This entry was posted on July 31, 2015 at 6:11 AM and is filed under the bad. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
243 Responses to “Drishyam, Bajrangi Bhaijaan (ongoing), the rest of the box office”
Drishyam Has Very Poor Opening
Friday 31 July 2015 13.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Drishyam had a very poor opening of 10-15% and us the lowest Ajay Devgn opener in recent times. Probably since Tezz in 2012. The opening is even lower than films like Piku and Hamari Adhuri Kahani as former was bit better in Mumbai city and latter was bit better in CPCI. Here the opening is bad across the board.
The collections on its first day are going to similar to the 15th day of Bajrangi Bhaijaan. In North India, Rajasthan and Bihar the collections of Bajrangi Bhaijaan were better. The film is totally dependent on wom and it has to kick in tomorrow and get growth of over 50% and a repeat on Sunday.
Drishyam had paid previews yesterday and grossed in the 50 lakhs nett range with low occupancies. The paid previews were there probably to help word of mouth to work faster but in reality it does not help much and it’d still going to be down to the Saturday numbers of the film. The film also has a very wide release of 2200 plus screens with content which probably does not need such a wide release.
‘Jon Stewart confirms final guests for his last week on ‘The Daily Show’’
By Emily Yahr July 31 at 1:37 AM
In the closing minutes of “The Daily Show” on Thursday night, Jon Stewart confirmed the last three guests for his final week after 16 years as host: Amy Schumer, Denis Leary and Louis C.K.
The three actors/comedians are all his pals. Recently, Stewart revealed Leary and C.K. as two of his favorite guests, given that they’re his friends and he doesn’t really have to do any work for the interview. Meanwhile, Stewart and Schumer, his fellow Comedy Central star, apparently grabbed pizza earlier this year and talked about her possibly taking over “The Daily Show.” (She ultimately turned the gig down.)
“Remember, next week is our last week,” Stewart reminded his audience. “We’re going to have a ball, and I can’t wait to show my appreciation at all the support and enthusiasm that you guys have given the show all these years.”
Stewart’s final show on Thursday, Aug. 6, is shrouded in secrecy, much like the final nights for “The Colbert Report” and “Late Show With David Letterman.” However, we’re going to go ahead and guess that Colbert might make an appearance. The episode is scheduled to be 50 minutes long, allowing for a few extra surprises.
Another programming note: Next Thursday, as a lead-up to the finale, Comedy Central will air a day-long marathon of old “Daily Show” episodes starting at 10:30 a.m. Looks like there will be some of Stewart’s more famous episodes and guests, from Steve Carell; Malala Yousafazai; Bill O’Reilly; Donald Rumsfeld; and Jim Cramer.
Not sure how this show will survive with Jon Stewart leaving. Also the best writers/producers are now working with John Oliver over at HBO with ‘Last Week Tonight’.
TDS has been off the past few months (I watch it every night) and Jon seems to have just checked out this past month. But overall this show will go down as one of the best shows in history…back when cable tv was where all the ‘waste’ went…this show (and later along with ‘Colbert Report’) rose above it all and changed a entire generation of ‘stoned’ kids into serious and intelligent thinkers that demand better from their elected leaders. Also this show produced so many bonafide stars with Steve Carrell, Stephen Colbert, Ed Helms and Jon Oliver leading the way. Yes this show was/is that important and great, IMO.
On the subject of the last show; it will be very hard to beat Colberts last show…it was epic and perfect…but probably easy to beat Letterman. Looking forward to it. Thank god for Colbert and John Oliver still doing late night shows.
I also wished he would’ve stayed thru the next elections in 2016 but at least we have Colbert and Oliver to look forward to. Seems like it’ll be Clinton v. Bush (unless Trump miraculously and hilariously stays on top)…but of course America isn’t a monarchy!
I never say this about a TV personality but I will miss this guy..haven’t missed an episode of his in about 10 years. One of the most gifted ‘news maker’ in American TV history. The way he disected the BS in politics and media is and will always be pure genius.
Ok folks I’m on a roll. Bahubali yesterday, saw Court Mon (excellent film by the way), tonight it’s MI, tomorrow night Bajrangi (have to be kind to the Salman fans otherwise they’ll say this is why it didn’t catch up with PK), then possibly he new German thriller Phoenix on Sun. Finally another Bahubali screening next week at some point! Moral of the story? I’m not watching Drishyam! But seriously I haven’t been this prolific in a very long time.
the soda has to be paced right! and the bathroom breaks also have to be taken with ‘strategery’.
for a while I’ve mostly avoided the sodas too. And some other things in the same sense (nachos among them). Coffee is the only thing I indulge in and at theaters which allow me to take it in from outside. Otherwise it’s terrible where they do have it.
LOL, that hasn’t happened to me yet and I should probably be careful given my very poor track record otherwise. I have had many awful coffee spills and I can’t quite figure out why I am so prone to it. I don’t spill anything else. Just this. On at least a few occasions I’ve gone back to starbucks within 15 mins!
jayshah…does the ice cream come before or after you have counted every person the theatre and multipled them with the ticket rate to formulate the movie’s box office fate for the weekend 🙂
sadly Ratnam is in town for screenings of Dil Se, Bombay, Roja over the weekend but I can’t make it for any of those (I would only have been interested in Dil Se at this point). It’s in Queens (Museum of the Moving Image) for anyone who might be interested:
….just a bit of dabble in story, hardly any production costs & minimal casting – the results turn out to be enormous !
Now for the simple minds, just extrapolate that to 5 years of labor of love, planning, plotting (make that story sittings, drafting/ redrafting ) cut , weld and may i say ‘paste’ (not sure if germ of the idea initiated with OMG)
Reminds me of a famous marketing slogan – More Savings More Doing, That’s the power of ……….any guesses ? (no its not Home Depot) …..”And now you know — the rest of the story” (courtesy Paul Harvey, Radio Broadcaster).
“Now for the simple minds, just extrapolate that to 5 years of labor of love, planning, plotting (make that story sittings, drafting/ redrafting ) cut , weld and may i say ‘paste’ (not sure if germ of the idea initiated with OMG)”
and yet you can’t catch PK…!
In any case I thought Bajrangi had a mind-blowing script and what not. Now it’s just about a bit of story and minimal casting?
Nonetheless I always appreciated Salman’s integrity. Unlike those other frauds he didn’t resort to the dirty trick of doing a good script. But I’ve lost all respect for him after Bajrangi. Never thought he’d sell out to a good script. And now I hear Sultan might be a sober film as well. Then with Barjatya he’s fallen so low that he’s really trying to get the family audiences in a big way. I respected him so much after Ready and Bodyguard and so on. He’s really fallen in my eyes.
The sequence of my earlier comment is incorrect. Its in response to the comment ” … tomorrow night Bajrangi (have to be kind to the Salman fans otherwise they’ll say this is why it didn’t catch up with PK)”
It’s certainly possible and I can easily see a path for that but if I’m betting I’ll say it won’t happen. the biggest hits in this sense are usually made by directors completely in sync with the present. Older ones can survive successfully and deliver hits but they are usually not able to produce absolute blockbusters. Trying to think of anyone who was able to do this in the history of Hindi cinema barring Raj Kapoor. I don’t even count Desai here because though he did it for decades he was heavily dependent on Bachchan beyond a point, specially with the scripts getting poorer. Take Yash Chopra for example. He was doing DTPH and VZ, far lesser results than DDLJ and even then his son was involved. JTHJ was even worse some many years later. Notice that Aamir’s films too are with directors who are currently big whether it’s Murugadoss down South or Hirani in Bombay. And even when he got great results with lesser directors they were still not past their prime or something. They just didn’t have enough of a body of work. many weren’t significant anyway but the point is that they hadn’t been hanging around forever. Sl Barjatya would have some history to deal with. Again it’s not about getting a hit but getting an absolute one which is what you need to beat Pk specially since the film is too close to Bajrangi in time to be able to better it by a significant margin in the first 7-10 day period (unless of course it’s trending like 3I or something.. but then you have a far bigger film anyway). In other words you’re really looking at a film that’s significantly better than Pk in the second week and onwards. Not a very easy task. even for the best of films. Consider Bajrangi. Everyone is positive on the film. It’s been as close to universally liked as any film in recent times and yet it starts falling behind Pk in week 2, a film which according to many here including yourself wasn’t that special to begin with. the family audiences were on board for Bajrangi (it wouldn’t have done 300 otherwise), it had the WOM and still not getting there. Why? The response was so positive Krrish predicted north of 350 more than once. What happened? Don’t say Drishyam. The film has had a poor start today and Bajrangi slowed down a bit before this released. Relative to PK that is. Again not saying it isn’t possible but I don’t think it’s reasonable to take this as a given. Of course I’m never in war with the facts. When Salman fails repeatedly to clear these benchmarks you just move on to the next one. Apparently it still proves nothing about Aamir. Then it’s about advancing all sorts of arguments as you did just not which frankly don’t make any sense (to be kind about it). Man for your sake I hope it happens next Diwali. I feel your pain..!
I feel you took it too high that unless a star crosses biggest grosser, he fails. For me, apart from technical reason, it doesn’t matter if BB does 320 – 325 or crosses PK, its a huge success in any case. If Salman or any other star consistently give big grossers but do not surpass biggest one, it for me is a bigger achievement.
Even BIG B in his prime can not surpass (infact can not even come close to) Sholay in which he was not the only lead actor, Dharmendra was bigger than him at that time. But, that does not take away anything from him, he is and will remain one of the biggest stars India has ever seen.
If PRDP do 300+ and it also does not cross PK, does that prove that Aamir is bigger without considering the fact that Salman has given two 300 + grossers in a span of few months. Here, I do agree that this is not given and we have to see how this combo works now.
And, I believe, Aamir was not able to surpass HAHK or DDLJ for a much longer time.
I am not saying these things in some decontextualized way. I am responding to what I consider less than honest arguments by others. this is not stuff I believe in otherwise. So I’m not saying that he has to cross Aamir each time but since others do they have to live by those standards. By the way the Bachchan analogy doesn’t work anyway. Because the other biggest hits were also always his. They didn’t come from other stars. But in Salman’s case that is clearly not true, he’s not crossing many of these Aamir films. But again this isn’t a problem as far as I’m concerned. However when people have this desperation that one way or the other someone else must cross Aamir’s biggest grossers then I like to point out it’s been a long wait! But again I wouldn’t have had any issues if Bajrangi did it. I am usually responding to the way others frame these things, it’s not about what I otherwise believe in. Now in terms of consistency which is what you started out by saying Aamir had Ghajini, 3I, D3, PK as 4 out of his last 5 films. So not sure what the debate is even here! Finally on DDLJ and HAHK true but who ever denied it? Isn’t this the crux of the matter? One shouldn’t be in the business of denying facts. But let’s pause for a minute here. DDLLJ though huge was nowhere close to HAHK. Why are they even in a group?
So who said that Aamir was the “biggest” star during those times of HAHK and DDLJ. He was one of the biggest, but not the biggest, but today it’s Aamir who is setting the standards each time by surpassing his own records and that too back to back twice! So nobody is saying Salman is lesser star than Aamir, but he is not unarguably the biggest in today’s times as take Aamir since 2005 and you’ll realise his incredible run coupled with unknown directors and different geners and yet delivering biggest of openings and overall grossers. Earlier that was considered to be billed as a top star, take for instance with Gadar, Sunny Deol became no. 1 despite his previous years patchy record. Or for instance Shahrukh being no. 1 without breaking any record with the help of biggest banners, directors and co-stars, yet nobody did raise this question. With Aamir there are zillion “ifs and buts” to accept the reality. Another thing which i have not yet understood that despite Aamir being not massy and Salman being the biggest mass star, why does that not reflect in 1st day or weekend numbers?? It’s the assumption that make Salman more massier than Aamir or Shahrukh, but numbers don’t validate it. He is undoubtedly one of the biggest yet not ahead of Aamir today, let’s wait for PRDP and then come back again to anoint Salman no. 1 in case if he breaks PK records!!
Apart from often repeated ‘picture abhi baaki hai’ powwow, just upfront let me state Bahubali easily ate at least 20-30 Cr of the gross and if you add the hype if it galloping solo add another 10 Cr.
(recently TWMR benefited with this hype of first female oriented 100cr movie and long run with no competition)
Its not only Drishyam ( a big star movie), but the holiday feel which is missing here which comes for a prolonged period of time during Christmas / New Year period established by new work modules .
Also Salman himself took the zing out of the movie with that awful & irresponsible tweet which meant nothing and only antagonized a large section and losing on some of the goodwill.
Barjatya is aided by Salman to make it a contemporary setting. The movie is no gimmick but as per interviews given last year , Barjatya wants to say something new with this movie……and god forbid if it connects !!!!!!!!!!!!!
alright I get it a big Salman movie should release without any competition within a month in either direction and from any film North or South. So Bajrangi has lost about 40 crores? I guess it’s lucky PK didn’t make 380 or else Bahubali and this other stuff might have cost it 70-80 crores. This is why Roshan Sr just added all this opportunity cost to the Krrish gross.
‘Rogue Nation’: 5 Reasons It’s the Best ‘Mission: Impossible’
July 31, 2015 | 11:43AM PT
Ramin Setoodeh
Film Editor, New York @RaminSetoodeh
“Just when Tom Cruise had been written off as an action star, he makes a triumphant comeback — at age 53 — with “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation.” The summer’s most entertaining popcorn movie not only eclipses “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Jurassic World” and “Mad Max: Fury Road” with its action sequences, it also brings to mind Cruise’s prime days (“Top Gun,” “Jerry Maguire,” etc.) on the Hollywood A-list. ”
…
“(5) “M:I 5″ is a throwback to how summer tentpoles should be.
Most action movies now are so serious, a byproduct of the Marvel universe, where superheroes sulk in their own darkness. And when “Jurassic World” tried to be a fun, it just came across as silly with its high-heel-wearing heroine played by Bryce Dallas Howard. But “Mission: Impossible 5” finds the right tone for a summer blockbuster. Its 131 minutes of escapist entertainment prove that not all sequels must be pale imitations of what comes before. This is the rare Hollywood franchise that only gets better with age. ”
mad max is by far the best action movie to come out this year…Avengers was a huge let down and JW was highly overrated (I’d take the recent Godzilla climax over the JW climax anyday).
I thought Tom Cruise was done but apparently like Salman; nothing can hurt his image.
Talking from personal experience, I think Tom Cruise’s image has been much more damaged than Salman’s. I was born and raised in the U.S. and all of my American AND Indian friends now hate Tom Cruise after the whole Scientology thing and won’t watch his movies period, forget about going to the movie theater. But as kids we all watched MI3 in theaters together. On the other hand, all my Indian friends know about Salman’s court case(s), and his tweets and all the other rumors about him and abuse but still they all showed up The first day for BB and will do the same for PRDP. Actually I think that Salman’s image hasn’t been affected at all by anything, and this can only apply to him. Can’t imagine any other star in the world (except maybe Big B) who could come out of any controversy or accusation as unaffected and free (image wise) as Salman. Besides a few online Social Justice Warriors, don’t think anyone has stopped watching Salman’s films on moral grounds
You’re right in that Tom Cruise took a hit to his image where he hasn’t quite fully recovered but I think he has definitely recovered to some degree. Even the recent Scientology documentary on HBO didn’t really effect him. There was recent rumor that he is trying to get out of that cult but nothing came of it. Yes he is pretty much reliant on the MI series…without this series he would be average. But like you I’ve also been raised in the US and Tom Cruise has kept a low profile after the Oprah and Brook Shields debacle and taking a look at his movies performances…. MI4 brought him back on the map in 2011 and then Edge of Tomorrow really won more acclaim and did fairly well last year. Now Mi5 is poised to open huge…I’d say he is back but again not to the level of where he once was.
I think it is fair to compare Salman and Tom because before 2007, Salman was in a major rut. He did have a image problem in the early 2000’s (the break up with Ash and Ash accusing Salman of physical and verbal abuse). Like Tom, Salman has recovered but yeah unlike Tom, Salman has soared to a new stratosphere after his negative image.
On the moral bit…to me whether it is Aamir, Salman or Tom…I don’t go to the theaters because I think they are great men and I idolize them…I go to the theater because it’s all about a good movie for me.
The action of Mad Max is still unbeatable. FF7 I ended up missing in the theater. This is probably the most substantial film of the franchise since the first one. But I might take Ghost Protocol over it.
hair coloring does wonders to one’s look….who knew? lol but very cool that Hirani is doing a commercial with Amitabh and Kangana would be cooler if they all did a movie together and add a certain Khan in that movie!
Devgan probably would be the ideal candidate but anyway who says the khans can’t compromise on a lesser role with Big B…both SRK and Sallu appeared in his movies as supporting characters (Baghban and Bhootnath). Would be great if something materialized with Aamir and Amitabh; a film where both had important characters. Something like ‘A Few Good Men’ comes to mind.
And its not about hating khans .. its just that with khans in movie they will not let Amitabh do a better role .. unless Hirani take them in guest role.
SRK and Salman have appeared in numerous movies with Amitabh, where Amitabh had better roles.
And honestly its not really about khans ‘not letting’ Amitabh do a better role…its where these actors stand in their respective careers at this point. I love Amitabh…but he isn’t a ‘lead’ actor by any sense of the imagination.
“I love Amitabh…but he isn’t a ‘lead’ actor by any sense of the imagination.”
And of course I mean this as of today, 2015. This doesn’t diminish him in any way, he is still going strong doing ‘character’ roles and its been proven that SRK and Sallu don’t have a problem giving the spotlight to Amitabh. Admittedly, Aamir has always had trouble sharing the spot light (but even he has eased up recently, case in point doing a film with Abhishek Bachchan).
For the past few weeks, big ticket entertainers have been ruling the roost. And this week sees the release of the Ajay Devgn starrer DRISHYAM that has garnered rave reviews from critics. Also, releasing this week are series of Hollywood films like PIXELS, SOUTH PAW and VATICAN TAPES.
According to reports, DRISHYAM has started off on an average note with an occupancy rate of about 20 to 25%. On the other hand, BAJRANGI BHAIJAAN that is entering its third week has seen a decline in its occupancy rate. MASAAN, the critically acclaimed film that released last week too is facing a low response due to lack of screen space. On the Hollywood front, the three releases this week, namely, PIXELS, SOUTH PAW and VATICAN TAPES are fighting for screen space with only a handful shows in multiplexes.
On the whole, DRISHYAM is expected to fare much better in the evening and night shows owing to word of mouth publicity. BAJRANGI BHAIJAAN too is expected to post in decent collections. As far as the Hollywood releases are concerned, they will face stiff competition from these two big Bollywood starrers.
Ajay Devgn starrer Drishyam, which took a slow opening in the morning, showed a decent escalation in the evening and late night shows yesterday. As per early estimates, the film managed to rake in around 8 crores on Day 1 i.e. 1st Friday at the Domestic Box Office.
The collections are quite average for a film which stars Devgn as a lead face. However, the film had got a screen count of 2365 and considering the occupancy that it witnessed the entire day, the collections are fare enough.
Koimoi
Drishyam had poor first day collections of around 5-5.25 crore nett. The film did have better evening collections as the morning collections suggested an even lower total. Still for a film that has released in over 2200 screens its a very poor total. The film fared relatively better in Mumbai circuit.
The collections are the lowest for an Ajay Devgn starrer for some time Tezz in early 2012 had opened to 3.25 crore nett but since then its been a run of films that opened at around 10 crore nett with Singham Returns going over 30 crore nett. The business of Drishyam in West Bengal and Bihar was awful and in many cities of the North it was second to Bajrangi Bhaijaan.
The film will need huge growth on Saturday and really has to get upto around 8 crore nett on Saturday which still will not be a good number but at least the trend will be there and the film can at least have a chance. Normal growth of 25-30% will not help much due to such a weak opening.
Bajrangi Bhaijaan grossed around 4 crore nett on its third Friday which is excellent and only second to PK for a third Friday but collections have been falling over the last few days. The film had grossed 9 crore nett plus on Tuesday and after continuous falls over the last few days it is at 4 crore nett levels on Friday.
This trend will change on Saturday but due to what has happened in the Wed-Fri period it means it won’t reach the business of PK which it looked on course to beat till the drop on Wednesday. The film will reach 300 crore nett by next weekend.
The film is still on course to set all time records in Delhi / UP, East Punjab, Rajasthan, CP Berar, CI and Bihar but can’t have the midweek drops thus week that it had last week.
off-topic – although this deserves a separate post Satyam: “Female stars from north who made it big in South” – Tamanna Bhatia and Hansika Motwani have done 36 and 40 films respectively down South!!! Their bollywood films simply flopped………….they are huge stars down South and every year churning out 3 to 5 films………..
Drishyam Has Very Low Collections On Day One
Saturday 01 August 2015 11.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Drishyam had poor first day collections of around 5-5.25 crore nett. The film did have better evening collections as the morning collections suggested an even lower total. Still for a film that has released in over 2200 screens its a very poor total. The film fared relatively better in Mumbai circuit.
The collections are the lowest for an Ajay Devgn starrer for some time Tezz in early 2012 had opened to 3.25 crore nett but since then its been a run of films that opened at around 10 crore nett with Singham Returns going over 30 crore nett. The business of Drishyam in West Bengal and Bihar was awful and in many cities of the North it was second to Bajrangi Bhaijaan.
The film will need huge growth on Saturday and really has to get upto around 8 crore nett on Saturday which still will not be a good number but at least the trend will be there and the film can at least have a chance. Normal growth of 25-30% will not help much due to such a weak opening.
OMG Sequel On Track
by Soumita Sengupta (August 1, 2015)
After the massive success of OMG-Oh My God! Akshay Kumar’s production house Grazing Goat Pictures has decided to helm a sequel to the film. The writers have been trying to write a new story but then, PK released, after which Viacom18 Motion Pictures, which were co-producers of OMG, made Dharam Sankat Mein on similar lines. Now the makers realise that making a film based on religion makes no sense as it may not have anything new to offer. We hear that director Umesh Shukla and his writers have worked on a new concept which is not about God but a comic take on social issues. Akshay Kumar will play the leading man and the film will start rolling early next year.
ARK Opposite SS
by Box Office India (August 1, 2015)
Shaad Ali made his debut in 2002 by directing Saathiya, a remake of Tamil film Alaipayuthey directed by Mani Ratnam. The film became a massive hit and Ali’s reputation as a director soared. Thirteen years later, Ali will helm yet another remake, this time, Ratnam’s O Kadhal Kanmani, which released earlier this year. We also hear that Ali has signed Aditya Roy Kapur and Sonakshi Sinha to play the lead roles in the film. The film revolves around today’s modern, live-in couples.
Keeping It All Hush Hush
by Soumita Sengupta (August 1, 2015)
After getting a lot of flak from the audience for Bombay Velvet, Anurag Kashyap has decided to stick to working with his kind of actors (no big stars, we mean). He has signed Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Ayushmann Khurrana for his next film, which he will complete in just 20 days. Yes, it is one of the most low-budget films his banner Phantom Production has ever produced. The film starts rolling next month and everyone associated with the film has been told to keep it hush-hush.
The Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shriya Sharan starrer Drishyam released recently. The film, which is a remake of a Malayalam film by the same name, has opened on an average note. However, with good reviews and positive word of mouth, the film which is a suspense thriller, is expected to pick up over time.
In this Box Office analysis, we take a look at the success of Drishyam, breaking the film’s collections into a Day-wise break-up of domestic collections and also tracking the film’s Overseas numbers. (Note: These figures are inclusive of preview shows as well).
“Admittedly, Aamir has always had trouble sharing the spot light (but even he has eased up recently, case in point doing a film with Abhishek Bachchan).”
Haha well, not sure if that can be classed as a bit of ‘easing up’ eh….with abhishrek as that too in such an ‘unequal’ situation…
I still maintain, had abhishrek been given a more decent role, hd he not been so badly sidelined (& :demoralised /humiliated!) by not even been invited to dhoom3 media events, even abhishrek would’ve been a handful for aamir…
It’s one thing to stand your ground and another to do so in ‘neutral ‘ situations
To take this further , I’m noticing a proliferation of some new ‘yes men’ or ‘yes girls’ here who are going overboard in exaggerated praise of Satyam and his stances . These have always been there but it’s just that there are som cases wherein that’s all they do!
Not that Satyam doesn’t deserve praise but it’s just that it shouldn’t need grating ly fake
Give Satyam and his blog some respect….
actually Rajesh isn’t right there.. Tom Cruise does well these days ONLY in MI. All of his other films open poorly. In fact his Edge of Tomorrow was excellent and trended well but because it couldn’t get an opening scraped by to 100m or something.
Edge of tomorrow opened to 28m, did a 100
Oblivion started off with 37, did 89
Jack Reacher opened at 15 and did 80
the last MI did 210m, which itself isn’t extraordinary by today’s standards. Nolan’s Inception with DiCaprio did close to 300m a year before this.
Then between MI3 and Ghost Protocol he had Valkyrie and Knight and Day, both of which did 75-80m (even if Hrithik still saw blockbuster potential in the latter and even if at least one of his fans also considers Bang Bang one!)
Not even getting into stuff like Rock of Ages or Lions for Lambs. MI3 did 135m in 2006, again good but not spectacular.
Between MI2 and MI3 he was still getting to 100m most days and sometimes going unto 140 or so when the films were better. On War of the Worlds he got 235. Of course this wasn’t just any film.
The point in any case is that the downward graph can clearly be discerned in his career for quite sometime now. But especially so since Ghost Protocol. MI is pretty much the only game he has left. I quite enjoy watching him in some of these outings and there’s probably not a guy who looks better at 53 than he does (!). But still. Actually this MI is the first one where they’ve made some allowances for his age and woven this aspect of things into the script. Still he’s good for one more and maybe two if they do these relatively quickly.
Name other male stars having the same longevity, number of years as lead, atleast moderate success in various genres and with this frequency in mainstream releases …
He’s not at his peak now but still better than most.
