, ‘I had high expectations from the trailer. However it is just a damp squib’.
If reactions from the mega video-portal site are an indication, the sequel to the successful remake might be in for a big trouble. It poses an important question to the superstar again – Have the general public grown tired of him?
I thought that was you too, glad you pointed it out. Yeah I agree. later posters with the same ID should distinguish themselves.
This other Naveed might not have realized you were already here but henceforth he should add something to Naveed, a number or something, or else use a different ID. Because we won’t know otherwise.
I would give SRK one credit though…He still has not jumped on this masala bandwagon even after the success of these movies. After RA 1 and DON 2, he has the Yash Chopra movie. That should be interesting test. Will the audience accept the romance that Chopra and Johar had so much success with during the 90s and until mid 2000s. The smart thing about Yash Chopra is that he comes up with new stuff whenever he directs a movie (got Uttam Singh for DTPH, got the old Manmohan Singh tunes for VZ, now getting A R Rahman for his new movie). I am sure this one will open huge as well which is good in a certain way. It means that the movie goers are not fixated on one genre. What I just don’t want to see is an overkill of one particular genre which is what happend after DDLJ and KKHH and is now happening after Ghajini and Dabbang.
SRK in fairness has always had a thing for hi-tech stuff. He’s always wanted to do this. So his choices are not insincere in this sense. In fact he’s said multiple times that he never believed in the romances he did. He didn’t even like DDLJ!
But also remember that he can still sell his base on the hi-tech stuff as part of an evolution for him in changing times. I think it would be quite for him to do a Singham in this sense! And of course there are basic questions of credibility. Salman has had a certain ‘downmarket’ persona for years that is now working for him with masala. Devgan has had action in his past. the star who’s been crazy about not doing this earlier is Akshay. He could have profited more than either star from this. He’s now finally doing it but way too late. Aamir and SRK cannot do the Singham kind of masala. It just wouldn’t be plausible. Which is why Aamir chose a more script-oriented Ghajini with the whole Memento angle to it. SRK could do this sort of thing. But the bar is still higher for him as he’s identified himself historically with the Johar side of the equation. This isn’t just about doing a different brand of cinema but about one that depends at least partly on deconstructing masala. If SRK did it the ‘aunties’ would be shocked in any case (!) and he wouldn’t get the younger demographic in enough numbers to make up for it. Salman and Devgan have single screen legitimacy in this format and when it’s the right vehicle the multiplexes come on board, not the other way round because the base audience for masala is in single screens, certainly when action is part of the mix. With Aamir his prestige and the astonishing trust the audience has in him overrides everything. at the time that Ghajini released no star in that film, none whatsoever, could have gotten that kind of historical initial and gross then. Now there are more examples. I’m talking about then. I’ve always urged Abhishek to do masala but I’ve had the Ghajini model (or the Kaakka Kaakka one which regrettably is now being done with John Abraham!) much more than the Singham one. Because Abhishek with the Bachchan signature has an easy entry into masala if he chooses to do it (and looks like he’s doing a bit now) but he also carries the risk that he can look more of a throwback also because of the very same signature in ways the others don’t.
All in all masala is still a very ‘tangled’ question within the parameters of Hindi multiplex cinema, which is after all the major driver of the gross. It is obviously great that there are an increasing number of films on this score and films that are doing well. The tide has definitely turned but it’s still the ‘handle with care’ phase as I see it. The multiplex audience still has to be cajoled into it. And again the hint from Aamir has still not been picked up. Ghajini has a future, Singham doesn’t. because masala with a narrative base can be sold on its own merits, the other kind depends on how hot a star is at that moment in time. Take the Salman model. He has a very good shot at a third 100 crore grosser. He’s red hot at the moment. But his is also a market that can evaporate relatively quickly. It’s the Akshay Kumar paradigm, the comedies were working, they working in a bigger way with him, eventually things got stale. Of course Akshay didn’t see the writing on the wall but the point is that the quality of cinema Salman is doing will depend on his brandname being red hot in this genre. And that’s always a dicey proposition in the sense that things can change quickly in this sense. Specially as more and more of his peers get attracted to this genre. For example I am not persuaded about Ek Tha Tiger. The Sohail Khan jungle project sounds completely bull. And there’s no wanted or Dabanng sequel in the works just at this moment. The mistake stars like Salman sometimes make even when they’re careful is that when try to graduate from base masala they get into stuff like Ek Tha Tiger. A more refined proposition more or less. But it might not be one that the base audience wants from him.
So even as masala seems to be developing a certain momentum in Hindi one shouldn’t forget that very little of it is homegrown if at all. It is almost totally a question of Southern remakes. Which is fine except that I’m unsure how long such a ‘fad’ lasts in the absence of more ‘organic’ (with respect to Hindi cinema) trends. Much as I don’t see any Bollywood talents taking masala forward for their own audiences. I cheer this phase, the more the merrier but this is still, and to be candid, bargain basement stuff! This by the way ought to be a reminder to those who think I am willing to support anything in the name of masala. I enjoyed Singam quite a bit with Surya, I’m sure it will be enjoyable in Hindi too but the contexts of each film are very different. Of course I’m not looking a gift-horse in the mouth! I’ll take whatever masala I can get but I think the more serious model here really ought to involve something like Khakee or something like Kaakka Kaakka. Not just police thrillers but just cinema with that kind of strong narrative base. Ironically Aamir himself did a bit of this with Sarfarosh all those years ago! That’s how you put roots within your own audience.
Something just hit me….where the hell are the Darshan brothers? Both Dhamesh and Suneel seems to have gone into a never ending hybernation after Akshay Kumar left their camp. Has anyone heard of them? I never found any of their movie a worthy of even a 2nd look but they were somewhat successful at the BO (Dharmesh more then Sunil).
With Double Dhamaal, Delhi Belly, Tranformers , Murder 2, Harry Potter, ZNMD and Now Singham working can we really say audience is fixated in one thing. Even BHTB recoverd costs.
Singham has had an excellent response at single screens and collections are just 5-10% short of Ready at most places. The figures for the first three shows at Kanpur single screens is below.
Heer
1st show – 27,878
2nd show – 31,828
3rd show – 27,220
Manjushree
1st show – 17,661
2nd show – 16,439
3rd show – 13,777
Gurdev
1st show – 19,248 (HF)
2nd show – 19,248 (HF)
3rd show – 19,248 (HF)
Sapna
1st show – 16,476
2nd show – 14,475
3rd show – 9,436
Despite a comparable to Ready single screen opening for Singham, it is the multiplex business that is going to keep the first day total of Singham well below the record 2011 opening day of 13.25 crore nett by Ready in June.
The multiplex collections coming in are 40-50% short of Ready so an early assessment of the business considering single screens and multiplexes is a first day total 25-35% less than Ready which would mean a good to very good first day on an all India basis.
Singham numbers are impressive. Expectedly so. A bit short of what was being predicted tho. Will do a crore or so more than DB/.ZNMD. Not breaking any records. Tho will end up being Ajay’s biggest grosser.
I’ve never expected it breaks any records. SK’s movies has some humour with action which attracts multiplex. Only action rarely the multiplex friendly. I think slowly my favourite star is breaking records is going away. Murder-2 and Singham are latest ones.
I am sensing people get bored of action movies not too far.
Bollywood depends on South for generating box office grossers while South never depended on north.
On the otherhand it had supplied a wizard like A.R.Rehman, a maverick genius like RGV, dreamgirls.
But South Industry still produces same kind of over the top movies and lacks some hatke directors like we do have in bollywood.
While Mani Ratnam stands confused as to where he wants to belong, Kamalahasan has stepped into the world which has little connect to the huge Rajni type movie worshippers. Seems both want to have hollywood touch for kollywood in different ways.
While Rajni is somewhat in the Amitabh, SRK mould leaving creativity for others and just happy to be actors, Kamalahasan somewhat is akin to Aamir Khan in trying to be creative as well.
That may explain Rajni’s popularity. He just concentrates on one thing, that is giving his presence and style to the fullest and his directors know the pulse of the people while Kamal lost touch with that vital aspect and indulges himself instead of indulging the public or his fans.
Its ZNMD That Roars At Multiplexes And Not Singham
Saturday 23rd July 2011 10.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Its seems that it is Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara that has roared like a lion at multiplexes especially in the cities instead of Singham as it recorded better 8th day collections than Singham on day one across most multiplexes in the Delhi NCR and Punjab area.. Below are a the collections of Singham on day one and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara on 8th day at multiplexes in Delhi NCR and Punjab area.
Singhan and ZMND both released by Reliance. Did they purposefully held Singham’s multiplex until last minute? It looks no advance booking for Singham until Friday.
Satyam,take it from me.Aamir is finished as a superstar.Dhoom3 may be successful but it is a franchise film.Srk will be finished as a superstar this year.Srk’s strenth genre is romance which is outdated.He is doing don2, and angoor remake.He cant change genres now.He was always bad in comedy.And he cant do the dabangg kind of film either.The same goes for salman also.
From this year there will be changes in bollywood star rankings.
ZNMD has performed remarkably well. I saw a housefull midnight show at the Deira City Center, and was surprised at the response. WOM is great, this one may trend rather well in the coming weeks. It seems as though ZNMD is the DCH moment for Hrithik. It has breathed new life into his career.
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara had a good second Friday of around 2.75 crore nett despite the release of Singham. The film only had a one week run at single screens but at multiplexes it gave Singham tough competition despite it being in its second week.
In the North it actually had better collections than Singham on its 8th day at multiplexes while in other metros like Mumbai and Kolkata collections were similar at multiplexes. Outside the metros it is doing average business at multiplexes.
The weekend should go over 10 crore nett and the film is well settled at metro multiplexes and will have a good run until the release of Arakshan in three weeks time. The release of Singham was the biggest obstacle for the film as collections could have dropped sharply but they have held up well and now no competition for three weeks. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobora will cross 60 crore nett in two weeks.
It will have to show a big jump over the weekend though to add to its considerable week 1 gross. In all probability that should happen. But doesn’t look like a 75 crore grosser or so. Unless again it shows incredible jumps over Sat/Sun.
Singham collected a good 8.50 crore nett approx on its first day thanks to strong business in Mumbai, CP Berar, Rajasthan and Nizam. East Punjab and West Bengal performed very poorly. The film lost around 20-25 lakhs in Mysore circuit as the film played late in Karnataka state. The territorial breakdown is as follows.
Every one is getting hit these days except Bachchans. Why it is becoming uphill task for them when others getting easily. I have to wait for Bol Bachchan , not confident of Players BO.
“If Abhishek builds a ripping body like AjayD and plays to the crowd in a masala South remake, even he will get a 100cr grosser.”
Well even Tushar Kapoor fans can claim the same..These kind of movies needs a certain kind of screen presence, performance and a huge fan following which Abhishek does not have right now..
I don’t believe he needs to build that kind of body at all.. I’ve always disagreed with this… on the rest.. as I said the other day.. you will have a life of many regrets on the Bollywood front! Those who are addicted to the ‘present’ find life torture when the future suddenly whacks them! Having said that after your statements on Aamir and others the other day one shouldn’t even be arguing with you on Abhishek!
It’s not rocket science Ted.. Bachchan is a different deal altogether.. he can’t be expected to compete straight up with young stars at his age. Abhishek’s films tell the whole story. Turn it the other way round. What star would get hits out of the films he’s done? or rather significantly better performances? None! And the records of other stars prove it. Hrithik does Guzaarish once. What if he were to do this sort of risky thing again and again. We saw with DMD and despite the film not performing as much as expect and despite Abhishek having hit rock bottom after KHJJS and Game that the film still did reasonably well (better than BBB isn’t a bad deal given the genre and everything). So the moment you do a film which attracts some cross-section of the audience you dramatically increase your initial and gross despite being in a very shaky box office position. The thing is that most stars take these risks once in a while. Abhishek has consistently done so one way or the other. There’s definitely some bad luck here as well. It’s not every time that a Mehra film and a Rathnam film will not work (Rathnam could have been doing Guru when he did Raavan and vice versa). So timing is a part of it. But overall when you step back you realize this is a guy who is unwilling to do even the purely commercial unless there’s a risk element involved. Up until now. Because now he’s gone commercial in a very big way. With Abbas-Mustaan, with puri, With Rohit shetty. Not just ‘commercial’ but different genres as well. Plus he confirmed once more he was finishing the modalities on the Prabhudeva film. If DMD did 35 crores you’re not going to get any of these films to do much better than this even if these disappoint. That’s how it works with very commercial fare. As for ‘everyone’ getting hits the trajectories have been different but again when you have a failure or two you try and do the safer thing a lot of times even within ‘different’. It’s not hard to figure out. Devgan was in the doldrums for a long time. He wasn’t even mentioned much. Then he slowly clawed back after the Golmaal series, he hardly gets the Akshay kind of credit here but of course there was a cumulative impact, then OUATIM last year and now Singham. But OUATIM was hardly a huge grosser or anything though it did well, Singham is unlikely to have a very big gross without multiplex participation. Salman was on vacation for most of the last decade before Wanted. The difference is that with many of these stars the media-trade doesn’t obsess with them and gives them a free pass when they don’t make news. With Abhishek the narrative never ceases. There are always all sorts of pieces and so on. Even when he is successful he doesn’t get those narratives and we’ve seen this almost from the moment he got successful. That’s just the way it is. Which is why one should also be careful in terms of not investing too much in these narratives. Take the accounts on Singham. These are plainly biased and untruthful. If one just talks about single screens they’re fine but the trade is not paying much attention to multiplexes. With an Abhishek film if this had happened they would have either mauled it or acknowledged it very weakly. When ZNMD does well in multiplexes and zero elsewhere they say it was always meant to be a multiplex film. When Abhishek has a similar deal they keep quoting single figure screens and so on. One can’t invest too much into this stuff. It’s important online but otherwise it’s just a very different set of impressions.
you are absolutely right, i think it’s ab’s films or his choice of films that have failed, there is also little element of bad luck, i donot consider media factor, because when guru and dostana became super hit, media has to accept, having said that media after his marraige is not freindly or positive with him, i am his fan since his debut, but i still thinks some of his choices are very bad, i have objactions with his films like drona, khjjs, umrao jaan. if he wants to do film on chittagong then he should opt for documentry for some history channel, that will be informative to all of us, should not be tried as commercial cinema, with subject like drona you need very clever and commercially proven director, who can make entertaining fantacy, while j.p. had already lost his touch since refugee, so no need for another film with him professionally, i think he has done that film due to personal attachment with jp, jbj was totally mishandled by director shaad, i rather proud that he has signed raavan and delhi 6, raavan was very risky and challenging subject, i think both above mentioned films failed commercially, not creatively,
The thing is star potential isn’t something static. It isn’t so for any star no matter how big. But there is a distinction to be made between stars who ‘can’ be very big and those for whom those possibilities are foreclosed. In this sense Saif or Shahid Kapoor are those stars who never be in Abhishek’s position irrespective of how some films do here and there. And this is proven by the ‘bets’ the industry places on Abhishek vis-a-vis those other two stars and even including at the lowest point of the the latter.
However this doesn’t mean that even a star who can be ‘big’ isn’t affected by hits or flops. Hits have a cumulative impact as do flops. Because the audience always has an unspoken ‘pact’ with any star once that basic stardom threshold is crossed that the star will in fact deliver whatever those audience expectations might be. Hence the cumulative impact. The only truly fatal thing for a star is age, this issue can never be ‘redressed’ if you will and if the star hasn’t reinvented himself he faces declining fortunes. even the best reinventions cannot bring ‘youth’ back (which is always what drives the box office) but a certain ‘arrangement’ can be established by the star with the audience whereby a certain box office dominance is maintained. Note how Aamir doesn’t really disprove this rule because even as he’s advancing in years his films don’t at all depend on his looking fantastic in his films. The ‘pact’ here is about the quality the audience expects and gets from his films. But with any other star the physicality is a big part of it. If the audience cannot be in love with the star anymore for the reasons they once did the magic evaporates pretty quickly even if it can be sometimes disguised when the star nonetheless continues to get some sort of box office success. So rajesh Khanna was getting hits in ’74, one of his better years in fact, but the game was up for him. In a different sense Ra 1 or Don 2, the past isn’t going to come back for SRK. And these aren’t the reinventions that can take him into the future because these genres aren’t associated with older stars. Even if they’re hits the star obviously cannot keep doing this.
As long as a star is younger these problems don’t exist. The right hit and things are back on track. However this doesn’t mean that such a star has ‘forever’. Because that window on youth is also a relatively short one. But also the flops can still derail a narrative in significant ways.
In each case it is about seeing more or less into both hits and flops. It is never just about grosses and so on unless there is an overwhelming case made this way. The irony here is that a typical distributor will often insist on the bigger star for the safer genre as opposed to the riskier one. Because in the safe genre where the maximum audience is showing up you can really jack up the initial by having the biggest star (for that genre). But in a somewhat more offbeat film the star needs a certain credibility for the genre which is not always the same as having the biggest star. This is what explains the gap over the last ten years between those Bollywood stars who were at any given time verifiably the biggest in a box office sense and those that attracted the best ‘prestige’ films.
On Abhishek for all of these reasons his initial in the next very commercial film that he does cannot be, all else being equal, what it would have been post-Guru or even a year after this let alone immediately after ’05 (no matter how big it might otherwise be in the right project). when a star is in the zone audience interest is maximum and least dependent on the quality of the project. hence Hrithik after KNPH was getting the sorts of blind initials for some very mediocre films that have never been possible for him since. So at whatever level of stardom one is this factor is important. What happens is that sometimes facts on the ground obscure things. Once upon a time SRK would get good or better initials for all kinds of films. Today we see even Don or RNBDJ have relatively tepid starts. Decent or better but not at all consonant with the scale of those projects (banners, advertising et al).
The point I’m trying to make overall is that ‘potential’ is a very complicated term for a star. But even those who have it or have displayed it in some fashion cannot take it for granted. The star has to keep drawing in the audience and this isn’t easy.
July 2008, Salman Khan fought at a birthday party. Three years later, history repeats itself. This time, however it wasn’t his girlfriend’s birthday, nor did he fight with his close friend.
On Thursday night, at Maanyata Dutt’s birthday bash, the Dabangg man had yet another fight. This time however, it wasn’t with any other Khan but filmmaker Bunty Walia.
Sanjay Dutt threw a lavish birthday party for his wife Maanyata and invited all his close friends home, which needless to say, included both Salman and Bunty.
According to sources from the party, Salman, who walked in well past midnight, went straight to Bunty and started arguing with him. Within no time, the fight became ugly. Before it could come to fisticuffs, Dutt’s business manager and close friend Dharam Oberoi intervened and took Walia away.
A source told Mumbai Mirror, “Sanju held the party to bring in his wife Maanyata’s birthday. He had invited all his close friends including Ameesha Patel, Neha Uberoi, Fardeen Khan, Zayed Khan, Ashish Chowdhury and many others.
Filmmakers David Dhawan, Indra Kumar and Rajkumar Santoshi were also present. Salman Khan walked in to the party around 2 am, well past midnight. On reaching, he greeted everyone and then bumped into Bunty Walia. Salman was already in high spirits. On seeing Bunty, he started arguing with the filmmaker.
After some time, the argument got so loud that despite the music playing at the party, all people could hear were Salman and Bunty.
They started abusing each other. Had it not been for Dharam Oberoi’s intervention, who knows what would have happened. Dharam separated the two and took Bunty away. Had he not intervened at the right time, the fight would have become physical.”
“Sanjay Dutt, the host of the party had incidentally, gone down at that time to drop Fardeen Khan and his wife to their car. He was nowhere to be seen when all this happened.
In fact, Walia was heard telling one of the guests, that since he did not want to create a scene, he would rather leave. When Bunty was leaving, he bumped into Sanju who was coming in after dropping Fardeen,” added the source.
Needless to say, Sanju who is known as one of Salman Khan’s closest friends in the industry, did not take much time to realise that something was wrong.
