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96 Responses to “Azhar, the rest of the box office”
24 Ranking based on Chennai Box Office Collections from May 02nd 2016 to May 08th 2016 Week : 1
Total collections in Chennai : Rs. 1,53,64,349
Chennai city verdict: Grand Opening
No. Shows in Chennai (Weekend): 318
Collection in Chennai (Weekend): Rs. 1,53,64,349
Grand opening for 24!
It has been a good summer holiday season at the Chennai Box-Office. In the blazing summer heat, family and kids thronged the movie halls to watch new releases.
Suriya’s 24 has taken a flying start at the box-office and is the clear number one. The positive word of mouth has helped the film to garner a Rs 1.65 Crore in three days from Chennai city.
Due to stiff competition from other films, 24 did not get as many screens or shows as Theri.
In the second position is Captain America Civil War which opened very well and grossed around Rs 50 lakhs. In the third place is Udhayanidhi Stalin’s Manithan which is holding well inspite of stiff competition.
At number four is Vijay’s Theri, which due to new releases has taken a drop. In the fifth position is The Jungle Book, which is continuing in its fourth week thanks to family audiences.
24 has held on very well over the weekdays. And the second weekend will be good too as it is a weekend when tasmac bars are closed due to elections. In Telugu also it is doing great. USA it will cross 2mn by this weekend…All in all looks to be a big hit worldwide but within TN Theri is the biggest grosser till now and it is unlikely 24 will cross that…
Satyam, Did you see this? it is very well made movie if you can excuse the poor songs and an extended romantic track
I wanted to see it. Unfortunately it’s not playing anywhere nearby. Not even in the city. Basically Civil War took up all the screens. It might possibly come around later. I’m certainly on the lookout. Now I could do a longer drive for it but so far I’ve only been inclined to do this for Ratnam or for a big Vikram film!
Top Ten Overseas Grossers 2016
Thursday 12 May 2016 11.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Its been a so so performance in overseas with the major grossers performing well in some territories but not in all overseas markets. Fan and Airlift did well in Middle East while Kapoor & Sons did well in US / Canada where it grossed more than Fan. Below are the top ten Hindi grossers in Overseas.
1. Fan – $10.11million (21 Days)
2. Kapoor & Sons – $7.07million
3. Airlift – $6.51 million
4. Ki & Ka – $4.20 million
5. Neerja – $4.14 million
6. Wazir – $2.98 million
7. Baaghi – $2.87 million (10 Days)
8. Fitoor – $2.38 million
9. Ghayal Once Again – $1.14 million
10. Rocky Handsome – $0.73 million
The Overseas market is becoming very dependent on Gulf as even a non overseas friendly Baaghi will manage to do around $3 million with 45% of the coming from Gulf. The next big releases is Housefull 3 for Overseas. Housefull 2 grossed $6 million plus in 2012 so Housefull 3 may have a chance to beat the long standing record for Akshay Kumar starrers of Singh Is Kinng. http://boxofficeindia.com/art_detail.php?articalid=2019#.VzTodG596hc
When ones biggest “flop”
A non heroine
Non skin-show
Non-song flick
@ the socalled ‘f/(sh)ag end’of your career
Becomes the biggest overseas earner,
And inspite of that “pundits” feel it’s under performed big time,
U know this is not routine stardom!
Contd from my fan spoof (I posted the links in the fan box office thread, too lazy to look for em).Have been tweaking the script
The fan is soo enamoured by the “star” that he doesn’t even mind his girlfriend sleeping with the “star”.
Atleast the fan FORCED the “star” to SHARE SOMETHING with him
🙂
With less than two weeks to go for its release, the noise around Shah Rukh Khan’s Fan is reaching its crescendo. The ‘Jabra Fan’ song’s rendition in six languages, including Bhojpuri and Tamil, has the entire nation tapping its feet to the catchy tune. Running parallel to this sharp promotional strategy is another one that isn’t so in-your-face, yet can’t be ignored. Tucked away in Maldives, 36-year-old Muhammad Ashraf, is working tirelessly to roll out his own promotional activities for the Yash Raj film. By day, Ashraf is the HR head of a local business conglomerate, but in cyberspace he’s hailed as the founder of SRK Universe—the biggest global fan club for the super-star. “We hire a cinema in each city for his film’s first show, print T-shirts, and then cut a cake. This time I’ve decided to give wrist bands to 50,000 fans worldwide who come for first show of the film,” informs Ashraf over a phone conversation, adding that these activities eat up 90% of his earnings.
As is evident, Ashraf’s fan club is no ordinary one—it’s an empire with branches in 35 countries that exist only to magnify Khan’s celebrity. Every Sunday he has a virtual general meeting with his counterparts spread over South Asia and Europe to discuss ways in which they can serve their idol better. “Sometimes, I feel like I work for him,” admits, Ashraf. And he does. Ashraf’s biggest ammunition is his ability to constantly keep Khan alive on social media, literally at the click of a button. “90 per cent of the trends you see on Twitter about SRK are started by us. We have something called a ‘trending army’ of about 250 people. The moment I give them a hashtag about SRK, they will start tweeting, and within five minutes it will be trending,” he says with an ease of confidence. Khan is well aware of SRK Universe and often retweets what they put out. Ashraf has in the past helped fans meet Khan by sending them air tickets to his shoot location, but he personally met the star only last year on his 50th birthday.
The Highest Run-Getter in ODIs
Azharuddin could have been the first player to notch 10,000 runs in ODIs if his career didn’t end in the year 2000. Sachin Tendulkar, who was the first batsman to score 10,000 runs in ODIs, accomplished the feat a couple of months since Azhar’s last ODI.
Azhar, who appeared in 334 ODIs, played his last One-Day international against Pakistan in June 2000.
India’s Most Successful Test Captain
Azhar was the most successful Test captain until his final Test against South Africa in 2000. Azhar held the record for four years until Sourav Ganguly notched his 15th Test win as captain against Pakistan in 2004.
The record his held by MS Dhoni at the moment. The wicket-keeper batsman beat Ganguly’s record of 21 wins after leading India to victory against Australia in 2013.
Dhoni has won 27 Test matches as captain.
The Magnetic Fielder
Apart from smashing sixes and fours, Azhar was also a handy fielder for the Indian team. The former captain held the record of most catches by a fielder in ODIs until his last match.
Mahela Jayawardene holds the record of most catches at the moment with 218 catches. Azhar is third in the top catchers list.
India’s Most Successful ODI Captain
Azharuddin was India’s most successful ODI captain with 90 wins. Azhar, who led India in three World Cup had a healthy win percentage of 51.7 percent as well.
The Hyderabadi’s most prominent achievement as the ODI captain was leading India to the World Cup semi-final in 1996.
Now, the record of most wins as an Indian ODI captain is held by MS Dhoni with 104 wins.
Most Appearances in ODIs
Until Azhar’s last match, the Hyderabadi held the record of most appearances in ODIs with 334 matches. The former captain scored seven hundreds and 58 fifties in his ODI career.
The record is held by the little master, Sachin Tendulkar at the moment, with 463 matches. Azhar has slipped to the eleventh position on the most appearances in ODIs list.
Azhar had a fair opening in mass centres especially in Gujarat where the morning numbers were pretty good. The metros of Mumbai and Delhi did not open well. Overall the opening is around the 25% mark. This is actually better than most films released this year but some of these films managed to improve well in the evening and if that happens with Azhar then it will be a solid first day.
The opening of Azhar is the better than the last 6-7 releases of Emraan Hashmi but its short of a Jannat 2 or Raaz 3. The impact of doing weird films like Shanghai, Ghanchakkar etc has made a difference to the opening of his films.
Azhar is going to be relying on word of mouth especially in North and East india. Gujarat starting well is a plus and its a high contributing area and also sustains very well. This will probably mean that Mumbai circuit will do best on day one even though collections in Mumbai city are not that good.
Emraan Hashmi as the collared-up ‘Azhar’ plays his innings well, in a decently researched and appropriately etched-out role. But had the screenplay been smooth as butter, this master stroke could have ended with a high-fly sixer!
Let’s come back to the plot. Prachi Desai plays Naureen, Azhar’s first wife—who is coy, and a typical Hyderabadi. She was seen after a long time, and did pull off her part well. We are taken inside the cricketer’s household where his family background and journey of becoming a record-setter batsman is narrated. He picked up the game on his maternal grandfather’s (played by Kulbhushan Kharbanda) insistence. And it’s his words of wisdom (Tera balla bolega, to sab sunenge) which echo throughout the film and help Azhar sail past crisis.
Gautam Gulati has a brief presence, but his part ( reportedly a character resembling Ravi Shastri) will definitely make his fans happy and still take you back to his ‘Bigg Boss’ days as ‘mera naam mera naam hain Gauti’. He possibly can’t leave his flamboyance aside.
Azhar finds himself trapped in a match-fixing scandal. No one including the biggies from the then Indian cricket team stand up for him till the eleventh hour. His long run battle is finally culminated when his family comes to his rescue and a lawyer friend, here played by Kunaal Roy Kapur decides to turn the tables.
Then, the most controversial part, which made the headlines for the longest time is played by Nargis Fakhri. The actress has come a long way since her ‘Rockstar’ days, but still she has miles to cover.
She plays Bollywood actress Sangeeta Bijlani in the film, for whom Azhar falls and the rest is history. This movie produced by Balaji Motion Pictures does bring out the fact that although she was the second woman in his life but she did warn the skipper about how the people are going to criticise their relationship. That controversial and much-talked about episode in Azhar and Sangeeta’s lives has been presented in a positive light by filmmaker Tony D’Souza.
Okay, that’s enough said about the plot, and I know the audience shelling out money for an Emraan Hashmi film wants to know if there is a lip-lock in store. You won’t be disappointed is all I can say right now. But remember it’s not about your star but about an unsung cricket hero!
Lara Dutta plays a crisp and tough nut defence lawyer, who is impressive in her enactment but sadly loses in the end.
The ghost of match-fixing and the allegations run across the run-time, and what exactly a player goes through if he’s innocent is what ‘Azhar’ summarises. Go, watch it for the love of cricket!
As a work of fan-fiction, Azhar is a mostly watchable film with a solid lead, but falls far short of being either entertaining, insightful, or worthy of recommendation. Hashmi and D’Souza try hard, and their effort shows.
I just wish I could have said the boys played well.
Mini Mathur @minimathur 21h21 hours ago
Mini Mathur Retweeted mukesh chhabra CSA
There you go!! @CastingChhabra is on the hunt for brilliant Chinese actors for @kabirkhankk s next! Spread the word.
Kabir Khan @kabirkhankk May 12
Kabir Khan Retweeted mukesh chhabra CSA
This will be interesting 😊
mukesh chhabra CSA @CastingChhabra May 12
Looking for Chinese Actors for @kabirkhankk next. Do spread the word amongst your Chinese friends.#casting mccc
CHAYA UNNIKRISHNAN | Fri, 13 May 2016-07:35am , Mumbai , dna
How and why the trend has changed over the years
Multi-starrers, that were a rage in the 70s, 80s and 90s, have trickled down, of late. We still have the Housefulls, Golmaals, Dhooms, Welcomes and No Entrys, but they are few and far between.
The concept itself has undergone a change. Earlier, multi-starrers meant three or more A-List heroes, top heroines, the ubiquitous villain and his glam moll with a couple of henchmen. Today multi-starrers have given way to what is popularly termed the ensemble cast and any film that has more than one hero and heroine is considered a multi-starrer.
This year’s big hit Kapoor & Sons that starred Sidharth Malhotra and the relatively new Fawad Khan, veteran actor Rishi Kapoor and Alia Bhatt is a multi-starrer and so is Udta Punjab top-lined by Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt and Punjabi superstar Diljit Dosanjh. Ae Dil Hai Muskhil, this year’s big-ticket Diwali release from Karan Johar’s stable starring Ranbir Kapoor, Fawad Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Anushka Sharma also fits in today’s perception of a multi-starrer. But the one that is truly a throwback to the multi-starrer era of the ’70s is Housefull 3 with Akshay Kumar, Abhishek Bachchan, Riteish Deshmukh, Jacqueline Fernandez, Nargis Fakhri and Lisa Haydon packed in it, literally living up to its title. We spoke to a cross-section of the industry to find out why the charm of multi-starrers has waned and only a handful are made every year.
It ain’t easy to make
Writer-director Anees Bazmee, who specialises in multi-starrers, (he has made films like No Entry, Welcome and Welcome Back) says that it is is not easy to get all the actors together. “It depends on your track record and friendship with the actors. When you are making a solo hero-heroine film all you have to tell the actors is what the film is about, but when it comes to multiple star cast, you have to tell them five-six things like the film is good, assure them they have a good role, etc. Besides, all the actors you cast should have a good tuning, else it becomes difficult to work,” explains Anees.
Sajid Khan, who made his directorial debut with the multi-starrer Heyy Babyy and helmed the first two Housefulls says that it’s a huge task to manage dates of the actors. “For a multi-starrer film, you are 50 per cent a director, 50 per cent team manager,” he jokes.
