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227 Responses to “Baby, Dolly Ki Doli, the rest of the box office”
But even as our man Ajay sends the Taufiqs, Bilals and Javeds of the world scurrying for cover, there is that token patriotic Indian Muslim hovering in the background – the hero’s unwavering superior who calls the shots from Delhi.
And there is, for good measure, a contrite Muslim, too. A young engineer, after a stint in a terrorist training camp, has a change of heart and decides to help the cause of the undercover agents.
Baby also has one blazing confrontation scene that might particularly thrill the new saffron-tinged censor board.
A terrorist tells the hero that in the religion column of government forms he writes MUSLIM in bold and capital letters.
The agent responds with a story about how he fought for 24 hours to save a Muslim family during the Gujarat riots.
He then goes on to stress that on government forms he writes INDIAN, in bold and capital letters.
One can only cringe. Baby is a superficial cinematic condensation of the shrill television images, newspaper headlines and communally-charged political posturing that we are subjected to day in and day out. Who needs more?
What a terrible review for a wonderful movie. I almost didnt go for Baby because of some of the reviews, but I cant remember a better movie made on this genre in India.
Yet, thanks to Sonam Kapoor’s characteristically uncomplicated approach to the job of fleshing out an atypical protagonist, Dolly Ki Doli is sprightly film that could have done with a little more energy and clarity.
Dolly is a rebel all right, but the precise motivations for her battle against the established social order never emerge with clarity.
As a result, the character remains a blurry blob as she takes one man after another for a ride.
When the writing can keep pace with them, the actors do a fairly good job. But that sadly isn’t often enough for the film to be able to soar above its modest ambitions.
But for all its obvious flaws and failings, Dolly Ki Doli is not completely unworthy of the 100 minutes that it demands from the audience.
Saw PK for the second time this Tuesday, sandwiches between my viewing of ‘I’ and ‘A Theory of Everything’.
My God, what a mess of a film it is!
A film that starts with a Pakistani boy and an Indian girl fighting for a ticket to a double bill of Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s poems and Amitabh Bachchan’s performance in some town in Belgium! And ends with revelation about a letter delivered to the wrong girl because she was holding the right cat! And in between it has an alien who doesn’t know what it can do and what it cannot.
And what a kickass courageous film it is!
Halfway through I could not believe Hirani has actually made such a film.
It asks questions that serious thinkers have forgotten to ask, let alone a filmmaker in a mainstream film.
It is also a very funny film. I was laughing when I was not thinking.
And sometimes I was laughing AND thinking.
The episode with PK trying to pass off Gandhi’s photos as currency notes, or when PK was getting his lessons in colour coding – what colour you wear when you are getting married and what colour you wear when your husband dies.
But mostly I was amazed at Hirani’s dare. He was actually using a Bollywood film to ask ordinary viewers these kinds of questions?
Yes, he was. And people were responding. Laughing, yes. But also realizing …how ridiculous some of their seemingly normal behaviour has been!
So what are the questions Hirani raises in the film?
But before that let us get rid of some silly distractions. Like the accusations of it being anti-Hindu. Or it targeting only the supposed evils of Hinduism. That’s quite easily done. First off, an alien landing in a Hindu-dominated India is likely to encounter Hindu rituals more than that of any other religion. Secondly, no other religion, say Islam or Christianity, or Buddhism, is dominated by rituals and such a bewildering variety of practices in public life related to God as Hinduism is. If he had to critique other religions’ concept of God he had to do it at the level of abstract principles. And that won’t provide any narrative base for an interesting film. The point is through all his picking holes in Hindu religious practices no one can show a single instance where he is implying that other religions are any better. He attacks the practice of the proselytizing the poor by the Christians, he questions the godliness in preventing little girls from getting educated by some Muslims , and he questions the very idea of terrorist attacks to protect one’s Khuda as if Khuda couldn’t protect himself.
He talks about the arbitrariness of all religious injunctions: One says worship the cow, the other says kill it as sacrifice, ones says wine is evil, the other says it’s God’s blessing. Surely they cannot all be right. But for the major part of the film he pokes fun at Hindu rituals and religious customs to raise the basic question: Do you ever think why you are doing what you are doing? And a non-Hindu seeing the film is going to end up asking the same questions about his or her own religious practices after seeing the film. It is not if he can go home and sleep peacefully saying to himself, “These Hindus have such stupid practices. Look at my religion. Everything is so rational.” No way. Because he is going to find in his own religion the same amount of irrationality, the same playing on the fear and greed of ordinary men by the priestly class, the mangers of God.
I have read pieces by people like Amish and Madhu Kishwar defending the rituals and practices that Hirani attacks in the film. But these are old defenses had had not deterred people like Buddha, Mahavir, Dayand Saraswati and Debendranath Tagore from rebelling against these practices. Amish says, idols are symbols of the real God, it is the faith of the devotee that turns a stone into God. Fair enough. So the stone is not real God but only a symbol. So Ram or Krishna are not real gods but symbols. So the place of birth of ram is but a symbol and is not worth shedding blood over surely. And when we accept that the real nature of God is something else, the rituals should be helping us in realizing that true nature. Do the rituals do that, or they just play upon our greed and fear? What happens to that realization when we indulge in massive corruption and offer a diamond crown to the Lord? What happens when you promise to offer a coconut if you pass in an exam? Isn’t PK right in demanding his money back if the transaction is not completed? Can the laws of cause and effect ensure one’s getting a job as a result of feeding a cow?
Going through some kind of hardship may steel one to face hardships. But rolling on the ground to get your wish granted? Can’t we think up of more intelligent rituals? Rolling on the left-over food after the higher cast people have eaten? Isn’t it plain that it is a ruse to enforce caste superiority? Many of these rituals and forms of gods were conceptualized when the human understanding of nature was limited. The sun, the moon, the sea fire and rain were given godly forms and worshipped. When our understanding of nature and laws of nature has expanded so vastly, falling back on the old rituals can only take us farther away from the true nature of God, and not nearer.
Hirani plays fair and articulates through Tapasvi the usual concern that many religious people have. ‘ What is your problem if people find solace in breaking coconut or tying a thread around a tree when in mental distress? What is the alternative you suggest?” PK’s answer is partly given in his direct reply to Tapasvi, partly in his advice to people who came to Tapasvi with their problems. To Tapasvi he says, let’s revere the God who has created us rather than the God we have created. To the man whose wife has been struck by paralysis, he says, going to some temple a thousand miles away will not help, stay with her, nurse her, give her company, spend the last days together. WE may or mayint be able to crack the God question to everyone’s total satisfaction. But unitil then we can at least try to be as humane as we can. If psychiatric help is what people need, let us working at better, more professionally sound psychiatry. If meditation brings peace let us prescribe meditation. If prayer at time seems to heal, let us study what aspect of prayer heals. (Let us not be like the scientist who drinks whisky with water, gin with water, rum with water, gets drunk each time and concludes that it is water the common element each time, that causes intoxication.) And whatever you do, don’t do anything out of fear, greed and ignorance. After the Vedanta, after the Upanishads, after Buddha, surely we should be evolving better paths for f reaching and realizing the ultimate truth, or at least devising better societies that foster more ethical, more humane living.
I have also heard the argument that many of these rituals have been around for thousands of years. And in spite of their failings they have been mostly working for so many people. There must be some good in them. Now imagine someone saying to Abraham Lincoln, slavery has been around for hundreds of years and has done wonders for our economy. There must be something good in it. No. The fact that something has been around for years is no defense of its soundness. A few thousand years, so? We Hindus out of all the people should not be putting up that defense. After all we think in yugas, manvantaras and Brahma’s years! Humans have been on the earth for 2.5 million years, and in the present anatomical form for more than 200,000 years. And surely we want to be around for a few million years if not more. And we all know our present state of spiritual evolution is so elementary. There is no way we can be satisfied with humanity the way it is. There is no religion that can claim that it has succeeded in developing a fine form of humanity that we can all be proud of and satisfied with. So the last few thousand years are just the baby steps we have taken on our spiritual journey, towards a form of higher consciousness. We have mikes to go. PK has not shown us the way, it has just flashed a torchlight on some bushes and potholes on the path that we are walking on, so that we can sidestep them, and continue with our exploration.
( So what explains the messy business with the letter in the church. And how does one forgive Hirani for it? Simple. It is a McGuffin, like Hirani and Joshi have said in their interview it is.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin) . It has nothing to do with the meat concern of the film. But without these there is now ay he could make it look like a mainstream Bollywood entertainer and get people to the theatre, who wants to go to a cinema for gyan?
And I forgive it just as I forgive the dog with the letter in Hum Aapke Hain Koun..? In fact, the absurdity of these devices is a clear clue to us; Take this business seriously at your own peril.
And coming back to Hirani, I admire his humanity as much as I admire his courage and intelligence. He could have easily chosen any other subject. There is no dearth of safe subjects on which he could have mounted his comedy. But this is something he felt strongly about and this is he message that he wanted to get across to as many people as he could.
Therefore the subterfuges, And the right rope walking.
And I am glad that he has so spectacularly succeeded.)
Ps: This time Anushka’s collagen-enhanced lips didn’t bother me much. If Aamir was pitch perfect as the wondering alien, she was his perfect foil as the kind-hearted Jaggu.
Saibal Chatterjee’s review is rather critical of the “politics” in Baby-
….”Baby, written and directed by Neeraj Pandey, is a tricky film in more ways than one.
It might have been hailed as just another innocuous, smartly-packaged, competently shot espionage thriller if only the politics at its heart not been so dangerously dodgy.
Early in the film, the unstoppable spy hisses: “I can do anything.” A little later, the terror mastermind he is up against declares: “India cannot do anything”.
So, in this all-out everything-or-nothing battle, the onus falls squarely on the invincible hero to prove the enemies of the nation wrong.
In the bargain, the courageous man of action, under official but covert orders, scythes down everything and everyone that comes in his way.
The point that Baby seems to make is that it isn’t just trained killing machines, but also the nation as a whole, that can, and should, do ‘anything’, collateral damage be damned.
The hero barges into minority localities, uses extra-legal methods to extract confessions and leads from suspects, and eliminates anybody who is remotely troublesome.
Baby unabashedly reinforces the mainstream media’s worst stereotypes and constantly plays on the collective fears of a populace that is only too willing to find and hang scapegoats for the troubles of our contentious times.
What makes Baby doubly problematic is that it presents the story as a reflection of reality, and not just as a piece of fiction.
There are umpteen references to 26/11, the killing of Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad, and to other actual figures and incidents that have made the headlines in recent times.”
“And there is, for good measure, a contrite Muslim, too. A young engineer, after a stint in a terrorist training camp, has a change of heart and decides to help the cause of the undercover agents.
Baby also has one blazing confrontation scene that might particularly thrill the new saffron-tinged censor board.
A terrorist tells the hero that in the religion column of government forms he writes MUSLIM in bold and capital letters.
The agent responds with a story about how he fought for 24 hours to save a Muslim family during the Gujarat riots.
He then goes on to stress that on government forms he writes INDIAN, in bold and capital letters.
One can only cringe. Baby is a superficial cinematic condensation of the shrill television images, newspaper headlines and communally-charged political posturing that we are subjected to day in and day out. Who needs more?”
I am expecting a solid action-thriller here (a more polished version of Holiday), will watch it on Monday. But I am rather sad that the guy who started with A Wednesday has suddenly curtailed his ambitions- Special 26 was still fine, but what’s the point of Neeraj Pandey making a solid action thriller (I mean this is his third film, shouldn’t he expand his horizons a little. I could still understand if Baby was a some-sort of a break between two ambitious films, but that’s not the case here. I am quite certain this is a weaker film than even Special 26). He has flattered to deceive, and at this point point of time I am not even sure if he wants to be taken seriously as a director. I mean even if Baby is the best Indian action film in recent times, is this really much of an achievement. I will say one thing though- Pandey has the feel for a solid thriller (A Wednesday was basically a thriller) so I am quite certain Baby is will be engaging enough)
The other guy who has disappointed me with his choices is Nishikant Kamat- the guy began with a very hard-hitting Marathi vigilante film “Dombivali Fast” (a smart reworking of “Falling Down”), then graduated to making the brilliant “Mumbai Meri Jaan” (his best film by a mile and one of the better Hindi of the past few years). But then he suddenly decides to do a Kaaka Kaaka remake with John Abraham (Force was a fairly decent film, but certainly not a project befitting his talents). This still would have been fine had he followed this up with something “important”. But he decides to make a half-baked Marathi masala film with Riteish (Lai Bhaari). And now he follows it up with another action remake (this time of a Korean film) called “Rocky Handsome” (that’s actually the title, I am not kidding).
And irrespective of what one thinks of his actual films, one should really appreciate Imtiaz Ali’s choices and decisions. To follow-up JWM and LAK with Rockstar and especially Highway takes some amount of courage (I still think his debut “Socha Na Tha” is his most charming film though)
Baby Opens To Below The Mark Response
Friday 23 January 2015 12.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Baby opened below the mark with collections around 20-25% on average. The opening is lower than Akshay Kumar’s last two films Holiday – A Soldier Is Off Duty and Entertainment.
If compared with Entertainment the opening is similar at multiplexes but lower at single screens. The film has just not opened in places like UP, Rajasthan and CI where most Akshay Kumar films start very well irrespective of their final fate. The best start is in the Delhi/NCR belt.
Normally when a big film opens at these numbers it is tough to survive but here reports are decent as fas the multiplex crowd is concerned and there is a big holiday on Monday which will prove to be big advantage if the reports can translate into collections over the weekend. Holiday – A Soldier Is Never Off Duty had started at around 30% but was doing 50-55% in evening and closed on a 11.50 crore nett plus day one. Here the task will be to pick up from mid afternoon and somehow get around the 10 crore nett mark as the Holiday number seems a stiff task.
Dolly Ki Doli Has Poor Opening
Friday 23 January 2015 14.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Dolly Ki Doli has opened to a poor response of around 5-10% on average. The collections in places like Gujarat, UP, Maharashtra are extremely low but some properties in the North are a bit better t 15-20%.
The film was always going to dependent on growth and it remains to seen what growth it can achieve. It will show an improvement as collections are so low but there is competition from Baby which could curtail the growth.
The opening numbers suggest a lower opening day total than a similar film Khoobsurat released a few months back.
PK At 336 Crore – Huge Record At Multiplexes
Friday 23 January 2015 11.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
PK grossed around 4.25 crore nett in its fifth week to take its lifetime total close to around 336 crore nett. The fifth week total is the seventh highest of all time and since 2010 only Aashiqui 2 has the higher fifth week total. 3 Idiots has the highest fifth week total of all time of 9.75 crore nett plus.
The drop in the fifth week is 66%. the film probably add another 2 crore nett for a finish around the 338 crore nett. It will mean a 30% higher total than previous record holder Dhoom 3 though footfalls will only 7% more.
The multiplex business is extraordinary as the film is the first film to cross 200 crore nett from all India multiplexes as the final multiplex total is set for a huge 275 crore nett and distributor share of nearly 125 crore.
It is a good thriller. Some scenes are cringeworthy but overall a very coherent movie.climax is very similar to Argo. And it is not anti-Muslum (even though the terrorists are Muslim) but it does name Pakistan. The movie blurs the line between real and reel if you follow current events.
good to hear.. one can of course name Muslims without feeding larger agendas. There are many who foolishly don’t wish to acknowledge this or don’t wish to see Muslims represented in this context which is absurd. Similarly the Pakistan angle is merely factual.
‘Baby’ is the dumbest name for this type of movie. Whoever came up with this name for a serious (and from what it looks to be a well made) movie should be fired. I am sure that this stupid name of throwing people off here.
I agree, the director claims there’s a reason for this. That might be the case but precisely given that Akshay has a certain history with over the top comedies with similar titles it might have helped his cause not to have had such a title. It wouldn’t have been a problem with another star. But you’re quite right. It’s interesting that even ‘Holiday’, an dramatic thriller had such a frivolous title.
Agreed. “Baby” starring Akshay Kumar just sounds like a Sajid Khan crapfest. But I loved the trailer and I like Akshay Kumar so I hope the movie is good and a hit. But the opening is bad for a superstar of Akshay’s standing, especially if it isn’t even double digits. But he has no one except for himself to blame for this. This is what happens when you make a OUATIM and Boss the same year you make a brilliant S26. You don’t really earn the audience’s faith in you this way. Plus this isn’t a single screen film and I think Akshay has the smallest multiplex base among all the top actors so that does not help either. The reviews indicate it’s really good- 4 stars for an Akshay Kumar film is unheard of. So I’m hoping the trending will be pretty good and it can go the Holiday BO route and cross 100. I don’t see it making anything more than Rowdy Rathore, his highest grosser ever, although if it does I’ll be estatic.
Honestly I dont think Akshay Kumar has any standing whatsoever in the BO to call him a super star. Maybe around Singh is King time he had something going for him then. He is not a 20 cr opener. Even if he has everything going for him he will open the movie at around 14 – 15 crores. Baby has opened around 8 crores
there was a certain phase where he was doing very well, had a number of consecutive successes but yeah the poor quality of films caught up with him. Also he made the crucial mistake of not jumping on the masala bandwagon when he could. He avoided it as long as possible. He could really have been in Salman’s position.
SIK was his peak definitely. Besides TMK and Rowdy Rathore and maybe Kambakkt Ishq, none of his films since SIK I think have opened that strongly. With a Rowdy Rathore 2 on a holiday he could get a Singham Returns type of opening. Although I think he’s a much bigger star than Ajay and I can’t stand Ajay D off screen or on screen besides Singham and 1-2 other films.
Also he has 4-5 movies releasing this year which is just crazy- Baby, Gabbar, Singh is Bling, Brothers, and I heard of some other movie Airlift, not sure if it’ll make it this year. Someone disagreed with me when I said in the Shaukeens BO thread that
Come to think of it, Akshay Kumar movies genreally have the most idiotic names. ‘Holiday’, ‘ It’s Entertainment ‘, ‘ Khiladi 786 ‘. I mean Holiday was also on same lines as Baby but why would you give it such a moronic name?
Btw just checked –statutory warning for ‘consumers’
Folks–the above clip contains some relatively explicit stuff and provocative images
Not for minors and prudes
Ps: this is Only for lovers of meaningful ‘mature’ cinema (like myself)
Baby Struggles On Day One
Friday 23 January 2015 23.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Baby has struggled at the box office on day one with collections likely to come in at around the 7.50 crore nett mark. The film has come out a bit better than what it looked like in the morning but there has not been that major leap in business that could have taken it to the 9-10 crore nett range.
The mass circuits have performed very badly with Rajasthan collecting only 38 lakhs nett which is less than what Tevar collected a two weeks back and one of the lowest openings of an Akshay Kumar starrer in Rajasthan. Its a similar story in UP, CPCI and Bihar.
The multiplexes of Mumbai, Delhi, Punjab and Bangalore are better as these areas have seen growth. This sort of opening number for a 75 crore plus film would normally mean curtains but Baby has that big holiday on Monday. So big 30% plus growth on Saturday and Sunday and then a repeat of Sunday on Monday will give the film a chance despite this low start.
Baby Opens To 50 pc, Will Reel In Big Numbers By Evening
by Rohini Nag (January 23, 2015)
Akshay Kumar-starrer Baby hit cinema screens today and, after being pegged as one of the most anticipated releases of 2015, is seeing an upsurge in response with every successive show. The film opened at 50 to 60 per cent all-India even as cold weather in many parts of the country discouraged movie-goers from venturing out. However, the film has positive word-of-mouth and distributors believe it will run house full post the afternoon shows. Baby released at over 2,000 screens, and with a long weekend looming, it is expected to reel in gigantic numbers. On the other hand, Sonam Kapoor’s Dolly Ki Doli drew a lukewarm response from the audience, taking a mere 10-per cent all-India opening.
Rajesh Thadani of Multimedia Combines, Mumbai
There are huge expectations of Baby and the film is expected to enjoy a long run at the box office. The film opened at 50 per cent all-India and in Mumbai, and the audience response is growing with eveyr passing show. The film is likely to have house-full shows during the evening and night. The film released at over 800 screens in Mumbai. On the other hand, Dolly Ki Doli opened at 10 per cent all-India and in Mumbai.
Sanjay Ghai of Mukta Arts, Delhi-UP
Baby took an opening of 50 per cent in Delhi-UP but we expect the film to have a better turnout during the afternoon shows. The film has drawn a very positive response and is likely to enjoy a spectacular long weekend. Dolly Ki Doli took an opening of 10 per cent, which is expected to remain constant.
Surendra Saluja of Lakshya Movies, East Punjab
Baby opened at around 90 screens in East Punjab and saw an opening of 70 to 75 per cent. Due to the cold weather and the rains here, the film will see a better response only after the 4 pm shows. The film is very well made and, according to early reports, it is expected to have a superlative weekend. Dolly Ki Doli took an opening of 25 per cent here and the fate of this film will be decided only after the noon shows.
Gaurrav Gaur of O’Real Imaginations, Rajasthan
Baby is one of the few films in today’s times which will enjoy a long run at the box office. The film opened at 50 per cent in Rajasthan, which soon grew to 60 per cent and rose even further. The film released at 80-odd screens but the film will enjoy a fabulous run thanks to the buzz around it and the audience seeing Kumar doing what he does best, which is action. Now we can truly say that 2015 has begun with a bang. Dolly Ki Doli opened at 20 per cent and the film is expected to have a decent run.
Debashish Dey of Aum Moviez, West Bengal
Baby opened at 60 per cent here and will draw a bigger response during the second half of the day. The film brings together Akshay Kumar and Neeraj Pandey after Special 26 and the audience is expecting something spectacular from their collaboration this time as well. The film released at 130 cinemas and footfalls are increasing with every passing show. Dolly Ki Doli, on the other hand, took an opening of 30 per cent and saw a good response particularly in Kolkata.
Rakesh Singh, Maa Sona Films, Bihar
Baby opened at 40 per cent here due to the cold weather. The film had a very good pre-release buzz and due to positive reviews, business will grow during the day. The film released at 125 screens in Bihar. It has the right amount of action and thrills, which will charm the multiplex and single-screen audience alike. The long weekend will ensure that the film gains momentum at the box office in the next few days. Dolly Ki Doli did not take a good opening here and we can’t say much about the film.
So among all the 4 and 5 star ratings (and the surprising 3+ star rating of Anupama chopra and Masand) the only ones posted on this site is the one by ndtv. Same thing for an Aamir/abhishek movie and people would here would have gone berserk
I don’t post reviews either way barring Rangan. The rest are free to do what they wish. But the 4/5 stars ones were posted yesterday in the other box office thread.
Akshay Kumar starrer Baby, about an Indian spy mission to catch a dreaded terrorist, will not be shown in Pakistan as the censor board of the country refused to allow its screening.
“Censor boards in Islamabad and Karachi have decided to ban the film because it portrays a negative image of Muslims and the negative characters in the film also have Muslim names,” the Dawn newspaper said.
The CDs and DVDs of the film have also been banned in Islamabad.
A representative of the film’s distributor, Everready Pictures informed the paper that the film has been banned in Pakistan.
Although the film was set to release on January 23 across Pakistan, cinemas in Karachi had removed it from their websites leading to speculation about its imminent screening.
The film stars famed Pakistani TV drama actor Mikaal Zulfiqar as well as Rasheed Naz, who played the villainous cleric in Shoaib Mansoor’s Khuda Ke Liye.
Earlier, director Neeray Pandey was quoted as saying that the film was not “anti-Pakistan.”
The board routinely bans films deemed to have ‘anti- Pakistan’ themes.
In the past, the local censor board banned Ek Tha Tiger that featured an Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agent.
And yet, despite these shortcomings, I will admit, I enjoyed the film. Dogra gives us endearing characters, although Dolly herself is the weakest written role, and as a result Sonam Kapoor has little to work with. She does a good job, however, of convincing you that many men could lose themselves to her charm. From bit players like the fake granny who exploits her single dialogue for repeated laughs, to Sonu’s overbearing father, and Manjot’s henpecked dad, these are terrific supporting roles played out by a great cast including Rajesh Sharma, Manoj Joshi and Brijendra Kala among others. The one false note is Pulkit Samrat whose performance amounts strictly to posturing; he swaggers into every frame as if channeling Salman Khan, but has little presence or charm.
Never overstaying its welcome, the film is short and a lot of fun. I’m going with three out of five for Dolly Ki Doli. It’s worth watching for Rajkummar Rao’s excellent performance alone.
The pace picks up considerably post intermission, when Pandey gives us some terrific moments of breathless action and genuine tension. In a rare scene that allows another agent besides Ajay to flex their chops, Tapsee Pannu gets her big moment to shine in a Kathmandu hotel room. However implausible, another break-in scene at a desert resort is riveting, edge-of-the-seat stuff. The film’s last hour in fact is so crisply done you’re even willing to forgive Pandey the messiness of the first act and the routine lapses of logic in the screenplay, like Bilaal’s escape in broad daylight on Mumbai’s busy Marine Drive.
To be fair, the film is an engaging enough thriller sprinkled with witty lines and crowd-pleasing moments that Akshay Kumar performs with a deadpan expression to great effect. An example of that is a superb scene in which he calmly responds to an apathetic offhand remark made by a minister’s PA. Akshay, in fact, is in very good form, giving us a glimpse of the solid actor he can be when he isn’t cashing his paycheck making low-brow comedies. He’s ably supported, in the film’s final act, by a buff Rana Dagubatti, and particularly by Anupam Kher as fellow agents on a daredevil mission.
I was rankled by the film’s simplistic arguments, its all-too-convenient solutions to complex issues, and Pandey’s tokenism when it came to portraying a few ‘good Muslims’. Also, wouldn’t it have been great to get a protagonist that felt vulnerable instead of a superhero? Well, perhaps in another film.
I’m going with three out of five for Baby. Enjoy it for the brisk action thriller that it is, and try not to think about how much better it could’ve been.
“But Rao is the real surprise. We all knew he could act, but did you know he could dance? He keeps up, amazingly, with Malaika Arora in an item song (see below), which is a little like chancing upon Salman Khan reading a book.”
And another gem-
“As Dolly Ki Doli began to drag, I thought the problem was this trailer, this two-minute equivalent of the guy in the seat in front of you shouting “Rosebud is a sled” or “Bruce Willis is a ghost.” (There was a time you could try and avoid trailers, but they’re so ubiquitous now, I’ve stopped resisting, if only because I don’t want to be the guy in the movie hall scrunching his eyes shut, plugging his ears, and going lalalalalalala…) ”
Baby is a brilliant film. Second half is thrilling. It depicts the truth of terrorism in our country thus some pseudo secular channels like NDTV have tried to downplay the movie. Akshay is good but Anupam is stunning.
Baby First Day Business
Saturday 24 January 2015 13.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Baby grossed 7.75 crore nett on day one which is a low total. The film opened slowly at 20-25% and went to around 50% in the evening but the jump was limited to metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Bangalore .
The film will have to show major growth on Saturday and Sunday and then the big holiday on Monday can also help. A minimum 50 crore nett total of the extended weekend was a must but here it looks like that is out of range unless the growth is phenomenal.
