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367 Responses to “All Is Well, the rest of the box office”
Fox Star – A Recipe For Disaster
Thursday 20 August 2015 12.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
The Hollywood production Fox Star which made its debut in the Indian market with the Shahrukh Khan starrer My Name Is Khan is having a disastrous time in the Indian market with a long list of flops like Brothers, Guddu Rangeela, Hamari Adhuri Kahani, Mr. X, Khamoshiyan and the epic disaster Bombay Velvet all coming this year. They also took the other mega disaster Broken Horses for release in India. Earlier it was no different with,Finding Fanny, Humshakals, Bullet Raja, Citylights etc and under performing big budget Bang Bang.
It could be bad luck or bad choices as films like Knight and Day and Warrior which were made as Bang Bang and Brothers in India were big flops in Hollywood. Generally Hindi films need a higher emotional quotient to work and these films were pretty soulless.
Next for the studio will be Shaandaar which is being looked at as a 100 crore film by the industry and trade but if the film is good and has super hit music it will get around 80 lakh odd people to the theaters as will be city film so to squeeze 100 crore out of these it has to be done by clever distribution and ticket pricing.
But the acid test will be Prem Ratan Dhan Paya which on paper is a film that can’t go wrong with Salman Khan coming of Bajrangi Bhaijaan and the director being Sooraj Barjatya who has hits of the magnitude of Hum Aapke Hain Koun and Maine Pyaar Kiya which no present working director has especially the former.
Basically Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is a sure shot with the only negative being Fox Star but luck factor does play a part in the fate of every film. Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is a quintessential Hindi film and not a Bang Bang, Bombay Velvet or Brothers which are aping Hollywood or Europe so if this somehow goes wrong which is unthinkable then its likely nothing will work for this studio.
Kiaara Sandhu @KiaaraSandhu · 4h4 hours ago
Indian Cinema Magazine UAE Review #AllIsWell.Well Made Family Entertainer. @chintskap @juniorbachchan Steals the Show. 3.5*/5* @umeshkshukla
“@chintskap @juniorbachchan Steals the Show.” you can’t really ‘steal’ the show when the show revolves around them! would like to read other reviews. I do like the premise of the movie.
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Shiva Satyam @AsliShiva 25m25 minutes ago
So I & my team of #Bollywoodhungama has decided to give 3.5* to #AllIsWell.
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Shiva Satyam @AsliShiva 32m32 minutes ago
#AllIsWell is story bond of love between your family.I salute umesh shukla for his terrific direction back to back after oh my god.
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Shiva Satyam @AsliShiva 36m36 minutes ago
#AllIsWell is complete family entertainer outstanding work by Abhishek & rishi kapoor.Asin & supriya are fantastic.A must watch film.
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Shiva Satyam @AsliShiva 2h2 hours ago
Its intervel for #AllIsWell & till now it is fantastic i think it is abhishiek best film & umesh shukla has again done fantastic direction.
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Shiva Satyam @AsliShiva 3h3 hours ago
So its time for me to watch #AllIsWell .
Bajrangi Bhaijaan is nearing the footfalls total of PK. The film was the first in history to have more than 2 crore people watch it in the first week. Interestingly the second week saw similar footfalls despite Bajrangi Bhaijaan doing 11% less business. The footfall comparison of Bajrangi Bhaijaan and PK is as follows.
Week One
Bajrangi Bhaijaan – 2,01,54,000
PK – 1,81,35,000
Week Two
Bajrangi Bhaijaan – 99,72,000
PK – 1,00,74,000
Week Three
Bajrangi Bhaijaan – 34,73,000
PK – 48,12,000
Week 4 Plus
Bajrangi Bhaijaan – n/a
PK – 20,40,000
TOTAL
Bajrangi Bhaijaan – 3,35,99,000 (3 weeks)
PK – 3,50,61,000
The fourth week of Bajrangi Bhaijaan will should add another 12 lakh footfalls apprx which will take it upto 3.48 crore and another 4 lakh at least should come in the remaining weeks unless it total capitulates.”
On other hand, Drishyam has gotta be the most hyped movie of this year. I had so much expectations but alas it was for no reason. Its not a bad one but certainly not a great one and for sure can’t relate to the terms like best movie in last decade and all time. Its a joke to think it in that terms. Anyways don’t want to beat the dead horse when movie is already done its lifetime business and everyone has moved on.
All the lead character did was to create a story that he was out of town that day. That’s all and eventually when they came for the body, he had moved it. Voila.. that’s all there is to it. Real life cases in Indian TV series are more creative than this.
” Real life cases in Indian TV series are more creative than this.”
Agree and I am simply stunned at Savdhaan India episodes which focus on real life crime stories in India esp North India.
These real- life crime stories on murder,kidnapping,rape, domestic violence,fraud,robbery,sexual assault etc are totally unusual and unprecedented.
Someone should take some of the stories and make good screenplays. Our suspense thrillers are mostly copied from west. With suspense thrillers, you need progression in story as well as suspense to be hidden within progression.
Girish Johar @girishjohar 13h13 hours ago
Looking at @iamsrk forthcoming director line up #RohitShetty #ManeeshSharma, #RahulDholakia & now #GauriShinde ..playing his masterstroke
Except Rohit none seems a task master. Most of them form part of the fan club / devotees……so tough call there.
….as was proven by HNY again , a domineering / disciplinarian is needed at this stage of his career….not exactly a stiff neck but borderline dogmatic.
Gauri Shinde’s second project has been in news for quite some time for its casting. While speculation was rife about Katrina Kaif being considered for the lead role, it has finally emerged that she has signed Alia Bhatt. The film will have Shah Rukh Khan, too, but not in a cameo appearance as widely reported — he has a full-fledged lead hero role.
Industry insiders said that KJo suggested Alia’s name for the film and was keen to have SRK as the hero for a fresh, unusual pairing. “Shah Rukh liked the script and gave his nod to ‘English Vinglish’ director for the lead hero role. The film will go on floors next year,” adds the source. While Shah Rukh was unavailable for comment, a source close to SRK confirms the news and says, “It is an interesting and fresh combination to look forward to.”
…lol seems like Bachchan aficionado is dodging the bullet –
Kamaal R Khan-KRK @kamaalrkhan 3h3 hours ago
I am not feeling good so my review of #AllIsWell will not come today. It will come later for sure so keep watching http://YouTube.com/user/krklive
What’s surprising is there was no press show for this movie. That’s not usually a sign of confidence. We will know tomorrow. One things for sure , the promotions have been top class for the movie.
No way…this was the all time best song ever….and not just in 1942
Ho ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga
Ek ladki ko dekha to ailaab
Jaise shaayar ka khwaab
Jaise ujli kiran
Jaise van mein hiran
Jaise chaandni raat
Jaise naghme ki baat
Jaise mandir mein ho ek jalta diya
Ho ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga
Ho ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga
Ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga
Jaise subahon ka roop
Jaise sardi ki dhoop
Jaise veena ki taan
Jaise rangon ki jaan
Jaise balkhaaye bel
Jaise lehron ka khel
Jaise khushboo liye aaye thandi hava
Ho ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga
Ho ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga
Ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga
Jaise naachta mor
Jaise resham ki dor
Jaise pariyon ka raag
Jaise sangdal ki aag
Jaise sola sighaar
Jaise rasti fuhaar
Jaise aahista aahista badhta nasha
Ho ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga .
All is NOT well … bad to worst reviews all over. Never expected such bad product from amazing OMG director. Now i don’t even want to hear BO numbers at all. And i wish “102 Not out” with Amitabh to be shelved .. OMG was fluke.
All bollywood movies are lifted from here and there, even all is well screenplay is borrowed from gujrati play. Anyways, omg was amazing and notches higher than crap PK.
Looks like Hera pheri 3 is shelved leaving no movie in hand for abhishek Bachchan. Hp3 relase date was 18th dec, now it is nowhere and no talks on movie too.
Ok got it. It is being produced bu feroz nadiadwala. He can spend any amount of d company’s money without worrying. That’s another reason to shoot is mostly abroad. Great, if movie is another disaster, they can still convert black money to white.
The way it has started it will struggle to do 15 crores on the weekend. But we will know in the evening when the WOM kicks in…Because most such movies start slow and then pick up.
Theatre plays and Movies are two completely different experience .. 2 weeks back i saw play “Mera ye matlab nahi tha” starring Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta and Rakesh bedi .. in US. I have no idea why audience was clapping and cheering over such below average stuff .. it was very average show, only thing was that actors were performing live and pretty well. If goes by audience reaction, someone mistakenly make movie on this play .. that gonna be sure shot disaster. I am assuming Umesh did exactly same with All is well .. it must have been okayish kind of play but not movie material at all.
“Mera ye matlab nahi tha” starring Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta and Rakesh bedi .. in US. I have no idea why audience was clapping and cheering over such below average stuff”
Good I didn’t watch it. I was planning to watch it for Anupem Kher on stage.
All Is Well Poor Start Brothers Drops Further
Friday 21 August 2015 14.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
All Is Well had a poor start all over of around 15%. The film has little face value and though music is reasonable it held little appeal visually. It is totally dependent on word of mouth and a similar film released a few months back Piku had a huge turnaround. But that film had a target audience which was urban India and they liked it but here the same type of content has been tried to made for a wider audience which will make Piku type of growth near impossible.
Manjhi – The Man mountain opened to very dull response though the film has managed to find screen space with main multiplexes giving it a screen. The film is set in Bihar but the opening was ridicously low in the state.
Brothers fell further on day eight despite the competition being pretty weak, the collections were around 85% down from the morning period on day one. The drop in places like CP Berar, CI and Nizam is higher than the national average as collections dropped 90% from day one.
“BOI can’t resist bringing Piku in (a film that had sold out shows all over Mumbai in the first weekend); speaks volumes really.”
They are talking about morning shows here. I doubt Piku’s 1st day morning shows were sold out all over Mumbai. Once the WOM kicked in, the audience came.
ultimately a film works or not on its own and irrespective of these comparisons. If AIW were liked like Piku it would do double what that film did. BOI are right in this sense. And so a partial pickup here wouldn’t mean anything like the same result proportionately. However since Piku’s absolute gross was still 80 crores and stupendous for a film of that sort it would still mean somewhat for AIW given these terrible reviews. In other words unless you have enough of an initial you can’t even get to 80 without proper WOM. Now BOI dishonesty is otherwise an another matter. But that’s an old discussion by now. They weren’t that positive on Piku initially too as they weren’t expecting this sort of gross even in the best case scenario. No one was.
Master: weekday morning shows are very rarely sold out even for very big films; weekend ones might be, and they were for Piku (I had to delay plans to watch it precisely because I underestimated the film).
I do understand that morning shows are never sold out. You are talking about sold on weekend shows but that was after the WOM kicked in as Piku opening was very similar to AIW.
BOI even says such low opening is bad unless it does a U-turn(..a similar film released a few months back Piku had a huge turnaround). Piku managed that with 15% as its targeting Urban audience whereas AIW will not be able to save itself.
Piku’s BOI 1st day.
Piku had a slow opening of around 15-20% at multiplexes though some plexes in the big cities were better while Kuch Kuch Locha Hai had a poor opening of around 5-10%. Both films were also dull in single screens though Piku has a limited single screen release.
Piku should pick up late afternoon and evening shows as these type of films which are aimed mainly for the premium multiplexes usually do but the costs are high for a niche film and it will have grow big on Saturday and sustain extremely well to get near recovery.
Final collections:
Piku picked up in the evening at the premium multiplexes and the collections should come in at around 5 crore nett which is better than films like Finding Fanny released last year and Detective Byomkesh Bakshi released a month or so ago. The pick up in the evening is routine for these type of films as opening collections are low.
Piku’s BOI 2nd day
Piku has had huge growth on Saturday with collections looking to go to 7 crore nett. They could even be higher as growth can be 50% from Friday. The film grossed around 5 crore nett on day one and will be 12 crore nett plus in two days. This gives the film a chance for a 20 crore nett plus weekend which would be decent especially considering the start.
Not at all. Not by a long shot. There’s a reason why folks have been waiting for this supposed ‘end’ forever! And why every film is supposed to be a final ‘nail’ in his coffin. Except that there’s then another one. I’ve always said this but people greatly underestimate his resilience. Let’s how how much or not AIW does but he will be back and with a proper solo even if AIW doesn’t work.
With a proper solo? Not his lifetime. No one is going to offer him solo anymore. This solo came after 3-4 yrs gap, i do t see anyone offering him anymore. His best chance is being producer which didnt work either this year with shamitabh. Another guy is saif ali khan, dont why people offer him solo.
This solo didn’t come after such a gap because he couldn’t have done others. He chose not to. Luckily only one of us really knows what they’re talking about! And the answer of your question is in your Saif point. if people insist on solos they can keep this gig going but without the right solos you’re not necessarily better off. In any case I’ve said what I needed to here. Time will tell who’s right about this!
I think its irrelevant if AB Jr does a solo or not. Whats more important is to select a proper script. The reviews for the movie have been negative which wasn’t expected. One might have expected a slow start and a pick up due to good reviews. One would expect AB to pick a decent script if he is doing a solo after a long time. That’s what is more disappointing.
“I think its irrelevant if AB Jr does a solo or not. Whats more important is to select a proper script.”
‘Proper script’ is the key. Once you have a great script, director can get best of the actors out there and bigger stars. Why would they be knocking Abhishek’s door? (Unless you have some association with the actor like Mani Ratnam, Balki.. so on).
Like the way Shoojit managed with Piku from Irrfan and Bachchan to handle the movie and Deepika’s little stardom.
AB is a producer, so he will have people coming with scripts. Shoojit did a movie with John as a producer – a movie which did around 45 crores…Not sure AIW will do that much if it doesn’t pick up
“It has flopped And i think it is end of career for abhishek bachchan.”
Firstly AIW was not projected as a comeback sort of Abhishek solo. It was just one of the films he signed 3 years back when he was signing HNY, D3, so on after BB which had single lead young actor(if you not count Rishi). It isn’t really like a solo or hero oriented movie more like a family story with many characters.
He can always produce such small budgeted movies all through. He was planning to produce Amit Sharma’s(Tevar director) and something else.
There is even a sudden item song where the robust Sonakshi Sinha mouths words like Main nacha parathe kha ke. Easy to believe, certainly, but hard indeed to comprehend.
‘& his daughter who was hoping for his dad to come good finally!)’
You might like dislike abhishek bachchan as much as you want, but bringing a kid into this discussion, feel sorry for her or not is disgusting and in real bad taste.
I think bringing whole family is really demeaning. One can srk’s family and kids too in discussion for srk’s flops and gay movies, but one who has good upbringing will never do that which you surely doesn’t have.
“not is disgusting and in real bad taste.
I think bringing whole family is really demeaning. One can srk’s family and kids too in discussion ”
There’s a difference between srks family and Abhishreks
And Abhishreks daughter is a bigger celebrity than him !
Most people are big fans of am it abh and Aishwarya who are proper big celebrities unlike srks family
And for me to initiate a dialogue with u about “upbringing” satyam will have to remove moderation
Which I don’t think he will
So I will let ur fake pseudo comment pass…
going to watch all is well not because I am an amitabh fan but just been on holiday to madrid,a superb city with lots of spanians spicy food,could do with a bollywood spicy flick
I just started seeing some review ratings all over and man.. this is very surprising. The movie got half star and 1 star reviews all over.. never expected this from Umesh Shukla especially as a follow up of OMG. Even his first movie is watchable to an extent on TV watch. Not sure what went so wrong this time..
“Technical shabbiness is the film’s weakest link. There are plot glitches and dated touches. At times, as the vintage QSQT hit ‘Aye Mere Humsafar’ plays, you feel you’re watching a 1990s movie where the hero is told, ‘Teri awaaz mein dard hai’ and everyone wears shoulder pads. There’s also a bizarre sequence involving a mercenary maami, which stretches beyond the film’s otherwise gentle humour.” from http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/movie-reviews/All-Is-Well/movie-review/48584254.cms
“never expected this from Umesh Shukla especially as a follow up of OMG. Even his first movie is watchable to an extent on TV watch. Not sure what went so wrong this time..”
To be fair OMG itself was a hotchpotch affair but due to novelty in the subject matter alongside common man’s frustrations in religious rituals, it got a rousing reception. Here part of the fiasco is due to Smriti Irani’s reluctance to complete the film timely after her sudden rise to fame in political arena and subsequent delays to the project by a good one year.
Its such a shame that Abhi continues to get the wrong end of the stick with each director whether it is Gowarikar coming after a Oscar worthy Lagaan or a Rakesh Mehra after an awe- inspiring RDB or even a small fry Abhinav Deo’s Game after a fairly successful Delhi Belly. I will attribute a majority of this to sheer luck but some of it has to be either Abhi’s naivety or cockiness (going be recent interviews ) whichever way one wants to affiliate this. Being surrounded by filmy people all the time, the least one can do is to sniff the right projects….I think he can’t blame the negativeness against him anymore as that tag has been long lost now and there are hardly few with any kind of malicious intent against him. In fact a lot many who actually want this good natured human being to do well and wish him well but Abhi continues to surprise with each new outing.
I mean we do understand he is loaded and movies are basically a time pass for him but I question him the same way I do for Rahul Gandhi in politics who just keeps outdoing his political stupidities every day esp if one attaches that to the of Nehru and Indira Gandhi. ( btw latest whatapp circulation has Sonia G net-worth at a staggering 2 billion dollars ! ).
“Its such a shame that Abhi continues to get the wrong end of the stick with each director whether it is Gowarikar coming after a Oscar worthy Lagaan or a Rakesh Mehra after an awe- inspiring RDB or even a small fry Abhinav Deo’s Game after a fairly successful Delhi Belly. I will attribute a majority of this to sheer luck but some of it has to be either Abhi’s naivety or cockiness (going be recent interviews ) whichever way one wants to affiliate this. ”
This is a very honest and fair observation which perhaps Satyam will never agree – Abhi not only failed in all these but also failed in DRONA which was to be a KRISH-deal for him – Abhi has never shown any resolve to rise above his present state – so he will remain a la Shashi kapoor – where he may get many multi-starrers and survive but a solo-hero? Nah! not in this birth
I don’t agree for a host of reasons but the most important one being that when someone has obvious success or obvious failure it doesn’t take a genius to state this and to then think of reasons retroactively. But one must point out in the ‘present’ that which is not apparent. Or differently one’s reasons for understanding something might still be completely false. For instance the whole idea constantly advanced that he takes things easy and is not really bothered either way is an utterly foolish one that frankly says only something about one’s own intelligence. As do a lot of very foolish analogies and so forth. The point isn’t about stating or underlining success or failure but about coming up with absurd reasons that reveal more about one’s way of thinking and/or tap into certain cultural biases more than anything else.
“Its such a shame that Abhi continues to get the wrong end of the stick with each director whether it is Gowarikar coming after a Oscar worthy Lagaan or a Rakesh Mehra after an awe- inspiring RDB or even a small fry Abhinav Deo’s Game after a fairly successful Delhi Belly. I will attribute a majority of this to sheer luck but some of it has to be either Abhi’s naivety or cockiness (going be recent interviews ) whichever way one wants to affiliate this. ”
Reminds of Bobby Deol’s situation. After the debut, Bobby Deol had long list of movies with good-on-paper commercial directors and out of them only Abbas-Mastan gave him success in Soldier and Humraaz whereas Vidhu Vinod Chopra(Kareeb), Rahul Rawail(Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya) Kundan Shah(Hum To Mohabbat Karega), David Dhawan (Chor Machaaye Shor).. everyone of them ended up making their worst movie with him and ended his career. Even Anil Sharma after Gadar’s success made disastrous Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo for him.
To think of it, Bobby Deol was first choice for Mani Ratnam for Ajay Devgn’s role in Yuva.
I don’t think that’s a right comparison. In spite not technically being a solo hero, Shashi Kapoor was always popular and accepted and respected as any other star out there baring the exception of few even during 70’s. Also, his produced films (5 out of 6 baring Ajooba) are very brave productions and respectable for any era.
yes of course no one is maliciously inclined towards him.. they’re only so when a certain star runs down people with his car and which behavior you apparently find more defensible than failure at the box office!
Unfair analysis, even though he has almost no star power due to non attractive looks, huge expectations and most imporartant non-effort/laziness. He is still decent actor and far better than many bigger stars. Most importantly, He comes across as most genuine personality offscreen. One thing i can vouch for him is he is truly one of the best person with great knowledge, ethics, maturity and wit in the industry which is full of criminals & low-ethic people. You cant compare him with totally rotten personality like rahul gandhi. What rahul gandhi is?, totally junk, he doesnt know what he is doing/saying, always lost apparently on drugs. A bag of jokes due to his personality who cant utter a single sensible word by himself. Most Recent fun he has to offer is here – http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/rahul-gandhis-cheat-sheet-for-parliament-speech-amuses-social-media-1206857
“yes of course no one is maliciously inclined towards him.. they’re only so when a certain star runs down people with his car and which behavior you apparently find more defensible than failure at the box office!”
I can sense you are seething with anger here with this unrestricted and unnecessary comment. Please hold back some of your anger when the numbers for day 1 start pouring in….
Here is a brief glimpse –
Kamaal R Khan-KRK ?@kamaalrkhan 1h1 hour ago
According to today’s occupancy of #AllIsWell producers are expecting 2Cr+ n exhibitors expecting 1.5Cr of Day1. Let’s see who will be right.
the facts never make me angry.. nor does this sort of response.. people who’ve followed me for years know this.. but certain things have to be pointed out and it’s pretty perverse to find Salman ‘not guilty’ when he’s run over people, killed or maimed them for life, to say ‘get others first’ even he’s convicted, in effect to have to no moral compass at all when it’s about one’s favorite star but then to turn around and ‘seem’ so upset at the way Abhishek is handling his career.
As for this film doing better or worse than I think or even absolutely nothing believe me buddy I’ve been there before and several times. I’m made of sterner stuff as is the star we’re discussing!
Riteish Deshmukh to play Shivaji in his 2nd Marathi film!
Genelia D’Souza turned producer with Lal Bhaari and the film was extremely successful. Now she is all set for a second outing and hubby Riteish Deshmukh will be essaying the role of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Along with Mumbai Film Company, Genelia will be producing the film and she confirmed the news on Twitter. She feels that the film is a responsibility and they want to pay their tribute to the great Maratha warrior king.
She tweeted, “#ChhatrapatiShivaji is not just a film but a responsibility,we @mfc r excited 2 make a movie on this #GreatMaratha.”
Jackie Shroff starrer ‘Makhmal’ WINS Best Short Film in US
Only a few days back, Faraz Ali’s ‘Makhmal’ won Best Short Film South Asian Paranoma at Festival of Globe that was held in California, USA. This 17 minute short film was released last year and stars Jackie Shroff, Palak Dey, Deepti Sharma and Bhuvan Arora.
You night know Deepti Sharma from the popular TV show, ‘Jamai Raja’. Producer Abbas Syed and Faraz Ali accepted the award from Gukshan Grover at the ceremony.
The story revolves around a piece of velvet that binds a father to his daughter. The film will soon be posted on YouTube.
One of the much awaited films of the year, All Is Well released today and by the looks of it, the film failed to gather impressive amount of crowd on its first day at the Box Office. Abhishek Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor starrer comedy film opened to a poor start on its first day at the Box Office as the film only managed to witness occupancy rate of 15%.
This is little disappointing as we expected a bit more from the film. Since the film saw occupancy rate of 15%, we can expect director Umesh Shukla’s All Is Well to earn Rs. 8 to 12 crore net approx. on its first day at the Box Office. The small budged film attracted audiences solely because of its catchy trailer and soothingly decent soundtrack. The film is being well received in places like Mumbai, Delhi, UP and Rajasthan.
not sure if these estimates can be trusted.. certainly for that high end number to be true it would require a significant jump in evening shows (specially given it’s not a high screen count). But if so (even at the lower end of that range) it might not be in bad shape. It would still have to grow over the weekend of course but a figure in the range they’re suggesting wouldn’t be bad at all given the reviews. When a film like Raavan gets totally negative reviews it’s pretty much over but given the subject here it’s still possible that the reviews are not completely representative (the family audiences still have to kick in or if a family audience sample likes it enough it might be enough to take this film to a good enough total.. it’s clearly not going to appeal to a younger demographic very much). But this could also be my optimistic gloss on things. We’ll know clearly in a day or so.
BB wasn’t like this. The reviews were quite positive overall. Sure a Shetty film will never get super reviews but accounting for that factor it was pretty positive. Nothing like AIW.
That 2500 number came from me….I am now questioning that myself. One cannot get to just 2.5 crores with 2500 screens irrespective of how poor the movie is, specially with a decent star cast even if it is not a A grade star cast.
I read 1600 somewhere though I could be wrong. In any case it’s an academic debate. I’ve never been too bothered about screen counts anyway. It’s just a question of percentages (occupancy). You could get 12 crores on a 1600 screen count as well as 2500 one. As for the biggest films that have massive screen counts, even those really underperform in most cases. You could get 40 crores in one day on screen counts far less than the crazily high number many films go for. Of course they do it to make the film accessible to as many people as possible. But that’s not a capacity argument.
bhai nifty/banknfity/dow/s&p – everything is tanking big time 🙂 so mumbai folks and country folks at a large are in no mood for films 😉 AIW has a genuine reason for less footfalls 🙂
I dont think it is bad movie but smariti irani’a delay caused it a lot and All reviews say non linear narrative and bad editing. Though, OMG was also not upto mark technically.
Lol, just watched this. 1/5 rating and KRK calls AIW as the worst Abhishek movie and Rishi the only actor who did good in the movie as the character matches his real life character – that of ‘pakao’ type. Hahaha.. hilarious comment on Rishi!
Abhi and Shahid Kapoor are 2 lead actors with just atrocious BO records which is unfortunate because both are pretty talented. At least Abhishek has a couple of hits because of multistarrers- Shahid only has 2-3 hits ever. I don’t think poor script sense is not only reason, it has got to be luck to (or lack of). Abhishek’s first 4 years (aka first 14 films) were all flops and his first hit was finally with Dhoom. And only one of those flops is a “good” flop-Yuva. The other ones are all forgettable. If you take out multistarrers and films he did with Big B, he only has 2 solo hits in his entire career-Bluffmaster and Guru. I wouldn’t even call Dhoom 1 a solo hit for him because technically John Abraham had a better track record than Abhishek before Dhoom 1.
He’s unlucky because there is no reason why a film like KHJJS, which I thought was a solid movie, should be a disaster and make less than half of the same director’s What’s Your Rashee which starred a flop look alike of Hrithik Roshan. And as people said above, he didn’t choose bad People to work with, they just made their bad films with him. This problem basically started post when he became a potential future superstar- after Guru was a hit. JBJ was with a Great Cast and Shaad Ali after 2 hits in a row, one with Abhishek too. That flopped. Then came some guest appearances in flop movies such as Laaga Chunari which didn’t help either. Sarkar Raj was the next flop which is strange because it had the Amitabh-Abhishek duo plus his wife, and the first Sarkar movie was pretty successful as well. After that he had Drona, and I can’t accept the argument that he didn’t do this film because of Hrithik Roshan’s Krrish. Drona was very delayed and if I remember correctly, it was announced not that later after Krrish 1 released. Then Game was a huge disaster and I think the first disaster of Farhan Akhtar. Besides Game, Excel Entertainment has a pretty solid BO record so I can’t blame Abhishek for choosing that film either. And the Game director gave us the superhit Delhi Belly a couple of just 3 months after Game. Dum Maaro Dum was a flop too, even though he teamed up with his Buddy Sippy, and they made Bluffmaster before this. After that was Players which I think is the biggest disaster of Abbas Mustan, but they were coming off the success of Race so can’t blame Abhishek there either. And now AIW is a flop even though it is coming from the OMG director.
The future isn’t bright either-his next 2 films are multistarrers, HF 3 and HP 3. They will most likely be hits, but that means that in this decade (2010-present), he has only had hits when he’s done multistarrer films. And there is rumors of him doing the Tevar director’s next movie, but the director made a disaster his first movie. Although maybe that is the key to Abhishek’s success, kind of like how Aamir took flop directors and gave them super hits i.e. Ashutosh, the RDB director, Dhoom 3 director, Talaash director, etc.
Sarkarraj and dmd were flops ? That is news to me. Sarkaarraj was given average verdict by boi that time and Taran gave it above avg to semi hit in yearly classification.
Dmd was not a flop either. It was average by taran and also by boi.
Sarkar Raj was mauled by both BOI and Taran when it came out. And BOI has it as a Below Average. If you want to be technical, then fine it isn’t a flop. And DMD is a Flop according to BOI. DMD was also mauled by both BOI and Taran. Maybe it was Average by Taran but there is no way of checking unless we find his tweets from April 2011. And Talaash is a Semi Hit as per BOI.
I think he needs to do a ‘nandu’ type role. Find a script that has that ‘type’ of character that has potential to win the hearts of the masses. KHJJS and DMD were niche kinda films. Players and Game were not good products and his character in those films was just too ‘grand’. Really think HNY sequel should happen and his vicky character as the main antagonist this time. at some point he *needs* a solo hit though..a legitimate *hit*. The thought process was that after BB, D3 and HNY (all huge successes) should’ve helped his solo career…looks like nothing has changed. If these initial reports on box office are true, this is pretty disappointing.
“really think HNY sequel should happen and his vicky character as the main antagonist this time.”
I think SRK won’t do it and its better if they do it as Nandu vs Vicky with guest apperance of SRK and others and call it something like Happy Dussera and shoot it in Mumbai.
Reading Raj5 analogy what it seems is Abhi selected directors and not scripts in first place …hmm never gave a thought on that..i tend to somewhat agree with raj5 here.
And dont forget Delhi6 by ROM (after RDB). Or Ravan by Mani Ratnam, or even Umrao Jaan by whathisname..
All successful directors that decided to make the wrong film with JrB.
Both Father-Son have always relied on the ability of directors to tell a story, without questioning the script. Amitabh always pulled it off, even with the most ridiculous movies in his heydays. Abhishek just does not catch a break.
1 guy
1000 career advisors
100000 Permutations and combinations
Satyam advising and ‘protecting’ him 24X7 from brickbats
And the baap of all Bollywood actors as his real life dad as another advisor
And the mom of all Bollywood Beauty queens as the wife
And both financing his misadventures
And what do u get
NOT EVEN A 10 crores opening day
With NO competing release
With tseries shoving this film down everyone’s throat
“Director Umesh Shukla, known to most for his adaptation of a Gujarati play, Oh My God, fails on every count: in telling a story that demands undivided attention, crafting memorable characters or earning a laugh in a film that is supposedly a comedy. “
saw it and it was a missed opportunity with greatness. two hours seemed too little for this movie…the first half seemed too messy in the editing department. the film is still worth a watch IMO. it is easily one of the better films this year in ‘bollywood’…which isn’t really saying a whole lot.
All Is Well And Manjhi – The Man Mountain First Day Business
Saturday 22 August 2015 11.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
All Is Well had a poor first day with collections set to be around 2.50 crore nett. The film has fared very poorly all over and there was not much of an improvement in the evening to suggest a big improvement today. It should grow but it’s unlikely to be the sort of growth the film needs to get a decent run. The music of the film was pretty well promoted but it has not helped much at the boxoffice.
Manjhi – The Man Mountain also did poorly but this film did do a bit better in the evening shows. The film has collected in the 1-1.25 crore nett range but did get a good amount of screen time with most multiplexes giving it one screen and collections are low for the screen time alloted.
Still the film should show better growth than All Is Well on Saturday going by the trends on Friday and is actually looking the better bet out if the two films.
total washout.. unless something remarkable happens and it shows huge jumps from this point on. always unlikely. there needs to be a base on day 1. In any case no one has showed up here in this initial round.
It is very hard to explain how poor these numbers are. For a movie on a wide release to get numbers these low means that people did not even turn up. To give a perspective, Creature also did 3 crs on Day 1 and last week Bangistan did almost similar to this on a lower release. Even for WOM to set in you need some minimum amount of people to come in and then spread the word, but here no one has really turned up…In that sense this is a far worse opening than Game which released against FALTU and during the WC. This had lot of things going for it, great promotions, good music, AB coming off 3 huge hits and a decent star cast so this is hugely surprising that it didn’t even get to 5 crores on Day 1.
It must be very heartbreaking for Abhishek to realize that no one is interested to watch him solo whichever. Even with such huge promotions, no one showing up tells everything. Like 2 weeks back we were at a gathering and All is Well promo was on TV and everyone is like.. is Abhishek still getting solo movies? Who is going to watch? I just smiled and moved on. Looks like that’s the reaction all over.
For reference, Bhootnath Returns had a 3.5 crore opening last year on only 1500 screens. And that movie’s only usp was Big B. Where as here you have Big Promotions, the OMG director, and hit music. Big B is still amazing, even at this age, his career is going in an upwards direction, the opposite of Abhishek.
Brothers Has Another Heavy Fall On Day Eight
Saturday 22 August 2015 12.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Brothers had a huge fall in business on day eight with collections in the 1.25-1.50 crore nett range. The drop is 90% from its first day. This huge drop has come even though the new releases were weak and in reality a film a big like Brothers should be dominating the box office this week also.
The film should grow over the weekend but not like successful films and the weekend may come out to be around 5 crore nett, if its lucky it may come out a bit higher but the fact is its not going to do even a 10 crore nett second week which is unthinkable for a big film.
Brothers has no chance to do the lifetime business of Gabbar Is Back and even the figures of Baby look out of reach. So despite being Akshay Kumar’s biggest film of the year it will probably turn out to be his lowest grosser as compared to the two previous films.
All is well, I felt gave a dated feeling from the promos itself. Didn’t look exciting enough. It didnt have enough massy appeal and at the same time didnt feel classy!
Comparing it to Piku, it looked classy from the word go. You can just feel that it was a multiplex film!
I believe it’s time for introspection, as one can forget and forgive few bad films, but after that it’s troubling and raises the important question whether he was ever born to be a film star? Point to ponder!
i think Umesh Shukla could have made a full-fledged love story given that Asin is the heroine – from the reviews – it turns out that her role is very small and the director seems to think that the audiences can be taken for granted riding on his past success and aggressive marketing on various platforms………….sad reality is there Abhishek has hardly been a draw when he is the main lead and that has been proved here umptieth time – in fact I thought sincerely that this his film and will come out with flying colors – i was wrong 😦
Mulayam Singh Yadav believes that the Badaun rape case was “blown out of proportion and women exaggerate rape claims to “settle scores.” As a young woman living in India, I’m horrified by the statements of Mulayam Singh Yadav!
Shockingly, Amitabh Bachchan has been asked to introduce and promote the film “Netaji- Mulayam Singh Yadav” celebrating the life and achievements of Mulayam Singh Yadav!
Sign my petition and ask Amitabh Bachchan to boycott the film and any promotions, in protest of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s horrible sexist remarks about rape survivors.
Amitabh Bachchan over the years has taken a stand on social issues regarding women and has generously supported organisations working for the upliftment of girls in India. Meanwhile, Mulayam Singh believes that it is impossible for 4 men to gangrape a woman and the survivor is lying in such cases.
Abhishek Solo Opening Days – 18 Films No Initial
Saturday 22 August 2015 14.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
All Is Well had a poor start all over of around 15%. The film has little face value and though music is reasonable it held little appeal visually. Below are the opening day collections of Abhishek Bachchan solo films.
All Is Well (2015) – 2,35,00,000 apprx
Dum Maaro Dum (2011) – 5,12,00,000
Game (2011) – 1,85,00,000
Khelein Hum Jeen Jaan Se (2010) – 95,00,000
Raavan (2010) – 5,81,00,000
Delhi 6 (2009) – 4,77,00,000
Drona (2008) – 1,79,00,000
Guru (2007) – 3,37,00,000
Umrao Jaan (2006) – 1,52,00,000
Bluffmaster (2005) – 1,60,00,000
Naach (2004) – 42,00,000
Run (2004) – 76,00,000
Kuch Naa Kaho (2003) – 71,00,000
Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost (2003) – 52,00,000
Sharaarat (2002) – 11,00,000
Bas Itna Khwab Hai (2001) – 42,00,000
Dhaai Akshar Prem Ke (2000) – 89,00,000
Tera Jadoo Chal Gaya (2000) – 95,00,000
The opening has been poor of practically all his solo releases with Raavan at 5.81 crore nett being the highest in terms of numbers and in real terms Dhaai Akshar Prem Ke and Tera Jaadu Chal Gaya in 2000 remain the only two with somewhat decent initials. All Is Well has coming after fours as solo starrer and the results and no better (probably worse) than his earlier releases. In between some multistarrers did do very well but were headed by much bigger names Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan and Ajay Devgn.
most of this is grossly misleading but won’t get into it right now.. it should be obvious though what the issues with this list are. What I would agree with though is that post-raavan there has been a serious initial problem.
LOL @ BOI. Why not give us the top 3 of top 5 openings of every year and then compare Abhi’s openings to that? I remember Guru having a good opening, and I’m right. Guru had the 3rd highest opening day of 2007. Using BOI’s numbers, only OSO, and Hey Baby are higher. Even the big hits of that year- Partner, CDI, Welcome, Bhool Bhulaiya, Taare Zameen Par had lower openings. But yes as a solo hero, Guru had a great solid opening, Bluffmaster and a couple of his first films were okayish, and the rest are just god awful.
Raavan despite terrible WOM had 6 crores on day 1. In other words with good WOM it would easily have had 10 or something. But so many years after that film they’re still kind on many 7-8 crore openings today. The same is true for D6 by the way. This is very different from even DMD which never got off the ground and which with the D6/Raavan sort of initial would have done way more than it did. BM was always more of a multiplex sort of deal and not for everyone.. Between Yuva and Guru every film of his got a strong initial all things considered (barring of course UJ). What’s common to all these films? Anyway all of this is an older discussion at this point but nonetheless a guy being down doesn’t mean one starts altering the fact. of course even in real time the likes of BOI never quite accepted the success of those films. I could extend this paragraph using all sorts of examples. But the dishonesty of such reporting is obvious. What is true however and has been since Raavan is that on a solo people are just not turning up for him. This is not about low numbers or something. people are just not turning up and he needs a radical reinvention move at this point away from all the obvious choices and what not. This will have to be not just a hit of some sort but the kind of film that changes the conversation for him and completely wipes the slate clean. There is simply no other option at this point.
Think they are talking only about solos. Between Yuva and guru he has lot of multi-starrers though I agree that that was his best phase where he was the main (or atleast equal star wattage with the other hero) draw of some of those multi-starrers
I think that’s all past now when youngsters loved ‘Right here, right now’ type of modern, young hip songs. He’s missed that generation now especially from 2008 onward lot of new comers have come in the industry and they took all the younger generation. I don’t think there is any younger demographic connecting with Abhishek anymore.He’s no longer going to get then youngsters interested in him. Ranbir, Ranveer, even Varun Dhawan doing 100 crs with a crap film shows the younger demographic taste are completely changed. There’s no target audience for Abhishek now and without that re-invention is not possible. Example.. Saif Ali Khan was too urban for Hindi films but when the DCH type role connected with the youth with new multiplex wave and he quickly re-invented himself in that role and graduated to solo hero. Salman managed this with Dabanng as he has great connect with the masses all through his career.
There has to be some kind of target audience for Abhishek to do this re-invention.
there are certain kinds of projects that transcend these sorts of demographics. You can make films that seem appealing without catering to a specific group in that sense.
“This is not about low numbers or something. people are just not turning up and he needs a radical reinvention move at this point away from all the obvious choices and what not. This will have to be not just a hit of some sort but the kind of film that changes the conversation for him and completely wipes the slate clean. There is simply no other option at this point.”
Quite true.
Any other example of a hero who might have achieved it? Ofcourse Abhisekh can be the first one! But I am not able to see that reinvention movie in his line up!
There was a time when he was good in Bluffmaster, Guru, Yuva, Raavan, etc. And now is the time of All is well. Sad.
When earlier the audience didn’t appreciated (at a really mass level) his movies, still had followers for Raavan, Sarkar and Sarkar Raaj, Guru, Yuva, etc. I cant even say that now.
One thing away from Abhishek I’d like to say is not many producers out there will again dare to make a solo Abhishek movie. Bhushan Kumar (T-series) did this(with good supporting cast and even sort of good/hit director) with AIW and even promoted hugely all over and still 2.5 crores opening.Moreover this movie released after 3 back-to-back hits in BB, D3 and HNY. Good/bad reviews is secondary if no one even comes to watch the movie then this will stop producers offering solo henceforth.
Abhi better produces low-budget films – his acting career will be restricted to multi-starrers now – AIW has spelt doom for his solo-hero career if there was anything left…………
When I saw arjun kapoor, I was gripped with anger & disgust!
If one abhishrek wasn’t enuf, there’s another son (producer son) here who is EMINENTLY MEDIOCRE (actually ‘mediocre’ also sounds respectful here ) who will be SHOVED DOWN audiences throats repeatedly
I’m actually looking for APT WORDS to describe abhishreks ‘achievement’
Unfortunately WORDS FALL SHORT
It’s beyond me to verbalise this
@ Satyam : it’s enough
Plz WAKE UP and THROW this LOSERS BADGE U R CARRYING ..
Although this happened years ago, but bachchan senior creditably extended it many years
Day 2691 : i guess it hints at something we are talking about here.. Hope my understanding is wrong.. If anyone can read the post and decode it. Dunno why I felt lil sad reading it..
A BRILLIANT post: Amitabh Bachchan is a great man …
But even he can’t change destiny
Sir, it’s the end of an era..
The dream (of abhishrek as even a minor solo hero ) is over !
On a related note, there was another ‘retirement’ recently
Another ‘forced’ one
Of Michael Clarke (& this is not comparable to poor abhishrek)
Now he’s a classy player who did as much as he could with his bad back. Apparently He was told at the age of around 29 that he had the back of a 60 year old
But he rose to the pinnacle
The captaincy of Australia
With subpar form, he won the World Cup recently
His world cup final innings was a strange one, he struggled and prodded and then stuck around in an implosive innings
But the recent Ashes loss to England was so severe
His own form so humiliating
That Michael Clarke lost not just his captaincy
Not just his test place
But his confidence big time
He lost the courage to face the crease altogether
Prematurely, He RETIRED from cricket !
goodbye Michael Clarke
@amit-seems so and here is my comment to Absir which is now awaiting moderation since last 90 minutes..may be needs approvals etc as per bis blog’s guidelines…
ANDYpdrew an hour ago Pending
Respected Sir;
Greetings of the day
Let me offer an alternative perspective on swimmer and his psych that shows why swimmer should not stop swimming due to one or multiple sinks and should indeed keep swimming taking into account laws of thermodynamics and water displacement factors and should reinvent himself/herself with techniques and skills that leads to reaching the target.
