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90 Responses to “Neerja, the rest of the box office”
Good reports pouring from everywhere about the movie.Hope the public also likes it as such novel concept deserves all the encouragement from both critics as well as paying public.This is the movie which can be put in the bracket of “above boxoffice”, a real niche film.
I wasn’t sure she could carry it off, and she proves me wrong. Sonam plays Neerja like she cares and that is all the role needs.
Like Sonam, Neerja, the film is respectful to the memory of those who lost their lives and doesn’t exploit their tragic end to extract a spectacle. It’s also about a family coping with a crisis, a nightmare for anyone to know their child is in trouble yet helplessly wait and hope.
Neerja isn’t always subtle in its sentimentality what with its moments of a mother (a poignant if mannered Shabana Azmi) instinctively sensing trouble or compulsively scouting for a misplaced good luck charm. And yet so heartfelt in its sympathy, I couldn’t fight those tears when her father (a terrific Yogendra Tiku) stumbles for words to comfort his wife on the phone. He is not sure if he has reason to.
But he found much to be proud of a daughter who wasn’t merely swayed by the romanticism of Anand, but truly understood the cost at which such philosophy is procured.
Neeja was the leader of the pack out of the five releases this week. Neerja opened to around 20% in the multiplexes of Mumbai city, Delhi city which is okay for a film with no face value in these cities. Chandigarh saw the best opening with the two main properties going 40% plus.. Outside main cities collections were very dull. The film should have better collections in the evening as films like this normally do.
The other releases were Direct Ishq, Ishq Forever, Loveshhuda and Rhythm. Loveshhuda was next best after Neerja followed by Ishq Forever, Direct Ishq and Rhythm. The difference between these and Neerja is the latter has a targeted audience of metro multiplexes and if they appreciate the film it can work.
‘UmarKhalid’s father says his son is being targeted because of his religion’
Really ? What about KanhaiyaKumar then?
Such statements cause more religious / political polarization than anything else. Muslims never leave an opportunity to play victim and divide nation on communal lines. Pathetic.
Yes. everything is fair, just dont say anything to your eyes evenif they set your house on fire.
Akshaye Rathi @akshayerathi 7h7 hours ago
Akshaye Rathi Retweeted India Today
The SOP – Orchestrate anti-national activities & then play the victim card by using your religion as a shield.
http://thewire.in/2016/02/19/on-kanhaiya-it-is-time-to-stand-up-and-be-counted-22039/
It’s pretty clear now that this whole thing was based on a doctored video. I cannot believe the government can be so idiotic. Not nly they arrested but they went as far as linking the students with hafiz saeed based on a fake tweet. It’s pretty clear there was no anti national slogans and the video was poorly doctored.
the other side of the story, if you’re willing to hear is that the original video came out on 9th feb vs the next on 11th feb. So were they trying to cover up what they were caught saying in the first video. Also the 11th feb video seems very clear and organized compared to the 1st. After the 9th feb video was out both umar, lenin kumar and kanahaiyya appeard on times now and they do seem to depend afzal guru/kashmir slogans….now in the second video they no where seem to say anything about afzal guru which again inclins that something looks fishy in that video…anyways i guess cyber cell shud be able to find out if the video indeed had an original audio file beneath the overlapped one…
The first video of 9th doesn’t show Kanhaiya shouting slogans thats why they needed to doctor a video as evidence.
Great reluctance to catch the students who shouted the slogans but arrest one who was shouting slogans against poverty , bhookmari, Capitalism, Feudalism, Manuvad, Caste system, Modi, RSS
>The Kanahaiya may not have raised slogans himself but he helped in gathering the crowd which he had no control.
Students are always gathering in JNU. It wasnt collected by Kanhaiya but a group of organisers – Who are also not questioned yet.
The control of the crowd was not supposed to be under Kanhaiya.
Talking of control – reminds me that Modi wasnt held responsible for what the crowd did in 2002.
Defying every norm laid down in the mainstream Bollywood rule-book, Neerja coaxes a riveting two-hour drama out of a real-life tale of extraordinary courage.
For those old enough to remember how the hijacking of the 1986 Pan Am flight 73 panned out, the details are obviously all in the public domain.
Yet, the need to bring the story of Neerja Bhanot to the big screen cannot be questioned, especially from the point of view of a younger audience.
In this shrill era of arrogant, aggressive nationalism, the qualities of genuine humanism that this spirited film celebrates deserve to be brought to the fore and embraced.
Neerja not only places a woman at its centre, it also showcases the pluck of a flight attendant who makes no distinction between nationalities when her passengers face a grave threat.
She goes out of her way to try and save everybody on board – Indians, Americans, Pakistanis and Brits – without any thought of the cost that she might have to pay.
Director Ram Madhvani opts for just the right emotional amplitude to bring to the screen the exceptional tale of a brave fashion model and flight attendant who, hours shy of her 23rd birthday, laid down her life to save over 350 passengers.
Neerja needs to be applauded for avoiding the garish and gratuitous bells and whistles of commercial Hindi cinema.
It plunges headlong into the life of a bubbly 1980s girl who flies in and out of the country for a living while successfully pursuing a thriving modelling career.
The protagonist, whose personal life revolves around her doting mother (Shabana Azmi), supportive father (Yogendra Tiku), and her milk-white Spitz, is a diehard Rajesh Khanna fan.
Her obsession with Kaka allows a pivotal allusion to ‘Zindagi badi honi chahiye lambi nahin, Babumoshai’ to be woven into the screenplay (written by Saiwyn Quadras).
The transience of existence and the sheer senseless of the violence that snatches away promising lives is contrasted with the large-hearted cheerfulness of Neerja.
One minute into Neerja, and Sonam Kapoor disappears.
We meet, instead, Neerja Bhanot: a poised and cool Rajesh Khanna fangirl, a doted-on daughter, a neighbourhood favourite, a young girl who enjoyed smiling for the cameras. She loved her job, making it up the Pan Am ranks to become a Head Purser before she turned 23. Before she could even turn 23. Ram Madhvani’s film captures Neerja’s effervescence and her professionalism, getting us invested in the character long before we see her take wing and be astonishing, inspirational and incredible in the face of fear.
Since the out of topic stuff has been posted in the threat, I ask a question to Bachchan fans as why Salim Khan is again and again stating that he was responsible for creation of angry young man prrsona for Bachchan not Bachchan himself? In a recent interview he has even gone step forward by criticising his Deewar performance and according to him Bachchan has overacted in Deewar. Since i was never a Bachchan admirer but I can honestly say that no other actor can essay that role with such authority and passion as Bachchan did.
Thanks for sharing this Rajesh.
Shows the character of Bachchan….. who despite being called all sorts of names by Shotgun accepted to be the chief guest.
It also proves kee bhaiiya at the end of the day everyone needs Bachchan’s credibility and popularity to sell their books/ stuff.
also shows the enormous goodwill and respect that he commands within the industry.
SLB while accepting best director award @filmfare said- kee Naam lene sey hee gala sookh jaata hai !!
( He said he admires three people- Pandit Birju Maharaj, Bachchan and Lata Mangeshkar )
“shows the character of Bachchan…..who despite being called all sorts of names by Shotgun accepted to ne chief guest.”
I think Bachchan should have avoided it as reportedly there is some stuff in the biography which may not go down well with him.But the reality is Bachchan has turned more publicity hungry these days and can go to any extent to gain limelight.What charecter it shows when he attended the KRK boxoffice launch?
