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499 Responses to “Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi, Gold & Satyameva Jayate (ongoing), the rest of the box office”
An emotional moment, undoubtedly… Jeetendra reminisces his first home… #Home – ALT Balaji's new web series – stars Annu Kapoor, Supriya Pilgaonkar, Parikshit Sahni, Amol Parashar and Chetna Pande… Habib Faisal directs. pic.twitter.com/aJ8g5pcM6e
John Abraham’s Satymeva Jayate has earned Rs 75.09 crore in nine days. The film is a hit but the major contributor remains the Independence Day box office collection of Rs 20.52 crore. It followed it up with Rs 7.92 crore on Thursday, Rs 9.18 crore on Friday, Rs 9.03 crore on Saturday, Rs 10.26 crore on Sunday, Rs 3.76 crore on Monday, Rs 3.79 crore on Tuesday, Rs 6.67 crore on Wednesday and Rs 3.96 crore on second Thursday of release.
Akshay’s sports drama is heading towards the Rs 100-crore club having earned an estimated Rs 88.9 crore at the box office since its release on Independence Day. According to trade aggregator Bollywood Hungama, Gold started its box office journey with Rs 25.25 crore on opening day, it saw a dip on Thursday with Rs 8.10 crore collection, it earned Rs 10.10 crore on Friday, Rs 12.3 crore on Saturday, Rs 15.55 crore on Sunday, Rs 4 crore on Monday, Rs 4 crore on Tuesday, Rs 6 crore on Wednesday and Rs 3.6 crore on Thursday.
This is the worst butchery of old songs that I have ever seen. The guy I feel bad for is Sunny Deol….past his prime and relying on Salman to sell his movie. tsk tsk tsk
Dharmendra was awesome in Johny Gaddar , it was goosebumps encapsulated nostalgia moments seeing him rough tough macho man on wrong side of law .. in last 28 years , JG was only relief for He Man. No one able to capitalize his persona and screen presence for 28 years ?
Both Gold & SMJ have done well over the extended first week with collections of 88 cr+ & 66 cr+ respectively. Although the trend has been topsy turvy, the successful ultimate outcome has proved to be yet another feather in the cap for Hindi cinema in what’s been a good solid year at the BO.
Doesn’t matter to me whether it’s 66 or 75. None of it comes into my pockets anyway. Nor am I interested in spamming a page with personally biased comments or which “star” belongs to which “galaxy”. The only reason I quote boi (despite being an ardent critic of theirs in case u never noticed) is coz it’s still the official standard source available unless comscore officially starts tracking numbers for all films consistently.
Lol we can actually do without some unwanted and silly fan rants here. Your ground is most shaky when u need to bring down other stars to uplift ur fav’s status.
Dont worry abt ur hallucinations that people want to bring down akshay here, not many believe that he ever belonged to the elite list of superstars. But jeetendra also had fans during his days ….
Few people have the habit to have the last word. You are biased to the core Mr Marcus, have little knowledge of cinema and try to act as smarty pants which usually have a reverse effect.
Didn’t see any tweet from Taran quoting a 75 cr figure for SMJ. Unless few wannabe smartasses wanna consider Koimoi & BHungama (dubious sources which make BOI seem like BoxOfficeMojo) as gospel, i don’t see SMJ being anywhere near 75 cr in week 1. 66+ in itself is a very solid number for this film nevertheless.
EXCLUSIVE| Gold director Reema Kagti on casting Akshay Kumar, her Big B fascination & trend of sports films Updated Aug 24, 2018 | 10:42 IST | Kriti Tulsiani
In an exclusive interaction, Gold director Reema Kagti opens up about casting Akshay Kumar in Gold, her fascination with Amitabh Bachchan, why sports films will always be loved and box office clashes.
It’s been 20 years of DIL SE…& it still remains THE BEST of Ratnam amongst in his trilogy of Roja, Bombay [very disappointing and cliched for me], and DIL SE…
Something I had reminisced looong back..
——
As one awaits with anticipation the new product RAAVAN from Mani Ratnam, one’s mind and heart are enveloped by nostalgia—the nostalgia of being audience the first time to another masterpiece by the same helmer: ‘Dil Se.’