The promos gave it a niche feel especially considering the film is an action/thriller type and that has done the damage. Holiday was a similar type of film but the growth of business there was at multiplexes across the board and single screens started at a much higher level. Here key cities like Jaipur, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Indore, etc have just not performed. The best business has come in Mumbai, NCR and South.
Dolly Ki Doli Has Poor First Day
Saturday 24 January 2015 11.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Dolly Ki Doli had a poor first day as it grossed around 1.75 crore nett on day one. The collections of Khoobsurat were 30% more as that film grossed 2.25 crore nett more.
The film was always going to suffer due to the clash with Baby and although Baby has not done well initially it would have still taken a 20-30% audience away from Dolly Ki Doli. The film has fared a bit better in the Delhi NCR belt but even here collections are ver low. The central belt and East are extremely dull.
The film should grow on Saturday but even if it outperforms and grows 40-50% on Saturday it will reach 2.50 crore nett which could have been the first day collection if it was solo release..
“Watching Akshay Kumar as covert ops specialist Ajay Singh Rajput in the new thriller Baby, I began to wonder if there was another star who would have been equally at home in this exceptionally physical role. Salman has the muscles, yes, but with him, the film would have turned more escapist and pop-py. Shah Rukh looks tired, and Aamir has the intensity but has to work twice as hard to register the physicality. Ajay Devgn? Probably – but he’s too dour on screen. You see him on the posters and you don’t exactly rub your hands and go, Now this should be a crackling entertainer. The younger lot – Ranveer, Ranbir, Shahid – are too, well, young. You wouldn’t believe them in the scenes with the wife (Madhurima Tuli) and the two young children, or in the scene where Rajput grimly guns down a team member who’s been tortured and practically left for dead by the enemy, almost as if granting him release. The stray strands of grey on Akshay’s face help us buy into the illusion that the character he plays is capable of doing these things, that he is in a place in his life where he would be doing these things. The physicality helps too. Akshay surely works out as much as the others, but looking at him you don’t think, “Spends five hours daily in the gym.” You think, “Health.” He looks naturally fit, like one of those old-time wrestlers who, with nothing more than dumbbells and a proper diet, looked in peak shape. Akshay looks like a natural candidate for the missions depicted in this movie. There’s no backstory needed. We don’t need to be convinced about Ajay Singh Rajput. The film hits the ground running, and it’s because of the authenticity Akshay wears like a second skin that we don’t have to struggle to keep up.”
I liked both “A Wednesday” and “Special 26” so it’s good to see that BR found this one to be a solid thriller. Might check it out this weekend if it’s playing in my area. Have a soft spot for intelligent action thrillers.
Not sure how many can recall that film, but I quite like “16 December” (which was in the same vein)- Danny was in fine form there (also had the very sultry Dipannita Sharma).
On Danny does anyone recall this one (from DD’s golden age. I sadly can’t find the episodes anywhere)-
Rangan is correct in “And Taapsee Pannu almost walks away with the movie – not because of her performance or some such thing, but because her scene in a hotel room comes with such a devilish twist. Sometimes it isn’t just the comedy that leaves you smiling.”
High praise for Akshay. I am disappointed with the lack of shows in my local theatre…plus they are all poorly timed. But sounds very much like this one is a must watch from most the reviews.
“In an exclusive interview to NDTV, actor Amitabh Bachchan said that he does not intend to talk about his infamous falling out with the Gandhis after the Bofors scandal. “This is something I need to contain with me and not make it public,” he said. “For you it may be a story, for me it’s a closed chapter.”
The Bofors case dates back to 1986, when Swiss arms manufacturer Bofors landed a Rs 1,500 crore contract to supply Howitzer guns to India. At the time, Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister. Mr Bachchan was his close friend and a law-maker from Allahabad. A year later, Swedish media began reporting that the company had paid massive kickbacks to Indian politicians and defence officials. Reacting to the reports, then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had assured Parliament that that was not the case. The Bofors scandal however cost him the general election in 1989.
Mr Bachchan was among those accused of accepting kickbacks, but was cleared over two decades later. After the Bofors scandal, he quit politics. “I don’t know politics, I am not qualified at it…I failed at it. I don’t know how to deal with people, I don’t know what it required of me,” he told NDTV.
On his refusal to comment on the Bofors controversy during the lengthy investigation, he said, “Giving a clarification sounds very defensive. I’d rather wait for the truth to come out. Yes that’s painful to wait because it takes a lot out of you but when it will, it will nullify everything that happened before. And that’s what happened with Bofors. 25 years later, the Chief Prosecutor said my name was just planted in there. I don’t think we were equipped to handle that (telling our side of the story) and we still aren’t…at least, I’m not,” he said to NDTV.
Interestingly scrolled down to note that when Rangan does have a writeup on baby, Satyam doesn’t post it–somebody else has to lol..bcos it’s somewhat positive
Btw I’m noticing for a while that Rangan seems to be totally following my thought process –can’t say or believe he is copying my thoughts eh..
Btw I enjoy these kiddish games Satyam plays but I always catch Satyam with his pants down 🙂
BABY is a fantastic movie. Highly recommended. Great thriller once again after the unsuccessful but highly deserving movie D-DAY.
Forget the ‘reading’ into the politics of the movie. This one just milks the Indo-Pakistan/Hindi-Muslim uneasy equation and comes up with a great product.
Akshay Kumar is superb and is UTTERLY believable as the invincible soldier. There is ABSOLUTELY nobody who could have carried of this role with such skill and panache. He fits the role like a glove.
This man deserves to be slapped for making a mess of his career. This movie proves again what kind of a great material he is only if he makes better choices.
And mind you, it is not that he was always a good actor. He has come a long, long way from his wooden-act days of SAINIK, SAUGANDH to coming into his own with excellent comic timing in HERA PHEREI, KHAKEE and then blossoming into a fine dramatic actor with TASVEER, HOLIDAY etc.
He definitely could have stood neck-to-neck with Salman and come out trumps since he has metamorphosed into a far, far better actor while Salman’s facial expressions have remained the same since MPK. While Salman remains a superstar, Akshay could have been that superstar with that rare combination of attitude and talent and charisma..
And what physicality Akshay displays in the movie! Never an over-showing of the 6 pack vada-pavs; all that one takes home is his agility and his dare-devilry. Great show Akshay!
Watching this again next week. Highly, highly recommended.
And that Tapasee’s scene is one hell of a subversion of something we call a HONEY TRAP..
i had no intention of watching this but i’m off work next week and given what you’ve written i’m tempted to check it out! saw Dolly Ki Doli today – was mildly fun – could have been better.
If you like thrillers then this is a good one. There are 3-4 scenes I thought could have been done better but still someone trying to make a song-less movie with no actress sans usual Bollywood devices is commendable.
I’m hesitant cos just not really keen on seeing anything about muslims/terrorism etc right now – too much of that stuff going on in real life currently 😦
“not really keen on seeing anything about muslims/terrorism etc right now – too much of that stuff going on in real life currently ”
I agree. I didn’t watch Haider and lot of other movies for this reason. Even for Baby, I went with lot of trepidition. I thought there would be lot of ‘violence’ and I didn’t have mood for it. Fortunately there is not much of violence in the movie at all. The chase scenes are really nice and it is just a wholesome entertainment. The terroists aren’t shown too much at all. In fact every frame has akshay in it and the last 30-40 minutes is just superb. If you liked Argo you would like this one too.
It is not about hindu-muslims at all. It is a thriller. The ‘main’ guy is actually a good Muslim character (Danny). One should not watch movies with such ‘narrow’ framework. It is not abt hindu-muslim or india-pakistan even. I would say it is just a nice, clean thriller movie. Go watch it.
The whole last bit reminded me very much of Argo (Ben Affleck movie). It was edge of the seat thriller and dialogues were perfect. Someone complained abt BGM but actually I loved the BGM. A suave, global product from Bollywood. I hope it does good business and Pandey keeps churning out his movies.
“Never an over-showing of the 6 pack vada-pavs;”
ROFLOL.
There is a scene of Govinda in recent Saif Khan movie (I forget the name already) where Govinda is hindi film hero who goes to plastic surgeon to get 6 pack installed. It was quite hilarious.
watched Baby. One word, Chakas.
What an awesome, awesome thriller.
It is ‘similar’ to special chabbis…has Niraj’s stamp all over it. Bravo. WTG. This is almost like watching hollywood movie. Akshay is in every frame. The movie theater was full (AMC) with even front seats taken. The scene where politician’s secretary is slapped by Akshay, audience clapped! The humor is just the right amount and PERFECT. Loved this movie. I disagree with Ann Jo. I think Akshay made it without any support from johar/yrf; without taking steriods; without having father or godfather. I hope people like Abhishek take a leaf from him as to how it is done.
That is the irony isn’t it? He HASN’T made it to where he could have been. If he is just going to be content with HEY I DIDN’T TAKE THE HELP OF KJO or YRF, then that is not really a significant achievement. SRK too didn’t have a Godfather. So what’s the comparison here?
All I am talking about are his choices. When he does films like BOSS or KHILADI 786. I agree with Satyam that he would have made a STIFF competition for everyone if he had hopped on to the masala bandwagon. You can see how convincing he is in both trash like BOSS and in quality like SPECIAL 26 or BABY.
The man is capable of a lot more..& he should plan more..mix it up a bit more..
“He HASN’T made it to where he could have been.”
Actually he is flowering; earlier he was keeanu Reeves like (there wascompetition bet. Abhishek and Akshay, kaun jyada wooden hai; Abhi is winning) but with collaboration with Pandey, who makes him look very-very good, he has finally come to a place of recognition. I think it is all Pandey who makes Akshay and his acting look damn good. So in the end it is all about who you work with and what you prioritize in life. SRK ruined his career by working with likes of johar/yrf. He could have gone places (makebe have careerograph like Ranveer or Ranbir) and be recognized as better actor instead of what he is today. I am a huge Akki fan. I think I would take him over any of the khans anyday and over all the new lot of ‘actors’.
But it is not happy republic day for monkeys of lutyens Delhi.
Nearly 40 men will be on special duty during US President Barack Obama’s visit to Delhi. They will be in charge of warding off monkeys in and around Lutyen’s Delhi, and Rajpath on Republic Day.
The New Delhi Municipal Corporation or NDMC has deployed these men to avoid a potentially embarrassing situation during the highly anticipated Republic Day parade.
This is the fifth time Pramod, the supervisor of this operation, has been in charge of ensuring that monkeys don’t disrupt the grand display of India’s military might and multi-hued culture on January 26.
In earlier years, ‘langurs’, which are not on the best of terms with monkeys, were used to chase them away. But the Environment Ministry has since banned the use of these animals.
So these men make glottal voice to impersonate ‘langurs’.
“The NDMC has ordered us to patrol the area around Rajpath and make sure monkeys do not reach the parade location,” Pramod told NDTV.
Baby Shows Growth On Saturday But Collections Still Low
Saturday 24 January 2015 22.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Baby has managed to grow on Saturday with collections likely to come in the 9.25 crore nett range. It is 20% higher than Friday which is good growth but the film needed more as the first day was low.
The problem for the film is that the mass circuits actually fell on Saturday from there very low numbers on Friday. Places like Rajasthan and Nizam /Andhra actually fell 10% despite both only collecting 38 lakhs nett each on day one. The main growth cane from Delhi/UP, East Punjab and Mysore.
The two day total will be around the 17 crore nett mark and now the film will need big 40-50% growth on Sunday and that just to have a respectable weekend of around 30 crore nett.
Friday Report: ‘Sniper’ Adds $18.3 Million, Depp’s ‘Mortdecai’ Flops
by Ray Subers
January 24, 2015
American Sniper added $18.3 million on Friday, which puts it on pace for one of the best second weekends ever.
Among the newcomers, The Boy Next Door got off to a fine start, while Mortdecai and Strange Magic bombed.
American Sniper’s $18.3 million haul is, by a large margin, the biggest second Friday ever for an R-rated movie. In comparison, The Passion of the Christ added $13.7 million, while The Matrix Reloaded and The Hangover Part II earned $10.3 million and $10.6 million, respectively. Sniper’s second Friday was also significantly higher than all of 2014’s superhero movies, which were in the $9 to $12 million range.
After eight days in nationwide release, American Sniper has already earned $154.1 million. On Friday, it passed Gran Torino to become director Clint Eastwood’s highest-grossing movie ever. It also eclipsed Bradley Cooper’s American Hustle.
American Sniper is on track to earn at least $60 million over the three-day weekend. If it follows the same pattern as Lone Survivor and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit—from the same weekend last year—it will wind up with over $64 million. That will rank eighth all-time among second weekends.
In a distant second place, The Boy Next Door opened to an estimated $5.7 million at 2,602 locations. That’s a bit lower than The Call’s $6.18 million, but is noticeably higher than Jennifer Lopez’s last starring vehicle, The Back-Up Plan ($4.26 million). The Boy Next Door should finish the three-day weekend with $15 to $17 million.
The Wedding Ringer took third place with an estimated $3.3 million, which is off 53 percent from its opening day. For the weekend, the movie should earn at least $10 million.
Paddington added $2.6 million—off 44 percent—for a new total of $30.3 million. Its second weekend should wind up in the $11 to $13 million range.
Taken 3 rounded out the Top Five with $2.07 million (down 57 percent). To date, the final installment in the action franchise has earned $70.5 million.
Johnny Depp’s Mortdecai took eighth place with a horrible $1.47 million debut. That’s actually lower than Depp’s The Rum Diary, which opened to $1.84 million back in October 2011. It’s also barely above last weekend’s Blackhat, which took in $1.39 million on its first day. This is a stunningly poor opening for a movie with a handful of stars that’s been marketed quite heavily in recent weeks; for the weekend, it should wind up with just over $4 million.
In ninth place, Strange Magic flopped with an estimated $1.3 million. It’s on track to earn less than $5 million for the three-day weekend, which will qualify as one of the worst debuts ever for a movie playing at over 3,000 locations.
In far fewer theaters, Jennifer Aniston’s Cake also got off to a poor start on Friday. The movie earned an estimated $266,000 at 482 locations, which puts it on track to miss $1 million this weekend.
Weekend Projections
1. American Sniper – $65 million
2. The Boy Next Door – $16 million
3. Paddington – $12 million
4. Wedding Ringer – $11 million
-. Strange Magic – $4.8 million
-. Mortdecai – $4.3 million
WTF happened to Johnny Depp??? His last good entertainer, IMO, was Public Enemy…after that it has been crap films along with crap performances. And the trending on American Sniper is just remarkable…noone expected this movie to do THIS well. And I don’t think it’s as simple as a typical war movie…box office mojo mentioned last week that it has worked with the families also. There are a lot of military/veteran families out there that can relate to the story. It is still surprising for it to do this well though…the conservatives are loving this “kind” of Hollywood.
I think in hindsight Pirates was the worst thing which happened to Depp- suddenly, out of nowhere, he became this huge star, and since then he has only been doing only blockbuster films. Once you leave out Public Enemies and Sweeny Todd, he doesn’t have much to show
‘I’ is well into the second week of its stupendous run at the box office and the film continues to smash records the world over. One such market where ‘I’ is at the very top is Australia where it has bested Enthiran, Sivaji and Kaththi to take the top spot among all Tamil movies.
At the end of the first week, ‘I’ grossed a reported 304,279 ASD (1.48 crores). The Tamil version of the movie is continuing in good number of locations in Australia in the 2nd week too.
The line ‘Adhukkum Mela’ sumps up these collection exploits aptly.
The Hindi version of ‘I’ has sort of plateaued out at the Indian box-office after its opening last week. The first week domestic net is in the 9.5 to 9.6 crores range. Trade experts predict that the film’s lifetime net in Hindi would end up in the 11 to 12 crores range, which is much lesser than Shankar’s earlier Robot (Hindi), which netted around 20 crores in India.
Meanwhile, ‘I’ continues its success story in Tamil for the second week running, and is expected to rule for some more days easily.
‘I’ Box Office Collection (7 Days): Vikram-Amy Starrer Emerges as Second Biggest Dubbed Earner in AP/Nizam
By Sangeetha Seshagiri January 23, 2015 12:30 IST
17 3
Vikram-Amy Jackson starrer “I” (“Ai”) has done good business in its first week at the AP/Nizam box office.
The film, directed by Shankar, took fantastic openings on the first day in AP/Nizam and continued to rake in decent collections. It has minted over ₹23 crore share in just seven days at the AP/Nizam box office, according to Andhraboxoffice.
Check below the area-wise breakup of “I” 7-day collections at the AP/Nizam box office.
Vizag: ₹2.25 crore, East: ₹1.86 crore, West: ₹1.67 crore, Krishna: ₹1.44 crore, Guntur: ₹2.15 crore, Nellore: ₹1.11 crore, Ceeded: ₹4.72 crore, Nizam: ₹7.90 crore. Total AP/Nizam: ₹23.10 crore.
“I” has emerged as the all time second biggest earner after Rajinikanth’s “Robo” at the AP/Nizam box office. “Robo” raked in ₹37 crore share in its full run in Andhra Pradesh. It will be interesting to see if “I” will break “Robo” collections at the AP/Nizam box office.
The AP/Nizam theatricals for “I” has been sold at around ₹39 crore, which is higher than Robo’s lifetime collections. The Vikram-starrer needs to fare well to achieve profits.
The film received mixed reviews from critics with many terming it as a technically brilliant film. Vikram’s performance won loads of appreciation from them, while Santhanam’s comedy is one of the plus points of the film. However, they cited that “I” is a let-down due to wafer-thin storyline, despite Vikram’s best efforts. So far, the film has managed to have a decent run despite the mixed talk.
On Friday, Two Telugu films – Kalyan Ram’s “Pataas” and Sundeep Kishan’s “Beeruva”– will hit screens. Whether the release of these films will affect the business of “I” is something one needs to wait and watch.
Meanwhile, the Telugu version of the film has been trimmed. “Shankar’s #I trimmed!, now running with 178 Mins Duration in #Telugu,” tweeted Andhraboxoffice.
The Vikram-starrer is a romantic thriller with Amy Jackson playing the female lead. The film’s other cast members include Ojas Rajani, Santhanam, Suresh Gopi and Upen Patel. The music of “I” is composed by AR Rahman, while cinematography is handled by PC Sreeram. Produced by Aascar Ravichandran, “I” is made with a big budget.
“Distributor and trade analyst Suniel Wadhwa said, “The film’s net collection is Rs 60 crore in Tamil Nadu, Rs 30 crore in Andhra Pradesh, Rs 8 crore in Karnataka and Rs 4 crore in Kerala. The Hindi version (Robot) has managed to collect Rs 15 crore. ”
Endhiran, mainly the Tamil version, has grossed Rs. 35 crores from all its screens across Tamil Nadu. If the Hindi and Telugu rights were sold to Gemini Film Circuit for Rs. 20 crores and Rs. 30 crores respectively, Gemini has already retrieved the amount they had invested in Hindi. Robo, the Telugu version, has grossed approximately Rs. 16 crores. The scene in Karnataka is no less with Endhiran grossing Rs. 4.75 crores in the first week, in limited screens. Overall, Endhiran, Robot and Robo, has grossed a whopping Rs. 125 crores world-wide in the first week after release. Is it a record of all times? Let’s wait and see.
‘I’ (Ai) First Week (7 Days) Box Office Collections: Vikram Starrer Makes ₹137 Crore (Nett) in Opening Week
By Prakash Upadhyaya January 23, 2015 09:48 IST
Vikram starrer “I” has made earth-shattering business in the first week. The movie has netted ₹137 crore worldwide in seven days.
As per the leading trader and cinema critic, Sreedhar Pillai, “I” has raked in amazing ₹137 all across the globe. The multilingual movie has made ₹40 crore from Tamil Nadu, the biggest centre for the movie. Interestingly, Kerala has become the second biggest circuit for the movie where it earned ₹10 crore nett.
After getting fantastic opening in Karnataka, “I” business saw a dip as the movie, which was expected to cross ₹9 crore-mark, has made only ₹7.5 crore. From the overseas circuits, “I” has collected ₹36 crore to take its total tally to ₹96.5 crore.
While the Tamil version of “I” has collected ₹96.5 crore, the Telugu version has earned ₹31 crore. From Andhra Pradesh and Telangana regions, it has collected ₹31 crore. The Hindi version of the film has made ₹9.5 crore nett in the opening week.
Sreedhar Pillai wrote, “#I Net Box-Office 1st week (Approx) Tamil :TN-Rs 40Cr + Kerala-Rs 10+ Karnataka 7.5 +Rest of India- 3+ Overseas-36.. Total = Rs 96.5 Cr
“#I Net Box-Office 1st week (Approx) Tamil = Rs 96.5Cr + Telugu : Andhra & Tel = Rs 31 Cr + Hindi = Rs 9.50 Grand Total = Rs 137 Cr. Super.” He concluded.
“I” requires ₹3.5 crore to reach ₹100-crore mark from Tamil version in India. However, the biggest feat will be the elite ₹100-crore where only the domestic collection of a movie is taken into the consideration.
Baby Second Day Business
Sunday 25 January 2015 14.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Baby grossed 9 crore nett on its second day. The growth was around 16-17% on Saturday but the film needed minimum 30% growth and 10 crore nett plus figure on Saturday. The two day business of Baby is as follows.
Friday – 7,75,00,000
Saturday – 9,00,00,000
TOTAL – 16,75,00,000
The film now needs a big Sunday and areas like UP, Rajasthan, CI etc which have been dull to date to show big improvement. A plus for Sunday is that evening and night collections in metro multiplexes will not fall as they normally do due to the holiday on the next day.
So Sanjana here has handpicked those reviews of Baby that speak the language of Congress/Ndtv/other “self-proclaimed secular brigade” in India, and made comments in the same fashion. The same brigade who has a problem showing Muslim terrorists (is that even news now? ) These people do not see a terrorist as a person causing terror- but rather pin point what cap he is wearing and what god is he praying to. Baby is a movie that actually calls a terrorist – a terrorist – without going into their religion ( and shows that good and bad people exist in every religion), but minority-apologists like NDTV (and in house Sanjana) would rather make up excuses to differentiate people rather than integrate them.
Not Surprisingly, many Muslims are actually liking this film (including public faces like Faridoon, or even a non-multiplex guy like KRK) but some people (that I mentioned above have issues pertaining to religion) are trying to pull it down– Well Just like Terror- hypocrites too do not have a religion.
How dare you?
Baby has such gross mischaracterization .
Muslim terrorists? Is there such a thing?
So unfair to Muslims to show that terrorists are Muslim.
Muslims are those peace loving people
Of Kashmir who were coexisting peacefully with the Kshmiri pundits and helping INDIA fight Pakistani insurgency and were oppressed by the Indian army. The real terrorists are the Indian army and masterpieces like Haider show its true face.
Baby presents a jingoistic,romantic view of Indian army which is not true at all.
If you don’t believe me ask the intelligent liberals.
ROFLOL. Good one Raju!
I loved the scene where Akki says Hum Religion wale Column mein Bold and Capital mein #INDIAN Likhte hein!
More power to Pandey. I hope he keeps making good cinema. Maybe likes of Bharadwaj and Kashyaps learn from this dude how to make masala movies.
LOL Pappas, Rajen and Di………
SS was fast becoming “Sickular Samaj” rather than Satya(M) Shot!…Glad to have been proved wrong !!
Saw Baby on Friday, what a movie, I agree everything that Rangan said in his review …
“I may disagree with him in this respect but NEVER EVER doubt the sincerity or integrity of his views ”
thanks much Rajen.. but in all honesty I’ve never been able to find that ‘sincerity’ or ‘integrity’ myself! LOL! I’m totally serious. Not joking. Reminded of that sholay line ‘khandaan ka pata chalte hi aap ko khabar kar denge’! Similarly when I find these qualities in myself I’ll let you know!
thanks Rocky.. I am half-sincere! Haven’t seen Haider yet but that’s because I haven’t ordered the DVD so far and netflix also don’t have it yet! I think I should watch both Haider and Baby on the same day and keep my conscience clear! Or easier still I should just do ‘I’ again! Meanwhile these boring Oscar nominees are also around, the films we have to watch so that we are not embarrassed in polite society!
ha ha…actually I saw Haider at BWCinema.com where they showed it in the Blue Ray category which they only put when the DVD has been released….but with Haider that is not the case..
This also leads me to believe that I may have watched an abridged version ( and therefore liked it ..lol) and so will watch it again once the official DVD is released .
“NEVER EVER doubt the sincerity or integrity of his views .”
I have more respect for Salim and Q. At least they don’t mind putting their faith in their names vs putting “truth” as your name and say everything that is untrue. Chalo koi nai….
ARR and Dilip: ARR changed his name right? So he is sincere. And Dilip faked his name to get movie votes. lol. He should have kept it Yusuf instead of being a sell out. People suggested Bachchan to change his name too. But he stood firmly with his name, success or no-success. That my friend is integrity.
Absolutely the movie calls spade a spade and doesnt shy away from highlighting the truth. Muslims and even Arabs in my Dubai theatre were clapping in the movie. Congress chamchas like NDTV, Boxoffice India and paid Trade people are trying to dismiss off this movie completely. Hats off to Akshay and more so to Pandey.
Satyam, where is the post on Obama visit to India? Unbelievable bon homie with Modi, such camaraderie. Dude, you must be totally flabbergasted.
Obama saying: My journey could only happen in America, and Mr Modi, yours could only in India. Toasting to Dosti! Chai Pe Charcha. Chalo Saath Saath.. etc..
Left Meets Hard Right. Any comments boss?
yes did plan to put up a thread. Not flabbergasted at all. This is the transactional side of politics. Obama is even more than most a transactional politician. Have followed all the coverage in the media, seen all the relevant videos and so forth. But will put up a thread. Pooja Thakur seems to be the new star in the media! But yeah Modi and Obama have put on quite a show here for each other. Modi has pulled out every conceivable stop here. And it’s actually a far cry from the US trip where the WH didn’t do all that much. But the other reason I’m not flabbergasted is that I’ve seen how some of the worst dictators are sometimes treated as friends by the US.
I totally forgot that Modi replaced Manmohan in a Coup d etat! The Dictator Rules! Or perhaps an absolute majority after 30 yrs does seem like a dictatorship to every contemporary Indian politician, who have but hazy memories of such past governments. After all no more horse-trading, cash-for-votes, ransom-for-bills etc can seem to very severe conditions for working, very much like a Dictatorship.
No that’s not the point and you know it. But the US warming up to people is no indication of any kind of moral or ethical principle or any other sort of principle for that matter. At the very moment that they rightly condemn ISIS for all their horrors some of the very same things happen in Saudi Arabia and they’re great friends! They denied Modi a visa, now they’re warming up to him. But the same happens everywhere, this is what international politics is about. Modi was humiliated by the US once, today he’s putting on a show like no other for the US! International relations are not based on considerations of principle by and large. It’s about pragmatism and convenience. And yes they warm up to some very horrible and unsavory types too. This doesn’t mean there cannot be personal chemistry (except that Obama hardly has ‘personal’ chemistry with anyone even in US politics, even in his own party, so it’s a bit hard to believe he suddenly has this with Modi.. it’s a show and that’s fine.. both sides are putting it on), just that there’s no right/left issue here. International politics happens at a much higher level than this. and so when Modi was elected I didn’t exactly expect that people wouldn’t meet him or have relations with him or India! C’mon…!