First and foremost-swimmer swims because he is well trained has passion and believe he can swim. Secondly if he does not swim then he is not a swimmer and third isn’t the idiom swim or sink show a reality to each and every one? For being a swimmer his mindset should always be i will swim till i sink !!
Archimedes’ principle indicates that the upward buoyant force that is exerted on a body immersed in a fluid, whether fully or partially submerged, is equal to the weight of the fluid that the body displaces. Archimedes’ principle is a law of physics fundamental to fluid mechanics…..same physics also provide explanation around swimmers feeling a resistance that is called “drag.”
Swimmer who can defeat drag is going to stay afloat and swim faster!!
Physics further define typesof drag being Friction,Pressure and Wave drag and each of this drag has to be overcome to emerge as successful swimmer.
How can swimmer overcome these known and irrefutable drags if he quits swimming? He has to master the art of going against the “RESISTANCE” and have the courage mixed with wisdom to navigate and clear off the drags that made him sink once or multiple times..!!
In our day to day life too-drags of pressure(fame, success, society, competition, money, career etc etc) and friction (with self or with others or due to desire to reach a status or societal norms that pulls ) has to be overcome to swim through life of river !!
Here again both science and ancient scriptures provide way out and that is to increase one’s Kinetic Energy to overcome such drags !!
Swimmer in a way will learn that increasing his kinetic energy will allow him to rise above exact same waves that seemed insurmountable ….and again to do so he/she will need to keep swimming and sinking till he/she masters the art !!
What is going to determine VALUE of swimmer is not to succumb but to OVERCOME and not to sink against same drag every time he jumps back in same river —
Kindly forgive once again sir my uncalled attempt to counter your thoughts which i felt may be were too harsh on swimmer and did not take into account psych and make of the will which one inherits as a human and key sometimes is to show the techniques and intricacies of theory mixed with practicality to a swimmer rather than telling him to stop swimming.
Pardon my thoughts if they felt counter intuitive here
Wish you all the very best and great EF interactions for years to come;
Lehron se dar kar nauka paar nahi hoti
himmat karne waalon ki haar nahi hoti
Nanhi cheenti jab daana lekar chalti hai
chadhti deewaron par sau baar fisalti hai
Mann ka vishwas ragon mein saahas banta hai
chadh kar girna, gir kar chadhna na akharta hai
Akhir uski mehnat bekar nahi hoti
koshish karne waalon ki haar nahi hoti…
Dubkiyan sindhu mein gota khor lagaata hai
ja ja kar khaali haath laut aata hai
Milte na sahaj hi moti paani mein
badta doogna utsaah issi hairaani mein
Mutthi uski khaali har baar nahi hoti
himmat karne waalon ki haar nahi hoti…
Asafalta ek chunauti hai sweekar karo
kya kami reh gayi dekho aur sudhaar karo
Jab tak na safal ho neend chain ki tyago tum
sangharshon ka maidaan chhodh mat bhago tum
Kuch kiye bina he jai jai kaar nahi hoti
himmat karne waalon ki haar nahi ho
english translation:
The boat that qualms the waves
Never gets across
The mind that dreads and dares
Has never been at loss
The tiny ant, when it carries the grain
Lays it up into the heights of the wall
Falls slipping a hundred times,
Just as it tries again
The faith in the mind
Stirs courage in the nerves
It soars and slips, then slips and soars again
Until its efforts have not been in vain
The diver who scrounges deep into the oceans
Comes bare in his fist a number of times
It is not so painless
Eachtime he delves to hit upon a pearl
Someday, when out of those deep seas he whirls
And in surprise, that his efforts have brought
Glad, for his fist is not empty everytime
And in him that seamless effort
herald a cheery chime
O’ accept the failures that cross your way
They are just the challenging mile-stones
And build from right here, where you fell
Until all the shortcomings cease,
And you soar in success
Burn restful sleeps in the sacrificial pyres
Until tireless struggles brought smiles of joy
Oh! Do not run away from the battlefields
For triumph always yields such joy
Just after relentless endeavours……
A fine post by Shweta Bachchan…A great post by Amitji referenced here…For me it looks somehow show the same sentiments to uplift Abhi’s spirits now…I really feel sorry for Abhi..He has to endure so much even to achieve a average success…Too bad…Abhi is a fine actor , not bad as the media projects him. They completely broke his career and destroyed his fanbase…Abhi keep fighting..Never give up..
It is time for ABCL to produce some small budget films ( hopefully a few successful south remakes),..Cheer up Guru bhai
I don’t think media has the power to destroy anyones fan base. Abhi’s script choices are letting him down. Look inwards before blaming someone else should be the advice to him. Not that he is blaming anyone but he just needs to improve his script sense.
“Abhi is a fine actor” – I do not think many will doubt that – but has he made enough efforts (in the sense of selecting the scripts or even after selecting them – doing all the hard work)? Nah……….
Close your eyes and try to remember one character u remember which Abhi has played in last 15 years – ………….see? And now try the same for Aamir – not trying to compare aamir with him – but see the hard-work that man puts in every project – Abhi was given one too many chances and I would not call him a bad actor – but yes I would call him a failure in this box-office driven system – where his dad succeeded big time and Big B also is a fantastic actor but he did all the hard-work and still does that – somehow Abhi never seems to connect with the audience (or very rarely – and there too the credit-takers are many – directors / co-actors etc.) – he may have earned sympathy from his failures but that is not the same as you win love and respect with your successes – right?
Apex is going too hard on Satyam here – come on – no need to get personal here man – every fan has a right to defend his hero and Satyam is doing that fantastically well – we all enjoy healthy discussions but no need to go too far – maybe we can stick to the dignity of this blog and still have banterful-fights?
“maybe we can stick to the dignity of this blog and still have banterful-fights?”
yes that’s the only reason I restrict many Apex comments.. they’re beyond the pale in various ways.. otherwise whether he goes after me or not or he goes after me is quite literally (and to channel Arnab Goswami) water off a duck’s back!
I’ll say this about Apex though with respect to Abhishek. Apex is a secret Abhishek fan who’s been enraged for a long time because he feels he’s been let down or cheated by the star!
“I’ll say this about Apex though with respect to Abhishek. Apex is a secret Abhishek fan who’s been enraged for a long time because he feels he’s been let down or cheated by the star!”
Apex don’t let Satyam humor you ……and deceive……….you now have 8 wickets of the opposition and I suggest go for the kill now and put your best pace attack and get the last two ….win the match / series / cup / final …….No Mercy !!!
Manjhi – The Man Mountain Set For Better Run Than All Is Well
Sunday 23 August 2015 12.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
All Is Well showed growth of around 30% on day two and that is nowhere near enough from the start it had. Any little chance it had at the box office is now gone with its Saturday business. The first two day business of All Is Well is as follows.
Friday – 2,35,00,000
Saturday – 3,00,00,000 apprx
TOTAL – 5,35,00,000
Manjhi – The Man Mountain is likely to have a better run than All Is Well as it showed good upturn in business on Saturday. The collections were up around 70% from the previous day. The film will struggle to cover cost as these type of films only have India theatrical as revenue but it could get a decent lttle run at the ticket counter for a couple of weeks. The first two day business of Manjhi – The Man Mountain is as follows.
which means 5+4 = 9 cr weekend? and then? well it may limp to 15-20 cr lifetime – Oh my god! actually not much for Abhishek – but even Umesh Shukla’s image will tank here big time because OMG was a copy of a Gujju play – Kanji Vs Kanji and Paresh Rawal/Akki combo was far more lethal than AIW – in any case like Drishyam – OMG had the script as the main hero………….is Indian audience finally eveolving? They can tell good from bad? good sign for the cinema
Vijay Krishna Acharya’s Next
by Box Office India (August 22, 2015)
The industry is buzzing with news that Vijay Krishna Acharya, aka Victor, has signed Hrithik Roshan for his next. After wrapping Ashutosh Gowariker’s Mohenjo Daro, we hear that Roshan is gearing up for his next, which is Acharya’s next film under the Yash Raj Films (YRF) banner. It’s not a sequel to Dhoom but a period, epic love story.
We also hear that Aditya Chopra is taking special interest in the film as it is said to be the most ambitious project ever under the YRF banner. Although the makers are still scouting for the leading actress, pre-production work has begun at YRF Studios and the film will start rolling by the end of this year.
All Is Well loses very little time telling us that the title is a lie. The film opens with a performance by a singer named Inder Bhalla (Abhishek Bachchan). The actor is stiff – he looks like a Citibank employee in the middle of a PowerPoint presentation. It’s hard to see who’s buying this music. Throughout the film, you get the feeling Bachchan is miscast. At least, he doesn’t seem very interested. Inder needed to be played by a younger, spryer actor – say, the Abhishek Bachchan of Delhi-6. All Is Well tells a similar story. An NRI makes what he thinks is a short visit to India and finds himself sucked into chaos – only, this film is meant to be a comedy. Hence the scene where Inder spurns a lucrative offer and his friend chides him: “Lakshmi-ji tilak lagaane aa rahi hai aur tu face-wash karne jaa raha hai.” Someone’s going to have to answer for that line at the pearly gates.
Ouch! That’s as scathing a review can get. That “Lakshmi ji” line btw has been rehashed from Hera Pheri, delivered with good comic timing by Akshay Kumar in a film where he was just beginning to find his funny side.
“All Is Well loses very little time telling us that the title is a lie”
Everyone is using that title to put across their views in their reviews(All is not well, no truth can be farther from the title, etc..).
To think of if, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Raju Hirani very
reluctantly gave that title for producers for Abhishek’s sake and they made this disaster out of it.
Char shanivar hote to bhi kya fayda..Tab bhi to weekly buisness 3+4 = 12 + 7 cr aur yani 19-20 cr hi hota. Jokes aside tell me honestly has anybody expected anything diffrent from it and if anyone had pridicted Hit status for AIW then i would say those were the same people who belived in modi when he said i will give 15 lakh rs to everyone.
One More thing mostly i don’t find APEX’s comment offensive but the way he is gloating over AIW BO number i am finding it below the belt. I mean “Mare ko Marne main kya Mardangi”. Everyone knew the Fate of AIW of Abhishek’s Solo hero film. I don’t know what enjoyment you get to beat a person who is already down and out. Dum hain to target Khan’s who is ruling the Bollywood.
same idiots also believed modi said that he will deposit money into account but he actually talked about quantity of black money stacked abroad which it equivalent to that
thats why idiots have been crushed very badly in rajasthan and mp very badly by sane people and they responded with bode(case in point raje and vyapam didn’t saved them)
**One More thing mostly i don’t find APEX’s comment offensive but the way he is gloating over AIW BO number i am finding it below the belt. I mean “Mare ko Marne main kya Mardangi”. Everyone knew the Fate of AIW of Abhishek’s Solo hero film. I don’t know what enjoyment you get to beat a person who is already down and out. Dum hain to target Khan’s who is ruling the Bollywood.**
off-topic: ended up watching BA Pass – very dark gritty film by Ajay Behl – didn’t expect anything but was surprised by the tight script and performances.
“Amitabh Bachchan’s Earnings: $33.5 Million In 2015
cannot see srk earnings here.200cr+ films of srk but seems to missing.Think before you speak or bark”
Firstly, you shouldn’t be using bark kinda language here. You are not even regular.
This post isn’t addressed to me… but FYI – Big B just had 1 release (Bhoothnath Returns) and all that income is through endorsements and KBC. It is not only through films. Maybe you should know that first.
Too much is made about this film’s performance. The fault lies with the director more than the hero or heroine. Just imagine some other more popular actor like ranbir doing the same role and the film would have performed in the same way maybe with 5 to 10 percent difference.
Could see it coming and the numbers haven’t surprised me at all. I have been saying that Abhishek is wrong to be over-reliant on AIW. Look, everyone occasionally comes up with a dud. The sad thing for Abhishek is that when you look at his forthcoming projects, there is nothing to pin hopes on.
If ever Housefull works (and it is far from given), expect Akshay Kumar to walk away with the credits. Remember the D2, D3 and HNY scenarios where Abhishek didn’t benefit at all and expect a repeat of these rather than a Bol Bachan scenario.
HP3 seems to rely more on Abhishek’s shoulder but neither are genuine Abhishek fans going to be excited by the project nor do its BO prospects look great.
As for solo projects, I am sure that Abhishek was getting them and will continue getting them. But if AIW is what he chose at their expense, then I really question the quality of those projects. Even Chunky Pandey or Arjun Rampal may still bag solo projects these days, but what is most important is the quality of the project. The truth is that the last time that I really enjoyed an Abhishek Bachan performance was in DMD. And that’s over 4 years back.
He turned it around in 2004. This time around, it’s going to be harder. Back then, he was the happening and he was the subject of huge debates. For some, he was the next big thing. For others he had so much untapped talent. For some others he was a dud. He clearly divided people’s opinions but he had big banners and prestigious projects lined up for him. Right now, he looks stale and most people don’t seem to care anymore. And it’s the worst thing that could happen to a star.
This is a disaster for Abhi professionally. Can he still turn it around. Yes, but time is running out. He needs a decent, commercially viable project soon. Crap like HNY is not it. He is obviously talented but he has to beat the battle of perception. When an actor is referred to as lazy, Infind it more demeaning than untalented. He is far from lazy IMO But he needs to get that across.
AIW always seemed like a potential flop to me and unfortunately that has turned out to be true.
At this point, he has to be prepared to do whatever it takes to find a foothold.
I think the perceived problem of ‘laziness’ actually comes from what I seriously think is a different approach to acting. I have always found with every passing Abhishek film, that he is actually closer to his mother’s school of acting. He possesses the intensity of Amitabh yes, but he doesn’t manifest it as outwardly as the Big B did. So even the ‘anger’ in a Yuva or DMD is more one of a bottled rage… one that comes from silent reserves. Which is why an overman performance like Guru worked so well for him, while Raavan didn’t. The former character is all about the ‘inside’… all the slyness, drive, ambition, etc. comes from a deep place within. The success is manifest. With a Raavan, he is expected to wear it most of the times, the times that don’t work for me. But even here, when we are afforded a glimpse ‘inside’ him, Abhishek elevates the part. This is exactly why DMD works. And why Bluffmaster or Phir Milenge and others of the ilk do. In other words, doubt if he’d be able to showboat like a Pacino… but he can implode like the best of Seymour Hoffman and Sanjeev Kumar and Mohanlal. In fact, come to think of it, Abhishek’s comes more from a Bengali-Malayalam school of acting.
With comedy however, Abhishek is more at ease being scott free. Now I haven’t seen AIW, and from all accounts it sounds like a very poor film, but Abhishek should shoulder responsibility for selecting a film that doesn’t play to his strengths. It doesn’t offer him any comedic playing field, and the dramatic bits are loud. In effect then, you come across as disinterested doing either, and hence very easily dubbed lazy.
Laziness also comes when you are looking easily 15-20 lbs overweight and then have a short haircut to make your face blow out on the screen.. When asked in interview about fitness.. he said his role is of a struggling musician with no money and he can’t possibly be having 6 packs.. yeah right.. don’t have 6 packs but you can’t look like an over-fed overweight lazy bum as well!
Hey Abzee Bhai- The arrived !!! ek post nahee toh ek comment toh banta hai boss !!
They mocked an accomplished Gujrati actor just because he was dressed in traditional clothes holding a Trishul.
Because he was holding a Hindu Trishul these Failed ,Flopped, Film makers first lied that he is to be made the head of FFI and then declared him unfit .
It turned out that Supernakha lied .Amol Palekar will head the committee . The Govy had no role to ply but it suited the Sickulars narrative.
Sannatta !!!
Kafila Guzar gaya, Satya dekhta rah gaya !!!
Agree that Abhishek is very good at Intense roles and at Over the top comedy. I really liked him in Bol Bachchan.
It is the Melodramatic and Romantic sequences where his body language is a bit tensed and comes across as lazy .
For example in Dhoom, IMO he should play it more like Bachhcan in Dostana rather than like Bachchan in Akeyla.
Not referring to you but the whole ‘lazy’ or ‘doesn’t care’ and all such terminology that is used for Abhishek is really ideological. First off I consider it absurd that he’s considered lazy. for more than one reason. Just in a literal sense it’s hard to prove this if not impossible. But beyond this ‘lazy’ is code for someone who refuses to follow completely the existing set of rules in these matters (having a gym body or whatever). And the reason the criticism in this or any other sense is insincere anyway is because when he was very successful people found other ways of dismissing his successes. Now he’s not failing because of what people are saying but the interpretation that is put on his success and his failure suggests a resistance to the very idea of Abhishek. Which idea would make no sense in itself if it were not connected to a larger ‘Bachchan’ one. All of this I’ve been through before but here my point in any case is. The word ‘lazy’ simply does not mean the obvious when it’s applied to him. It’s like bourgeois types calling Bachchan’s films ‘mindless’ or ‘simply about beating up people’ and so on in the 70s and 80s. Again these were codes. Where I’d disagree with you is that ‘it comes across’ this way at certain points. I don’t think it does. I just think a certain multiplex audience dislikes the fact that he’s ‘not with the program’. But they also can’t dismiss him easily the way they would say Govinda or someone in a similar situation because here the class angle works entirely for him. You can’t ‘condescend’ to him because in terms of class he probably beats most in his multiplex audience. This then invites more rage not less. Because a certain ‘rebellion’ is suggested by this stance. The way you then deal with it is by saying he’s lazy or whatever. It’s not that people do this as a conscious act. Similarly they’re also not consciously aware of what it is about Abhishek that truly bothers them. The same goes for all sorts of debates connected to him,
Personally, I don’t think Abhishek looks lazy and certainly general public won’t think as deep as Abzee and then consider him lazy coz of his acting style. That’s why I tried to give the general and easier assumption is regarding his body weight. He was once criticized heavily during D2 and he blamed it shooting with Guru(where he had to put on weight) but for AIW, what possibly could be the reason for being overweight? Once you look fit and trim you don’t look lazy body wise.. at least. That’s the basic criteria for a Hindi movie actor. This is not malayalam cinema where Mohanlal can survive with his weight.
LOL mentioning Abhishek in the same breath as Pacino, Hoffman, Sanjeev Kumar & Mohanlal…now I’ve read it all!
I will also add this for good measure: Abhishek’s performance in Dum Maaro Dum is overrated beyond measure on this forum. Elsewhere, nobody else apparently cares. He was OK and a bit in the film but Pacino in Serpico he most definitely was not!
I’m not terribly interested in berating him completely and in the interest of fairness, I’d like to add that I’ve enjoyed watching him in Yuva, Guru & Paa.
Finally, subtlety is definitely not his forte. And dialog delivery, for him, remains a big weakness. He should learn from someone like Shahid Kapoor how to deliver proper dialogues, even in serious/dramatic roles.
It’s not as if the world has come to an end with AIW not registering an opening. These things happen and even consistent stars go through these phases where nothing seemingly works. Ajay Devgan, Akshay Kumar and even Salman Khan, to a lesser extent, have given quite a few flops in succession.
For Devgan, Golmaal was the turning point; For Akki it was Hera Pheri and with those films behind them, they picked up pace to overcome the trough. Now, I’ve never confused Ajay Devgan to be a serious actor in any sense and the less said about Akshay, the better it is. They are stars, first and foremost, who are happy to keep the box office machine working, content be damned and relegated to the dustbin if necessary. I am aware that Devgan probably has ambitions of being called an ‘actor’ of some sort, but the best thing I can say about him is that he can be earnest…and that’s that.
With Abhishek, I get the feeling that he’s facing the same conundrum that Madhavan faces, in general. That is, Maddy is considered too North-Indian for Tamil films and too much of a Southie to work in Bollywood.
Abhishek is better than the rest (which, frankly reflects quite poorly on the general lack of talent in Bollywood) with a few notable exceptions (Aamir, Shahid Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna , Ranbir? etc) when it comes to making crap films and probably not good enough to work with the Indie crowd (Kashyap, Dibakar, Motwane et al). Caught in no-man’s land, he’s working either as a side-kick in manufactured blockbusters or in dumb sequels, replacing other forgettable characters.
So he’s not working in films that could potentially showcase his talent and at the same time, he has agreed to play the second or third face in a crowded, crapola Bollywood showcase.
His success or failure doesn’t bother me anymore, but it’s the lack of intent to be part of good cinema is what makes me furious.
It’s not as if people like me create stars — heaven knows I’d rather subject myself to third-degree torture than watch a Salman Khan blockbuster — but there is an audience, albeit small, that would appreciate actors pushing themselves to work in good films. His biggest failing is that he has alienated that section of the audience who could bring him back from the dead.
If I were him, I would beg, beseech and try any trick in the book to work with directors who know their craft well. That’s the only way out of his present day misery…that is, if saving Abhishek Bachchan’s career is an all-important cause worth discussing.
In the grand scheme of things, it’s only a trivial pursuit. There are good filmmakers; there will be good actors and hopefully, the tribe comprising the Indie crowd will continue to deliver good films…. and life wouldn’t be any poorer with or without a single individual.
Saket, this is a good comment and while we have our disagreements when it comes to Abhishek those are more about personal tastes and so on. But here I’d disagree with the idea that Abhishek hasn’t tried to associate himself with good cinema. If anything he’s tried too much and without enough of a safety net. So even when he was going through a successful phase he didn’t really repeat the obvious genres and kept doing ‘interesting’ stuff when he should have perhaps been more careful. Till Guru things were fine. JBJ was supposed to be a huge step forward, the BNB team and so on but it didn’t work. Alright that was one film. Drona was clearly a big mistake and there’s no excuse for this. But beyond a point when SR underperformed, when D6 failed and so on and especially after Raavan it was time to really go in for certain kinds of choices while he still had some leverage left. I’ve always believed that he completed a circle with Raavan. That after this the audience was just totally turned off and if you look at every initial since it was pretty much non-existent. The worst shock was DMD which would have done decently at the very least had it come somewhat earlier. So at that point it wasn’t about the projects anymore. People weren’t turning up. Nonetheless he kept pushing things. For instance is Gowariker the safest director in any circumstance let alone after Raavan? The course correction should have come much earlier. We can all agree with this. On the other hand between D6 and Raavan and Gowariker and so on he was working more often than not in interesting stuff. a Sarkar sequel was a no-brainer. In Paa he had an important part. Even an obvious genre like Dostana he did because it had that gay angle. But otherwise if you look at everything after JBJ there’s nothing absolutely safe there. Yes he had some bad luck. But these things happen in the lives of stars. One has to adjust accordingly. Ranbir has just had two epic disasters in Besharam and BV. The latter especially is probably a historic disaster relative to costs and so on. But he’s now delayed Jagga Jasoos because he probably had some doubts about it anyway. He’s fast tracked the Imtiaz Ali film and the Johar one will eventually follow. So stars make these adjustments while they still have some leverage left. Abhishek waited till people essentially stopped offering him those sorts of films. he could then have done smaller solos or gone down the multistarrer track. I never agreed with the latter (barring BB) but the former doesn’t necessarily get you to a better place. But yes I would have erred on the side of the former rather than the latter for different reasons. I think Abhishek saw it as a means of being associated with high profile films, getting some attention out of them, building some capital and then doing a solo. The problem is that if you do multistarrers BB will always be the exception. Why would stars with a better track record give you the best roles in those films? Secondly the solo should also loosely be in the same genre otherwise the better standing doesn’t necessarily rub off. There’s certainly loss of prestige this way. If you go the solo route, do smaller stuff, you don’t get a big one, you certainly have less of a prestige problem. On the other hand you have to be willing to fall under the radar for significant periods of time. In any case my point is that he was one star who pushed that ‘different’ paradigm as much as he could. Now whether he should have had better script sense while doing those different films or working with those better directors or not is another matter. But if he has since become associated with poor stuff for box office credibility that’s because his options have run out. Again unless one wants to do any kind of solo that is offered. For years Devgan was ‘absent’. he was doing solos or even two hero films in the 90s and beyond that didn’t have a hope in hell of becoming hits. Once in a blue moon he’d have an average success and that would seem like something. Salman for many years couldn’t do better than Garv. So that path is certainly open but then you operate with the ‘faith’ that one day you’ll hit it big. But that’s not a necessity either. At this point though (I’ve believed this for a while anyway) I don’t think it’s about just getting a hit or something in a solo venture. Unless he can get a massive hit doing so (always an improbable ask) he really needs to go the Lagaan way and produce a film that looks distinctive and special in some form or fashion. It could be a variety of genres but it has to be something that the audience is interested in irrespective of the star and where then the star is also able to reinvent himself. Here I disagree with pretty much everyone on any side of the debate. It is too late to just look for a hit. Those who think this is the end of the road for him are also very wrong as they’ll soon discover. But if he wants to be a star in any way that matters that moment of truth has arrived. It has to be a serious reinvention effort that simply wipes the slate clean in many ways. Really don’t think anything else will suffice. and here we might agree but he has to get back to his core strengths. Just get associated with more quality products. Be smarter about the scripts and so on and what might work and what might not. But he has to get back to a phase that once worked for him. He was doing BnB and Guru and BM and SR in that phase. There were really all kinds of genres. He can do a variety of stuff but yes he also needs to play to his own physical strengths. The Yuva guy can do Dostana but that’s not the best use of his skill sets. Just as Bachchan was great in Kabhi Kabhie but to use his physicality you needed the angry young man. So he really has to play to his strengths first of all in some of these basic ways (again the films in that period did one way or the other). But I quite firmly believe he needs absolute reinvention at this point and he certainly has the means to do it in more ways than one. The only other point I’d make is that he needs to work much more closely with Southern setups. Hindi films but with much more cues taken from sensible Southern cinema. Masala or otherwise. Actually if Abhishek were a Tamil star he’d have no issues. That industry would be right for him. An older Bollywood would be too. Today’s industry is just wrong for anyone who is not completely a star who can be ‘consumed’ in the obvious plastic ways. The films cater to that sentiment as do the stars. Not surprisingly Aamir went around all of this by developing excellent judgment. He promises his audiences a good film irrespective of genre. But many of his films are still exceptions rather than the rule. They really depend on one man’s judgment. That’s not the entire system. Bahubali, a film which I adored as much as anyone else, simply could not be made in Bombay. There is no director who could handle masala with that sort of conviction. Just no one. Even Rohit Shetty is doing his own brand of Telugu masala which is about as superficial as it gets except on the exceptional day. This is why when Aamir did the Ghajini remake he did it with the original director! So one can blame Abhishek in all sorts of ways but the point is that in the Tamil setup he would automatically get scripts that played to his strengths. Madhavan had a different problem. He couldn’t be star enough in some of the films that mattered and obviously he couldn’t play the romantic guy forever. In Tamil cinema in any case you can’t be SRK. No one can have a permanent career doing that. Surya, a talented actor, went down the mass path, he’s of course very successful but he’s also squandered his talents. The yuva/Guru/Sarkar guy wouldn’t have had the Maddy problem. But now is the right time in Bombay to be able to tackle masala in a more meaningful way once more. I’m not saying it had to be this or nothing. But reinvention it has to be. everything else, even if successful, will only flatter to deceive. On that note I never thought that AIW was a permanent solution. I always thought it could be a stepping stone to something better even in the best case scenario. So the world might not have come to an end with AIW for him but he would be wise to regard this as some sort of end.
I agree with saket,
his doom the first one then sarkar and then bunty aur bubli he should have kept with good quality scripts,also guru in a way was the way forward,look at amitabhs c.v. ,he had 7 flops before zanzeer,its the luck aswell and abhi is completely out of it,some eople here will argue that abhi being an amitabh son helps but it does not,people want good story and ofcourse it helps if your last film had something to attract crowd,if look at salman khan his last several films have been monumental huge nd he is real crowd puller whereas abhi is complete opposite,one good film from abhi and he is bak in it with khans
master,
now you are going completely over-board,one can have bad luck in films ,you only have to look amitabhs films before zanzeer,7 flops he had so here abhi has still age on his side and surely sooner or later with 3 khans the age is against them so abhi needs to be there and hang on,not too long otherwise some other fresh blood will come from nowhere and create something huge havoc..
‘Too much is made about this film’s performance.’ Agree. Too much is being made of the performance of the film only in thgis forum. Elsewhere, no one is bothered. Who cares if an Abhshek film does not perform well? They would rather talk about Manjhi, or the upcoming Phantom.
Utkal typifies Abhishek’s problem. On one hand is the superficial, pseudo-intellectual multiplex crowd trying to discover it self and evolve and feel good about themselves while remaining clueless without changing in a meaningful way and on the other hand are the single screen audiences- Abhishek doesn’t have a broad appeal amongst either.
He needs a vehicle that plays to his strengths and give the Plexers what they want- some superficial candy stuff with vague existential references and the Plexers will lap it up.
He is wealthy, born with silver spoon. Why desire to be an artist so desperately? If desire is to be an artist, then why crave money and fame? I wonder…
I read recently interview of Sanjay Mishra (aakhon dekhi) and all his struggles and getting fame/single protagonist movie so late in life. Then there were actors like Nawazuddin who survived on tea and gluco buscuits. Irrfan who couldn’t afford to tickets of Jurrasic park, so many…
So why should one feel sorry for ABjr. He has everything going for him….yet another flop ain’t gonna starve him!!
classic case in point is his father who again was born to pedigree , harisvansh rai bachchan is still a legend and was even part of ifs and teji bachchan was in administrative role of undivided lahore university still amitabh in different field struggled , left his job and survived on pennies in his early years in mumbai
jaya bachchan was one the pioneer of revival of art cinema in 70’s and her early life was not rosy but this guy is brat and indeed a brat having got everything on platter
amitabh at 70’s do workout, blog and remains active in every sphere having transcended beyond cinema and nothing to acheive but not is the case with this guy..left study in between and even as actor going nowhere
SRK’s father used to run a canteen in National School of Drama, and from childhood this guy interacted with big stars and learnt nuances of acting and come prepared , with theatre , serial and finally film, not in a single day one star is born
aamir is gifted with script sense because his comes from the family of directors and script writers and they are active from 1940’s
THIS IS ABHISHEK’S MOST TOUGHEST PHASE OF CAREER, NO DOUBT FOR ME THAT HE IS ONE OF THE MOST TALENTED ACTOR, BUT ON THIS FORUM MANY PEOPLE ARE JUST INTERESTED THAT HE MUST BE FINISHED, BUT THEY ARE NOT GODS, I AM TOTALLY AGREE WITH RAHUL THAT THIS TIME IT WILL BE VERY HARD FOR ABHISHEK TO TURN IT AROUND, BUT PERHAPS THIS IS TIME WHEN ONE’S CHARACTER, TOUGHNESS, RESILLIANCE, TALENT TRUELY MEASURED. SO, WAIT LET’S SEE HOW HE DEAL WITH THIS, WHETHER HE COMES OUT FROM THESE.
Something somewhere is seriously wrong.. I went to a bar 2 days back n was watching must win match for jaipur to qualify for semis in pro kabaddi.. All friend except me where supporting patna (note: all friends supporting are telugu)N when they lost a friend was very happy n said now you should see face of chu..ya abhi.. .. I felt really bad as whar he did.. In last few yrs I have seen ppl frnds saying all these kind of non sense abusive about ab jtmr . It has been the perception like this that has been prevailing against him..majority thinks that way!!! Why dont aask mr ..i am not the right person…may b no one likes successful father’s son to be successful or once they were fan n disappointed with movies he picked.. I remember one ofc coGreat poem by Harivanshrai Bachchan
Lehron se dar kar nauka paar nahi hoti
himmat karne waalon ki haar nahi hoti
Nanhi cheenti jab daana lekar chalti hai
chadhti deewaron par sau baar fisalti hai
Mann ka vishwas ragon mein saahas banta hai
chadh kar girna, gir kar chadhna na akharta hai
Akhir uski mehnat bekar nahi hoti
koshish karne waalon ki haar nahi hoti…
Dubkiyan sindhu mein gota khor lagaata hai
ja ja kar khaali haath laut aata hai
Milte na sahaj hi moti paani mein
badta doogna utsaah issi hairaani mein
Mutthi uski khaali har baar nahi hoti
himmat karne waalon ki haar nahi hoti…
Asafalta ek chunauti hai sweekar karo
kya kami reh gayi dekho aur sudhaar karo
Jab tak na safal ho neend chain ki tyago tum
sangharshon ka maidaan chhodh mat bhago tum
Kuch kiye bina he jai jai kaar nahi hoti
himmat karne waalon ki haar nahi ho
english translation:
The boat that qualms the waves
Never gets across
The mind that dreads and dares
Has never been at loss
The tiny ant, when it carries the grain
Lays it up into the heights of the wall
Falls slipping a hundred times,
Just as it tries again
The faith in the mind
Stirs courage in the nerves
It soars and slips, then slips and soars again
Until its efforts have not been in vain
The diver who scrounges deep into the oceans
Comes bare in his fist a number of times
It is not so painless
Eachtime he delves to hit upon a pearl
Someday, when out of those deep seas he whirls
And in surprise, that his efforts have brought
Glad, for his fist is not empty everytime
And in him that seamless effort
herald a cheery chime
O’ accept the failures that cross your way
They are just the challenging mile-stones
And build from right here, where you fell
Until all the shortcomings cease,
And you soar in success
Burn restful sleeps in the sacrificial pyres
Until tireless struggles brought smiles of joy
Oh! Do not run away from the battlefields
For triumph always yields such joy
Just after relentless endeavours……i remember one of my ofc colleague’s sharing that once in their youth were fans of his n went all his movies with high expectation but movies like tera jaadoo chal gaya n bas itna sa khwab hai n subseqient novies were so dissastrous that they stopped going to his movies.. This tells the general story of youth then n now no youth of todays time or middle age man earlier fans are interested anymore.. N that sons getting adv bcoz of father or dyanasty was vociferouslly opposed (prime ex : rahul gandhi) n ppl virtual media jokes on these 2 men started coming n ppl along with r gandhi started equating abjr too had non talented n only false successor by default.. There has been more of hate compare to disliking methods of politics or acting.. I never was fan of ab jr but started supporting him bcoz there is really a big diff between raga n ab jr ..ab jr is talanted unlike raga but virtual media critics n wrong script selection screwed up his career.feel sorry for this guy..
Abhishek still failed to realize common man likes only mass/action and comedy movies.Recent interview(Hangout with abhishek and asin) he said he don’t follow any strategy while choosing the script and he don’t think about how this film will benefit him. Its really shocking he never changed in last 15 years and after so many flops .Also he don’t have good opinion on doing mass/action movies.He is thinking like ram goapl verma who neglected audience point of view and paid the price .His father was highly successful in 70s and 80s because of these so called masala/mass movies.Recently amir khan acted in movies like Ghajini and Dhoom3 for commercial success. Sharukh acted in Chennai express and Ajay Devgun acted in south remake Singam . Salman and Akhay kumar are highly successful with south remakes. All those top heroes are not dumb and Abhishek should change his attitude immediately if he want commercial success otherwise after some time no one will ready to make movies with him.If he has really passion in movies and he would like to act different type movies better he should act in low budget movies instead of wasting producers money
Something somewhere is seriously wrong.. I went to a bar 2 days back n was watching must win match for jaipur to qualify for semis in pro kabaddi.. All friends except me where supporting patna (note: all friends supporting are telugu)N when they lost a friend was very happy n said now you should see face of chu..ya abhi.. .. I felt really bad as what he did.. In last few yrs I have seen ppl/frnds saying all these kind of non sense abusive about ab jr . It has been the general perception like this that has been prevailing against him..majority think that way!!! Why..plz dont ask me..i am not the right person…may b no one likes successful father’s son to be successful or once they were fan n are now disappointed n angry with movies he picked.. I remember one ofc co.Something somewhere is seriously wrong.. I went to a bar 2 days back n was watching must win match for jaipur to qualify for semis in pro kabaddi.. All friend except me where supporting patna (note: all friends supporting are telugu)N when they lost a friend was very happy n said now you should see face of chu..ya abhi.. .. I felt really bad as whar he did.. In last few yrs I have seen ppl frnds saying all these kind of non sense abusive about ab jtmr . It has been the perception like this that has been prevailing against him..majority thinks that way!!! Why dont aask mr ..i am not the right person…may b no one likes successful father’s son to be successful or once they were fan n disappointed with movies he picked.. I remember my hyd ofc colleague’s sharing that once in their youth were fans of his n went all his movies with high expectation but movies like tera jaadoo chal gaya n bas itna sa khwab hai n subseqient novies were so dissastrous that they stopped going to his movies.. This tells the general story of youth then n now no youth of todays time or middle age man earlier fans are interested anymore.. N that sons getting adv bcoz of father or dyanasty was vociferouslly opposed (prime ex : rahul gandhi) n ppl/virtual media jokes on these 2 men started coming n almost all ppl disliked r gandhi started equating abjr too in that phrase and started spreadingbhim toonad non talented n only false successor by default n deliberately wanted him to fall down..There has been more of hate compare to disliking methods of politics or acting.. I never was fan of ab jr but started supporting him bcoz there is really a big diff between raga n ab jr ..ab jr is talanted unlike raga but virtual media critics n hater fans of other actors n ppl who hate ab sr n wrong script selection screwed up his career.feel sorry for this guy..
” I don’t know what enjoyment you get to beat a person who is already down and out. Dum hain to target Khan’s who is ruling the Bollywood.”
@ boo cristo –seems u r a new girl here darling
WHO has the BIGGEST grosser in Bollywood from the last decade or so?
From ghajini to 3 idiots to dhoom3 to PK?
Ask Satyam who is an abandoned bachchan fan and has sort of taken refuge as an aamir supporter
Ask the umpteen aamirsfans and myselfaamir and I’maamirs and imaamirsass & Aamirspets and aamirskids roaming around
Ask those who are blind fanatics
Where needed, there’s ONLY ONE who takes aamir to task where needed, no matter how much is the support …
& rips apart the unnecessary spin around aamir …
Apex
Ps: & this is when I LOVED all his recent performances
From PK to even dhoom3
The most favorite being Talaash !
“The industry is buzzing with news that Vijay Krishna Acharya, aka Victor, has signed Hrithik Roshan for his next.
We also hear that Aditya Chopra is taking special interest in the film as it is said to be the most ambitious project ever under the YRF banner. Although the makers are still scouting for the leading actress, pre-production work has begun at YRF Studios and the film will start rolling by the end of this year.”
Haha yo —Lol @ period epic film..
More HEARTACHE /BALL ACHE FOR SOME here (whichever applicable!)I like how the female lead names announcement is WITHHELD till late
Btw Heck even deepika wasn’t offered the yrf flick
What more does deepika have to do to get a solo yrf flick & opposite HR?
Anyhow I like the concept of AUDITIONING RANDOM GIRLS from the street…
Fresh talent … 🙂
Dil hai yeh sochta
Phir bhi nahi pataa
Kis haq se kahun bataa…
All Is Well And Manjhi – The Man Mountain Weekend Business
Monday 24 August 2015 11.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
All Is Well fared poorly at the box office grossing 8.75 crore nett approx in its first weekend. The film opened poorly on day one and then showed of growth of around 30% on day two but as day one was less than 2.50 crore nett, the growth had to be a minimum 75% and that just for a good trend. The film has fared poorly all over with Mumbai giving a slightly better ratio than the average.
The film will suffer huge losses though the makers are lucky that it got a good satellite price which means the losses will be shared with the TV channel unless the price is regonitiate which does happen often.
Manjhi – The Man Mountain grossed nearly 5.75 crore nett which is a low collection but with a 1.25 crore nett day one, it has a decent trend to come out with collections close to 6 crore nett. It is probably not going to be enough for the film unless Monday can beat the Friday figure. Still it can give the bigger film All Is Well a challenge in terms of lifetime collections and maybe even beat it if it gets some luck in week two.
Salman, Aamir and I should do a film like Ghostbusters: SRK
“Have you three ever spoken about teaming up?
We meet each other and talk a lot, but we have never spoken about films. One day, Salman cracked a joke. He said, “Guys, we three won’t do a film together. We will only end up fighting. One will keep using his brains, another will finish the work quickly, and someone will not reach the sets on time.” So, we discuss stuff like this.”
that is desperate attempt by srk,cannot beat them join them,he could have said this 10 years ago but but the guy was riding high and its vice-versa….poor guy must be so desperate
master,
talking about khans above poor srk,desperate to get going after losing no 1 spot,why Abisekh here ,whats he got do with it…read my comment before attempting to answer,[edited]
actually you’re the one who’s being dense here. I was responding to Vijay’s language. I find this whole ‘hater’ language immature to begin with and fans of many stars indulge in it. When you want to avoid criticism you just call the other a ‘hater’. I find your ‘moralism’ about this not every sincere too because when the subject is SRK you’re not exactly saying ‘hey it’s healthy criticism’! In any case whether ‘hater’ or not things have to be civil. that’s the the bottom-line here. But on the ‘hater’ subject my other point would be so what if one hates a star? What’s the big deal about it?! An older comment on all of this:
[Will say about the rest though that you too indulge in this old label of ‘haters’ and so on. Many people are, they dislike stars intensely and they want them to fail. So what?! I don’t quite buy the ‘moralism’ of the argument you also subscribe to — ‘oh how can one live one’s life like this’? As if this is the only real test of one’s character, whether one hates x star or not!