Another aspect that probably puts the spoke in the wheels of casting multiple actors is the entourage that comes with each actor. Says Sajid, “Earlier, with every actor there would be two-three people maximum — the hairdresser and make-up artiste. Today, there is an entourage of eight-10 people — from the PR to the secretary, trainer, hair, make-up and costume guy, etc. So, if you cast five actors in a film, you have to house 50 people!”
Unkeen actors
In the 70s and 80s, films were the main source of revenue for actors. Today a whole new world has opened up for actors who make a lot of moolah from ads, live shows and events. As Ramesh Taurani, who’s produced the Race franchise, says, “Actors don’t do films for money anymore. As a result, they have become more selective about the movies they do. They go by the script and the director in that order,” he explains.
Agrees Sajid, “Earlier, actors did not mind sharing screen space because most of them depended on films for a living. Today, actors make an equal or more amount of money through other avenues. They only do one or two films a year and multi-starrers are not top-of-their-list.”
Trade analyst Amul Mohan recalls a time a time when we prided ourselves on our three-hero films. “Manmohan Desai made an illustrious career out of multi-starrers, but today’s actors are not into it. They want to know who is playing the lead role, clearly. This is because of the actors’ insecurities,” he points out.
Welcome to an ensemble cast
Any movie — big or small — that has multiple actors is described as an ensemble cast. “It’s like Udta Punjab, where every actor will play a unique character.
You rarely get a proper multi-starrer like Housefull 3 which has multiple heroes who are good in the same genre (comedy) coming together,” says Amul. Sajid-Farhad, who have scripted multistarrers like Golmaal Returns, Bol Bachchan and are helming the upcoming Housefull 3, feel that Kapoor & Sons or Ram Lakhan if it is remade, they cannot be called multi-starrers. “It’s the story of two brothers and comprise an ensemble cast,” they argue.
An ideal multi-starrer, according to Sajid Khan, would be when the Khan trio comes together. “But how much would you hike your ticket rate? Each of these Khans gets a 100 per cent opening, you can’t go beyond that. So, they will think they are better off doing solo hero films. Somewhere, economics too has stopped the process of multi-starrers,” he says.
The flag bearers
Despite all the hassles of making a multi-starrer, filmmakers like Anees, Sajid Khan, Sajid Nadiadwala and Taurani continue to dabble in this genre. Says Anees, “A multi-starrer is bigger and gives the audience more entertainment. More importantly, it depends on the story. Earlier too, filmmakers didn’t set out to make a multi-starrer, it was the script that demanded it,” he reasons, citing the example of Sholay. “It could have easily been about one hero going to a village and saving them from the villain, but Mera Gaon Mera Desh on those lines, was already there. By taking two heroes who were completely different from each other, in terms of their body language, mannerisms etc, it became more entertaining.”
According to Sajid, the joy of watching a multi-starrer is unparalleled for the audience. “The key to making a multi-starrer is to be fair to everyone. Also, I am friendly with most of the actors and see to to it they have a good time,” says Sajid. As for Anees, he says he’s a writer first and a director second. “I give importance to all my characters and am honest with the actors when I am narrating the script so there are no problems on the sets,” says the director who is now gearing up for another multi-starrer, Aankhen 2.
Taurani, who will be making the third installment of Race says it’s the film that demands multiple heroes. “I have never shied away from multi-starrers. Race is such a big franchise, it has to be made with three heroes and I have two-three choices for every role. But if the script is good, actors come on board,” he points out.
Sajid-Farhad have the last word on it. “Multi-starrers haven’t died, it’s going on since the 80s. There was a phase when solo hero films were in vogue, but multi-starrers have always been made. In fact, there are franchises of multi-starrers. And if the combination of the stars works out, it is fun making them.”
US journalist literally eats his words on Donald Trump’s presidential bid
The dishes, prepared by the head chef at Washington’s Del Campo restaurant, Victor Albisu, creatively incorporated newspaper pages into the recipes — with some of the ink “mercifully well-ground” into the steak’s chimichurri sauce, or sprinkled into the guacamole topping the taco bowl, or mixed into the chickpeas of the falafel, CBS News reported.
To wash it all down, there were also some Trump wines.
Milbank consumed it all on a live Facebook video stream.
Later, Milbank said the experience “actually turned out not to be too bad at all.”
Vikram Makandar , hero of the 1975 hit film ‘Julie’, is set to make a comeback to the small screen after ‘Swabhimaan’ . He will now be seen in Rajan Shahi’s ‘Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai’ . The actor will play the owner of an aashram.
“We were living a luxurious life until recently,” she goes on, “In the past one year, circumstances have made Kanu much older. Like the other grandchildren, Kanu was never interested in politics or staying in the media.”
Kanubhai was 17 when Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated. “After Bapu’s death, Jawaharlal Nehru and U.S. Ambassador John Kenneth Galbraith sent me to Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study applied mathematics. Mr. Galbraith had initially suggested I go to Harvard Business School. But I said I won’t make it to Harvard because I am stupid,” says Kanubhai.
For a long time, Kanubhai and his wife lived in Hampton, Virginia where he worked at the NASA Langley Research Centre. He also worked for the U.S. government’s defence department. “I used to do research on aircraft wing structures for the fighter planes. So, I had the secret clearances and all that,” he said. Ms. Gandhi, a Ph.D in biochemistry, first taught in Boston and later left the job to do research at the Boston Biomedical Research Institute.
“I did not quite like teaching students because it was enhancing the students’ lives while my own life remained static, teaching the same things year after year. Then I began research in this prestigious institute, but it’s on government grant. So when they cut off the grant, your research and everything ends and out you go!” she said.
‘Happy days’
Looking at each other, Kanubhai and his wife recall their days of country-hopping and opulent parties. “We have had fun! We were invited to so many parties as there are a lot of Indian diamond merchants there. Then we were invited to Amsterdam,” Kanubhai says excitedly.
Then, after a moment, he says, “And now we are here.”
Holding his hand, his wife says, “We are in a valley just now, and we are going to climb out of it.”
Good education, good jobs wont save one from oldage travails. Even if you are related to Mahatma Gandhi. Hope political parties will do something for this couple instead of visitng Rajghat on every occasion.
The Jungle Book had an incredible start to its sixth week as it grossed 55-60 lakhs nett on its sixth Friday. These figures are just unbelievable as hardly any films last this long. A look at the sixth week figures of some recent good grossers is below.
Tanu Weds Manu Returns – 1.75 crore
Bajrangi Bhaijaan – 1.49 crore
Bajirao Mastani – 1.26 crore
PK – 1.13 crore
The Jungle Book will easily clear the sixth week figures of these films in its sixth weekend, some of them it will clear in just two days of its second weekend
What’s interesting to note here is that after the sub25 crorez opening
Pk is below twmr, bajirao, bajrangi even tanu in the sixth week
So guess the numbers were neither by opening
Nor by trending
But by blocking max number of screens
For the max number of days
During class new year holidays
Without credible competing release competitor for three maybe four weeks
With an above average product
To a deprived Audience
🙂
After being much in the news for the rights of the script, Hrithik Roshan-starrer ‘Kaabil’ went on floors last month. We hear the actor and director Sanjay Gupta are extremely cautious and have upped the security on the set to ensure no details from the shoot are leaked out. Apparently, even the crew size is kept minimal so no unwanted person is allowed near the location. Clearly, it seems the makers want to save all twists and turns for the big screen only.
Azhar grossed 6-6.25 crore nett on its first day. The film should have been a little higher but but could not show any major growth at the big multiplexes in the evening. The film had opened better than films like Kapoor & Sons and Ki & Ka but the evening growth was lower than those films.
The best collections for the film came in Nizam / Andhra which will top 40 lakhs nett and Mumbai which will be around 2 crore nett. The film was low in Delhi city, East Punjab and the Eastern India markets.
The film will have to show growth of 20-25% on Saturday which would probably give it a chance to have a decent run at the box office due to lack of releases in the enxt few weeks. The opening is the highest for an Emraan Hashmi starrer since Raaz 3 which came in 2012..
Is this flick trying to portray azhar as “innocent” in match fixing?
(Though this film should be entertaining & won’t be a flop) but the makers need to be kicked in their ass twice for that and twice for pairing hash-mi with nargis!
Though they have issues
But the world currently needs axis of
Putin trump modi 🙂
Azhar was flat on day two as the growth came in Delhi city, East Punjab and Mysore while other areas were flat or down a little. The two day business of Azhar is as follows
Friday – 6,25,00,000
Saturday – 6,50,00,000 apprx
Total – 12,75,00,000
The film had to show bigger growth really though major multiplexes did grow on Saturday it was not the type of growth required. Sunday should be better and the Monday will have to show strong hold if it is to have any chance to take advantage of this 2-3 week period of few major releases.
Bollywood Badal Raha Hai
By Utkal Mohanty May 16, 2016 Films No Comments
Someone commented on one of my Facebook posts on Bollywood, saying that it was dynastic. I wanted tell him and others, it is just the opposite. For me the director is the true creator of any film. And it is here that Bollywood has changed significantly in recent times. The talent pool has widened beyond your imagination.
People like Sooraj Barjatya, Aditya Chopra, Karan Johar, Rakesh Roshan, Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar are there. But there are a whole bunch of people with non-film background directing Bollywood film today. Among them are people ranging from a NASA scientists from IIT, a Deloitte consultant and a London-based Chartered Accountant to a video cassette shop owner to a seller of chewing gum at traffic signals.
Let me first take up the directors of five of the biggest worldwide grossers ever in Hindi cinema: PK ( 792cr), Bajrangi Bhaijaan (626cr) and Dhoom 3 ( 542cr), Chennai Express ( 422cr) and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (399cr) . Then I will talk of directors of all significant films in the last 20 years or so.
Azhar grossed 20 crore nett plus on its first weekend but the trend was not really there. The business is okay in a couple of sectors but overall collections should have been better or at least better growth on Satuday. The weekend business of Azhar is as follows
Friday – 6,25,00,000
Saturday – 6,50,00,000
Sunday – 7,50,00,000
Total – 20,25,00,000
The film had best figures in Gujarat and Nizam / Andhra. The only real plus is a weak release schedule till Housefull 3 in early June and if Monday can have a hold it can benefit from that.
The Jungle Book Set To Be Highest Adjusted Grosser For Hollywood
Monday 16 May 2016 11.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
The Jungle Book had an unbelievable sixth weekend as it grossed 2.50 crore nett which took its lifetime business to around 179 crore nett. The figures were better than PK and Bajrangi Bhaijaan and not just their sixth weekends collections but also their sixth weeks.
The film had similar collections in sixth weekend as 3 Idiots which had grossed 2.50 crore nett in its sixth weekend way back in 2010. If we look at the sixth week figures of this year and then the gap is huge with Airlift being the best of the 2016 releases with 15 lakhs nett in its sixth weekend.
The Jungle Book will probably be the highest inflation adjusted grosser for Hollywood in India. Titanic stands at around 174 crore nett on the 2015 ticket rate so on a 2016 ticket rate (at the moment it is up just 4% from the corresponding time last year) they will be very similar as The Jungle Book still has some more legs to finish at around 183 crore nett. http://boxofficeindia.com/art_detail.php?articalid=2026#.VzlxOVR96hc
The most Chu##a commie/ reviewer who gave FAN 4.5 stars forgets basic reviewing rules and gets personal with the director of the movie because the director dares to bash the left , the commies , the sick JNU and JU Naxals in his movie.
The commies show their true colors yet again…
Picture this: An indie movie, on an off-beat topic. There is no typical Bollywood masala kitschy running around trees by over-aged botoxed heroes. Instead there are poems by the legendary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz. The story is not the banal rich guy meets poor girl, or how one man does insanely ridiculous stuff to change the system. The story is about real world problems, and how lives revolve around it. It’s not a 4.5 star rated movie which involves an ageing star, playing out some hyper-realistic sequences, with patchy “special” effects, an unconvincing plot, all wrapped up in a self-idolising movie. It’s instead the story about ordinary students, who uncover something extra-ordinary. The climax is not a clash of brawn and might, it is a clash of ideas and ideologies.
On the face of it, such a movie would be the darling of our “enlightened”, “intellectual” movie critics. So many times have we heard them cry for out something more from Bollywood or the Indian film industry at large
I’ve been reading all the reviews of Vivek Agnihotri’s Buddha In A Traffic Jam. Having seen the film, I understand one thing clearly: given that the Left has traditionally been intolerant of any dissent (China, Iron Curtain et al), it was obvious that the current Commies running amok on Indian campuses would’ve never entertained a screening of the film. Freedom of Expression is restricted to them airing their views, period.
Criticism of the film has come veiled in many avatars. Some have pointed out that certain scenes have been lifted from world cinema.
Frankly, I don’t care where it came from.
Buddha In A Traffic Jam is not an easy film to watch. It’s brutal, and you flinch. At the violence heaped by both so-called Establishment and lal salaam Commies on tribals who get kicked around by everybody. At the liberal use of the eff word, the bitch word…there’s even a song that goes I’m a bitch, my dad’s so rich…At the sickening alcohol abuse.
If you come out of those minefields alive, there is a very good plot. That Commies are hand-in-glove with the Establishment (that’s why I called it so-called a few sentences earlier). That Big Brother is everywhere, anywhere. That in the garb of student-friendly teachers or leaders or law-enforcement forces, the Left has seeped into the highest places of authority. The film simply says, watch out, the Commies are everywhere. If you’re inclined to the Left, you won’t tolerate it.