Btw as an example —
Sky has a dedicated channel for only one star actor
And this has no exception
The tom cruise channel
Very Obvious but despite you being fully aware of can’t accept the TRUTH that is Aamir Khan since 1989.And he is at the top of his game, that’s called pinnacle both commercially and critically as well. But to accept this BITTER PILL is like conceding that it’s not APEX but NADIR which you have hit very long ago, you’re irredeemable with your narcissism!!
this is an interesting read for more than one reason but it also touches on something that seems to elude most ‘desi’ fans and ‘critics’. The star can be effective or even great for very many reasons. He doesn’t have to be a fine actor or even a significant actor to be able to do this. But in India there is always this ‘insistence’ that every successful star ‘must’ somehow be an important actor as well.
Saw MI: Rogue Nation last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was particularly tickled by the nod to Hitchcock and impressed by Rebecca Ferguson’s performance as Ilsa (also a nod to classic Hollywood methinks). A well-made popcorn, entertainer is one of the real pleasures of civilization!:-)
As an aside, “The Revnant” trailer is even more riveting on the big screen…that background score – electrifying.
Very intriguing indeed when almost a year ago Tom Cruise was actually deemed “destroyed” by internet journalism and youtube projecting him religious fanatic and what not….
Seems willpower and grit is true essence of staying a hero even in Hollywood now on…!!
@ Andy — yeah internet and media spins can shake or destroy the lesser ones but the true stars do survive …
@ shalini–thanx forthat review ..haven’t seen it but may check it out…
How was the response at your end
“..tho I’m surprised u are checking out an action flick like ‘rogue…”
@ myself aamir–u sound a DEVOUT FANGIRL of aamir
I’ve encountered many fangirls tho…
Somehow u remind me of the anecdotal reports of Rajesh khanna hysteria wherein ñubile girls used to ‘marry’ his photo.
Hope u desist from that (if not for kiran raos the for your own sake) lol
@ Satyam–yeah that’s a good piece on cruise (read a few lines)
The problem is that people don’t understand the difference between the career graphs of SEASONED REAL LONGTERM stars from upstarts/flavours of the season
The latter are many …and on the surface look similar
But one has to understand that the real star can NOT have a uniformly high career graph either
There ARE peaks and troughs
If it’s not showing it, there are other hidden factors like unnatural gaps, manufacturing and manipulation
Because one can’t go against the laws of nature
But it’s how they RESPOND to these peaks and troughs that differentiate the men from the boys /The women from the girls
This is true even for PLAYERS or heck even BLOGGERS
Even 10dulkar faced an ENDULKAR phase and near career threatening back problem,
Sometimes u have to just HANG ON
what’s amitabh bachchan doing for the past decade?
Is it in his calibre to play second fiddle to everyone from srk to now Farhan Akhtar now?
They have to ‘lose’ the smaller fights to survive
For another day
To win
In the bigger battle …
A Telugu film that is shattering box office records is the cause for much hilarity on the streets of Rome when foreigners are asked how the protagonist dies.
A popular YouTube channel run by comedian Rickshawali uploaded the video of her asking bemused men and women how Bahubali dies. Assuming none of them have a clue about what ‘Bahubali’ is, the answers ranged from mildly bizzare to hilariously wild.
Bahubali grossed 850 million rupees ($13.2 million) within a fortnight of its release, reported Reuters.
One passerby ventured “he ate bad pasta…bad pasta killed him”, while another, who seems to have big potential to wing it as a Bollywood writer, spun out an elaborate tale of betrayal and sex. Bahubali is said to be India’s most expensive film.
Drishyam’s BO is not looking like a hit, and with that I think it is safe to say that at this point in time, Ajay Devgan needs to do some career planning because his hits without Rohit Shetty since Golmaal Returns are very few:
He’s had 20 releases including Golmaal Returns up till Drishyam. 6 of those have been with Rohit Shetty. He’s had 8 hits (which isn’t a terrible ratio (Golmaal 2, Rajneeti, OUATIM, Golmaal 3, Singham, Bol Bachchan, SOS, and Singham Returns) But of the 8 hit films, 5 were with Rohit Shetty. So his hit ratio with Rohit Shetty is 5/6, and with other directors, it is 3/14. He’s obviously still a huge superstar as the Singham Returns opening shows us, but still. And to be fair, using the same time frame (2008-present), SRK also has no Blockbusters without Rohit Shetty. CE and most likely Dilwale.
I actually think Devgan’s stardom has been much overrated in this recent period of his career. He’s had good phases but nothing that remotely qualifies him to be considered a ‘superstar’, even in today’s debased sense. But even by those standards he’s more or less reached the end of the road. He’s had failures recently with all kinds of genres. Shetty doesn’t quite count, he gives hits with everyone. And yeah if they do another Singham it too would get a good opening. So again these films are nowhere close to top notch openers/grossers. For instance the Singham sequel ended up in Bang Bang territory give or take some. Still he was doing better than most in recent years, other than the marquee stars. But I doubt he’s getting that phase again.
Just back from Drishyam . Loved it. Thoroughly engaging from start to end. Can’t remember having seen this satisfying an Indian film in the thriller and suspense genre in a long long time. Went to see it without knowing anything about it. Not writing anything on it either , except recommending it strongly, as I want everyone to watfch it with a clean slate of mind and enjoy it to the fullest.
Sanjana: I think it will be fun to watch the Tamil and Malayalam versions after the Hindi one. Because I like the Hindi version a well as Ajay Devgan in it quite a lot.
Look at the impact of the legend that his 2nd Birthday has been trending on Twitter at 2nd place for more than 2 hours and maintaining its place!! Story behind it is in the link given below-
Big B’s other birthday: Why close friends wish him on Augt 2!!!!!
Drishyam Shows Good Growth On Saturday
Saturday 01 August 2015 23.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Drishyam is set to show good growth on Saturday as collections will be around the 7.50 crore nett mark which will mean growth of around 40%. The two day collections will be around 13.25 crore nett including paid previews. The growth on Saturday is across the board with all territories showing an upward trend.
The Saturday collections will still be low and the two day total of 13.25 crore nett is also not good. The ideal situation would have been huge 60-70% growth on Saturday but nevertheless 40% is also pretty good especially if it can repeat it again on Sunday.
The film has a long way to go with weekdays being crucial as Monday has to come close to the Friday total for it come out with good lifetime numbers. If not then it will join the list of many films where a poor initial has proved to be very costly.
Ajay Devgn starrer Drishyam, which took a slow opening in the morning, showed a decent escalation in the evening and late night shows yesterday. As per early estimates, the film managed to rake in around 8 crores on Day 1 i.e. 1st Friday at the Domestic Box Office.
The collections are quite average for a film which stars Devgn as a lead face. However, the film had got a screen count of 2365 and considering the occupancy that it witnessed the entire day, the collections are fare enough.
he Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shriya Sharan starrer Drishyam released recently. The film, which is a remake of a Malayalam film by the same name, has opened on an average note. However, with good reviews and positive word of mouth, the film which is a suspense thriller, is expected to pick up over time.
In this Box Office analysis, we take a look at the success of Drishyam, breaking the film’s collections into a Day-wise break-up of domestic collections and also tracking the film’s Overseas numbers. (Note: These figures are inclusive of preview shows as well).
Day-wise breakup for India
Day Collections (INR Cr.)
Day 1 (Fri) 8.5
TOTAL 8.5
When all other sources are reporting 8+ cr first day why boi is so different with just 5 cr. for bajrani bhaijan boi was hardly any different than taran/koimoi/producers numbers. Here first day figures are itself 60% lower.
In response to many reviews that have tried to run down the Hindi version in comparison to the oroginal Malayalam:
First of all, why make the review a comparison with the Malaylam version? The vast majority of us are seeing the film without seeing the other versions before. I think the film has to be judged by itself first, the comparisons can be a small epilogue at the end. Secondly, while I can believe that Mohanlal in the original is brilliant, I cannot accept that Anil Kapoor or anyone else from Bollywood would have done a better job than ajay Devgan. Mumbai does not have a Mohanalal, Period. And Mumbai films are not made in the same key of realism as Malayalam films. So I had no problem accepting Devgan and Shriya as everyday, middle-class husband and wife. You have to realize that compared to the get up and styling of any hero and heroine in a mainstream film, they do appear middle-class. And I think it is a good thing that Devagan does not keep flaunting his chauthi-fail gawnar personality in your face all the time. In fact he si not a ganwar at all, chauthi fail yes, but not gawnar. He is a successful businessman and has arrived somewhere in life. He is confident, has healthy sexual appetite and loves his family. I like his no-nonsense portrayal that I imagine I would the laboured portayal of an Anil Kapoor any of the Khans in this role. Shriya too is fine. She is the wife of a successful small-town business man , lusted after by her husband and likes to dress and groom herself well. I see no problem there. THe problem comes when you watch the films with a shadow of another film constantly clouding your vision.
Utkal , Agree to most points what you have said here.
I think (guy who played) Inspector Gaitonde and Tabu were superb in this movie. I doubt in original these characters were so strong and convincing.
Its not only abt the leading man’s character as ppl comparing original to this one are trying to point out (mohanlal/kamal vs ajay). Without Gaitonde’s strong acting un second half would not worked so well. Ajay is also very good.
ajrangi Bhaijaan Super Strong On Third Saturday
Sunday 02 August 2015 11.15 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Bajrangi Bhaijaan had huge growth on its third Saturday as it went up around 60-65% from the day before. The first two day business of the third week of Bajrangi Bhaijaan are as follows.
Friday – 4,00,00,000
Saturday – 6,50,00,000
TOTAL – 10,50,00,000
The film shows exrraordinary trends on Saturday and Sunday probaby because the families come out. The business of the film is now 280 crore nett and if Sunday can grow 40-50% it may reach 300 crore nett before the end of the week.
The film will be dependent on getting a Monday which is close to its Friday figure. This will give it a decent first week total and can build on it in week two.
Especially for Qalandar to devour the ” Sultry and sweltering” Richa Chadha’s very frank and honest interview with some very eye-popping perspective on issues that matter-
Eve though I quite like the understated and intrenalized performance of Ajay Devgan in Drishaym, I thought Aamir Khan could have given it a shot. This here is so much superior material to Talaash which was sucha confused mess compared to this. And Anjay ans Shriya are so much more interesting and leave a far stronger impact than Aamir and Rani in Talaash.
saw BB and here is a review that pretty much sums up what I thought of the movie. not sure of the authors intent or any other agenda here…its admittedly a bit harsh but come on…this movie was not good in any sense of the word. The new definition of the word ‘good’ in movies nowadays seems to be….ehh…it wasn’t that bad.
i wasn’t expecting a masterpiece or something extraordinary but I was expecting something that didn’t take me for a damn fool, especially with all the praise this movie has garnered, some even comparing it to PK. When it comes to this subject of ‘masala’ I’ll take Henna, Refugee and even V-Z over this mess. As for this being Salman Khan’s best…I’ll disagree there too, Dabangg was much more superior in every department (even the acting).
I won’t repeat everything I’ve already said yesterday on the film but I can’t say I agree with the piece at all. I’d just repeat that it’s probably the best film Salman has ever been involved with (in a lead role). I don’t find Dabangg superior at all. Even at the time I felt it was a collection of enjoyable moments without much of a script.
I think SS Rajamouli himself said in an interview that whenever he’ll direct an direct Hindi movie he’ll love to collaborate with Karan Johar with the amount of support he rendered fro Baahubali.
The Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shriya Sharan starrer Drishyam released recently. The film, which is a remake of a Malayalam film by the same name, has opened on an average note. However, with good reviews and positive word of mouth, the film which is a suspense thriller, is expected to pick up over time.
In this Box Office analysis, we take a look at the success of Drishyam, breaking the film’s collections into a Day-wise break-up of domestic collections and also tracking the film’s Overseas numbers. (Note: These figures are inclusive of preview shows as well).
Day-wise breakup for India
Day Collections (INR Cr.)
Day 1 (Fri) 8.05
Day 2 (Sat) 9.4
Day 3 (Sun) 12.13
TOTAL 30.03
saw Lal’s Drishyam. Didn’t think there was anything special here. Nothing wrong with it, perfectly engaging throughout but didn’t think much more of it.
Bajrangi Bhaijaan May Set All Time Distributor Share Record
Monday 03 August 2015 11.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Bajrangi Bhaijaan grossed 19 crore nett in its third weekend taking its seventeen day total to 289 crore nett. The third weekend is the second best of all time after PK which had grossed 26.50 crore nett in its third weekend. The third weekend for PK was an open weekend while here there was a major release like Drishyam. Drishyam may not have scored in its first weekend but a release like this does hit scren space.
It is now certain that the film won’t beat the lifetime nett figure PK which was 338 crore nett but in terms of distributor share it is could be very close.
The lifetime nett business of Bajrangi Bhaijaan is looking to end at around 315 crore nett which would be 20 crore nett plus short of PK. The distributor share of PK was 161 crore and in seventeen days Bajrangi Bhaijaan has a distributor share of 148 crore. It may reach the PK figure and if it fails it will only be by a very small margin.
yeah I am skeptical about this stuff anyway. There’s some category where the film they’re supporting has to win. Meanwhile if Drishyam with this kind of gross (they have it at 22 for the weekend as opposed to 30 elsewhere.. after a long time there’s a suddenly a huge spread on this one) is hurting a well-entrenched film like Bajrangi (I attempted a 6 PM show on Sat, I got there 40 min ahead and it was sold out, I then drove a longer distance to make it for an 8 PM elsewhere after getting tickets first.. eventually this screening was full and some people even sat on the auditorium steps) that no one is going to miss by this point if they otherwise wanted to see it then I guess Jurassic World might have done 800m without Inside Out and the latter might have done 500m without Jurassic! Also Bajrangi had started slowing down before the weekend (relative to PK). Of course they had other excuses then. What they and others out to get the biggest gross for Bajrangi don’t realize is that by saying this kind of stuff they actually undermine their own cause. The film has done hugely well, WOM has been almost at a 100% here. Salman’s biggest grosser with the Barjatya coming up. There’s really nothing to worry about. But my insisting on the PK thing they deconstruct their own film. of course we’ve been seeing this since Ghajini. When Aamir gets the biggest one SRK then and Salman are automatically in the running to do the same! Hasn’t happened so far. But before Ghajini when the shoe was on the other foot no one said that Aamir would get the biggest gross just because SRK or whoever was getting it. I have seen however that this ‘desire’ is not easily defeated. People just move on to the next film. hey it didn’t happen the last 10 times but it will next time! It’s not Bajrangi’s fault that it lost 40 crores (MS Dhoni) because of all kinds of factors.
Ha yes and eventually of course it will happen – and it will be like “I told ya so, it was always on the cards” like 20 attempts later. Like that was the “great plan” all along, to beat Aamir after 20 attempts!
“….hey it didn’t happen the last 10 times but it will next time! It’s not Bajrangi’s fault that it lost 40 crores (MS Dhoni) because of all kinds of factors.”
Gentlemen, with the new business model in place in terms of box office earnings and ‘multiplexation’ of Hindi cinema , I beg simple rationalization to the great minds here !
But, Oh boy ! PRPD does not seem to be a fish story anymore and it seems dilli door nahin hai….
“Anupam Kher, who plays Diwan Sahab, has been quoted in the report as saying that on Tuesday night, July 28, Sooraj delivered a short speech, mentioning every actor by name. “He left everyone teary-eyed. Sooraj always does this when his film is nearing the end. It was my last day of shoot and as always, I was emotional,” admits the veteran actor. Salman’s recent release, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, is breaking box-office records. Will Prem replicate Pavan’s success? “Prem will be three times more successful than Pavan,” asserts Anupam.”
assuming Anupam Kher is right and since you’re quoting him and also assuming Bajrangi ends up around 320 I guess the Barjatya film is going to do 960 crores. But maybe Anupam Kher is exaggerating a bit. Maybe it will just do double the business. In this case it should do 640 crores. But maybe he’s just using a figure of speech let’s give him more leeway. so 500? 400? Never mind. there’s only one mark here — 338.1 crores (assuming 338 for PK). For your sake I hope you get it. Your angst will finally be over. To be honest if Salman had done a film with Rakesh Roshan he would have cleared 400 by now. Of course adjusting for inflation et al Ghajini would be bigger than PK, let alone 3I. But hey we’re only looking at absolute numbers. I was so happy when Barfi crossed HAHK.
Congrats in advance to MSDHONI first for predicting the 1st 900 crore movie! And i’m being conservative so as to avoid being misquoted! Rationalisation implies honesty and fairness, not fanaticism as fans keep making the same blunder under the garb of some self created universe different from ours! Why can’t we just enjoy the success without falling prey to syndrome called ” My star is bigger and better” which hinders the path to real joy of soaking in a good movie experience. If one does not believe that ignorance is bliss, one can visit these film related sites to experience its REAL MEANING!!
” Congrats in advance to MSDHONI first for predicting the 1st 900 crore movie! And i’m being conservative so as to avoid being misquoted!”
With the Barjatyas keeping few of the achievements of the past starting with Ankhiyon ke jhaorke se, nadiya ke paar , hahk etc , one is not entering the ‘common roulette table limits’ but one needs to be prepared for ‘No Limit Roulette’ !!
Add Diwali – unarguably the no 1 spot in terms of release date !
Mind you its not releasing on Diwali day which is Pooja day but the next day which is bonanza in terms of earning (HNY supposedly did 44 odd Cr ) Now with a start like that one can imagine the media hype for good no of days….
Mind you,BB still lacked a sound track (which has been admitted ) This is unlikely to happen here as Barjatya movies are more music than anything else.
On the rest i suggest we don’t go into too much hypothesis and look at the actual for a good many years now ……… hmm 7th to be precise and running strong!
There are so many ifs and buts now but when BB was galloping, you were smug that PK is a cakewalk for BB. So now we move on to next frontier that’s PRDP which has the advantage of unarguably the biggest date to release+super-hit music+Barjatya’s past history, 500Crore to at the very least banta hai. Honestly with so many pre release benefits, PRDP would begin its run from 338 Crore. 😉
myselfaamir, look at this trade report and biz getting divided. Do you still doubt BB in terms of solo potential –
Girish Johar @girishjohar 3h3 hours ago
Between #Baahubali – hindi, #BajrangiBhaijaan & #Drishyam – Hindi domestic BO this weekend crossed 50crs + … Superb !!!
BB began to fall in weekdays itself so Drishyam alibi just does not hold any water. And BB by the end of 2nd week fell behind PK by 7 crore margin, where there was no competition. And almost everyone praising the movie, trending is suggesting almost 20 to 25 crore behind PK’s total. And by the way by your logic, TZP would have made 100 crores, if Welcome had not released along with it or Lagaan would have been an ATBB, if Gadar had not released with it!! So let go of these lame excuses and bask in the glory of Salman’s 1st 300 crore movie and 550+ worldwide, and Enjoy……………….. That’s all i have to say on this irrational comparison fixation.
But the reality is, PK was ahead and has been ahead since Day 11. Not Day 15 – because if it was Day 15, the day competition arrived, the “excuses” were a bit more bullet proof. But PK was ahead before that day – so explain that!
Anyway this is a silly debate. BB has done very well and deserves its status where ever it is. It’s nothing to snooze at to lose to Hirani and Aamir.
That people want to add 20 crore for competition, take 20 crore for Xmas holidays etc…well its IFS and BUTS.
If you don’t want to deal with IFS and BUTS send a memo to your favourite actor and the industry and request 10 free weeks with 4,000 screens for each week.
Just don’t turn up with Bodyguard or Ra.One expecting any miracles.
Drishyam Is Decent On Sunday
Monday 02 August 2015 23.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Drishyam had decent collections of around 9.25 crore nett on Sunday but this is where the first day should have been or at least close to it. The Sunday business will take its first weekend total to around 22 crore nett. The film had good growth on Saturday but the growth is less on Sunday. this could be due to Bajrangi Bhaijaan as family audiences have really taken to the film and it is has been catching Drishyam over Saturday and Sunday.
The film has done its best business in Mumbai circuit and CP Berar and CI but even here the weekend totals are below the mark. The film has not performed at all in West Bengal and Bihar.
The Monday total will be all important and if it does turn out to strong then the film must hold close to Monday levels over the weekdays. This could take it towards the 40 crore nett mark for the week which won’t be good but at least respectable considering the initial of the film..
Drishyam Has Low First Weekend
Monday 03 August 2015 11.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Drishyam had a low first weekend of a little under 23 crore nett. The trend over the weekend was pretty good though it really needed bigger growth.The first weekend business of Drishyam is as follows.
The best business is in Mumbai circuit which grossed around 8 crore nett including paid previews. Monday is crucial for the film and needs a number close to uts Friday levels.
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh 2h2 hours ago
#Baahubali [dubbed Hindi version] has set a new BENCHMARK [Week 4] Fri 1.60 cr, Sat 2.70 cr, Sun 3.40 cr. Total: ₹ 103.51 cr. ATBB.
Powered by the Energizer bunny energy of the seemingly inexhaustible Tom Cruise, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation pulled in $56M for the weekend, taking #1 at the box office. It’s a good start for the $150M, fifth installment in the now-rejuvenated M:I series that seems to be have been carried, uphill, on Cruise’s back.
[the new MI was great fun. Not sure if it’s the absolute best but it’s probably one of the very good ones. Saw it in a houseful theater..]
[This is probably the most substantial film of the franchise since the first one. But I might take Ghost Protocol over it.]
to add to these I’d say that this film is gripping from beginning to end. It also has a bit of the last Batman element to it with Tom Cruise’s age being a relative issue at points (narratively). But overall my sense with a lot of these franchises is that beyond a point they are weighed down by their histories and perhaps try to do too much or try to get a bit too serious. This is not a problem with the current MI but it might not be as light-footed as for example the last one or some of the others. But this was true for the most recent X-Men with all the period elements, the political references and so on. Still a worthwhile film but the ideal to my mind (at least within this genre) has been X-Men First Class. And much as I love Nolan’s work on Batman there is a degree beyond which things get a bit too heavy. the new MI is too smart to go that far and this certainly isn’t a film one should miss. I would say though that on the action sequences barring one at the beginning which isn’t long enough and then one underwater moment nothing is quite as creatively choreographed as some of the stuff in Ghost Protocol.
I am not a Tom Cruise kick at the moment as Sky Movies are having a Tom Cruise channel dedicated to him. Watched Jerry Maguire yesterday for the first time. A lot of people I have said that too sound surprised. Very nice film – not what I expected. Actually thought Tom Cruise overplayed his part a bit. It was really Rene Zellweager and Cuba who I rooted for performance wise.
On MI – the 4th one really re-vitalized the franchise. Cruise’s stock is not as great as it use to be, but I still think he is pretty fun to watch on screen. All these franchises need a bit of a break. Specially the superhero ones. One guy at work watched Antman – I was surprised people ventured in to watch that. There is nothing seriously different about these movies and the genre is suffocating from overdose and overkill. It use to be exciting, because a little part of childhood was playing out but I’ve lost count of how many Xmen or Spiderman films are out there and when it gets blurry like that you know you have seen too many.
I think they should just make one massive superhero movie with all of them in one and end it there!
Jerry Macguire is fun though I haven’t revisited it in a while. I did revisit all the MIs barring the first in the last two weeks. On his box office had an exchange here. Again Edge of Tomorrow was really good. In better box office shape he might have had a blockbuster here. Finally and thought I put this up here before this piece really gets it right on Cruise.
Was coincidentally thinking of doing this recently. On the superhero films I’m quite sick of them.
He looks remarkably young. Would never have guess him to be 50+ more like mid-40s.
He’s done a lot of sci fi – I thought his better films (not that I’ve seen too many) were things like The Firm or Few Good Men or Jerry Maguire when he was fighting for a cause of sorts.
Aamir Khan’s Natural Greyness Revealed!
Aug 3rd, 2015 by Koimoi.com Team
Aamir Khan has been chilling and eating all that comes his way in a vegan diet for ‘Dangal’, to look the part of wrestler Mahavir Phogat. He was photographed yesterday stepping out of a foot massage parlour in Bandra West near his home, sporting a completely grey look!
The actor usually colours his hair to jet blackness; but in these photographs, he sportingly posed for our paparazzi despite the steel grey look.
And we think the natural salt & pepper actually looks quite endearing on the thinking Khan!
Aamir Khan snapped at massage parlour in Bandra
Aamir Khan snapped at massage parlour in Bandra
Aamir Khan snapped at massage parlour in Bandra
Aamir Khan snapped at massage parlour in Bandra
IdeaUnique if your statement were true even then there would be a lot of “Ifs and Buts” attributing its success ranging from “holidays to Christmas, to her daughters, to its emotional content, to Nitesh Tiwari the director and its screenplay,his 2 years break and innumerable other factors But Aamir!! Next to impossible. So be better prepared to face these “VALID & LEGITIMATE” FACTS. 😉
“Daughter of India and Pakistan, Geeta Awaits Her Bajrangi Bhaijaan
PUBLISHED ON: AUGUST 3, 2015 | DURATION: 22 MIN, 28 SEC
On The Buck Stops Here, the story of Geeta, a hearing and speech impaired Indian girl stuck in Pakistan for 14 years. We talk to her and the philanthropists who have brought her up in Karachi. Also as Geeta awaits her real life Bajrangi Bhaijaan, we speak with the director of the film, Kabir Khan, on whether art imitates life or life imitates art.”
Bajrangi Bhaijaan Third Monday Business
Tuesday 04 August 2015 11.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Bajrangi Bhaijaan has taken its total to 292 crore nett in 18 days. The third Monday grossed 3 crore nett apprx. The first four business of the third week of Bajrangi Bhaijaan are as follows.
The third week will gross around 29 crore nett in its third week which will be the third highest third week collection ever after PK and 3 Idiots which were 40 crore nett and 33 crore nett respectively.
Drishyam First Monday Business
Tuesday 04 August 2015 12.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Drishyam held up pretty well on Monday but needed to do better. The drop is 30% from Friday but ideally the drop had to be around 10-12% due to low initial. The first four day business of Drishyam is as follows.
