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344 Responses to “Satyagraha, the rest of the box office”
The direction of discussion in box-office threads in indicative of the level that cinema in Hi-fi has plunged to. It has simply become a case of art following commerce and not vice-versa as one would expect the indicator to be in a healthy cinematic society. If the extrapolation logic tends to say that OUATIMD did x crore while BMB did y crore then why the hell Satyagraha (with the bulwark of actors in the movie being 40+ and led by an actor touching 71) can’t do 150 crores or more without taking into consideration the genre and the target audience and the majority demographic of foot-falls in disgustingly expensive multiplexes, what can one say? Why would a bubble-gum chewing, whatsapp using crowd want to spend 250 to 400 rupees on a movie that has clearly shown in the promos that it belongs to a theme that is personification of seriousness, gravitas, political skullduggery and corruption? It might, but AFTER it is sure that the WOM is positively assuring and that there are classes that can be bunked in lieu of watching SATYAGRAHA and that the mind is ready for some ‘serious’ cinema – all in that order. And this demographic forms the MAJOR part of money-spending audience today. The others, belonging to 35+ age group like me will watch it after considering reviews recommendations etc. Hell, I might still watch it for Amitabh because I am an unfailing fan. But after a certain age, this type of ‘fanaticism’ will ebb in most of the fans. So we are not generous contributors in the week-end gold rush either. This will NOT be like Barfi, which, even for its supposedly ‘off-beat’ theme managed to sprint to 100 crores thanks to the oohing and aahing umbilical cord-crowned superstar Ranbir got from girls and maybe some boys too. If people do not want to differentiate between the audiences that are inclined to prefer CHENNAI EXPRESS to YJHD to SATYAGRAHA, what kind of logic and ‘honesty’ is one talking about? During the interval of AARAKSHAN that I watched in Bangalore, the guy sitting in the next row commented when BODYGUARD preview was being shown that,’ Sallu bhai ka movie mast hain; aaram se bheja ghar mein chodke baaki sabi body parts se picture enjoy kar sakte ho.’ And no, this was not some rickshaw-owner. This was an IT guy slaving for some US multi-national. Get it? The ‘youth’ brigade that all our politicians and social commentators are so proud of, unfortunately, prefer the former type of atmosphere; the carnival atmosphere of watching a movie with carnival barkers all around. So a 22 year old girl and a boy won’t walk into a theater showing SATYAGRAHA or THE LUNCH BOX and sitting in some row making out and suddenly when the privates are talking to each other decide to analyze the political awareness of Jha and the range of Bachchan’s histrionics or the brilliance of Siddiqui. Indians are good at multi-tasking, but this ain’t gonna happen buddy.
Now to our surprise, the movie might be really good (the reviews are universally praising it, which makes one all the more scary considering the ‘critical’ standards in India). And to reach something north of 100 crores, the film HAS to be very strong content-wise and get the audience glued to the seats throughout its running length. There is simply no other ‘escape’ route. Prakash Jha primarily and then the ensemble cast and of course the good-will that Amitabh Bachchan has accumulated over the course of 40 years are the only magnets in this movie. Who else will the ‘young’ demographic or for that matter even the ‘oldies’ will come to watch? Amrita Rao? Kareena Kapoor who Saif has robbed of all the mystique that was ever present? Ajay Devgn who is a standard fare in Prakash Jha’s ventures? (He was fine in Apaharan and excellent in Gangajal but that’s about it regarding his commercially ‘successful’ association with Jha). Manoj Bajpayee? Contrast this with the escapist CE that has ROHIT SHETTY and DEEPIKA PADUKONE and then, a haggard SRK who still manages to sell vada-pav if not a cheese-burger. Who would the ‘youth’ demographic spend time with? Dispensible cinema or serious cinema? Go figure.
That people are still talking of Amitabh Bachchan in terms of box-office collections is infact, an unwittingly acknowledged back-handed compliment to the span of AB’s hold! Here he is bordering on 71, and he is still being discussed box-office wise in a solar-system comprising below 50 Khans, Kapoors, and Kumars! The winner, either way, is Amitabh himself. Because if he fails box-office wise as many non-fans would love to, why is he still the actor that Bhansali or Shoojit or Sujoy or Anurag Kashyap want to work with? So the studios, producers, distributors are pretty much the most philanthropic creatures on this earth because they keep endorsing films that stars a 70 year old guy! The basic fact that Amitabh at his age and this stage can only be measured as an indicator of cultural good-will is totally lost in this mad, mad world of crore-clubs. All that genuine AB fans (I meant fans like Dharan Raj Dharan) look for at this age is something that enhances his body of work qualitatively, that’s it. This basic fact is lost in this melee. Similarly, films belonging to the genre of Satyagraha and like should not follow commerce the way CE or YJHD follow commerce; commerce should follow it. In other words, one should know what should be the main topic of discussion at any event and discuss it; not highjack the event and take it in the only straight line that the money-clothed film-media in Hi-fi talks about.
If SRK fans feel he is being held to high standards then they should understand that that is what he set out to do with CE? So he will be measured in the ‘baniya’ mathematics of 202 crores and 12 aana. AB will be not, since neither the film-makers nor the guy himself have any delusion that he is still the mammoth one-man industry that he was in the ’70s and ’80s.
Only in India, as Satyam says, can there be a discussion as to why WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN and PINEAPPLE EXPRESS did not make equivalent sums of money..
Looks like after the initial glowing reviews it had been average to bad..looks mixed now although should take good opening..legs will be questionable though…Bajpai and AB look to be the saving grace here with their performances.
Baap Re ! Is this long comment a caveat in case Satyagrah become Satyanash (Which looks more likely).
“without taking into consideration the genre and the target audience and the majority demographic of foot-falls in disgustingly expensive multiplexes, what can one say? Why would a bubble-gum chewing, whatsapp using crowd want to spend 250 to 400 rupees on a movie that has clearly shown in the promos that it belongs to a theme that is personification of seriousness, gravitas, political skullduggery and corruption? ”
I hadn’t heard this comment during ‘My name is khan’ days. What was is that film to attract bubble-gum chewing, whatsapp using crowd. Satyagrah’s teroteriy is more like Anna’s or Nirbhaya’s movement where these bubble-gum chewing, whatsapp using crowd participted in Thousends and Lakks. But MNIK was based in America with whom most of the indian could not indentified. So why this genre and Demographic debate only About Amitabh and Aamir.
“That people are still talking of Amitabh Bachchan in terms of box-office collections is infact, an unwittingly acknowledged back-handed compliment to the span of AB’s hold!”
No atleast i never said that AB is a force in BO after 1990. Though i didn’t wanted to point it out but i am sorry to say if we count the Bachchan duo is responsble for the most disaster in the last decade. Look at these films.
Toofan – Disaster
Jaadugar – Disaster
Ajooba – Disaster
Indrajeet – Disaster
Insaniyat – Disaster
Mrityudata – Disaster
Major Saab – Disaster
Lal Baadshah – Disaster
Sooryavansham – Disaster
Armaan – Disaster
Boom – Disaster
Deewaar – Disaster
Family – Ties of Blood – Disaster
Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag – Disaster
Aladin – Disaster
Department – Disaster
Shararat – Disaster..Film never relesed in theatre
Naach- Disaster
Umrao Jaan – Disaster
Laaga Chunari Mein Daag – Disaster
Drona – Disaster
Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey – Disaster – Film never relesed in TV as no one is willing to telecast it.
Game – Disaster
Players – Disaster
Through 1992 Bachchan was getting the biggest initials. No one was even close. He was also getting some of the top grossers. First off at least half a dozen films in your list are not disasters by any stretch. It destroys the credibility of your claims when you include Toofan or Indrajeet or Major Saab with films like Department or Boom which were true disasters. These other films were low by Bachchan’s standards but had no more than B or B- ratings in the trade papers. Secondly you conveniently forget to mention AAA, one of the biggest hits of 1990, through the Rath Ratra riots. You conveniently forget Hum, the hysteria for which was unparalleled at the time as was the opening. So on and so forth. While I wouldn’t argue that Bachchan in this period was at his peak by any means his initial was still untouchable. Anyone else wasn’t even close.
Not sure what the Abhishek list has to do with this!
Leaving this aside here’s the slippage in your argument. If Bachchan is the star you say he is then of course SRK should be held to a higher standard. Because while ‘different’ is always tricky for any star the more successful star should still do better! Of course the other problem here is that when SRK’s different attempts don’t do well you guys convert them into art films! MNIK by any stretch did poorly in India. There are tons of stars in tons of different films to prove this.
The anxiety remains Bachchan. Ironically your list even if exaggerated and one-sided makes the point even more than Bachchan fans could or have cared to. What must be the status of this man and this star that even after 20 years of a very mixed box office record or even an indifferent one at times he has nonetheless remained and very easily India’s most transcendent icon? This can be judged by a variety of things from his KBC stint to the extraordinary reach of his ads to his unchallenged ability to win greatest Indian polls in his field (where only Sachin has that kind of all-Indian reach).. so on and so forth. No matter how much of a ‘legend’ a star is there is always some correlation with the box office when it comes to such appeal. Bachchan has been so titanic that even a mixed or at times poor box office record following on the heels of the greatest box office record that I am aware of in cinema (anywhere in the world) has not diminished his appeal by any means. And of course every other director over the last 15 years or so has tried to feed off this appeal by making their ‘ultimate’ efforts with him. Whether it’s Aditya Chopra or Johar their biggest attempts had to account for Bachchan. Again all these examples could be multiplied. He’s continue to find success, real success in cinema, forty years or more after his debut (SRK just has to bout till 2022 and then till 2032! He’s already lost so much of his sheen and in such precisely measurable ways for more than half a decade now, even longer if one thinks of how he could never out-initial or out-gross Hrithik on some of the best films and so on). But at any rate your picture of Bachchan’s career makes the opposite side’s claim stronger. How could a man be so extraordinary relevant despite all this?! That’s the question that has to be answered. And again one can debate these matters but as I always say there has to be real honesty about it. The problem with SRK’s fans has always been the Icarus one. Fly too close to the sun and your wings of wax will burn and you’ll plummet! Whatever SRK’s achievements might or might not be there can be a debate over them but the moment Bachchan is used as a comparison the argument becomes completely absurd. Now there might always be enough people online with no sense of history or older folks with Alzheimers’s to keep these debates alive but then in some parts of the world they’re debating the roundness of the earth too!
Throughout Jha was denying that Satyagraha is based on anna ‘s movement and he refused to show the movie to the anna team. Now every critic is pointing out the similarities are too glaring.
The saving grace seems to be Bachchan’s acting plus Bajpayee’s comic villain act while some said that Devgn sleepwalked and mumbled his dialogues.
B.O. update: ‘Satyagraha’ starts well in morning shows!
By Taran Adarsh, August 30, 2013 – 12:02 IST
The business of Hindi films, of late, seems to be on a high. The new release, SATYAGRAHA, started very well in the morning shows across various circuits, with occupancy ranging between 70% and 80% at several screens [lower at places too]. The business is dependent on youth and family audiences and it will be interesting to see how the film performs from evening shows onwards. The buzz within the industry is super-strong and so are the reviews for the film.
Friday 30th August 2013 11.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Satyagraha had an average opening with collections generally ranging in the 30-50% range. Opening at both multiplexes and single screens is average. The film had a big cast but the genre is not popular amongst the youth so a good start was always going to tough.
The film will be dependent on word of mouth which always make it tough especially for the bigger films like Satyagraha.
The best business should come in CI as the film is set in Madhya Pradesh so collections in that state will be better. Saturday will the key for the film as it will have to show an upward trend and its rare for big films with wide a release to show Saturday growth. The film has been released on 2700 screens plus.
@An Jo, what a lengthy article to once again bring down SRK and try to force people to think Amitabh is still a force at Boxoffice. I don’t think anybody said amitabh is still a force at boxoffice infact none of the bachhans are (amitabh, jaya, ash, abhisekh). Amitabh days as boxoffice were over more then 20 years ago.
SRK, salman, aamir at almost 50 years of age is giving blockbusters, what did amitabh give at age 50?
This just proves my point from all other discussion that bachhan fans are busy bringing down other actors because they can’t use any arguments to bring up bachhans.
What i and many talked about was Satyagraha that it will do good based on the trailer, reviews, market growth, etc…
Friday 30th August 2013 10.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Madras Cafe grossed around 32.50 crore nett in week one. The film had a good weekend but the weekday collections are a little disappointing considering the huge jump it took on Saturday and the weekdays had a holiday.
The problem for the film is limited appreciation outside the premium multiplexes. The film has not done well outside the metros but even in metros it is dependent on the cinema. In a city like Delhi a PVR City Walk records very good figures but its not the same at a Fun Motinagar.
The film will gross over 40 crore nett but may struggle to get to 50 crore nett. Films like Aashiqui 2 and Ranjhanaa which had similar weekend figures but lower costs went on to do 80 and 60 crore respectively.
Yeah at the moment it is looking like a 7 to 8 cr day…if it picks up well later it can do 10 cr. The WOM is not so great. The super start which Taran is talking about is selectively focussing on UP and MP. Elsewhere it is as expected average. So nothing is lost for this movie as no one expected it to start bumper. But the initial glowing reviews seems way off the mark.
The business of Hindi films of late,seems to be on a high,The New Release,SATYAGRAHA Started very well in the morning shows across various circuits,with occupancy ranging between 70% and 80% at several Screens.
The business is dependent on Youth and family audienees and it will be interesting to see how the film performs from evening shows on words.
The buzz with in the industry is Super-Strong and so are the reviews for the film.
Saw Satyagraha today. Not sure if I liked it, but think this is, in many ways, is Jha’s strongest film in the sense that the ‘message’ of the film comes out the sharpest. And while Devgn technically plays the lead here, Jha uses AB as a sort of a ‘symbol’ (this technique probably works in parts, but this also like reducing AB to just another act. Having said that the fact that character becomes symbolic is only because of AB as well. On a personal note though, i was slightly uncomfortable with him doing this Anna Hazare trope). Bajpai, inspite of playing a caricature, steals the film very easily from everyone.
Liked the climax a fair bit though, Jha really gets his ‘drama’ right here
Saurabh, how was public reaction, like the one where bachhan slaps that politician (shown in trailer) and the defenning music that follows. I get goose bump everytime i see that scene in trailer.
Are there more scenes like that? If there are, UTV should start create new short trailers and start showing that. It will help greatly with gettign audience attention.
Good question: When that scene happened, in Regal (where I saw it), the response of the crowd was ‘deafening’. Sadly these kind of Masala moments were too far and few in the film. AB and Devgn do have one terrifically shot scene in the jail though.
The masala universe is in an interesting though not surprising sense somewhat antithetical to the purposes of political drama. With Rajneeti what you had was a masala story masquerading as a political film. There was a political backdrop but nothing specifically political here. Which does not mean you can’t marry the two but you have to err on the side of masala rather than the political drama let alone the didactic. Jha might well have done that here, I of course haven’t seen it. But a classic example here is one of my favorite films, Manoj Kumar’s Kranti. Here’s an ultimate masala film pretending to be a historical drama about 1857! It was a huge hit. On the other hand MP represented a somewhat uneasy mix and even though I find it to be one of the best commercial films over the last decade or so the director couldn’t completely decided which way he wanted to go.
The masala ‘epic’ universe which is to say in its most authentic versions and completely unlike the Telugu-inspired masala-comedy we see today is one that carries a deep cathartic resonance. It is a world where there is always a ‘cost’ even with a happy ending. But more to the point here it is a set of signs which transcends the specificity of the political in the ‘contemporary’ sense (which is to say any politics defined by the events of a present). And so when Manoj Kumar nonetheless relies on political events from the past he first of all has the advantage that these events are already mythologized. Moreover he uses them as padding for a very masala lost and found story (I believe this was a Salim-Javed script). The same could be said about that neverland Desai constructed in Dharam-Veer. This is the way historical fantasy ought to be done or indeed any kind of fantasy within the Indian context. Even Rakesh Roshan is very far from picking up on these Dharam-veer clues and Hrithik possibly is not the best messenger for an ultimate masala message.
The masala universe which at one level is derived from the great epic tradition of India and on the other hand also dependent on a certain Shakespearean construction by way of street theater and so on (a good book on this is yet to be written) is essentially a ‘super-genre’ that mixes a number of genres improbably. But this already happens in Shakespeare, it also happens in the Mahabharata in a very different way. These are worlds where in a way ‘everything’ happens. To paraphrase Voltaire it ought not to work but it does. And so by definition masala transcends any very specific set of political or historical or period coordinates. The best modern practitioner of this mode and in his own very outlandish way is Shankar in some of his films. Here you always see that marriage between a mythologized past and a very contemporary present or else even if it’s only about the present it raises this figure of the vigilante in its most mythologized guise. So either way the romance of the past keeps intruding in the present. Or better still one cannot settle the accounts of the present without (re)triggering the heritage. Anniyan is perhaps his sharpest film on this score where a number of configurations come together. The meek traditional temple priest, the web-integrated psychotic vigilante and so on. In Robot Rajnikant himself represents ‘tradition’, not just his storied past but also in a sense the masala past-as-such. I am not a great fan of Shankar’s for all this but his formulations are suggestive and have not really been bettered by masala filmmakers in his tradition who might otherwise make ‘better’ or ‘purer’ films in this context.
To return to the point I’m trying to make more precisely the political cannot become a way of limiting the epic scale of masala. It can serve as a set of cues but if you do more than this you lose the potency of masala. Put differently the politically specific can be an episode or a chapter in the larger masala framework but not an end in itself. Notice how this is the great failing of Bachchan’s own Inquilaab. It tries to cancel out his epic registers and essentially render him the hero of a political drama. He is not overman here. The struggles of masala are multi-faceted and even abstract. Which is to say they’re about cosmic principles. However what is also true is that these then find formulation in precise ‘everyman’ stories. In other words the scenarios are meant to be typical. These then give birth to the hero who uses those contexts to re-wage those cosmological battles. By the end the villain is always punished but it is always obvious that this is just one story. The larger battles rage on. The epic genealogy allows these stories to become part of that larger fabric of stories, constantly replenished over time or certainly reformulated in different ages. The political if tracked too closely tried to minimize these larger cosmological stakes through the prism of a specific event in the present. Once again even with MP the marriage was uneasy because there were moments when the film seem to push in this epic direction invoking the mythology and so forth but on the other it tried to provide a much more realistic take on the conditions of that world. Tamil cinema which has long had a rich tradition of ‘historical’ romances privileging the Dravidian-Tamil sign has performed the very same masala move at every turn. Even pre-masala Hindi cinema did the same in the 60s (Rajendra Kumar’s Suraj is an iconic example) or the 50s (Dilip Kumar’s Aan). As a related note (and I am indebted to someone for this point) it’s interesting tried to avoid Tamil hegemony (once all Southern films were shot in Madras) and this Tamil inflection of history by going back to an ‘older’ source and relying more on the Sanskrit epic tradition. Hence NTR with all his mythologicals.
I’ve probably repeated myself here in certain respects but to sum up the masala tradition is something to be taken very seriously. Jha at least understands some of the stakes. He’d probably do better if he got the political bug out of his system. on the other hand what you have with most of the other Telugu-inflected masala films is simply a superficial, ironic take on this tradition. You ‘enjoy’ it as a set of signs or ‘effects’ from a distance without investing in the very serious stakes of this universe.
Apex: It could do 150 cr if it was a good film like Bhag Milkha Bhag, with good story-telling, and grasp over genuine human emotions. But reading between the lines of various reviews, it looks like another politically correct film with good intentions. That is so boring. Therefore 60 cr. Of course I could respond to the film really if I saw it.
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh 2h
#Satyagraha opens to a strong word of mouth in UAE-GCC. Thu AED 430,000. Few screens yet to report. Bigger start than #Raajneeti.
satyagraha needs a good word of mouth,otherwise the film will struggle,needs a good weekend to sustain,powerfull stars will just pull through..having a mixed reviews it will be tough..
Vijay don’t get angry.I am telling something based on feedback that i got from various places.This movie will not sustain in weekdays.Anyway,i pray for the success of this movie but at the same time we have to accept reality my friend.Movie has collected around 8cr today in 2700 screens.Tomorrow is very crucial.
A call to all bachchan fan/atics to support their icon and go in hordes to watch ‘meaningful’ & ‘serious issue’ film satyagraha….
I hope amitabh gets his first 100 crore film here (not that he needs if but good to her another tick in the ‘new format’ box office)
Incidentally & ironically like his son, bachchan seems poised to enter the 100crores club in another ajay Devgn costarrer…
& Satyam u can relax but do check this film on the big screen -to vindicate your support (like a few have already done!)
Ps: I can’t see it though showing near me–won’t get any good ‘company’ to watch this one–these ‘serious’ topics don’t get many ‘takers’ in certain segments 🙂
Hehe sanju -maybe u are somewhat right–but not many want to go watch this movie–& I don’t watch em alone lol
btw u know a lot of ‘inside stuff’ now—
Psst the ‘coffee break’ was gr8 (& quite long)…shhh lol
This is sad to see Bachchan extraordinary talent is being wasted in half baked movies .. he deserves much better. Though I have not seen movie .. but after reading all feedback through out day .. I can sense this movie is suffering from same problem as Aarakshan. Issue based movie without proper conclusion. Given that now Amitabh has been too much selective and doing 1 movie in 1-2 years …. he deserves only best.
Agree, money is not an issue, fame is not an issue for bachhan so treat this phase of your career as bonus. Do things towards the end of career where people can say he lived and died like a king. I don’t care what anybody say but his assocation with RGV hurt bachhan and abhisekh big time.
I think Dilip Kumar scored big time in this department, until the very end, he was the HERO of the film he was in. Also, he hung up his hat at the right time, not dragging it like Dev Anand did.
Yakuza,but i’ll held Bachchan also responsible for all this.No doubt he is doing selected movies now but when you have done Aarakshan already then what is the fun to do such type of movie again with the same director.Hadn’t he a bitter experience with Ram Gopal Verma in the past by repeating same thing again and again?Now look at another forthcomming Bachchan starrer titled “Mehru Nissa” with Rishi Kapoor.This is a love story of two friends with same girl.Now tell me for God’s sake whether this is suitable to him or not?Bachchan is immensely talented actor and there is not even an iota of doubt about that but one thing we must accept is his choice of choosing films is poor otherwise he has the ability to create wonders at this age also.
@ Leaving this aside here’s the slippage in your argument. If Bachchan is the star you say he is then of course SRK should be held to a higher standard.
No..No..I am not hiding behind this genre or demogrphic excuses. My point is if you are a big star then standerd should be high. Be it SRK, Aamir or Amitabh. But i have a problem when You say Talaash did great based on its genre (this is when Aamir came after ATBB and hugely liked 3 idiots) and say MNIK by any stretch did poorly in India. I don’t know how 72 or 74 cr became poor figure. How many film in that time did 72 or 74 cr ?
Mnik was the 4th highest grossing film of 2010, talaash was 9 or 10th. Mnik did 70 cr less than the highest grosser that year, talaash did 100+ less. At the time of mnik’s release the movies that had made more than it were: 3I, ghajini, rab ne, d2, welcome. At the time of talaash’s release there were 20-25 movies that did more than it.
Guys what do you people want to prove by these kinds of statements?By bringing A down,B will never come on top and vice versa.I am a huge Bachchan fan but i always fight with other Bachchan fans over this issue.So please don’t attract fan wars and try to adhere to healthy discussions rather than these cheap fights.What Bachchan has achieved or what Srk has achieved is known to whole world and hence needs no mathemetical calculations to substantiate any claim in this regard.And the people who expect a 30 cr opening from a 70 year old man are either kids or having zero knowledge of cinema.So please refrain from fan wars.
you’re comparing a KJo ‘offbeat’ film to a film like Talaash??? im not saying MNIK underperformed (although the hype surrounding the film at the time was HUGE), but comparing these two films is showing utter ignorance on your part when it comes to judging genres. go back to high school and read some literature and learn about the word genre.
lol and then you come up with a “MNIK trended better than talaash” stat. yeah 2cr is SUCH a huge difference. actually you just proved these two films with vastly different audiences and genre more or less trended the same! good job bro.
2 cr? Good math. Forget high school,
Go back to elementary school where they taught you about fractions an percentages.
Mnik: 46/73=63% of total collections within the first week
Talaash: 65/93=70% of total collections within the first week.
That’s a 7% difference, not 2.
Now I’ll admit that I do not Know a whole
Lot about trending. But my statement is still true. The difference in trending may be very small, but that still doesn’t mean “mnik trended better than talaash” is false. Ex: jack ran a mile in 10 minutes. Jill ran the same mile in 9 min 59 seconds.
Who ran the mile better? It doesn’t matter that the difference is 1 second, Jill still ran the mile better.
And you didn’t even check to see what original comment I was replying to. If talaash is considered to have a great BO collection given its genre, then so did mnik given its genre.
ok if you want to be picky and say MNIK literally trended better than talaash then ill give you that. to me, with unreliable BO sources that India has, i would say both films trended relatively the same given the narrow difference. and honest question then, what genre does MNIK exactly fall under? i would put it in a family/drama/romance category. whereas i would put talaash in a drama/suspense/thriller category. you tell me which of these genres should do better than the other…talaash doing 90cr in its genre is good. MNIK doing 73cr or so is actually not so great.
@AmirsFan, MNIK preached about Islam thru out the movie with references from Quran and Hadith, what genre does it fall into? How many will be interested in it? Yet it still did over 70 crore. Take SRK out and see what it collects.
Do you want to talk about it’s overseas collection (the target audience this movie was made for)?
““He has always wanted to be a director,” reads the Internet Movie Database profile of Alfonso Cuarón, “and also an astronaut.” Cuarón’s double fantasy comes true—and another dream, the moviegoer’s—in Gravity, a space epic of desperate peril and profound wonder.
Gravity opens the Venice Film Festival this evening with the same blast of astonishment that greeted Ang Lee’s Life of Pi when it launched last year’s New York Film Festival. Both are thrilling 3-D dramas of survival in a hostile environment, testaments to human grit and groundbreaking technical ingenuity. Both are the rare movies that need to be seen once for the “Wow!” factor and a second time to try figuring out how Cuarón and his technical savants managed to make the impossible seem so cinematically plausible. No one dared to imagine this before; yet here it is, vividly realized. You are there, inside the awe and dread.
Pi, you’ll recall, was alone on a small boat in the stormy Pacific, his only companion a ravenous Bengal tiger. Sandra Bullock, as NASA scientist Ryan Stone, is stranded in space—no air, no sound, no connection to Mission Control—with George Clooney. So it could be worse.
Having served on shuttle flights since 1996, Clooney’s Matt Kowalsky is the bantering veteran, Ryan the novice: old cop, young cop. Earlier, he had transmitted a creepy, Apollo 13 joke: “Houston, I have a bad feeling about this mission.” But he also wants to reassure Ryan. “You’re the genius up here,” this Buzz Lightyear tells the Doctor Newbie. “I only drive the bus.” And he hopes she can enjoy the spectacle of being 372 miles above her shimmering home. As he rightly says, “Can’t beat the view.”
As Ryan works at fixing a glitch on the space station’s jutting metal arms, a message comes through from their ground control (Ed Harris, himself a movie astronaut 30 years ago in The Right Stuff): “Mission abort.” Debris from a satellite shot down by the Russians is headed their way; and, as bright chunks fly past, Matt still jokes: “Half of North America just lost their Facebook.” The laughter turns to terror when the rest of Matt and Ryan’s crew is killed. The space station arm jerks lose, and Ryan spins wildly around, finally catching Matt’s arm. Now they are tethered on a literally death-defying Cirque du Soleil bungee cord. They have lost contact with Mission Control, as well as access to their oxygen supply. Alone together, with time and options running out.
This amazing 13-min. sequence at the very beginning of Gravity is shown in a single shot. To say this is a marvel of camerabatics, of visual choreography, animation and physical acting (Bullock and Clooney worked on wires in front of a green screen) is to undersell Cuarón’s gift as a storyteller who takes the audience on a nail-gnawing space flight. He’s a cinematic astronaut whose Mission Control is his retinue of visual enablers, led by Special Effects wizard Tim Webber. As the director told Entertainment Weekly’s Jess Cagle, “Each single bit of film is a different technology.”
Beyond technology, Cuarón plays daringly and dexterously with point-of-view: at one moment you’re inside Ryan’s helmet as she surveys the bleak silence, then in a subtle shift you’re outside to gauge her reaction. The 3-D effects, added in post-production, provide their own extraterrestrial startle: a hailstorm of debris hurtles at you, as do a space traveler’s thoughts at the realization of being truly alone in the universe.
[WARNING FOR (VERY VEILED) SPOILER:] Like Life of Pi, and J.C. Chandor’s All Is Lost—which manages the even bolder narrative trick of stranding a sailor (Robert Redford) with neither words nor backstory—Gravity eventually becomes a story of self-reliance, of finding ways to survive and a reason to live. When Ryan reaches a Russian space station and sheds her astronaut gear until she’s down to Ripley’s undies in Alien, she slowly revolves, eyes closed, in a fetal position: a child waiting to be born, or die. At the end of the movie, an ancient astronaut emerges from the sea, as if to recapitulate the evolution of humankind from sea creature. [END OF TORTUOUSLY VEILED SPOILER]
Some films take forever to make. Gravity, which Cuarón wrote with his son Jonás, was in pre-production soon after the director finished Children of Men in 2006, went through two studios and more than a dozen actors for the main roles. Robert Downey, Jr., was to play Matt but dropped out in 2011, allowing Clooney to bring his nonpareil charm, bravado and maturity to the role. Cuarón offered the Ryan part to Angelina Jolie, twice, and then to Natalie Portman, Jennifer Lopez, Rachel Weisz, Marion Cotillard, Carey Mulligan, Blake Lively, Scarlett Johansson, Olivia Wilde—everybody. When these actresses see what Bullock has been given in the role, and the fiery commitment she gives to it, they should all whisper a sincere, Rick Perry-style “Oops.”
honestly after watching the first trailer i was totally put off by the movie and never bothered to watch the rest of the promos. i still went and checked out the movie because i wanted to watch a hindi movie! not to my surprise the movie was bad as the trailer indicated. prakash jha has lost it completely. i thought aarakshan was a better attempt and loved amitabh in it. in this film, bachchan is a total bore. this is where many directors have fallen in love with “Amitabh Bachchan” and they give him the same stale lines, stale scenes and its just boring to watch now. even manoj bajpai is becoming stale. Ajay had the best character and he excelled in his role. Kareena and Arjun could be replaced by sunny leone and well arjun himself, and noone would notice. Rajneeti and its success was the worst thing that happened to Prakash Jha, because he continues to use the same damn formula but in a different mold. not sure if id be too thrilled to see this film become successful, because i think PJ will then continue to dish out more stale attempts like this one.
I wish satyam would advise Amitabh on his film choices, there is SO MUCH more out there for this man to attempt.
Saturday 31st August 2013 11.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Satyagraha had an fair first day collecting around 9.75-10 crore nett. The business was best in the Delhi/NCR, Rajasthan, Gujarat and CI. The key for the film is Saturday growth and if the film can show a good jump then it can come out with a respectable weekend total.
The disappointment is that collections are in the same range as Raajneeti which was a similar film by the same director but was released 3 years back with 1000 screens less than Satyagraha. Raajneeti had collected 10 crore nett plus on day one and 33 weekend and it could be a similar scenario for Satyagraha give or take 5%.
The film fared similarly in both multiplexes and single screens.
I wonder why BOI is bringing first day collections of Rajneeti here?Rajneeti had a hot young pair of Ranbir and Katrina which had delivered big hit APKGK some months back.The commentry of BOI is laughworthy majority of times.
its a okayish total for Day 1 but it has released in 2700 screens so something around 13-14 would have been decent. looks like a 36 cr weekend to me. The WOM is not too good so might wind up around 65 crs.
this is the usual BOI dishonesty when a Bachchan is part of the proceedings. So here they’re talking about how having the same opening day as Rajneeti is not that great. On the other hand when they’re gleefully celebrating tons of other films breaking records and what not they never make the same inflation or print count adjustments or whatever. Just recently with CE they never said that repeating 3I’s numbers 4 years after 3I might not be as extraordinary or doing so off a 150 crore initial or whatever when 3I did it off an 80 crore one was very different. So on and so forth with every other release where they’re completely oblivious to this stuff or pretend to be but the moment a Bachchan is part of the film these things are very selectively pointed out!
Chennai Express is looking at decent fourth week collections which are likely to go to 5 crore or maybe a little higher. The film collected around 70-75 lakhs nett on the first day of its fourth week.