Neeja is looking at a good first day in the region of 4.75-5 crore nett. The morning collections indicated around 2.50-2.75 crore nett so its a considerable jump through the day. The film is being driven by the Delhi NCR Punjab belt with Mumbai city close behind. The evening shows are showing 50% plus occupancy
The collections of the film will easily be better than both of the releases last week despite having lower costs and fast growth on day one ensures a strong day two with the only question how much can it grow further on day two. UP and Gujarat / Saurashtra are worst but this film does not need to work all over and the main cities will be more than enough.
The makers had held many preview shows over the last ten days and this has obviously helped the film as the word of mouth has been very quick to act as far as business in the metros goes.
I am happy for Sonam Kapoor. She has been at the receiving end of condescending to mocking to downright rude comments from one and all. She waited patiently and without giving up. Now she proved she can also. Even that hopeless PRDP’s not doing terrific business was attributed to poor Sonam’s presence! And Salman praised!
For a biopic, one need not undergo just physical transformation. One just has to act.
Here is the forensic report on the doctored video. The video had to be doctored by ANTI NATIONAL ELEMENTS because the earlier 9th Feb video didn’t bring up any evidence against Kanhaiya.
It’s a crime to doctor videos and use it in the way it was.
I have no hopes that any steps will be taken to catch the culprit, because we know why this whole thing was done.
The slogan shouting students are nor being arrested because the centre doesn’t want to upset their chances in Kashmir with PDP (they who consider Afzal a matyr, and off and on hang up a Pak flag) so it becomes necessary to compromise Kanhaiya – so they can intrude into JNU.
3 ABVP members resigned in JNU and BJP spokespersons busy spreading they did under pressure which they didn’t. ABVP will not be pressured by anyone in BJP raj.
Three members of ABVP JNU resigned.Their letter raised a basic question & exposed this Govt &a media house house too pic.twitter.com/pS4y4Z7tFq
Back from Neerja! Very good movie and excellent control by Ram Madvani and very effective performance by Sonam. Finally she has a movie for which she’ll be remembered till her end of life. The movie is made very realistically which is very different than other so called ‘realistic’ movies and shows the technician side of Madvani. Sonam completely submits to the character and in a way its tailor made role for Sonam’s on screen personality (unlike the diva princess of PRDP). It was good to see that Neerja’s character was not commercialized or made to look like superwoman(as usually Bollywood movies end up do) and just relied on the real life event and act which itself is incredible brave and worthy. The movie is better than recently watched Airlift which was also good. All the characters are greatly case including Shabana Azmi as mom and the dad’s character. Movie length is good and sharp editing but could have still been 10 mins shorter. All in all, sureshot successful movie and will gather all the critical acclaim and praises all over for Sonam and the director. Recommended!!
I’m predicting a National Award for Sonam and Shabana Azmi for Neerja. Shabana will surely get but there’s likely to Sonam to get with the critical appraise of the movie(and Anil Kapoor pulling some strings) and deserving to an extent.. the combination is good in this movie.
This film will have inernational appeal, especially US as the carrier involved was Pan Am. Can try its luck at the Oscars with some smart editing and without songs.
This is no longer a movie blog.. not a single person watched Neerja or interested in discussing it. Its just political blog and folks just discuss that all day in and out!
just returned form india for a 3 week break really enjoyed ,been to agra and saw taj mahal,mumtaz was very lucky woman ,saw aother monuments in jaipur and amer…saw where they shot bajirao mastani,
anyways coming back to refresh and recharged what i find is not very much topic on bachan but yes politics…
” Who told you that this is a movie blog? This blog was started for glorification of B achchans.”
you need to go to spec-savers to test your eyes
talking of bachan,he is everywhere in ads,posters and so was srk but his ads were cheap & chearful,no offence to srk fans …lol
Oscars? No chance. Not by a mile. Not much of international appeal either. Such dramas are common fare for international audiences. Only for Bollywood audiences it is something new.
Bhanot was the senior flight purser on the ill-fated Pan Am Flight 73 flying from Mumbai to USA, which was hijacked by four armed men on 5 September 1986 at Karachi airport in Pakistan. The aircraft was carrying 361 passengers and 19 crew members. The terrorist wanted to fly to Israel and wanted to crash the plane against a building. After the terrorists boarded the plane, Neerja alerted the cockpit crew. As the plane was on the tarmac, the three-member American cockpit crew of pilot, co-pilot and the flight engineer evacuated the aircraft through an overhead hatch in the cockpit per their training so that the aircraft could not be forcibly flown. Bhanot, being the most senior cabin crew member remaining aboard, took charge.
The hijackers were part of the terrorist Abu Nidal Organization and were backed by Libya. The terrorists then instructed Bhanot to collect the passports of all the passengers so that they could identify the Americans. The terrorists wanted to put pressure on America by identifying and threatening the Americans on the aircraft. Bhanot and the other attendants under her charge hid the passports of the 41 Americans on board; some under a seat and the rest down a rubbish chute so that the hijackers could not differentiate between American and Non-American citizens.
After 17 hours, the hijackers opened fire and set off explosives. Bhanot opened the emergency door, flung a chute and assisted all the passengers escape. She could have been the first to jump out when she opened the door but she decided not to and was shot while shielding three children from a hail of bullets. From a total of 41 American passengers, only 2 were killed during firing. One of the children, then aged 7, is now a captain for a major airline and has stated that Neerja Bhanot has been his inspiration and he owes every day of his life to her. Bhanot was recognized internationally as “the heroine of the hijack” and is the youngest recipient of the Ashok Chakra Award, India’s most prestigious gallantry award for bravery during peace time.
This incident happened just two days before her twenty-third birthday. She actually invited her family to a meet over for her 23rd birthday. This news came out in Times Of India by the Doctor who watched her been shot dead by the terrorists. Not only had she ensured the failure of the hijacking by preventing the plane from getting off the ground, she also saved the lives of hostages in those long hours of incarceration.[3][4]
If some reports are to be believed the movie may do 6+ today which is fantastic for this kind of genere.I’m happy for Sonam Kapoor as she deserves all encouragement for her career best performance.
Personally, I have zero tolerance against terrorism. I am concerned about privacy and it’s possible misuse of given too much power. But I think TIm Cook is just scoring PR points here. I am against opening backdoor for all phones but terrorist phones must be opened and all useful data retrieved. His suggestion that it is like rewritting the whole OS is simple BS.
They should try some arabic word or some arabic name. I think Apple easily could have done the needful without letting anyone know but then there would have been some big story about how the password was cracked.
What a publicity and surely the sales must be going northwards!
Neerja has emerged a HIT with huge growth on day two as collections will be in the 7.50crore nett region. The growth on day two will be in the 65-70% region which is excellent. there are some centres which have doubled collections from day one, some are even more than double.
The growth is phenomenal in the multiplexes of Delhi city and Gurgaon as well as Bangalore. The mass circuits have shown less growth of around 50% and despite this growth the collections are still low. The two day business will be 12.00 crore nett apprx and will easily cross 20 crore nett for the weekend.
The film is a hit but it will be Sunday that will decide whether the film can gain appreciation outside its target audience or remain a city film. The business is low across Gujarat, UP, MP, Bihar, Orrisa, Haryana and Rajasthan and if these areas can double on Sunday or near double it would go to a different level..
The film has shown 65% growth in its second day which is excellent. The most amazing factor is that the film is without a male lead. We have witnessed numerous debates about niche films here in this blog and now here is the real niche film and an eye opener for many.