Bajrangi Bhaijaan Is Top All Time Grosser In Gulf
Tuesday 04 August 2015 11.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Bajrangi Bhaijaan has set an all time record in the Gulf with collections of $7.5 million till date to become the highest grossing film in the territory. The opening was slightly less than films like Happy New Year and Dhoom 3 bit it has sustained much better than those films.
The film is also easily the biggest Salman Khan film in The Gulf also as the collections of Kick were around $4.1 million. The film has done excellent across all Overseas market but Gulf has performed best followed by United Kingdom which could cross £2.5 million. The Overseas performance for ths film is probably the best ever for a Salman Khan film since Hum Aapke Hain Kaun which opened up the Overseas market.
The Overseas total will probably be the second or third highest ever if we don’t second phase releases in countries like China and South Korea. The top grossers in the Gulf can be see here. The collections of Bajrangi Bhaijaan are till date as its still running while others are lifetime.
“The Overseas total will probably be the second or third highest ever if we don’t second phase releases in countries like China and South Korea. ”
LOL, guess what film this is directed at!
And this ‘second phase’ argument is dishonest anyway. Because it’s not as if these were reruns or something. If a film is released for the first time in China months or even a year or more after its original release everywhere this counts as the same. It’s no different from tons of ‘foreign’ films every year arriving in the theaters of different countries at very different times. A lot of times when certain foreign releases come out theatrically in the US the DVDs have already been released in britain. Such is the time lag. So this whole first/second phase distinction is of course arbitrary (and mostly about a certain film.. doubt they have Black’s S Korean release in mind!) but it’s also simply wrong in these matters. Not that I’d expect BOI to know much about this stuff anyway! Forget everything else they’ve even largely ignored a true pan-Indian juggernaut like Bahubali.
on lighter note rgv has been in his element since the porn ban talk is doing the rounds and has few very good tweets here are two alongwith anubhav sinha ) ra1 fame.
Ram Gopal Varma ?@RGVzoomin 22h22 hours ago
Indians love porn and the proof is India currently ranked #5 in overall traffic online, with USA ranking at #1
Ram Gopal Varma ?@RGVzoomin 22h22 hours ago
This basically means that it’s going to be so many lesser votes for the government in the next election
Anubhav Sinha ?@anubhavsinha 3h3 hours ago
Lekin unke paas to ‘Porn Bahumat’ hai…
Anubhav Sinha ?@anubhavsinha 3h3 hours ago
Now that one Government has really found a way to ban sites, now we can actually stop piracy in the country. No???
Hindi version is far better. Apart from Mohanlal there in nothing in original though is scene to scene copy.
But the two intense girls are so lame in orginal, the whole sequence when the guy comes – the guy is also lame.
And most importantly, the characters who played Gaitonde and Tabu characters are too lame.
Hindi version is way way way better than the original.
Also agree with Utkal, that Ajay is not flaunting his lungi as 4th pass and a good businessman in his own domain.
Interval and tabu/ gaitonde characters were pathetic in the Mallu version. Also the girls and the guy who stalks them were so so so lame in mallu version.
Saw drishyam (original) recently. Didn’t care much for it at all. I can believe that the Hindi version is better done. But whether this worth the loss of Mohanlal for Devgan is another matter! It’s certainly not a trade I’d be willing to make. And in terms of just revisiting the film I don’t know if I found the subject interesting enough to even attempt this. perhaps I could skim through it on a DVD.
Ritz, consider this the last chance.. you’ve been here just for some days and already there’s been trouble with a number of comments. I hope you’re not someone from the past with a different ID but in any case you can say things without constant provocation.
according to BOI it will be 11 crores behind PK for the third week. Not just this, the more amazing number is that it will even fall behind 3I by 4 crores or so.
Thanks and glad you liked it as well. Loved your review/thoughts as well. I’ve been consistently mentioning this is not the regular Salman movie and can do something out of norm which it eventually did. If the movie was little more fleshed out in 1st half, it could have cross PK. My initial thoughts was around 300 crores and certainly less than PK even though I more or less liked it same level as PK but brothel scene and climax scenes just are best sequences and that easily pumps the movie to another level.
yes the brothel scene was one of the strong ones in the film and I do agree that it needed a stronger first half. all the stuff about Salman’s past was entertaining but nothing special.
Some Spoilers**
I thought there was some lazy writing within a decent flow of the movie. So I didn’t like Salman leaving the kid to some travel agent to be transported back to Pakistan. Or the girl being caught by police officer for taking hand cuff. They could have found some better screenplay for getting caught.
agree, it was absolutely ridiculous that he left her with a stranger that way. It’s also one of the rare times when there are serious consequences to anything. otherwise the film is structurally a ‘comedy’. Nothing has very serious consequences anywhere. For that matter even the border bit when he insists on getting permission is funny but borders on caricature. Also absurd in the sense that Bajrangi insists on doing everything honestly and the proper way but of course the border security forces have no authority to grant anyone admission this way! Still these aren’t major objections. But again the first half could have had more events.
“agree, it was absolutely ridiculous that he left her with a stranger that way.”
I know lot of loopholes or easy way out in the script but the intention is right all through out. For this particular scene, firstly his father in law (Sharat Saxena) tells him about this agent that he has ways to send people across border. Travel agents having their own ways of bending rules(without passport etc) by taking some money isn’t unheard of and knowing Bajrangi’s naiveness, its not that implausible of a scene. Its not that he found a stranger on the road and handed over the girl to his hand and left.
yes and another interesting fact is 3I 4th week number which was 15.50 cr even PK couldn’t match that it had a significant drop in its 4th week was around 12 cr .
The reason was competition. Tevar released that week. It doesn’t matter if the new movie is a good one or not, the loss of screens cripples every movie.
Drishyam did affect Bajrangi Bhaijaan. It wouldn’t have caught PK in any case, but the weekend would have been closer to 25 crores….
Plans to roll by year end and is scouting for a South Indian actor; he will score the music himself.
Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman has turned scriptwriter with 99 Songs, a sensual story about art and self-discovery. The Hindi film, which will also release in Tamil, will roll this year end. “Music is crucial to the plot and will be composed by Rahman sir himself but the film is not his biopic. It follows the journey of a struggling singer and the roadblocks he faces before he becomes a successful composer. It is a love story too, but is more about art, passion and realising one’s true capabilities,” informs a source.
Earlier this year, the 47-year-old-music director had wrapped up the score of the Ranbir Kapoor-Deepika Padukone film, Tamasha. Now, he is busy with the music for Ashutosh Gowariker’s period drama, Mohenjo Daro. “After finishing the Hrithik Roshan film, Rahman sir will kick off this film. He will supervise every aspect. Earlier, he had planned it as his directorial debut but with English, Hindi and Tamil films lined up for 2016, he has no time to direct a film and has handed over the reins to debutant Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy,” adds the source.
For four years, he has been busy setting up his production house, toying with multiple scripts before finally locking this one. 99 Songs will be co-produced under his banner, YM Movies. Casting is underway in Mumbai. “They are looking for a fresh face. Rahman sir wants a South Indian actor to play the musician. He should have a basic understanding of music too. There will be a strong supporting cast of international musicians and actors too,” the source signs off.
Actor Abhishek Bachchan says his home production ‘Shamitabh’, starring father Amitabh, failed at the box office as they went wrong with its budgeting
“Shamitabh”, directed by R Balki and featuring megastar Amitabh Bachchan, Dhanush and Akshara Haasan, did not do well.
“I think we got the budgeting wrong… I think the budget was wrong. We made it (budget) too expensive. If it could have been made in a controlled budget, it could have done better,” Abhishek told PTI in an interview here.
This is what I don’t agree with. For instance even Amitabh accepted that the concept didn’t gel well with the crowd and failure in its concept. The budget was around 40 crores and it did about 20-22 crores Nett. Even if the budget was little less, the movie is no way would have been accepted movie as the way Amitabh or others intended with final 20 crores. Saying the movie’s budget is very low budget and calling it somewhat success is deluding oneself like Aamir did with Dhobi Ghat which did under 15 crores.
what on earth they spent 40 cr master????? that looked just PR gimmick – AB wouldn’t have charged anyting – so 40 cr went where??? it was all shot in India and there were no extravagant shooting locations also – unless u say that the kolavery-guy took 39 cr as his fees 🙂 ha!
If the budget was 20 odd crores, I don’t think Abhishek would have blamed it on the budget. Expecting to make that movie in less than 10 crores is difficult.
Moreover, my point is that irrespective of the budget, I don’t think any movie in today’s standards will be called success at 20 crores unless its really one of the those low budgeted movies with no known faces. So, blaming on the budget is futile.
Master there’s a difference in a flop and a recovery movie or an average movie! And that’s where budget plays very vital role in making or marring the movie’s final verdict as when one is making a movie keeping its appeal ( populist or niche) in mind, maker ensures that he is not overspending or underspending teh monet at his disposal and when maker fails to do that results are more often disastrous case in point is Ra-1 or Bombay Velvet. Your mention of DB doesn’t make sense as it was made with in a budget of 6 crore including marketing and distribution and Aamir didn’t charge as it was his home production and Director was her wife and shooting was done with hand held cameras in guerrilla style with out any big star. It spent almost a very tiny amount on music as well as there was only BG score in the movie and it went on to make 14 or 15 crore, which was enough for it to recover its cost. So where did Aamir delude himself is you to inform us mortals!
I hope you are not losing your sleep over Ra-1’s sham verdict being shown the mirror! Second how many prints was DB released on and up to what extent marketing was done, was as minimal as it could get starring Aamir. And you are talking of oscar winning as if their charge for any movie begins with 10 zeroes!! It was the same tune being played out in the background all the time, not that it was Slumdog Millionaire! And at the very least i’m not concealing my identity or appreciation for Aamir where some feel that an id named Master would be able to hide your partisan attitude towards Shahrukh and envy towards Aamir?? And last but the most vital part of your comment reveals your psychology as you made up things which i never stated! I said in my comment that it recovered its investment, not hit, but you with your coloured glasses interpreted it as per your own imagination! I have stated each aspect why it wasn’t a flop which you are hell-bent on making it. Losing crores and recovery are 2 very different things which you either don’t understand or pretend otherwise to delude yourself!
“when maker fails to do that results are more often disastrous case in point is Ra-1 or Bombay Velvet. ”
You lost me when you compared these two movies. Also, I could easily reply to you about DB from the budget, marketing and time spent on it during editing for years and finally bringing in the 2 time Oscar winner musician to score background score(which you call as minimal)…but I think it would be pointless when your id itself is myselfaamir and you are already in that deluded camp. DB at 13 crore nett is a hit for delusional ppl, irrespective the budget maybe when even Peepli live did 30 crores nett coming before it.
but master when abhi says budged was the cause – he must give the exact or appox. account where the money was spent – unless he asserts that all he says shd be taken on the face value!
He was doing the same with Paa with too much tom-tom on budgeting etc and Master is right no movie is noticeable until there is some volume to the collections. The threshold for that now is close to at least 50-60 cr.
Abhi is pretty dumb to bollywood standards in terms of market acumen and street smartness. His usp and aim these days is to win the ‘good boy’ tag from industry. Some good schooling has taught him to speak well but off late his interviews too have become flaky and all that accent is a huge put off and comes across as a sham.
Paa was a very successful film. It was blown away when 3I released or it could have done more. It wasn’t the Shamitabh deal. Of course not sure why folks here are that worked up about his Shamitabh claims. I obviously agree that this is an excuse. But stars say this sort of stuff all the time.
On the rest not everyone can give thoughtful interviews like Salman..!
I hope you are not losing your sleep over Ra-1’s sham verdict being shown the mirror! Second how many prints was DB released on and up to what extent marketing was done, was as minimal as it could get starring Aamir. And you are talking of oscar winning as if their charge for any movie begins with 10 zeroes!! It was the same tune being played out in the background all the time, not that it was Slumdog Millionaire! And at the very least i’m not concealing my identity or appreciation for Aamir where some feel that an id named Master would be able to hide your partisan attitude towards Shahrukh and envy towards Aamir?? And last but the most vital part of your comment reveals your psychology as you made up things which i never stated! I said in my comment that it recovered its investment, not hit, but you with your coloured glasses interpreted it as per your own imagination! I have stated each aspect why it wasn’t a flop which you are hell-bent on making it. Losing crores and recovery are 2 very different things which you either don’t understand or pretend otherwise to delude yourself!
BOI has elevated the verdicts of 90’s and first half of 2000 movies … I am laughing out loud reading those verdicts … movies which barely recovered money are rated as Hit or even Super Hit (For instance humara dil apke paas hai .. it did okay business .. but not super hit by any means). Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge was kind of disappointing and did very average business .. is now Hit at BOI … each and every movie elevated to one or two level above. And you know what .. benefit goes directly to Khans.
if i recall correctly…DHL was a ‘below average’ ‘earner’. The opening was pretty flat and that was the beginning of Sallu’s down period compared to the height of success in the 90’s. His biggest hit in 2000 was HDJPK and that was highly due to Rani and Preity combo. lol they have DHL at 18.5 cr…in 2000…ibos still has the original number here…they term it as ‘average’
and reason I brought up IBOS because they were pretty much the only box office website back in 2000 along with IndiaFM (using Taran’s numbers). BOI came on later if I remember correctly.
Saw Baahubali for the second time, with my wife and daughter who just came home from US. This time in Hindi. We all loved it. I found the Hindi lines sueprisingly good. Now I realize this is a film I can see any number of times…the layering is simply too rich. I can just focus on the art design and be entertained all through the film. The colour matching of Shivadus’ tunic and dhoti, the designof the bow and arrow, the look of the earthenware in the tavern, in fact, the design of every single property used in film is a treat to watch. On the other hand I can marvel at the face of each of the soldier in the Kalakeya army, which has been fashinoed with so much care. I still cant believe that they have madea film like thsi in India. Takea bow, a deep bow, Rajamouli.
Re: “The colour matching of Shivadus’ tunic and dhoti, the designof the bow and arrow, the look of the earthenware in the tavern, in fact, the design of every single property used in film is a treat to watch.”
I read somewhere that they hand made each and everything in the movie, nothing was bought. The shoes for instance didn’t have soles and were hand made with leather. small intricate details but god lies in such small details and it somehow shows on the camera.
Every review I read of Bahubali, every comment talking about it especially the voices of Satyam, GF, etc. only adds to my misery of not having seen it yet! It’s unpardonable. Would have loved to see it in its Tamil version with subs but that was released in Mumbai on just a few screens with a one week engagement only. Thereafter have been planning to catch the dubbed Hindi version, but when the folks are free I ain’t, then the missus has to travel and so on. And on the occasions when all that has fallen into place either the shows were sold out or just a few seats uncomfortably close to the screen were available. We’ve been amazed just with how difficult it has been to get tickets for this dubbed release weeks into the release even! And by now I am just worried that my hype levels are through the roof. But going by all I’ve read no amount of hype can kill the movie, it just surpasses any and all expectations.
As much as I am aware, the film was made simultaneously in Telugu and Tamil. I could be wrong. In any case my mother is a Tamilian, so that was the added reason behind the desire to see it Tamil. Like to see her have an opportunity to see a Tamil film at the cinemas where even the rest of us can be a part of the experience thanks to the subtitles.
I wanted to watch it in Tamil myself. There’s a good reason to prefer this anyway if one is watching a dub. After all Tamil is still related to Telugu even if it’s a more distant link than with Malayalam. Of course I don’t like dubbed films to begin with but I would have had to drive quite a bit more for the original and I wasn’t willing to. I do that sort of thing only for Ratnam or for Vikram! Having said that barring the first few mins I didn’t have a problem with the Hindi dub.
the only thing I would have changed about the Hindi dub is that I would have made the language more ‘Hindustani’. It strives towards a more formal sort of Hindi, a more Sanskritized grammar, that is not really necessary. Not least because it again feeds a certain imaginary in this sense and ties in to a certain political discourse that I’m once again suspicious of. Not a very big deal but it wasn’t necessary. It happens more in the palace sequences or with certain characters but at other points too. And it’s not as if the film is some great exercise in realism anyway!
the irony is that if one goes back to older texts or even ancient texts in Sanskrit or whatever one will find no such insistence on some imaginary ‘purity’. It doesn’t seem that way to us because from this distance in time it all seems the same. It isn’t. Much as people think everyone talks the same way in Shakespeare. They don’t.
Rajamouli took special care in Tamil dialogues (since language is ancient and all). He hired special people and the tamil has to be old enough but not so ancient that people of today’s time cannot understand and finally after 4 versions of a single scene, he selected one..etc…so much attention to details. I am sure you will have fun watching tamil version too.
Q Sir,
I just read a 5000 words piece on Khalifa.com and Troll.com-
Right Wing fascist Sarkar of Maharashtra allows only one week engagement and that too on limited screens of the Tamil version of Bahubali !!, and then they became…….
The collections are still low as it has collected only 30 crore nett in the first five days. The film is now dependent on showing an under 50% fall in week two which will be hard as there will be two new releases with Bangistan and Mission Impossible 5.
By the end of first week Boi will be 10 cr lower than taran for drishyam. Boi is poised to end first week at 35 cr, taran is saying 45 cr. this is huge difference considering boi is just 3 cr lower for BB sofar which is neglible imo on a figure of over 300 cr.
Bajrangi Bhaijaan Third Tuesday Business
Wednesday 05 August 2015 11.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Bajrangi Bhaijaan continues with the trend of huge business on Saturday and Sunday and weekdays coming off. This was also the case in week two. The first five day business of the third week of Bajrangi Bhaijaan are as follows.
since they themselves argue that Bajrangi is relatively weaker on weekdays and certainly since week 2 this contradicts all their other points about competition and what not.
Bajrangi Bhaijaan Sets First Domestic Circuit Record
Bajrangi Bhaijaan set a lifetime record in The Gulf over the weekend and now has also set a new all time lifetime record in India by becoming the highest grosser ever in Bihar as it went to the 7.50 crore nett mark after its third weekend. The top grossers in Bihar now are as follows..
Nice references of Pooja Bhatt here.Getting there !
Pooja Bhatt ?@PoojaB1972 9h9 hours ago
Finally saw #BajrangiBhaijaan The last time I cheered like that was when I saw Amar Akbar Anthony & MR.Natwarlal. Absolutely loved it!Kudos!
Joginder Tuteja ?@Tutejajoginder 11m11 minutes ago
Brace up @BeingSalmanKhan fans
#BajrangiBhaijaan to touch 300 crore by tonight. HUGE MOMENT.
Begin the celebrations.
#AllTimeBlockbuster
taran adarsh ?@taran_adarsh 3h3 hours ago
#BajrangiBhaijaan [Week 3] Fri 4.11 cr, Sat 6.80 cr, Sun 9.07 cr, Mon 2.75 cr, Tue 2.63 cr. Total: ? 297.61 cr. ATBB.
When Pritish Nandy interviewed Kishore Kumar for The Illustrated Weekly of India, Asia’s oldest and most venerable magazine, it was a stunner.
Posing with a skull on the Weekly’s cover, the great singer gave Nandy, the magazine’s editor, an interview that remains a hallmark of great interviews 24 years later.
On the legend’s 86th birth anniversary on August 4, we reproduce a Rediff.com exclusive by Nandy — now a moviemaker himself — in which he salutes the genius’ memory.
I first met Kishore Kumar when I went to ask him to perform for the Filmfare Awards night.
I had just come to Bombay in the winter of 1982 and taken over, among many other things at The Times of India, Filmfare magazine.
I found the Awards ceremony in Shanmukhananda Hall awfully boring and couldn’t keep my eyes open the first time we went to see it. Rina, my wife, kept pinching me to keep me awake.
Ashok Jain, who was then the chairman of The Times of India, had hired me, much against the wishes of many others.
He called me in the next morning and told me I must take charge of the Awards from the next year onwards and make them more exciting, get more stars to attend and participate in the event, and find a better sponsor who can give us the money for all this.
Among the first things I tried to do to make the event more fun was to call on Kishore Kumar and persuade him to perform at the next Awards.
He and I got on famously from our first meeting.
Not because we were both Bengalis whose families could be traced back to Bhagalpur in Bihar, where our homes were almost contiguous, but because we bonded over horror movies, a rare passion in those days, which we both shared.
He promptly agreed to discuss the idea on three conditions:
1. I would not insist on staying back for dinner at his house, post our discussions, since dinner was an expensive proposition and much as he liked me he had no intention of feeding my face.
2. I would gift him a signed copy of my book of poems, Lonesong Street, which he claimed he had heard so much about, but had not read and had no intention of ever reading and
3. I would never ask him to lend me any of the horror movies in his collection nor try to borrow any money from him in the future which he claimed every journalist and everyone in the film industry had done at some time or the other.
I was barely 28. It was easy to agree.
I said
1. Perfect, I had no intention of eating his stupid food and he could take it and stuff it wherever he wanted.
2. I would try and get him a copy of the book from Shanbhag at the Strand Book Stall who I knew had a few.
3. No sweat; his horror movies and his money were safe with him. I had no intention of getting within miles of either.
He smiled his strange smile and thus began our friendship on such firm ground.
I must confess I stuck to all his three conditions and he was delighted to find someone from whom his money, his horror movie collection and his food was safe. I was also happy because I coveted none of them.
I enjoyed his company and found him absolutely delightful. I guess I was the only one because everyone else I knew thought he was a complete crackpot.
He was not. He was a genius and that is what I called him in the cover story I wrote on him in The Illustrated Weekly much later.
In an industry of cracked people, he was possibly one of the sanest. He knew fully well what he wanted and there were only ten things in his cravings list.
1 to 8 was clearly money. 9 was fame and recognition. 10 was the love of beautiful women.
But his problem was that he hated having to buy them expensive gifts.
In fact, he hated having to spend money on them in any manner whatsoever.
He would never buy them dinner, or so he claimed. He would never buy them any gifts. And, most important, he would never tell them where he stacked away his cash.
He advised me very seriously, I remember clearly: Never tell a woman, any woman, where your money is.
Both will disappear at the same time, poof!
I never asked him if that wisdom came from his personal experience. In fact, I never probed into his life at all.
That strengthened the bond between us. We simply enjoyed each other’s company. There were no strings attached.
Even to participate in the Filmfare Awards, he laid down three conditions:
1. His would be the Big, Big opening act of the show and the only one, after which the awards must be given out.
2. The show must be held outdoors on Chowpatty so that everyone could watch it on big screens put up on Marine Drive, not just the invited guests.
3. The Mangeshkar sisters should not be invited for the event because they were too famous and would distract attention away from him.
I agreed to the first condition and told him that the second one was subject to police and BMC (then the Bombay Municipal Corporation) permissions, which were turned down and the event never eventually happened as a consequence.
The third condition I thought was silly and told him so.
He said he would think over it and promptly named three producers I must in that case not invite to the event.
It was always a question of give and take with him.
Not as transaction, but as a game. If you wanted anything from him, you had to give him certain things in return. The stranger you made your conditions, the more he loved you.
Once he offered to come to my flat in Walkeshwar from his Juhu bungalow in a convertible wearing only a towel and yodelling all the way if I would cut an album of Angrezi songs with him.
He demanded I should write the lyrics and he would get RD (R D Burman) to score the music.
He would record the songs himself. I had already walked away from my poetry a couple of years earlier, in pursuit of serious journalism, and refused to indulge him.
He sulked and sulked, but there were never any hard feelings.
In fact, our friendship was largely based on the fact that we really had nothing much to ask of each other.
I was not making movies at that time. I was an editor and a journalist.
He was a singer and an actor, director, story writer who loved his profession but did not enjoy the people he had to work with all the time. In fact, that was his perennial complaint.
He hated the movie industry.
He thought they were all peculiar, matlabi people who he had to constantly war with to get his rightful dues.
He kept complaining to me how his producers never paid him, how his music company never paid him, how his wives never paid him for the pleasure of his company.
Was he serious? I doubt it.
He loved money, yes. And he loved talking about it.
For his act in the Filmfare event, where he was supposed to land on Chowpatty airdropped by parachute from the sky, with his orchestra guys, he kept telling me how he wanted a Huge sum of money for the act.
When it actually came down to numbers, what he asked for only Rs 50,000.
Money was a tamasha for him and I think he really made fun of it by talking so much about it.
He was spoofing the obsession that others in the movie and music industry had for money by talking about it non-stop.
He told me once how he had hidden all his cash away so cleverly that leave alone the income tax guys, even his family would never find it after his death.
I told him that was a silly idea.
But he was adamant that his money was his money and no one had a right to it, he would do exactly what he wanted with it.
And every conversation between us, when it ended in an argument or a deadlock, he would start singing some cracked coded song which was my job to decipher.
Long before I met Dr Robert Langdon in the Da Vinci Code, I had met a man who enjoyed puzzling others with his strange symbology and cryptograms, all of which sounded totally weird and puzzling, but had actually perfectly intelligent solutions.
He thought them up (or at least appeared to) on the spur of the moment and loved playing the Mad Hatter at Alice’s tea party.
For me, Kishore never really passed away.
It’s impossible for a man like him to die because he personified life itself. I remember him often.
I occasionally discover stuff I had written on him in the past, notes and scribbles he had sent me, his notations for his songs.
Since he couldn’t read music, he created his own set of notations and brilliantly explained to me one day how he used them.
He dreamt of singing along with one of the great philharmonic orchestras one day.
He wanted so desperately to cut an album of English songs so that the world outside would notice and remember his work.
He wanted to be rich and famous, much more than he was.
And he was eager to hide his wounds from everyone. He had many I suspect.
No, Kishore was not a lonely man at all as many said he was.
He enjoyed solitude (that was another bond we shared) and had the supreme pleasure of having himself for company.
He loved himself to death and enjoyed his own company so much that I would often marvel at his ability to find every joy within his own heart.
He hated sharing anything with anyone.
He felt he owed nothing to no one.
He certainly owed me nothing but I saw tears of joy in his eyes when I told him that I had fought with Naushad on the jury for the Madhya Pradesh Government Culture Awards. (I think they call it by some other name these days) to make sure that he was the first popular singer that ever got the music award.
Naushad angrily walked out of the jury meeting but, to my delight, my friend Kumar Gandharva fully backed me totally and so did Mani Kaul. The rest all fell into line.