“Dutt chose to keep quiet about the incident. In fact, after that he partied with Salman and the rest of the guests till the wee hours of the morning,” said the source.
Salman Khan takes up a fight with Bunty Walia
Salman Khan and Bunty Walia, it seems have been on not-so-good terms for a while now. A source informed, “Bunty Walia and Salman’s brother Sohail Khan were business partners at one point in time.
However, after Bunty and Sohail went their separate ways, all has not been well between the Khan clan and Bunty. In fact, Salman and Bunty had got into a fight before as well.”
Bunty Walia, Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan did not reply to our text messages.
Like Dabangg and Ready, it’s a film that focusses on and showcases Ajay’s screen presence and his star power. When I entered the theatre, I didn’t have high expectations and was expecting a brainless entertainer at the very maximum. The trailers never suggested otherwise and am not a big fan of Rohit Shetty’s directorial capabilities.
It did have a few entertaining moments despite appearing cartoonish and silly in many scenes. The romance between Ajay and the leading lady isnt worth mentioning about but some comic situations do bring a smile to your face. As far as the screenplay is concerned, it’s outrageous as expected and situations highly improbable yet the film will keep one entertained. Maybe it has something to do with getting used to the outlandish masala that lately been seen in Hindi films. Had something like this arrived around 3 years back when Bollywood was keen on experimenting either with new subjects or making hardcore multiplex films under the YRF/Johar influence, I would have called this trash. But since Wanted/Dabangg have brought the culture back and nonsensical films like Ready milked the mass entertainment seeking public, I already knew what exactly to expect from a film like Singham.
It’s strictly timepass. Nothing worth mentioning here as everything was over-the-top but it hardly bored me. Something uniquely silly was uniformly on display. Having said that, it is definitely more tolerable than Ready.
Totally OT:
There was a stampede at AB ‘s house last Sunday and police had to intervene to control the crowds. 1 in every 2 tourists coming to Bombay makes a stop at Pratiksha. Till 2009 it used to be a stop for all Tourist buses till they were stopped by Police who cited traffic congestion as the reason.
This is called star power.
Lets see who goes to see other stars’ houses when they are 69!
ZMND is raking in the moolah in the US, went to a suburban NJ theater yesterday and it had both the night shows sold out. I suspect this weekend is going to be good as well. ZMND is a huge shot in the arm for Hrithik after 2 flops and Agneepath potentially seeming like a dud as well
Friday Report: ‘Captain America’ Leads, ‘Harry Potter’ Bleeds
by Brandon Gray
Captain America: The First Avenger
July 23, 2011
Despite being the last to strike, the most famous superhero of Summer 2011’s comic-book onslaught delivered the best opening salvo of the bunch, while the wizard wunderkind’s last stand fell prey to the adage, “the bigger they are, the harder they fall.”
Captain America: The First Avenger made an estimated $25.8 million on approximately 7,100 screens at 3,715 locations, edging out fellow Avenger Thor’s $25.5 million to top the summer’s superhero launches. In terms of estimated attendance, though, Captain’s first day was comparable to G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra but less than Fantastic Four and X-Men among past July Marvel Comics kick-offs. Captain’s run included 2,511 locations presenting the movie in the 3D illusion, and 3D accounted for 40 percent of the gross. Distributor Paramount Pictures’ exit polling indicated that 64 percent of the Captain’s crowd was male (about the same as Thor) and 57 percent was 25 years of age and older (skewing younger than Thor’s 72 percent).
If Captain America sees a trajectory like past comparable movies, its weekend would land in the $63-68 million range.
Plummeting 84 percent from last Friday’s record, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II was a distant second with an estimated $14.6 million. The Friday-to-Friday fall was far more severe than past opening weekend record breakers The Dark Knight (65 percent), Spider-Man 3 (71 percent) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (67 percent) and by far the worst yet for a Harry Potter movie. However, that spoke more to the fan frenzy of opening day than to the fans’ reaction to the movie, and, with a whopping $240.7 million tally in eight days, Deathly Hallows Part 2 was still the fastest-grossing Potter yet, topping Deathly Hallows Part I’s $190.8 million eight-day run. In fact, Deathly Hallows Part 2 posted the second highest-grossing eight-day opening ever, behind The Dark Knight’s $261.8 million, and it ranked fifth in estimated attendance.
Meanwhile, Friends with Benefits got off to an estimated $6.8 million start on around 3,500 screens at 2,926 locations. That was a tad less than fellow “friends-with-benefits” sex comedy No Strings Attached’s $7.3 million back in January.
Just got back from watching Captain America and it was probably the weakest marvel movie. it dragged in the begininng. Thor was a lot better than this and that isn’t saying much. does anyone know if spider man will be included in the avengers movie coming out next may?
Spider-man isn’t part of it (though he was part of the ‘new’ Avengers much later). It’s Thor, Iron-Man, Captain America, Hulk. The team also had Ant-Man and Wasp. Not sure if the movie features these last two.
Spider-Man and wolverine joined the Avengers with some other additions but in a reboot over the last decade there was also the New Avengers with these two and other different members. The latter never really caught on. But this is a complicated history. There were the Might Avengers at one point too with some other changes.
i agree with roeper here again. for me the lead actor in thor was good and chris evans in Captain America was pretty dull. im not a comic book guy but thor was entertaining as hell for me. Captain America just should’ve been more entertaining.
Singham had limited growth on Saturday as the circuits where it took strong start dropped a little or stayed roughly the same. Mumbai circuit grew and the rest came from Mysore which had a full day and added to collections. Sunday should show big jumps as it doing well in areas which have very big jumps on Sunday like Maharashtra, CP Berar and Gujarat. The two day total for the film is 18 crore nett. The territory numbers for Saturday are below with Friday in brackets.
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara Super Strong Second Saturday
Sunday 24th July 2011 12.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara had a super strong second Saturday as collections jumped to 4.25 crore nett from 2.75 crore nett on Friday. That is a 55% jump on Saturday from Friday. The second weekend has grossed 7 crore nett in two days and the nine day total of the film is 52 crore nett plus. Some territory numbers for second Saturday are below with first Friday in brackets.
though it looked like it might be possible after the way the first week went this one too won’t get to 80 crores or anything, 65-70 looks to be the range here. Basically in that LAK, APKGK zone all things accounted for.
Let’s see if BOI and the ‘trade’ call this one honestly based on all the budget numbers and so on! of course not!
Otherwise it’s of course done well with its target audience though I would have expected greater retention over the second weekend.
I am a little surprised at how well ZNMD is performing. Hopefully the commericals success will allow Zoya to produce a much less compromised product next time around. Frankly this one was rather unengaging.
Kollywood -Progress Report, Jan 1 to June 30, 2011
2011-07-22 13:20:52
Last Updated: 2011-07-22 13:54:10
The Kollywood half yearly report card (January 1 to June 30) indicates that it is a mixed bag for the industry. The number of hits is few though there were 65 straight Tamil releases.
The trends emerging are a star alone by his presence cannot make a film a hit, the content has to be engrossing and entertaining. Good music and aggressive promotions is the key to a good opening.
Small movies made on a budget of Rs 4 to 5 Crore , without marketing muscle do not stand a chance to recover their investment.
Remakes from other languages or Hollywood inspired films are the flavour of the day. Strong Tamil Nadu nativity is no longer working; especially for the half a dozen Madurai milieu based films that have come a cropper at the box-office.
The industry continues to be superstar dominated, and only their films get an opening. Among the films released in the first half Aadukalam and Aarayanakandam got critical acclaim, with Dhanush getting a National Award for his performance in the Vetrimaran directed film.
Two heroes who climbed the ladder of stardom in 2011 are Karthi and Jiiva whose Siruthai and Ko are two of the biggest hits of the year.
Among the films released till June 30, there is one blockbuster Ko and a super hit Siruthai. These two films have covered their cost of production and print and publicity from their Indian domestic theatrical collections alone!
The films in the hit category taking into consideration their theatrical collections along with other revenue rights like television, audio, DVD and overseas are few.
The films classified as hits taking all rights into consideration are the following in alphabetic order- Aadukalam, Avan Ivan, Ethan, Kaavalan, Thoonga Nagaram and Vaanam
‘Captain America’ knocks Harry from No. 1 spot
APAP – 34 mins ago
LOS ANGELES (AP) — In a battle of summer movie heroes, Captain America topped Harry Potter this weekend at the box office.
Sunday studio estimates show Paramount’s “Captain America: The First Avenger” opened at No. 1 with $65.8 million. The Marvel Comics superhero movie sets up next summer’s all-star blockbuster “The Avengers.”
Warner Bros.’ “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” the eighth and final part in the boy-wizard franchise, dropped to the second spot. It made just over $48 million in its second weekend for a domestic total of $274.1 million.
The week’s other big release, Sony’s “Friends With Benefits,” opened at No. 3 with $18.5 million. The romantic comedy stars Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis as friends who try to maintain a strictly physical relationship.
This is a surprising haul for Captain America. Didn’t anticipate this kind of opening, especially given it had the last Harry Potter movie, just one week old, to contend with…
Saw ZNMD yesterday.
Liked it quite a bit. If one can get over the fact that the film deosnt represent reality for a majority of Indian population, it is a very enjoyable film with good performances and effective direction.
Am beginning to like Katrina.She is becoming something of an ‘actress’. She was quite believable in the role of the free-spirited girl.
All male leads shared good chemistry and very competent performances. Hrithik is the star attraction here and even if Farhan has a slightly bigger role, this one rests on hrithik’s shoulders. Without him, the film would have been a 30-40 crore grosser. Hrithik’s eyes did look a little puffy which was surprising. Naseer was wasted and for an actor of his calibre he seemed not to understand the perils of over underplaying.Locales are simply superb. Only discordant note was Kalki and if anyone knows a reason for her being in films, please let me know. This is a film KJo would make if he had a brain and a heart.
So overall no surprises except for Ms.Kaif
On a separate note, Jay will be over the moon to know that K3G2 now seems a distinct possibility.
Have major issues with Farhan thinking/behaving/acting like a superstar , forget about anything in the vicinity of Hritik.
Having said that, Farhan is an intelligent director, producer (easily one of the better onez), a reasonable actor and someone with a unique voice timber (wont call hima singer yet)
If he manages to keep his attitude and ego there, he is fine ……
The fact that he seemingly has a better/longer role than HR in ZNMD is surprising….
I think more significant than Farhan Akhtar’s role here or any questions of footage (which I don’t think was a big deal) is the fact that Hrithik isn’t playing on home turf. He is a ‘character’ here not the point of the film which is always hard for a star to do. It’s not just that he cannot play the star in his usual way but also that he isn’t doing a Guzaarish or a JA where in a ‘different’ part he is nonetheless the focal point of the film. This is his disadvantage more than anything else. It’s always hard for a star to become a character. Now of course the role nonetheless flatters him in that he has to look good and so on but for Farhan Akhtar this is really his terrain. He can be a regular, quirky sort of character. That’s his strength or at least something where he’s made a base with the audience. Again Abhay Deol is fine in the same sense (if he’s flat he’s no moreso than he is everywhere else!). The equation for Hrithik is very different. There would be an opposite problem if Farhan were to land up in a regular Hrithik venture.
This is something I’ve said time and time again. Roles where stars have to play ‘characters’ are tricky because the audience always wants to see the star. If the star is a good actor the signature can be easily canceled, if not the star can simply be more restrained. Either way the audience finds the star somewhat missing. In ZNMD Farhan is exactly what one expects him to be. Hrithik is fine but because he has to be restrained and he doesn’t get to do what he normally does. The most telling moment in this sense is the Senorita one where Hrithik as the infinitely superior dancer to the other two is strangely brought down to their level and Farhan is meanwhile elevated. Because the impromptu sort of choreography is ridiculously easy for Hrithik and certain;y he’s quickest with it but he also seems weirdly out of place. Because this isn’t a platform where his kind of proficiency is required.
Now if this were a solo hero film it would be less of an issue because the film would then move at the comfort level of Hrithik. But as things stand he has to adapt to Farhan’s rhythm. Because once again the terrain favors the latter.
But all of this is I believe an imbalance in the film and I’ve always felt this would be an issue. They should either have had a third actor like Farhan and Abhay or all three like Hrithik, i.e. stars in some sense. It is but natural that Farhan and Abhay are on one plane and Hrithik on another. Even though the latter did quite alright there is asymmetry here.
Also think the film would have been better off without Katrina Kaif and a more ‘real’ actress for that turf (though of course not in a box office sense)!
and here an addition is necessary, something I’ve often said in the past too. Part of Abhishek’s problem for a while wasn’t just the films and so on but the fact that the ‘star’ couldn’t be discovered in these films. He was more often than not playing ‘characters’. Notice that the moment he played star again in DMD he immediately got great reviews and for the most part even many who didn’t like the film liked him in it. I’ve argued this from the very beginning. Abhishek has in many ways been the ‘reluctant’ star which is to say the guy least willing to simply play signature. When he does so in different genres people warm up to the films. His most acclaimed performance (rightly or wrongly) is Guru that most requires him to be a larger than life figure! The question isn’t about physicality or charisma but the fact that the audience doesn’t get ‘that’ Abhishek very often!
If I were Hrithik I’d attempt the ZNMD terrain once more with the right director but do it as a solo act. I think there were some possibilities with his character that the film didn’t explore properly. He’s always the more reflective type. he should have had a more serious ‘crisis’ somewhere. But it’s the rather non-serious Farhan who gets the poetry and then the whole angle with the father. All of this would have worked better with the Hrithik character. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been a trade, just successful at something else.
The way to effectively work around the ‘star signature’ in a film which doesn’t require it is not to try and cancel it out but to make the star vulnerable in ways that normal commercial cinema doesn’t allow for. Mukherjee was always magnificent at this. Hence a film like Jurmana comes relatively late in 1979 when Bachchan is at his heights but the director incorporates this stardom into his film. He registers it within his narrative. And so he gives Bachchan a character that requires him to be a star and then proceeds to wound that self-image and complacency. Similarly in ZNMD my sense was that Hrithik’s stardom needed to be fractured in the right way, not just by making him somewhat low-key. Still hrithik was fine here. The bigger problem was SRK in Swades whose energy seemed to be sucked out of him. The better balance in this sense was achieved in CDI.
“It’s always hard for a star to become a character. Now of course the role nonetheless flatters him in that he has to look good and so on but for Farhan Akhtar this is really his terrain….”
Ha. utmost illogical arguement, Satyam. It is like saying, she can cook 5 course meal just fine but cannot cook a single dish…baloney.
Correct analogy is chef can not be like a dhaba assistant or you may be a Gourmet chef but it is difficult to be like Moms who cook all 7 days, 3 times a day!
“Correct analogy is chef can not be like a dhaba assistant or you may be a Gourmet chef but it is difficult to be like Moms who cook all 7 days, 3 times a day!”
Actually that would not be correct analogy at all (apples to oranges). Following this very dumb theory, a star like Amitabh could never do the character role in Sholay!!!!
Following the apples-orange analogy, one doesn’t get to be a chef without doing the mom-type dal-roti daily cooking everyday…THAT is expected. Then like icing on cake, there are other extra skills that are required to become that chef. I am assuming Chef=Star and Mom=character actor. Since Satyam brought Abhi in equation, I would say this that Abhi even is not good at mom-cooking forget being a chef!!!!!!
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara Has Very Good Second Weekend
Monday 25th July 2011 15.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Zindagi Na Miloegi Dobara had a very good second weekend as it grossed 11-75-12 crore nett in its second weekend. The all India breakdowns were as follows.
Friday – 2.70 crore nett
Saturday 4.15 crore nett
Sunday – 5 crore nett
The film was ahead of the new Singham at many metro multiplexes and is now likely to cross the 75 crore mark nett as it will dominate the box office at metro multiplexes for next two weeks
The ten day business of the film is 56 crore nett approx an the distributor share is nearly 29 crore.
Hrithik Roshan Vs Harry Potter: Who Won At Box Office
1 hour ago by Komal Nahta
Exclusive report by Koimoi.com Editor Komal Nahta on the box-office fate of Hrithik Roshan starrer Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Warner Bros. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2. Plus the box-office collections and analysis of Murder 2, Chillar Party, Delhi Belly and more.
Hrithik Roshan promoting Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Harry
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara scored very well in its first week on the strength of multiplex audiences. Although collections in single-screen cinemas weren’t very impressive, the grosses at multiplexes were excellent. The bigger the city, the better were the collections. The first weekend ended at Rs. 27.25 crore although the opening day’s net was Rs. 7.75 crore. Collections picked up by 20% on Saturday and another 10% on Sunday. The film has been loved by the youth mainly. Even the second weekend was good in spite of the new opposition of Singham. ZNMD made Rs. 2.5 crore on Friday (July 22) and Rs. 3.75 on Saturday.
Trade reports suggest that the film may go on to net Rs. 60 crore plus in its lifetime, yielding a share of around Rs. 30 crore from India. In the Overseas territory, the youth film performed pretty well. Although the start on Friday in the UK was only fair, collections shot up to £95,000 on Sunday alone. A film like Ready, which had opened better than ZNMD, grossed only £68,000 on the first Sunday. In UK, the weekend gross of ZNMD was roughly £2,55,000. From 388 cinemas in India, it collected Rs. 31.39 crore. The film performed the best in Bombay, followed by Delhi. In Bombay circuit, it collected Rs. 11.7 crore from 158 cinemas. A total of 73 cinemas in Delhi-U.P. brought in Rs. 7.94 crore. East Punjab, with Rs. 2.5 crore from 25 cinemas, was another circuit which contributed greatly to the first week’s impressive total of the film. The all-India average per cinema for ZNMD came to Rs. 8,09,139.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2: 1st week box-office (July 15-21)
Harry Potter Aur Maut Ke Tohfe Part 2 (dubbed) did well in its first week but not as well as expected, considering that it is the last film in the popular franchise. The English version fared far better and managed to net almost double the collections of the dubbed version. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (English) collected Rs. 8.43 crore from 142 cinemas whereas the Hindi dubbed version netted Rs. 4.56 crore from almost the same number (149) of cinemas. Point to be noted: the film performed excellently in its 3D avatar where the audience had a choice. But at centres where the film was released only in 2D, it fared well.
Pyar ka punchnama is a fairly entertaining watch. However the ‘problem’ in each relationship here is really the woman. The three male leads are the more grounded kind whereas the women are emotionally unstable or exploitative or both!
And this genre continues to ‘exhibit’ some gratuitous bit of dialog.
Rajen, would a man say the same thing about his mother or daughter?
Some women may be unstable or exploitative and so are some men. When we see a movie, things look larger than life and we are impressed negatively or positively. Women provide stability to men. Otherwise god only has to save the Adam he has created.
You mean he would say something like this for his wife or GF but not mom or daughter?
It is a maatter of perspectives. Men need women and wome need men. Unless of course you are Alex! He just needs Playboy! Neither is perfect and they both have their inadequacies.
With mom and daughter, the relationship is special and sacred. With wife and girlfriend, it is not that sacred or special. And every man and woman know the reasons for it.
“Men need women and wome need men. ”
Not these days 😉
“Unless of course you are Alex! He just needs Playboy!”
Do you mean to say he is playboy or he reads playboy…lolz
Alex, teri “reputation” kaa sawal hai…jaldi aa jaa…
Hahaha Dimps — well said..U have added an essneti “female” perspective here — so important and an independent one!!
Reader discretion advised/ parental guidance for some in the preceding writeup—
So now the “scene” becomes clearer—
There is a crane shot(jimmy) showing a cramped obscure room showing rajen0/1 sitting discreetly watching murder2.
Cut shot 2– he has the remote (to rewind /forward) in one hand and “playboy magazine” in the SAME hand used intermittently …
Dont ask me about the other hand …..!!!!lol
Snippet 3—Rajen0/1 quips elsewhere abou being “self sufficient” & even mentions watching movies alone!!
All this now seemingly fitting itself to a particular pattern .