Leaving this aside how is is a more ‘elevated’ existence, a more ‘spiritual’ life if one is so much in love with a star that one resorts to all kinds of extraordinary arguments and parameters to jealously guard what one perceives to be the interests of the star? Is this a more ‘noble’ way to live? Simply vicariously by just peddling the interests of the star? You keep saying ‘SRK is stronger and richer than before’. Is this a reasonable, impartial kind of claim? I’ve already talked about the ‘riches’ part of it before. But no matter how much he might be in the running as a star even at his age is it really reasonable to suggest by any stretch of the imagination that he’s stronger than he was at his peak? I wouldn’t say this about the greatest stars, irrespective of how well or not they do as older stars or how transcendent they might or might not be (leaving aside the rare exception of a couple of stars who’ve actually had the best seasons of their careers relatively late, whether as a box office matter or otherwise.. but this never happens to the star who is truly iconic over a sustained period of time at a younger age and who moreover defines the debate). It’s not humanly possible. You might acquire a different kind of currency as a star, that doesn’t mean you’re ‘stronger’! Anyway I’m not here to debate this. It was just an example. My point is, how is it a ‘better’ existence to love a star so much that all rationality goes out the window? One gets offended if one perceives a slight to the star, one is heavily invested in every crore a star’s film is going to do, one is carefully watching how much credit or not he gets each time, on and on. Isn’t this the other side of the ‘hate’ coin. In each case one simply does not approach the subject maturely. In each case one is overly invested in the star as a very personal matter. I’m not criticizing this necessarily but if you keep bringing up ‘hater’ I’m not sure why ‘lover’ is better! Specially since the object of one’s love in this case isn’t some sort of great cause or some spiritual journey or a great figure, even an actor, who truly commands that sort of universal respect. One is free to love anyone (!) but SRK is just a hugely iconic, very successful star of New India. And one has said everything about him. There is nothing more to ‘see’ here. I’m not being reductive. I know the history in more ways than one!
Again I’m not saying one cannot be a fan otherwise. One can be a fan of any star. But I’m trying to understand why this kind of ‘love’ places one on a higher pedestal! And again I’m not arguing that some people don’t hate stars (though I don’t find anything wrong with this) or that they then don’t act in juvenile fashion to pursue that hate (there might be something wrong with this), just saying one is in no ‘superior’ position to make this argument if one shows the same sort of excess on the other side. This whole ‘hate’ lingo is fairly pointless. Which is once again not to defend the craziness that sometimes crops up on the other side.]
“I find your ‘moralism’ about this not every sincere too because when the subject is SRK you’re not exactly saying ‘hey it’s healthy criticism’!”
How is that so? I don’t abuse reply them. There are tons of SRK’s criticism on this blog day in and out and I don’t even care to reply all those..why does one care? Not unless you are in that mood of that day and reply some funny repartee.
Its really funny you comparing my comments to buffoons here. Thanks man… Enjoy your forum.
I know you don’t abuse them. But it’s not just about abuse. It’s about the inability to take seriously any criticism on SRK, you often get into a tit for tat with folks when this happens. Even otherwise you just don’t find 99% of the criticism legitimate. You can never accept any version of events that doesn’t cast SRK in the best possible light, so on and so forth. I don’t have a personal issue with this. All I;m saying is that you’re exactly like some Bachchan fans in this regard or some other fans of some other stars. Now MS Dhoni with respect to Salman might be in a league of his own. He’s even hugely interested in the Hero remake because Salman is producing it (!), he doesn’t think running people over and killing or maiming them is a problem because evidently there are worse folks out there but that’s another matter. You’re certainly not neutral when it comes to SRK! And when I say neutral I don’t mean that you cannot like him or love him or whatever. That’s your prerogative. It’s to me always about arguments that are constructed in certain ways for certain stars and differently for others. This doesn’t mean one has to reply all day to others or whatever. But one nonetheless does enough to give the game away. Again entirely one’s right. But one cannot then be puzzled as to why anyone is questioning anything!
“Now MS Dhoni with respect to Salman might be in a league of his own. He’s even hugely interested in the Hero remake because Salman is producing it (!), he doesn’t think running people over and killing or maiming them is a problem because evidently there are worse folks out there but that’s another matter. ”
Sir, it’s just not me but a huge populace in India which thinks likewise. And like you earlier comment , please don’t give this cultural /religious tones because this stuff is entrenched more in the minds of an NRI than avg joe in the heartlands of India and the youth there today doesn’t have such strong prejudices as witnessed on blogs. They watch movies and the actors for what they are worth. Here I am including the upper strata / multiplex crowd too and contrary to popular belief Salman’s reach is not confined to by lanes of Byculla and Bhendi Bazaar only.
Secondly, if I support Hero part of the reason may be SKF, but somewhere there is a longing for a new pair on screen and you never know Sooraj Pancholi may just capture that slot because all these Ranbir/ Ranvir etc have done nothing to earn the slot for good 7/8 years.
Someone mentioned age factor of liking someone and once again the nri drift comes into play and even after spending good numbers of years in foreign land where one is never questioned on age / sex / class religion etc the Indian mindset living abroad is never liberated from those prejudices….
I just wish to add if one is spending time on a filmy blog and not watching national geographic, definitely there is a tabloid streak in him and if there was no internet / blog media site we would be sitting with stardust and cine blitz on toilet seats doing potty. I have no shame in admitting keeping up with filmy news for a good number of years now and that is no way connected to what I am as a person in real life and my professional inclinations. So please don’t put an age bar to Page 3 gossipy material which most here are guilty of though may never accept publicly.
Lastly sir what makes you and few others root for a disaster named Abhishek Bachchan. Isn’t Amitabh Bachchan somewhere attached to this whole dialogue and defense……? I know you are good with words and your writing skills are exemplary so you are going to come back with 100 reasons of liking Abhi but sir you CANNOT change facts.
If enough people in a country are fanatics who were dancing in front of Salman’s house the day he got convicted that might offer sad commentary on various cross-sections of the society. It does not exactly make the exercise reasonable! Secondly in your mind Ranbir might not have done anything. But you’re clearly on your own there given the projects he’s been attracting. one doesn’t have to be a fan of his to just be able to see this. But perhaps you’re coincidentally looking for a fresh pair only in Salman Khan’s home production! Of course given that you worship a star who’s pushing 50 it’s a bit odd to insist so much on freshness!
On the rest, on Abhishek, presumably one doesn’t think highly or not of stars based on how their films perform. but if so you should think even more highly of Aamir than Salman. Or at least the same. Or you should be a Ranbir fan. At least you should have been one before his two recent failures. In the same way no one ought to have been a fan of Salman in the many years leading unto Dabanng in the last decade!
On the religious bit not sure where I introduced that angle. But nice try warding off criticism. I don’t however get bullied by this stuff!
One of course has a right to be fanatical about any star. My problems don’t begin there. My issues arise when the same folks turn around and pretend it’s about completely rational reasons at the other end forgetting their own favorite’s history and that of many other stars. For instance if Abhishek delivered a big one tomorrow I wouldn’t say ‘don’t question me, lots of people think like that’! Lots of people thought otherwise too. Much as lots of people thought otherwise when Salman could do no better than Garv or Veergati! But leaving aside these too I don;t see who supporting Aamir because he’s huge. Don’t lots of people think the same about him? So again these arguments are as usual launched without thinking. it’s not then a play of words on my part to point out the obvious. It doesn’t take that kind of effort to expose the gaping holes in your logic! Again I don’t have a problem with your Salman-worship. it’s this other stuff you say to justify it.
On Salman’s though he was not part of the conversation on this thread, but please don’t make it sound babyish that I was complaining that law should get others first. That was a line for people on the blog who on hearing the verdict went into some sort of ecstasy that he is proven evil person and now with the court verdict it is in black and white. I don’t have much writing skills but what I was getting to is that at least be fair to what you write and if you are born and brought in India, one should have the guts to look inwards and accept how our system operates and how corrupt our system is. Now the only good outcome out of that whole drama was the supporter of vigilante justice were made to eat their own words of May 08th on ‘respecting the law’ two days later when tables were turned. And thank heaven’s he and his dad played smart and got into action, instead of watching the gleeful lot take their backside as law abiding citizens.
Please revisit those comments, I was more upset with his father Salim Khan for being naive and trusting the hopeless legal process rather than being a proactive dad Mukesh Ambani and other similar so called luminaries and circumventing the process to one’s advantage considering “the way law operates in India”.
Just look at twitter and there is daily instances of police excesses being reported and there was one on Sunday on Times Now where they caught the police beating the innocents and there was one drunkard police on Delhi metro to get a glimpse of what police integrity is all about and that too Mumbai police which for the longest time was known to be acting on behalf of politicians , goons and big shots.
Top that with a ‘one person’ judicial verdict system (recipe for corruption and bias). What if after all the hearings , evidences, prosecution and defense arguments and witnesses presented, one fine day Judge Satyam is having a bad day and wants to teach his pet hate a lesson and give an adverse verdict. Uske toh lag gaye lau…e To be fair I am also aware he may be benefiting under the same set of law and rules too.
Due to fast changing world and in 24/7 news cycles with pre conceived and unfounded opinions and partisanship the least required is these high profile cases not be handled by single person.There are so many times a single person has goofed up and such high profile verdict all over recent being the Oscar Pistorius.
Even the current flavor of the season Donald Trump when asked his take on jury duty recently in New York had this to say – “It’s a system, and we go through it. And it’s a great system. It’s a system that works,” Trump said at midday. They do a fantastic job, and I met some wonderful people.”
Here is another sample on the Colarado sentence –
“The nine women and three men said on Friday that they could not reach a unanimous verdict on each of the murder counts. That automatically eliminates the death penalty for the failed neuroscientist, who blamed his calculated murders of 12 people on mental illness.
The same jury had rejected his insanity defence, finding Holmes capable of understanding right from wrong when he murdered 12 people and tried to kill 70 others.
But the defence countered that his schizophrenia led to a psychotic break, and that powerful delusions drove him to carry out one of the nation’s deadliest mass shootings.
“Evidence that is beyond reasonable doubt is the standard of evidence required to validate a criminal conviction in most adversarial legal systems. Generally, the prosecutor bears the burden of proof and is required to prove their version of events to this standard”
these jumps are good in percentage terms but they’re happening at such a low level that they’re really negligible. But also if the film were truly liked the jumps would be greater than this. At the very least the film would have been at 10-12 crores by Sun. Now would this film do ok if it started off with a strong initial so that even with drops later on the total would be decent at the very least? Sure! But that’s the problem. That Abhishek’s not getting them in on day 1. You can live with a low initial but you need something!
bye bye friends.
Dear Satyam and all the friends – this would be my last post here as I do not intend to return on this blog in near future.
No no – nothing has happened 🙂
Just trying a few different things in life and taking a sabbatical from few existing ones……
I have really enjoyed being here so far and learnt a lot from you all.
Some great minds like Satyam / Master / Abzee / Rooney / Q and many others here – thnx a lot friends. It has been lovely learning curve for me as far as looking at films with different perspectives is concerned. Thank you.
Take care and wish all of you a gala time here as usual 🙂
Best wishes Idea for whatever it is that you are pursuing… unless your plan is to blow up all the SRK-Salman-Hrithik fans out there 🙂 Actually, come to think of it… 😉
Before I get too caught up in the AIW debate, I’d like to mention why I’d come here in the first place.
Since subtlety was mentioned with respect to a certain individual, I’d like to speak about a true-blue masterpiece I’ve only just recently seen: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I’m frankly quite annoyed that I never saw it earlier but watching it was a completely mesmerizing experience.
Not everyone is going to be a fan of its pace – and this is a cold-war thriller to boot – but people who appreciate details will fall in love with it, as I frankly did. The acting, dominated by an all British cast, is outstanding and Gary Oldman, in particular, is out of this world. His performance is subtlety redefined in a way that will (should?) move you beyond words. As an actor, he doesn’t do much at all but when he shows the slightest emotion, you feel as if the Earth has left its orbit. I’m only exaggerating a little! Terrific, terrific performance and most importantly, whattafilm!
I’m a great fan of the Cold War genre but while I liked this version I wasn’t blown away by it. Mostly because I’ve seen the 80s BBC version of the same and that was phenomenal (not as cinematic of course). Alex Guinness played the same part. But among recent Le Carre versions I liked Most Wanted Man a lot more (though I didn’t much care for the book).
I actually came to know about Tinker Tailor after watching BBC’s The Game which I liked very much when I saw the entire first series. It’s also a Le Carre-inspired cold war miniseries with again exceptional performances from the entire cast. The cast is entirely British and if there’s one arena in which Britain still dominates the rest of the world, it’s on-screen performances. The general quality of British acting can be measured – like music – in scales, pitch and octaves. It’s that refined an art these days.
I’ve heard great things about the BBC series starring Alex Guiness but if he’s better than Gary Oldman playing Smiley then I’m going to run out of superlatives when it comes to describing British actors. And I think I’ve already come close in that respect.
yes I liked Game a lot too. It’s not as good as Tinker.. (BBC) not even close but it’s atmospherically great. The best in this genre that I’ve seen in many years is the French film farewell.
Abhishek unfortunately has been unlucky that his major projects with very strong directors alll failed post Guru. That is some poor luck…the team behind BNB, Guru, Bluffmaster, RDB, Lagaan, Sarkar and now OMG! There is no way he could have turned them down as films nor expected those results. Since those moments he has been taking multi-star positions to just get some successes going.
He’s made 2 big mistakes. As Satyam points out he did not go back early enough to his bread and butter commercial films. But the bigger mistake was to make a rather regular multiplex feel of a film, rather limited in terms of ambition and scale his comeback as a solo. At this stage he needed a lot more ambition as a comeback. Now he may not be in a position to make the choices he wants like he was in 2007, but a studied choice was required.
He needs a Lagaan moment, but that is at this moment incredibly difficult. I feel even that comparison is tough as Aamir was quite picky between 95-00 and he got success. Mann and Mela failed but everything else worked or was meaningful. He was working off something and had enough support for Lagaan to be taken seriously. Also my recollection is though Mela and Mann failed at least the latter got an opening.
Abhishek though is pretty much on the road to nowhere right now. He should seriously at this stage consider making his own luck. He needs reinvention, and something that can only happen with a serious amount of script judgement, money and a lot of luck. He needs the Lagaan moment but though it was a surprise for Aamir I doubt it was a shock. He had a knack. Abhishek needs something that will not only surprise but shock audiences. That is why something like AIW surprised me. It just felt so damn regular and pretty dull from promos. I could forgive Drona more – it was ambitiously awful. But what could he gain from AIW except a fairly standard success.
Ajay Devgnn to an extent shed his action image with Zakhm, Thakshak and HDDCS. That was a sea of change. Saif did something quite refreshing in DCH and got some mileage. Sanjay Dutt got Munnabhai out of nowhere. I think landing the game changer is not the issue per se, it’s what you do with it afterwards that counts.
hard to disagree with much here. And yes it’s true that Aamir was in any case very successful in the half decade or so leading upto Lagaan. These might not all have been the most talked-about projects at the time even when these were the biggest hits (BOI might want to compare footfalls for RH versus KKHH while they’re at it with PK and Bajrangi!) but he had an excellent success ratio. Nonetheless he felt the need to reinvent himself with Lagaan. You’re also absolutely right in that Mann got a good initial, even did well enough in some parts of the North. Mela started off well enough too. This is definitely not the Abhishek story, certainly in the period we’re looking at. And yes it’s a) very difficult to get a breakout hit in a regular genre b) even more difficult to get a special film on a platter since those films are risky anyway and naturally the producers want bankable stars to at least get the initial going. For both reasons and as I’ve already mentioned this is why he will really need to produce any such venture after ensuring he’s doing something important. Because I think that in regular genres even if he produces something it doesn’t solve the initial problem. It has to be something the audience finds interesting on face value and that can’t happen in genres that other stars are already delivering. and yes it’s about the followthrough as well but I think he really needs something significant to get rolling again.
A couple of other “slow-burn” films that I liked recently are: Foxcatcher & Lootera
Foxcatcher can be characterized as Oscar-bait and the bait surely worked but I think it’s more than that. It’s a thoughtful, meditative docudrama about an obscure (relatively speaking) incident that must have caught the fancy of tabloids and the paparazzi at the time. Foxcatcher as a film converts that paparazzi moment into a reflective, mood piece and herein lies its greatness.
What separates it from the rest of the Oscar nominees (Imitation Game, now that’s proper Oscar-bait) is its unusually languorous pace, which provides time for the viewer to think about a sport like Wrestling, the fragile nature & psychological barriers that elite sportsmen have to face and overcome. There are family bonds that tie two champions together and sibling rivalry that serves as both motivation as well as an excuse to self-destruct.
For me the best part was figuring out all of this and more (character motivation, for instance) with the help of entirely visual cues, with very less dialogue to aid the process. It’s a different approach to filmmaking and I’m not surprised if it tests the patience of an audience subjected to a barrage of summer blockbusters and formulaic scripts.
It’s not a film that one will forget in a day or two but one that will cast a spell for some time to come. It also helps that the acting is terrific as well. Steve Carell and Mark Ruffalo are both great and I think the latter is slightly better, overall.
Lootera is a film that I saw because I fell in love with its songs. The album is Amit Trivedi’s best to date and it’s just goose bump-inducing good. I literally can’t get tired hearing this album no matter what. So when I approached the film, I actually didn’t need too many reasons to like it.
What did surprise me was the deliberate pacing of the film. It’s ‘slow’ to the point that the viewer is forced to observe the details…forced to ‘immerse’ oneself in the period atmosphere, which I would imagine is aimed to suit the pace of life in a bygone era.
There is the odd throwback to popular culture and pop culture icons just after independence but it’s all non-intrusive in nature. The first half is all about the unusually ‘passionate’ love story (one would imagine, for that era) and setting up the ‘twist’ which isn’t too hard to figure out. But it’s all handled well in a way that the ‘twist’ hits you hard, even though one can see it coming a mile away.
The second half, unfortunately, isn’t as focussed as there are unnecessary distractions in the form of a Police chase, which is fundamentally at odds with the story, even if it’s handled well on its own. Lootera is all about its two lead characters and their entangled love story. Vikramaditya Motwane didn’t need to focus on any ‘filler’ sub-plots and take away attention from a very absorbing tale involving conflicting emotions.
The second half also sees the integration of O Henry’s The Last Leaf as a plot element. I thought it tied in quite well with the central theme of the film: deception. I think the integration is clever in a way that it creates a contrast between the two halves of the film… with each half having an opposite outcome.
I liked VM’s Udaan but with Lootera he’s turned me into a fan. In any case, it’s a rare Hindi film with refined sensibilities, bold narrative and sensational music. I can’t recommend it enough…even though I’mwell aware that it’s not perfect.
Was Rangeela big ? i dont remember it being a blockbuster always thought it was a Hit or maybe Super hit but BOI here says it was a blockbuster http://boxofficeindia.com/Movies/movie_detail/rangeela offcourse Aamir had RH next year too and before that he had a big one in Dil too so guess he wasnt doing all that bad in 90’s . The general perception was Srk & Salman were doing lot better than Aamir back then .
Rangeela wasn’t big in the ordinary sense of the word. It was a metro success, not a huge grosser of some kind but it was certainly a very iconic film at the time. Dil was much earlier. Now this was a big grosser and the biggest hit that year (the other two big ones that year were Aaj ka arjun and ghayal). After this Aamir had a more modest success in DHKMN and then a number of poor films. After this he took stock and slowly climbed out of it. The first film that marked his new phase was HHRPK. After this Rangeela was his high point and eventually RH. He had a hit like Ishq as well. The failures were very few beyond a point and he wasn’t doing much anyway. Eventually there were Ghulam and Sarfarosh. He was always a marquee star but in the Yahsraj age other than Rangeela he didn’t really have a truly iconic film. Of course he consciously avoided the yashraj paradigm as well. By the end of the decade he was doing just fine but clearly he wasn’t a defining star at that point. He just went into different gear altogether with the Lagaan/DCH double that year. And again as Jay pointed out he built on it with several films. It finally took 2008/09 for him to get those massive grossers. So these things take time. On the comparison with Salman and SRK I’ve said much on this before so I;ll just briefly summarize things. SRK wasn’t doing better than Salman in terms of a success ratio much less Salman. However SRK was simply the most iconic star of that age. He didn’t even have that many yahsraj or johar films in that peak period but the ones he did mattered and beyond the gross. RH was a bigger hit than every SRK film in that age with the exception of DDLJ and even here I wouldn’t be surprised if the footfalls weren’t too dissimilar. The superstar tag for SRK was always a total exaggeration. It wash’t about using older standards. When did SRK ever do what Salman has been doing since Dabanng. Every film opens hugely, every film even after it fizzles out gets to a pretty big number. SRK could manage that sort of thing only on the yashraj deal and even here not on every film. Nonetheless he was hugely iconic and certainly enjoyed a special status in India’s major urban centers and of course the diaspora. Salman too after starting out with a number of successes had as many failures and was pretty much wiped out in the sense that he wasn’t getting anything half-prestigious. Even HAHK in ’94, widely considered Madhuri’s hit at the time, did nothing to restore his fortunes. Eventually he started clawing back into the game with Dhawan, towards the end of the decade he had Biwi No 1, then HDDCS. On the other hand HSSH was a relative disappointment, the Shaan-after-Sholay kind of deal. Big initial and weak follow-through but enough to get it a big gross. But in the new decade Salman more or less vanished. He had a success here and there (these films didn’t really put him on a different footing though.. MSK, partner) but far more failures and utterly indifferent releases. With Wanted he turned it around to a degree and with dabanng the slate was wiped clean. In the 90s however he was certain not ahead of Aamir. SRK wasn’t either in some ways but he had the most iconic films and so the literal truth in some ways mattered less. Getting back to rangeela calling it a blockbuster is pushing it but then so much else gets the same label with far less justification. It’s for instance absurd to call Bajrangi an ATBB. Just because a film gets to that total doesn’t mean it’s an ATBB.
in terms of box office Rangeela wasn’t a “BB” but i remember it as a super hit (or a ‘bombay hit’).
With Aamir; yes it took him awhile really to be at this stage but Aamir delivered huge grossers before this recent run began. Same with Salman. These guys were huge in the 90’s even though SRK was at the top (though I always say Salman had a better box office run in the 90’s). I know you believe the ‘3 Khans’ stardom is a bit exaggerated (or you don’t like them being pitted together), but these guys have all been near or at the top for about 26 years now. This is why an Abhishek comparison isn’t remotely correct as you and JS admitted.
I do agree with JS’s Ajay Devgn and Sanjay Dutt comparison. You can say Sanjay got ‘lucky’ with the munna bhai connection or you can say it was seen coming because of his connection with VVC (mission kashmir). This is why Abhishek should probably produce a movie with someone he has had an impact with before…someone like Ratnam or Sippy. He did BB with Shetty after starting out with him earlier in his career and BB actually sort of put oxygen into his career again. He needs that type of ‘impactful’ film like you guys have been saying…this HF3 and HP stuff will do absolutely nothing for his career.
Bombay hit is the best way to describe Rangeela though it did well in some other metros too. On the rest I wasn’t comparing them. But nor do I believe Salman has been at the top for all these years. And do you know who agrees with me? Salman himself! He said in a recent interview where he was otherwise candid, even brash about certain things, that it took him 25 years to reach his current position. Salman was very much secondary for most of the 90s. Now of course he always had a certain cache beginning with his debut and so whenever he had a half decent film he had some results to show for it. But that’s very different from saying he was at the top. But also remember that in a time when there weren’t prestige films as such barring yashraj and when there was nothing credible in the action genre everyone else was almost B grade. Devgan or Akshay or whoever. Sunny Deol a cut above for a while, Dutt at other points.
It’s ironic that you bring up Dutt because in some ways the guy whose career Abhishek’s resembles most closely at this point is Dutt’s. I wouldn’t take it too far because there are important distinctions but there are larger similarities too. Dutt’s debut generated great interest but it didn’t do much at the box office. After this he too started drifting. Found success in a multistarrer like Vidhaata, later on he got reinvented with Naam. But even after Naam his career kept drifting for a while. Towards the early 90s he suddenly got into a very good phase with Saajan/Sadak and a Ghai film in the works. He was starting to look like a top star, Khalnayak was about to release, then of course his legal problems took over. But even without them it wouldn’t have lasted too long because the Yashraj phase was around the corner and that cinema wiped out everything. No one was prospering in the genres Dutt was suited for. He again spent years doing mostly useless stuff. Then Munnabhai came along much later. But even this and the sequel are really exceptions. In fact Sunjay Dutt’s entire career is a series of exceptions with that one point in the early 90s where he threatened to become much bigger. If you take Abhishek’s career so far and though he’s done much better quality stuff at points and has more of the actor reputation with folks who counted he too has been sporadic for very different reasons. And he too had a couple of years in between when he looked like really shooting to the top. Actually this is the closest parallel in some ways. Of course Dutt went through a much worse time in the industry when there weren’t many good projects for most of his peak career. The opposite was true for Abhishek. But this is made up by the fact that Abhishek’s historical burden has also been unique. And he has been more micro-analyzed with every failure than anyone else. I could start counting Dutt’s flops and his poor initials or the same for Devgan and so on and I could come up with as many. Yes relative to the promise of his projects Abhishek has still failed more in certain ways. We can have that debate. But the parallel with Dutt isn’t a bad one. And again I could literally go film by film to establish this.
The debate I have with everyone whether it’s Salman or Abhishek begins exactly at such points. People often have ‘impressions’ of a history that are false, either factually or in terms of its meaning. So in one sense Salman had a certain cache but he was still way behind SRK. On the other hand SRK too has many more failures than one would expect given his reputation and that certainly people would find acceptable today. But he had a unique brand-name too. So there are many ways of slicing and dicing these things. When it gets to Abhishek one can of course say much about his failures but one must also account for the special terms in which his career is always defined. Other stars weren’t subjected to the same standards. In the same sense it’s important to be honest about where Abhishek has been at different points and not put everything together as many like to (or ignore the successes altogether using other definitions). If the name is a unique historical burden it is also something that sets him apart even at his lowest points. So I don’t necessarily have a problem with this. But one must be clear about the factual record as well as what the history ‘means’ at every point whether it’s Dutt or Abhishek or Salman or whoever. Salman for instance has been going through a mass phase that has not been seen in Bombay for some decades. Now one doesn’t need to exaggerate it and make it Bachchanesque or something but it’s fairly singular otherwise. On the other hand Aamir’s career and the way he’s fashioned it since Lagaan is singular in an even larger sense because I’ve never seen a star become so successful on the strength of quality films and that sort of uncanny judgment. Whatever Aamir’s original appeal might have been he hasn’t traded in it since just about forever. But unlike Salman he also hasn’t converted himself into a different sort of mass phenomenon. It’s very hard to be a star without an obvious strength genre and an obvious base and yet get the biggest absolute numbers. But Aamir is doing it or has been doing it for so long.
the one thing I’d add to this comment was that Dutt had a certain iconic appeal in his own way. An urban angst that was singular to him. But all of this still did not alter his box office story.
“This is why Abhishek should probably produce a movie with someone he has had an impact with before…”
Unfortunately Abhishek is not a smart guy and also he is not interested in mass /action movies..After Singam hit SRK immediately offered a Chennai express to Rohit shetty and Chennai express is biggest hit in SRK’s career.
Recently Abhishek gave a statement ‘If we give a flop film, people stop taking our calls… then it does not matter whose kid you are’
Even after Heraphere 3 and Housefull 3,he don’t need to wait for someone to offer him a movie instead he can produce a movie with 50-60 crores budget and he can choose directors like Rohit shetty ,Rajkumar santhoshi etc for his solo movie.Bachchans are right now financially in better position.If Abhishek has self respect and guts ,in future he should not accept all those silly supporting roles(really sad to see him in movies like Dhoom3 and Happy new year) and produce a movie himself as a solo hero.He should just remember his father’s famous dialogue in Deewar “Main Aaj bhi phenkey huye paise nahin uthhaata “
Agreed that 2001 was a very important year for Aamir a major turning point in his career . There was Gadar that year which was massive and KKKG too was quiet big but with the double Lagaan/DCH Aamir made sure that it was his year .
It’s amazing that the biggest gross of its time really didn’t matter in terms of ‘legacy’ or impact. Gadar is barely remembered today and Sunny Doel’s career after Gadar pretty much faded rather quickly (barring a few ‘doel family’ hits.)
Saket what you said about ‘lootera’ is same what i want to say. Some may find it exaggerated but for me Lootera is one of the best hindi film in 21st century and certainly best film of last 7-8 year.
‘Qabra per mere sar utha ke khadi ho Zindagi, Aise marna hai mujhe’..One of the best line written ever. Other day someone in this blog said Vikramditya Motwane made 2 film great ‘Udaan’ and Pathetic ‘Lootera’. WTF..I mean it is one thing if yu didn’t like ‘Lootera’ and it is other thing to call ‘Looetra’ Pathtic. I wrote my thoughts on ‘Lootera’ in the heydays of Naachgaana (NG). Saket is also a former member of NG like many others.
Caveat – I am not a pandit on cinema as some others in this forum so it is not a review but just my feeling after watching Lootera. Also i learnt english from INjamam-ul-haq and Saqlain Mustaq so excuse me for my atrocious english.
Story – Alsmost a decade ago, during my IIMC days, i wrote an article on Lata Ji. I wrote “Agar aapke ander ab bhi kuch Dhawal (Safed, White) aur Shuddh (Pure) bacha hai to aap Lata ji ki aawaz main use mehsoos kar sakte hain. Aap is baat per bhi bharosa kar sakte hain ki Kalyug main bhi Devi-Devta avtaar lete hain kyonki Lata ji ki aawaz main sakshat Saraswati Vaas karti hain” Same thought came in mind watching an expeirence called Lootera. I will not go in the story detail as most of the people know it and it can play spoiler alert. The Bottomline is this that after watching lootera you understand that Silence has a language. There are too many scene in the film where there are no dilouge, no dramatic music. Director gave viewers time to feel the Emotion and to see within. This film sometimes reminds you our epics like where everything is corelated. The way he construct ‘Meri jaan Toote main basi hai’ story and Leaf painting sequence, The way he build up Emotions for the climax is the proof of what a great storytaler motwane is ? His eyes for detail is also unmatched. Take the example of that scene where Ranveer and his friend left Sonakshi Haveli. They don’t start thier bike because it can wake Sonakshi or her father.
Performences- As i already said i will not say to much about story so it brings us to the performence. Lootera is a film which is based on performences. Every actor fits into thier role to the ‘T’. Even thier diction is perfect to. As far as performences of lead actors are concern i have to admit though i am a big Ranveer fan i have no shame to say that Film belongs to Sonakshi Sinha. She is the soul of the film. You feel every emotion of her. From Acting to body lanuage to diction..Basically she captured everything perfectly. As they say nobody is perfect but Sonkshi is perfect for this role. As far as Ranveer performence He to delivered a perfect punch. It is just that Sonkshi role has more meat (Pun intended). I rate Ranveer above Ranbeer and this film confirms my belive. (Strictly my thought). He is more versetile and now i understad why he has such a terrefic lineup of Films. Looking forward to Ramleela and Gundey.
Cinemetography – Review of lootere will be not complete without talking about Cinemetography. As i said somewhere i don’t watch too many films in theater so i can’t say if any other film look so good in big screen. Every shot is a treat to watch. In film Ranveer and Sonkshi paint the landscape but in reality whole film is poetry in motion. Do a favour to yourself and good cinema and watch this in theatre.
PS 1- They say Boys don’t cry but i cried twice during the film. First in ‘Shikayate’ song and Second time during ‘Zinda houn main’ song. ‘Zinda houn main’ song is 100 times more impactfull in the film then the promo.
You seem to have liked it much more than I did, which is nice to see. I do agree that the film is quite poetic in in its tone and texture and (blasphemy alert!) resembles David Lean’s Doctor Zhivago in that respect.
I can understand if people have trouble keeping up with the pace of the film but to outright reject it is a travesty of honest, informed opinion.
Lootere didn’t work for me at all. It started well, the Sonakshi character, her father played by Varun Chanda and the arrival of Ranveer were all perfect. But this whole business of painting the leaf is so ridiculous that it is difficult to take the film seruously. The basic O Henry story sis also stupid, but while reading it the ridiculousness is not so apparent. But on big screen, you can realize why it’s such a juvenile idea. I mean anyone who knows anything aboiut painting knows that it does not take a master painter to piant a leaf that will look like a leaf from many metres away. Just something vaguely green will do. And even if it needed a replica ofa leaf to be painted, it wont require a great artist to do it. And in the film, all that brouhaha about Ranveer climbing the tree to paste that leaf on the brach, with the song in the background, is too much to bear. Sometime the geberal audience is the best filter to keep out such phony ideas.
I think you’re missing the forest for the trees. The point, both in the O Henry short and Lootera (am not discussing the merits of the adaptation), is not so much about how accurately is the leaf painted but the desperate need to believe of one person and the unfailing attempt of the other to keep that faith going. In a relationship premised on falsehood, the fake leaf acts as the truest commitment to the emotion underlying the impersonation.
Some audacity I must say though to dismiss O Henry’s short as stupid!
“Lootera didn’t work for me at all. ”
The ONLY thing u need to change is replace sonakshi by deepika dressed in her skirt from the primary school days.
The SAME film will SURPASS DAVID LEAN for utkal uncle !!
the same for Satyam if u replace ranveer singh with abhishrek
Adjectives will surpass ray !!
Reviews coming from certain quarters need to be taken with a pinch of salt (& spin)
The REAL version imo was that lootera was a v good effort
After the slightly tepid box office of the brilliant udaan, motwane tried to incorporate his mentor bhansali in this one which led to some inconsistencies in tone sp towards the end
But this is the best performance by sonakshi
Good music by trivedi and good work by motwane
And the guy who played sonakshis father was well cast
abzee2kin: ‘but the desperate need to believe of one person and the unfailing attempt of the other to keep that faith going.’ Yes, to some extent, that sapects saved the O Henry story from being a total goner. ( Letr me confess atht I am no admirer of twist endings in short stories and find o Henry by and large quite gimmicky. Give me Muapassant or Chekhov any day.) But in Lootera all those distractions of statute stealing do not bulid the mod for the business f keeping the faith going to register. And for god sake, the melodrama of Ranveer climbing the tree to paste that leaf was as ridiculous as ridiculous get. As I said, the banality of trying to pass of a painting a leaf is glossed over, but ina film it stares at you wit wide eyes.
You do realize that there was a snow storm outside the house in which Sonakshi lived. Also, the fact that she was looking at the leaf from some distance (her bedroom window).
One shouldn’t be a stickler for ‘logic’ in a film per se, but even so, there is enough justification for the ruse to run its course.
I hope the subtlety of Ranveer painting a leaf to save Sonakshi’s life after learning the art of painting from her is also not lost on you.
Besides that (big fat spoiler alert!), as I’ve mentioned previously, there is a central theme of deception running throughout the length of the film. The first half ends with Ranveer duping Sonakshi and her father, which results in the latter’s death. The second half also ends with Ranveer’s deception (painting the last leaf), which this time around, serves to save Sonakshi’s life.
That’s the reason why I think the script is quite clever in integrating O Henry’s plot. It’s not a straightforward adaptation, which suits me just fine!
there’s NO logic in utkal uncles objection!
As I’ve mentioned above, the ONLY real problem here was that the heroine was not anorexic and was (over)clothed…
I also saw Detective Byomkesh Bakshi recently. This is Dibakar’s best outing since Oye Lucky and as I suspected after watching the trailer, it’s an ‘origin’ story inspired by graphic novel sensibilities.
Wonderfully evocative, powerful and atmospheric, it’s also quite gory and violent. But it does suffer from a fatal flaw: Sushant Singh Rajput, who plays the titular character, is just about adequate throughout the length of the film. His performance is not awful as much as it’s flat…without any nuance or charisma. This is also Dibakar’s failing as much as it highlights Rajput’s limitations as an actor. Neeraj Kabi, as the antagonist, is quite a hoot though. Real fun watch!
And now for the truly horrible stuff. I’m going to be roasted for saying this, but here goes nothing.
Baby: This is an incredibly stupid film. Honestly, I had no clue Neeraj Pandey could make such a dumb film that has nothing to say, nothing to show and has the worst ending possible for a thriller to boot. You kinda hope that some good will come out of waiting till the end, but this film is a super-long tease with jack to show at the end. And Akshay Kumar can’t act…I thought it was clear to one and all by now. But here he is, mouthing lines like Aadat Hai while breaking a terrorist’s tooth with a deadpan expression to beat all deadpan expressions. I was left wondering: was this a clue for me to clap or throw something (a shoe?) at the screen?
Holiday — A Soldier is never off duty: With a name like that, you can’t be excused in case you miss the sledgehammer-like subtlety of what follows next. Murugadoss’ script is so puerile, you’d think a five year old has written it. There is a scene where Akshay Kumar, playing a superhuman soldier blessed with Sherlock Holmes’ mind (you need to watch the film, I’m just scratching the surface of his abilities here) hides a terrorist and Sonakshi Sinha in two adjacent cupboards, inside his bedroom while he exchanges a few banal lines with his friend. This scene is played out for laughs; if you find it funny then congrats, you are totally fit to be a member of Akki’s fan club. As you might have guessed, I did not pass this test. But leaving aside the heavy disappointment of missing out on this exclusive club’s membership, I was left wondering just how much Aamir contributed to Ghajini’s effectiveness as a film. My guess is quite a whole lot…
Enjoyed Holiday to be honest (haven’t seen the Vijay original). Nothing special here of course. liked it more than Baby. Didn’t mind the latter either. But I do agree that Neeraj pander gets a bit worse with each new release. I think part of the problem is that the small thriller format he likes working with is hard to pull off (in terms of attracting any sort of audience) without the national security angle thrown in. Of course you can do this more intelligently but unfortunately there isn’t much of a market in Bollywood for purer films of that sort.
Agreed on Neeraj Pandey…and yes, if one can look past the silliness in Holiday (the comedy is truly awful), it’s probably a better film. Both films are not for me though…
“his is an incredibly stupid film. Honestly, I had no clue Neeraj Pandey could make such a dumb film that has nothing to say, nothing to show and has the worst ending possible for a thriller to boot. ”
Could you please elaborate more, why do you think like that?
I enjoyed Baby. Quite a bit.Not perfect but it holds your attention and the acting is appropriate. I wouldnt call it stupid in any way.In fact is more nuanced and logical than 95% of Bollywood films.
The exchanges between Danny and the minister are particularly well crafted and for once I felt proud of the director. Akki was dead pan through most of the movie but I liked the characterisation. There was a sincerity to the proceedings which is rare in Hindi movies.
Ghajini was a remake of a South movie with Surya…Except the last 30 mins everything is the same. And Thupakki is a wonderful movie in Tamil…possibly Vijays best…A movie like Thupakki – one shouldn’t think too much, I guess…Its fun to see and one should forget it after that…Holiday is a frame to frame remake of Thupakki but not half as good as thupakki because of the way Vijay plays the character. I have never been a Vijay fan but he is wonderfully effective in Thupakki.
Baby is absolutely fantastic. Don’t want to talk about the high ratings it enjoys on IMBD, etc but it remains absolute favourite thriller for many. Even in this forum folks have told the same “After watching the movie”.
That Aadat Hai dialog which you have panned drew whistle at the theatre. You needed a dead pan approach to get max impact and Akki nailed it here.
Looks like we have a major difference in opinion on what is called acting 😀
How desi spin-offs of foreign soaps fared on Indian television
Sumit Sambhal Lega (English: Sumit Will Handle Everything) is an upcoming Indian sitcom television series, which is scheduled to premiere sometime in July 2015 and will be broadcast on STAR Plus. The series is the Hindi adaptation of Warner Bros’ Everybody Loves Raymond. The channel has acquired the rights to the official adaptation of globally popular sitcom television series.[1][2]
The channel has roped in the writer of the original series, Steve Skrovan.
They have just copied each and every character along with their traits (Sports writer, police officer..even looks). Only difference is they don’t have twins.
“MSDhoni Says:
August 25, 2015 at 11:50 AM
“Apex don’t let Satyam humor you ……and deceive……….you now have 8 wickets of the opposition and I suggest go for the kill now and put your best pace attack and get the last two ….win the match / series / cup / final …….No Mercy !!”
Thanx miss dhoni –haha
I’ve had Satyam on the mat numerous times (literally!)
But somehow I have a certain weakness wherein I don’t want to go for the kill; I don’t want to ‘win’
Unlike others, I don’t blog to be ‘famous’ or ‘convert’ or influence…
This is like the dhoom3 scene
Wherein a defeated abhishreks life was SPARED by aamir (ironically!)
As for winning the match/series/cup/final …
Just 2 more cents
What MORE can I do when Satyam has stopped putting up figures for AIW (BOI or koimoi or taran etc)
What MORE can I do when Satyam still spends ages MODERATING my comments and still this is the state lol
As for abhishrek, I have nothing against the guy
But there’s a stage wherein there’s a point of no return
The other day, Redford argued he is not retiring, some thing I had announced has happened already happened after ALL IS LOST…
He’s still doing some stuff but imo his career is over!
There’s no point in DENIALS
He may keep fiddling around but
Abhishreks SOLO CAREER IS NOW OVER
Abhisheks like the kid sitting on the back seat of a moving car, punching the back of the drivers seat, thinking it’s HE who is driving that moving car
There r only two people in the world with the delusion ….
Finally and this is something I didn’t wish to say but for the purposes of TRUTH needs to be said
Abhishrek is a v nice guy but
(Sorry Satyam!) HISTORY will remember him only as a
BOTTOMFEEDER
Oh Gehlore ki goriya
Chali bu humre sang ho
Tohri khatir rachi be dagariaa
Pahunche wazirganj ho
Phagunia ho Phagunia..
Bas gayi tu mere mann mein
Ab tu hi meru duniya
Phagunia ho Phagunia..
We all know the story of Dasrath Manjhi. A poor man’s wife in some remote village of Bihar dies due to lack f medical attention, because the way to the hospital goes round a mountain taking hours to reach. The man chips away at the mountain singlehandedly for some twenty years with a chisel and hammer and craves out a path that cuts the travel of 40 miles to some 4 miles.
So when we go to see Manjhi – The Mountain Man what would we like to see? Maybe how he manages to do it…his physical challenges and he tackles them. But perhaps there is something else we would like to see more. It is only a mad man who can take up such an enterprise… maybe the director could show us a multi-sectional view of that madness?
To my mind, Ketan Mehta gets it right by making the love story, the passion that Dasrath feels for Phaguniya, the pivot of the narrative. The hallucinatory flashbacks of many erotically charged moments with Phguaniya gives us a sense of the junoon that is driving Dasrath on this madcap enterprise. The fantasy sequences with the earthy and luscious Radhika Apte may seem gratuitous, but without that kind of poetry ho would anyone survive the dry and draining stint among the rocks?
Mehta also gets the tone and scale of the film right. The rusticity of the locale and the exchanges between characters ring true. ( Shooar ka bachcha, mein tera baap bol raha hoon.) All the supporting characters, especially the family of Dasrath, his father, and later his young son and daughter look so disturbingly real, you cannot remain untouched by the heart-rending poverty and caste oppression against the backdrop of which the central event is taking place. And we must not forget taht we chnace upon Dasrath’s stubboorn streak, when as a child he refuses to bea binded labour of the vilage mukhiya like his father.