The film is still managing to collect despite the release of Satygraha which tmeant a huge reduction of shows at multiplexes and Satyagraha took most of the single screens which were playing Chennai Express.
The film will cross the net business of 3 idiots today (Saturday) and will go to around 205 crore nett after four weeks.
Lol @ the Facebook CE post…
As for satyagraha–the presenc of Kareena here is no fake–even nargis fakhri did a better job in madras express…
“Words, both angry and contrite, are exchanged, but it is the conciliatory kiss that seals it for the twosome. This is deft minimalism.” Ha
Ps: am still waiting for the reviews of die-hard bachchan fan/atics / zealots (Satyam et al) of satygraha
C’mon folks –support bachchan films-if u won’t, how can u expect others lol
I must confess I was mildly drunk when I sat in front of the monitor. But this song … and the iceberg sensuality of Ileana D’Cruz , 7/8th submerged below the surface… knocked me out. . And Irshad Kamil’s words delivered the killer punch:
Main rang sharbaton ka,
Tu meethe ghaat ka paani…
Main rang sharbaton ka,
Tu meethe ghaat ka paani…
Mujhe khud mein ghol de toh,
Mere yaar baat ban jaani
The tone of the video (except for the first scene) doesn’t seem to “go with” Kamil’s lyrics at all… Although my bar for checking out a song featuring Ileana is quite low….
“The tone of the video (except for the first scene) doesn’t seem to “go with” Kamil’s lyrics at all… “– agree again qalander.
Kamil is the same guy who wrote the brilliant rockstar lyrics, I think…
And note how ileana brought out the ‘dormant’ qalander out in the open lol
My main qualm with ileana is all those years she spent down south–want those years back ..
And thanx again to qalander for originally introducing us to ileana Dacruz here-easily the best heroine from down south (after ash & deeps)…
Saturday 1st September 2013 11.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Satyagraha showed growth on Saturday as collections were 15% higher than Friday. The collections were up at multiplexes all over with a good upward trend in Mumbai, Delhi, East Punjab and Bangalore.
The Saturday collections were in the region of 11.50 crore nett taking the two day business of the film close to 21.50 crore nett. The weekend should go towards 34-35 crore nett as Sunday should show a similar trend to Saturday.
The Saturday jump has given the film a chance at the box office. Although the two day collections are on the lower side the trend is good the film may be able to sustain over the weekdays and into the second week.
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh 6h
#Satyagraha is rocking Patna. Early morning show [7.30 am] introduced from Sat at Regent, Patna. Goes 100%. In fact, all 6 shows full!
Saturday 31st August 2013 12.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Chennai Express is looking at decent fourth week collections which are likely to go to 5 crore or maybe a little higher. The film collected around 70-75 lakhs nett on the first day of its fourth week.
The film is still managing to collect despite the release of Satygraha which tmeant a huge reduction of shows at multiplexes and Satyagraha took most of the single screens which were playing Chennai Express.
The film will cross the net business of 3 idiots today (Saturday) and will go to around 205 crore nett after four weeks.
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan and actress Rekha are likely to come together for Anees Bazmee’s upcoming comedy film Welcome Back.
Producer Firoz Nadiadwala and director Anees Bazmee are reportedly in talks with Bachchan and Rekha for the sequel of their 2007 hit Welcome.
Big B has already been approached to play the role of RDX– a don played by the late actor Feroz Khan in the first part, while Rekha has been offered to play the role of a wealthy fashionista.
“We are considering Rekhaji for a role which will have love angle between Nana and Anil. But it is too early to talk about all this as nothing is decided and confirmed. As there are three-four veteran actresses that we are thinking of it all depends if they like it or not, their dates and money issues,” Bazmee said.
That’s the point though – it sounds like this tries to be ‘thought-provoking’ but ends up neither that, nor entertaining, so there’s not much to draw me to it. However if Satyam etc have good things to say then I may change my mind and give it a shot. Otherwise I have enough others to get through!
Yeah Rangan’s review doesn’t bolster a lot of confidence. Usually if it’s an interesting failure he’ll have a more dense piece up, but this is pretty abbreviated. Still might catch this. Even if Bachchan as Gandhi-like seems kind of strange. Not because he can’t “play” it, it just seems to be an odd fit for his particular icon. Throughout this later phase in his career Bachchan’s two most effective portrayals, in Khakee and Dev, had him play men who, though weathered by time, though more deliberate in action, nevertheless actively resisted the injustices within their respective worlds.
Sometimes a substandard simplistic product also appeals to certain section of audience .. #SatyaGraha is one such movie. On twitter at least 75% feedback is positive .. and I am wondering why ??
Saw yesterday and except Manoj Bajpayi and Amitabh bachchan performance, every thing else is so much predictable and straightforward .. story, screenplay, dialogue are so much pedestrian that I felt like written by 10th class student for annual function play. What was point of recreating Anna movement on screen ?? where was innovation and new dimension to story ?? No efforts put to holds on audience interest with some interesting twists and narration .. disappointing with movie. 2/5
I am surprised at Ajay being almost sidelined in movie .. He was not leading .. infact he portrayed confused guy who have no idea what to do .. SatyaGraha belongs to Amitabh and Manoj Bajpayee only and both give superlative performance. Its tough to chose who was better. No one on this earth can portray the fast scenes in climax better than Sr bachchan .. and I am happy about it.
50% jump for satyagrah on Sunday compared to saturday. Sunday multiplex collections are double of friday and single screen is 50% more than friday. Girish Johar @girishjohar 1h
KANPUR (SATYAGRAH) Sunday Multiplex-959405.60 Single Screen-302292 TOTAL-1261697,60 3days TOTAL-2723431.26
“We could see a medieval castle-like structure in the distance. We were bodily lifted by the warlords and carried there because traditionally, the feet of guest aren’t supposed to touch the ground. From the castle we went to grounds where the Buzkashi tournament had been organized for us. Colourful tents had been set up, I thought I was in Ivanhoe land. The warlords insisted that the four of us spend the night there, the palace was emptied and the four of us kept eating and drinking and looking as if we’d wandered into an unbelievable fairy tale.
“We were smothered with gifts. In Kabul, the night before we flew back to India, Najab called us to president’s residence and decorated all of us with the ‘order of Afghanistan’. That evening his uncle sang an Indian raga for us with impeccable ease. I don’t know where our hosts are, I often wonder where they are today.”
Amitabh Bachchan on shooting Khuda Gawah in Afghanistan
Monday 2nd September 2013 11.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Satyagraha managed to have a pretty good weekend of around 34.50 crore nett as it showed good growth on Saturday and Sunday. The film still has to sustain well on weekdays and second week as the opening was not strong but the weekend trend gives the film a chance at the box office.
The film picked up in practically all circuits over the weekend and the business on Sunday of around 13.50 crore nett was actually good. Delhi/UP, Gujarat, CI and Rajasthan fared the best.
The problem for the film was the opening day and if that could have been better then the weekend could have gone to around 40 crore nett which would have put it in a good position but now weekdays and second weekend becomes all the more important.
Top Weekends 2013: Satyagraha 4th And UTV Have Top Four
Monday 2nd September 2013 13.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Satyagraha had the fourth biggest weekend of the year. Coincidently the top four films are UTV releases. Below are the highest collecting weekends of the year.
1. Chennal Express – 87,00,00,000
2. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani -61,87,00,000
3. Race 2 – 48,17,00,000
4. Satyagraha – 34,50,00,000 approx
5. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag – 31,16,00,000
6. Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaara – 27,30,00,000
7. Himmatwala – 27,20,00,000
8. Shootout At Wadala – 25,63,00,000
9. Special 26 – 23,59,00,000
10. Matru Ki Bijilee Ka Mandola – 21,39,00,000
Note – All the figures above are for the first three full days
‘Satyagraha’ scores, packs a punch!
By Taran Adarsh, September 2, 2013 – 10:59 IST
The mood within the industry is buoyant, with the much-awaited August biggies living up to the audience expectations. While CHENNAI EXPRESS has created history, setting new benchmarks, MADRAS CAFÉ has worked with its target audience — the multiplex junta. Prakash Jha’s SATYAGRAHA too sprung a surprise by opening to double digits on Friday [Rs 11.21 cr] and maintaining the pace over the weekend [Rs 39.12 cr]. The sole hiccup in this sanguine scenario was the tepid response to ONCE UPON AY TIME IN MUMBAI DOBAARA!, which did not live up to the gargantuan expectations.
A film based on politics, generally, has its limitations, since the genre caters to that segment of audience that’s politically inclined, those who don’t mind watching realistic fares on screen. One also needs to keep in mind the fact that youngsters and families don’t really go ga-ga over these films. After attempting films like GANGAAJAL, APAHARAN, RAAJNEETI, AARAKSHAN and CHAKRAVYUH, the viewer has come to expect realistic, hard-hitting fares from Prakash Jha. Besides, Jha is known to extract wonderful performances from his actors, which is an added bonus for spectators. SATYAGRAHA has been lauded for its content and performances, although a segment of viewers are comparing it to Jha’s earlier accomplished work RAAJNEETI. Sure, RAAJNEETI and SATYAGRAHA deal with politics, but the two films are dissimilar in terms of content. The comparisons, therefore, are unfitting.
Armed with rave reviews and strong word of mouth, SATYAGRAHA grew steadily over the weekend, but it remains to be seen if it can perform well on weekdays too. With two significant films [ZANJEER, SHUDDH DESI ROMANCE] hitting the marquee next Friday, there’s not much breathing space for SATYAGRAHA, but that’s something every film-maker/Studio will have to learn to live with. Meanwhile, Jha and UTV can raise a toast, since a solid weekend = winning half the battle.
“Chennai Express” has now broken all possible records and finally film has become first ever Bollywood film to gross 400 cr worldwide that too in 24 days straight.
Film was rock steady over 4th weekend too and managed to collect 3.84 cr nett plus as per early estimates. Film has crossed 222.26 cr nett and will finish with 223 .50 cr net after 4th week.
Another South star is all set to make his Bollywood debut with Zanjeer. But TOI has learnt that his heavy accent has barred the actor from voicing his dialogues for the film.
Apparently, Ram Charan Teja attempted several rounds of dubbing. Although he is proficient in Hindi, it is his heavy southern accent that got in the way. The makers then called actor and dubbing artist Rajesh Khattar for a voice test. However, later they decided not to go with a known face and voice, and zeroed in on a little-known voiceover artist.
When TOI tried to contact Khattar, he sent us a text message saying: “Yes, I did go for a voice test. But I am not the voice of Ram in the film.”
Director Apoorva Lakhia confirmed that Teja’s voice was dubbed in the Hindi version. Zanjeer is all set to release on September 6.
If that’s a serious comment, then it’s pretty naive. Because it’s quite obviously not the assumption that South Indians speak in accented Hindi that’s problematic when people complain about their depiction in Hindi films, but the exaggerated caricatures that are then the butt of every poor joke in those movies. And just to get it out of the way, I don’t think Chennai Express is guilty of this in the way some other films have been.
September 1, 2013
MOVIE REVIEW
Gandhian Goodness Confronting Greed
By RACHEL SALTZ
A populist streak runs through Bollywood, never more so than in the work of Prakash Jha, whose new movie, “Satyagraha,” states plainly what concerns him: “The system is rotten.”
It certainly is in this tale that pits Gandhian righteousness against greed. In a town called Ambikapur, smirking villains with government jobs and pictures of the Mahatma on their walls milk the people dry and put them in harm’s way.
Enter a hero — or two. First there’s Dwarka Anand, a retired teacher played by Amitabh Bachchan, his long body draped in traditional white cotton and a home-spun-style shawl. Fed up, Dwarka does something most un-Gandhian: He slaps a corrupt official and is tossed in jail for his trouble.
A movement springs up around him, led by Manav (Ajay Devgn), a telecommunications mogul who grows into Hero No. 2, as he learns that truth and justice matter more than money. (Satyagraha, a word coined by Gandhi, means something like truth force.)
“Satyagraha” has a third hero, too, a woman: Yasmin (Kareena Kapoor Khan), the crusading journalist whom Manav loves. She’s not just a love interest, though. More than the volatile, autocratic Manav, she is the true inheritor of Dwarka’s idealism.
It may strike viewers as a bit much to have such a collection of wealthy, beautiful stars playing Gandhian truth soldiers. (Arjun Rampal is also in the mix.) Even Mr. Jha seems to have realized this. At one point he has a poor woman ask Dwarka, “What do you know about going hungry?” (He promptly starts a hunger strike.)
And who better, you might think, to lend Dwarka unimpeachable moral force than Mr. Bachchan? As Bollywood’s Mr. Big, he has been battling the establishment and miscreants since the 1970s, when he was Hindi movies’ Angry Young Man.
Mr. Jha and Mr. Bachchan have done this act before. In “Aarakshan” (2011), too, Mr. Bachchan played a teacher waging war on corruption and fighting for the soul of the nation.
It worked better the first time around. “Aarakshan” folded its message into a rousing, pulpy melodrama. “Satyagraha” tries to do the same but is more preachy than stirring; it hits its themes too squarely on the nose and hits them for about an hour too long.
It’s certainly heartfelt, though. As is a question that really does have extra force coming from Mr. Bachchan’s mouth, his blue eyes gone sad: “What kind of nation have we made?”
Satyagraha Performs Well In Its Opening Weekend | Box Office
September 2nd, 2013 by Joginder Tuteja
Satyagraha opened on expected lines and with the kind of massive release that it got for itself, even an opening that hovered around the 50%-60% mark was good enough to make it go past the 10 crore mark on Friday. Collections continued to be stable over the rest of the weekend, hence resulting in around 39 crore coming in. In the process, it has also left behind the 30 crore opening weekend of Raajneeti.
Now it has to be seen if the Prakash Jha directed affair brings on consistent collections during the weekdays as well and leaves behind the 54 crore first week that Raajneeti had enjoyed. Considering the fact that it belongs to the socio-political genre that has seldom brought in moolah, this would be fantastic. The film is mounted on a huge scale though with a massive star cast to boast of which means it needs to have a good run for many more days to follow.
For those connected to the film though, there are some cheers as Prakash Jha’s last two films Chakravyuha and Aarakshan hadn’t done well. Ajay Devgn too can leave the disappointment of Himmatwala behind while Kareena Kapoor is assured of better collections than her last release Heroine. Same holds true for Arjun Rampal and Manoj Bajpai since weekend collections of ‘Satyagraha’ are more than lifetime total of D-Day and Gangs of Wasseypur.
With audience word of mouth ranging from fair to good, all eyes are on the kind of footfalls that the film enjoys before Zanjeer and Shuddh Desi Romance hit the screens on the coming Friday
I wanted to catch Satyagrha on the big screen this weekend but unfortunately am caught up in stuff till Sept 13. Hope its still around then.
I expect it will be a good mvie going experience inspite of some of the movie’s shortcomings.
It’s usually difficult for films that are well-liked to linger that long, with a few notable exceptions. Jersey might still have a few screenings by then. I’m hoping to see it this week too.
‘Satyagraha’ does well, despite genre limitations!By Taran AdarshSATYAGRAHA may not have registered great numbers like other biggies, but keeping in mind its genre and limited appeal for the international circuit, the film has grossed approx $ 1.4 million [Rs. 9.26 crores] in its opening weekend, which is quite good. Has fared the best in U.A.E.-G.C.C. and U.S.A.-Canada.
35% fall in Kanpur on Monday as compared to Friday. and 65% fall compared to Sunday.
Girish Johar @girishjohar 48m
KANPUR (SATYAGRAH) Monday Multiplex-320034 Single Screen-131521.50 TOTAL-451555.50 4days TOTAL-3174986.76
Irrfan khan says no to Nolan
( for eating his ‘lunchbox’ on ‘d-day’ !!) wtf…
ThePlaylist reveals that actor Matt Damon will have an unknown cameo in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. It’s just another stunning addition to the cast which includes Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Casey Affleck, John Lithgow, Topher Grace and Michael Caine.
The site also picked up on Indian actor Irrfan Khan (Slumdog Millionaire, Life of Pi, Amazing Spider-Man ) telling TheTimesOfIndia he was in talks for a major role in the film but had to decline because of other projects. Khan was absolutely magical in Life of Pi, so it’s a shame we won’t be seeing him in the film. Fingers crossed he’ll end up in future Nolan films.
“I was in talks with them for an important role. It had a great compact cast, but I can’t divulge much about that. They expected a huge commitment from my end. I had to stay in the U.S. for four months at a stretch. I tried to work out my schedule and suggested if I could shuttle between India and the U.S. as it wouldn’t have been possible for me to be there for that long,” he told The Times Of India. “I wanted to be here for ‘The Lunchbox’ and ‘D-Day.’ They couldn’t allow that. I don’t have a tendency to regret what I do, but knowing it’s a Christopher Nolan film, I can say that this has been one of the most difficult decisions I’ve made.”
D: Why don’t you write about a Bollywood movie and make a lot of references to obscure Japanese cinema and use words like ‘post-colonialism’ and ‘gender tropes’?
K: I don’t know what a ‘trope’ is.
D: I don’t think you need to know what it means to write about it. What movie have you seen recently?
K: Bal Brahmachari, Maa, Kangan and Krodh. At the same time.
D: Ok. So maybe not that.
K: It was superintense and there was dancing.
D: It’s weird that you’re watching these movies when you can’t actually understand Hindi.
K: How is that weird?
D: You know when they say something in Hindi? And you can’t understand what they’re saying because it’s in Hindi? And you watch the whole movie anyway?
K: Yeah?
D: Yeah, that.
K: How about I write something like ‘Why I Love Bollywood Even Though I Can’t Understand Hindi and Don’t Really Know What Anyone is Saying’.
D: I think you can only do that if you’re white.
K: So now what?
D: I think you should write something called ‘Bollywood Post-Colonial Perspectives Kurosawa Gender Tropes’.
K: But I don’t know what a trope is!!
D: Then write something mean about white people but with Bollywood and colloquial Tamil and ‘yougaiz’.
K: You’re not helping.
D: Write a story then.Your usual what-the-fuck stuff but in Bollywood.
K: I’m going to talk to someone else who isn’t you.
D: Write about a dead girl watching a Bollywood movie. And there are insects. Eating her left eye. AND IT’S RAINING BABIES!!! Hello?
***
Conversation 2
R: Write about how you deleted all the Bon Iver I gave you to make room for your Munni Badnaam remixes. Write about how you told me that you thought Bon Iver was Bon Jovi.
K: They are both Bon-Bon, it’s an honest mistake!
R: Your taste in music is gross.
K: Why are you so racist against Bollywood?
R: Why are you the only person on the planet looking for a remix version of Don’t Touch My Ghaghariya?
K: Did I mention that I found this Trini-chutney remix of Show Me Your Jalwa? I can send—
R: Good-bye.
***
Conversation 3
A: You should write about that time on Masterchef when Dalvinder won something and then everyone did that dance and they said it was a Bollywood dance and it made us feel embarrassed for them.
K: And they made that noise.
A: Right, that weird falsetto police siren thing.
K: I actually thought they were doing a cultural Australian dance. Then they said it was a Bollywood dance and now I want to know what movie it’s from.
A: I think it’s from Alice in Wonderland. The 1999 version. The cook does something similar when the Duchess sings that song about beating her boy when he sneezes. By the by, have you seen the So You Think You Can Dance Bollywood segments?
K: No.
A: You should.
K: I’m scared to.
A: Dude, you should totally watch them. Open a clip now on YouTube.
K: Ok, hang on, let me just— aw man.
A: Whatwhatwhat?
K: There is a dude with a big blue bindi on his forehead and he’s dressed like Aladdin.
A: Ok don’t watch that. Close it and don’t watch it.
K: Maybe I should just find out what a trope is and write that Gender Bollywood Post-Colonial Kurosawa thing.
A: A trope is a kind of fish, no? I think it is. I think I ate some once.
***
Conversation 4
S: You HAVE to write about how some people in this one number country watch Bollywood ironically. Write about how that’s a thing.
K: That’s when you act like you like Bollywood but you actually don’t but you act like you do to prove how much you don’t. Right?
S: Kinda.
K: Why isn’t that called lying?
S: Actually you should write about how some people really do like Bollywood and act like they don’t and then act like they do to prove that they don’t. When they actually do.
K: What does irony mean anyway? Is it like a trope?
S: Or you could write about how when you’re watching Hum and enjoying like anything some asshole will ask if you’re really watching it.
K: As opposed to artificially watching it?
S: As opposed to watching “something good”. Like Slumdog Millionaire.
K: You wouldn’t know what a trope is, would you?
S: It’s a riddle, isn’t it? Or a cave made of tarpaulin.
***
Conversation Five
N: I read with great interest your recent post on the actress Jayanthi.
K: I wrote a post on the actress Jayanthi?
N: I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this but when I was in India—
K: You’ve mentioned it. Repeatedly.
N: And I was such a great fan of the cinema there. Great food, great people. Really loved the energy.
K: Who is actress Jayanthi?
N: You just wrote about her.
K: I wrote about Gandhi Jayanthi.
N: Ok. And is that someone different?
K: Little bit, yah.
N: Member of the Gandhi family perhaps?
K: I should go before I say something really mean.
N: LOL.
K: Okbai.
***
Conversation 6
K: So a trope is, and I quote from the indisputable Wikipedia, “the use of figurative language in literature, or a figure of speech in which words are used in a sense different from their literal meaning”.
S: So what’s a gender trope then?
K: It’s all what I just said except with genders in it.
S: What does that mean?
K: I don’t know. I felt a lot better when I thought a trope was a fish.
S: So how are you going to link this to Bollywood?
K: Well I thought about it a lot and I’ve decided to call the piece ‘Post-colonial Perspectives and Gender Tropes in Bollywood and Also Kurosawa Yougaiz HAHA White People are so White’.
S: And?
K: And the actual piece will be about this dead girl watching a Bollywood movie and there are insects eating her left eye and it’s raining babies.
S: This will make everyone like you.
K: Really?
S: No, I just thought I’d say something nice to you today.
MUMBAI: The Bombay high court freed a remake by the same name of a four-decade-old hit film Zanjeer from legal shackles for its Thursday release. The HC, on Monday, held against Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar the script writing duo of the original 1973 Amitabh Bachchan starrer and said they did not make out a case of holding copyright to the script.
Justice S J Kathawalla, before whom counsels for Khan and Akhtar had argued for days on end to claim copyright violation, said no prima facie case was made out.
Khan and Akhtar ”are certainly guilty of approaching this court”, the judge said and observed that they themselves asserted, from the start, even publicly, that “Rs 6 crore would be a fair and reasonable compensation to permit a remake”, and hence are not entitled to their only plea now to stop the film’s release, even if the court were to hold that they were indeed the holders of the copyright.
The remake, also called Zanjeer, stars Priyanka Chopra and south Indian actor Ram Charan and is produced by Sumeet and Puneet Mehra, sons of Prakash Mehra, the producer of the original Zanjeer.
Khan and Akhtar appeared glum. Their contention was that Prakash Mehra was granted only a one-time permission to use their script to make Zanjeer in 1973, not for remakes. They immediately moved in appeal against Justice Kathawalla’s interim order. A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Mahesh Sonak said it will hear their appeal on Tuesday.
The single judge said it was hard to believe that Khan and Akhtar ”so closely associated with the Film Industry” were not aware till April 2012 about the remake which the producers had ”widely publicised since November 2011”. The judge said the duo also approached the film writers’ association only nine months later this January and was unconvinced when they said they were ”being led to believe that the producers would seek their permission for the remake” as the Mehras had disputed their rights to the script last year itself.
Delay apart, the judge went by a media interview, which even the judge viewed in court, given by Khan in 2010 to hold that he had sold the script and its rights to actor Dharmendra for Rs 2,500 when Akhtar was not on the scene. Dharmendra, said the Mehras, then sold it to Prakash Mehra for Rs 4,000. The writers rubbished this claim as “false and bogus” and produced a letter from Dharmendra to back their claim of never having sold it but at receiving only a token “shagun amount”.
The producers said Prakash Mehra had paid Rs 55,000 to Salim-Javed to write a full bound script of the original Zanjeer, which the writers denied.
The judge however was not convinced. “From reading Dharmendra’s letter I am prima facie satisfied that it is procured from Dharmendra…only to use it in court to deal with answering the facts placed by the defendants (Mehras).” The appeal will now decide the film’s fate.
Q. Can Boss do 125 or 150 crore nett as it fetching huge prices and super hot in the trade?
A. The film is not being sold for high prices or fetching huge prices as you put it. A circuit like Rajasthan has gone for 3 crore where a Khiladi 786 which was not a major grosser did a share of 3 crore. Today a hot film will easily go for 5 crore in Rajasthan. 150 may be too tough for the film as it is Pre-Diwali but 100 is possible if content is good.
Rohan Bakshi
Q. Is Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani a bigger grosser than Chennai Express if we take out the holiday factor?
A. The fact is you can’t take out the holiday factor, a film releases and it does X amount of business, holiday or no holiday. Star power you have to compare by taking the holiday factor out as star power is only about a day or three.
S. Aziz
Q. Does Satyagraha have any chance of being a hit or super hit?
A. Not really the opening was not good enough, although it trended well it had to a little more. It won’t be a hit.
N. Agarwal
Q. Does Shudh Desi Romance have any chance against a big film like Zanjeer?
A. Shudh Desi Romance will probably do better business as core Hindi markets will be better. Zanjeer only has chances in South while North will be bad.
Satyagraha had a bigger than normal drop on Monday as it grossed around 4.25 crore nett taking the four day business to around 38.50 crore nett. The drop from Friday is around 55%. The film is looking to collect around 48 crore nett in its first week which is low.
The film even dropped more than 50% in CI which makes it a huge struggle for the film because if one circuit had a chance it was CI because the film is set in Madhya Pradesh and most of that state is in the CI circuit.
The drop was universal with Delhi/UP circuit holding up a bit better that the rest but that is the norm for Monday. The film will find it tough going in week two with two new releases and a decent final number which looked possible after the weekend can be ruled out now.
true but films with a higher opening number still have an advantage in terms of the overall gross. specially since no one considers trending these days. Leaving aside BOI’s dishonesty which has mostly been evident on this film since day 1 it is true that the film now has no safety net. In other words it cannot fall further from this level. It has to stay more or less stable at this point and then one could think about the second weekend. However if it keeps falling during the weekdays it’s not likely to do much over the second weekend or week. Even by Taran’s numbers it’s around 45 crores. So it has an uphill climb just to get to Rajneeti’s 90 crores or so. However if it can average around 4 crores the rest of the week it would suggest stability.
Going by BOI’s numbers this one will finish 65 crore or less. The problem is Thursday will be 3.5 or less and the 2nd weekend off a number like that can’t be more than 10 crore with some competition added too. 48 + 10 = 58. If it holds up little better maybe 70 crore.
This one is a bit like Talaash. There was some optimism as the weekend business grew, but the Monday figure is lower. Really needed a 6 crore figure, 5 crore or 4 crore depending on the source suggests first week will be decent but thereafter the legs are more like Rani’s than Deepika’s.
Tuesday 3rd September 2013 10.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Madras Cafe has found it tough going in week two with collections coming down all over. The film grossed around 5.75 crore nett over its second weekend and around 75 lakhs on its second Monday. The second week business is looking to be in the 8.50 crore nett region.
The two week total for the film will be around 41 crore nett and a lifetime total looking to be around 45 crore nett. The film has not really consolidated after a decent weekend and despite a holiday boost last Wednesday the collections have generally been on the slide.
Overall the film is an average fair thanks to a decent weekend and Janmashtami holiday last Wednesday.
This figure is now more in line with the WOM reports. This will wind up around 65 to 70 crores at best as next week there are multiple releases. A disappointment for Jha and all concerned.
A O Scott on Gravity and the Lunchbox among others at the Telluride film festival:
“The Herzog relieved the lining-up bottlenecks at some of the other theaters, and was the scene of the frenzied first screening of “Gravity,” which arrived from the Venice Film Festival on Saturday evening on a vapor trail of hype. “Gravity,” which stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as astronauts stranded, like David Bowie’s Major Tom, far above the world, brought a 90-minute shot of pure, giddy entertainment to this high-altitude gathering of serious-minded cinephiles.
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón from a script he wrote with his son, Jonás, the film uses 3-D to evoke the feeling of weightlessness experienced by the characters. It also brings some of the wonder and mystery back to cinematic space, inviting comparisons to Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” and Ridley Scott’s “Alien,” and making most recent science-fiction epics seem clumsy and earthbound by comparison.”
“Modern urban loneliness is also among the themes of “The Lunchbox,” the deft and charming first feature by Ritesh Batra. He uses Mumbai’s lunch-delivery system — which transports thousands of meals every day from kitchens to offices — as the background for a quasi-romantic fable that might be thought of as an Indian variation on “You’ve Got Mail.” An unhappy housewife (Nimraut Kaur) and a mopey accountant (the indispensable Irrfan Khan), accidentally linked by a rare glitch in the delivery process, begin a culinary and epistolary friendship that is traced with a perfect balance of tact and sentimentality.”
yes but the comparison ought to be for week 1, not with the tail end when films stabilize at that low level. If not they’re out of the theaters! So in week 1 CE went from a 30-33 crore Fri to a 12 crore Mon. Even taking the lower Fri number it dropped 65% or so.
Why you are dividing days like 3.25? Is it anything akin to guinness book of world records? Normally we count days like 2 days, 3 days etc. Thank god, you are not into minutes and seconds too.
This is interesting, with so much talk about 100 crore club and many believing getting into 100 crore club is no big deal; here is some numbers from this year:
8 months have passed and only 4 movies in 2013 have made 100 crore. Of these 4, 2 (BMB, Race2) of them barely made it and may not have made it depending on whose boxoffice total you follow.
I think we’ll have 2 at minimum (K3 and D3) and maybe one more before the year ends. So this gives us 6 to 7 100 crore club movies for the year or less depending on which number you follow. I assuming there are about 100 Hindi film that will release in 2013, that’s 0.06% of the films making 100 crore.
For 3 Khans, HR and Ranbir, this should be a line that they cross in first week. For them the goal should be 150 crore assuming it’s a big film.
Totally the wrong way to look at it – you should probably compare the budget to top grosser ratios. The reality a vast array of those 100 or so films are small to medium budgets, no star, less marketing – they are not aiming for 100 crore. Anyone can see the club is hardly exclusive anymore, especially when there was only one in 2008 and one in 2009. Since then probably more than a few every year.
150 crore is the new 100 crore and probably only for another year or so. Then it will be 200 crore.
If a film is making 100 crore in 4 days (sure aided by holidays) its surely not a target borne out by films credentials, but by in large the market being played in now i.e. it should not be seen as a huge achievement if achieved so easily! It’s like Usain Bolt winning 100 metres with a time of 11 seconds and his competitors running 12 seconds, when the world record is 9.4 seconds! Sure he’s won, and you pat him on the back for winning a gold, but hardly the greatest sprint was it? when the quality is pretty low all around!
The nubmer speaks for itself. How many big films released in 2013 including the one that just released this weekend?
How many of those made 100 crore?
By the way, how many films made 100 crore in 3.25 days, with or without HOLIDAYS???
OUATIMD made 100 crore too during holiday weekend? 🙂
Your Usain comparison doesn’t make any sense at all, that’s kind of like saying all of bachhan films are flop when compared to Sholay since none of other ones made as much as Sholay, right?
It’s not the same at all.
The growth in the market has to be taken into account. If these films were making 100 crore in the same market conditions as 2008, then yes, it’s great.
But that is not the case.
The sense of achievement is not much when a non star film like BMB (and I don’t consider Farhan Akhtar an elite actor or breakout star) is making 100 crore!
Consider CDI in 2007! A Sports film with a superstar practically in every scene and it made 60 crore!
100 crore is no longer a club to be proud off. If anything, it is now a case of a big film potentially being considered as a failure if it does not get there! There’s been plenty of that on this blog for example for Talaash!
The moment biggies are considered failures when they don’t get there is the moment the target is deemed too easy!
100 crore is like the old 250 score in ODI cricket. When a team batting first scored 250 before 1995, that score was seen as a winning score. Fields have changed, rules have changed to favour batsmen, the game has changed (note Sri Lanka in 1995 WC going after the first 10 overs) etc, where 250 is no longer a winning score, it’s more like a losing score!
This will be true when a film gets the widest possible release with no significant competition around. That is for the initial. And if the film is well liked, then sky is the limit. If it it not well liked, it will start limping towards the nearest winning post.
It would be hard not to understand the points Jay is making unless of course one were pretending not to! I assume you’re not genuinely dense! On the rest your claims are in bad faith and you know it. You’re speaking like a typical and typically dishonest SRK fan. Let’s move on now!