Unfortunately for the Left, Vivek has packaged the brutality with powerhouse performances from Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi, Arunoday Singh et al, which makes it a compelling watch. And he’s caught the cool campus atmosphere so wonderfully that you wish you were back there where you could drop in on your prof and his wife and have a glass of wine with them. But watch out. Is your prof really benign?
I also came away with Vivek Agnihotri’s wife, Pallavi Joshi’s wonderful rendition of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s Chand roz. Didn’t know this smashing looking actress could sing as well.
My final thought on Buddha In A Traffic Jam: Vivek got lucky that this film was stuck in the cans for three years. Three years ago, it would have come and gone as a brutal film on campus politics. Today, it seems as if he actually studied JNU, Jadavpur etc and then wrote the script. True but difficult to believe that this film was made long before disturbing campus shenanigans hit the headlines in 2016.
So what would you call such a film? For me, it’s simply Prophetic Cinema
Buddha’ back from ‘traffic jam
Vandana Shukla in chandigarh
Unlike other films based on campus life, Buddha in a Traffic Jam hits hard at the intellectual dishonesty of faculty operating in a system that compromises excellence to promote mediocrity. Politicians are absent from the narrative; replaced by political ideologues of the extreme Left working as faculty, as a few students get stuck — in the traffic jam of ideas and principles.
Finally, ‘Buddha’ smiled on Friday the 13th for director Vivek Agnihotri and his team. For four years ‘Buddha in a Traffic Jam’ remained stuck in controversies. What makes its recent journey to the cinema halls so interesting is its palpitating narrative that passed through JNU campus on March 15 and Jadhavpur University on May 7. There were 26 screenings in between including at IITs, IIMs, Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore), DU, BHU and the politically explosive Osmania and Allahabad universities. What’s in it? http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/sunday-special/people/-buddha-back-from-traffic-jam/236921.html
Raja Sen would have been called many things. But a commie? I think he will be maha amused. In any case let us see what some of the other reviewers had to say about the film. Now don’t tell me Koimoi is a ‘ commie’ website!)
In one of the recent interviews, the director had said “India needs freedom from mediocrity, inefficiency and incompetence”. Well, we could just say it would have been wiser if he would have weighed his script on all three above mentioned grounds before making this film.
Buddha In A Traffic Jam Review: The Last Word
Buddha In A Traffic Jam is a propagandist film in the garb of a political satire. It preaches more than what it can practice. I am going with a 1.5/5 for this film.
While, at points, you want to take certain issues seriously, at other points, the director and the scriptwriter have totally gone overboard with all seriousness, making it unwittingly funny. For instance, the scene where Vikram is doubting everyone around to be a Naxalite is hilarious. The supposedly brilliant marketing plan that he comes up with is very commonplace in the current scenario, thus making the entire plot look hollow and pointless. Also, in some places, it dangerously veers towards right wing propaganda.
But any and all good efforts in Buddha… are rendered pointless by the film’s direction. It just doesn’t have the resolve or dexterity to sway you with an argument or a stand. The supporting performances by the likes of Mahie Gill and Pallavi Joshi are listless. Even connoisseurs of art cinema will admit that after a point, Buddha just seems all up in the air. The only thing it can provoke in its viewer is ennui. Another one of those well intentioned movies that go absolutely nowhere.
His — and the film’s — lowest point comes during an unintentionally hilarious scene towards the end, where he dramatically imagines he’s surrounded by Naxalites. If that moment had ended there, the harm done by it could’ve been contained. However, Agnihotri, eager to show off his directorial skills, uses the old ‘camera attached to body’ trick and attempts to make a surreal sequence out of it. It’s like watching something made by a Higher Second Class graduate of the Anurag Kashyap School of Filmmaking.
It’s also emblematic of everything that’s wrong with Buddha In A Traffic Jam, which, aside from being a right-wing propaganda piece (although much less in-your-face than I expected it to be), is also a film trying desperately to be edgy, youthful, and thought-provoking — but in vain.
Based on “true life incidents”, this one unfolds like a book with a prologue and chapters, summarised with a quote from Mao, but which lacks pow — “Revolution is not a dinner party.” And for a book, it’s heavy — enough to serve as a paperweight and about as thought-provoking. It spans across BC to AD, mulls over everything from socialism to social media, pink chaddis to adivasis, and even breezily touches on pop philosophies and induces little more than a headache. Going by a dialogue in the film, “Guns have to be our minds and ammunition — our thoughts,” the experience of watching this film will stoke you to load one into the other and aim at self.
Nonsensical attempt to sound posh by giving it a fancy title and claiming that it tackles subjects like Naxalites in Chattisgarh. If there is an original idea in the film it is that Naxalites are everywhere amongst us, and that they could be anyone: your doctor, your best friend, your banker, your lawyer, government officials and that they are biding their time for a bloodbath on the streets. Howlarious.
Buddha In A Traffic Jam NOWRUNNING REVIEW | Manisha Lakhe (NOWRUNNING)
To be fair, not all the review are THAT BAD. Not all then have given 0, 1/2 0r 1 upon 5. Some have given higher. The average rating at The REview Monk is the lowest ever, but it is not zero. Right wing intellectual prowess is not ZERO. All the commies should note that. They might think right wing intellectuals as a big zero. But as the avergae ratings here prove , taht’s not true. In fact the average rating is 2.9. The lowest ever, but not ZERO.
Utkal is old hard core commie under tremendous physical, emotional, psychological stress and turbulence since May 16, 2014 when atom bomb in the name of Namo struck him and his ilk.. what does dying idle man does? he catches straw and then he blurts nonsense to everything he/she sees, touches, hears etc.. Same he did.. Holding to Sonia..then to her lucky sperm Rahul and now to her another son Kejri and Naxal members…If you prick him little more, he will stop eating and sleeping to post anti movie reviews….
So bear or just have pity not for his age… Age doesn’t guarantee respect but for his condition. 🙂
Farah Khan Ali , who is known to not mince her words and prefers to call a spade, a spade, tweeted about her displeasure on Ash’s purple lipstick and this is what she wrote on Twitter, ” I think Ash is Gorgeous and I also think that she needs to sack her stylist ASAP for the purple lip shade.” So while on the one hand, she has complimented Ash, on the other, she agrees that the purple lipstick was the last thing Ash should have worn at the Cannes.
So true…..and some people are licking their wounds – Commies please note !
Swapan Dasgupta @swapan55 8h8 hours ago
Around this time, exactly 2 years ago, punditry vowed to teach India a lesson for defying its secular fatwa & voting decisively for change
Jennifer Lawrence would find it to be quite the “American Hustle” if Donald Trump became president, and she has made her feelings clear in a profane tirade against the GOP frontrunner. Lawrence appeared on the BBC’s The Graham Norton Show Friday and unloaded on the GOP frontrunner. Norton asked the Oscar winner if she has ever met Trump, she replied: “I haven’t, no. I was at a concert he was attending.
A few days back I posted the Guardian article titled “Poverty, corruption and crime: how India’s ‘gully rap’ tells story of real life”.
The timing of my posting on gully rap phenomenon seems to have been perfect.
Now comes the news of Zoya’s next with Ranveer, titled tentatively ‘ Gully Boy’.
Presently being scripted by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, the film has Ranveer playing an underdog who rises from the slums of Mumbai to become a rapper with a heart and a voice that addresses Dalit oppression, street life, economic inequality and homosexuality. He even takes on corrupt politicians.
As a part of their research, Zoya and Reemahave been hanging out with a rapper duo who has helped shape the scriot in a significant way. The rappers had paid an ode to the Maximum City 2011, which was followed by ‘ Meri Gully Mein’, a take on street life, and ‘ Jungli Sher’ which portayed personal struggles.
The subject is fresh and the film sounds very exciting.
Azhar had a noticeable drop on Monday as collections dropped around 55% from Friday. The four day business of Azhar is as follows
Friday – 6,25,00,000
Saturday – 6,50,00,000
Sunday – 7,25,00,000
Monday – 2,75,00,000
Total – 22,75,00,000
The film is doing bit better in the mass circuits but the big multiplexes in the cities have not fared well. ?The first week will finish at around 29 crore nett..
The first celebrity to be conferred with The Angries was Bollywood’s “Shotgun Junior” Sonakshi for taking on cyber bullies, read a statement.
The Tevar star who was delighted to get the award, said: “Any kind of bullying is wrong! Stand up for yourself, be strong, be true, be you.”
Sonakshi, who will be soon seen in films like Akira and Force 2, makes it a point to take her trolls head-on and has often expressed her anger at people’s judgmental views in the virtual world.
The film, which will hit the screens in India on May 27 takes the audience back in time, tracing the origin of the battle between the birds and pigs
Have stayed away from “tamasha” till now
But some flicks follow u
Was forced to Watch initial bits —
will now have to catch the whole film but in “phases” …
According to the reports the Pakistani charmer Fawad Khan has replaced the ‘Nawab’ Saif Ali Khan in the film ‘Jugalbandi’ produced by Salman Khan Films.
This is because Saif left the project which is being directed by Sameer Sharma and also stars the ‘forever young’ actor Anil Kapoor in lead role.
But the ‘Bond of the Bollywood’ Saif Ali Khan needs to return 1.5 crore for this decision! Yes! The actor received the amount for signing the film.
The character was of a young musician based in London and Anil will be seen playing the role of a senior music teacher. Fawad being a musician himself was the best pick for the film!
‘Jugalbandi’ tells the story of the friendship between these two and how things go bad between them due to ego tiffs!
After Chennai Express and Dilwale, Rohit Shetty and Shah Rukh Khan were planning another film together.
But it seems the duo will not team up again for now, as Shetty is back to working with his old pal Ajay Devgn.
Says the source, “The experience of making Dilwale was not a very pleasant one for Rohit. There were constant arguments, especially about the release date.”
“Rohit was against releasing the film along with Bajirao Mastani but Shah Rukh insisted. The project the two of them planned together has been put on hold for now.”
Instead, Rohit will focus on another Golmaal film with Ajay, and the script is being worked out.
“This will be Rohit’s fourth Golmaal outing with Ajay. They want it bigger, brighter and funnier than before,” adds the source.
Actor Shah Rukh Khan hosted a dinner party for Apple chief executive Tim Cook on Wednesday at his Mumbai residence – Mannat. Celebrities, including Bachchans, Aamir Khan, Madhuri Dixit and AR Rahman, attended the celebration.
After the party, Shah Rukh, 50, tweeted a picture of the party gang with Mr Cook:
Even onscreen not being at his peak, off-screen SRK is very important for Bollywood to do all this kinds of bashes whenever a foreign ambassador, HW actor lands in Mumbai! Don’t think other 2 khans can do these kind of activities!
Aamir had a lengthy discussion with James Cameron, arguably the biggest hollywood director right now, when he came over to India. He also had a public discussion with Sec. Clinton when she visited.
Throwing parties is much easier than sitting for a couple of hours discussing important topics (be it entertainment or world affairs) in front of an audience!
SRK speaks well, has the gift of the gab, can speak to anybody on anything; but Aamir too has done his bit through the years. He has shared the stage with the likes of Bill Gates and Hillary Clinton, been in conversation with them. They are available on YouTube. He has met the British PM Callahan, shared the stage with him at a college in Delhi. And on Monday,May 23, Aamir will be seated on stage with veteran British actor Sir Ian Mckellen — at NCPA , Mumbai; they will be talking about the influence of Shakespeare on cinema, plus a general discussion on world cinema.
I posted this because it is the first time as far as I know SRK invited Aamir and aamir went. It is good to see them bond. Both are special in their own ways.
Disagree that Tim Cook hanging out in MANNAT is some kind of a symbol of SRK’s ‘international-status’ in Hi-fi.
SRK is obviously very very well-known in the US and UK thanks to his NRI-peddling YashRaj/Johar faux-Indian culture films of the ’90s and early 2000. He does represent the hero that immediately emerged post-liberalization and completely flaunted that via, for example, all the ‘brands’ like Nike or Gap shirts and undies in those Raj-Rahul films.
SRK is the best publicist that SRK could hire. And he milks it to the hilt. I have never seen a guy sell himself more effectively than SRK.
Yes! And we’ll tell you why. Read on to know the full story…
So it’s known to all that Shah Rukh Khan hosted a grand party in the honour of Apple’s CEO Tim Cook at Mannat last night. It was one helluva bash with who’s who of Bollywood making it to the do right from Amitabh, Aishwarya, Abhishek Bachchan to Aamir Khan, Madhuri Dixit among others. Definitely a celebration that must have been no short of a reunion where pictures come as a solid proof. However amongst all, turns out AbRam enjoyed the maximum, all thanks to Aamir. Yes!
SRK just took to Twitter to thank Aamir for gifting some of the coolest toys to AbRam, who after a point got so busy playing that he just didn’t want to sleep. Yes! The doting daddy mentioned this in his 4am tweet this morning saying, “@aamir_khan thank u for the toys. AbRam is still awake and playing with them!!!!!”
How Nagraj chose Akash Thosar and Rinku Rajguru to play the lead is another story.