Neerja has done very well in overseas as well as India despite being a non star cast film. The film may just top the $1.5 million mark beating the likes of Fitoor and Wazir which were bigger films. The film has grossed $575,000 in US / Canada which is the second best opening of the year in that market. Airlift had grossed $816,000.
The figures compare well with other films which were similar to this. The likes of NH 10, Queen, Kahaani and Mardaani have much lower figures while Mary Kom was around $1.20 million and $370,000 in US / Canada.
The trend in US / Canada and Gulf will ensure a good hold in Overseas and a healthy final total.
Neerja had a good weekend recording the second highest weekend figures of 2016 after Airlift. The film is in second place but collections are almost half of Airlift. The first weekend business of Neerja is as follows
Friday – 4,50,00,000
Saturday – 7,50,00,000
Sunday – 9,75,00,000
Total – 21,75,00,000
The trend is very strong which has ensured a hit. The film has done very well in the metros while other areas grew on Saturday and Sunday but have probably not goe to the levels on Sunday to suggest strong final numbers in places in Gujarat and UP. The big cities are sure to do excellent business over the next few weeks.
Three new niche films generated O.K. audience interest over the weekend, as “Deadpool” remained the mainstream movie of the moment.
Starring Ryan Reynolds, the R-rated “Deadpool” (20th Century Fox) collected about $55 million at North American multiplexes, for an astounding two-week domestic total of $235.4 million, according to comScore, which tracks box office data. Overseas, “Deadpool” has taken in an additional $256.5 million.
DreamWorks Animation’s “Kung Fu Panda 3” (Fox) chugged away in second place, taking in an estimated $12.5 million, for a four-week total of $117.1 million. That total is about 20 percent behind “Kung Fu Panda 2” at the same point in its release.
What is the purpose of these small encounters in which our valiant officers and jawans are killed? There is a pattern. I think they want to damage our forces bit by bit without attracting attention or backlash. Army should have a gameplan to tackle this menace without losing army personnel.
and these are elite troops as well, a pretty big setback to lose 2 captains in one encounter. Pakistan must be made to pay for keeping terrorism active
The actor made an interesting statement and you will be amazed….
Salman Khan‘s Sultan and Aamir Khan‘s Dangal have been compared from a long time now. Both the films are around wrestling, they have very different stories. Salman Khan plays Sultan Ali who has a love track with Anushka Sharma’s character. On the other hand, Aamir Khan plays the role of Mahavir Phogat, who goes against his traditional village and trains his two daughters in wrestling. A few days back at Sonam Kapoor’s Neerja special screening, Aamir Khan revealed he was eagerly waiting for Salman Khan’s Sultan and Salman gave an adorable reaction to Aamir’s comment.
Aamir had mentioned, “Salman’s films are always good, so I have lot of expectations from Sultan. Like how all wait with bated breaths for his films, I too wait for it. Definitely it’ll be a very good film.” When Salman Khan was told about this at the Zee Cine Awards 2016, he had a very sweet answer to it. He said, “I am more excited about Aamir Khan’s Dangal.”
Neerja held up very well on Monday as it is looking at a drop of 20-25% from Friday. The collections will be in the 3.50 crore nett region which will take the business of the film over 25 crore nett. The best holds have come in the Delhi city and Chandigarh. It is this belt that should sustain best.
The film will not do well in UP, Gujarat, CP Berar and Bihar. The hold in these parts is pretty good compared to Friday but generally the numbers are below the Friday figures which means the figures have gone back to very low levels. The film has low costs so does not need all India performance but if it had got appreciation in these places it could have gone to another level.
The first week business should come in at around 33-34 crore nett as the weekdays will hold well. Its possible that Tuesday and Wednesday can hold at or above the 3 crore nett levels.
Neerja – Saw last friday night, i was so excited that i didnt mind front seat and as i expected i came out with pain in my neck.
Anyways, about the movie which was a documentary style movie, and really good one, but i expected more. What disappointed me were the scenes that made up to prepare background for emotional manipulation later in the movie were so obvious. Whatever you see in the trailer and if you have read about Neerja(just as i did so impressed i was with trailer and real Hero Neerja’s real story), there is nothing much left to see. Sonam kapoor did well though her voice was little irritating in some scenes. For some reason i dont connect with Shabana Aazmi and find her doing restrained overacting, last time i enjoyed her screen presence was in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Makdee.
As i didnt enjoy the movie as much i expected with large credit to my bad front row seat, i was silent for the weekend to avoid spread not so great wom, i wish movie to do well. It is a real incident based, without adding much bollywoood style drama, so one can expect there wont be much to entertain, and if you are expecting even some high octane thrilling entertainment, you are setting wrong expectation again.
The reason for my liking and why the Film deserves are same, for its well intention, one of the better movie from Bollywood, and Real life Hero Neerja Bhanot.
One thing i would like to mention, in the end credits, it says ‘All the highjackers were given life imprisonment by Pakistan Govt.’ But it is not true, i had read whole incident just when trailer was out.
And this is what Wikipedia says-
In 2001, Zayd Hassan Abd Al-Latif Masud Al Safarini, one of the hijackers who shot the passengers, was captured by the FBI in Bangkok. He is currently serving a 160-year prison term in Colorado. Four others escaped from Adyala Jail in January 2008 when it was attacked by terrorists. The FBI announced a $5 million bounty on their heads. In January 2010, Pakistani intelligence officials announced that a drone attack in the North Waziristan tribal region had killed one of the released hijackers, Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim. His death was never confirmed and he remains on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists and Rewards for Justice Program lists.
As usual soft side of Pakistan only for Terrorists is well on display and to more amusement they banned the movie in Pakistan, just because they are muslims and fighting for islamic cause of create hell on earth. All in all, her killers are still out in open and yet to brought to justice.
And i thought Deewane Hue paagal was Aawara paagal deewana2. Anyways, One guy who truly deserves Lead Role in Big movie is Vidyut Jamwal. Wishing him luck and hope this is true.
Interestingly we hear that the film which will in all likelihood feature Akshay Kumar top lining the cast will be directed by choreographer turned director Ahmed Khan. While details of the film are currently unavailable, we hear that joining Akshay in the film will be Vidyut Jamwal whose last release was Commando in 2013.
How Neerja perhaps scores above Airlift a similar terrorist drama set around the same time, is that here, despite their deathly intent, the four men who play the terrorists still have depth as they go from intimidating to desperate as soon as they realise that their efforts are on course to being completely thwarted as a result of Bhanot’s smart, straightforward actions. What’s more, Madhvani ensures that the mood of the film is consistently tense and engaging with a tight screenplay, and plays it out in a way that despite knowing her dreaded fate, you keep rooting for Bhanot, and hope that by some miraculous twist her life is spared and that she escapes scot free.
Read more at http://www.bollybrit.com/reviews-blog/film-review-neerja#ueBuiTujwfpibsgL.99
Airlift was not a ‘Terrorist’ drama! It was a war-zone rescue movie. There were no Terrorists, only occupying Troops of one country ransacking another country. Two totally different situations, with the only similarity being that both were historical situations presented on celluloid.
“only occupying Troops of one country ransacking another country.”
One man’s freedom fighter is another’s terrorist. So should ask the kuwaitis. They will certainly identify the iraqis as terrorist.
But yes, over all i agree with you 😉
There was a recent post, facebook etc, where the remaining crew members had downplayed Neerja, also stating movie dipiction was wrong as well and other crew members were also heroic. Kinda cheap shot…they got to live to tell the story; she didn’t.