“the worst dictators are sometimes treated as friends by the US.”
Satyam this is India, world’s largest democracy, not Pakistan, your home country we are talking about. 😉
I am sorry these are unnecessary and provocative comments. People should avoid commenting on other person’s religion,nationality, marital status. The things which are discussed in cyber world are opinion(s).
The problem is that for many people there is no gap between identity and opinion. They are intimately connected. A lot of times one finds reinforcement of this idea. But when one doesn’t one starts pointing to a conspiracy. We are all brought up everywhere in the world to connect these two things. And some of us become extremists in this sense.
Similarly the problem with political positions or actually in any other matter as well is that it’s not that we start with certain ideas or whatever and then connect with whatever vehicle (party, movie etc) delivers them to us. Or we do so partially but at some point we simply become partisans so that the link is severed between the ideology in a purer sense and the vehicle that is only supposed to deliver it. We become invested in the vehicle and then we start altering our ideology based on where the vehicle goes or we try to justify it in every sense. So for instance there were SRK fans who celebrated Swades or CDI on the rare day that SRK did such a film. Otherwise they were happy to celebrate RNBDJ all the time. These days some Akshay fans are talking about the quality of Baby but otherwise they’re into Houseful and what not. Or Aamir fans were all about the quality, then some of them became only about the box office and the same in some cases (when it’s Talaash) will say ‘this film is so noble that the box office doesn’t matter at all’. One could add to these examples. There’s a difference between being an Obama fan for certain reasons and being one irrespective of what he does or does not do. I was an Abhishek fan because I liked a great deal of the stuff he was doing. I’m not an Abhishek fan when HNY or Houseful or whatever is on the table. I’m willing to live with it if it can get him to something sensible once again. But even if he became the top star in the nation doing just this stuff it wouldn’t interest me. I might be pleased to see him succeed but that’s a different matter. I don’t like 99% of Akshay’s films but I still want him to be successful. Even here there is some ideological consistency. Because I might feel that Akshay or Abhishek represent a certain kind of politics or are certain kinds of people and I want them to succeed for this reason.
What is always the most dangerous thing in the world is to be invested in any idea to the point where everything else can be sacrificed to keep the idea alive.
Baby Heading For Decent Sunday
Sunday 25 January 2015 23.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Baby is heading for a decent Sunday of around 11.75 crore nett but it means a sub 30 crore nett weekend for the film. Despite the decent figures on Sunday, the requirement was this sort of number on day one. It basically means the film can get now where near the 50 crore nett mark for the extended weekend. For that it needed a bigger jump on Sunday.
The collections on Sunday were still low in many areas and its pretty certain now that its fate is dependent on whether the big cities can hold after Monday and for how long.
The film is not going anywhere in UP, Rajasthan, CI, Nizam etc. It leaves a circuit like Delhi/UP also struggling as UP is so weak. The best business is coming from Mumbai and East Punjab followed by Mysore. The weekend figures of 1.25 crore nett in Rajasthan and 1 crore nett in CI tell the story. The figures are like Kill Dil and Tevar which were smaller films and did not feature a star like Akshay Kumar.
I am skeptical whether people are finding the movie that good or is it misplaced patriotism. It is quite telling that the film it may end up challenging , may be unsuccessfully as the highest grossing R-rated film is the The Passion of the Christ.
The movie may be very good but I don’t believe that’s driving the BO.
I agree, nothing in the reviews would lead one to believe there’s anything that extraordinary going on here. Also the box office is being massively driven by the the South and Southwest, the very places where this sort of stuff sells. Of course I don’t know why among so many war films this is being supported this way. But if I recall correctly the NY Times reviewer suggested that though this was an effective film it was also a black and white sort of deal. Clear dividing lines and where the soldier simply fights the war and any ambiguity about the larger situation or whatever doesn’t really matter. It’s a kind of old-fashioned film supposedly. Still might check it out at some point. Usually I watch Eastwood’s movies. Of course it’s interesting (if the reviewer is right) that Eastwood has otherwise argued for ambiguity in so many of his films even including his Westerns and here suddenly he decides it’s good old-fashion war heroism!
A O Scott likes the movie but here’s one of his key passages:
“The politics of the Iraq war are entirely absent, which is a political statement in its own right. And though George W. Bush’s name is never invoked, “American Sniper” can be seen as an expression of nostalgia for his Manichaean approach to foreign policy. It can equally — and this may amount to the same thing — be seen as upholding the Hollywood western tradition of turning complicated historical events and characters into fables and heroes. In other words, it’s only a movie.”
Arrey , but just as Haider is from Kashmiri Muslim’s POV, this is from the POV from an American Sniper…so there KP were absent , here politics of Iraq war are absent……..
Actually A O Scott is saying something very different. He’s not criticizing Eastwood for showing one side of the story or one perspective but depicting things in abstract fashion that nonetheless carry a certain ideological charge. In other words if I make a war film from a liberal or conservative position this will be obvious to most people and they might agree or disagree with such a film. This is what haider is presumably doing. But if you make a film where you never define the political contours at all and yet evoke a certain ideology or let it in through the back door it’s a very different debate. and there is no such thing as the viewpoint of an American Sniper. Why? Because either it is totally functional where he or she is just about doing a job irrespective of whatever politics such a job serves or if not then the Sniper is within the American context either a Republican or a Democrat and therefore might have an opinion about the job he or she is doing. And we know the latter to be true in very many cases. There have been tons of story in the US media about US soldiers in Afghanistan being demoralized and feeling they were wasting their time there and so forth. I doubt very much that those soldiers see their jobs in such abstract Manichean ways (in the terms of A O Scott). Let me offer another easy example as to the distinction here. You could say the US has universal health care because all citizens deserve to have this and that it makes sense economically and that it is the last brick in this welfare state and so on. This is a liberal position to take. Conservatives don’t agree. On the other hand one could say that three kids died last week because they couldn’t afford to see a doctor. The latter position is framed abstractly but it sends out the right dog whistle. One can disagree with the former position but it’s out there for anyone to argue or accept. In Scott’s terms Eastwood is doing the equivalent of the latter, not the former. I haven’t seen the film so can’t say definitively either way. But my point is that your analogy with haider is off the mark if Scott is right.
Given the box office receipts of Baby so far most of India must be extremely liberal. You must be in a definite minority!
On a related note and based on what I’ve heard here I suspect that this is a good old nationalist film in the ‘old’ sense of the word. See this comment for more.
Paapas, I handpicked NDTV review as I found it drastically different from other reviews which were praising the movie. It is not religion thing for me because I did not watch Haider or even Shahid.
I will not watch this film too as I hate blood and gore type of action films. I did not watch ghajini in theatres or those Hollywood flicks where one can see smashed bodies and blood oozing out.
I am a fan of gentle Hrishikesh Mukherjee films. Yesterday I saw Old chashme Baddoor and I enjoyed it thorougly which was directed by Sai Paranjpai The only thing I hated was the characters smoking throughout. And the warning was throughout.
What I found funny in Saibal review was that the terrorists were having muslim names. What did he expect?
I did not say it was religion thing for you. I just pointed out what I saw. If you handpick reviews that in my opinion were speaking just one language- and that one language was typical minority apologists or pseudo secular armchair thinkers, then my opinion of your comments was simply based on that. And then this is what you commented
“Will this movie make innocent muslims’s lives more difficult?”
If you haven’t seen the film and you don’t plan to see the film, then how did you come up with this nonsensical question, if you don’t know what’s shown in the movie. It was clear that you were more interested in buying what Saibal ndtv Chaterjee had to say than the other reviews. Please come up with a defense that’s at least 2% Fat.
I dont watch any movies but I read what they are about from various reviews. Thus I know Haider bashes the army, Shahid bashes police and Baby bashes terrorists with muslim names.
Already muslims are targetted and films like this will encourage police who may target muslims indiscriminately as it was shown in Shahid.. Because the film showed only muslim terrorists and did not balance it showing other terrorists from other religions like naxalites. I need not have to watch movies as there are spoilers, discussions on many forums.
For that matter, I even criticised Pk. And 3 Idiots for toilet humour.
I did not buy Saibal’s review. I just quoted his review as it gave only 2 stars.
Manoj Kumar did a better job dealing with patriotic themes.
In tamil nadu, to a lesser extent in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh there used to be virulent brahmin bashing and there were reasons for it. That brahmin bashing continued which resulted in unprecedented percentage of reservations.
I was in two minds about these developments. One is getting angry because those younger generation brahmins who have nothing to do with orthodox brahmins being discriminated and the other trying to understand why it happened. This must be happening even among muslims.
The funny thing is those brahmin bashers were following orthodox customs of hinduism laid down by brahmins with more devotion than some of the liberal brahmins ever will.
Watched ‘Baby’ today. To put it simply, it is one of the well made movies in recent times. Inspite of some illogical sequences, some cringeworthy scenes, eventually everything works very well. Akshay kumar is well suited and does brilliant job(imo – not to go overboard, this is not award winning role but just good onscreen role with great presence). I felt this movie is extension of ‘Holiday ‘, reminds of movies like ‘D-day’ and also of ‘Argo’ at places. First half was dry but good but it is the 2nd half which really makes the movie great as its more entertaining as well. Full marks for T-series being solo producers making a songless movie and supporting it with big budget as returns are not guarantee for these kind of movies. Casting was done well, everyone and especially Danny was great. Overall, Recommended for watch!
Bengal officials claim that the tableau was rejected at the last minute. Its “Kanya Shree” theme on welfare programmes for the girl child was reportedly found similar to the central government’s tableau on “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (save your daughters, education your daughters)”, the scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week.
The defence ministry, which organizes the annual parade, reportedly told Bengal that a state tableau should give a broad picture of its culture, economy and history and not focus on just one scheme.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has a running feud with the ruling BJP at the Centre, reportedly decided against sending a new proposal.
The other states that were missing include Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Kerala, Punjab, Delhi and Nagaland.
None of the Oscar nominated movies that Ive seen this year have floored me like I was expecting. The Grand Budapest n Birdman were quirky n partly enjoyable while The Imitation Game n The Theory of Everything were like regular biographies. Wish Interstellar and Gone Girl had been nominated
‘I deserve more than a Padma Shri’: According to a Mumbai Mirror report, Salim Khan turned down the Padma Shri award asserting that he will not accept a lesser award than his erstwhile partner Javed Akhtar who has received both the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan. “Refused is too harsh a word since I have nothing against the awards. I just think that after 55 years and over 40 films, I deserve more than a Padma Shri for my contributions to Hindi cinema, given that my juniors have already got it years before. Even my earstwhile partner, Javed Akhtar, has received both a Padma Shri and a Padma Bhushan,” Salim said to Mirror.
Dolly Ki Doli Weekend Business
Monday 26 January 2015 13.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Dolly Ki Doli started very poorly but has picked up on Saturday and Sunday but as starting point was so low the total collections remain low. The weekend collections are as follows.
The film was best in Delhi NCR and East Punjab while places like CP Berar, West Bengal and Nizam /Andhra were very dull. The film will need a strong Tuesday close to its opening day figure and then maintain at those levels to the end of the week which should give it enough showcasing in week two to put up a respectable lifetime total.
A solo release could have give a 30-40% better opening day and if it had this sort of growth from there it would have been a different story for the film.
Baby Low Weekend Trend Decent
Monday 26 January 2015 12.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Baby had a decent Sunday as it grossed 12.50 crore nett taking its weekend total to 29 crore nett. The trend over the weekend is decent but the weekend total is low especially for film with a high cost. The weekend collections are as follows.
The best business has come in Mumbai and East Punjab circuits while Rajasthan, CP Berar, CI and Bihar are dull. The collections will be good on Monday due to a holiday for Republic Day but the film will have to hols very strong thereafter if it is to decent or beeter business.
Baby is a far better movie than Holiday which I thought was quite amateurish. Hopefully it will have long legs at the box office, I might catch it again next weekend.
PK To Settle At 337 Crore Nett
Monday 26 January 2015 12.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
PK will finish at 337 crore nett as the film had its biggest fall in its sixth weekend with an 80% fall from the previous weekend and collections of around 50 lakhs nett taking the total to 336.25 crore nett.
The film will add another 50-75 lakhs nett in its lifetime run. The distributor share will be 165 crore beating Dhoom 3 by nearly 25 crore. The film has such extraordinary records in week two and week three that they could stand for a long time.
The run of the film also shows how important a clear run is for a big total because as soon the competition started to come the film, the drops started. Its very unlikely this record will be broken in the nest couple of years unless a films gets a three week clear run. After the next couple of years the initial business should be much higher and so two weeks may be sufficient to challenge the PK total.
It is better to make 40 crore in one day and finish with 180 crore than it is to open 26 crore and end up with 340 crore. At least in this planet BOI lives in.
Meanwhile, I don’t know what Baby has done to hurt BOI’s feelings, but its trend is quite strong. Not many films grow fri to sat. So even if the collections were not up to mark, I suspect it will have a good run at this point. But BOI dissolved all this because it did not start well. Soon it will be, Baby did what it did on content. Like content is something to frown upon!
LOL, true.. there’s often this silly logic followed where one has to apologize for doing a good film. Yes star initials matter but they’re never divorced from the subject. Certain genres just get better initials. Now Akshay might not have enough credibility in more serious genres, that’s another matter. But in any case one has to follow through and complete the equation. It’s not enough to open films hugely and then do nothing. Of course BOI discovered things like trending and competition and holiday weekends (and how many cows crossed the street creating traffic jams affecting the Kick initial versus how orderly traffic was the weekend PK released) and what not only with PK! So even pointing out their farcical commentary is too easy. But even otherwise when people discuss these things online it’s amazing how often the good film or strong script is held against the latter. Going by that logic it’s somehow more creditable to be Vin Diesel doing Fast and the Furious than DiCaprio doing Scorsese and Nolan!
Of course Aamir doesn’t have too much to crow about with PK. After all in week 85 it had a huge fall because of competition from a soft porn film that released in 20 screens nationally. And in any case Aamir does things undemocratically. By making good films he ensures a long run. The other stars are much more democratic. Their films fizzle out after a week and someone else gets a chance. Some here even have the sound economic argument that this is much better for the industry.
Its like giving your child the following advice….do as many exams as possible and sit as many subjects as possible. Doesn’t matter if you fail all of them!
The trend Is just about decent actually, nothing extraordinary. For a 75 crore production, it needs to be better. Baby grew Fri to Saturday because Friday was very low and even there the growth was only in multiplexes. I think Tuesday will give a clearer picture of where it is headed. But till Monday it has not done as well as its WOM indicates (atleast among the critics).
Also on PK , I don’t think they are running it down. They are only pointing that the movie didn’t maintain as well as it did Week 3 onwards due to competition as it did in Week 2. If anything their total of PK and the producers total are hardly different. What that also means is PK producers have been honest enough to give the correct total so kudos to them. And yes a clear run does matter to an extent however good the movie is. Because PK would have comfortably crossed 350 crores if not for competition from Week 3 onwards.
It maybe that or negativity spread due to continuous agitations. One just cant rule out these factors. When so much mud was thrown at it, some mud must have stuck on it. In that respect 3 Idiots, Chennai Express and YJHD had clear runs without other factors dulling their sheen.
The title is misleading. It is banned in Pakistan and it is totally understandable. India banned Temple of Doom where they showed Indians eating what not.
Yes but the difference is that Indians eating monkey head is a rarity while terrorism in Pakistan is a daily affair…so you can decide what is far-fetched and what is not..
Baby Heads For 40 Crore Extended Weekend
Monday 26 January 2015 23.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Baby is looking at a 40 crore nett extended weekend total as its Republic Day holiday collections seen in the 11 crore nett range as per early estimates. The film has not really performed at the box office. There was a good jump from Sunday at some single screens but it was due to the big national holiday and the will go back to normal tomorrow.
The multiplex business was on par with Sunday until the late evening shows as collections dropped as the next day is a working day. This is will probably be the case with night shows as well.
A 40 crore nett total over four days when one day is huge national holiday is a pretty poor performance. The trend has been the only saving grace from that low start but even the trend is fair not phenomenal which had had to be from a 7.75 crore nett day one.
Is BOI under reporting or is T-Series over reporting? Because the producers numbers are 50 crores for the extended weekend. Not sure who’s lying here. I hope its BOI because I enjoyed Baby and want Akki to have a success…
Namrata Joshi: One of the reviewers I kind of trust ( Sanjukta Sharama of Mint being the other) in Outlook:
‘Much like other espionage thrillers like Agent Vinod and Ek Tha Tiger, Baby too gets viewers to see a lot of the world—Istanbul, Abu Dhabi, Nepal. It is all predictable, fashioned on B-grade Hollywood thrillers. You can guess how things will move forward and how all loose ends will be tied up. But the chases, raids and police procedures are engaging and well-crafted and have an air of authenticity. There are some mandatory moments of humour also to break the overbearing tension. The second half is a build-up to the final mission—the one to beat all the missions. Which seems so easy and effortless in its execution that one wonders if Indians are the only intelligent human beings in a world full of idiots. In a nutshell, Baby is terrorism served up for some popcorn-coke thrills.’
Some of friends have complained that media exaggerated it. There was some storm a month ago in California, it was bad but nothing like where people were stock piling things. I feel consumeristic media for story are overplaying things and it creates panic.
It is true that the media creates a sensationalist story. It got to the point in this case where they were predicting everything from 8″ to 30″! I could be a meteorologist with that spread! Having said that he storm changed direction a bit. LI was still hit hard as was New England. But in general it’s totally right that the media makes it a 24/7 story for a number of days and all sense of proportion is lost. And people start preparing for the apocalypse every single time!
Although I don’t totally agree, I am convinced that most of this is my reading. The killer with a heart is what I thought and in general this is a well ‘made’ film with a very superficial and amateurish view. The box office is stunning. Apparantly it’s second week drop is the lowest EVER for a film with first weekend collections greater than $80mm. Remarkable…and it will be 2014 tops grosser probably. But there is something pretty distasteful about the tone in the film as it paints everything far too positively for one side and tries it’s hardest to paint the lead as a hero. I expected his character to be a ‘dick’. And to be arrogant and heartless. You end up with the opposite.
Chennai Box-Office – Republic Day Weekend – January 23 to 26
Tuesday, 27 January , 2015, 12:05
The Republic Day CBO boomed. The holiday mood continues as footfalls were as good as during the Pongal season in Chennai theatres. I continues to dominate the CBO and grew to become a super hit.
I is the clear number one by a mile at the CBO. All other films put together are not able to reach the collections of the Shankar extravaganza. The Vikram-Amy Jackson starrer has grossed around Rs 7.50 Crore from Chennai city in 12 days. It means a share around Rs 3 Crore, after paying a 30% entertainment tax of the gross.
At number two is Akshay Kumar’s pop patriotic Baby, which opened well thanks to large multiplex screens and good WOM. In the third place is GV Prakash’s Darling which held on in its second week due to positive reports and increased screens.
In the fourth place is Vishal’s Sundar C directed Aambala which has dropped as film carries mixed reports. And in the fifth place is Clint Eastwood directed American Sniper, worldwide hit, released in limited shows and screens in Chennai and going houseful every show!
Total Worldwide Box Office Collections Of Vikram’s ‘I’: Third Spot In Just 2 Weeks!
Posted by: Avinash Gopinath Updated: Tuesday, January 27, 2015, 14:59 [IST]
Almost two weeks after its release, Vikram’s I(Ai) is still going strong at the box office not only in Tamil Nadu but also all over the world. I which was released in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi has been termed as a box office winner despite attracting mixed reviews.
Its second weekend(23rd-25th) collection in Chennai alone has been 1.5 crores and in the weekdays the romantic-thriller managed to pile up an impressive 1.53 crores. The total collection from the capital city stands at 6.88 crore rupees.
In its second week, I has done well enough to retain good number of screens in Andhra, Kerala and Karnataka and is still going strong. But most importantly, the contributions from overseas market has been phenomenal so far for a Vikram starrer.
Only after two weeks, the movie has moved into the third position for any Tamil film after Enthiran and Sivaji when it comes to the combined overseas box office collections. By the time I is done, it might even overtake Rajinikanth’s Enthiran at the worldwide box office.
While the overall collections in the USA stands at an impressive $1.26 million, its neighbouring country, Canada has contributed with $324,000. In the United Kingdom, the movie has been evidently liked by many as it has managed to amass £362,863.
Australians also have welcomed the movie with open arms as the Australian box office collections stands at A$334,714. In other countries like New Zealand and Malaysia, Shankar’s I has collected NZ$37,356 and MYR 3,146,295(approx) respectively.
‘I’ Mints ₹184 Crore in 12 Days in Worldwide Box Office Collections
By Prakash Upadhyaya January 27, 2015 15:00 IST
Vikram’s “I” has become one of the biggest hits of his career, with the movie earning ₹184 crore in box office collections worldwide at the end of the second weekend.
Andhra Box Office reports that the combined worldwide collections of “I” from Tamil, Telugu and Hindi versions stood at ₹184.25 crore.
In the domestic market, the multi-lingual movie grossed ₹146.80 crore, from which the net collection is said to be ₹116.75 crore.
In the opening weekend, the movie had grossed above ₹130 crore worldwide in the three languages.
“I” has raked in ₹48 crore (₹62.4 crore gross) from Tamil Nadu, ₹33 crore (₹38.5 crore gross) from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana regions, ₹12 crore (₹14.50 crore gross) from Kerala and ₹9 crore (₹11.70 crore gross) crore from Karnataka, taking the total collection to ₹102 Crore (₹127.10 crore gross) from South Indian markets.
The Shankar mega-budget movie, from its Tamil and Telugu versions, has collected ₹2.75 crore (₹3.70 crore gross). The total collection of the Hindi version of “I” stands at ₹12 crore(₹16 crore gross).
In international circuits, Malaysia and the US have been good for “I” at box office. It has earned ₹12.50 crore in Malaysia, ₹9.75 crore in the US. Besides it has earned ₹3.40 crore in the UK, ₹1.80 crore in Australia and ₹10 crore from the rest of the world.
The film’s harrowing song “Bhagavan, Hai Kahan Re Tu?” (“God, Where Art Thou?”) describes PK’s anguished search for a god beyond that of images and words who will answer his questions. It expresses the film’s message in a much more tragic and troubled key than the plot itself, a kind of layering intrinsic to Bollywood’s film language that the reviewer in the New York Times seemed to have missed while deciding that the film was essentially a well-meaning bit of cinematic candyfloss. To me, there was something extremely moving and convincing about PK’s journey to his eventual, unsettling conclusion: “There is not one God, but two: the one that made human beings, and the one that human beings made.”
With films like these, Akshay will reinvent himself. a no-nonsense movie that comes straight to the point. Thankfully, no love story here like in special 26 that ruins the proceedings. The tension remains throughout and reaches a crescendo in the climax (although was a bit inspired from Argo in the final scene). Still a very good film and a complete entertainer.
I watched it again last night and it held up very well in the second run! People in the theater were liking it. I am not sure why there seems to be so much of negativity around it.
I sure am flabbergasted by Saibal’s review. He along with Rangan is one of the very few — I mean none actually — reviewers from India who do not go over-board with over-analysis and enjoy and write for what the film offers – not for what it ‘should’ have been. Saibal seems to have watched the film from a COMPLETELY colored lens. This is actually a movie that can be compared to good-old cold-war face-off movies between US and the USSR. The ‘uneasy’ equation is used to manufacture fine thrillers! There is nothing ‘subtle’ about it. No sermons, discourses on ideologies or leanings or whatever.
–spoilers–
Now I can understand the charge that it deals with a specific community’s lapse into the darker elements. But, the POV is purely from the ‘machine’ elements of Akshay, Anupam, and Rana. Throughout the movie, these guys NEVER indulge in sermons. Infact, it is their boss, Danny’s Feroze, who kind of ‘simplifies’ things when he talks to the PM and underlines the cliche – but a fact – that an increase in #s in the recruitment process of the hardliners might indicate that the ‘state’ is failing the community! And this, he says to the PM, who, ironically, looks like a bearded NaMo!
Even in the scene where Akshay barges into a Muslim locality and beats up Taufiq, Akshay tell him that the ‘COMMUNITY’ support he is bragging about enjoying is just because they do NOT know the truth about him and his leanings. Once it is out that he is a traitor, they will do to him what the state would eventually do! And by logic, I do not need to tell you that this means the community-ganging and stereotyping that one usually indulges in, is thrown out the window..
–spoilers end–
I sure as hell hope this makes 100 crores. If a G!@ND MASTI can do it, it will be sad if this does not…
Sach bolu toh mujhe iss movie ka humor dil ko chu gaya. I keep on thinking on various scenes EVEN now and pretty whole movie has humor interspersed in it. The scene where Danny says “dheek hai toh bomb blast ke baad me milenge” to Akki texting the girl in taxi and asking what is happening? to the moche scene where the assitant shyly says its his wedding anni and wifey wanted to moche out to the plastic bag on the terroist (karach kyun aayegi) to “saab laagta hai yeh kuch bolne wala hai” and Akki say “saach?” ROFLOL
I LOVED everything about the movie but extra marks for humor because this kind of intelligent humor is SO rare that it is almost negligible. Maybe I saw it a bit in GoW but nothing like Pandey’s movies. They are full of it. In fact I like this kind of humor than the stupid “shaking” car humor in P.K.
Am yet to watch Baby, but hope to soon.I love intellgent humour in book or film.Absolutely loved Dibankar Banerjee’s Khosla ka Ghosla, my fav black comedy from Bollywood . And there was humour even in Neeraj Pandey’s gripping AWednesday. But I do not agree with the contenion that PK had childish humour. The shaking car thing was mildly funny and served the
story purpose.
But humour is laced through the film, not just in the dialogues. Imagine spending a night with a lady , holding her hand, doing nothing else and getting her frustrated! But to me the funniest lines came in the epilogue when PK gives the newbie alien four points of advice. We were laughing even as we left the theatre. You have to find your laughs. If people watch with the intention of being offended, they are not going to find humour.