“My brother saw Akash on the street and told me he is the boy I am looking for to play Parshya in my film. I met Akash. He was so shy, he could barely mumble a few words. But it did not take much persuasion to get him on board. Rinku Rajguru is the daughter of a lady I know from my village. I knew she was Archie the minute I saw her.”
He then worked extensively with his principal actors to ensure they got the rhythm right.
“It was important for them to not look like actors. They had to transform into the protagonists, Akash and Archie. Luckily, this is exactly what happened. Audiences see them as the characters,” he says.
What surprises Nagraj is the way non-Maharashtrians have taken to the film. “This is most unexpected. I knew the film would make an impact but I never knew it would cross the language barrier so easily and in such overwhelming numbers.
“Today, when Aamir Khan or Irrfan tweets about the film, it’s a huge thing for me.” adds the National Award-winning filmmaker.
Nagraj denies being inspired from Bollywood loves stories like Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and Ek Duuje Ke Liye, as reported in certain section of the media.
He says, “So many interviews have put words in my mouth. I have never said Sairat is a homage to these Bollywood love stories. I have grown up watching Bollywood films. Rather than being inspired by them, I have absorbed the pitfalls of commercial cinema and how to avoid them in my cinema. So I’d say Bollywood has taught me what not to do rather than what to do in my cinema.”
Was very eagerly waiting for this. It was being screened in DC in 1 theater for 1 show but they got a corrupted drive! Hence the show got canceled. Very disappointed.
LUCIA was a very rich movie with so many meta-layers to it. Will write someday when I am sufficiently hallucinated..
Why Did Buddha In A Traffic Jam Invite Left-Lib Anger
If you were to read the horrified reviews from Rediff to Huffington Post to Scroll.in, the movie is “a propaganda film.” Scroll.in’s Nadini Ramnath says “warnings about the “red menace” … sound like direct quotes from the speeches of Baba Ramdev and Mohan Bhagwat.” This is hilarious, since data by independent bodies such as the Global Terrorism Database and the South Asian Terrorism Portal corroborate that Maoist terror is by far the biggest killer in India, where the so-called “Hindutva” violence is barely a rounding error.
I thought the message was obvious a few decades ago with the collapse of totalitarian left regimes and China switching to a market economy. But given the violent reaction from India’s communist-left, and the reviews from left-leaning commentators, perhaps that message has still not penetrated India’s intellectual Don Quixotes. They’re still tilting at windmills of “Hindutva” and “American Imperialism” while collecting NGO-paychecks from Ford Foundation and tweeting on their IPhones. Like Catholic Church Priests aghast at the Protestant reformation, the idea of a disintermediated economy and narrative irks them no end. What could be worse than the Subaltern speaking (when Harvard professors do such a fine job speaking for them) than the Subaltern selling. On the internet. Stalin save us. http://swarajyamag.com/culture/why-did-buddha-in-a-traffic-jam-invite-left-lib-anger#.Vz2S0iaCl5Q.twitter
Traditional audience are also giving way to present day audience who grew up watching super hero movies. Or CGI based films. The good old days are almost dying in hollywood but fortunately India is still to catch up. Indians still love good old movies. Maybe we are not that tech savvy.
[When ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ walks out to greet the crowd and one then sees the impressive images it’s perhaps a bit odd to notice the shoes before all else! But I have a bit of the Don ‘spirit’ in me! And your shoes are sometimes interesting!
But now, and in a spirit of impertinence, let me play a bit more in Borgesian fashion with this Don trope. What if one were to twist the heel of one of your shoes and find embedded there a piece of paper which contained a secret? What if one were to discover that Vijay had died one day and that Amitabh Bachchan had started ‘playing’ him? In Don Vijay plays ‘Don’. The real source of transcendence in that world is of course Don. Vijay has to learn how to play him which includes all his gestures and mannerisms. If Don is dead he has to be (re)invented! How much poorer the world would be without him!
Perhaps one can live with impostors. But they must be good ones. As good as Vijay was! The question then: is ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ good enough to impersonate ‘Vijay’? But aren’t the two the same? Who after all ‘authored’ Vijay?
But herein lies the rub. Without the spirit the body is merely that. The impersonation works on a good day. Not permanently. The story of Don works because we wonder how this impersonation will be put into effect and how long it will work. When the film ends I feel rather sad. Now there’s nothing. Don is truly dead. Vijay, a nice bloke and all that.. (!), is only a poor substitute for Don. In the same way ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ will have been a poor substitute for Vijay..Anthony… etc (or that entire sequence). Once the Vijay spirit leaves him no other fiction he authors will ever approach that transcendence. Which includes the fiction of biography.
Isn’t this however your greatest triumph? A fiction so great that even the longevity of your biographical achievement must fail before it? Is Shakespeare greater than Hamlet? Not really! A great fiction can conquer a great life..
To end once again in Borgesian fashion it is not that ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ creates ‘Vijay’. It is that ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ is forever following in Vijay’s wake.. and those are tough shoes to fill..
And I was looking for “Don” references in his blogs ( rather than searching for your comments) ..LOL
I am not a great writer but want to put my thought across-
I think that you are right that Vijay made Bachchan, however it would not have been possible if the core values in the Man Bachchan were not there and more importantly had not stayed intact even after Vijay attaining so much success.
Those core values, the respect for elders, the politeness for youngers, the cultured persona, the love for India and Hindi , being truly secular has helped Vijay to survive and eventually through KBC enhance the aura of Vijay/ Don/ Anthony/Iqbal.
To quote a line from a move called “Vijay” –
“Agar aap badey hain toh iska matlab yeh nahee kee hum chotey hain ”
( Saeed Jafree to Anupam kher )
I agree on the core values bit and I’ve said this a number of times in the past. However I wouldn’t define these core values as ‘bourgeois’ (Karan Johar!) ones. This is what he’s privileged by way of biography. But those aren’t really the Vijay values. Put differently Vijay neither loves the family in that institutional sense nor does he love his country (if at all) in this way. One has to look no further than Deewar for all of these themes.
SATYAMSHOT 
May 12, 2016 at 10:39 AM
Chennai Box Office Rankings
1. 24
24 Ranking based on Chennai Box Office Collections from May 02nd 2016 to May 08th 2016 Week : 1
Total collections in Chennai : Rs. 1,53,64,349
Chennai city verdict: Grand Opening
No. Shows in Chennai (Weekend): 318
Collection in Chennai (Weekend): Rs. 1,53,64,349
Grand opening for 24!
http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-movies/24/24-box-office-may-08.html
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May 12, 2016 at 10:40 AM
Chennai Box-Office (May 6- 8)
Monday, 9 May, 2016, 07:02
It has been a good summer holiday season at the Chennai Box-Office. In the blazing summer heat, family and kids thronged the movie halls to watch new releases.
Suriya’s 24 has taken a flying start at the box-office and is the clear number one. The positive word of mouth has helped the film to garner a Rs 1.65 Crore in three days from Chennai city.
Due to stiff competition from other films, 24 did not get as many screens or shows as Theri.
In the second position is Captain America Civil War which opened very well and grossed around Rs 50 lakhs. In the third place is Udhayanidhi Stalin’s Manithan which is holding well inspite of stiff competition.
At number four is Vijay’s Theri, which due to new releases has taken a drop. In the fifth position is The Jungle Book, which is continuing in its fourth week thanks to family audiences.
http://www.sify.com/movies/boxoffice.php?id=qfjramagihbgj
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May 13, 2016 at 5:59 AM
24 has held on very well over the weekdays. And the second weekend will be good too as it is a weekend when tasmac bars are closed due to elections. In Telugu also it is doing great. USA it will cross 2mn by this weekend…All in all looks to be a big hit worldwide but within TN Theri is the biggest grosser till now and it is unlikely 24 will cross that…
Satyam, Did you see this? it is very well made movie if you can excuse the poor songs and an extended romantic track
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May 13, 2016 at 8:55 AM
I wanted to see it. Unfortunately it’s not playing anywhere nearby. Not even in the city. Basically Civil War took up all the screens. It might possibly come around later. I’m certainly on the lookout. Now I could do a longer drive for it but so far I’ve only been inclined to do this for Ratnam or for a big Vikram film!
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May 12, 2016 at 10:43 AM
taran adarsh
@taran_adarsh
May 11
#24TheFilm [Tamil + Telugu]… USA: Thu to Tue $ 1,157,926 CANADA: Thu to Tue $ 76,627 Total: $ 1,234,553 [₹ 8.22 cr] TERRIFIC! @Rentrak
taran adarsh
@taran_adarsh
#24TheFilm maintained its GRIP on Wednesday at NORTH AMERICA box-office… All set for $ 1.5 million in Weekend 2…
#24TheFilm [Tamil + Telugu]… USA: Thu to Wed $ 1,186,263 CANADA: Thu to Wed $ 83,307 Total: $ 1,269,570 [₹ 8.46 cr] SUPER! @Rentrak
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May 12, 2016 at 2:46 PM
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/movie-reviews/Azhar/movie-review/52241439.cms
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May 12, 2016 at 2:49 PM
http://gulfnews.com/leisure/movies/reviews/review-azhar-1.1826653
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May 12, 2016 at 4:57 PM
Top Ten Overseas Grossers 2016
Thursday 12 May 2016 11.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Its been a so so performance in overseas with the major grossers performing well in some territories but not in all overseas markets. Fan and Airlift did well in Middle East while Kapoor & Sons did well in US / Canada where it grossed more than Fan. Below are the top ten Hindi grossers in Overseas.
1. Fan – $10.11million (21 Days)
2. Kapoor & Sons – $7.07million
3. Airlift – $6.51 million
4. Ki & Ka – $4.20 million
5. Neerja – $4.14 million
6. Wazir – $2.98 million
7. Baaghi – $2.87 million (10 Days)
8. Fitoor – $2.38 million
9. Ghayal Once Again – $1.14 million
10. Rocky Handsome – $0.73 million
The Overseas market is becoming very dependent on Gulf as even a non overseas friendly Baaghi will manage to do around $3 million with 45% of the coming from Gulf. The next big releases is Housefull 3 for Overseas. Housefull 2 grossed $6 million plus in 2012 so Housefull 3 may have a chance to beat the long standing record for Akshay Kumar starrers of Singh Is Kinng.
http://boxofficeindia.com/art_detail.php?articalid=2019#.VzTodG596hc
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May 12, 2016 at 5:41 PM
“Fan – $10.11million (21 Days)”
When ones biggest “flop”
A non heroine
Non skin-show
Non-song flick
@ the socalled ‘f/(sh)ag end’of your career
Becomes the biggest overseas earner,
And inspite of that “pundits” feel it’s under performed big time,
U know this is not routine stardom!
Contd from my fan spoof (I posted the links in the fan box office thread, too lazy to look for em).Have been tweaking the script
The fan is soo enamoured by the “star” that he doesn’t even mind his girlfriend sleeping with the “star”.
Atleast the fan FORCED the “star” to SHARE SOMETHING with him
🙂
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May 12, 2016 at 8:22 PM
With less than two weeks to go for its release, the noise around Shah Rukh Khan’s Fan is reaching its crescendo. The ‘Jabra Fan’ song’s rendition in six languages, including Bhojpuri and Tamil, has the entire nation tapping its feet to the catchy tune. Running parallel to this sharp promotional strategy is another one that isn’t so in-your-face, yet can’t be ignored. Tucked away in Maldives, 36-year-old Muhammad Ashraf, is working tirelessly to roll out his own promotional activities for the Yash Raj film. By day, Ashraf is the HR head of a local business conglomerate, but in cyberspace he’s hailed as the founder of SRK Universe—the biggest global fan club for the super-star. “We hire a cinema in each city for his film’s first show, print T-shirts, and then cut a cake. This time I’ve decided to give wrist bands to 50,000 fans worldwide who come for first show of the film,” informs Ashraf over a phone conversation, adding that these activities eat up 90% of his earnings.
As is evident, Ashraf’s fan club is no ordinary one—it’s an empire with branches in 35 countries that exist only to magnify Khan’s celebrity. Every Sunday he has a virtual general meeting with his counterparts spread over South Asia and Europe to discuss ways in which they can serve their idol better. “Sometimes, I feel like I work for him,” admits, Ashraf. And he does. Ashraf’s biggest ammunition is his ability to constantly keep Khan alive on social media, literally at the click of a button. “90 per cent of the trends you see on Twitter about SRK are started by us. We have something called a ‘trending army’ of about 250 people. The moment I give them a hashtag about SRK, they will start tweeting, and within five minutes it will be trending,” he says with an ease of confidence. Khan is well aware of SRK Universe and often retweets what they put out. Ashraf has in the past helped fans meet Khan by sending them air tickets to his shoot location, but he personally met the star only last year on his 50th birthday.
http://www.filmcompanion.in/alternate-universe-fan/
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May 12, 2016 at 9:23 PM
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May 12, 2016 at 11:31 PM
Five Big Records Held By Azhar Until His Last International Match
http://www.thequint.com/sports/2016/05/12/five-big-records-held-by-azhar-until-his-last-international-match
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May 12, 2016 at 11:37 PM
The Highest Run-Getter in ODIs
Azharuddin could have been the first player to notch 10,000 runs in ODIs if his career didn’t end in the year 2000. Sachin Tendulkar, who was the first batsman to score 10,000 runs in ODIs, accomplished the feat a couple of months since Azhar’s last ODI.