The funny thing was that by the time Kishore actually got the award from the MP Government, on someone’s bright idea, the award had been renamed the Lata Mangeshkar Award!
He almost cried on the phone when he told me that.
Yes saw it the week it was released. Very, very impressed. Would love to write more on SS or watch it again but have been held up with other things lately..
Haven’t seen BB – I don’t spend money on Bhai’s films in theater – will wait for DVD..
Thanks, An Jo. Had forgotten yesterday was Kishore’s b’day…the article was a nice reminder. Had to smile at this line from the article: “He enjoyed solitude (that was another bond we shared) and had the supreme pleasure of having himself for company.” Wish I had the supreme pleasure of his company!
‘He was the only new face in a sea of superstars and slowly talk started in the unit that perhaps Ramesh had made a mistake by casting him.’
As Bollywood’s beloved classic turns 40, we revisit this fascinating excerpt from Anupama Chopra’s Sholay, The Making of a Classic, on how a great actor got a great role in a great film.
*********************************************************************************
Amjad Khan filled the doorway.
He was not a particularly large man, but his lumbering gait, thickset face and curly hair gave him the appearance of one.
Director Ramesh Sippy was lying on the diwan with his back to the door.
From the low angle, Amjad loomed larger. Something clicked. ‘He had an interesting face,’ says Ramesh. ‘I felt very positive.’
Panic had set in after Danny’s departure.
Shooting was less than a month away. And Gabbar Singh was no ordinary character. It was a pivotal role.
The actor had to have both talent and charisma to hold his own against the galaxy of stars. Bad casting could destroy the film.
Amjad was the younger son of character artiste Jayant.
His home production, Patthar ke Sanam, which was supposed to launch him, was announced, but never made.
He had assisted K Asif on Love and God and also done a bit role in the film. The credentials were hardly impressive. But in theatre Amjad had a strong reputation.
A few days after Danny left, Salim bumped into Amjad.
Salim knew Amjad’s father, and had been visiting their home since Amjad was a little boy.
A polite conversation ensued in which Salim asked Amjad about work. There wasn’t much, just bit roles and theatre.
Salim had heard about Amjad’s skills as an actor, and physically he seemed to fit the role.
‘I can’t promise you anything,’ he told Amjad, ‘but there is a role in a big film. I’ll take you to the director. Agar aap ko yeh role mil jaaye, aap ki koshish se ya aapki kismat se (If you get this role, whether by luck or effort), I tell you, it is the finest role in this film.’
Amjad seemed to fit the part, but he was unknown.
Could he carry the film?
He was asked to grow a beard and come back. Meanwhile, Ramesh and Salim-Javed pondered. Salim-Javed were convinced that Amjad was the right choice.
A screen test was done.
They shot pictures in the office garden. Amjad had grown a beard and blackened his teeth.
His diction was right, his language was perfect. He was confirmed for the role.
Amjad hurried ecstatically to hospital to break the news to wife Shaila. The date was September 20, 1973.
His son Shadaab was born that afternoon.
Normal life took a back seat.
Amjad devoured Abhishapth Chambal, a book on Chambal dacoits written by Jaya Bhaduri’s father, Taroon Coomar Bhaduri.
He marked out the pages on the real-life Gabbar, insisting that Shaila read it too.
He rehearsed his lines and fleshed out his character.
He remembered a dhobi from his childhood who used to call out to his wife: ‘Arre o Shanti.’ The lilt in Gabbar’s ‘Arre o Sambha’ came from this dhobi.
The morning Amjad was to leave for Bangalore, he put the Quran on his head and prayed.
Shaila was surprised. Amjad was a spiritual person, but he rarely prayed.
As abruptly as he had started, he stopped. He placed the holy book back in its place, ‘I think I’ll be able to do it,’ and drove to the airport.
The flight didn’t reach Bangalore.
There was a hydraulic failure, and the pilot was forced to keep circling over Mumbai. After dumping fuel, the plane landed back in Mumbai.
Amjad sat at the airport, but didn’t call home. After five hours, it was announced that the technical fault had been fixed and the plane was ready for take off.
Not many passengers had the stomach to get on that plane again. Amjad was among the four or five who finally flew on it.
He had to reach Bangalore. Through the flight, he wasn’t thinking about his wife or his son. His only terror was: ‘If this plane crashes, Danny gets Gabbar.’
Gabbar Singh was not having a good day.
It was Amjad’s first day of shooting. They were starting with the scene in which he is introduced.
His first line was, ‘Kitne aadmi the?’ All his life had led to this moment.
The years of theatre rehearsals, knocking on doors for acting jobs, sweating it out as an assistant — the Gabbar role had made all that seem worthwhile.
His army fatigues, picked up from Mumbai’s Chor Bazaar, had the right weathered look.
His teeth were blackened. His face was appropriately grimy. He had lived the part for the last few months. But now, when it was time to deliver, he just could not get it right.
Gabbar had to mince tambaku (tobacco) as he talked.
The motion of one hand grinding against another added to his menace. It was supposed to be his habit.
But Amjad could not make it look casual. He would grind the tobacco, speak a few lines, look around awkwardly and then return to grinding.
He was nervous and it showed; his hands were stiff, his movements seemed rehearsed, and his dialogue delivery was shaky.
There was nothing natural about his performances; Gabbar was a stranger to Amjad.
Ramesh kept talking to him, trying to help him get his lines right. They struggled for two days.
After 40-odd takes, both Ramesh and cameraman Dwarka Divecha decided the actor needed a break.
Divecha told Amjad to keep his costume on and just sit on the sets. ‘Tu apne aap ko season kar de (Season yourself).’
Amjad cried that night.
His father was in hospital fighting cancer. His son was only a month old. His family’s hopes were pinned on this film.
For the rest of the schedule, Amjad lived in the fatigues, trying to become Gabbar.
He wrote often to his wife, but never shared with her the extent of his trauma. All he wrote was: ‘I’m very impatient, I don’t know, I hope I can do it.’
Since he didn’t drink, he would spend the evenings nursing endless cups of tea. Through the entire schedule, he didn’t do a single shot.
In the next schedule, Amjad was more prepared.
He got it right in the first few takes. He was living his character, and would stay in costume even when he was not shooting.
But some members of the unit, unable to forget his earlier awkwardness, didn’t seem to think this was enough.
Besides, Amjad was the only new face in a sea of superstars and slowly talk started in the unit that perhaps Ramesh had made a mistake.
The murmurs grew, till it became impossible even for Salim and Javed, who had been the most keen to have Amjad as Gabbar, to ignore them.
Anxious, perhaps, to not be seen as people responsible for ruining the film, they spoke to Ramesh.
‘If you aren’t satisfied with Amjad, change him,’ they said.
For a few days the unit was rocked by rumours that Amjad was getting the boot. But Ramesh finally put his foot down. Only Amjad would play Gabbar.
Amjad found out about the rumours much later.
But the incident sowed the seeds of misunderstanding between him and Salim-Javed.
He could not understand why two people, who had ardently recommended him for the role, had then tried to get him thrown out. He saw it as a move to sabotage his career.
The hurt stayed with him till his death. Salim-Javed gave birth to the Amjad myth, but they never worked with him again.
Excerpted from Sholay, The Making of a Classic, by Anupama Chopra, Penguin India, 2001, Rs 295, with the publisher’s permission. First published on Rediff.com on February 7, 2001.
yep Sholay has turned 40…officially ten days from now. My favorite film ever in Indian cinema still. This is a nice reflection on its (now) main attraction.
Also this was nice gem on this blog a while back….
Rewind – Aamir Khan V Shahrukh Khan Only Box Office Clash
Thursday 06 August 2015 10.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Aamir Khan and Shahrukh Khan who are two of the biggest box office stars of the day have clashed once in history at the box office and it will probably be their only box office clash while their box office pull remains. The clash happened way back in 1995 when both actors were emerging stars.
Shahrukh Khan was racing to the top with Karan Arjun and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge while Aamir Khan had just established himself with a big hit and popular performance in the form of Rangeela. The box office trend was just changing from action to family romantic dramas but here the action film came out on top.
Akele Hum Akele Tum was expected to do better before release due to the combination of Aamir Khan and director Mansoor Khan, the combo had delivered a huge hit with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and fair runner in Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander and the music had scored and the film had been well promoted by Venus but the action masala Ram Jaane with Shahrukh Khan easily outshone Akele Hum Akele Tum.
Ram Jaane was ahead from day one and remained there through the run and finished with share of 1 crore more than Akele Hum Akele Tu, it may not be much now but the gap is equivelnet to the gap between a 60 crore grosser and a 80 crore grosser today.
Ram Jaane also managed to fare better in Overseas despite Akele Hum Akele Tum having the more Overseas friendly genre. It did better in US / Canada but the numbers were dull in United Kingdom where Ram Jaane was much better.
Akele Hum Akele Tum V Ram Jaane Box Office Details
Akele Hum Akele Tum Ram Jaane
Budget 4,50,00,000 3,75,00,000
Screens 165 175
First Day 40,00,000 62,00,000
First Weekend 1,29,00,000 1,78,00,000
First Week 2,34,75,000 3,15,50,000
Second Week 1,57,00,000 1,97,00,000
Third Week 1,05,25,000 1,23,00,000
Lifetime Nett Gross 7,06,50,000 8,60,75,000
Distributor Share 3,61,00,000 4,60,25,000
Footfalls 68,53,000 1,01,47,000
Overseas Gross $190,000 (30 prints) $200,000 (26 prints)
Thought this film was a flop, but BOI’s verdict for it is HIT. Look’s like every SRK-Salman film that was previously tagged as “Average” or above is being promoted to Hit, and HIT being promoted to Blockbuster (i.e. Mohabbatein). But will they invent a new verdict for HAHK and DDLJ then?
Mehra brothers ko bhi shock lagne wala hai aaj … 20 saal baad achanak unki film hit ho gayi .. mere shahar mein minimum guarantee pe lagi thi, pichattar hazaar .. bole to 75k ka nuksaan hua tha .. BOI ko bolo lauta de please ..
Pardes ko bhi Super Hit bana diya … arre bhai mana Big city Hit thi … paisa poora ho gaya tha … lekin andar ke chote mote shahro (interiors) mein kisi ne bhav nahi diya tha … chalo fir bhi trade ne semi-hit ka tag de diya tha …. chalo thoda linient ho kar Hit bhi maan lo .. lekin Super hit ??? http://boxofficeindia.com/Movies/movie_detail/pardes#.VcMSZiZViko
AHAT – if had released in today’s time – would have made 250+ cr – what a wonderful film that was with great songs! ironically it failed at that time…………….
Saw both of these movies in theater while we were visiting India. Not surprising that Ramjaane had opened better than AHAT because DDLJ was still riding high (had seen DDLJ in theater also after 3 weeks of its release and was still going housefull). But Ramjaane was definitily not in the “hit” category by any means. BOI are just making shit up now. Even AHAT was a massive flop. Old numbers are here…
Cant believe they have come up with a article on this , after all these years they have realized Ram jaane was a HIT lol what a joke their verdicts are as pathetic as their commentary .
old BOI number had AHAT at 4.7cr. 4cr to 6cr was always the range for AHAT and was universally given a flop label. Not sure where BOI are getting the 7cr figure all of a sudden…that would actually be pretty decent total for back then!
Ghulam was not really a hit outside Bombay though it was probably at least above average everywhere else. Maybe better than this in some parts, worse in others. Overall calling it a hit isn’t that big a deal, specially given some of the others verdicts in those days and since. AHAT on the other hand didn’t really do well. Made a decent amount nonetheless. Ram jaane too was not a hit by any stretch. this wasn’t a pure hit anywhere but average/above average in most places. Of course there’s no reason to take BOI’s numbers at face value but that’s another matter. When Yuva released it did a bit more than the Company gross, everyone called Company a hit and Yuva a failure. The latter’s failure was exaggerated though it clearly wasn’t a success. But Company itself even in the Bombay territory came nowhere close to matching Satya’s performance. Outside Bombay and the South RGV’s films rarely do much anyway. So as always the Indian media/trade is inconsistent about this stuff for all sorts of reasons. And some stars get the benefit of the doubt more often than not while with others it’s the reverse. Aamir never quite got the benefit of the doubt for the most part till he did something like Ghajini that late in his career.
But leaving aside debates over BOI or whatever I think people should be honest about these things themselves. Everyone picks and chooses. The answer to one star’s film receiving a dubious rating isn’t to bring up another star and vice versa. One can comment on BOI or some other source this way and one can expose their dishonesty but what does one believe otherwise? Because constantly talking about these sources prevents one from ever accepting the truth in many of these matters oneself.
Getting back to the films I could go through a list over the last 20 years or so and 90% of all the categorizations on the ‘successes’ or even in many cases the failures are misleading if not simply wrong. But there’s a market for this stuff. people choose their favorite stars and then choose their favorite reports and everyone keeps arguing all day. To repeat I’m not saying sources like BOi or whatever shouldn’t be called out. But if one is going to be dishonest about it oneself one has no right to question these sources.
I still remember Ishq was one of the biggest hits of the year and BOI had it as ‘ Semi Hit’ it was only few days back they promoted it to Super hit lol .
taran adarsh ?@taran_adarsh 6h6 hours ago
#BajrangiBhaijaan crosses ? 300 cr in India… 2nd film to achieve the ENVIABLE status, after #PK… 2nd HIGHEST grosser ever. Hindi films.
taran adarsh ?@taran_adarsh 6h6 hours ago
5 Aug 1994. #HAHK releases. Creates HISTORY… 5 Aug 2015. Exactly 21 years later, #BajrangiBhaijaan too creates HISTORY, crosses ? 300 cr.
Kamaal R Khan-KRK ?@kamaalrkhan 4h4 hours ago
#BajrangiBhaijaan destroyed all RECORDS! Only film 100CR IN 3DAYS! 102.60 CR HIGHEST FIRST WEEKEND EVER! 182.50 CR THE HIGHEST WEEK1 EVER!
Kamaal R Khan-KRK ?@kamaalrkhan 4h4 hours ago
#BajrangiBhaijaan destroyed records-56Cr HIGHEST SECOND WEEKEND! FASTEST 100,150,200,250Cr IN BOLLYWOOD HISTORY ! FASTEST 500CR worldwide !
NDTV Movies ?@moviesndtv 5h5 hours ago
300 Cr and Counting For @BeingSalmanKhan’s #BajrangiBhaijaan
Koimoi.com ?@Koimoi 5h5 hours ago
@BeingSalmanKhan Enters The 300 Crore Club With #BajrangiBhaijaan
How come IMDB opened rating for All is well … IMDB always disable rating option before release date … like for Prem ratan dhan payo, it is not opened yet .. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3595298/?ref_=nv_sr_1
LOL, and 16 people have already rated the film. Anyway I wouldn’t worry about this. films don’t work or not based on IMDB. Maybe they open it up a certain days prior to release.
Q. Which films is a bigger hit overall across India Bajrangi Bhaijaan or Baahubali?
Ans. They cant really be compared as Baahubali was not made to work across India but in South India but people have liked it outside South as well so it has worked across India. It can’t be expected that a Baahubali will score over Bajrangi Bhaijaan in Delhi, Punjab or Rajasthan and vice versa for Bajrangi Bhaijaan in Nizam / Andhra, Tamil Nadu or Karnataka. The all India GROSS will be similar for both films while the NETT will be higher for Baahubali as very low tax rate for it Andhra Pradesh where it has done best.
laughing my head off at this! A big Hindi film and a big Telugu film have the same gross ( let’s take their word for it for now) and they’re tying themselves up in knots explaining this! The film is doing a 100 in just its Hindi version. And how many Hindi films have they celebrated for getting to the same gross? And I won’t even get into the Telugu version. Meanwhile the Tamil version is also a big hit. Check out this most recent report:
In any case is it plausible that a dubbed film does this well in Hindi but wouldn’t be massive in Tamil?! Saying it is ‘best’ in Telugu is a bit like saying Bajrangi is ‘best’ in North India! As always the dishonesty offends me far less than the sheer idiocy. If you have to say that Bajrangi has made as much as bahubali and that the difference is really about entertainment tax you’ve already lost the argument. Bajrangi has done hugely well but Bahubali has stolen its thunder in every sense. And justifiably.
SATYAMSHOT 
July 31, 2015 at 6:12 AM
Myselfaamir:
Drishyam Has Very Poor Opening
Friday 31 July 2015 13.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Drishyam had a very poor opening of 10-15% and us the lowest Ajay Devgn opener in recent times. Probably since Tezz in 2012. The opening is even lower than films like Piku and Hamari Adhuri Kahani as former was bit better in Mumbai city and latter was bit better in CPCI. Here the opening is bad across the board.
The collections on its first day are going to similar to the 15th day of Bajrangi Bhaijaan. In North India, Rajasthan and Bihar the collections of Bajrangi Bhaijaan were better. The film is totally dependent on wom and it has to kick in tomorrow and get growth of over 50% and a repeat on Sunday.
Drishyam had paid previews yesterday and grossed in the 50 lakhs nett range with low occupancies. The paid previews were there probably to help word of mouth to work faster but in reality it does not help much and it’d still going to be down to the Saturday numbers of the film. The film also has a very wide release of 2200 plus screens with content which probably does not need such a wide release.
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 7:57 AM
‘Jon Stewart confirms final guests for his last week on ‘The Daily Show’’
By Emily Yahr July 31 at 1:37 AM
In the closing minutes of “The Daily Show” on Thursday night, Jon Stewart confirmed the last three guests for his final week after 16 years as host: Amy Schumer, Denis Leary and Louis C.K.
The three actors/comedians are all his pals. Recently, Stewart revealed Leary and C.K. as two of his favorite guests, given that they’re his friends and he doesn’t really have to do any work for the interview. Meanwhile, Stewart and Schumer, his fellow Comedy Central star, apparently grabbed pizza earlier this year and talked about her possibly taking over “The Daily Show.” (She ultimately turned the gig down.)
“Remember, next week is our last week,” Stewart reminded his audience. “We’re going to have a ball, and I can’t wait to show my appreciation at all the support and enthusiasm that you guys have given the show all these years.”
Stewart’s final show on Thursday, Aug. 6, is shrouded in secrecy, much like the final nights for “The Colbert Report” and “Late Show With David Letterman.” However, we’re going to go ahead and guess that Colbert might make an appearance. The episode is scheduled to be 50 minutes long, allowing for a few extra surprises.
Another programming note: Next Thursday, as a lead-up to the finale, Comedy Central will air a day-long marathon of old “Daily Show” episodes starting at 10:30 a.m. Looks like there will be some of Stewart’s more famous episodes and guests, from Steve Carell; Malala Yousafazai; Bill O’Reilly; Donald Rumsfeld; and Jim Cramer.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/style-blog/wp/2015/07/31/jon-stewart-confirms-final-guests-for-his-last-week-on-the-daily-show/
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 8:12 AM
Not sure how this show will survive with Jon Stewart leaving. Also the best writers/producers are now working with John Oliver over at HBO with ‘Last Week Tonight’.
TDS has been off the past few months (I watch it every night) and Jon seems to have just checked out this past month. But overall this show will go down as one of the best shows in history…back when cable tv was where all the ‘waste’ went…this show (and later along with ‘Colbert Report’) rose above it all and changed a entire generation of ‘stoned’ kids into serious and intelligent thinkers that demand better from their elected leaders. Also this show produced so many bonafide stars with Steve Carrell, Stephen Colbert, Ed Helms and Jon Oliver leading the way. Yes this show was/is that important and great, IMO.
On the subject of the last show; it will be very hard to beat Colberts last show…it was epic and perfect…but probably easy to beat Letterman. Looking forward to it. Thank god for Colbert and John Oliver still doing late night shows.
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 8:32 AM
I also wished he would’ve stayed thru the next elections in 2016 but at least we have Colbert and Oliver to look forward to. Seems like it’ll be Clinton v. Bush (unless Trump miraculously and hilariously stays on top)…but of course America isn’t a monarchy!
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 8:47 AM
I never say this about a TV personality but I will miss this guy..haven’t missed an episode of his in about 10 years. One of the most gifted ‘news maker’ in American TV history. The way he disected the BS in politics and media is and will always be pure genius.
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 9:36 AM
http://www.india-forums.com/bollywood/hot-n-happening/55130-box-office-collection-of-the-week.htm
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 1:46 PM
Ok folks I’m on a roll. Bahubali yesterday, saw Court Mon (excellent film by the way), tonight it’s MI, tomorrow night Bajrangi (have to be kind to the Salman fans otherwise they’ll say this is why it didn’t catch up with PK), then possibly he new German thriller Phoenix on Sun. Finally another Bahubali screening next week at some point! Moral of the story? I’m not watching Drishyam! But seriously I haven’t been this prolific in a very long time.
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 1:50 PM
By this rate you will be in a popcorn detox center sometime next week.
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 1:51 PM
Ha! I’ll make a confession though. Not much of a popcorn person. Rarely have it.
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 1:53 PM
Yeah…I am a nachos and cheese guy but the worst part of this is the soda. A little too much and call of nature comes just Titanic is about to sink!
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 1:58 PM
the soda has to be paced right! and the bathroom breaks also have to be taken with ‘strategery’.
for a while I’ve mostly avoided the sodas too. And some other things in the same sense (nachos among them). Coffee is the only thing I indulge in and at theaters which allow me to take it in from outside. Otherwise it’s terrible where they do have it.
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 2:07 PM
It’s all about a couple of scoops of ice cream for me. Cookies and cream. Yummy!
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 2:04 PM
As long as you are not pulling a kramer with coffee in cinema
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 2:24 PM
LOL, that hasn’t happened to me yet and I should probably be careful given my very poor track record otherwise. I have had many awful coffee spills and I can’t quite figure out why I am so prone to it. I don’t spill anything else. Just this. On at least a few occasions I’ve gone back to starbucks within 15 mins!
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 2:09 PM
jayshah…does the ice cream come before or after you have counted every person the theatre and multipled them with the ticket rate to formulate the movie’s box office fate for the weekend 🙂
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 2:29 PM
Usually I think about that while I scoff on the ice cream 😃
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 1:50 PM
sadly Ratnam is in town for screenings of Dil Se, Bombay, Roja over the weekend but I can’t make it for any of those (I would only have been interested in Dil Se at this point). It’s in Queens (Museum of the Moving Image) for anyone who might be interested:
http://www.movingimage.us/films/2015/07/31/detail/politics-as-spectacle-the-films-of-mani-ratnam/
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 1:58 PM
Be prepared to be Unfriended by GF …lol
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 1:59 PM
yeah and specially after he hears about this other schedule I have!
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 2:26 PM
….just a bit of dabble in story, hardly any production costs & minimal casting – the results turn out to be enormous !
Now for the simple minds, just extrapolate that to 5 years of labor of love, planning, plotting (make that story sittings, drafting/ redrafting ) cut , weld and may i say ‘paste’ (not sure if germ of the idea initiated with OMG)
Reminds me of a famous marketing slogan – More Savings More Doing, That’s the power of ……….any guesses ? (no its not Home Depot) …..”And now you know — the rest of the story” (courtesy Paul Harvey, Radio Broadcaster).
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 2:34 PM
“Now for the simple minds, just extrapolate that to 5 years of labor of love, planning, plotting (make that story sittings, drafting/ redrafting ) cut , weld and may i say ‘paste’ (not sure if germ of the idea initiated with OMG)”
and yet you can’t catch PK…!
In any case I thought Bajrangi had a mind-blowing script and what not. Now it’s just about a bit of story and minimal casting?
Nonetheless I always appreciated Salman’s integrity. Unlike those other frauds he didn’t resort to the dirty trick of doing a good script. But I’ve lost all respect for him after Bajrangi. Never thought he’d sell out to a good script. And now I hear Sultan might be a sober film as well. Then with Barjatya he’s fallen so low that he’s really trying to get the family audiences in a big way. I respected him so much after Ready and Bodyguard and so on. He’s really fallen in my eyes.
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 3:33 PM
LOL! Satyam you are on roll specially after watching Bahubali, what would happen after 2nd viewing?? 😉
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 2:37 PM
The sequence of my earlier comment is incorrect. Its in response to the comment ” … tomorrow night Bajrangi (have to be kind to the Salman fans otherwise they’ll say this is why it didn’t catch up with PK)”
( please get edit / delete option if possible).
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 2:45 PM
it’s in the right place though it’s sometimes hard to figure this out when there are multiple responses before.
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 2:41 PM
PK will done and dusted come Diwali 2015 !
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 2:58 PM
Salman Aamir bhai bhai but their fans are dushman dushman!
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 3:00 PM
It’s certainly possible and I can easily see a path for that but if I’m betting I’ll say it won’t happen. the biggest hits in this sense are usually made by directors completely in sync with the present. Older ones can survive successfully and deliver hits but they are usually not able to produce absolute blockbusters. Trying to think of anyone who was able to do this in the history of Hindi cinema barring Raj Kapoor. I don’t even count Desai here because though he did it for decades he was heavily dependent on Bachchan beyond a point, specially with the scripts getting poorer. Take Yash Chopra for example. He was doing DTPH and VZ, far lesser results than DDLJ and even then his son was involved. JTHJ was even worse some many years later. Notice that Aamir’s films too are with directors who are currently big whether it’s Murugadoss down South or Hirani in Bombay. And even when he got great results with lesser directors they were still not past their prime or something. They just didn’t have enough of a body of work. many weren’t significant anyway but the point is that they hadn’t been hanging around forever. Sl Barjatya would have some history to deal with. Again it’s not about getting a hit but getting an absolute one which is what you need to beat Pk specially since the film is too close to Bajrangi in time to be able to better it by a significant margin in the first 7-10 day period (unless of course it’s trending like 3I or something.. but then you have a far bigger film anyway). In other words you’re really looking at a film that’s significantly better than Pk in the second week and onwards. Not a very easy task. even for the best of films. Consider Bajrangi. Everyone is positive on the film. It’s been as close to universally liked as any film in recent times and yet it starts falling behind Pk in week 2, a film which according to many here including yourself wasn’t that special to begin with. the family audiences were on board for Bajrangi (it wouldn’t have done 300 otherwise), it had the WOM and still not getting there. Why? The response was so positive Krrish predicted north of 350 more than once. What happened? Don’t say Drishyam. The film has had a poor start today and Bajrangi slowed down a bit before this released. Relative to PK that is. Again not saying it isn’t possible but I don’t think it’s reasonable to take this as a given. Of course I’m never in war with the facts. When Salman fails repeatedly to clear these benchmarks you just move on to the next one. Apparently it still proves nothing about Aamir. Then it’s about advancing all sorts of arguments as you did just not which frankly don’t make any sense (to be kind about it). Man for your sake I hope it happens next Diwali. I feel your pain..!