Not just the shaking cars but pver all ‘humor’ of the pajama stuck in butt crack, holding a prostitute’s hand without having s3x, etc etc is not my kind of humor, that I find funny, I guess. I found the humor deliberately injected and missing in many segments of the movie e.g. middle to the end (except the last dialogue). Munnabhai series was much better compared to PK or even three idiots. PK was ok movie for one time dekko without repeat value for me (even if humor was not upto my taste). The genre of the movie they make is more in line with SMJ or message movie and not particularly ‘entertaining’ for me and I would have to be in a mood to take sermons from the director mode. I would take special chabbis or Baby type of thrilling/masala entertainment experience any day over it. Just a personal preference.
i caught it the other day, in part thanks to your and di’s recommendations. I enjoyed it! i was really hoping the film wouldn’t make me uncomfortable and it didn’t – it was a surprisingly fun watch. I thought akshay’s inadequacies as an actor though were pretty glaring…
Neeraj Pandey must have done lot of jaadu on him. Yhea, it is hard to get ‘actors’ like Akki/Abhishek to emote. lol
I am glad you liked Baby. It is nice masala thriller, entertainer. I didn’t walk out of the movie theater with any anti-muslim, pro-hindu sensibilities or headache due to excessive violence etc. For me it was watching mission immpossible type, edge of the seat, thriller/entertainer albeit desi one. A well made movie
🙂
Baby Collections On Tuesday
Wednesday 28 January 2015 11.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Baby grossed 4.75 crore nett on Tuesday which is okay considering Friday was 7.75 crore nett but basically the film had to hold stronger. Also the hold is coming mainly from Mumbai and Mysore while most other circuits are down which is not that good for long term. The five day business is 45.25 crore nett.
The film had decent word of mouth but only in the metros and these areas showed good growth in the holiday period. The other areas with weak word of mouth started low and just did not perform. The surprise is Gujarat which is the only mass area to perform and has grossed around 6 crore nett in five days.
Mumbai city, Thane and Pune are decent and that added to Gujarat means Mumbai circuit has done okay. Mysore is also good. East Punjab was decent over the weekend but fell on Tuesday. The rest are all pretty dull. The first week business will be around 53 crore nett which is should have been its extended four day weekend business if it was to have a chance of emerging a hit.
Dolly Ki Doli Tuesday Business
Wednesday 28 January 2015 11.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Dolly Ki Doli grossed around 1 crore nett on Tuesday. Its not a bad total compared to day one but is low. The first five day collections are as follows.
why bother? it is not going to be “satyam”. lol
Salim is sweet. He likes old movie with D.K in it. He watches a lot on tube and work commute.
Qalander: is also moderate but is ‘forced’ to agree concur with ‘satyam’ due to friencdship alliances. Rajen too in same category. 😦
Alex: fun guy who doesn’t take anything seriously and doesn’t take his own view too seriously.
Rest of the people, I have not paid attention to 🙂
Di,
You are wrong on so many counts.😄
I think the ‘ friendship’ ( honored to be Satyam’s friend has evolved due to mutual respect which means respecting even while disagreeing. I don’t feel the need to be defiant or offensive when disagreeing which happens more often than you think.
You forgot Rocky BTW.
haven’t seen it yet. wasn’t playing at my end and I’ll probably wait for a proper transfer on this. finally getting around to Haider! The UTV DVD should be worthwhile here.
An Jo: I was addressing the list Alex wrote, mostly.
“And also views of aamirsfan, SaLim, oldgold, qalander& ‘sanjana’”.
OmRocky: Bindas, Chakas, kickass, confident, smart
Ann Jo: Intellectual, Intelligent, brave, sweetie-pie
And Rockstar is rockstar. Bliss is blissed out.
check out the other links in this same thread (I’ve posted very many(.. have posted a number of them. No one’s calling it a flop in Telugu. In any case worldwide they’re saying it might cross Enthiran. The question is whether it could do so by being a ‘flop’ in Telugu. Even if I accepted your selling price argument that seems to be a bit of a technicality. why? A film could make 200 crores but be a loser if it is sold at a very high price. But that would obscure the point that the audience might have liked the film (it could have doubled its initial or whatever). Finally one must ask: why are you only talking about the Telugu version?!
it’s at 33 crores and it’s suddenly a flop?! Again even if that 39 crore number is correct and even if the film falls short by a bit it’s surely misleading to call it a flop without qualification?
In any case I wouldn’t take any one source as the gospel truth.
On a related note Anniyan did very well everywhere but it was somewhat bigger in Andhra than in TN. Actually at the time some were saying it had underperformed in TN and so on. A film which puts up these kinds of numbers everywhere cannot be a flop anywhere even if it cannot be as profitable everywhere based on extraordinary prices. In some places it might even be less than this but this too often happens with the biggest films.
A shanker movie can flop only in terms of cost. never in absolute collections.
At this moment the picture in TN is not clear. It has not stagnated like Lingaa did after 1st weekend and the second weekend has been decent. A better picture there will come only after yennai Arindhal releases on 5th feb. Again it has collected around 6.5 crores in Chennai (Chengalpet, chennai and surroundings) and that was what Vellai Illa pattadhari – a small budget movie- did there. Katthi also had done around 8 crores..Singham 2 around 12 crores…So even in TN the movie still needs to do more and primarily due to the cost and the U/A certificate. In TN if a movie doesnt have U certificate, then it is taxed. So when someone says the movie has grossed same as Enthiran or whatever that doesnt give the correct picture. Enthiran was a U movie so not taxed. The net for I will be less than its gross.
Take the 2 links you sent, the worldwide share is around 90 crores even though it has grossed 180 and thats why they are saying it is Average at a worldwide level. The link i shared with the ABO link where in telugu it has flopped and it can still be average at the Worldwide level.
My sense is that this movie will end up in the Above Average range at the end of its run. Once Yennai Arindhal releases, we need to see what happens.
“‘I’ leads the pack again, by a huge margin. A likely blockbuster ?”
Behindwoods
” Trade Facts:Super Hit”
Sify Tamil
so they don’t know the selling price of the movie?
And you’re really picking things otherwise. Just about every link I’ve posted is calling it a worldwide blockbuster, they’re saying it might cross Enthiran. There might be a stray comment here and there but the overwhelming bit of reporting on this film is pointing in one direction including by sites like behind woods that normally aren’t the kindest on Vikram.
I could keep putting up these links, you’ve found one stray link calling it a flop in Andhra but you’re mysteriously ignoring every other bit of reporting. Even accounting for the net/gross debate consider where I already is compared to other important grossers:
The other problem I have with these technical arguments is that one could say a film in Bombay did 300 crores but is only average because it was sold expensively. That’s a very misleading way of representing the film in question. A film cannot throw up those kinds of numbers without being liked. Pk could do 340 crores but if someone sold it at prices where they could only really get hit ratios at 400 crores or something that is not a problem with the film’s acceptance. Even if one points this out one should say the film is obviously a super hit or whatever but that expensive pricing means it’s not as profitable as it otherwise would have been. If you keep saying a Shankar movie that’s going to cross 200 crores worldwide and then add some is ‘above average’ or something it’s simply misleading. Leaving aside the fact (and I won’t rake up points that I’ve been making for many years now) that these pricing arguments seem completely arbitrary. Sometimes films that open huge and then tank completely or do slightly better than this are considered to be hits or whatever based on such pricing issues (as if from HNY and ETT the distributors expected only as much as YJHD got!). Or by the same token PK is not considered a blockbuster several times over. This mysterious, never-clearly defined pricing thing keeps popping up which becomes an alibi to more or less define any film in any way. Why? Because when you then plot the graph on these things it makes no sense. I’ve offered one example above. Leaving aside the verifiability issues it just doesn’t make sense when you compare similar claims on different films.
Now getting back to I it would be fair to say that you’ve never exactly been cheering it. Even after release with the tons of reports that even after week 2 have been nothing but positive on it you’ve not had anything to say. But then you suddenly dig up this one link or have a host of arguments about how despite all these big numbers it might not be much. It’s your prerogative to like or dislike the film but shouldn’t one be a bit more neutral on the box office? Why doesn’t one look at the more general reporting trend on it? Why is one only highlighting the negative? I’m not trying to put you on the spot but this kind of ‘consistency’ on one side or the other raises questions. Argue against the box office by all means, that’s not my point but there isn’t much of an argument here beyond snippets gathered here and there from an overwhelmingly positive narrative. Even this I’d accept if you’d consistently do the same for every film but that’s not the case. On HNY you were much kinder than most. Again the same selling price issue. BOI used to not give Ghajini its due on the same score. But somehow these issues never popped up with a Salman film or whatever. I’ll be as blunt as I can — over the years on various forums I’ve seen many people raise the pricing issue and almost always it’s a kind of red herring. So once more I could accept your entire argument on I but then I couldn’t accept similar ones from you on other films. So yes maybe Ghajini isn’t a blockbuster on pricing issues but then just about every other 100 crore or 200 crore film is probably a flop! And the Ghajini example isn’t unfair because you tend not to disagree with BOI very much. And again at the very least one must look at the larger picture. Jai Ho releases and doesn’t work, one might call it a flop (though the likes of BOI don’t!), then a film does 500 crores and one might say it’s average because of pricing. Isn’t this deeply misleading? Surely audience participation means something too? When Forest Gump became a massive hit there was an article in the NY Times about how despite doing so much it wasn’t too profitable for the studios because Hanks and Zemeckis had a profit-sharing arrangement where they pocketed 40m a piece. But they didn’t say the film was ‘average’ because of this! It had made 350m or something. Would have been crazy to call it anything but a huge hit. It’s this sort of balance that one doesn’t see when one only focuses on the pricing issue.
Come on Satyam, I have always provided my comments on movies based on economics and economics alone. Whether it was in saying that HNY was a hit in economics but disappointment in content, or in Bang Bang being a disappointment in both or even more recently Baby being a disappointment in terms of its economics. I dont know any other way to gauge a movies profitability. On PK I dont know who is not calling it a blockbuster. If anything its a ATBB.
On I ,all the links you provided and even the ones from ABO are all about World wide collections. In every ABO link at the very bottom they have given the verdict and almost all the places they have said it is average. The link which I have put is not the worlwide collection, it was the link of the weekend BO in Andhra territory alone. And it was called a flop in it because after Week 1 there was always hope it will sustain. But the drop came in the 2nd weekend and they have given the verdict. And that verdict is of the Andhra domestic BO alone. And as i said just because it didnt do well in ABO domestic, that doesnt mean it cannot be a hit at World level. In TN BO, it has done around 65 crores but it will have a tax and the net will be lesser so there is still work to be done to get a hit status. And even behindwoods is saying the same thing. They are saying it might be a likely blockbuster if it goes the same way. But their verdict is still not updated. It just says ‘Grand Opening’. It only means they are waiting to see how it does in the future weeks before giving the verdict. Also one more thing, CBO is just Chennai BO, it is not TN BO. For a movie like I, it is possible that the CBO is very strong compared to TN BO. And they have also provided the theatres based on which they have done the BO reporting.
And then again I might be wrong here. The movie will sustain very well after Yennai Arindhal and will get a Hit+ verdict all over the world. So be it. We can wait for a week or 2 more and see how it goes.
BTW I am not even aware of this Ghajini thing you are talking about.
“Whether it was in saying that HNY was a hit in economics but disappointment in content, or in Bang Bang being a disappointment in both or even more recently Baby being a disappointment in terms of its economics. ”
Just the point I was trying to make..
on the rest you’re saying:
1)when someone says flop it means flop.
2)When someone says hit it probably still means flop.
exaggerating a bit but that’s more or less what you’re saying.
This looks really promising and the cast is great, I am especially looking forward to seeing Tom Hardy and Vincent Cassel in the same film(the novel is pretty good as well)-
Couldn’t watch ‘baby’ yet–but waiting for those specific ones I named above to enlighten us about ‘baby’ (only)–not interested in what they say bout other films.
Oh ‘aamirsfan’- what happened –is it banned at your end? Or r u ‘boycotting’ it –hmmm
Anyhow—
I may keep a look out for (rest of) the spoof casting ..depending on peoples ‘online behaviour’
As usual–the lead role has already been taken (& ‘owned’) ..
Baby has released and has seen exceptional reviews coming its way. While critical acclaim has been indeed the best ever since one can remember, what has made it count all the more is the fact that Akshay Kumar is being seen in a never-seen-before mode. While critics have hailed his performance as one of his best in a career that has spanned almost quarter of a century, audience has warmed up well by bringing in momentum as far as footfalls into theaters are concerned.
As for the treatment of the film, it is pretty apparent that Baby boasts of a unique narrative, what with third time director Neeraj Pandey making sure that the subject of global terrorism is told in a fresh manner that Hindi cinema audience has not been exposed to as yet.
“Each film is in a league of its own. Terrorism is something that we are tackling on almost a daily basis, yet each and every episode of such heinous acts is a plot on its own,” says Akshay Kumar.
Ask him about the kind of level headed performance he has given in the film and he says, “I feel compelled to make cinema that entertains people as well as awakens them. This genre of film is unbelievably hard to face, but one that must be faced head on. This world isn’t always about laughs, babies and fluffy dogs; this world is mean, terrifying and extremely real, so is cinema.”
Actress Rani Mukerji, who was lauded for her role as a brave woman police officer in the film Mardaani in India, left Bollywood lovers of Poland not only impressed with her acting skills but with the intricacies of the film which revolves around human trafficking, during the film’s premiere in Warsaw.
Rani faced a knowledgeable crowd after the premiere of Mardaani, produced by Yashraj Films,on January 28. The film was screened at the prestigious Muranow theatre.
Only films that have substance, make it to Muranow and Mardaani proved that it was unlike other Bollywood film, which Polish audiences have been watching for the past decade.
The audience was not only impressed with the film but also with its leading lady, who was specially invited to interact with the public.
The actress rose to the occasion and took questions with great confidence for more than an hour.
Next time I would like to see Rani taking on terrorists. It will show women officers are no less. Why should they be confined to women trafficking issues only?
Reactions I am seeing for Baby had hardly been seen before. Most of my friends have liked the movie immensely and to the extent that it has gone into their Top 10 or Top 5 films ever.
If this is the case, then I am wondering that why Baby could not pick up the way BOI wanted it. While Taran has been positive, BOI which i trust the most, has not acknowledged the WOM. From the promo Baby did look like a niche product, so one hardly expected 150Cr. However now that it looks close to touching 100Cr nett as per Taran and Rs 80cr nett as per BOI, can this be called a success? Have not been able to see the movie yet, but going by the appreciation from members of this forum, i wanted to ask what they think should have been the fate of Baby – Hit (100cr), Superhit (150 Cr) or Blockbuster (200 Cr)?
So should the makers have diluted the intensity and added romance, humor, top heroine and songs?
If they had done, would it get same appreciation?
Would it had done better at BO then?
SATYAMSHOT 
January 23, 2015 at 12:44 AM
http://movies.ndtv.com/movie-reviews/baby-movie-review-1081
2 stars
But even as our man Ajay sends the Taufiqs, Bilals and Javeds of the world scurrying for cover, there is that token patriotic Indian Muslim hovering in the background – the hero’s unwavering superior who calls the shots from Delhi.
And there is, for good measure, a contrite Muslim, too. A young engineer, after a stint in a terrorist training camp, has a change of heart and decides to help the cause of the undercover agents.
Baby also has one blazing confrontation scene that might particularly thrill the new saffron-tinged censor board.
A terrorist tells the hero that in the religion column of government forms he writes MUSLIM in bold and capital letters.
The agent responds with a story about how he fought for 24 hours to save a Muslim family during the Gujarat riots.
He then goes on to stress that on government forms he writes INDIAN, in bold and capital letters.
One can only cringe. Baby is a superficial cinematic condensation of the shrill television images, newspaper headlines and communally-charged political posturing that we are subjected to day in and day out. Who needs more?
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January 25, 2015 at 8:32 AM
What a terrible review for a wonderful movie. I almost didnt go for Baby because of some of the reviews, but I cant remember a better movie made on this genre in India.
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January 23, 2015 at 12:46 AM
http://movies.ndtv.com/movie-reviews/dolly-ki-doli-movie-review-1082?pfrom=home-topstories
2.5 stars
Yet, thanks to Sonam Kapoor’s characteristically uncomplicated approach to the job of fleshing out an atypical protagonist, Dolly Ki Doli is sprightly film that could have done with a little more energy and clarity.
Dolly is a rebel all right, but the precise motivations for her battle against the established social order never emerge with clarity.
As a result, the character remains a blurry blob as she takes one man after another for a ride.
When the writing can keep pace with them, the actors do a fairly good job. But that sadly isn’t often enough for the film to be able to soar above its modest ambitions.
But for all its obvious flaws and failings, Dolly Ki Doli is not completely unworthy of the 100 minutes that it demands from the audience.
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January 23, 2015 at 12:47 AM
Both films have taken a slow start.
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January 23, 2015 at 12:52 AM
Saw PK for the second time this Tuesday, sandwiches between my viewing of ‘I’ and ‘A Theory of Everything’.
My God, what a mess of a film it is!
A film that starts with a Pakistani boy and an Indian girl fighting for a ticket to a double bill of Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s poems and Amitabh Bachchan’s performance in some town in Belgium! And ends with revelation about a letter delivered to the wrong girl because she was holding the right cat! And in between it has an alien who doesn’t know what it can do and what it cannot.
And what a kickass courageous film it is!
Halfway through I could not believe Hirani has actually made such a film.
It asks questions that serious thinkers have forgotten to ask, let alone a filmmaker in a mainstream film.
It is also a very funny film. I was laughing when I was not thinking.
And sometimes I was laughing AND thinking.
The episode with PK trying to pass off Gandhi’s photos as currency notes, or when PK was getting his lessons in colour coding – what colour you wear when you are getting married and what colour you wear when your husband dies.
But mostly I was amazed at Hirani’s dare. He was actually using a Bollywood film to ask ordinary viewers these kinds of questions?
Yes, he was. And people were responding. Laughing, yes. But also realizing …how ridiculous some of their seemingly normal behaviour has been!
So what are the questions Hirani raises in the film?
But before that let us get rid of some silly distractions. Like the accusations of it being anti-Hindu. Or it targeting only the supposed evils of Hinduism. That’s quite easily done. First off, an alien landing in a Hindu-dominated India is likely to encounter Hindu rituals more than that of any other religion. Secondly, no other religion, say Islam or Christianity, or Buddhism, is dominated by rituals and such a bewildering variety of practices in public life related to God as Hinduism is. If he had to critique other religions’ concept of God he had to do it at the level of abstract principles. And that won’t provide any narrative base for an interesting film. The point is through all his picking holes in Hindu religious practices no one can show a single instance where he is implying that other religions are any better. He attacks the practice of the proselytizing the poor by the Christians, he questions the godliness in preventing little girls from getting educated by some Muslims , and he questions the very idea of terrorist attacks to protect one’s Khuda as if Khuda couldn’t protect himself.
He talks about the arbitrariness of all religious injunctions: One says worship the cow, the other says kill it as sacrifice, ones says wine is evil, the other says it’s God’s blessing. Surely they cannot all be right. But for the major part of the film he pokes fun at Hindu rituals and religious customs to raise the basic question: Do you ever think why you are doing what you are doing? And a non-Hindu seeing the film is going to end up asking the same questions about his or her own religious practices after seeing the film. It is not if he can go home and sleep peacefully saying to himself, “These Hindus have such stupid practices. Look at my religion. Everything is so rational.” No way. Because he is going to find in his own religion the same amount of irrationality, the same playing on the fear and greed of ordinary men by the priestly class, the mangers of God.
I have read pieces by people like Amish and Madhu Kishwar defending the rituals and practices that Hirani attacks in the film. But these are old defenses had had not deterred people like Buddha, Mahavir, Dayand Saraswati and Debendranath Tagore from rebelling against these practices. Amish says, idols are symbols of the real God, it is the faith of the devotee that turns a stone into God. Fair enough. So the stone is not real God but only a symbol. So Ram or Krishna are not real gods but symbols. So the place of birth of ram is but a symbol and is not worth shedding blood over surely. And when we accept that the real nature of God is something else, the rituals should be helping us in realizing that true nature. Do the rituals do that, or they just play upon our greed and fear? What happens to that realization when we indulge in massive corruption and offer a diamond crown to the Lord? What happens when you promise to offer a coconut if you pass in an exam? Isn’t PK right in demanding his money back if the transaction is not completed? Can the laws of cause and effect ensure one’s getting a job as a result of feeding a cow?
Going through some kind of hardship may steel one to face hardships. But rolling on the ground to get your wish granted? Can’t we think up of more intelligent rituals? Rolling on the left-over food after the higher cast people have eaten? Isn’t it plain that it is a ruse to enforce caste superiority? Many of these rituals and forms of gods were conceptualized when the human understanding of nature was limited. The sun, the moon, the sea fire and rain were given godly forms and worshipped. When our understanding of nature and laws of nature has expanded so vastly, falling back on the old rituals can only take us farther away from the true nature of God, and not nearer.
Hirani plays fair and articulates through Tapasvi the usual concern that many religious people have. ‘ What is your problem if people find solace in breaking coconut or tying a thread around a tree when in mental distress? What is the alternative you suggest?” PK’s answer is partly given in his direct reply to Tapasvi, partly in his advice to people who came to Tapasvi with their problems. To Tapasvi he says, let’s revere the God who has created us rather than the God we have created. To the man whose wife has been struck by paralysis, he says, going to some temple a thousand miles away will not help, stay with her, nurse her, give her company, spend the last days together. WE may or mayint be able to crack the God question to everyone’s total satisfaction. But unitil then we can at least try to be as humane as we can. If psychiatric help is what people need, let us working at better, more professionally sound psychiatry. If meditation brings peace let us prescribe meditation. If prayer at time seems to heal, let us study what aspect of prayer heals. (Let us not be like the scientist who drinks whisky with water, gin with water, rum with water, gets drunk each time and concludes that it is water the common element each time, that causes intoxication.) And whatever you do, don’t do anything out of fear, greed and ignorance. After the Vedanta, after the Upanishads, after Buddha, surely we should be evolving better paths for f reaching and realizing the ultimate truth, or at least devising better societies that foster more ethical, more humane living.
I have also heard the argument that many of these rituals have been around for thousands of years. And in spite of their failings they have been mostly working for so many people. There must be some good in them. Now imagine someone saying to Abraham Lincoln, slavery has been around for hundreds of years and has done wonders for our economy. There must be something good in it. No. The fact that something has been around for years is no defense of its soundness. A few thousand years, so? We Hindus out of all the people should not be putting up that defense. After all we think in yugas, manvantaras and Brahma’s years! Humans have been on the earth for 2.5 million years, and in the present anatomical form for more than 200,000 years. And surely we want to be around for a few million years if not more. And we all know our present state of spiritual evolution is so elementary. There is no way we can be satisfied with humanity the way it is. There is no religion that can claim that it has succeeded in developing a fine form of humanity that we can all be proud of and satisfied with. So the last few thousand years are just the baby steps we have taken on our spiritual journey, towards a form of higher consciousness. We have mikes to go. PK has not shown us the way, it has just flashed a torchlight on some bushes and potholes on the path that we are walking on, so that we can sidestep them, and continue with our exploration.
( So what explains the messy business with the letter in the church. And how does one forgive Hirani for it? Simple. It is a McGuffin, like Hirani and Joshi have said in their interview it is.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin) . It has nothing to do with the meat concern of the film. But without these there is now ay he could make it look like a mainstream Bollywood entertainer and get people to the theatre, who wants to go to a cinema for gyan?
And I forgive it just as I forgive the dog with the letter in Hum Aapke Hain Koun..? In fact, the absurdity of these devices is a clear clue to us; Take this business seriously at your own peril.
And coming back to Hirani, I admire his humanity as much as I admire his courage and intelligence. He could have easily chosen any other subject. There is no dearth of safe subjects on which he could have mounted his comedy. But this is something he felt strongly about and this is he message that he wanted to get across to as many people as he could.
Therefore the subterfuges, And the right rope walking.
And I am glad that he has so spectacularly succeeded.)
Ps: This time Anushka’s collagen-enhanced lips didn’t bother me much. If Aamir was pitch perfect as the wondering alien, she was his perfect foil as the kind-hearted Jaggu.
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January 23, 2015 at 1:15 AM
Exhausting but well written review
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January 23, 2015 at 7:22 PM
Glad that I decided to give PK a miss. This fanatic piece nails it.
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January 23, 2015 at 8:10 PM
Looks like you didn’t try to read after the title 🙂
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January 23, 2015 at 1:27 AM
Saibal Chatterjee’s review is rather critical of the “politics” in Baby-
….”Baby, written and directed by Neeraj Pandey, is a tricky film in more ways than one.
It might have been hailed as just another innocuous, smartly-packaged, competently shot espionage thriller if only the politics at its heart not been so dangerously dodgy.
Early in the film, the unstoppable spy hisses: “I can do anything.” A little later, the terror mastermind he is up against declares: “India cannot do anything”.
So, in this all-out everything-or-nothing battle, the onus falls squarely on the invincible hero to prove the enemies of the nation wrong.
In the bargain, the courageous man of action, under official but covert orders, scythes down everything and everyone that comes in his way.
The point that Baby seems to make is that it isn’t just trained killing machines, but also the nation as a whole, that can, and should, do ‘anything’, collateral damage be damned.
The hero barges into minority localities, uses extra-legal methods to extract confessions and leads from suspects, and eliminates anybody who is remotely troublesome.
Baby unabashedly reinforces the mainstream media’s worst stereotypes and constantly plays on the collective fears of a populace that is only too willing to find and hang scapegoats for the troubles of our contentious times.
What makes Baby doubly problematic is that it presents the story as a reflection of reality, and not just as a piece of fiction.
There are umpteen references to 26/11, the killing of Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad, and to other actual figures and incidents that have made the headlines in recent times.”
“And there is, for good measure, a contrite Muslim, too. A young engineer, after a stint in a terrorist training camp, has a change of heart and decides to help the cause of the undercover agents.
Baby also has one blazing confrontation scene that might particularly thrill the new saffron-tinged censor board.
A terrorist tells the hero that in the religion column of government forms he writes MUSLIM in bold and capital letters.
The agent responds with a story about how he fought for 24 hours to save a Muslim family during the Gujarat riots.
He then goes on to stress that on government forms he writes INDIAN, in bold and capital letters.
One can only cringe. Baby is a superficial cinematic condensation of the shrill television images, newspaper headlines and communally-charged political posturing that we are subjected to day in and day out. Who needs more?”
http://movies.ndtv.com/movie-reviews/baby-movie-review-1081
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January 23, 2015 at 5:49 AM
Some of my initial doubts here might have been justified in terms of the film’s politics. Will still see it though it’s not playing at my end.
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January 24, 2015 at 5:08 AM
I am expecting a solid action-thriller here (a more polished version of Holiday), will watch it on Monday. But I am rather sad that the guy who started with A Wednesday has suddenly curtailed his ambitions- Special 26 was still fine, but what’s the point of Neeraj Pandey making a solid action thriller (I mean this is his third film, shouldn’t he expand his horizons a little. I could still understand if Baby was a some-sort of a break between two ambitious films, but that’s not the case here. I am quite certain this is a weaker film than even Special 26). He has flattered to deceive, and at this point point of time I am not even sure if he wants to be taken seriously as a director. I mean even if Baby is the best Indian action film in recent times, is this really much of an achievement. I will say one thing though- Pandey has the feel for a solid thriller (A Wednesday was basically a thriller) so I am quite certain Baby is will be engaging enough)
The other guy who has disappointed me with his choices is Nishikant Kamat- the guy began with a very hard-hitting Marathi vigilante film “Dombivali Fast” (a smart reworking of “Falling Down”), then graduated to making the brilliant “Mumbai Meri Jaan” (his best film by a mile and one of the better Hindi of the past few years). But then he suddenly decides to do a Kaaka Kaaka remake with John Abraham (Force was a fairly decent film, but certainly not a project befitting his talents). This still would have been fine had he followed this up with something “important”. But he decides to make a half-baked Marathi masala film with Riteish (Lai Bhaari). And now he follows it up with another action remake (this time of a Korean film) called “Rocky Handsome” (that’s actually the title, I am not kidding).