My SRK timeline. The assumptions here are that SRK was a bigger star in 2004 than in 2007 and also a bigger star in 2007 than 2013.
Also that Main Hoo Naa, Om Shanti Om and Chennai Express, albeit not exactly the same film, they do owe themselves to attempts at masala, comedy, family entertainment etc. so I am comparing the business of these 3 films and assuming they are similar genres and SRK is a depreciating star but still relevant star.
2004 MHN made 35 crore
2007 OSO made 85 crore
2013 CE is making 205 crore
Growth between 04 – 07 is approx. 243%
Growth between 07 – 13 is approx. 241%
Even for Aamir between 2001 to 2009 comparing Lagaan, RDB and 3 Idiots (I’d argue equally liked, and he probably becomes a bigger star with 3 Idiots than he was with RDB) his films go from 30 crore to 55 crore to 200 crore…growths of 167% between 01 – 05 and 400% between 05 – 09.
The whole point here is to illustrate film business has just grown massively. It’s not a lot to do with the quality of the product or the size of the star (although Aamir’s films have grown bigger in time as he has become a bigger force, SRK I would say has gone the opposite way – but still huge growth in business).
Do it for Ajay Devgn or Saif in that period. It’s just a big growing business. So why would in this instance a 100 crore in 2013 be rated compared to those in 2011 let alone 2009. Bars have to change, targets are revised.
Your talking about a total market growth (infrastructure and inflation) of 6 times between 04 – 13 for SRK and 7 times between 01 – 09 for Aamir. “obviously” loose projections.
Now to the noise about 100 crore and why 200 crore for CE today is a good achievement but nothing extra-ordinary. It’s taken 4 years but even a RNBDJ in 2008 was making only 85 crores so the market has at least grown twice since then. My surprise is it’s taken this long but that is purely down to the quality of the biggie or rather lack off.
And that’s my whole point, that we can talk about market growth etc, but the fact is only 2 movies has done over 200 crore. So let’s not treat it like it’s normal and every other biggie is making 200 crore.
Let alone 200 crore, same thing with 100 crore, only small portion of biggie are going over 100 crore.
“only small portion of biggie are going over 100 crore” this is a false statement.
A higher proportion of biggies are reaching 100 crore in 2012-13 than say 2009-2010. Just cos only 4 have done so this year, does not falsify my claim. Film business in general can fluctuate from year to year, but overall the market is growing and still is. Till the releases stop widening, than you can call it a market of growth only in inflation like the US. The US, biggies release between 4000-5000 cinemas always. It’s saturated.
India is not. Every big film opens to a wider audience.
Apple does not open up stores in markets to capture the same audience in quicker time! They open up more stores to capture more people! Why would any “serious” investor do this. This is not the “short” stock market!
People open up more locations, more stores, more shops, more theatres to tap into more people, increase accessbility….and basically increase revenue (at a cost). It’s so simple, its business and finance. This whole 200 crore is a “ceiling” is hogwash, for those use to mediocre films.
“On the rest your claims are in bad faith and you know it. You’re speaking like a typical and typically dishonest SRK fan. Let’s move on now!”
Should we analyze your comments on SRK since 2000?
Please get over this SRK fans are dishonest, are in bad faith, etc… you use every possible factors to bring down SRK movies but as soon as somebody puts up one factor they’re acting in bad faith and are dishonest?
I don’t have time to bring down other actors, look at all my posts and you’ll know what i mean. I’m a fan or SRK and hindi films in general and will put up a good arguments keeping all factors in mind without picking and choosing factors based on who the star is.
I actually stand by all my comments on SRK. People might think I have a bias against SRK but no one would find it hard to figure what my positions were in a very precise sense. The smarter ones would easily be able to connect these with my overall ideological positions as well (so it’s not really an anti-SRK position the way many think it is). Also I’m not arguing against CE. What it’s done is pretty obvious. However whenever this sort of moment occurs there’s this effort by SRK fans to completely exaggerate things and at the same time deconstruct other achievements. Both go hand-in-hand. So 200 was supposed to be completely impossible, nothing could be compared with 3I even 4 years after release and what not. Suddenly CE does it and it’s supposed to be ‘record-shattering’?! What about all the other ‘details’ now? How did this even happen if it wasn’t possible? This is the kind of ridiculous stuff SRK has himself been peddling since CE became successful. The fans often reflect the ethics of their favorite stars! So SRK after making all kinds of claims which revealed his anxieties about the competition and his own inability to keep up for so very long finally said something which took the cake — the idea that for years HAHK seemed unbreathable but then that record was broken by many films in recent years! Yeah HAHK doing 75-100 crores in ’94 (depending on who you believe) is just the same as Race 2 doing it this year! There is this constant move by SRK fans to try and deconstruct anything that questions their narrative on SRK. And this move is evident in SRK himself (or Johar). And so you there’s the old trick of questioning Bachchan or somehow trying to deconstruct his track record or whatever. Or doing the same with Aamir more recently. So on and so forth. Now you can do it blatantly or be more subtle about it but it becomes very obvious very soon. I’ve spent too much time around ‘fans’ like yourself not to spot one almost instantly. And everything you’ve said for a while has confirmed this. No one’s stopping you from being a SRK fan or celebrating his success or thinking he identified the Higgs boson before anyone else. It’s the overall set of totally dishonest claims. And it’s pointless saying one hasn’t done this when every exchange one gets into including the present one reveals this in spades for anyone who has eyes to read.
The “growth in business” argument would have been crystal clear if there been no 3I. With wider releases facilitated by increasing # new multiplex available screens, the business gradually grew. From Ghajini to CE, the steady rise in business (weekend, weekly, lifetime) is crystal clear. Its only when an anomalous event like 3I is inserted into this growth chart, that we start getting these 200cr ceiling arguments. The fact is that 3I was just that: anomalous. It was a true ATBB in 2009, because it almost doubled the previous best. For an equivalent anomalous event today, a film would need to make upwards of 300crs.
“For an equivalent anomalous event today, a film would need to make upwards of 300crs.”
agree with this upto a point. If one considers the fact that the 3I final gross was 2.5 x its week 1 number and then if you consider how films can do 140-150 crores in a 7-9 day period today 300 seems minimal to meet that standard. 330 or more gets you closer to that 3I superlative initial and excellent trending model. We’re not even at Ghajini levels forget 3I ones. So Ghajini too with the 115 crore gross and the 60 crore or whatever extended week total (55 crores or something similar for a 7 day period) was well in excess of what seemed possible at the time. Even this standard hasn’t been met by any of these big films. ETT should have done 280 crores or so just to live upto the Ghajini standard. CE should have been doing 300! But we see that even by the highest Taran numbers (which one would be right to suspect!) it’s getting to 225 or whatever. So we’re very far from the Ghajini model even with CE. And at both ends. Because CE was still within the ETT range even in terms of initial whereas Ghajini cleared the competition by a huge percentage at the time. Of course we here all those bankrupt arguments once again that everyone saw it in week 1 so it couldn’t trend well and what not. We heard the very same for 200 not being possible. These are of course dishonest or delusional claims or both. But in any case 3I is in many ways the red herring here. Even the Ghajini bar hasn’t been cleared! The absolute number doesn’t mean anything. Otherwise many films have crossed 115! Meanwhile SRK’s pretending that it’s a musical chairs deal where sometimes he breaks records and sometimes others. Of course even this is a comedown for the ‘I am the king’ proponent. To admit that he’s just keeping up with the competition. But of course this isn’t really true as we’ve just discussed and as he’ll soon discover with either K3 or D3 or both. Unless both films underperform. Always a possibility in this business. In Hollywood box office reporting you see everything accounted for even from year to year when inflation isn’t that big a factor. But they still account for it, then they account for 3D inflation or IMAX inflation in addition to screen counts. They look at how well other movies have done in that month and week of release. So on and so forth. They really look at everything. In India you can’t even apply the broadest trending standards because from the trade to the fans there’s enough corruption or plain dishonesty involved for people to pretend otherwise. As I’ve said in the past the laws of physics (or in this case economics) don’t change from the US to India. For instance we’re supposed to believe that all this growth is only at the gross end and only in week 1! Or similarly were supposed to believe that all these huge additional grosses whether in India or in the overseas territories come at no additional production/distribution costs. So Barfi doing a 100 is more or less the same as Don2 doing a 100. They’re both equally part of a 100 crore club. This nonsense is peddled and it is swallowed by partisans or various stripes.
Another way to put it: Ghajini at 115cr in 2008 was followed by Dabanng at 145cr in 2010, followed by ETT at 195cr in 2012. These are increases perfectly in synch with the rapidly increasing market size. CE (at approx 210cr) is just another datapoint in this rising graph. It would not be surprising to see a 250cr movie by 2014.
How can one even argue about a 200cr ceiling, if a non-holiday release like YJHD ends up making 180crs, just 3 months previously? Would KJo not have traded the release dates of YJHD with CE? In the final count, there will be about 25-30cr difference between their gross. But CE had an extra 3 national holidays which boosted its collections. If their release dates are exchanged, the gross would have been exchanged as well.
This is exactly what I was drafting
2006 – D2 – 80
2007 – OSO – 85
2008 – Ghajini – 115
2009 – XX
2010 – Dabangg – 135
2011 – Bodyguard – 145
2012 – ETT – 185
2013 – CE – 205
Loosely this is 15% per annum growth if you plot this. Of course this assumes the “credentials” of each movie are the same, which they are not. OSO is underperforming, Ghajini doing a bit more than expected, Bodyguard underperforming. I leave out 3 Idiots as it butchers the debate. But even without it, its clear that generally the market is growing at 15% per annum and yes its LINEAR. There will be a tail off but why now if the evidence suggests its still growing. Its not so hard to suggest this…that every 6 years the market doubles. In 2006 D2 makes 80 crore, in 2012 a film makes more than 160 crore…why not in 2018 a film making 320 crore? Is it beyond the realms of possibility? Or is the 200 crore ceiling still there in 5 years time?
Thanks guys for injecting some sense in the inane BO discussions. CE is a big success no doubt and the biggest grosser of the year so far. But, to spin it as some kind of BO revolution without understanding/acknowledging the market dynamics is somewhat stupid and dishonest. One cannot take anything away from a movie that has made 200 crore plus regardles the increase in market size/capacity but at the same time one needs to be aware that the eventual total is already under threat from the coming biggies and in the annals of history is going to go down as a big success but not the biggest.
As NYKavi said it is a data point in the rising graph.
Yes, for a brief ( very brief period), it will be the highest grossing film of all time but is not going to be a land mark that 3I or even Ghajini was.
“Loosely this is 15% per annum growth if you plot this. Of course this assumes the “credentials” of each movie are the same, which they are not. OSO is underperforming, Ghajini doing a bit more than expected, Bodyguard underperforming.”
Do you consider all factors such as OSO released against another big movie? Or one movie might had clear run for 3 to 4 weeks while another had to deal with biggie every week?
“Another way to put it: Ghajini at 115cr in 2008 was followed by Dabanng at 145cr in 2010, followed by ETT at 195cr in 2012. These are increases perfectly in synch with the rapidly increasing market size. CE (at approx 210cr) is just another datapoint in this rising graph. It would not be surprising to see a 250cr movie by 2014.”
Agree 100%,keeping in mind each of those movies you’ve listed were treated as big hits but for CE, some want to claim it’s no big shake. And that’s the point i’m arguing, that it is a big shake. By the way, CE is not capped at 200 crore, it’s over 220 crore now.
I don’t think we have to wait till 2014 for 250 crore, we’ll see it before end of this year. CE will be about 225 crore so I think K3 or D3 will easily earn 25 crore more with same market and no competition in subsequent weeks.
No one is saying CE is not a big shake. Argument is about how big of a shake it is. Not that it really matters in eventual scheme of things. But, if we are going to indulge in this discussion, one has to keep it honest. Obviously, SRK fans will portray this as an attempt to deny him any credit. But, it couldnt be further from truth. Just keep things in perspective. CE has performed way beynd expectations. No doubt about it. But at the same time, it is not 3I.
If D3 and K3 don’t beat the opening day/weekend/week records of CE, does that mean SRK is #1 this year? If the answer is no, then one is taking other factors into account such as the perfect release date of CE.
Now SRK critics will take other factors into account when trying to prove if K3 and D3 don’t beat CE’s opening day/weekend/week why SRK won’t be the biggest star of the year.
At the same time, they won’t take other factors into consideration such as that BG faced competition and a substantial screen loss a week later from Mere Brother Ki Dulhan or that OSO and Saawariya released on the same day to pretty similar screen counts (as far as I remember).
This is hypocrisy or insecurity. One of those things describes Bollywood’s first midget superstar.
Why do we forget that Avatar released along with 3I. If you take crap like Saawariya, Jaaneman or OUATIMD to be dent-factors in SRK movies, why should the colossus of Avatar be forgoteen versus 3I?
Your argument holds only if the competition has some ‘dum’. So a SOS dented JTHJ, and certainly, brought down its business. JTHJ had YRC demise as a major emotional boost going towards its opening. Even then, the content was not good enough to knock off SOS.
Lets see how many films cross 400cr worldwide in the next few years. We can then assess how big of a success CE is. Even in countries like Peru, Germany and Poland this one did business in excess of 1cr. It has done 113cr in overseas already and it hasn’t even released in South Korea and China yet. Respect should be given when deserved.
Avatar had a third of the screen count of 3 Idiots. It made less in India than OUATIMD. Sure it affected 3 idiots worldwide gross, but it’s impact on 3 idiots’ domestic BO was less than ouatimd for CE and even mbkd for bg. Saawariya had more than half the screens of Om shanti om.
All this 100 CR 200 CR number will look puny once D3 comes out. Mark my words. That movie is making 300 CR….minimum and there is a good chance that it will do 400 CR. Think of all that’s going for that movie. Aamir just doesn’t dish out praises for his own movies !
Unfortunately aamir has lost his golden touch. Talaash could not even get near 100 crore inspite of being a brilliant film. Even a Khiladi 786 posed a threat.
I will not expect any blockbusters from aamir. But some good movie now and then.
I have no doubts that K3 will cross CE and D3 will cross K3. And if we go by logic of satyam, jayshah and couple others, it will be by a wide margin since you get a sense that boxoffice collection CE is no big shake.
I think you are interpreting it wrong. There are couple of movies which came near 3 idiots in spite of being not universally liked: ETT and YJHD. So it was matter of time somebody did little more and cross 3 idiots. D3 and K3 are big movies, if they are liked similar to CE they may cross CE marginally just because of expanding market. If they are liked more they should do more than 250.
ps – Just remove 3 Idiots from picture as it clutters and make all analysis biased.
Munna, it is like saying lets take Everest out in discussion of world’s tallest peaks. It would be meaningless. Every BO report from bozos is how CE has broken 3I ‘s record and it is true in a sense but it is not even 60% of the movie that 3I was at BO. That is the point.
No other mountain will peak mount everest (unless somehow nature plays some weird games) while boxoffice is moving target and can be over taken. Taoday it’s CE, tomorrow it will be K3 and then D3.
So Usain Bolt bettering previous mark by .11 second was something great. If you better the record by .01 or .02 – You have world record but someone else would come and better it by another .01. That is why there is a chatter that K3 and D3 will break CE record; But no one is saying who will better Usain Bolt’s 9.58. Someone will break it eventually but not by much.
I think 100m is a good analogy but there is no such thing as a perfect analogy. The point is 31 is the first amongst equals. There is something intangible about the meausre of how much a movie is liked or appreciated and there is no standard measure for it. Some would say IMDB ratings sre one way to look at it but even that data is skewed. Quite a few are able to sense or grasp it. A fewer amongst them who are honest will admit it. The rest will be just beating the senseless BO drums.
Would 31 have made 300 crores if released today? Very likely.
End of discussion.
No one is taking away from CE’s achievement. It indeed was a paisa-vasool entertainer, which managed to draw in large family audiences, as well as lots of Southern audience because of its content. It could not have bested the trend if it did not indeed have the content. If K3/D3, are rich in content, they may just conform to the trend and make in the range of CE. These 250cr scenarios only play out if the movies have superlative content. IMHO, CE did have great content (and I know Satyam/Rajan will not agree with me, but then I am just a common man).
Lets not forget that Roshans last gave a brain-fart in Kites, so K3 could be another constipation-reliever. Similarly, YRF have delivered unedible crap like Tashan and few others.
CE’s finishing at 225. I can bet if K3 or D3 do 230, we’ll hear theories about how K3 did great considering its genre isn’t popular in India and more BS.
There’s no reason why it won’t have mind boggling initial so I think it can easily do what CE did in first 2 weeks (about 200). There is christmas, new year and no competition.
The question is how much more it will do. I think about 260 to 270 crore.
On a separate note Satyagraha is behaving more and more like a 70 crore grosser that I predicted. Fools rushed in with a 150 crore projection. Average stuff at best. And a pity as the subject had takers but Jha couldnt make an engrossing film. Yes, the genre was a limitation but it could have easily made more as the audience was willing to give it a chance.
Now how are fools suppose to know that Jha won’t do justice to it? We can make prediction based on assuming that the movie will be good which it sure did judging by the promos.
I still think if it was a well made film, it would have gone to 150. One can’t make an argument that romatic angle of Ranbir/Katrina made Raajneeti go over 90 crore, if that’s the case than what was the total of APKGK?
There are many things that has to go right in order for the movie to work. All these claims of how easy it is to make 100, 150, 200 crore is baseless.
You were certainly right on the prediction. I was hoping for 100 based on the early word. Although it could be argued that irrespective of content (unless of course a sensationally good film were made which is always a high bar) you can’t get those numbers without a very strong initial which in turn you cannot get for this kind of subject without stars who attract a younger demographic in some serious sense. Now a better film could trend stronger than the current film is looking to but that might be the difference between 70 and a 100 at the most. It still wouldn’t go beyond this. So you either need a genre override for stars who might not be very strong at the box office or else a star override for a genre that isn’t hot. Devgan is fine in certain kinds of outings (though note how whether it is Golmaal or Singham his current big box office numbers can almost entirely be correlated with Rohit Shetty.. on the other hand you have disasters in Himmatwala or Aakrosh or some poor performances otherwise.. in Jha’s big efforts he’s not come in for great praise or else he’s felt sidelined.. barring the earlier films which were much more modest grossers) but he isn’t enough to get a big opening on a political film. Once again with Rajneeti the Ranbir-Katrina pair was important not to mention the love triangle and of course the Godfather plot made it a rather universal story. This was regular masala fare (admittedly absorbing) pretending to be political drama. On the other hand Aarakhshan or Satyagraha despite their flaws are issue-based. These kinds of films never hit those very high benchmarks unless something completely unusual happens in terms of content.
Even otherwise in terms of trending if you notice there’s Ghajini/3I or (and if the history is followed here) Krrish/Dhoom or even giving some allowance YJHD recently as examples of big openers/grossers that trend minimally well. Most of the other good trenders are at the lower end from OMG to Raanjhanaa to Kahani or whatever. Because at that lower end you can’t get anywhere without content. Obviously with any more appeal the film would open a lot bigger. Conversely the big openers are just extended ad campaigns that get the audience in. Few are liked. Most of the time the audience considers them just passable. The moral of the story is that no matter how big a splash you get this way content is eventually important. Of course to add to the dishonesty chronicles of many this too is held against the film. It’s like ‘hey don’t count 3I that was liked too much’! That’s absurd. Even the biggest stars still gross more with better content (barring Bachchan who could often turn even these laws upside down!). The smaller films reveal that if a film is truly liked it will find enough of an audience to trend well.
I’m not sure about Dhoom 3 because on one hand Aamir is in it and boasting about the good script which is a good sign. But At the same time, it’s directed by the Tashan director. Plus Aamir in this type of role is like SRK as a superhero. Ehh for both stars from me. YRF can probably get it 4000 screens. Xmas is on a Wednesday so opening day records will be destroyed. YRF will probably go for paid previews which can hit 10cr. It’ll have almost a 40 cr opening day if not more. But then the standard drop will come on thursday, making it 20-25. It’ll need a 30ish friday to be CE’s first 3 days. After that, no idea, it depends on content and WOM.
I totally agree. Very skeptical about Aamir pulling off an act in the footsteps of HR and JA. But then, he always has been acutely aware of his own physical shortcomings. So there mustve been some change in presentation to account for it.
As for junta, if they can accept a 5’4” ripped body flinging taller/bigger gangs of 10-20 goondas around like ninepins in Ghajini, they can accept Aamir flying around in a superman cape as well. Bhartiya Junta ki imaginative liberties ka takaaza koi nahi laga sakta.
Great analogy would be SRK beating the crap out of that giant Tamil bully in CE. So Thina-Gaaru (or whatever his name was) practically tears up SRK’s body, and has him biting the dust in a bloody blob. But, all it took was for Deepika to utter ‘Rahul’, and our hero sprang back up to beat the shit out of Mt Olympus. So is “Rahul” kinda like “chen-kuliki-men-kuliki-chen”?
I will agree that Aamir’s involvement suggests the best script of the franchise which might not necessarily be the same as the biggest grosser. Having said that Aamir is no one’s fool and is not likely to take Talaash-like risks with a subject which he has just done to put up some big numbers. Nonetheless it adds a degree of uncertainty given the genre. And yes the director does as well. In this sense Krrish is safer because both father and son have pulled of spectacular numbers and trending twice with this franchise. But here too there’s still a risk of trying to do too much. I did like the trailer but the double role and excessive attempt at SFX might well make this a trickier juggling act for Rakesh Roshan. The key to the first two films was essentially very simple plot-lines. Still I would be more surprised at Rakesh Roshan not finding the sweet spot here versus the Dhoom team doing the same. Also with Aamir while he might be expecting a blockbuster here he might not necessarily be in it for a film that breaks all existing records. There’s a difference. Unlike SRK Aamir has never gone into a film with that explicit aim even when he’s had the most commercial ends in mind. So yes obviously he wants huge numbers on D3. Just don’t think he’s waiting to break the 300 barrier!
But according to the logic you’ve laid out it isn’t knowable whether one has hit the bull’s eye or not! How does one verify this?!
On a related note even if a star were to appear on the blog and say some of this stuff he or she would hardly be likely to use his or her actual name. Nor would the same person be likely to say too much for fear of revealing something that ought not to be revealed. One could say the very same things in that scenario. In any case my sense is that people really find the stories unpalatable which is when they start bringing up the verification point. Otherwise everyone is quite happy to believe anything they wish to about their favorite stars or films, they’re equally happy to engage in all kinds of reasoning without real verification. So it cannot be a truth standard that suddenly becomes all important. It is really the nature of the utterance that one doesn’t like. I could say something completely different about some of these stars and you wouldn’t object at all!
LOL! SRK fans cant help being pathetic! It is their lot in life!
Dishonesty,snarkiness, tendency to play the victim etc comes naturally to them and compliments their rather poor judgement and taste! Even when their favorite actor delivers a mosntrous hit, they cant seem to disengage their head from its favorite position!
“LOL! SRK fans cant help being pathetic! It is their lot in life!
Dishonesty,snarkiness, tendency to play the victim etc comes naturally to them and compliments their rather poor judgement and taste!”
Then what does that make bachhan fans who has seen disaster failures for years now?
“satyam, arrows shot in the dark can also hit the mark. Doesn’t mean it describes ones ability to hit the bull’s-eye.”—
Haaha og…well said..
As expected, I’ve moved on from watching ‘heroine’ after a few minutes to a
Modern day cult classic–‘American pie reunion’
ROFLOL first scene -review shortly…lol
Rajen : “The point is at no point was it a 150 crore film. If it was better, it had a shot at 90-100 but never 150 crores.” Ifa biography like Bhag Mi.lkha Bhag van do 105 cr, there is no reason why Satyagraha could not do 150cr if it was a really good film.
Patriotic sports films will always find more takers than standard political drama. BMB was not just a biography, it was a well done patriotic movie. With Milkha Singh himself promoting the movie, along with host of other Indian Olympic stars past and present were a big boost. If BMB were only a biography, PST should’ve done a lot more as well.
Aside, one can reflect on the irony of Indian athletics through these 2 movies. Where did both these gifted individuals end up at.
actually I’d say that the biopic is actually a safer multiplex genre than a political issue-based subject. What political films have done hugely well? I cannot think of one huge grosser or huge hit irrespective of quality in the entire history of Hindi cinema. None whatsoever. And again I don’t really define Rajneeti as a political film. It had a generic political backdrop but otherwise was personality-driven and with a lot of masala tropes and so on. There was nothing specifically political here.
This history holds for at least two reasons. Such subjects seem less entertaining to many people but also to the extent that they’re sharper in terms of content they’re also more likely to alienate one group or the other.
Aaj Ka MLA made more news than money. the gross here was pretty low. Of course the bar for Rajesh Khanna by that point was the lowest one imaginable in any case. It probably made a fourth or fifth of what Inquilaab did which itself was considered a disappointment (average perhaps but every Bachchan failure was this barring a handful).
It’s certainly not a political ‘issue’ film. it’s a coming of age story with a political drama attached to it. But the latter is refracted through the former. And in any case the political exists here in abstract fashion (‘let’s end corruption’) as does the ethical (‘let’s do something’). Which itself is taken back by the end so that the multiplex audience doesn’t go home thinking they have to get themselves shot to be true to their conscience! The protagonists themselves say theirs was a cry of pain more than anything else and no one need follow! This is first off muddled but in any case about as political in any precise ‘issue-based’ sense as Rajneeti.
“So in which genre does a Rang De Basanthi fit in?”— haha well said–exactly what I meant
Have to give it that rdb had the ‘aamir effect’ though.
Without him, Mehra would be done a Delhi6!!!
Satyagraha , if one just takes the facevalue, has to do more than BMB which did not have a star to open the movie. I would go with what Utkal say here. Satyagraha if liked could have topped 120 crs. I dont think one can call it a proper political movie. This is not a Shanghai by any means. This is as political a movie as Rang De Basanti was, which wasnt really a proper political movie but make statements on the country’s politics. And considering corruption is one of the most burning topics in India, the Anna Hazare angle in the movie etc, think the movie had a good chance to top 120 crs if liked.
The fact that the movie opened to 40 crs though being a ‘political’ movie means that the audience were always ready to give this movie a chance irrespective of WOM. The issue is that Jha disappointed rather than the genre of the movie.
“The issue is that Jha disappointed rather than the genre of the movie.”– yeah but jha disappointed less than bachchans ‘core’ fans
Atleast jha gave bachchan a ‘dignified’ lead role in a reasonable setup at a stage when not many are willing to do that
Shanghai is a political thriller. It too is not an issue based political movie in any precise sense. If anything it adapts Z by shedding the latter’s precise political contexts. It then becomes a much more generic tale. Which is why it was celebrated by the media!
On the rest Satyagraha is not a biopic by any stretch. And once you have that crucial Anna Hazare archive you also can’t say the political references are not clear enough. The film might have other faults but this isn’t one of them. As for the rest any film can do anything. The point isn’t what an exceptional film can do but what a decent or better effort can do in a given genre. YJHD isn’t some stirring kind of entertainment, it still did a lot because that kind of genre does well. Similarly Salman Khan’s movies aren’t some outstanding examples of the genre. They still do well. The same goes for these genres at somewhat lower ends of the success spectrum. On the other hand with certain other genres the public really has to like them for these to work in any roughly comparable way. The bar is very differently placed on them. Which by the way is true for BMB or RDB also. I’m not suggesting it was easy for these movies to become successful. But the comparison with Satyagraha or Aarakshan colors the debate differently. And again I stand by what I’ve said — I cannot think of a serious political movie in the entire history of HIndi cinema that was a great success. And I mean by this a political movie with either an ‘issue’ or at least one with precise political referents. Even with looser political coordinates such films are not often very successful but you can at least find examples. Again all of this doesn’t mean Satyagraha couldn’t have done 100 or more. But for the same quality films in other genres would probably do 200! So one has to compare like for like. Maybe in the best of all possible worlds, which is to say with the best of scripts Satyagraha could do 120. But then in that same scenario ETT would do 275! The gap remains the same. Which is also one of the points I’m trying to make.
But satyam one cannot deny that whatever be the genre of this movie, people still showed up over the first 3 days irrespective of WOM. There was an interest in this movie due to the face value associated with it and the issues it was raising. And even with a below par WOM this will end up around 65 to 70 which is the houseful range. So there was a chance here of going past 100 if the content was accepted. The issue was the script not the genre of the movie IMO as people did flock to the cinema to sme extent overlooking the genre – doesn’t matter if it is political or not.
I don’t disagree with anything here but you’re missing the point. I’m not saying this film couldn’t have done 100 or even 120. Just that the content bar with certain subjects is much higher than with others. You regularly see garbage in masala these days gross a lot. The same with multiplex romance. If you made a film of that quality in Satyagraha you’d gross Rs 2! Even as things stand the reviewers aren’t consistent. a YJHD on average gets much better reviews than an Aarakshan. Now I had some serious problems with the film myself besides the fact that I never expect great things from Jha. But a film like YJHD is also by no means the best or close to the best that is possible within that genre. It’s not a DCH or something! In the name of the ‘enjoyable’ a lot of very substandard cinema gets kind reviews while a more serious film is taken to task for not being truly great! Now I too believe that the bar is higher when you tackle more serious issues. At the same time this doesn’t mean that Salman Khan gets a pass just because he’s attempting junk! So again I’m not disagreeing that it could have done more. But the way things stand that total for this kind of film is always an improbable one. My argument is that often there’s this logic that’s advanced — if the film was better it would have done more. That’s fair except that being less than this doesn’t stop other genres from doing a lot more! Every age has its dominant genres where films belonging to these do disproportionately well. At the same time not every dominant genre in every age has put out such substandard stuff. Or the kind that is celebrated today.
I do not disagree that the highest bar for this movie will not be in the YJHD range even if was massively liked. I never expected the 150 cr prediction thrown for this movie here
the only scenario in which 150 was a possibility was with the Rajneeti sort of deal where despite the script going haywire at points things were constantly entertaining. Lots of characters that were interesting on their own (the film had a huge cast), Jha kept things moving at every point. So this sort of thing but then the presence of a relatively popular younger pair to entice a certain demographic that wouldn’t normally show up for such a film in stronger numbers. Rajneeti surprised at the time with the start it got and it remained stable. An equivalent film could certainly clear 120 and maybe more. 150 would still be a stiff target but perhaps possible. But everything would have to be just right in the film.
One cannot make such generalisations imo
Yeah there ARE genre limitations and yeah satyagraha comes in that category which doesn’t attract the ‘whatssup’ crowd…
But it’s NOT unachievable—
There ARE ways around it …some of those ‘ways’ being —
Replace ajay devgun with a more box office friendly star –eg ranbir or even hritik–devgun is a better actor in this space but not a real box office force beyond a point..
Replace (what should I say!) Kareena with any non/poor actress but whose more in currently aka katrina or deepika
Replace the cute Amrita row with someone more saleable now
Get in kjo into the mix as producer (not director!!!)
Retain Prakash jha since he is good for this terrain and he would work more earnestly with the above setup
RETAIN bachchan but make his role more ‘unpredictable’ and somewhat ‘edgy’ with borderline ‘grey’ tone
The product with the same subject and director will cross 150 crores (& more!)
For gods sake–plz give Bachchan a role deserving his legend!!!
C’mon saw a promo just now
Even now the guy is crying out for roles worthy of his presence
And he gets a unidimensional predicable drab role
INSPITE of that, amitabh apparently is the best thing about the flick as per reviews!!
The other uncomfortable thing is the ROYAL DITCH Of amitabh bachchan by his ‘supporters’ here–
Barring one or two, NONE of his vocal supporters here have bothered to see this film not he big screen paying bucks…
This is the reality/ the hard fact 🙂
Dude, the youngest of Amitabh’s core supporters are 40+ yo, with kids and families. His older supporters already have grandkids. Do you realistically expect that demographic to go flock to see a movie? If yes, then Stallone should be coming to you for tips on how to take Expendables past 100M at the US BO. The guy will practically fill Part3 with the whos-who of 80s male leads, just to take a shot at 100M. (Part1 ended at around 105, Part 2 at 85).
That’s y ‘lollipops’ like ranbir & katrina /deepika need to thrown into the mix here
It wasn’t an accident that raaj Neeta got near 100 crores and more than 2 years ago!!
I do go after abhishrek commonly but bachchan sr is different!!
He is pure gold…
And sadly even his most vocal fans don’t really believe it anymore
🙂
Obviously, some have no idea what being an admirer/fan is about. Even when one’s favorite star or actor is involved there is no excuse for loss of objectivity.Neither is there any need to patronise their films by viewing them on big screen in the hope that it will buttress the eventual totals. Personally, it is a pleasure for me to watch AB on big screen and would not miss the oppurtunity ( last AB film I missed was the atrocious Vivek Oberia -Aishwarya pic ) but would never urge or expect all fans to watch a movie on big screen regardless of the merits of the film. AB doesnt need the big numbers.