He randomly mentions the same acts onto others (obviously after being led into it )
projection or projection bias is a psychological defense mechanism where a person (rajen0/1 here) subconsciously denies his or her own attributes, thoughts, and emotions, which are then ascribed to the outside world, usually to other people. Thus, projection involves imagining or projecting the belief that others originate those feelings.
By the way, this is just meant in fun as an illustrative case study and not to be taken derogatory to either rajen0/1 or even infact the writer of this piece….
Hahahaha what fun!!!!
“With wife and girlfriend, it is not that sacred..”
Truer words never spoken Vati…especially no respect for GF. BTW did you watch Abhay deol in India’s most desirable? And that Mallya kid…THAT was quite interesting!!
an incredible 30% drop in the US from last weekend according to boxofficemojo. this film has hit it big time. to me its a bonafide hit. once again this is great for Hrithik. Katrina continues her hit streak.
Box Office: Singham tops all Indian films with 33 crore weekend
Monday, July 25, 2011
Indian Cops are having a fieldday at the box office with Singham, the Ajay Devgan starrer having embarked on a bumper box office opening across India, to the tune of a 33 crore weekend.
The breakdown being rougly 10 crores Friday, followed by 10 crores saturday, and Sunday smashing with a 13 crore haul.
Total for the weekend is 33 crores in net collections alone.
It’s very standard fare. Enjoyable but literally like tons of masala films in Tamil/Telugu. Still Surya was effective here and I think the Tamil was ‘sharper’ than the Hindi overall (skimmed through this). Don’t remember the Tamil perfectly but the Hindi version has a rather different sort of climax (even otherwise there are some differences throughout) and candidly the far more objectionable one. The Tamil version is just ‘better’ in many respects. The Hindi was alright on its own barring the resolution at the end which was a bit appalling but if one can one should watch it with Surya!
It is most of the times people like original. That is the same reason, AB doing businessman after mahesh is not a good idea.
Any how, many felt that Tamil Ghajani and Surya are much better to Amir. We can see lot of postings in twitter also.. I couldn’t sit through the Hindi version of ghajani at all.
true but this criticism only holds for those who’ve seen both. In box office terms this is usually not a significant factor. so whatever Singham is or isn’t doing at the box office it isn’t because its ‘affected’ by the original. Aamir’s Ghajini was more successful in Hindi than the original Tamil was.
The thing is that the audience that is most invested in the originals is never too invested in the remakes. But there are those who are fans of certain stars (or not) and use this as a political exercise. This kind of partisanship however doesn’t depend on the remake being around anyway! and for those who watch both original and remake they are clearly adding to the box office of the latter irrespective of how they rate this.
In general I’d say that precisely because 99% of the Bollywood audience actually does not watch Southern films at all the ‘original’ is never a serious point of comparison. It is moreso for Southerners who have access to two languages but even this doesn’t really lessen their interest in the ‘remake’.
On Businessman this isn’t a remake though. It’s planned as a bilingual but it’s not being shot at the same time or released at the same time. But in terms of its conception it is very much one.
AB tweeted about Farhan and Abhay. Javed asking about HR. Really bad..
SrBachchan Amitabh Bachchan
T 444 -Okaaay !! Hrithik Fan Club stop the bashing .. I congratulated him on phone personally .. want me to print his response also ??!!
yeah Farhan himself asked abhishek last week if he’d had a chance to see ZNMD.. I’ve not seen Abhishek asking anyone about his films in the same way, at least on twitter.
Ajay Devgan’s Singham: 10th Highest Opening Weekend Ever
July 26th, 2011 by Koimoi.com Team
Reliance Entertainment’s Singham (read detailed weekend BO report) that released in 2000 screens worldwide on July 22 has grossed Rs 47.70 crores at the box office in its opening weekend making it the second highest opening for this year, according to a release by Reliance Entertainment.
The action-packed entertainer grossed Rs. 44.2 crores in India (Rs. 31 crore net) and Rs. 3.5 crores gross overseas. This makes Singham the last in the Top 10 chart of Domestic Opening Weekends of all time.
In the opening weekend tally, Singham follows Dabangg (Rs 48.5 crore net), Ready (Rs. 42 crore net), 3 Idiots (Rs 40 crore net), Ghajini (Rs. 40 crore net in 4 days), Tees Maar Khan (Rs. 38 crore net), Rajneeti (Rs. 34 crore net), My Name Is Khan (Rs. 32 crore net) and Housefull (Rs. 31.5 crore net).
Sanjeev Lamba, CEO, Reliance Entertainment said, “Singham is off to a wonderful start worldwide. The film received an overwhelming response from the audience over the weekend and we hope will continue its successful run all over the world in the weeks to come.” Reliance Entertainment released Singham in 38 countries internationally on July 22. In its second phase the film will release in additional 21 countries.
One can only imagine how much Nahata has been ‘paid’ for this! It’s incredible just how low these guys can sink. An 8.5 min ‘review’! Usually it’s 2-3 min from him. But really this has to be seen to be believed. It’s as if the guy’s reviewing Sholay! But it goes beyond this. This entire video is pretty disgusting.
I agree. he’s gone over the mountain in his praise.. I can understand a trade analyst being positive for a mass-friendly film but whatever Nahata has done here is unbelievably amusing! I would think twice before showering such praise for Lagaan! Here he talks as if Singham is the best thing ever after Sholay..
South movies by themselves cannot run successfully even for one day even it they are original ghajini, Ready or singham except a Robot and even that because of Ash to some extent. Let it be replaced by popular hindi stars and we have blockbusters and superhits. Even Surya could not capture the imagination of people north of the Vindhyas. Only Kamalahasan and Madhavan to some extent got some acceptability. I am talking about male stars.
I suggest they change their names to some Khan or Kapoor or Kumar and also try to speak hindi naturally if they want to get some foothold. Only slim, trim and chocolatey are welcome to try this. First they should tag onto some bollywood starlet and be in the news. And once they start creating an identity for themselves among the specific audience, they can try to patao an Yash chopra.
Its good to see all movies are hits except BHTB.It really unfortunate that BHTB released with Delhi belly.
Both DMD and Budda would have been hits, if they released in diffrent dates and with extraordinary publicity. I didnt understand why rohan sippy released DMD during IPL season .Also Movie promotion not enough for both movies beacuse bachchans previous movies failed at boxoffice. So they need to do promotions like what Amir did extraordianry promotion before Gajani release .Ofcurese they promoted well with teasers and in internet but thats not enough .All promotions should reach common man and create some curiosity
Both bachchans still not understanding boxoffice importance of first day ,first week end and first week collections
Bachchans need very big hit this time and they need to understand below issues
1.Movie promotion: Sitting in mumbai and giving interviews not suifficient .Start doing two months before movie release and they need to travel as many cities in india as possible for their movie promotion .Also simulataneously start promoting movies in overseas and south also. Bachans are hugley popular in overseas and south but unfortunately they neglected these regions.
2.Release date: They need to check other movies release dates and should not release movies in odd season like exams season ,IPL etc.No need to release movies hurrily
3.Budget & boxoffice collections: Media always against bachchans.Everytime bachchan movie relased trade guys quoted wrong budget and boxoffice figures.So to avoid these kind of situations bachans should foce producers to pprovide corret budegt & boxoofice figures each day until three weeks after movie release.And bachchans should not interact with stupid trade guys.
Agreed: she had a number of superb shalwar qameez dresses, and then looked good in a sari too in the Maula Maula song (aside: I hadn’t previously heard the song, and quite liked it). It was refreshing to see a heroine dressed a bit “normally”.
I saw the film in (technically) a multiplex called 24 carat in Jogeshwari — it’s one of Mumbai’s first multi-screen cinemas so the ambience, seats, etc. reminded me of the Dubai cinema of my childhood. There were about 15-20 people there for the 8PM show, or not even 10% full.
PS– the other notable thing was that I do not recall another Hindi film with so many Marathi dialogs. It was good to see/hear, as it added to the whole ambience and setting. [Although perhaps it veered too far in one sense: in Singham’s Goa, there seem to be ONLY Marathi-speakers :-)]
The notable first remake of a south film that roared was Ram aur shyam, the original being Engaveettu Pillai by the legendary MGR with B.Saroja Devi. It had a very iconic song in tamil.
As it was by Gemini Studios, I thought Irumbu thirai was the original to Paigham.
Ramudu Bheemudu by D. Rama Naidu. Sorry, Sunil.
These movies were being discussed by my elders in the family.
And Sridhar’s Nenjil oru alayam was Dil Ek Mandir. And many of his films were remade in hindi, the notable one being Pyaar kiye Jaa, originally Kadalikka neramillai.
You’re right on Dil Ek Mandir. Not sure about the other one. But yeah there were lots of remakes from Tamil to Hindi in the 60s. The next such phase came in the 80s.
On Irumbuthirai it might have been planned as a bilingual with one version being shot first. Not sure.
B.Saroja Devi acted in the superhit Sasural with Rajendra Kumar and also Paigham with Dilip Kumar along with Vyjayantimala. And Paigham is also a tamil film starring Shivaji Ganeshan.
Singham was very steady on Tuesday as collections at most places were virtually the same as Monday. The Tuesday collections were 5.25 crore nett as per early estimates. The Maharashtra belt is phenomenal but collections were also very steady at multiplexes across India on Tuesday.
The film has grossed 40.75 crore nett in five days and the week looks set for around 49 crore nett.
The film is a Hit and if second week holds up it is likely to emerge a Super Hit.
Till a few months ago, all of us were under the impression that the spending capacity of the common man restricts him/her from watching multiple films in a week/month. The aam aadmi adheres to a budget and restricts himself/herself to only those movies that catches his/her attention. Well, this viewpoint has gone for a toss after the spate of successes we have witnessed in the last few weeks.
First DOUBLE DHAMAAL fetched a flying start. Then DELHI BELLY. Then MURDER 2. Then ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA. Now SINGHAM. A film remains on the top slot for a maximum of one/two weeks, only to be overthrown by another film in the subsequent week. Which is great, in my opinion. Records are meant to be broken and if movie business continues to perform the way it is performing right now, we will soon revert back to the golden era of 1960s and 1970s, when the Hit:Flop ratio was 70:30.
I genuinely feel that you cannot predict the business of any film prior to its release. Who would’ve ever thought DOUBLE DHAMAAL would fetch a mind-blowing start? Who would’ve ever thought DELHI BELLY would rule the domestic as well as international box-office in days to come? Who would’ve ever thought MURDER 2 would emerge one of the biggest openers of the year [and the biggest hit of Bhatts/Emraan?]. Who would’ve ever thought ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA would pack a super initial, compensating the loss of business from single screens with that of plexes? No one, I repeat no one, can predict the business of movies or, for that matter, what figure a film would fetch in its opening weekend, prior to its release. We are in the most unpredictable business and like I always say, that’s the beauty of this business. It surprises you week after week.
Now SINGHAM. Yes, we all know by now that its release was uncertain at plexes till Thursday night. Yes, we also know that its business got affected in Karnataka. Despite that SINGHAM roared louder on Friday [Rs 9.03 cr], remained static on Saturday, though the business fell in some circuits [Rs 9.67 cr], but shot upwards on Sunday [Rs 12.37 cr], taking its opening weekend total to Rs 31.07 cr nett. Which, to put things in the right perspective, is the No 2 opener of 2011, after READY.
Let’s not compare it with DABANGG and READY. Sure, SINGHAM is a terrific entertainer, but what it lacks is a hit musical score that works big time, which adds to the repeat viewing of the film. Recall the contribution of ‘Munni’ and ‘Mast Mast Do Nain’ [DABANGG] or ‘Charater Dheela’ and ‘Dhinka Chika’ [READY] and you will agree that star power + great masala + hit music = Winner at the box-office.
SINGHAM is ruling the single screens and like WANTED, which worked big time at single screens or ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA, which worked exceedingly well at plexes [still working], the film is expected to pack a solid total at the end of Week 1. In fact, looking at the trends, SINGHAM is likely to dominate the single screens in days to come. The absence of a major release, till AARAKSHAN, should only add to its revenue.
How long will the winning phase in Bollywood continue? I think the prospects will only get better in the forthcoming weeks with biggie after biggie hitting the marquee. The best thing is that diverse genres are being lapped up in a big way and the audience is in a mood to vote from their wallet. Let’s pray this dream run continues!
“Records are meant to be broken and if movie business continues to perform the way it is performing right now, we will soon revert back to the golden era of 1960s and 1970s, when the Hit:Flop ratio was 70:30.”
Box Office: Singham, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara collections update
UPDATED
MUMBAI: Rohit Shetty’s Singham starring Ajay Devgn saw good collections on Monday. The movie, which did net collections of approximately Rs 310.8 million (Rs 31.08 crore) in its opening weekend, collected Rs 61 million (Rs 6.1 crore) on Monday as per initial estimates.
With this the four days net collections of the movie in India stands at approximately Rs 371.8 million (Rs 37.18 crore).
On the other hand, Eros International’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara has also seen a great run at the box office. While the first week’s collections of the movie are Rs 440 million (Rs 44 crore). The second weekend net collections were approximately Rs 117.5 million (Rs 11.75 crore). On its second Monday, the movie saw net collections of approximately Rs 17.5 million (Rs 1.75 crore). The movie’s 10 days net collections stand in India stand at approximately Rs 575 million (Rs 57.50 crore)
On the other hand, in the overseas markets, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara has grossed an additional Rs 220 million (Rs 22 crore). Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara featured in UK Top 10, at No 7 and came out No. 15 on the Top 20 US Charts.
Amitabh Bachchan says sorry to Hrithik Roshan fans
Actor Hrithik Roshan’s fan club literary forced Amitabh Bachchan to say that he telephoned the actor to congratulate him for his performance in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.
Amitabh Bachchan on Monday night had left out Hrithik Roshan’s name and praised only Abhay Deol and Farhan Akhtar for their performance in the film. He had tweeted, “ZNMD is a triumph of spirit and male bonding .. and Farhan and Abhay are just so impressive … natural, composed and effortless.”
Bachchan’s tweet did not go down well with Hrithik Roshan’s fans who reacted negatively. Roshan Jr was flooded with tweets from upset fans. Some said that Hrithik didn’t need his praises some pointed out to Bachchan that he had left out Hrithik’s name.
Farhan Akhtar’s father Javed Akhtar on Tuesday afternoon also pointed out to Bachchan tweeting, “Great that you liked Abhay & Farhan but I am sure that Hritik’s omission was just a slip. Who can deny that he was outstanding.”
But Hrithik fans continued to express their anger. In the end, Bachchan had to confess and say that he personally called Hrithik Roshan and congratulated him. He tweeted late Tuesday night, “Hrithik Fan Club stop the bashing .. I congratulated him on phone personally .. want me to print his response also ??!!
saying that he ‘apologized’ is going too far. However:
1)I did note with interest his initial statement on the blog where he did praise the other two and praised Hrithik only for his dancing. The latter a bit odd since Hrithik hardly has much dancing to do here.
2)The fanatical fans showed up but here Bachchan shouldn’t have been defensive at all. First of all the problem is that a personal message hardly means the same thing since he presumably sent these to others as well. But secondly whether he did or didn’t so what?! It’s his will and wish. He shouldn’t have succumbed to the fans and reproduced Hrithik’s response. My response would have been ‘I’ve said everything I needed to to whoever I needed to and that’s the end of it. You guys will have to live with it.’ Sure the media would then have blown it up in other ways but so what?!
unfortunately Bachchan this late in the day isn’t suddenly going to change dramatically in this sense. Will bring it up on his blog nonetheless.
The problem with both Bachchans is that they tend to be rather too ‘gentlemanly’ about these things. They go out of their way to praise the work of others and so on. The favor is never returned and rarely returned in kind. By anyone. And here I would say that it’s quite easy to pick on SRK but they’re all the same in this regard. When Hrithik praised Abhishek for KHJJS publicly this is the first time I heard or saw him do it. And I smell a rat when it’s done for that sort of film that was never going to become a Guru or anything! Sure, people tweet each other at a personal level a lot of times but that’s not really the debate here. But again the Bachchans know all of this too. They still choose to act this way and what happened in this current instance is then not surprising. of course Hrithik too put up a response to his fans and Bachchan’s original note to him. Bachchan himself then asked the fans to chill and so on but there shouldn’t have been defensiveness in the first place.
One of the larger problems here which everyone from Bombay stars to US congressmen is still learning is that these social media outlets have their own rules of the road and one cannot take everything that seriously. And even when one engages there is a ‘politics’ of doing so. Most crucially one has to be ‘careful’ as everything is ‘public’ right away.
This is an unfortunate thing happened…Senior Bachchan might have just missed hrithik name..anyway hrithik dont have any such grudge against anyone..He is one of nicest guy in bollwood who respect seniors and never indulge in anything cat fight or anything.Hrithik fans should not have reacted like this.
“When Hrithik praised Abhishek for KHJJS publicly this is the first time I heard or saw him do it. And I smell a rat when it’s done for that sort of film that was never going to become a Guru or anything!”
I disagree Hrithik is complete genuine and he never do any fake..not for nothing he is called perfectionist.He may have liked abhishek in KHJJS.
apart from that abhishek has different career path compare to Hrithik.Hrithik will be hardly be scared what abhishek is doing,He will be more worried about ranbir or shahid is doing.
More ever , when Hrithik movie flopped like guzaarish or Kites he never fought with fans regarding boxoffice figure,He accepted and move ahead.
Contrary to this we know how abhishek bacchan fought with fans.
So Let not disrepute a genuine person who knows how to face failure.
Most of your response isn’t relevant to what I’ve said so I’ll skip over this. On the rest I see you’re one of the ‘Hrithik is God’ group so there’s probably no point in extending this further either.
Did HR move on fromkites and Guzaarish gracefully? Did you see is tweets at that times? He even walked out of filmfare awards for not getting best actor.
“One of the larger problems here which everyone from Bombay stars to US congressmen is still learning is that these social media outlets have their own rules of the road and one cannot take everything that seriously. And even when one engages there is a ‘politics’ of doing so. Most crucially one has to be ‘careful’ as everything is ‘public’ right away.”— agree there…
The problems with twitter, Facebook are not initially obvious to most folks.Infact when one is a “nobody”, there is nothing to lose but if one is “somebody” ESP a professional, there is a some potential for misuse and damage…
“I did note with interest his initial statement on the blog where he did praise the other two and praised Hrithik only for his dancing. The latter a bit odd since Hrithik hardly has much dancing to do here.”– I had a similar reading. Like both bachchan and esp the former, these things don’t miss the scanner if u follow over a period of time WiTHOUT bias….
I have noted a certain pattern where bachchan has been more and more profuse and nonselective about praising anything and everything under the sun— so much so that the “impact factor” has gone down somewhat. But he has been quite selective about NOT praising hritik profusely …..I may have missed some “genuine profuse” praise but he has praised many lesser actors/ works.
Again, it is ultimately bachchans prerOgative and he should not be held to trial for this “selectivity “. But when one benefits from the ready access to fans with blogs/fb/twitter, one has to take these associated irritants as well
I think it’s fair to say that no one has come away from the film thinking Hrithik was better than Farhan here irrespective of how much they liked the film or not. And this applies to the reviewers also who are otherwise very kind on hrithik (and have been so here too).
Maybe–perhaps i missed it..
By the way, javeds public comment to Amitabh asking about hritik was a bit strange.
That’s the problem– when someone u know well and is apparently in “good talking terms”, instead of talking u , tweets a controversial quip to the whole world — that’s in bad faith.
But again, bachchans tweet about hritik just “moving well” while the other two doing v well did have a problem.
SATYAMSHOT 
July 22, 2011 at 8:10 AM
Singham: Single Screens Huge Multiplexes Mixed
Friday 22nd July 2011 15.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Singham has taken a huge opening at single screens with collections on average 90%, the Maharashtra and CP Berar single screens are phenomenal with Gujarat and UP also very good.