I am staying away from posting anything political as much as possible. [Satyam feel free to delete this comment]. But this closed-minded ‘op-ed’ is exactly what’s wrong with the NY-Times non-resident Indians as well as resident non-Indians mimicking them. Never will one ever find a balanced opinion. These op-eds have become a standard template. All you need to do is fill-in-the-blanks and change authors’ names..
——–
Below is a fine comment by a reader – —
This article, as with many others about India in NYT is slanted and misleading at best. Some errors and much-needed context:
1) Afzal Guru was hanged by the previous Congress government, after a decade long due process, not the current BJP led one, for orchestrating an attck on the Parliament of India.
2) The protestors praised Afzal using islamic terminology (Insha allah) and called for the dismemberment and desctruction of India. This is akin to chanting in favor of bin Laden in Times Square.
On a personal level, my view is that free speech is valuable in allowing the airing of unpopular but valid arguments to enable better decision making, thus enhancing the well-being of society.
Thus the underlying premise behind free speech is the “well-being of society”. When that very premise is rejected, as the activists did by calling for the destruction and dismemberment of India, free speech is rendered moot; this is a declaration of war, speech is no longer relevant.
This article is an excellent illustration of the empathobesity mind set afflicting the “intelligentsia” in both India and the West.
Neerja continued its good run in metros on Tuesday. The drop on Tuesday was a normal Tuesday drop. The first weekend business of Neerja is as follows
Friday – 4,50,00,000
Saturday – 7,50,00,000
Sunday – 9,75,00,000
Monday – 3,50,00,000
Tuesday – 3,10,00,000
Total – 28,35,00,000
The week will finish around the 34 crore nett. The lifetime business of the should cross 50 crore nett but a lot depends on how well the the films due for release fare at the box office. If no film works then Neerja can dominate for longer and achieve a higher lifetime total.
Airlift has grossed 122.78 crore in just under five weeks. The business till date is as follows.
Week One – 79,29,00,000
Week Two – 28,78,00,000
Week Three – 11,33,00,000
Week Four – 2,63,00,000
Week Five – 75,00,000 apprx (5 days)
TOTAL – 1,22,78,00,000
The film is the highest grosser released in Republic Day week but in terms of distributor share it is less than Agneepath and similar to Jai Ho. The film is likely to finish with business in the 123 crore nett range and a share of 58.50 crore.
Q. Can Neerja cross the bsuienss of filsm like Queen and Kahaani?
Ans. Queen is 61 crore nett and Kahaani is 57 crore nett.It is possible but a lot depends on how the other releases perform over the two weeks. If all fall flat then a 60 crore nett total will be there for the taking.
SATYAMSHOT 
February 18, 2016 at 11:21 PM
Good reports pouring from everywhere about the movie.Hope the public also likes it as such novel concept deserves all the encouragement from both critics as well as paying public.This is the movie which can be put in the bracket of “above boxoffice”, a real niche film.
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February 19, 2016 at 1:21 AM
No reviews?
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February 19, 2016 at 3:32 AM
http://www.india-forums.com/bollywood/film-reviews/61780-neerja-movie-review.htm
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February 19, 2016 at 3:53 AM
http://www.rediff.com/movies/review/neerja-a-fond-tribute-to-a-forgotten-hero/20160219.htm
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February 19, 2016 at 3:57 AM
Excerpts
I wasn’t sure she could carry it off, and she proves me wrong. Sonam plays Neerja like she cares and that is all the role needs.
Like Sonam, Neerja, the film is respectful to the memory of those who lost their lives and doesn’t exploit their tragic end to extract a spectacle. It’s also about a family coping with a crisis, a nightmare for anyone to know their child is in trouble yet helplessly wait and hope.
Neerja isn’t always subtle in its sentimentality what with its moments of a mother (a poignant if mannered Shabana Azmi) instinctively sensing trouble or compulsively scouting for a misplaced good luck charm. And yet so heartfelt in its sympathy, I couldn’t fight those tears when her father (a terrific Yogendra Tiku) stumbles for words to comfort his wife on the phone. He is not sure if he has reason to.
But he found much to be proud of a daughter who wasn’t merely swayed by the romanticism of Anand, but truly understood the cost at which such philosophy is procured.
Sukanya Verma says.
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February 19, 2016 at 3:59 AM
Neeja was the leader of the pack out of the five releases this week. Neerja opened to around 20% in the multiplexes of Mumbai city, Delhi city which is okay for a film with no face value in these cities. Chandigarh saw the best opening with the two main properties going 40% plus.. Outside main cities collections were very dull. The film should have better collections in the evening as films like this normally do.
The other releases were Direct Ishq, Ishq Forever, Loveshhuda and Rhythm. Loveshhuda was next best after Neerja followed by Ishq Forever, Direct Ishq and Rhythm. The difference between these and Neerja is the latter has a targeted audience of metro multiplexes and if they appreciate the film it can work.
Boxofficeindia.
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February 19, 2016 at 4:19 AM
@IndiaToday
#UmarKhalid’s father says his son is being targeted because of his religion
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/umar-khalids-father-says-his-son-is-being-targeted-because-of-his-religion/1/600075.html
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February 19, 2016 at 4:22 AM
‘UmarKhalid’s father says his son is being targeted because of his religion’
Really ? What about KanhaiyaKumar then?
Such statements cause more religious / political polarization than anything else. Muslims never leave an opportunity to play victim and divide nation on communal lines. Pathetic.
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February 19, 2016 at 5:52 AM
If it’s true it is really pathetic. But its more pathetic when publicised everywhere even in filmy fourms.
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February 19, 2016 at 7:39 AM
Yes. everything is fair, just dont say anything to your eyes evenif they set your house on fire.
Akshaye Rathi @akshayerathi 7h7 hours ago
Akshaye Rathi Retweeted India Today
The SOP – Orchestrate anti-national activities & then play the victim card by using your religion as a shield.
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February 19, 2016 at 1:06 PM
http://thewire.in/2016/02/19/on-kanhaiya-it-is-time-to-stand-up-and-be-counted-22039/
It’s pretty clear now that this whole thing was based on a doctored video. I cannot believe the government can be so idiotic. Not nly they arrested but they went as far as linking the students with hafiz saeed based on a fake tweet. It’s pretty clear there was no anti national slogans and the video was poorly doctored.
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February 19, 2016 at 2:34 PM
the other side of the story, if you’re willing to hear is that the original video came out on 9th feb vs the next on 11th feb. So were they trying to cover up what they were caught saying in the first video. Also the 11th feb video seems very clear and organized compared to the 1st. After the 9th feb video was out both umar, lenin kumar and kanahaiyya appeard on times now and they do seem to depend afzal guru/kashmir slogans….now in the second video they no where seem to say anything about afzal guru which again inclins that something looks fishy in that video…anyways i guess cyber cell shud be able to find out if the video indeed had an original audio file beneath the overlapped one…
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February 19, 2016 at 7:42 PM
The first video of 9th doesn’t show Kanhaiya shouting slogans thats why they needed to doctor a video as evidence.
Great reluctance to catch the students who shouted the slogans but arrest one who was shouting slogans against poverty , bhookmari, Capitalism, Feudalism, Manuvad, Caste system, Modi, RSS
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February 19, 2016 at 4:49 PM
This is not first incidence:
http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/dantewada-aftershocks-at-jnu-415103
http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/students-organize-peaceful-protest-over-afzal-guru-hanging/1078272/
http://www.ibnlive.com/blogs/india/amit-srivastava/how-jnu-became-the-oasis-of-maoists-and-naxalites-13930-745135.html
The Kanahaiya may not have raised slogans himself but he helped in gathering the crowd which he had no control.