I’m not !!!
By not even going to check it out on the first weekend –(inspite of excuses)— uve let bachchan down!!
And I’m talking to u Satyam ..,
It’s one thing to write paeans but one thing to not believe / act on your beliefs ..,
I’m ok if u don’t check out Buddha hoga tera Baap or any oh his ‘cameos’
If u had checked it out and cribbed about it later– it’s ok
But by being confident that it will be crap ( as many non/ex bachchan fans knew) — is a ‘dark day’ for your bachchan devotion… 🙂
Ps: a note of appreciation for those poor bachchan fans who did watch it on the big screen (though they cribbed later)
Apes what do you want from Bachchan fans?Fans at the best can help in innitial and that we have done.This is the Jha’s biggest opening and intresting point is it has beaten Rajneeti.It is aam janta that makes a movie hit or flop.So nothing is different here as people have not liked the movie that much.If you mean Satyam or other Bachchan fans should go ga ga over it here, will that make any difference to B.O prospects of this movie?So you are putting meaningless claims here and nothing more.
Don’t have to go that far in the past!!
Saw bits of the little known ‘armaan’– what a loveable ace cameo
And what a dying ‘status asthmaticus’ scene!!!
I will mince no words
This was a film in bachchans terrain with a sort of lead role..,
More than jha, it’s bachchans core fans that have let him down
Led by Satyam 🙂
No Apex, its from the Buy1-Get1Free bikini deal which Ranbir bought for each of his leading ladies. Even the Iberian vacation was the Buy1-Get1-Free deal, that he bought as gifts. He just chose to go with Katrina and left Deeps all alone by herself.
Looks like Satyagraha will do around 60crrs as per BOI and may be 68-70crrs by Taran. Jha needs to rethink now…people really seem to get tired of his similar themes.
Have films really become that expensive that 68-70 crore means a loss for a film like Satyagraha, or is it just a way to save taxes (investment offsets income).
I think they have become quite expensive but the larger issue is that unlike Hollywood the industry often budgets films in the same way irrespective of genre or potential appeal. Now admittedly Hollywood also goes crazy with budgets when there are major stars involved let alone on the blockbuster variety. But still by and large on the medium sized project or something smaller budgets are kept under strict control. I don’t know how much Satyagraha cost but in general Bollywood doesn’t do a good job on this front much as it does an even worse one on release schedules or the magnitude of these releases. In other words many films even with important stars start off with minimal or limited screenings in the US. The films are then expanded based on the response. In India more or less every film with a star releases on a similar print count. The truly big films that are gunning for the biggest possible initial then saturate the market but this is often overblown inasmuch as you can often get similar numbers on a much smaller print count as well.
Wednesday 4th September 2013 10.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Satyagraha dropped further on Tuesday as it collected around 3.50-3.75 crore nett. A 10-15% drop is normal for Tuesday but with a low Monday, Satyagraha had to hold much better to have any chance at the box office.
The collections for five days are 42 crore nett with the week is looking at a close of 48 crore nett. The weekday trend suggest a difficult ride for the film after week one and a likely finish of around 60 crore nett which would be the same as One Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaara! released two weeks back.
The film will record better collections in North and Central markets but still well short of what a big film should do. In Maharashtra, East and South the film has fared poorly.
The jury is still out on the fate of Ajay Devgn’s latest offering ‘Satyagraha’ but the actor looks far from perturbed as he enters his Juhu office. A cigarette break is on top of his mind and after a quick smoke, Ajay sat down with Mirror for a candid conversation.
The Prakash Jha film detailing the fictionalised life of an Anna Hazare like figure opened to a split verdict from the critics but the actor says that he is rather indifferent to the opinion of that lot. His Himmatwala was savaged by the critics and the latest one was met by accusations of sticking to the Jha formula, a mix of contemporary politics, romance and intrigue.
The question about this observation is met with a smile before the actor denies allegations of Satyagraha being formulaic.
“Bilkul nahi (Not at all)…Me and Prakash collaborate once in some threefour years. His stories are different and engaging and he has learnt that very well,” he says.
The actor accuses the critics and analysts of losing touch with the audience with their minute disection.
“You ask people within the industry, they will say things like the first half was good, the second half wasn’t. The audience always watches the film in totality. Critics are trying to sound intelligent by saying first half, second half. Kyu beech mei samosa aa gaya?” said the actor.
Jha is one of Ajay’s favourite collaborators, other names in the list being Sajid Khan and Rohit Shetty.
But did Himmatwala’s failure affect his relationship with Sajid?
“Sometimes things go right, sometimes they go wrong. You do 10 films, out of that one doesn’t work so you move ahead and learn from your mistakes. Yes, Sajid and I did have a chat about Himmatwala to figure what went wrong, and we have our own take on it, but it stays between us,” explained Ajay.
And what about the rumours about cracks in his camaraderie with Rohit, thanks to his super hit collaboration with Shah Rukh Khan, Chennai Express?
“When Rohit started Chennai Express, I was the first one to know and told him to go ahead and make it. I am making Singham 2 with him and he is like family to me. And, honestly, Rohit and I don’t even bother about all this gossip,” said the actor.
But there is one collaborator Ajay Devgn can always count on: wife Kajol. When asked about rumours of her making a comeback in his next home production, Ajay said, “Yes, it is true. We have planned something very nice.”
This has done phenomenally well in USA. The fall every week has been around the 50 to 60% bracket which is above par for an India movie. I didnt expect this one to be so huge in USA considering this is a Rohit Shetty movie. But the numbers are just very good here.
The reason it did well is the same as for 3I: Huge participation of South Indian audiences. I know so many who rarely go to watch Hindi movies, but went for CE.
Amitabh Bachchan and Ajay Devgn starrer Satyagraha continued to perform well in its 1st Tuesday with the film’s collections for the day being estimated in the range of 4.30 crores approx. With that Satyagraha has moved closer to crossing the 50 crore mark as the film’s collections summed up to 48.40 crores at the domestic box office.
Guru Dutt knew his craft well. He knew about shot-taking, angles and lighting. One day, he said, “How do they show cars flying over the camera in English films? Can you create it?”
*** Too bad for GuruDutt Rohit Shetty wasn’t available then as a film consultant ***
===============================================
*** Is this film-idea even alive? Has Hassan progressed on it at all since Queen Elizabeth gave the mahurat shot in 1997? ***
—
The visual effects have always been a well appreciated aspect in Kamal’s films and the man mostly behind the star’s films is Indian VFX Superviser N Madhusudhanan. The National Award winning Madhusudhanan is still optimistic about Kamal Haasan’s dream project ‘Marudhanayagam’ which is yet to see the light.
The VFX Supervisor said “I would love to do Marudhanayagam if that happens; at any cost! It’s a world class script which could easily challenge any film on earth!”
He further added that “I don’t feel that the film would have got outdated after all these years, especially after going through the script and what Kamal sir narrated me! It’s a Indian version of Gladiator.”
The film went on floors in 1997. It’s been 16 years, but the ace visual effect artist is positive about the film and is eager to work on it. He still cherishes all those breathtaking experiences he had while working for the mega budget film.
Yup sanju -but deepika may do better with her leggy dusky look and ‘flexible’ shrewd ways lol
On a related note —
“HEROINE”
Happened to see few minutes of ‘heroine’ —
Must say (& I’m uncomfortable saying that) Kareena CAN act!
That makes it obvious that there’s isnt a kapoor (as in raj kapoor tree) who can’t act!
I can’t believe that I’m saying this but Kareena is an ‘instinctive’ actress and sometimes effortlessly does things that others have to ‘hone their acting skills for ‘
That’s what u call genes
And the film wasn’t THAT bad –had some guilty pleasures as well
Like a sort of ‘lesbian’ scene between Kareena and another girl…
It was an ‘experimental’ “let’s try it out’ sort of thing rather than a genuine ‘hardcore girl on girl stuff’
Ps: this proves how unbiased and ‘objective’ I am —
I can even praise Kareena where deserving… 🙂
My hands tremble but i have to give the devil it’s due—thats my rule!
I can lose everything but my ‘objectivity’
Kareena kapoor may be highly allergenic and über irritant but there’s no better instinctive effortless actress of her own era (except maybe rani, PC)
But Kareena can sometimes throw in a brilliant scene without even knowing it or trying for it (atleast PC and rani have to try)
Ok there u go—
The FIRST time ever–a Kareena song from me
To hell with biases …
Man, what bad days have come–me liking a Kareena film? Need to get myself checked by a ‘mental coach’ lol
“Like a sort of ‘lesbian’ scene between Kareena and another girl…
It was an ‘experimental’ “let’s try it out’ sort of thing rather than a genuine ‘hardcore girl on girl stuff’”—
-and need to audition maggie, sanju, Oldgold and Amy for this ‘girl on girl’ scene from ‘heroine’
That should be fun 🙂
In Shoojit’s next, Vids will be portrayed as Bachchan’s daughter. Insiders say both have given their nod for the project and the film will go on the floors this year. Says a source, “It is the story of a father and his daughter and the dilemma that Bachchan’s character faces as his daughter fails to get a suitable groom.
Sircar and Bachchan had earlier worked in Shoe Bite together but the film is yet to see the light of day. Ever since that, the duo wanted to work together and now it is finally happening.”
Instead of confirming the buzz, the director remained non-committal, “Whenever I write a story idea, I bounce it off Mr Bachchan. I owe him a film. I am in the process of writing one and will show it to him when it’s ready.”
————————————————————————————
After taking a break post her son Azad’s birth, Kiran Rao is gearing up to wield the megaphone once again. Insiders say the film will be a biographical take on a dancer’s life. Kiran apparently has already begun work on the film’s script, which is said to throw light on the dancer’s journey in life.
On whether Aamir Khan will also be a part of the film, an insider says, “We are not sure if he will co-produce or work in the film. But with her husband around, she doesn’t need to go looking for producers.” The name of the dancer has not been revealed yet. A friend of the director confirms that work is going on full swing.
“After presenting Ship of Theseus, she got similar offers. But she knew it was the right time to start her next project. She has gone to Panchgani where she is currently working on it. The next film was earlier said to be based on a book but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
The news channels in India seem to be referring to Satyagraha as a hit in an unqualified sense; references to “satyagraha ki saphalta” and the year’s “fourth biggest opening” with a 40 crore opening abound; last night, I saw a Hindi channel make the point that even at 70, “jab bhi Amitabh Bachchan angry man ka roop dikhaate gain, woh janta ko khush karte hain”, and so on (there was a wider segment about “political” films that have been successful).
Pretty damn impressive. All records are gone for sure (besides maybe highest weekend). Aamir looks awesome and Katrina is beyond hot. I loved the shots of Chi-town
When Talash’s underperformance is talked about, genre is ridiculed.
When 3 I is discussed, there is a move to sideline aamir and give credit to the other factors.
With Talaash, there is a move to give more importance to the hero than the dark mood of the film.
Dhoom 3 has a mass friendly genre and the credit should go to the genre or aamir if 3 I example is taken?
As usual the other fans will try to play games.
The way I see it, one of the best way to tell start power is by what the movie does in it’s first weekend, after that it’s the merit of the movie which is doing the talking.
Of course a lot will depend on genre of the film, how big the film is, star power, etc…
Problem is one can’t say Aaamir is above genre and when a movie underperforms, use genre as an excuse.
No one serious enough (which excludes those who think CE has done a Sholay or who consider MNIK a Satyajit Ray film) has ever said that Aamir is ‘above’ genre. what is true however is that on any given day Aamir is more likely to get a success in any given genre compared to any of his contemporaries and/or he’s able to gross more pound for pound in these different genres than anyone else. So however one chooses to rate Talaash I don’t see a similar film starring anyone else doing 90 crores or whatever.
But the most important question is once again of honesty and using mutually exclusive arguments. So when Aamir was getting a lot of success doing different the position on the opposite side was:
1)he still doesn’t have the biggest grossers
2)the films aren’t that different
3)who cares even if they are?
4)Aamir is a fake!
The classic example of mutually exclusive logical explanations. However the moment Aamir had the biggest grossers:
1)How come he’s not doing different now? he’s a sell-out like everyone else
2)Even if he was doing worthwhile films he’s sold his soul
3)He’s got big grossers by doing the worst masala
4)3I doesn’t count because people liked it too much
and then when a different film doesn’t do as much as is expected:
1)See he can’t even get different to work
2)what happened to the guy who was getting the biggest grossers?
and this goes hand-in-hand with stuff like:
1)MNIK is more risky than Pathar Panchali
2)CE is a beautiful example of masala and more wholesome than the best brown bread
3)It’s Syrian numbers were affected by the recent chemical attacks, Aamir never had to deal with this.
So ranging from the utterly ridiculous to the moronically contradictory these kinds of claims show up. The last three points I’ve set out ought to be caricature but I can’t even say this is true. It’s actually rather close to the spirit of what is often said even if not literally so.
It’s total and utter dishonesty but it’s even worse than this. It’s the worst kind of stupidity. My sense is that if you want to be a partisan at least get half a mind first! of course I don’t have time for a back and forth on this. Jay gave me a wonderful idea the other day that is as safe and sound a business decision as one can think of. I am going to produce a huge star cast film in the right genre. Will release it on 10,000 screens. My plan is to get 200 crores on day 1. On Day 2 all these screens will show different movies because a)I will have made my money and b)in any case there will be no more people left to watch the movie since my plan involves having a 100% watch it on day 1.
Chennai Express has set a new record nett gross as it passed the 3 Idiots figure over the weekend but it has got there without setting new highs in the biggest circuits of Mumbai, Delhi/UP and East Punjab.
It is the first time ever that a film has become the highest ever grosser but not held a record in Mumbai or North, normally at least one of these regions sees records grosses as they have a big contribution to the all India business.
More surprising is that its just these big three circuits where it will not hold records. Chennai Express is already a record breaker in CP Berar, Nizam/Andhra, Mysore, Tamil Nadu/Kerala, Assam and Orissa while in CI, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Bihar it will become the record grosser at the end of its fourth week.
The big three circuits contribute around 60-65% to the all India business and it basically means that if a film manages top spots in these circuits then the sky is the limit for business.
SATYAMSHOT 
August 29, 2013 at 10:20 PM
http://www.indianexpress.com/picture-gallery/kareena-kapoor-ajay-devgn-launch-satyagraha-sans-amitabh-bachchan/3293-1.html
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August 29, 2013 at 11:01 PM
Guys hope fpr the best.My inner feeling says this movie is gonna rock.
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August 30, 2013 at 1:03 AM
The direction of discussion in box-office threads in indicative of the level that cinema in Hi-fi has plunged to. It has simply become a case of art following commerce and not vice-versa as one would expect the indicator to be in a healthy cinematic society. If the extrapolation logic tends to say that OUATIMD did x crore while BMB did y crore then why the hell Satyagraha (with the bulwark of actors in the movie being 40+ and led by an actor touching 71) can’t do 150 crores or more without taking into consideration the genre and the target audience and the majority demographic of foot-falls in disgustingly expensive multiplexes, what can one say? Why would a bubble-gum chewing, whatsapp using crowd want to spend 250 to 400 rupees on a movie that has clearly shown in the promos that it belongs to a theme that is personification of seriousness, gravitas, political skullduggery and corruption? It might, but AFTER it is sure that the WOM is positively assuring and that there are classes that can be bunked in lieu of watching SATYAGRAHA and that the mind is ready for some ‘serious’ cinema – all in that order. And this demographic forms the MAJOR part of money-spending audience today. The others, belonging to 35+ age group like me will watch it after considering reviews recommendations etc. Hell, I might still watch it for Amitabh because I am an unfailing fan. But after a certain age, this type of ‘fanaticism’ will ebb in most of the fans. So we are not generous contributors in the week-end gold rush either. This will NOT be like Barfi, which, even for its supposedly ‘off-beat’ theme managed to sprint to 100 crores thanks to the oohing and aahing umbilical cord-crowned superstar Ranbir got from girls and maybe some boys too. If people do not want to differentiate between the audiences that are inclined to prefer CHENNAI EXPRESS to YJHD to SATYAGRAHA, what kind of logic and ‘honesty’ is one talking about? During the interval of AARAKSHAN that I watched in Bangalore, the guy sitting in the next row commented when BODYGUARD preview was being shown that,’ Sallu bhai ka movie mast hain; aaram se bheja ghar mein chodke baaki sabi body parts se picture enjoy kar sakte ho.’ And no, this was not some rickshaw-owner. This was an IT guy slaving for some US multi-national. Get it? The ‘youth’ brigade that all our politicians and social commentators are so proud of, unfortunately, prefer the former type of atmosphere; the carnival atmosphere of watching a movie with carnival barkers all around. So a 22 year old girl and a boy won’t walk into a theater showing SATYAGRAHA or THE LUNCH BOX and sitting in some row making out and suddenly when the privates are talking to each other decide to analyze the political awareness of Jha and the range of Bachchan’s histrionics or the brilliance of Siddiqui. Indians are good at multi-tasking, but this ain’t gonna happen buddy.
Now to our surprise, the movie might be really good (the reviews are universally praising it, which makes one all the more scary considering the ‘critical’ standards in India). And to reach something north of 100 crores, the film HAS to be very strong content-wise and get the audience glued to the seats throughout its running length. There is simply no other ‘escape’ route. Prakash Jha primarily and then the ensemble cast and of course the good-will that Amitabh Bachchan has accumulated over the course of 40 years are the only magnets in this movie. Who else will the ‘young’ demographic or for that matter even the ‘oldies’ will come to watch? Amrita Rao? Kareena Kapoor who Saif has robbed of all the mystique that was ever present? Ajay Devgn who is a standard fare in Prakash Jha’s ventures? (He was fine in Apaharan and excellent in Gangajal but that’s about it regarding his commercially ‘successful’ association with Jha). Manoj Bajpayee? Contrast this with the escapist CE that has ROHIT SHETTY and DEEPIKA PADUKONE and then, a haggard SRK who still manages to sell vada-pav if not a cheese-burger. Who would the ‘youth’ demographic spend time with? Dispensible cinema or serious cinema? Go figure.
That people are still talking of Amitabh Bachchan in terms of box-office collections is infact, an unwittingly acknowledged back-handed compliment to the span of AB’s hold! Here he is bordering on 71, and he is still being discussed box-office wise in a solar-system comprising below 50 Khans, Kapoors, and Kumars! The winner, either way, is Amitabh himself. Because if he fails box-office wise as many non-fans would love to, why is he still the actor that Bhansali or Shoojit or Sujoy or Anurag Kashyap want to work with? So the studios, producers, distributors are pretty much the most philanthropic creatures on this earth because they keep endorsing films that stars a 70 year old guy! The basic fact that Amitabh at his age and this stage can only be measured as an indicator of cultural good-will is totally lost in this mad, mad world of crore-clubs. All that genuine AB fans (I meant fans like Dharan Raj Dharan) look for at this age is something that enhances his body of work qualitatively, that’s it. This basic fact is lost in this melee. Similarly, films belonging to the genre of Satyagraha and like should not follow commerce the way CE or YJHD follow commerce; commerce should follow it. In other words, one should know what should be the main topic of discussion at any event and discuss it; not highjack the event and take it in the only straight line that the money-clothed film-media in Hi-fi talks about.
If SRK fans feel he is being held to high standards then they should understand that that is what he set out to do with CE? So he will be measured in the ‘baniya’ mathematics of 202 crores and 12 aana. AB will be not, since neither the film-makers nor the guy himself have any delusion that he is still the mammoth one-man industry that he was in the ’70s and ’80s.
Only in India, as Satyam says, can there be a discussion as to why WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN and PINEAPPLE EXPRESS did not make equivalent sums of money..
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August 30, 2013 at 2:17 AM
Nice to see you. We missed you. I missed your unique style.
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August 30, 2013 at 8:11 AM
Thanks Sanjana.
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August 30, 2013 at 3:27 AM
Some sense finally!
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August 30, 2013 at 7:09 AM
Fantastic comment An JO!
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August 30, 2013 at 8:12 AM
Thanks Satyam.
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August 30, 2013 at 1:22 AM
Looks like after the initial glowing reviews it had been average to bad..looks mixed now although should take good opening..legs will be questionable though…Bajpai and AB look to be the saving grace here with their performances.
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August 30, 2013 at 2:33 AM
Baap Re ! Is this long comment a caveat in case Satyagrah become Satyanash (Which looks more likely).
“without taking into consideration the genre and the target audience and the majority demographic of foot-falls in disgustingly expensive multiplexes, what can one say? Why would a bubble-gum chewing, whatsapp using crowd want to spend 250 to 400 rupees on a movie that has clearly shown in the promos that it belongs to a theme that is personification of seriousness, gravitas, political skullduggery and corruption? ”
I hadn’t heard this comment during ‘My name is khan’ days. What was is that film to attract bubble-gum chewing, whatsapp using crowd. Satyagrah’s teroteriy is more like Anna’s or Nirbhaya’s movement where these bubble-gum chewing, whatsapp using crowd participted in Thousends and Lakks. But MNIK was based in America with whom most of the indian could not indentified. So why this genre and Demographic debate only About Amitabh and Aamir.
“That people are still talking of Amitabh Bachchan in terms of box-office collections is infact, an unwittingly acknowledged back-handed compliment to the span of AB’s hold!”
No atleast i never said that AB is a force in BO after 1990. Though i didn’t wanted to point it out but i am sorry to say if we count the Bachchan duo is responsble for the most disaster in the last decade. Look at these films.
Toofan – Disaster
Jaadugar – Disaster
Ajooba – Disaster
Indrajeet – Disaster
Insaniyat – Disaster
Mrityudata – Disaster
Major Saab – Disaster
Lal Baadshah – Disaster
Sooryavansham – Disaster
Armaan – Disaster
Boom – Disaster
Deewaar – Disaster
Family – Ties of Blood – Disaster
Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag – Disaster
Aladin – Disaster
Department – Disaster
Shararat – Disaster..Film never relesed in theatre
Naach- Disaster
Umrao Jaan – Disaster
Laaga Chunari Mein Daag – Disaster
Drona – Disaster
Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey – Disaster – Film never relesed in TV as no one is willing to telecast it.
Game – Disaster
Players – Disaster
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August 30, 2013 at 7:08 AM
Through 1992 Bachchan was getting the biggest initials. No one was even close. He was also getting some of the top grossers. First off at least half a dozen films in your list are not disasters by any stretch. It destroys the credibility of your claims when you include Toofan or Indrajeet or Major Saab with films like Department or Boom which were true disasters. These other films were low by Bachchan’s standards but had no more than B or B- ratings in the trade papers. Secondly you conveniently forget to mention AAA, one of the biggest hits of 1990, through the Rath Ratra riots. You conveniently forget Hum, the hysteria for which was unparalleled at the time as was the opening. So on and so forth. While I wouldn’t argue that Bachchan in this period was at his peak by any means his initial was still untouchable. Anyone else wasn’t even close.
Not sure what the Abhishek list has to do with this!
Leaving this aside here’s the slippage in your argument. If Bachchan is the star you say he is then of course SRK should be held to a higher standard. Because while ‘different’ is always tricky for any star the more successful star should still do better! Of course the other problem here is that when SRK’s different attempts don’t do well you guys convert them into art films! MNIK by any stretch did poorly in India. There are tons of stars in tons of different films to prove this.
The anxiety remains Bachchan. Ironically your list even if exaggerated and one-sided makes the point even more than Bachchan fans could or have cared to. What must be the status of this man and this star that even after 20 years of a very mixed box office record or even an indifferent one at times he has nonetheless remained and very easily India’s most transcendent icon? This can be judged by a variety of things from his KBC stint to the extraordinary reach of his ads to his unchallenged ability to win greatest Indian polls in his field (where only Sachin has that kind of all-Indian reach).. so on and so forth. No matter how much of a ‘legend’ a star is there is always some correlation with the box office when it comes to such appeal. Bachchan has been so titanic that even a mixed or at times poor box office record following on the heels of the greatest box office record that I am aware of in cinema (anywhere in the world) has not diminished his appeal by any means. And of course every other director over the last 15 years or so has tried to feed off this appeal by making their ‘ultimate’ efforts with him. Whether it’s Aditya Chopra or Johar their biggest attempts had to account for Bachchan. Again all these examples could be multiplied. He’s continue to find success, real success in cinema, forty years or more after his debut (SRK just has to bout till 2022 and then till 2032! He’s already lost so much of his sheen and in such precisely measurable ways for more than half a decade now, even longer if one thinks of how he could never out-initial or out-gross Hrithik on some of the best films and so on). But at any rate your picture of Bachchan’s career makes the opposite side’s claim stronger. How could a man be so extraordinary relevant despite all this?! That’s the question that has to be answered. And again one can debate these matters but as I always say there has to be real honesty about it. The problem with SRK’s fans has always been the Icarus one. Fly too close to the sun and your wings of wax will burn and you’ll plummet! Whatever SRK’s achievements might or might not be there can be a debate over them but the moment Bachchan is used as a comparison the argument becomes completely absurd. Now there might always be enough people online with no sense of history or older folks with Alzheimers’s to keep these debates alive but then in some parts of the world they’re debating the roundness of the earth too!
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August 30, 2013 at 2:34 AM
http://movies.ndtv.com/movie-reviews/satyagraha-movie-review-863?pfrom=home-topstories
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August 30, 2013 at 2:44 AM
Throughout Jha was denying that Satyagraha is based on anna ‘s movement and he refused to show the movie to the anna team. Now every critic is pointing out the similarities are too glaring.
The saving grace seems to be Bachchan’s acting plus Bajpayee’s comic villain act while some said that Devgn sleepwalked and mumbled his dialogues.
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August 30, 2013 at 3:46 AM
So looks like not more than 60 crores
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August 30, 2013 at 4:23 AM
From 150crrs we are back to 60crr? I think although this can hit 80crrs…have to wait how it opens.
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August 30, 2013 at 4:34 AM
even if it makes 60 crore, a long article will be written on how this 60 crore is more relevent then 200 crore.
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August 30, 2013 at 4:23 AM
@taran_adarsh
B.O. update: ‘Satyagraha’ starts well in morning shows!
By Taran Adarsh, August 30, 2013 – 12:02 IST
The business of Hindi films, of late, seems to be on a high. The new release, SATYAGRAHA, started very well in the morning shows across various circuits, with occupancy ranging between 70% and 80% at several screens [lower at places too]. The business is dependent on youth and family audiences and it will be interesting to see how the film performs from evening shows onwards. The buzz within the industry is super-strong and so are the reviews for the film.
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August 30, 2013 at 4:24 AM
Satyagraha Has An Average Opening
Friday 30th August 2013 11.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Satyagraha had an average opening with collections generally ranging in the 30-50% range. Opening at both multiplexes and single screens is average. The film had a big cast but the genre is not popular amongst the youth so a good start was always going to tough.
The film will be dependent on word of mouth which always make it tough especially for the bigger films like Satyagraha.
The best business should come in CI as the film is set in Madhya Pradesh so collections in that state will be better. Saturday will the key for the film as it will have to show an upward trend and its rare for big films with wide a release to show Saturday growth. The film has been released on 2700 screens plus.
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August 30, 2013 at 6:51 AM
LOL, but for Bachchan they would have been aligned with Taran on this!
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August 30, 2013 at 4:25 AM
Chennai Express Hits 200 Crore In Three Weeks-BOI
http://www.boxofficeindia.com/boxnewsdetail.php?page=shownews&articleid=6014&nCat=
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August 30, 2013 at 7:20 AM
they’re 18 crores behind Taran!
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August 30, 2013 at 4:31 AM
@An Jo, what a lengthy article to once again bring down SRK and try to force people to think Amitabh is still a force at Boxoffice. I don’t think anybody said amitabh is still a force at boxoffice infact none of the bachhans are (amitabh, jaya, ash, abhisekh). Amitabh days as boxoffice were over more then 20 years ago.
SRK, salman, aamir at almost 50 years of age is giving blockbusters, what did amitabh give at age 50?
This just proves my point from all other discussion that bachhan fans are busy bringing down other actors because they can’t use any arguments to bring up bachhans.
What i and many talked about was Satyagraha that it will do good based on the trailer, reviews, market growth, etc…
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August 30, 2013 at 4:35 AM
I still say this movie will do good, give it atleast a full weekend before making a decision on it. once paying public likes it, it will catch on.
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August 30, 2013 at 5:44 AM
Public reports are not that encouraging.I think Jha has messed it up again.
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August 30, 2013 at 5:53 AM
“Utkal Says:
August 30, 2013 at 3:46 AM
So looks like not more than 60 crores”
Haha so till yesterday u were saying 150 crores + & now 60? C’mon even ‘veteran’ utkal uncle has been taken in by all this commotion…
As for poor Satyam–he isn’t even coming out with a number
Hope Satyam has a good nights sleep…
Enjoying this satyagraha bo discussion—hope the box office also similar activity (but am unsure)…lol
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August 30, 2013 at 6:19 AM
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Entertainment/Tabloid/Salman-Khan-takes-veiled-digs-at-Shah-Rukh-Khan/Article1-1114934.aspx
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August 30, 2013 at 6:35 AM
Getting mixed reviews towards positive side though .. looks like Jha could have done bit better job ..
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August 30, 2013 at 6:56 AM
The main problem with Jha is he is repeating the things again and again.
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August 30, 2013 at 6:36 AM
Ha sanju–these ‘digs’ hav started even amongst heroines
Katrina wants deepika to keep her wisdom to herself !!
http://www.pinkvilla.com/entertainmenttags/katrina-kaif/katrina-wants-deepika-keep-her-words-wisdom-herself
Ps: sanju-how about some koffee (in the new style) 😉
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August 30, 2013 at 6:52 AM
C’mon dont be ‘shy’ sanju lol
Anyhow –my ‘tribute’ to Ms Ileana Da Cruz…
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August 30, 2013 at 7:20 AM
Madras Cafe Grosses 32.50 Crore In First Week
Friday 30th August 2013 10.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Madras Cafe grossed around 32.50 crore nett in week one. The film had a good weekend but the weekday collections are a little disappointing considering the huge jump it took on Saturday and the weekdays had a holiday.
The problem for the film is limited appreciation outside the premium multiplexes. The film has not done well outside the metros but even in metros it is dependent on the cinema. In a city like Delhi a PVR City Walk records very good figures but its not the same at a Fun Motinagar.
The film will gross over 40 crore nett but may struggle to get to 50 crore nett. Films like Aashiqui 2 and Ranjhanaa which had similar weekend figures but lower costs went on to do 80 and 60 crore respectively.
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August 30, 2013 at 7:20 AM
Taran slightly higher on Madras Cafe:
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/box-office/top5-hindi-movies/id/995/date/2013-08-30
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August 30, 2013 at 7:32 AM
SatyaGraha on BMS is at 92% … this is very high rating which only few movie could have achieved so far .. lets see if this sustains with more votes ..
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August 30, 2013 at 7:38 AM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh 6h
#Satyagraha morning shows commence with a bang. Super start!
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August 30, 2013 at 8:10 AM
Don’t think it started with bang .. opening is 30-50% .. bit higher at some places. May collect 8-9 Crore day one.
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August 30, 2013 at 9:15 AM
Yeah at the moment it is looking like a 7 to 8 cr day…if it picks up well later it can do 10 cr. The WOM is not so great. The super start which Taran is talking about is selectively focussing on UP and MP. Elsewhere it is as expected average. So nothing is lost for this movie as no one expected it to start bumper. But the initial glowing reviews seems way off the mark.
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August 30, 2013 at 7:44 AM
Movie review: Satyagraha, what went wrong
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/satyagraha-movie-review-what-went-wrong/1162302/
I think this film will do good business despite this crappy review
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August 30, 2013 at 8:58 AM
Ignore these crappy reviewer, paying public is the real decider.
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August 30, 2013 at 7:48 AM
B.O Update ‘Satyagraha’.
Starts Very Well in morning show
By TARAN ADARSH.
30,2013-12:02 IST.
The business of Hindi films of late,seems to be on a high,The New Release,SATYAGRAHA Started very well in the morning shows across various circuits,with occupancy ranging between 70% and 80% at several Screens.
The business is dependent on Youth and family audienees and it will be interesting to see how the film performs from evening shows on words.
The buzz with in the industry is Super-Strong and so are the reviews for the film.
~JnK.