Multiplexes are mixed with good start (70%) at places and below the mark (40%) at others. Overall the low start has come in Delhi city, East Punjab, West Bengal and South while the rest of the country can be called good or better. Mumbai city has average occupancies of 50-55% but thats the case with most films as Mumbai city is always an over saturated release especially at multiplexes
Overall it should manage to get the second biggest first day of the year on the strength of the single screens and huge release but it remains to be seen if it goes far ahead of the 7.50 crore nett approx first days of films like Yamla Pagla Deewana, Double Dhamaal and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara or finishes up in the same range.
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July 22, 2011 at 8:11 AM
Delhi Belly 55 Crore In Three Weeks
Friday 22nd July 2011 10.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Delhi Belly has collected around 55 crore nett in three weeks. Third week say a drop of around 70% due to the release of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. The approx three week collections so far are.
Week One – 36 crore nett
Week Two – 14.50 crore nett
Week Three – 4.50 crore nett approx
TOTAL – 55 crore nett.
Delhi Belly will do an all India distributor share of around 28 crore.
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July 22, 2011 at 8:11 AM
Oldgold: @satyam [responding to this]
My fingers are still stuttering and stammering on the keyboard with shock of reading Amir and shakespeare being mentioned together.
I won’t even bother to discuss the reasons why it isn’t the same at all considering the half century time lapse in sensibilities and contemporariness.
You are making a mountain out of a molehill about my disliking one vulgarity *MORE* than the other abuse.
Seems you want me to have your kind of priorities/sensibilities to have any credentials at all.
Anyway SRK’s bawdiness is more on the lines of shakespearen bawdiness, but DB abuses are a totally different matter. I don’t know of any maother/sister fu*ç” abuses in shakespeare plays, and even if there were they don’t seem to be the anthem of the readers – as so very proudly put for the song in DB becoming the anthem of (pitiable) youth.
Pray, what’s Bhindi Baazar??? Never heard of it. Which supports what I’m saying about something having the backing of an Amir, and getting the stamp of approval from him.
*I’ve said all this before*, but for some reason or other you want to continue beating a dead horse, and taking this particular discussion in circles (like many other discussions). BUT…if that gives you pleasure…???
As for your ‘neutral’ views about films regardless of actors, I’m not buying it. Note how you explain away Amir’s films having to ‘balance’ for the sake of public appeal and entertainment, but use this very ‘balance’ in any other film to whip it and pull it down.
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July 22, 2011 at 8:27 AM
If there’s one thing SRK fans know it’s when to stutter and stammer.
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July 22, 2011 at 8:41 AM
The problem is that you’re focusing on just one specific choice that is DB’s. You claim you are only offending with such words. Otherwise obscenity or any other kind of language along these lines doesn’t bother you at all! It is a bit hard for me to believe that if this had happened in a SRK film and if Aamir’s film had just been obscene that you wouldn’t have had the opposite view!
But for the moment let me take you at face value. You still haven’t answered my question. When all these ‘words’ (and worse) occur in lots of novels (literary and ‘un-literary’) do you object in the same way? If not why not? The same question with respect to scores of Hollywood movies where too once upon a time this sort of language was never used in cinema.
Again you still haven’t presented a ‘theory of the case’ that doesn’t make it look as if the only kind of coarseness you object to is the kind found in DB!
It’s amusing to claim I am making a mountain out of a molehill when you’ve been on a crusade against DB forever on this score!
Bhindi Bazaar released at the same time as DB by the way!
On Aamir anyone who likes can refer to my original comment here to see how you’ve ripped things out of context and quite deliberately ignored the rest of it as well. When I use the word ‘balance’ there it’s quite clear what I mean. That Aamir takes on risky genres and so on and finds a way to get success in them. But having found incredible success this way for more than a decade he could perhaps now risk more and do even edgier stuff or in other words risk flops. But I also said there that I understand why he doesn’t because we’ve seen what happens when you try to do this and fail. Both the audience and the media are merciless. And there isn’t the US sort of film culture in India to give a risky film its due even if it fails at the box office. In India you come a total cropper if the box office isn’t on your side. Because by and large critics too don’t celebrate films they think won’t work at the box office. This is what I meant by ‘balance’.
As for his peers clearly they’re not doing the same things (ironically when they are they are because of what he started! Each and every one! If Aamir deserves so much blame for changing the culture with DB I hope you will give him as much credit for all the wonderful films others are doing because he started this trend! Johar himself keeps praising Aamir on this score. Hope you will chalk up SRK’s choices like Swades and CDI and MNIK to Aamir!). Nor do I criticize anyone for commercial films. I just criticize them for certain kinds of commercial (and for that matter ‘different’ films). To keep saying ‘I don’t buy it’ doesn’t mean anything in the absence of a serious counter-argument.
And again let’s not be coy here. Let’s get some very specific answers on many of the questions I’ve raised. I’ve always been willing to do as much when quizzed on my positions including by yourself.
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July 22, 2011 at 9:37 AM
To answer the first part of your comment.
Are we discussing books here?
Do books affect the same way as a film…with anthem songs, which one may not want to hear, but is blaring away somewhere?
Do people discuss or use words from a book the way with films?
People don’t even read anymore.
As for Hollywood films. I don’t watch them at all as I can’t relate to them. I like some of the old musicals, like My fair lady etc that’s all. I’m not even familiar with the stars.
The rest of your comment is better left unresponded to. It’s the same stuff.
PS: please don’t take any note of a comment that got submitted by mistake and is up for moderation.
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July 22, 2011 at 9:54 AM
even though you don’t watch Hollywood you would concede that inasmuch as this industry started using a certain language akin to DB’s in the 70s and so on and increasingly so with passing decades this too would be problematic? On your own terms? You need not have seen the films to agree with this nor do you have to be interested in American culture. The general point should hold either way. If films and songs corrupt the culture at large then the same should be true in the US in terms of the cinema and the music. Would you agree to all of this?
But getting back to DB and ‘books’ are you offended by the language used or just the fact that it’s so used in a vehicle of popular entertainment? In other words you don’t consider something so bad if it is kept ‘concealed’ like a secret in a book which few people read? Just trying to figure out the principle here.
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July 22, 2011 at 12:07 PM
>if the only kind of coarseness you object to is the kind found in DB!
Your obsession in trying to prove my opinion wrong is unbelievable.
My objection to DB was in ******CONTEXT*****…… to its release, its discussion here (as every new film is discussed), the song’s popularity etc etc
That’s it. I’m not losing any sleep over it.
If you had discussed bhindi baazar I would have said the same thing.
It’s you who’s taking the matter further by first bringing in SRK, then Shakespeare, then books, then Hollywood films.
LOL!!!
PS: I do think that films in Hollywood by and large reflect the culture there, and not vice versa, whereas films from Bollywood do not, most of the time. They reflect a wannabe culture and to a greater or lesser extent do influence the ‘wannabe’ crowd.
And yes, I discussed DB because it’s AK film, and not others because they don’t matter.
AArrggghhhhh! I’m repeating again!!!
So, satyam, you can have the last word now. I’m feeling dizzy with going in circles…..and I don’t agree with you!!!!!!!!!!
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July 22, 2011 at 1:17 PM
you still haven’t answered the essential questions I’ve raised!
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July 22, 2011 at 4:05 PM
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=hub300711cinema.asp
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July 22, 2011 at 4:43 PM
OK here you go.
>are you offended by the language used or just the fact that it’s so used in a vehicle of popular entertainment? In other words you don’t consider something so bad if it is kept ‘concealed’ like a secret in a book which few people read?
YES!!!!!
It is perfectly evident that you are trying to forestall me by using these words (conceal/secret).
I wouldn’t call it ‘concealed’/secret, it’s just not overt (as in heraldic), in your face, brazen, and above all celebrating the abuses in a song.
>If films and songs corrupt the culture at large then the same should be true in the US in terms of the cinema and the music. Would you agree to all of this?
Haven’t I answered this question already? I don’t want to get into more detail with serious indepth discussions about this on the internet.
As for corrupting cultures it is included in my answer in the earlier comment, briefly.
Let’s stick to the context of Bollywood films.
Is there any other question left? 😉
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July 22, 2011 at 5:46 PM
Yes because now more questions are opened up. There are a number of literary works in the 20th century (Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Ulysses for example) that were banned/censored at different points on the very grounds that offend you. In other words there was a sense that these works were corrupting the culture and so on. If you read the legal opinion in some of these instance you’ll find this kind of language. In other words a book is really not different in principle from a movie. Many people read popular books too. How does one decide what the number is beyond which the real audience of he movie begins? But leaving this aside clearly the controversies in those instances did not shield those books from exactly the charges you’re bringing up against DB?
The related problem here is that in the masala of the 70s many words became current that were never used before this. The conservative audiences of that period objected to those words on the very same grounds! Now these seem common but they weren’t so for an audience used to the lingo of the 50s and the 60s. Much as 20-30 years from now people will find DB completely passe on this score. These trends change. The protests though remain the same and are formulated in the very same ways!
The Hollywood example is a very similar one in every sense. Here you have movies which feature a kind of language and really extraordinary instances of it which would have completely appalled an older generation of viewers.
The overall point I’m trying to make is that there is never really any consistency to these debates. If there were you would find certain bachchan films which use certain words as objectionable as DB. Films evolve because society evolves. Whether for better or worse is not the debate here. DB I would say is actually behind the curve, way behind the curve in terms of representing how its target audience often speaks. It could hardly be said that it is encouraging something that predates it in much greater measure. The kids who supposedly learn this language from DB were saying far worse when I was in school let alone higher grades! So ultimately it is only a question of representing or not something that exists anyway. And here too who is really offended? A certain family segment? Who are always the purveyors of morals and values? Obviously the people using that kind of language anyway don’t find it less than welcome on screen.
As a personal choice you have every right to find this offensive. That’s not at all what I’m questioning. But when you just pick on an Aamir film more than other kinds of obscenity elsewhere (from stuff in KHNH to SRK’s references to circumcision) allow me to be a little skeptical. What system of bourgeois values considers one ok and not the other? Aren’t as many people watching KHNH? Don’t people have access to SRK’s videos online? You have every right to be more offended by abuse than people mentioning circumcision unprompted as a rather lewd response, that too to a female journalist (one would think these gender issues would be important to purveyors of culture and values)!
And I’m not just getting on your case for no reason. You have consistently used this reason to beat up on Aamir. Since you never seem to find SRK as offensive on obscenity grounds and since you use all kinds of excuses to pick on Aamir anyway I am just a bit skeptical as to how genuine your ire is on DB. Not that I don’t believe you. I’m just unsure if you would be quite as angry if SRK did the same. And you prove it by walking away from the SRK example. I have to quote it everytime because I wonder why you think you’re done with it after saying something perfunctory about it once while on the other hand you never quite seem to be done with DB!
So if I am raising all these questions it is because these naturally emerge and you don’t have convincing responses.
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July 22, 2011 at 6:40 PM
>it is because these naturally emerge and you don’t have convincing responses.
LOL! I’m not at all trying to convince you of anything.
It’s your personal wish to pretend you want to be convinced when all the time you are actually trying to trap me and confuse me, but it’s you who’s floundering around there about books, cultures, and what not. 😀
So next time I say I don’t like the red colour……you’ll start questioning me whether I’d hate it equally if I was gifted a ferari…and oh, what about the red apple which you must have for good health. And yes, your blood is red, so will you hate that too.
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July 23, 2011 at 5:12 PM
http://www.thehindu.com/arts/cinema/article2287711.ece
http://www.thehindu.com/arts/magazine/article2287577.ece
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July 23, 2011 at 8:22 PM
thanks for these pieces.. interesting reads.. on the film Gandu the post featuring the trailer and so on has got an amazing number of hits here since day 1 and I routinely see people inquiring about the film one way or the other.
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July 22, 2011 at 8:12 AM
B.O. update: ‘Singham’ roars, greeted with ceetees, taalis, standing ovation
– By Taran Adarsh, July 22, 2011 – 14:30 IST
The audience verdict is out: SINGHAM is likely to ‘rule’ the box-office in weeks to come. The keenly-anticipated biggie, which won unanimous praise in the pre-release screenings, has started with gusto at the ticket window.
Almost all single screens reported 80% to 90% to 100% occupancy, with the audience greeting the film with whistles and claps. But what really came as a surprise was that at a cineplex in Ahmedabad, the audience gave a standing ovation to the film after the show concluded. In another instance, the Rajasthan distributor’s phone has been ringing incessantly since 3 a.m. on Friday, after a midnight screening of the film [that began on Thursday night] concluded in the wee hours. In fact, SINGHAM is expected to accumulate a mammoth total from single screens and is likely to remain a favorite for the next few weeks, given the response to the film.
The business of SINGHAM got affected at plexes on Friday morning/noon since its release was uncertain till Thursday night and therefore, the show timings were undecided and hence not publicized in newspapers. Also, the plexes did not sell the tickets in advance, since the two factions [distributors and multiplexes] had not resolved the issue [revenue sharing terms] till Thursday night. Despite this, the opening shows [morning and noon] were decent, depending on the circuit. In the Hindi heartland, where action and masala films rule, the plexes started on a 50% to 70% note, while in urban centres, the business was in 40% to 50% range. The business at multiplexes is likely to improve by evening, since the audience feedback is extra-ordinary.
Looking at the initial trends and also the reports pouring in from all quarters, SINGHAM is expected to be amongst the biggest openers of all times.
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July 22, 2011 at 11:06 PM
“SINGHAM is expected to be amongst the biggest openers of all times.”
dumbassness at its best. why are they trying to make this movie such a huge hit before its release?
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July 22, 2011 at 8:13 AM
Top 5: ‘Z.N.M.D.’ packs solid numbers, collects Rs 45.4 cr nett
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July 22, 2011 at 8:47 AM
Singham Roars – And How!
July 22nd, 2011 by Komal Nahta
Singham opened to bumper houses in most parts of the country today (July 22). If in some multiplexes, collections were below the mark, it was because of the uncertainty about the release in those multiplexes. It is common knowledge that the dispute between Reliance Entertainment (producers of Singham) and the multiplex chains got settled only last (July 21) night. As a result of this, the public was not sure whether the much awaited film would or would not be released in the multiplexes.
The audience is clapping, whistling, cheering, screaming & shouting in the cinemas.
What is noteworthy is that the public reaction in every multiplex and every single-screen cinema, irrespective of the kind of initial, is out of the world. People are clapping and applauding the scenes and the dialogues, the action and the star performances so loudly that it is impossible to hear all the dialogues in the cinema. Reports from different parts of India have it that women folk are as animated in their reactions in the cinema halls as the men folk. The audience is clapping, whistling, cheering, applauding, screaming and shouting in the cinemas. It is as if the audience has become part of the action on screen. In one word, it is C-R-A-Z-Y!
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July 22, 2011 at 8:51 AM
It’s always amusing how they even use the same language, the same anecdotes!
Leaving this aside the multiplexes have started slow or slower (and I suspect that there’s some exaggeration on the opening on this score because they’re all mostly focusing on the single screens) as expected for this film (or at least I did). If the film is to do a Ready or a Dabanng in these screens this pickup will easily take place by the evening at the latest. Neither the youth nor the family demographic turns up for this sort of film in a big way in multiplexes in the initial rounds even if times are changing. But in any case if that pickup happens and if this film becomes another massive grosser it would be extremely thrilling.
Not that there’s anything wrong with the Wanted formula either. If single screens are massive and multiplexes decent that’s still a winning combo. It just doesn’t get you the biggest grosses.
But yeah these masala remakes are certainly getting hot with all kinds of stars. The tide has been steadily turning. What a nightmare for Johar! LOL!
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July 22, 2011 at 9:39 AM
“But yeah these masala remakes are certainly getting hot with all kinds of stars. The tide has been steadily turning. What a nightmare for Johar! LOL!”
What is there to laugh??? How this scenario is better than the bollywood churning out NRI romances??? These are not even originals…borrowed from south industry…
I think if you hate remakes, hate NRI romances then i don’t know how can u cheer for these kind of films…
KJo will not have any night mare…he has money..he will hire a south director and make a south masala film in hindi…every producer will start to do so…Once we used to see a lot of NRI romnaces..in coming future we will see a lot of south films..so Cheer…
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July 22, 2011 at 9:50 AM
I think I’ve explained myself enough on this score.. why I prefer masala and so on.. as I have as well with respect to why this gives Johar nightmares.
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July 22, 2011 at 10:00 AM
By the time RaOne, Don 2 releases, all these south remakes will throw up Sallu, Ajay etc as desi challenges and big draw superstars. SRK must be getting jitters. Now no one can say like that silly girl that only sex and srk sell. Silly girl, properly packaged, even Imran, Emraan sell.
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July 22, 2011 at 10:25 AM
that’s the point I’ve been trying to make. SRK has been ‘catching up’ for a long time and the list is growing. But also the audience at large isn’t obsessed about 80 crores or 100 crores and so on. IT’s about what films create a splash and what films have a lasting impact. SRK is currently behind on both scores and has been for at least half a decade. Dabanng has made itself part of the popular culture vocabulary in very many ways. 3I needs no explanations on this score. Then you have these massive initials and grossers being thrown up with different stars. In the meantime you have DB setting the cult/edgy parameters. A ZNMD doing very well. So on and so forth. What’s the space here for SRK to define himself if not as the biggest star (that hasn’t been true for a while and it will never be true again) at least as a true-blue A-lister. No one’s denying he’s up there but he doesn’t have tone-setting films either in a critical or commercial sense. So it’s not even about Ra 1 or Don 2 doing well. That’s the minimum he needs just to survive as a real A-lister. But how much gross can he get out of each of these? Don 2 cannot be a defining film in any sense but can he get a Robot-like, Krrish-like success out of Ra 1? So on and so forth. The top star has to keep beating the competition one way or the other. Someone like Aamir does it at both ends (and everywhere in between). Salman is currently red hot, might have his third 100 crore grosser in a row. This isn’t a joke! The trade that used to eat out of SRK’s hand is itself not calling SRK the topmost star, it’s not just me! In an increasingly Hollywood-like system all this stuff matters.
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July 22, 2011 at 10:02 AM
RaOne, Don 2 release.
One Two ka Four.
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July 22, 2011 at 12:34 PM
I doubt that Johar will get any nightmare. Barring Aamir and maybe to some extent Salman, Johar can get just about any actor to work for his production house. With the Agneepath remake, he is already showing the change in his movie making ways. I am sure that he will mix and match his movies now instead of making stricly sweet little love stories like I HATE LOVE STORYS.
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July 22, 2011 at 6:23 PM
@ TheCoolDude – according to the TOI Salman has already refused a film with KJO so I don’t see that happening any time soon if ever.
To be honest I don’t think they will be good for each other. What can KJO make that will suit Salman. He can get SRK to do such roles and SRK will do more justice to them.
Will be interesting to see how Agneepath has shaped us and does also. His Kurbaan and WAF were BORINGGGGG!!!!
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July 23, 2011 at 5:09 AM
Is Komal crazy? Why is he going overboard? In fact, I wacted it in the 11 AM show this morning which was about 35% full. People did laugh at the comic scenes and comic-action scenes but to say that people are going crazy is an overstatement.
Anyways its PVR Saket – Delhi Im talking about. Dont know the situation in other multiplexes and single screens of the country
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July 23, 2011 at 9:16 AM
I have also heard similar feedback which is decent but nothin mindblasting which komal and taran are making it to be. But this is the sorry state of affairs in the trade keep their pockets happy they will show ur films to be blockbuster even before release. Infact pay them some more and they will provide negative commentary for ur competitors movie as well. It’s all a game be a part of it or suffer.