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February 19, 2016 at 7:47 PM
>The Kanahaiya may not have raised slogans himself but he helped in gathering the crowd which he had no control.
Students are always gathering in JNU. It wasnt collected by Kanhaiya but a group of organisers – Who are also not questioned yet.
The control of the crowd was not supposed to be under Kanhaiya.
Talking of control – reminds me that Modi wasnt held responsible for what the crowd did in 2002.
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February 19, 2016 at 7:34 PM
Poor defense. It is all clear in video.
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February 19, 2016 at 5:51 AM
Defying every norm laid down in the mainstream Bollywood rule-book, Neerja coaxes a riveting two-hour drama out of a real-life tale of extraordinary courage.
For those old enough to remember how the hijacking of the 1986 Pan Am flight 73 panned out, the details are obviously all in the public domain.
Yet, the need to bring the story of Neerja Bhanot to the big screen cannot be questioned, especially from the point of view of a younger audience.
In this shrill era of arrogant, aggressive nationalism, the qualities of genuine humanism that this spirited film celebrates deserve to be brought to the fore and embraced.
Neerja not only places a woman at its centre, it also showcases the pluck of a flight attendant who makes no distinction between nationalities when her passengers face a grave threat.
She goes out of her way to try and save everybody on board – Indians, Americans, Pakistanis and Brits – without any thought of the cost that she might have to pay.
Director Ram Madhvani opts for just the right emotional amplitude to bring to the screen the exceptional tale of a brave fashion model and flight attendant who, hours shy of her 23rd birthday, laid down her life to save over 350 passengers.
Neerja needs to be applauded for avoiding the garish and gratuitous bells and whistles of commercial Hindi cinema.
It plunges headlong into the life of a bubbly 1980s girl who flies in and out of the country for a living while successfully pursuing a thriving modelling career.
The protagonist, whose personal life revolves around her doting mother (Shabana Azmi), supportive father (Yogendra Tiku), and her milk-white Spitz, is a diehard Rajesh Khanna fan.
Her obsession with Kaka allows a pivotal allusion to ‘Zindagi badi honi chahiye lambi nahin, Babumoshai’ to be woven into the screenplay (written by Saiwyn Quadras).
The transience of existence and the sheer senseless of the violence that snatches away promising lives is contrasted with the large-hearted cheerfulness of Neerja.
http://movies.ndtv.com/movie-reviews/neerja-movie-review-1237?pfrom=home-lateststories
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February 19, 2016 at 9:17 AM
SpiceGirls with manager Simon Fuller before their makeover (Photo courtesy Victoria Beckham, first from left) (1991) 🙂
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February 19, 2016 at 10:18 AM
One minute into Neerja, and Sonam Kapoor disappears.
We meet, instead, Neerja Bhanot: a poised and cool Rajesh Khanna fangirl, a doted-on daughter, a neighbourhood favourite, a young girl who enjoyed smiling for the cameras. She loved her job, making it up the Pan Am ranks to become a Head Purser before she turned 23. Before she could even turn 23. Ram Madhvani’s film captures Neerja’s effervescence and her professionalism, getting us invested in the character long before we see her take wing and be astonishing, inspirational and incredible in the face of fear.
http://rajasen.com/
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February 19, 2016 at 4:44 PM
Out of Topic: But a good watch. Nice to Amitji on Shatrughan Sinha’s Book ‘Anything But Khamosh’ Launch
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February 19, 2016 at 7:41 PM
Since the out of topic stuff has been posted in the threat, I ask a question to Bachchan fans as why Salim Khan is again and again stating that he was responsible for creation of angry young man prrsona for Bachchan not Bachchan himself? In a recent interview he has even gone step forward by criticising his Deewar performance and according to him Bachchan has overacted in Deewar. Since i was never a Bachchan admirer but I can honestly say that no other actor can essay that role with such authority and passion as Bachchan did.
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February 19, 2016 at 8:08 PM
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February 20, 2016 at 10:01 AM
Thanks for sharing this Rajesh.
Shows the character of Bachchan….. who despite being called all sorts of names by Shotgun accepted to be the chief guest.
It also proves kee bhaiiya at the end of the day everyone needs Bachchan’s credibility and popularity to sell their books/ stuff.
also shows the enormous goodwill and respect that he commands within the industry.
SLB while accepting best director award @filmfare said- kee Naam lene sey hee gala sookh jaata hai !!
( He said he admires three people- Pandit Birju Maharaj, Bachchan and Lata Mangeshkar )
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February 20, 2016 at 7:24 PM
“shows the character of Bachchan…..who despite being called all sorts of names by Shotgun accepted to ne chief guest.”
I think Bachchan should have avoided it as reportedly there is some stuff in the biography which may not go down well with him.But the reality is Bachchan has turned more publicity hungry these days and can go to any extent to gain limelight.What charecter it shows when he attended the KRK boxoffice launch?
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February 19, 2016 at 7:10 PM
Neeja is looking at a good first day in the region of 4.75-5 crore nett. The morning collections indicated around 2.50-2.75 crore nett so its a considerable jump through the day. The film is being driven by the Delhi NCR Punjab belt with Mumbai city close behind. The evening shows are showing 50% plus occupancy
The collections of the film will easily be better than both of the releases last week despite having lower costs and fast growth on day one ensures a strong day two with the only question how much can it grow further on day two. UP and Gujarat / Saurashtra are worst but this film does not need to work all over and the main cities will be more than enough.
The makers had held many preview shows over the last ten days and this has obviously helped the film as the word of mouth has been very quick to act as far as business in the metros goes.
Boxofficeindia.
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February 19, 2016 at 7:37 PM
I am happy for Sonam Kapoor. She has been at the receiving end of condescending to mocking to downright rude comments from one and all. She waited patiently and without giving up. Now she proved she can also. Even that hopeless PRDP’s not doing terrific business was attributed to poor Sonam’s presence! And Salman praised!
For a biopic, one need not undergo just physical transformation. One just has to act.
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February 19, 2016 at 7:41 PM
http://www.catchnews.com/bollywood-news/sonam-kapoor-neerja-movie-review-by-aamir-khan-hrithik-roshan-karan-johar-anil-kapoor-ayushmann-khurrana-bollywood-latest-news-1455701780.html
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February 19, 2016 at 8:01 PM
@raghav
>Poor defense. It is all clear in video.
Here is the forensic report on the doctored video. The video had to be doctored by ANTI NATIONAL ELEMENTS because the earlier 9th Feb video didn’t bring up any evidence against Kanhaiya.
It’s a crime to doctor videos and use it in the way it was.
I have no hopes that any steps will be taken to catch the culprit, because we know why this whole thing was done.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/programme/kanhaiys-doctored-video-the-real-anti-nationals-more/1/600828.html
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February 19, 2016 at 8:11 PM
The slogan shouting students are nor being arrested because the centre doesn’t want to upset their chances in Kashmir with PDP (they who consider Afzal a matyr, and off and on hang up a Pak flag) so it becomes necessary to compromise Kanhaiya – so they can intrude into JNU.
3 ABVP members resigned in JNU and BJP spokespersons busy spreading they did under pressure which they didn’t. ABVP will not be pressured by anyone in BJP raj.