And irrespective of what one thinks of his actual films, one should really appreciate Imtiaz Ali’s choices and decisions. To follow-up JWM and LAK with Rockstar and especially Highway takes some amount of courage (I still think his debut “Socha Na Tha” is his most charming film though)
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January 25, 2015 at 3:36 PM
Posting which I hope is a Direct link/response to a Sickular Samaj Link !!
NDTV reviews Baby, concludes that movies on Terrorism can decrease your IQ
http://www.opindia.com/2015/01/ndtv-reviews-baby-and-concludes-that-movies-on-terrorism-can-decrease-your-iq/
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January 23, 2015 at 5:45 AM
Baby Opens To Below The Mark Response
Friday 23 January 2015 12.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Baby opened below the mark with collections around 20-25% on average. The opening is lower than Akshay Kumar’s last two films Holiday – A Soldier Is Off Duty and Entertainment.
If compared with Entertainment the opening is similar at multiplexes but lower at single screens. The film has just not opened in places like UP, Rajasthan and CI where most Akshay Kumar films start very well irrespective of their final fate. The best start is in the Delhi/NCR belt.
Normally when a big film opens at these numbers it is tough to survive but here reports are decent as fas the multiplex crowd is concerned and there is a big holiday on Monday which will prove to be big advantage if the reports can translate into collections over the weekend. Holiday – A Soldier Is Never Off Duty had started at around 30% but was doing 50-55% in evening and closed on a 11.50 crore nett plus day one. Here the task will be to pick up from mid afternoon and somehow get around the 10 crore nett mark as the Holiday number seems a stiff task.
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January 23, 2015 at 5:50 AM
Dolly Ki Doli Has Poor Opening
Friday 23 January 2015 14.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Dolly Ki Doli has opened to a poor response of around 5-10% on average. The collections in places like Gujarat, UP, Maharashtra are extremely low but some properties in the North are a bit better t 15-20%.
The film was always going to dependent on growth and it remains to seen what growth it can achieve. It will show an improvement as collections are so low but there is competition from Baby which could curtail the growth.
The opening numbers suggest a lower opening day total than a similar film Khoobsurat released a few months back.
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January 23, 2015 at 5:51 AM
PK At 336 Crore – Huge Record At Multiplexes
Friday 23 January 2015 11.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
PK grossed around 4.25 crore nett in its fifth week to take its lifetime total close to around 336 crore nett. The fifth week total is the seventh highest of all time and since 2010 only Aashiqui 2 has the higher fifth week total. 3 Idiots has the highest fifth week total of all time of 9.75 crore nett plus.
The drop in the fifth week is 66%. the film probably add another 2 crore nett for a finish around the 338 crore nett. It will mean a 30% higher total than previous record holder Dhoom 3 though footfalls will only 7% more.
The multiplex business is extraordinary as the film is the first film to cross 200 crore nett from all India multiplexes as the final multiplex total is set for a huge 275 crore nett and distributor share of nearly 125 crore.
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January 23, 2015 at 6:02 AM
I didn’t care much for A Wednesday and I am definitely not interested in this one. Will catch up on some of the Hollywood Oscar hopefuls.instead.
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January 24, 2015 at 4:05 AM
It is a good thriller. Some scenes are cringeworthy but overall a very coherent movie.climax is very similar to Argo. And it is not anti-Muslum (even though the terrorists are Muslim) but it does name Pakistan. The movie blurs the line between real and reel if you follow current events.
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January 24, 2015 at 6:07 AM
good to hear.. one can of course name Muslims without feeding larger agendas. There are many who foolishly don’t wish to acknowledge this or don’t wish to see Muslims represented in this context which is absurd. Similarly the Pakistan angle is merely factual.
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January 23, 2015 at 9:04 AM
‘Baby’ is the dumbest name for this type of movie. Whoever came up with this name for a serious (and from what it looks to be a well made) movie should be fired. I am sure that this stupid name of throwing people off here.
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January 23, 2015 at 9:19 AM
I agree, the director claims there’s a reason for this. That might be the case but precisely given that Akshay has a certain history with over the top comedies with similar titles it might have helped his cause not to have had such a title. It wouldn’t have been a problem with another star. But you’re quite right. It’s interesting that even ‘Holiday’, an dramatic thriller had such a frivolous title.
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January 23, 2015 at 5:53 PM
Agreed. “Baby” starring Akshay Kumar just sounds like a Sajid Khan crapfest. But I loved the trailer and I like Akshay Kumar so I hope the movie is good and a hit. But the opening is bad for a superstar of Akshay’s standing, especially if it isn’t even double digits. But he has no one except for himself to blame for this. This is what happens when you make a OUATIM and Boss the same year you make a brilliant S26. You don’t really earn the audience’s faith in you this way. Plus this isn’t a single screen film and I think Akshay has the smallest multiplex base among all the top actors so that does not help either. The reviews indicate it’s really good- 4 stars for an Akshay Kumar film is unheard of. So I’m hoping the trending will be pretty good and it can go the Holiday BO route and cross 100. I don’t see it making anything more than Rowdy Rathore, his highest grosser ever, although if it does I’ll be estatic.
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January 23, 2015 at 6:46 PM
Honestly I dont think Akshay Kumar has any standing whatsoever in the BO to call him a super star. Maybe around Singh is King time he had something going for him then. He is not a 20 cr opener. Even if he has everything going for him he will open the movie at around 14 – 15 crores. Baby has opened around 8 crores
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January 23, 2015 at 7:47 PM
there was a certain phase where he was doing very well, had a number of consecutive successes but yeah the poor quality of films caught up with him. Also he made the crucial mistake of not jumping on the masala bandwagon when he could. He avoided it as long as possible. He could really have been in Salman’s position.
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January 23, 2015 at 9:46 PM
SIK was his peak definitely. Besides TMK and Rowdy Rathore and maybe Kambakkt Ishq, none of his films since SIK I think have opened that strongly. With a Rowdy Rathore 2 on a holiday he could get a Singham Returns type of opening. Although I think he’s a much bigger star than Ajay and I can’t stand Ajay D off screen or on screen besides Singham and 1-2 other films.
Also he has 4-5 movies releasing this year which is just crazy- Baby, Gabbar, Singh is Bling, Brothers, and I heard of some other movie Airlift, not sure if it’ll make it this year. Someone disagreed with me when I said in the Shaukeens BO thread that
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January 23, 2015 at 10:51 PM
Singh is Bling will be shelved, it didn’t even start.
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January 26, 2015 at 1:15 AM
what else continue your comedy.
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January 23, 2015 at 9:09 AM
Come to think of it, Akshay Kumar movies genreally have the most idiotic names. ‘Holiday’, ‘ It’s Entertainment ‘, ‘ Khiladi 786 ‘. I mean Holiday was also on same lines as Baby but why would you give it such a moronic name?
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January 23, 2015 at 1:02 PM
Some good stuff-liked the vocals and the ‘sound’
Btw just checked –statutory warning for ‘consumers’
Folks–the above clip contains some relatively explicit stuff and provocative images
Not for minors and prudes
Ps: this is Only for lovers of meaningful ‘mature’ cinema (like myself)
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January 23, 2015 at 2:47 PM
Baby Struggles On Day One
Friday 23 January 2015 23.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Baby has struggled at the box office on day one with collections likely to come in at around the 7.50 crore nett mark. The film has come out a bit better than what it looked like in the morning but there has not been that major leap in business that could have taken it to the 9-10 crore nett range.
The mass circuits have performed very badly with Rajasthan collecting only 38 lakhs nett which is less than what Tevar collected a two weeks back and one of the lowest openings of an Akshay Kumar starrer in Rajasthan. Its a similar story in UP, CPCI and Bihar.
The multiplexes of Mumbai, Delhi, Punjab and Bangalore are better as these areas have seen growth. This sort of opening number for a 75 crore plus film would normally mean curtains but Baby has that big holiday on Monday. So big 30% plus growth on Saturday and Sunday and then a repeat of Sunday on Monday will give the film a chance despite this low start.
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January 23, 2015 at 2:48 PM
Baby Opens To 50 pc, Will Reel In Big Numbers By Evening
by Rohini Nag (January 23, 2015)
Akshay Kumar-starrer Baby hit cinema screens today and, after being pegged as one of the most anticipated releases of 2015, is seeing an upsurge in response with every successive show. The film opened at 50 to 60 per cent all-India even as cold weather in many parts of the country discouraged movie-goers from venturing out. However, the film has positive word-of-mouth and distributors believe it will run house full post the afternoon shows. Baby released at over 2,000 screens, and with a long weekend looming, it is expected to reel in gigantic numbers. On the other hand, Sonam Kapoor’s Dolly Ki Doli drew a lukewarm response from the audience, taking a mere 10-per cent all-India opening.
Rajesh Thadani of Multimedia Combines, Mumbai
There are huge expectations of Baby and the film is expected to enjoy a long run at the box office. The film opened at 50 per cent all-India and in Mumbai, and the audience response is growing with eveyr passing show. The film is likely to have house-full shows during the evening and night. The film released at over 800 screens in Mumbai. On the other hand, Dolly Ki Doli opened at 10 per cent all-India and in Mumbai.
Sanjay Ghai of Mukta Arts, Delhi-UP
Baby took an opening of 50 per cent in Delhi-UP but we expect the film to have a better turnout during the afternoon shows. The film has drawn a very positive response and is likely to enjoy a spectacular long weekend. Dolly Ki Doli took an opening of 10 per cent, which is expected to remain constant.
Surendra Saluja of Lakshya Movies, East Punjab
Baby opened at around 90 screens in East Punjab and saw an opening of 70 to 75 per cent. Due to the cold weather and the rains here, the film will see a better response only after the 4 pm shows. The film is very well made and, according to early reports, it is expected to have a superlative weekend. Dolly Ki Doli took an opening of 25 per cent here and the fate of this film will be decided only after the noon shows.
Gaurrav Gaur of O’Real Imaginations, Rajasthan
Baby is one of the few films in today’s times which will enjoy a long run at the box office. The film opened at 50 per cent in Rajasthan, which soon grew to 60 per cent and rose even further. The film released at 80-odd screens but the film will enjoy a fabulous run thanks to the buzz around it and the audience seeing Kumar doing what he does best, which is action. Now we can truly say that 2015 has begun with a bang. Dolly Ki Doli opened at 20 per cent and the film is expected to have a decent run.
Debashish Dey of Aum Moviez, West Bengal
Baby opened at 60 per cent here and will draw a bigger response during the second half of the day. The film brings together Akshay Kumar and Neeraj Pandey after Special 26 and the audience is expecting something spectacular from their collaboration this time as well. The film released at 130 cinemas and footfalls are increasing with every passing show. Dolly Ki Doli, on the other hand, took an opening of 30 per cent and saw a good response particularly in Kolkata.
Rakesh Singh, Maa Sona Films, Bihar
Baby opened at 40 per cent here due to the cold weather. The film had a very good pre-release buzz and due to positive reviews, business will grow during the day. The film released at 125 screens in Bihar. It has the right amount of action and thrills, which will charm the multiplex and single-screen audience alike. The long weekend will ensure that the film gains momentum at the box office in the next few days. Dolly Ki Doli did not take a good opening here and we can’t say much about the film.
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January 23, 2015 at 3:06 PM
So among all the 4 and 5 star ratings (and the surprising 3+ star rating of Anupama chopra and Masand) the only ones posted on this site is the one by ndtv. Same thing for an Aamir/abhishek movie and people would here would have gone berserk
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January 23, 2015 at 3:12 PM
I don’t post reviews either way barring Rangan. The rest are free to do what they wish. But the 4/5 stars ones were posted yesterday in the other box office thread.
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January 23, 2015 at 4:29 PM
Akshay Kumar starrer Baby, about an Indian spy mission to catch a dreaded terrorist, will not be shown in Pakistan as the censor board of the country refused to allow its screening.
“Censor boards in Islamabad and Karachi have decided to ban the film because it portrays a negative image of Muslims and the negative characters in the film also have Muslim names,” the Dawn newspaper said.
The CDs and DVDs of the film have also been banned in Islamabad.
A representative of the film’s distributor, Everready Pictures informed the paper that the film has been banned in Pakistan.
Although the film was set to release on January 23 across Pakistan, cinemas in Karachi had removed it from their websites leading to speculation about its imminent screening.
The film stars famed Pakistani TV drama actor Mikaal Zulfiqar as well as Rasheed Naz, who played the villainous cleric in Shoaib Mansoor’s Khuda Ke Liye.
Earlier, director Neeray Pandey was quoted as saying that the film was not “anti-Pakistan.”
The board routinely bans films deemed to have ‘anti- Pakistan’ themes.
In the past, the local censor board banned Ek Tha Tiger that featured an Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agent.
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January 23, 2015 at 7:04 PM
And yet, despite these shortcomings, I will admit, I enjoyed the film. Dogra gives us endearing characters, although Dolly herself is the weakest written role, and as a result Sonam Kapoor has little to work with. She does a good job, however, of convincing you that many men could lose themselves to her charm. From bit players like the fake granny who exploits her single dialogue for repeated laughs, to Sonu’s overbearing father, and Manjot’s henpecked dad, these are terrific supporting roles played out by a great cast including Rajesh Sharma, Manoj Joshi and Brijendra Kala among others. The one false note is Pulkit Samrat whose performance amounts strictly to posturing; he swaggers into every frame as if channeling Salman Khan, but has little presence or charm.
Never overstaying its welcome, the film is short and a lot of fun. I’m going with three out of five for Dolly Ki Doli. It’s worth watching for Rajkummar Rao’s excellent performance alone.
Rating: 3 / 5
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January 23, 2015 at 7:04 PM
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/dolly-ki-doli-review-the-film-has-improbable-scenarios-for-easy-laughs/524549-47-84.html
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January 23, 2015 at 7:09 PM
The pace picks up considerably post intermission, when Pandey gives us some terrific moments of breathless action and genuine tension. In a rare scene that allows another agent besides Ajay to flex their chops, Tapsee Pannu gets her big moment to shine in a Kathmandu hotel room. However implausible, another break-in scene at a desert resort is riveting, edge-of-the-seat stuff. The film’s last hour in fact is so crisply done you’re even willing to forgive Pandey the messiness of the first act and the routine lapses of logic in the screenplay, like Bilaal’s escape in broad daylight on Mumbai’s busy Marine Drive.
To be fair, the film is an engaging enough thriller sprinkled with witty lines and crowd-pleasing moments that Akshay Kumar performs with a deadpan expression to great effect. An example of that is a superb scene in which he calmly responds to an apathetic offhand remark made by a minister’s PA. Akshay, in fact, is in very good form, giving us a glimpse of the solid actor he can be when he isn’t cashing his paycheck making low-brow comedies. He’s ably supported, in the film’s final act, by a buff Rana Dagubatti, and particularly by Anupam Kher as fellow agents on a daredevil mission.
I was rankled by the film’s simplistic arguments, its all-too-convenient solutions to complex issues, and Pandey’s tokenism when it came to portraying a few ‘good Muslims’. Also, wouldn’t it have been great to get a protagonist that felt vulnerable instead of a superhero? Well, perhaps in another film.
I’m going with three out of five for Baby. Enjoy it for the brisk action thriller that it is, and try not to think about how much better it could’ve been.
Rating: 3 / 5
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/baby-review-the-film-is-a-khichdi-of-influences-uneven-film/524548-47-84.html
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January 24, 2015 at 4:43 AM
ROFLMAO- Golden line from Rangan-
“But Rao is the real surprise. We all knew he could act, but did you know he could dance? He keeps up, amazingly, with Malaika Arora in an item song (see below), which is a little like chancing upon Salman Khan reading a book.”
And another gem-
“As Dolly Ki Doli began to drag, I thought the problem was this trailer, this two-minute equivalent of the guy in the seat in front of you shouting “Rosebud is a sled” or “Bruce Willis is a ghost.” (There was a time you could try and avoid trailers, but they’re so ubiquitous now, I’ve stopped resisting, if only because I don’t want to be the guy in the movie hall scrunching his eyes shut, plugging his ears, and going lalalalalalala…) ”
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January 24, 2015 at 5:13 AM
Baby is a brilliant film. Second half is thrilling. It depicts the truth of terrorism in our country thus some pseudo secular channels like NDTV have tried to downplay the movie. Akshay is good but Anupam is stunning.
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January 24, 2015 at 6:09 AM
Baby First Day Business
Saturday 24 January 2015 13.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Baby grossed 7.75 crore nett on day one which is a low total. The film opened slowly at 20-25% and went to around 50% in the evening but the jump was limited to metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Bangalore .
The film will have to show major growth on Saturday and Sunday and then the big holiday on Monday can also help. A minimum 50 crore nett total of the extended weekend was a must but here it looks like that is out of range unless the growth is phenomenal.
The promos gave it a niche feel especially considering the film is an action/thriller type and that has done the damage. Holiday was a similar type of film but the growth of business there was at multiplexes across the board and single screens started at a much higher level. Here key cities like Jaipur, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Indore, etc have just not performed. The best business has come in Mumbai, NCR and South.
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January 24, 2015 at 6:10 AM
Dolly Ki Doli Has Poor First Day
Saturday 24 January 2015 11.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Dolly Ki Doli had a poor first day as it grossed around 1.75 crore nett on day one. The collections of Khoobsurat were 30% more as that film grossed 2.25 crore nett more.
The film was always going to suffer due to the clash with Baby and although Baby has not done well initially it would have still taken a 20-30% audience away from Dolly Ki Doli. The film has fared a bit better in the Delhi NCR belt but even here collections are ver low. The central belt and East are extremely dull.
The film should grow on Saturday but even if it outperforms and grows 40-50% on Saturday it will reach 2.50 crore nett which could have been the first day collection if it was solo release..
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January 24, 2015 at 6:55 AM
http://www.outlookindia.com/article/Baby/293166
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January 24, 2015 at 8:51 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/obama-shortens-trip-to-india-to-pay-respects-to-the-late-king-abdullahs-family-in-saudi-arabia/2015/01/24/1fa79a86-a3b6-11e4-9f89-561284a573f8_story.html?hpid=z4
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January 24, 2015 at 9:05 AM
Rangan on Baby.
“Watching Akshay Kumar as covert ops specialist Ajay Singh Rajput in the new thriller Baby, I began to wonder if there was another star who would have been equally at home in this exceptionally physical role. Salman has the muscles, yes, but with him, the film would have turned more escapist and pop-py. Shah Rukh looks tired, and Aamir has the intensity but has to work twice as hard to register the physicality. Ajay Devgn? Probably – but he’s too dour on screen. You see him on the posters and you don’t exactly rub your hands and go, Now this should be a crackling entertainer. The younger lot – Ranveer, Ranbir, Shahid – are too, well, young. You wouldn’t believe them in the scenes with the wife (Madhurima Tuli) and the two young children, or in the scene where Rajput grimly guns down a team member who’s been tortured and practically left for dead by the enemy, almost as if granting him release. The stray strands of grey on Akshay’s face help us buy into the illusion that the character he plays is capable of doing these things, that he is in a place in his life where he would be doing these things. The physicality helps too. Akshay surely works out as much as the others, but looking at him you don’t think, “Spends five hours daily in the gym.” You think, “Health.” He looks naturally fit, like one of those old-time wrestlers who, with nothing more than dumbbells and a proper diet, looked in peak shape. Akshay looks like a natural candidate for the missions depicted in this movie. There’s no backstory needed. We don’t need to be convinced about Ajay Singh Rajput. The film hits the ground running, and it’s because of the authenticity Akshay wears like a second skin that we don’t have to struggle to keep up.”
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January 24, 2015 at 9:29 AM
I liked both “A Wednesday” and “Special 26” so it’s good to see that BR found this one to be a solid thriller. Might check it out this weekend if it’s playing in my area. Have a soft spot for intelligent action thrillers.
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January 24, 2015 at 9:39 AM
Not sure how many can recall that film, but I quite like “16 December” (which was in the same vein)- Danny was in fine form there (also had the very sultry Dipannita Sharma).
On Danny does anyone recall this one (from DD’s golden age. I sadly can’t find the episodes anywhere)-
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January 24, 2015 at 11:50 AM
agree with everything here…
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January 24, 2015 at 3:47 PM
Have you seen it?
Rangan is correct in “And Taapsee Pannu almost walks away with the movie – not because of her performance or some such thing, but because her scene in a hotel room comes with such a devilish twist. Sometimes it isn’t just the comedy that leaves you smiling.”
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January 24, 2015 at 5:02 PM
High praise for Akshay. I am disappointed with the lack of shows in my local theatre…plus they are all poorly timed. But sounds very much like this one is a must watch from most the reviews.
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January 24, 2015 at 9:28 AM
Why I Will Never Talk About the Gandhis: Amitabh Bachchan to NDTV
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/why-i-will-never-talk-about-the-gandhis-amitabh-bachchan-to-ndtv-651851
“In an exclusive interview to NDTV, actor Amitabh Bachchan said that he does not intend to talk about his infamous falling out with the Gandhis after the Bofors scandal. “This is something I need to contain with me and not make it public,” he said. “For you it may be a story, for me it’s a closed chapter.”
The Bofors case dates back to 1986, when Swiss arms manufacturer Bofors landed a Rs 1,500 crore contract to supply Howitzer guns to India. At the time, Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister. Mr Bachchan was his close friend and a law-maker from Allahabad. A year later, Swedish media began reporting that the company had paid massive kickbacks to Indian politicians and defence officials. Reacting to the reports, then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had assured Parliament that that was not the case. The Bofors scandal however cost him the general election in 1989.
Mr Bachchan was among those accused of accepting kickbacks, but was cleared over two decades later. After the Bofors scandal, he quit politics. “I don’t know politics, I am not qualified at it…I failed at it. I don’t know how to deal with people, I don’t know what it required of me,” he told NDTV.
On his refusal to comment on the Bofors controversy during the lengthy investigation, he said, “Giving a clarification sounds very defensive. I’d rather wait for the truth to come out. Yes that’s painful to wait because it takes a lot out of you but when it will, it will nullify everything that happened before. And that’s what happened with Bofors. 25 years later, the Chief Prosecutor said my name was just planted in there. I don’t think we were equipped to handle that (telling our side of the story) and we still aren’t…at least, I’m not,” he said to NDTV.
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January 24, 2015 at 4:01 PM
Comment on the day goes to this comment by paapaas. Well picked up, girl…
https://satyamshot.wordpress.com/2015/01/22/baby-dolly-ki-doli-the-rest-of-the-box-office/#comment-294614
Interestingly scrolled down to note that when Rangan does have a writeup on baby, Satyam doesn’t post it–somebody else has to lol..bcos it’s somewhat positive
Btw I’m noticing for a while that Rangan seems to be totally following my thought process –can’t say or believe he is copying my thoughts eh..
Btw I enjoy these kiddish games Satyam plays but I always catch Satyam with his pants down 🙂
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January 24, 2015 at 5:12 PM
To heck with xpert reviews & box office
Be it ‘highway’ or ‘happy ending’ or ‘bang bang’, the ‘flopdom’ or the ‘hit’ box office of certain films matters zilch to me. Loved em
I may take a brief detour& catch ‘baby’ soon 4 akshays role-
Obviously before moving on to FSoG 50shadesofgrey..
which is clearly one of the patented apex products
But before that I need to shrug off a tune I can’t seem to get rid of …
O.. tu duniya mein akelo hai
Humein fikar ghani sataave re
Tujhe Amma Taai apni Lugaai
Kuch bhi yaad na aave re
Tharki chokro aayo re
Banke mhaaro mehmaan….
It lingers…
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January 24, 2015 at 5:28 PM
BABY is a fantastic movie. Highly recommended. Great thriller once again after the unsuccessful but highly deserving movie D-DAY.
Forget the ‘reading’ into the politics of the movie. This one just milks the Indo-Pakistan/Hindi-Muslim uneasy equation and comes up with a great product.
Akshay Kumar is superb and is UTTERLY believable as the invincible soldier. There is ABSOLUTELY nobody who could have carried of this role with such skill and panache. He fits the role like a glove.
This man deserves to be slapped for making a mess of his career. This movie proves again what kind of a great material he is only if he makes better choices.
And mind you, it is not that he was always a good actor. He has come a long, long way from his wooden-act days of SAINIK, SAUGANDH to coming into his own with excellent comic timing in HERA PHEREI, KHAKEE and then blossoming into a fine dramatic actor with TASVEER, HOLIDAY etc.
He definitely could have stood neck-to-neck with Salman and come out trumps since he has metamorphosed into a far, far better actor while Salman’s facial expressions have remained the same since MPK. While Salman remains a superstar, Akshay could have been that superstar with that rare combination of attitude and talent and charisma..
And what physicality Akshay displays in the movie! Never an over-showing of the 6 pack vada-pavs; all that one takes home is his agility and his dare-devilry. Great show Akshay!
Watching this again next week. Highly, highly recommended.
And that Tapasee’s scene is one hell of a subversion of something we call a HONEY TRAP..
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January 24, 2015 at 6:02 PM
i had no intention of watching this but i’m off work next week and given what you’ve written i’m tempted to check it out! saw Dolly Ki Doli today – was mildly fun – could have been better.
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January 24, 2015 at 6:24 PM
If you like thrillers then this is a good one. There are 3-4 scenes I thought could have been done better but still someone trying to make a song-less movie with no actress sans usual Bollywood devices is commendable.
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January 24, 2015 at 6:31 PM
I’m hesitant cos just not really keen on seeing anything about muslims/terrorism etc right now – too much of that stuff going on in real life currently 😦
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January 24, 2015 at 6:57 PM
There is no implication in movie that terrorism is associated with Muslim religion but terrorists are Muslims.
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January 24, 2015 at 10:12 PM
“not really keen on seeing anything about muslims/terrorism etc right now – too much of that stuff going on in real life currently ”
I agree. I didn’t watch Haider and lot of other movies for this reason. Even for Baby, I went with lot of trepidition. I thought there would be lot of ‘violence’ and I didn’t have mood for it. Fortunately there is not much of violence in the movie at all. The chase scenes are really nice and it is just a wholesome entertainment. The terroists aren’t shown too much at all. In fact every frame has akshay in it and the last 30-40 minutes is just superb. If you liked Argo you would like this one too.
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January 24, 2015 at 6:13 PM
The beauty is that most of the things have happened in reality ( Nepal, Saudi Arab) and Neeraj basically combined them in one tight movie.
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January 24, 2015 at 8:11 PM
Will this movie make innocent muslims’s lives more difficult?
Can India become Israel and handle situations?
Can fear keep down terrorists completely?
What about other terrorism like naxalism, regionalism which are equally lethal?