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July 23, 2011 at 9:47 AM
It’s complete exaggeration. They’re focusing on the single screens. Which is fine since these are doing very well. The multiplexes in Maharashtra are probably better overall but this is as I long expected very much the Wanted deal. I’ve seen the original here and if this were big in multiplexes I would have been quite surprised. This isn’t like Dabanng or Ready or Ghajini leaving aside individual star equations. But as usual the dishonesty here is that this is all they’ll talk. I am to be honest skeptical about some of the numbers to Taran has 9 crores, says it’s the revised Fri number. BOI have over 8 or so. These are higher than ZNMD’s day 1. But skeptical whether a film that is huge is single screens and not more than decent (at best) in multiplexes can match or exceed a film that does very well in multiplexes. a 9 crore gross is hard no matter how big the single screens.
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July 22, 2011 at 10:47 AM
Great to see the response of Singham thus far. Hope it’s HUGE hit.
Will report back after I see it tonight.
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July 22, 2011 at 11:47 AM
NY Times:
July 21, 2011
A Cop Meets Bollywood
By RACHEL SALTZ
According to “Singham,” a fists-of-steel throwback of a Bollywood film, India suffers from three things: “pollution, population and corruption.” As for the first two, well, what to do? For corruption, though, the movie has a solution: Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgn), a superman cop grown in village soil, with bulging muscles and rock-hard morals.
What makes “Singham” old-fashioned? Let me count the ways. First, there’s the 2-hour-20-minute running time, which bucks the new Bollywood trend to keep it short and lean. Then there’s the full complement of songs and dances — a treat, now that so many movies forgo musical numbers or include them only as spoofs.
Stylewise, “Singham,” directed by Rohit Shetty, recalls the 1970s and films like “Zanjeer,” Amitabh Bachchan’s Angry Young Man breakthrough. Singham, transferred from his village to Goa, is also angry about injustice and quick to fight all comers. When he does, things go flying: his fists and feet; cars and vans; legions of bad, bad men.
“Singham” has a doozy of an old-school villain too, a politically ambitious Goan kingpin (Prakash Raj) who kidnaps children, murders at will — he strangles a little boy! — and asks again and again, “Do you know who I am?” Well, yes, we do. You’re the face of corrupt city life, and Singham is your very opposite.
More and more, Bollywood movies are urban tales for urban audiences. What feels most backward-glancing about “Singham” is its uncomplicated, even cartoonish insistence on the benefits of village soil over city dirt for cultivating bedrock Indian values.
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July 22, 2011 at 12:20 PM
Don 2 carrying negative vibes?
By: Bollywood Mantra Staff on 22nd July 2011
Things have lately not seemed all hunky-dory for the superstar who was known to make women go weak in their knees and their men envious in his best days. Post the negative twitter vibes; it seems that fans have not taken the Don 2 trailer too kindly either.
When the official, full-length trailer was uploaded on YouTube recently, a majority of viewers gave it a major thumb-down. While a small percentage of fans were gung-ho about the 90-second sneak preview by calling it the most looked forward to film of the year, others have simply panned it. According to a portion of the Bollywood fanatics of YouTube, the film’s first look is even worse than SRK’s previous Don, which itself was a remake of Amitabh’s 1978 cult classic.
‘SRK should stick to his tiresome popcorn entertainers. The action image doesn’t suit him’, one viewer commented. Another posted, ‘I had high expectations from the trailer. However it is just a damp squib’.
If reactions from the mega video-portal site are an indication, the sequel to the successful remake might be in for a big trouble. It poses an important question to the superstar again – Have the general public grown tired of him?
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July 22, 2011 at 6:19 PM
Which Naveed is this???
Can you plz change your name coz I was here first 😛
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July 22, 2011 at 7:22 PM
I thought that was you too, glad you pointed it out. Yeah I agree. later posters with the same ID should distinguish themselves.
This other Naveed might not have realized you were already here but henceforth he should add something to Naveed, a number or something, or else use a different ID. Because we won’t know otherwise.
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July 22, 2011 at 12:30 PM
I would give SRK one credit though…He still has not jumped on this masala bandwagon even after the success of these movies. After RA 1 and DON 2, he has the Yash Chopra movie. That should be interesting test. Will the audience accept the romance that Chopra and Johar had so much success with during the 90s and until mid 2000s. The smart thing about Yash Chopra is that he comes up with new stuff whenever he directs a movie (got Uttam Singh for DTPH, got the old Manmohan Singh tunes for VZ, now getting A R Rahman for his new movie). I am sure this one will open huge as well which is good in a certain way. It means that the movie goers are not fixated on one genre. What I just don’t want to see is an overkill of one particular genre which is what happend after DDLJ and KKHH and is now happening after Ghajini and Dabbang.
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July 22, 2011 at 1:40 PM
SRK in fairness has always had a thing for hi-tech stuff. He’s always wanted to do this. So his choices are not insincere in this sense. In fact he’s said multiple times that he never believed in the romances he did. He didn’t even like DDLJ!
But also remember that he can still sell his base on the hi-tech stuff as part of an evolution for him in changing times. I think it would be quite for him to do a Singham in this sense! And of course there are basic questions of credibility. Salman has had a certain ‘downmarket’ persona for years that is now working for him with masala. Devgan has had action in his past. the star who’s been crazy about not doing this earlier is Akshay. He could have profited more than either star from this. He’s now finally doing it but way too late. Aamir and SRK cannot do the Singham kind of masala. It just wouldn’t be plausible. Which is why Aamir chose a more script-oriented Ghajini with the whole Memento angle to it. SRK could do this sort of thing. But the bar is still higher for him as he’s identified himself historically with the Johar side of the equation. This isn’t just about doing a different brand of cinema but about one that depends at least partly on deconstructing masala. If SRK did it the ‘aunties’ would be shocked in any case (!) and he wouldn’t get the younger demographic in enough numbers to make up for it. Salman and Devgan have single screen legitimacy in this format and when it’s the right vehicle the multiplexes come on board, not the other way round because the base audience for masala is in single screens, certainly when action is part of the mix. With Aamir his prestige and the astonishing trust the audience has in him overrides everything. at the time that Ghajini released no star in that film, none whatsoever, could have gotten that kind of historical initial and gross then. Now there are more examples. I’m talking about then. I’ve always urged Abhishek to do masala but I’ve had the Ghajini model (or the Kaakka Kaakka one which regrettably is now being done with John Abraham!) much more than the Singham one. Because Abhishek with the Bachchan signature has an easy entry into masala if he chooses to do it (and looks like he’s doing a bit now) but he also carries the risk that he can look more of a throwback also because of the very same signature in ways the others don’t.
All in all masala is still a very ‘tangled’ question within the parameters of Hindi multiplex cinema, which is after all the major driver of the gross. It is obviously great that there are an increasing number of films on this score and films that are doing well. The tide has definitely turned but it’s still the ‘handle with care’ phase as I see it. The multiplex audience still has to be cajoled into it. And again the hint from Aamir has still not been picked up. Ghajini has a future, Singham doesn’t. because masala with a narrative base can be sold on its own merits, the other kind depends on how hot a star is at that moment in time. Take the Salman model. He has a very good shot at a third 100 crore grosser. He’s red hot at the moment. But his is also a market that can evaporate relatively quickly. It’s the Akshay Kumar paradigm, the comedies were working, they working in a bigger way with him, eventually things got stale. Of course Akshay didn’t see the writing on the wall but the point is that the quality of cinema Salman is doing will depend on his brandname being red hot in this genre. And that’s always a dicey proposition in the sense that things can change quickly in this sense. Specially as more and more of his peers get attracted to this genre. For example I am not persuaded about Ek Tha Tiger. The Sohail Khan jungle project sounds completely bull. And there’s no wanted or Dabanng sequel in the works just at this moment. The mistake stars like Salman sometimes make even when they’re careful is that when try to graduate from base masala they get into stuff like Ek Tha Tiger. A more refined proposition more or less. But it might not be one that the base audience wants from him.
So even as masala seems to be developing a certain momentum in Hindi one shouldn’t forget that very little of it is homegrown if at all. It is almost totally a question of Southern remakes. Which is fine except that I’m unsure how long such a ‘fad’ lasts in the absence of more ‘organic’ (with respect to Hindi cinema) trends. Much as I don’t see any Bollywood talents taking masala forward for their own audiences. I cheer this phase, the more the merrier but this is still, and to be candid, bargain basement stuff! This by the way ought to be a reminder to those who think I am willing to support anything in the name of masala. I enjoyed Singam quite a bit with Surya, I’m sure it will be enjoyable in Hindi too but the contexts of each film are very different. Of course I’m not looking a gift-horse in the mouth! I’ll take whatever masala I can get but I think the more serious model here really ought to involve something like Khakee or something like Kaakka Kaakka. Not just police thrillers but just cinema with that kind of strong narrative base. Ironically Aamir himself did a bit of this with Sarfarosh all those years ago! That’s how you put roots within your own audience.
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July 22, 2011 at 12:38 PM
Something just hit me….where the hell are the Darshan brothers? Both Dhamesh and Suneel seems to have gone into a never ending hybernation after Akshay Kumar left their camp. Has anyone heard of them? I never found any of their movie a worthy of even a 2nd look but they were somewhat successful at the BO (Dharmesh more then Sunil).
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July 22, 2011 at 12:38 PM
With Double Dhamaal, Delhi Belly, Tranformers , Murder 2, Harry Potter, ZNMD and Now Singham working can we really say audience is fixated in one thing. Even BHTB recoverd costs.
All of this in just 1 month.
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July 22, 2011 at 1:53 PM
SINGHAM In Single Screens Close To READY
Friday 22nd July 2011 20.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Singham has had an excellent response at single screens and collections are just 5-10% short of Ready at most places. The figures for the first three shows at Kanpur single screens is below.
Heer
1st show – 27,878
2nd show – 31,828
3rd show – 27,220
Manjushree
1st show – 17,661
2nd show – 16,439
3rd show – 13,777
Gurdev
1st show – 19,248 (HF)
2nd show – 19,248 (HF)
3rd show – 19,248 (HF)
Sapna
1st show – 16,476
2nd show – 14,475
3rd show – 9,436
Despite a comparable to Ready single screen opening for Singham, it is the multiplex business that is going to keep the first day total of Singham well below the record 2011 opening day of 13.25 crore nett by Ready in June.
The multiplex collections coming in are 40-50% short of Ready so an early assessment of the business considering single screens and multiplexes is a first day total 25-35% less than Ready which would mean a good to very good first day on an all India basis.
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July 22, 2011 at 1:54 PM
I’ve been saying this for ages. The model for Singham in terms of the single screen/multiplex spread is Wanted, not Ready or Ghajini or Dabanng.
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July 22, 2011 at 5:24 PM
Singham numbers are impressive. Expectedly so. A bit short of what was being predicted tho. Will do a crore or so more than DB/.ZNMD. Not breaking any records. Tho will end up being Ajay’s biggest grosser.
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July 22, 2011 at 6:46 PM
I’ve never expected it breaks any records. SK’s movies has some humour with action which attracts multiplex. Only action rarely the multiplex friendly. I think slowly my favourite star is breaking records is going away. Murder-2 and Singham are latest ones.
I am sensing people get bored of action movies not too far.
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July 22, 2011 at 8:49 PM
G3 is ajay’s biggest grosser, i dont think singham will cross the 100cr mark.
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July 22, 2011 at 11:17 PM
Bollywood depends on South for generating box office grossers while South never depended on north.
On the otherhand it had supplied a wizard like A.R.Rehman, a maverick genius like RGV, dreamgirls.
But South Industry still produces same kind of over the top movies and lacks some hatke directors like we do have in bollywood.
While Mani Ratnam stands confused as to where he wants to belong, Kamalahasan has stepped into the world which has little connect to the huge Rajni type movie worshippers. Seems both want to have hollywood touch for kollywood in different ways.
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July 23, 2011 at 5:23 AM
most of the heroins in south are imported from North – tamil and telugu films esp.
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July 23, 2011 at 5:58 AM
But they are not in the same class as Vyjayantimala, Padmini, Hema Malini, Rekha, Sridevi, Jayaprada etc.
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July 22, 2011 at 11:19 PM
While Rajni is somewhat in the Amitabh, SRK mould leaving creativity for others and just happy to be actors, Kamalahasan somewhat is akin to Aamir Khan in trying to be creative as well.
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July 22, 2011 at 11:50 PM
That may explain Rajni’s popularity. He just concentrates on one thing, that is giving his presence and style to the fullest and his directors know the pulse of the people while Kamal lost touch with that vital aspect and indulges himself instead of indulging the public or his fans.
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July 22, 2011 at 11:21 PM
Singham hero is is marathi cop while Dabangg hero is UP cop.
Which cop is better?
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July 22, 2011 at 11:56 PM
Both films have some Zanjeer in them.
But Zanjeer was subtle yet forceful. An understated film but highly effective.
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July 23, 2011 at 12:56 AM
Its ZNMD That Roars At Multiplexes And Not Singham
Saturday 23rd July 2011 10.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Its seems that it is Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara that has roared like a lion at multiplexes especially in the cities instead of Singham as it recorded better 8th day collections than Singham on day one across most multiplexes in the Delhi NCR and Punjab area.. Below are a the collections of Singham on day one and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara on 8th day at multiplexes in Delhi NCR and Punjab area.
Cinemax Delhi
Singham – 1,69,087
ZNMD – 2,13,595
PVR Chandigarh
Singham – 1,74,000
ZNMD – 2,38,000
Wave Ludhiana
Singham – 1,13,000
ZNMD – 1,85,000
PVR Ambience Gurgaon
Singham – 2,17,106
ZNMD – 3,19,256
PVR MGF Gurgaon
Singham – 2,66,527
ZNMD – 3,35,409
DT Mega Gurgaon
Singham – 62,016
ZNMD – 93,573
DT City Gurgaon
Singham – 97,996
ZNMD – 1,29,571
DT Star Gurgaon
Singham – 1,08,226
ZNMD – 86,611
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July 23, 2011 at 1:00 AM
It will take some time but Multiplex audience will slowly reject all these MASALA stuff..
Congrats to the ZNMD team..Specially happy for Zoya Akhtar…
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July 23, 2011 at 5:37 AM
Singhan and ZMND both released by Reliance. Did they purposefully held Singham’s multiplex until last minute? It looks no advance booking for Singham until Friday.
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July 23, 2011 at 5:13 AM
Satyam,take it from me.Aamir is finished as a superstar.Dhoom3 may be successful but it is a franchise film.Srk will be finished as a superstar this year.Srk’s strenth genre is romance which is outdated.He is doing don2, and angoor remake.He cant change genres now.He was always bad in comedy.And he cant do the dabangg kind of film either.The same goes for salman also.
From this year there will be changes in bollywood star rankings.
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July 23, 2011 at 5:55 AM
Wishful thinking.
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July 23, 2011 at 9:04 AM
Tushar Kapoor will be the ultimate new superstar !!
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July 23, 2011 at 9:26 AM
ZNMD has performed remarkably well. I saw a housefull midnight show at the Deira City Center, and was surprised at the response. WOM is great, this one may trend rather well in the coming weeks. It seems as though ZNMD is the DCH moment for Hrithik. It has breathed new life into his career.
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July 23, 2011 at 9:36 AM
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara Has Good Second Friday
Saturday 23rd July 2011 13.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara had a good second Friday of around 2.75 crore nett despite the release of Singham. The film only had a one week run at single screens but at multiplexes it gave Singham tough competition despite it being in its second week.
In the North it actually had better collections than Singham on its 8th day at multiplexes while in other metros like Mumbai and Kolkata collections were similar at multiplexes. Outside the metros it is doing average business at multiplexes.
The weekend should go over 10 crore nett and the film is well settled at metro multiplexes and will have a good run until the release of Arakshan in three weeks time. The release of Singham was the biggest obstacle for the film as collections could have dropped sharply but they have held up well and now no competition for three weeks. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobora will cross 60 crore nett in two weeks.
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July 23, 2011 at 9:43 AM
It will have to show a big jump over the weekend though to add to its considerable week 1 gross. In all probability that should happen. But doesn’t look like a 75 crore grosser or so. Unless again it shows incredible jumps over Sat/Sun.
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July 23, 2011 at 9:37 AM
Singham First Day Territorial Breakdown
Saturday 23rd July 2011 15.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Singham collected a good 8.50 crore nett approx on its first day thanks to strong business in Mumbai, CP Berar, Rajasthan and Nizam. East Punjab and West Bengal performed very poorly. The film lost around 20-25 lakhs in Mysore circuit as the film played late in Karnataka state. The territorial breakdown is as follows.
Mumbai/Thane -1.29 crore
Gujarat – 94 lakhs
Saurashtra – 24 lakhs
Maharashtra/Goa – 1.01 crore
Mumbai Circuit – 3.48 crore
Delhi/UP – 1.60 crore
East Punjab – 56 lakhs
West Bengal – 26 lakhs
Bihar – 26 lakhs
Assam/Orissa – 15 lakhs
CP Berar – 59 lakhs
CI – 35 lakhs
Rajasthan – 61 lakhs
Nizam – 55 lakhs
Mysore – 5 lakhs
Tamil Nadu/Kerala – 9 lakhs
TOTAL – 8.55 crore
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July 23, 2011 at 9:38 AM
Taran has 9 crores.
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July 23, 2011 at 9:58 AM
Every one is getting hit these days except Bachchans. Why it is becoming uphill task for them when others getting easily. I have to wait for Bol Bachchan , not confident of Players BO.
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July 23, 2011 at 10:23 AM
If Abhishek builds a ripping body like AjayD and plays to the crowd in a masala South remake, even he will get a 100cr grosser.
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July 23, 2011 at 10:54 AM
May be,but I doubt it, by that time masala wave will be over.
I can’t even imagine he doing Ready/Singham. He is so natural,never fit in this type.
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July 23, 2011 at 12:50 PM
“If Abhishek builds a ripping body like AjayD and plays to the crowd in a masala South remake, even he will get a 100cr grosser.”
Well even Tushar Kapoor fans can claim the same..These kind of movies needs a certain kind of screen presence, performance and a huge fan following which Abhishek does not have right now..
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July 23, 2011 at 1:11 PM
I don’t believe he needs to build that kind of body at all.. I’ve always disagreed with this… on the rest.. as I said the other day.. you will have a life of many regrets on the Bollywood front! Those who are addicted to the ‘present’ find life torture when the future suddenly whacks them! Having said that after your statements on Aamir and others the other day one shouldn’t even be arguing with you on Abhishek!
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July 23, 2011 at 11:31 AM
It’s not rocket science Ted.. Bachchan is a different deal altogether.. he can’t be expected to compete straight up with young stars at his age. Abhishek’s films tell the whole story. Turn it the other way round. What star would get hits out of the films he’s done? or rather significantly better performances? None! And the records of other stars prove it. Hrithik does Guzaarish once. What if he were to do this sort of risky thing again and again. We saw with DMD and despite the film not performing as much as expect and despite Abhishek having hit rock bottom after KHJJS and Game that the film still did reasonably well (better than BBB isn’t a bad deal given the genre and everything). So the moment you do a film which attracts some cross-section of the audience you dramatically increase your initial and gross despite being in a very shaky box office position. The thing is that most stars take these risks once in a while. Abhishek has consistently done so one way or the other. There’s definitely some bad luck here as well. It’s not every time that a Mehra film and a Rathnam film will not work (Rathnam could have been doing Guru when he did Raavan and vice versa). So timing is a part of it. But overall when you step back you realize this is a guy who is unwilling to do even the purely commercial unless there’s a risk element involved. Up until now. Because now he’s gone commercial in a very big way. With Abbas-Mustaan, with puri, With Rohit shetty. Not just ‘commercial’ but different genres as well. Plus he confirmed once more he was finishing the modalities on the Prabhudeva film. If DMD did 35 crores you’re not going to get any of these films to do much better than this even if these disappoint. That’s how it works with very commercial fare. As for ‘everyone’ getting hits the trajectories have been different but again when you have a failure or two you try and do the safer thing a lot of times even within ‘different’. It’s not hard to figure out. Devgan was in the doldrums for a long time. He wasn’t even mentioned much. Then he slowly clawed back after the Golmaal series, he hardly gets the Akshay kind of credit here but of course there was a cumulative impact, then OUATIM last year and now Singham. But OUATIM was hardly a huge grosser or anything though it did well, Singham is unlikely to have a very big gross without multiplex participation. Salman was on vacation for most of the last decade before Wanted. The difference is that with many of these stars the media-trade doesn’t obsess with them and gives them a free pass when they don’t make news. With Abhishek the narrative never ceases. There are always all sorts of pieces and so on. Even when he is successful he doesn’t get those narratives and we’ve seen this almost from the moment he got successful. That’s just the way it is. Which is why one should also be careful in terms of not investing too much in these narratives. Take the accounts on Singham. These are plainly biased and untruthful. If one just talks about single screens they’re fine but the trade is not paying much attention to multiplexes. With an Abhishek film if this had happened they would have either mauled it or acknowledged it very weakly. When ZNMD does well in multiplexes and zero elsewhere they say it was always meant to be a multiplex film. When Abhishek has a similar deal they keep quoting single figure screens and so on. One can’t invest too much into this stuff. It’s important online but otherwise it’s just a very different set of impressions.