LikeLiked by 1 person
August 1, 2015 at 4:30 AM
I feel you took it too high that unless a star crosses biggest grosser, he fails. For me, apart from technical reason, it doesn’t matter if BB does 320 – 325 or crosses PK, its a huge success in any case. If Salman or any other star consistently give big grossers but do not surpass biggest one, it for me is a bigger achievement.
Even BIG B in his prime can not surpass (infact can not even come close to) Sholay in which he was not the only lead actor, Dharmendra was bigger than him at that time. But, that does not take away anything from him, he is and will remain one of the biggest stars India has ever seen.
If PRDP do 300+ and it also does not cross PK, does that prove that Aamir is bigger without considering the fact that Salman has given two 300 + grossers in a span of few months. Here, I do agree that this is not given and we have to see how this combo works now.
And, I believe, Aamir was not able to surpass HAHK or DDLJ for a much longer time.
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 6:16 AM
I am not saying these things in some decontextualized way. I am responding to what I consider less than honest arguments by others. this is not stuff I believe in otherwise. So I’m not saying that he has to cross Aamir each time but since others do they have to live by those standards. By the way the Bachchan analogy doesn’t work anyway. Because the other biggest hits were also always his. They didn’t come from other stars. But in Salman’s case that is clearly not true, he’s not crossing many of these Aamir films. But again this isn’t a problem as far as I’m concerned. However when people have this desperation that one way or the other someone else must cross Aamir’s biggest grossers then I like to point out it’s been a long wait! But again I wouldn’t have had any issues if Bajrangi did it. I am usually responding to the way others frame these things, it’s not about what I otherwise believe in. Now in terms of consistency which is what you started out by saying Aamir had Ghajini, 3I, D3, PK as 4 out of his last 5 films. So not sure what the debate is even here! Finally on DDLJ and HAHK true but who ever denied it? Isn’t this the crux of the matter? One shouldn’t be in the business of denying facts. But let’s pause for a minute here. DDLLJ though huge was nowhere close to HAHK. Why are they even in a group?
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 6:19 AM
So who said that Aamir was the “biggest” star during those times of HAHK and DDLJ. He was one of the biggest, but not the biggest, but today it’s Aamir who is setting the standards each time by surpassing his own records and that too back to back twice! So nobody is saying Salman is lesser star than Aamir, but he is not unarguably the biggest in today’s times as take Aamir since 2005 and you’ll realise his incredible run coupled with unknown directors and different geners and yet delivering biggest of openings and overall grossers. Earlier that was considered to be billed as a top star, take for instance with Gadar, Sunny Deol became no. 1 despite his previous years patchy record. Or for instance Shahrukh being no. 1 without breaking any record with the help of biggest banners, directors and co-stars, yet nobody did raise this question. With Aamir there are zillion “ifs and buts” to accept the reality. Another thing which i have not yet understood that despite Aamir being not massy and Salman being the biggest mass star, why does that not reflect in 1st day or weekend numbers?? It’s the assumption that make Salman more massier than Aamir or Shahrukh, but numbers don’t validate it. He is undoubtedly one of the biggest yet not ahead of Aamir today, let’s wait for PRDP and then come back again to anoint Salman no. 1 in case if he breaks PK records!!
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 3:19 PM
Apart from often repeated ‘picture abhi baaki hai’ powwow, just upfront let me state Bahubali easily ate at least 20-30 Cr of the gross and if you add the hype if it galloping solo add another 10 Cr.
(recently TWMR benefited with this hype of first female oriented 100cr movie and long run with no competition)
Its not only Drishyam ( a big star movie), but the holiday feel which is missing here which comes for a prolonged period of time during Christmas / New Year period established by new work modules .
Also Salman himself took the zing out of the movie with that awful & irresponsible tweet which meant nothing and only antagonized a large section and losing on some of the goodwill.
Barjatya is aided by Salman to make it a contemporary setting. The movie is no gimmick but as per interviews given last year , Barjatya wants to say something new with this movie……and god forbid if it connects !!!!!!!!!!!!!
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 3:27 PM
alright I get it a big Salman movie should release without any competition within a month in either direction and from any film North or South. So Bajrangi has lost about 40 crores? I guess it’s lucky PK didn’t make 380 or else Bahubali and this other stuff might have cost it 70-80 crores. This is why Roshan Sr just added all this opportunity cost to the Krrish gross.
LikeLiked by 1 person
July 31, 2015 at 3:53 PM
None of this mattered a week ago when BB was setting those BO records. But the slight dip in collections has upset some!
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 5:21 PM
‘Rogue Nation’: 5 Reasons It’s the Best ‘Mission: Impossible’
July 31, 2015 | 11:43AM PT
Ramin Setoodeh
Film Editor, New York @RaminSetoodeh
“Just when Tom Cruise had been written off as an action star, he makes a triumphant comeback — at age 53 — with “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation.” The summer’s most entertaining popcorn movie not only eclipses “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Jurassic World” and “Mad Max: Fury Road” with its action sequences, it also brings to mind Cruise’s prime days (“Top Gun,” “Jerry Maguire,” etc.) on the Hollywood A-list. ”
…
“(5) “M:I 5″ is a throwback to how summer tentpoles should be.
Most action movies now are so serious, a byproduct of the Marvel universe, where superheroes sulk in their own darkness. And when “Jurassic World” tried to be a fun, it just came across as silly with its high-heel-wearing heroine played by Bryce Dallas Howard. But “Mission: Impossible 5” finds the right tone for a summer blockbuster. Its 131 minutes of escapist entertainment prove that not all sequels must be pale imitations of what comes before. This is the rare Hollywood franchise that only gets better with age. ”
https://variety.com/2015/film/news/rogue-nation-best-mission-impossible-1201554225/
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 5:23 PM
watching it in a couple of hours..
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 5:38 PM
mad max is by far the best action movie to come out this year…Avengers was a huge let down and JW was highly overrated (I’d take the recent Godzilla climax over the JW climax anyday).
I thought Tom Cruise was done but apparently like Salman; nothing can hurt his image.
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 8:47 PM
Talking from personal experience, I think Tom Cruise’s image has been much more damaged than Salman’s. I was born and raised in the U.S. and all of my American AND Indian friends now hate Tom Cruise after the whole Scientology thing and won’t watch his movies period, forget about going to the movie theater. But as kids we all watched MI3 in theaters together. On the other hand, all my Indian friends know about Salman’s court case(s), and his tweets and all the other rumors about him and abuse but still they all showed up The first day for BB and will do the same for PRDP. Actually I think that Salman’s image hasn’t been affected at all by anything, and this can only apply to him. Can’t imagine any other star in the world (except maybe Big B) who could come out of any controversy or accusation as unaffected and free (image wise) as Salman. Besides a few online Social Justice Warriors, don’t think anyone has stopped watching Salman’s films on moral grounds
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 11:05 PM
You’re right in that Tom Cruise took a hit to his image where he hasn’t quite fully recovered but I think he has definitely recovered to some degree. Even the recent Scientology documentary on HBO didn’t really effect him. There was recent rumor that he is trying to get out of that cult but nothing came of it. Yes he is pretty much reliant on the MI series…without this series he would be average. But like you I’ve also been raised in the US and Tom Cruise has kept a low profile after the Oprah and Brook Shields debacle and taking a look at his movies performances…. MI4 brought him back on the map in 2011 and then Edge of Tomorrow really won more acclaim and did fairly well last year. Now Mi5 is poised to open huge…I’d say he is back but again not to the level of where he once was.
I think it is fair to compare Salman and Tom because before 2007, Salman was in a major rut. He did have a image problem in the early 2000’s (the break up with Ash and Ash accusing Salman of physical and verbal abuse). Like Tom, Salman has recovered but yeah unlike Tom, Salman has soared to a new stratosphere after his negative image.
On the moral bit…to me whether it is Aamir, Salman or Tom…I don’t go to the theaters because I think they are great men and I idolize them…I go to the theater because it’s all about a good movie for me.
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 11:14 PM
the new MI was great fun. Not sure if it’s the absolute best but it’s probably one of the very good ones. Saw it in a houseful theater..
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 12:24 AM
how does it compare to Mad Max and FF7 (assuming you’ve watched those)? i’m probably going to see it next week…
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 6:20 AM
The action of Mad Max is still unbeatable. FF7 I ended up missing in the theater. This is probably the most substantial film of the franchise since the first one. But I might take Ghost Protocol over it.
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 3:24 AM
The New Yorker gave it a bad review…But then, I suppose one doesn’t go to the New Yorker for this kind of film anyway!!!
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 5:44 PM
This new look of Amitabh from Hirani’s new commercial is just WOW .. He is looking quite very young …. like back in 80’s … https://www.facebook.com/AmitabhBachchan/posts/1080742041959584
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 5:53 PM
hair coloring does wonders to one’s look….who knew? lol but very cool that Hirani is doing a commercial with Amitabh and Kangana would be cooler if they all did a movie together and add a certain Khan in that movie!
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 5:58 PM
“add a certain Khan in that movie” … I would prefer Kumar or Devgan Or Roshan .. because khans can’t compromise on lesser roles.
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 6:16 PM
Devgan probably would be the ideal candidate but anyway who says the khans can’t compromise on a lesser role with Big B…both SRK and Sallu appeared in his movies as supporting characters (Baghban and Bhootnath). Would be great if something materialized with Aamir and Amitabh; a film where both had important characters. Something like ‘A Few Good Men’ comes to mind.
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 6:00 PM
And its not about hating khans .. its just that with khans in movie they will not let Amitabh do a better role .. unless Hirani take them in guest role.
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 6:24 PM
SRK and Salman have appeared in numerous movies with Amitabh, where Amitabh had better roles.
And honestly its not really about khans ‘not letting’ Amitabh do a better role…its where these actors stand in their respective careers at this point. I love Amitabh…but he isn’t a ‘lead’ actor by any sense of the imagination.
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 6:29 PM
“I love Amitabh…but he isn’t a ‘lead’ actor by any sense of the imagination.”
And of course I mean this as of today, 2015. This doesn’t diminish him in any way, he is still going strong doing ‘character’ roles and its been proven that SRK and Sallu don’t have a problem giving the spotlight to Amitabh. Admittedly, Aamir has always had trouble sharing the spot light (but even he has eased up recently, case in point doing a film with Abhishek Bachchan).
LikeLike
July 31, 2015 at 10:51 PM
For the past few weeks, big ticket entertainers have been ruling the roost. And this week sees the release of the Ajay Devgn starrer DRISHYAM that has garnered rave reviews from critics. Also, releasing this week are series of Hollywood films like PIXELS, SOUTH PAW and VATICAN TAPES.
According to reports, DRISHYAM has started off on an average note with an occupancy rate of about 20 to 25%. On the other hand, BAJRANGI BHAIJAAN that is entering its third week has seen a decline in its occupancy rate. MASAAN, the critically acclaimed film that released last week too is facing a low response due to lack of screen space. On the Hollywood front, the three releases this week, namely, PIXELS, SOUTH PAW and VATICAN TAPES are fighting for screen space with only a handful shows in multiplexes.
On the whole, DRISHYAM is expected to fare much better in the evening and night shows owing to word of mouth publicity. BAJRANGI BHAIJAAN too is expected to post in decent collections. As far as the Hollywood releases are concerned, they will face stiff competition from these two big Bollywood starrers.
Bollywood Hungama
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 12:21 AM
I think Drishyam will be like DDD success. Monday will tell.
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 3:16 AM
Ajay Devgn starrer Drishyam, which took a slow opening in the morning, showed a decent escalation in the evening and late night shows yesterday. As per early estimates, the film managed to rake in around 8 crores on Day 1 i.e. 1st Friday at the Domestic Box Office.
The collections are quite average for a film which stars Devgn as a lead face. However, the film had got a screen count of 2365 and considering the occupancy that it witnessed the entire day, the collections are fare enough.
Koimoi
Drishyam had poor first day collections of around 5-5.25 crore nett. The film did have better evening collections as the morning collections suggested an even lower total. Still for a film that has released in over 2200 screens its a very poor total. The film fared relatively better in Mumbai circuit.
The collections are the lowest for an Ajay Devgn starrer for some time Tezz in early 2012 had opened to 3.25 crore nett but since then its been a run of films that opened at around 10 crore nett with Singham Returns going over 30 crore nett. The business of Drishyam in West Bengal and Bihar was awful and in many cities of the North it was second to Bajrangi Bhaijaan.
The film will need huge growth on Saturday and really has to get upto around 8 crore nett on Saturday which still will not be a good number but at least the trend will be there and the film can at least have a chance. Normal growth of 25-30% will not help much due to such a weak opening.
Boxofficeindia
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 3:17 AM
Bajrangi Bhaijaan grossed around 4 crore nett on its third Friday which is excellent and only second to PK for a third Friday but collections have been falling over the last few days. The film had grossed 9 crore nett plus on Tuesday and after continuous falls over the last few days it is at 4 crore nett levels on Friday.
This trend will change on Saturday but due to what has happened in the Wed-Fri period it means it won’t reach the business of PK which it looked on course to beat till the drop on Wednesday. The film will reach 300 crore nett by next weekend.
The film is still on course to set all time records in Delhi / UP, East Punjab, Rajasthan, CP Berar, CI and Bihar but can’t have the midweek drops thus week that it had last week.
Boxofficeindia
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 5:59 AM
off-topic – although this deserves a separate post Satyam: “Female stars from north who made it big in South” – Tamanna Bhatia and Hansika Motwani have done 36 and 40 films respectively down South!!! Their bollywood films simply flopped………….they are huge stars down South and every year churning out 3 to 5 films………..
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 7:52 AM
Kamaal R Khan-KRK @kamaalrkhan 3h3 hours ago
#Drishyam collected 5.15Cr on day1.
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 7:53 AM
Drishyam Has Very Low Collections On Day One
Saturday 01 August 2015 11.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Drishyam had poor first day collections of around 5-5.25 crore nett. The film did have better evening collections as the morning collections suggested an even lower total. Still for a film that has released in over 2200 screens its a very poor total. The film fared relatively better in Mumbai circuit.
The collections are the lowest for an Ajay Devgn starrer for some time Tezz in early 2012 had opened to 3.25 crore nett but since then its been a run of films that opened at around 10 crore nett with Singham Returns going over 30 crore nett. The business of Drishyam in West Bengal and Bihar was awful and in many cities of the North it was second to Bajrangi Bhaijaan.
The film will need huge growth on Saturday and really has to get upto around 8 crore nett on Saturday which still will not be a good number but at least the trend will be there and the film can at least have a chance. Normal growth of 25-30% will not help much due to such a weak opening.
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 7:55 AM
OMG Sequel On Track
by Soumita Sengupta (August 1, 2015)
After the massive success of OMG-Oh My God! Akshay Kumar’s production house Grazing Goat Pictures has decided to helm a sequel to the film. The writers have been trying to write a new story but then, PK released, after which Viacom18 Motion Pictures, which were co-producers of OMG, made Dharam Sankat Mein on similar lines. Now the makers realise that making a film based on religion makes no sense as it may not have anything new to offer. We hear that director Umesh Shukla and his writers have worked on a new concept which is not about God but a comic take on social issues. Akshay Kumar will play the leading man and the film will start rolling early next year.
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 7:55 AM
ARK Opposite SS
by Box Office India (August 1, 2015)
Shaad Ali made his debut in 2002 by directing Saathiya, a remake of Tamil film Alaipayuthey directed by Mani Ratnam. The film became a massive hit and Ali’s reputation as a director soared. Thirteen years later, Ali will helm yet another remake, this time, Ratnam’s O Kadhal Kanmani, which released earlier this year. We also hear that Ali has signed Aditya Roy Kapur and Sonakshi Sinha to play the lead roles in the film. The film revolves around today’s modern, live-in couples.
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 7:57 AM
Keeping It All Hush Hush
by Soumita Sengupta (August 1, 2015)
After getting a lot of flak from the audience for Bombay Velvet, Anurag Kashyap has decided to stick to working with his kind of actors (no big stars, we mean). He has signed Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Ayushmann Khurrana for his next film, which he will complete in just 20 days. Yes, it is one of the most low-budget films his banner Phantom Production has ever produced. The film starts rolling next month and everyone associated with the film has been told to keep it hush-hush.
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 8:01 AM
The Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shriya Sharan starrer Drishyam released recently. The film, which is a remake of a Malayalam film by the same name, has opened on an average note. However, with good reviews and positive word of mouth, the film which is a suspense thriller, is expected to pick up over time.
In this Box Office analysis, we take a look at the success of Drishyam, breaking the film’s collections into a Day-wise break-up of domestic collections and also tracking the film’s Overseas numbers. (Note: These figures are inclusive of preview shows as well).
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/box-office/special-features/id/517
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 8:12 AM
“Admittedly, Aamir has always had trouble sharing the spot light (but even he has eased up recently, case in point doing a film with Abhishek Bachchan).”
Haha well, not sure if that can be classed as a bit of ‘easing up’ eh….with abhishrek as that too in such an ‘unequal’ situation…
I still maintain, had abhishrek been given a more decent role, hd he not been so badly sidelined (& :demoralised /humiliated!) by not even been invited to dhoom3 media events, even abhishrek would’ve been a handful for aamir…
It’s one thing to stand your ground and another to do so in ‘neutral ‘ situations
To take this further , I’m noticing a proliferation of some new ‘yes men’ or ‘yes girls’ here who are going overboard in exaggerated praise of Satyam and his stances . These have always been there but it’s just that there are som cases wherein that’s all they do!
Not that Satyam doesn’t deserve praise but it’s just that it shouldn’t need grating ly fake
Give Satyam and his blog some respect….
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 8:22 AM
Comment of the day goes to Rajesh
“I thought Tom Cruise was done but apparently like Salman; nothing can hurt his image.”
Haha we are talking about ‘real raw stars’ here not …….
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 8:28 AM
actually Rajesh isn’t right there.. Tom Cruise does well these days ONLY in MI. All of his other films open poorly. In fact his Edge of Tomorrow was excellent and trended well but because it couldn’t get an opening scraped by to 100m or something.
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 8:38 AM
here are his last few..
Edge of tomorrow opened to 28m, did a 100
Oblivion started off with 37, did 89
Jack Reacher opened at 15 and did 80
the last MI did 210m, which itself isn’t extraordinary by today’s standards. Nolan’s Inception with DiCaprio did close to 300m a year before this.
Then between MI3 and Ghost Protocol he had Valkyrie and Knight and Day, both of which did 75-80m (even if Hrithik still saw blockbuster potential in the latter and even if at least one of his fans also considers Bang Bang one!)
Not even getting into stuff like Rock of Ages or Lions for Lambs. MI3 did 135m in 2006, again good but not spectacular.
Between MI2 and MI3 he was still getting to 100m most days and sometimes going unto 140 or so when the films were better. On War of the Worlds he got 235. Of course this wasn’t just any film.
The point in any case is that the downward graph can clearly be discerned in his career for quite sometime now. But especially so since Ghost Protocol. MI is pretty much the only game he has left. I quite enjoy watching him in some of these outings and there’s probably not a guy who looks better at 53 than he does (!). But still. Actually this MI is the first one where they’ve made some allowances for his age and woven this aspect of things into the script. Still he’s good for one more and maybe two if they do these relatively quickly.
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 8:49 AM
Name other male stars having the same longevity, number of years as lead, atleast moderate success in various genres and with this frequency in mainstream releases …
He’s not at his peak now but still better than most.
Btw as an example —
Sky has a dedicated channel for only one star actor
And this has no exception
The tom cruise channel
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 9:57 AM
Very Obvious but despite you being fully aware of can’t accept the TRUTH that is Aamir Khan since 1989.And he is at the top of his game, that’s called pinnacle both commercially and critically as well. But to accept this BITTER PILL is like conceding that it’s not APEX but NADIR which you have hit very long ago, you’re irredeemable with your narcissism!!
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 11:57 AM
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and the Furious Will of Tom Cruise
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 12:01 PM
this is an interesting read for more than one reason but it also touches on something that seems to elude most ‘desi’ fans and ‘critics’. The star can be effective or even great for very many reasons. He doesn’t have to be a fine actor or even a significant actor to be able to do this. But in India there is always this ‘insistence’ that every successful star ‘must’ somehow be an important actor as well.
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 1:09 PM
Saw MI: Rogue Nation last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was particularly tickled by the nod to Hitchcock and impressed by Rebecca Ferguson’s performance as Ilsa (also a nod to classic Hollywood methinks). A well-made popcorn, entertainer is one of the real pleasures of civilization!:-)
As an aside, “The Revnant” trailer is even more riveting on the big screen…that background score – electrifying.
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 1:49 PM
Very intriguing indeed when almost a year ago Tom Cruise was actually deemed “destroyed” by internet journalism and youtube projecting him religious fanatic and what not….
Seems willpower and grit is true essence of staying a hero even in Hollywood now on…!!
http://www.laweekly.com/news/how-youtube-and-internet-journalism-destroyed-tom-cruise-our-last-real-movie-star-4656549
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 2:05 PM
@ Andy — yeah internet and media spins can shake or destroy the lesser ones but the true stars do survive …
@ shalini–thanx forthat review ..haven’t seen it but may check it out…
How was the response at your end
“..tho I’m surprised u are checking out an action flick like ‘rogue…”
@ myself aamir–u sound a DEVOUT FANGIRL of aamir
I’ve encountered many fangirls tho…
Somehow u remind me of the anecdotal reports of Rajesh khanna hysteria wherein ñubile girls used to ‘marry’ his photo.
Hope u desist from that (if not for kiran raos the for your own sake) lol
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 2:13 PM
@ Satyam–yeah that’s a good piece on cruise (read a few lines)
The problem is that people don’t understand the difference between the career graphs of SEASONED REAL LONGTERM stars from upstarts/flavours of the season
The latter are many …and on the surface look similar
But one has to understand that the real star can NOT have a uniformly high career graph either
There ARE peaks and troughs
If it’s not showing it, there are other hidden factors like unnatural gaps, manufacturing and manipulation
Because one can’t go against the laws of nature
But it’s how they RESPOND to these peaks and troughs that differentiate the men from the boys /The women from the girls
This is true even for PLAYERS or heck even BLOGGERS
Even 10dulkar faced an ENDULKAR phase and near career threatening back problem,
Sometimes u have to just HANG ON
what’s amitabh bachchan doing for the past decade?
Is it in his calibre to play second fiddle to everyone from srk to now Farhan Akhtar now?
They have to ‘lose’ the smaller fights to survive
For another day
To win
In the bigger battle …
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 2:18 PM
A Telugu film that is shattering box office records is the cause for much hilarity on the streets of Rome when foreigners are asked how the protagonist dies.
A popular YouTube channel run by comedian Rickshawali uploaded the video of her asking bemused men and women how Bahubali dies. Assuming none of them have a clue about what ‘Bahubali’ is, the answers ranged from mildly bizzare to hilariously wild.
Bahubali grossed 850 million rupees ($13.2 million) within a fortnight of its release, reported Reuters.
One passerby ventured “he ate bad pasta…bad pasta killed him”, while another, who seems to have big potential to wing it as a Bollywood writer, spun out an elaborate tale of betrayal and sex. Bahubali is said to be India’s most expensive film.
http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/08/01/why-bahubali-got-killed_n_7916432.html
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 2:26 PM
Drishyam’s BO is not looking like a hit, and with that I think it is safe to say that at this point in time, Ajay Devgan needs to do some career planning because his hits without Rohit Shetty since Golmaal Returns are very few:
He’s had 20 releases including Golmaal Returns up till Drishyam. 6 of those have been with Rohit Shetty. He’s had 8 hits (which isn’t a terrible ratio (Golmaal 2, Rajneeti, OUATIM, Golmaal 3, Singham, Bol Bachchan, SOS, and Singham Returns) But of the 8 hit films, 5 were with Rohit Shetty. So his hit ratio with Rohit Shetty is 5/6, and with other directors, it is 3/14. He’s obviously still a huge superstar as the Singham Returns opening shows us, but still. And to be fair, using the same time frame (2008-present), SRK also has no Blockbusters without Rohit Shetty. CE and most likely Dilwale.
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 2:35 PM
I forgot RNBDJ- since Rab Ne, he’s at zero BB films without Rohit Shetty.
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 3:47 PM
I actually think Devgan’s stardom has been much overrated in this recent period of his career. He’s had good phases but nothing that remotely qualifies him to be considered a ‘superstar’, even in today’s debased sense. But even by those standards he’s more or less reached the end of the road. He’s had failures recently with all kinds of genres. Shetty doesn’t quite count, he gives hits with everyone. And yeah if they do another Singham it too would get a good opening. So again these films are nowhere close to top notch openers/grossers. For instance the Singham sequel ended up in Bang Bang territory give or take some. Still he was doing better than most in recent years, other than the marquee stars. But I doubt he’s getting that phase again.
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 3:52 PM
Jay FDFS?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/zoolander-2-trailer_55bd02bae4b0b23e3ce2ff08
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 7:49 PM
Yes!
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 3:54 PM
Just back from Drishyam . Loved it. Thoroughly engaging from start to end. Can’t remember having seen this satisfying an Indian film in the thriller and suspense genre in a long long time. Went to see it without knowing anything about it. Not writing anything on it either , except recommending it strongly, as I want everyone to watfch it with a clean slate of mind and enjoy it to the fullest.
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 4:10 PM
actually the remake has spurred me on to check out Mohanlal’s original!