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February 19, 2016 at 8:41 PM
Back from Neerja! Very good movie and excellent control by Ram Madvani and very effective performance by Sonam. Finally she has a movie for which she’ll be remembered till her end of life. The movie is made very realistically which is very different than other so called ‘realistic’ movies and shows the technician side of Madvani. Sonam completely submits to the character and in a way its tailor made role for Sonam’s on screen personality (unlike the diva princess of PRDP). It was good to see that Neerja’s character was not commercialized or made to look like superwoman(as usually Bollywood movies end up do) and just relied on the real life event and act which itself is incredible brave and worthy. The movie is better than recently watched Airlift which was also good. All the characters are greatly case including Shabana Azmi as mom and the dad’s character. Movie length is good and sharp editing but could have still been 10 mins shorter. All in all, sureshot successful movie and will gather all the critical acclaim and praises all over for Sonam and the director. Recommended!!
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February 19, 2016 at 9:14 PM
I’m predicting a National Award for Sonam and Shabana Azmi for Neerja. Shabana will surely get but there’s likely to Sonam to get with the critical appraise of the movie(and Anil Kapoor pulling some strings) and deserving to an extent.. the combination is good in this movie.
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February 19, 2016 at 9:24 PM
This film will have inernational appeal, especially US as the carrier involved was Pan Am. Can try its luck at the Oscars with some smart editing and without songs.
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February 21, 2016 at 5:50 PM
This is no longer a movie blog.. not a single person watched Neerja or interested in discussing it. Its just political blog and folks just discuss that all day in and out!
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February 21, 2016 at 9:08 PM
Who told you that this is a movie blog? This blog was started for glorification of B achchans.
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February 23, 2016 at 5:44 AM
just returned form india for a 3 week break really enjoyed ,been to agra and saw taj mahal,mumtaz was very lucky woman ,saw aother monuments in jaipur and amer…saw where they shot bajirao mastani,
anyways coming back to refresh and recharged what i find is not very much topic on bachan but yes politics…
” Who told you that this is a movie blog? This blog was started for glorification of B achchans.”
you need to go to spec-savers to test your eyes
talking of bachan,he is everywhere in ads,posters and so was srk but his ads were cheap & chearful,no offence to srk fans …lol
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February 20, 2016 at 12:57 AM
Oscars? No chance. Not by a mile. Not much of international appeal either. Such dramas are common fare for international audiences. Only for Bollywood audiences it is something new.
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February 20, 2016 at 1:06 AM
Bhanot was the senior flight purser on the ill-fated Pan Am Flight 73 flying from Mumbai to USA, which was hijacked by four armed men on 5 September 1986 at Karachi airport in Pakistan. The aircraft was carrying 361 passengers and 19 crew members. The terrorist wanted to fly to Israel and wanted to crash the plane against a building. After the terrorists boarded the plane, Neerja alerted the cockpit crew. As the plane was on the tarmac, the three-member American cockpit crew of pilot, co-pilot and the flight engineer evacuated the aircraft through an overhead hatch in the cockpit per their training so that the aircraft could not be forcibly flown. Bhanot, being the most senior cabin crew member remaining aboard, took charge.
The hijackers were part of the terrorist Abu Nidal Organization and were backed by Libya. The terrorists then instructed Bhanot to collect the passports of all the passengers so that they could identify the Americans. The terrorists wanted to put pressure on America by identifying and threatening the Americans on the aircraft. Bhanot and the other attendants under her charge hid the passports of the 41 Americans on board; some under a seat and the rest down a rubbish chute so that the hijackers could not differentiate between American and Non-American citizens.
After 17 hours, the hijackers opened fire and set off explosives. Bhanot opened the emergency door, flung a chute and assisted all the passengers escape. She could have been the first to jump out when she opened the door but she decided not to and was shot while shielding three children from a hail of bullets. From a total of 41 American passengers, only 2 were killed during firing. One of the children, then aged 7, is now a captain for a major airline and has stated that Neerja Bhanot has been his inspiration and he owes every day of his life to her. Bhanot was recognized internationally as “the heroine of the hijack” and is the youngest recipient of the Ashok Chakra Award, India’s most prestigious gallantry award for bravery during peace time.
This incident happened just two days before her twenty-third birthday. She actually invited her family to a meet over for her 23rd birthday. This news came out in Times Of India by the Doctor who watched her been shot dead by the terrorists. Not only had she ensured the failure of the hijacking by preventing the plane from getting off the ground, she also saved the lives of hostages in those long hours of incarceration.[3][4]
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February 20, 2016 at 1:07 AM
According to Wiki.
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February 20, 2016 at 1:56 AM
“Since i was never a Bachchan admirer but I can honestly say that no other actor can essay that role with such authority and passion as Bachchan did”
Me too…For me Amitabh Bachchan = Deewar
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February 20, 2016 at 8:49 AM
If some reports are to be believed the movie may do 6+ today which is fantastic for this kind of genere.I’m happy for Sonam Kapoor as she deserves all encouragement for her career best performance.
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February 20, 2016 at 4:18 PM
http://www.apple.com/customer-letter/
Personally, I have zero tolerance against terrorism. I am concerned about privacy and it’s possible misuse of given too much power. But I think TIm Cook is just scoring PR points here. I am against opening backdoor for all phones but terrorist phones must be opened and all useful data retrieved. His suggestion that it is like rewritting the whole OS is simple BS.
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February 20, 2016 at 4:35 PM
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/02/17/us/judge-tells-apple-to-help-unlock-san-bernardino-gunmans-iphone.html
The stance become more duplicitous when you they collect all sort of user data and use it for marketing purposes.
http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-says-investigators-ruined-most-promising-way-to-access-terrorist-data/
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February 20, 2016 at 8:27 PM
They should try some arabic word or some arabic name. I think Apple easily could have done the needful without letting anyone know but then there would have been some big story about how the password was cracked.
What a publicity and surely the sales must be going northwards!
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February 23, 2016 at 1:52 AM
http://mashable.com/2016/02/23/bill-gates-fbi-apple/
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February 20, 2016 at 4:20 PM
Neerja has emerged a HIT with huge growth on day two as collections will be in the 7.50crore nett region. The growth on day two will be in the 65-70% region which is excellent. there are some centres which have doubled collections from day one, some are even more than double.
The growth is phenomenal in the multiplexes of Delhi city and Gurgaon as well as Bangalore. The mass circuits have shown less growth of around 50% and despite this growth the collections are still low. The two day business will be 12.00 crore nett apprx and will easily cross 20 crore nett for the weekend.
The film is a hit but it will be Sunday that will decide whether the film can gain appreciation outside its target audience or remain a city film. The business is low across Gujarat, UP, MP, Bihar, Orrisa, Haryana and Rajasthan and if these areas can double on Sunday or near double it would go to a different level..
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February 20, 2016 at 11:59 PM
The film has shown 65% growth in its second day which is excellent. The most amazing factor is that the film is without a male lead. We have witnessed numerous debates about niche films here in this blog and now here is the real niche film and an eye opener for many.
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February 21, 2016 at 3:51 AM
Smile please
http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/xma/entry/100_one-sentence_jokes/
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February 21, 2016 at 9:21 AM
Guess 🙂 ?
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February 21, 2016 at 12:16 PM
Well it says right below NUTAN AS A CHILD!!!
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February 21, 2016 at 3:15 PM
ROFLOL…this is eye-reading test…can you read the last line below picture?
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February 21, 2016 at 3:47 PM
No eye test here … LOL
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February 21, 2016 at 10:55 PM
NEERJA highly recommended: don’t miss it. Will try to write something. But for sure, recommended watch.