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July 23, 2011 at 3:16 PM
Trana finally posted Singham doesn’t cross Reday. Now he is blaming lack of hit track.
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July 23, 2011 at 3:25 PM
When all the numbers match ofcourse they are producer numbers.
http://www.boxofficeindia.co.in/singham-first-day-collection/
Taran Tweets
#Singham *revised figure* Friday – Rs 9.09 cr nett.
#Singham Fri – Mumbai 3.42 cr, DelhiUP 1.62 cr, Punjab 58 lacs, Bengal 28 lacs, Nizam 56 lacs, CP 59 lacs, Tamil Nadu/Kerala 10 lacs. contd
#Singham Fri – Rajasthan 63 lacs, CI 36 lacs, Assam 10 lacs, Bihar 68 lacs, Orissa 9 lacs, Nepal 2.7 lacs, Mysore 5 lacs. Total 9.09 cr.
ps – Look at the roundness of the numbers 🙂
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July 24, 2011 at 12:50 PM
you are absolutely right, i think it’s ab’s films or his choice of films that have failed, there is also little element of bad luck, i donot consider media factor, because when guru and dostana became super hit, media has to accept, having said that media after his marraige is not freindly or positive with him, i am his fan since his debut, but i still thinks some of his choices are very bad, i have objactions with his films like drona, khjjs, umrao jaan. if he wants to do film on chittagong then he should opt for documentry for some history channel, that will be informative to all of us, should not be tried as commercial cinema, with subject like drona you need very clever and commercially proven director, who can make entertaining fantacy, while j.p. had already lost his touch since refugee, so no need for another film with him professionally, i think he has done that film due to personal attachment with jp, jbj was totally mishandled by director shaad, i rather proud that he has signed raavan and delhi 6, raavan was very risky and challenging subject, i think both above mentioned films failed commercially, not creatively,
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July 24, 2011 at 1:22 PM
The thing is star potential isn’t something static. It isn’t so for any star no matter how big. But there is a distinction to be made between stars who ‘can’ be very big and those for whom those possibilities are foreclosed. In this sense Saif or Shahid Kapoor are those stars who never be in Abhishek’s position irrespective of how some films do here and there. And this is proven by the ‘bets’ the industry places on Abhishek vis-a-vis those other two stars and even including at the lowest point of the the latter.
However this doesn’t mean that even a star who can be ‘big’ isn’t affected by hits or flops. Hits have a cumulative impact as do flops. Because the audience always has an unspoken ‘pact’ with any star once that basic stardom threshold is crossed that the star will in fact deliver whatever those audience expectations might be. Hence the cumulative impact. The only truly fatal thing for a star is age, this issue can never be ‘redressed’ if you will and if the star hasn’t reinvented himself he faces declining fortunes. even the best reinventions cannot bring ‘youth’ back (which is always what drives the box office) but a certain ‘arrangement’ can be established by the star with the audience whereby a certain box office dominance is maintained. Note how Aamir doesn’t really disprove this rule because even as he’s advancing in years his films don’t at all depend on his looking fantastic in his films. The ‘pact’ here is about the quality the audience expects and gets from his films. But with any other star the physicality is a big part of it. If the audience cannot be in love with the star anymore for the reasons they once did the magic evaporates pretty quickly even if it can be sometimes disguised when the star nonetheless continues to get some sort of box office success. So rajesh Khanna was getting hits in ’74, one of his better years in fact, but the game was up for him. In a different sense Ra 1 or Don 2, the past isn’t going to come back for SRK. And these aren’t the reinventions that can take him into the future because these genres aren’t associated with older stars. Even if they’re hits the star obviously cannot keep doing this.
As long as a star is younger these problems don’t exist. The right hit and things are back on track. However this doesn’t mean that such a star has ‘forever’. Because that window on youth is also a relatively short one. But also the flops can still derail a narrative in significant ways.
In each case it is about seeing more or less into both hits and flops. It is never just about grosses and so on unless there is an overwhelming case made this way. The irony here is that a typical distributor will often insist on the bigger star for the safer genre as opposed to the riskier one. Because in the safe genre where the maximum audience is showing up you can really jack up the initial by having the biggest star (for that genre). But in a somewhat more offbeat film the star needs a certain credibility for the genre which is not always the same as having the biggest star. This is what explains the gap over the last ten years between those Bollywood stars who were at any given time verifiably the biggest in a box office sense and those that attracted the best ‘prestige’ films.
On Abhishek for all of these reasons his initial in the next very commercial film that he does cannot be, all else being equal, what it would have been post-Guru or even a year after this let alone immediately after ’05 (no matter how big it might otherwise be in the right project). when a star is in the zone audience interest is maximum and least dependent on the quality of the project. hence Hrithik after KNPH was getting the sorts of blind initials for some very mediocre films that have never been possible for him since. So at whatever level of stardom one is this factor is important. What happens is that sometimes facts on the ground obscure things. Once upon a time SRK would get good or better initials for all kinds of films. Today we see even Don or RNBDJ have relatively tepid starts. Decent or better but not at all consonant with the scale of those projects (banners, advertising et al).
The point I’m trying to make overall is that ‘potential’ is a very complicated term for a star. But even those who have it or have displayed it in some fashion cannot take it for granted. The star has to keep drawing in the audience and this isn’t easy.
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July 23, 2011 at 10:23 AM
July 2008, Salman Khan fought at a birthday party. Three years later, history repeats itself. This time, however it wasn’t his girlfriend’s birthday, nor did he fight with his close friend.
On Thursday night, at Maanyata Dutt’s birthday bash, the Dabangg man had yet another fight. This time however, it wasn’t with any other Khan but filmmaker Bunty Walia.
Sanjay Dutt threw a lavish birthday party for his wife Maanyata and invited all his close friends home, which needless to say, included both Salman and Bunty.
According to sources from the party, Salman, who walked in well past midnight, went straight to Bunty and started arguing with him. Within no time, the fight became ugly. Before it could come to fisticuffs, Dutt’s business manager and close friend Dharam Oberoi intervened and took Walia away.
A source told Mumbai Mirror, “Sanju held the party to bring in his wife Maanyata’s birthday. He had invited all his close friends including Ameesha Patel, Neha Uberoi, Fardeen Khan, Zayed Khan, Ashish Chowdhury and many others.
Filmmakers David Dhawan, Indra Kumar and Rajkumar Santoshi were also present. Salman Khan walked in to the party around 2 am, well past midnight. On reaching, he greeted everyone and then bumped into Bunty Walia. Salman was already in high spirits. On seeing Bunty, he started arguing with the filmmaker.
After some time, the argument got so loud that despite the music playing at the party, all people could hear were Salman and Bunty.
They started abusing each other. Had it not been for Dharam Oberoi’s intervention, who knows what would have happened. Dharam separated the two and took Bunty away. Had he not intervened at the right time, the fight would have become physical.”
“Sanjay Dutt, the host of the party had incidentally, gone down at that time to drop Fardeen Khan and his wife to their car. He was nowhere to be seen when all this happened.
In fact, Walia was heard telling one of the guests, that since he did not want to create a scene, he would rather leave. When Bunty was leaving, he bumped into Sanju who was coming in after dropping Fardeen,” added the source.
Needless to say, Sanju who is known as one of Salman Khan’s closest friends in the industry, did not take much time to realise that something was wrong.
“Dutt chose to keep quiet about the incident. In fact, after that he partied with Salman and the rest of the guests till the wee hours of the morning,” said the source.
Salman Khan takes up a fight with Bunty Walia
Salman Khan and Bunty Walia, it seems have been on not-so-good terms for a while now. A source informed, “Bunty Walia and Salman’s brother Sohail Khan were business partners at one point in time.
However, after Bunty and Sohail went their separate ways, all has not been well between the Khan clan and Bunty. In fact, Salman and Bunty had got into a fight before as well.”
Bunty Walia, Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan did not reply to our text messages.
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July 23, 2011 at 10:39 AM
My take on Singham:
Like Dabangg and Ready, it’s a film that focusses on and showcases Ajay’s screen presence and his star power. When I entered the theatre, I didn’t have high expectations and was expecting a brainless entertainer at the very maximum. The trailers never suggested otherwise and am not a big fan of Rohit Shetty’s directorial capabilities.
It did have a few entertaining moments despite appearing cartoonish and silly in many scenes. The romance between Ajay and the leading lady isnt worth mentioning about but some comic situations do bring a smile to your face. As far as the screenplay is concerned, it’s outrageous as expected and situations highly improbable yet the film will keep one entertained. Maybe it has something to do with getting used to the outlandish masala that lately been seen in Hindi films. Had something like this arrived around 3 years back when Bollywood was keen on experimenting either with new subjects or making hardcore multiplex films under the YRF/Johar influence, I would have called this trash. But since Wanted/Dabangg have brought the culture back and nonsensical films like Ready milked the mass entertainment seeking public, I already knew what exactly to expect from a film like Singham.
It’s strictly timepass. Nothing worth mentioning here as everything was over-the-top but it hardly bored me. Something uniquely silly was uniformly on display. Having said that, it is definitely more tolerable than Ready.
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July 23, 2011 at 10:56 AM
Totally OT:
There was a stampede at AB ‘s house last Sunday and police had to intervene to control the crowds. 1 in every 2 tourists coming to Bombay makes a stop at Pratiksha. Till 2009 it used to be a stop for all Tourist buses till they were stopped by Police who cited traffic congestion as the reason.
This is called star power.
Lets see who goes to see other stars’ houses when they are 69!
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July 23, 2011 at 11:18 AM
agreed completely…
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July 23, 2011 at 11:22 AM
ZMND is raking in the moolah in the US, went to a suburban NJ theater yesterday and it had both the night shows sold out. I suspect this weekend is going to be good as well. ZMND is a huge shot in the arm for Hrithik after 2 flops and Agneepath potentially seeming like a dud as well
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July 23, 2011 at 8:30 PM
Friday Report: ‘Captain America’ Leads, ‘Harry Potter’ Bleeds
by Brandon Gray
Captain America: The First Avenger
July 23, 2011
Despite being the last to strike, the most famous superhero of Summer 2011’s comic-book onslaught delivered the best opening salvo of the bunch, while the wizard wunderkind’s last stand fell prey to the adage, “the bigger they are, the harder they fall.”
Captain America: The First Avenger made an estimated $25.8 million on approximately 7,100 screens at 3,715 locations, edging out fellow Avenger Thor’s $25.5 million to top the summer’s superhero launches. In terms of estimated attendance, though, Captain’s first day was comparable to G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra but less than Fantastic Four and X-Men among past July Marvel Comics kick-offs. Captain’s run included 2,511 locations presenting the movie in the 3D illusion, and 3D accounted for 40 percent of the gross. Distributor Paramount Pictures’ exit polling indicated that 64 percent of the Captain’s crowd was male (about the same as Thor) and 57 percent was 25 years of age and older (skewing younger than Thor’s 72 percent).
If Captain America sees a trajectory like past comparable movies, its weekend would land in the $63-68 million range.
Plummeting 84 percent from last Friday’s record, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II was a distant second with an estimated $14.6 million. The Friday-to-Friday fall was far more severe than past opening weekend record breakers The Dark Knight (65 percent), Spider-Man 3 (71 percent) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (67 percent) and by far the worst yet for a Harry Potter movie. However, that spoke more to the fan frenzy of opening day than to the fans’ reaction to the movie, and, with a whopping $240.7 million tally in eight days, Deathly Hallows Part 2 was still the fastest-grossing Potter yet, topping Deathly Hallows Part I’s $190.8 million eight-day run. In fact, Deathly Hallows Part 2 posted the second highest-grossing eight-day opening ever, behind The Dark Knight’s $261.8 million, and it ranked fifth in estimated attendance.
Meanwhile, Friends with Benefits got off to an estimated $6.8 million start on around 3,500 screens at 2,926 locations. That was a tad less than fellow “friends-with-benefits” sex comedy No Strings Attached’s $7.3 million back in January.
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July 23, 2011 at 8:31 PM
Guess I might have been wrong about Captain America’s box office prospects elsewhere..
The harry Potter drop meanwhile is pretty stunning!
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July 23, 2011 at 9:30 PM
Just got back from watching Captain America and it was probably the weakest marvel movie. it dragged in the begininng. Thor was a lot better than this and that isn’t saying much. does anyone know if spider man will be included in the avengers movie coming out next may?
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July 24, 2011 at 12:05 AM
Spider-man isn’t part of it (though he was part of the ‘new’ Avengers much later). It’s Thor, Iron-Man, Captain America, Hulk. The team also had Ant-Man and Wasp. Not sure if the movie features these last two.
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July 24, 2011 at 2:46 AM
ok cool…did not know that part about spider man being part of the avengers later on.
on captain america i totally agree with roepers review…
http://www.richardroeper.com/reviews/captainamericathefirstavenger.aspx
i saw it in 3D and there wasn’t anything 3D worthy about it.
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July 24, 2011 at 8:51 AM
Spider-Man and wolverine joined the Avengers with some other additions but in a reboot over the last decade there was also the New Avengers with these two and other different members. The latter never really caught on. But this is a complicated history. There were the Might Avengers at one point too with some other changes.
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July 24, 2011 at 2:47 AM
RT has it at 73% fresh rating…maybe i expected too much out of it.
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July 24, 2011 at 2:58 AM
http://www.richardroeper.com/reviews/thor.aspx
i agree with roeper here again. for me the lead actor in thor was good and chris evans in Captain America was pretty dull. im not a comic book guy but thor was entertaining as hell for me. Captain America just should’ve been more entertaining.
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July 24, 2011 at 11:27 AM
Agree with you aamir:
Enjoyed Thor (was quite humorous actually) lot more than capt. america.
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July 24, 2011 at 9:10 AM
Singham Saturday Territorial Breakdown
Sunday 24th July 2011 17.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Singham had limited growth on Saturday as the circuits where it took strong start dropped a little or stayed roughly the same. Mumbai circuit grew and the rest came from Mysore which had a full day and added to collections. Sunday should show big jumps as it doing well in areas which have very big jumps on Sunday like Maharashtra, CP Berar and Gujarat. The two day total for the film is 18 crore nett. The territory numbers for Saturday are below with Friday in brackets.
Mumbai – 405 (341)
Delhi/UP – 161 (161)
East Punjab – 60 (56)
West Bengal – 29 (26)
Bihar – 26 (28)
Assam/Orissa 15 (17)
CP Berar 58 (59)
CI – 33 (35)
Rajasthan – 54 (62)
Nizam – 55 (55)
Mysore 40 (5)
Tamil Nadu/Kerala 8 (9)
TOTAL 944 (854)
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July 24, 2011 at 9:11 AM
Doubt this will even get to Wanted at this rate, Not surprised at all.
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July 24, 2011 at 10:00 AM
taran_adarsh taran adarsh
Singham: Fri 9 cr, Sat 9.50 cr [estimates]. Total: Rs 18.50 cr + nett.
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July 24, 2011 at 9:11 AM
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara Super Strong Second Saturday
Sunday 24th July 2011 12.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara had a super strong second Saturday as collections jumped to 4.25 crore nett from 2.75 crore nett on Friday. That is a 55% jump on Saturday from Friday. The second weekend has grossed 7 crore nett in two days and the nine day total of the film is 52 crore nett plus. Some territory numbers for second Saturday are below with first Friday in brackets.
Delhi/UP – 94 (60)
East Punjab – 45 (31)
CI – 10 (7)
Rajasthan – 14 (10)
Mysore 33 (24)
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July 24, 2011 at 9:14 AM
though it looked like it might be possible after the way the first week went this one too won’t get to 80 crores or anything, 65-70 looks to be the range here. Basically in that LAK, APKGK zone all things accounted for.
Let’s see if BOI and the ‘trade’ call this one honestly based on all the budget numbers and so on! of course not!
Otherwise it’s of course done well with its target audience though I would have expected greater retention over the second weekend.
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July 24, 2011 at 7:06 PM
I am a little surprised at how well ZNMD is performing. Hopefully the commericals success will allow Zoya to produce a much less compromised product next time around. Frankly this one was rather unengaging.
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July 24, 2011 at 9:59 AM
taran_adarsh taran adarsh
ZNMD [2nd Week] Fri 2.5 cr, Sat 3.6 cr.
given that Taran has otherwise been ahead of BOI all along on this film his lower Sat number is surprising,
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July 24, 2011 at 9:34 AM
Kanchan by Lawrence is doing very well in AP. I don’t know how it fared in TN. Nanna by Vikram has got critical reviews, but fared very badly.
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July 24, 2011 at 9:57 AM
The Vikram film has done well in Tamil:
http://www.sify.com/movies/boxoffice.php?id=14974839&cid=13525926
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July 24, 2011 at 9:58 AM
Kollywood -Progress Report, Jan 1 to June 30, 2011
2011-07-22 13:20:52
Last Updated: 2011-07-22 13:54:10
The Kollywood half yearly report card (January 1 to June 30) indicates that it is a mixed bag for the industry. The number of hits is few though there were 65 straight Tamil releases.
The trends emerging are a star alone by his presence cannot make a film a hit, the content has to be engrossing and entertaining. Good music and aggressive promotions is the key to a good opening.
Small movies made on a budget of Rs 4 to 5 Crore , without marketing muscle do not stand a chance to recover their investment.
Remakes from other languages or Hollywood inspired films are the flavour of the day. Strong Tamil Nadu nativity is no longer working; especially for the half a dozen Madurai milieu based films that have come a cropper at the box-office.
The industry continues to be superstar dominated, and only their films get an opening. Among the films released in the first half Aadukalam and Aarayanakandam got critical acclaim, with Dhanush getting a National Award for his performance in the Vetrimaran directed film.
Two heroes who climbed the ladder of stardom in 2011 are Karthi and Jiiva whose Siruthai and Ko are two of the biggest hits of the year.
Among the films released till June 30, there is one blockbuster Ko and a super hit Siruthai. These two films have covered their cost of production and print and publicity from their Indian domestic theatrical collections alone!
The films in the hit category taking into consideration their theatrical collections along with other revenue rights like television, audio, DVD and overseas are few.
The films classified as hits taking all rights into consideration are the following in alphabetic order- Aadukalam, Avan Ivan, Ethan, Kaavalan, Thoonga Nagaram and Vaanam
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July 24, 2011 at 1:06 PM
‘Captain America’ knocks Harry from No. 1 spot
APAP – 34 mins ago
LOS ANGELES (AP) — In a battle of summer movie heroes, Captain America topped Harry Potter this weekend at the box office.
Sunday studio estimates show Paramount’s “Captain America: The First Avenger” opened at No. 1 with $65.8 million. The Marvel Comics superhero movie sets up next summer’s all-star blockbuster “The Avengers.”
Warner Bros.’ “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” the eighth and final part in the boy-wizard franchise, dropped to the second spot. It made just over $48 million in its second weekend for a domestic total of $274.1 million.