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 4:30 PM
One should see all the three. How each one tackles the same role. It had telugu kanada versions too.
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 4:39 PM
Sanjana: I think it will be fun to watch the Tamil and Malayalam versions after the Hindi one. Because I like the Hindi version a well as Ajay Devgan in it quite a lot.
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 4:43 PM
Even I want to watch hindi version first and then the other versions. Waiting for your review.
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 4:41 PM
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/Bollywood-celebs-who-threw-tantrums-on-flight/photostory/48054154.cms
LikeLike
August 1, 2015 at 5:07 PM
Look at the impact of the legend that his 2nd Birthday has been trending on Twitter at 2nd place for more than 2 hours and maintaining its place!! Story behind it is in the link given below-
Big B’s other birthday: Why close friends wish him on Augt 2!!!!!
http://www.emirates247.com/entertainment/bollywood/take-one/big-b-s-other-birthday-why-close-friends-wish-him-on-augt-2-2012-10-12-1.478698
LikeLike
August 2, 2015 at 12:00 AM
Drishyam Shows Good Growth On Saturday
Saturday 01 August 2015 23.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Drishyam is set to show good growth on Saturday as collections will be around the 7.50 crore nett mark which will mean growth of around 40%. The two day collections will be around 13.25 crore nett including paid previews. The growth on Saturday is across the board with all territories showing an upward trend.
The Saturday collections will still be low and the two day total of 13.25 crore nett is also not good. The ideal situation would have been huge 60-70% growth on Saturday but nevertheless 40% is also pretty good especially if it can repeat it again on Sunday.
The film has a long way to go with weekdays being crucial as Monday has to come close to the Friday total for it come out with good lifetime numbers. If not then it will join the list of many films where a poor initial has proved to be very costly.
LikeLike
August 2, 2015 at 12:11 AM
Ajay Devgn starrer Drishyam, which took a slow opening in the morning, showed a decent escalation in the evening and late night shows yesterday. As per early estimates, the film managed to rake in around 8 crores on Day 1 i.e. 1st Friday at the Domestic Box Office.
The collections are quite average for a film which stars Devgn as a lead face. However, the film had got a screen count of 2365 and considering the occupancy that it witnessed the entire day, the collections are fare enough.
http://www.koimoi.com/box-office/drishyam-1st-friday-day-1-box-office-collections/
LikeLike
August 2, 2015 at 12:12 AM
he Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shriya Sharan starrer Drishyam released recently. The film, which is a remake of a Malayalam film by the same name, has opened on an average note. However, with good reviews and positive word of mouth, the film which is a suspense thriller, is expected to pick up over time.
In this Box Office analysis, we take a look at the success of Drishyam, breaking the film’s collections into a Day-wise break-up of domestic collections and also tracking the film’s Overseas numbers. (Note: These figures are inclusive of preview shows as well).
Day-wise breakup for India
Day Collections (INR Cr.)
Day 1 (Fri) 8.5
TOTAL 8.5
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/box-office/special-features/id/517
LikeLike
August 2, 2015 at 12:22 AM
When all other sources are reporting 8+ cr first day why boi is so different with just 5 cr. for bajrani bhaijan boi was hardly any different than taran/koimoi/producers numbers. Here first day figures are itself 60% lower.
LikeLike
August 2, 2015 at 12:27 AM
BoI has been trying to ru down Baahubali and Drishyam right from the start, a day before the release of the films.
LikeLike
August 2, 2015 at 12:28 AM
http://www.addatoday.com/2015/08/drishyam-1st-day-friday-box-office.html
Even they talk of 8 crores.
LikeLike
August 2, 2015 at 1:26 AM
In response to many reviews that have tried to run down the Hindi version in comparison to the oroginal Malayalam:
First of all, why make the review a comparison with the Malaylam version? The vast majority of us are seeing the film without seeing the other versions before. I think the film has to be judged by itself first, the comparisons can be a small epilogue at the end. Secondly, while I can believe that Mohanlal in the original is brilliant, I cannot accept that Anil Kapoor or anyone else from Bollywood would have done a better job than ajay Devgan. Mumbai does not have a Mohanalal, Period. And Mumbai films are not made in the same key of realism as Malayalam films. So I had no problem accepting Devgan and Shriya as everyday, middle-class husband and wife. You have to realize that compared to the get up and styling of any hero and heroine in a mainstream film, they do appear middle-class. And I think it is a good thing that Devagan does not keep flaunting his chauthi-fail gawnar personality in your face all the time. In fact he si not a ganwar at all, chauthi fail yes, but not gawnar. He is a successful businessman and has arrived somewhere in life. He is confident, has healthy sexual appetite and loves his family. I like his no-nonsense portrayal that I imagine I would the laboured portayal of an Anil Kapoor any of the Khans in this role. Shriya too is fine. She is the wife of a successful small-town business man , lusted after by her husband and likes to dress and groom herself well. I see no problem there. THe problem comes when you watch the films with a shadow of another film constantly clouding your vision.
LikeLike
August 2, 2015 at 5:14 PM
its already limping now and 320 looks the max deal here………….
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 4:52 AM
Utkal , Agree to most points what you have said here.
I think (guy who played) Inspector Gaitonde and Tabu were superb in this movie. I doubt in original these characters were so strong and convincing.
Its not only abt the leading man’s character as ppl comparing original to this one are trying to point out (mohanlal/kamal vs ajay). Without Gaitonde’s strong acting un second half would not worked so well. Ajay is also very good.
Now I will watch original.
LikeLike
August 2, 2015 at 8:15 AM
ajrangi Bhaijaan Super Strong On Third Saturday
Sunday 02 August 2015 11.15 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Bajrangi Bhaijaan had huge growth on its third Saturday as it went up around 60-65% from the day before. The first two day business of the third week of Bajrangi Bhaijaan are as follows.
Friday – 4,00,00,000
Saturday – 6,50,00,000
TOTAL – 10,50,00,000
The film shows exrraordinary trends on Saturday and Sunday probaby because the families come out. The business of the film is now 280 crore nett and if Sunday can grow 40-50% it may reach 300 crore nett before the end of the week.
LikeLike
August 2, 2015 at 8:30 AM
Drishyam Second Day Business
Sunday 02 August 2015 11.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Drishyam showed good growth on Saturday with collections 40% better on Saturday than Friday. The first two day business of Drishyam is as follows.
Paid Previews – 50,00,000
Friday – 5,25,00,000
Saturday – 7,50,00,000
TOTAL – 13,25,00,000
The film will be dependent on getting a Monday which is close to its Friday figure. This will give it a decent first week total and can build on it in week two.
LikeLike
August 2, 2015 at 9:51 AM
Especially for Qalandar to devour the ” Sultry and sweltering” Richa Chadha’s very frank and honest interview with some very eye-popping perspective on issues that matter-
http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-buck-stops-here/girl-uninterrupted-richa-chadha-on-masaan-misogyny-managing-trolls/376215
LikeLike
August 2, 2015 at 9:52 AM
I hope Qalandar ji khush honge 😉
LikeLike
August 2, 2015 at 2:21 PM
Eve though I quite like the understated and intrenalized performance of Ajay Devgan in Drishaym, I thought Aamir Khan could have given it a shot. This here is so much superior material to Talaash which was sucha confused mess compared to this. And Anjay ans Shriya are so much more interesting and leave a far stronger impact than Aamir and Rani in Talaash.
LikeLike
August 2, 2015 at 3:17 PM
Lovely piece
http://nypost.com/2015/08/01/how-born-to-run-turned-bruce-springsteen-into-the-boss/
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 3:02 AM
saw BB and here is a review that pretty much sums up what I thought of the movie. not sure of the authors intent or any other agenda here…its admittedly a bit harsh but come on…this movie was not good in any sense of the word. The new definition of the word ‘good’ in movies nowadays seems to be….ehh…it wasn’t that bad.
http://www.firstpost.com/bollywood/bajrangi-bhaijaan-review-not-as-bad-as-kick-but-this-salman-film-is-forgettable-2347670.html
i wasn’t expecting a masterpiece or something extraordinary but I was expecting something that didn’t take me for a damn fool, especially with all the praise this movie has garnered, some even comparing it to PK. When it comes to this subject of ‘masala’ I’ll take Henna, Refugee and even V-Z over this mess. As for this being Salman Khan’s best…I’ll disagree there too, Dabangg was much more superior in every department (even the acting).
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 6:21 AM
I won’t repeat everything I’ve already said yesterday on the film but I can’t say I agree with the piece at all. I’d just repeat that it’s probably the best film Salman has ever been involved with (in a lead role). I don’t find Dabangg superior at all. Even at the time I felt it was a collection of enjoyable moments without much of a script.
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 3:24 AM
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/15759197/Scoop%3A-Rajamouli-being-courted-by-Bollywood-with-unheard-of-remuneration
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 3:34 AM
He’ll get ruined by some of the names mentioned here
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 5:22 AM
but he surely deserves those astronomical sums 🙂
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 2:53 PM
I think SS Rajamouli himself said in an interview that whenever he’ll direct an direct Hindi movie he’ll love to collaborate with Karan Johar with the amount of support he rendered fro Baahubali.
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 3:18 PM
Rajamouli should be careful.. Johar probably thinks Varun Dhawan or someone is the ideal hero for this sort of deal!
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 3:34 AM
http://www.koimoi.com/box-office/box-office-drishyam-gains-momentum-bajrangi-bhaijaan-targets-300-crore-bahubali-crosses-100-crore/
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 3:39 AM
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robcain/2015/08/02/indias-baahubali-blasts-past-500-crore-78-million-worldwide/
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 5:52 AM
The Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shriya Sharan starrer Drishyam released recently. The film, which is a remake of a Malayalam film by the same name, has opened on an average note. However, with good reviews and positive word of mouth, the film which is a suspense thriller, is expected to pick up over time.
In this Box Office analysis, we take a look at the success of Drishyam, breaking the film’s collections into a Day-wise break-up of domestic collections and also tracking the film’s Overseas numbers. (Note: These figures are inclusive of preview shows as well).
Day-wise breakup for India
Day Collections (INR Cr.)
Day 1 (Fri) 8.05
Day 2 (Sat) 9.4
Day 3 (Sun) 12.13
TOTAL 30.03
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/box-office/special-features/id/517
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 6:23 AM
saw Lal’s Drishyam. Didn’t think there was anything special here. Nothing wrong with it, perfectly engaging throughout but didn’t think much more of it.
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 6:25 AM
Bajrangi Bhaijaan May Set All Time Distributor Share Record
Monday 03 August 2015 11.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Bajrangi Bhaijaan grossed 19 crore nett in its third weekend taking its seventeen day total to 289 crore nett. The third weekend is the second best of all time after PK which had grossed 26.50 crore nett in its third weekend. The third weekend for PK was an open weekend while here there was a major release like Drishyam. Drishyam may not have scored in its first weekend but a release like this does hit scren space.
It is now certain that the film won’t beat the lifetime nett figure PK which was 338 crore nett but in terms of distributor share it is could be very close.
The lifetime nett business of Bajrangi Bhaijaan is looking to end at around 315 crore nett which would be 20 crore nett plus short of PK. The distributor share of PK was 161 crore and in seventeen days Bajrangi Bhaijaan has a distributor share of 148 crore. It may reach the PK figure and if it fails it will only be by a very small margin.
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 6:28 AM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh 3h3 hours ago
#BajrangiBhaijaan continues its VICTORY march. Is UNSTOPPABLE [Week 3] Fri 4.11 cr, Sat 6.80 cr, Sun 9.07 cr. Total: ₹ 292.23 cr. ATBB.
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 7:57 AM
BOI I guess has to find something to beat PK with – so now its Distributor Share.
But even on their own website they have PK down as 169 DS rather than the 161 quoted here.
http://www.boxofficeindia.com/Collections/dis_share/?fm=1#.Vb9WzfNVhBc
The least they can do is make sure what they print is reasonably valid on their own site!
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 8:18 AM
yeah I am skeptical about this stuff anyway. There’s some category where the film they’re supporting has to win. Meanwhile if Drishyam with this kind of gross (they have it at 22 for the weekend as opposed to 30 elsewhere.. after a long time there’s a suddenly a huge spread on this one) is hurting a well-entrenched film like Bajrangi (I attempted a 6 PM show on Sat, I got there 40 min ahead and it was sold out, I then drove a longer distance to make it for an 8 PM elsewhere after getting tickets first.. eventually this screening was full and some people even sat on the auditorium steps) that no one is going to miss by this point if they otherwise wanted to see it then I guess Jurassic World might have done 800m without Inside Out and the latter might have done 500m without Jurassic! Also Bajrangi had started slowing down before the weekend (relative to PK). Of course they had other excuses then. What they and others out to get the biggest gross for Bajrangi don’t realize is that by saying this kind of stuff they actually undermine their own cause. The film has done hugely well, WOM has been almost at a 100% here. Salman’s biggest grosser with the Barjatya coming up. There’s really nothing to worry about. But my insisting on the PK thing they deconstruct their own film. of course we’ve been seeing this since Ghajini. When Aamir gets the biggest one SRK then and Salman are automatically in the running to do the same! Hasn’t happened so far. But before Ghajini when the shoe was on the other foot no one said that Aamir would get the biggest gross just because SRK or whoever was getting it. I have seen however that this ‘desire’ is not easily defeated. People just move on to the next film. hey it didn’t happen the last 10 times but it will next time! It’s not Bajrangi’s fault that it lost 40 crores (MS Dhoni) because of all kinds of factors.
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 8:31 AM
Ha yes and eventually of course it will happen – and it will be like “I told ya so, it was always on the cards” like 20 attempts later. Like that was the “great plan” all along, to beat Aamir after 20 attempts!
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 9:05 AM
“….hey it didn’t happen the last 10 times but it will next time! It’s not Bajrangi’s fault that it lost 40 crores (MS Dhoni) because of all kinds of factors.”
Gentlemen, with the new business model in place in terms of box office earnings and ‘multiplexation’ of Hindi cinema , I beg simple rationalization to the great minds here !
But, Oh boy ! PRPD does not seem to be a fish story anymore and it seems dilli door nahin hai….
“Anupam Kher, who plays Diwan Sahab, has been quoted in the report as saying that on Tuesday night, July 28, Sooraj delivered a short speech, mentioning every actor by name. “He left everyone teary-eyed. Sooraj always does this when his film is nearing the end. It was my last day of shoot and as always, I was emotional,” admits the veteran actor. Salman’s recent release, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, is breaking box-office records. Will Prem replicate Pavan’s success? “Prem will be three times more successful than Pavan,” asserts Anupam.”
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/Prem-Ratan-Dhan-Payo-Lesser-known-facts/photostory/48280638.cms
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 9:30 AM
assuming Anupam Kher is right and since you’re quoting him and also assuming Bajrangi ends up around 320 I guess the Barjatya film is going to do 960 crores. But maybe Anupam Kher is exaggerating a bit. Maybe it will just do double the business. In this case it should do 640 crores. But maybe he’s just using a figure of speech let’s give him more leeway. so 500? 400? Never mind. there’s only one mark here — 338.1 crores (assuming 338 for PK). For your sake I hope you get it. Your angst will finally be over. To be honest if Salman had done a film with Rakesh Roshan he would have cleared 400 by now. Of course adjusting for inflation et al Ghajini would be bigger than PK, let alone 3I. But hey we’re only looking at absolute numbers. I was so happy when Barfi crossed HAHK.
LikeLiked by 1 person
August 3, 2015 at 9:59 AM
Congrats in advance to MSDHONI first for predicting the 1st 900 crore movie! And i’m being conservative so as to avoid being misquoted! Rationalisation implies honesty and fairness, not fanaticism as fans keep making the same blunder under the garb of some self created universe different from ours! Why can’t we just enjoy the success without falling prey to syndrome called ” My star is bigger and better” which hinders the path to real joy of soaking in a good movie experience. If one does not believe that ignorance is bliss, one can visit these film related sites to experience its REAL MEANING!!
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 10:11 AM
” Congrats in advance to MSDHONI first for predicting the 1st 900 crore movie! And i’m being conservative so as to avoid being misquoted!”
With the Barjatyas keeping few of the achievements of the past starting with Ankhiyon ke jhaorke se, nadiya ke paar , hahk etc , one is not entering the ‘common roulette table limits’ but one needs to be prepared for ‘No Limit Roulette’ !!
Add Diwali – unarguably the no 1 spot in terms of release date !
Mind you its not releasing on Diwali day which is Pooja day but the next day which is bonanza in terms of earning (HNY supposedly did 44 odd Cr ) Now with a start like that one can imagine the media hype for good no of days….
Mind you,BB still lacked a sound track (which has been admitted ) This is unlikely to happen here as Barjatya movies are more music than anything else.
On the rest i suggest we don’t go into too much hypothesis and look at the actual for a good many years now ……… hmm 7th to be precise and running strong!
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 10:23 AM
There are so many ifs and buts now but when BB was galloping, you were smug that PK is a cakewalk for BB. So now we move on to next frontier that’s PRDP which has the advantage of unarguably the biggest date to release+super-hit music+Barjatya’s past history, 500Crore to at the very least banta hai. Honestly with so many pre release benefits, PRDP would begin its run from 338 Crore. 😉
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 10:31 AM
myselfaamir, look at this trade report and biz getting divided. Do you still doubt BB in terms of solo potential –
Girish Johar @girishjohar 3h3 hours ago
Between #Baahubali – hindi, #BajrangiBhaijaan & #Drishyam – Hindi domestic BO this weekend crossed 50crs + … Superb !!!
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 10:48 AM
BB began to fall in weekdays itself so Drishyam alibi just does not hold any water. And BB by the end of 2nd week fell behind PK by 7 crore margin, where there was no competition. And almost everyone praising the movie, trending is suggesting almost 20 to 25 crore behind PK’s total. And by the way by your logic, TZP would have made 100 crores, if Welcome had not released along with it or Lagaan would have been an ATBB, if Gadar had not released with it!! So let go of these lame excuses and bask in the glory of Salman’s 1st 300 crore movie and 550+ worldwide, and Enjoy……………….. That’s all i have to say on this irrational comparison fixation.
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 2:59 PM
Jayshah:
But the reality is, PK was ahead and has been ahead since Day 11. Not Day 15 – because if it was Day 15, the day competition arrived, the “excuses” were a bit more bullet proof. But PK was ahead before that day – so explain that!
Anyway this is a silly debate. BB has done very well and deserves its status where ever it is. It’s nothing to snooze at to lose to Hirani and Aamir.
That people want to add 20 crore for competition, take 20 crore for Xmas holidays etc…well its IFS and BUTS.
If you don’t want to deal with IFS and BUTS send a memo to your favourite actor and the industry and request 10 free weeks with 4,000 screens for each week.
Just don’t turn up with Bodyguard or Ra.One expecting any miracles.
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 6:26 AM
Drishyam Is Decent On Sunday
Monday 02 August 2015 23.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Drishyam had decent collections of around 9.25 crore nett on Sunday but this is where the first day should have been or at least close to it. The Sunday business will take its first weekend total to around 22 crore nett. The film had good growth on Saturday but the growth is less on Sunday. this could be due to Bajrangi Bhaijaan as family audiences have really taken to the film and it is has been catching Drishyam over Saturday and Sunday.
The film has done its best business in Mumbai circuit and CP Berar and CI but even here the weekend totals are below the mark. The film has not performed at all in West Bengal and Bihar.
The Monday total will be all important and if it does turn out to strong then the film must hold close to Monday levels over the weekdays. This could take it towards the 40 crore nett mark for the week which won’t be good but at least respectable considering the initial of the film..
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 6:27 AM
Drishyam Has Low First Weekend
Monday 03 August 2015 11.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Drishyam had a low first weekend of a little under 23 crore nett. The trend over the weekend was pretty good though it really needed bigger growth.The first weekend business of Drishyam is as follows.
Paid Previews – 50,00,000
Friday – 5,25,00,000
Saturday – 7,50,00,000
Sunday 9,50,00,000
TOTAL – 22,75,00,000
The best business is in Mumbai circuit which grossed around 8 crore nett including paid previews. Monday is crucial for the film and needs a number close to uts Friday levels.
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 6:27 AM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh 2h2 hours ago
#Baahubali [dubbed Hindi version] has set a new BENCHMARK [Week 4] Fri 1.60 cr, Sat 2.70 cr, Sun 3.40 cr. Total: ₹ 103.51 cr. ATBB.
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 6:56 AM
Powered by the Energizer bunny energy of the seemingly inexhaustible Tom Cruise, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation pulled in $56M for the weekend, taking #1 at the box office. It’s a good start for the $150M, fifth installment in the now-rejuvenated M:I series that seems to be have been carried, uphill, on Cruise’s back.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4092&p=.htm
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 7:01 AM
Hearing good things about this film
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 7:36 AM
brief comments from earlier:
[the new MI was great fun. Not sure if it’s the absolute best but it’s probably one of the very good ones. Saw it in a houseful theater..]
[This is probably the most substantial film of the franchise since the first one. But I might take Ghost Protocol over it.]
to add to these I’d say that this film is gripping from beginning to end. It also has a bit of the last Batman element to it with Tom Cruise’s age being a relative issue at points (narratively). But overall my sense with a lot of these franchises is that beyond a point they are weighed down by their histories and perhaps try to do too much or try to get a bit too serious. This is not a problem with the current MI but it might not be as light-footed as for example the last one or some of the others. But this was true for the most recent X-Men with all the period elements, the political references and so on. Still a worthwhile film but the ideal to my mind (at least within this genre) has been X-Men First Class. And much as I love Nolan’s work on Batman there is a degree beyond which things get a bit too heavy. the new MI is too smart to go that far and this certainly isn’t a film one should miss. I would say though that on the action sequences barring one at the beginning which isn’t long enough and then one underwater moment nothing is quite as creatively choreographed as some of the stuff in Ghost Protocol.
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 7:51 AM
I am not a Tom Cruise kick at the moment as Sky Movies are having a Tom Cruise channel dedicated to him. Watched Jerry Maguire yesterday for the first time. A lot of people I have said that too sound surprised. Very nice film – not what I expected. Actually thought Tom Cruise overplayed his part a bit. It was really Rene Zellweager and Cuba who I rooted for performance wise.
On MI – the 4th one really re-vitalized the franchise. Cruise’s stock is not as great as it use to be, but I still think he is pretty fun to watch on screen. All these franchises need a bit of a break. Specially the superhero ones. One guy at work watched Antman – I was surprised people ventured in to watch that. There is nothing seriously different about these movies and the genre is suffocating from overdose and overkill. It use to be exciting, because a little part of childhood was playing out but I’ve lost count of how many Xmen or Spiderman films are out there and when it gets blurry like that you know you have seen too many.
I think they should just make one massive superhero movie with all of them in one and end it there!
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 8:19 AM
Jerry Macguire is fun though I haven’t revisited it in a while. I did revisit all the MIs barring the first in the last two weeks. On his box office had an exchange here. Again Edge of Tomorrow was really good. In better box office shape he might have had a blockbuster here. Finally and thought I put this up here before this piece really gets it right on Cruise.
Was coincidentally thinking of doing this recently. On the superhero films I’m quite sick of them.
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 8:48 AM
He looks remarkably young. Would never have guess him to be 50+ more like mid-40s.
He’s done a lot of sci fi – I thought his better films (not that I’ve seen too many) were things like The Firm or Few Good Men or Jerry Maguire when he was fighting for a cause of sorts.
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 9:22 AM
yes it’s surprising he hasn’t explored that sort of drama in a while. There’s still a market for that sort of thing.
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 8:57 AM
Aamir Khan’s Natural Greyness Revealed!
Aug 3rd, 2015 by Koimoi.com Team
Aamir Khan has been chilling and eating all that comes his way in a vegan diet for ‘Dangal’, to look the part of wrestler Mahavir Phogat. He was photographed yesterday stepping out of a foot massage parlour in Bandra West near his home, sporting a completely grey look!
The actor usually colours his hair to jet blackness; but in these photographs, he sportingly posed for our paparazzi despite the steel grey look.
And we think the natural salt & pepper actually looks quite endearing on the thinking Khan!
Aamir Khan snapped at massage parlour in Bandra
Aamir Khan snapped at massage parlour in Bandra
Aamir Khan snapped at massage parlour in Bandra
Aamir Khan snapped at massage parlour in Bandra
http://www.koimoi.com/bollywood-news/catch-pictures-aamir-khans-natural-greyness-revealed/
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 12:25 PM
dangal better does 1800 cr (double than PRDP 😉 ) with all these hype…….
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 4:15 PM
IdeaUnique if your statement were true even then there would be a lot of “Ifs and Buts” attributing its success ranging from “holidays to Christmas, to her daughters, to its emotional content, to Nitesh Tiwari the director and its screenplay,his 2 years break and innumerable other factors But Aamir!! Next to impossible. So be better prepared to face these “VALID & LEGITIMATE” FACTS. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
August 4, 2015 at 3:22 AM
ha ha – aamir though religiously will arrive with dangal or later on do his duty to open a 400 cr club 😉
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 4:56 PM
Aamirs blind fangirldom seems to be nearing srk fangirldom at its peak..
Btw nargis fakhri on cosmopolitan …
http://www.pinkvilla.com/entertainmenttags/nargis-fakhri/check-it-out-nargis-fakhri-s-total-diva-look-cosmopolitan-cover
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 6:47 PM
Some choose to be “BLIND BY CHOICE AND CONVENIENCE “
LikeLike
August 3, 2015 at 9:14 PM
Interesting !!
“Daughter of India and Pakistan, Geeta Awaits Her Bajrangi Bhaijaan
PUBLISHED ON: AUGUST 3, 2015 | DURATION: 22 MIN, 28 SEC
On The Buck Stops Here, the story of Geeta, a hearing and speech impaired Indian girl stuck in Pakistan for 14 years. We talk to her and the philanthropists who have brought her up in Karachi. Also as Geeta awaits her real life Bajrangi Bhaijaan, we speak with the director of the film, Kabir Khan, on whether art imitates life or life imitates art.”
http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-buck-stops-here/daughter-of-india-and-pakistan-geeta-awaits-her-bajrangi-bhaijaan/377494
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 6:36 AM
Bajrangi Bhaijaan Third Monday Business
Tuesday 04 August 2015 11.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Bajrangi Bhaijaan has taken its total to 292 crore nett in 18 days. The third Monday grossed 3 crore nett apprx. The first four business of the third week of Bajrangi Bhaijaan are as follows.