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August 30, 2013 at 8:16 AM
Saw Satyagraha today. Not sure if I liked it, but think this is, in many ways, is Jha’s strongest film in the sense that the ‘message’ of the film comes out the sharpest. And while Devgn technically plays the lead here, Jha uses AB as a sort of a ‘symbol’ (this technique probably works in parts, but this also like reducing AB to just another act. Having said that the fact that character becomes symbolic is only because of AB as well. On a personal note though, i was slightly uncomfortable with him doing this Anna Hazare trope). Bajpai, inspite of playing a caricature, steals the film very easily from everyone.
Liked the climax a fair bit though, Jha really gets his ‘drama’ right here
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August 30, 2013 at 8:54 AM
Saurabh, how was public reaction, like the one where bachhan slaps that politician (shown in trailer) and the defenning music that follows. I get goose bump everytime i see that scene in trailer.
Are there more scenes like that? If there are, UTV should start create new short trailers and start showing that. It will help greatly with gettign audience attention.
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August 30, 2013 at 9:07 AM
Good question: When that scene happened, in Regal (where I saw it), the response of the crowd was ‘deafening’. Sadly these kind of Masala moments were too far and few in the film. AB and Devgn do have one terrifically shot scene in the jail though.
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August 30, 2013 at 9:48 AM
The masala universe is in an interesting though not surprising sense somewhat antithetical to the purposes of political drama. With Rajneeti what you had was a masala story masquerading as a political film. There was a political backdrop but nothing specifically political here. Which does not mean you can’t marry the two but you have to err on the side of masala rather than the political drama let alone the didactic. Jha might well have done that here, I of course haven’t seen it. But a classic example here is one of my favorite films, Manoj Kumar’s Kranti. Here’s an ultimate masala film pretending to be a historical drama about 1857! It was a huge hit. On the other hand MP represented a somewhat uneasy mix and even though I find it to be one of the best commercial films over the last decade or so the director couldn’t completely decided which way he wanted to go.
The masala ‘epic’ universe which is to say in its most authentic versions and completely unlike the Telugu-inspired masala-comedy we see today is one that carries a deep cathartic resonance. It is a world where there is always a ‘cost’ even with a happy ending. But more to the point here it is a set of signs which transcends the specificity of the political in the ‘contemporary’ sense (which is to say any politics defined by the events of a present). And so when Manoj Kumar nonetheless relies on political events from the past he first of all has the advantage that these events are already mythologized. Moreover he uses them as padding for a very masala lost and found story (I believe this was a Salim-Javed script). The same could be said about that neverland Desai constructed in Dharam-Veer. This is the way historical fantasy ought to be done or indeed any kind of fantasy within the Indian context. Even Rakesh Roshan is very far from picking up on these Dharam-veer clues and Hrithik possibly is not the best messenger for an ultimate masala message.
The masala universe which at one level is derived from the great epic tradition of India and on the other hand also dependent on a certain Shakespearean construction by way of street theater and so on (a good book on this is yet to be written) is essentially a ‘super-genre’ that mixes a number of genres improbably. But this already happens in Shakespeare, it also happens in the Mahabharata in a very different way. These are worlds where in a way ‘everything’ happens. To paraphrase Voltaire it ought not to work but it does. And so by definition masala transcends any very specific set of political or historical or period coordinates. The best modern practitioner of this mode and in his own very outlandish way is Shankar in some of his films. Here you always see that marriage between a mythologized past and a very contemporary present or else even if it’s only about the present it raises this figure of the vigilante in its most mythologized guise. So either way the romance of the past keeps intruding in the present. Or better still one cannot settle the accounts of the present without (re)triggering the heritage. Anniyan is perhaps his sharpest film on this score where a number of configurations come together. The meek traditional temple priest, the web-integrated psychotic vigilante and so on. In Robot Rajnikant himself represents ‘tradition’, not just his storied past but also in a sense the masala past-as-such. I am not a great fan of Shankar’s for all this but his formulations are suggestive and have not really been bettered by masala filmmakers in his tradition who might otherwise make ‘better’ or ‘purer’ films in this context.
To return to the point I’m trying to make more precisely the political cannot become a way of limiting the epic scale of masala. It can serve as a set of cues but if you do more than this you lose the potency of masala. Put differently the politically specific can be an episode or a chapter in the larger masala framework but not an end in itself. Notice how this is the great failing of Bachchan’s own Inquilaab. It tries to cancel out his epic registers and essentially render him the hero of a political drama. He is not overman here. The struggles of masala are multi-faceted and even abstract. Which is to say they’re about cosmic principles. However what is also true is that these then find formulation in precise ‘everyman’ stories. In other words the scenarios are meant to be typical. These then give birth to the hero who uses those contexts to re-wage those cosmological battles. By the end the villain is always punished but it is always obvious that this is just one story. The larger battles rage on. The epic genealogy allows these stories to become part of that larger fabric of stories, constantly replenished over time or certainly reformulated in different ages. The political if tracked too closely tried to minimize these larger cosmological stakes through the prism of a specific event in the present. Once again even with MP the marriage was uneasy because there were moments when the film seem to push in this epic direction invoking the mythology and so forth but on the other it tried to provide a much more realistic take on the conditions of that world. Tamil cinema which has long had a rich tradition of ‘historical’ romances privileging the Dravidian-Tamil sign has performed the very same masala move at every turn. Even pre-masala Hindi cinema did the same in the 60s (Rajendra Kumar’s Suraj is an iconic example) or the 50s (Dilip Kumar’s Aan). As a related note (and I am indebted to someone for this point) it’s interesting tried to avoid Tamil hegemony (once all Southern films were shot in Madras) and this Tamil inflection of history by going back to an ‘older’ source and relying more on the Sanskrit epic tradition. Hence NTR with all his mythologicals.
I’ve probably repeated myself here in certain respects but to sum up the masala tradition is something to be taken very seriously. Jha at least understands some of the stakes. He’d probably do better if he got the political bug out of his system. on the other hand what you have with most of the other Telugu-inflected masala films is simply a superficial, ironic take on this tradition. You ‘enjoy’ it as a set of signs or ‘effects’ from a distance without investing in the very serious stakes of this universe.
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August 30, 2013 at 10:28 PM
Great comment Satyam, specially the Kranti and Dharam-Veer referemce..
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August 30, 2013 at 8:20 AM
Apex: It could do 150 cr if it was a good film like Bhag Milkha Bhag, with good story-telling, and grasp over genuine human emotions. But reading between the lines of various reviews, it looks like another politically correct film with good intentions. That is so boring. Therefore 60 cr. Of course I could respond to the film really if I saw it.
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August 30, 2013 at 8:55 AM
Agree, it can easily do 150 crore if it’s a good film which we all thought looking at the trailer.
I say it’s still too early, let the weekend pass.
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August 30, 2013 at 10:46 AM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh 2h
#Satyagraha opens to a strong word of mouth in UAE-GCC. Thu AED 430,000. Few screens yet to report. Bigger start than #Raajneeti.
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August 30, 2013 at 10:46 AM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh 1h
It’s confirmed! Brand new teaser trailer of #Dhoom3 will be launched with #ShuddhDesiRomance next Friday.
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August 30, 2013 at 10:53 AM
Amitabh’s Satyagraha Has A Fantastic Opening At Box Office
http://entertainment.oneindia.in/bollywood/box-office/2013/amitabh-satyagraha-opening-response-box-office-118620.html
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August 30, 2013 at 11:10 AM
satyagraha needs a good word of mouth,otherwise the film will struggle,needs a good weekend to sustain,powerfull stars will just pull through..having a mixed reviews it will be tough..
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August 30, 2013 at 11:38 AM
I think this film will struggle 100% at boxoffice as per reports.
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August 30, 2013 at 12:08 PM
the is not that bad to failed completly,it will just pull through.
100% is a joke,40% will be recovered so do not give bull s*** judegement..
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August 30, 2013 at 12:17 PM
Vijay don’t get angry.I am telling something based on feedback that i got from various places.This movie will not sustain in weekdays.Anyway,i pray for the success of this movie but at the same time we have to accept reality my friend.Movie has collected around 8cr today in 2700 screens.Tomorrow is very crucial.
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August 30, 2013 at 1:09 PM
A call to all bachchan fan/atics to support their icon and go in hordes to watch ‘meaningful’ & ‘serious issue’ film satyagraha….
I hope amitabh gets his first 100 crore film here (not that he needs if but good to her another tick in the ‘new format’ box office)
Incidentally & ironically like his son, bachchan seems poised to enter the 100crores club in another ajay Devgn costarrer…
& Satyam u can relax but do check this film on the big screen -to vindicate your support (like a few have already done!)
Ps: I can’t see it though showing near me–won’t get any good ‘company’ to watch this one–these ‘serious’ topics don’t get many ‘takers’ in certain segments 🙂
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August 30, 2013 at 1:55 PM
I think the presence of Kareena Kapoor is deterring you.
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August 30, 2013 at 1:59 PM
Hehe sanju -maybe u are somewhat right–but not many want to go watch this movie–& I don’t watch em alone lol
btw u know a lot of ‘inside stuff’ now—
Psst the ‘coffee break’ was gr8 (& quite long)…shhh lol
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August 30, 2013 at 2:34 PM
This is sad to see Bachchan extraordinary talent is being wasted in half baked movies .. he deserves much better. Though I have not seen movie .. but after reading all feedback through out day .. I can sense this movie is suffering from same problem as Aarakshan. Issue based movie without proper conclusion. Given that now Amitabh has been too much selective and doing 1 movie in 1-2 years …. he deserves only best.
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August 30, 2013 at 6:10 PM
Agree, money is not an issue, fame is not an issue for bachhan so treat this phase of your career as bonus. Do things towards the end of career where people can say he lived and died like a king. I don’t care what anybody say but his assocation with RGV hurt bachhan and abhisekh big time.
I think Dilip Kumar scored big time in this department, until the very end, he was the HERO of the film he was in. Also, he hung up his hat at the right time, not dragging it like Dev Anand did.
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August 30, 2013 at 6:26 PM
Problem with bachhan is while he had Khakee, black and some others, he probably had 5 bad/flop movies for each good movie.
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August 31, 2013 at 12:29 AM
Yakuza,but i’ll held Bachchan also responsible for all this.No doubt he is doing selected movies now but when you have done Aarakshan already then what is the fun to do such type of movie again with the same director.Hadn’t he a bitter experience with Ram Gopal Verma in the past by repeating same thing again and again?Now look at another forthcomming Bachchan starrer titled “Mehru Nissa” with Rishi Kapoor.This is a love story of two friends with same girl.Now tell me for God’s sake whether this is suitable to him or not?Bachchan is immensely talented actor and there is not even an iota of doubt about that but one thing we must accept is his choice of choosing films is poor otherwise he has the ability to create wonders at this age also.
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August 30, 2013 at 3:26 PM
the next movie im ineterested in is Shuddh Desi Romance..
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August 30, 2013 at 6:22 PM
First Day First Show public reaction
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/more/videos/view/id/2079844
Judging by the public reaction (assuming not only good reaction are shown), looks like this will work big time.
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August 30, 2013 at 6:43 PM
People seem to be liking it..at least many of them..
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August 30, 2013 at 9:38 PM
@ Leaving this aside here’s the slippage in your argument. If Bachchan is the star you say he is then of course SRK should be held to a higher standard.
No..No..I am not hiding behind this genre or demogrphic excuses. My point is if you are a big star then standerd should be high. Be it SRK, Aamir or Amitabh. But i have a problem when You say Talaash did great based on its genre (this is when Aamir came after ATBB and hugely liked 3 idiots) and say MNIK by any stretch did poorly in India. I don’t know how 72 or 74 cr became poor figure. How many film in that time did 72 or 74 cr ?
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August 30, 2013 at 10:59 PM
Mnik was the 4th highest grossing film of 2010, talaash was 9 or 10th. Mnik did 70 cr less than the highest grosser that year, talaash did 100+ less. At the time of mnik’s release the movies that had made more than it were: 3I, ghajini, rab ne, d2, welcome. At the time of talaash’s release there were 20-25 movies that did more than it.
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August 30, 2013 at 11:38 PM
Great stat.
MNIK target audience was muslims (primerly in usa and uk) and judging by boxoffice colletion thru out world, it was a huge success.
SRK can do 300 crore and some will still look to pull it down, perhaps using excuse that chaiwala/panwala didn’t make enough money.
I’ve been seeing this since 2000.
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August 31, 2013 at 12:16 AM
Guys what do you people want to prove by these kinds of statements?By bringing A down,B will never come on top and vice versa.I am a huge Bachchan fan but i always fight with other Bachchan fans over this issue.So please don’t attract fan wars and try to adhere to healthy discussions rather than these cheap fights.What Bachchan has achieved or what Srk has achieved is known to whole world and hence needs no mathemetical calculations to substantiate any claim in this regard.And the people who expect a 30 cr opening from a 70 year old man are either kids or having zero knowledge of cinema.So please refrain from fan wars.
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August 31, 2013 at 12:30 AM
Thanks. I forgot one big difference (what some Aamir fans use all the time when arguing that 3I is still the biggest hit) Screen count.
And MNIK trended better than Talaash.
MNIK: 46 cr 1st week, 73 final.
Talaash: 65 first week, 9 final.
I won’t even go into Overseas comparisons.
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August 31, 2013 at 2:19 AM
you’re comparing a KJo ‘offbeat’ film to a film like Talaash??? im not saying MNIK underperformed (although the hype surrounding the film at the time was HUGE), but comparing these two films is showing utter ignorance on your part when it comes to judging genres. go back to high school and read some literature and learn about the word genre.
lol and then you come up with a “MNIK trended better than talaash” stat. yeah 2cr is SUCH a huge difference. actually you just proved these two films with vastly different audiences and genre more or less trended the same! good job bro.
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August 31, 2013 at 2:50 AM
2 cr? Good math. Forget high school,
Go back to elementary school where they taught you about fractions an percentages.
Mnik: 46/73=63% of total collections within the first week
Talaash: 65/93=70% of total collections within the first week.
That’s a 7% difference, not 2.
Now I’ll admit that I do not Know a whole
Lot about trending. But my statement is still true. The difference in trending may be very small, but that still doesn’t mean “mnik trended better than talaash” is false. Ex: jack ran a mile in 10 minutes. Jill ran the same mile in 9 min 59 seconds.
Who ran the mile better? It doesn’t matter that the difference is 1 second, Jill still ran the mile better.
And you didn’t even check to see what original comment I was replying to. If talaash is considered to have a great BO collection given its genre, then so did mnik given its genre.
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August 31, 2013 at 3:05 AM
ok if you want to be picky and say MNIK literally trended better than talaash then ill give you that. to me, with unreliable BO sources that India has, i would say both films trended relatively the same given the narrow difference. and honest question then, what genre does MNIK exactly fall under? i would put it in a family/drama/romance category. whereas i would put talaash in a drama/suspense/thriller category. you tell me which of these genres should do better than the other…talaash doing 90cr in its genre is good. MNIK doing 73cr or so is actually not so great.
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August 31, 2013 at 5:15 AM
@AmirsFan, MNIK preached about Islam thru out the movie with references from Quran and Hadith, what genre does it fall into? How many will be interested in it? Yet it still did over 70 crore. Take SRK out and see what it collects.
Do you want to talk about it’s overseas collection (the target audience this movie was made for)?
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August 30, 2013 at 10:31 PM
http://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/2013/aug/310813-two-women-create-ruckus-outside-salmans-home.htm
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August 31, 2013 at 12:35 AM
Gravity is getting outstanding reviews across the board. Some are calling it the one of the sci-fi films ever.
Richard Corliss (Time) on Gravity
‘Gravity’ at the Venice Film Festival: Dread and Awe in Space
Director Alfonso Cuarón weaves a majestic thriller about astronauts stranded above Earth
““He has always wanted to be a director,” reads the Internet Movie Database profile of Alfonso Cuarón, “and also an astronaut.” Cuarón’s double fantasy comes true—and another dream, the moviegoer’s—in Gravity, a space epic of desperate peril and profound wonder.
Gravity opens the Venice Film Festival this evening with the same blast of astonishment that greeted Ang Lee’s Life of Pi when it launched last year’s New York Film Festival. Both are thrilling 3-D dramas of survival in a hostile environment, testaments to human grit and groundbreaking technical ingenuity. Both are the rare movies that need to be seen once for the “Wow!” factor and a second time to try figuring out how Cuarón and his technical savants managed to make the impossible seem so cinematically plausible. No one dared to imagine this before; yet here it is, vividly realized. You are there, inside the awe and dread.
Pi, you’ll recall, was alone on a small boat in the stormy Pacific, his only companion a ravenous Bengal tiger. Sandra Bullock, as NASA scientist Ryan Stone, is stranded in space—no air, no sound, no connection to Mission Control—with George Clooney. So it could be worse.
Having served on shuttle flights since 1996, Clooney’s Matt Kowalsky is the bantering veteran, Ryan the novice: old cop, young cop. Earlier, he had transmitted a creepy, Apollo 13 joke: “Houston, I have a bad feeling about this mission.” But he also wants to reassure Ryan. “You’re the genius up here,” this Buzz Lightyear tells the Doctor Newbie. “I only drive the bus.” And he hopes she can enjoy the spectacle of being 372 miles above her shimmering home. As he rightly says, “Can’t beat the view.”
As Ryan works at fixing a glitch on the space station’s jutting metal arms, a message comes through from their ground control (Ed Harris, himself a movie astronaut 30 years ago in The Right Stuff): “Mission abort.” Debris from a satellite shot down by the Russians is headed their way; and, as bright chunks fly past, Matt still jokes: “Half of North America just lost their Facebook.” The laughter turns to terror when the rest of Matt and Ryan’s crew is killed. The space station arm jerks lose, and Ryan spins wildly around, finally catching Matt’s arm. Now they are tethered on a literally death-defying Cirque du Soleil bungee cord. They have lost contact with Mission Control, as well as access to their oxygen supply. Alone together, with time and options running out.
This amazing 13-min. sequence at the very beginning of Gravity is shown in a single shot. To say this is a marvel of camerabatics, of visual choreography, animation and physical acting (Bullock and Clooney worked on wires in front of a green screen) is to undersell Cuarón’s gift as a storyteller who takes the audience on a nail-gnawing space flight. He’s a cinematic astronaut whose Mission Control is his retinue of visual enablers, led by Special Effects wizard Tim Webber. As the director told Entertainment Weekly’s Jess Cagle, “Each single bit of film is a different technology.”
Beyond technology, Cuarón plays daringly and dexterously with point-of-view: at one moment you’re inside Ryan’s helmet as she surveys the bleak silence, then in a subtle shift you’re outside to gauge her reaction. The 3-D effects, added in post-production, provide their own extraterrestrial startle: a hailstorm of debris hurtles at you, as do a space traveler’s thoughts at the realization of being truly alone in the universe.
[WARNING FOR (VERY VEILED) SPOILER:] Like Life of Pi, and J.C. Chandor’s All Is Lost—which manages the even bolder narrative trick of stranding a sailor (Robert Redford) with neither words nor backstory—Gravity eventually becomes a story of self-reliance, of finding ways to survive and a reason to live. When Ryan reaches a Russian space station and sheds her astronaut gear until she’s down to Ripley’s undies in Alien, she slowly revolves, eyes closed, in a fetal position: a child waiting to be born, or die. At the end of the movie, an ancient astronaut emerges from the sea, as if to recapitulate the evolution of humankind from sea creature. [END OF TORTUOUSLY VEILED SPOILER]
Some films take forever to make. Gravity, which Cuarón wrote with his son Jonás, was in pre-production soon after the director finished Children of Men in 2006, went through two studios and more than a dozen actors for the main roles. Robert Downey, Jr., was to play Matt but dropped out in 2011, allowing Clooney to bring his nonpareil charm, bravado and maturity to the role. Cuarón offered the Ryan part to Angelina Jolie, twice, and then to Natalie Portman, Jennifer Lopez, Rachel Weisz, Marion Cotillard, Carey Mulligan, Blake Lively, Scarlett Johansson, Olivia Wilde—everybody. When these actresses see what Bullock has been given in the role, and the fiery commitment she gives to it, they should all whisper a sincere, Rick Perry-style “Oops.”
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August 31, 2013 at 1:15 AM
Sounds interesting.
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August 31, 2013 at 12:46 AM
taran adarsh@taran_adarsh6m
#Satyagraha grew steadfastly and robustly in evening/night shows. Collects Rs 11.21 cr on Friday. Prakash Jha’s biggest opener thus far
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August 31, 2013 at 2:43 AM
11cr is pretty damn impressive for this film.
honestly after watching the first trailer i was totally put off by the movie and never bothered to watch the rest of the promos. i still went and checked out the movie because i wanted to watch a hindi movie! not to my surprise the movie was bad as the trailer indicated. prakash jha has lost it completely. i thought aarakshan was a better attempt and loved amitabh in it. in this film, bachchan is a total bore. this is where many directors have fallen in love with “Amitabh Bachchan” and they give him the same stale lines, stale scenes and its just boring to watch now. even manoj bajpai is becoming stale. Ajay had the best character and he excelled in his role. Kareena and Arjun could be replaced by sunny leone and well arjun himself, and noone would notice. Rajneeti and its success was the worst thing that happened to Prakash Jha, because he continues to use the same damn formula but in a different mold. not sure if id be too thrilled to see this film become successful, because i think PJ will then continue to dish out more stale attempts like this one.
I wish satyam would advise Amitabh on his film choices, there is SO MUCH more out there for this man to attempt.
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August 31, 2013 at 12:49 AM
BOI will come up with 9cr around.
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August 31, 2013 at 12:49 AM
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Kareena-ensures-Saifs-film-has-no-kissing-scene/articleshow/22140456.cms?
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August 31, 2013 at 12:57 AM
Madras cafe touches 50 crore
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August 31, 2013 at 12:58 AM
koimoi
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August 31, 2013 at 1:13 AM
There are 3 movies one of which may go to Oscars.
Lunch Box
Ship of Theseus
Madras Cafe
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August 31, 2013 at 2:34 AM
Satyagraha First Day Business
Saturday 31st August 2013 11.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Satyagraha had an fair first day collecting around 9.75-10 crore nett. The business was best in the Delhi/NCR, Rajasthan, Gujarat and CI. The key for the film is Saturday growth and if the film can show a good jump then it can come out with a respectable weekend total.
The disappointment is that collections are in the same range as Raajneeti which was a similar film by the same director but was released 3 years back with 1000 screens less than Satyagraha. Raajneeti had collected 10 crore nett plus on day one and 33 weekend and it could be a similar scenario for Satyagraha give or take 5%.
The film fared similarly in both multiplexes and single screens.
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August 31, 2013 at 3:04 AM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh 2h
#Satyagraha grew steadfastly and robustly in evening/night shows. Collects Rs 11.21 cr on Friday. Prakash Jha’s biggest opener thus far.
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August 31, 2013 at 3:15 AM
I wonder why BOI is bringing first day collections of Rajneeti here?Rajneeti had a hot young pair of Ranbir and Katrina which had delivered big hit APKGK some months back.The commentry of BOI is laughworthy majority of times.
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August 31, 2013 at 3:17 AM
Satyam what is your take on first day collections?Whether you take Taran’s 11.21 or BOI 10,the collections are quite impressive IMO.
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August 31, 2013 at 8:18 AM
they’re fine all things considered and whichever number one takes but it has to show strong growth over the weekend.
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August 31, 2013 at 5:00 PM
its a okayish total for Day 1 but it has released in 2700 screens so something around 13-14 would have been decent. looks like a 36 cr weekend to me. The WOM is not too good so might wind up around 65 crs.
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August 31, 2013 at 6:16 AM
exactly my thoughts…why the heck are they comparing Satyagraha to Rajneeti. If anything compare it to Aarakhshan and its opening numbers.
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August 31, 2013 at 8:21 AM
this is the usual BOI dishonesty when a Bachchan is part of the proceedings. So here they’re talking about how having the same opening day as Rajneeti is not that great. On the other hand when they’re gleefully celebrating tons of other films breaking records and what not they never make the same inflation or print count adjustments or whatever. Just recently with CE they never said that repeating 3I’s numbers 4 years after 3I might not be as extraordinary or doing so off a 150 crore initial or whatever when 3I did it off an 80 crore one was very different. So on and so forth with every other release where they’re completely oblivious to this stuff or pretend to be but the moment a Bachchan is part of the film these things are very selectively pointed out!
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August 31, 2013 at 2:37 AM
Good first day for Satyagarh..Today is very crucial for this movie and if it shows no jump then will surely struggle at B.O from Monday onwards.
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August 31, 2013 at 5:18 AM
It will jump today and jump further on Sunday. Monday is the key.
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August 31, 2013 at 5:21 AM
Chennai Express Looking At Decent Fourth Week
Saturday 31st August 2013 12.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Chennai Express is looking at decent fourth week collections which are likely to go to 5 crore or maybe a little higher. The film collected around 70-75 lakhs nett on the first day of its fourth week.
The film is still managing to collect despite the release of Satygraha which tmeant a huge reduction of shows at multiplexes and Satyagraha took most of the single screens which were playing Chennai Express.
The film will cross the net business of 3 idiots today (Saturday) and will go to around 205 crore nett after four weeks.
http://www.boxofficeindia.com/boxnew…eid=6020&nCat=
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August 31, 2013 at 5:22 AM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh 49m
#ChennaiExpress continues to hold well, despite new releases and limited screens/shows. Week 4 Fri 81 lacs. Grand total: 219.23
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August 31, 2013 at 7:13 AM
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Entertainment/Bollywood/Satyagraha-opens-well-at-the-box-office/Article1-1115424.aspx
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August 31, 2013 at 9:15 AM
😀 : -D
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/satire-chennai-express-sparks-facebook-war-among-khans/1/304700.html
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August 31, 2013 at 9:26 AM
Haha.
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August 31, 2013 at 9:36 AM
My take.
SRK Atlast, atlast, atlast.
Gauri. Intezaar ka phal meetha hota hain.
SRK Let us shift to Chennai.
Gauri. Oh, no.
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August 31, 2013 at 9:27 AM
http://movies.ndtv.com/movie-reviews/satyagraha-movie-review-863?pfrom=home-latest
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August 31, 2013 at 10:53 AM
Lol @ the Facebook CE post…
As for satyagraha–the presenc of Kareena here is no fake–even nargis fakhri did a better job in madras express…
“Words, both angry and contrite, are exchanged, but it is the conciliatory kiss that seals it for the twosome. This is deft minimalism.” Ha
Ps: am still waiting for the reviews of die-hard bachchan fan/atics / zealots (Satyam et al) of satygraha
C’mon folks –support bachchan films-if u won’t, how can u expect others lol
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August 31, 2013 at 11:00 AM
As for bachchans ‘slap’ in satygraha promos–didn’t mind that but liked akshays ‘slaps’ here more
[in Boss trailer thread]
Akshay in prime form–some ‘old school’ dialogues but effective for the space ….no ‘pretence’
Ps: C’mon maggie & sanju–let’s have some ‘koffee’ 🙂
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August 31, 2013 at 11:02 AM
But maggie & sanju–realised theres no ‘milk’ for the coffee
What shall we do… 🙂
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August 31, 2013 at 12:54 PM
AB and ‘Satyagraha’.
http://diptakirti.blogspot.com/2013/08/nostradamus-by-night.html
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August 31, 2013 at 3:50 PM
I must confess I was mildly drunk when I sat in front of the monitor. But this song … and the iceberg sensuality of Ileana D’Cruz , 7/8th submerged below the surface… knocked me out. . And Irshad Kamil’s words delivered the killer punch:
Main rang sharbaton ka,
Tu meethe ghaat ka paani…
Main rang sharbaton ka,
Tu meethe ghaat ka paani…
Mujhe khud mein ghol de toh,
Mere yaar baat ban jaani
Is se aage main kya kahoon…
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August 31, 2013 at 5:14 PM
The tone of the video (except for the first scene) doesn’t seem to “go with” Kamil’s lyrics at all… Although my bar for checking out a song featuring Ileana is quite low….
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August 31, 2013 at 5:19 PM
“The tone of the video (except for the first scene) doesn’t seem to “go with” Kamil’s lyrics at all… “– agree again qalander.
Kamil is the same guy who wrote the brilliant rockstar lyrics, I think…
And note how ileana brought out the ‘dormant’ qalander out in the open lol
My main qualm with ileana is all those years she spent down south–want those years back ..
And thanx again to qalander for originally introducing us to ileana Dacruz here-easily the best heroine from down south (after ash & deeps)…
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August 31, 2013 at 5:15 PM
Agree utkal uncle — don’t need to be drunk for this –‘milk’ is enough
Though u were late to the party–i have been there b4 u lol
Publically wanna thank u (& anjali singh) for teaching me the beauty of lyrics
Just added some lyrics to yours above —
Tu dhang chahaton ka….
Main jaise koi naadani.
Mujhe khud se jod de toh,
Mere yaar baat ban jaani…
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August 31, 2013 at 11:32 PM
Satyagraha seems to go the BMB way. Appreciation for content and some message. It is working better than Aarakshan.
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September 1, 2013 at 3:17 AM
Satyagraha’s success has some points
It is Satyagraha that put a break on CE.
Kareena ajay jodi has takers.
Bachchan is awesome even at this stage.
Manoj Bajpayee never disappoints.
Jha has learnt technique of pleasing BO.
There is an audience for a good movie.
Sunday seems to be quite big for Satyagraha.
May cross 100 crores if it gets tax exemption in some states.
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September 1, 2013 at 8:21 AM
Satyagraha Shows Growth on Saturday
Saturday 1st September 2013 11.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Satyagraha showed growth on Saturday as collections were 15% higher than Friday. The collections were up at multiplexes all over with a good upward trend in Mumbai, Delhi, East Punjab and Bangalore.
The Saturday collections were in the region of 11.50 crore nett taking the two day business of the film close to 21.50 crore nett. The weekend should go towards 34-35 crore nett as Sunday should show a similar trend to Saturday.
The Saturday jump has given the film a chance at the box office. Although the two day collections are on the lower side the trend is good the film may be able to sustain over the weekdays and into the second week.
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September 1, 2013 at 10:41 AM
If BOI says a jump of 15% for a Bachchan movie then the movie is doing quite well i think.Should get a semi hit tag i think..
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September 1, 2013 at 8:21 AM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh 7h
#Satyagraha Fri 11.21 cr, Sat 13.08 cr. Total: 24.29 cr. Good jump on Day 2.
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September 1, 2013 at 8:22 AM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh 6h
#Satyagraha is rocking Patna. Early morning show [7.30 am] introduced from Sat at Regent, Patna. Goes 100%. In fact, all 6 shows full!
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September 1, 2013 at 8:54 AM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh 6m
#ChennaiExpress [Week 4] Fri 81 lacs, Sat 1.14 cr. Grand total: Rs 220.37 cr. All Time Blockbuster.
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September 1, 2013 at 9:22 AM
Chennai Express Looking At Decent Fourth Week
Saturday 31st August 2013 12.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Chennai Express is looking at decent fourth week collections which are likely to go to 5 crore or maybe a little higher. The film collected around 70-75 lakhs nett on the first day of its fourth week.
The film is still managing to collect despite the release of Satygraha which tmeant a huge reduction of shows at multiplexes and Satyagraha took most of the single screens which were playing Chennai Express.
The film will cross the net business of 3 idiots today (Saturday) and will go to around 205 crore nett after four weeks.
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September 1, 2013 at 9:13 AM
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan and actress Rekha are likely to come together for Anees Bazmee’s upcoming comedy film Welcome Back.
Producer Firoz Nadiadwala and director Anees Bazmee are reportedly in talks with Bachchan and Rekha for the sequel of their 2007 hit Welcome.
Big B has already been approached to play the role of RDX– a don played by the late actor Feroz Khan in the first part, while Rekha has been offered to play the role of a wealthy fashionista.
“We are considering Rekhaji for a role which will have love angle between Nana and Anil. But it is too early to talk about all this as nothing is decided and confirmed. As there are three-four veteran actresses that we are thinking of it all depends if they like it or not, their dates and money issues,” Bazmee said.
http://movies.ndtv.com/bollywood/will-amitabh-bachchan-rekha-team-up-in-anees-bazmee-s-welcome-back-412722?pfrom=home-otherstories
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September 1, 2013 at 9:15 AM
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September 1, 2013 at 9:33 AM
Well that settles it for me, will skip this one.
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September 1, 2013 at 10:19 AM
If you go by his review, you might have to skip just about all hit movies…
Thought provoking movies are nice but that should not be the only criteria. It should be more of get your brain off daily BS of life for 3 hours.
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September 1, 2013 at 9:12 PM
That’s the point though – it sounds like this tries to be ‘thought-provoking’ but ends up neither that, nor entertaining, so there’s not much to draw me to it. However if Satyam etc have good things to say then I may change my mind and give it a shot. Otherwise I have enough others to get through!