The week’s other big release, Sony’s “Friends With Benefits,” opened at No. 3 with $18.5 million. The romantic comedy stars Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis as friends who try to maintain a strictly physical relationship.
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July 24, 2011 at 8:06 PM
This is a surprising haul for Captain America. Didn’t anticipate this kind of opening, especially given it had the last Harry Potter movie, just one week old, to contend with…
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July 24, 2011 at 8:10 PM
nor did I…
more details:
http://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3221&p=.htm
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July 24, 2011 at 6:52 PM
Saw ZNMD yesterday.
Liked it quite a bit. If one can get over the fact that the film deosnt represent reality for a majority of Indian population, it is a very enjoyable film with good performances and effective direction.
Am beginning to like Katrina.She is becoming something of an ‘actress’. She was quite believable in the role of the free-spirited girl.
All male leads shared good chemistry and very competent performances. Hrithik is the star attraction here and even if Farhan has a slightly bigger role, this one rests on hrithik’s shoulders. Without him, the film would have been a 30-40 crore grosser. Hrithik’s eyes did look a little puffy which was surprising. Naseer was wasted and for an actor of his calibre he seemed not to understand the perils of over underplaying.Locales are simply superb. Only discordant note was Kalki and if anyone knows a reason for her being in films, please let me know. This is a film KJo would make if he had a brain and a heart.
So overall no surprises except for Ms.Kaif
On a separate note, Jay will be over the moon to know that K3G2 now seems a distinct possibility.
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July 24, 2011 at 7:07 PM
“If one can get over the fact that the film deosnt represent reality for a majority of Indian population”
http://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/2011/jul/210711-Farhan-Akhtar-Zindagi-Na-Milegi-Dobara-visit-Spain.htm
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July 24, 2011 at 7:30 PM
Farhan sounds like an idiot when he says that.
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July 24, 2011 at 9:57 PM
“This is a film KJo would make if he had a brain and a heart.”
LOL
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July 24, 2011 at 7:38 PM
Have major issues with Farhan thinking/behaving/acting like a superstar , forget about anything in the vicinity of Hritik.
Having said that, Farhan is an intelligent director, producer (easily one of the better onez), a reasonable actor and someone with a unique voice timber (wont call hima singer yet)
If he manages to keep his attitude and ego there, he is fine ……
The fact that he seemingly has a better/longer role than HR in ZNMD is surprising….
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July 24, 2011 at 7:55 PM
don’t think it’s a longer role (might be a few additional scenes here and there) but it’s symbolically the most important one in the film.
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July 24, 2011 at 8:45 PM
If HR was in 2005 hit phase,he would not have done this film.
He also badly need a hit before Agnipath. Akhtar’s took the advantage..
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July 24, 2011 at 9:45 PM
I think more significant than Farhan Akhtar’s role here or any questions of footage (which I don’t think was a big deal) is the fact that Hrithik isn’t playing on home turf. He is a ‘character’ here not the point of the film which is always hard for a star to do. It’s not just that he cannot play the star in his usual way but also that he isn’t doing a Guzaarish or a JA where in a ‘different’ part he is nonetheless the focal point of the film. This is his disadvantage more than anything else. It’s always hard for a star to become a character. Now of course the role nonetheless flatters him in that he has to look good and so on but for Farhan Akhtar this is really his terrain. He can be a regular, quirky sort of character. That’s his strength or at least something where he’s made a base with the audience. Again Abhay Deol is fine in the same sense (if he’s flat he’s no moreso than he is everywhere else!). The equation for Hrithik is very different. There would be an opposite problem if Farhan were to land up in a regular Hrithik venture.
This is something I’ve said time and time again. Roles where stars have to play ‘characters’ are tricky because the audience always wants to see the star. If the star is a good actor the signature can be easily canceled, if not the star can simply be more restrained. Either way the audience finds the star somewhat missing. In ZNMD Farhan is exactly what one expects him to be. Hrithik is fine but because he has to be restrained and he doesn’t get to do what he normally does. The most telling moment in this sense is the Senorita one where Hrithik as the infinitely superior dancer to the other two is strangely brought down to their level and Farhan is meanwhile elevated. Because the impromptu sort of choreography is ridiculously easy for Hrithik and certain;y he’s quickest with it but he also seems weirdly out of place. Because this isn’t a platform where his kind of proficiency is required.
Now if this were a solo hero film it would be less of an issue because the film would then move at the comfort level of Hrithik. But as things stand he has to adapt to Farhan’s rhythm. Because once again the terrain favors the latter.
But all of this is I believe an imbalance in the film and I’ve always felt this would be an issue. They should either have had a third actor like Farhan and Abhay or all three like Hrithik, i.e. stars in some sense. It is but natural that Farhan and Abhay are on one plane and Hrithik on another. Even though the latter did quite alright there is asymmetry here.
Also think the film would have been better off without Katrina Kaif and a more ‘real’ actress for that turf (though of course not in a box office sense)!
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July 24, 2011 at 9:59 PM
and here an addition is necessary, something I’ve often said in the past too. Part of Abhishek’s problem for a while wasn’t just the films and so on but the fact that the ‘star’ couldn’t be discovered in these films. He was more often than not playing ‘characters’. Notice that the moment he played star again in DMD he immediately got great reviews and for the most part even many who didn’t like the film liked him in it. I’ve argued this from the very beginning. Abhishek has in many ways been the ‘reluctant’ star which is to say the guy least willing to simply play signature. When he does so in different genres people warm up to the films. His most acclaimed performance (rightly or wrongly) is Guru that most requires him to be a larger than life figure! The question isn’t about physicality or charisma but the fact that the audience doesn’t get ‘that’ Abhishek very often!
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July 24, 2011 at 10:03 PM
If I were Hrithik I’d attempt the ZNMD terrain once more with the right director but do it as a solo act. I think there were some possibilities with his character that the film didn’t explore properly. He’s always the more reflective type. he should have had a more serious ‘crisis’ somewhere. But it’s the rather non-serious Farhan who gets the poetry and then the whole angle with the father. All of this would have worked better with the Hrithik character. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been a trade, just successful at something else.
The way to effectively work around the ‘star signature’ in a film which doesn’t require it is not to try and cancel it out but to make the star vulnerable in ways that normal commercial cinema doesn’t allow for. Mukherjee was always magnificent at this. Hence a film like Jurmana comes relatively late in 1979 when Bachchan is at his heights but the director incorporates this stardom into his film. He registers it within his narrative. And so he gives Bachchan a character that requires him to be a star and then proceeds to wound that self-image and complacency. Similarly in ZNMD my sense was that Hrithik’s stardom needed to be fractured in the right way, not just by making him somewhat low-key. Still hrithik was fine here. The bigger problem was SRK in Swades whose energy seemed to be sucked out of him. The better balance in this sense was achieved in CDI.
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July 25, 2011 at 10:10 AM
farhaan as a producer has got a massive hit in ZNMD and the guy has lined up:
1). Don2 with srk – 100 cr+
2). Aamir-rani-kareena – 100 cr+
what else can u ask for???????
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July 24, 2011 at 9:53 PM
“It’s always hard for a star to become a character. Now of course the role nonetheless flatters him in that he has to look good and so on but for Farhan Akhtar this is really his terrain….”
Ha. utmost illogical arguement, Satyam. It is like saying, she can cook 5 course meal just fine but cannot cook a single dish…baloney.
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July 24, 2011 at 9:59 PM
Correct analogy is chef can not be like a dhaba assistant or you may be a Gourmet chef but it is difficult to be like Moms who cook all 7 days, 3 times a day!
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July 24, 2011 at 10:00 PM
exactly!
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July 25, 2011 at 1:18 AM
“Correct analogy is chef can not be like a dhaba assistant or you may be a Gourmet chef but it is difficult to be like Moms who cook all 7 days, 3 times a day!”
Actually that would not be correct analogy at all (apples to oranges). Following this very dumb theory, a star like Amitabh could never do the character role in Sholay!!!!
Following the apples-orange analogy, one doesn’t get to be a chef without doing the mom-type dal-roti daily cooking everyday…THAT is expected. Then like icing on cake, there are other extra skills that are required to become that chef. I am assuming Chef=Star and Mom=character actor. Since Satyam brought Abhi in equation, I would say this that Abhi even is not good at mom-cooking forget being a chef!!!!!!
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July 25, 2011 at 7:08 AM
Midweek: ‘Singham’ is second biggest opener, after ‘Ready’
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July 25, 2011 at 11:30 AM
Impressive numbers for both Singham and ZNMD. Seems like the box office is on a roll at the moment.
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July 25, 2011 at 12:41 PM
yes a number of films that have done well one way or the other and with more to follow.
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July 25, 2011 at 7:10 AM
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara Has Very Good Second Weekend
Monday 25th July 2011 15.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Zindagi Na Miloegi Dobara had a very good second weekend as it grossed 11-75-12 crore nett in its second weekend. The all India breakdowns were as follows.
Friday – 2.70 crore nett
Saturday 4.15 crore nett
Sunday – 5 crore nett
The film was ahead of the new Singham at many metro multiplexes and is now likely to cross the 75 crore mark nett as it will dominate the box office at metro multiplexes for next two weeks
The ten day business of the film is 56 crore nett approx an the distributor share is nearly 29 crore.
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July 25, 2011 at 7:11 AM
Singham Has Huge Sunday
Monday 25rd July 2011 10.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Singham came into its own on Sunday as it collected a huge 12 crore nett as per early estimates. The weekend is strong at around 30 crore nett.
The jump on Sunday was 25% from Saturday which is huge as although film’s do jump on Sunday, very few jump 25%.
Singham has performed extremely well in Mumbai, CP Berar, Rajasthan and Nizam while Delhi/UP an East Punjab are under performers.
If the film sustains over the weekdays it will comfortably go over 45 crore nett for the week.
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July 25, 2011 at 7:14 AM
Nahata has the very same on Singham:
http://www.koimoi.com/box-office/singham-weekend-box-office-rs-31-crore/
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July 25, 2011 at 7:16 AM
Hrithik Roshan Vs Harry Potter: Who Won At Box Office
1 hour ago by Komal Nahta
Exclusive report by Koimoi.com Editor Komal Nahta on the box-office fate of Hrithik Roshan starrer Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Warner Bros. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2. Plus the box-office collections and analysis of Murder 2, Chillar Party, Delhi Belly and more.
Hrithik Roshan promoting Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Harry
Hrithik Roshan’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara: 1st week box-office (July 15-21)
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara scored very well in its first week on the strength of multiplex audiences. Although collections in single-screen cinemas weren’t very impressive, the grosses at multiplexes were excellent. The bigger the city, the better were the collections. The first weekend ended at Rs. 27.25 crore although the opening day’s net was Rs. 7.75 crore. Collections picked up by 20% on Saturday and another 10% on Sunday. The film has been loved by the youth mainly. Even the second weekend was good in spite of the new opposition of Singham. ZNMD made Rs. 2.5 crore on Friday (July 22) and Rs. 3.75 on Saturday.
Trade reports suggest that the film may go on to net Rs. 60 crore plus in its lifetime, yielding a share of around Rs. 30 crore from India. In the Overseas territory, the youth film performed pretty well. Although the start on Friday in the UK was only fair, collections shot up to £95,000 on Sunday alone. A film like Ready, which had opened better than ZNMD, grossed only £68,000 on the first Sunday. In UK, the weekend gross of ZNMD was roughly £2,55,000. From 388 cinemas in India, it collected Rs. 31.39 crore. The film performed the best in Bombay, followed by Delhi. In Bombay circuit, it collected Rs. 11.7 crore from 158 cinemas. A total of 73 cinemas in Delhi-U.P. brought in Rs. 7.94 crore. East Punjab, with Rs. 2.5 crore from 25 cinemas, was another circuit which contributed greatly to the first week’s impressive total of the film. The all-India average per cinema for ZNMD came to Rs. 8,09,139.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2: 1st week box-office (July 15-21)
Harry Potter Aur Maut Ke Tohfe Part 2 (dubbed) did well in its first week but not as well as expected, considering that it is the last film in the popular franchise. The English version fared far better and managed to net almost double the collections of the dubbed version. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (English) collected Rs. 8.43 crore from 142 cinemas whereas the Hindi dubbed version netted Rs. 4.56 crore from almost the same number (149) of cinemas. Point to be noted: the film performed excellently in its 3D avatar where the audience had a choice. But at centres where the film was released only in 2D, it fared well.
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July 25, 2011 at 10:21 AM
Pyar ka punchnama is a fairly entertaining watch. However the ‘problem’ in each relationship here is really the woman. The three male leads are the more grounded kind whereas the women are emotionally unstable or exploitative or both!
And this genre continues to ‘exhibit’ some gratuitous bit of dialog.
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July 25, 2011 at 10:28 AM
nice to know that you watched it finally
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July 25, 2011 at 10:26 AM
The Indian Box Office is on a roll – one hit after another
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July 25, 2011 at 10:54 AM
Re: the women are emotionally unstable or exploitative or both!
LOL. Thats ‘normal’ for a woman!
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July 25, 2011 at 11:11 AM
Rajen, would a man say the same thing about his mother or daughter?
Some women may be unstable or exploitative and so are some men. When we see a movie, things look larger than life and we are impressed negatively or positively. Women provide stability to men. Otherwise god only has to save the Adam he has created.
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July 25, 2011 at 11:16 AM
You mean he would say something like this for his wife or GF but not mom or daughter?
It is a maatter of perspectives. Men need women and wome need men. Unless of course you are Alex! He just needs Playboy! Neither is perfect and they both have their inadequacies.
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July 25, 2011 at 11:20 AM
With mom and daughter, the relationship is special and sacred. With wife and girlfriend, it is not that sacred or special. And every man and woman know the reasons for it.
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July 25, 2011 at 11:32 AM
“Men need women and wome need men. ”
Not these days 😉
“Unless of course you are Alex! He just needs Playboy!”
Do you mean to say he is playboy or he reads playboy…lolz
Alex, teri “reputation” kaa sawal hai…jaldi aa jaa…
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July 26, 2011 at 4:50 AM
Hahaha Dimps — well said..U have added an essneti “female” perspective here — so important and an independent one!!
Reader discretion advised/ parental guidance for some in the preceding writeup—
So now the “scene” becomes clearer—
There is a crane shot(jimmy) showing a cramped obscure room showing rajen0/1 sitting discreetly watching murder2.
Cut shot 2– he has the remote (to rewind /forward) in one hand and “playboy magazine” in the SAME hand used intermittently …
Dont ask me about the other hand …..!!!!lol
Snippet 3—Rajen0/1 quips elsewhere abou being “self sufficient” & even mentions watching movies alone!!
All this now seemingly fitting itself to a particular pattern .
He randomly mentions the same acts onto others (obviously after being led into it )
projection or projection bias is a psychological defense mechanism where a person (rajen0/1 here) subconsciously denies his or her own attributes, thoughts, and emotions, which are then ascribed to the outside world, usually to other people. Thus, projection involves imagining or projecting the belief that others originate those feelings.
By the way, this is just meant in fun as an illustrative case study and not to be taken derogatory to either rajen0/1 or even infact the writer of this piece….
Hahahaha what fun!!!!
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July 25, 2011 at 11:34 AM
“With wife and girlfriend, it is not that sacred..”
Truer words never spoken Vati…especially no respect for GF. BTW did you watch Abhay deol in India’s most desirable? And that Mallya kid…THAT was quite interesting!!
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July 25, 2011 at 1:12 PM
I believe Abhay Deol plays for the NY Mets.
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July 26, 2011 at 12:11 AM
http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=zindagi.htm
an incredible 30% drop in the US from last weekend according to boxofficemojo. this film has hit it big time. to me its a bonafide hit. once again this is great for Hrithik. Katrina continues her hit streak.
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July 26, 2011 at 12:44 AM
IBOS:
Box Office: Singham tops all Indian films with 33 crore weekend
Monday, July 25, 2011
Indian Cops are having a fieldday at the box office with Singham, the Ajay Devgan starrer having embarked on a bumper box office opening across India, to the tune of a 33 crore weekend.
The breakdown being rougly 10 crores Friday, followed by 10 crores saturday, and Sunday smashing with a 13 crore haul.
Total for the weekend is 33 crores in net collections alone.
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July 26, 2011 at 12:45 AM
Singham Has Strong Monday
Tuesday 26th July 2011 09.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Singham has held up well on Monday with collections likely to come out in the 5-5.25 crore nett region as per early estimates.
The single screens have held up extremely well with drops of around 25-30% from Friday, multiplexes have bigger drops of around 50-55% from Friday.
The film is super strong in CP Berar as most of the circuit comes in maharashtra and dominated by single screens.
The film has grossed around 35 crore nett plus in four days and the week is probably looking at a 47 crore nett total.
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July 26, 2011 at 1:12 AM
strong opening for devgn…i still don’t see it crossing 100cr mark though.
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July 26, 2011 at 7:49 AM
Watching this tonight…
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July 26, 2011 at 8:13 AM
It’s very standard fare. Enjoyable but literally like tons of masala films in Tamil/Telugu. Still Surya was effective here and I think the Tamil was ‘sharper’ than the Hindi overall (skimmed through this). Don’t remember the Tamil perfectly but the Hindi version has a rather different sort of climax (even otherwise there are some differences throughout) and candidly the far more objectionable one. The Tamil version is just ‘better’ in many respects. The Hindi was alright on its own barring the resolution at the end which was a bit appalling but if one can one should watch it with Surya!
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July 26, 2011 at 8:43 AM
It is most of the times people like original. That is the same reason, AB doing businessman after mahesh is not a good idea.
Any how, many felt that Tamil Ghajani and Surya are much better to Amir. We can see lot of postings in twitter also.. I couldn’t sit through the Hindi version of ghajani at all.
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July 26, 2011 at 12:47 PM
true but this criticism only holds for those who’ve seen both. In box office terms this is usually not a significant factor. so whatever Singham is or isn’t doing at the box office it isn’t because its ‘affected’ by the original. Aamir’s Ghajini was more successful in Hindi than the original Tamil was.
The thing is that the audience that is most invested in the originals is never too invested in the remakes. But there are those who are fans of certain stars (or not) and use this as a political exercise. This kind of partisanship however doesn’t depend on the remake being around anyway! and for those who watch both original and remake they are clearly adding to the box office of the latter irrespective of how they rate this.
In general I’d say that precisely because 99% of the Bollywood audience actually does not watch Southern films at all the ‘original’ is never a serious point of comparison. It is moreso for Southerners who have access to two languages but even this doesn’t really lessen their interest in the ‘remake’.
On Businessman this isn’t a remake though. It’s planned as a bilingual but it’s not being shot at the same time or released at the same time. But in terms of its conception it is very much one.
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July 26, 2011 at 1:46 PM
AB tweeted about Farhan and Abhay. Javed asking about HR. Really bad..
SrBachchan Amitabh Bachchan
T 444 -Okaaay !! Hrithik Fan Club stop the bashing .. I congratulated him on phone personally .. want me to print his response also ??!!
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July 26, 2011 at 1:50 PM
It is really shame people bashing the legend.
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July 26, 2011 at 2:17 PM
When’s the last time these guys supported an Abhishek film on twitter?
Crickets coming from Javed and others.
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July 26, 2011 at 5:52 PM
yeah Farhan himself asked abhishek last week if he’d had a chance to see ZNMD.. I’ve not seen Abhishek asking anyone about his films in the same way, at least on twitter.
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July 26, 2011 at 8:28 AM
Taran has it at 6 crores for Mon. If this range is right it’s pretty incredible for this kind of film.