Among the current lot of directors in business I think it is only Mehta who can integrate the social reality into the narrative cogently and comment on it seriously without losing a beat. Mehta could have made a ‘ 127 Hours’ kind of film focusing on the man versus mountain battle , or could turn it into an arty ‘ Old Man and the Sea’ kind of saga which would have impressed most critics. But Mehta’s motives are more sincere, and his artistic vision more astute. This is not a feel-good Lagaan. In spite of Dasrath Manjhi’s heroic achievement, it is a sad story. Manjhi has managed to cut through the mountain, but not the world of government apathy and corruption. Early on in the film, we see Dasrath gifting his wife a replica of Taj Mahal. But unlike the Taj Mahal, the path that Manjhi carves , is as much a labpur of love as an act of anger and avenging. That’s why, Indira Gandhis’ slogan of ‘ Garibi Hatao’, the government legislation against untouchability and the Naxalite violence are the necessary ingredients of Manjhi’s story that Mehta wants to tell.
The back and forth shifting of time periods might seem disorienting, but let’s face it, cutting of the path through the mountain over twenty years must have been boring, prosaic work. Mehta didn’t want to falsify the narrative to make it more dramatic than it really was. He has also tried to give us a sense of reality…how he earned a little money by transporting goods for traders, how he built a little shelter for himself and how he cooked for and fed his little children up there for a while. There are a few dramatic moments involving a snake bite, another where he drinks from a dirty mountain stream and chews leaves to assuage hunger and thirst, and a Murakami moment where he catches minutes of blissful rest at the bottom of a dry well. But there is an overall sense of reality that guides the narrative.
The film might lose a bit of narrative steam here and there as the basic arc of the story is known to us. But what kept me riveted was the absolutely spot-on performance by Nawazzudin Siddiqi. After his fabulous turn in ‘Badlapur’ here was another character he has totally internalized. He is delightful as the passionate and playful lover in the early parts of the film, though in a template we have perhaps seen him before. Thankfully the director provides him many points of inflection till the end of the film for his talent to shine through. It is not just him chipping at the mountain. There are of course scenes of his battle against hunger and thirst, and the fury of the elements; but there are also scenes of his interactions with the Naxalite leader, the political establishment in Wazirganj and Delhi , his father and his children. We see him turn more stoic and cynical as he grows older. I especially loved the scene where after the Violent retribution handed out to the village mukhiya by the Naxalites, the friendly journalist asks him if he thought what had happened was right, and he replies, “ Why ask me such questions? What do I know of such things? I don’t even know any more why I am doing what I am doing.”
Matching him in stride is Radhika Apte who has become simply incapable of giving a performance that is less than captivating. The earthy physicality and the rustic eroticism that she infuses her character with is very vital to our buying Manjhi’s passionate obsession with her even after she is dead.
Oh mohre sajanvaa bas itna hai kehnaa
Tera rang ohhdaa tera rang pehna
Mere tann pe sajne lagaa
Teri baahon kaa gehnaa, she sings in one of those fantasy sequences and gives us the goosebumps. Sandesh Shandilya’s lilting folk-based tunes add to the magic.
Everyone in the supporting cast, from Tingmashu Dhulia and Pankaj Tripathy to the actors who play Manjhi’s father, son and daughter live the characters they are playing and help us in visualizing the bleak social canvas on which this supposedly heroic episode is being painted.
At one point in the film, the well-intentioned reporter admires Manjhi for his sense of purpose and rues how he has given up his dreams of doing journalism of significance and had become a dalla of the politicians instead. Manjhi retorts, “Why don’t you bring out your own newspaper? Or is that harder than chipping path through the mountains?” The journalist does manage to come out with his own paper and the message of optimism is not lost. But neither can we lose sight of the reality of injustice that still persist all around us and the powerful political class that thwarts decent human behaviour and any noble action with cynicism and calculated chicanery at evert step.
That to my mind makes the film radically different from what we usually get to see even among the better specimens of mainstream cinema today.
Q.What is the reason that Akshay Kumar’s movies can’t be compared with Khans in terms of opening. If we go by fan following Akshay kumar is bigger star than Amir Khan, he has more loyal fans as compared to him. Do you think any of Akshay Kumar’s upcoming movie can get 20+cr opening without festive day release?
Ans. He is not a bigger box office star than Aamir Khan as thats what box office figures say. But yes the popularity is there as his mass entertainers rate on television as good or even better than anyone else. What this means is there is a problem with content as the audience watches on television but the content or look is not good enough to bring them to the theatres. A good comparison is Gabbar Is Back and Jai Ho. If we take out the holiday factor for Jai Ho, the difference is 18 crore beteweem them in terms of lifetime business. Both similar action films, both under performers, both actors in heroic mode which is important for big numbers but both let down by production values which is also very important today with high ticket rates. This gap is not a huge one but the problem is Akshay Kumar has Gabbar Is Back which can be compared with Jai Ho but does not have a film which can be compared with Kick, Ek Tha Tiger or Bajrangi Bhaijaan in terms of even the look, forget content. A 20 crore non holiday opening is not hard for Akshay Kumar but it will have to the right film. Put him in the above mentioned Salman Khan films and they may not open to Salman levels as he is on the crest of a wave at the moment but it can also easily be said that they won’t open to 12 or 13 crore like Gabbar Is Back or Brothers. The difference will probably be that Gabbar Is Back and Jai Ho difference.
V Yadav
This is where BOI and few here get is plain wrong. How can u compare BO performance of a start doing 4 films and another doing 1/2 a film a year on an average?
Also the opinion about the look and presentation is flawed. Akki movie is definitely 40% lower in cost to distibutors than say Aamir or Salman. How on earth will it look same?
Akshay can do 1 film every 10 years but if it’s going to be something like Baby or GIB than it wouldn’t make an iota of difference. Aamir has built a following that is just way beyond anything Akshay can even dream right now. And they don’t really follow Aamir as much as his script sense. This is why a mediocre movie like Dhoom 3 was able to make over 280 CR. Doing 4 movies every year or doing 1 movie every 4 year is not does not matter. If it did than Hrithik would also be doing record grosses!
funny enough,got a chance to see akkis ” easy 26 ” ,not an akki fan but films like singis king,khakhee,anyways watched easy 26,wow ,what a film ,excellent film by akki,btw is there a sequel being made because manoj bajpai looked confused,hope he is not in mental hospital,lol
Munna: This comment from imdb pretty much sums up what I’d like to say about Baby
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It was the first and LAST time I trust ratings for recent Indian films on IMDB.
9.1, really? REALLY?? Oh, I watch a lot of Bollywood films. I usually like the romance stories because despite their extreme cheesiness and corniness, they are enjoyable, fun, and they usually have good song choregraphies.
This was a “thriller”, yet it was still overly ridiculous, cartoon-like. Typical Bollywood drivel. Exposition, exposition, bad acting, poor attempts at humor, weak fight scenes, unbelievable plot devices, useless scenes, bla bla bla.
Random examples (possible spoilers):
One character hates another and keeps saying “I will NOT work with him! NO!”
*next scene they are all together on the plane*
Lol, I’ve NEVER seen this before!
A fight takes place in a room, in the next one the *bad guys* are making their way towards them. OMG! Is he gonna knock him out in time before the others arrive!? (guess for yourself)
A guy gets up to flee and runs toward the window. The cops just stand there looking at him.
The main character is in Nepal near a pagoda and to go down, instead of taking the steps, he makes multiple jumps down beside although he doesn’t need to, just to look cool, you know.
The taxi driver drives superrrrrrrrrrrr slowly (comedy moment), so the main character tells him to move and then we see him at the wheel going *somewhat* faster. Har har har.
They infiltrate a mansion that has an electric fence. When they hack the system so the fence becomes harmless, the guard inside, who hears the alarm, just goes to fix the breakers or some crap and then goes back to his mobile phone game. That happens TWICE! He doesn’t bother checking WHY the alarm goes off in the first place!! WTF?
The main character’s “relationship” with his wife is 100% pointless. It’s barely there. In fact, the joke is his wife doesn’t know what he does and he keeps telling her he’s in “a reunion” and she tells him “just don’t die”. Yawn.
The cops tell our guy in the airport to STOP MOVING! Oh! What will happen? Suspense! Actually, joke’s on you, viewer. The cops were talking to another guy off camera and our guy is safe! Phew!
I could go on and on and on about how bad it was. Seriously.
Then I saw a review here that says it is Oscar-worthy? ….!! Like, no, this is not my *subjective opinion*, anyone who has seen at least two films in their life knows this is far, far, VERY far from being Oscar material. It would probably get a Razzie award if it had been a Hollywood film.
Also, I don’t know if all the international releases get the same subs, but there were lots of mistakes in the subtitles.
K3G is a milestone of its genre. Just like HAHK is units genre.
I have no shame in admitting that I can watch K3G (some portions ) again and again. Actually saw it again this weekend. The scene where SRK/Hrithik reunite after the Sare Jahan Se never fails to bring a lump to the throat. If you are a Hindi film fan, there has to be something dead inside you, not to be able to enjoy K3G.
I know you are just kidding but some consider it fashionable to criticize K3G or if they liked it, feel ashamed to admit. This is what movie going is about. If a film moves you, however contrived,manipulative or hackneyed it is, you enjoy it.
One character hates another and keeps saying “I will NOT work with him! NO!”
*next scene they are all together on the plane*
Lol, I’ve NEVER seen this before!
Isn’t there similar loopholes/cliché/convenience like these in Bourne, MI, James Bond series? Can’t we argue the same about Argo climax? In fact any thriller for most part can be brought down if you start applying logic.
There were couple of scenes which I thought were lazy screenplay (KayKay escape on highway, interrogation scene) but rest was a good thriller IMO.
Baby was a classic as compared to Udaan, Lootera, The Blue Umbrella, Ghanchakkar, Aaiyya and all the trash kashyap serves !!!
P.S.- Not seen Shahid, Masaan, Hunter,Bombay Velvet etc but am pretty sure they are as worthless as Aiyya !!
Aapke like/dislike mei consistency hai 🙂 I liked Udaan a lot. I didn’t mind Ghanchakkar and loved Lazy Lad song.
There is contradiction when someone says they liked wanted but disliked Ghajini. They are in similar genre. If you don’t have “star” bias; you should like or dislike both movies.
Saw Ex Machina and Transcendence – Both similar genre (Artificial Intelligence). Ex-Machina is slow but well made. Transcendence has good premise and bigger production but is not handled well in second half.
I probably liked all three at one level or the other but Haider is easily the most accomplished film of the three. Not surprisingly. Meant to leave a longer comment on it in one of the threads. Might still do so.
Re.-Haider is easily the most accomplished film of the three
I would take Baby over Haider, but did not mind Haider… I like Shahid, Kay Kay, Tabu so was an easy watch for me….
Speaking of Shadid – his dad’s performance in the movie “Dus” is simple brilliant.
P.S.- Re.-Meant to leave a longer comment on it in one of the threads. Might still do so.
Please do it for the sake of Saurabh !! LOL!!
No, I’d disagree. Mission Impossible, the first one, is a bonafide classic. It’s one of De Palma’s better films, if not among his best.
The Bourne series is way better than whatever Baby has to offer. I’m not a fan of the James Bond franchise, but since Casino Royale the silliness quotient is almost absent from the series…there’s no comparison to be made here either.
Baby doesn’t just suffer from a bad screenplay, it’s also got a male star who’s got as many expressions on his face as a log of wood. And that’s Akshay Kumar for you on a good day!
The acting in Baby is bad, but that’s not all. The entire screenplay revolves around the good guys catching lucky breaks. One after another, till the very end. By the end of the film, it’s not a plot device, it’s the entire plot. It’s so ridiculous to see even the Police chief letting them take off…just because!
And to think that the film has been compared to Hollywood thrillers. It’s a Hollywood wannabe, yes, and the critics in the west will shred it to pieces in no time. It’s that bad.
“it’s also got a male star who’s got as many expressions on his face as a log of wood. And that’s Akshay Kumar for you on a good day!”
By definition you don’t need much acting skills in thriller. So you think Tom Cruise and Matt Damon emoted well? I don’t think there was much scope.
Again, will have to disagree. Tom Cruise and Matt Damon could beat Akshay Kumar in their worst outings. It’s not even close, IMO.
And MI-1 has had a critical revaluation since its initial release. The computer heist scene from the first part is one of the most copied/parodied scene in recent memory!
I thought all three were sufficient for the roles in their respective movies. IMO you don’t need a lot of acting skills in thriller. You probably need to be comfortable in role.
A thriller, at least a typical one, does not have a lot of scope for an actor to showcase his or her talent. There are slow-paced thrillers which actually depend a lot on the actors (Tinker Tailor for example) but fast-paced ones which rely on a-thrill-a-minute formula, usually don’t.
Having said that, there has to be a minimum standard that needs to be observed. The Aadat Hai scene, for instance, could have had a strong impact with a good actor in place. Take Neeraj Pandey’s own A Wednesday as an example. Naseer is first rate in the film. Not just Naseer, Jimmy Shergill is awesome as well. Manoj Bajpai is brilliant in Special 26.
There’s nothing even remotely comparable in Baby. As a thriller, it doesn’t really thrill and as a political statement, it’s not much refined compared to Anil Sharma’s chest-thumping brand of jingoism.
Maybe I’m being too harsh on the film. But this film was praised to the skies and has been compared to Hollywood thrillers. Once that comparison has been made, it’s imperative that Hollywood standards be used to judge this film. And on that count, it falls short and how!
I completely disagree on “As a thriller, it doesn’t really thrill and as a political statement, it’s not much refined compared to Anil Sharma’s chest-thumping brand of jingoism. “. IMO it is very similar to any espionage thriller of west in terms of pacing and execution. There are 3-4 scenes which could have presented differently (apart from some stated above, other being Musalman and Indian in column).
My sense of Baby is that it’s better than most commercial films coming out of Bombay. Now admittedly that’s a low bar! on the pure thriller bit a lot of what you’re saying is true but the ideal thriller in this sense is again a standard Bollywood rarely reaches. On Hollywood I’d say that while they always handle the ‘process’ side of things more professionally and are completely plausible on that score I’m not sure if this otherwise adds to the plausibility of the overall premises of those films. Bond is not the best example as it’s meant to be outlandish, even a bit tongue-in-cheek whereas Baby is clearly meant to be in a more realist mode. For the same reason I wouldn’t necessarily bring in the MI franchise either. But any number of Hollywood thrillers that are impeccable in terms of detail and process (and obviously these things are important) are nonetheless not more believable because they get those elements right (though it’s true that if this side of things is handled very well the viewer is lulled into believing everything that is still a sleight-of-hand).
Here’s my older comment on Baby:
[On a different note saw Baby recently. It was engaging enough throughout but I still think the director is getting a bit weaker with every film. Even as a sheer craftsman. Special 26 was fun but could have been way better. And Baby seems like a rough cut of sorts. A lot of things seem incomplete. The film is entertaining enough but I’d take Holiday over it. The other annoying thing about Baby was the blatant wannabe stuff.. a term like ‘deep asset’ and so on. Don’t get me wrong, enjoyed it, but it’s nowhere close to being the sort of film many described here.]
Where I do think I’d agree much more with you is that if you do the Hollywood-like thing without all the professionalism they bring to the table the results become much more problematic. It’s not like doing something else altogether and justifying it as a different set of filmic codes and so on. Here a very Hollywood template is being attempted. Nonetheless I did find it enjoyable. On Akshay he’s never been much of an actor but I do find him rather likable on screen (even if I can’t sit through his comedies) and in general root for him. His very best role I still think was Khakee. Getting back to Baby if you compare Agent Vinod with it now this latter film is a disaster of some sort (not referring to the box office). I’d be surprised if Phantom were any better either.
Yes, Baby is all right compared to prevailing Bollywood standards. Agree with Satyam for the most part…I quite liked Akshay Kumar in Tashan although that seems to be a distant memory now. He was also not bad in Khakee but it was difficult to notice him in front of Bachchan. Or anyone else for that matter.
Munna: haven’t seen Drishyam yet. But I might watch it soon.
Akshay is a very competent actor. As an unabashed chest thumping nationalist , I would take one scene of Akshay in Namaste London over the entire Khan trinity’s filmography- where he brings down the Gora verbally and strips him on the yacht.
Wouldn’t watch Haider if it was the last film made. In fact, will never ever watch a VB film in future.
to be honest people have overreacted to Haider. Whatever one might think of the film’s politics it really isn’t center-stage. or it is in the sense that it’s always there but it somehow doesn’t quite seem to be the point of the film. of course this perhaps introduces problems with respect to the Hamlet story. Visually I probably liked this the most of all the director’s films but it definitely has problems. But in terms of the politics I honestly couldn’t quite see what the big fuss was all about. Any number of films shown as much or at least close to this with respect to Kashmir. I felt it was always there but as almost in a generic way rather than in any very precise sense. Sure you get some specific references but it doesn’t quite add up to a consistent political narrative. Somewhat allegorical at points but again not very evenly handled. On a related note Rocky liked the film. It couldn’t have been that offensive on this score for him to like it!
On Haider, I wasn’t that impressed with the film. Somehow found it to be a weak effort from Vishal Bharadwaj. But I have to say I was quite impressed with the performances. Shahid Kapoor was excellent in the film and so was Tabu. Kay Kay Menon was also quite good… but by now he has pretty much mastered the villain-with-a-mischievous-twinkle-in-his-eye routine that it didn’t register a greater impact.
I’ve mentioned it in passing earlier and I’ll repeat it here again: Shahid Kapoor’s dialogue delivery is the best amongst contemporary actors. And he has grown by leaps and bounds as an actor. He’s terrific in this scene.
Lol. I thought lets see the scene. If this is not overacting then what it is. I found it pathetic to the core more because he was more shahid kapoor in the scene than the character itself.
The response doesn’t quite deserve it, but let me humor you.
There is a huge context behind this scene. But since the context is not visible, observe the tragi-comic balance in the scene. Even at the most basic level, this is a tremendously difficult scene for any actor…just going by the amount of lines that one needs to remember… verbatim at that. And to deliver those lines one after another, with the right emotion (in this case, it’s a scene depicting Haider’s mental imbalance) is beyond commendable.
What you call overacting is one of finest pieces of acting that I’ve seen in recent times. Maybe you need to watch the film in order to get it right. I’m afraid, otherwise, people will laugh at your response to this scene!
Why should one watch whole film to judge a cene? If it was close to standout performance of sort, it doesnt need context.
Dont we judge a triler by couple of snippets picked from here and there. Just for example, we all are criticizing aishwarya in jazbaa trailer and praising irfaan khan. Shall we wait and watch before commenting? You are mocking and contradicting urself. You are being prime example of biased joke.
I didn’t like Shahid very much in the first half. He was adequate but nothing special. However in those ‘crazy’ portions he did rather well. And the scene you’re referencing was his best moment in the film. I will agree that he’s by far the contemporary actor who speaks like the language like a native and not like someone who’s learnt it very well. With most of the other actors of his generation if not all you get the sense that they’re probably most comfortable with English or at the most Hinglish.
It’s not just the quality of his diction that’s commendable…he also gets the ‘pauses’ right. Bachchan is peerless in terms of delivering his lines. And the underlying characteristic of Bachchan’s dialogue delivery is that it appears ‘effortless’.
It’s quite a technical thing, but in layman terms, Bachchan’s dialogue delivery follows the Goldilocks principle: not too fast, not too slow, it’s always just right.
I get the same feeling when I listen to Shahid Kapoor. Among contemporary actors, he stands out in this respect.
Of course theatre-bred actors like Manoj Bajpai, Irrfan Khan etc are much better than SK but amongst commercial stars he’s probably the best.
Aamir has grown tremendously as an actor and I quite like him but it’s not hard to notice that he tends to rush into his lines. The overall impact of his performance gets diluted because of this.
Bachchan being an ‘event’ in every respect just makes his choices seem like the most natural ones. In other words there might be a textbook way of doing this ‘right’ and then the Bachchan way where whatever he does just seems right. Much like so many of his portrayals. I’ve always felt this is precisely his Shakespearean element where often the most ‘unnatural’ things seem natural in his hands. But this is also quite remarkable because neither Shakespeare nor Bachchan is understated in any sense. They’re extremely subtle of course but they’re hardly ever understated. They are too capacious for want of a better word to be understated. The other way of saying this is that Shakespeare and Bachchan are both very finely tuned to their audiences. Of course this isn’t the only way to do it. To not convince one’s immediate audience might be a box office problem but it is not necessarily one in itself. In any case and to repeat the point this is where I wouldn’t really put Bachchan and Shahid Kapoor together. Not because one is infinitely better, just that he is doing something else altogether. But on the rest of your examples I might disagree less. To be honest I don’t think of Shahid as highly as you do in this sense but on the basis of Haider it’s possible that he hasn;t got too many good opportunities. Of course he lacks screen presence and ultimately gravitas. He’s sincere but without those other qualities an actor is always hamstrung. Again don’t mean this as a box office matter.
rajen: If a film moves you, however contrived, manipulative or hackneyed it is, you enjoy it.
My take on this is a little different. Watching a film is similar to watching a magic show. One only enjoys the show till the time the magician remains one step ahead of its audience. If you know the secret behind a trick, the spell is immediately broken.
Similarly, if you as an audience member can sense the director of a film deliberately pushing your buttons, almost goading you to feel in a certain way, it’s not going to work. At least it doesn’t work for me. The real trickery involves in keeping the audience guessing. If a director can induce conflicting emotions in its audience, I think it’s even better!
Besides, I think, a film is not supposed to be only ‘felt’…it’s supposed to be chewed upon. One needs to wrestle with the key ideas, sleep over it and then come to a final conclusion regarding the film’s merits or demerits. It probably sounds like a lot of work, and frankly it is…but thinking about the people involved behind the making of a film, the amount of time it takes them to create a final product, it’s probably the least a good film deserves.
I’m in no way suggesting my thinking is right or wrong. But this is what makes sense to me…
I can see where you are coming from,Saket and agree to an extent. When I see a movie it has to touch my heart first. If it does, it may or may not make it to my brain.’Superior’ films can touch both. But, if the heart rejects it, I just spit it out. No chewing.
K3G was very predictable. And after watching it multiple times, there is no surprise. But, it still moves me. To some extent , it is not just about surprises or predictability or keeping the viewer guessing – it is about how the ‘predictable’ sequences are staged. Something as superficial as Jaya rushing to open the door when she senses SRK is nearby works on me. That’s me. I feel the film first and then may oray not ruminate.
Jaya is so fat she doesn’t rush, she glides…one can’t even see her feet due to her weight…but yes I do have a weakness to K3G too specially the parts where Hritik stays in SRK,s house.
Raghav: “If this is not overacting then what it is. ” To anser in one word: BRILLIANT. That’s what it is. I have seen this level of performance only from Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan. It is supposed to be a performance fora large crowd. He is spouting out a lot of politically inconvenient truth. And he is trying to get away with it by pretending to be half-mad. At the same tome he maybe also ACTUALLY turninga bit mad, as he si sllowly losing his mental blance, stressed as he is by so many conflicting forces. It is one of the finest monologues written in Hundi cinema, and he delivers it with elan.
The Hindi film industry just about got to parity with last year with the super success of Bajrangi Bhaijaan when two back to back duds hit in the form of Brothers and Drishyam. This has taken the yearly business below the levels of last year as the business of Drishyam and Brothers could not match the business of Entertainment and Singham Returns.
Last year Entertainment and Singham Returns grossed 205 crore nett between them and prior to release, the Drishyam and Brothers total was expected to be more and on a worst case scenario to at least match that.
The figures have not just fell short but fallen short by a distance as the combined business of Drishyam and Brothers will hardly touch 140 crore nett. Brothers has emerged a big flop all over while Drishyam is average in Mumbai with expected nett business to hit 30 crore but with just 13 crore nett coming in Delhi / UP and not even 6 crore nett in East Punjab, the film has failed outside Mumbai circuit.
The combined cost of Drishyam and Brothers is around 175 crore and the Indian theatrical share will be a shockingly low 67 crore. Its a sad state of affairs when the profits of a rare blockbuster like Bajrangi Bhaijaan are wiped out in four consecutive Friday’s ( Drishyam, Bangistan, Brothers, All Is Well). Actually more than wiped out as these are not the only releases over the past four weeks.
The business in 2015 till date stands at around a little over 1500 crore while in the same period last year it was 1600 crore. The scenario in 2015 is very bad as its coming after no growth in 2014 and this year looks to be going the same way so it will mean business at a standstill for two years.
Kabir Khan says more than him his wife Mini Mathur is worried. “Thanks to Hafiz Saeed, the world press has descended on me. I just hope my life is not under threat. My wife is genuinely nervous. I hope my country will protect me.”
A source close to Kabir Khan says, “These are not good enemies to have. People who can slaughter scores of people in terror attacks wouldn’t think twice about harming someone who they believe to be harming their interests. We are concerned about Kabir’s welfare. And we wish our government would provide him security.”
SATYAMSHOT 
August 20, 2015 at 2:21 AM
First good feedback .. https://twitter.com/AsliShiva/status/634240085861396480
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August 20, 2015 at 2:26 AM
Fox Star – A Recipe For Disaster
Thursday 20 August 2015 12.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
The Hollywood production Fox Star which made its debut in the Indian market with the Shahrukh Khan starrer My Name Is Khan is having a disastrous time in the Indian market with a long list of flops like Brothers, Guddu Rangeela, Hamari Adhuri Kahani, Mr. X, Khamoshiyan and the epic disaster Bombay Velvet all coming this year. They also took the other mega disaster Broken Horses for release in India. Earlier it was no different with,Finding Fanny, Humshakals, Bullet Raja, Citylights etc and under performing big budget Bang Bang.
It could be bad luck or bad choices as films like Knight and Day and Warrior which were made as Bang Bang and Brothers in India were big flops in Hollywood. Generally Hindi films need a higher emotional quotient to work and these films were pretty soulless.
Next for the studio will be Shaandaar which is being looked at as a 100 crore film by the industry and trade but if the film is good and has super hit music it will get around 80 lakh odd people to the theaters as will be city film so to squeeze 100 crore out of these it has to be done by clever distribution and ticket pricing.
But the acid test will be Prem Ratan Dhan Paya which on paper is a film that can’t go wrong with Salman Khan coming of Bajrangi Bhaijaan and the director being Sooraj Barjatya who has hits of the magnitude of Hum Aapke Hain Koun and Maine Pyaar Kiya which no present working director has especially the former.
Basically Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is a sure shot with the only negative being Fox Star but luck factor does play a part in the fate of every film. Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is a quintessential Hindi film and not a Bang Bang, Bombay Velvet or Brothers which are aping Hollywood or Europe so if this somehow goes wrong which is unthinkable then its likely nothing will work for this studio.
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August 20, 2015 at 2:46 AM
Kiaara Sandhu @KiaaraSandhu · 4h4 hours ago
Indian Cinema Magazine UAE Review #AllIsWell.Well Made Family Entertainer. @chintskap @juniorbachchan Steals the Show. 3.5*/5* @umeshkshukla
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August 20, 2015 at 3:05 AM
“@chintskap @juniorbachchan Steals the Show.” you can’t really ‘steal’ the show when the show revolves around them! would like to read other reviews. I do like the premise of the movie.
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August 20, 2015 at 3:33 AM
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Shiva Satyam @AsliShiva 25m25 minutes ago
So I & my team of #Bollywoodhungama has decided to give 3.5* to #AllIsWell.
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Shiva Satyam @AsliShiva 32m32 minutes ago
#AllIsWell is story bond of love between your family.I salute umesh shukla for his terrific direction back to back after oh my god.
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Shiva Satyam @AsliShiva 36m36 minutes ago
#AllIsWell is complete family entertainer outstanding work by Abhishek & rishi kapoor.Asin & supriya are fantastic.A must watch film.
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Shiva Satyam @AsliShiva 2h2 hours ago
Its intervel for #AllIsWell & till now it is fantastic i think it is abhishiek best film & umesh shukla has again done fantastic direction.
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Shiva Satyam @AsliShiva 3h3 hours ago
So its time for me to watch #AllIsWell .
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August 20, 2015 at 5:14 AM
Shiva Satyam @AsliShiva · 2h2 hours ago
For me #AllIsWell is best film and best performance of @juniorbachchan. It make me emotional.
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August 20, 2015 at 9:42 AM
Is it person Asli Shiva or Asli Satyam? 🙂
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August 20, 2015 at 9:26 AM
First review out – 1/5
http://gulfnews.com/leisure/movies/reviews/film-review-all-is-well-1.1570271
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August 20, 2015 at 9:51 AM
Opss .. This is heading for disaster
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August 20, 2015 at 10:46 AM
“Weekly Footfalls – Bajrangi Bhaijaan V PK
Bajrangi Bhaijaan is nearing the footfalls total of PK. The film was the first in history to have more than 2 crore people watch it in the first week. Interestingly the second week saw similar footfalls despite Bajrangi Bhaijaan doing 11% less business. The footfall comparison of Bajrangi Bhaijaan and PK is as follows.
Week One
Bajrangi Bhaijaan – 2,01,54,000
PK – 1,81,35,000
Week Two
Bajrangi Bhaijaan – 99,72,000
PK – 1,00,74,000
Week Three
Bajrangi Bhaijaan – 34,73,000
PK – 48,12,000
Week 4 Plus
Bajrangi Bhaijaan – n/a
PK – 20,40,000
TOTAL
Bajrangi Bhaijaan – 3,35,99,000 (3 weeks)
PK – 3,50,61,000
The fourth week of Bajrangi Bhaijaan will should add another 12 lakh footfalls apprx which will take it upto 3.48 crore and another 4 lakh at least should come in the remaining weeks unless it total capitulates.”
http://www.boxofficeindia.com/Details/art_detail/weeklyfootfallsbajrangibhaijaanvpk#.VdXn7LJViko
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August 20, 2015 at 10:50 AM
Girish Johar @girishjohar 2h2 hours ago
Another news….@BeingSalmanKhan #PremRatanDhanPayo trailer this 2nd Oct !!!!
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August 20, 2015 at 10:59 AM
I think it will release with Hero’s release on Sep 11, 2015. Oct 2nd is too late to release first look for Nov 12 release.
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August 20, 2015 at 11:03 AM
On other hand, Drishyam has gotta be the most hyped movie of this year. I had so much expectations but alas it was for no reason. Its not a bad one but certainly not a great one and for sure can’t relate to the terms like best movie in last decade and all time. Its a joke to think it in that terms. Anyways don’t want to beat the dead horse when movie is already done its lifetime business and everyone has moved on.
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August 20, 2015 at 11:10 AM
Haven’t seen this one but I thought the original was nothing special. Just a one-time watch and that’s about it.
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August 20, 2015 at 12:33 PM
Exactly.. 1 time watch. Nothing special about it. I’m surprised with the superlative reactions..
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August 20, 2015 at 12:38 PM
It is one time watch but a decent original and well-made thriller in Indian context. I will any day prefer it over Son of sardaar, shingham.
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August 20, 2015 at 11:53 AM
I loved Drishyam .. one of top 3 movies of 2015 for sure ..
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August 20, 2015 at 12:47 PM
******SPOILERS******
All the lead character did was to create a story that he was out of town that day. That’s all and eventually when they came for the body, he had moved it. Voila.. that’s all there is to it. Real life cases in Indian TV series are more creative than this.
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August 20, 2015 at 1:02 PM
” Real life cases in Indian TV series are more creative than this.”
Agree and I am simply stunned at Savdhaan India episodes which focus on real life crime stories in India esp North India.
These real- life crime stories on murder,kidnapping,rape, domestic violence,fraud,robbery,sexual assault etc are totally unusual and unprecedented.
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August 20, 2015 at 1:23 PM
Someone should take some of the stories and make good screenplays. Our suspense thrillers are mostly copied from west. With suspense thrillers, you need progression in story as well as suspense to be hidden within progression.
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August 20, 2015 at 11:07 AM
Girish Johar @girishjohar 13h13 hours ago
Looking at @iamsrk forthcoming director line up #RohitShetty #ManeeshSharma, #RahulDholakia & now #GauriShinde ..playing his masterstroke
Except Rohit none seems a task master. Most of them form part of the fan club / devotees……so tough call there.
….as was proven by HNY again , a domineering / disciplinarian is needed at this stage of his career….not exactly a stiff neck but borderline dogmatic.
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August 20, 2015 at 12:42 PM
Satyam.. need a thread.
Gauri Shinde’s second project has been in news for quite some time for its casting. While speculation was rife about Katrina Kaif being considered for the lead role, it has finally emerged that she has signed Alia Bhatt. The film will have Shah Rukh Khan, too, but not in a cameo appearance as widely reported — he has a full-fledged lead hero role.
Industry insiders said that KJo suggested Alia’s name for the film and was keen to have SRK as the hero for a fresh, unusual pairing. “Shah Rukh liked the script and gave his nod to ‘English Vinglish’ director for the lead hero role. The film will go on floors next year,” adds the source. While Shah Rukh was unavailable for comment, a source close to SRK confirms the news and says, “It is an interesting and fresh combination to look forward to.”
http://www.mid-day.com/articles/shah-rukh-khan-to-romance-alia-bhatt-in-gauri-shindes-next-film/16469163
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August 20, 2015 at 12:43 PM
yes will do this later..
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August 20, 2015 at 1:05 PM
finally SRK has woken up – not complaining – he should have done this 10 yrs earlier – but better late than never……..
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August 20, 2015 at 11:12 AM
…lol seems like Bachchan aficionado is dodging the bullet –
Kamaal R Khan-KRK @kamaalrkhan 3h3 hours ago
I am not feeling good so my review of #AllIsWell will not come today. It will come later for sure so keep watching http://YouTube.com/user/krklive
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August 20, 2015 at 11:18 AM
don’t know if it’s that. He gave Piku a terrible review and said it wouldn’t make more than 30-35.
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August 20, 2015 at 12:33 PM
What’s surprising is there was no press show for this movie. That’s not usually a sign of confidence. We will know tomorrow. One things for sure , the promotions have been top class for the movie.
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August 20, 2015 at 2:47 PM
Just wanted to post this song….still looks and sounds amazing. One of Burman’s best!
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August 20, 2015 at 3:26 PM
No way…this was the all time best song ever….and not just in 1942
Ho ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga
Ek ladki ko dekha to ailaab
Jaise shaayar ka khwaab
Jaise ujli kiran
Jaise van mein hiran
Jaise chaandni raat
Jaise naghme ki baat
Jaise mandir mein ho ek jalta diya
Ho ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga
Ho ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga
Ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga
Jaise subahon ka roop
Jaise sardi ki dhoop
Jaise veena ki taan
Jaise rangon ki jaan
Jaise balkhaaye bel
Jaise lehron ka khel
Jaise khushboo liye aaye thandi hava
Ho ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga
Ho ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga
Ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga
Jaise naachta mor
Jaise resham ki dor
Jaise pariyon ka raag
Jaise sangdal ki aag
Jaise sola sighaar
Jaise rasti fuhaar
Jaise aahista aahista badhta nasha
Ho ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga .
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August 20, 2015 at 3:39 PM
for some reason I was never a big fan of ‘ek ladki ko’. Always loved this one.
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August 20, 2015 at 7:48 PM
All is NOT well … bad to worst reviews all over. Never expected such bad product from amazing OMG director. Now i don’t even want to hear BO numbers at all. And i wish “102 Not out” with Amitabh to be shelved .. OMG was fluke.
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August 20, 2015 at 8:05 PM
that was a copy of a Gujju drama “Kanji Vs Kanji”………
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August 20, 2015 at 8:11 PM
All bollywood movies are lifted from here and there, even all is well screenplay is borrowed from gujrati play. Anyways, omg was amazing and notches higher than crap PK.
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August 20, 2015 at 8:14 PM
Looks like Hera pheri 3 is shelved leaving no movie in hand for abhishek Bachchan. Hp3 relase date was 18th dec, now it is nowhere and no talks on movie too.
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August 20, 2015 at 8:25 PM
HP3 and Houseful-3 . both are ON.
http://www.media247.co.uk/showbiz/hera-pheri-3-to-be-shot-in-morocco-dubai-2015
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August 20, 2015 at 9:38 PM
Really? Hp3 still on? Producers are not scared atall after fate of all is well ?
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August 20, 2015 at 9:42 PM
Ok got it. It is being produced bu feroz nadiadwala. He can spend any amount of d company’s money without worrying. That’s another reason to shoot is mostly abroad. Great, if movie is another disaster, they can still convert black money to white.
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August 20, 2015 at 11:04 PM
lets take a deep breath and wait on the BO numbers and maybe even watching the film first before coming to a negative conclusion…
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August 21, 2015 at 2:18 AM
Well if nobody else, at least Raghav here seems to be very very excited that AIW might flop…whatever makes one happy..
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August 21, 2015 at 2:45 AM
The way it has started it will struggle to do 15 crores on the weekend. But we will know in the evening when the WOM kicks in…Because most such movies start slow and then pick up.
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August 21, 2015 at 7:08 AM
“lets take a deep breath and wait on the BO numbers and maybe even watching the film first before coming to a negative conclusion…”
you sponsoring tickets?
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August 20, 2015 at 9:26 PM
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August 21, 2015 at 2:32 AM
Theatre plays and Movies are two completely different experience .. 2 weeks back i saw play “Mera ye matlab nahi tha” starring Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta and Rakesh bedi .. in US. I have no idea why audience was clapping and cheering over such below average stuff .. it was very average show, only thing was that actors were performing live and pretty well. If goes by audience reaction, someone mistakenly make movie on this play .. that gonna be sure shot disaster. I am assuming Umesh did exactly same with All is well .. it must have been okayish kind of play but not movie material at all.
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August 21, 2015 at 2:43 AM
Is All is well based on a play too?
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August 21, 2015 at 1:46 PM
“Mera ye matlab nahi tha” starring Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta and Rakesh bedi .. in US. I have no idea why audience was clapping and cheering over such below average stuff”
Good I didn’t watch it. I was planning to watch it for Anupem Kher on stage.
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August 21, 2015 at 2:56 AM
any other aiw review apart from biased middle east(khans fanatics) channel review!!!
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August 21, 2015 at 2:57 AM
telugu Kick 2 has release here in Telangana/AP .. it has taken almost all the major shows n timings… AIW got very few shows this part of country…
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August 21, 2015 at 2:58 AM
sorry for the typo mistakes!!!
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August 21, 2015 at 4:38 AM
http://www.koimoi.com/reviews/all-is-well-review/
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August 21, 2015 at 4:39 AM
http://thereviewmonk.com/movie/all-is-well/
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August 21, 2015 at 4:51 AM
Thanks Utkal…
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August 21, 2015 at 5:06 AM
All Is Well Poor Start Brothers Drops Further
Friday 21 August 2015 14.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
All Is Well had a poor start all over of around 15%. The film has little face value and though music is reasonable it held little appeal visually. It is totally dependent on word of mouth and a similar film released a few months back Piku had a huge turnaround. But that film had a target audience which was urban India and they liked it but here the same type of content has been tried to made for a wider audience which will make Piku type of growth near impossible.
Manjhi – The Man mountain opened to very dull response though the film has managed to find screen space with main multiplexes giving it a screen. The film is set in Bihar but the opening was ridicously low in the state.
Brothers fell further on day eight despite the competition being pretty weak, the collections were around 85% down from the morning period on day one. The drop in places like CP Berar, CI and Nizam is higher than the national average as collections dropped 90% from day one.
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August 21, 2015 at 5:41 AM
BOI can’t resist bringing Piku in (a film that had sold out shows all over Mumbai in the first weekend); speaks volumes really.
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August 21, 2015 at 5:59 AM
Think they are doing it because both are road trips…
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August 21, 2015 at 6:42 AM
“BOI can’t resist bringing Piku in (a film that had sold out shows all over Mumbai in the first weekend); speaks volumes really.”
They are talking about morning shows here. I doubt Piku’s 1st day morning shows were sold out all over Mumbai. Once the WOM kicked in, the audience came.
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August 21, 2015 at 6:47 AM
ultimately a film works or not on its own and irrespective of these comparisons. If AIW were liked like Piku it would do double what that film did. BOI are right in this sense. And so a partial pickup here wouldn’t mean anything like the same result proportionately. However since Piku’s absolute gross was still 80 crores and stupendous for a film of that sort it would still mean somewhat for AIW given these terrible reviews. In other words unless you have enough of an initial you can’t even get to 80 without proper WOM. Now BOI dishonesty is otherwise an another matter. But that’s an old discussion by now. They weren’t that positive on Piku initially too as they weren’t expecting this sort of gross even in the best case scenario. No one was.
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August 21, 2015 at 7:15 AM
Master: weekday morning shows are very rarely sold out even for very big films; weekend ones might be, and they were for Piku (I had to delay plans to watch it precisely because I underestimated the film).
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August 21, 2015 at 7:30 AM
I do understand that morning shows are never sold out. You are talking about sold on weekend shows but that was after the WOM kicked in as Piku opening was very similar to AIW.
BOI even says such low opening is bad unless it does a U-turn(..a similar film released a few months back Piku had a huge turnaround). Piku managed that with 15% as its targeting Urban audience whereas AIW will not be able to save itself.
Piku’s BOI 1st day.
Piku had a slow opening of around 15-20% at multiplexes though some plexes in the big cities were better while Kuch Kuch Locha Hai had a poor opening of around 5-10%. Both films were also dull in single screens though Piku has a limited single screen release.
Piku should pick up late afternoon and evening shows as these type of films which are aimed mainly for the premium multiplexes usually do but the costs are high for a niche film and it will have grow big on Saturday and sustain extremely well to get near recovery.
Final collections:
Piku picked up in the evening at the premium multiplexes and the collections should come in at around 5 crore nett which is better than films like Finding Fanny released last year and Detective Byomkesh Bakshi released a month or so ago. The pick up in the evening is routine for these type of films as opening collections are low.
Piku’s BOI 2nd day
Piku has had huge growth on Saturday with collections looking to go to 7 crore nett. They could even be higher as growth can be 50% from Friday. The film grossed around 5 crore nett on day one and will be 12 crore nett plus in two days. This gives the film a chance for a 20 crore nett plus weekend which would be decent especially considering the start.