Friday – 4,00,00,000
Saturday – 6,50,00,000
Sunday – 8,50,00,000
Monday – 3,00,00,000
TOTAL – 22,00,00,000
The third week will gross around 29 crore nett in its third week which will be the third highest third week collection ever after PK and 3 Idiots which were 40 crore nett and 33 crore nett respectively.
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 6:37 AM
Drishyam First Monday Business
Tuesday 04 August 2015 12.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Drishyam held up pretty well on Monday but needed to do better. The drop is 30% from Friday but ideally the drop had to be around 10-12% due to low initial. The first four day business of Drishyam is as follows.
Paid Previews – 50,00,000
Friday – 5,25,00,000
Saturday – 7,50,00,000
Sunday 9,50,00,000
Monday – 3,75,00,000
TOTAL – 26,50,00,000
The film will close the week at around 35 crore nett and will need a phenomenal run in week two and week three to save it.
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 6:39 AM
Bajrangi Bhaijaan Is Top All Time Grosser In Gulf
Tuesday 04 August 2015 11.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Bajrangi Bhaijaan has set an all time record in the Gulf with collections of $7.5 million till date to become the highest grossing film in the territory. The opening was slightly less than films like Happy New Year and Dhoom 3 bit it has sustained much better than those films.
The film is also easily the biggest Salman Khan film in The Gulf also as the collections of Kick were around $4.1 million. The film has done excellent across all Overseas market but Gulf has performed best followed by United Kingdom which could cross £2.5 million. The Overseas performance for ths film is probably the best ever for a Salman Khan film since Hum Aapke Hain Kaun which opened up the Overseas market.
The Overseas total will probably be the second or third highest ever if we don’t second phase releases in countries like China and South Korea. The top grossers in the Gulf can be see here. The collections of Bajrangi Bhaijaan are till date as its still running while others are lifetime.
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 8:01 AM
“The Overseas total will probably be the second or third highest ever if we don’t second phase releases in countries like China and South Korea. ”
LOL, guess what film this is directed at!
And this ‘second phase’ argument is dishonest anyway. Because it’s not as if these were reruns or something. If a film is released for the first time in China months or even a year or more after its original release everywhere this counts as the same. It’s no different from tons of ‘foreign’ films every year arriving in the theaters of different countries at very different times. A lot of times when certain foreign releases come out theatrically in the US the DVDs have already been released in britain. Such is the time lag. So this whole first/second phase distinction is of course arbitrary (and mostly about a certain film.. doubt they have Black’s S Korean release in mind!) but it’s also simply wrong in these matters. Not that I’d expect BOI to know much about this stuff anyway! Forget everything else they’ve even largely ignored a true pan-Indian juggernaut like Bahubali.
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 9:23 AM
on lighter note rgv has been in his element since the porn ban talk is doing the rounds and has few very good tweets here are two alongwith anubhav sinha ) ra1 fame.
Ram Gopal Varma ?@RGVzoomin 22h22 hours ago
Indians love porn and the proof is India currently ranked #5 in overall traffic online, with USA ranking at #1
Ram Gopal Varma ?@RGVzoomin 22h22 hours ago
This basically means that it’s going to be so many lesser votes for the government in the next election
Anubhav Sinha ?@anubhavsinha 3h3 hours ago
Lekin unke paas to ‘Porn Bahumat’ hai…
Anubhav Sinha ?@anubhavsinha 3h3 hours ago
Now that one Government has really found a way to ban sites, now we can actually stop piracy in the country. No???
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 12:35 PM
Drashyam 1st week will be 50+ cr and 2nd can be 20+ – 70-80 cr is not bad at all
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 12:48 PM
Saw the original. Malyalam.
Hindi version is far better. Apart from Mohanlal there in nothing in original though is scene to scene copy.
But the two intense girls are so lame in orginal, the whole sequence when the guy comes – the guy is also lame.
And most importantly, the characters who played Gaitonde and Tabu characters are too lame.
Hindi version is way way way better than the original.
Also agree with Utkal, that Ajay is not flaunting his lungi as 4th pass and a good businessman in his own domain.
Interval and tabu/ gaitonde characters were pathetic in the Mallu version. Also the girls and the guy who stalks them were so so so lame in mallu version.
Hindi version is gold.
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 1:30 PM
Saw drishyam (original) recently. Didn’t care much for it at all. I can believe that the Hindi version is better done. But whether this worth the loss of Mohanlal for Devgan is another matter! It’s certainly not a trade I’d be willing to make. And in terms of just revisiting the film I don’t know if I found the subject interesting enough to even attempt this. perhaps I could skim through it on a DVD.
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 4:56 AM
You have to see the Hindi version Sir.
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 6:03 AM
” I can believe that the Hindi version is better done.”
Very few ppl can say this. They have prejudices and what not …
Good to see such comment from a fanatic like you.
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 6:36 AM
Ritz, consider this the last chance.. you’ve been here just for some days and already there’s been trouble with a number of comments. I hope you’re not someone from the past with a different ID but in any case you can say things without constant provocation.
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 1:29 PM
Girish Johar @girishjohar 2h2 hours ago
SUPERRRB !!! #बजरंगी_भाईजान550crWorldwide
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh 8h8 hours ago
#BajrangiBhaijaan remains STRONG. [Week 3] Fri 4.11 cr, Sat 6.80 cr, Sun 9.07 cr, Mon 2.75 cr. Total: ₹ 294.98 cr. ATBB.
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh Aug 3
#BajrangiBhaijaan Overseas total [till Sunday, 2 August]: $ 23.5
million [₹ 150.54 cr]. FABULOUS!
Komal Nahta @KomalNahta 5h5 hours ago
#Bajrangi Bhaijaan invited to the prestigious 20th Busan International Film Festival !
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 1:33 PM
according to BOI it will be 11 crores behind PK for the third week. Not just this, the more amazing number is that it will even fall behind 3I by 4 crores or so.
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 1:55 PM
Yes but if it got more screens it would have made more than 50 crores probably. And if it had a holiday probably 70 crore.
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 2:48 PM
“Yes but if it got more screens it would have made more than 50 crores probably. And if it had a holiday probably 70 crore.”
..the jokes are getting staler by the day.
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 3:18 PM
Really? As stale as all the excuses we’re getting on an hourly basis?
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 3:37 PM
Satyam: Have you seen the movie yet?
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 3:46 PM
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 4:18 PM
Thanks and glad you liked it as well. Loved your review/thoughts as well. I’ve been consistently mentioning this is not the regular Salman movie and can do something out of norm which it eventually did. If the movie was little more fleshed out in 1st half, it could have cross PK. My initial thoughts was around 300 crores and certainly less than PK even though I more or less liked it same level as PK but brothel scene and climax scenes just are best sequences and that easily pumps the movie to another level.
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 4:44 PM
yes the brothel scene was one of the strong ones in the film and I do agree that it needed a stronger first half. all the stuff about Salman’s past was entertaining but nothing special.
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 5:09 PM
Some Spoilers**
I thought there was some lazy writing within a decent flow of the movie. So I didn’t like Salman leaving the kid to some travel agent to be transported back to Pakistan. Or the girl being caught by police officer for taking hand cuff. They could have found some better screenplay for getting caught.
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 5:31 PM
agree, it was absolutely ridiculous that he left her with a stranger that way. It’s also one of the rare times when there are serious consequences to anything. otherwise the film is structurally a ‘comedy’. Nothing has very serious consequences anywhere. For that matter even the border bit when he insists on getting permission is funny but borders on caricature. Also absurd in the sense that Bajrangi insists on doing everything honestly and the proper way but of course the border security forces have no authority to grant anyone admission this way! Still these aren’t major objections. But again the first half could have had more events.
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 2:53 PM
“agree, it was absolutely ridiculous that he left her with a stranger that way.”
I know lot of loopholes or easy way out in the script but the intention is right all through out. For this particular scene, firstly his father in law (Sharat Saxena) tells him about this agent that he has ways to send people across border. Travel agents having their own ways of bending rules(without passport etc) by taking some money isn’t unheard of and knowing Bajrangi’s naiveness, its not that implausible of a scene. Its not that he found a stranger on the road and handed over the girl to his hand and left.
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 2:08 PM
yes and another interesting fact is 3I 4th week number which was 15.50 cr even PK couldn’t match that it had a significant drop in its 4th week was around 12 cr .
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 2:45 PM
I think everyone out there is probably aware that 3I is better trended movie than PK!
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 12:37 AM
The reason was competition. Tevar released that week. It doesn’t matter if the new movie is a good one or not, the loss of screens cripples every movie.
Drishyam did affect Bajrangi Bhaijaan. It wouldn’t have caught PK in any case, but the weekend would have been closer to 25 crores….
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 2:31 PM
Will ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ help this girl stranded in Pakistan?
http://www.dawn.com/news/1198363/will-bajrangi-bhaijaan-help-this-girl-stranded-in-pakistan
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 3:24 PM
AR RAHMAN SCRIPTS A FILM ABOUT A SINGER
Plans to roll by year end and is scouting for a South Indian actor; he will score the music himself.
Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman has turned scriptwriter with 99 Songs, a sensual story about art and self-discovery. The Hindi film, which will also release in Tamil, will roll this year end. “Music is crucial to the plot and will be composed by Rahman sir himself but the film is not his biopic. It follows the journey of a struggling singer and the roadblocks he faces before he becomes a successful composer. It is a love story too, but is more about art, passion and realising one’s true capabilities,” informs a source.
Earlier this year, the 47-year-old-music director had wrapped up the score of the Ranbir Kapoor-Deepika Padukone film, Tamasha. Now, he is busy with the music for Ashutosh Gowariker’s period drama, Mohenjo Daro. “After finishing the Hrithik Roshan film, Rahman sir will kick off this film. He will supervise every aspect. Earlier, he had planned it as his directorial debut but with English, Hindi and Tamil films lined up for 2016, he has no time to direct a film and has handed over the reins to debutant Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy,” adds the source.
For four years, he has been busy setting up his production house, toying with multiple scripts before finally locking this one. 99 Songs will be co-produced under his banner, YM Movies. Casting is underway in Mumbai. “They are looking for a fresh face. Rahman sir wants a South Indian actor to play the musician. He should have a basic understanding of music too. There will be a strong supporting cast of international musicians and actors too,” the source signs off.
http://www.mumbaimirror.com/entertainment/bollywood/Rahman-scripts-a-film-about-a-singer/articleshow/48350853.cms
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 4:12 PM
“She is the wife of a successful small-town business man , lusted after by her husband and likes to dress and groom herself well. ”
When i read something like that even in a ‘thriller’–i know its written by utkal uncle
“THe problem comes when you watch the films with a shadow of another film constantly clouding your vision.”
THe problem comes when you watch the films with an element of LUST constantly clouding your vision. 🙂
Ps: have just discovered Shriya Sarans (curves)
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 4:37 PM
Actor Abhishek Bachchan says his home production ‘Shamitabh’, starring father Amitabh, failed at the box office as they went wrong with its budgeting
“Shamitabh”, directed by R Balki and featuring megastar Amitabh Bachchan, Dhanush and Akshara Haasan, did not do well.
“I think we got the budgeting wrong… I think the budget was wrong. We made it (budget) too expensive. If it could have been made in a controlled budget, it could have done better,” Abhishek told PTI in an interview here.
http://www.mid-day.com/articles/abhishek-bachchan-blames-shamitabh-failure-on-its-budget/16421187
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 4:41 PM
This is what I don’t agree with. For instance even Amitabh accepted that the concept didn’t gel well with the crowd and failure in its concept. The budget was around 40 crores and it did about 20-22 crores Nett. Even if the budget was little less, the movie is no way would have been accepted movie as the way Amitabh or others intended with final 20 crores. Saying the movie’s budget is very low budget and calling it somewhat success is deluding oneself like Aamir did with Dhobi Ghat which did under 15 crores.
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 11:16 PM
what on earth they spent 40 cr master????? that looked just PR gimmick – AB wouldn’t have charged anyting – so 40 cr went where??? it was all shot in India and there were no extravagant shooting locations also – unless u say that the kolavery-guy took 39 cr as his fees 🙂 ha!
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 11:24 PM
here it says that budget was 20-28 cr – http://www.talkingmoviez.com/shamitabh-hit-or-flop-budget-economics-box-office-prediction/
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 12:09 PM
If the budget was 20 odd crores, I don’t think Abhishek would have blamed it on the budget. Expecting to make that movie in less than 10 crores is difficult.
Moreover, my point is that irrespective of the budget, I don’t think any movie in today’s standards will be called success at 20 crores unless its really one of the those low budgeted movies with no known faces. So, blaming on the budget is futile.
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 12:11 PM
agree..
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 11:04 PM
Master there’s a difference in a flop and a recovery movie or an average movie! And that’s where budget plays very vital role in making or marring the movie’s final verdict as when one is making a movie keeping its appeal ( populist or niche) in mind, maker ensures that he is not overspending or underspending teh monet at his disposal and when maker fails to do that results are more often disastrous case in point is Ra-1 or Bombay Velvet. Your mention of DB doesn’t make sense as it was made with in a budget of 6 crore including marketing and distribution and Aamir didn’t charge as it was his home production and Director was her wife and shooting was done with hand held cameras in guerrilla style with out any big star. It spent almost a very tiny amount on music as well as there was only BG score in the movie and it went on to make 14 or 15 crore, which was enough for it to recover its cost. So where did Aamir delude himself is you to inform us mortals!
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 11:07 PM
correction -“the money at his disposal”
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 10:11 AM
I hope you are not losing your sleep over Ra-1’s sham verdict being shown the mirror! Second how many prints was DB released on and up to what extent marketing was done, was as minimal as it could get starring Aamir. And you are talking of oscar winning as if their charge for any movie begins with 10 zeroes!! It was the same tune being played out in the background all the time, not that it was Slumdog Millionaire! And at the very least i’m not concealing my identity or appreciation for Aamir where some feel that an id named Master would be able to hide your partisan attitude towards Shahrukh and envy towards Aamir?? And last but the most vital part of your comment reveals your psychology as you made up things which i never stated! I said in my comment that it recovered its investment, not hit, but you with your coloured glasses interpreted it as per your own imagination! I have stated each aspect why it wasn’t a flop which you are hell-bent on making it. Losing crores and recovery are 2 very different things which you either don’t understand or pretend otherwise to delude yourself!
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 2:52 AM
“when maker fails to do that results are more often disastrous case in point is Ra-1 or Bombay Velvet. ”
You lost me when you compared these two movies. Also, I could easily reply to you about DB from the budget, marketing and time spent on it during editing for years and finally bringing in the 2 time Oscar winner musician to score background score(which you call as minimal)…but I think it would be pointless when your id itself is myselfaamir and you are already in that deluded camp. DB at 13 crore nett is a hit for delusional ppl, irrespective the budget maybe when even Peepli live did 30 crores nett coming before it.
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 8:36 AM
but master when abhi says budged was the cause – he must give the exact or appox. account where the money was spent – unless he asserts that all he says shd be taken on the face value!
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 9:08 AM
He was doing the same with Paa with too much tom-tom on budgeting etc and Master is right no movie is noticeable until there is some volume to the collections. The threshold for that now is close to at least 50-60 cr.
Abhi is pretty dumb to bollywood standards in terms of market acumen and street smartness. His usp and aim these days is to win the ‘good boy’ tag from industry. Some good schooling has taught him to speak well but off late his interviews too have become flaky and all that accent is a huge put off and comes across as a sham.
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 9:14 AM
Paa was a very successful film. It was blown away when 3I released or it could have done more. It wasn’t the Shamitabh deal. Of course not sure why folks here are that worked up about his Shamitabh claims. I obviously agree that this is an excuse. But stars say this sort of stuff all the time.
On the rest not everyone can give thoughtful interviews like Salman..!
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 6:49 PM
I hope you are not losing your sleep over Ra-1’s sham verdict being shown the mirror! Second how many prints was DB released on and up to what extent marketing was done, was as minimal as it could get starring Aamir. And you are talking of oscar winning as if their charge for any movie begins with 10 zeroes!! It was the same tune being played out in the background all the time, not that it was Slumdog Millionaire! And at the very least i’m not concealing my identity or appreciation for Aamir where some feel that an id named Master would be able to hide your partisan attitude towards Shahrukh and envy towards Aamir?? And last but the most vital part of your comment reveals your psychology as you made up things which i never stated! I said in my comment that it recovered its investment, not hit, but you with your coloured glasses interpreted it as per your own imagination! I have stated each aspect why it wasn’t a flop which you are hell-bent on making it. Losing crores and recovery are 2 very different things which you either don’t understand or pretend otherwise to delude yourself!
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 10:23 PM
BOI has elevated the verdicts of 90’s and first half of 2000 movies … I am laughing out loud reading those verdicts … movies which barely recovered money are rated as Hit or even Super Hit (For instance humara dil apke paas hai .. it did okay business .. but not super hit by any means). Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge was kind of disappointing and did very average business .. is now Hit at BOI … each and every movie elevated to one or two level above. And you know what .. benefit goes directly to Khans.
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 11:20 PM
if i recall correctly…DHL was a ‘below average’ ‘earner’. The opening was pretty flat and that was the beginning of Sallu’s down period compared to the height of success in the 90’s. His biggest hit in 2000 was HDJPK and that was highly due to Rani and Preity combo. lol they have DHL at 18.5 cr…in 2000…ibos still has the original number here…they term it as ‘average’
http://ibosnetwork.com/asp/filmbodetails.asp?id=Dulhan+Hum+Le+Jayenge
LikeLike
August 4, 2015 at 11:26 PM
and reason I brought up IBOS because they were pretty much the only box office website back in 2000 along with IndiaFM (using Taran’s numbers). BOI came on later if I remember correctly.
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 2:33 AM
Saw Baahubali for the second time, with my wife and daughter who just came home from US. This time in Hindi. We all loved it. I found the Hindi lines sueprisingly good. Now I realize this is a film I can see any number of times…the layering is simply too rich. I can just focus on the art design and be entertained all through the film. The colour matching of Shivadus’ tunic and dhoti, the designof the bow and arrow, the look of the earthenware in the tavern, in fact, the design of every single property used in film is a treat to watch. On the other hand I can marvel at the face of each of the soldier in the Kalakeya army, which has been fashinoed with so much care. I still cant believe that they have madea film like thsi in India. Takea bow, a deep bow, Rajamouli.
LikeLiked by 1 person
August 5, 2015 at 3:25 AM
Re: “The colour matching of Shivadus’ tunic and dhoti, the designof the bow and arrow, the look of the earthenware in the tavern, in fact, the design of every single property used in film is a treat to watch.”
Very well said…
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 11:59 AM
I read somewhere that they hand made each and everything in the movie, nothing was bought. The shoes for instance didn’t have soles and were hand made with leather. small intricate details but god lies in such small details and it somehow shows on the camera.
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 12:22 AM
Every review I read of Bahubali, every comment talking about it especially the voices of Satyam, GF, etc. only adds to my misery of not having seen it yet! It’s unpardonable. Would have loved to see it in its Tamil version with subs but that was released in Mumbai on just a few screens with a one week engagement only. Thereafter have been planning to catch the dubbed Hindi version, but when the folks are free I ain’t, then the missus has to travel and so on. And on the occasions when all that has fallen into place either the shows were sold out or just a few seats uncomfortably close to the screen were available. We’ve been amazed just with how difficult it has been to get tickets for this dubbed release weeks into the release even! And by now I am just worried that my hype levels are through the roof. But going by all I’ve read no amount of hype can kill the movie, it just surpasses any and all expectations.
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 2:18 AM
abzee I hope you would want to see it in its original version which is telugu and not tamil
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 10:41 AM
As much as I am aware, the film was made simultaneously in Telugu and Tamil. I could be wrong. In any case my mother is a Tamilian, so that was the added reason behind the desire to see it Tamil. Like to see her have an opportunity to see a Tamil film at the cinemas where even the rest of us can be a part of the experience thanks to the subtitles.
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 11:48 AM
I wanted to watch it in Tamil myself. There’s a good reason to prefer this anyway if one is watching a dub. After all Tamil is still related to Telugu even if it’s a more distant link than with Malayalam. Of course I don’t like dubbed films to begin with but I would have had to drive quite a bit more for the original and I wasn’t willing to. I do that sort of thing only for Ratnam or for Vikram! Having said that barring the first few mins I didn’t have a problem with the Hindi dub.
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 12:09 PM
the only thing I would have changed about the Hindi dub is that I would have made the language more ‘Hindustani’. It strives towards a more formal sort of Hindi, a more Sanskritized grammar, that is not really necessary. Not least because it again feeds a certain imaginary in this sense and ties in to a certain political discourse that I’m once again suspicious of. Not a very big deal but it wasn’t necessary. It happens more in the palace sequences or with certain characters but at other points too. And it’s not as if the film is some great exercise in realism anyway!
the irony is that if one goes back to older texts or even ancient texts in Sanskrit or whatever one will find no such insistence on some imaginary ‘purity’. It doesn’t seem that way to us because from this distance in time it all seems the same. It isn’t. Much as people think everyone talks the same way in Shakespeare. They don’t.
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 11:49 AM
Rajamouli took special care in Tamil dialogues (since language is ancient and all). He hired special people and the tamil has to be old enough but not so ancient that people of today’s time cannot understand and finally after 4 versions of a single scene, he selected one..etc…so much attention to details. I am sure you will have fun watching tamil version too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
August 6, 2015 at 12:10 PM
I think this is fundamentally a misguided impulse.
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 5:52 AM
abzee: aap kya kar rahe ho?! You just have to go watch this!
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 11:30 AM
alongwith the question “katappa ne bahubali ko kyun mara?” – one more question is doing rounds these days: “abzee ne bahubli kyun nahi dekha?” 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
August 6, 2015 at 11:48 AM
ha, good one!
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 11:49 AM
I’m also trying to get Jay and Rajen to show up for this one!
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 11:34 AM
Q Sir,
I just read a 5000 words piece on Khalifa.com and Troll.com-
Right Wing fascist Sarkar of Maharashtra allows only one week engagement and that too on limited screens of the Tamil version of Bahubali !!, and then they became…….
LikeLiked by 1 person
August 5, 2015 at 9:53 AM
Drishyam Is Steady On Tuesday
Wednesday 05 August 2015 11.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Drishyam was steady on Tuesday with collections similar to Monday. The first five day business of Drishyam is as follows.
Paid Previews – 50,00,000
Friday – 5,25,00,000
Saturday – 7,50,00,000
Sunday 9,50,00,000
Monday – 3,75,00,000
Tuesday – 3,50,00,000
TOTAL – 30,00,00,000
The collections are still low as it has collected only 30 crore nett in the first five days. The film is now dependent on showing an under 50% fall in week two which will be hard as there will be two new releases with Bangistan and Mission Impossible 5.
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 12:25 PM
except BOI – everywhere figures are 38+ cr for drashyam!
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 12:45 PM
By the end of first week Boi will be 10 cr lower than taran for drishyam. Boi is poised to end first week at 35 cr, taran is saying 45 cr. this is huge difference considering boi is just 3 cr lower for BB sofar which is neglible imo on a figure of over 300 cr.
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 1:11 PM
Has taran given any collections for drishyam?
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 1:25 PM
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 1:47 PM
after a long time there’s a huge gap between BOI numbers and Taran.
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 12:48 PM
Actually boi reported higher than taran on second monday, tuesday and third monday again.
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 9:54 AM
Bajrangi Bhaijaan Third Tuesday Business
Wednesday 05 August 2015 11.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Bajrangi Bhaijaan continues with the trend of huge business on Saturday and Sunday and weekdays coming off. This was also the case in week two. The first five day business of the third week of Bajrangi Bhaijaan are as follows.
Friday – 4,00,00,000
Saturday – 6,50,00,000
Sunday – 8,50,00,000
Monday – 3,00,00,000
Tuesday – 2,50,00,000
TOTAL – 24,50,00,000
The film is closing in on 300 crore and the distributor share has crossed 150 crore in India being the second film to do so after PK.
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 9:54 AM
since they themselves argue that Bajrangi is relatively weaker on weekdays and certainly since week 2 this contradicts all their other points about competition and what not.
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 9:59 AM
Bajrangi Bhaijaan Sets First Domestic Circuit Record
Bajrangi Bhaijaan set a lifetime record in The Gulf over the weekend and now has also set a new all time lifetime record in India by becoming the highest grosser ever in Bihar as it went to the 7.50 crore nett mark after its third weekend. The top grossers in Bihar now are as follows..
http://www.boxofficeindia.com/Details/art_detail/bajrangibhaijaansetsfirstdomesticcircuitrecord#.VcIVqPNViko
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 10:00 AM
Nice references of Pooja Bhatt here.Getting there !
Pooja Bhatt ?@PoojaB1972 9h9 hours ago
Finally saw #BajrangiBhaijaan The last time I cheered like that was when I saw Amar Akbar Anthony & MR.Natwarlal. Absolutely loved it!Kudos!
Joginder Tuteja ?@Tutejajoginder 11m11 minutes ago
Brace up @BeingSalmanKhan fans
#BajrangiBhaijaan to touch 300 crore by tonight. HUGE MOMENT.
Begin the celebrations.
#AllTimeBlockbuster
taran adarsh ?@taran_adarsh 3h3 hours ago
#BajrangiBhaijaan [Week 3] Fri 4.11 cr, Sat 6.80 cr, Sun 9.07 cr, Mon 2.75 cr, Tue 2.63 cr. Total: ? 297.61 cr. ATBB.
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 10:20 AM
When Pritish Nandy interviewed Kishore Kumar for The Illustrated Weekly of India, Asia’s oldest and most venerable magazine, it was a stunner.
Posing with a skull on the Weekly’s cover, the great singer gave Nandy, the magazine’s editor, an interview that remains a hallmark of great interviews 24 years later.