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January 24, 2015 at 9:18 PM
It is not about hindu-muslims at all. It is a thriller. The ‘main’ guy is actually a good Muslim character (Danny). One should not watch movies with such ‘narrow’ framework. It is not abt hindu-muslim or india-pakistan even. I would say it is just a nice, clean thriller movie. Go watch it.
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January 24, 2015 at 9:24 PM
The whole last bit reminded me very much of Argo (Ben Affleck movie). It was edge of the seat thriller and dialogues were perfect. Someone complained abt BGM but actually I loved the BGM. A suave, global product from Bollywood. I hope it does good business and Pandey keeps churning out his movies.
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January 24, 2015 at 10:10 PM
“Never an over-showing of the 6 pack vada-pavs;”
ROFLOL.
There is a scene of Govinda in recent Saif Khan movie (I forget the name already) where Govinda is hindi film hero who goes to plastic surgeon to get 6 pack installed. It was quite hilarious.
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January 24, 2015 at 9:17 PM
watched Baby. One word, Chakas.
What an awesome, awesome thriller.
It is ‘similar’ to special chabbis…has Niraj’s stamp all over it. Bravo. WTG. This is almost like watching hollywood movie. Akshay is in every frame. The movie theater was full (AMC) with even front seats taken. The scene where politician’s secretary is slapped by Akshay, audience clapped! The humor is just the right amount and PERFECT. Loved this movie. I disagree with Ann Jo. I think Akshay made it without any support from johar/yrf; without taking steriods; without having father or godfather. I hope people like Abhishek take a leaf from him as to how it is done.
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January 24, 2015 at 9:38 PM
Di:
That is the irony isn’t it? He HASN’T made it to where he could have been. If he is just going to be content with HEY I DIDN’T TAKE THE HELP OF KJO or YRF, then that is not really a significant achievement. SRK too didn’t have a Godfather. So what’s the comparison here?
All I am talking about are his choices. When he does films like BOSS or KHILADI 786. I agree with Satyam that he would have made a STIFF competition for everyone if he had hopped on to the masala bandwagon. You can see how convincing he is in both trash like BOSS and in quality like SPECIAL 26 or BABY.
The man is capable of a lot more..& he should plan more..mix it up a bit more..
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January 24, 2015 at 10:06 PM
“He HASN’T made it to where he could have been.”
Actually he is flowering; earlier he was keeanu Reeves like (there wascompetition bet. Abhishek and Akshay, kaun jyada wooden hai; Abhi is winning) but with collaboration with Pandey, who makes him look very-very good, he has finally come to a place of recognition. I think it is all Pandey who makes Akshay and his acting look damn good. So in the end it is all about who you work with and what you prioritize in life. SRK ruined his career by working with likes of johar/yrf. He could have gone places (makebe have careerograph like Ranveer or Ranbir) and be recognized as better actor instead of what he is today. I am a huge Akki fan. I think I would take him over any of the khans anyday and over all the new lot of ‘actors’.
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January 24, 2015 at 10:16 PM
If I remember correctly, I think you are an SRK fan.
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January 24, 2015 at 10:17 PM
YUK…NOWAY!
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January 24, 2015 at 9:56 PM
Happy Republic Day.
But it is not happy republic day for monkeys of lutyens Delhi.
Nearly 40 men will be on special duty during US President Barack Obama’s visit to Delhi. They will be in charge of warding off monkeys in and around Lutyen’s Delhi, and Rajpath on Republic Day.
The New Delhi Municipal Corporation or NDMC has deployed these men to avoid a potentially embarrassing situation during the highly anticipated Republic Day parade.
This is the fifth time Pramod, the supervisor of this operation, has been in charge of ensuring that monkeys don’t disrupt the grand display of India’s military might and multi-hued culture on January 26.
In earlier years, ‘langurs’, which are not on the best of terms with monkeys, were used to chase them away. But the Environment Ministry has since banned the use of these animals.
So these men make glottal voice to impersonate ‘langurs’.
“The NDMC has ordered us to patrol the area around Rajpath and make sure monkeys do not reach the parade location,” Pramod told NDTV.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/on-republic-day-keeping-the-monkeys-away-653283?utm_source=ndtv&utm_medium=top-stories-widget&utm_campaign=story-8-http%3a%2f%2fwww.ndtv.com%2farticle%2findia%2fon-republic-day-keeping-the-monkeys-away-653283
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January 24, 2015 at 10:07 PM
http://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/bollywood-camps-cannot-make-you-akshay-kumar/article1-1310199.aspx
Bollywood camps cannot make you: Akshay Kumar
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January 24, 2015 at 10:42 PM
Why is the site being spammed by Filmy ACES interview..gosh. Anyways watching Baby tomorrow.
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January 24, 2015 at 11:37 PM
Seriously, what is going on with those interviews on the opening page?
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January 24, 2015 at 11:44 PM
corrected.
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January 25, 2015 at 12:08 AM
Baby Shows Growth On Saturday But Collections Still Low
Saturday 24 January 2015 22.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Baby has managed to grow on Saturday with collections likely to come in the 9.25 crore nett range. It is 20% higher than Friday which is good growth but the film needed more as the first day was low.
The problem for the film is that the mass circuits actually fell on Saturday from there very low numbers on Friday. Places like Rajasthan and Nizam /Andhra actually fell 10% despite both only collecting 38 lakhs nett each on day one. The main growth cane from Delhi/UP, East Punjab and Mysore.
The two day total will be around the 17 crore nett mark and now the film will need big 40-50% growth on Sunday and that just to have a respectable weekend of around 30 crore nett.
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January 25, 2015 at 12:54 AM
This is the film I am waiting for. Looks really promising (but couldn’t they come up with a better look for Mithun?!)-
[post created]
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January 25, 2015 at 4:09 AM
GHANTA AWARDS 2015 – Complete Nominations List Out
http://www.koimoi.com/bollywood-popular/ghanta-awards-2015-complete-nominations-list-out/
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January 25, 2015 at 6:10 AM
LOL
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January 25, 2015 at 4:32 AM
Friday Report: ‘Sniper’ Adds $18.3 Million, Depp’s ‘Mortdecai’ Flops
by Ray Subers
January 24, 2015
American Sniper added $18.3 million on Friday, which puts it on pace for one of the best second weekends ever.
Among the newcomers, The Boy Next Door got off to a fine start, while Mortdecai and Strange Magic bombed.
American Sniper’s $18.3 million haul is, by a large margin, the biggest second Friday ever for an R-rated movie. In comparison, The Passion of the Christ added $13.7 million, while The Matrix Reloaded and The Hangover Part II earned $10.3 million and $10.6 million, respectively. Sniper’s second Friday was also significantly higher than all of 2014’s superhero movies, which were in the $9 to $12 million range.
After eight days in nationwide release, American Sniper has already earned $154.1 million. On Friday, it passed Gran Torino to become director Clint Eastwood’s highest-grossing movie ever. It also eclipsed Bradley Cooper’s American Hustle.
American Sniper is on track to earn at least $60 million over the three-day weekend. If it follows the same pattern as Lone Survivor and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit—from the same weekend last year—it will wind up with over $64 million. That will rank eighth all-time among second weekends.
In a distant second place, The Boy Next Door opened to an estimated $5.7 million at 2,602 locations. That’s a bit lower than The Call’s $6.18 million, but is noticeably higher than Jennifer Lopez’s last starring vehicle, The Back-Up Plan ($4.26 million). The Boy Next Door should finish the three-day weekend with $15 to $17 million.
The Wedding Ringer took third place with an estimated $3.3 million, which is off 53 percent from its opening day. For the weekend, the movie should earn at least $10 million.
Paddington added $2.6 million—off 44 percent—for a new total of $30.3 million. Its second weekend should wind up in the $11 to $13 million range.
Taken 3 rounded out the Top Five with $2.07 million (down 57 percent). To date, the final installment in the action franchise has earned $70.5 million.
Johnny Depp’s Mortdecai took eighth place with a horrible $1.47 million debut. That’s actually lower than Depp’s The Rum Diary, which opened to $1.84 million back in October 2011. It’s also barely above last weekend’s Blackhat, which took in $1.39 million on its first day. This is a stunningly poor opening for a movie with a handful of stars that’s been marketed quite heavily in recent weeks; for the weekend, it should wind up with just over $4 million.
In ninth place, Strange Magic flopped with an estimated $1.3 million. It’s on track to earn less than $5 million for the three-day weekend, which will qualify as one of the worst debuts ever for a movie playing at over 3,000 locations.
In far fewer theaters, Jennifer Aniston’s Cake also got off to a poor start on Friday. The movie earned an estimated $266,000 at 482 locations, which puts it on track to miss $1 million this weekend.
Weekend Projections
1. American Sniper – $65 million
2. The Boy Next Door – $16 million
3. Paddington – $12 million
4. Wedding Ringer – $11 million
-. Strange Magic – $4.8 million
-. Mortdecai – $4.3 million
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January 25, 2015 at 4:43 AM
WTF happened to Johnny Depp??? His last good entertainer, IMO, was Public Enemy…after that it has been crap films along with crap performances. And the trending on American Sniper is just remarkable…noone expected this movie to do THIS well. And I don’t think it’s as simple as a typical war movie…box office mojo mentioned last week that it has worked with the families also. There are a lot of military/veteran families out there that can relate to the story. It is still surprising for it to do this well though…the conservatives are loving this “kind” of Hollywood.
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January 25, 2015 at 5:18 AM
I think in hindsight Pirates was the worst thing which happened to Depp- suddenly, out of nowhere, he became this huge star, and since then he has only been doing only blockbuster films. Once you leave out Public Enemies and Sweeny Todd, he doesn’t have much to show
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January 25, 2015 at 8:40 AM
‘I’ grabs the Number 1 spot
Jan 25, 2015
‘I’ is well into the second week of its stupendous run at the box office and the film continues to smash records the world over. One such market where ‘I’ is at the very top is Australia where it has bested Enthiran, Sivaji and Kaththi to take the top spot among all Tamil movies.
At the end of the first week, ‘I’ grossed a reported 304,279 ASD (1.48 crores). The Tamil version of the movie is continuing in good number of locations in Australia in the 2nd week too.
The line ‘Adhukkum Mela’ sumps up these collection exploits aptly.
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January 25, 2015 at 8:41 AM
‘I’ falls way short of Robot
Jan 25, 2015
The Hindi version of ‘I’ has sort of plateaued out at the Indian box-office after its opening last week. The first week domestic net is in the 9.5 to 9.6 crores range. Trade experts predict that the film’s lifetime net in Hindi would end up in the 11 to 12 crores range, which is much lesser than Shankar’s earlier Robot (Hindi), which netted around 20 crores in India.
Meanwhile, ‘I’ continues its success story in Tamil for the second week running, and is expected to rule for some more days easily.
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January 25, 2015 at 8:43 AM
‘I’ Box Office Collection (7 Days): Vikram-Amy Starrer Emerges as Second Biggest Dubbed Earner in AP/Nizam
By Sangeetha Seshagiri January 23, 2015 12:30 IST
17 3
Vikram-Amy Jackson starrer “I” (“Ai”) has done good business in its first week at the AP/Nizam box office.
The film, directed by Shankar, took fantastic openings on the first day in AP/Nizam and continued to rake in decent collections. It has minted over ₹23 crore share in just seven days at the AP/Nizam box office, according to Andhraboxoffice.
Check below the area-wise breakup of “I” 7-day collections at the AP/Nizam box office.
Vizag: ₹2.25 crore, East: ₹1.86 crore, West: ₹1.67 crore, Krishna: ₹1.44 crore, Guntur: ₹2.15 crore, Nellore: ₹1.11 crore, Ceeded: ₹4.72 crore, Nizam: ₹7.90 crore. Total AP/Nizam: ₹23.10 crore.
“I” has emerged as the all time second biggest earner after Rajinikanth’s “Robo” at the AP/Nizam box office. “Robo” raked in ₹37 crore share in its full run in Andhra Pradesh. It will be interesting to see if “I” will break “Robo” collections at the AP/Nizam box office.
The AP/Nizam theatricals for “I” has been sold at around ₹39 crore, which is higher than Robo’s lifetime collections. The Vikram-starrer needs to fare well to achieve profits.
The film received mixed reviews from critics with many terming it as a technically brilliant film. Vikram’s performance won loads of appreciation from them, while Santhanam’s comedy is one of the plus points of the film. However, they cited that “I” is a let-down due to wafer-thin storyline, despite Vikram’s best efforts. So far, the film has managed to have a decent run despite the mixed talk.
On Friday, Two Telugu films – Kalyan Ram’s “Pataas” and Sundeep Kishan’s “Beeruva”– will hit screens. Whether the release of these films will affect the business of “I” is something one needs to wait and watch.
Meanwhile, the Telugu version of the film has been trimmed. “Shankar’s #I trimmed!, now running with 178 Mins Duration in #Telugu,” tweeted Andhraboxoffice.
The Vikram-starrer is a romantic thriller with Amy Jackson playing the female lead. The film’s other cast members include Ojas Rajani, Santhanam, Suresh Gopi and Upen Patel. The music of “I” is composed by AR Rahman, while cinematography is handled by PC Sreeram. Produced by Aascar Ravichandran, “I” is made with a big budget.
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January 25, 2015 at 6:17 PM
Its going to be a flop in Telugu version. The selling costs are too high
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January 25, 2015 at 8:50 AM
comparison with Robot:
“Distributor and trade analyst Suniel Wadhwa said, “The film’s net collection is Rs 60 crore in Tamil Nadu, Rs 30 crore in Andhra Pradesh, Rs 8 crore in Karnataka and Rs 4 crore in Kerala. The Hindi version (Robot) has managed to collect Rs 15 crore. ”
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Rajini-flicks-first-week-collections-117cr/articleshow/6715963.cms
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January 25, 2015 at 9:00 AM
though Behindwoods had 125 crores worldwide for Enthiran and lower totals all over:
http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-movie-news-1/oct-10-03/endhiran-box-office-11-10-10.html
Endhiran, mainly the Tamil version, has grossed Rs. 35 crores from all its screens across Tamil Nadu. If the Hindi and Telugu rights were sold to Gemini Film Circuit for Rs. 20 crores and Rs. 30 crores respectively, Gemini has already retrieved the amount they had invested in Hindi. Robo, the Telugu version, has grossed approximately Rs. 16 crores. The scene in Karnataka is no less with Endhiran grossing Rs. 4.75 crores in the first week, in limited screens. Overall, Endhiran, Robot and Robo, has grossed a whopping Rs. 125 crores world-wide in the first week after release. Is it a record of all times? Let’s wait and see.
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January 25, 2015 at 8:57 AM
‘I’ (Ai) First Week (7 Days) Box Office Collections: Vikram Starrer Makes ₹137 Crore (Nett) in Opening Week
By Prakash Upadhyaya January 23, 2015 09:48 IST
Vikram starrer “I” has made earth-shattering business in the first week. The movie has netted ₹137 crore worldwide in seven days.
As per the leading trader and cinema critic, Sreedhar Pillai, “I” has raked in amazing ₹137 all across the globe. The multilingual movie has made ₹40 crore from Tamil Nadu, the biggest centre for the movie. Interestingly, Kerala has become the second biggest circuit for the movie where it earned ₹10 crore nett.
After getting fantastic opening in Karnataka, “I” business saw a dip as the movie, which was expected to cross ₹9 crore-mark, has made only ₹7.5 crore. From the overseas circuits, “I” has collected ₹36 crore to take its total tally to ₹96.5 crore.
While the Tamil version of “I” has collected ₹96.5 crore, the Telugu version has earned ₹31 crore. From Andhra Pradesh and Telangana regions, it has collected ₹31 crore. The Hindi version of the film has made ₹9.5 crore nett in the opening week.
Sreedhar Pillai wrote, “#I Net Box-Office 1st week (Approx) Tamil :TN-Rs 40Cr + Kerala-Rs 10+ Karnataka 7.5 +Rest of India- 3+ Overseas-36.. Total = Rs 96.5 Cr
“#I Net Box-Office 1st week (Approx) Tamil = Rs 96.5Cr + Telugu : Andhra & Tel = Rs 31 Cr + Hindi = Rs 9.50 Grand Total = Rs 137 Cr. Super.” He concluded.
“I” requires ₹3.5 crore to reach ₹100-crore mark from Tamil version in India. However, the biggest feat will be the elite ₹100-crore where only the domestic collection of a movie is taken into the consideration.
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January 25, 2015 at 9:05 AM
Incredible. They’re looking at a 5000 screen release in China! Seems hard to believe.
http://www.firstpost.com/bollywood/road-china-2061061.html
also check out the bits on 3I and D3.
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January 25, 2015 at 9:07 AM
Baby Second Day Business
Sunday 25 January 2015 14.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Baby grossed 9 crore nett on its second day. The growth was around 16-17% on Saturday but the film needed minimum 30% growth and 10 crore nett plus figure on Saturday. The two day business of Baby is as follows.
Friday – 7,75,00,000
Saturday – 9,00,00,000
TOTAL – 16,75,00,000
The film now needs a big Sunday and areas like UP, Rajasthan, CI etc which have been dull to date to show big improvement. A plus for Sunday is that evening and night collections in metro multiplexes will not fall as they normally do due to the holiday on the next day.
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January 25, 2015 at 11:44 AM
Baby Doll. Dolly Baby. Funny.
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January 25, 2015 at 12:20 PM
So Sanjana here has handpicked those reviews of Baby that speak the language of Congress/Ndtv/other “self-proclaimed secular brigade” in India, and made comments in the same fashion. The same brigade who has a problem showing Muslim terrorists (is that even news now? ) These people do not see a terrorist as a person causing terror- but rather pin point what cap he is wearing and what god is he praying to. Baby is a movie that actually calls a terrorist – a terrorist – without going into their religion ( and shows that good and bad people exist in every religion), but minority-apologists like NDTV (and in house Sanjana) would rather make up excuses to differentiate people rather than integrate them.
Not Surprisingly, many Muslims are actually liking this film (including public faces like Faridoon, or even a non-multiplex guy like KRK) but some people (that I mentioned above have issues pertaining to religion) are trying to pull it down– Well Just like Terror- hypocrites too do not have a religion.
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January 25, 2015 at 2:37 PM
How dare you?
Baby has such gross mischaracterization .
Muslim terrorists? Is there such a thing?
So unfair to Muslims to show that terrorists are Muslim.
Muslims are those peace loving people
Of Kashmir who were coexisting peacefully with the Kshmiri pundits and helping INDIA fight Pakistani insurgency and were oppressed by the Indian army. The real terrorists are the Indian army and masterpieces like Haider show its true face.
Baby presents a jingoistic,romantic view of Indian army which is not true at all.
If you don’t believe me ask the intelligent liberals.
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January 25, 2015 at 3:27 PM
ROFLOL. Good one Raju!
I loved the scene where Akki says Hum Religion wale Column mein Bold and Capital mein #INDIAN Likhte hein!
More power to Pandey. I hope he keeps making good cinema. Maybe likes of Bharadwaj and Kashyaps learn from this dude how to make masala movies.
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January 25, 2015 at 3:33 PM
LOL Pappas, Rajen and Di………
SS was fast becoming “Sickular Samaj” rather than Satya(M) Shot!…Glad to have been proved wrong !!
Saw Baby on Friday, what a movie, I agree everything that Rangan said in his review …
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January 25, 2015 at 3:36 PM
Satyam and Sanjana are fake names…they are masquerading under hindu names. Their REAL minority names they are ashamed of 🙂
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January 25, 2015 at 3:38 PM
Di, that is a real low blow…..would you say the same thing for Dilip Kumar and ARR ???
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January 25, 2015 at 3:42 PM
Actually it’s not a low blow coming from Di.. it’s par for the course. Every statement of hers is pretty much soaked in communalism and bigotry.
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January 25, 2015 at 4:18 PM
Di,
With Satyam it is about liberalism. I may disagree with him in this respect but
NEVER EVER doubt the sincerity or integrity of his views .
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January 25, 2015 at 4:59 PM
“I may disagree with him in this respect but NEVER EVER doubt the sincerity or integrity of his views ”
thanks much Rajen.. but in all honesty I’ve never been able to find that ‘sincerity’ or ‘integrity’ myself! LOL! I’m totally serious. Not joking. Reminded of that sholay line ‘khandaan ka pata chalte hi aap ko khabar kar denge’! Similarly when I find these qualities in myself I’ll let you know!
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January 25, 2015 at 4:36 PM
Agree with Rajen here. The way and manner in which Satyam dealt with Bandra alone should be proof enough, not that Satyam needs to prove anything.
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January 25, 2015 at 5:01 PM
thanks Rocky.. I am half-sincere! Haven’t seen Haider yet but that’s because I haven’t ordered the DVD so far and netflix also don’t have it yet! I think I should watch both Haider and Baby on the same day and keep my conscience clear! Or easier still I should just do ‘I’ again! Meanwhile these boring Oscar nominees are also around, the films we have to watch so that we are not embarrassed in polite society!
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January 25, 2015 at 5:07 PM
ha ha…actually I saw Haider at BWCinema.com where they showed it in the Blue Ray category which they only put when the DVD has been released….but with Haider that is not the case..
This also leads me to believe that I may have watched an abridged version ( and therefore liked it ..lol) and so will watch it again once the official DVD is released .
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January 25, 2015 at 5:13 PM
how long was it? Think it’s 2 hr 40 min or something..
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January 25, 2015 at 6:52 PM
“NEVER EVER doubt the sincerity or integrity of his views .”
I have more respect for Salim and Q. At least they don’t mind putting their faith in their names vs putting “truth” as your name and say everything that is untrue. Chalo koi nai….
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January 25, 2015 at 6:56 PM
ARR and Dilip: ARR changed his name right? So he is sincere. And Dilip faked his name to get movie votes. lol. He should have kept it Yusuf instead of being a sell out. People suggested Bachchan to change his name too. But he stood firmly with his name, success or no-success. That my friend is integrity.
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January 25, 2015 at 3:47 PM
wanted to watch it myself over the weekend but not playing at my end.. and admittedly I’m not motivated enough to do a longer drive.
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January 25, 2015 at 4:03 PM
BTW- The Interview is on Netflix now………..
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January 25, 2015 at 4:15 PM
Saw it last night. Some funny scenes but overall I would say average fare.
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January 25, 2015 at 4:38 PM
agree it was average, but loved the way they used the Katy Perry song and reference…..
some of the one liners were super funny
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January 26, 2015 at 6:11 AM
Absolutely the movie calls spade a spade and doesnt shy away from highlighting the truth. Muslims and even Arabs in my Dubai theatre were clapping in the movie. Congress chamchas like NDTV, Boxoffice India and paid Trade people are trying to dismiss off this movie completely. Hats off to Akshay and more so to Pandey.
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January 25, 2015 at 2:15 PM
Satyam, where is the post on Obama visit to India? Unbelievable bon homie with Modi, such camaraderie. Dude, you must be totally flabbergasted.
Obama saying: My journey could only happen in America, and Mr Modi, yours could only in India. Toasting to Dosti! Chai Pe Charcha. Chalo Saath Saath.. etc..
Left Meets Hard Right. Any comments boss?
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January 25, 2015 at 2:33 PM
yes did plan to put up a thread. Not flabbergasted at all. This is the transactional side of politics. Obama is even more than most a transactional politician. Have followed all the coverage in the media, seen all the relevant videos and so forth. But will put up a thread. Pooja Thakur seems to be the new star in the media! But yeah Modi and Obama have put on quite a show here for each other. Modi has pulled out every conceivable stop here. And it’s actually a far cry from the US trip where the WH didn’t do all that much. But the other reason I’m not flabbergasted is that I’ve seen how some of the worst dictators are sometimes treated as friends by the US.
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January 25, 2015 at 2:59 PM
I totally forgot that Modi replaced Manmohan in a Coup d etat! The Dictator Rules! Or perhaps an absolute majority after 30 yrs does seem like a dictatorship to every contemporary Indian politician, who have but hazy memories of such past governments. After all no more horse-trading, cash-for-votes, ransom-for-bills etc can seem to very severe conditions for working, very much like a Dictatorship.
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January 25, 2015 at 3:28 PM
No that’s not the point and you know it. But the US warming up to people is no indication of any kind of moral or ethical principle or any other sort of principle for that matter. At the very moment that they rightly condemn ISIS for all their horrors some of the very same things happen in Saudi Arabia and they’re great friends! They denied Modi a visa, now they’re warming up to him. But the same happens everywhere, this is what international politics is about. Modi was humiliated by the US once, today he’s putting on a show like no other for the US! International relations are not based on considerations of principle by and large. It’s about pragmatism and convenience. And yes they warm up to some very horrible and unsavory types too. This doesn’t mean there cannot be personal chemistry (except that Obama hardly has ‘personal’ chemistry with anyone even in US politics, even in his own party, so it’s a bit hard to believe he suddenly has this with Modi.. it’s a show and that’s fine.. both sides are putting it on), just that there’s no right/left issue here. International politics happens at a much higher level than this. and so when Modi was elected I didn’t exactly expect that people wouldn’t meet him or have relations with him or India! C’mon…!
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January 25, 2015 at 3:34 PM
“the worst dictators are sometimes treated as friends by the US.”
Satyam this is India, world’s largest democracy, not Pakistan, your home country we are talking about. 😉
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January 25, 2015 at 4:19 PM
I am sorry these are unnecessary and provocative comments. People should avoid commenting on other person’s religion,nationality, marital status. The things which are discussed in cyber world are opinion(s).
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January 25, 2015 at 5:13 PM
The problem is that for many people there is no gap between identity and opinion. They are intimately connected. A lot of times one finds reinforcement of this idea. But when one doesn’t one starts pointing to a conspiracy. We are all brought up everywhere in the world to connect these two things. And some of us become extremists in this sense.
Similarly the problem with political positions or actually in any other matter as well is that it’s not that we start with certain ideas or whatever and then connect with whatever vehicle (party, movie etc) delivers them to us. Or we do so partially but at some point we simply become partisans so that the link is severed between the ideology in a purer sense and the vehicle that is only supposed to deliver it. We become invested in the vehicle and then we start altering our ideology based on where the vehicle goes or we try to justify it in every sense. So for instance there were SRK fans who celebrated Swades or CDI on the rare day that SRK did such a film. Otherwise they were happy to celebrate RNBDJ all the time. These days some Akshay fans are talking about the quality of Baby but otherwise they’re into Houseful and what not. Or Aamir fans were all about the quality, then some of them became only about the box office and the same in some cases (when it’s Talaash) will say ‘this film is so noble that the box office doesn’t matter at all’. One could add to these examples. There’s a difference between being an Obama fan for certain reasons and being one irrespective of what he does or does not do. I was an Abhishek fan because I liked a great deal of the stuff he was doing. I’m not an Abhishek fan when HNY or Houseful or whatever is on the table. I’m willing to live with it if it can get him to something sensible once again. But even if he became the top star in the nation doing just this stuff it wouldn’t interest me. I might be pleased to see him succeed but that’s a different matter. I don’t like 99% of Akshay’s films but I still want him to be successful. Even here there is some ideological consistency. Because I might feel that Akshay or Abhishek represent a certain kind of politics or are certain kinds of people and I want them to succeed for this reason.