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August 21, 2015 at 5:13 AM
AIW reviews coming are bad to worse… and if audience too don’t like then it will drop further and will flop miserably.
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August 21, 2015 at 5:24 AM
It has flopped And i think it is end of career for abhishek bachchan. Do you agree satyam?
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August 21, 2015 at 6:18 AM
Not at all. Not by a long shot. There’s a reason why folks have been waiting for this supposed ‘end’ forever! And why every film is supposed to be a final ‘nail’ in his coffin. Except that there’s then another one. I’ve always said this but people greatly underestimate his resilience. Let’s how how much or not AIW does but he will be back and with a proper solo even if AIW doesn’t work.
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August 21, 2015 at 6:23 AM
With a proper solo? Not his lifetime. No one is going to offer him solo anymore. This solo came after 3-4 yrs gap, i do t see anyone offering him anymore. His best chance is being producer which didnt work either this year with shamitabh. Another guy is saif ali khan, dont why people offer him solo.
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August 21, 2015 at 6:26 AM
This solo didn’t come after such a gap because he couldn’t have done others. He chose not to. Luckily only one of us really knows what they’re talking about! And the answer of your question is in your Saif point. if people insist on solos they can keep this gig going but without the right solos you’re not necessarily better off. In any case I’ve said what I needed to here. Time will tell who’s right about this!
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August 21, 2015 at 6:32 AM
I think its irrelevant if AB Jr does a solo or not. Whats more important is to select a proper script. The reviews for the movie have been negative which wasn’t expected. One might have expected a slow start and a pick up due to good reviews. One would expect AB to pick a decent script if he is doing a solo after a long time. That’s what is more disappointing.
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August 21, 2015 at 7:05 AM
“I think its irrelevant if AB Jr does a solo or not. Whats more important is to select a proper script.”
‘Proper script’ is the key. Once you have a great script, director can get best of the actors out there and bigger stars. Why would they be knocking Abhishek’s door? (Unless you have some association with the actor like Mani Ratnam, Balki.. so on).
Like the way Shoojit managed with Piku from Irrfan and Bachchan to handle the movie and Deepika’s little stardom.
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August 21, 2015 at 8:53 AM
AB is a producer, so he will have people coming with scripts. Shoojit did a movie with John as a producer – a movie which did around 45 crores…Not sure AIW will do that much if it doesn’t pick up
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August 21, 2015 at 6:51 AM
“It has flopped And i think it is end of career for abhishek bachchan.”
Firstly AIW was not projected as a comeback sort of Abhishek solo. It was just one of the films he signed 3 years back when he was signing HNY, D3, so on after BB which had single lead young actor(if you not count Rishi). It isn’t really like a solo or hero oriented movie more like a family story with many characters.
He can always produce such small budgeted movies all through. He was planning to produce Amit Sharma’s(Tevar director) and something else.
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August 21, 2015 at 6:32 AM
A gem from Raja Sen’s review.. xD
There is even a sudden item song where the robust Sonakshi Sinha mouths words like Main nacha parathe kha ke. Easy to believe, certainly, but hard indeed to comprehend.
http://www.rediff.com/movies/review/review-all-is-well-is-a-lazy-idiotic-film/20150821.htm
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August 21, 2015 at 7:35 AM
A PUBLIC ANNOUNCMENT /CALL
Just skimmed thru bits
The same old sob story for poor abhishrek
I’m not surprised really but was hoping for things to change for him (& for Satyam)
One feels sorry for amitabh, Aishwarya (& his daughter who was hoping for his dad to come good finally!)
Above all, one feels sorry for the diehard Satyam and a v few remaining abhishrek apologists and supporters
A CALL FOR SUPPORT
to watch all is well
Contribute your bit to this
IF U HAVE EVER LIKED AMITABH
IF U ARE ENJOYING SATYAMSHOT
ITS YOUR DUTY TO CONTRIBUTE
THOSE POSTING HERE HAVE TO WATCH ALL IS WELL
ON THE BIG SCREEN
OR ELSE THEIR POSTING RIGHTS WILL BE SUSPENDED
ps: It’s not showing anywhere near me–so I’m exempt 🙂
Must say I’m enjoying these ‘reviews’ (oops shouldn’t be saying this…)
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August 21, 2015 at 8:31 AM
‘& his daughter who was hoping for his dad to come good finally!)’
You might like dislike abhishek bachchan as much as you want, but bringing a kid into this discussion, feel sorry for her or not is disgusting and in real bad taste.
I think bringing whole family is really demeaning. One can srk’s family and kids too in discussion for srk’s flops and gay movies, but one who has good upbringing will never do that which you surely doesn’t have.
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August 21, 2015 at 9:05 AM
“not is disgusting and in real bad taste.
I think bringing whole family is really demeaning. One can srk’s family and kids too in discussion ”
There’s a difference between srks family and Abhishreks
And Abhishreks daughter is a bigger celebrity than him !
Most people are big fans of am it abh and Aishwarya who are proper big celebrities unlike srks family
And for me to initiate a dialogue with u about “upbringing” satyam will have to remove moderation
Which I don’t think he will
So I will let ur fake pseudo comment pass…
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August 21, 2015 at 9:08 AM
ok guys no more comments on this topic.. let’s not clog up the forum with this sort of stuff.
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August 21, 2015 at 9:04 AM
going to watch all is well not because I am an amitabh fan but just been on holiday to madrid,a superb city with lots of spanians spicy food,could do with a bollywood spicy flick
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August 21, 2015 at 9:07 AM
comparatively better NDTV review
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August 21, 2015 at 9:42 AM
http://www.moviezadda.com/reviews/all-is-well-movie-review
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August 21, 2015 at 11:06 AM
I just started seeing some review ratings all over and man.. this is very surprising. The movie got half star and 1 star reviews all over.. never expected this from Umesh Shukla especially as a follow up of OMG. Even his first movie is watchable to an extent on TV watch. Not sure what went so wrong this time..
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August 21, 2015 at 11:20 AM
“Technical shabbiness is the film’s weakest link. There are plot glitches and dated touches. At times, as the vintage QSQT hit ‘Aye Mere Humsafar’ plays, you feel you’re watching a 1990s movie where the hero is told, ‘Teri awaaz mein dard hai’ and everyone wears shoulder pads. There’s also a bizarre sequence involving a mercenary maami, which stretches beyond the film’s otherwise gentle humour.” from http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/movie-reviews/All-Is-Well/movie-review/48584254.cms
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August 21, 2015 at 11:54 AM
“never expected this from Umesh Shukla especially as a follow up of OMG. Even his first movie is watchable to an extent on TV watch. Not sure what went so wrong this time..”
To be fair OMG itself was a hotchpotch affair but due to novelty in the subject matter alongside common man’s frustrations in religious rituals, it got a rousing reception. Here part of the fiasco is due to Smriti Irani’s reluctance to complete the film timely after her sudden rise to fame in political arena and subsequent delays to the project by a good one year.
Its such a shame that Abhi continues to get the wrong end of the stick with each director whether it is Gowarikar coming after a Oscar worthy Lagaan or a Rakesh Mehra after an awe- inspiring RDB or even a small fry Abhinav Deo’s Game after a fairly successful Delhi Belly. I will attribute a majority of this to sheer luck but some of it has to be either Abhi’s naivety or cockiness (going be recent interviews ) whichever way one wants to affiliate this. Being surrounded by filmy people all the time, the least one can do is to sniff the right projects….I think he can’t blame the negativeness against him anymore as that tag has been long lost now and there are hardly few with any kind of malicious intent against him. In fact a lot many who actually want this good natured human being to do well and wish him well but Abhi continues to surprise with each new outing.
I mean we do understand he is loaded and movies are basically a time pass for him but I question him the same way I do for Rahul Gandhi in politics who just keeps outdoing his political stupidities every day esp if one attaches that to the of Nehru and Indira Gandhi. ( btw latest whatapp circulation has Sonia G net-worth at a staggering 2 billion dollars ! ).
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August 21, 2015 at 12:21 PM
Nice analysis.
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August 21, 2015 at 12:22 PM
Only 2 billion these times!
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August 21, 2015 at 12:26 PM
“Its such a shame that Abhi continues to get the wrong end of the stick with each director whether it is Gowarikar coming after a Oscar worthy Lagaan or a Rakesh Mehra after an awe- inspiring RDB or even a small fry Abhinav Deo’s Game after a fairly successful Delhi Belly. I will attribute a majority of this to sheer luck but some of it has to be either Abhi’s naivety or cockiness (going be recent interviews ) whichever way one wants to affiliate this. ”
This is a very honest and fair observation which perhaps Satyam will never agree – Abhi not only failed in all these but also failed in DRONA which was to be a KRISH-deal for him – Abhi has never shown any resolve to rise above his present state – so he will remain a la Shashi kapoor – where he may get many multi-starrers and survive but a solo-hero? Nah! not in this birth
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August 21, 2015 at 1:09 PM
I don’t agree for a host of reasons but the most important one being that when someone has obvious success or obvious failure it doesn’t take a genius to state this and to then think of reasons retroactively. But one must point out in the ‘present’ that which is not apparent. Or differently one’s reasons for understanding something might still be completely false. For instance the whole idea constantly advanced that he takes things easy and is not really bothered either way is an utterly foolish one that frankly says only something about one’s own intelligence. As do a lot of very foolish analogies and so forth. The point isn’t about stating or underlining success or failure but about coming up with absurd reasons that reveal more about one’s way of thinking and/or tap into certain cultural biases more than anything else.
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August 21, 2015 at 12:41 PM
“Its such a shame that Abhi continues to get the wrong end of the stick with each director whether it is Gowarikar coming after a Oscar worthy Lagaan or a Rakesh Mehra after an awe- inspiring RDB or even a small fry Abhinav Deo’s Game after a fairly successful Delhi Belly. I will attribute a majority of this to sheer luck but some of it has to be either Abhi’s naivety or cockiness (going be recent interviews ) whichever way one wants to affiliate this. ”
Reminds of Bobby Deol’s situation. After the debut, Bobby Deol had long list of movies with good-on-paper commercial directors and out of them only Abbas-Mastan gave him success in Soldier and Humraaz whereas Vidhu Vinod Chopra(Kareeb), Rahul Rawail(Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya) Kundan Shah(Hum To Mohabbat Karega), David Dhawan (Chor Machaaye Shor).. everyone of them ended up making their worst movie with him and ended his career. Even Anil Sharma after Gadar’s success made disastrous Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo for him.
To think of it, Bobby Deol was first choice for Mani Ratnam for Ajay Devgn’s role in Yuva.
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August 21, 2015 at 12:46 PM
“…so he will remain a la Shashi kapoor..”
I don’t think that’s a right comparison. In spite not technically being a solo hero, Shashi Kapoor was always popular and accepted and respected as any other star out there baring the exception of few even during 70’s. Also, his produced films (5 out of 6 baring Ajooba) are very brave productions and respectable for any era.
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August 21, 2015 at 1:05 PM
actually Shashi had very many solo films. It’s just that no one watches most of those films anymore.
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August 21, 2015 at 1:12 PM
yes of course no one is maliciously inclined towards him.. they’re only so when a certain star runs down people with his car and which behavior you apparently find more defensible than failure at the box office!
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August 21, 2015 at 1:13 PM
Unfair analysis, even though he has almost no star power due to non attractive looks, huge expectations and most imporartant non-effort/laziness. He is still decent actor and far better than many bigger stars. Most importantly, He comes across as most genuine personality offscreen. One thing i can vouch for him is he is truly one of the best person with great knowledge, ethics, maturity and wit in the industry which is full of criminals & low-ethic people. You cant compare him with totally rotten personality like rahul gandhi. What rahul gandhi is?, totally junk, he doesnt know what he is doing/saying, always lost apparently on drugs. A bag of jokes due to his personality who cant utter a single sensible word by himself. Most Recent fun he has to offer is here – http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/rahul-gandhis-cheat-sheet-for-parliament-speech-amuses-social-media-1206857
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August 21, 2015 at 1:26 PM
On your first two sentences ‘with friends like these..’ … ha!
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August 21, 2015 at 2:00 PM
“yes of course no one is maliciously inclined towards him.. they’re only so when a certain star runs down people with his car and which behavior you apparently find more defensible than failure at the box office!”
I can sense you are seething with anger here with this unrestricted and unnecessary comment. Please hold back some of your anger when the numbers for day 1 start pouring in….
Here is a brief glimpse –
Kamaal R Khan-KRK ?@kamaalrkhan 1h1 hour ago
According to today’s occupancy of #AllIsWell producers are expecting 2Cr+ n exhibitors expecting 1.5Cr of Day1. Let’s see who will be right.
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August 21, 2015 at 2:42 PM
the facts never make me angry.. nor does this sort of response.. people who’ve followed me for years know this.. but certain things have to be pointed out and it’s pretty perverse to find Salman ‘not guilty’ when he’s run over people, killed or maimed them for life, to say ‘get others first’ even he’s convicted, in effect to have to no moral compass at all when it’s about one’s favorite star but then to turn around and ‘seem’ so upset at the way Abhishek is handling his career.
As for this film doing better or worse than I think or even absolutely nothing believe me buddy I’ve been there before and several times. I’m made of sterner stuff as is the star we’re discussing!
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August 21, 2015 at 10:17 AM
first day first show:
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/more/videos/view/id/16024478
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August 21, 2015 at 10:59 AM
Riteish Deshmukh to play Shivaji in his 2nd Marathi film!
Genelia D’Souza turned producer with Lal Bhaari and the film was extremely successful. Now she is all set for a second outing and hubby Riteish Deshmukh will be essaying the role of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Along with Mumbai Film Company, Genelia will be producing the film and she confirmed the news on Twitter. She feels that the film is a responsibility and they want to pay their tribute to the great Maratha warrior king.
She tweeted, “#ChhatrapatiShivaji is not just a film but a responsibility,we @mfc r excited 2 make a movie on this #GreatMaratha.”
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August 21, 2015 at 1:19 PM
Jackie Shroff starrer ‘Makhmal’ WINS Best Short Film in US
Only a few days back, Faraz Ali’s ‘Makhmal’ won Best Short Film South Asian Paranoma at Festival of Globe that was held in California, USA. This 17 minute short film was released last year and stars Jackie Shroff, Palak Dey, Deepti Sharma and Bhuvan Arora.
You night know Deepti Sharma from the popular TV show, ‘Jamai Raja’. Producer Abbas Syed and Faraz Ali accepted the award from Gukshan Grover at the ceremony.
The story revolves around a piece of velvet that binds a father to his daughter. The film will soon be posted on YouTube.
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August 21, 2015 at 1:21 PM
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August 21, 2015 at 1:18 PM
One of the much awaited films of the year, All Is Well released today and by the looks of it, the film failed to gather impressive amount of crowd on its first day at the Box Office. Abhishek Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor starrer comedy film opened to a poor start on its first day at the Box Office as the film only managed to witness occupancy rate of 15%.
This is little disappointing as we expected a bit more from the film. Since the film saw occupancy rate of 15%, we can expect director Umesh Shukla’s All Is Well to earn Rs. 8 to 12 crore net approx. on its first day at the Box Office. The small budged film attracted audiences solely because of its catchy trailer and soothingly decent soundtrack. The film is being well received in places like Mumbai, Delhi, UP and Rajasthan.
http://businessofcinema.com/boxoffice/box-office-abhishek-bachchans-all-is-well-opens-to-poor-start/227512
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August 21, 2015 at 1:21 PM
“Since the film saw occupancy rate of 15%, we can expect director Umesh Shukla’s All Is Well to earn Rs. 8 to 12 crore net approx.”
Hahaha… LMAO!!! 8 to 12 crores first day is stupendous.. and headline is opens to poor start! Well, they got it very wrong.
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August 21, 2015 at 1:24 PM
I’m expecting it to be around 4 crores.
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August 21, 2015 at 1:25 PM
not sure if these estimates can be trusted.. certainly for that high end number to be true it would require a significant jump in evening shows (specially given it’s not a high screen count). But if so (even at the lower end of that range) it might not be in bad shape. It would still have to grow over the weekend of course but a figure in the range they’re suggesting wouldn’t be bad at all given the reviews. When a film like Raavan gets totally negative reviews it’s pretty much over but given the subject here it’s still possible that the reviews are not completely representative (the family audiences still have to kick in or if a family audience sample likes it enough it might be enough to take this film to a good enough total.. it’s clearly not going to appeal to a younger demographic very much). But this could also be my optimistic gloss on things. We’ll know clearly in a day or so.
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August 21, 2015 at 1:34 PM
Yeah.. kinda Bol Bachchan which didn’t get great reviews as well but still WOM was good. Here we don’t know about WOM yet.
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August 21, 2015 at 2:43 PM
BB wasn’t like this. The reviews were quite positive overall. Sure a Shetty film will never get super reviews but accounting for that factor it was pretty positive. Nothing like AIW.
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August 21, 2015 at 2:59 PM
The screen count IMO is quite high in India. I am thinking upward of 2500 screens…Piku was on around 1500 screens
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August 21, 2015 at 3:05 PM
ok then it’s fine. I thought it was 1600 or so.
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August 21, 2015 at 4:34 PM
2500 screens with 15% is still going to get good collections.
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August 21, 2015 at 4:34 PM
15% is in the morning. evening shows should be better unless WOM is so bad it doesn’t make a difference.
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August 22, 2015 at 11:11 AM
Turns out BOI was actually generous is saying 15% for over 2500+ screen count.
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August 22, 2015 at 12:38 PM
That 2500 number came from me….I am now questioning that myself. One cannot get to just 2.5 crores with 2500 screens irrespective of how poor the movie is, specially with a decent star cast even if it is not a A grade star cast.
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August 22, 2015 at 12:44 PM
I read 1600 somewhere though I could be wrong. In any case it’s an academic debate. I’ve never been too bothered about screen counts anyway. It’s just a question of percentages (occupancy). You could get 12 crores on a 1600 screen count as well as 2500 one. As for the biggest films that have massive screen counts, even those really underperform in most cases. You could get 40 crores in one day on screen counts far less than the crazily high number many films go for. Of course they do it to make the film accessible to as many people as possible. But that’s not a capacity argument.
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August 21, 2015 at 1:31 PM
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August 21, 2015 at 1:42 PM
Come on. This is a promo.
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August 21, 2015 at 1:48 PM
ROFLMAO!!!!
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August 21, 2015 at 1:56 PM
bhai nifty/banknfity/dow/s&p – everything is tanking big time 🙂 so mumbai folks and country folks at a large are in no mood for films 😉 AIW has a genuine reason for less footfalls 🙂
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August 21, 2015 at 1:57 PM
This is feedback. It is really good but you cant guage by this. These videos mostly give positive foleedback even for average movies. http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/more/videos/view/id/16024478
I dont think it is bad movie but smariti irani’a delay caused it a lot and All reviews say non linear narrative and bad editing. Though, OMG was also not upto mark technically.
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August 21, 2015 at 2:05 PM
Public view –
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August 21, 2015 at 3:23 PM
This moron has sense of movie comparisons. Deewar and Naam????? WTF. What’s next for this idiot? Comparing Desh Drohi with Mughl-e-Azam??
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August 21, 2015 at 3:23 PM
*no sense*
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August 21, 2015 at 6:22 PM
Lol, just watched this. 1/5 rating and KRK calls AIW as the worst Abhishek movie and Rishi the only actor who did good in the movie as the character matches his real life character – that of ‘pakao’ type. Hahaha.. hilarious comment on Rishi!
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August 21, 2015 at 2:10 PM
Manjhi – The Mountain Man ‘common man’ review –
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August 21, 2015 at 5:54 PM
Abhi and Shahid Kapoor are 2 lead actors with just atrocious BO records which is unfortunate because both are pretty talented. At least Abhishek has a couple of hits because of multistarrers- Shahid only has 2-3 hits ever. I don’t think poor script sense is not only reason, it has got to be luck to (or lack of). Abhishek’s first 4 years (aka first 14 films) were all flops and his first hit was finally with Dhoom. And only one of those flops is a “good” flop-Yuva. The other ones are all forgettable. If you take out multistarrers and films he did with Big B, he only has 2 solo hits in his entire career-Bluffmaster and Guru. I wouldn’t even call Dhoom 1 a solo hit for him because technically John Abraham had a better track record than Abhishek before Dhoom 1.
He’s unlucky because there is no reason why a film like KHJJS, which I thought was a solid movie, should be a disaster and make less than half of the same director’s What’s Your Rashee which starred a flop look alike of Hrithik Roshan. And as people said above, he didn’t choose bad People to work with, they just made their bad films with him. This problem basically started post when he became a potential future superstar- after Guru was a hit. JBJ was with a Great Cast and Shaad Ali after 2 hits in a row, one with Abhishek too. That flopped. Then came some guest appearances in flop movies such as Laaga Chunari which didn’t help either. Sarkar Raj was the next flop which is strange because it had the Amitabh-Abhishek duo plus his wife, and the first Sarkar movie was pretty successful as well. After that he had Drona, and I can’t accept the argument that he didn’t do this film because of Hrithik Roshan’s Krrish. Drona was very delayed and if I remember correctly, it was announced not that later after Krrish 1 released. Then Game was a huge disaster and I think the first disaster of Farhan Akhtar. Besides Game, Excel Entertainment has a pretty solid BO record so I can’t blame Abhishek for choosing that film either. And the Game director gave us the superhit Delhi Belly a couple of just 3 months after Game. Dum Maaro Dum was a flop too, even though he teamed up with his Buddy Sippy, and they made Bluffmaster before this. After that was Players which I think is the biggest disaster of Abbas Mustan, but they were coming off the success of Race so can’t blame Abhishek there either. And now AIW is a flop even though it is coming from the OMG director.
The future isn’t bright either-his next 2 films are multistarrers, HF 3 and HP 3. They will most likely be hits, but that means that in this decade (2010-present), he has only had hits when he’s done multistarrer films. And there is rumors of him doing the Tevar director’s next movie, but the director made a disaster his first movie. Although maybe that is the key to Abhishek’s success, kind of like how Aamir took flop directors and gave them super hits i.e. Ashutosh, the RDB director, Dhoom 3 director, Talaash director, etc.
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August 21, 2015 at 6:04 PM
Sarkarraj and dmd were flops ? That is news to me. Sarkaarraj was given average verdict by boi that time and Taran gave it above avg to semi hit in yearly classification.
Dmd was not a flop either. It was average by taran and also by boi.
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August 21, 2015 at 6:19 PM
Sarkar Raj was mauled by both BOI and Taran when it came out. And BOI has it as a Below Average. If you want to be technical, then fine it isn’t a flop. And DMD is a Flop according to BOI. DMD was also mauled by both BOI and Taran. Maybe it was Average by Taran but there is no way of checking unless we find his tweets from April 2011. And Talaash is a Semi Hit as per BOI.
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August 21, 2015 at 6:07 PM
Talaash was superhit? Lol. That is again a news even to ardent aamir fans. It was average to above average at best.
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August 21, 2015 at 6:15 PM
I think he needs to do a ‘nandu’ type role. Find a script that has that ‘type’ of character that has potential to win the hearts of the masses. KHJJS and DMD were niche kinda films. Players and Game were not good products and his character in those films was just too ‘grand’. Really think HNY sequel should happen and his vicky character as the main antagonist this time. at some point he *needs* a solo hit though..a legitimate *hit*. The thought process was that after BB, D3 and HNY (all huge successes) should’ve helped his solo career…looks like nothing has changed. If these initial reports on box office are true, this is pretty disappointing.
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August 21, 2015 at 6:25 PM
“really think HNY sequel should happen and his vicky character as the main antagonist this time.”
I think SRK won’t do it and its better if they do it as Nandu vs Vicky with guest apperance of SRK and others and call it something like Happy Dussera and shoot it in Mumbai.
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August 21, 2015 at 6:16 PM
Reading Raj5 analogy what it seems is Abhi selected directors and not scripts in first place …hmm never gave a thought on that..i tend to somewhat agree with raj5 here.
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August 22, 2015 at 10:23 AM
And dont forget Delhi6 by ROM (after RDB). Or Ravan by Mani Ratnam, or even Umrao Jaan by whathisname..
All successful directors that decided to make the wrong film with JrB.
Both Father-Son have always relied on the ability of directors to tell a story, without questioning the script. Amitabh always pulled it off, even with the most ridiculous movies in his heydays. Abhishek just does not catch a break.
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August 21, 2015 at 6:27 PM
1 guy
1000 career advisors
100000 Permutations and combinations
Satyam advising and ‘protecting’ him 24X7 from brickbats
And the baap of all Bollywood actors as his real life dad as another advisor
And the mom of all Bollywood Beauty queens as the wife
And both financing his misadventures
And what do u get
NOT EVEN A 10 crores opening day
With NO competing release
With tseries shoving this film down everyone’s throat
SHAME ON ABHISHREK
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August 21, 2015 at 10:59 PM
MM tears it apart – these guys have a massive following in Mumbai – the biggest circuit – http://www.mumbaimirror.com/entertainment/bollywood/Film-review-All-Is-Well/articleshow/48593005.cms
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August 21, 2015 at 11:00 PM
“Director Umesh Shukla, known to most for his adaptation of a Gujarati play, Oh My God, fails on every count: in telling a story that demands undivided attention, crafting memorable characters or earning a laugh in a film that is supposedly a comedy. “
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August 22, 2015 at 12:12 AM
Did anyone on here watched AIW?
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August 22, 2015 at 12:14 AM
Apex for sure, going by the jeering and gloating coming on…
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August 22, 2015 at 4:12 AM
I’m going to be watching it either tonight or tomorrow morning; will watch Manjhi as well this weekend.
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August 22, 2015 at 5:28 AM
looking forward to your thoughts on Manjhi!
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August 22, 2015 at 1:28 AM
pretty accurate review…
saw it and it was a missed opportunity with greatness. two hours seemed too little for this movie…the first half seemed too messy in the editing department. the film is still worth a watch IMO. it is easily one of the better films this year in ‘bollywood’…which isn’t really saying a whole lot.
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August 22, 2015 at 2:00 AM
All Is Well And Manjhi – The Man Mountain First Day Business
Saturday 22 August 2015 11.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
All Is Well had a poor first day with collections set to be around 2.50 crore nett. The film has fared very poorly all over and there was not much of an improvement in the evening to suggest a big improvement today. It should grow but it’s unlikely to be the sort of growth the film needs to get a decent run. The music of the film was pretty well promoted but it has not helped much at the boxoffice.
Manjhi – The Man Mountain also did poorly but this film did do a bit better in the evening shows. The film has collected in the 1-1.25 crore nett range but did get a good amount of screen time with most multiplexes giving it one screen and collections are low for the screen time alloted.
Still the film should show better growth than All Is Well on Saturday going by the trends on Friday and is actually looking the better bet out if the two films.
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August 22, 2015 at 3:10 AM
Only 2.5 crs!! I thought it will do atleast 6-7 crs if not more on first day..
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August 22, 2015 at 6:57 AM
total washout.. unless something remarkable happens and it shows huge jumps from this point on. always unlikely. there needs to be a base on day 1. In any case no one has showed up here in this initial round.
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August 22, 2015 at 10:35 AM
It is very hard to explain how poor these numbers are. For a movie on a wide release to get numbers these low means that people did not even turn up. To give a perspective, Creature also did 3 crs on Day 1 and last week Bangistan did almost similar to this on a lower release. Even for WOM to set in you need some minimum amount of people to come in and then spread the word, but here no one has really turned up…In that sense this is a far worse opening than Game which released against FALTU and during the WC. This had lot of things going for it, great promotions, good music, AB coming off 3 huge hits and a decent star cast so this is hugely surprising that it didn’t even get to 5 crores on Day 1.
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August 22, 2015 at 10:45 AM
yes absolutely.. no one showed up on day 1 here. even if this film were to pull off a miracle from this point on it wouldn’t change this basic fact.
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August 22, 2015 at 11:09 AM
It must be very heartbreaking for Abhishek to realize that no one is interested to watch him solo whichever. Even with such huge promotions, no one showing up tells everything. Like 2 weeks back we were at a gathering and All is Well promo was on TV and everyone is like.. is Abhishek still getting solo movies? Who is going to watch? I just smiled and moved on. Looks like that’s the reaction all over.
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August 22, 2015 at 12:36 PM
For reference, Bhootnath Returns had a 3.5 crore opening last year on only 1500 screens. And that movie’s only usp was Big B. Where as here you have Big Promotions, the OMG director, and hit music. Big B is still amazing, even at this age, his career is going in an upwards direction, the opposite of Abhishek.
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August 22, 2015 at 2:15 AM
Brothers Has Another Heavy Fall On Day Eight
Saturday 22 August 2015 12.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Brothers had a huge fall in business on day eight with collections in the 1.25-1.50 crore nett range. The drop is 90% from its first day. This huge drop has come even though the new releases were weak and in reality a film a big like Brothers should be dominating the box office this week also.
The film should grow over the weekend but not like successful films and the weekend may come out to be around 5 crore nett, if its lucky it may come out a bit higher but the fact is its not going to do even a 10 crore nett second week which is unthinkable for a big film.
Brothers has no chance to do the lifetime business of Gabbar Is Back and even the figures of Baby look out of reach. So despite being Akshay Kumar’s biggest film of the year it will probably turn out to be his lowest grosser as compared to the two previous films.
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August 22, 2015 at 3:54 AM
FLOP,
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August 22, 2015 at 4:23 AM
All is well, I felt gave a dated feeling from the promos itself. Didn’t look exciting enough. It didnt have enough massy appeal and at the same time didnt feel classy!
Comparing it to Piku, it looked classy from the word go. You can just feel that it was a multiplex film!
I believe it’s time for introspection, as one can forget and forgive few bad films, but after that it’s troubling and raises the important question whether he was ever born to be a film star? Point to ponder!
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August 22, 2015 at 8:37 AM
i think Umesh Shukla could have made a full-fledged love story given that Asin is the heroine – from the reviews – it turns out that her role is very small and the director seems to think that the audiences can be taken for granted riding on his past success and aggressive marketing on various platforms………….sad reality is there Abhishek has hardly been a draw when he is the main lead and that has been proved here umptieth time – in fact I thought sincerely that this his film and will come out with flying colors – i was wrong 😦
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August 22, 2015 at 9:04 AM
https://www.change.org/p/amitabh-bachchan-boycott-film-netaji-in-protest-of-mulayam-yadav-s-sexist-remarks-about-rape-survivors
Mulayam Singh Yadav believes that the Badaun rape case was “blown out of proportion and women exaggerate rape claims to “settle scores.” As a young woman living in India, I’m horrified by the statements of Mulayam Singh Yadav!
Shockingly, Amitabh Bachchan has been asked to introduce and promote the film “Netaji- Mulayam Singh Yadav” celebrating the life and achievements of Mulayam Singh Yadav!
Sign my petition and ask Amitabh Bachchan to boycott the film and any promotions, in protest of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s horrible sexist remarks about rape survivors.
Amitabh Bachchan over the years has taken a stand on social issues regarding women and has generously supported organisations working for the upliftment of girls in India. Meanwhile, Mulayam Singh believes that it is impossible for 4 men to gangrape a woman and the survivor is lying in such cases.
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August 22, 2015 at 11:13 AM
Abhishek Solo Opening Days – 18 Films No Initial
Saturday 22 August 2015 14.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
All Is Well had a poor start all over of around 15%. The film has little face value and though music is reasonable it held little appeal visually. Below are the opening day collections of Abhishek Bachchan solo films.
All Is Well (2015) – 2,35,00,000 apprx
Dum Maaro Dum (2011) – 5,12,00,000
Game (2011) – 1,85,00,000
Khelein Hum Jeen Jaan Se (2010) – 95,00,000
Raavan (2010) – 5,81,00,000
Delhi 6 (2009) – 4,77,00,000
Drona (2008) – 1,79,00,000
Guru (2007) – 3,37,00,000
Umrao Jaan (2006) – 1,52,00,000
Bluffmaster (2005) – 1,60,00,000
Naach (2004) – 42,00,000
Run (2004) – 76,00,000
Kuch Naa Kaho (2003) – 71,00,000
Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost (2003) – 52,00,000
Sharaarat (2002) – 11,00,000
Bas Itna Khwab Hai (2001) – 42,00,000
Dhaai Akshar Prem Ke (2000) – 89,00,000
Tera Jadoo Chal Gaya (2000) – 95,00,000
The opening has been poor of practically all his solo releases with Raavan at 5.81 crore nett being the highest in terms of numbers and in real terms Dhaai Akshar Prem Ke and Tera Jaadu Chal Gaya in 2000 remain the only two with somewhat decent initials. All Is Well has coming after fours as solo starrer and the results and no better (probably worse) than his earlier releases. In between some multistarrers did do very well but were headed by much bigger names Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan and Ajay Devgn.
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August 22, 2015 at 11:29 AM
most of this is grossly misleading but won’t get into it right now.. it should be obvious though what the issues with this list are. What I would agree with though is that post-raavan there has been a serious initial problem.
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August 22, 2015 at 12:49 PM
LOL @ BOI. Why not give us the top 3 of top 5 openings of every year and then compare Abhi’s openings to that? I remember Guru having a good opening, and I’m right. Guru had the 3rd highest opening day of 2007. Using BOI’s numbers, only OSO, and Hey Baby are higher. Even the big hits of that year- Partner, CDI, Welcome, Bhool Bhulaiya, Taare Zameen Par had lower openings. But yes as a solo hero, Guru had a great solid opening, Bluffmaster and a couple of his first films were okayish, and the rest are just god awful.
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August 22, 2015 at 12:58 PM
Raavan despite terrible WOM had 6 crores on day 1. In other words with good WOM it would easily have had 10 or something. But so many years after that film they’re still kind on many 7-8 crore openings today. The same is true for D6 by the way. This is very different from even DMD which never got off the ground and which with the D6/Raavan sort of initial would have done way more than it did. BM was always more of a multiplex sort of deal and not for everyone.. Between Yuva and Guru every film of his got a strong initial all things considered (barring of course UJ). What’s common to all these films? Anyway all of this is an older discussion at this point but nonetheless a guy being down doesn’t mean one starts altering the fact. of course even in real time the likes of BOI never quite accepted the success of those films. I could extend this paragraph using all sorts of examples. But the dishonesty of such reporting is obvious. What is true however and has been since Raavan is that on a solo people are just not turning up for him. This is not about low numbers or something. people are just not turning up and he needs a radical reinvention move at this point away from all the obvious choices and what not. This will have to be not just a hit of some sort but the kind of film that changes the conversation for him and completely wipes the slate clean. There is simply no other option at this point.
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August 22, 2015 at 1:25 PM
Think they are talking only about solos. Between Yuva and guru he has lot of multi-starrers though I agree that that was his best phase where he was the main (or atleast equal star wattage with the other hero) draw of some of those multi-starrers
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August 22, 2015 at 1:49 PM
I think that’s all past now when youngsters loved ‘Right here, right now’ type of modern, young hip songs. He’s missed that generation now especially from 2008 onward lot of new comers have come in the industry and they took all the younger generation. I don’t think there is any younger demographic connecting with Abhishek anymore.He’s no longer going to get then youngsters interested in him. Ranbir, Ranveer, even Varun Dhawan doing 100 crs with a crap film shows the younger demographic taste are completely changed. There’s no target audience for Abhishek now and without that re-invention is not possible. Example.. Saif Ali Khan was too urban for Hindi films but when the DCH type role connected with the youth with new multiplex wave and he quickly re-invented himself in that role and graduated to solo hero. Salman managed this with Dabanng as he has great connect with the masses all through his career.
There has to be some kind of target audience for Abhishek to do this re-invention.
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August 22, 2015 at 4:57 PM
there are certain kinds of projects that transcend these sorts of demographics. You can make films that seem appealing without catering to a specific group in that sense.
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August 22, 2015 at 2:56 PM
“This is not about low numbers or something. people are just not turning up and he needs a radical reinvention move at this point away from all the obvious choices and what not. This will have to be not just a hit of some sort but the kind of film that changes the conversation for him and completely wipes the slate clean. There is simply no other option at this point.”
Quite true.
Any other example of a hero who might have achieved it? Ofcourse Abhisekh can be the first one! But I am not able to see that reinvention movie in his line up!
There was a time when he was good in Bluffmaster, Guru, Yuva, Raavan, etc. And now is the time of All is well. Sad.
When earlier the audience didn’t appreciated (at a really mass level) his movies, still had followers for Raavan, Sarkar and Sarkar Raaj, Guru, Yuva, etc. I cant even say that now.
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August 22, 2015 at 4:56 PM
everything you’re saying it correct which is why it’s not about a solo but about a radical reinvention via the right project.
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August 22, 2015 at 3:13 PM
One thing away from Abhishek I’d like to say is not many producers out there will again dare to make a solo Abhishek movie. Bhushan Kumar (T-series) did this(with good supporting cast and even sort of good/hit director) with AIW and even promoted hugely all over and still 2.5 crores opening.Moreover this movie released after 3 back-to-back hits in BB, D3 and HNY. Good/bad reviews is secondary if no one even comes to watch the movie then this will stop producers offering solo henceforth.
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August 22, 2015 at 4:49 PM
true.. but solos come about in lots of ways.. it will happen one way or the other.
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August 22, 2015 at 8:14 PM
Abhi better produces low-budget films – his acting career will be restricted to multi-starrers now – AIW has spelt doom for his solo-hero career if there was anything left…………
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August 22, 2015 at 12:46 PM
Vishal Bharadwaj, Meghna Gulzar and Irrfan Khan. One of the most interesting court cases in India in last decade or maybe ever!
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August 22, 2015 at 1:45 PM
u’ve irfaan in the film and u’ve already won lot of audience…………
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August 22, 2015 at 1:46 PM
The appeals are pending before the Allahabad High Court. The movie might/could be stayed.
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August 22, 2015 at 5:47 PM
The link posted by Master about the solo openings of Abhishrek —
Is not just a list
It’s a LONG SAGA
of PERSISTENT, CONSISTENT MEGA-FAILURES
The bigger question is
How this is continuing
Well, there are some ‘other factors’
But there’s a LIMIT
I mentioned earlier how sometimes RETIREMENT is FORCED !
for all practical purposes — (unless he produces stuff himself and doesn’t destroy other producers!)
ABHISHREKs SOLO CAREER IS OVER
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August 22, 2015 at 5:54 PM
Earlier I had CHALLENGED abhishrek to hit 200 crore in AIW
But I planned that nearer the time, I will reduce this to 100 crores or EVEN LOWER to ENABLE abhishrek to ‘win’
But what’s the opening day -??
Heck –2 crores ???
Man, I WANTED to make abhishrek ‘win’
But how much should I reduce the target ?
75 crores ?
Even 50 crores !?
Or damn 25 crores ?? 🙂
Man, WHAT A SAD DAY FOR ABHISHREK AND SATYAM
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August 22, 2015 at 6:36 PM
abhishrek solo acting —- the end
When I saw arjun kapoor, I was gripped with anger & disgust!
If one abhishrek wasn’t enuf, there’s another son (producer son) here who is EMINENTLY MEDIOCRE (actually ‘mediocre’ also sounds respectful here ) who will be SHOVED DOWN audiences throats repeatedly
I’m actually looking for APT WORDS to describe abhishreks ‘achievement’
Unfortunately WORDS FALL SHORT
It’s beyond me to verbalise this
@ Satyam : it’s enough
Plz WAKE UP and THROW this LOSERS BADGE U R CARRYING ..
Although this happened years ago, but bachchan senior creditably extended it many years
Brand Bachchan formally loses it’s ‘prince’
Forever,,,
While abhishrek will get to complete his sidekick/one of the crowd roles in the housefulls and hera pheris
SATYAMS DREAM IS OVER
With abhishreks solo career being now formally over,
Satyams fandom stands stripped
Satyam stands alone in the ruins….
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August 22, 2015 at 7:04 PM
Day 2691 : i guess it hints at something we are talking about here.. Hope my understanding is wrong.. If anyone can read the post and decode it. Dunno why I felt lil sad reading it..
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August 22, 2015 at 7:18 PM
A BRILLIANT post: Amitabh Bachchan is a great man …
But even he can’t change destiny
Sir, it’s the end of an era..
The dream (of abhishrek as even a minor solo hero ) is over !
On a related note, there was another ‘retirement’ recently
Another ‘forced’ one
Of Michael Clarke (& this is not comparable to poor abhishrek)
Now he’s a classy player who did as much as he could with his bad back. Apparently He was told at the age of around 29 that he had the back of a 60 year old
But he rose to the pinnacle
The captaincy of Australia
With subpar form, he won the World Cup recently
His world cup final innings was a strange one, he struggled and prodded and then stuck around in an implosive innings
But the recent Ashes loss to England was so severe
His own form so humiliating
That Michael Clarke lost not just his captaincy
Not just his test place
But his confidence big time
He lost the courage to face the crease altogether
Prematurely, He RETIRED from cricket !
goodbye Michael Clarke
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August 22, 2015 at 8:10 PM
@amit-seems so and here is my comment to Absir which is now awaiting moderation since last 90 minutes..may be needs approvals etc as per bis blog’s guidelines…
ANDYpdrew an hour ago Pending
Respected Sir;
Greetings of the day
Let me offer an alternative perspective on swimmer and his psych that shows why swimmer should not stop swimming due to one or multiple sinks and should indeed keep swimming taking into account laws of thermodynamics and water displacement factors and should reinvent himself/herself with techniques and skills that leads to reaching the target.
First and foremost-swimmer swims because he is well trained has passion and believe he can swim. Secondly if he does not swim then he is not a swimmer and third isn’t the idiom swim or sink show a reality to each and every one? For being a swimmer his mindset should always be i will swim till i sink !!
Archimedes’ principle indicates that the upward buoyant force that is exerted on a body immersed in a fluid, whether fully or partially submerged, is equal to the weight of the fluid that the body displaces. Archimedes’ principle is a law of physics fundamental to fluid mechanics…..same physics also provide explanation around swimmers feeling a resistance that is called “drag.”
Swimmer who can defeat drag is going to stay afloat and swim faster!!
Physics further define typesof drag being Friction,Pressure and Wave drag and each of this drag has to be overcome to emerge as successful swimmer.
How can swimmer overcome these known and irrefutable drags if he quits swimming? He has to master the art of going against the “RESISTANCE” and have the courage mixed with wisdom to navigate and clear off the drags that made him sink once or multiple times..!!