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February 22, 2016 at 10:59 AM
Thanks for supporting this great film. Atleast you aren’t like others who have remained silent after watching it.
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February 22, 2016 at 12:31 PM
Waiting for your review or take on the film.
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February 22, 2016 at 12:52 AM
Mohanlal on JNU:
http://www.thecompleteactor.com/articles2/2016/02/respect-freedom-respect-its-price-too/
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February 22, 2016 at 1:39 AM
Neerja has done very well in overseas as well as India despite being a non star cast film. The film may just top the $1.5 million mark beating the likes of Fitoor and Wazir which were bigger films. The film has grossed $575,000 in US / Canada which is the second best opening of the year in that market. Airlift had grossed $816,000.
The figures compare well with other films which were similar to this. The likes of NH 10, Queen, Kahaani and Mardaani have much lower figures while Mary Kom was around $1.20 million and $370,000 in US / Canada.
The trend in US / Canada and Gulf will ensure a good hold in Overseas and a healthy final total.
Boxofficeindia
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February 22, 2016 at 3:36 AM
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/box-office/special-features/id/588.
Seems sunday business 9.7 crores.
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February 22, 2016 at 6:32 AM
Neerja had a good weekend recording the second highest weekend figures of 2016 after Airlift. The film is in second place but collections are almost half of Airlift. The first weekend business of Neerja is as follows
Friday – 4,50,00,000
Saturday – 7,50,00,000
Sunday – 9,75,00,000
Total – 21,75,00,000
The trend is very strong which has ensured a hit. The film has done very well in the metros while other areas grew on Saturday and Sunday but have probably not goe to the levels on Sunday to suggest strong final numbers in places in Gujarat and UP. The big cities are sure to do excellent business over the next few weeks.
Boxofficeindia
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February 22, 2016 at 6:47 AM
Three new niche films generated O.K. audience interest over the weekend, as “Deadpool” remained the mainstream movie of the moment.
Starring Ryan Reynolds, the R-rated “Deadpool” (20th Century Fox) collected about $55 million at North American multiplexes, for an astounding two-week domestic total of $235.4 million, according to comScore, which tracks box office data. Overseas, “Deadpool” has taken in an additional $256.5 million.
DreamWorks Animation’s “Kung Fu Panda 3” (Fox) chugged away in second place, taking in an estimated $12.5 million, for a four-week total of $117.1 million. That total is about 20 percent behind “Kung Fu Panda 2” at the same point in its release.
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February 22, 2016 at 8:22 AM
What is the purpose of these small encounters in which our valiant officers and jawans are killed? There is a pattern. I think they want to damage our forces bit by bit without attracting attention or backlash. Army should have a gameplan to tackle this menace without losing army personnel.
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February 23, 2016 at 12:20 AM
and these are elite troops as well, a pretty big setback to lose 2 captains in one encounter. Pakistan must be made to pay for keeping terrorism active
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February 22, 2016 at 8:41 AM
The actor made an interesting statement and you will be amazed….
Salman Khan‘s Sultan and Aamir Khan‘s Dangal have been compared from a long time now. Both the films are around wrestling, they have very different stories. Salman Khan plays Sultan Ali who has a love track with Anushka Sharma’s character. On the other hand, Aamir Khan plays the role of Mahavir Phogat, who goes against his traditional village and trains his two daughters in wrestling. A few days back at Sonam Kapoor’s Neerja special screening, Aamir Khan revealed he was eagerly waiting for Salman Khan’s Sultan and Salman gave an adorable reaction to Aamir’s comment.
Aamir had mentioned, “Salman’s films are always good, so I have lot of expectations from Sultan. Like how all wait with bated breaths for his films, I too wait for it. Definitely it’ll be a very good film.” When Salman Khan was told about this at the Zee Cine Awards 2016, he had a very sweet answer to it. He said, “I am more excited about Aamir Khan’s Dangal.”
Wasn’t that a sweet reply?
http://www.bollywoodlife.com/news-gossip/salman-khan-reacts-to-aamir-khans-comments-about-sultan/
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February 22, 2016 at 1:10 PM
Saw Pakistani movie : jawani phir nahi ani. It is mix of no Entry, Masti.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/966685/jawani-phir-nahi-ani-wheres-the-outrage-now/
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February 22, 2016 at 3:06 PM
I’m sorry for you!
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February 22, 2016 at 4:23 PM
Haha….It was not bad. But most of the devices/plots were from Bollywood movies.
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February 22, 2016 at 4:14 PM
Neerja held up very well on Monday as it is looking at a drop of 20-25% from Friday. The collections will be in the 3.50 crore nett region which will take the business of the film over 25 crore nett. The best holds have come in the Delhi city and Chandigarh. It is this belt that should sustain best.
The film will not do well in UP, Gujarat, CP Berar and Bihar. The hold in these parts is pretty good compared to Friday but generally the numbers are below the Friday figures which means the figures have gone back to very low levels. The film has low costs so does not need all India performance but if it had got appreciation in these places it could have gone to another level.
The first week business should come in at around 33-34 crore nett as the weekdays will hold well. Its possible that Tuesday and Wednesday can hold at or above the 3 crore nett levels.
Boxofficeindia.
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February 22, 2016 at 4:30 PM
http://www.koimoi.com/bollywood-audience-poll-2015/nominations-of-furlenco-best-outside-bollywood-100-crore-film-of-2015/
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February 22, 2016 at 4:40 PM
Watch: Sonam, Fawad recreate Cinderella story in a Pakistani ad
http://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/watch-sonam-fawad-recreate-cindrella-story-in-a-pakistani-ad/story-FWilqjFmA7knsDFA1xCzpL.html
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February 22, 2016 at 8:21 PM
Neerja – Saw last friday night, i was so excited that i didnt mind front seat and as i expected i came out with pain in my neck.
Anyways, about the movie which was a documentary style movie, and really good one, but i expected more. What disappointed me were the scenes that made up to prepare background for emotional manipulation later in the movie were so obvious. Whatever you see in the trailer and if you have read about Neerja(just as i did so impressed i was with trailer and real Hero Neerja’s real story), there is nothing much left to see. Sonam kapoor did well though her voice was little irritating in some scenes. For some reason i dont connect with Shabana Aazmi and find her doing restrained overacting, last time i enjoyed her screen presence was in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Makdee.
As i didnt enjoy the movie as much i expected with large credit to my bad front row seat, i was silent for the weekend to avoid spread not so great wom, i wish movie to do well. It is a real incident based, without adding much bollywoood style drama, so one can expect there wont be much to entertain, and if you are expecting even some high octane thrilling entertainment, you are setting wrong expectation again.
The reason for my liking and why the Film deserves are same, for its well intention, one of the better movie from Bollywood, and Real life Hero Neerja Bhanot.
One thing i would like to mention, in the end credits, it says ‘All the highjackers were given life imprisonment by Pakistan Govt.’ But it is not true, i had read whole incident just when trailer was out.
And this is what Wikipedia says-
In 2001, Zayd Hassan Abd Al-Latif Masud Al Safarini, one of the hijackers who shot the passengers, was captured by the FBI in Bangkok. He is currently serving a 160-year prison term in Colorado. Four others escaped from Adyala Jail in January 2008 when it was attacked by terrorists. The FBI announced a $5 million bounty on their heads. In January 2010, Pakistani intelligence officials announced that a drone attack in the North Waziristan tribal region had killed one of the released hijackers, Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim. His death was never confirmed and he remains on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists and Rewards for Justice Program lists.