Azhar, who appeared in 334 ODIs, played his last One-Day international against Pakistan in June 2000.
India’s Most Successful Test Captain
Azhar was the most successful Test captain until his final Test against South Africa in 2000. Azhar held the record for four years until Sourav Ganguly notched his 15th Test win as captain against Pakistan in 2004.
The record his held by MS Dhoni at the moment. The wicket-keeper batsman beat Ganguly’s record of 21 wins after leading India to victory against Australia in 2013.
Dhoni has won 27 Test matches as captain.
The Magnetic Fielder
Apart from smashing sixes and fours, Azhar was also a handy fielder for the Indian team. The former captain held the record of most catches by a fielder in ODIs until his last match.
Mahela Jayawardene holds the record of most catches at the moment with 218 catches. Azhar is third in the top catchers list.
India’s Most Successful ODI Captain
Azharuddin was India’s most successful ODI captain with 90 wins. Azhar, who led India in three World Cup had a healthy win percentage of 51.7 percent as well.
The Hyderabadi’s most prominent achievement as the ODI captain was leading India to the World Cup semi-final in 1996.
Now, the record of most wins as an Indian ODI captain is held by MS Dhoni with 104 wins.
Most Appearances in ODIs
Until Azhar’s last match, the Hyderabadi held the record of most appearances in ODIs with 334 matches. The former captain scored seven hundreds and 58 fifties in his ODI career.
The record is held by the little master, Sachin Tendulkar at the moment, with 463 matches. Azhar has slipped to the eleventh position on the most appearances in ODIs list.
(Statistics by Arun Gopalakrishnan)
http://www.thequint.com/sports/2016/05/12/five-big-records-held-by-azhar-until-his-last-international-match
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May 13, 2016 at 4:24 AM
Azhar had a fair opening in mass centres especially in Gujarat where the morning numbers were pretty good. The metros of Mumbai and Delhi did not open well. Overall the opening is around the 25% mark. This is actually better than most films released this year but some of these films managed to improve well in the evening and if that happens with Azhar then it will be a solid first day.
The opening of Azhar is the better than the last 6-7 releases of Emraan Hashmi but its short of a Jannat 2 or Raaz 3. The impact of doing weird films like Shanghai, Ghanchakkar etc has made a difference to the opening of his films.
Azhar is going to be relying on word of mouth especially in North and East india. Gujarat starting well is a plus and its a high contributing area and also sustains very well. This will probably mean that Mumbai circuit will do best on day one even though collections in Mumbai city are not that good.
http://www.boxofficeindia.com/art_detail.php?articalid=2022#.VzWO3SHcZLM
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May 13, 2016 at 10:40 AM
PJ @Prakashjaaju
#Azhar is taking bumper night shows in plexes.
#Azhar has grown like anything in evening & night shows.
Joginder Tuteja @Tutejajoginder
#Azhar The reviews are all around positive while audience (good) word of mouth is spreading well too. This one should do the trick for all!
Girish Johar @girishjohar
#Azhar starts on a comfortable note, strong WOM will ensure it has a good day 1 at the BO…. feedback is encouraging
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May 13, 2016 at 10:41 AM
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May 13, 2016 at 10:50 AM
nice blast from the past image..
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May 13, 2016 at 4:28 AM
Emraan Hashmi as the collared-up ‘Azhar’ plays his innings well, in a decently researched and appropriately etched-out role. But had the screenplay been smooth as butter, this master stroke could have ended with a high-fly sixer!
Let’s come back to the plot. Prachi Desai plays Naureen, Azhar’s first wife—who is coy, and a typical Hyderabadi. She was seen after a long time, and did pull off her part well. We are taken inside the cricketer’s household where his family background and journey of becoming a record-setter batsman is narrated. He picked up the game on his maternal grandfather’s (played by Kulbhushan Kharbanda) insistence. And it’s his words of wisdom (Tera balla bolega, to sab sunenge) which echo throughout the film and help Azhar sail past crisis.
Gautam Gulati has a brief presence, but his part ( reportedly a character resembling Ravi Shastri) will definitely make his fans happy and still take you back to his ‘Bigg Boss’ days as ‘mera naam mera naam hain Gauti’. He possibly can’t leave his flamboyance aside.
Azhar finds himself trapped in a match-fixing scandal. No one including the biggies from the then Indian cricket team stand up for him till the eleventh hour. His long run battle is finally culminated when his family comes to his rescue and a lawyer friend, here played by Kunaal Roy Kapur decides to turn the tables.
Then, the most controversial part, which made the headlines for the longest time is played by Nargis Fakhri. The actress has come a long way since her ‘Rockstar’ days, but still she has miles to cover.
She plays Bollywood actress Sangeeta Bijlani in the film, for whom Azhar falls and the rest is history. This movie produced by Balaji Motion Pictures does bring out the fact that although she was the second woman in his life but she did warn the skipper about how the people are going to criticise their relationship. That controversial and much-talked about episode in Azhar and Sangeeta’s lives has been presented in a positive light by filmmaker Tony D’Souza.
Okay, that’s enough said about the plot, and I know the audience shelling out money for an Emraan Hashmi film wants to know if there is a lip-lock in store. You won’t be disappointed is all I can say right now. But remember it’s not about your star but about an unsung cricket hero!
Lara Dutta plays a crisp and tough nut defence lawyer, who is impressive in her enactment but sadly loses in the end.
The ghost of match-fixing and the allegations run across the run-time, and what exactly a player goes through if he’s innocent is what ‘Azhar’ summarises. Go, watch it for the love of cricket!
http://zeenews.india.com/entertainment/movies/azhar-movie-review-a-quick-recap-of-mohammad-azharuddins-controversial-innings_1884733.html
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May 13, 2016 at 5:26 AM
As a work of fan-fiction, Azhar is a mostly watchable film with a solid lead, but falls far short of being either entertaining, insightful, or worthy of recommendation. Hashmi and D’Souza try hard, and their effort shows.
I just wish I could have said the boys played well.
http://www.rediff.com/movies/report/review-azhar-such-a-wasted-chance/20160513.htm
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May 13, 2016 at 8:33 AM
Mini Mathur @minimathur 21h21 hours ago
Mini Mathur Retweeted mukesh chhabra CSA
There you go!! @CastingChhabra is on the hunt for brilliant Chinese actors for @kabirkhankk s next! Spread the word.
Kabir Khan @kabirkhankk May 12
Kabir Khan Retweeted mukesh chhabra CSA
This will be interesting 😊
mukesh chhabra CSA @CastingChhabra May 12
Looking for Chinese Actors for @kabirkhankk next. Do spread the word amongst your Chinese friends.#casting mccc
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May 13, 2016 at 1:04 PM
Danny Denzongpa and Tiger Shroff may fit the bill!
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May 13, 2016 at 9:09 AM
So long, multi-starrers, Welcome, ensemble casts!
CHAYA UNNIKRISHNAN | Fri, 13 May 2016-07:35am , Mumbai , dna
How and why the trend has changed over the years
Multi-starrers, that were a rage in the 70s, 80s and 90s, have trickled down, of late. We still have the Housefulls, Golmaals, Dhooms, Welcomes and No Entrys, but they are few and far between.
The concept itself has undergone a change. Earlier, multi-starrers meant three or more A-List heroes, top heroines, the ubiquitous villain and his glam moll with a couple of henchmen. Today multi-starrers have given way to what is popularly termed the ensemble cast and any film that has more than one hero and heroine is considered a multi-starrer.
This year’s big hit Kapoor & Sons that starred Sidharth Malhotra and the relatively new Fawad Khan, veteran actor Rishi Kapoor and Alia Bhatt is a multi-starrer and so is Udta Punjab top-lined by Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt and Punjabi superstar Diljit Dosanjh. Ae Dil Hai Muskhil, this year’s big-ticket Diwali release from Karan Johar’s stable starring Ranbir Kapoor, Fawad Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Anushka Sharma also fits in today’s perception of a multi-starrer. But the one that is truly a throwback to the multi-starrer era of the ’70s is Housefull 3 with Akshay Kumar, Abhishek Bachchan, Riteish Deshmukh, Jacqueline Fernandez, Nargis Fakhri and Lisa Haydon packed in it, literally living up to its title. We spoke to a cross-section of the industry to find out why the charm of multi-starrers has waned and only a handful are made every year.
It ain’t easy to make
Writer-director Anees Bazmee, who specialises in multi-starrers, (he has made films like No Entry, Welcome and Welcome Back) says that it is is not easy to get all the actors together. “It depends on your track record and friendship with the actors. When you are making a solo hero-heroine film all you have to tell the actors is what the film is about, but when it comes to multiple star cast, you have to tell them five-six things like the film is good, assure them they have a good role, etc. Besides, all the actors you cast should have a good tuning, else it becomes difficult to work,” explains Anees.
Sajid Khan, who made his directorial debut with the multi-starrer Heyy Babyy and helmed the first two Housefulls says that it’s a huge task to manage dates of the actors. “For a multi-starrer film, you are 50 per cent a director, 50 per cent team manager,” he jokes.
Another aspect that probably puts the spoke in the wheels of casting multiple actors is the entourage that comes with each actor. Says Sajid, “Earlier, with every actor there would be two-three people maximum — the hairdresser and make-up artiste. Today, there is an entourage of eight-10 people — from the PR to the secretary, trainer, hair, make-up and costume guy, etc. So, if you cast five actors in a film, you have to house 50 people!”
Unkeen actors
In the 70s and 80s, films were the main source of revenue for actors. Today a whole new world has opened up for actors who make a lot of moolah from ads, live shows and events. As Ramesh Taurani, who’s produced the Race franchise, says, “Actors don’t do films for money anymore. As a result, they have become more selective about the movies they do. They go by the script and the director in that order,” he explains.
Agrees Sajid, “Earlier, actors did not mind sharing screen space because most of them depended on films for a living. Today, actors make an equal or more amount of money through other avenues. They only do one or two films a year and multi-starrers are not top-of-their-list.”
Trade analyst Amul Mohan recalls a time a time when we prided ourselves on our three-hero films. “Manmohan Desai made an illustrious career out of multi-starrers, but today’s actors are not into it. They want to know who is playing the lead role, clearly. This is because of the actors’ insecurities,” he points out.
Welcome to an ensemble cast
Any movie — big or small — that has multiple actors is described as an ensemble cast. “It’s like Udta Punjab, where every actor will play a unique character.
You rarely get a proper multi-starrer like Housefull 3 which has multiple heroes who are good in the same genre (comedy) coming together,” says Amul. Sajid-Farhad, who have scripted multistarrers like Golmaal Returns, Bol Bachchan and are helming the upcoming Housefull 3, feel that Kapoor & Sons or Ram Lakhan if it is remade, they cannot be called multi-starrers. “It’s the story of two brothers and comprise an ensemble cast,” they argue.
An ideal multi-starrer, according to Sajid Khan, would be when the Khan trio comes together. “But how much would you hike your ticket rate? Each of these Khans gets a 100 per cent opening, you can’t go beyond that. So, they will think they are better off doing solo hero films. Somewhere, economics too has stopped the process of multi-starrers,” he says.
The flag bearers
Despite all the hassles of making a multi-starrer, filmmakers like Anees, Sajid Khan, Sajid Nadiadwala and Taurani continue to dabble in this genre. Says Anees, “A multi-starrer is bigger and gives the audience more entertainment. More importantly, it depends on the story. Earlier too, filmmakers didn’t set out to make a multi-starrer, it was the script that demanded it,” he reasons, citing the example of Sholay. “It could have easily been about one hero going to a village and saving them from the villain, but Mera Gaon Mera Desh on those lines, was already there. By taking two heroes who were completely different from each other, in terms of their body language, mannerisms etc, it became more entertaining.”
According to Sajid, the joy of watching a multi-starrer is unparalleled for the audience. “The key to making a multi-starrer is to be fair to everyone. Also, I am friendly with most of the actors and see to to it they have a good time,” says Sajid. As for Anees, he says he’s a writer first and a director second. “I give importance to all my characters and am honest with the actors when I am narrating the script so there are no problems on the sets,” says the director who is now gearing up for another multi-starrer, Aankhen 2.
Taurani, who will be making the third installment of Race says it’s the film that demands multiple heroes. “I have never shied away from multi-starrers. Race is such a big franchise, it has to be made with three heroes and I have two-three choices for every role. But if the script is good, actors come on board,” he points out.
Sajid-Farhad have the last word on it. “Multi-starrers haven’t died, it’s going on since the 80s. There was a phase when solo hero films were in vogue, but multi-starrers have always been made. In fact, there are franchises of multi-starrers. And if the combination of the stars works out, it is fun making them.”
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May 13, 2016 at 10:37 AM
Good Article, thanks for sharing!
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May 13, 2016 at 4:34 PM
US journalist literally eats his words on Donald Trump’s presidential bid
The dishes, prepared by the head chef at Washington’s Del Campo restaurant, Victor Albisu, creatively incorporated newspaper pages into the recipes — with some of the ink “mercifully well-ground” into the steak’s chimichurri sauce, or sprinkled into the guacamole topping the taco bowl, or mixed into the chickpeas of the falafel, CBS News reported.