1998 was the year when MVarma had fantastically assaulted our senses with the crime master-piece SATYA. Just one month later, the Indian audience was to be treated to a product by another master-craftsman, Ratnam. While the topic and treatment would be vastly different from each other, the common bind that every cineaste was confident about was that he/she would be witness to a terrific blast of cinematic talent.
As a person who had been elated with Ratnam’s offering THIRUDA THIRUDA (arguably India’s first truly entertaining adventure movie in decades) — after his mega-hit ROJA— but also massively disappointed with the horrifically clichéd BOMBAY, I was looking forward eagerly to DIL SE.
I happened to catch the movie—with tickets purchased in black of course—the first Sunday of its release in Santosh theatre (one of the very few theatres in Bangalore that promised a good screen and good audio) with a friend of mine. By that time, the reviews were already out and the usual great suspect, Mr. Khalid Mohamed, had thumbed-down the film, albeit in an uncharacteristic display of low-key verbiage due to the fact that he was talking about the art of a director of Ratnam’s caliber. The reviews were almost unanimously disappointing, and so were personal accounts of friends/relatives. I could not believe it, but the statistical aspect of rejection of the movie was quite significant.
As the end credits rolled, I still remember being dumb-struck and could not budge a centimeter from my balcony seat; trying to still absorb the sum-total of images and music from the movie. When my friend and I were the only two left in the theatre, I turned around and asked my friend,’ What exactly did the reviewers/general public not like in the movie?’ We got up, had some lunch, and I caught a bus back to my hostel. For the next two days, I was simply unable to filter out the images of DIL SE from my mind. I was so over-whelmed by the movie that my mind was not even willing to enter into a debate with some fellow hostelites over the merits/demerits of the movie. I wanted to hold on to the magic of DIL SE as long as possible. I
DIL SE is like a poem; a poem encompassing love, sensuality, and the most dangerous gamble of humankind: life. It is an ode to the strength and weaknesses of the emotion called love; to the man-woman relationship in all its beauty as well as its not-so-beautiful manifestations; to the helplessness of a person who is as strong only as his heart. When viewed through the prism of the realities of life, DIL SE would end up a major disappointment. DIL SE is not for the person that is a realist; one who never looks back in life but only ahead; one who cannot flex his heart back to vulnerability. The lead character in this movie is someone who is not cornered by the boundaries of reality; or even of life in general. If DIL SE is a poem, then the emotional crests and troughs of Amarkant Varma (Shah Rukh Khan) are the penetrating words of this poem. Right at the outset, Ratnam makes it clear that the audience would be witness to a character comprising of a never-say-die (pun intended) attitude, one that is romantic and utterly honest to one’s heart to the core. The initial words of Amar at the railway station lay the ground for his characterization. While the realist might balk at the notion of a short conversation being labeled ‘the world’s shortest love story’, the romantic is going to have his/her heart flutter at such a start to the movie. When Amar mentions that he could get the character of Meghna (Manisha Koirala)—whom he meets barely a minute ago—stars and also conquer forts; it becomes crystal-clear that this is a man who doesn’t really bother syncing his heart and mind before mouthing words. In contrast, Ratnam makes his lead character fall head-over-heels in love with the female character who is not completely a realist, but someone who is definitely hardened owing to her volatile background. The background music when Meghna asks for just a cup of tea is fantastically ominous and serves as a portent to the fact that this one could end up a beautiful but doomed love story.
Mani Ratnam creates a magical tragedy pitting a foolish yet optimistic character against a disillusioned semi-realist. The character of Meghna is semi-realist in the sense that the humanistic part of her character is negated by the harsh realities of her past, present, and future. She has carefully buried all feelings of a ‘normal’ person like love, the yearning for family, for children, etc., beneath her hardened exterior. Time and again, Amar manages to scratch her shell and she lapses into this layer of her character; but she is quickly pulled back to reality either by her commander or her comrade (Mita Vashisth).