What is always the most dangerous thing in the world is to be invested in any idea to the point where everything else can be sacrificed to keep the idea alive.
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January 25, 2015 at 2:48 PM
the post is up now.
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January 25, 2015 at 4:06 PM
Some one should go to Saibal Chaterjee’s office, close the door and Tadddak , do what Akhshay did to the Sarkari Babu in Baby !!
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January 25, 2015 at 6:19 PM
Baby Heading For Decent Sunday
Sunday 25 January 2015 23.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Baby is heading for a decent Sunday of around 11.75 crore nett but it means a sub 30 crore nett weekend for the film. Despite the decent figures on Sunday, the requirement was this sort of number on day one. It basically means the film can get now where near the 50 crore nett mark for the extended weekend. For that it needed a bigger jump on Sunday.
The collections on Sunday were still low in many areas and its pretty certain now that its fate is dependent on whether the big cities can hold after Monday and for how long.
The film is not going anywhere in UP, Rajasthan, CI, Nizam etc. It leaves a circuit like Delhi/UP also struggling as UP is so weak. The best business is coming from Mumbai and East Punjab followed by Mysore. The weekend figures of 1.25 crore nett in Rajasthan and 1 crore nett in CI tell the story. The figures are like Kill Dil and Tevar which were smaller films and did not feature a star like Akshay Kumar.
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January 25, 2015 at 6:19 PM
The second weekend of American Sniper is 64 Mn!!. This might do 300 mn + now. What the F***
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January 25, 2015 at 6:28 PM
yes something completely unexpected here!
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January 25, 2015 at 6:30 PM
I am skeptical whether people are finding the movie that good or is it misplaced patriotism. It is quite telling that the film it may end up challenging , may be unsuccessfully as the highest grossing R-rated film is the The Passion of the Christ.
The movie may be very good but I don’t believe that’s driving the BO.
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January 25, 2015 at 6:34 PM
I agree, nothing in the reviews would lead one to believe there’s anything that extraordinary going on here. Also the box office is being massively driven by the the South and Southwest, the very places where this sort of stuff sells. Of course I don’t know why among so many war films this is being supported this way. But if I recall correctly the NY Times reviewer suggested that though this was an effective film it was also a black and white sort of deal. Clear dividing lines and where the soldier simply fights the war and any ambiguity about the larger situation or whatever doesn’t really matter. It’s a kind of old-fashioned film supposedly. Still might check it out at some point. Usually I watch Eastwood’s movies. Of course it’s interesting (if the reviewer is right) that Eastwood has otherwise argued for ambiguity in so many of his films even including his Westerns and here suddenly he decides it’s good old-fashion war heroism!
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January 25, 2015 at 6:41 PM
A O Scott likes the movie but here’s one of his key passages:
“The politics of the Iraq war are entirely absent, which is a political statement in its own right. And though George W. Bush’s name is never invoked, “American Sniper” can be seen as an expression of nostalgia for his Manichaean approach to foreign policy. It can equally — and this may amount to the same thing — be seen as upholding the Hollywood western tradition of turning complicated historical events and characters into fables and heroes. In other words, it’s only a movie.”
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January 25, 2015 at 9:43 PM
Arrey , but just as Haider is from Kashmiri Muslim’s POV, this is from the POV from an American Sniper…so there KP were absent , here politics of Iraq war are absent……..
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January 25, 2015 at 10:03 PM
“so there KP were absent , here politics of Iraq war are absent……..”
Good one Omy..you caught the hypocrites with pants down…lolz
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January 25, 2015 at 10:32 PM
Actually A O Scott is saying something very different. He’s not criticizing Eastwood for showing one side of the story or one perspective but depicting things in abstract fashion that nonetheless carry a certain ideological charge. In other words if I make a war film from a liberal or conservative position this will be obvious to most people and they might agree or disagree with such a film. This is what haider is presumably doing. But if you make a film where you never define the political contours at all and yet evoke a certain ideology or let it in through the back door it’s a very different debate. and there is no such thing as the viewpoint of an American Sniper. Why? Because either it is totally functional where he or she is just about doing a job irrespective of whatever politics such a job serves or if not then the Sniper is within the American context either a Republican or a Democrat and therefore might have an opinion about the job he or she is doing. And we know the latter to be true in very many cases. There have been tons of story in the US media about US soldiers in Afghanistan being demoralized and feeling they were wasting their time there and so forth. I doubt very much that those soldiers see their jobs in such abstract Manichean ways (in the terms of A O Scott). Let me offer another easy example as to the distinction here. You could say the US has universal health care because all citizens deserve to have this and that it makes sense economically and that it is the last brick in this welfare state and so on. This is a liberal position to take. Conservatives don’t agree. On the other hand one could say that three kids died last week because they couldn’t afford to see a doctor. The latter position is framed abstractly but it sends out the right dog whistle. One can disagree with the former position but it’s out there for anyone to argue or accept. In Scott’s terms Eastwood is doing the equivalent of the latter, not the former. I haven’t seen the film so can’t say definitively either way. But my point is that your analogy with haider is off the mark if Scott is right.
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January 25, 2015 at 9:46 PM
Problem with liberals is that Right ka POV kee koi keemat nahee hai !!!
India mein Baby kee maaro, US mein American Sniper kee !!!
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January 25, 2015 at 10:35 PM
Given the box office receipts of Baby so far most of India must be extremely liberal. You must be in a definite minority!
On a related note and based on what I’ve heard here I suspect that this is a good old nationalist film in the ‘old’ sense of the word. See this comment for more.
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January 25, 2015 at 7:55 PM
Paapas, I handpicked NDTV review as I found it drastically different from other reviews which were praising the movie. It is not religion thing for me because I did not watch Haider or even Shahid.
I will not watch this film too as I hate blood and gore type of action films. I did not watch ghajini in theatres or those Hollywood flicks where one can see smashed bodies and blood oozing out.
I am a fan of gentle Hrishikesh Mukherjee films. Yesterday I saw Old chashme Baddoor and I enjoyed it thorougly which was directed by Sai Paranjpai The only thing I hated was the characters smoking throughout. And the warning was throughout.
What I found funny in Saibal review was that the terrorists were having muslim names. What did he expect?
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January 25, 2015 at 10:16 PM
In a lighter vein, why those terrorists are not named aamir, sharukh, salman, saif and irrfan. They carefully avoid these names!
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January 25, 2015 at 11:40 PM
Sanjana,
I did not say it was religion thing for you. I just pointed out what I saw. If you handpick reviews that in my opinion were speaking just one language- and that one language was typical minority apologists or pseudo secular armchair thinkers, then my opinion of your comments was simply based on that. And then this is what you commented
“Will this movie make innocent muslims’s lives more difficult?”
If you haven’t seen the film and you don’t plan to see the film, then how did you come up with this nonsensical question, if you don’t know what’s shown in the movie. It was clear that you were more interested in buying what Saibal ndtv Chaterjee had to say than the other reviews. Please come up with a defense that’s at least 2% Fat.
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January 26, 2015 at 12:04 AM
I dont watch any movies but I read what they are about from various reviews. Thus I know Haider bashes the army, Shahid bashes police and Baby bashes terrorists with muslim names.
Already muslims are targetted and films like this will encourage police who may target muslims indiscriminately as it was shown in Shahid.. Because the film showed only muslim terrorists and did not balance it showing other terrorists from other religions like naxalites. I need not have to watch movies as there are spoilers, discussions on many forums.
For that matter, I even criticised Pk. And 3 Idiots for toilet humour.
I did not buy Saibal’s review. I just quoted his review as it gave only 2 stars.
Manoj Kumar did a better job dealing with patriotic themes.
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January 26, 2015 at 12:18 AM
In tamil nadu, to a lesser extent in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh there used to be virulent brahmin bashing and there were reasons for it. That brahmin bashing continued which resulted in unprecedented percentage of reservations.
I was in two minds about these developments. One is getting angry because those younger generation brahmins who have nothing to do with orthodox brahmins being discriminated and the other trying to understand why it happened. This must be happening even among muslims.
The funny thing is those brahmin bashers were following orthodox customs of hinduism laid down by brahmins with more devotion than some of the liberal brahmins ever will.
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January 25, 2015 at 9:21 PM
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/indias-republic-day-googles-tableau-doodle-joins-the-parade/524872-11.html
Google doodles for Republic Day since 2010.
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January 25, 2015 at 9:24 PM
Watched ‘Baby’ today. To put it simply, it is one of the well made movies in recent times. Inspite of some illogical sequences, some cringeworthy scenes, eventually everything works very well. Akshay kumar is well suited and does brilliant job(imo – not to go overboard, this is not award winning role but just good onscreen role with great presence). I felt this movie is extension of ‘Holiday ‘, reminds of movies like ‘D-day’ and also of ‘Argo’ at places. First half was dry but good but it is the 2nd half which really makes the movie great as its more entertaining as well. Full marks for T-series being solo producers making a songless movie and supporting it with big budget as returns are not guarantee for these kind of movies. Casting was done well, everyone and especially Danny was great. Overall, Recommended for watch!
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January 25, 2015 at 10:04 PM
I think the two female characters were awesome. Especially Ponnu girl. Chakas.
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January 25, 2015 at 10:05 PM
“Inspite of some illogical sequences”
Arrey movie hai..harikatha yaa satyakatha nai…fiction hai…fiction ki tarah n’joy karo.
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January 26, 2015 at 12:44 PM
I already said, I loved the movie. So you want me hail it a classic/masterpiece devoid of any flaws and then you’ll be happy? 🙂
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January 26, 2015 at 1:51 PM
Haan.
ROFLOL.
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January 26, 2015 at 12:43 PM
T series aren’t the sole producers. Its produced by T Series, neeraj Pandey and Akshay kumar
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January 26, 2015 at 1:53 AM
Republic Day parade. Did I miss Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala displays? And of some other states?
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January 26, 2015 at 5:44 AM
Bengal officials claim that the tableau was rejected at the last minute. Its “Kanya Shree” theme on welfare programmes for the girl child was reportedly found similar to the central government’s tableau on “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (save your daughters, education your daughters)”, the scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week.
The defence ministry, which organizes the annual parade, reportedly told Bengal that a state tableau should give a broad picture of its culture, economy and history and not focus on just one scheme.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has a running feud with the ruling BJP at the Centre, reportedly decided against sending a new proposal.
The other states that were missing include Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Kerala, Punjab, Delhi and Nagaland.
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January 26, 2015 at 3:37 AM
SCREEN ACTOR GUILD AWARDS =
Performance By a Cast in a Motion Picture
“Birdman” – WINNER
“Boyhood”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“The Imitation Game”
“The Theory of Everything”
Performance By a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Julianne Moore, “Still Alice” – WINNER
Jennifer Aniston, “Cake”
Felicity Jones, “The Theory of Everything”
Rosamund Pike, “Gone Girl”
Reese Witherspoon, “Wild”
Performance By a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Eddie Redmayne, “The Theory of Everything” – WINNER
Michael Keaton, “Birdman”
Benedict Cumberbatch, “The Imitation Game”
Jake Gyllenhaal, “Nightcrawler”
Steve Carell, “Foxcatcher”
Performance By an Ensemble in a Drama Series
“Downton Abbey” – WINNER
“Boardwalk Empire”
“Game of Thrones”
“Homeland”
“House of Cards”
Performance By a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Viola Davis, “How To Get Away With Murder” – WINNER
Claire Danes, “Homeland”
Julianna Margulies, “The Good Wife”
Tatiana Maslany, “Orphan Black”
Maggie Smith, “Downton Abbey”
Robin Wright, “House Of Cards”
Performance By a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Kevin Spacey, “House Of Cards” – WINNER
Steve Buscemi, “Boardwalk Empire”
Peter Dinklage, “Game Of Thrones”
Woody Harrelson, “True Detective”
Matthew McConaughey, “True Detective”
Performance By a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Frances McDormand, “Olive Kitteridge” – WINNER
Ellen Burstyn, “Flowers In The Attic”
Maggie Gyllenhaal, “The Honorable Woman”
Julia Roberts, “The Normal Heart”
Cicely Tyson, “The Trip To Bountiful”
Performance By a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Mark Ruffalo, “The Normal Heart” – WINNER
Adrien Brody, “Houdini”
Benedict Cumberbatch, “Sherlock: His Last Vow”
Richard Jenkins, “Olive Kitteridge”
Billy Bob Thornton, “Fargo”
Performance By a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash” – WINNER
Robert Duvall, “The Judge”
Ethan Hawke, “Boyhood”
Edward Norton, “Birdman”
Mark Ruffalo, “Foxcatcher”
Performance By a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood” – WINNER
Keira Knightley, “The Imitation Game”
Emma Stone, “Birdman”
Meryl Streep, “Into The Woods”
Naomi Watts, “St. Vincent”
Performance By an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
“Orange Is the New Black” – WINNER
“The Big Bang Theory”
“Modern Family”
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine”
“Veep”
Performance By a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
William H. Macy, “Shameless” – WINNER
Ty Burrell, “Modern Family ”
Louis C.K., “Louie”
Jim Parsons, “The Big Bang Theory”
Eric Stonestreet, “Modern Family”
Performance By a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Uzo Aduba, “Orange Is The New Black” – WINNER
Julie Bowen, “Modern Family”
Edie Falco, “Nurse Jackie”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep”
Amy Poehler, “Parks And Recreation”
Action Performance By a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
“Unbroken” – WINNER
“Fury”
“Get On Up”
“The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies”
“X-men: Days Of Future Past”
Action Performance By a Stunt Ensemble in a Comedy or Drama Series
“Game Of Thrones” – WINNER
“24: Live Another Day”
“Boardwalk Empire”
“Homeland”
“Sons Of Anarchy”
“The Walking Dead”
Lifetime Achievement Award
Debbie Reynolds
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January 26, 2015 at 4:21 AM
None of the Oscar nominated movies that Ive seen this year have floored me like I was expecting. The Grand Budapest n Birdman were quirky n partly enjoyable while The Imitation Game n The Theory of Everything were like regular biographies. Wish Interstellar and Gone Girl had been nominated
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January 26, 2015 at 5:23 AM
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/Bollywood-celebs-boldest-and-most-interesting-statements/photostory/46019521.cms
‘I deserve more than a Padma Shri’: According to a Mumbai Mirror report, Salim Khan turned down the Padma Shri award asserting that he will not accept a lesser award than his erstwhile partner Javed Akhtar who has received both the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan. “Refused is too harsh a word since I have nothing against the awards. I just think that after 55 years and over 40 films, I deserve more than a Padma Shri for my contributions to Hindi cinema, given that my juniors have already got it years before. Even my earstwhile partner, Javed Akhtar, has received both a Padma Shri and a Padma Bhushan,” Salim said to Mirror.
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January 26, 2015 at 6:25 AM
Dolly Ki Doli Weekend Business
Monday 26 January 2015 13.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Dolly Ki Doli started very poorly but has picked up on Saturday and Sunday but as starting point was so low the total collections remain low. The weekend collections are as follows.
Friday – 1,75,00,000
Saturday – 2,35,00,000
Sunday – 3,00,00,000
TOTAL – 7,10,00,000
The film was best in Delhi NCR and East Punjab while places like CP Berar, West Bengal and Nizam /Andhra were very dull. The film will need a strong Tuesday close to its opening day figure and then maintain at those levels to the end of the week which should give it enough showcasing in week two to put up a respectable lifetime total.
A solo release could have give a 30-40% better opening day and if it had this sort of growth from there it would have been a different story for the film.
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January 26, 2015 at 6:27 AM
Baby Low Weekend Trend Decent
Monday 26 January 2015 12.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Baby had a decent Sunday as it grossed 12.50 crore nett taking its weekend total to 29 crore nett. The trend over the weekend is decent but the weekend total is low especially for film with a high cost. The weekend collections are as follows.
Friday – 7,75,00,000
Saturday – 9,00,00,000
Sunday – 12,50,00,000
TOTAL – 29,00,00,000
The best business has come in Mumbai and East Punjab circuits while Rajasthan, CP Berar, CI and Bihar are dull. The collections will be good on Monday due to a holiday for Republic Day but the film will have to hols very strong thereafter if it is to decent or beeter business.
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January 26, 2015 at 1:46 PM
Baby is a far better movie than Holiday which I thought was quite amateurish. Hopefully it will have long legs at the box office, I might catch it again next weekend.
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January 26, 2015 at 6:26 AM
PK To Settle At 337 Crore Nett
Monday 26 January 2015 12.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
PK will finish at 337 crore nett as the film had its biggest fall in its sixth weekend with an 80% fall from the previous weekend and collections of around 50 lakhs nett taking the total to 336.25 crore nett.
The film will add another 50-75 lakhs nett in its lifetime run. The distributor share will be 165 crore beating Dhoom 3 by nearly 25 crore. The film has such extraordinary records in week two and week three that they could stand for a long time.
The run of the film also shows how important a clear run is for a big total because as soon the competition started to come the film, the drops started. Its very unlikely this record will be broken in the nest couple of years unless a films gets a three week clear run. After the next couple of years the initial business should be much higher and so two weeks may be sufficient to challenge the PK total.
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January 26, 2015 at 6:26 AM
BOI continuing to entertain us..!
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January 26, 2015 at 10:06 AM
These guys are jokers. PK has already made its money, and it’s not because it had a clear run.
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January 26, 2015 at 10:58 AM
It is better to make 40 crore in one day and finish with 180 crore than it is to open 26 crore and end up with 340 crore. At least in this planet BOI lives in.
Meanwhile, I don’t know what Baby has done to hurt BOI’s feelings, but its trend is quite strong. Not many films grow fri to sat. So even if the collections were not up to mark, I suspect it will have a good run at this point. But BOI dissolved all this because it did not start well. Soon it will be, Baby did what it did on content. Like content is something to frown upon!
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January 26, 2015 at 11:18 AM
LOL, true.. there’s often this silly logic followed where one has to apologize for doing a good film. Yes star initials matter but they’re never divorced from the subject. Certain genres just get better initials. Now Akshay might not have enough credibility in more serious genres, that’s another matter. But in any case one has to follow through and complete the equation. It’s not enough to open films hugely and then do nothing. Of course BOI discovered things like trending and competition and holiday weekends (and how many cows crossed the street creating traffic jams affecting the Kick initial versus how orderly traffic was the weekend PK released) and what not only with PK! So even pointing out their farcical commentary is too easy. But even otherwise when people discuss these things online it’s amazing how often the good film or strong script is held against the latter. Going by that logic it’s somehow more creditable to be Vin Diesel doing Fast and the Furious than DiCaprio doing Scorsese and Nolan!
Of course Aamir doesn’t have too much to crow about with PK. After all in week 85 it had a huge fall because of competition from a soft porn film that released in 20 screens nationally. And in any case Aamir does things undemocratically. By making good films he ensures a long run. The other stars are much more democratic. Their films fizzle out after a week and someone else gets a chance. Some here even have the sound economic argument that this is much better for the industry.
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January 26, 2015 at 12:24 PM
Its like giving your child the following advice….do as many exams as possible and sit as many subjects as possible. Doesn’t matter if you fail all of them!
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January 26, 2015 at 12:45 PM
Jayshah: Move on man.. PK is so over and already biggest hit ever, you are still stuck in loop.
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January 27, 2015 at 6:18 AM
master,
pk may be over but still “shock waves” are left behind,lol
jayshah,
move on man,SHAMITABH is just round the corner and another shock-wave is coming. 😉
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January 27, 2015 at 3:19 AM
The trend Is just about decent actually, nothing extraordinary. For a 75 crore production, it needs to be better. Baby grew Fri to Saturday because Friday was very low and even there the growth was only in multiplexes. I think Tuesday will give a clearer picture of where it is headed. But till Monday it has not done as well as its WOM indicates (atleast among the critics).
Also on PK , I don’t think they are running it down. They are only pointing that the movie didn’t maintain as well as it did Week 3 onwards due to competition as it did in Week 2. If anything their total of PK and the producers total are hardly different. What that also means is PK producers have been honest enough to give the correct total so kudos to them. And yes a clear run does matter to an extent however good the movie is. Because PK would have comfortably crossed 350 crores if not for competition from Week 3 onwards.
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January 27, 2015 at 6:03 AM
It maybe that or negativity spread due to continuous agitations. One just cant rule out these factors. When so much mud was thrown at it, some mud must have stuck on it. In that respect 3 Idiots, Chennai Express and YJHD had clear runs without other factors dulling their sheen.
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January 26, 2015 at 9:06 AM
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January 26, 2015 at 2:03 PM
Dibakar Banerjee: Banning ‘Baby’ is sad and foolish
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/dibakar-banerjee-banning-baby-is-sad-and-foolish/524659-8-66.html
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January 26, 2015 at 3:12 PM
The title is misleading. It is banned in Pakistan and it is totally understandable. India banned Temple of Doom where they showed Indians eating what not.
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January 28, 2015 at 12:43 AM
Yes but the difference is that Indians eating monkey head is a rarity while terrorism in Pakistan is a daily affair…so you can decide what is far-fetched and what is not..
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January 26, 2015 at 9:56 PM
SRK on awards:
http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report-i-should-not-be-nominated-for-happy-new-year-shah-rukh-khan-2055630
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January 27, 2015 at 12:35 AM
Baby Heads For 40 Crore Extended Weekend
Monday 26 January 2015 23.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Baby is looking at a 40 crore nett extended weekend total as its Republic Day holiday collections seen in the 11 crore nett range as per early estimates. The film has not really performed at the box office. There was a good jump from Sunday at some single screens but it was due to the big national holiday and the will go back to normal tomorrow.
The multiplex business was on par with Sunday until the late evening shows as collections dropped as the next day is a working day. This is will probably be the case with night shows as well.
A 40 crore nett total over four days when one day is huge national holiday is a pretty poor performance. The trend has been the only saving grace from that low start but even the trend is fair not phenomenal which had had to be from a 7.75 crore nett day one.
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January 27, 2015 at 2:07 AM
Is BOI under reporting or is T-Series over reporting? Because the producers numbers are 50 crores for the extended weekend. Not sure who’s lying here. I hope its BOI because I enjoyed Baby and want Akki to have a success…
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January 27, 2015 at 3:20 AM
T series is over-reporting…
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January 27, 2015 at 12:57 AM
Namrata Joshi: One of the reviewers I kind of trust ( Sanjukta Sharama of Mint being the other) in Outlook:
‘Much like other espionage thrillers like Agent Vinod and Ek Tha Tiger, Baby too gets viewers to see a lot of the world—Istanbul, Abu Dhabi, Nepal. It is all predictable, fashioned on B-grade Hollywood thrillers. You can guess how things will move forward and how all loose ends will be tied up. But the chases, raids and police procedures are engaging and well-crafted and have an air of authenticity. There are some mandatory moments of humour also to break the overbearing tension. The second half is a build-up to the final mission—the one to beat all the missions. Which seems so easy and effortless in its execution that one wonders if Indians are the only intelligent human beings in a world full of idiots. In a nutshell, Baby is terrorism served up for some popcorn-coke thrills.’
http://www.outlookindia.com/article/Baby/293166
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January 27, 2015 at 3:29 AM
New Yorkers…be safe, the blizzard is on its way.
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January 27, 2015 at 6:05 AM
Hope the blizzard wont affect SS.
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January 27, 2015 at 8:25 AM
thanks Jay.. I got lucky where I am. It’s not too bad at all.. but in parts of Long Island they’ve had 15 inches or more. Not sure about the city.
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January 27, 2015 at 8:55 AM
Stay safe and don’t play with those drones….lol
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January 27, 2015 at 12:58 PM
Some of friends have complained that media exaggerated it. There was some storm a month ago in California, it was bad but nothing like where people were stock piling things. I feel consumeristic media for story are overplaying things and it creates panic.
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January 27, 2015 at 1:39 PM
It is true that the media creates a sensationalist story. It got to the point in this case where they were predicting everything from 8″ to 30″! I could be a meteorologist with that spread! Having said that he storm changed direction a bit. LI was still hit hard as was New England. But in general it’s totally right that the media makes it a 24/7 story for a number of days and all sense of proportion is lost. And people start preparing for the apocalypse every single time!
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January 28, 2015 at 12:13 PM
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/bigpicture/2015/01/27/massive-snowstorm-hits-northeast/Wc4dHUyw3eo8PvXfdF1sWJ/story.html
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January 27, 2015 at 1:07 PM
Some one sided criticism:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/american-sniper-is-almost-too-dumb-to-criticize-20150121
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January 27, 2015 at 1:26 PM
Although I don’t totally agree, I am convinced that most of this is my reading. The killer with a heart is what I thought and in general this is a well ‘made’ film with a very superficial and amateurish view. The box office is stunning. Apparantly it’s second week drop is the lowest EVER for a film with first weekend collections greater than $80mm. Remarkable…and it will be 2014 tops grosser probably. But there is something pretty distasteful about the tone in the film as it paints everything far too positively for one side and tries it’s hardest to paint the lead as a hero. I expected his character to be a ‘dick’. And to be arrogant and heartless. You end up with the opposite.
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January 27, 2015 at 1:41 PM
This is exactly the kind of trending and over-performance Hollywood doesn’t need… bad for industry economics..
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January 27, 2015 at 1:40 PM
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January 27, 2015 at 10:19 PM
‘I’ leads the pack again, by a huge margin. A likely blockbuster ?
http://behindwoods.com/tamil-movies/i/i-box-office-jan-24.html
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January 27, 2015 at 10:20 PM
Sify calling it a super hit:
Chennai Box-Office – Republic Day Weekend – January 23 to 26
Tuesday, 27 January , 2015, 12:05
The Republic Day CBO boomed. The holiday mood continues as footfalls were as good as during the Pongal season in Chennai theatres. I continues to dominate the CBO and grew to become a super hit.
I is the clear number one by a mile at the CBO. All other films put together are not able to reach the collections of the Shankar extravaganza. The Vikram-Amy Jackson starrer has grossed around Rs 7.50 Crore from Chennai city in 12 days. It means a share around Rs 3 Crore, after paying a 30% entertainment tax of the gross.
At number two is Akshay Kumar’s pop patriotic Baby, which opened well thanks to large multiplex screens and good WOM. In the third place is GV Prakash’s Darling which held on in its second week due to positive reports and increased screens.
In the fourth place is Vishal’s Sundar C directed Aambala which has dropped as film carries mixed reports. And in the fifth place is Clint Eastwood directed American Sniper, worldwide hit, released in limited shows and screens in Chennai and going houseful every show!
http://www.sify.com/movies/boxoffice.php?id=15058913&cid=13525926
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January 27, 2015 at 10:24 PM
Total Worldwide Box Office Collections Of Vikram’s ‘I’: Third Spot In Just 2 Weeks!
Posted by: Avinash Gopinath Updated: Tuesday, January 27, 2015, 14:59 [IST]
Almost two weeks after its release, Vikram’s I(Ai) is still going strong at the box office not only in Tamil Nadu but also all over the world. I which was released in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi has been termed as a box office winner despite attracting mixed reviews.