To wash it all down, there were also some Trump wines.
Milbank consumed it all on a live Facebook video stream.
Later, Milbank said the experience “actually turned out not to be too bad at all.”
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/us-elections-2016/US-journalist-literally-eats-his-words-on-Donald-Trumps-presidential-bid/articleshow/52256164.cms
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May 13, 2016 at 4:50 PM
Remember Vikram from Lakshmi’s Julie?
Vikram Makandar , hero of the 1975 hit film ‘Julie’, is set to make a comeback to the small screen after ‘Swabhimaan’ . He will now be seen in Rajan Shahi’s ‘Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai’ . The actor will play the owner of an aashram.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tv/news/hindi/Vikram-Makandar-to-enter-Yeh-Rishta-Kya-Kehlata-Hai/articleshow/52239282.cms
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May 13, 2016 at 7:39 PM
‘Luxurious life’
“We were living a luxurious life until recently,” she goes on, “In the past one year, circumstances have made Kanu much older. Like the other grandchildren, Kanu was never interested in politics or staying in the media.”
Kanubhai was 17 when Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated. “After Bapu’s death, Jawaharlal Nehru and U.S. Ambassador John Kenneth Galbraith sent me to Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study applied mathematics. Mr. Galbraith had initially suggested I go to Harvard Business School. But I said I won’t make it to Harvard because I am stupid,” says Kanubhai.
For a long time, Kanubhai and his wife lived in Hampton, Virginia where he worked at the NASA Langley Research Centre. He also worked for the U.S. government’s defence department. “I used to do research on aircraft wing structures for the fighter planes. So, I had the secret clearances and all that,” he said. Ms. Gandhi, a Ph.D in biochemistry, first taught in Boston and later left the job to do research at the Boston Biomedical Research Institute.
“I did not quite like teaching students because it was enhancing the students’ lives while my own life remained static, teaching the same things year after year. Then I began research in this prestigious institute, but it’s on government grant. So when they cut off the grant, your research and everything ends and out you go!” she said.
‘Happy days’
Looking at each other, Kanubhai and his wife recall their days of country-hopping and opulent parties. “We have had fun! We were invited to so many parties as there are a lot of Indian diamond merchants there. Then we were invited to Amsterdam,” Kanubhai says excitedly.
Then, after a moment, he says, “And now we are here.”
Holding his hand, his wife says, “We are in a valley just now, and we are going to climb out of it.”
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/the-odd-gandhi-couple-in-an-oldage-home/article8596901.ece?homepage=true
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May 13, 2016 at 8:08 PM
Btw Like salman, guess it makes sense to go east-European…
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May 13, 2016 at 8:09 PM
Good education, good jobs wont save one from oldage travails. Even if you are related to Mahatma Gandhi. Hope political parties will do something for this couple instead of visitng Rajghat on every occasion.
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May 14, 2016 at 1:05 AM
The Jungle Book had an incredible start to its sixth week as it grossed 55-60 lakhs nett on its sixth Friday. These figures are just unbelievable as hardly any films last this long. A look at the sixth week figures of some recent good grossers is below.
Tanu Weds Manu Returns – 1.75 crore
Bajrangi Bhaijaan – 1.49 crore
Bajirao Mastani – 1.26 crore
PK – 1.13 crore
The Jungle Book will easily clear the sixth week figures of these films in its sixth weekend, some of them it will clear in just two days of its second weekend
http://www.boxofficeindia.com/art_detail.php?articalid=2023#.VzaxyiHcZLM
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May 14, 2016 at 11:47 AM
What’s interesting to note here is that after the sub25 crorez opening
Pk is below twmr, bajirao, bajrangi even tanu in the sixth week
So guess the numbers were neither by opening
Nor by trending
But by blocking max number of screens
For the max number of days
During class new year holidays
Without credible competing release competitor for three maybe four weeks
With an above average product
To a deprived Audience
🙂
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May 14, 2016 at 6:21 PM
Or just fluke
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May 15, 2016 at 11:09 AM
Or Aamir inflated the numbers after taking lessons from The Roshans in trade manipulation 😆
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May 14, 2016 at 1:16 AM
After being much in the news for the rights of the script, Hrithik Roshan-starrer ‘Kaabil’ went on floors last month. We hear the actor and director Sanjay Gupta are extremely cautious and have upped the security on the set to ensure no details from the shoot are leaked out. Apparently, even the crew size is kept minimal so no unwanted person is allowed near the location. Clearly, it seems the makers want to save all twists and turns for the big screen only.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/Tight-security-for-Hrithiks-next/articleshow/52253350.cms
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May 14, 2016 at 3:18 AM
Azhar grossed 6-6.25 crore nett on its first day. The film should have been a little higher but but could not show any major growth at the big multiplexes in the evening. The film had opened better than films like Kapoor & Sons and Ki & Ka but the evening growth was lower than those films.
The best collections for the film came in Nizam / Andhra which will top 40 lakhs nett and Mumbai which will be around 2 crore nett. The film was low in Delhi city, East Punjab and the Eastern India markets.
The film will have to show growth of 20-25% on Saturday which would probably give it a chance to have a decent run at the box office due to lack of releases in the enxt few weeks. The opening is the highest for an Emraan Hashmi starrer since Raaz 3 which came in 2012..
http://www.boxofficeindia.com/art_detail.php?articalid=2024#.VzbRHyHcZLM
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May 14, 2016 at 7:14 AM
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May 14, 2016 at 11:30 AM
Is this flick trying to portray azhar as “innocent” in match fixing?
(Though this film should be entertaining & won’t be a flop) but the makers need to be kicked in their ass twice for that and twice for pairing hash-mi with nargis!
Though they have issues
But the world currently needs axis of
Putin trump modi 🙂
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May 14, 2016 at 11:59 AM
Correct link
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May 14, 2016 at 1:30 PM
It is a whitewash work by the makers to placate the protagonist.
Let us see how it fares in the long run.
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May 14, 2016 at 1:31 PM
Putin is an enigma. Just like his country.
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May 15, 2016 at 3:45 AM
Azhar was flat on day two as the growth came in Delhi city, East Punjab and Mysore while other areas were flat or down a little. The two day business of Azhar is as follows
Friday – 6,25,00,000
Saturday – 6,50,00,000 apprx
Total – 12,75,00,000
The film had to show bigger growth really though major multiplexes did grow on Saturday it was not the type of growth required. Sunday should be better and the Monday will have to show strong hold if it is to have any chance to take advantage of this 2-3 week period of few major releases.
http://www.boxofficeindia.com/art_detail.php?articalid=2025#.VzgowCHcZLM
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May 16, 2016 at 1:05 AM
Bollywood Badal Raha Hai
By Utkal Mohanty May 16, 2016 Films No Comments
Someone commented on one of my Facebook posts on Bollywood, saying that it was dynastic. I wanted tell him and others, it is just the opposite. For me the director is the true creator of any film. And it is here that Bollywood has changed significantly in recent times. The talent pool has widened beyond your imagination.
People like Sooraj Barjatya, Aditya Chopra, Karan Johar, Rakesh Roshan, Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar are there. But there are a whole bunch of people with non-film background directing Bollywood film today. Among them are people ranging from a NASA scientists from IIT, a Deloitte consultant and a London-based Chartered Accountant to a video cassette shop owner to a seller of chewing gum at traffic signals.
Let me first take up the directors of five of the biggest worldwide grossers ever in Hindi cinema: PK ( 792cr), Bajrangi Bhaijaan (626cr) and Dhoom 3 ( 542cr), Chennai Express ( 422cr) and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (399cr) . Then I will talk of directors of all significant films in the last 20 years or so.
Read more at: http://utkaleidoscope.com/bollywood-badal-raha-hai/
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May 16, 2016 at 2:48 AM
Azhar grossed 20 crore nett plus on its first weekend but the trend was not really there. The business is okay in a couple of sectors but overall collections should have been better or at least better growth on Satuday. The weekend business of Azhar is as follows
Friday – 6,25,00,000
Saturday – 6,50,00,000
Sunday – 7,50,00,000
Total – 20,25,00,000
The film had best figures in Gujarat and Nizam / Andhra. The only real plus is a weak release schedule till Housefull 3 in early June and if Monday can have a hold it can benefit from that.
http://www.boxofficeindia.com/art_detail.php?articalid=2027#.Vzls3SHcZLM
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May 16, 2016 at 3:56 AM
The Jungle Book Set To Be Highest Adjusted Grosser For Hollywood
Monday 16 May 2016 11.00 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
The Jungle Book had an unbelievable sixth weekend as it grossed 2.50 crore nett which took its lifetime business to around 179 crore nett. The figures were better than PK and Bajrangi Bhaijaan and not just their sixth weekends collections but also their sixth weeks.
The film had similar collections in sixth weekend as 3 Idiots which had grossed 2.50 crore nett in its sixth weekend way back in 2010. If we look at the sixth week figures of this year and then the gap is huge with Airlift being the best of the 2016 releases with 15 lakhs nett in its sixth weekend.
The Jungle Book will probably be the highest inflation adjusted grosser for Hollywood in India. Titanic stands at around 174 crore nett on the 2015 ticket rate so on a 2016 ticket rate (at the moment it is up just 4% from the corresponding time last year) they will be very similar as The Jungle Book still has some more legs to finish at around 183 crore nett.
http://boxofficeindia.com/art_detail.php?articalid=2026#.VzlxOVR96hc
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May 16, 2016 at 7:25 AM
The most Chu##a commie/ reviewer who gave FAN 4.5 stars forgets basic reviewing rules and gets personal with the director of the movie because the director dares to bash the left , the commies , the sick JNU and JU Naxals in his movie.
The commies show their true colors yet again…
Picture this: An indie movie, on an off-beat topic. There is no typical Bollywood masala kitschy running around trees by over-aged botoxed heroes. Instead there are poems by the legendary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz. The story is not the banal rich guy meets poor girl, or how one man does insanely ridiculous stuff to change the system. The story is about real world problems, and how lives revolve around it. It’s not a 4.5 star rated movie which involves an ageing star, playing out some hyper-realistic sequences, with patchy “special” effects, an unconvincing plot, all wrapped up in a self-idolising movie. It’s instead the story about ordinary students, who uncover something extra-ordinary. The climax is not a clash of brawn and might, it is a clash of ideas and ideologies.
On the face of it, such a movie would be the darling of our “enlightened”, “intellectual” movie critics. So many times have we heard them cry for out something more from Bollywood or the Indian film industry at large
http://www.opindia.com/2016/05/why-they-dont-want-you-to-see-buddha-in-a-traffic-jam/
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May 16, 2016 at 7:26 AM
Bharti Pradhan review –
I’ve been reading all the reviews of Vivek Agnihotri’s Buddha In A Traffic Jam. Having seen the film, I understand one thing clearly: given that the Left has traditionally been intolerant of any dissent (China, Iron Curtain et al), it was obvious that the current Commies running amok on Indian campuses would’ve never entertained a screening of the film. Freedom of Expression is restricted to them airing their views, period.
Criticism of the film has come veiled in many avatars. Some have pointed out that certain scenes have been lifted from world cinema.
Frankly, I don’t care where it came from.
Buddha In A Traffic Jam is not an easy film to watch. It’s brutal, and you flinch. At the violence heaped by both so-called Establishment and lal salaam Commies on tribals who get kicked around by everybody. At the liberal use of the eff word, the bitch word…there’s even a song that goes I’m a bitch, my dad’s so rich…At the sickening alcohol abuse.
If you come out of those minefields alive, there is a very good plot. That Commies are hand-in-glove with the Establishment (that’s why I called it so-called a few sentences earlier). That Big Brother is everywhere, anywhere. That in the garb of student-friendly teachers or leaders or law-enforcement forces, the Left has seeped into the highest places of authority. The film simply says, watch out, the Commies are everywhere. If you’re inclined to the Left, you won’t tolerate it.
Unfortunately for the Left, Vivek has packaged the brutality with powerhouse performances from Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi, Arunoday Singh et al, which makes it a compelling watch. And he’s caught the cool campus atmosphere so wonderfully that you wish you were back there where you could drop in on your prof and his wife and have a glass of wine with them. But watch out. Is your prof really benign?
I also came away with Vivek Agnihotri’s wife, Pallavi Joshi’s wonderful rendition of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s Chand roz. Didn’t know this smashing looking actress could sing as well.
My final thought on Buddha In A Traffic Jam: Vivek got lucky that this film was stuck in the cans for three years. Three years ago, it would have come and gone as a brutal film on campus politics. Today, it seems as if he actually studied JNU, Jadavpur etc and then wrote the script. True but difficult to believe that this film was made long before disturbing campus shenanigans hit the headlines in 2016.
So what would you call such a film? For me, it’s simply Prophetic Cinema
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May 16, 2016 at 7:28 AM
Buddha’ back from ‘traffic jam
Vandana Shukla in chandigarh
Unlike other films based on campus life, Buddha in a Traffic Jam hits hard at the intellectual dishonesty of faculty operating in a system that compromises excellence to promote mediocrity. Politicians are absent from the narrative; replaced by political ideologues of the extreme Left working as faculty, as a few students get stuck — in the traffic jam of ideas and principles.