Ratnam is a master when it comes to creating romance on the screen and he leaves the viewer breathless with many magical moments shared between the lead pair. The ones that stand out, however, are the scenes that are steeped in pathos: the conversation between Amar and Meghna at the radio station when Meghna asks for a job a (Amar asking Meghna to wipe her tears before she leaves touches the audience heart-breakingly and simply elevates the scene to amazing heights); Amar and Meghna conversing about the 3 things they like and dislike in life; Amar getting up in the morning to discover Meghna’s disappearance and her sand-written words; Meghna coming to Amar’s house on the day of his engagement (Mr. Khan’s expressions and the background music when he faces Meghna at his engagement simply wring the heart); Amar discovering Meghna taking a bath and gazing at her sensually—hitting with an impact more powerful than a hundred explicit scenes put together— but respectfully keeping his distance and closing the door, cinematically opening it to the outstanding SATRANGI RE song; the climactic conversation between Amar and Meghna before the blast, to name a few.
Besides these two compelling characters, there are two other characters that leave a haunting impact on the audience; the music and cinematography. The lensing of the movie by Mr. Sivan is exquisite and evokes surrealism in various hues and angles. Whether it is the chase sequence in Connaught place, whether it is the sands of Ladakh, whether it is the Rajpath, Mr. Sivan’s capture of the moving images is a soulful feast to the eyes.
There are truly no words to describe the words of Gulzar. He, the wizard of Urdu, of Punjabi, of Hindi, of metaphors, of similes, of rhymes, is in top-notch form. His words are embodiments of sensuality, love, desperation, and longing. Sample this from the song DIL SE RE—the futility yet necessity of love, of relationships, come across beautifully:
bandhan hain rishton mein – There are restrictions within relationships,
kaanton ki taarein hain – and there are chains of thorns,
patthar ke darwaaze diwaarein – doors and walls of stone,
belein phir bhi ugati hain – even so, the leaves grow root,
aur gunche bhi khilte hai – and even so, their buds bloom,
aur chalte hai afsaane… – and the stories keep continuing…
The wordings of the song CHAIYYAN CHAIYYAN are bathed in the magic of the beautiful language of Urdu and will remain fragrant for years and years to come. The song captures the purity of love and the dedication of a lover hauntingly:
yaar misaale os chale, paaon ke tale firdos chale – She walks like the morning dew, beneath her feet the heaven moves;
kabhi daal daal kabhi paat paat – Sometimes the trees’ branches, and sometimes the leaves;
main hawa pe dhoondoon uske nishaan – I keep searching for traces of her in the air;
sar ishq ki chhaaon chal chhaiyya chhaiyya – With your head blanketed by love’s shade come, come, my shadow
One can go on expanding on the beauty of the other songs; SATRANGI RE evokes the zenith of passion and sensuality; AE AJNABI is an ode to pining; JIYA JALE conjures up feelings of a person who is just about to enter the boundaries of a relationship and love.
Rahman’s music matches up to Gulzar’s poetry in notes and spirit and the resultant ‘sound of music’ is the stuff of legends. Twelve years since the movie, the songs and the music still echo the same magic that they weaved at their birth. The sands of time haven’t rusted the soundtrack one bit.
Ultimately, the film remains a triumph for the director in Ratnam. His sense of romance, of imagery, of visual poetry, is awe-inspiring. Ratnam showed tremendous spine when he made the lead characters blow themselves to smithereens in the end. He did not succumb to the cinematic pressure of somehow making the lead characters survive and boldly emphasized that however beautiful or probable, in life, not all loose ends get tied perfectly. Viewers will note that Ratnam leaves no stone unturned in conveying a sense of hopelessness when the character of Meghna, NEVER once (even when she is about to die) tells Amar that she loves him, though Amar literally destroys his life for her. The fact that she cannot bring herself to confess her reluctant love for Amar painfully brings out the torment that she faces being caught between misplaced idealism at one end and the humanistic feeling of love at the other.