On the legend’s 86th birth anniversary on August 4, we reproduce a Rediff.com exclusive by Nandy — now a moviemaker himself — in which he salutes the genius’ memory.
I first met Kishore Kumar when I went to ask him to perform for the Filmfare Awards night.
I had just come to Bombay in the winter of 1982 and taken over, among many other things at The Times of India, Filmfare magazine.
I found the Awards ceremony in Shanmukhananda Hall awfully boring and couldn’t keep my eyes open the first time we went to see it. Rina, my wife, kept pinching me to keep me awake.
Ashok Jain, who was then the chairman of The Times of India, had hired me, much against the wishes of many others.
He called me in the next morning and told me I must take charge of the Awards from the next year onwards and make them more exciting, get more stars to attend and participate in the event, and find a better sponsor who can give us the money for all this.
Among the first things I tried to do to make the event more fun was to call on Kishore Kumar and persuade him to perform at the next Awards.
He and I got on famously from our first meeting.
Not because we were both Bengalis whose families could be traced back to Bhagalpur in Bihar, where our homes were almost contiguous, but because we bonded over horror movies, a rare passion in those days, which we both shared.
He promptly agreed to discuss the idea on three conditions:
1. I would not insist on staying back for dinner at his house, post our discussions, since dinner was an expensive proposition and much as he liked me he had no intention of feeding my face.
2. I would gift him a signed copy of my book of poems, Lonesong Street, which he claimed he had heard so much about, but had not read and had no intention of ever reading and
3. I would never ask him to lend me any of the horror movies in his collection nor try to borrow any money from him in the future which he claimed every journalist and everyone in the film industry had done at some time or the other.
I was barely 28. It was easy to agree.
I said
1. Perfect, I had no intention of eating his stupid food and he could take it and stuff it wherever he wanted.
2. I would try and get him a copy of the book from Shanbhag at the Strand Book Stall who I knew had a few.
3. No sweat; his horror movies and his money were safe with him. I had no intention of getting within miles of either.
He smiled his strange smile and thus began our friendship on such firm ground.
I must confess I stuck to all his three conditions and he was delighted to find someone from whom his money, his horror movie collection and his food was safe. I was also happy because I coveted none of them.
I enjoyed his company and found him absolutely delightful. I guess I was the only one because everyone else I knew thought he was a complete crackpot.
He was not. He was a genius and that is what I called him in the cover story I wrote on him in The Illustrated Weekly much later.
In an industry of cracked people, he was possibly one of the sanest. He knew fully well what he wanted and there were only ten things in his cravings list.
1 to 8 was clearly money. 9 was fame and recognition. 10 was the love of beautiful women.
But his problem was that he hated having to buy them expensive gifts.
In fact, he hated having to spend money on them in any manner whatsoever.
He would never buy them dinner, or so he claimed. He would never buy them any gifts. And, most important, he would never tell them where he stacked away his cash.
He advised me very seriously, I remember clearly: Never tell a woman, any woman, where your money is.
Both will disappear at the same time, poof!
I never asked him if that wisdom came from his personal experience. In fact, I never probed into his life at all.
That strengthened the bond between us. We simply enjoyed each other’s company. There were no strings attached.
Even to participate in the Filmfare Awards, he laid down three conditions:
1. His would be the Big, Big opening act of the show and the only one, after which the awards must be given out.
2. The show must be held outdoors on Chowpatty so that everyone could watch it on big screens put up on Marine Drive, not just the invited guests.
3. The Mangeshkar sisters should not be invited for the event because they were too famous and would distract attention away from him.
I agreed to the first condition and told him that the second one was subject to police and BMC (then the Bombay Municipal Corporation) permissions, which were turned down and the event never eventually happened as a consequence.
The third condition I thought was silly and told him so.
He said he would think over it and promptly named three producers I must in that case not invite to the event.
It was always a question of give and take with him.
Not as transaction, but as a game. If you wanted anything from him, you had to give him certain things in return. The stranger you made your conditions, the more he loved you.
Once he offered to come to my flat in Walkeshwar from his Juhu bungalow in a convertible wearing only a towel and yodelling all the way if I would cut an album of Angrezi songs with him.
He demanded I should write the lyrics and he would get RD (R D Burman) to score the music.
He would record the songs himself. I had already walked away from my poetry a couple of years earlier, in pursuit of serious journalism, and refused to indulge him.
He sulked and sulked, but there were never any hard feelings.
In fact, our friendship was largely based on the fact that we really had nothing much to ask of each other.
I was not making movies at that time. I was an editor and a journalist.
He was a singer and an actor, director, story writer who loved his profession but did not enjoy the people he had to work with all the time. In fact, that was his perennial complaint.
He hated the movie industry.
He thought they were all peculiar, matlabi people who he had to constantly war with to get his rightful dues.
He kept complaining to me how his producers never paid him, how his music company never paid him, how his wives never paid him for the pleasure of his company.
Was he serious? I doubt it.
He loved money, yes. And he loved talking about it.
For his act in the Filmfare event, where he was supposed to land on Chowpatty airdropped by parachute from the sky, with his orchestra guys, he kept telling me how he wanted a Huge sum of money for the act.
When it actually came down to numbers, what he asked for only Rs 50,000.
Money was a tamasha for him and I think he really made fun of it by talking so much about it.
He was spoofing the obsession that others in the movie and music industry had for money by talking about it non-stop.
He told me once how he had hidden all his cash away so cleverly that leave alone the income tax guys, even his family would never find it after his death.
I told him that was a silly idea.
But he was adamant that his money was his money and no one had a right to it, he would do exactly what he wanted with it.
And every conversation between us, when it ended in an argument or a deadlock, he would start singing some cracked coded song which was my job to decipher.
Long before I met Dr Robert Langdon in the Da Vinci Code, I had met a man who enjoyed puzzling others with his strange symbology and cryptograms, all of which sounded totally weird and puzzling, but had actually perfectly intelligent solutions.
He thought them up (or at least appeared to) on the spur of the moment and loved playing the Mad Hatter at Alice’s tea party.
For me, Kishore never really passed away.
It’s impossible for a man like him to die because he personified life itself. I remember him often.
I occasionally discover stuff I had written on him in the past, notes and scribbles he had sent me, his notations for his songs.
Since he couldn’t read music, he created his own set of notations and brilliantly explained to me one day how he used them.
He dreamt of singing along with one of the great philharmonic orchestras one day.
He wanted so desperately to cut an album of English songs so that the world outside would notice and remember his work.
He wanted to be rich and famous, much more than he was.
And he was eager to hide his wounds from everyone. He had many I suspect.
No, Kishore was not a lonely man at all as many said he was.
He enjoyed solitude (that was another bond we shared) and had the supreme pleasure of having himself for company.
He loved himself to death and enjoyed his own company so much that I would often marvel at his ability to find every joy within his own heart.
He hated sharing anything with anyone.
He felt he owed nothing to no one.
He certainly owed me nothing but I saw tears of joy in his eyes when I told him that I had fought with Naushad on the jury for the Madhya Pradesh Government Culture Awards. (I think they call it by some other name these days) to make sure that he was the first popular singer that ever got the music award.
Naushad angrily walked out of the jury meeting but, to my delight, my friend Kumar Gandharva fully backed me totally and so did Mani Kaul. The rest all fell into line.
The funny thing was that by the time Kishore actually got the award from the MP Government, on someone’s bright idea, the award had been renamed the Lata Mangeshkar Award!
He almost cried on the phone when he told me that.
— REDIFF.COM
LikeLiked by 1 person
August 5, 2015 at 11:59 AM
Did you see Bahubali AJ?
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 3:39 PM
Yes saw it the week it was released. Very, very impressed. Would love to write more on SS or watch it again but have been held up with other things lately..
Haven’t seen BB – I don’t spend money on Bhai’s films in theater – will wait for DVD..
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 11:50 AM
excellant read on Amjad. IT has to be one of the BEST debut performance of all times!! Remember seeing the movie as a child and petrified of gabbar
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 11:56 AM
Good one AJ, thanks for sharing..
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 10:35 AM
Thanks, An Jo. Had forgotten yesterday was Kishore’s b’day…the article was a nice reminder. Had to smile at this line from the article: “He enjoyed solitude (that was another bond we shared) and had the supreme pleasure of having himself for company.” Wish I had the supreme pleasure of his company!
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 3:50 PM
‘He was the only new face in a sea of superstars and slowly talk started in the unit that perhaps Ramesh had made a mistake by casting him.’
As Bollywood’s beloved classic turns 40, we revisit this fascinating excerpt from Anupama Chopra’s Sholay, The Making of a Classic, on how a great actor got a great role in a great film.
*********************************************************************************
Amjad Khan filled the doorway.
He was not a particularly large man, but his lumbering gait, thickset face and curly hair gave him the appearance of one.
Director Ramesh Sippy was lying on the diwan with his back to the door.
From the low angle, Amjad loomed larger. Something clicked. ‘He had an interesting face,’ says Ramesh. ‘I felt very positive.’
Panic had set in after Danny’s departure.
Shooting was less than a month away. And Gabbar Singh was no ordinary character. It was a pivotal role.
The actor had to have both talent and charisma to hold his own against the galaxy of stars. Bad casting could destroy the film.
Amjad was the younger son of character artiste Jayant.
His home production, Patthar ke Sanam, which was supposed to launch him, was announced, but never made.
He had assisted K Asif on Love and God and also done a bit role in the film. The credentials were hardly impressive. But in theatre Amjad had a strong reputation.
A few days after Danny left, Salim bumped into Amjad.
Salim knew Amjad’s father, and had been visiting their home since Amjad was a little boy.
A polite conversation ensued in which Salim asked Amjad about work. There wasn’t much, just bit roles and theatre.
Salim had heard about Amjad’s skills as an actor, and physically he seemed to fit the role.
‘I can’t promise you anything,’ he told Amjad, ‘but there is a role in a big film. I’ll take you to the director. Agar aap ko yeh role mil jaaye, aap ki koshish se ya aapki kismat se (If you get this role, whether by luck or effort), I tell you, it is the finest role in this film.’
Amjad seemed to fit the part, but he was unknown.
Could he carry the film?
He was asked to grow a beard and come back. Meanwhile, Ramesh and Salim-Javed pondered. Salim-Javed were convinced that Amjad was the right choice.
A screen test was done.
They shot pictures in the office garden. Amjad had grown a beard and blackened his teeth.
His diction was right, his language was perfect. He was confirmed for the role.
Amjad hurried ecstatically to hospital to break the news to wife Shaila. The date was September 20, 1973.
His son Shadaab was born that afternoon.
Normal life took a back seat.
Amjad devoured Abhishapth Chambal, a book on Chambal dacoits written by Jaya Bhaduri’s father, Taroon Coomar Bhaduri.
He marked out the pages on the real-life Gabbar, insisting that Shaila read it too.
He rehearsed his lines and fleshed out his character.
He remembered a dhobi from his childhood who used to call out to his wife: ‘Arre o Shanti.’ The lilt in Gabbar’s ‘Arre o Sambha’ came from this dhobi.
The morning Amjad was to leave for Bangalore, he put the Quran on his head and prayed.
Shaila was surprised. Amjad was a spiritual person, but he rarely prayed.
As abruptly as he had started, he stopped. He placed the holy book back in its place, ‘I think I’ll be able to do it,’ and drove to the airport.
The flight didn’t reach Bangalore.
There was a hydraulic failure, and the pilot was forced to keep circling over Mumbai. After dumping fuel, the plane landed back in Mumbai.
Amjad sat at the airport, but didn’t call home. After five hours, it was announced that the technical fault had been fixed and the plane was ready for take off.
Not many passengers had the stomach to get on that plane again. Amjad was among the four or five who finally flew on it.
He had to reach Bangalore. Through the flight, he wasn’t thinking about his wife or his son. His only terror was: ‘If this plane crashes, Danny gets Gabbar.’
Gabbar Singh was not having a good day.
It was Amjad’s first day of shooting. They were starting with the scene in which he is introduced.
His first line was, ‘Kitne aadmi the?’ All his life had led to this moment.
The years of theatre rehearsals, knocking on doors for acting jobs, sweating it out as an assistant — the Gabbar role had made all that seem worthwhile.
His army fatigues, picked up from Mumbai’s Chor Bazaar, had the right weathered look.
His teeth were blackened. His face was appropriately grimy. He had lived the part for the last few months. But now, when it was time to deliver, he just could not get it right.
Gabbar had to mince tambaku (tobacco) as he talked.
The motion of one hand grinding against another added to his menace. It was supposed to be his habit.
But Amjad could not make it look casual. He would grind the tobacco, speak a few lines, look around awkwardly and then return to grinding.
He was nervous and it showed; his hands were stiff, his movements seemed rehearsed, and his dialogue delivery was shaky.
There was nothing natural about his performances; Gabbar was a stranger to Amjad.
Ramesh kept talking to him, trying to help him get his lines right. They struggled for two days.
After 40-odd takes, both Ramesh and cameraman Dwarka Divecha decided the actor needed a break.
Divecha told Amjad to keep his costume on and just sit on the sets. ‘Tu apne aap ko season kar de (Season yourself).’
Amjad cried that night.
His father was in hospital fighting cancer. His son was only a month old. His family’s hopes were pinned on this film.
For the rest of the schedule, Amjad lived in the fatigues, trying to become Gabbar.
He wrote often to his wife, but never shared with her the extent of his trauma. All he wrote was: ‘I’m very impatient, I don’t know, I hope I can do it.’
Since he didn’t drink, he would spend the evenings nursing endless cups of tea. Through the entire schedule, he didn’t do a single shot.
In the next schedule, Amjad was more prepared.
He got it right in the first few takes. He was living his character, and would stay in costume even when he was not shooting.
But some members of the unit, unable to forget his earlier awkwardness, didn’t seem to think this was enough.
Besides, Amjad was the only new face in a sea of superstars and slowly talk started in the unit that perhaps Ramesh had made a mistake.
The murmurs grew, till it became impossible even for Salim and Javed, who had been the most keen to have Amjad as Gabbar, to ignore them.
Anxious, perhaps, to not be seen as people responsible for ruining the film, they spoke to Ramesh.
‘If you aren’t satisfied with Amjad, change him,’ they said.
For a few days the unit was rocked by rumours that Amjad was getting the boot. But Ramesh finally put his foot down. Only Amjad would play Gabbar.
Amjad found out about the rumours much later.
But the incident sowed the seeds of misunderstanding between him and Salim-Javed.
He could not understand why two people, who had ardently recommended him for the role, had then tried to get him thrown out. He saw it as a move to sabotage his career.
The hurt stayed with him till his death. Salim-Javed gave birth to the Amjad myth, but they never worked with him again.
Excerpted from Sholay, The Making of a Classic, by Anupama Chopra, Penguin India, 2001, Rs 295, with the publisher’s permission. First published on Rediff.com on February 7, 2001.
For images, http://www.rediff.com/movies/special/why-amjad-khan-never-worked-with-salim-javed-again/20150805.htm
LikeLike
August 5, 2015 at 8:38 PM
yep Sholay has turned 40…officially ten days from now. My favorite film ever in Indian cinema still. This is a nice reflection on its (now) main attraction.
Also this was nice gem on this blog a while back….
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 1:13 AM
Rewind – Aamir Khan V Shahrukh Khan Only Box Office Clash
Thursday 06 August 2015 10.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Aamir Khan and Shahrukh Khan who are two of the biggest box office stars of the day have clashed once in history at the box office and it will probably be their only box office clash while their box office pull remains. The clash happened way back in 1995 when both actors were emerging stars.
Shahrukh Khan was racing to the top with Karan Arjun and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge while Aamir Khan had just established himself with a big hit and popular performance in the form of Rangeela. The box office trend was just changing from action to family romantic dramas but here the action film came out on top.
Akele Hum Akele Tum was expected to do better before release due to the combination of Aamir Khan and director Mansoor Khan, the combo had delivered a huge hit with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and fair runner in Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander and the music had scored and the film had been well promoted by Venus but the action masala Ram Jaane with Shahrukh Khan easily outshone Akele Hum Akele Tum.
Ram Jaane was ahead from day one and remained there through the run and finished with share of 1 crore more than Akele Hum Akele Tu, it may not be much now but the gap is equivelnet to the gap between a 60 crore grosser and a 80 crore grosser today.
Ram Jaane also managed to fare better in Overseas despite Akele Hum Akele Tum having the more Overseas friendly genre. It did better in US / Canada but the numbers were dull in United Kingdom where Ram Jaane was much better.
Akele Hum Akele Tum V Ram Jaane Box Office Details
Akele Hum Akele Tum Ram Jaane
Budget 4,50,00,000 3,75,00,000
Screens 165 175
First Day 40,00,000 62,00,000
First Weekend 1,29,00,000 1,78,00,000
First Week 2,34,75,000 3,15,50,000
Second Week 1,57,00,000 1,97,00,000
Third Week 1,05,25,000 1,23,00,000
Lifetime Nett Gross 7,06,50,000 8,60,75,000
Distributor Share 3,61,00,000 4,60,25,000
Footfalls 68,53,000 1,01,47,000
Overseas Gross $190,000 (30 prints) $200,000 (26 prints)
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 1:26 AM
Thought this film was a flop, but BOI’s verdict for it is HIT. Look’s like every SRK-Salman film that was previously tagged as “Average” or above is being promoted to Hit, and HIT being promoted to Blockbuster (i.e. Mohabbatein). But will they invent a new verdict for HAHK and DDLJ then?
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 2:41 AM
Ram-Jaane wasn’t a flop. Not sure, what you talking about.
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 3:51 AM
Mehra brothers ko bhi shock lagne wala hai aaj … 20 saal baad achanak unki film hit ho gayi .. mere shahar mein minimum guarantee pe lagi thi, pichattar hazaar .. bole to 75k ka nuksaan hua tha .. BOI ko bolo lauta de please ..
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 3:56 AM
Pardes ko bhi Super Hit bana diya … arre bhai mana Big city Hit thi … paisa poora ho gaya tha … lekin andar ke chote mote shahro (interiors) mein kisi ne bhav nahi diya tha … chalo fir bhi trade ne semi-hit ka tag de diya tha …. chalo thoda linient ho kar Hit bhi maan lo .. lekin Super hit ??? http://boxofficeindia.com/Movies/movie_detail/pardes#.VcMSZiZViko
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 4:15 AM
AHAT – if had released in today’s time – would have made 250+ cr – what a wonderful film that was with great songs! ironically it failed at that time…………….
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 4:18 AM
Saw both of these movies in theater while we were visiting India. Not surprising that Ramjaane had opened better than AHAT because DDLJ was still riding high (had seen DDLJ in theater also after 3 weeks of its release and was still going housefull). But Ramjaane was definitily not in the “hit” category by any means. BOI are just making shit up now. Even AHAT was a massive flop. Old numbers are here…
http://wayback.archive.org/web/20120505192701/http://boxofficeindia.com/showProd.php?itemCat=201&catName=MTk5NQ==
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 1:55 AM
Cant believe they have come up with a article on this , after all these years they have realized Ram jaane was a HIT lol what a joke their verdicts are as pathetic as their commentary .
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 4:18 AM
They had AHAT at 6.50 cr & Ram Jaane at 6.75 cr http://ibosnetwork.com/asp/topgrossersbyyear.asp?year=1995
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 4:21 AM
old BOI number had AHAT at 4.7cr. 4cr to 6cr was always the range for AHAT and was universally given a flop label. Not sure where BOI are getting the 7cr figure all of a sudden…that would actually be pretty decent total for back then!
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 4:25 AM
yeah BOI is not making any sense asusual if Ram Jaane was a ‘Hit’ at 8 cr how can AHAT be termed as a flop at 7 cr ?
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 9:32 AM
“yeah BOI is not making any sense asusual if Ram Jaane was a ‘Hit’ at 8 cr how can AHAT be termed as a flop at 7 cr ?”
…the same way where Ghulam grossing 12 crores nett is considered a Hit and Srk’s Badshah grossing 14crores nett is considered Average! 🙂
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 9:51 AM
Ghulam was not really a hit outside Bombay though it was probably at least above average everywhere else. Maybe better than this in some parts, worse in others. Overall calling it a hit isn’t that big a deal, specially given some of the others verdicts in those days and since. AHAT on the other hand didn’t really do well. Made a decent amount nonetheless. Ram jaane too was not a hit by any stretch. this wasn’t a pure hit anywhere but average/above average in most places. Of course there’s no reason to take BOI’s numbers at face value but that’s another matter. When Yuva released it did a bit more than the Company gross, everyone called Company a hit and Yuva a failure. The latter’s failure was exaggerated though it clearly wasn’t a success. But Company itself even in the Bombay territory came nowhere close to matching Satya’s performance. Outside Bombay and the South RGV’s films rarely do much anyway. So as always the Indian media/trade is inconsistent about this stuff for all sorts of reasons. And some stars get the benefit of the doubt more often than not while with others it’s the reverse. Aamir never quite got the benefit of the doubt for the most part till he did something like Ghajini that late in his career.
But leaving aside debates over BOI or whatever I think people should be honest about these things themselves. Everyone picks and chooses. The answer to one star’s film receiving a dubious rating isn’t to bring up another star and vice versa. One can comment on BOI or some other source this way and one can expose their dishonesty but what does one believe otherwise? Because constantly talking about these sources prevents one from ever accepting the truth in many of these matters oneself.
Getting back to the films I could go through a list over the last 20 years or so and 90% of all the categorizations on the ‘successes’ or even in many cases the failures are misleading if not simply wrong. But there’s a market for this stuff. people choose their favorite stars and then choose their favorite reports and everyone keeps arguing all day. To repeat I’m not saying sources like BOi or whatever shouldn’t be called out. But if one is going to be dishonest about it oneself one has no right to question these sources.
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 4:30 AM
I still remember Ishq was one of the biggest hits of the year and BOI had it as ‘ Semi Hit’ it was only few days back they promoted it to Super hit lol .
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 8:21 AM
taran adarsh ?@taran_adarsh 6h6 hours ago
#BajrangiBhaijaan crosses ? 300 cr in India… 2nd film to achieve the ENVIABLE status, after #PK… 2nd HIGHEST grosser ever. Hindi films.
taran adarsh ?@taran_adarsh 6h6 hours ago
5 Aug 1994. #HAHK releases. Creates HISTORY… 5 Aug 2015. Exactly 21 years later, #BajrangiBhaijaan too creates HISTORY, crosses ? 300 cr.
Kamaal R Khan-KRK ?@kamaalrkhan 4h4 hours ago
#BajrangiBhaijaan destroyed all RECORDS! Only film 100CR IN 3DAYS! 102.60 CR HIGHEST FIRST WEEKEND EVER! 182.50 CR THE HIGHEST WEEK1 EVER!
Kamaal R Khan-KRK ?@kamaalrkhan 4h4 hours ago
#BajrangiBhaijaan destroyed records-56Cr HIGHEST SECOND WEEKEND! FASTEST 100,150,200,250Cr IN BOLLYWOOD HISTORY ! FASTEST 500CR worldwide !
NDTV Movies ?@moviesndtv 5h5 hours ago
300 Cr and Counting For @BeingSalmanKhan’s #BajrangiBhaijaan
Koimoi.com ?@Koimoi 5h5 hours ago
@BeingSalmanKhan Enters The 300 Crore Club With #BajrangiBhaijaan
Boxofficedetail ?@boxofficedetail Jul 28
Q&As::How much can Worldwide #BajrangiBhaijaan Collect After Phase One?? http://boxofficedetail.com/view_post.php?value=4582
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 2:35 PM
How come IMDB opened rating for All is well … IMDB always disable rating option before release date … like for Prem ratan dhan payo, it is not opened yet .. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3595298/?ref_=nv_sr_1
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 2:37 PM
LOL, and 16 people have already rated the film. Anyway I wouldn’t worry about this. films don’t work or not based on IMDB. Maybe they open it up a certain days prior to release.
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 3:54 PM
brothers releasing tomorrow and still not opened for rating. And this is norm i always noticed .. yeah, this hardly matters
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 3:58 PM
brothers is releasing next week not tomorrow. But yes your point stands.
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 4:00 PM
Q. Which films is a bigger hit overall across India Bajrangi Bhaijaan or Baahubali?
Ans. They cant really be compared as Baahubali was not made to work across India but in South India but people have liked it outside South as well so it has worked across India. It can’t be expected that a Baahubali will score over Bajrangi Bhaijaan in Delhi, Punjab or Rajasthan and vice versa for Bajrangi Bhaijaan in Nizam / Andhra, Tamil Nadu or Karnataka. The all India GROSS will be similar for both films while the NETT will be higher for Baahubali as very low tax rate for it Andhra Pradesh where it has done best.
http://boxofficeindia.com/Details/art_detail/whichfilmsisabiggerhitoverallacrossindiabajrangibhaijaanorbaahubali#.VcO8mEuwjLZ
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 4:09 PM
laughing my head off at this! A big Hindi film and a big Telugu film have the same gross ( let’s take their word for it for now) and they’re tying themselves up in knots explaining this! The film is doing a 100 in just its Hindi version. And how many Hindi films have they celebrated for getting to the same gross? And I won’t even get into the Telugu version. Meanwhile the Tamil version is also a big hit. Check out this most recent report:
http://www.sify.com/movies/boxoffice.php?id=15059356&cid=13525926
In any case is it plausible that a dubbed film does this well in Hindi but wouldn’t be massive in Tamil?! Saying it is ‘best’ in Telugu is a bit like saying Bajrangi is ‘best’ in North India! As always the dishonesty offends me far less than the sheer idiocy. If you have to say that Bajrangi has made as much as bahubali and that the difference is really about entertainment tax you’ve already lost the argument. Bajrangi has done hugely well but Bahubali has stolen its thunder in every sense. And justifiably.
LikeLike
August 6, 2015 at 7:25 PM
Just heard this line, this tune is a hit
Aankhon Ke Panno Pe
Maine likha tha sau dafa
Lafzon mein jo mushkil tha
Hua na hothon se bayaan
Ke Main Hoon Hero…Tera …
LikeLike