Finally, ‘Buddha’ smiled on Friday the 13th for director Vivek Agnihotri and his team. For four years ‘Buddha in a Traffic Jam’ remained stuck in controversies. What makes its recent journey to the cinema halls so interesting is its palpitating narrative that passed through JNU campus on March 15 and Jadhavpur University on May 7. There were 26 screenings in between including at IITs, IIMs, Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore), DU, BHU and the politically explosive Osmania and Allahabad universities. What’s in it?
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/sunday-special/people/-buddha-back-from-traffic-jam/236921.html
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May 16, 2016 at 8:58 AM
Raja Sen would have been called many things. But a commie? I think he will be maha amused. In any case let us see what some of the other reviewers had to say about the film. Now don’t tell me Koimoi is a ‘ commie’ website!)
In one of the recent interviews, the director had said “India needs freedom from mediocrity, inefficiency and incompetence”. Well, we could just say it would have been wiser if he would have weighed his script on all three above mentioned grounds before making this film.
Buddha In A Traffic Jam Review: The Last Word
Buddha In A Traffic Jam is a propagandist film in the garb of a political satire. It preaches more than what it can practice. I am going with a 1.5/5 for this film.
http://www.koimoi.com/reviews/buddha-in-a-traffic-jam-review/
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May 16, 2016 at 9:00 AM
Shubha ShettyShah: Mid-day
While, at points, you want to take certain issues seriously, at other points, the director and the scriptwriter have totally gone overboard with all seriousness, making it unwittingly funny. For instance, the scene where Vikram is doubting everyone around to be a Naxalite is hilarious. The supposedly brilliant marketing plan that he comes up with is very commonplace in the current scenario, thus making the entire plot look hollow and pointless. Also, in some places, it dangerously veers towards right wing propaganda.
http://www.mid-day.com//articles/buddha-in-a-traffic-jam—movie-review/17231152#sthash.yGKuCLcF.dpuf
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May 16, 2016 at 9:02 AM
Rachit Gupta: Filmfare
But any and all good efforts in Buddha… are rendered pointless by the film’s direction. It just doesn’t have the resolve or dexterity to sway you with an argument or a stand. The supporting performances by the likes of Mahie Gill and Pallavi Joshi are listless. Even connoisseurs of art cinema will admit that after a point, Buddha just seems all up in the air. The only thing it can provoke in its viewer is ennui. Another one of those well intentioned movies that go absolutely nowhere.
http://www.filmfare.com/reviews/movie-review-buddha-in-a-traffic-jam-13317.html
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May 16, 2016 at 9:04 AM
Suprateek Chatterjee: Huffington Post
His — and the film’s — lowest point comes during an unintentionally hilarious scene towards the end, where he dramatically imagines he’s surrounded by Naxalites. If that moment had ended there, the harm done by it could’ve been contained. However, Agnihotri, eager to show off his directorial skills, uses the old ‘camera attached to body’ trick and attempts to make a surreal sequence out of it. It’s like watching something made by a Higher Second Class graduate of the Anurag Kashyap School of Filmmaking.
It’s also emblematic of everything that’s wrong with Buddha In A Traffic Jam, which, aside from being a right-wing propaganda piece (although much less in-your-face than I expected it to be), is also a film trying desperately to be edgy, youthful, and thought-provoking — but in vain.
http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2016/05/13/buddha-in-a-traffic-jam-r_n_9946898.html?utm_hp_ref=in-entertainment
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May 16, 2016 at 9:06 AM
Critic’s Rating: 1/5
Avg Readers’ Rating:1/5
Kunal Guha:Mumbai Mirror
Based on “true life incidents”, this one unfolds like a book with a prologue and chapters, summarised with a quote from Mao, but which lacks pow — “Revolution is not a dinner party.” And for a book, it’s heavy — enough to serve as a paperweight and about as thought-provoking. It spans across BC to AD, mulls over everything from socialism to social media, pink chaddis to adivasis, and even breezily touches on pop philosophies and induces little more than a headache. Going by a dialogue in the film, “Guns have to be our minds and ammunition — our thoughts,” the experience of watching this film will stoke you to load one into the other and aim at self.
http://www.mumbaimirror.com/entertainment/movie-review/Film-review-Buddha-In-A-Traffic-Jam/articleshow/52262112.cms?
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May 16, 2016 at 9:15 AM
Nonsensical attempt to sound posh by giving it a fancy title and claiming that it tackles subjects like Naxalites in Chattisgarh. If there is an original idea in the film it is that Naxalites are everywhere amongst us, and that they could be anyone: your doctor, your best friend, your banker, your lawyer, government officials and that they are biding their time for a bloodbath on the streets. Howlarious.
Buddha In A Traffic Jam NOWRUNNING REVIEW | Manisha Lakhe (NOWRUNNING)
Rating: 1/2 upon 5
http://www.nowrunning.com/movie/9219/bollywood.hindi/buddha-in-a-traffic-jam/5454/review/
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May 16, 2016 at 9:21 AM
To be fair, not all the review are THAT BAD. Not all then have given 0, 1/2 0r 1 upon 5. Some have given higher. The average rating at The REview Monk is the lowest ever, but it is not zero. Right wing intellectual prowess is not ZERO. All the commies should note that. They might think right wing intellectuals as a big zero. But as the avergae ratings here prove , taht’s not true. In fact the average rating is 2.9. The lowest ever, but not ZERO.
http://thereviewmonk.com/movie/buddha-in-a-traffic-jam/
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May 16, 2016 at 10:07 AM
Here you are right Utkal Uncle jee. Right wing people are Ganwar..No knowledge/ Intellect/ Chalakee ./ Dhokey bazi ….
bas- Dile Sey !!!
Commies are full of deceit. Fraud, arrogance and greed !!
But yahee toh scam hai jee !!
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May 16, 2016 at 10:39 AM
and by the way these so called left Intellectuals – are so cultured that they make fun of Modi’s picture with his mother !!
Sick !!!
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May 16, 2016 at 10:04 AM
Utkal Uncle jee – Sab Miley hue hain jee, yahee toh scam hai jee !!
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May 16, 2016 at 10:16 AM
Seems like Utkal Uncle has deeply been affected by the movie….Kaheen Dil pey Zor sey lag gai Picture…
No worries go and sip Champagne at a five star Hotel and discuss revolution !!
Uncle – Yeh Padho !!
the Leftist director, it turns out, had to accept Rama in order to reject Buddha.
http://m.firstpost.com/bollywood/vivek-agnihotri-buddha-in-a-traffic-jam-jadavpur-university-abvp-left-2779844.html
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May 16, 2016 at 4:27 PM
Utkal is old hard core commie under tremendous physical, emotional, psychological stress and turbulence since May 16, 2014 when atom bomb in the name of Namo struck him and his ilk.. what does dying idle man does? he catches straw and then he blurts nonsense to everything he/she sees, touches, hears etc.. Same he did.. Holding to Sonia..then to her lucky sperm Rahul and now to her another son Kejri and Naxal members…If you prick him little more, he will stop eating and sleeping to post anti movie reviews….
So bear or just have pity not for his age… Age doesn’t guarantee respect but for his condition. 🙂
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May 16, 2016 at 10:22 AM
Farah Khan Ali , who is known to not mince her words and prefers to call a spade, a spade, tweeted about her displeasure on Ash’s purple lipstick and this is what she wrote on Twitter, ” I think Ash is Gorgeous and I also think that she needs to sack her stylist ASAP for the purple lip shade.” So while on the one hand, she has complimented Ash, on the other, she agrees that the purple lipstick was the last thing Ash should have worn at the Cannes.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/Aishwarya-needs-to-sack-her-stylist-ASAP-for-purple-lip-shade/articleshow/52293177.cms
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May 16, 2016 at 10:27 AM
So true…..and some people are licking their wounds – Commies please note !
Swapan Dasgupta @swapan55 8h8 hours ago
Around this time, exactly 2 years ago, punditry vowed to teach India a lesson for defying its secular fatwa & voting decisively for change
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May 16, 2016 at 3:48 PM
Jennifer Lawrence would find it to be quite the “American Hustle” if Donald Trump became president, and she has made her feelings clear in a profane tirade against the GOP frontrunner. Lawrence appeared on the BBC’s The Graham Norton Show Friday and unloaded on the GOP frontrunner. Norton asked the Oscar winner if she has ever met Trump, she replied: “I haven’t, no. I was at a concert he was attending.
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May 16, 2016 at 5:33 PM
Karan Johar @karanjohar 14h14 hours ago
#OKjaanu starring Aditya Roy Kapur and @ShraddhaKapoor directed by Shaad Ali will release January 13th,2017
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May 16, 2016 at 8:08 PM
Complete winners’ list:
1. Worst Film – “Prem Ratan Dhan Payo”
2. Worst Director – Vikas Bahl – “Shaandaar”
3. Worst Actor – Shah Rukh Khan – “Dilwale”
4. Worst Actress – Sonam Kapoor- “Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo”/”Dolly Ki Doli”
5. Worst Song – “Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo” – Title track
6. Worst Debut – Sooraj Pancholi – “Hero”
7. Worst Supporting Actor – Neil Nitin Mukesh – “Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo”
8. WTF Was That! – Manish Paul – “Ranbanka”
9. Worst Couple – Bipasha one- Bipasha two in “Alone”
10. Worst Miscasting – Karan Johar as gangster in “Bombay Velvet”
11. Most Controversial Controversy – Kangana Ranaut calling Hrithik Roshan her ‘silly ex’ and everything that followed.
12. Worst Brand Endorsement – Priyanka Chopra for Bollywood in Hollywood/Silver Pearls (Rajnigandha)
13. Shit Nobody Saw – “Welcome to Karachi”
14. The Ghanta Tweet of the year – Abhishek Bachchan
– See more at: http://www.mid-day.com/articles/prem-ratan-dhan-payo-named-worst-film-at-ghanta-awards-2016/17239180#sthash.m0OmUxd8.dpuf
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May 17, 2016 at 12:32 AM
Roky: Seems like Utkal Uncle has deeply been affected by the movie….Kaheen Dil pey Zor sey lag gai Picture…
You think I will go anywhere near a crap like that? I have some minimum standards.
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May 17, 2016 at 10:03 AM
Sure, I guess your standards are the same as that joker Shirish Kunder !!
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May 17, 2016 at 1:17 AM
A few days back I posted the Guardian article titled “Poverty, corruption and crime: how India’s ‘gully rap’ tells story of real life”.
The timing of my posting on gully rap phenomenon seems to have been perfect.
Now comes the news of Zoya’s next with Ranveer, titled tentatively ‘ Gully Boy’.
Presently being scripted by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, the film has Ranveer playing an underdog who rises from the slums of Mumbai to become a rapper with a heart and a voice that addresses Dalit oppression, street life, economic inequality and homosexuality. He even takes on corrupt politicians.
As a part of their research, Zoya and Reemahave been hanging out with a rapper duo who has helped shape the scriot in a significant way. The rappers had paid an ode to the Maximum City 2011, which was followed by ‘ Meri Gully Mein’, a take on street life, and ‘ Jungli Sher’ which portayed personal struggles.
The subject is fresh and the film sounds very exciting.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/16/poverty-corruption-and-how-indias-gully-rap-tells-story-of-real-life
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May 17, 2016 at 1:48 AM
Azhar had a noticeable drop on Monday as collections dropped around 55% from Friday. The four day business of Azhar is as follows
Friday – 6,25,00,000
Saturday – 6,50,00,000
Sunday – 7,25,00,000
Monday – 2,75,00,000
Total – 22,75,00,000
The film is doing bit better in the mass circuits but the big multiplexes in the cities have not fared well. ?The first week will finish at around 29 crore nett..
http://www.boxofficeindia.com/art_detail.php?articalid=2028#.VzqwZyHcZLM
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May 17, 2016 at 1:50 AM
The first celebrity to be conferred with The Angries was Bollywood’s “Shotgun Junior” Sonakshi for taking on cyber bullies, read a statement.
The Tevar star who was delighted to get the award, said: “Any kind of bullying is wrong! Stand up for yourself, be strong, be true, be you.”
Sonakshi, who will be soon seen in films like Akira and Force 2, makes it a point to take her trolls head-on and has often expressed her anger at people’s judgmental views in the virtual world.
The film, which will hit the screens in India on May 27 takes the audience back in time, tracing the origin of the battle between the birds and pigs
http://www.koimoi.com/bollywood-news/sonakshi-sinhas-anger-gets-her-an-award/
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May 17, 2016 at 6:02 AM
Ghanta awards: Salman’s PRDP, SRK’s Dilwale among Bollywood’s worst
this is amazing ,never thought these awards existed.
here he won so many brilliant awards and in his cabinet ( srk ) one more award given,wonder if he will keep it with in the cabinet,lol
http://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/ghanta-awards-salman-s-prdp-srk-s-dilwale-among-bollywood-s-worst/story-ZLo1YmA2oAvv5czvSxik5O.html
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May 17, 2016 at 10:41 AM
Thanks Shetty for sharing! 🙂
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May 17, 2016 at 1:47 PM
Azhar is a flop or underperformer?
By making Azhar a good boy and his first wife a soap bahu and fiction overtaking fact, this film is bound to fail.