In our day to day life too-drags of pressure(fame, success, society, competition, money, career etc etc) and friction (with self or with others or due to desire to reach a status or societal norms that pulls ) has to be overcome to swim through life of river !!
Here again both science and ancient scriptures provide way out and that is to increase one’s Kinetic Energy to overcome such drags !!
Swimmer in a way will learn that increasing his kinetic energy will allow him to rise above exact same waves that seemed insurmountable ….and again to do so he/she will need to keep swimming and sinking till he/she masters the art !!
What is going to determine VALUE of swimmer is not to succumb but to OVERCOME and not to sink against same drag every time he jumps back in same river —
Kindly forgive once again sir my uncalled attempt to counter your thoughts which i felt may be were too harsh on swimmer and did not take into account psych and make of the will which one inherits as a human and key sometimes is to show the techniques and intricacies of theory mixed with practicality to a swimmer rather than telling him to stop swimming.
Pardon my thoughts if they felt counter intuitive here
Wish you all the very best and great EF interactions for years to come;
Sincerely
Andy
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August 22, 2015 at 8:24 PM
Girna bhi acha hai,aukat ka pata chalta hai…
Badte hai jab haat log ke uthane ko..Tab apno ka pata chalta hai…
Jinhe gussa aata hai ve log sachche hote hai…mainne aksar jutho ko muskurate dekha hai..
Sikh Raha Hun Ab Main Bhi Insano Ko Padhne Ka Hunar,Suna Hai Chehre Pe Kitabon se Jyada Likha Hota Hai
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August 22, 2015 at 8:28 PM
Great poem by Harivanshrai Bachchan
Lehron se dar kar nauka paar nahi hoti
himmat karne waalon ki haar nahi hoti
Nanhi cheenti jab daana lekar chalti hai
chadhti deewaron par sau baar fisalti hai
Mann ka vishwas ragon mein saahas banta hai
chadh kar girna, gir kar chadhna na akharta hai
Akhir uski mehnat bekar nahi hoti
koshish karne waalon ki haar nahi hoti…
Dubkiyan sindhu mein gota khor lagaata hai
ja ja kar khaali haath laut aata hai
Milte na sahaj hi moti paani mein
badta doogna utsaah issi hairaani mein
Mutthi uski khaali har baar nahi hoti
himmat karne waalon ki haar nahi hoti…
Asafalta ek chunauti hai sweekar karo
kya kami reh gayi dekho aur sudhaar karo
Jab tak na safal ho neend chain ki tyago tum
sangharshon ka maidaan chhodh mat bhago tum
Kuch kiye bina he jai jai kaar nahi hoti
himmat karne waalon ki haar nahi ho
english translation:
The boat that qualms the waves
Never gets across
The mind that dreads and dares
Has never been at loss
The tiny ant, when it carries the grain
Lays it up into the heights of the wall
Falls slipping a hundred times,
Just as it tries again
The faith in the mind
Stirs courage in the nerves
It soars and slips, then slips and soars again
Until its efforts have not been in vain
The diver who scrounges deep into the oceans
Comes bare in his fist a number of times
It is not so painless
Eachtime he delves to hit upon a pearl
Someday, when out of those deep seas he whirls
And in surprise, that his efforts have brought
Glad, for his fist is not empty everytime
And in him that seamless effort
herald a cheery chime
O’ accept the failures that cross your way
They are just the challenging mile-stones
And build from right here, where you fell
Until all the shortcomings cease,
And you soar in success
Burn restful sleeps in the sacrificial pyres
Until tireless struggles brought smiles of joy
Oh! Do not run away from the battlefields
For triumph always yields such joy
Just after relentless endeavours……
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August 22, 2015 at 8:54 PM
Baal number you beat dues numbri.
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August 23, 2015 at 3:09 AM
A fine post by Shweta Bachchan…A great post by Amitji referenced here…For me it looks somehow show the same sentiments to uplift Abhi’s spirits now…I really feel sorry for Abhi..He has to endure so much even to achieve a average success…Too bad…Abhi is a fine actor , not bad as the media projects him. They completely broke his career and destroyed his fanbase…Abhi keep fighting..Never give up..
It is time for ABCL to produce some small budget films ( hopefully a few successful south remakes),..Cheer up Guru bhai
http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/column-sibling-revelry-writes-shweta-bachchan-nanda-2117288
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August 23, 2015 at 3:27 AM
I don’t think media has the power to destroy anyones fan base. Abhi’s script choices are letting him down. Look inwards before blaming someone else should be the advice to him. Not that he is blaming anyone but he just needs to improve his script sense.
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August 23, 2015 at 8:05 AM
“Abhi is a fine actor” – I do not think many will doubt that – but has he made enough efforts (in the sense of selecting the scripts or even after selecting them – doing all the hard work)? Nah……….
Close your eyes and try to remember one character u remember which Abhi has played in last 15 years – ………….see? And now try the same for Aamir – not trying to compare aamir with him – but see the hard-work that man puts in every project – Abhi was given one too many chances and I would not call him a bad actor – but yes I would call him a failure in this box-office driven system – where his dad succeeded big time and Big B also is a fantastic actor but he did all the hard-work and still does that – somehow Abhi never seems to connect with the audience (or very rarely – and there too the credit-takers are many – directors / co-actors etc.) – he may have earned sympathy from his failures but that is not the same as you win love and respect with your successes – right?
Apex is going too hard on Satyam here – come on – no need to get personal here man – every fan has a right to defend his hero and Satyam is doing that fantastically well – we all enjoy healthy discussions but no need to go too far – maybe we can stick to the dignity of this blog and still have banterful-fights?
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August 23, 2015 at 9:40 AM
“maybe we can stick to the dignity of this blog and still have banterful-fights?”
yes that’s the only reason I restrict many Apex comments.. they’re beyond the pale in various ways.. otherwise whether he goes after me or not or he goes after me is quite literally (and to channel Arnab Goswami) water off a duck’s back!
I’ll say this about Apex though with respect to Abhishek. Apex is a secret Abhishek fan who’s been enraged for a long time because he feels he’s been let down or cheated by the star!
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August 25, 2015 at 11:50 AM
“I’ll say this about Apex though with respect to Abhishek. Apex is a secret Abhishek fan who’s been enraged for a long time because he feels he’s been let down or cheated by the star!”
Apex don’t let Satyam humor you ……and deceive……….you now have 8 wickets of the opposition and I suggest go for the kill now and put your best pace attack and get the last two ….win the match / series / cup / final …….No Mercy !!!
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August 23, 2015 at 3:13 AM
Manjhi – The Man Mountain Set For Better Run Than All Is Well
Sunday 23 August 2015 12.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
All Is Well showed growth of around 30% on day two and that is nowhere near enough from the start it had. Any little chance it had at the box office is now gone with its Saturday business. The first two day business of All Is Well is as follows.
Friday – 2,35,00,000
Saturday – 3,00,00,000 apprx
TOTAL – 5,35,00,000
Manjhi – The Man Mountain is likely to have a better run than All Is Well as it showed good upturn in business on Saturday. The collections were up around 70% from the previous day. The film will struggle to cover cost as these type of films only have India theatrical as revenue but it could get a decent lttle run at the ticket counter for a couple of weeks. The first two day business of Manjhi – The Man Mountain is as follows.
Friday – 1,20,00,000
Saturday – 2,00,00,000 apprx
TOTAL – 3,20,00,000
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August 23, 2015 at 8:12 AM
which means 5+4 = 9 cr weekend? and then? well it may limp to 15-20 cr lifetime – Oh my god! actually not much for Abhishek – but even Umesh Shukla’s image will tank here big time because OMG was a copy of a Gujju play – Kanji Vs Kanji and Paresh Rawal/Akki combo was far more lethal than AIW – in any case like Drishyam – OMG had the script as the main hero………….is Indian audience finally eveolving? They can tell good from bad? good sign for the cinema
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August 23, 2015 at 3:19 AM
Vijay Krishna Acharya’s Next
by Box Office India (August 22, 2015)
The industry is buzzing with news that Vijay Krishna Acharya, aka Victor, has signed Hrithik Roshan for his next. After wrapping Ashutosh Gowariker’s Mohenjo Daro, we hear that Roshan is gearing up for his next, which is Acharya’s next film under the Yash Raj Films (YRF) banner. It’s not a sequel to Dhoom but a period, epic love story.
We also hear that Aditya Chopra is taking special interest in the film as it is said to be the most ambitious project ever under the YRF banner. Although the makers are still scouting for the leading actress, pre-production work has begun at YRF Studios and the film will start rolling by the end of this year.
http://www.boxofficeindia.co.in/vijay-krishna-acharya%E2%80%99s-next/
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August 23, 2015 at 4:28 AM
All Is Well loses very little time telling us that the title is a lie. The film opens with a performance by a singer named Inder Bhalla (Abhishek Bachchan). The actor is stiff – he looks like a Citibank employee in the middle of a PowerPoint presentation. It’s hard to see who’s buying this music. Throughout the film, you get the feeling Bachchan is miscast. At least, he doesn’t seem very interested. Inder needed to be played by a younger, spryer actor – say, the Abhishek Bachchan of Delhi-6. All Is Well tells a similar story. An NRI makes what he thinks is a short visit to India and finds himself sucked into chaos – only, this film is meant to be a comedy. Hence the scene where Inder spurns a lucrative offer and his friend chides him: “Lakshmi-ji tilak lagaane aa rahi hai aur tu face-wash karne jaa raha hai.” Someone’s going to have to answer for that line at the pearly gates.
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August 23, 2015 at 8:27 AM
Ouch! That’s as scathing a review can get. That “Lakshmi ji” line btw has been rehashed from Hera Pheri, delivered with good comic timing by Akshay Kumar in a film where he was just beginning to find his funny side.
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August 23, 2015 at 1:21 PM
“All Is Well loses very little time telling us that the title is a lie”
Everyone is using that title to put across their views in their reviews(All is not well, no truth can be farther from the title, etc..).
To think of if, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Raju Hirani very
reluctantly gave that title for producers for Abhishek’s sake and they made this disaster out of it.
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August 23, 2015 at 1:59 PM
ha ha – Raju Hirani can still make a “All is still well” named film and come out with flying colors 🙂 what is in a name? he would say………….
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August 23, 2015 at 5:42 AM
‘Hafte main char shanivar hone chahiye’
Char shanivar hote to bhi kya fayda..Tab bhi to weekly buisness 3+4 = 12 + 7 cr aur yani 19-20 cr hi hota. Jokes aside tell me honestly has anybody expected anything diffrent from it and if anyone had pridicted Hit status for AIW then i would say those were the same people who belived in modi when he said i will give 15 lakh rs to everyone.
One More thing mostly i don’t find APEX’s comment offensive but the way he is gloating over AIW BO number i am finding it below the belt. I mean “Mare ko Marne main kya Mardangi”. Everyone knew the Fate of AIW of Abhishek’s Solo hero film. I don’t know what enjoyment you get to beat a person who is already down and out. Dum hain to target Khan’s who is ruling the Bollywood.
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August 23, 2015 at 7:34 AM
same idiots also believed modi said that he will deposit money into account but he actually talked about quantity of black money stacked abroad which it equivalent to that
thats why idiots have been crushed very badly in rajasthan and mp very badly by sane people and they responded with bode(case in point raje and vyapam didn’t saved them)
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August 23, 2015 at 1:06 PM
**One More thing mostly i don’t find APEX’s comment offensive but the way he is gloating over AIW BO number i am finding it below the belt. I mean “Mare ko Marne main kya Mardangi”. Everyone knew the Fate of AIW of Abhishek’s Solo hero film. I don’t know what enjoyment you get to beat a person who is already down and out. Dum hain to target Khan’s who is ruling the Bollywood.**
What ELSE were you expecting??
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August 23, 2015 at 6:24 AM
smriti irani the current hrd minister and pappu’s nemesis left this movie in between and she would have played abhishek’s mother(the other pappu)
it was always a certanity that will be total washout
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August 23, 2015 at 8:09 AM
in a lighter vein – congress would have found a genuine reason to make mockery of BJP if smriti was still in the film – given the fate of the film 😉
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August 23, 2015 at 8:13 AM
off-topic: ended up watching BA Pass – very dark gritty film by Ajay Behl – didn’t expect anything but was surprised by the tight script and performances.
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August 23, 2015 at 8:21 AM
dark in real life to as the lead actress committed suicide in real life
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August 23, 2015 at 9:00 AM
This 10-15% opening has become trademark for Bachchan parivaar.
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August 23, 2015 at 9:14 AM
charan raj,
have you seen this.
you are saying. This 10-15% opening has become trademark for Bachchan parivaar.
Amitabh Bachchan’s Earnings: $33.5 Million In 2015
cannot see srk earnings here.200cr+ films of srk but seems to missing.Think before you speak or bark
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August 24, 2015 at 10:26 AM
“Amitabh Bachchan’s Earnings: $33.5 Million In 2015
cannot see srk earnings here.200cr+ films of srk but seems to missing.Think before you speak or bark”
Firstly, you shouldn’t be using bark kinda language here. You are not even regular.
This post isn’t addressed to me… but FYI – Big B just had 1 release (Bhoothnath Returns) and all that income is through endorsements and KBC. It is not only through films. Maybe you should know that first.
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August 24, 2015 at 10:24 AM
“dark in real life to as the lead actress committed suicide in real life’
Shilpa Shukla of Chak de fame was lead actress and she is alive. The actress who died was a small time actress in BA Pass movie.
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August 23, 2015 at 9:31 AM
Too much is made about this film’s performance. The fault lies with the director more than the hero or heroine. Just imagine some other more popular actor like ranbir doing the same role and the film would have performed in the same way maybe with 5 to 10 percent difference.
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August 23, 2015 at 12:00 PM
Could see it coming and the numbers haven’t surprised me at all. I have been saying that Abhishek is wrong to be over-reliant on AIW. Look, everyone occasionally comes up with a dud. The sad thing for Abhishek is that when you look at his forthcoming projects, there is nothing to pin hopes on.
If ever Housefull works (and it is far from given), expect Akshay Kumar to walk away with the credits. Remember the D2, D3 and HNY scenarios where Abhishek didn’t benefit at all and expect a repeat of these rather than a Bol Bachan scenario.
HP3 seems to rely more on Abhishek’s shoulder but neither are genuine Abhishek fans going to be excited by the project nor do its BO prospects look great.
As for solo projects, I am sure that Abhishek was getting them and will continue getting them. But if AIW is what he chose at their expense, then I really question the quality of those projects. Even Chunky Pandey or Arjun Rampal may still bag solo projects these days, but what is most important is the quality of the project. The truth is that the last time that I really enjoyed an Abhishek Bachan performance was in DMD. And that’s over 4 years back.
He turned it around in 2004. This time around, it’s going to be harder. Back then, he was the happening and he was the subject of huge debates. For some, he was the next big thing. For others he had so much untapped talent. For some others he was a dud. He clearly divided people’s opinions but he had big banners and prestigious projects lined up for him. Right now, he looks stale and most people don’t seem to care anymore. And it’s the worst thing that could happen to a star.
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August 23, 2015 at 12:52 PM
This is a disaster for Abhi professionally. Can he still turn it around. Yes, but time is running out. He needs a decent, commercially viable project soon. Crap like HNY is not it. He is obviously talented but he has to beat the battle of perception. When an actor is referred to as lazy, Infind it more demeaning than untalented. He is far from lazy IMO But he needs to get that across.
AIW always seemed like a potential flop to me and unfortunately that has turned out to be true.
At this point, he has to be prepared to do whatever it takes to find a foothold.
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August 24, 2015 at 9:32 AM
I think the perceived problem of ‘laziness’ actually comes from what I seriously think is a different approach to acting. I have always found with every passing Abhishek film, that he is actually closer to his mother’s school of acting. He possesses the intensity of Amitabh yes, but he doesn’t manifest it as outwardly as the Big B did. So even the ‘anger’ in a Yuva or DMD is more one of a bottled rage… one that comes from silent reserves. Which is why an overman performance like Guru worked so well for him, while Raavan didn’t. The former character is all about the ‘inside’… all the slyness, drive, ambition, etc. comes from a deep place within. The success is manifest. With a Raavan, he is expected to wear it most of the times, the times that don’t work for me. But even here, when we are afforded a glimpse ‘inside’ him, Abhishek elevates the part. This is exactly why DMD works. And why Bluffmaster or Phir Milenge and others of the ilk do. In other words, doubt if he’d be able to showboat like a Pacino… but he can implode like the best of Seymour Hoffman and Sanjeev Kumar and Mohanlal. In fact, come to think of it, Abhishek’s comes more from a Bengali-Malayalam school of acting.
With comedy however, Abhishek is more at ease being scott free. Now I haven’t seen AIW, and from all accounts it sounds like a very poor film, but Abhishek should shoulder responsibility for selecting a film that doesn’t play to his strengths. It doesn’t offer him any comedic playing field, and the dramatic bits are loud. In effect then, you come across as disinterested doing either, and hence very easily dubbed lazy.
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August 24, 2015 at 10:07 AM
Laziness also comes when you are looking easily 15-20 lbs overweight and then have a short haircut to make your face blow out on the screen.. When asked in interview about fitness.. he said his role is of a struggling musician with no money and he can’t possibly be having 6 packs.. yeah right.. don’t have 6 packs but you can’t look like an over-fed overweight lazy bum as well!
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August 24, 2015 at 10:10 AM
His eyes are not getting hidden with his cheeks all through the movie..
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August 24, 2015 at 10:11 AM
Not all struggling musicians are like this… but in Abhishek’s mind he’s nailed the look.
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August 24, 2015 at 10:13 AM
Hey Abzee Bhai- The arrived !!! ek post nahee toh ek comment toh banta hai boss !!
They mocked an accomplished Gujrati actor just because he was dressed in traditional clothes holding a Trishul.
Because he was holding a Hindu Trishul these Failed ,Flopped, Film makers first lied that he is to be made the head of FFI and then declared him unfit .
It turned out that Supernakha lied .Amol Palekar will head the committee . The Govy had no role to ply but it suited the Sickulars narrative.
Sannatta !!!
Kafila Guzar gaya, Satya dekhta rah gaya !!!
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August 24, 2015 at 10:31 AM
great comment Abzee.. and one of the few serious ones over the last number of days! the rest of the time it’s been about kids in the sandbox!
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August 24, 2015 at 10:43 AM
Agree that Abhishek is very good at Intense roles and at Over the top comedy. I really liked him in Bol Bachchan.
It is the Melodramatic and Romantic sequences where his body language is a bit tensed and comes across as lazy .
For example in Dhoom, IMO he should play it more like Bachhcan in Dostana rather than like Bachchan in Akeyla.
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August 24, 2015 at 11:18 AM
Not referring to you but the whole ‘lazy’ or ‘doesn’t care’ and all such terminology that is used for Abhishek is really ideological. First off I consider it absurd that he’s considered lazy. for more than one reason. Just in a literal sense it’s hard to prove this if not impossible. But beyond this ‘lazy’ is code for someone who refuses to follow completely the existing set of rules in these matters (having a gym body or whatever). And the reason the criticism in this or any other sense is insincere anyway is because when he was very successful people found other ways of dismissing his successes. Now he’s not failing because of what people are saying but the interpretation that is put on his success and his failure suggests a resistance to the very idea of Abhishek. Which idea would make no sense in itself if it were not connected to a larger ‘Bachchan’ one. All of this I’ve been through before but here my point in any case is. The word ‘lazy’ simply does not mean the obvious when it’s applied to him. It’s like bourgeois types calling Bachchan’s films ‘mindless’ or ‘simply about beating up people’ and so on in the 70s and 80s. Again these were codes. Where I’d disagree with you is that ‘it comes across’ this way at certain points. I don’t think it does. I just think a certain multiplex audience dislikes the fact that he’s ‘not with the program’. But they also can’t dismiss him easily the way they would say Govinda or someone in a similar situation because here the class angle works entirely for him. You can’t ‘condescend’ to him because in terms of class he probably beats most in his multiplex audience. This then invites more rage not less. Because a certain ‘rebellion’ is suggested by this stance. The way you then deal with it is by saying he’s lazy or whatever. It’s not that people do this as a conscious act. Similarly they’re also not consciously aware of what it is about Abhishek that truly bothers them. The same goes for all sorts of debates connected to him,
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August 24, 2015 at 11:26 AM
Personally, I don’t think Abhishek looks lazy and certainly general public won’t think as deep as Abzee and then consider him lazy coz of his acting style. That’s why I tried to give the general and easier assumption is regarding his body weight. He was once criticized heavily during D2 and he blamed it shooting with Guru(where he had to put on weight) but for AIW, what possibly could be the reason for being overweight? Once you look fit and trim you don’t look lazy body wise.. at least. That’s the basic criteria for a Hindi movie actor. This is not malayalam cinema where Mohanlal can survive with his weight.
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August 24, 2015 at 12:44 PM
LOL mentioning Abhishek in the same breath as Pacino, Hoffman, Sanjeev Kumar & Mohanlal…now I’ve read it all!
I will also add this for good measure: Abhishek’s performance in Dum Maaro Dum is overrated beyond measure on this forum. Elsewhere, nobody else apparently cares. He was OK and a bit in the film but Pacino in Serpico he most definitely was not!
I’m not terribly interested in berating him completely and in the interest of fairness, I’d like to add that I’ve enjoyed watching him in Yuva, Guru & Paa.
Finally, subtlety is definitely not his forte. And dialog delivery, for him, remains a big weakness. He should learn from someone like Shahid Kapoor how to deliver proper dialogues, even in serious/dramatic roles.
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August 24, 2015 at 12:59 PM
“LOL mentioning Abhishek in the same breath as Pacino, Hoffman, Sanjeev Kumar & Mohanlal…now I’ve read it all!”
True. Everything has come to standstill in Abhishek’s career but the superlatives used for him on this blog seems to never wane off.
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August 24, 2015 at 2:12 PM
It’s not as if the world has come to an end with AIW not registering an opening. These things happen and even consistent stars go through these phases where nothing seemingly works. Ajay Devgan, Akshay Kumar and even Salman Khan, to a lesser extent, have given quite a few flops in succession.
For Devgan, Golmaal was the turning point; For Akki it was Hera Pheri and with those films behind them, they picked up pace to overcome the trough. Now, I’ve never confused Ajay Devgan to be a serious actor in any sense and the less said about Akshay, the better it is. They are stars, first and foremost, who are happy to keep the box office machine working, content be damned and relegated to the dustbin if necessary. I am aware that Devgan probably has ambitions of being called an ‘actor’ of some sort, but the best thing I can say about him is that he can be earnest…and that’s that.
With Abhishek, I get the feeling that he’s facing the same conundrum that Madhavan faces, in general. That is, Maddy is considered too North-Indian for Tamil films and too much of a Southie to work in Bollywood.
Abhishek is better than the rest (which, frankly reflects quite poorly on the general lack of talent in Bollywood) with a few notable exceptions (Aamir, Shahid Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna , Ranbir? etc) when it comes to making crap films and probably not good enough to work with the Indie crowd (Kashyap, Dibakar, Motwane et al). Caught in no-man’s land, he’s working either as a side-kick in manufactured blockbusters or in dumb sequels, replacing other forgettable characters.
So he’s not working in films that could potentially showcase his talent and at the same time, he has agreed to play the second or third face in a crowded, crapola Bollywood showcase.
His success or failure doesn’t bother me anymore, but it’s the lack of intent to be part of good cinema is what makes me furious.
It’s not as if people like me create stars — heaven knows I’d rather subject myself to third-degree torture than watch a Salman Khan blockbuster — but there is an audience, albeit small, that would appreciate actors pushing themselves to work in good films. His biggest failing is that he has alienated that section of the audience who could bring him back from the dead.
If I were him, I would beg, beseech and try any trick in the book to work with directors who know their craft well. That’s the only way out of his present day misery…that is, if saving Abhishek Bachchan’s career is an all-important cause worth discussing.
In the grand scheme of things, it’s only a trivial pursuit. There are good filmmakers; there will be good actors and hopefully, the tribe comprising the Indie crowd will continue to deliver good films…. and life wouldn’t be any poorer with or without a single individual.
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August 24, 2015 at 2:44 PM
Saket, this is a good comment and while we have our disagreements when it comes to Abhishek those are more about personal tastes and so on. But here I’d disagree with the idea that Abhishek hasn’t tried to associate himself with good cinema. If anything he’s tried too much and without enough of a safety net. So even when he was going through a successful phase he didn’t really repeat the obvious genres and kept doing ‘interesting’ stuff when he should have perhaps been more careful. Till Guru things were fine. JBJ was supposed to be a huge step forward, the BNB team and so on but it didn’t work. Alright that was one film. Drona was clearly a big mistake and there’s no excuse for this. But beyond a point when SR underperformed, when D6 failed and so on and especially after Raavan it was time to really go in for certain kinds of choices while he still had some leverage left. I’ve always believed that he completed a circle with Raavan. That after this the audience was just totally turned off and if you look at every initial since it was pretty much non-existent. The worst shock was DMD which would have done decently at the very least had it come somewhat earlier. So at that point it wasn’t about the projects anymore. People weren’t turning up. Nonetheless he kept pushing things. For instance is Gowariker the safest director in any circumstance let alone after Raavan? The course correction should have come much earlier. We can all agree with this. On the other hand between D6 and Raavan and Gowariker and so on he was working more often than not in interesting stuff. a Sarkar sequel was a no-brainer. In Paa he had an important part. Even an obvious genre like Dostana he did because it had that gay angle. But otherwise if you look at everything after JBJ there’s nothing absolutely safe there. Yes he had some bad luck. But these things happen in the lives of stars. One has to adjust accordingly. Ranbir has just had two epic disasters in Besharam and BV. The latter especially is probably a historic disaster relative to costs and so on. But he’s now delayed Jagga Jasoos because he probably had some doubts about it anyway. He’s fast tracked the Imtiaz Ali film and the Johar one will eventually follow. So stars make these adjustments while they still have some leverage left. Abhishek waited till people essentially stopped offering him those sorts of films. he could then have done smaller solos or gone down the multistarrer track. I never agreed with the latter (barring BB) but the former doesn’t necessarily get you to a better place. But yes I would have erred on the side of the former rather than the latter for different reasons. I think Abhishek saw it as a means of being associated with high profile films, getting some attention out of them, building some capital and then doing a solo. The problem is that if you do multistarrers BB will always be the exception. Why would stars with a better track record give you the best roles in those films? Secondly the solo should also loosely be in the same genre otherwise the better standing doesn’t necessarily rub off. There’s certainly loss of prestige this way. If you go the solo route, do smaller stuff, you don’t get a big one, you certainly have less of a prestige problem. On the other hand you have to be willing to fall under the radar for significant periods of time. In any case my point is that he was one star who pushed that ‘different’ paradigm as much as he could. Now whether he should have had better script sense while doing those different films or working with those better directors or not is another matter. But if he has since become associated with poor stuff for box office credibility that’s because his options have run out. Again unless one wants to do any kind of solo that is offered. For years Devgan was ‘absent’. he was doing solos or even two hero films in the 90s and beyond that didn’t have a hope in hell of becoming hits. Once in a blue moon he’d have an average success and that would seem like something. Salman for many years couldn’t do better than Garv. So that path is certainly open but then you operate with the ‘faith’ that one day you’ll hit it big. But that’s not a necessity either. At this point though (I’ve believed this for a while anyway) I don’t think it’s about just getting a hit or something in a solo venture. Unless he can get a massive hit doing so (always an improbable ask) he really needs to go the Lagaan way and produce a film that looks distinctive and special in some form or fashion. It could be a variety of genres but it has to be something that the audience is interested in irrespective of the star and where then the star is also able to reinvent himself. Here I disagree with pretty much everyone on any side of the debate. It is too late to just look for a hit. Those who think this is the end of the road for him are also very wrong as they’ll soon discover. But if he wants to be a star in any way that matters that moment of truth has arrived. It has to be a serious reinvention effort that simply wipes the slate clean in many ways. Really don’t think anything else will suffice. and here we might agree but he has to get back to his core strengths. Just get associated with more quality products. Be smarter about the scripts and so on and what might work and what might not. But he has to get back to a phase that once worked for him. He was doing BnB and Guru and BM and SR in that phase. There were really all kinds of genres. He can do a variety of stuff but yes he also needs to play to his own physical strengths. The Yuva guy can do Dostana but that’s not the best use of his skill sets. Just as Bachchan was great in Kabhi Kabhie but to use his physicality you needed the angry young man. So he really has to play to his strengths first of all in some of these basic ways (again the films in that period did one way or the other). But I quite firmly believe he needs absolute reinvention at this point and he certainly has the means to do it in more ways than one. The only other point I’d make is that he needs to work much more closely with Southern setups. Hindi films but with much more cues taken from sensible Southern cinema. Masala or otherwise. Actually if Abhishek were a Tamil star he’d have no issues. That industry would be right for him. An older Bollywood would be too. Today’s industry is just wrong for anyone who is not completely a star who can be ‘consumed’ in the obvious plastic ways. The films cater to that sentiment as do the stars. Not surprisingly Aamir went around all of this by developing excellent judgment. He promises his audiences a good film irrespective of genre. But many of his films are still exceptions rather than the rule. They really depend on one man’s judgment. That’s not the entire system. Bahubali, a film which I adored as much as anyone else, simply could not be made in Bombay. There is no director who could handle masala with that sort of conviction. Just no one. Even Rohit Shetty is doing his own brand of Telugu masala which is about as superficial as it gets except on the exceptional day. This is why when Aamir did the Ghajini remake he did it with the original director! So one can blame Abhishek in all sorts of ways but the point is that in the Tamil setup he would automatically get scripts that played to his strengths. Madhavan had a different problem. He couldn’t be star enough in some of the films that mattered and obviously he couldn’t play the romantic guy forever. In Tamil cinema in any case you can’t be SRK. No one can have a permanent career doing that. Surya, a talented actor, went down the mass path, he’s of course very successful but he’s also squandered his talents. The yuva/Guru/Sarkar guy wouldn’t have had the Maddy problem. But now is the right time in Bombay to be able to tackle masala in a more meaningful way once more. I’m not saying it had to be this or nothing. But reinvention it has to be. everything else, even if successful, will only flatter to deceive. On that note I never thought that AIW was a permanent solution. I always thought it could be a stepping stone to something better even in the best case scenario. So the world might not have come to an end with AIW for him but he would be wise to regard this as some sort of end.
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August 24, 2015 at 2:21 PM
I agree with saket,
his doom the first one then sarkar and then bunty aur bubli he should have kept with good quality scripts,also guru in a way was the way forward,look at amitabhs c.v. ,he had 7 flops before zanzeer,its the luck aswell and abhi is completely out of it,some eople here will argue that abhi being an amitabh son helps but it does not,people want good story and ofcourse it helps if your last film had something to attract crowd,if look at salman khan his last several films have been monumental huge nd he is real crowd puller whereas abhi is complete opposite,one good film from abhi and he is bak in it with khans
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August 24, 2015 at 2:29 PM
master,
now you are going completely over-board,one can have bad luck in films ,you only have to look amitabhs films before zanzeer,7 flops he had so here abhi has still age on his side and surely sooner or later with 3 khans the age is against them so abhi needs to be there and hang on,not too long otherwise some other fresh blood will come from nowhere and create something huge havoc..
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August 23, 2015 at 12:51 PM
‘Too much is made about this film’s performance.’ Agree. Too much is being made of the performance of the film only in thgis forum. Elsewhere, no one is bothered. Who cares if an Abhshek film does not perform well? They would rather talk about Manjhi, or the upcoming Phantom.
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August 23, 2015 at 1:31 PM
Utkal typifies Abhishek’s problem. On one hand is the superficial, pseudo-intellectual multiplex crowd trying to discover it self and evolve and feel good about themselves while remaining clueless without changing in a meaningful way and on the other hand are the single screen audiences- Abhishek doesn’t have a broad appeal amongst either.
He needs a vehicle that plays to his strengths and give the Plexers what they want- some superficial candy stuff with vague existential references and the Plexers will lap it up.
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August 23, 2015 at 1:45 PM
**give the Plexers what they want- some superficial candy stuff with vague existential references and the Plexers will lap it up.**
But we have Hrithik and the young bum crowd for that. We need something called ‘acting’ and Abhishek is miles better at that..
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August 23, 2015 at 2:43 PM
He is wealthy, born with silver spoon. Why desire to be an artist so desperately? If desire is to be an artist, then why crave money and fame? I wonder…
I read recently interview of Sanjay Mishra (aakhon dekhi) and all his struggles and getting fame/single protagonist movie so late in life. Then there were actors like Nawazuddin who survived on tea and gluco buscuits. Irrfan who couldn’t afford to tickets of Jurrasic park, so many…
So why should one feel sorry for ABjr. He has everything going for him….yet another flop ain’t gonna starve him!!
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August 24, 2015 at 12:31 AM
exactly and why so much devotion for this guy
classic case in point is his father who again was born to pedigree , harisvansh rai bachchan is still a legend and was even part of ifs and teji bachchan was in administrative role of undivided lahore university still amitabh in different field struggled , left his job and survived on pennies in his early years in mumbai
jaya bachchan was one the pioneer of revival of art cinema in 70’s and her early life was not rosy but this guy is brat and indeed a brat having got everything on platter
amitabh at 70’s do workout, blog and remains active in every sphere having transcended beyond cinema and nothing to acheive but not is the case with this guy..left study in between and even as actor going nowhere
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August 24, 2015 at 12:40 AM
making use of the resources:
SRK’s father used to run a canteen in National School of Drama, and from childhood this guy interacted with big stars and learnt nuances of acting and come prepared , with theatre , serial and finally film, not in a single day one star is born
aamir is gifted with script sense because his comes from the family of directors and script writers and they are active from 1940’s
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August 23, 2015 at 12:55 PM
THIS IS ABHISHEK’S MOST TOUGHEST PHASE OF CAREER, NO DOUBT FOR ME THAT HE IS ONE OF THE MOST TALENTED ACTOR, BUT ON THIS FORUM MANY PEOPLE ARE JUST INTERESTED THAT HE MUST BE FINISHED, BUT THEY ARE NOT GODS, I AM TOTALLY AGREE WITH RAHUL THAT THIS TIME IT WILL BE VERY HARD FOR ABHISHEK TO TURN IT AROUND, BUT PERHAPS THIS IS TIME WHEN ONE’S CHARACTER, TOUGHNESS, RESILLIANCE, TALENT TRUELY MEASURED. SO, WAIT LET’S SEE HOW HE DEAL WITH THIS, WHETHER HE COMES OUT FROM THESE.
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August 23, 2015 at 2:49 PM
Images from Chiranjeevi’s 60th birthday:
http://movies.ndtv.com/photos/inside-chiranjeevis-birthday-party-bachchans-sridevi-a-list-guests-20382
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August 23, 2015 at 2:52 PM
Something somewhere is seriously wrong.. I went to a bar 2 days back n was watching must win match for jaipur to qualify for semis in pro kabaddi.. All friend except me where supporting patna (note: all friends supporting are telugu)N when they lost a friend was very happy n said now you should see face of chu..ya abhi.. .. I felt really bad as whar he did.. In last few yrs I have seen ppl frnds saying all these kind of non sense abusive about ab jtmr . It has been the perception like this that has been prevailing against him..majority thinks that way!!! Why dont aask mr ..i am not the right person…may b no one likes successful father’s son to be successful or once they were fan n disappointed with movies he picked.. I remember one ofc coGreat poem by Harivanshrai Bachchan
Lehron se dar kar nauka paar nahi hoti
himmat karne waalon ki haar nahi hoti
Nanhi cheenti jab daana lekar chalti hai
chadhti deewaron par sau baar fisalti hai
Mann ka vishwas ragon mein saahas banta hai
chadh kar girna, gir kar chadhna na akharta hai
Akhir uski mehnat bekar nahi hoti
koshish karne waalon ki haar nahi hoti…
Dubkiyan sindhu mein gota khor lagaata hai
ja ja kar khaali haath laut aata hai
Milte na sahaj hi moti paani mein
badta doogna utsaah issi hairaani mein
Mutthi uski khaali har baar nahi hoti
himmat karne waalon ki haar nahi hoti…
Asafalta ek chunauti hai sweekar karo
kya kami reh gayi dekho aur sudhaar karo
Jab tak na safal ho neend chain ki tyago tum
sangharshon ka maidaan chhodh mat bhago tum
Kuch kiye bina he jai jai kaar nahi hoti
himmat karne waalon ki haar nahi ho
english translation:
The boat that qualms the waves
Never gets across
The mind that dreads and dares
Has never been at loss
The tiny ant, when it carries the grain
Lays it up into the heights of the wall
Falls slipping a hundred times,
Just as it tries again
The faith in the mind
Stirs courage in the nerves
It soars and slips, then slips and soars again
Until its efforts have not been in vain
The diver who scrounges deep into the oceans
Comes bare in his fist a number of times
It is not so painless
Eachtime he delves to hit upon a pearl
Someday, when out of those deep seas he whirls
And in surprise, that his efforts have brought
Glad, for his fist is not empty everytime
And in him that seamless effort
herald a cheery chime
O’ accept the failures that cross your way
They are just the challenging mile-stones
And build from right here, where you fell
Until all the shortcomings cease,
And you soar in success
Burn restful sleeps in the sacrificial pyres
Until tireless struggles brought smiles of joy
Oh! Do not run away from the battlefields
For triumph always yields such joy
Just after relentless endeavours……i remember one of my ofc colleague’s sharing that once in their youth were fans of his n went all his movies with high expectation but movies like tera jaadoo chal gaya n bas itna sa khwab hai n subseqient novies were so dissastrous that they stopped going to his movies.. This tells the general story of youth then n now no youth of todays time or middle age man earlier fans are interested anymore.. N that sons getting adv bcoz of father or dyanasty was vociferouslly opposed (prime ex : rahul gandhi) n ppl virtual media jokes on these 2 men started coming n ppl along with r gandhi started equating abjr too had non talented n only false successor by default.. There has been more of hate compare to disliking methods of politics or acting.. I never was fan of ab jr but started supporting him bcoz there is really a big diff between raga n ab jr ..ab jr is talanted unlike raga but virtual media critics n wrong script selection screwed up his career.feel sorry for this guy..
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August 23, 2015 at 2:55 PM
Abhishek still failed to realize common man likes only mass/action and comedy movies.Recent interview(Hangout with abhishek and asin) he said he don’t follow any strategy while choosing the script and he don’t think about how this film will benefit him. Its really shocking he never changed in last 15 years and after so many flops .Also he don’t have good opinion on doing mass/action movies.He is thinking like ram goapl verma who neglected audience point of view and paid the price .His father was highly successful in 70s and 80s because of these so called masala/mass movies.Recently amir khan acted in movies like Ghajini and Dhoom3 for commercial success. Sharukh acted in Chennai express and Ajay Devgun acted in south remake Singam . Salman and Akhay kumar are highly successful with south remakes. All those top heroes are not dumb and Abhishek should change his attitude immediately if he want commercial success otherwise after some time no one will ready to make movies with him.If he has really passion in movies and he would like to act different type movies better he should act in low budget movies instead of wasting producers money
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August 23, 2015 at 3:05 PM
Something somewhere is seriously wrong.. I went to a bar 2 days back n was watching must win match for jaipur to qualify for semis in pro kabaddi.. All friends except me where supporting patna (note: all friends supporting are telugu)N when they lost a friend was very happy n said now you should see face of chu..ya abhi.. .. I felt really bad as what he did.. In last few yrs I have seen ppl/frnds saying all these kind of non sense abusive about ab jr . It has been the general perception like this that has been prevailing against him..majority think that way!!! Why..plz dont ask me..i am not the right person…may b no one likes successful father’s son to be successful or once they were fan n are now disappointed n angry with movies he picked.. I remember one ofc co.Something somewhere is seriously wrong.. I went to a bar 2 days back n was watching must win match for jaipur to qualify for semis in pro kabaddi.. All friend except me where supporting patna (note: all friends supporting are telugu)N when they lost a friend was very happy n said now you should see face of chu..ya abhi.. .. I felt really bad as whar he did.. In last few yrs I have seen ppl frnds saying all these kind of non sense abusive about ab jtmr . It has been the perception like this that has been prevailing against him..majority thinks that way!!! Why dont aask mr ..i am not the right person…may b no one likes successful father’s son to be successful or once they were fan n disappointed with movies he picked.. I remember my hyd ofc colleague’s sharing that once in their youth were fans of his n went all his movies with high expectation but movies like tera jaadoo chal gaya n bas itna sa khwab hai n subseqient novies were so dissastrous that they stopped going to his movies.. This tells the general story of youth then n now no youth of todays time or middle age man earlier fans are interested anymore.. N that sons getting adv bcoz of father or dyanasty was vociferouslly opposed (prime ex : rahul gandhi) n ppl/virtual media jokes on these 2 men started coming n almost all ppl disliked r gandhi started equating abjr too in that phrase and started spreadingbhim toonad non talented n only false successor by default n deliberately wanted him to fall down..There has been more of hate compare to disliking methods of politics or acting.. I never was fan of ab jr but started supporting him bcoz there is really a big diff between raga n ab jr ..ab jr is talanted unlike raga but virtual media critics n hater fans of other actors n ppl who hate ab sr n wrong script selection screwed up his career.feel sorry for this guy..
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August 23, 2015 at 4:54 PM
” I don’t know what enjoyment you get to beat a person who is already down and out. Dum hain to target Khan’s who is ruling the Bollywood.”
@ boo cristo –seems u r a new girl here darling
WHO has the BIGGEST grosser in Bollywood from the last decade or so?
From ghajini to 3 idiots to dhoom3 to PK?
Ask Satyam who is an abandoned bachchan fan and has sort of taken refuge as an aamir supporter
Ask the umpteen aamirsfans and myselfaamir and I’maamirs and imaamirsass & Aamirspets and aamirskids roaming around
Ask those who are blind fanatics
Where needed, there’s ONLY ONE who takes aamir to task where needed, no matter how much is the support …
& rips apart the unnecessary spin around aamir …
Apex
Ps: & this is when I LOVED all his recent performances
From PK to even dhoom3
The most favorite being Talaash !
Yes, surprise surprise that’s apex for u…
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August 23, 2015 at 5:10 PM
you might want to start with Roshan Sr’s figures sometime…
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August 23, 2015 at 5:38 PM
Just read this posted by someone above
“The industry is buzzing with news that Vijay Krishna Acharya, aka Victor, has signed Hrithik Roshan for his next.