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July 26, 2011 at 8:23 AM
Rohit Shetty interview:
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/broadband/video/Interviews/a5UEYE53/3/Rohit-Shetty-Speaks-About-Singham-Part-1.html
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July 29, 2011 at 8:54 AM
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/broadband/video/Interviews/CkDoGL22/3/Rohit-Shetty-s-Bollywood-Hungama-Exclusive-Part-2.html
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July 26, 2011 at 8:32 AM
Ajay Devgan’s Singham: 10th Highest Opening Weekend Ever
July 26th, 2011 by Koimoi.com Team
Reliance Entertainment’s Singham (read detailed weekend BO report) that released in 2000 screens worldwide on July 22 has grossed Rs 47.70 crores at the box office in its opening weekend making it the second highest opening for this year, according to a release by Reliance Entertainment.
The action-packed entertainer grossed Rs. 44.2 crores in India (Rs. 31 crore net) and Rs. 3.5 crores gross overseas. This makes Singham the last in the Top 10 chart of Domestic Opening Weekends of all time.
In the opening weekend tally, Singham follows Dabangg (Rs 48.5 crore net), Ready (Rs. 42 crore net), 3 Idiots (Rs 40 crore net), Ghajini (Rs. 40 crore net in 4 days), Tees Maar Khan (Rs. 38 crore net), Rajneeti (Rs. 34 crore net), My Name Is Khan (Rs. 32 crore net) and Housefull (Rs. 31.5 crore net).
Sanjeev Lamba, CEO, Reliance Entertainment said, “Singham is off to a wonderful start worldwide. The film received an overwhelming response from the audience over the weekend and we hope will continue its successful run all over the world in the weeks to come.” Reliance Entertainment released Singham in 38 countries internationally on July 22. In its second phase the film will release in additional 21 countries.
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July 26, 2011 at 8:36 AM
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July 26, 2011 at 8:39 AM
One can only imagine how much Nahata has been ‘paid’ for this! It’s incredible just how low these guys can sink. An 8.5 min ‘review’! Usually it’s 2-3 min from him. But really this has to be seen to be believed. It’s as if the guy’s reviewing Sholay! But it goes beyond this. This entire video is pretty disgusting.
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July 26, 2011 at 8:45 AM
They have stopped Prakash jaju from posting the collections.
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July 26, 2011 at 12:19 PM
I agree. he’s gone over the mountain in his praise.. I can understand a trade analyst being positive for a mass-friendly film but whatever Nahata has done here is unbelievably amusing! I would think twice before showering such praise for Lagaan! Here he talks as if Singham is the best thing ever after Sholay..
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July 26, 2011 at 2:47 PM
South movies by themselves cannot run successfully even for one day even it they are original ghajini, Ready or singham except a Robot and even that because of Ash to some extent. Let it be replaced by popular hindi stars and we have blockbusters and superhits. Even Surya could not capture the imagination of people north of the Vindhyas. Only Kamalahasan and Madhavan to some extent got some acceptability. I am talking about male stars.
I suggest they change their names to some Khan or Kapoor or Kumar and also try to speak hindi naturally if they want to get some foothold. Only slim, trim and chocolatey are welcome to try this. First they should tag onto some bollywood starlet and be in the news. And once they start creating an identity for themselves among the specific audience, they can try to patao an Yash chopra.
Tongue in cheek.
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July 26, 2011 at 2:57 PM
Bolly Singham roars while Taran dances.
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July 26, 2011 at 3:50 PM
Its good to see all movies are hits except BHTB.It really unfortunate that BHTB released with Delhi belly.
Both DMD and Budda would have been hits, if they released in diffrent dates and with extraordinary publicity. I didnt understand why rohan sippy released DMD during IPL season .Also Movie promotion not enough for both movies beacuse bachchans previous movies failed at boxoffice. So they need to do promotions like what Amir did extraordianry promotion before Gajani release .Ofcurese they promoted well with teasers and in internet but thats not enough .All promotions should reach common man and create some curiosity
Both bachchans still not understanding boxoffice importance of first day ,first week end and first week collections
Bachchans need very big hit this time and they need to understand below issues
1.Movie promotion: Sitting in mumbai and giving interviews not suifficient .Start doing two months before movie release and they need to travel as many cities in india as possible for their movie promotion .Also simulataneously start promoting movies in overseas and south also. Bachans are hugley popular in overseas and south but unfortunately they neglected these regions.
2.Release date: They need to check other movies release dates and should not release movies in odd season like exams season ,IPL etc.No need to release movies hurrily
3.Budget & boxoffice collections: Media always against bachchans.Everytime bachchan movie relased trade guys quoted wrong budget and boxoffice figures.So to avoid these kind of situations bachans should foce producers to pprovide corret budegt & boxoofice figures each day until three weeks after movie release.And bachchans should not interact with stupid trade guys.
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July 26, 2011 at 9:24 PM
A 6 crore Mon is certainly something to crow about.
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July 26, 2011 at 9:28 PM
Watched Singham on Mon night. I loved it 3.5/5 from me.
An extra 0.5 for the clothing Kajjal was given. My eyes were fixed on her and the clothing when she came on screen lol.
Ajay as usual fantastic and Prakash Raj superb. I can see this being the second biggest hit this year behind Ready at around 80 crs.
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July 26, 2011 at 9:33 PM
This type of success was what Ajay was waiting for all these years.
ZNMD has thrown up an unlikely hero in Farhan Akhthar.
Emraan got his blockbuster.
It proves the old adage that every dog will have his day.
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July 26, 2011 at 10:35 PM
Agreed: she had a number of superb shalwar qameez dresses, and then looked good in a sari too in the Maula Maula song (aside: I hadn’t previously heard the song, and quite liked it). It was refreshing to see a heroine dressed a bit “normally”.
I saw the film in (technically) a multiplex called 24 carat in Jogeshwari — it’s one of Mumbai’s first multi-screen cinemas so the ambience, seats, etc. reminded me of the Dubai cinema of my childhood. There were about 15-20 people there for the 8PM show, or not even 10% full.
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July 26, 2011 at 10:40 PM
PS– the other notable thing was that I do not recall another Hindi film with so many Marathi dialogs. It was good to see/hear, as it added to the whole ambience and setting. [Although perhaps it veered too far in one sense: in Singham’s Goa, there seem to be ONLY Marathi-speakers :-)]
MAAZEE SATKEL!
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July 26, 2011 at 10:31 PM
The notable first remake of a south film that roared was Ram aur shyam, the original being Engaveettu Pillai by the legendary MGR with B.Saroja Devi. It had a very iconic song in tamil.
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July 26, 2011 at 10:37 PM
Didn’t realize Ram aur Shyam was also a remake, thanks for that info.
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July 27, 2011 at 4:28 AM
Ram aur shyam is remake f Ramudu bheemudu of NTR.Dont get facts wrong vatikala.
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July 27, 2011 at 7:40 AM
I too thought Enga Veetu Pillai was the original but I just checked and Ramudu Bheemudu released a year before the latter. So you are right.
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July 27, 2011 at 7:43 AM
With Paigham though SS Vasan made the Hindi first.
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July 27, 2011 at 8:20 AM
As it was by Gemini Studios, I thought Irumbu thirai was the original to Paigham.
Ramudu Bheemudu by D. Rama Naidu. Sorry, Sunil.
These movies were being discussed by my elders in the family.
And Sridhar’s Nenjil oru alayam was Dil Ek Mandir. And many of his films were remade in hindi, the notable one being Pyaar kiye Jaa, originally Kadalikka neramillai.
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July 27, 2011 at 8:21 AM
Hope this time, i am not confused.
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July 27, 2011 at 9:14 AM
You’re right on Dil Ek Mandir. Not sure about the other one. But yeah there were lots of remakes from Tamil to Hindi in the 60s. The next such phase came in the 80s.
On Irumbuthirai it might have been planned as a bilingual with one version being shot first. Not sure.
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July 26, 2011 at 10:34 PM
B.Saroja Devi acted in the superhit Sasural with Rajendra Kumar and also Paigham with Dilip Kumar along with Vyjayantimala. And Paigham is also a tamil film starring Shivaji Ganeshan.
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July 27, 2011 at 1:18 AM
Bollywood is out of ideas?
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/newsinterviews/Bollywood-is-out-of-ideas/articleshow/8989513.cms
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July 27, 2011 at 7:45 AM
Singham Has Virtually No Drop On Tuesday
Wednesday 27th July 2011 10.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Singham was very steady on Tuesday as collections at most places were virtually the same as Monday. The Tuesday collections were 5.25 crore nett as per early estimates. The Maharashtra belt is phenomenal but collections were also very steady at multiplexes across India on Tuesday.
The film has grossed 40.75 crore nett in five days and the week looks set for around 49 crore nett.
The film is a Hit and if second week holds up it is likely to emerge a Super Hit.
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July 27, 2011 at 7:49 AM
Business Talk With Taran Adarsh
The lion roars!
July 27, 2011 – 08:00 IST
Till a few months ago, all of us were under the impression that the spending capacity of the common man restricts him/her from watching multiple films in a week/month. The aam aadmi adheres to a budget and restricts himself/herself to only those movies that catches his/her attention. Well, this viewpoint has gone for a toss after the spate of successes we have witnessed in the last few weeks.
First DOUBLE DHAMAAL fetched a flying start. Then DELHI BELLY. Then MURDER 2. Then ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA. Now SINGHAM. A film remains on the top slot for a maximum of one/two weeks, only to be overthrown by another film in the subsequent week. Which is great, in my opinion. Records are meant to be broken and if movie business continues to perform the way it is performing right now, we will soon revert back to the golden era of 1960s and 1970s, when the Hit:Flop ratio was 70:30.
I genuinely feel that you cannot predict the business of any film prior to its release. Who would’ve ever thought DOUBLE DHAMAAL would fetch a mind-blowing start? Who would’ve ever thought DELHI BELLY would rule the domestic as well as international box-office in days to come? Who would’ve ever thought MURDER 2 would emerge one of the biggest openers of the year [and the biggest hit of Bhatts/Emraan?]. Who would’ve ever thought ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA would pack a super initial, compensating the loss of business from single screens with that of plexes? No one, I repeat no one, can predict the business of movies or, for that matter, what figure a film would fetch in its opening weekend, prior to its release. We are in the most unpredictable business and like I always say, that’s the beauty of this business. It surprises you week after week.
Now SINGHAM. Yes, we all know by now that its release was uncertain at plexes till Thursday night. Yes, we also know that its business got affected in Karnataka. Despite that SINGHAM roared louder on Friday [Rs 9.03 cr], remained static on Saturday, though the business fell in some circuits [Rs 9.67 cr], but shot upwards on Sunday [Rs 12.37 cr], taking its opening weekend total to Rs 31.07 cr nett. Which, to put things in the right perspective, is the No 2 opener of 2011, after READY.
Let’s not compare it with DABANGG and READY. Sure, SINGHAM is a terrific entertainer, but what it lacks is a hit musical score that works big time, which adds to the repeat viewing of the film. Recall the contribution of ‘Munni’ and ‘Mast Mast Do Nain’ [DABANGG] or ‘Charater Dheela’ and ‘Dhinka Chika’ [READY] and you will agree that star power + great masala + hit music = Winner at the box-office.
SINGHAM is ruling the single screens and like WANTED, which worked big time at single screens or ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA, which worked exceedingly well at plexes [still working], the film is expected to pack a solid total at the end of Week 1. In fact, looking at the trends, SINGHAM is likely to dominate the single screens in days to come. The absence of a major release, till AARAKSHAN, should only add to its revenue.
How long will the winning phase in Bollywood continue? I think the prospects will only get better in the forthcoming weeks with biggie after biggie hitting the marquee. The best thing is that diverse genres are being lapped up in a big way and the audience is in a mood to vote from their wallet. Let’s pray this dream run continues!
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July 27, 2011 at 7:51 AM
“Records are meant to be broken and if movie business continues to perform the way it is performing right now, we will soon revert back to the golden era of 1960s and 1970s, when the Hit:Flop ratio was 70:30.”
Yeah keep the alice in Wonderland world going!
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July 27, 2011 at 8:07 AM
Lol ..
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July 27, 2011 at 8:24 AM
It is like share market. Some months euphoria. And some months bear run.
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July 27, 2011 at 12:08 PM
BoC:
Box Office: Singham, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara collections update
UPDATED
MUMBAI: Rohit Shetty’s Singham starring Ajay Devgn saw good collections on Monday. The movie, which did net collections of approximately Rs 310.8 million (Rs 31.08 crore) in its opening weekend, collected Rs 61 million (Rs 6.1 crore) on Monday as per initial estimates.
With this the four days net collections of the movie in India stands at approximately Rs 371.8 million (Rs 37.18 crore).
On the other hand, Eros International’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara has also seen a great run at the box office. While the first week’s collections of the movie are Rs 440 million (Rs 44 crore). The second weekend net collections were approximately Rs 117.5 million (Rs 11.75 crore). On its second Monday, the movie saw net collections of approximately Rs 17.5 million (Rs 1.75 crore). The movie’s 10 days net collections stand in India stand at approximately Rs 575 million (Rs 57.50 crore)
On the other hand, in the overseas markets, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara has grossed an additional Rs 220 million (Rs 22 crore). Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara featured in UK Top 10, at No 7 and came out No. 15 on the Top 20 US Charts.
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July 27, 2011 at 12:31 PM
Amitabh Bachchan says sorry to Hrithik Roshan fans
Actor Hrithik Roshan’s fan club literary forced Amitabh Bachchan to say that he telephoned the actor to congratulate him for his performance in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.
Amitabh Bachchan on Monday night had left out Hrithik Roshan’s name and praised only Abhay Deol and Farhan Akhtar for their performance in the film. He had tweeted, “ZNMD is a triumph of spirit and male bonding .. and Farhan and Abhay are just so impressive … natural, composed and effortless.”
Bachchan’s tweet did not go down well with Hrithik Roshan’s fans who reacted negatively. Roshan Jr was flooded with tweets from upset fans. Some said that Hrithik didn’t need his praises some pointed out to Bachchan that he had left out Hrithik’s name.
Farhan Akhtar’s father Javed Akhtar on Tuesday afternoon also pointed out to Bachchan tweeting, “Great that you liked Abhay & Farhan but I am sure that Hritik’s omission was just a slip. Who can deny that he was outstanding.”
But Hrithik fans continued to express their anger. In the end, Bachchan had to confess and say that he personally called Hrithik Roshan and congratulated him. He tweeted late Tuesday night, “Hrithik Fan Club stop the bashing .. I congratulated him on phone personally .. want me to print his response also ??!!
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Amitabh-Bachchan-says-sorry-to-Hrithik-Roshan-fans/articleshow/9380951.cms
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July 27, 2011 at 1:11 PM
saying that he ‘apologized’ is going too far. However:
1)I did note with interest his initial statement on the blog where he did praise the other two and praised Hrithik only for his dancing. The latter a bit odd since Hrithik hardly has much dancing to do here.
2)The fanatical fans showed up but here Bachchan shouldn’t have been defensive at all. First of all the problem is that a personal message hardly means the same thing since he presumably sent these to others as well. But secondly whether he did or didn’t so what?! It’s his will and wish. He shouldn’t have succumbed to the fans and reproduced Hrithik’s response. My response would have been ‘I’ve said everything I needed to to whoever I needed to and that’s the end of it. You guys will have to live with it.’ Sure the media would then have blown it up in other ways but so what?!
unfortunately Bachchan this late in the day isn’t suddenly going to change dramatically in this sense. Will bring it up on his blog nonetheless.
The problem with both Bachchans is that they tend to be rather too ‘gentlemanly’ about these things. They go out of their way to praise the work of others and so on. The favor is never returned and rarely returned in kind. By anyone. And here I would say that it’s quite easy to pick on SRK but they’re all the same in this regard. When Hrithik praised Abhishek for KHJJS publicly this is the first time I heard or saw him do it. And I smell a rat when it’s done for that sort of film that was never going to become a Guru or anything! Sure, people tweet each other at a personal level a lot of times but that’s not really the debate here. But again the Bachchans know all of this too. They still choose to act this way and what happened in this current instance is then not surprising. of course Hrithik too put up a response to his fans and Bachchan’s original note to him. Bachchan himself then asked the fans to chill and so on but there shouldn’t have been defensiveness in the first place.
One of the larger problems here which everyone from Bombay stars to US congressmen is still learning is that these social media outlets have their own rules of the road and one cannot take everything that seriously. And even when one engages there is a ‘politics’ of doing so. Most crucially one has to be ‘careful’ as everything is ‘public’ right away.
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July 27, 2011 at 12:37 PM
This is an unfortunate thing happened…Senior Bachchan might have just missed hrithik name..anyway hrithik dont have any such grudge against anyone..He is one of nicest guy in bollwood who respect seniors and never indulge in anything cat fight or anything.Hrithik fans should not have reacted like this.
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July 27, 2011 at 12:52 PM
Tweeter is a landmine.
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July 27, 2011 at 1:47 PM
“When Hrithik praised Abhishek for KHJJS publicly this is the first time I heard or saw him do it. And I smell a rat when it’s done for that sort of film that was never going to become a Guru or anything!”
I disagree Hrithik is complete genuine and he never do any fake..not for nothing he is called perfectionist.He may have liked abhishek in KHJJS.
apart from that abhishek has different career path compare to Hrithik.Hrithik will be hardly be scared what abhishek is doing,He will be more worried about ranbir or shahid is doing.
More ever , when Hrithik movie flopped like guzaarish or Kites he never fought with fans regarding boxoffice figure,He accepted and move ahead.
Contrary to this we know how abhishek bacchan fought with fans.
So Let not disrepute a genuine person who knows how to face failure.
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July 27, 2011 at 2:26 PM
Most of your response isn’t relevant to what I’ve said so I’ll skip over this. On the rest I see you’re one of the ‘Hrithik is God’ group so there’s probably no point in extending this further either.
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July 27, 2011 at 3:56 PM
Did HR move on fromkites and Guzaarish gracefully? Did you see is tweets at that times? He even walked out of filmfare awards for not getting best actor.
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July 27, 2011 at 2:00 PM
“One of the larger problems here which everyone from Bombay stars to US congressmen is still learning is that these social media outlets have their own rules of the road and one cannot take everything that seriously. And even when one engages there is a ‘politics’ of doing so. Most crucially one has to be ‘careful’ as everything is ‘public’ right away.”— agree there…
The problems with twitter, Facebook are not initially obvious to most folks.Infact when one is a “nobody”, there is nothing to lose but if one is “somebody” ESP a professional, there is a some potential for misuse and damage…
“I did note with interest his initial statement on the blog where he did praise the other two and praised Hrithik only for his dancing. The latter a bit odd since Hrithik hardly has much dancing to do here.”– I had a similar reading. Like both bachchan and esp the former, these things don’t miss the scanner if u follow over a period of time WiTHOUT bias….
I have noted a certain pattern where bachchan has been more and more profuse and nonselective about praising anything and everything under the sun— so much so that the “impact factor” has gone down somewhat. But he has been quite selective about NOT praising hritik profusely …..I may have missed some “genuine profuse” praise but he has praised many lesser actors/ works.
Again, it is ultimately bachchans prerOgative and he should not be held to trial for this “selectivity “. But when one benefits from the ready access to fans with blogs/fb/twitter, one has to take these associated irritants as well
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July 27, 2011 at 2:27 PM
That’s not true on the Hrithik stuff Alex. on ZNMD Bachchan hasn’t done it but on both JA and Guzaarish he praised Hrithik very profusely.
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July 27, 2011 at 3:59 PM
I don’t know why people expect him to praise HR. That is his opinion. I like Akhtar’s role more than HR.
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July 27, 2011 at 4:05 PM
I think it’s fair to say that no one has come away from the film thinking Hrithik was better than Farhan here irrespective of how much they liked the film or not. And this applies to the reviewers also who are otherwise very kind on hrithik (and have been so here too).
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July 27, 2011 at 2:37 PM
Maybe–perhaps i missed it..
By the way, javeds public comment to Amitabh asking about hritik was a bit strange.
That’s the problem– when someone u know well and is apparently in “good talking terms”, instead of talking u , tweets a controversial quip to the whole world — that’s in bad faith.
But again, bachchans tweet about hritik just “moving well” while the other two doing v well did have a problem.
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