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May 17, 2016 at 5:56 PM
Have stayed away from “tamasha” till now
But some flicks follow u
Was forced to Watch initial bits —
will now have to catch the whole film but in “phases” …
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May 18, 2016 at 4:20 AM
According to the reports the Pakistani charmer Fawad Khan has replaced the ‘Nawab’ Saif Ali Khan in the film ‘Jugalbandi’ produced by Salman Khan Films.
This is because Saif left the project which is being directed by Sameer Sharma and also stars the ‘forever young’ actor Anil Kapoor in lead role.
But the ‘Bond of the Bollywood’ Saif Ali Khan needs to return 1.5 crore for this decision! Yes! The actor received the amount for signing the film.
The character was of a young musician based in London and Anil will be seen playing the role of a senior music teacher. Fawad being a musician himself was the best pick for the film!
‘Jugalbandi’ tells the story of the friendship between these two and how things go bad between them due to ego tiffs!
http://www.india-forums.com/bollywood/hot-n-happening/64669-fawad-replaces-saif.htm
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May 18, 2016 at 2:05 PM
After Chennai Express and Dilwale, Rohit Shetty and Shah Rukh Khan were planning another film together.
But it seems the duo will not team up again for now, as Shetty is back to working with his old pal Ajay Devgn.
Says the source, “The experience of making Dilwale was not a very pleasant one for Rohit. There were constant arguments, especially about the release date.”
“Rohit was against releasing the film along with Bajirao Mastani but Shah Rukh insisted. The project the two of them planned together has been put on hold for now.”
Instead, Rohit will focus on another Golmaal film with Ajay, and the script is being worked out.
“This will be Rohit’s fourth Golmaal outing with Ajay. They want it bigger, brighter and funnier than before,” adds the source.
SOURCE: REDIFF.COM
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May 19, 2016 at 3:44 AM
http://movies.ndtv.com/bollywood/at-shah-rukh-khans-party-for-tim-cook-big-b-aamir-and-aishwarya-1407663
Actor Shah Rukh Khan hosted a dinner party for Apple chief executive Tim Cook on Wednesday at his Mumbai residence – Mannat. Celebrities, including Bachchans, Aamir Khan, Madhuri Dixit and AR Rahman, attended the celebration.
After the party, Shah Rukh, 50, tweeted a picture of the party gang with Mr Cook:
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May 19, 2016 at 9:45 AM
Even onscreen not being at his peak, off-screen SRK is very important for Bollywood to do all this kinds of bashes whenever a foreign ambassador, HW actor lands in Mumbai! Don’t think other 2 khans can do these kind of activities!
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May 19, 2016 at 10:06 AM
Aamir had a lengthy discussion with James Cameron, arguably the biggest hollywood director right now, when he came over to India. He also had a public discussion with Sec. Clinton when she visited.
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May 19, 2016 at 11:56 AM
So, you don’t see the difference between a public bash (party) for all at home and private one-on-one discussion the way Aamir did with many celebs?
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May 19, 2016 at 12:42 PM
Throwing parties is much easier than sitting for a couple of hours discussing important topics (be it entertainment or world affairs) in front of an audience!
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May 19, 2016 at 1:51 PM
SRK speaks well, has the gift of the gab, can speak to anybody on anything; but Aamir too has done his bit through the years. He has shared the stage with the likes of Bill Gates and Hillary Clinton, been in conversation with them. They are available on YouTube. He has met the British PM Callahan, shared the stage with him at a college in Delhi. And on Monday,May 23, Aamir will be seated on stage with veteran British actor Sir Ian Mckellen — at NCPA , Mumbai; they will be talking about the influence of Shakespeare on cinema, plus a general discussion on world cinema.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/entertainment/hollywood/070516/sir-ian-mckellen-to-join-aamir-khan-for-conversation-on-shakespear.html
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May 19, 2016 at 2:04 PM
I posted this because it is the first time as far as I know SRK invited Aamir and aamir went. It is good to see them bond. Both are special in their own ways.
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May 19, 2016 at 10:57 PM
Disagree that Tim Cook hanging out in MANNAT is some kind of a symbol of SRK’s ‘international-status’ in Hi-fi.
SRK is obviously very very well-known in the US and UK thanks to his NRI-peddling YashRaj/Johar faux-Indian culture films of the ’90s and early 2000. He does represent the hero that immediately emerged post-liberalization and completely flaunted that via, for example, all the ‘brands’ like Nike or Gap shirts and undies in those Raj-Rahul films.
SRK is the best publicist that SRK could hire. And he milks it to the hilt. I have never seen a guy sell himself more effectively than SRK.
No wonder he HAD to play his fan himself..
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May 19, 2016 at 3:46 AM
Yes! And we’ll tell you why. Read on to know the full story…
So it’s known to all that Shah Rukh Khan hosted a grand party in the honour of Apple’s CEO Tim Cook at Mannat last night. It was one helluva bash with who’s who of Bollywood making it to the do right from Amitabh, Aishwarya, Abhishek Bachchan to Aamir Khan, Madhuri Dixit among others. Definitely a celebration that must have been no short of a reunion where pictures come as a solid proof. However amongst all, turns out AbRam enjoyed the maximum, all thanks to Aamir. Yes!
SRK just took to Twitter to thank Aamir for gifting some of the coolest toys to AbRam, who after a point got so busy playing that he just didn’t want to sleep. Yes! The doting daddy mentioned this in his 4am tweet this morning saying, “@aamir_khan thank u for the toys. AbRam is still awake and playing with them!!!!!”
http://www.bollywoodlife.com/news-gossip/shah-rukh-khans-son-abram-had-a-sleepless-night-courtesy-aamir-khan/
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May 19, 2016 at 4:58 AM
How Nagraj chose Akash Thosar and Rinku Rajguru to play the lead is another story.
“My brother saw Akash on the street and told me he is the boy I am looking for to play Parshya in my film. I met Akash. He was so shy, he could barely mumble a few words. But it did not take much persuasion to get him on board. Rinku Rajguru is the daughter of a lady I know from my village. I knew she was Archie the minute I saw her.”
He then worked extensively with his principal actors to ensure they got the rhythm right.
“It was important for them to not look like actors. They had to transform into the protagonists, Akash and Archie. Luckily, this is exactly what happened. Audiences see them as the characters,” he says.
What surprises Nagraj is the way non-Maharashtrians have taken to the film. “This is most unexpected. I knew the film would make an impact but I never knew it would cross the language barrier so easily and in such overwhelming numbers.
“Today, when Aamir Khan or Irrfan tweets about the film, it’s a huge thing for me.” adds the National Award-winning filmmaker.
Nagraj denies being inspired from Bollywood loves stories like Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and Ek Duuje Ke Liye, as reported in certain section of the media.
He says, “So many interviews have put words in my mouth. I have never said Sairat is a homage to these Bollywood love stories. I have grown up watching Bollywood films. Rather than being inspired by them, I have absorbed the pitfalls of commercial cinema and how to avoid them in my cinema. So I’d say Bollywood has taught me what not to do rather than what to do in my cinema.”
Excerpts
http://www.rediff.com/movies/report/ive-never-said-sairat-is-a-homage-to-bollywood-love-stories/20160519.htm
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May 19, 2016 at 5:17 AM
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May 19, 2016 at 10:49 PM
Was very eagerly waiting for this. It was being screened in DC in 1 theater for 1 show but they got a corrupted drive! Hence the show got canceled. Very disappointed.
LUCIA was a very rich movie with so many meta-layers to it. Will write someday when I am sufficiently hallucinated..
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May 19, 2016 at 12:59 PM
2016 Assembly poll results: Twitterati takes a dig at – See more at: http://www.mid-day.com/articles/2016-assembly-poll-results-twitterati-takes-a-dig-at-political-parties/17251189#sthash.6fdrE5Si.dpuf
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May 19, 2016 at 1:48 PM
Hitler’s Hilarious Reaction To Buddha In A Traffic Jam, He is Scolding His Paid English Media and leftist critics… to sabotage the film.
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May 19, 2016 at 2:02 PM
Why Did Buddha In A Traffic Jam Invite Left-Lib Anger
If you were to read the horrified reviews from Rediff to Huffington Post to Scroll.in, the movie is “a propaganda film.” Scroll.in’s Nadini Ramnath says “warnings about the “red menace” … sound like direct quotes from the speeches of Baba Ramdev and Mohan Bhagwat.” This is hilarious, since data by independent bodies such as the Global Terrorism Database and the South Asian Terrorism Portal corroborate that Maoist terror is by far the biggest killer in India, where the so-called “Hindutva” violence is barely a rounding error.
I thought the message was obvious a few decades ago with the collapse of totalitarian left regimes and China switching to a market economy. But given the violent reaction from India’s communist-left, and the reviews from left-leaning commentators, perhaps that message has still not penetrated India’s intellectual Don Quixotes. They’re still tilting at windmills of “Hindutva” and “American Imperialism” while collecting NGO-paychecks from Ford Foundation and tweeting on their IPhones. Like Catholic Church Priests aghast at the Protestant reformation, the idea of a disintermediated economy and narrative irks them no end. What could be worse than the Subaltern speaking (when Harvard professors do such a fine job speaking for them) than the Subaltern selling. On the internet. Stalin save us.
http://swarajyamag.com/culture/why-did-buddha-in-a-traffic-jam-invite-left-lib-anger#.Vz2S0iaCl5Q.twitter
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May 19, 2016 at 2:54 PM
The Superhero Franchise: Where Traditional Movie Stardom Goes to Die
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May 19, 2016 at 3:18 PM
Traditional audience are also giving way to present day audience who grew up watching super hero movies. Or CGI based films. The good old days are almost dying in hollywood but fortunately India is still to catch up. Indians still love good old movies. Maybe we are not that tech savvy.
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May 19, 2016 at 4:04 PM
LMAO !!
Paresh Rawal @Babu_Bhaiyaa · May 18
Rishi ji strikes & asks why assets r named after Gandhis.Congress hits back & asks why Raj Kapoor named his movie aftr RaGa..Mera Naam Joker
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May 19, 2016 at 5:52 PM
for Rocky & Rajen…
left this on his blog this past Sun..
[When ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ walks out to greet the crowd and one then sees the impressive images it’s perhaps a bit odd to notice the shoes before all else! But I have a bit of the Don ‘spirit’ in me! And your shoes are sometimes interesting!
But now, and in a spirit of impertinence, let me play a bit more in Borgesian fashion with this Don trope. What if one were to twist the heel of one of your shoes and find embedded there a piece of paper which contained a secret? What if one were to discover that Vijay had died one day and that Amitabh Bachchan had started ‘playing’ him? In Don Vijay plays ‘Don’. The real source of transcendence in that world is of course Don. Vijay has to learn how to play him which includes all his gestures and mannerisms. If Don is dead he has to be (re)invented! How much poorer the world would be without him!
Perhaps one can live with impostors. But they must be good ones. As good as Vijay was! The question then: is ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ good enough to impersonate ‘Vijay’? But aren’t the two the same? Who after all ‘authored’ Vijay?
But herein lies the rub. Without the spirit the body is merely that. The impersonation works on a good day. Not permanently. The story of Don works because we wonder how this impersonation will be put into effect and how long it will work. When the film ends I feel rather sad. Now there’s nothing. Don is truly dead. Vijay, a nice bloke and all that.. (!), is only a poor substitute for Don. In the same way ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ will have been a poor substitute for Vijay..Anthony… etc (or that entire sequence). Once the Vijay spirit leaves him no other fiction he authors will ever approach that transcendence. Which includes the fiction of biography.
Isn’t this however your greatest triumph? A fiction so great that even the longevity of your biographical achievement must fail before it? Is Shakespeare greater than Hamlet? Not really! A great fiction can conquer a great life..
To end once again in Borgesian fashion it is not that ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ creates ‘Vijay’. It is that ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ is forever following in Vijay’s wake.. and those are tough shoes to fill..
Yes… shoes again!]
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May 19, 2016 at 6:25 PM
And I was looking for “Don” references in his blogs ( rather than searching for your comments) ..LOL
I am not a great writer but want to put my thought across-
I think that you are right that Vijay made Bachchan, however it would not have been possible if the core values in the Man Bachchan were not there and more importantly had not stayed intact even after Vijay attaining so much success.
Those core values, the respect for elders, the politeness for youngers, the cultured persona, the love for India and Hindi , being truly secular has helped Vijay to survive and eventually through KBC enhance the aura of Vijay/ Don/ Anthony/Iqbal.
To quote a line from a move called “Vijay” –
“Agar aap badey hain toh iska matlab yeh nahee kee hum chotey hain ”
( Saeed Jafree to Anupam kher )
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May 19, 2016 at 7:30 PM
I agree on the core values bit and I’ve said this a number of times in the past. However I wouldn’t define these core values as ‘bourgeois’ (Karan Johar!) ones. This is what he’s privileged by way of biography. But those aren’t really the Vijay values. Put differently Vijay neither loves the family in that institutional sense nor does he love his country (if at all) in this way. One has to look no further than Deewar for all of these themes.
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May 19, 2016 at 7:36 PM
on the nation-state a relevant comment in the Vijay context which you [Rocky] have seen before:
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