DIL SE can be arguably called the most symbolic movie post the 1970s in the Hindi film industry. It works like a Shakespearean tragedy. When discerning the movie, if one tries to infuse a sense of factuality into the proceedings, the movie would fall apart like a pack of cards for the viewer. Consider the scene when the terrorists visualize the assassination of the President – the scene is so minimalistic in its depiction that it almost could be fit into a stage-play. But Ratnam takes a longer time in registering the emotions on the faces of the terrorists; implying that it is the characters’ mind-set that should be the main take-way from the scene and not the nitty-gritty of the assassination plot by itself. Ratnam has an enviable record of movie-making that somehow manages to attract the same degree—yet differing in kind—of attention from both the general public and the critic. He somehow manages to strike a balance neither resorting to over-simplification nor to a clinical depiction of the topic. His films are like one big feast. The political angle in his films are like salt and pepper in the main dish—a bit more of them and they ruin the main dish; the main dish being that of human conflict amidst a sense of turmoil. And his achievement remains that he manages to garnish just the right amount of salt and pepper.
I liked dilse songs better than roja. And dont rate bombay that highly either. Isnt thiruda thiruda the album with the song chandralekha? There was a hindi dubbed album available, which was a great one.
Btw, not just bombay, i thought rangeela was also quite an over-rated album. The album sold more for urmila’s skin show imo.
No one buys an ALBUM because of a skin show…..they will watch the movie. Rangeela is one of ARR’s best hindi album. Heck it even won the best music composer for Rahman at FF against DDLJ. As for the movie itself, its enjoyable in parts.
Albums or movie tickets sell more on hype than merit in the commercial domain (we are not talking classical music here for you kind info!). Skin shows make songs popular, so people buy the album. Item songs make the movie popular, so masses go and watch it. Do you want me to write an essay so that you can get such simple stuff? This isnt rocket science!
Couldn’t finish this piece An jo despite trying very hard. It is always better to be brief but to the point so that everyone can enjoy. Anyway good going but i hope you will consider you suggestion..
Oh sorry this was just a random review written a looong time back. I would have written it differently today. Will try to condense such write-ups if I am commenting instead of a review…Thanks.
Thoroughly delectable piece of write-up An Jo; although I’m not a fan of Dil se yet your & BR’s take on it has spurred me to revisit it!! Keep writing with élan👍👍
Looks like SMJ has picked unto Gold level or may be even better. But, Comes weekend, Gold will be marginally better.
Overall, SMJ producer figures looks inflated, no one in trade buying their 76 cr extended week figure.
If it is indeed true that “Kesari” is based on the battle of Saragarhi (where a small number of Sikh soldiers faced down a much larger band of Pashtun tribesmen in the late-nineteenth century), it is pretty shameful that we’ve now moved on to glorifying the British Raj’s colonial conquests in the sub-continent (the Sikh soldiers were part of the British Raj army that had expanded into the North-West Frontier), anything to show some imagined “us” beating off the crazy Muslim “other” — it could be Bajirao Mastani or fighting for the Union Jack, hey as long as there’s a Muslim on the other side! The symbolism of the word “kesari” will also not be lost on anyone. Akshay Kumar has really gone down a pretty shameful road, from waving an ABVP flag at a rally to this sort of thing…. all while getting naturalized as a Canadian citizen. I have long had a soft spot for Akshay but he is really shilling for a particular political agenda in a more naked way than almost any other major Hindi film actor.
More broadly, this sort of thing mirrors the ideological shifts in the Indian bourgeoisie — far too many of us have gone from identifying with the once-colonized to only being able to identify with the currently-powerful (the reflexive idolization of military force, the identification of very many in the middle-classes with (e.g.) the American conservative project, the impatience with the poor and dispossessed).
boss he is preparing a ground for his political career – of-course for BJP 😉 after Kesari, it maybe a film called Kamal 😉 and then “Panja harao man” and what not! 🙂 that is why, as Naveen wud like us all to believe, Akki is the biggest star on the milkyway and galaxies…….;-)
Akshay’s nationalism is not against any religion. Why do you think so? RIght from baby to Holiday to Gold, there has been no jingoism…its plain solid patriotic films.
Him holding ABVP flag was a momentary thing which was never used to earn mileage etc. Fact that noone took any advantage itself shows it was non controversial.