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September 1, 2013 at 11:01 PM
I am never likely to say anything too good about a Jha film!
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September 2, 2013 at 11:12 AM
Yeah Rangan’s review doesn’t bolster a lot of confidence. Usually if it’s an interesting failure he’ll have a more dense piece up, but this is pretty abbreviated. Still might catch this. Even if Bachchan as Gandhi-like seems kind of strange. Not because he can’t “play” it, it just seems to be an odd fit for his particular icon. Throughout this later phase in his career Bachchan’s two most effective portrayals, in Khakee and Dev, had him play men who, though weathered by time, though more deliberate in action, nevertheless actively resisted the injustices within their respective worlds.
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September 2, 2013 at 3:49 PM
Like other Jha’s movies, It is not a bad movie but a serious subject like this needs more depth and better handling of screenplay.
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September 1, 2013 at 9:50 AM
Sometimes a substandard simplistic product also appeals to certain section of audience .. #SatyaGraha is one such movie. On twitter at least 75% feedback is positive .. and I am wondering why ??
Saw yesterday and except Manoj Bajpayi and Amitabh bachchan performance, every thing else is so much predictable and straightforward .. story, screenplay, dialogue are so much pedestrian that I felt like written by 10th class student for annual function play. What was point of recreating Anna movement on screen ?? where was innovation and new dimension to story ?? No efforts put to holds on audience interest with some interesting twists and narration .. disappointing with movie. 2/5
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September 1, 2013 at 9:58 AM
I am surprised at Ajay being almost sidelined in movie .. He was not leading .. infact he portrayed confused guy who have no idea what to do .. SatyaGraha belongs to Amitabh and Manoj Bajpayee only and both give superlative performance. Its tough to chose who was better. No one on this earth can portray the fast scenes in climax better than Sr bachchan .. and I am happy about it.
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September 1, 2013 at 10:01 AM
On the whole this will be Average at BO with forgettable content, but performances will be remembered.
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September 1, 2013 at 10:44 AM
I think at leat it will be a semi hit movie.
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September 1, 2013 at 3:56 PM
50% jump for satyagrah on Sunday compared to saturday. Sunday multiplex collections are double of friday and single screen is 50% more than friday. Girish Johar @girishjohar 1h
KANPUR (SATYAGRAH) Sunday Multiplex-959405.60 Single Screen-302292 TOTAL-1261697,60 3days TOTAL-2723431.26
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September 1, 2013 at 3:58 PM
Girish Johar @girishjohar 1h
KANPUR (SATYAGRAH) Sunday Multiplex-959405.60 Single Screen-302292 TOTAL-1261697,60 3days TOTAL-2723431.26
Girish Johar @girishjohar 31 Aug
KANPUR (SATYAGRAH) Saturday Multiplex-596831.08 Single Screen-187281.50 TOTAL-784112.58. 2day TOTAL-1461733.66
KANPUR (SATYAGRAH) Friday Multiplex-475048 Single Screen-202573 TOTAL-677621 1day TOTAL-677621
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September 1, 2013 at 4:03 PM
Actually , in kanpur jump on sunday is 61% as compared to saturday and 94% compared to friday.
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September 1, 2013 at 9:54 PM
“We could see a medieval castle-like structure in the distance. We were bodily lifted by the warlords and carried there because traditionally, the feet of guest aren’t supposed to touch the ground. From the castle we went to grounds where the Buzkashi tournament had been organized for us. Colourful tents had been set up, I thought I was in Ivanhoe land. The warlords insisted that the four of us spend the night there, the palace was emptied and the four of us kept eating and drinking and looking as if we’d wandered into an unbelievable fairy tale.
“We were smothered with gifts. In Kabul, the night before we flew back to India, Najab called us to president’s residence and decorated all of us with the ‘order of Afghanistan’. That evening his uncle sang an Indian raga for us with impeccable ease. I don’t know where our hosts are, I often wonder where they are today.”
Amitabh Bachchan on shooting Khuda Gawah in Afghanistan
http://movies.ndtv.com/bollywood/amitabh-bachchan-on-shooting-khuda-gawah-in-afghanistan-410955?rhsm
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September 2, 2013 at 12:58 AM
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Entertainment/Music/Lata-Mangeshkar-s-favourite-tracks/Article1-1115907.aspx
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September 2, 2013 at 12:59 AM
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Entertainment/Music/Asha-Bhonsle-s-favourite-tracks/Article1-1115908.aspx
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September 2, 2013 at 1:01 AM
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Brunch/Brunch-Stories/Best-Bollywood-songs-Lata-Asha-and-15-other-music-icons-make-their-choice/Article1-1115529.aspx
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September 2, 2013 at 4:53 AM
Satyagraha Has Good Weekend
Monday 2nd September 2013 11.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Satyagraha managed to have a pretty good weekend of around 34.50 crore nett as it showed good growth on Saturday and Sunday. The film still has to sustain well on weekdays and second week as the opening was not strong but the weekend trend gives the film a chance at the box office.
The film picked up in practically all circuits over the weekend and the business on Sunday of around 13.50 crore nett was actually good. Delhi/UP, Gujarat, CI and Rajasthan fared the best.
The problem for the film was the opening day and if that could have been better then the weekend could have gone to around 40 crore nett which would have put it in a good position but now weekdays and second weekend becomes all the more important.
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September 2, 2013 at 7:42 AM
I am sure this must have been very painful for BOI to say that an AB film had a ‘good’ weekend!
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September 2, 2013 at 9:08 AM
lol, true!
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September 2, 2013 at 4:55 AM
Top Weekends 2013: Satyagraha 4th And UTV Have Top Four
Monday 2nd September 2013 13.00 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Satyagraha had the fourth biggest weekend of the year. Coincidently the top four films are UTV releases. Below are the highest collecting weekends of the year.
1. Chennal Express – 87,00,00,000
2. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani -61,87,00,000
3. Race 2 – 48,17,00,000
4. Satyagraha – 34,50,00,000 approx
5. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag – 31,16,00,000
6. Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaara – 27,30,00,000
7. Himmatwala – 27,20,00,000
8. Shootout At Wadala – 25,63,00,000
9. Special 26 – 23,59,00,000
10. Matru Ki Bijilee Ka Mandola – 21,39,00,000
Note – All the figures above are for the first three full days
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September 2, 2013 at 4:58 AM
‘Satyagraha’ scores, packs a punch!
By Taran Adarsh, September 2, 2013 – 10:59 IST
The mood within the industry is buoyant, with the much-awaited August biggies living up to the audience expectations. While CHENNAI EXPRESS has created history, setting new benchmarks, MADRAS CAFÉ has worked with its target audience — the multiplex junta. Prakash Jha’s SATYAGRAHA too sprung a surprise by opening to double digits on Friday [Rs 11.21 cr] and maintaining the pace over the weekend [Rs 39.12 cr]. The sole hiccup in this sanguine scenario was the tepid response to ONCE UPON AY TIME IN MUMBAI DOBAARA!, which did not live up to the gargantuan expectations.
A film based on politics, generally, has its limitations, since the genre caters to that segment of audience that’s politically inclined, those who don’t mind watching realistic fares on screen. One also needs to keep in mind the fact that youngsters and families don’t really go ga-ga over these films. After attempting films like GANGAAJAL, APAHARAN, RAAJNEETI, AARAKSHAN and CHAKRAVYUH, the viewer has come to expect realistic, hard-hitting fares from Prakash Jha. Besides, Jha is known to extract wonderful performances from his actors, which is an added bonus for spectators. SATYAGRAHA has been lauded for its content and performances, although a segment of viewers are comparing it to Jha’s earlier accomplished work RAAJNEETI. Sure, RAAJNEETI and SATYAGRAHA deal with politics, but the two films are dissimilar in terms of content. The comparisons, therefore, are unfitting.
Armed with rave reviews and strong word of mouth, SATYAGRAHA grew steadily over the weekend, but it remains to be seen if it can perform well on weekdays too. With two significant films [ZANJEER, SHUDDH DESI ROMANCE] hitting the marquee next Friday, there’s not much breathing space for SATYAGRAHA, but that’s something every film-maker/Studio will have to learn to live with. Meanwhile, Jha and UTV can raise a toast, since a solid weekend = winning half the battle.
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September 2, 2013 at 5:01 AM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh 3m
#ChennaiExpress collected Rs 3.84 cr nett in Weekend 3. Breakup: Fri 81 lacs, Sat 1.14 cr, Sun 1.89 cr. Grand total: Rs 222.26 cr. ATBB.
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September 2, 2013 at 5:02 AM
Should be “weekend 4”.
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September 2, 2013 at 5:04 AM
CHENNAI EXPRESS Crosses 400 Cr Worldwide Gross
“Chennai Express” has now broken all possible records and finally film has become first ever Bollywood film to gross 400 cr worldwide that too in 24 days straight.
Film was rock steady over 4th weekend too and managed to collect 3.84 cr nett plus as per early estimates. Film has crossed 222.26 cr nett and will finish with 223 .50 cr net after 4th week.
http://www.boxofficecapsule.com/boxoffice-collections.aspx?id=1706
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September 2, 2013 at 5:15 AM
Another South star is all set to make his Bollywood debut with Zanjeer. But TOI has learnt that his heavy accent has barred the actor from voicing his dialogues for the film.
Apparently, Ram Charan Teja attempted several rounds of dubbing. Although he is proficient in Hindi, it is his heavy southern accent that got in the way. The makers then called actor and dubbing artist Rajesh Khattar for a voice test. However, later they decided not to go with a known face and voice, and zeroed in on a little-known voiceover artist.
When TOI tried to contact Khattar, he sent us a text message saying: “Yes, I did go for a voice test. But I am not the voice of Ram in the film.”
Director Apoorva Lakhia confirmed that Teja’s voice was dubbed in the Hindi version. Zanjeer is all set to release on September 6.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Southern-accent-affecting-Ram-Charans-Bollywood-route/articleshow/22222311.cms
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September 2, 2013 at 6:04 AM
It is atrocious that he is doing this iconic role. Over it, the voice is being dubbed. How terrible!
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September 2, 2013 at 9:12 AM
Nothing can top what was done to Sholay, so I wouldn’t worry too much about this one. Anything will be better then RGV Ke Sholay.
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September 2, 2013 at 8:59 AM
And I thought ‘south Indians’ had no accent while speaking Hindi and that it’s stereotyping them when one assumes they have one.
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September 2, 2013 at 9:11 AM
That’s because he is proficient in hindi and thats why he has accent, if he wasn’t proficient inhindi then he wouldn’t have accent 🙂
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September 2, 2013 at 10:39 AM
If that’s a serious comment, then it’s pretty naive. Because it’s quite obviously not the assumption that South Indians speak in accented Hindi that’s problematic when people complain about their depiction in Hindi films, but the exaggerated caricatures that are then the butt of every poor joke in those movies. And just to get it out of the way, I don’t think Chennai Express is guilty of this in the way some other films have been.
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September 2, 2013 at 6:14 AM
seems Madras Cafe did decent business this weekend too.
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September 2, 2013 at 6:46 AM
Apex: For your eyes only.
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/more/photos/view/stills/general/id/2056679/sort/What%27s%20New
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September 2, 2013 at 1:36 PM
Thanx utkal uncle–was tired from work but this is good to see 🙂
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September 2, 2013 at 9:16 AM
September 1, 2013
MOVIE REVIEW
Gandhian Goodness Confronting Greed
By RACHEL SALTZ
A populist streak runs through Bollywood, never more so than in the work of Prakash Jha, whose new movie, “Satyagraha,” states plainly what concerns him: “The system is rotten.”
It certainly is in this tale that pits Gandhian righteousness against greed. In a town called Ambikapur, smirking villains with government jobs and pictures of the Mahatma on their walls milk the people dry and put them in harm’s way.
Enter a hero — or two. First there’s Dwarka Anand, a retired teacher played by Amitabh Bachchan, his long body draped in traditional white cotton and a home-spun-style shawl. Fed up, Dwarka does something most un-Gandhian: He slaps a corrupt official and is tossed in jail for his trouble.
A movement springs up around him, led by Manav (Ajay Devgn), a telecommunications mogul who grows into Hero No. 2, as he learns that truth and justice matter more than money. (Satyagraha, a word coined by Gandhi, means something like truth force.)
“Satyagraha” has a third hero, too, a woman: Yasmin (Kareena Kapoor Khan), the crusading journalist whom Manav loves. She’s not just a love interest, though. More than the volatile, autocratic Manav, she is the true inheritor of Dwarka’s idealism.
It may strike viewers as a bit much to have such a collection of wealthy, beautiful stars playing Gandhian truth soldiers. (Arjun Rampal is also in the mix.) Even Mr. Jha seems to have realized this. At one point he has a poor woman ask Dwarka, “What do you know about going hungry?” (He promptly starts a hunger strike.)
And who better, you might think, to lend Dwarka unimpeachable moral force than Mr. Bachchan? As Bollywood’s Mr. Big, he has been battling the establishment and miscreants since the 1970s, when he was Hindi movies’ Angry Young Man.
Mr. Jha and Mr. Bachchan have done this act before. In “Aarakshan” (2011), too, Mr. Bachchan played a teacher waging war on corruption and fighting for the soul of the nation.
It worked better the first time around. “Aarakshan” folded its message into a rousing, pulpy melodrama. “Satyagraha” tries to do the same but is more preachy than stirring; it hits its themes too squarely on the nose and hits them for about an hour too long.
It’s certainly heartfelt, though. As is a question that really does have extra force coming from Mr. Bachchan’s mouth, his blue eyes gone sad: “What kind of nation have we made?”
http://movies.nytimes.com/2013/09/02/movies/satyagraha-a-bollywood-tale-about-fighting-corruption.html?ref=movies&_r=0
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September 2, 2013 at 9:19 AM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh 8h
#Satyagraha collected Rs 39.12 cr nett in its opening weekend. Breakup: Fri 11.21 cr, Sat 13.08 cr, Sun 14.83 cr. Excellent growth!
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September 2, 2013 at 9:21 AM
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September 2, 2013 at 9:40 AM
Satyagraha Performs Well In Its Opening Weekend | Box Office
September 2nd, 2013 by Joginder Tuteja
Satyagraha opened on expected lines and with the kind of massive release that it got for itself, even an opening that hovered around the 50%-60% mark was good enough to make it go past the 10 crore mark on Friday. Collections continued to be stable over the rest of the weekend, hence resulting in around 39 crore coming in. In the process, it has also left behind the 30 crore opening weekend of Raajneeti.
Now it has to be seen if the Prakash Jha directed affair brings on consistent collections during the weekdays as well and leaves behind the 54 crore first week that Raajneeti had enjoyed. Considering the fact that it belongs to the socio-political genre that has seldom brought in moolah, this would be fantastic. The film is mounted on a huge scale though with a massive star cast to boast of which means it needs to have a good run for many more days to follow.
For those connected to the film though, there are some cheers as Prakash Jha’s last two films Chakravyuha and Aarakshan hadn’t done well. Ajay Devgn too can leave the disappointment of Himmatwala behind while Kareena Kapoor is assured of better collections than her last release Heroine. Same holds true for Arjun Rampal and Manoj Bajpai since weekend collections of ‘Satyagraha’ are more than lifetime total of D-Day and Gangs of Wasseypur.
With audience word of mouth ranging from fair to good, all eyes are on the kind of footfalls that the film enjoys before Zanjeer and Shuddh Desi Romance hit the screens on the coming Friday
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September 2, 2013 at 9:59 AM
I wanted to catch Satyagrha on the big screen this weekend but unfortunately am caught up in stuff till Sept 13. Hope its still around then.
I expect it will be a good mvie going experience inspite of some of the movie’s shortcomings.
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September 2, 2013 at 10:00 AM
yes hope to catch it during this week myself..
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September 2, 2013 at 10:09 AM
It’s usually difficult for films that are well-liked to linger that long, with a few notable exceptions. Jersey might still have a few screenings by then. I’m hoping to see it this week too.
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September 2, 2013 at 10:11 AM
weirdly it doesn’t seem to be playing anywhere in the city except for Loews Village 7.
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September 2, 2013 at 10:32 AM
Yeah very strangely the Big Cinemas in midtown is showing late-release American films…not a heartening sign.
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September 2, 2013 at 1:46 PM
http://www.movietickets.com/movie?mid=155959&SearchZip=10003&SearchRadius=40&tstate=0
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September 2, 2013 at 2:23 PM
‘Satyagraha’ does well, despite genre limitations!By Taran AdarshSATYAGRAHA may not have registered great numbers like other biggies, but keeping in mind its genre and limited appeal for the international circuit, the film has grossed approx $ 1.4 million [Rs. 9.26 crores] in its opening weekend, which is quite good. Has fared the best in U.A.E.-G.C.C. and U.S.A.-Canada.
Weekend: August 30 – September 1, 2013.
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/box-office/overseas/id/488
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September 2, 2013 at 3:34 PM
35% fall in Kanpur on Monday as compared to Friday. and 65% fall compared to Sunday.
Girish Johar @girishjohar 48m
KANPUR (SATYAGRAH) Monday Multiplex-320034 Single Screen-131521.50 TOTAL-451555.50 4days TOTAL-3174986.76
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September 2, 2013 at 3:59 PM
If this is also trend at all India level .. will put up in range of 6 Crore. Not bad.
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September 2, 2013 at 4:13 PM
A 6 crore Mon figure for a film that was around 10-11 on Fri would be very good. Specially given the genre.
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September 2, 2013 at 5:59 PM
Monday is looking to be between 5.5 and 6…This will be a good Monday figure as the WOM initially was not looking too positive.
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September 2, 2013 at 4:08 PM
Irrfan khan says no to Nolan
( for eating his ‘lunchbox’ on ‘d-day’ !!) wtf…
ThePlaylist reveals that actor Matt Damon will have an unknown cameo in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. It’s just another stunning addition to the cast which includes Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Casey Affleck, John Lithgow, Topher Grace and Michael Caine.
The site also picked up on Indian actor Irrfan Khan (Slumdog Millionaire, Life of Pi, Amazing Spider-Man ) telling TheTimesOfIndia he was in talks for a major role in the film but had to decline because of other projects. Khan was absolutely magical in Life of Pi, so it’s a shame we won’t be seeing him in the film. Fingers crossed he’ll end up in future Nolan films.
“I was in talks with them for an important role. It had a great compact cast, but I can’t divulge much about that. They expected a huge commitment from my end. I had to stay in the U.S. for four months at a stretch. I tried to work out my schedule and suggested if I could shuttle between India and the U.S. as it wouldn’t have been possible for me to be there for that long,” he told The Times Of India. “I wanted to be here for ‘The Lunchbox’ and ‘D-Day.’ They couldn’t allow that. I don’t have a tendency to regret what I do, but knowing it’s a Christopher Nolan film, I can say that this has been one of the most difficult decisions I’ve made.”
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September 2, 2013 at 5:00 PM
shit 😦
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September 2, 2013 at 5:03 PM
Why I find it difficult to write on Bollywood ?
In Six Conversations,
By Kuzhali Manickavel
Conversation 1
D: Why don’t you write about a Bollywood movie and make a lot of references to obscure Japanese cinema and use words like ‘post-colonialism’ and ‘gender tropes’?
K: I don’t know what a ‘trope’ is.
D: I don’t think you need to know what it means to write about it. What movie have you seen recently?
K: Bal Brahmachari, Maa, Kangan and Krodh. At the same time.
D: Ok. So maybe not that.
K: It was superintense and there was dancing.
D: It’s weird that you’re watching these movies when you can’t actually understand Hindi.
K: How is that weird?
D: You know when they say something in Hindi? And you can’t understand what they’re saying because it’s in Hindi? And you watch the whole movie anyway?
K: Yeah?
D: Yeah, that.
K: How about I write something like ‘Why I Love Bollywood Even Though I Can’t Understand Hindi and Don’t Really Know What Anyone is Saying’.
D: I think you can only do that if you’re white.
K: So now what?
D: I think you should write something called ‘Bollywood Post-Colonial Perspectives Kurosawa Gender Tropes’.
K: But I don’t know what a trope is!!
D: Then write something mean about white people but with Bollywood and colloquial Tamil and ‘yougaiz’.
K: You’re not helping.
D: Write a story then.Your usual what-the-fuck stuff but in Bollywood.
K: I’m going to talk to someone else who isn’t you.
D: Write about a dead girl watching a Bollywood movie. And there are insects. Eating her left eye. AND IT’S RAINING BABIES!!! Hello?
***
Conversation 2
R: Write about how you deleted all the Bon Iver I gave you to make room for your Munni Badnaam remixes. Write about how you told me that you thought Bon Iver was Bon Jovi.
K: They are both Bon-Bon, it’s an honest mistake!
R: Your taste in music is gross.
K: Why are you so racist against Bollywood?
R: Why are you the only person on the planet looking for a remix version of Don’t Touch My Ghaghariya?
K: Did I mention that I found this Trini-chutney remix of Show Me Your Jalwa? I can send—
R: Good-bye.
***
Conversation 3
A: You should write about that time on Masterchef when Dalvinder won something and then everyone did that dance and they said it was a Bollywood dance and it made us feel embarrassed for them.
K: And they made that noise.
A: Right, that weird falsetto police siren thing.
K: I actually thought they were doing a cultural Australian dance. Then they said it was a Bollywood dance and now I want to know what movie it’s from.
A: I think it’s from Alice in Wonderland. The 1999 version. The cook does something similar when the Duchess sings that song about beating her boy when he sneezes. By the by, have you seen the So You Think You Can Dance Bollywood segments?
K: No.
A: You should.
K: I’m scared to.
A: Dude, you should totally watch them. Open a clip now on YouTube.
K: Ok, hang on, let me just— aw man.
A: Whatwhatwhat?
K: There is a dude with a big blue bindi on his forehead and he’s dressed like Aladdin.
A: Ok don’t watch that. Close it and don’t watch it.
K: Maybe I should just find out what a trope is and write that Gender Bollywood Post-Colonial Kurosawa thing.
A: A trope is a kind of fish, no? I think it is. I think I ate some once.
***
Conversation 4
S: You HAVE to write about how some people in this one number country watch Bollywood ironically. Write about how that’s a thing.
K: That’s when you act like you like Bollywood but you actually don’t but you act like you do to prove how much you don’t. Right?
S: Kinda.
K: Why isn’t that called lying?
S: Actually you should write about how some people really do like Bollywood and act like they don’t and then act like they do to prove that they don’t. When they actually do.
K: What does irony mean anyway? Is it like a trope?
S: Or you could write about how when you’re watching Hum and enjoying like anything some asshole will ask if you’re really watching it.
K: As opposed to artificially watching it?
S: As opposed to watching “something good”. Like Slumdog Millionaire.
K: You wouldn’t know what a trope is, would you?
S: It’s a riddle, isn’t it? Or a cave made of tarpaulin.
***
Conversation Five
N: I read with great interest your recent post on the actress Jayanthi.
K: I wrote a post on the actress Jayanthi?
N: I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this but when I was in India—
K: You’ve mentioned it. Repeatedly.
N: And I was such a great fan of the cinema there. Great food, great people. Really loved the energy.
K: Who is actress Jayanthi?
N: You just wrote about her.
K: I wrote about Gandhi Jayanthi.
N: Ok. And is that someone different?
K: Little bit, yah.
N: Member of the Gandhi family perhaps?
K: I should go before I say something really mean.
N: LOL.
K: Okbai.
***
Conversation 6
K: So a trope is, and I quote from the indisputable Wikipedia, “the use of figurative language in literature, or a figure of speech in which words are used in a sense different from their literal meaning”.
S: So what’s a gender trope then?
K: It’s all what I just said except with genders in it.
S: What does that mean?
K: I don’t know. I felt a lot better when I thought a trope was a fish.
S: So how are you going to link this to Bollywood?
K: Well I thought about it a lot and I’ve decided to call the piece ‘Post-colonial Perspectives and Gender Tropes in Bollywood and Also Kurosawa Yougaiz HAHA White People are so White’.
S: And?
K: And the actual piece will be about this dead girl watching a Bollywood movie and there are insects eating her left eye and it’s raining babies.
S: This will make everyone like you.
K: Really?
S: No, I just thought I’d say something nice to you today.
K: Aw, thanks.
🙂
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September 2, 2013 at 7:00 PM
LOL
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September 2, 2013 at 8:29 PM
About Jayanti and Gandhi Jayanti.Poor soul. He must have been confused!
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September 2, 2013 at 5:08 PM
But I still don’t know what a ‘trope’ is
ROFLOL
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September 2, 2013 at 8:21 PM
‘Grope’ would be more up your alley than ‘trope’!
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September 2, 2013 at 8:25 PM
LOL!
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September 2, 2013 at 5:25 PM
S: You HAVE to write about how some people in this one number country watch Bollywood ironically. Write about how that’s a thing.
K: That’s when you act like you like Bollywood but you actually don’t but you act like you do to prove how much you don’t. Right?
S: Kinda.
K: Why isn’t that called lying?
Hahaha
C’mon maggie –let’s make (out) 🙂
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September 2, 2013 at 8:13 PM
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Zanjeer-free-from-legal-shackles/articleshow/22242908.cms
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September 2, 2013 at 8:14 PM
MUMBAI: The Bombay high court freed a remake by the same name of a four-decade-old hit film Zanjeer from legal shackles for its Thursday release. The HC, on Monday, held against Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar the script writing duo of the original 1973 Amitabh Bachchan starrer and said they did not make out a case of holding copyright to the script.
Justice S J Kathawalla, before whom counsels for Khan and Akhtar had argued for days on end to claim copyright violation, said no prima facie case was made out.
Khan and Akhtar ”are certainly guilty of approaching this court”, the judge said and observed that they themselves asserted, from the start, even publicly, that “Rs 6 crore would be a fair and reasonable compensation to permit a remake”, and hence are not entitled to their only plea now to stop the film’s release, even if the court were to hold that they were indeed the holders of the copyright.
The remake, also called Zanjeer, stars Priyanka Chopra and south Indian actor Ram Charan and is produced by Sumeet and Puneet Mehra, sons of Prakash Mehra, the producer of the original Zanjeer.
Khan and Akhtar appeared glum. Their contention was that Prakash Mehra was granted only a one-time permission to use their script to make Zanjeer in 1973, not for remakes. They immediately moved in appeal against Justice Kathawalla’s interim order. A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Mahesh Sonak said it will hear their appeal on Tuesday.
The single judge said it was hard to believe that Khan and Akhtar ”so closely associated with the Film Industry” were not aware till April 2012 about the remake which the producers had ”widely publicised since November 2011”. The judge said the duo also approached the film writers’ association only nine months later this January and was unconvinced when they said they were ”being led to believe that the producers would seek their permission for the remake” as the Mehras had disputed their rights to the script last year itself.
Delay apart, the judge went by a media interview, which even the judge viewed in court, given by Khan in 2010 to hold that he had sold the script and its rights to actor Dharmendra for Rs 2,500 when Akhtar was not on the scene. Dharmendra, said the Mehras, then sold it to Prakash Mehra for Rs 4,000. The writers rubbished this claim as “false and bogus” and produced a letter from Dharmendra to back their claim of never having sold it but at receiving only a token “shagun amount”.
The producers said Prakash Mehra had paid Rs 55,000 to Salim-Javed to write a full bound script of the original Zanjeer, which the writers denied.
The judge however was not convinced. “From reading Dharmendra’s letter I am prima facie satisfied that it is procured from Dharmendra…only to use it in court to deal with answering the facts placed by the defendants (Mehras).” The appeal will now decide the film’s fate.
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September 2, 2013 at 8:31 PM
Caught manipulating!
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September 3, 2013 at 1:06 AM
Seems Ileana will star opposite Salman in Barjatya film.
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September 3, 2013 at 2:27 AM
Where is Idea?
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September 3, 2013 at 11:14 AM
Hum “Ileana” ke dil me rehte hein sanju 🙂
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September 3, 2013 at 1:10 AM
Q. Can Boss do 125 or 150 crore nett as it fetching huge prices and super hot in the trade?
A. The film is not being sold for high prices or fetching huge prices as you put it. A circuit like Rajasthan has gone for 3 crore where a Khiladi 786 which was not a major grosser did a share of 3 crore. Today a hot film will easily go for 5 crore in Rajasthan. 150 may be too tough for the film as it is Pre-Diwali but 100 is possible if content is good.
Rohan Bakshi
Q. Is Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani a bigger grosser than Chennai Express if we take out the holiday factor?
A. The fact is you can’t take out the holiday factor, a film releases and it does X amount of business, holiday or no holiday. Star power you have to compare by taking the holiday factor out as star power is only about a day or three.
S. Aziz
Q. Does Satyagraha have any chance of being a hit or super hit?
A. Not really the opening was not good enough, although it trended well it had to a little more. It won’t be a hit.
N. Agarwal
Q. Does Shudh Desi Romance have any chance against a big film like Zanjeer?
A. Shudh Desi Romance will probably do better business as core Hindi markets will be better. Zanjeer only has chances in South while North will be bad.
J. Pathak
BOI
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September 3, 2013 at 1:11 AM
Satyagraha had a bigger than normal drop on Monday as it grossed around 4.25 crore nett taking the four day business to around 38.50 crore nett. The drop from Friday is around 55%. The film is looking to collect around 48 crore nett in its first week which is low.
The film even dropped more than 50% in CI which makes it a huge struggle for the film because if one circuit had a chance it was CI because the film is set in Madhya Pradesh and most of that state is in the CI circuit.
The drop was universal with Delhi/UP circuit holding up a bit better that the rest but that is the norm for Monday. The film will find it tough going in week two with two new releases and a decent final number which looked possible after the weekend can be ruled out now.
BOI
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September 3, 2013 at 2:14 AM
Every film on Monday drops by 50 to 60%.What is the new thing here?Why is BOI making a special case for Satyagrah here.
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September 3, 2013 at 2:20 AM
What is the first monday drop of YJHD and CE?
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September 3, 2013 at 6:15 AM
Sanjana th had the drop in same range.But BOI never used words like this.
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September 3, 2013 at 6:25 AM
true but films with a higher opening number still have an advantage in terms of the overall gross. specially since no one considers trending these days. Leaving aside BOI’s dishonesty which has mostly been evident on this film since day 1 it is true that the film now has no safety net. In other words it cannot fall further from this level. It has to stay more or less stable at this point and then one could think about the second weekend. However if it keeps falling during the weekdays it’s not likely to do much over the second weekend or week. Even by Taran’s numbers it’s around 45 crores. So it has an uphill climb just to get to Rajneeti’s 90 crores or so. However if it can average around 4 crores the rest of the week it would suggest stability.
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September 3, 2013 at 6:34 AM
Going by BOI’s numbers this one will finish 65 crore or less. The problem is Thursday will be 3.5 or less and the 2nd weekend off a number like that can’t be more than 10 crore with some competition added too. 48 + 10 = 58. If it holds up little better maybe 70 crore.
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September 3, 2013 at 6:38 AM
This one is a bit like Talaash. There was some optimism as the weekend business grew, but the Monday figure is lower. Really needed a 6 crore figure, 5 crore or 4 crore depending on the source suggests first week will be decent but thereafter the legs are more like Rani’s than Deepika’s.
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September 3, 2013 at 7:20 AM
LOL on the last bit!
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September 3, 2013 at 4:22 AM
Madras Cafe Struggles In Week Two
Tuesday 3rd September 2013 10.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Madras Cafe has found it tough going in week two with collections coming down all over. The film grossed around 5.75 crore nett over its second weekend and around 75 lakhs on its second Monday. The second week business is looking to be in the 8.50 crore nett region.
The two week total for the film will be around 41 crore nett and a lifetime total looking to be around 45 crore nett. The film has not really consolidated after a decent weekend and despite a holiday boost last Wednesday the collections have generally been on the slide.
Overall the film is an average fair thanks to a decent weekend and Janmashtami holiday last Wednesday.
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September 3, 2013 at 4:22 AM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh 3h
#Satyagraha Mon 5.07 cr. Holding well in certain circuits.
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September 3, 2013 at 8:09 AM
This figure is now more in line with the WOM reports. This will wind up around 65 to 70 crores at best as next week there are multiple releases. A disappointment for Jha and all concerned.
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September 3, 2013 at 2:27 AM
Talaash also had big drop on first monday. I think BMB did not. I am not sure.
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September 3, 2013 at 6:20 AM
A O Scott on Gravity and the Lunchbox among others at the Telluride film festival:
“The Herzog relieved the lining-up bottlenecks at some of the other theaters, and was the scene of the frenzied first screening of “Gravity,” which arrived from the Venice Film Festival on Saturday evening on a vapor trail of hype. “Gravity,” which stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as astronauts stranded, like David Bowie’s Major Tom, far above the world, brought a 90-minute shot of pure, giddy entertainment to this high-altitude gathering of serious-minded cinephiles.