We also hear that Aditya Chopra is taking special interest in the film as it is said to be the most ambitious project ever under the YRF banner. Although the makers are still scouting for the leading actress, pre-production work has begun at YRF Studios and the film will start rolling by the end of this year.”
Haha yo —Lol @ period epic film..
More HEARTACHE /BALL ACHE FOR SOME here (whichever applicable!)I like how the female lead names announcement is WITHHELD till late
Btw Heck even deepika wasn’t offered the yrf flick
What more does deepika have to do to get a solo yrf flick & opposite HR?
Anyhow I like the concept of AUDITIONING RANDOM GIRLS from the street…
Fresh talent … 🙂
Dil hai yeh sochta
Phir bhi nahi pataa
Kis haq se kahun bataa…
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August 23, 2015 at 10:23 PM
Aamir/Akki at Twinkle’s book-launch: watch out for dimple at the end – was she drunk? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRxn9nVVpf0
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August 24, 2015 at 7:26 AM
it was all staged. No worries 😉
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August 24, 2015 at 2:22 AM
All Is Well And Manjhi – The Man Mountain Weekend Business
Monday 24 August 2015 11.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
All Is Well fared poorly at the box office grossing 8.75 crore nett approx in its first weekend. The film opened poorly on day one and then showed of growth of around 30% on day two but as day one was less than 2.50 crore nett, the growth had to be a minimum 75% and that just for a good trend. The film has fared poorly all over with Mumbai giving a slightly better ratio than the average.
The film will suffer huge losses though the makers are lucky that it got a good satellite price which means the losses will be shared with the TV channel unless the price is regonitiate which does happen often.
Manjhi – The Man Mountain grossed nearly 5.75 crore nett which is a low collection but with a 1.25 crore nett day one, it has a decent trend to come out with collections close to 6 crore nett. It is probably not going to be enough for the film unless Monday can beat the Friday figure. Still it can give the bigger film All Is Well a challenge in terms of lifetime collections and maybe even beat it if it gets some luck in week two.
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August 24, 2015 at 2:39 AM
Looks like 15 crore lifetime for All is Well.
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August 24, 2015 at 3:25 AM
Salman, Aamir and I should do a film like Ghostbusters: SRK
“Have you three ever spoken about teaming up?
We meet each other and talk a lot, but we have never spoken about films. One day, Salman cracked a joke. He said, “Guys, we three won’t do a film together. We will only end up fighting. One will keep using his brains, another will finish the work quickly, and someone will not reach the sets on time.” So, we discuss stuff like this.”
http://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/salman-aamir-and-i-can-work-in-a-film-shah-rukh/article1-1383306.aspx
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August 24, 2015 at 8:16 AM
that is desperate attempt by srk,cannot beat them join them,he could have said this 10 years ago but but the guy was riding high and its vice-versa….poor guy must be so desperate
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August 24, 2015 at 10:01 AM
“poor guy must be so desperate”
Yeah so true.. SRK is so desperate in life and career now. Not everyone can be as lucky as Abhishek.
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August 24, 2015 at 11:05 AM
master,
talking about khans above poor srk,desperate to get going after losing no 1 spot,why Abisekh here ,whats he got do with it…read my comment before attempting to answer,[edited]
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August 24, 2015 at 11:10 AM
I’m sure as usual Satyam will ignore this comment from Vijay as he’s supporter of Bachchan.
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August 24, 2015 at 11:10 AM
Vijay, you can argue with folks but keep things civil. No reason to lose control.
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August 24, 2015 at 11:19 AM
ok Vijay, Master drop this stuff.. I’ve deleted some recent comments.
Vijay, hater or not things have to be kept civil. If someone wants to hate Bachchan that’s fine but civility is necessary. The same for anyone else.
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August 24, 2015 at 12:55 PM
“If someone wants to hate Bachchan that’s fine but civility is necessary. ”
Lol. So silly Satyam. If others get criticized that’s criticism but if Bachchan gets criticized, they are called haters.
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August 24, 2015 at 1:01 PM
actually you’re the one who’s being dense here. I was responding to Vijay’s language. I find this whole ‘hater’ language immature to begin with and fans of many stars indulge in it. When you want to avoid criticism you just call the other a ‘hater’. I find your ‘moralism’ about this not every sincere too because when the subject is SRK you’re not exactly saying ‘hey it’s healthy criticism’! In any case whether ‘hater’ or not things have to be civil. that’s the the bottom-line here. But on the ‘hater’ subject my other point would be so what if one hates a star? What’s the big deal about it?! An older comment on all of this:
[Will say about the rest though that you too indulge in this old label of ‘haters’ and so on. Many people are, they dislike stars intensely and they want them to fail. So what?! I don’t quite buy the ‘moralism’ of the argument you also subscribe to — ‘oh how can one live one’s life like this’? As if this is the only real test of one’s character, whether one hates x star or not!
Leaving this aside how is is a more ‘elevated’ existence, a more ‘spiritual’ life if one is so much in love with a star that one resorts to all kinds of extraordinary arguments and parameters to jealously guard what one perceives to be the interests of the star? Is this a more ‘noble’ way to live? Simply vicariously by just peddling the interests of the star? You keep saying ‘SRK is stronger and richer than before’. Is this a reasonable, impartial kind of claim? I’ve already talked about the ‘riches’ part of it before. But no matter how much he might be in the running as a star even at his age is it really reasonable to suggest by any stretch of the imagination that he’s stronger than he was at his peak? I wouldn’t say this about the greatest stars, irrespective of how well or not they do as older stars or how transcendent they might or might not be (leaving aside the rare exception of a couple of stars who’ve actually had the best seasons of their careers relatively late, whether as a box office matter or otherwise.. but this never happens to the star who is truly iconic over a sustained period of time at a younger age and who moreover defines the debate). It’s not humanly possible. You might acquire a different kind of currency as a star, that doesn’t mean you’re ‘stronger’! Anyway I’m not here to debate this. It was just an example. My point is, how is it a ‘better’ existence to love a star so much that all rationality goes out the window? One gets offended if one perceives a slight to the star, one is heavily invested in every crore a star’s film is going to do, one is carefully watching how much credit or not he gets each time, on and on. Isn’t this the other side of the ‘hate’ coin. In each case one simply does not approach the subject maturely. In each case one is overly invested in the star as a very personal matter. I’m not criticizing this necessarily but if you keep bringing up ‘hater’ I’m not sure why ‘lover’ is better! Specially since the object of one’s love in this case isn’t some sort of great cause or some spiritual journey or a great figure, even an actor, who truly commands that sort of universal respect. One is free to love anyone (!) but SRK is just a hugely iconic, very successful star of New India. And one has said everything about him. There is nothing more to ‘see’ here. I’m not being reductive. I know the history in more ways than one!
Again I’m not saying one cannot be a fan otherwise. One can be a fan of any star. But I’m trying to understand why this kind of ‘love’ places one on a higher pedestal! And again I’m not arguing that some people don’t hate stars (though I don’t find anything wrong with this) or that they then don’t act in juvenile fashion to pursue that hate (there might be something wrong with this), just saying one is in no ‘superior’ position to make this argument if one shows the same sort of excess on the other side. This whole ‘hate’ lingo is fairly pointless. Which is once again not to defend the craziness that sometimes crops up on the other side.]
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August 24, 2015 at 1:11 PM
“I find your ‘moralism’ about this not every sincere too because when the subject is SRK you’re not exactly saying ‘hey it’s healthy criticism’!”
How is that so? I don’t abuse reply them. There are tons of SRK’s criticism on this blog day in and out and I don’t even care to reply all those..why does one care? Not unless you are in that mood of that day and reply some funny repartee.
Its really funny you comparing my comments to buffoons here. Thanks man… Enjoy your forum.
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August 24, 2015 at 2:48 PM
I know you don’t abuse them. But it’s not just about abuse. It’s about the inability to take seriously any criticism on SRK, you often get into a tit for tat with folks when this happens. Even otherwise you just don’t find 99% of the criticism legitimate. You can never accept any version of events that doesn’t cast SRK in the best possible light, so on and so forth. I don’t have a personal issue with this. All I;m saying is that you’re exactly like some Bachchan fans in this regard or some other fans of some other stars. Now MS Dhoni with respect to Salman might be in a league of his own. He’s even hugely interested in the Hero remake because Salman is producing it (!), he doesn’t think running people over and killing or maiming them is a problem because evidently there are worse folks out there but that’s another matter. You’re certainly not neutral when it comes to SRK! And when I say neutral I don’t mean that you cannot like him or love him or whatever. That’s your prerogative. It’s to me always about arguments that are constructed in certain ways for certain stars and differently for others. This doesn’t mean one has to reply all day to others or whatever. But one nonetheless does enough to give the game away. Again entirely one’s right. But one cannot then be puzzled as to why anyone is questioning anything!
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August 25, 2015 at 11:47 AM
“Now MS Dhoni with respect to Salman might be in a league of his own. He’s even hugely interested in the Hero remake because Salman is producing it (!), he doesn’t think running people over and killing or maiming them is a problem because evidently there are worse folks out there but that’s another matter. ”
Sir, it’s just not me but a huge populace in India which thinks likewise. And like you earlier comment , please don’t give this cultural /religious tones because this stuff is entrenched more in the minds of an NRI than avg joe in the heartlands of India and the youth there today doesn’t have such strong prejudices as witnessed on blogs. They watch movies and the actors for what they are worth. Here I am including the upper strata / multiplex crowd too and contrary to popular belief Salman’s reach is not confined to by lanes of Byculla and Bhendi Bazaar only.
Secondly, if I support Hero part of the reason may be SKF, but somewhere there is a longing for a new pair on screen and you never know Sooraj Pancholi may just capture that slot because all these Ranbir/ Ranvir etc have done nothing to earn the slot for good 7/8 years.
Someone mentioned age factor of liking someone and once again the nri drift comes into play and even after spending good numbers of years in foreign land where one is never questioned on age / sex / class religion etc the Indian mindset living abroad is never liberated from those prejudices….
I just wish to add if one is spending time on a filmy blog and not watching national geographic, definitely there is a tabloid streak in him and if there was no internet / blog media site we would be sitting with stardust and cine blitz on toilet seats doing potty. I have no shame in admitting keeping up with filmy news for a good number of years now and that is no way connected to what I am as a person in real life and my professional inclinations. So please don’t put an age bar to Page 3 gossipy material which most here are guilty of though may never accept publicly.
Lastly sir what makes you and few others root for a disaster named Abhishek Bachchan. Isn’t Amitabh Bachchan somewhere attached to this whole dialogue and defense……? I know you are good with words and your writing skills are exemplary so you are going to come back with 100 reasons of liking Abhi but sir you CANNOT change facts.
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August 25, 2015 at 12:15 PM
If enough people in a country are fanatics who were dancing in front of Salman’s house the day he got convicted that might offer sad commentary on various cross-sections of the society. It does not exactly make the exercise reasonable! Secondly in your mind Ranbir might not have done anything. But you’re clearly on your own there given the projects he’s been attracting. one doesn’t have to be a fan of his to just be able to see this. But perhaps you’re coincidentally looking for a fresh pair only in Salman Khan’s home production! Of course given that you worship a star who’s pushing 50 it’s a bit odd to insist so much on freshness!
On the rest, on Abhishek, presumably one doesn’t think highly or not of stars based on how their films perform. but if so you should think even more highly of Aamir than Salman. Or at least the same. Or you should be a Ranbir fan. At least you should have been one before his two recent failures. In the same way no one ought to have been a fan of Salman in the many years leading unto Dabanng in the last decade!
On the religious bit not sure where I introduced that angle. But nice try warding off criticism. I don’t however get bullied by this stuff!
One of course has a right to be fanatical about any star. My problems don’t begin there. My issues arise when the same folks turn around and pretend it’s about completely rational reasons at the other end forgetting their own favorite’s history and that of many other stars. For instance if Abhishek delivered a big one tomorrow I wouldn’t say ‘don’t question me, lots of people think like that’! Lots of people thought otherwise too. Much as lots of people thought otherwise when Salman could do no better than Garv or Veergati! But leaving aside these too I don;t see who supporting Aamir because he’s huge. Don’t lots of people think the same about him? So again these arguments are as usual launched without thinking. it’s not then a play of words on my part to point out the obvious. It doesn’t take that kind of effort to expose the gaping holes in your logic! Again I don’t have a problem with your Salman-worship. it’s this other stuff you say to justify it.
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August 25, 2015 at 12:10 PM
On Salman’s though he was not part of the conversation on this thread, but please don’t make it sound babyish that I was complaining that law should get others first. That was a line for people on the blog who on hearing the verdict went into some sort of ecstasy that he is proven evil person and now with the court verdict it is in black and white. I don’t have much writing skills but what I was getting to is that at least be fair to what you write and if you are born and brought in India, one should have the guts to look inwards and accept how our system operates and how corrupt our system is. Now the only good outcome out of that whole drama was the supporter of vigilante justice were made to eat their own words of May 08th on ‘respecting the law’ two days later when tables were turned. And thank heaven’s he and his dad played smart and got into action, instead of watching the gleeful lot take their backside as law abiding citizens.
Please revisit those comments, I was more upset with his father Salim Khan for being naive and trusting the hopeless legal process rather than being a proactive dad Mukesh Ambani and other similar so called luminaries and circumventing the process to one’s advantage considering “the way law operates in India”.
Just look at twitter and there is daily instances of police excesses being reported and there was one on Sunday on Times Now where they caught the police beating the innocents and there was one drunkard police on Delhi metro to get a glimpse of what police integrity is all about and that too Mumbai police which for the longest time was known to be acting on behalf of politicians , goons and big shots.
Top that with a ‘one person’ judicial verdict system (recipe for corruption and bias). What if after all the hearings , evidences, prosecution and defense arguments and witnesses presented, one fine day Judge Satyam is having a bad day and wants to teach his pet hate a lesson and give an adverse verdict. Uske toh lag gaye lau…e To be fair I am also aware he may be benefiting under the same set of law and rules too.
Due to fast changing world and in 24/7 news cycles with pre conceived and unfounded opinions and partisanship the least required is these high profile cases not be handled by single person.There are so many times a single person has goofed up and such high profile verdict all over recent being the Oscar Pistorius.
Even the current flavor of the season Donald Trump when asked his take on jury duty recently in New York had this to say – “It’s a system, and we go through it. And it’s a great system. It’s a system that works,” Trump said at midday. They do a fantastic job, and I met some wonderful people.”
Here is another sample on the Colarado sentence –
“The nine women and three men said on Friday that they could not reach a unanimous verdict on each of the murder counts. That automatically eliminates the death penalty for the failed neuroscientist, who blamed his calculated murders of 12 people on mental illness.
The same jury had rejected his insanity defence, finding Holmes capable of understanding right from wrong when he murdered 12 people and tried to kill 70 others.
But the defence countered that his schizophrenia led to a psychotic break, and that powerful delusions drove him to carry out one of the nation’s deadliest mass shootings.
“Evidence that is beyond reasonable doubt is the standard of evidence required to validate a criminal conviction in most adversarial legal systems. Generally, the prosecutor bears the burden of proof and is required to prove their version of events to this standard”
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August 24, 2015 at 8:46 AM
anyone following stock-mkts here? Black Monday – what a bear-attack on dalal street today!
Anyone wanting to mange their accounts – let me know 🙂
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August 24, 2015 at 10:00 AM
“Anyone wanting to mange their accounts – let me know”
Weren’t you the one who was sure about AIW doing 100 crs (https://satyamshot.wordpress.com/2015/08/17/all-is-well-trailer/#comment-307387).
After that, no one would be interested in your services 😀
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August 24, 2015 at 11:37 AM
ha ha ha – sixer bhai sixer – if u were a bear today – u wud have made a killing 😉 abhi turned me into a bear on Friday and today was THE bear-day 🙂
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August 24, 2015 at 9:05 AM
btw – aamir and his crying is butt of all jokes these days 🙂 lol – chk this http://movies.ndtv.com/bollywood/aamir-khan-cried-and-cried-and-cried-in-katti-batti-and-is-now-trending-1210412?fb
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August 24, 2015 at 11:26 AM
Opening Weekend Box Office Collection: Abhishek’s ‘All Is Well’ Shows Good Jump; Nawazuddin’s ‘Manjhi’ Fares Decent
http://www.ibtimes.co.in/opening-weekend-box-office-collection-abhisheks-all-well-shows-good-jump-nawazuddins-644029
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August 24, 2015 at 12:46 PM
these jumps are good in percentage terms but they’re happening at such a low level that they’re really negligible. But also if the film were truly liked the jumps would be greater than this. At the very least the film would have been at 10-12 crores by Sun. Now would this film do ok if it started off with a strong initial so that even with drops later on the total would be decent at the very least? Sure! But that’s the problem. That Abhishek’s not getting them in on day 1. You can live with a low initial but you need something!
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August 24, 2015 at 11:59 AM
bye bye friends.
Dear Satyam and all the friends – this would be my last post here as I do not intend to return on this blog in near future.
No no – nothing has happened 🙂
Just trying a few different things in life and taking a sabbatical from few existing ones……
I have really enjoyed being here so far and learnt a lot from you all.
Some great minds like Satyam / Master / Abzee / Rooney / Q and many others here – thnx a lot friends. It has been lovely learning curve for me as far as looking at films with different perspectives is concerned. Thank you.
Take care and wish all of you a gala time here as usual 🙂
Good Night.
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August 24, 2015 at 12:43 PM
sorry to hear that Idea.. try to drop in from time to time nonetheless.. best of luck with whatever you’re pursuing..
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August 24, 2015 at 12:53 PM
Sorry to hear that as well… Good luck with your endeavors.
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August 24, 2015 at 1:12 PM
Rukh Idea.. mai bhi aa raha hoon! 🙂
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August 24, 2015 at 11:18 PM
Best wishes Idea for whatever it is that you are pursuing… unless your plan is to blow up all the SRK-Salman-Hrithik fans out there 🙂 Actually, come to think of it… 😉
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August 24, 2015 at 2:55 PM
Before I get too caught up in the AIW debate, I’d like to mention why I’d come here in the first place.
Since subtlety was mentioned with respect to a certain individual, I’d like to speak about a true-blue masterpiece I’ve only just recently seen: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I’m frankly quite annoyed that I never saw it earlier but watching it was a completely mesmerizing experience.
Not everyone is going to be a fan of its pace – and this is a cold-war thriller to boot – but people who appreciate details will fall in love with it, as I frankly did. The acting, dominated by an all British cast, is outstanding and Gary Oldman, in particular, is out of this world. His performance is subtlety redefined in a way that will (should?) move you beyond words. As an actor, he doesn’t do much at all but when he shows the slightest emotion, you feel as if the Earth has left its orbit. I’m only exaggerating a little! Terrific, terrific performance and most importantly, whattafilm!
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August 24, 2015 at 4:12 PM
I’m a great fan of the Cold War genre but while I liked this version I wasn’t blown away by it. Mostly because I’ve seen the 80s BBC version of the same and that was phenomenal (not as cinematic of course). Alex Guinness played the same part. But among recent Le Carre versions I liked Most Wanted Man a lot more (though I didn’t much care for the book).
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August 24, 2015 at 4:33 PM
I actually came to know about Tinker Tailor after watching BBC’s The Game which I liked very much when I saw the entire first series. It’s also a Le Carre-inspired cold war miniseries with again exceptional performances from the entire cast. The cast is entirely British and if there’s one arena in which Britain still dominates the rest of the world, it’s on-screen performances. The general quality of British acting can be measured – like music – in scales, pitch and octaves. It’s that refined an art these days.
I’ve heard great things about the BBC series starring Alex Guiness but if he’s better than Gary Oldman playing Smiley then I’m going to run out of superlatives when it comes to describing British actors. And I think I’ve already come close in that respect.
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August 24, 2015 at 5:03 PM
yes I liked Game a lot too. It’s not as good as Tinker.. (BBC) not even close but it’s atmospherically great. The best in this genre that I’ve seen in many years is the French film farewell.
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August 24, 2015 at 5:49 PM
Ditto on Farewell. Much better and realistic portrayal of “Argo” kind of situation.
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August 24, 2015 at 6:40 PM
Thanks, Satyam. Will check out Farewell…
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August 24, 2015 at 3:16 PM
” Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. ” Not seen it either but now a feedback from you saket I will watch it,btw how old is this film?
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August 24, 2015 at 3:56 PM
I think it released in 2011, if I’m not mistaken.
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August 24, 2015 at 4:11 PM
Abhishek unfortunately has been unlucky that his major projects with very strong directors alll failed post Guru. That is some poor luck…the team behind BNB, Guru, Bluffmaster, RDB, Lagaan, Sarkar and now OMG! There is no way he could have turned them down as films nor expected those results. Since those moments he has been taking multi-star positions to just get some successes going.
He’s made 2 big mistakes. As Satyam points out he did not go back early enough to his bread and butter commercial films. But the bigger mistake was to make a rather regular multiplex feel of a film, rather limited in terms of ambition and scale his comeback as a solo. At this stage he needed a lot more ambition as a comeback. Now he may not be in a position to make the choices he wants like he was in 2007, but a studied choice was required.
He needs a Lagaan moment, but that is at this moment incredibly difficult. I feel even that comparison is tough as Aamir was quite picky between 95-00 and he got success. Mann and Mela failed but everything else worked or was meaningful. He was working off something and had enough support for Lagaan to be taken seriously. Also my recollection is though Mela and Mann failed at least the latter got an opening.
Abhishek though is pretty much on the road to nowhere right now. He should seriously at this stage consider making his own luck. He needs reinvention, and something that can only happen with a serious amount of script judgement, money and a lot of luck. He needs the Lagaan moment but though it was a surprise for Aamir I doubt it was a shock. He had a knack. Abhishek needs something that will not only surprise but shock audiences. That is why something like AIW surprised me. It just felt so damn regular and pretty dull from promos. I could forgive Drona more – it was ambitiously awful. But what could he gain from AIW except a fairly standard success.
Ajay Devgnn to an extent shed his action image with Zakhm, Thakshak and HDDCS. That was a sea of change. Saif did something quite refreshing in DCH and got some mileage. Sanjay Dutt got Munnabhai out of nowhere. I think landing the game changer is not the issue per se, it’s what you do with it afterwards that counts.
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August 24, 2015 at 4:18 PM
hard to disagree with much here. And yes it’s true that Aamir was in any case very successful in the half decade or so leading upto Lagaan. These might not all have been the most talked-about projects at the time even when these were the biggest hits (BOI might want to compare footfalls for RH versus KKHH while they’re at it with PK and Bajrangi!) but he had an excellent success ratio. Nonetheless he felt the need to reinvent himself with Lagaan. You’re also absolutely right in that Mann got a good initial, even did well enough in some parts of the North. Mela started off well enough too. This is definitely not the Abhishek story, certainly in the period we’re looking at. And yes it’s a) very difficult to get a breakout hit in a regular genre b) even more difficult to get a special film on a platter since those films are risky anyway and naturally the producers want bankable stars to at least get the initial going. For both reasons and as I’ve already mentioned this is why he will really need to produce any such venture after ensuring he’s doing something important. Because I think that in regular genres even if he produces something it doesn’t solve the initial problem. It has to be something the audience finds interesting on face value and that can’t happen in genres that other stars are already delivering. and yes it’s about the followthrough as well but I think he really needs something significant to get rolling again.
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August 24, 2015 at 5:28 PM
A couple of other “slow-burn” films that I liked recently are: Foxcatcher & Lootera
Foxcatcher can be characterized as Oscar-bait and the bait surely worked but I think it’s more than that. It’s a thoughtful, meditative docudrama about an obscure (relatively speaking) incident that must have caught the fancy of tabloids and the paparazzi at the time. Foxcatcher as a film converts that paparazzi moment into a reflective, mood piece and herein lies its greatness.
What separates it from the rest of the Oscar nominees (Imitation Game, now that’s proper Oscar-bait) is its unusually languorous pace, which provides time for the viewer to think about a sport like Wrestling, the fragile nature & psychological barriers that elite sportsmen have to face and overcome. There are family bonds that tie two champions together and sibling rivalry that serves as both motivation as well as an excuse to self-destruct.
For me the best part was figuring out all of this and more (character motivation, for instance) with the help of entirely visual cues, with very less dialogue to aid the process. It’s a different approach to filmmaking and I’m not surprised if it tests the patience of an audience subjected to a barrage of summer blockbusters and formulaic scripts.
It’s not a film that one will forget in a day or two but one that will cast a spell for some time to come. It also helps that the acting is terrific as well. Steve Carell and Mark Ruffalo are both great and I think the latter is slightly better, overall.
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August 24, 2015 at 6:14 PM
a very fair comment on the film though I still preferred Imitation game.
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August 24, 2015 at 6:31 PM
Lootera is a film that I saw because I fell in love with its songs. The album is Amit Trivedi’s best to date and it’s just goose bump-inducing good. I literally can’t get tired hearing this album no matter what. So when I approached the film, I actually didn’t need too many reasons to like it.
What did surprise me was the deliberate pacing of the film. It’s ‘slow’ to the point that the viewer is forced to observe the details…forced to ‘immerse’ oneself in the period atmosphere, which I would imagine is aimed to suit the pace of life in a bygone era.
There is the odd throwback to popular culture and pop culture icons just after independence but it’s all non-intrusive in nature. The first half is all about the unusually ‘passionate’ love story (one would imagine, for that era) and setting up the ‘twist’ which isn’t too hard to figure out. But it’s all handled well in a way that the ‘twist’ hits you hard, even though one can see it coming a mile away.
The second half, unfortunately, isn’t as focussed as there are unnecessary distractions in the form of a Police chase, which is fundamentally at odds with the story, even if it’s handled well on its own. Lootera is all about its two lead characters and their entangled love story. Vikramaditya Motwane didn’t need to focus on any ‘filler’ sub-plots and take away attention from a very absorbing tale involving conflicting emotions.
The second half also sees the integration of O Henry’s The Last Leaf as a plot element. I thought it tied in quite well with the central theme of the film: deception. I think the integration is clever in a way that it creates a contrast between the two halves of the film… with each half having an opposite outcome.
I liked VM’s Udaan but with Lootera he’s turned me into a fan. In any case, it’s a rare Hindi film with refined sensibilities, bold narrative and sensational music. I can’t recommend it enough…even though I’mwell aware that it’s not perfect.
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August 24, 2015 at 6:59 PM
Please check “Roy”! It was mauled by critics and fans for pace but I liked it for moody atmosphere.
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August 24, 2015 at 5:53 PM
Was Rangeela big ? i dont remember it being a blockbuster always thought it was a Hit or maybe Super hit but BOI here says it was a blockbuster http://boxofficeindia.com/Movies/movie_detail/rangeela offcourse Aamir had RH next year too and before that he had a big one in Dil too so guess he wasnt doing all that bad in 90’s . The general perception was Srk & Salman were doing lot better than Aamir back then .
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August 24, 2015 at 6:10 PM
Rangeela wasn’t big in the ordinary sense of the word. It was a metro success, not a huge grosser of some kind but it was certainly a very iconic film at the time. Dil was much earlier. Now this was a big grosser and the biggest hit that year (the other two big ones that year were Aaj ka arjun and ghayal). After this Aamir had a more modest success in DHKMN and then a number of poor films. After this he took stock and slowly climbed out of it. The first film that marked his new phase was HHRPK. After this Rangeela was his high point and eventually RH. He had a hit like Ishq as well. The failures were very few beyond a point and he wasn’t doing much anyway. Eventually there were Ghulam and Sarfarosh. He was always a marquee star but in the Yahsraj age other than Rangeela he didn’t really have a truly iconic film. Of course he consciously avoided the yashraj paradigm as well. By the end of the decade he was doing just fine but clearly he wasn’t a defining star at that point. He just went into different gear altogether with the Lagaan/DCH double that year. And again as Jay pointed out he built on it with several films. It finally took 2008/09 for him to get those massive grossers. So these things take time. On the comparison with Salman and SRK I’ve said much on this before so I;ll just briefly summarize things. SRK wasn’t doing better than Salman in terms of a success ratio much less Salman. However SRK was simply the most iconic star of that age. He didn’t even have that many yahsraj or johar films in that peak period but the ones he did mattered and beyond the gross. RH was a bigger hit than every SRK film in that age with the exception of DDLJ and even here I wouldn’t be surprised if the footfalls weren’t too dissimilar. The superstar tag for SRK was always a total exaggeration. It wash’t about using older standards. When did SRK ever do what Salman has been doing since Dabanng. Every film opens hugely, every film even after it fizzles out gets to a pretty big number. SRK could manage that sort of thing only on the yashraj deal and even here not on every film. Nonetheless he was hugely iconic and certainly enjoyed a special status in India’s major urban centers and of course the diaspora. Salman too after starting out with a number of successes had as many failures and was pretty much wiped out in the sense that he wasn’t getting anything half-prestigious. Even HAHK in ’94, widely considered Madhuri’s hit at the time, did nothing to restore his fortunes. Eventually he started clawing back into the game with Dhawan, towards the end of the decade he had Biwi No 1, then HDDCS. On the other hand HSSH was a relative disappointment, the Shaan-after-Sholay kind of deal. Big initial and weak follow-through but enough to get it a big gross. But in the new decade Salman more or less vanished. He had a success here and there (these films didn’t really put him on a different footing though.. MSK, partner) but far more failures and utterly indifferent releases. With Wanted he turned it around to a degree and with dabanng the slate was wiped clean. In the 90s however he was certain not ahead of Aamir. SRK wasn’t either in some ways but he had the most iconic films and so the literal truth in some ways mattered less. Getting back to rangeela calling it a blockbuster is pushing it but then so much else gets the same label with far less justification. It’s for instance absurd to call Bajrangi an ATBB. Just because a film gets to that total doesn’t mean it’s an ATBB.
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August 24, 2015 at 6:55 PM
in terms of box office Rangeela wasn’t a “BB” but i remember it as a super hit (or a ‘bombay hit’).
With Aamir; yes it took him awhile really to be at this stage but Aamir delivered huge grossers before this recent run began. Same with Salman. These guys were huge in the 90’s even though SRK was at the top (though I always say Salman had a better box office run in the 90’s). I know you believe the ‘3 Khans’ stardom is a bit exaggerated (or you don’t like them being pitted together), but these guys have all been near or at the top for about 26 years now. This is why an Abhishek comparison isn’t remotely correct as you and JS admitted.
I do agree with JS’s Ajay Devgn and Sanjay Dutt comparison. You can say Sanjay got ‘lucky’ with the munna bhai connection or you can say it was seen coming because of his connection with VVC (mission kashmir). This is why Abhishek should probably produce a movie with someone he has had an impact with before…someone like Ratnam or Sippy. He did BB with Shetty after starting out with him earlier in his career and BB actually sort of put oxygen into his career again. He needs that type of ‘impactful’ film like you guys have been saying…this HF3 and HP stuff will do absolutely nothing for his career.
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August 24, 2015 at 8:40 PM
Bombay hit is the best way to describe Rangeela though it did well in some other metros too. On the rest I wasn’t comparing them. But nor do I believe Salman has been at the top for all these years. And do you know who agrees with me? Salman himself! He said in a recent interview where he was otherwise candid, even brash about certain things, that it took him 25 years to reach his current position. Salman was very much secondary for most of the 90s. Now of course he always had a certain cache beginning with his debut and so whenever he had a half decent film he had some results to show for it. But that’s very different from saying he was at the top. But also remember that in a time when there weren’t prestige films as such barring yashraj and when there was nothing credible in the action genre everyone else was almost B grade. Devgan or Akshay or whoever. Sunny Deol a cut above for a while, Dutt at other points.
It’s ironic that you bring up Dutt because in some ways the guy whose career Abhishek’s resembles most closely at this point is Dutt’s. I wouldn’t take it too far because there are important distinctions but there are larger similarities too. Dutt’s debut generated great interest but it didn’t do much at the box office. After this he too started drifting. Found success in a multistarrer like Vidhaata, later on he got reinvented with Naam. But even after Naam his career kept drifting for a while. Towards the early 90s he suddenly got into a very good phase with Saajan/Sadak and a Ghai film in the works. He was starting to look like a top star, Khalnayak was about to release, then of course his legal problems took over. But even without them it wouldn’t have lasted too long because the Yashraj phase was around the corner and that cinema wiped out everything. No one was prospering in the genres Dutt was suited for. He again spent years doing mostly useless stuff. Then Munnabhai came along much later. But even this and the sequel are really exceptions. In fact Sunjay Dutt’s entire career is a series of exceptions with that one point in the early 90s where he threatened to become much bigger. If you take Abhishek’s career so far and though he’s done much better quality stuff at points and has more of the actor reputation with folks who counted he too has been sporadic for very different reasons. And he too had a couple of years in between when he looked like really shooting to the top. Actually this is the closest parallel in some ways. Of course Dutt went through a much worse time in the industry when there weren’t many good projects for most of his peak career. The opposite was true for Abhishek. But this is made up by the fact that Abhishek’s historical burden has also been unique. And he has been more micro-analyzed with every failure than anyone else. I could start counting Dutt’s flops and his poor initials or the same for Devgan and so on and I could come up with as many. Yes relative to the promise of his projects Abhishek has still failed more in certain ways. We can have that debate. But the parallel with Dutt isn’t a bad one. And again I could literally go film by film to establish this.
The debate I have with everyone whether it’s Salman or Abhishek begins exactly at such points. People often have ‘impressions’ of a history that are false, either factually or in terms of its meaning. So in one sense Salman had a certain cache but he was still way behind SRK. On the other hand SRK too has many more failures than one would expect given his reputation and that certainly people would find acceptable today. But he had a unique brand-name too. So there are many ways of slicing and dicing these things. When it gets to Abhishek one can of course say much about his failures but one must also account for the special terms in which his career is always defined. Other stars weren’t subjected to the same standards. In the same sense it’s important to be honest about where Abhishek has been at different points and not put everything together as many like to (or ignore the successes altogether using other definitions). If the name is a unique historical burden it is also something that sets him apart even at his lowest points. So I don’t necessarily have a problem with this. But one must be clear about the factual record as well as what the history ‘means’ at every point whether it’s Dutt or Abhishek or Salman or whoever. Salman for instance has been going through a mass phase that has not been seen in Bombay for some decades. Now one doesn’t need to exaggerate it and make it Bachchanesque or something but it’s fairly singular otherwise. On the other hand Aamir’s career and the way he’s fashioned it since Lagaan is singular in an even larger sense because I’ve never seen a star become so successful on the strength of quality films and that sort of uncanny judgment. Whatever Aamir’s original appeal might have been he hasn’t traded in it since just about forever. But unlike Salman he also hasn’t converted himself into a different sort of mass phenomenon. It’s very hard to be a star without an obvious strength genre and an obvious base and yet get the biggest absolute numbers. But Aamir is doing it or has been doing it for so long.
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August 24, 2015 at 9:21 PM
the one thing I’d add to this comment was that Dutt had a certain iconic appeal in his own way. An urban angst that was singular to him. But all of this still did not alter his box office story.
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August 24, 2015 at 9:49 PM
“This is why Abhishek should probably produce a movie with someone he has had an impact with before…”
Unfortunately Abhishek is not a smart guy and also he is not interested in mass /action movies..After Singam hit SRK immediately offered a Chennai express to Rohit shetty and Chennai express is biggest hit in SRK’s career.
Recently Abhishek gave a statement ‘If we give a flop film, people stop taking our calls… then it does not matter whose kid you are’
Even after Heraphere 3 and Housefull 3,he don’t need to wait for someone to offer him a movie instead he can produce a movie with 50-60 crores budget and he can choose directors like Rohit shetty ,Rajkumar santhoshi etc for his solo movie.Bachchans are right now financially in better position.If Abhishek has self respect and guts ,in future he should not accept all those silly supporting roles(really sad to see him in movies like Dhoom3 and Happy new year) and produce a movie himself as a solo hero.He should just remember his father’s famous dialogue in Deewar “Main Aaj bhi phenkey huye paise nahin uthhaata “
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August 24, 2015 at 6:33 PM
Agreed that 2001 was a very important year for Aamir a major turning point in his career . There was Gadar that year which was massive and KKKG too was quiet big but with the double Lagaan/DCH Aamir made sure that it was his year .
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August 24, 2015 at 7:01 PM
It’s amazing that the biggest gross of its time really didn’t matter in terms of ‘legacy’ or impact. Gadar is barely remembered today and Sunny Doel’s career after Gadar pretty much faded rather quickly (barring a few ‘doel family’ hits.)
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August 24, 2015 at 7:04 PM
In an unrelated news:
http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/katti-batti-makes-aamir-khan-cry-again-trends-on-twitter/
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August 24, 2015 at 8:26 PM
lol some of the twitter responses were funny. ab itna bhi kya rhona dhona…maybe this diet is really messing up the hormones. lol.
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August 25, 2015 at 9:18 AM
I actually liked gadar !
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August 24, 2015 at 11:27 PM
Saket what you said about ‘lootera’ is same what i want to say. Some may find it exaggerated but for me Lootera is one of the best hindi film in 21st century and certainly best film of last 7-8 year.
‘Qabra per mere sar utha ke khadi ho Zindagi, Aise marna hai mujhe’..One of the best line written ever. Other day someone in this blog said Vikramditya Motwane made 2 film great ‘Udaan’ and Pathetic ‘Lootera’. WTF..I mean it is one thing if yu didn’t like ‘Lootera’ and it is other thing to call ‘Looetra’ Pathtic. I wrote my thoughts on ‘Lootera’ in the heydays of Naachgaana (NG). Saket is also a former member of NG like many others.
Caveat – I am not a pandit on cinema as some others in this forum so it is not a review but just my feeling after watching Lootera. Also i learnt english from INjamam-ul-haq and Saqlain Mustaq so excuse me for my atrocious english.
Story – Alsmost a decade ago, during my IIMC days, i wrote an article on Lata Ji. I wrote “Agar aapke ander ab bhi kuch Dhawal (Safed, White) aur Shuddh (Pure) bacha hai to aap Lata ji ki aawaz main use mehsoos kar sakte hain. Aap is baat per bhi bharosa kar sakte hain ki Kalyug main bhi Devi-Devta avtaar lete hain kyonki Lata ji ki aawaz main sakshat Saraswati Vaas karti hain” Same thought came in mind watching an expeirence called Lootera. I will not go in the story detail as most of the people know it and it can play spoiler alert. The Bottomline is this that after watching lootera you understand that Silence has a language. There are too many scene in the film where there are no dilouge, no dramatic music. Director gave viewers time to feel the Emotion and to see within. This film sometimes reminds you our epics like where everything is corelated. The way he construct ‘Meri jaan Toote main basi hai’ story and Leaf painting sequence, The way he build up Emotions for the climax is the proof of what a great storytaler motwane is ? His eyes for detail is also unmatched. Take the example of that scene where Ranveer and his friend left Sonakshi Haveli. They don’t start thier bike because it can wake Sonakshi or her father.
Performences- As i already said i will not say to much about story so it brings us to the performence. Lootera is a film which is based on performences. Every actor fits into thier role to the ‘T’. Even thier diction is perfect to. As far as performences of lead actors are concern i have to admit though i am a big Ranveer fan i have no shame to say that Film belongs to Sonakshi Sinha. She is the soul of the film. You feel every emotion of her. From Acting to body lanuage to diction..Basically she captured everything perfectly. As they say nobody is perfect but Sonkshi is perfect for this role. As far as Ranveer performence He to delivered a perfect punch. It is just that Sonkshi role has more meat (Pun intended). I rate Ranveer above Ranbeer and this film confirms my belive. (Strictly my thought). He is more versetile and now i understad why he has such a terrefic lineup of Films. Looking forward to Ramleela and Gundey.
Cinemetography – Review of lootere will be not complete without talking about Cinemetography. As i said somewhere i don’t watch too many films in theater so i can’t say if any other film look so good in big screen. Every shot is a treat to watch. In film Ranveer and Sonkshi paint the landscape but in reality whole film is poetry in motion. Do a favour to yourself and good cinema and watch this in theatre.
PS 1- They say Boys don’t cry but i cried twice during the film. First in ‘Shikayate’ song and Second time during ‘Zinda houn main’ song. ‘Zinda houn main’ song is 100 times more impactfull in the film then the promo.
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August 25, 2015 at 6:45 AM
You seem to have liked it much more than I did, which is nice to see. I do agree that the film is quite poetic in in its tone and texture and (blasphemy alert!) resembles David Lean’s Doctor Zhivago in that respect.
I can understand if people have trouble keeping up with the pace of the film but to outright reject it is a travesty of honest, informed opinion.
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August 25, 2015 at 9:38 AM
I loved Lootera. It’s the only Sonakshi film I’ve seen but liked her a lot in it. Would like to see it again sometime.
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August 25, 2015 at 12:25 AM
yo lo song … https://youtu.be/N1Jr3mkjXcQ
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August 25, 2015 at 2:12 AM
Lootere didn’t work for me at all. It started well, the Sonakshi character, her father played by Varun Chanda and the arrival of Ranveer were all perfect. But this whole business of painting the leaf is so ridiculous that it is difficult to take the film seruously. The basic O Henry story sis also stupid, but while reading it the ridiculousness is not so apparent. But on big screen, you can realize why it’s such a juvenile idea. I mean anyone who knows anything aboiut painting knows that it does not take a master painter to piant a leaf that will look like a leaf from many metres away. Just something vaguely green will do. And even if it needed a replica ofa leaf to be painted, it wont require a great artist to do it. And in the film, all that brouhaha about Ranveer climbing the tree to paste that leaf on the brach, with the song in the background, is too much to bear. Sometime the geberal audience is the best filter to keep out such phony ideas.
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August 25, 2015 at 7:27 AM
I think you’re missing the forest for the trees. The point, both in the O Henry short and Lootera (am not discussing the merits of the adaptation), is not so much about how accurately is the leaf painted but the desperate need to believe of one person and the unfailing attempt of the other to keep that faith going. In a relationship premised on falsehood, the fake leaf acts as the truest commitment to the emotion underlying the impersonation.
Some audacity I must say though to dismiss O Henry’s short as stupid!