As usual soft side of Pakistan only for Terrorists is well on display and to more amusement they banned the movie in Pakistan, just because they are muslims and fighting for islamic cause of create hell on earth. All in all, her killers are still out in open and yet to brought to justice.
Overall – 7.5/10
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February 22, 2016 at 8:59 PM
http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/ritesh-sidhwani-confirms-don-3-says-farhan-akhtar-is-going-to-start-writing-soon/
Ritesh Sidhwani confirms Don 3, says Farhan Akhtar is going to start writing soon
And i thought raees was don3.
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February 22, 2016 at 9:03 PM
And i thought Deewane Hue paagal was Aawara paagal deewana2. Anyways, One guy who truly deserves Lead Role in Big movie is Vidyut Jamwal. Wishing him luck and hope this is true.
Interestingly we hear that the film which will in all likelihood feature Akshay Kumar top lining the cast will be directed by choreographer turned director Ahmed Khan. While details of the film are currently unavailable, we hear that joining Akshay in the film will be Vidyut Jamwal whose last release was Commando in 2013.
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/17391109/Akshay-Kumar-signed-for-Awara-Paagal-Deewana-2
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February 23, 2016 at 12:43 AM
What Does the Academy Value in a Black Performance?
i see a correlation in indian films regarding minorities too (though hindi cinema used to be much better when it came to this subject).
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February 23, 2016 at 2:17 AM
http://deccanchronicle.com/entertainment/bollywood/220216/aamir-khan-meets-the-terrorists-from-neerja.html
This is unwanted publicity for aamir khan!
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February 23, 2016 at 2:41 AM
umm just a picture with the supporting cast…no big deal.
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February 23, 2016 at 2:19 AM
‘Friends’ reunion video :
https://vimeo.com/156215846
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February 23, 2016 at 3:06 AM
Thanks Genesis for posting this.. Had missed it on TV and was awaiting for the links.
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February 23, 2016 at 2:30 AM
How Neerja perhaps scores above Airlift a similar terrorist drama set around the same time, is that here, despite their deathly intent, the four men who play the terrorists still have depth as they go from intimidating to desperate as soon as they realise that their efforts are on course to being completely thwarted as a result of Bhanot’s smart, straightforward actions. What’s more, Madhvani ensures that the mood of the film is consistently tense and engaging with a tight screenplay, and plays it out in a way that despite knowing her dreaded fate, you keep rooting for Bhanot, and hope that by some miraculous twist her life is spared and that she escapes scot free.
Read more at http://www.bollybrit.com/reviews-blog/film-review-neerja#ueBuiTujwfpibsgL.99
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February 23, 2016 at 9:13 AM
Airlift was not a ‘Terrorist’ drama! It was a war-zone rescue movie. There were no Terrorists, only occupying Troops of one country ransacking another country. Two totally different situations, with the only similarity being that both were historical situations presented on celluloid.
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February 23, 2016 at 9:31 AM
Agreed..
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February 23, 2016 at 10:02 AM
“only occupying Troops of one country ransacking another country.”
One man’s freedom fighter is another’s terrorist. So should ask the kuwaitis. They will certainly identify the iraqis as terrorist.
But yes, over all i agree with you 😉
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February 23, 2016 at 10:28 AM
There was a recent post, facebook etc, where the remaining crew members had downplayed Neerja, also stating movie dipiction was wrong as well and other crew members were also heroic. Kinda cheap shot…they got to live to tell the story; she didn’t.
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February 23, 2016 at 10:38 AM
http://www.missmalini.com/2016/02/22/even-her-soul-would-cringe-neerjas-colleagues-are-unhappy-with-the-movie/
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February 23, 2016 at 6:33 PM
I am staying away from posting anything political as much as possible. [Satyam feel free to delete this comment]. But this closed-minded ‘op-ed’ is exactly what’s wrong with the NY-Times non-resident Indians as well as resident non-Indians mimicking them. Never will one ever find a balanced opinion. These op-eds have become a standard template. All you need to do is fill-in-the-blanks and change authors’ names..
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Below is a fine comment by a reader – —
This article, as with many others about India in NYT is slanted and misleading at best. Some errors and much-needed context:
1) Afzal Guru was hanged by the previous Congress government, after a decade long due process, not the current BJP led one, for orchestrating an attck on the Parliament of India.
2) The protestors praised Afzal using islamic terminology (Insha allah) and called for the dismemberment and desctruction of India. This is akin to chanting in favor of bin Laden in Times Square.
3) The same agitator invoking free speech have at numerous times in the recent past prevented the exercise of free speech on campus (http://www.firstpost.com/india/the-irony-of-the-kanhaiya-kumar-saga-jnu-….
On a personal level, my view is that free speech is valuable in allowing the airing of unpopular but valid arguments to enable better decision making, thus enhancing the well-being of society.
Thus the underlying premise behind free speech is the “well-being of society”. When that very premise is rejected, as the activists did by calling for the destruction and dismemberment of India, free speech is rendered moot; this is a declaration of war, speech is no longer relevant.
This article is an excellent illustration of the empathobesity mind set afflicting the “intelligentsia” in both India and the West.
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February 24, 2016 at 2:55 AM
Neerja continued its good run in metros on Tuesday. The drop on Tuesday was a normal Tuesday drop. The first weekend business of Neerja is as follows
Friday – 4,50,00,000
Saturday – 7,50,00,000
Sunday – 9,75,00,000
Monday – 3,50,00,000
Tuesday – 3,10,00,000
Total – 28,35,00,000
The week will finish around the 34 crore nett. The lifetime business of the should cross 50 crore nett but a lot depends on how well the the films due for release fare at the box office. If no film works then Neerja can dominate for longer and achieve a higher lifetime total.
Boxofficeindia
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February 24, 2016 at 2:55 AM
Airlift has grossed 122.78 crore in just under five weeks. The business till date is as follows.
Week One – 79,29,00,000
Week Two – 28,78,00,000
Week Three – 11,33,00,000
Week Four – 2,63,00,000
Week Five – 75,00,000 apprx (5 days)
TOTAL – 1,22,78,00,000
The film is the highest grosser released in Republic Day week but in terms of distributor share it is less than Agneepath and similar to Jai Ho. The film is likely to finish with business in the 123 crore nett range and a share of 58.50 crore.
Boxoficeindia
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February 24, 2016 at 8:16 AM
http://www.koimoi.com/bollywood-news/sonam-kapoors-neerja-becomes-tax-free-in-maharashtra/
Neerja is tax free in Maharashtra. Hope Delhi and Punjab follow suit.
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February 24, 2016 at 8:15 PM
who cares when her killer those terrorists are still at large. Thanks to pakistani govt.
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February 24, 2016 at 12:27 PM
http://www.mid-day.com/articles/when-amitabh-bachchan-was-asked-for-selfie-in-washroom/16984169
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February 25, 2016 at 1:15 AM
50 cr it is sure to cross. 60 cr is now the traget.
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February 25, 2016 at 2:28 AM
Q. Can Neerja cross the bsuienss of filsm like Queen and Kahaani?
Ans. Queen is 61 crore nett and Kahaani is 57 crore nett.It is possible but a lot depends on how the other releases perform over the two weeks. If all fall flat then a 60 crore nett total will be there for the taking.
M. Bedi
http://www.boxofficeindia.com/art_detail.php?articalid=1848#.Vs6sUUCn5LM
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