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón from a script he wrote with his son, Jonás, the film uses 3-D to evoke the feeling of weightlessness experienced by the characters. It also brings some of the wonder and mystery back to cinematic space, inviting comparisons to Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” and Ridley Scott’s “Alien,” and making most recent science-fiction epics seem clumsy and earthbound by comparison.”
“Modern urban loneliness is also among the themes of “The Lunchbox,” the deft and charming first feature by Ritesh Batra. He uses Mumbai’s lunch-delivery system — which transports thousands of meals every day from kitchens to offices — as the background for a quasi-romantic fable that might be thought of as an Indian variation on “You’ve Got Mail.” An unhappy housewife (Nimraut Kaur) and a mopey accountant (the indispensable Irrfan Khan), accidentally linked by a rare glitch in the delivery process, begin a culinary and epistolary friendship that is traced with a perfect balance of tact and sentimentality.”
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September 3, 2013 at 7:12 AM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh 2h
#ChennaiExpress [Week 4] Fri 81 lacs, Sat 1.14 cr, Sun 1.89 cr, Mon 56 lacs. Grand total: Rs 222.82 cr. All Time Blockbuster.
For Monday, a drop of about only 30% from Friday figure.
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September 3, 2013 at 7:29 AM
yes but the comparison ought to be for week 1, not with the tail end when films stabilize at that low level. If not they’re out of the theaters! So in week 1 CE went from a 30-33 crore Fri to a 12 crore Mon. Even taking the lower Fri number it dropped 65% or so.
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September 3, 2013 at 8:19 AM
Ask Jha if he will take CE 1st Monday number over Satyagraha number, keeping in mind that the film had already collected 100 crore in first 3.25 days.
You have to look at the whole picture not just percentages, trending, etc…, be it week 1 or week 4.
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September 3, 2013 at 9:30 AM
Why you are dividing days like 3.25? Is it anything akin to guinness book of world records? Normally we count days like 2 days, 3 days etc. Thank god, you are not into minutes and seconds too.
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September 4, 2013 at 9:00 PM
okay, CE made over 100 crore in 3 days (including paid preview)..
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September 3, 2013 at 8:20 AM
This is interesting, with so much talk about 100 crore club and many believing getting into 100 crore club is no big deal; here is some numbers from this year:
8 months have passed and only 4 movies in 2013 have made 100 crore. Of these 4, 2 (BMB, Race2) of them barely made it and may not have made it depending on whose boxoffice total you follow.
I think we’ll have 2 at minimum (K3 and D3) and maybe one more before the year ends. So this gives us 6 to 7 100 crore club movies for the year or less depending on which number you follow. I assuming there are about 100 Hindi film that will release in 2013, that’s 0.06% of the films making 100 crore.
For 3 Khans, HR and Ranbir, this should be a line that they cross in first week. For them the goal should be 150 crore assuming it’s a big film.
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September 3, 2013 at 9:02 AM
Totally the wrong way to look at it – you should probably compare the budget to top grosser ratios. The reality a vast array of those 100 or so films are small to medium budgets, no star, less marketing – they are not aiming for 100 crore. Anyone can see the club is hardly exclusive anymore, especially when there was only one in 2008 and one in 2009. Since then probably more than a few every year.
150 crore is the new 100 crore and probably only for another year or so. Then it will be 200 crore.
If a film is making 100 crore in 4 days (sure aided by holidays) its surely not a target borne out by films credentials, but by in large the market being played in now i.e. it should not be seen as a huge achievement if achieved so easily! It’s like Usain Bolt winning 100 metres with a time of 11 seconds and his competitors running 12 seconds, when the world record is 9.4 seconds! Sure he’s won, and you pat him on the back for winning a gold, but hardly the greatest sprint was it? when the quality is pretty low all around!
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September 3, 2013 at 9:15 AM
The nubmer speaks for itself. How many big films released in 2013 including the one that just released this weekend?
How many of those made 100 crore?
By the way, how many films made 100 crore in 3.25 days, with or without HOLIDAYS???
OUATIMD made 100 crore too during holiday weekend? 🙂
Your Usain comparison doesn’t make any sense at all, that’s kind of like saying all of bachhan films are flop when compared to Sholay since none of other ones made as much as Sholay, right?
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September 3, 2013 at 9:30 AM
It’s not the same at all.
The growth in the market has to be taken into account. If these films were making 100 crore in the same market conditions as 2008, then yes, it’s great.
But that is not the case.
The sense of achievement is not much when a non star film like BMB (and I don’t consider Farhan Akhtar an elite actor or breakout star) is making 100 crore!
Consider CDI in 2007! A Sports film with a superstar practically in every scene and it made 60 crore!
100 crore is no longer a club to be proud off. If anything, it is now a case of a big film potentially being considered as a failure if it does not get there! There’s been plenty of that on this blog for example for Talaash!
The moment biggies are considered failures when they don’t get there is the moment the target is deemed too easy!
100 crore is like the old 250 score in ODI cricket. When a team batting first scored 250 before 1995, that score was seen as a winning score. Fields have changed, rules have changed to favour batsmen, the game has changed (note Sri Lanka in 1995 WC going after the first 10 overs) etc, where 250 is no longer a winning score, it’s more like a losing score!
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September 3, 2013 at 9:47 AM
This will be true when a film gets the widest possible release with no significant competition around. That is for the initial. And if the film is well liked, then sky is the limit. If it it not well liked, it will start limping towards the nearest winning post.
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September 3, 2013 at 9:48 AM
It would be hard not to understand the points Jay is making unless of course one were pretending not to! I assume you’re not genuinely dense! On the rest your claims are in bad faith and you know it. You’re speaking like a typical and typically dishonest SRK fan. Let’s move on now!
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September 3, 2013 at 9:59 AM
My SRK timeline. The assumptions here are that SRK was a bigger star in 2004 than in 2007 and also a bigger star in 2007 than 2013.
Also that Main Hoo Naa, Om Shanti Om and Chennai Express, albeit not exactly the same film, they do owe themselves to attempts at masala, comedy, family entertainment etc. so I am comparing the business of these 3 films and assuming they are similar genres and SRK is a depreciating star but still relevant star.
2004 MHN made 35 crore
2007 OSO made 85 crore
2013 CE is making 205 crore
Growth between 04 – 07 is approx. 243%
Growth between 07 – 13 is approx. 241%
Even for Aamir between 2001 to 2009 comparing Lagaan, RDB and 3 Idiots (I’d argue equally liked, and he probably becomes a bigger star with 3 Idiots than he was with RDB) his films go from 30 crore to 55 crore to 200 crore…growths of 167% between 01 – 05 and 400% between 05 – 09.
The whole point here is to illustrate film business has just grown massively. It’s not a lot to do with the quality of the product or the size of the star (although Aamir’s films have grown bigger in time as he has become a bigger force, SRK I would say has gone the opposite way – but still huge growth in business).
Do it for Ajay Devgn or Saif in that period. It’s just a big growing business. So why would in this instance a 100 crore in 2013 be rated compared to those in 2011 let alone 2009. Bars have to change, targets are revised.
Your talking about a total market growth (infrastructure and inflation) of 6 times between 04 – 13 for SRK and 7 times between 01 – 09 for Aamir. “obviously” loose projections.
Now to the noise about 100 crore and why 200 crore for CE today is a good achievement but nothing extra-ordinary. It’s taken 4 years but even a RNBDJ in 2008 was making only 85 crores so the market has at least grown twice since then. My surprise is it’s taken this long but that is purely down to the quality of the biggie or rather lack off.
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September 3, 2013 at 10:04 AM
And that’s my whole point, that we can talk about market growth etc, but the fact is only 2 movies has done over 200 crore. So let’s not treat it like it’s normal and every other biggie is making 200 crore.
Let alone 200 crore, same thing with 100 crore, only small portion of biggie are going over 100 crore.
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September 3, 2013 at 10:11 AM
“only small portion of biggie are going over 100 crore” this is a false statement.
A higher proportion of biggies are reaching 100 crore in 2012-13 than say 2009-2010. Just cos only 4 have done so this year, does not falsify my claim. Film business in general can fluctuate from year to year, but overall the market is growing and still is. Till the releases stop widening, than you can call it a market of growth only in inflation like the US. The US, biggies release between 4000-5000 cinemas always. It’s saturated.
India is not. Every big film opens to a wider audience.
Apple does not open up stores in markets to capture the same audience in quicker time! They open up more stores to capture more people! Why would any “serious” investor do this. This is not the “short” stock market!
People open up more locations, more stores, more shops, more theatres to tap into more people, increase accessbility….and basically increase revenue (at a cost). It’s so simple, its business and finance. This whole 200 crore is a “ceiling” is hogwash, for those use to mediocre films.
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September 3, 2013 at 10:11 AM
“On the rest your claims are in bad faith and you know it. You’re speaking like a typical and typically dishonest SRK fan. Let’s move on now!”
Should we analyze your comments on SRK since 2000?
Please get over this SRK fans are dishonest, are in bad faith, etc… you use every possible factors to bring down SRK movies but as soon as somebody puts up one factor they’re acting in bad faith and are dishonest?
I don’t have time to bring down other actors, look at all my posts and you’ll know what i mean. I’m a fan or SRK and hindi films in general and will put up a good arguments keeping all factors in mind without picking and choosing factors based on who the star is.
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September 3, 2013 at 10:26 AM
I actually stand by all my comments on SRK. People might think I have a bias against SRK but no one would find it hard to figure what my positions were in a very precise sense. The smarter ones would easily be able to connect these with my overall ideological positions as well (so it’s not really an anti-SRK position the way many think it is). Also I’m not arguing against CE. What it’s done is pretty obvious. However whenever this sort of moment occurs there’s this effort by SRK fans to completely exaggerate things and at the same time deconstruct other achievements. Both go hand-in-hand. So 200 was supposed to be completely impossible, nothing could be compared with 3I even 4 years after release and what not. Suddenly CE does it and it’s supposed to be ‘record-shattering’?! What about all the other ‘details’ now? How did this even happen if it wasn’t possible? This is the kind of ridiculous stuff SRK has himself been peddling since CE became successful. The fans often reflect the ethics of their favorite stars! So SRK after making all kinds of claims which revealed his anxieties about the competition and his own inability to keep up for so very long finally said something which took the cake — the idea that for years HAHK seemed unbreathable but then that record was broken by many films in recent years! Yeah HAHK doing 75-100 crores in ’94 (depending on who you believe) is just the same as Race 2 doing it this year! There is this constant move by SRK fans to try and deconstruct anything that questions their narrative on SRK. And this move is evident in SRK himself (or Johar). And so you there’s the old trick of questioning Bachchan or somehow trying to deconstruct his track record or whatever. Or doing the same with Aamir more recently. So on and so forth. Now you can do it blatantly or be more subtle about it but it becomes very obvious very soon. I’ve spent too much time around ‘fans’ like yourself not to spot one almost instantly. And everything you’ve said for a while has confirmed this. No one’s stopping you from being a SRK fan or celebrating his success or thinking he identified the Higgs boson before anyone else. It’s the overall set of totally dishonest claims. And it’s pointless saying one hasn’t done this when every exchange one gets into including the present one reveals this in spades for anyone who has eyes to read.
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September 3, 2013 at 10:50 AM
The “growth in business” argument would have been crystal clear if there been no 3I. With wider releases facilitated by increasing # new multiplex available screens, the business gradually grew. From Ghajini to CE, the steady rise in business (weekend, weekly, lifetime) is crystal clear. Its only when an anomalous event like 3I is inserted into this growth chart, that we start getting these 200cr ceiling arguments. The fact is that 3I was just that: anomalous. It was a true ATBB in 2009, because it almost doubled the previous best. For an equivalent anomalous event today, a film would need to make upwards of 300crs.
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September 3, 2013 at 11:27 AM
“For an equivalent anomalous event today, a film would need to make upwards of 300crs.”
agree with this upto a point. If one considers the fact that the 3I final gross was 2.5 x its week 1 number and then if you consider how films can do 140-150 crores in a 7-9 day period today 300 seems minimal to meet that standard. 330 or more gets you closer to that 3I superlative initial and excellent trending model. We’re not even at Ghajini levels forget 3I ones. So Ghajini too with the 115 crore gross and the 60 crore or whatever extended week total (55 crores or something similar for a 7 day period) was well in excess of what seemed possible at the time. Even this standard hasn’t been met by any of these big films. ETT should have done 280 crores or so just to live upto the Ghajini standard. CE should have been doing 300! But we see that even by the highest Taran numbers (which one would be right to suspect!) it’s getting to 225 or whatever. So we’re very far from the Ghajini model even with CE. And at both ends. Because CE was still within the ETT range even in terms of initial whereas Ghajini cleared the competition by a huge percentage at the time. Of course we here all those bankrupt arguments once again that everyone saw it in week 1 so it couldn’t trend well and what not. We heard the very same for 200 not being possible. These are of course dishonest or delusional claims or both. But in any case 3I is in many ways the red herring here. Even the Ghajini bar hasn’t been cleared! The absolute number doesn’t mean anything. Otherwise many films have crossed 115! Meanwhile SRK’s pretending that it’s a musical chairs deal where sometimes he breaks records and sometimes others. Of course even this is a comedown for the ‘I am the king’ proponent. To admit that he’s just keeping up with the competition. But of course this isn’t really true as we’ve just discussed and as he’ll soon discover with either K3 or D3 or both. Unless both films underperform. Always a possibility in this business. In Hollywood box office reporting you see everything accounted for even from year to year when inflation isn’t that big a factor. But they still account for it, then they account for 3D inflation or IMAX inflation in addition to screen counts. They look at how well other movies have done in that month and week of release. So on and so forth. They really look at everything. In India you can’t even apply the broadest trending standards because from the trade to the fans there’s enough corruption or plain dishonesty involved for people to pretend otherwise. As I’ve said in the past the laws of physics (or in this case economics) don’t change from the US to India. For instance we’re supposed to believe that all this growth is only at the gross end and only in week 1! Or similarly were supposed to believe that all these huge additional grosses whether in India or in the overseas territories come at no additional production/distribution costs. So Barfi doing a 100 is more or less the same as Don2 doing a 100. They’re both equally part of a 100 crore club. This nonsense is peddled and it is swallowed by partisans or various stripes.
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September 3, 2013 at 11:13 AM
Another way to put it: Ghajini at 115cr in 2008 was followed by Dabanng at 145cr in 2010, followed by ETT at 195cr in 2012. These are increases perfectly in synch with the rapidly increasing market size. CE (at approx 210cr) is just another datapoint in this rising graph. It would not be surprising to see a 250cr movie by 2014.
How can one even argue about a 200cr ceiling, if a non-holiday release like YJHD ends up making 180crs, just 3 months previously? Would KJo not have traded the release dates of YJHD with CE? In the final count, there will be about 25-30cr difference between their gross. But CE had an extra 3 national holidays which boosted its collections. If their release dates are exchanged, the gross would have been exchanged as well.
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September 3, 2013 at 11:22 AM
This is exactly what I was drafting
2006 – D2 – 80
2007 – OSO – 85
2008 – Ghajini – 115
2009 – XX
2010 – Dabangg – 135
2011 – Bodyguard – 145
2012 – ETT – 185
2013 – CE – 205
Loosely this is 15% per annum growth if you plot this. Of course this assumes the “credentials” of each movie are the same, which they are not. OSO is underperforming, Ghajini doing a bit more than expected, Bodyguard underperforming. I leave out 3 Idiots as it butchers the debate. But even without it, its clear that generally the market is growing at 15% per annum and yes its LINEAR. There will be a tail off but why now if the evidence suggests its still growing. Its not so hard to suggest this…that every 6 years the market doubles. In 2006 D2 makes 80 crore, in 2012 a film makes more than 160 crore…why not in 2018 a film making 320 crore? Is it beyond the realms of possibility? Or is the 200 crore ceiling still there in 5 years time?
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September 3, 2013 at 11:50 AM
Thanks guys for injecting some sense in the inane BO discussions. CE is a big success no doubt and the biggest grosser of the year so far. But, to spin it as some kind of BO revolution without understanding/acknowledging the market dynamics is somewhat stupid and dishonest. One cannot take anything away from a movie that has made 200 crore plus regardles the increase in market size/capacity but at the same time one needs to be aware that the eventual total is already under threat from the coming biggies and in the annals of history is going to go down as a big success but not the biggest.
As NYKavi said it is a data point in the rising graph.
Yes, for a brief ( very brief period), it will be the highest grossing film of all time but is not going to be a land mark that 3I or even Ghajini was.
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September 3, 2013 at 12:15 PM
“Loosely this is 15% per annum growth if you plot this. Of course this assumes the “credentials” of each movie are the same, which they are not. OSO is underperforming, Ghajini doing a bit more than expected, Bodyguard underperforming.”
Do you consider all factors such as OSO released against another big movie? Or one movie might had clear run for 3 to 4 weeks while another had to deal with biggie every week?
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September 3, 2013 at 12:27 PM
“Another way to put it: Ghajini at 115cr in 2008 was followed by Dabanng at 145cr in 2010, followed by ETT at 195cr in 2012. These are increases perfectly in synch with the rapidly increasing market size. CE (at approx 210cr) is just another datapoint in this rising graph. It would not be surprising to see a 250cr movie by 2014.”
Agree 100%,keeping in mind each of those movies you’ve listed were treated as big hits but for CE, some want to claim it’s no big shake. And that’s the point i’m arguing, that it is a big shake. By the way, CE is not capped at 200 crore, it’s over 220 crore now.
I don’t think we have to wait till 2014 for 250 crore, we’ll see it before end of this year. CE will be about 225 crore so I think K3 or D3 will easily earn 25 crore more with same market and no competition in subsequent weeks.
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September 3, 2013 at 12:39 PM
No one is saying CE is not a big shake. Argument is about how big of a shake it is. Not that it really matters in eventual scheme of things. But, if we are going to indulge in this discussion, one has to keep it honest. Obviously, SRK fans will portray this as an attempt to deny him any credit. But, it couldnt be further from truth. Just keep things in perspective. CE has performed way beynd expectations. No doubt about it. But at the same time, it is not 3I.
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September 3, 2013 at 12:44 PM
If D3 and K3 don’t beat the opening day/weekend/week records of CE, does that mean SRK is #1 this year? If the answer is no, then one is taking other factors into account such as the perfect release date of CE.
Now SRK critics will take other factors into account when trying to prove if K3 and D3 don’t beat CE’s opening day/weekend/week why SRK won’t be the biggest star of the year.
At the same time, they won’t take other factors into consideration such as that BG faced competition and a substantial screen loss a week later from Mere Brother Ki Dulhan or that OSO and Saawariya released on the same day to pretty similar screen counts (as far as I remember).
This is hypocrisy or insecurity. One of those things describes Bollywood’s first midget superstar.
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September 3, 2013 at 1:17 PM
Why do we forget that Avatar released along with 3I. If you take crap like Saawariya, Jaaneman or OUATIMD to be dent-factors in SRK movies, why should the colossus of Avatar be forgoteen versus 3I?
Your argument holds only if the competition has some ‘dum’. So a SOS dented JTHJ, and certainly, brought down its business. JTHJ had YRC demise as a major emotional boost going towards its opening. Even then, the content was not good enough to knock off SOS.
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September 4, 2013 at 9:43 PM
Lets see how many films cross 400cr worldwide in the next few years. We can then assess how big of a success CE is. Even in countries like Peru, Germany and Poland this one did business in excess of 1cr. It has done 113cr in overseas already and it hasn’t even released in South Korea and China yet. Respect should be given when deserved.
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September 4, 2013 at 9:59 PM
Avatar had a third of the screen count of 3 Idiots. It made less in India than OUATIMD. Sure it affected 3 idiots worldwide gross, but it’s impact on 3 idiots’ domestic BO was less than ouatimd for CE and even mbkd for bg. Saawariya had more than half the screens of Om shanti om.
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September 3, 2013 at 11:14 AM
All this 100 CR 200 CR number will look puny once D3 comes out. Mark my words. That movie is making 300 CR….minimum and there is a good chance that it will do 400 CR. Think of all that’s going for that movie. Aamir just doesn’t dish out praises for his own movies !
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September 3, 2013 at 11:16 AM
YRF really needs to come with a dhansoo teaser in the coming days. The rest will take care of itself.
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September 3, 2013 at 11:44 AM
300cr and 400cr?Ohhhh my God!Are they releasing D3 on Mars also?
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September 3, 2013 at 1:00 PM
Unfortunately aamir has lost his golden touch. Talaash could not even get near 100 crore inspite of being a brilliant film. Even a Khiladi 786 posed a threat.
I will not expect any blockbusters from aamir. But some good movie now and then.
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September 3, 2013 at 11:55 AM
Very likely will cross CE but again talk about 300/400 crore is irresponsible. Market is growing but not that fast!:-)
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September 3, 2013 at 12:17 PM
I have no doubts that K3 will cross CE and D3 will cross K3. And if we go by logic of satyam, jayshah and couple others, it will be by a wide margin since you get a sense that boxoffice collection CE is no big shake.
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September 3, 2013 at 12:32 PM
I think you are interpreting it wrong. There are couple of movies which came near 3 idiots in spite of being not universally liked: ETT and YJHD. So it was matter of time somebody did little more and cross 3 idiots. D3 and K3 are big movies, if they are liked similar to CE they may cross CE marginally just because of expanding market. If they are liked more they should do more than 250.
ps – Just remove 3 Idiots from picture as it clutters and make all analysis biased.
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September 3, 2013 at 12:42 PM
Munna, it is like saying lets take Everest out in discussion of world’s tallest peaks. It would be meaningless. Every BO report from bozos is how CE has broken 3I ‘s record and it is true in a sense but it is not even 60% of the movie that 3I was at BO. That is the point.
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September 3, 2013 at 12:59 PM
No other mountain will peak mount everest (unless somehow nature plays some weird games) while boxoffice is moving target and can be over taken. Taoday it’s CE, tomorrow it will be K3 and then D3.
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September 3, 2013 at 1:05 PM
Rajen – Correct analogy is 100 meters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men's_100_metres_world_record_progression
So Usain Bolt bettering previous mark by .11 second was something great. If you better the record by .01 or .02 – You have world record but someone else would come and better it by another .01. That is why there is a chatter that K3 and D3 will break CE record; But no one is saying who will better Usain Bolt’s 9.58. Someone will break it eventually but not by much.
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September 3, 2013 at 1:20 PM
I think 100m is a good analogy but there is no such thing as a perfect analogy. The point is 31 is the first amongst equals. There is something intangible about the meausre of how much a movie is liked or appreciated and there is no standard measure for it. Some would say IMDB ratings sre one way to look at it but even that data is skewed. Quite a few are able to sense or grasp it. A fewer amongst them who are honest will admit it. The rest will be just beating the senseless BO drums.
Would 31 have made 300 crores if released today? Very likely.
End of discussion.
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September 3, 2013 at 12:42 PM
No one is taking away from CE’s achievement. It indeed was a paisa-vasool entertainer, which managed to draw in large family audiences, as well as lots of Southern audience because of its content. It could not have bested the trend if it did not indeed have the content. If K3/D3, are rich in content, they may just conform to the trend and make in the range of CE. These 250cr scenarios only play out if the movies have superlative content. IMHO, CE did have great content (and I know Satyam/Rajan will not agree with me, but then I am just a common man).
Lets not forget that Roshans last gave a brain-fart in Kites, so K3 could be another constipation-reliever. Similarly, YRF have delivered unedible crap like Tashan and few others.
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September 3, 2013 at 12:43 PM
Yup. It is likely that D3 or K3 will best CE but not a given.
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September 3, 2013 at 1:27 PM
“and I know Satyam/Rajan will not agree with me, but then I am just a common man”
as long as you’re not common enough to be the rikshawala..!
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September 3, 2013 at 1:33 PM
haha. good joke.
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September 3, 2013 at 1:09 PM
CE’s finishing at 225. I can bet if K3 or D3 do 230, we’ll hear theories about how K3 did great considering its genre isn’t popular in India and more BS.
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September 3, 2013 at 12:54 PM
Think of a mind boggling initial and a pretty good trending with 2 weeks of open run…..300 is very much possible
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September 3, 2013 at 1:45 PM
There’s no reason why it won’t have mind boggling initial so I think it can easily do what CE did in first 2 weeks (about 200). There is christmas, new year and no competition.
The question is how much more it will do. I think about 260 to 270 crore.
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September 3, 2013 at 12:45 PM
On a separate note Satyagraha is behaving more and more like a 70 crore grosser that I predicted. Fools rushed in with a 150 crore projection. Average stuff at best. And a pity as the subject had takers but Jha couldnt make an engrossing film. Yes, the genre was a limitation but it could have easily made more as the audience was willing to give it a chance.
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September 3, 2013 at 12:54 PM
Now how are fools suppose to know that Jha won’t do justice to it? We can make prediction based on assuming that the movie will be good which it sure did judging by the promos.
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September 3, 2013 at 1:00 PM
The point is at no point was it a 150 crore film. If it was better, it had a shot at 90-100 but never 150 crores.
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September 3, 2013 at 1:43 PM
I still think if it was a well made film, it would have gone to 150. One can’t make an argument that romatic angle of Ranbir/Katrina made Raajneeti go over 90 crore, if that’s the case than what was the total of APKGK?
There are many things that has to go right in order for the movie to work. All these claims of how easy it is to make 100, 150, 200 crore is baseless.
If it was, every other big movie would make that.
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September 3, 2013 at 1:40 PM
You were certainly right on the prediction. I was hoping for 100 based on the early word. Although it could be argued that irrespective of content (unless of course a sensationally good film were made which is always a high bar) you can’t get those numbers without a very strong initial which in turn you cannot get for this kind of subject without stars who attract a younger demographic in some serious sense. Now a better film could trend stronger than the current film is looking to but that might be the difference between 70 and a 100 at the most. It still wouldn’t go beyond this. So you either need a genre override for stars who might not be very strong at the box office or else a star override for a genre that isn’t hot. Devgan is fine in certain kinds of outings (though note how whether it is Golmaal or Singham his current big box office numbers can almost entirely be correlated with Rohit Shetty.. on the other hand you have disasters in Himmatwala or Aakrosh or some poor performances otherwise.. in Jha’s big efforts he’s not come in for great praise or else he’s felt sidelined.. barring the earlier films which were much more modest grossers) but he isn’t enough to get a big opening on a political film. Once again with Rajneeti the Ranbir-Katrina pair was important not to mention the love triangle and of course the Godfather plot made it a rather universal story. This was regular masala fare (admittedly absorbing) pretending to be political drama. On the other hand Aarakhshan or Satyagraha despite their flaws are issue-based. These kinds of films never hit those very high benchmarks unless something completely unusual happens in terms of content.
Even otherwise in terms of trending if you notice there’s Ghajini/3I or (and if the history is followed here) Krrish/Dhoom or even giving some allowance YJHD recently as examples of big openers/grossers that trend minimally well. Most of the other good trenders are at the lower end from OMG to Raanjhanaa to Kahani or whatever. Because at that lower end you can’t get anywhere without content. Obviously with any more appeal the film would open a lot bigger. Conversely the big openers are just extended ad campaigns that get the audience in. Few are liked. Most of the time the audience considers them just passable. The moral of the story is that no matter how big a splash you get this way content is eventually important. Of course to add to the dishonesty chronicles of many this too is held against the film. It’s like ‘hey don’t count 3I that was liked too much’! That’s absurd. Even the biggest stars still gross more with better content (barring Bachchan who could often turn even these laws upside down!). The smaller films reveal that if a film is truly liked it will find enough of an audience to trend well.
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September 3, 2013 at 1:03 PM
I’m not sure about Dhoom 3 because on one hand Aamir is in it and boasting about the good script which is a good sign. But At the same time, it’s directed by the Tashan director. Plus Aamir in this type of role is like SRK as a superhero. Ehh for both stars from me. YRF can probably get it 4000 screens. Xmas is on a Wednesday so opening day records will be destroyed. YRF will probably go for paid previews which can hit 10cr. It’ll have almost a 40 cr opening day if not more. But then the standard drop will come on thursday, making it 20-25. It’ll need a 30ish friday to be CE’s first 3 days. After that, no idea, it depends on content and WOM.
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September 3, 2013 at 1:32 PM
I totally agree. Very skeptical about Aamir pulling off an act in the footsteps of HR and JA. But then, he always has been acutely aware of his own physical shortcomings. So there mustve been some change in presentation to account for it.
As for junta, if they can accept a 5’4” ripped body flinging taller/bigger gangs of 10-20 goondas around like ninepins in Ghajini, they can accept Aamir flying around in a superman cape as well. Bhartiya Junta ki imaginative liberties ka takaaza koi nahi laga sakta.
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September 3, 2013 at 1:38 PM
Anything is possible when a ham rules dumb gals and dumber boys.
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September 3, 2013 at 1:40 PM
Great analogy would be SRK beating the crap out of that giant Tamil bully in CE. So Thina-Gaaru (or whatever his name was) practically tears up SRK’s body, and has him biting the dust in a bloody blob. But, all it took was for Deepika to utter ‘Rahul’, and our hero sprang back up to beat the shit out of Mt Olympus. So is “Rahul” kinda like “chen-kuliki-men-kuliki-chen”?
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September 3, 2013 at 1:46 PM
I will agree that Aamir’s involvement suggests the best script of the franchise which might not necessarily be the same as the biggest grosser. Having said that Aamir is no one’s fool and is not likely to take Talaash-like risks with a subject which he has just done to put up some big numbers. Nonetheless it adds a degree of uncertainty given the genre. And yes the director does as well. In this sense Krrish is safer because both father and son have pulled of spectacular numbers and trending twice with this franchise. But here too there’s still a risk of trying to do too much. I did like the trailer but the double role and excessive attempt at SFX might well make this a trickier juggling act for Rakesh Roshan. The key to the first two films was essentially very simple plot-lines. Still I would be more surprised at Rakesh Roshan not finding the sweet spot here versus the Dhoom team doing the same. Also with Aamir while he might be expecting a blockbuster here he might not necessarily be in it for a film that breaks all existing records. There’s a difference. Unlike SRK Aamir has never gone into a film with that explicit aim even when he’s had the most commercial ends in mind. So yes obviously he wants huge numbers on D3. Just don’t think he’s waiting to break the 300 barrier!
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September 3, 2013 at 5:37 PM
Are you Aamir Khan or SRK? How do you know what they think or what they thought when they signed CE/D3?
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September 3, 2013 at 6:11 PM
Ha! that shall be my little secret..!
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September 3, 2013 at 7:11 PM
I always knew it!
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September 4, 2013 at 7:55 AM
LOL. Good question for all those who seem to know exactly how it is.
They call it educated guess – educated by the actors themselves it would seem.
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September 4, 2013 at 7:57 AM
A good moment to go back and read the comments on the CE box office thread when it was released.
I quite enjoyed my session there yesterday. LOL.
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September 4, 2013 at 10:30 AM
did you also revisit all the threads where people were right about SRK’s films?!
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September 4, 2013 at 10:31 AM
Actually I never called what I said an educated guess!
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September 4, 2013 at 11:57 AM
satyam, arrows shot in the dark can also hit the mark. Doesn’t mean it describes ones ability to hit the bull’s-eye.
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September 4, 2013 at 12:02 PM
But according to the logic you’ve laid out it isn’t knowable whether one has hit the bull’s eye or not! How does one verify this?!
On a related note even if a star were to appear on the blog and say some of this stuff he or she would hardly be likely to use his or her actual name. Nor would the same person be likely to say too much for fear of revealing something that ought not to be revealed. One could say the very same things in that scenario. In any case my sense is that people really find the stories unpalatable which is when they start bringing up the verification point. Otherwise everyone is quite happy to believe anything they wish to about their favorite stars or films, they’re equally happy to engage in all kinds of reasoning without real verification. So it cannot be a truth standard that suddenly becomes all important. It is really the nature of the utterance that one doesn’t like. I could say something completely different about some of these stars and you wouldn’t object at all!
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September 4, 2013 at 12:08 PM
By the way I have been wrong many times on box office predictions.. this probably has something to do with the species I’m a part of..
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September 4, 2013 at 12:14 PM
pretty much describes what i feel about SRK’s films post CDI – good phrase, you should copyright it for SRK film strategy
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September 4, 2013 at 12:15 PM
Ha! Line of the day!
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September 4, 2013 at 12:00 PM
LOL! SRK fans cant help being pathetic! It is their lot in life!
Dishonesty,snarkiness, tendency to play the victim etc comes naturally to them and compliments their rather poor judgement and taste! Even when their favorite actor delivers a mosntrous hit, they cant seem to disengage their head from its favorite position!