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August 25, 2015 at 5:52 AM
Ok Utkal sir..Pasand Apni-Apni
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August 25, 2015 at 8:33 AM
xhobdo:
Logo of ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CNQAAksUYAE7xqK.jpg:small
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August 25, 2015 at 12:13 PM
Logo comes out just hours after Jazba’s trailer releases! Lol Salman
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August 25, 2015 at 9:17 AM
“Lootera didn’t work for me at all. ”
The ONLY thing u need to change is replace sonakshi by deepika dressed in her skirt from the primary school days.
The SAME film will SURPASS DAVID LEAN for utkal uncle !!
the same for Satyam if u replace ranveer singh with abhishrek
Adjectives will surpass ray !!
Reviews coming from certain quarters need to be taken with a pinch of salt (& spin)
The REAL version imo was that lootera was a v good effort
After the slightly tepid box office of the brilliant udaan, motwane tried to incorporate his mentor bhansali in this one which led to some inconsistencies in tone sp towards the end
But this is the best performance by sonakshi
Good music by trivedi and good work by motwane
And the guy who played sonakshis father was well cast
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August 25, 2015 at 10:51 AM
abzee2kin: ‘but the desperate need to believe of one person and the unfailing attempt of the other to keep that faith going.’ Yes, to some extent, that sapects saved the O Henry story from being a total goner. ( Letr me confess atht I am no admirer of twist endings in short stories and find o Henry by and large quite gimmicky. Give me Muapassant or Chekhov any day.) But in Lootera all those distractions of statute stealing do not bulid the mod for the business f keeping the faith going to register. And for god sake, the melodrama of Ranveer climbing the tree to paste that leaf was as ridiculous as ridiculous get. As I said, the banality of trying to pass of a painting a leaf is glossed over, but ina film it stares at you wit wide eyes.
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August 25, 2015 at 10:59 AM
You do realize that there was a snow storm outside the house in which Sonakshi lived. Also, the fact that she was looking at the leaf from some distance (her bedroom window).
One shouldn’t be a stickler for ‘logic’ in a film per se, but even so, there is enough justification for the ruse to run its course.
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August 25, 2015 at 11:27 AM
I hope the subtlety of Ranveer painting a leaf to save Sonakshi’s life after learning the art of painting from her is also not lost on you.
Besides that (big fat spoiler alert!), as I’ve mentioned previously, there is a central theme of deception running throughout the length of the film. The first half ends with Ranveer duping Sonakshi and her father, which results in the latter’s death. The second half also ends with Ranveer’s deception (painting the last leaf), which this time around, serves to save Sonakshi’s life.
That’s the reason why I think the script is quite clever in integrating O Henry’s plot. It’s not a straightforward adaptation, which suits me just fine!
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August 25, 2015 at 11:08 AM
there’s NO logic in utkal uncles objection!
As I’ve mentioned above, the ONLY real problem here was that the heroine was not anorexic and was (over)clothed…
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August 25, 2015 at 1:13 PM
Salman Khan @BeingSalmanKhan 6h6 hours ago
Logon this is the logo of PRDP, matlab Prem Ratan Dhan Payo. Coming this Diwali
Embedded image permalink
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August 25, 2015 at 1:30 PM
I also saw Detective Byomkesh Bakshi recently. This is Dibakar’s best outing since Oye Lucky and as I suspected after watching the trailer, it’s an ‘origin’ story inspired by graphic novel sensibilities.
Wonderfully evocative, powerful and atmospheric, it’s also quite gory and violent. But it does suffer from a fatal flaw: Sushant Singh Rajput, who plays the titular character, is just about adequate throughout the length of the film. His performance is not awful as much as it’s flat…without any nuance or charisma. This is also Dibakar’s failing as much as it highlights Rajput’s limitations as an actor. Neeraj Kabi, as the antagonist, is quite a hoot though. Real fun watch!
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August 25, 2015 at 2:21 PM
And now for the truly horrible stuff. I’m going to be roasted for saying this, but here goes nothing.
Baby: This is an incredibly stupid film. Honestly, I had no clue Neeraj Pandey could make such a dumb film that has nothing to say, nothing to show and has the worst ending possible for a thriller to boot. You kinda hope that some good will come out of waiting till the end, but this film is a super-long tease with jack to show at the end. And Akshay Kumar can’t act…I thought it was clear to one and all by now. But here he is, mouthing lines like Aadat Hai while breaking a terrorist’s tooth with a deadpan expression to beat all deadpan expressions. I was left wondering: was this a clue for me to clap or throw something (a shoe?) at the screen?
Holiday — A Soldier is never off duty: With a name like that, you can’t be excused in case you miss the sledgehammer-like subtlety of what follows next. Murugadoss’ script is so puerile, you’d think a five year old has written it. There is a scene where Akshay Kumar, playing a superhuman soldier blessed with Sherlock Holmes’ mind (you need to watch the film, I’m just scratching the surface of his abilities here) hides a terrorist and Sonakshi Sinha in two adjacent cupboards, inside his bedroom while he exchanges a few banal lines with his friend. This scene is played out for laughs; if you find it funny then congrats, you are totally fit to be a member of Akki’s fan club. As you might have guessed, I did not pass this test. But leaving aside the heavy disappointment of missing out on this exclusive club’s membership, I was left wondering just how much Aamir contributed to Ghajini’s effectiveness as a film. My guess is quite a whole lot…
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August 25, 2015 at 2:30 PM
Enjoyed Holiday to be honest (haven’t seen the Vijay original). Nothing special here of course. liked it more than Baby. Didn’t mind the latter either. But I do agree that Neeraj pander gets a bit worse with each new release. I think part of the problem is that the small thriller format he likes working with is hard to pull off (in terms of attracting any sort of audience) without the national security angle thrown in. Of course you can do this more intelligently but unfortunately there isn’t much of a market in Bollywood for purer films of that sort.
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August 25, 2015 at 3:48 PM
Agreed on Neeraj Pandey…and yes, if one can look past the silliness in Holiday (the comedy is truly awful), it’s probably a better film. Both films are not for me though…
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August 25, 2015 at 9:27 PM
“his is an incredibly stupid film. Honestly, I had no clue Neeraj Pandey could make such a dumb film that has nothing to say, nothing to show and has the worst ending possible for a thriller to boot. ”
Could you please elaborate more, why do you think like that?
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August 26, 2015 at 9:12 AM
I enjoyed Baby. Quite a bit.Not perfect but it holds your attention and the acting is appropriate. I wouldnt call it stupid in any way.In fact is more nuanced and logical than 95% of Bollywood films.
The exchanges between Danny and the minister are particularly well crafted and for once I felt proud of the director. Akki was dead pan through most of the movie but I liked the characterisation. There was a sincerity to the proceedings which is rare in Hindi movies.
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August 26, 2015 at 7:09 AM
Ghajini was a remake of a South movie with Surya…Except the last 30 mins everything is the same. And Thupakki is a wonderful movie in Tamil…possibly Vijays best…A movie like Thupakki – one shouldn’t think too much, I guess…Its fun to see and one should forget it after that…Holiday is a frame to frame remake of Thupakki but not half as good as thupakki because of the way Vijay plays the character. I have never been a Vijay fan but he is wonderfully effective in Thupakki.
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August 26, 2015 at 7:16 AM
Looks like we all watched different movie.
Baby is absolutely fantastic. Don’t want to talk about the high ratings it enjoys on IMBD, etc but it remains absolute favourite thriller for many. Even in this forum folks have told the same “After watching the movie”.
That Aadat Hai dialog which you have panned drew whistle at the theatre. You needed a dead pan approach to get max impact and Akki nailed it here.
Looks like we have a major difference in opinion on what is called acting 😀
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August 27, 2015 at 12:20 AM
ya reality in baby:
i guess somewhere akki is inspired by ajit doval
and and raw chief was Asif ibrahim
some of the dialog of the character Maulana Rahman in the film are evidently similar to Hafiz Saeed’s real life comments.
It seems realistic with a good screen play and cinematography but nothing can be said about how close it is to real life covert operation
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August 27, 2015 at 12:27 AM
just the portrayl of sleeper cell in holiday is commendable though the impact of sending one’s own sister was more felt in tamil version
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August 25, 2015 at 3:32 PM
How desi spin-offs of foreign soaps fared on Indian television
Sumit Sambhal Lega (English: Sumit Will Handle Everything) is an upcoming Indian sitcom television series, which is scheduled to premiere sometime in July 2015 and will be broadcast on STAR Plus. The series is the Hindi adaptation of Warner Bros’ Everybody Loves Raymond. The channel has acquired the rights to the official adaptation of globally popular sitcom television series.[1][2]
The channel has roped in the writer of the original series, Steve Skrovan.
http://www.mid-day.com/articles/how-desi-spin-offs-of-foreign-soaps-fared-on-indian-television/16481155
Not bad and looking forward to this to see if they get the timing and humor right.
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August 25, 2015 at 4:18 PM
it’ll be hard. the chemistry of the everybody loves raymond cast was amazing. doris roberts and patricia heaton carried that show.
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September 1, 2015 at 9:59 PM
They have just copied each and every character along with their traits (Sports writer, police officer..even looks). Only difference is they don’t have twins.
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August 25, 2015 at 4:13 PM
“MSDhoni Says:
August 25, 2015 at 11:50 AM
“Apex don’t let Satyam humor you ……and deceive……….you now have 8 wickets of the opposition and I suggest go for the kill now and put your best pace attack and get the last two ….win the match / series / cup / final …….No Mercy !!”
Thanx miss dhoni –haha
I’ve had Satyam on the mat numerous times (literally!)
But somehow I have a certain weakness wherein I don’t want to go for the kill; I don’t want to ‘win’
Unlike others, I don’t blog to be ‘famous’ or ‘convert’ or influence…
This is like the dhoom3 scene
Wherein a defeated abhishreks life was SPARED by aamir (ironically!)
As for winning the match/series/cup/final …
Just 2 more cents
What MORE can I do when Satyam has stopped putting up figures for AIW (BOI or koimoi or taran etc)
What MORE can I do when Satyam still spends ages MODERATING my comments and still this is the state lol
As for abhishrek, I have nothing against the guy
But there’s a stage wherein there’s a point of no return
The other day, Redford argued he is not retiring, some thing I had announced has happened already happened after ALL IS LOST…
He’s still doing some stuff but imo his career is over!
There’s no point in DENIALS
He may keep fiddling around but
Abhishreks SOLO CAREER IS NOW OVER
Abhisheks like the kid sitting on the back seat of a moving car, punching the back of the drivers seat, thinking it’s HE who is driving that moving car
There r only two people in the world with the delusion ….
Finally and this is something I didn’t wish to say but for the purposes of TRUTH needs to be said
Abhishrek is a v nice guy but
(Sorry Satyam!) HISTORY will remember him only as a
BOTTOMFEEDER
game/set/match/cup 🙂
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August 25, 2015 at 7:45 PM
Remember this comment.. will remind you of it..!
And on your comments most here are of the opinion that I actually shouldn’t be letting anything through..!
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August 25, 2015 at 11:53 PM
**As for abhishrek, I have nothing against the guy**
ROFLOL!!!
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August 26, 2015 at 6:50 AM
apex,
“wow” you might get the award for it,not even abhi knows this that he has huge comments from one guy who he loves as an actor..keep it up…
satyam,
I love apex comments so let it roll on…….
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August 26, 2015 at 9:17 AM
Before, Apex’s comments were an irritation.These days all I feel is pity. Let him be.
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August 25, 2015 at 6:35 PM
Oh Gehlore ki goriya
Chali bu humre sang ho
Tohri khatir rachi be dagariaa
Pahunche wazirganj ho
Phagunia ho Phagunia..
Bas gayi tu mere mann mein
Ab tu hi meru duniya
Phagunia ho Phagunia..
We all know the story of Dasrath Manjhi. A poor man’s wife in some remote village of Bihar dies due to lack f medical attention, because the way to the hospital goes round a mountain taking hours to reach. The man chips away at the mountain singlehandedly for some twenty years with a chisel and hammer and craves out a path that cuts the travel of 40 miles to some 4 miles.
So when we go to see Manjhi – The Mountain Man what would we like to see? Maybe how he manages to do it…his physical challenges and he tackles them. But perhaps there is something else we would like to see more. It is only a mad man who can take up such an enterprise… maybe the director could show us a multi-sectional view of that madness?
To my mind, Ketan Mehta gets it right by making the love story, the passion that Dasrath feels for Phaguniya, the pivot of the narrative. The hallucinatory flashbacks of many erotically charged moments with Phguaniya gives us a sense of the junoon that is driving Dasrath on this madcap enterprise. The fantasy sequences with the earthy and luscious Radhika Apte may seem gratuitous, but without that kind of poetry ho would anyone survive the dry and draining stint among the rocks?
Mehta also gets the tone and scale of the film right. The rusticity of the locale and the exchanges between characters ring true. ( Shooar ka bachcha, mein tera baap bol raha hoon.) All the supporting characters, especially the family of Dasrath, his father, and later his young son and daughter look so disturbingly real, you cannot remain untouched by the heart-rending poverty and caste oppression against the backdrop of which the central event is taking place. And we must not forget taht we chnace upon Dasrath’s stubboorn streak, when as a child he refuses to bea binded labour of the vilage mukhiya like his father.
Among the current lot of directors in business I think it is only Mehta who can integrate the social reality into the narrative cogently and comment on it seriously without losing a beat. Mehta could have made a ‘ 127 Hours’ kind of film focusing on the man versus mountain battle , or could turn it into an arty ‘ Old Man and the Sea’ kind of saga which would have impressed most critics. But Mehta’s motives are more sincere, and his artistic vision more astute. This is not a feel-good Lagaan. In spite of Dasrath Manjhi’s heroic achievement, it is a sad story. Manjhi has managed to cut through the mountain, but not the world of government apathy and corruption. Early on in the film, we see Dasrath gifting his wife a replica of Taj Mahal. But unlike the Taj Mahal, the path that Manjhi carves , is as much a labpur of love as an act of anger and avenging. That’s why, Indira Gandhis’ slogan of ‘ Garibi Hatao’, the government legislation against untouchability and the Naxalite violence are the necessary ingredients of Manjhi’s story that Mehta wants to tell.
The back and forth shifting of time periods might seem disorienting, but let’s face it, cutting of the path through the mountain over twenty years must have been boring, prosaic work. Mehta didn’t want to falsify the narrative to make it more dramatic than it really was. He has also tried to give us a sense of reality…how he earned a little money by transporting goods for traders, how he built a little shelter for himself and how he cooked for and fed his little children up there for a while. There are a few dramatic moments involving a snake bite, another where he drinks from a dirty mountain stream and chews leaves to assuage hunger and thirst, and a Murakami moment where he catches minutes of blissful rest at the bottom of a dry well. But there is an overall sense of reality that guides the narrative.
The film might lose a bit of narrative steam here and there as the basic arc of the story is known to us. But what kept me riveted was the absolutely spot-on performance by Nawazzudin Siddiqi. After his fabulous turn in ‘Badlapur’ here was another character he has totally internalized. He is delightful as the passionate and playful lover in the early parts of the film, though in a template we have perhaps seen him before. Thankfully the director provides him many points of inflection till the end of the film for his talent to shine through. It is not just him chipping at the mountain. There are of course scenes of his battle against hunger and thirst, and the fury of the elements; but there are also scenes of his interactions with the Naxalite leader, the political establishment in Wazirganj and Delhi , his father and his children. We see him turn more stoic and cynical as he grows older. I especially loved the scene where after the Violent retribution handed out to the village mukhiya by the Naxalites, the friendly journalist asks him if he thought what had happened was right, and he replies, “ Why ask me such questions? What do I know of such things? I don’t even know any more why I am doing what I am doing.”
Matching him in stride is Radhika Apte who has become simply incapable of giving a performance that is less than captivating. The earthy physicality and the rustic eroticism that she infuses her character with is very vital to our buying Manjhi’s passionate obsession with her even after she is dead.
Oh mohre sajanvaa bas itna hai kehnaa
Tera rang ohhdaa tera rang pehna
Mere tann pe sajne lagaa
Teri baahon kaa gehnaa, she sings in one of those fantasy sequences and gives us the goosebumps. Sandesh Shandilya’s lilting folk-based tunes add to the magic.
Everyone in the supporting cast, from Tingmashu Dhulia and Pankaj Tripathy to the actors who play Manjhi’s father, son and daughter live the characters they are playing and help us in visualizing the bleak social canvas on which this supposedly heroic episode is being painted.
At one point in the film, the well-intentioned reporter admires Manjhi for his sense of purpose and rues how he has given up his dreams of doing journalism of significance and had become a dalla of the politicians instead. Manjhi retorts, “Why don’t you bring out your own newspaper? Or is that harder than chipping path through the mountains?” The journalist does manage to come out with his own paper and the message of optimism is not lost. But neither can we lose sight of the reality of injustice that still persist all around us and the powerful political class that thwarts decent human behaviour and any noble action with cynicism and calculated chicanery at evert step.
That to my mind makes the film radically different from what we usually get to see even among the better specimens of mainstream cinema today.
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August 26, 2015 at 7:09 AM
Q.What is the reason that Akshay Kumar’s movies can’t be compared with Khans in terms of opening. If we go by fan following Akshay kumar is bigger star than Amir Khan, he has more loyal fans as compared to him. Do you think any of Akshay Kumar’s upcoming movie can get 20+cr opening without festive day release?
Ans. He is not a bigger box office star than Aamir Khan as thats what box office figures say. But yes the popularity is there as his mass entertainers rate on television as good or even better than anyone else. What this means is there is a problem with content as the audience watches on television but the content or look is not good enough to bring them to the theatres. A good comparison is Gabbar Is Back and Jai Ho. If we take out the holiday factor for Jai Ho, the difference is 18 crore beteweem them in terms of lifetime business. Both similar action films, both under performers, both actors in heroic mode which is important for big numbers but both let down by production values which is also very important today with high ticket rates. This gap is not a huge one but the problem is Akshay Kumar has Gabbar Is Back which can be compared with Jai Ho but does not have a film which can be compared with Kick, Ek Tha Tiger or Bajrangi Bhaijaan in terms of even the look, forget content. A 20 crore non holiday opening is not hard for Akshay Kumar but it will have to the right film. Put him in the above mentioned Salman Khan films and they may not open to Salman levels as he is on the crest of a wave at the moment but it can also easily be said that they won’t open to 12 or 13 crore like Gabbar Is Back or Brothers. The difference will probably be that Gabbar Is Back and Jai Ho difference.
V Yadav
http://www.boxofficeindia.com/Details/art_detail/whatwillbethefinalwordwidegrossofbajrangibhaijaan#.Vd2d6CWqpBc
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August 26, 2015 at 7:19 AM
This is where BOI and few here get is plain wrong. How can u compare BO performance of a start doing 4 films and another doing 1/2 a film a year on an average?
Also the opinion about the look and presentation is flawed. Akki movie is definitely 40% lower in cost to distibutors than say Aamir or Salman. How on earth will it look same?
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August 26, 2015 at 9:32 AM
Akshay can do 1 film every 10 years but if it’s going to be something like Baby or GIB than it wouldn’t make an iota of difference. Aamir has built a following that is just way beyond anything Akshay can even dream right now. And they don’t really follow Aamir as much as his script sense. This is why a mediocre movie like Dhoom 3 was able to make over 280 CR. Doing 4 movies every year or doing 1 movie every 4 year is not does not matter. If it did than Hrithik would also be doing record grosses!
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August 26, 2015 at 10:52 AM
Dhoom 3 flopped on tv.
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August 26, 2015 at 7:21 AM
funny enough,got a chance to see akkis ” easy 26 ” ,not an akki fan but films like singis king,khakhee,anyways watched easy 26,wow ,what a film ,excellent film by akki,btw is there a sequel being made because manoj bajpai looked confused,hope he is not in mental hospital,lol
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August 26, 2015 at 8:42 AM
Munna: This comment from imdb pretty much sums up what I’d like to say about Baby
*********************************************************************
It was the first and LAST time I trust ratings for recent Indian films on IMDB.
9.1, really? REALLY?? Oh, I watch a lot of Bollywood films. I usually like the romance stories because despite their extreme cheesiness and corniness, they are enjoyable, fun, and they usually have good song choregraphies.
This was a “thriller”, yet it was still overly ridiculous, cartoon-like. Typical Bollywood drivel. Exposition, exposition, bad acting, poor attempts at humor, weak fight scenes, unbelievable plot devices, useless scenes, bla bla bla.
Random examples (possible spoilers):
One character hates another and keeps saying “I will NOT work with him! NO!”
*next scene they are all together on the plane*
Lol, I’ve NEVER seen this before!
A fight takes place in a room, in the next one the *bad guys* are making their way towards them. OMG! Is he gonna knock him out in time before the others arrive!? (guess for yourself)
A guy gets up to flee and runs toward the window. The cops just stand there looking at him.
The main character is in Nepal near a pagoda and to go down, instead of taking the steps, he makes multiple jumps down beside although he doesn’t need to, just to look cool, you know.
The taxi driver drives superrrrrrrrrrrr slowly (comedy moment), so the main character tells him to move and then we see him at the wheel going *somewhat* faster. Har har har.
They infiltrate a mansion that has an electric fence. When they hack the system so the fence becomes harmless, the guard inside, who hears the alarm, just goes to fix the breakers or some crap and then goes back to his mobile phone game. That happens TWICE! He doesn’t bother checking WHY the alarm goes off in the first place!! WTF?
The main character’s “relationship” with his wife is 100% pointless. It’s barely there. In fact, the joke is his wife doesn’t know what he does and he keeps telling her he’s in “a reunion” and she tells him “just don’t die”. Yawn.
The cops tell our guy in the airport to STOP MOVING! Oh! What will happen? Suspense! Actually, joke’s on you, viewer. The cops were talking to another guy off camera and our guy is safe! Phew!
I could go on and on and on about how bad it was. Seriously.
Then I saw a review here that says it is Oscar-worthy? ….!! Like, no, this is not my *subjective opinion*, anyone who has seen at least two films in their life knows this is far, far, VERY far from being Oscar material. It would probably get a Razzie award if it had been a Hollywood film.
Also, I don’t know if all the international releases get the same subs, but there were lots of mistakes in the subtitles.
Bad film. 5/10 and I’m generous.
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August 26, 2015 at 9:15 AM
Munna,
Anyone who has even once nice word to say about the ghastly monstrosity that was TWMR shouldnt be criticising Baby:-)
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August 26, 2015 at 12:19 PM
People who like K3G should stop commenting on baby or TWMR 🙂
I liked both movies; Baby more. Liked TWMR for the milieu it showed.
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August 26, 2015 at 7:21 PM
K3G is a milestone of its genre. Just like HAHK is units genre.
I have no shame in admitting that I can watch K3G (some portions ) again and again. Actually saw it again this weekend. The scene where SRK/Hrithik reunite after the Sare Jahan Se never fails to bring a lump to the throat. If you are a Hindi film fan, there has to be something dead inside you, not to be able to enjoy K3G.
I know you are just kidding but some consider it fashionable to criticize K3G or if they liked it, feel ashamed to admit. This is what movie going is about. If a film moves you, however contrived,manipulative or hackneyed it is, you enjoy it.
I am a K3G fan and proud to admit it.
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August 27, 2015 at 10:36 AM
Rajen Sir ab Rulaogey kya…
You and K3G are like RNBDJ !!
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August 26, 2015 at 10:51 AM
One character hates another and keeps saying “I will NOT work with him! NO!”
*next scene they are all together on the plane*
Lol, I’ve NEVER seen this before!
This guy seems a fool.
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August 26, 2015 at 12:16 PM
Isn’t there similar loopholes/cliché/convenience like these in Bourne, MI, James Bond series? Can’t we argue the same about Argo climax? In fact any thriller for most part can be brought down if you start applying logic.
There were couple of scenes which I thought were lazy screenplay (KayKay escape on highway, interrogation scene) but rest was a good thriller IMO.
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August 26, 2015 at 12:25 PM
Baby was a classic as compared to Udaan, Lootera, The Blue Umbrella, Ghanchakkar, Aaiyya and all the trash kashyap serves !!!
P.S.- Not seen Shahid, Masaan, Hunter,Bombay Velvet etc but am pretty sure they are as worthless as Aiyya !!
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August 26, 2015 at 12:32 PM
Aapke like/dislike mei consistency hai 🙂 I liked Udaan a lot. I didn’t mind Ghanchakkar and loved Lazy Lad song.
There is contradiction when someone says they liked wanted but disliked Ghajini. They are in similar genre. If you don’t have “star” bias; you should like or dislike both movies.
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August 26, 2015 at 12:38 PM
Liking/ disliking is one’s choice but to say I did not like kyonkee logic nahee hai wanted mein, but lapped up Ghazni is like WTF !!
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August 26, 2015 at 12:44 PM
You may like on varying degree. But you should be on same side of scale provided one is not atrociously made.
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August 26, 2015 at 1:25 PM
Saw Ex Machina and Transcendence – Both similar genre (Artificial Intelligence). Ex-Machina is slow but well made. Transcendence has good premise and bigger production but is not handled well in second half.
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August 26, 2015 at 2:38 PM
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2015/jun/04/robots-are-winning/
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August 26, 2015 at 2:59 PM
Thanks. Read the portions about the movies.
Another quirky movie on similar genre was “Robot and Frank”.
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August 26, 2015 at 12:39 PM
Also I can bet that people who liked Haider and Shahid will NOT like Baby !!
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August 26, 2015 at 12:51 PM
Haha…I liked Shahid. Haider was not bad a movie (it was slow). But I am certainly against the ideology it propagated.
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August 26, 2015 at 2:59 PM
I probably liked all three at one level or the other but Haider is easily the most accomplished film of the three. Not surprisingly. Meant to leave a longer comment on it in one of the threads. Might still do so.
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August 26, 2015 at 1:12 PM
You saw Shahid ?, it’s on Netflix but I have resisted so far watching it .. Akshshay Kumar is really good in Baby , better than Ben Affleck in Argo !!
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August 27, 2015 at 10:41 AM
Re.-Haider is easily the most accomplished film of the three
I would take Baby over Haider, but did not mind Haider… I like Shahid, Kay Kay, Tabu so was an easy watch for me….
Speaking of Shadid – his dad’s performance in the movie “Dus” is simple brilliant.
P.S.- Re.-Meant to leave a longer comment on it in one of the threads. Might still do so.
Please do it for the sake of Saurabh !! LOL!!
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August 26, 2015 at 12:27 PM
Munna, the tight slap on the Babu’s face ,and the entire Nepal sequence alone was worth the price of the ticket !!
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August 26, 2015 at 1:05 PM
No, I’d disagree. Mission Impossible, the first one, is a bonafide classic. It’s one of De Palma’s better films, if not among his best.
The Bourne series is way better than whatever Baby has to offer. I’m not a fan of the James Bond franchise, but since Casino Royale the silliness quotient is almost absent from the series…there’s no comparison to be made here either.
Baby doesn’t just suffer from a bad screenplay, it’s also got a male star who’s got as many expressions on his face as a log of wood. And that’s Akshay Kumar for you on a good day!
The acting in Baby is bad, but that’s not all. The entire screenplay revolves around the good guys catching lucky breaks. One after another, till the very end. By the end of the film, it’s not a plot device, it’s the entire plot. It’s so ridiculous to see even the Police chief letting them take off…just because!
And to think that the film has been compared to Hollywood thrillers. It’s a Hollywood wannabe, yes, and the critics in the west will shred it to pieces in no time. It’s that bad.
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August 26, 2015 at 1:16 PM
“it’s also got a male star who’s got as many expressions on his face as a log of wood. And that’s Akshay Kumar for you on a good day!”
By definition you don’t need much acting skills in thriller. So you think Tom Cruise and Matt Damon emoted well? I don’t think there was much scope.
MI-1 is bordering rotten based on reviews: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mission_impossible/
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August 26, 2015 at 1:24 PM
Again, will have to disagree. Tom Cruise and Matt Damon could beat Akshay Kumar in their worst outings. It’s not even close, IMO.
And MI-1 has had a critical revaluation since its initial release. The computer heist scene from the first part is one of the most copied/parodied scene in recent memory!
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August 26, 2015 at 1:30 PM
I thought all three were sufficient for the roles in their respective movies. IMO you don’t need a lot of acting skills in thriller. You probably need to be comfortable in role.
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August 26, 2015 at 2:07 PM
A thriller, at least a typical one, does not have a lot of scope for an actor to showcase his or her talent. There are slow-paced thrillers which actually depend a lot on the actors (Tinker Tailor for example) but fast-paced ones which rely on a-thrill-a-minute formula, usually don’t.
Having said that, there has to be a minimum standard that needs to be observed. The Aadat Hai scene, for instance, could have had a strong impact with a good actor in place. Take Neeraj Pandey’s own A Wednesday as an example. Naseer is first rate in the film. Not just Naseer, Jimmy Shergill is awesome as well. Manoj Bajpai is brilliant in Special 26.
There’s nothing even remotely comparable in Baby. As a thriller, it doesn’t really thrill and as a political statement, it’s not much refined compared to Anil Sharma’s chest-thumping brand of jingoism.
Maybe I’m being too harsh on the film. But this film was praised to the skies and has been compared to Hollywood thrillers. Once that comparison has been made, it’s imperative that Hollywood standards be used to judge this film. And on that count, it falls short and how!
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August 26, 2015 at 2:26 PM
Agree on first part.
I completely disagree on “As a thriller, it doesn’t really thrill and as a political statement, it’s not much refined compared to Anil Sharma’s chest-thumping brand of jingoism. “. IMO it is very similar to any espionage thriller of west in terms of pacing and execution. There are 3-4 scenes which could have presented differently (apart from some stated above, other being Musalman and Indian in column).
Have you seen Drishyam (Hindi)?
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August 26, 2015 at 2:56 PM
My sense of Baby is that it’s better than most commercial films coming out of Bombay. Now admittedly that’s a low bar! on the pure thriller bit a lot of what you’re saying is true but the ideal thriller in this sense is again a standard Bollywood rarely reaches. On Hollywood I’d say that while they always handle the ‘process’ side of things more professionally and are completely plausible on that score I’m not sure if this otherwise adds to the plausibility of the overall premises of those films. Bond is not the best example as it’s meant to be outlandish, even a bit tongue-in-cheek whereas Baby is clearly meant to be in a more realist mode. For the same reason I wouldn’t necessarily bring in the MI franchise either. But any number of Hollywood thrillers that are impeccable in terms of detail and process (and obviously these things are important) are nonetheless not more believable because they get those elements right (though it’s true that if this side of things is handled very well the viewer is lulled into believing everything that is still a sleight-of-hand).
Here’s my older comment on Baby:
[On a different note saw Baby recently. It was engaging enough throughout but I still think the director is getting a bit weaker with every film. Even as a sheer craftsman. Special 26 was fun but could have been way better. And Baby seems like a rough cut of sorts. A lot of things seem incomplete. The film is entertaining enough but I’d take Holiday over it. The other annoying thing about Baby was the blatant wannabe stuff.. a term like ‘deep asset’ and so on. Don’t get me wrong, enjoyed it, but it’s nowhere close to being the sort of film many described here.]
Where I do think I’d agree much more with you is that if you do the Hollywood-like thing without all the professionalism they bring to the table the results become much more problematic. It’s not like doing something else altogether and justifying it as a different set of filmic codes and so on. Here a very Hollywood template is being attempted. Nonetheless I did find it enjoyable. On Akshay he’s never been much of an actor but I do find him rather likable on screen (even if I can’t sit through his comedies) and in general root for him. His very best role I still think was Khakee. Getting back to Baby if you compare Agent Vinod with it now this latter film is a disaster of some sort (not referring to the box office). I’d be surprised if Phantom were any better either.
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August 26, 2015 at 4:36 PM
Yes, Baby is all right compared to prevailing Bollywood standards. Agree with Satyam for the most part…I quite liked Akshay Kumar in Tashan although that seems to be a distant memory now. He was also not bad in Khakee but it was difficult to notice him in front of Bachchan. Or anyone else for that matter.
Munna: haven’t seen Drishyam yet. But I might watch it soon.
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August 26, 2015 at 7:36 PM
Akshay is a very competent actor. As an unabashed chest thumping nationalist , I would take one scene of Akshay in Namaste London over the entire Khan trinity’s filmography- where he brings down the Gora verbally and strips him on the yacht.
Wouldn’t watch Haider if it was the last film made. In fact, will never ever watch a VB film in future.
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August 26, 2015 at 7:48 PM
to be honest people have overreacted to Haider. Whatever one might think of the film’s politics it really isn’t center-stage. or it is in the sense that it’s always there but it somehow doesn’t quite seem to be the point of the film. of course this perhaps introduces problems with respect to the Hamlet story. Visually I probably liked this the most of all the director’s films but it definitely has problems. But in terms of the politics I honestly couldn’t quite see what the big fuss was all about. Any number of films shown as much or at least close to this with respect to Kashmir. I felt it was always there but as almost in a generic way rather than in any very precise sense. Sure you get some specific references but it doesn’t quite add up to a consistent political narrative. Somewhat allegorical at points but again not very evenly handled. On a related note Rocky liked the film. It couldn’t have been that offensive on this score for him to like it!
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August 26, 2015 at 4:58 PM
On Haider, I wasn’t that impressed with the film. Somehow found it to be a weak effort from Vishal Bharadwaj. But I have to say I was quite impressed with the performances. Shahid Kapoor was excellent in the film and so was Tabu. Kay Kay Menon was also quite good… but by now he has pretty much mastered the villain-with-a-mischievous-twinkle-in-his-eye routine that it didn’t register a greater impact.
I’ve mentioned it in passing earlier and I’ll repeat it here again: Shahid Kapoor’s dialogue delivery is the best amongst contemporary actors. And he has grown by leaps and bounds as an actor. He’s terrific in this scene.
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August 26, 2015 at 6:07 PM
Lol. I thought lets see the scene. If this is not overacting then what it is. I found it pathetic to the core more because he was more shahid kapoor in the scene than the character itself.
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August 26, 2015 at 6:25 PM
The response doesn’t quite deserve it, but let me humor you.
There is a huge context behind this scene. But since the context is not visible, observe the tragi-comic balance in the scene. Even at the most basic level, this is a tremendously difficult scene for any actor…just going by the amount of lines that one needs to remember… verbatim at that. And to deliver those lines one after another, with the right emotion (in this case, it’s a scene depicting Haider’s mental imbalance) is beyond commendable.
What you call overacting is one of finest pieces of acting that I’ve seen in recent times. Maybe you need to watch the film in order to get it right. I’m afraid, otherwise, people will laugh at your response to this scene!
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August 26, 2015 at 9:54 PM
Why should one watch whole film to judge a cene? If it was close to standout performance of sort, it doesnt need context.
Dont we judge a triler by couple of snippets picked from here and there. Just for example, we all are criticizing aishwarya in jazbaa trailer and praising irfaan khan. Shall we wait and watch before commenting? You are mocking and contradicting urself. You are being prime example of biased joke.
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August 26, 2015 at 6:16 PM
I didn’t like Shahid very much in the first half. He was adequate but nothing special. However in those ‘crazy’ portions he did rather well. And the scene you’re referencing was his best moment in the film. I will agree that he’s by far the contemporary actor who speaks like the language like a native and not like someone who’s learnt it very well. With most of the other actors of his generation if not all you get the sense that they’re probably most comfortable with English or at the most Hinglish.
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August 26, 2015 at 6:56 PM
It’s not just the quality of his diction that’s commendable…he also gets the ‘pauses’ right. Bachchan is peerless in terms of delivering his lines. And the underlying characteristic of Bachchan’s dialogue delivery is that it appears ‘effortless’.
It’s quite a technical thing, but in layman terms, Bachchan’s dialogue delivery follows the Goldilocks principle: not too fast, not too slow, it’s always just right.
I get the same feeling when I listen to Shahid Kapoor. Among contemporary actors, he stands out in this respect.
Of course theatre-bred actors like Manoj Bajpai, Irrfan Khan etc are much better than SK but amongst commercial stars he’s probably the best.
Aamir has grown tremendously as an actor and I quite like him but it’s not hard to notice that he tends to rush into his lines. The overall impact of his performance gets diluted because of this.
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August 26, 2015 at 7:43 PM
Bachchan being an ‘event’ in every respect just makes his choices seem like the most natural ones. In other words there might be a textbook way of doing this ‘right’ and then the Bachchan way where whatever he does just seems right. Much like so many of his portrayals. I’ve always felt this is precisely his Shakespearean element where often the most ‘unnatural’ things seem natural in his hands. But this is also quite remarkable because neither Shakespeare nor Bachchan is understated in any sense. They’re extremely subtle of course but they’re hardly ever understated. They are too capacious for want of a better word to be understated. The other way of saying this is that Shakespeare and Bachchan are both very finely tuned to their audiences. Of course this isn’t the only way to do it. To not convince one’s immediate audience might be a box office problem but it is not necessarily one in itself. In any case and to repeat the point this is where I wouldn’t really put Bachchan and Shahid Kapoor together. Not because one is infinitely better, just that he is doing something else altogether. But on the rest of your examples I might disagree less. To be honest I don’t think of Shahid as highly as you do in this sense but on the basis of Haider it’s possible that he hasn;t got too many good opportunities. Of course he lacks screen presence and ultimately gravitas. He’s sincere but without those other qualities an actor is always hamstrung. Again don’t mean this as a box office matter.
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August 26, 2015 at 7:43 PM
rajen: If a film moves you, however contrived, manipulative or hackneyed it is, you enjoy it.
My take on this is a little different. Watching a film is similar to watching a magic show. One only enjoys the show till the time the magician remains one step ahead of its audience. If you know the secret behind a trick, the spell is immediately broken.
Similarly, if you as an audience member can sense the director of a film deliberately pushing your buttons, almost goading you to feel in a certain way, it’s not going to work. At least it doesn’t work for me. The real trickery involves in keeping the audience guessing. If a director can induce conflicting emotions in its audience, I think it’s even better!
Besides, I think, a film is not supposed to be only ‘felt’…it’s supposed to be chewed upon. One needs to wrestle with the key ideas, sleep over it and then come to a final conclusion regarding the film’s merits or demerits. It probably sounds like a lot of work, and frankly it is…but thinking about the people involved behind the making of a film, the amount of time it takes them to create a final product, it’s probably the least a good film deserves.
I’m in no way suggesting my thinking is right or wrong. But this is what makes sense to me…
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August 26, 2015 at 7:49 PM
I can go either way. With certain things I am a sucker for a certain kind of manipulation. In other respects not so much.
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August 26, 2015 at 7:54 PM
I can see where you are coming from,Saket and agree to an extent. When I see a movie it has to touch my heart first. If it does, it may or may not make it to my brain.’Superior’ films can touch both. But, if the heart rejects it, I just spit it out. No chewing.
K3G was very predictable. And after watching it multiple times, there is no surprise. But, it still moves me. To some extent , it is not just about surprises or predictability or keeping the viewer guessing – it is about how the ‘predictable’ sequences are staged. Something as superficial as Jaya rushing to open the door when she senses SRK is nearby works on me. That’s me. I feel the film first and then may oray not ruminate.
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August 26, 2015 at 9:16 PM
Jaya is so fat she doesn’t rush, she glides…one can’t even see her feet due to her weight…but yes I do have a weakness to K3G too specially the parts where Hritik stays in SRK,s house.
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August 27, 2015 at 1:41 AM
Raghav: “If this is not overacting then what it is. ” To anser in one word: BRILLIANT. That’s what it is. I have seen this level of performance only from Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan. It is supposed to be a performance fora large crowd. He is spouting out a lot of politically inconvenient truth. And he is trying to get away with it by pretending to be half-mad. At the same tome he maybe also ACTUALLY turninga bit mad, as he si sllowly losing his mental blance, stressed as he is by so many conflicting forces. It is one of the finest monologues written in Hundi cinema, and he delivers it with elan.
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August 27, 2015 at 7:12 AM
The Hindi film industry just about got to parity with last year with the super success of Bajrangi Bhaijaan when two back to back duds hit in the form of Brothers and Drishyam. This has taken the yearly business below the levels of last year as the business of Drishyam and Brothers could not match the business of Entertainment and Singham Returns.
Last year Entertainment and Singham Returns grossed 205 crore nett between them and prior to release, the Drishyam and Brothers total was expected to be more and on a worst case scenario to at least match that.
The figures have not just fell short but fallen short by a distance as the combined business of Drishyam and Brothers will hardly touch 140 crore nett. Brothers has emerged a big flop all over while Drishyam is average in Mumbai with expected nett business to hit 30 crore but with just 13 crore nett coming in Delhi / UP and not even 6 crore nett in East Punjab, the film has failed outside Mumbai circuit.
The combined cost of Drishyam and Brothers is around 175 crore and the Indian theatrical share will be a shockingly low 67 crore. Its a sad state of affairs when the profits of a rare blockbuster like Bajrangi Bhaijaan are wiped out in four consecutive Friday’s ( Drishyam, Bangistan, Brothers, All Is Well). Actually more than wiped out as these are not the only releases over the past four weeks.
The business in 2015 till date stands at around a little over 1500 crore while in the same period last year it was 1600 crore. The scenario in 2015 is very bad as its coming after no growth in 2014 and this year looks to be going the same way so it will mean business at a standstill for two years.
Boxofficeindia
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August 27, 2015 at 8:18 AM
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/EXCLUSIVE-SHEENA-MURDER-MYSTERY-The-Rahul-Mukherjea-Interrogation/articleshow/48696584.cms
A high profile case which is allover the media.
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August 27, 2015 at 8:26 AM
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/She-always-carried-pic-of-a-little-girl-boy-Khanna/articleshow/48688177.cms
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August 27, 2015 at 1:38 PM
Best on Onam to everyone here..
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August 27, 2015 at 2:28 PM
Hridayam Niranja Onashamsakal !
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August 27, 2015 at 2:35 PM
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/16048445/I-hope-my-country-will-protect-me—Kabir-Khan-fears-for-his-life
Kabir Khan says more than him his wife Mini Mathur is worried. “Thanks to Hafiz Saeed, the world press has descended on me. I just hope my life is not under threat. My wife is genuinely nervous. I hope my country will protect me.”
A source close to Kabir Khan says, “These are not good enemies to have. People who can slaughter scores of people in terror attacks wouldn’t think twice about harming someone who they believe to be harming their interests. We are concerned about Kabir’s welfare. And we wish our government would provide him security.”
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August 28, 2015 at 2:13 AM
If nobody else,Sallu or at least the driver will for sure protect Khan and Mathur..
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August 27, 2015 at 2:47 PM
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