Its second weekend(23rd-25th) collection in Chennai alone has been 1.5 crores and in the weekdays the romantic-thriller managed to pile up an impressive 1.53 crores. The total collection from the capital city stands at 6.88 crore rupees.
In its second week, I has done well enough to retain good number of screens in Andhra, Kerala and Karnataka and is still going strong. But most importantly, the contributions from overseas market has been phenomenal so far for a Vikram starrer.
Only after two weeks, the movie has moved into the third position for any Tamil film after Enthiran and Sivaji when it comes to the combined overseas box office collections. By the time I is done, it might even overtake Rajinikanth’s Enthiran at the worldwide box office.
While the overall collections in the USA stands at an impressive $1.26 million, its neighbouring country, Canada has contributed with $324,000. In the United Kingdom, the movie has been evidently liked by many as it has managed to amass £362,863.
Australians also have welcomed the movie with open arms as the Australian box office collections stands at A$334,714. In other countries like New Zealand and Malaysia, Shankar’s I has collected NZ$37,356 and MYR 3,146,295(approx) respectively.
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January 27, 2015 at 10:26 PM
‘I’ Mints ₹184 Crore in 12 Days in Worldwide Box Office Collections
By Prakash Upadhyaya January 27, 2015 15:00 IST
Vikram’s “I” has become one of the biggest hits of his career, with the movie earning ₹184 crore in box office collections worldwide at the end of the second weekend.
Andhra Box Office reports that the combined worldwide collections of “I” from Tamil, Telugu and Hindi versions stood at ₹184.25 crore.
In the domestic market, the multi-lingual movie grossed ₹146.80 crore, from which the net collection is said to be ₹116.75 crore.
In the opening weekend, the movie had grossed above ₹130 crore worldwide in the three languages.
“I” has raked in ₹48 crore (₹62.4 crore gross) from Tamil Nadu, ₹33 crore (₹38.5 crore gross) from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana regions, ₹12 crore (₹14.50 crore gross) from Kerala and ₹9 crore (₹11.70 crore gross) crore from Karnataka, taking the total collection to ₹102 Crore (₹127.10 crore gross) from South Indian markets.
The Shankar mega-budget movie, from its Tamil and Telugu versions, has collected ₹2.75 crore (₹3.70 crore gross). The total collection of the Hindi version of “I” stands at ₹12 crore(₹16 crore gross).
In international circuits, Malaysia and the US have been good for “I” at box office. It has earned ₹12.50 crore in Malaysia, ₹9.75 crore in the US. Besides it has earned ₹3.40 crore in the UK, ₹1.80 crore in Australia and ₹10 crore from the rest of the world.
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January 27, 2015 at 11:02 PM
Akshay Kumar’s Singh Is Bling Not Shelved; Will Be Releasing In October
http://www.koimoi.com/bollywood-popular/akshay-kumars-singh-is-bling-not-shelved-will-be-releasing-in-october/
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January 28, 2015 at 12:49 AM
http://www.ndtv.com/article/opinion/a-bharat-ratna-for-mahatma-gandhi-654468?pfrom=home-topstories
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January 28, 2015 at 12:56 AM
Chandrahas Choudhury on PK
The film’s harrowing song “Bhagavan, Hai Kahan Re Tu?” (“God, Where Art Thou?”) describes PK’s anguished search for a god beyond that of images and words who will answer his questions. It expresses the film’s message in a much more tragic and troubled key than the plot itself, a kind of layering intrinsic to Bollywood’s film language that the reviewer in the New York Times seemed to have missed while deciding that the film was essentially a well-meaning bit of cinematic candyfloss. To me, there was something extremely moving and convincing about PK’s journey to his eventual, unsettling conclusion: “There is not one God, but two: the one that made human beings, and the one that human beings made.”
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-01-27/india-s-alien-drama-pk-is-bollywood-at-its-best
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January 28, 2015 at 10:24 AM
saw Baby. Loved it.
With films like these, Akshay will reinvent himself. a no-nonsense movie that comes straight to the point. Thankfully, no love story here like in special 26 that ruins the proceedings. The tension remains throughout and reaches a crescendo in the climax (although was a bit inspired from Argo in the final scene). Still a very good film and a complete entertainer.
Akki, Danny and Anupam all do well
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January 28, 2015 at 2:11 PM
WOM seems to be good for Baby…but the opening was low…hopefully will crawl past 100crrs
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January 28, 2015 at 2:12 PM
I hope so too. More power to people like Pandey for coming up with superior products in industry like ours.
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January 28, 2015 at 2:18 PM
True…agree
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January 28, 2015 at 2:41 PM
I watched it again last night and it held up very well in the second run! People in the theater were liking it. I am not sure why there seems to be so much of negativity around it.
I sure am flabbergasted by Saibal’s review. He along with Rangan is one of the very few — I mean none actually — reviewers from India who do not go over-board with over-analysis and enjoy and write for what the film offers – not for what it ‘should’ have been. Saibal seems to have watched the film from a COMPLETELY colored lens. This is actually a movie that can be compared to good-old cold-war face-off movies between US and the USSR. The ‘uneasy’ equation is used to manufacture fine thrillers! There is nothing ‘subtle’ about it. No sermons, discourses on ideologies or leanings or whatever.
–spoilers–
Now I can understand the charge that it deals with a specific community’s lapse into the darker elements. But, the POV is purely from the ‘machine’ elements of Akshay, Anupam, and Rana. Throughout the movie, these guys NEVER indulge in sermons. Infact, it is their boss, Danny’s Feroze, who kind of ‘simplifies’ things when he talks to the PM and underlines the cliche – but a fact – that an increase in #s in the recruitment process of the hardliners might indicate that the ‘state’ is failing the community! And this, he says to the PM, who, ironically, looks like a bearded NaMo!
Even in the scene where Akshay barges into a Muslim locality and beats up Taufiq, Akshay tell him that the ‘COMMUNITY’ support he is bragging about enjoying is just because they do NOT know the truth about him and his leanings. Once it is out that he is a traitor, they will do to him what the state would eventually do! And by logic, I do not need to tell you that this means the community-ganging and stereotyping that one usually indulges in, is thrown out the window..
–spoilers end–
I sure as hell hope this makes 100 crores. If a G!@ND MASTI can do it, it will be sad if this does not…
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January 28, 2015 at 2:58 PM
Sach bolu toh mujhe iss movie ka humor dil ko chu gaya. I keep on thinking on various scenes EVEN now and pretty whole movie has humor interspersed in it. The scene where Danny says “dheek hai toh bomb blast ke baad me milenge” to Akki texting the girl in taxi and asking what is happening? to the moche scene where the assitant shyly says its his wedding anni and wifey wanted to moche out to the plastic bag on the terroist (karach kyun aayegi) to “saab laagta hai yeh kuch bolne wala hai” and Akki say “saach?” ROFLOL
I LOVED everything about the movie but extra marks for humor because this kind of intelligent humor is SO rare that it is almost negligible. Maybe I saw it a bit in GoW but nothing like Pandey’s movies. They are full of it. In fact I like this kind of humor than the stupid “shaking” car humor in P.K.
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January 28, 2015 at 10:13 PM
Am yet to watch Baby, but hope to soon.I love intellgent humour in book or film.Absolutely loved Dibankar Banerjee’s Khosla ka Ghosla, my fav black comedy from Bollywood . And there was humour even in Neeraj Pandey’s gripping AWednesday. But I do not agree with the contenion that PK had childish humour. The shaking car thing was mildly funny and served the
story purpose.
But humour is laced through the film, not just in the dialogues. Imagine spending a night with a lady , holding her hand, doing nothing else and getting her frustrated! But to me the funniest lines came in the epilogue when PK gives the newbie alien four points of advice. We were laughing even as we left the theatre. You have to find your laughs. If people watch with the intention of being offended, they are not going to find humour.
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January 28, 2015 at 10:41 PM
Not just the shaking cars but pver all ‘humor’ of the pajama stuck in butt crack, holding a prostitute’s hand without having s3x, etc etc is not my kind of humor, that I find funny, I guess. I found the humor deliberately injected and missing in many segments of the movie e.g. middle to the end (except the last dialogue). Munnabhai series was much better compared to PK or even three idiots. PK was ok movie for one time dekko without repeat value for me (even if humor was not upto my taste). The genre of the movie they make is more in line with SMJ or message movie and not particularly ‘entertaining’ for me and I would have to be in a mood to take sermons from the director mode. I would take special chabbis or Baby type of thrilling/masala entertainment experience any day over it. Just a personal preference.
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January 28, 2015 at 4:30 PM
i caught it the other day, in part thanks to your and di’s recommendations. I enjoyed it! i was really hoping the film wouldn’t make me uncomfortable and it didn’t – it was a surprisingly fun watch. I thought akshay’s inadequacies as an actor though were pretty glaring…
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January 28, 2015 at 4:35 PM
Neeraj Pandey must have done lot of jaadu on him. Yhea, it is hard to get ‘actors’ like Akki/Abhishek to emote. lol
I am glad you liked Baby. It is nice masala thriller, entertainer. I didn’t walk out of the movie theater with any anti-muslim, pro-hindu sensibilities or headache due to excessive violence etc. For me it was watching mission immpossible type, edge of the seat, thriller/entertainer albeit desi one. A well made movie
🙂
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January 28, 2015 at 2:26 PM
Baby Collections On Tuesday
Wednesday 28 January 2015 11.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Baby grossed 4.75 crore nett on Tuesday which is okay considering Friday was 7.75 crore nett but basically the film had to hold stronger. Also the hold is coming mainly from Mumbai and Mysore while most other circuits are down which is not that good for long term. The five day business is 45.25 crore nett.
The film had decent word of mouth but only in the metros and these areas showed good growth in the holiday period. The other areas with weak word of mouth started low and just did not perform. The surprise is Gujarat which is the only mass area to perform and has grossed around 6 crore nett in five days.
Mumbai city, Thane and Pune are decent and that added to Gujarat means Mumbai circuit has done okay. Mysore is also good. East Punjab was decent over the weekend but fell on Tuesday. The rest are all pretty dull. The first week business will be around 53 crore nett which is should have been its extended four day weekend business if it was to have a chance of emerging a hit.
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January 28, 2015 at 2:27 PM
Dolly Ki Doli Tuesday Business
Wednesday 28 January 2015 11.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Dolly Ki Doli grossed around 1 crore nett on Tuesday. Its not a bad total compared to day one but is low. The first five day collections are as follows.
Friday – 1,75,00,000
Saturday – 2,35,00,000
Sunday – 3,00,00,000
Monday – 2,50,00,000
Tuesday – 1,00,00,000
TOTAL – 10,60,00,000
The film will gross around 12.50 crore nett for the week but the second week is likely to see a major drop.
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January 28, 2015 at 4:17 PM
“Satyam”-
Will like 2 hear ur views on “baby”
And also views of aamirsfan, SaLim, oldgold, qalander& ‘sanjana’
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January 28, 2015 at 4:42 PM
why bother? it is not going to be “satyam”. lol
Salim is sweet. He likes old movie with D.K in it. He watches a lot on tube and work commute.
Qalander: is also moderate but is ‘forced’ to agree concur with ‘satyam’ due to friencdship alliances. Rajen too in same category. 😦
Alex: fun guy who doesn’t take anything seriously and doesn’t take his own view too seriously.
Rest of the people, I have not paid attention to 🙂
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January 28, 2015 at 6:41 PM
***Rest of the people, I have not paid attention to***
I am heart-broken..
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January 28, 2015 at 7:29 PM
Di,
You are wrong on so many counts.😄
I think the ‘ friendship’ ( honored to be Satyam’s friend has evolved due to mutual respect which means respecting even while disagreeing. I don’t feel the need to be defiant or offensive when disagreeing which happens more often than you think.
You forgot Rocky BTW.
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January 28, 2015 at 8:13 PM
“honored to be Satyam’s friend has evolved due to mutual respect ”
It’s completely mutual Rajen..
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January 28, 2015 at 5:27 PM
haven’t seen it yet. wasn’t playing at my end and I’ll probably wait for a proper transfer on this. finally getting around to Haider! The UTV DVD should be worthwhile here.
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January 28, 2015 at 8:16 PM
An Jo: I was addressing the list Alex wrote, mostly.
“And also views of aamirsfan, SaLim, oldgold, qalander& ‘sanjana’”.
OmRocky: Bindas, Chakas, kickass, confident, smart
Ann Jo: Intellectual, Intelligent, brave, sweetie-pie
And Rockstar is rockstar. Bliss is blissed out.
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January 29, 2015 at 11:41 AM
Kya baat hai Di… Thank you, koi meri biwi ko bhee bataye yeh ..LOL!!
Agree everything you said about AnJo, he should write more often.
Rockstar has amazing knowledge but gets too emotionally invoved,
Bliss is probably a journalist, lekin aajkal hai kaha ???
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January 29, 2015 at 2:47 AM
http://www.koimoi.com/box-office/box-office-predictions-khamoshiyan-hawaizaada-rahasya/
Box Office Predictions: Khamoshiyan, Hawaizaada, Rahasya
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January 29, 2015 at 4:44 AM
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/KRKs-infamous-Twitter-wars-with-celebs/photostory/46050609.cms
“Sir @BarackObama now I hate you because you have used SRK’s dialogue Bade Bade Shahron main but not used my world famous dialogue #2RsPpl,”
With R.K. gone, do we have our occasional laughs courtesy KRK?
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January 29, 2015 at 6:17 AM
http://andhraboxoffice.com/info.aspx?id=660&cid=8&fid=924
Always thought that I will never recover the 39 cr theatricals it had fetched in Telugu version. ABO confirms that it has flopped
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January 29, 2015 at 7:01 AM
check out the other links in this same thread (I’ve posted very many(.. have posted a number of them. No one’s calling it a flop in Telugu. In any case worldwide they’re saying it might cross Enthiran. The question is whether it could do so by being a ‘flop’ in Telugu. Even if I accepted your selling price argument that seems to be a bit of a technicality. why? A film could make 200 crores but be a loser if it is sold at a very high price. But that would obscure the point that the audience might have liked the film (it could have doubled its initial or whatever). Finally one must ask: why are you only talking about the Telugu version?!
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January 29, 2015 at 7:07 AM
see here:
http://andhraboxoffice.com/info.aspx?id=714&cid=6&fid=878
after 7 days AP/Nizam is 23 crores and classified as ‘decent’ and ‘long way to go’. Also called the second biggest dubbed earner.
now after 12 days:
http://andhraboxoffice.com/info.aspx?id=714&cid=6&fid=878
it’s at 33 crores and it’s suddenly a flop?! Again even if that 39 crore number is correct and even if the film falls short by a bit it’s surely misleading to call it a flop without qualification?
In any case I wouldn’t take any one source as the gospel truth.
On a related note Anniyan did very well everywhere but it was somewhat bigger in Andhra than in TN. Actually at the time some were saying it had underperformed in TN and so on. A film which puts up these kinds of numbers everywhere cannot be a flop anywhere even if it cannot be as profitable everywhere based on extraordinary prices. In some places it might even be less than this but this too often happens with the biggest films.
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January 29, 2015 at 7:51 PM
A shanker movie can flop only in terms of cost. never in absolute collections.
At this moment the picture in TN is not clear. It has not stagnated like Lingaa did after 1st weekend and the second weekend has been decent. A better picture there will come only after yennai Arindhal releases on 5th feb. Again it has collected around 6.5 crores in Chennai (Chengalpet, chennai and surroundings) and that was what Vellai Illa pattadhari – a small budget movie- did there. Katthi also had done around 8 crores..Singham 2 around 12 crores…So even in TN the movie still needs to do more and primarily due to the cost and the U/A certificate. In TN if a movie doesnt have U certificate, then it is taxed. So when someone says the movie has grossed same as Enthiran or whatever that doesnt give the correct picture. Enthiran was a U movie so not taxed. The net for I will be less than its gross.
Take the 2 links you sent, the worldwide share is around 90 crores even though it has grossed 180 and thats why they are saying it is Average at a worldwide level. The link i shared with the ABO link where in telugu it has flopped and it can still be average at the Worldwide level.
My sense is that this movie will end up in the Above Average range at the end of its run. Once Yennai Arindhal releases, we need to see what happens.
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January 29, 2015 at 9:39 PM
“‘I’ leads the pack again, by a huge margin. A likely blockbuster ?”
Behindwoods
” Trade Facts:Super Hit”
Sify Tamil
so they don’t know the selling price of the movie?
And you’re really picking things otherwise. Just about every link I’ve posted is calling it a worldwide blockbuster, they’re saying it might cross Enthiran. There might be a stray comment here and there but the overwhelming bit of reporting on this film is pointing in one direction including by sites like behind woods that normally aren’t the kindest on Vikram.
Here’s something on the Andhra box office:
http://www.tamilstar.com/news-id-shankars-i-dominating-andhra-box-office-shankar-i-30-01-159998.htm
I could keep putting up these links, you’ve found one stray link calling it a flop in Andhra but you’re mysteriously ignoring every other bit of reporting. Even accounting for the net/gross debate consider where I already is compared to other important grossers:
http://andhraboxoffice.com/info.aspx?id=691&cid=6&fid=26
The other problem I have with these technical arguments is that one could say a film in Bombay did 300 crores but is only average because it was sold expensively. That’s a very misleading way of representing the film in question. A film cannot throw up those kinds of numbers without being liked. Pk could do 340 crores but if someone sold it at prices where they could only really get hit ratios at 400 crores or something that is not a problem with the film’s acceptance. Even if one points this out one should say the film is obviously a super hit or whatever but that expensive pricing means it’s not as profitable as it otherwise would have been. If you keep saying a Shankar movie that’s going to cross 200 crores worldwide and then add some is ‘above average’ or something it’s simply misleading. Leaving aside the fact (and I won’t rake up points that I’ve been making for many years now) that these pricing arguments seem completely arbitrary. Sometimes films that open huge and then tank completely or do slightly better than this are considered to be hits or whatever based on such pricing issues (as if from HNY and ETT the distributors expected only as much as YJHD got!). Or by the same token PK is not considered a blockbuster several times over. This mysterious, never-clearly defined pricing thing keeps popping up which becomes an alibi to more or less define any film in any way. Why? Because when you then plot the graph on these things it makes no sense. I’ve offered one example above. Leaving aside the verifiability issues it just doesn’t make sense when you compare similar claims on different films.
Now getting back to I it would be fair to say that you’ve never exactly been cheering it. Even after release with the tons of reports that even after week 2 have been nothing but positive on it you’ve not had anything to say. But then you suddenly dig up this one link or have a host of arguments about how despite all these big numbers it might not be much. It’s your prerogative to like or dislike the film but shouldn’t one be a bit more neutral on the box office? Why doesn’t one look at the more general reporting trend on it? Why is one only highlighting the negative? I’m not trying to put you on the spot but this kind of ‘consistency’ on one side or the other raises questions. Argue against the box office by all means, that’s not my point but there isn’t much of an argument here beyond snippets gathered here and there from an overwhelmingly positive narrative. Even this I’d accept if you’d consistently do the same for every film but that’s not the case. On HNY you were much kinder than most. Again the same selling price issue. BOI used to not give Ghajini its due on the same score. But somehow these issues never popped up with a Salman film or whatever. I’ll be as blunt as I can — over the years on various forums I’ve seen many people raise the pricing issue and almost always it’s a kind of red herring. So once more I could accept your entire argument on I but then I couldn’t accept similar ones from you on other films. So yes maybe Ghajini isn’t a blockbuster on pricing issues but then just about every other 100 crore or 200 crore film is probably a flop! And the Ghajini example isn’t unfair because you tend not to disagree with BOI very much. And again at the very least one must look at the larger picture. Jai Ho releases and doesn’t work, one might call it a flop (though the likes of BOI don’t!), then a film does 500 crores and one might say it’s average because of pricing. Isn’t this deeply misleading? Surely audience participation means something too? When Forest Gump became a massive hit there was an article in the NY Times about how despite doing so much it wasn’t too profitable for the studios because Hanks and Zemeckis had a profit-sharing arrangement where they pocketed 40m a piece. But they didn’t say the film was ‘average’ because of this! It had made 350m or something. Would have been crazy to call it anything but a huge hit. It’s this sort of balance that one doesn’t see when one only focuses on the pricing issue.
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January 29, 2015 at 11:42 PM
Come on Satyam, I have always provided my comments on movies based on economics and economics alone. Whether it was in saying that HNY was a hit in economics but disappointment in content, or in Bang Bang being a disappointment in both or even more recently Baby being a disappointment in terms of its economics. I dont know any other way to gauge a movies profitability. On PK I dont know who is not calling it a blockbuster. If anything its a ATBB.
On I ,all the links you provided and even the ones from ABO are all about World wide collections. In every ABO link at the very bottom they have given the verdict and almost all the places they have said it is average. The link which I have put is not the worlwide collection, it was the link of the weekend BO in Andhra territory alone. And it was called a flop in it because after Week 1 there was always hope it will sustain. But the drop came in the 2nd weekend and they have given the verdict. And that verdict is of the Andhra domestic BO alone. And as i said just because it didnt do well in ABO domestic, that doesnt mean it cannot be a hit at World level. In TN BO, it has done around 65 crores but it will have a tax and the net will be lesser so there is still work to be done to get a hit status. And even behindwoods is saying the same thing. They are saying it might be a likely blockbuster if it goes the same way. But their verdict is still not updated. It just says ‘Grand Opening’. It only means they are waiting to see how it does in the future weeks before giving the verdict. Also one more thing, CBO is just Chennai BO, it is not TN BO. For a movie like I, it is possible that the CBO is very strong compared to TN BO. And they have also provided the theatres based on which they have done the BO reporting.
And then again I might be wrong here. The movie will sustain very well after Yennai Arindhal and will get a Hit+ verdict all over the world. So be it. We can wait for a week or 2 more and see how it goes.
BTW I am not even aware of this Ghajini thing you are talking about.
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January 30, 2015 at 6:27 AM
“Whether it was in saying that HNY was a hit in economics but disappointment in content, or in Bang Bang being a disappointment in both or even more recently Baby being a disappointment in terms of its economics. ”
Just the point I was trying to make..
on the rest you’re saying:
1)when someone says flop it means flop.
2)When someone says hit it probably still means flop.
exaggerating a bit but that’s more or less what you’re saying.
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January 29, 2015 at 6:50 AM
US says Taliban ‘armed insurgency’, ISIS ‘terrorist’ group
Whats that!
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January 29, 2015 at 10:09 AM
This looks really promising and the cast is great, I am especially looking forward to seeing Tom Hardy and Vincent Cassel in the same film(the novel is pretty good as well)-
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January 29, 2015 at 6:00 PM
Couldn’t watch ‘baby’ yet–but waiting for those specific ones I named above to enlighten us about ‘baby’ (only)–not interested in what they say bout other films.
Oh ‘aamirsfan’- what happened –is it banned at your end? Or r u ‘boycotting’ it –hmmm
Anyhow—
I may keep a look out for (rest of) the spoof casting ..depending on peoples ‘online behaviour’
As usual–the lead role has already been taken (& ‘owned’) ..
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January 29, 2015 at 9:58 PM
Baby has released and has seen exceptional reviews coming its way. While critical acclaim has been indeed the best ever since one can remember, what has made it count all the more is the fact that Akshay Kumar is being seen in a never-seen-before mode. While critics have hailed his performance as one of his best in a career that has spanned almost quarter of a century, audience has warmed up well by bringing in momentum as far as footfalls into theaters are concerned.
As for the treatment of the film, it is pretty apparent that Baby boasts of a unique narrative, what with third time director Neeraj Pandey making sure that the subject of global terrorism is told in a fresh manner that Hindi cinema audience has not been exposed to as yet.
“Each film is in a league of its own. Terrorism is something that we are tackling on almost a daily basis, yet each and every episode of such heinous acts is a plot on its own,” says Akshay Kumar.
Ask him about the kind of level headed performance he has given in the film and he says, “I feel compelled to make cinema that entertains people as well as awakens them. This genre of film is unbelievably hard to face, but one that must be faced head on. This world isn’t always about laughs, babies and fluffy dogs; this world is mean, terrifying and extremely real, so is cinema.”
Read More – http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movies/features/type/view/id/7824
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January 29, 2015 at 9:45 PM
http://movies.ndtv.com/bollywood/mardaani-rani-mukerji-impresses-polish-fans-735606?utm_source=ndtv&utm_medium=top-stories-widget&utm_campaign=story-17-http%3a%2f%2fmovies.ndtv.com%2fbollywood%2fmardaani-rani-mukerji-impresses-polish-fans-735606
Actress Rani Mukerji, who was lauded for her role as a brave woman police officer in the film Mardaani in India, left Bollywood lovers of Poland not only impressed with her acting skills but with the intricacies of the film which revolves around human trafficking, during the film’s premiere in Warsaw.
Rani faced a knowledgeable crowd after the premiere of Mardaani, produced by Yashraj Films,on January 28. The film was screened at the prestigious Muranow theatre.
Only films that have substance, make it to Muranow and Mardaani proved that it was unlike other Bollywood film, which Polish audiences have been watching for the past decade.
The audience was not only impressed with the film but also with its leading lady, who was specially invited to interact with the public.
The actress rose to the occasion and took questions with great confidence for more than an hour.
Read on.
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January 29, 2015 at 10:07 PM
Next time I would like to see Rani taking on terrorists. It will show women officers are no less. Why should they be confined to women trafficking issues only?
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January 29, 2015 at 9:53 PM
Reactions I am seeing for Baby had hardly been seen before. Most of my friends have liked the movie immensely and to the extent that it has gone into their Top 10 or Top 5 films ever.
If this is the case, then I am wondering that why Baby could not pick up the way BOI wanted it. While Taran has been positive, BOI which i trust the most, has not acknowledged the WOM. From the promo Baby did look like a niche product, so one hardly expected 150Cr. However now that it looks close to touching 100Cr nett as per Taran and Rs 80cr nett as per BOI, can this be called a success? Have not been able to see the movie yet, but going by the appreciation from members of this forum, i wanted to ask what they think should have been the fate of Baby – Hit (100cr), Superhit (150 Cr) or Blockbuster (200 Cr)?
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January 29, 2015 at 10:01 PM
The movie is good and well made. WOM is good but there is only finite amount of audience for such a movie or the release was at wrong time.
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January 29, 2015 at 10:09 PM
So should the makers have diluted the intensity and added romance, humor, top heroine and songs?
If they had done, would it get same appreciation?
Would it had done better at BO then?
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January 30, 2015 at 4:30 AM
no akki has lot the credibility for huge openings after those crap-fest in between
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January 29, 2015 at 10:05 PM
IMDB ratings of recent films –
Baby – 9/10
PK – 8.6/10
Haider 8.6/10
Oh My God – 8.2/10
Holiday – 7.3/10
Kick – 5.7/10
Happy New Year – 5.9/10
Rowdy Rathore – 5.6/10
3 Idiots – 8.5/10
Is there any correlation between box-office and IMDB rating?
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January 29, 2015 at 10:10 PM
There is some sort of correlation. Most of the time the films they select are not duds at the boxoffice.
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