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September 4, 2013 at 1:50 PM
“LOL! SRK fans cant help being pathetic! It is their lot in life!
Dishonesty,snarkiness, tendency to play the victim etc comes naturally to them and compliments their rather poor judgement and taste!”
Then what does that make bachhan fans who has seen disaster failures for years now?
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September 4, 2013 at 5:18 PM
“satyam, arrows shot in the dark can also hit the mark. Doesn’t mean it describes ones ability to hit the bull’s-eye.”—
Haaha og…well said..
As expected, I’ve moved on from watching ‘heroine’ after a few minutes to a
Modern day cult classic–‘American pie reunion’
ROFLOL first scene -review shortly…lol
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September 3, 2013 at 1:07 PM
Dhoom 3@Dhoom3TheMovie
Subscribe to http://www.youtube.com/yrf to be the first one to watch the teaser of Dhoom 3! #2daysforDhoom3Teaser pic.twitter.com/bdKA4Gvcub
New teaser poster of D3. Also first official teaser trailer is going to release on September 5, so just 2 days to go.
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September 3, 2013 at 1:18 PM
Rajen : “The point is at no point was it a 150 crore film. If it was better, it had a shot at 90-100 but never 150 crores.” Ifa biography like Bhag Mi.lkha Bhag van do 105 cr, there is no reason why Satyagraha could not do 150cr if it was a really good film.
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September 3, 2013 at 1:25 PM
Patriotic sports films will always find more takers than standard political drama. BMB was not just a biography, it was a well done patriotic movie. With Milkha Singh himself promoting the movie, along with host of other Indian Olympic stars past and present were a big boost. If BMB were only a biography, PST should’ve done a lot more as well.
Aside, one can reflect on the irony of Indian athletics through these 2 movies. Where did both these gifted individuals end up at.
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September 3, 2013 at 1:50 PM
actually I’d say that the biopic is actually a safer multiplex genre than a political issue-based subject. What political films have done hugely well? I cannot think of one huge grosser or huge hit irrespective of quality in the entire history of Hindi cinema. None whatsoever. And again I don’t really define Rajneeti as a political film. It had a generic political backdrop but otherwise was personality-driven and with a lot of masala tropes and so on. There was nothing specifically political here.
This history holds for at least two reasons. Such subjects seem less entertaining to many people but also to the extent that they’re sharper in terms of content they’re also more likely to alienate one group or the other.
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September 3, 2013 at 2:02 PM
“Aaj Ka MLA” was perhaps the only hit of this genre, other than Rajneeti. Inquilaab with Amitabh was an average performer.
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September 3, 2013 at 2:03 PM
Aaj Ka MLA made more news than money. the gross here was pretty low. Of course the bar for Rajesh Khanna by that point was the lowest one imaginable in any case. It probably made a fourth or fifth of what Inquilaab did which itself was considered a disappointment (average perhaps but every Bachchan failure was this barring a handful).
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September 3, 2013 at 2:22 PM
So in which genre does a Rang De Basanthi fit in?
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September 3, 2013 at 4:26 PM
It’s certainly not a political ‘issue’ film. it’s a coming of age story with a political drama attached to it. But the latter is refracted through the former. And in any case the political exists here in abstract fashion (‘let’s end corruption’) as does the ethical (‘let’s do something’). Which itself is taken back by the end so that the multiplex audience doesn’t go home thinking they have to get themselves shot to be true to their conscience! The protagonists themselves say theirs was a cry of pain more than anything else and no one need follow! This is first off muddled but in any case about as political in any precise ‘issue-based’ sense as Rajneeti.
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September 3, 2013 at 2:32 PM
“So in which genre does a Rang De Basanthi fit in?”— haha well said–exactly what I meant
Have to give it that rdb had the ‘aamir effect’ though.
Without him, Mehra would be done a Delhi6!!!
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September 3, 2013 at 2:27 PM
Satyagraha , if one just takes the facevalue, has to do more than BMB which did not have a star to open the movie. I would go with what Utkal say here. Satyagraha if liked could have topped 120 crs. I dont think one can call it a proper political movie. This is not a Shanghai by any means. This is as political a movie as Rang De Basanti was, which wasnt really a proper political movie but make statements on the country’s politics. And considering corruption is one of the most burning topics in India, the Anna Hazare angle in the movie etc, think the movie had a good chance to top 120 crs if liked.
The fact that the movie opened to 40 crs though being a ‘political’ movie means that the audience were always ready to give this movie a chance irrespective of WOM. The issue is that Jha disappointed rather than the genre of the movie.
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September 3, 2013 at 2:36 PM
“The issue is that Jha disappointed rather than the genre of the movie.”– yeah but jha disappointed less than bachchans ‘core’ fans
Atleast jha gave bachchan a ‘dignified’ lead role in a reasonable setup at a stage when not many are willing to do that
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September 3, 2013 at 4:53 PM
Shanghai is a political thriller. It too is not an issue based political movie in any precise sense. If anything it adapts Z by shedding the latter’s precise political contexts. It then becomes a much more generic tale. Which is why it was celebrated by the media!
On the rest Satyagraha is not a biopic by any stretch. And once you have that crucial Anna Hazare archive you also can’t say the political references are not clear enough. The film might have other faults but this isn’t one of them. As for the rest any film can do anything. The point isn’t what an exceptional film can do but what a decent or better effort can do in a given genre. YJHD isn’t some stirring kind of entertainment, it still did a lot because that kind of genre does well. Similarly Salman Khan’s movies aren’t some outstanding examples of the genre. They still do well. The same goes for these genres at somewhat lower ends of the success spectrum. On the other hand with certain other genres the public really has to like them for these to work in any roughly comparable way. The bar is very differently placed on them. Which by the way is true for BMB or RDB also. I’m not suggesting it was easy for these movies to become successful. But the comparison with Satyagraha or Aarakshan colors the debate differently. And again I stand by what I’ve said — I cannot think of a serious political movie in the entire history of HIndi cinema that was a great success. And I mean by this a political movie with either an ‘issue’ or at least one with precise political referents. Even with looser political coordinates such films are not often very successful but you can at least find examples. Again all of this doesn’t mean Satyagraha couldn’t have done 100 or more. But for the same quality films in other genres would probably do 200! So one has to compare like for like. Maybe in the best of all possible worlds, which is to say with the best of scripts Satyagraha could do 120. But then in that same scenario ETT would do 275! The gap remains the same. Which is also one of the points I’m trying to make.
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September 3, 2013 at 8:56 PM
But satyam one cannot deny that whatever be the genre of this movie, people still showed up over the first 3 days irrespective of WOM. There was an interest in this movie due to the face value associated with it and the issues it was raising. And even with a below par WOM this will end up around 65 to 70 which is the houseful range. So there was a chance here of going past 100 if the content was accepted. The issue was the script not the genre of the movie IMO as people did flock to the cinema to sme extent overlooking the genre – doesn’t matter if it is political or not.
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September 3, 2013 at 9:06 PM
I don’t disagree with anything here but you’re missing the point. I’m not saying this film couldn’t have done 100 or even 120. Just that the content bar with certain subjects is much higher than with others. You regularly see garbage in masala these days gross a lot. The same with multiplex romance. If you made a film of that quality in Satyagraha you’d gross Rs 2! Even as things stand the reviewers aren’t consistent. a YJHD on average gets much better reviews than an Aarakshan. Now I had some serious problems with the film myself besides the fact that I never expect great things from Jha. But a film like YJHD is also by no means the best or close to the best that is possible within that genre. It’s not a DCH or something! In the name of the ‘enjoyable’ a lot of very substandard cinema gets kind reviews while a more serious film is taken to task for not being truly great! Now I too believe that the bar is higher when you tackle more serious issues. At the same time this doesn’t mean that Salman Khan gets a pass just because he’s attempting junk! So again I’m not disagreeing that it could have done more. But the way things stand that total for this kind of film is always an improbable one. My argument is that often there’s this logic that’s advanced — if the film was better it would have done more. That’s fair except that being less than this doesn’t stop other genres from doing a lot more! Every age has its dominant genres where films belonging to these do disproportionately well. At the same time not every dominant genre in every age has put out such substandard stuff. Or the kind that is celebrated today.
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September 3, 2013 at 9:01 PM
I do not disagree that the highest bar for this movie will not be in the YJHD range even if was massively liked. I never expected the 150 cr prediction thrown for this movie here
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September 3, 2013 at 9:10 PM
the only scenario in which 150 was a possibility was with the Rajneeti sort of deal where despite the script going haywire at points things were constantly entertaining. Lots of characters that were interesting on their own (the film had a huge cast), Jha kept things moving at every point. So this sort of thing but then the presence of a relatively popular younger pair to entice a certain demographic that wouldn’t normally show up for such a film in stronger numbers. Rajneeti surprised at the time with the start it got and it remained stable. An equivalent film could certainly clear 120 and maybe more. 150 would still be a stiff target but perhaps possible. But everything would have to be just right in the film.
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September 3, 2013 at 1:41 PM
Project satygraha
One cannot make such generalisations imo
Yeah there ARE genre limitations and yeah satyagraha comes in that category which doesn’t attract the ‘whatssup’ crowd…
But it’s NOT unachievable—
There ARE ways around it …some of those ‘ways’ being —
Replace ajay devgun with a more box office friendly star –eg ranbir or even hritik–devgun is a better actor in this space but not a real box office force beyond a point..
Replace (what should I say!) Kareena with any non/poor actress but whose more in currently aka katrina or deepika
Replace the cute Amrita row with someone more saleable now
Get in kjo into the mix as producer (not director!!!)
Retain Prakash jha since he is good for this terrain and he would work more earnestly with the above setup
RETAIN bachchan but make his role more ‘unpredictable’ and somewhat ‘edgy’ with borderline ‘grey’ tone
The product with the same subject and director will cross 150 crores (& more!)
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September 3, 2013 at 1:54 PM
And then call it ‘Student of the year’ Part Deux.
You forgot adding an item song.
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September 3, 2013 at 1:45 PM
Addendum—
For gods sake–plz give Bachchan a role deserving his legend!!!
C’mon saw a promo just now
Even now the guy is crying out for roles worthy of his presence
And he gets a unidimensional predicable drab role
INSPITE of that, amitabh apparently is the best thing about the flick as per reviews!!
The other uncomfortable thing is the ROYAL DITCH Of amitabh bachchan by his ‘supporters’ here–
Barring one or two, NONE of his vocal supporters here have bothered to see this film not he big screen paying bucks…
This is the reality/ the hard fact 🙂
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September 3, 2013 at 1:56 PM
Dude, the youngest of Amitabh’s core supporters are 40+ yo, with kids and families. His older supporters already have grandkids. Do you realistically expect that demographic to go flock to see a movie? If yes, then Stallone should be coming to you for tips on how to take Expendables past 100M at the US BO. The guy will practically fill Part3 with the whos-who of 80s male leads, just to take a shot at 100M. (Part1 ended at around 105, Part 2 at 85).
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September 3, 2013 at 2:01 PM
That’s y ‘lollipops’ like ranbir & katrina /deepika need to thrown into the mix here
It wasn’t an accident that raaj Neeta got near 100 crores and more than 2 years ago!!
I do go after abhishrek commonly but bachchan sr is different!!
He is pure gold…
And sadly even his most vocal fans don’t really believe it anymore
🙂
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September 3, 2013 at 1:57 PM
“For gods sake–plz give Bachchan a role deserving his legend!!!”
why don’t you watch Deewar or Trishul first?
“NONE of his vocal supporters here have bothered to see this film not he big screen paying bucks…”
Shocking as this might sound there are sometimes greater practical issues involved in getting to a theater than in viewing porn at home..
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September 3, 2013 at 2:00 PM
Obviously, some have no idea what being an admirer/fan is about. Even when one’s favorite star or actor is involved there is no excuse for loss of objectivity.Neither is there any need to patronise their films by viewing them on big screen in the hope that it will buttress the eventual totals. Personally, it is a pleasure for me to watch AB on big screen and would not miss the oppurtunity ( last AB film I missed was the atrocious Vivek Oberia -Aishwarya pic ) but would never urge or expect all fans to watch a movie on big screen regardless of the merits of the film. AB doesnt need the big numbers.
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September 3, 2013 at 2:02 PM
I think Apex is confusing admiration and interest and investment in a star with a cult.
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September 3, 2013 at 2:13 PM
I’m not !!!
By not even going to check it out on the first weekend –(inspite of excuses)— uve let bachchan down!!
And I’m talking to u Satyam ..,
It’s one thing to write paeans but one thing to not believe / act on your beliefs ..,
I’m ok if u don’t check out Buddha hoga tera Baap or any oh his ‘cameos’
If u had checked it out and cribbed about it later– it’s ok
But by being confident that it will be crap ( as many non/ex bachchan fans knew) — is a ‘dark day’ for your bachchan devotion… 🙂
Ps: a note of appreciation for those poor bachchan fans who did watch it on the big screen (though they cribbed later)
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September 3, 2013 at 4:23 PM
It’s hard to respond when you attribute imaginary positions to me!
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September 3, 2013 at 1:57 PM
Just watched satygraha dialogue promo– didn’t watch it earlier ( since was busy with other stuff like ‘besharam’ , krish etc lol)
Bachchan sr still rocks –not one note wrong, every stare, every pause–omg & that too @ 71!!!
Shame on these indian directors who can’t bloody give him another khaki in a dacade
And a bigger shame on ‘fans’ like Satyam who write long allegories on bachchan but don’t support his movies on the big screen himself!!!
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September 3, 2013 at 2:00 PM
you might want to check out Zanjeer too..
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September 4, 2013 at 12:16 AM
Apes what do you want from Bachchan fans?Fans at the best can help in innitial and that we have done.This is the Jha’s biggest opening and intresting point is it has beaten Rajneeti.It is aam janta that makes a movie hit or flop.So nothing is different here as people have not liked the movie that much.If you mean Satyam or other Bachchan fans should go ga ga over it here, will that make any difference to B.O prospects of this movie?So you are putting meaningless claims here and nothing more.
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September 4, 2013 at 12:18 AM
Sorry i mean Apex
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September 3, 2013 at 2:06 PM
Don’t have to go that far in the past!!
Saw bits of the little known ‘armaan’– what a loveable ace cameo
And what a dying ‘status asthmaticus’ scene!!!
I will mince no words
This was a film in bachchans terrain with a sort of lead role..,
More than jha, it’s bachchans core fans that have let him down
Led by Satyam 🙂
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September 3, 2013 at 3:53 PM
After the ‘scolding’ from me, something to keep Satyam busy..,lol
http://www.santabanta.com/bollywood/71557/committed-to-work-vacation-over-for-deepika/
Haaw –so deepika goes to the same Ibiza beach alone for holiday (!!) where ranbir -Kat were caught …
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September 3, 2013 at 3:54 PM
Gross even the ‘bikini’ seems to be the same
Heck guys
Are deepika and katrina sharing the sake godamm bikini 😉
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September 3, 2013 at 7:57 PM
No Apex, its from the Buy1-Get1Free bikini deal which Ranbir bought for each of his leading ladies. Even the Iberian vacation was the Buy1-Get1-Free deal, that he bought as gifts. He just chose to go with Katrina and left Deeps all alone by herself.
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September 3, 2013 at 10:47 PM
Very interesting video of Mithun being interviewed by Komal Nahta. Covers a lot, specifically Box office, watch after 10min mark:
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September 4, 2013 at 2:02 AM
Looks like Satyagraha will do around 60crrs as per BOI and may be 68-70crrs by Taran. Jha needs to rethink now…people really seem to get tired of his similar themes.
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September 4, 2013 at 11:21 AM
Have films really become that expensive that 68-70 crore means a loss for a film like Satyagraha, or is it just a way to save taxes (investment offsets income).
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September 4, 2013 at 11:57 AM
I think they have become quite expensive but the larger issue is that unlike Hollywood the industry often budgets films in the same way irrespective of genre or potential appeal. Now admittedly Hollywood also goes crazy with budgets when there are major stars involved let alone on the blockbuster variety. But still by and large on the medium sized project or something smaller budgets are kept under strict control. I don’t know how much Satyagraha cost but in general Bollywood doesn’t do a good job on this front much as it does an even worse one on release schedules or the magnitude of these releases. In other words many films even with important stars start off with minimal or limited screenings in the US. The films are then expanded based on the response. In India more or less every film with a star releases on a similar print count. The truly big films that are gunning for the biggest possible initial then saturate the market but this is often overblown inasmuch as you can often get similar numbers on a much smaller print count as well.
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September 4, 2013 at 11:11 PM
Makes sense, they really need to work on their budgets especially when you are dealing genres that are not the most audience friendly.
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September 4, 2013 at 4:06 AM
http://blogs.thenews.com.pk/blogs/2013/09/madras-cafe-an-unusual-thriller/
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September 4, 2013 at 4:07 AM
Between CE and Satyagraha, one film that is being appreciated in a small but significant way, it is Madras Cafe.
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September 4, 2013 at 5:19 AM
http://beautypageants.indiatimes.com/world-pageants/archives/All-Miss-Korea-13-contestants-look-alike/articleshow/22257083.cms
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September 4, 2013 at 5:20 AM
We have our own set of typical manufactured beauties in bollywood.
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September 4, 2013 at 8:13 AM
Satyagraha Drops Further On Tuesday
Wednesday 4th September 2013 10.30 IST
Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network
Satyagraha dropped further on Tuesday as it collected around 3.50-3.75 crore nett. A 10-15% drop is normal for Tuesday but with a low Monday, Satyagraha had to hold much better to have any chance at the box office.
The collections for five days are 42 crore nett with the week is looking at a close of 48 crore nett. The weekday trend suggest a difficult ride for the film after week one and a likely finish of around 60 crore nett which would be the same as One Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaara! released two weeks back.
The film will record better collections in North and Central markets but still well short of what a big film should do. In Maharashtra, East and South the film has fared poorly.
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September 4, 2013 at 8:14 AM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh 6h
#Satyagraha Fri 11.21 cr, Sat 13.08 cr, Sun 14.83 cr, Mon 5.07 cr, Tue 4.11 cr. Total: Rs 48.30 cr nett.
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September 4, 2013 at 8:19 AM
Will ‘Thoofan’ survive the political storm in Andhra Pradesh? Film industry keeps its fingers crossed
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Will-Thoofan-survive-the-political-storm-in-Andhra-Pradesh-Film-industry-keeps-its-fingers-crossed/articleshow/22261068.cms
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September 4, 2013 at 11:05 AM
From Time-pass of India..
The jury is still out on the fate of Ajay Devgn’s latest offering ‘Satyagraha’ but the actor looks far from perturbed as he enters his Juhu office. A cigarette break is on top of his mind and after a quick smoke, Ajay sat down with Mirror for a candid conversation.
The Prakash Jha film detailing the fictionalised life of an Anna Hazare like figure opened to a split verdict from the critics but the actor says that he is rather indifferent to the opinion of that lot. His Himmatwala was savaged by the critics and the latest one was met by accusations of sticking to the Jha formula, a mix of contemporary politics, romance and intrigue.
The question about this observation is met with a smile before the actor denies allegations of Satyagraha being formulaic.
“Bilkul nahi (Not at all)…Me and Prakash collaborate once in some threefour years. His stories are different and engaging and he has learnt that very well,” he says.
The actor accuses the critics and analysts of losing touch with the audience with their minute disection.
“You ask people within the industry, they will say things like the first half was good, the second half wasn’t. The audience always watches the film in totality. Critics are trying to sound intelligent by saying first half, second half. Kyu beech mei samosa aa gaya?” said the actor.
Jha is one of Ajay’s favourite collaborators, other names in the list being Sajid Khan and Rohit Shetty.
But did Himmatwala’s failure affect his relationship with Sajid?
“Sometimes things go right, sometimes they go wrong. You do 10 films, out of that one doesn’t work so you move ahead and learn from your mistakes. Yes, Sajid and I did have a chat about Himmatwala to figure what went wrong, and we have our own take on it, but it stays between us,” explained Ajay.
And what about the rumours about cracks in his camaraderie with Rohit, thanks to his super hit collaboration with Shah Rukh Khan, Chennai Express?
“When Rohit started Chennai Express, I was the first one to know and told him to go ahead and make it. I am making Singham 2 with him and he is like family to me. And, honestly, Rohit and I don’t even bother about all this gossip,” said the actor.
But there is one collaborator Ajay Devgn can always count on: wife Kajol. When asked about rumours of her making a comeback in his next home production, Ajay said, “Yes, it is true. We have planned something very nice.”
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September 4, 2013 at 1:47 PM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh 41m
#ChennaiExpress [Week 4] Fri 81 lacs, Sat 1.14 cr, Sun 1.89 cr, Mon 56 lacs, Tue 51 lacs. Grand total: Rs 223.33 cr. All Time Blockbuster.
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh 59m
#ChennaiExpress crosses $ 5 million mark in USA-Canada. Collects $ 5,122,240 [Rs 34.36 cr] till Monday night. Awesome!
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September 4, 2013 at 1:53 PM
This has done phenomenally well in USA. The fall every week has been around the 50 to 60% bracket which is above par for an India movie. I didnt expect this one to be so huge in USA considering this is a Rohit Shetty movie. But the numbers are just very good here.
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September 4, 2013 at 6:00 PM
The reason it did well is the same as for 3I: Huge participation of South Indian audiences. I know so many who rarely go to watch Hindi movies, but went for CE.
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September 4, 2013 at 1:54 PM
Amitabh Bachchan and Ajay Devgn starrer Satyagraha continued to perform well in its 1st Tuesday with the film’s collections for the day being estimated in the range of 4.30 crores approx. With that Satyagraha has moved closer to crossing the 50 crore mark as the film’s collections summed up to 48.40 crores at the domestic box office.
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September 4, 2013 at 1:56 PM
Above is from koimoi, for some reason the post doesn’t go thru when i insert link.
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September 4, 2013 at 2:16 PM
Even I experienced the same glitch. Tried to cheat the system.
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September 4, 2013 at 1:56 PM
Guru Dutt knew his craft well. He knew about shot-taking, angles and lighting. One day, he said, “How do they show cars flying over the camera in English films? Can you create it?”
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/interviews/Guru-Dutt-asked-me-to-show-him-how-cars-flew-in-English-films-V-K-Murthy/articleshow/22265113.cms
*** Too bad for GuruDutt Rohit Shetty wasn’t available then as a film consultant ***
===============================================
*** Is this film-idea even alive? Has Hassan progressed on it at all since Queen Elizabeth gave the mahurat shot in 1997? ***
—
The visual effects have always been a well appreciated aspect in Kamal’s films and the man mostly behind the star’s films is Indian VFX Superviser N Madhusudhanan. The National Award winning Madhusudhanan is still optimistic about Kamal Haasan’s dream project ‘Marudhanayagam’ which is yet to see the light.
The VFX Supervisor said “I would love to do Marudhanayagam if that happens; at any cost! It’s a world class script which could easily challenge any film on earth!”
He further added that “I don’t feel that the film would have got outdated after all these years, especially after going through the script and what Kamal sir narrated me! It’s a Indian version of Gladiator.”
The film went on floors in 1997. It’s been 16 years, but the ace visual effect artist is positive about the film and is eager to work on it. He still cherishes all those breathtaking experiences he had while working for the mega budget film.
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September 4, 2013 at 2:43 PM
Deepika signs Fast and the Furious 7 – This is quite a jump for her.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Deepika-Padukone-signs-Fast-Furious-7/articleshow/22289282.cms
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September 4, 2013 at 2:47 PM
Ash, Freida all tried but could not make it. I dont think Deepika will do anything different.
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September 4, 2013 at 4:30 PM
Yup sanju -but deepika may do better with her leggy dusky look and ‘flexible’ shrewd ways lol
On a related note —
“HEROINE”
Happened to see few minutes of ‘heroine’ —
Must say (& I’m uncomfortable saying that) Kareena CAN act!
That makes it obvious that there’s isnt a kapoor (as in raj kapoor tree) who can’t act!
I can’t believe that I’m saying this but Kareena is an ‘instinctive’ actress and sometimes effortlessly does things that others have to ‘hone their acting skills for ‘
That’s what u call genes
And the film wasn’t THAT bad –had some guilty pleasures as well
Like a sort of ‘lesbian’ scene between Kareena and another girl…
It was an ‘experimental’ “let’s try it out’ sort of thing rather than a genuine ‘hardcore girl on girl stuff’
Ps: this proves how unbiased and ‘objective’ I am —
I can even praise Kareena where deserving… 🙂
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September 4, 2013 at 4:43 PM
My hands tremble but i have to give the devil it’s due—thats my rule!
I can lose everything but my ‘objectivity’
Kareena kapoor may be highly allergenic and über irritant but there’s no better instinctive effortless actress of her own era (except maybe rani, PC)
But Kareena can sometimes throw in a brilliant scene without even knowing it or trying for it (atleast PC and rani have to try)
Ok there u go—
The FIRST time ever–a Kareena song from me
To hell with biases …
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September 4, 2013 at 4:50 PM
Man, what bad days have come–me liking a Kareena film? Need to get myself checked by a ‘mental coach’ lol
“Like a sort of ‘lesbian’ scene between Kareena and another girl…
It was an ‘experimental’ “let’s try it out’ sort of thing rather than a genuine ‘hardcore girl on girl stuff’”—
-and need to audition maggie, sanju, Oldgold and Amy for this ‘girl on girl’ scene from ‘heroine’
That should be fun 🙂
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September 4, 2013 at 6:47 PM
Big B to play Vidya Balan’s father in new film?
In Shoojit’s next, Vids will be portrayed as Bachchan’s daughter. Insiders say both have given their nod for the project and the film will go on the floors this year. Says a source, “It is the story of a father and his daughter and the dilemma that Bachchan’s character faces as his daughter fails to get a suitable groom.
Sircar and Bachchan had earlier worked in Shoe Bite together but the film is yet to see the light of day. Ever since that, the duo wanted to work together and now it is finally happening.”
Instead of confirming the buzz, the director remained non-committal, “Whenever I write a story idea, I bounce it off Mr Bachchan. I owe him a film. I am in the process of writing one and will show it to him when it’s ready.”
————————————————————————————
After taking a break post her son Azad’s birth, Kiran Rao is gearing up to wield the megaphone once again. Insiders say the film will be a biographical take on a dancer’s life. Kiran apparently has already begun work on the film’s script, which is said to throw light on the dancer’s journey in life.
On whether Aamir Khan will also be a part of the film, an insider says, “We are not sure if he will co-produce or work in the film. But with her husband around, she doesn’t need to go looking for producers.” The name of the dancer has not been revealed yet. A friend of the director confirms that work is going on full swing.
“After presenting Ship of Theseus, she got similar offers. But she knew it was the right time to start her next project. She has gone to Panchgani where she is currently working on it. The next film was earlier said to be based on a book but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
Source: MID-DAY
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September 4, 2013 at 11:11 PM
The news channels in India seem to be referring to Satyagraha as a hit in an unqualified sense; references to “satyagraha ki saphalta” and the year’s “fourth biggest opening” with a 40 crore opening abound; last night, I saw a Hindi channel make the point that even at 70, “jab bhi Amitabh Bachchan angry man ka roop dikhaate gain, woh janta ko khush karte hain”, and so on (there was a wider segment about “political” films that have been successful).
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September 5, 2013 at 1:16 AM
http://www.india-forums.com/bollywood/talk-round-town/36672-upcoming-movies-september.htm
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September 5, 2013 at 1:44 AM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh 28m
#Satyagraha Fri 11.21 cr, Sat 13.08 cr, Sun 14.83 cr, Mon 5.07 cr, Tue 4.11 cr, Wed 3.62 cr. Total: Rs 51.92 cr nett.
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September 5, 2013 at 2:35 AM
The film is holding nicely though collections are on lower side.Has a chance to pickup in its second weekend.
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September 5, 2013 at 2:38 AM
[Added to post]
Here it is … teaser of Dhoom 3. 🙂
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September 5, 2013 at 2:40 AM
Pretty damn impressive. All records are gone for sure (besides maybe highest weekend). Aamir looks awesome and Katrina is beyond hot. I loved the shots of Chi-town
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September 5, 2013 at 4:56 AM
Dont do Satyagraha to Dhoom 3 by overpraising it hehe.
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September 5, 2013 at 5:03 AM
Or overestimating it.
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September 5, 2013 at 7:57 AM
We have to underestimate it because Dhoom 3 genre?
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September 5, 2013 at 8:25 AM
Even genres must be realistic rather than mind boggling.
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September 5, 2013 at 8:33 AM
When Talash’s underperformance is talked about, genre is ridiculed.
When 3 I is discussed, there is a move to sideline aamir and give credit to the other factors.
With Talaash, there is a move to give more importance to the hero than the dark mood of the film.
Dhoom 3 has a mass friendly genre and the credit should go to the genre or aamir if 3 I example is taken?
As usual the other fans will try to play games.
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September 5, 2013 at 9:12 AM
Games are played by all.
The way I see it, one of the best way to tell start power is by what the movie does in it’s first weekend, after that it’s the merit of the movie which is doing the talking.
Of course a lot will depend on genre of the film, how big the film is, star power, etc…
Problem is one can’t say Aaamir is above genre and when a movie underperforms, use genre as an excuse.
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September 5, 2013 at 10:28 AM
No one serious enough (which excludes those who think CE has done a Sholay or who consider MNIK a Satyajit Ray film) has ever said that Aamir is ‘above’ genre. what is true however is that on any given day Aamir is more likely to get a success in any given genre compared to any of his contemporaries and/or he’s able to gross more pound for pound in these different genres than anyone else. So however one chooses to rate Talaash I don’t see a similar film starring anyone else doing 90 crores or whatever.
But the most important question is once again of honesty and using mutually exclusive arguments. So when Aamir was getting a lot of success doing different the position on the opposite side was:
1)he still doesn’t have the biggest grossers
2)the films aren’t that different
3)who cares even if they are?
4)Aamir is a fake!
The classic example of mutually exclusive logical explanations. However the moment Aamir had the biggest grossers:
1)How come he’s not doing different now? he’s a sell-out like everyone else
2)Even if he was doing worthwhile films he’s sold his soul
3)He’s got big grossers by doing the worst masala
4)3I doesn’t count because people liked it too much
and then when a different film doesn’t do as much as is expected:
1)See he can’t even get different to work
2)what happened to the guy who was getting the biggest grossers?
and this goes hand-in-hand with stuff like:
1)MNIK is more risky than Pathar Panchali
2)CE is a beautiful example of masala and more wholesome than the best brown bread
3)It’s Syrian numbers were affected by the recent chemical attacks, Aamir never had to deal with this.
So ranging from the utterly ridiculous to the moronically contradictory these kinds of claims show up. The last three points I’ve set out ought to be caricature but I can’t even say this is true. It’s actually rather close to the spirit of what is often said even if not literally so.
It’s total and utter dishonesty but it’s even worse than this. It’s the worst kind of stupidity. My sense is that if you want to be a partisan at least get half a mind first! of course I don’t have time for a back and forth on this. Jay gave me a wonderful idea the other day that is as safe and sound a business decision as one can think of. I am going to produce a huge star cast film in the right genre. Will release it on 10,000 screens. My plan is to get 200 crores on day 1. On Day 2 all these screens will show different movies because a)I will have made my money and b)in any case there will be no more people left to watch the movie since my plan involves having a 100% watch it on day 1.
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September 5, 2013 at 10:32 AM
ROFLMAO! Ha ha!
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September 5, 2013 at 9:37 AM
It is not used as an excuse. it is a fact. Swadesh is an example.
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September 5, 2013 at 8:40 AM
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/movie-reviews/hindi/zanjeer-movie-review/movie-review/22325856.cms
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September 5, 2013 at 8:51 AM
sounds like policegiri!
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September 5, 2013 at 1:19 PM
http://www.boxofficeindia.com/boxnewsdetail.php?page=shownews&articleid=6033&nCat=
Chennai Express has set a new record nett gross as it passed the 3 Idiots figure over the weekend but it has got there without setting new highs in the biggest circuits of Mumbai, Delhi/UP and East Punjab.
It is the first time ever that a film has become the highest ever grosser but not held a record in Mumbai or North, normally at least one of these regions sees records grosses as they have a big contribution to the all India business.
More surprising is that its just these big three circuits where it will not hold records. Chennai Express is already a record breaker in CP Berar, Nizam/Andhra, Mysore, Tamil Nadu/Kerala, Assam and Orissa while in CI, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Bihar it will become the record grosser at the end of its fourth week.
The big three circuits contribute around 60-65% to the all India business and it basically means that if a film manages top spots in these circuits then the sky is the limit for business.
BOI
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