The actor was present at a women’s marathon event which was organised as a mark of women’s empowerment keeping with the theme of his film. The marathon was also a space where participants joined their voices together to demand for a tax-exemption on sanitary napkins.
However, the seemingly non-political and social cause driven event got a political tone when Akshay Kumar went on to use a flag belonging to the BJP’s youth wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) to kick-off the marathon. Akshay tweeted a picture of him flagging off the marathon with the message:
“Flagged off Delhi University’s Women Marathon. These lovely ladies are taking the cause of women empowerment forward and running for tax-free sanitary pads #PadManInDelhi”
Both Salman and Akshay has been pro-establishment for some time. They remain so because they come from minority backgroup (muslim and sikh) resp. Political parties uses them but none of them are affiliated as they are seen in diverse camps.
Akshay is known for his pro-government stance. The actor’s film, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, in 2017 had a sequence that totally backed PM Narendra Modi’s demonetisation move. The Bollywood Khiladi had also met Modi in May last year to seek his blessings for the film. I don’t see this more than promoting a social cause of open defecation. The support that the movie got post release showed that Akshay had to involve government to maximise the impact. He succeeded in this and he needs to be applauded.
On Battle of Sarigarhi…its too early to say that it will be anti muslim. Afghans have been loved in India and even now. I doubt if Kesari is intended to be as communal as you are suggesting. So the apprehensions are unjustified and prejudiced.
My post is not to make you like Akshay once again. It is to share the perception from the other side of the coin. Akshay has max number of muslim fans after Salman.
And do watch Gold. Any other star would have tried to take mileage of the Partition effect on the team’s composition. It was very easy to have painted the Muslim players as anti nationals because few of them chose to play for Pakistan.
But not Akshay Kumar. The movie touched upon the subject beautifully where one really felt for the players. Not once one feel bad about their decision. One of the best cinematic moment on partition. Do watch it if you can.
To conclude Mr Qalandar, i also think it has become fashionable to pull down anything pro-government (Swachch Bharat) by calling it as attack on minority. Just like you were once a fan of Akshay, so was i about your writings and views. Akshay lost one fan and now so do you.
RE: “Just like you were once a fan of Akshay, so was i about your writings and views. Akshay lost one fan…”
Actually, I never said that: I don’t have such a binary view on people (was fan / now not a fan — I suppose there are exceptions, in that there are people of whom I can never be a fan, e.g. SRK). I am perfectly OK being a fan of people but taking strong exception to certain things they do or stances they take. In Akshay’s case, my soft spot was in particular a function of a certain popular “trace” of Hindi cinema’s heritage that I could discern in him (“Khakee” is my favorite example, but there are others, such as “Insaan” or even “Bhool Bhulaiyya”), and this in an era when much of the industry has abandoned that sort of terrain (the article I posted a few comments ago (“Horror Show”), while quite old, still serves the purpose today), hence my disappointment at some of these recent turns — but that isn’t the same thing as saying I am no longer a fan. Heck, even with Amitabh (I am no bigger fan of anybody than I am of HIM) I have grave reservations about various things he does; similarly, I like Aamir Khan a lot but find his to be a most unattractive personality.
ha! as Naveen can not defend akki’s choices, he tried to put Q on backfoot by saying that he lost one fan!! really? are fans like that? that can not stand difference of opinion? it is like saying that akki has comply with all that you like or else you will no more be a fan of his!!! what the….Q do not take these guys seriously….tom if u write one line in favor of akki….he will be ur best fan again 😉
No worries IdeaUnique, Naveen and I have known each other for years (I remember he used to be targeted by some SRK acolytes), I am sure he is as chill with me now as he ever was!
Naveen: with all due respect, I don’t think anyone has ever pulled down Swachch Bharat on the grounds that it is anti-minority! I have followed this extensively and have seen a lot of criticism of it as a scam, sham, PR exercise, as ill-thought out and under-funded, but not that it was anti-minority. And even if anyone has, to accuse me of that sort of thing is most unfair.
yeah and he went all out and fell at the Govt’s feet to promote Padman……now let us say aamir and dangal….he could have gone to the sports minister and would have tried grab the publicity….did he do any of those things? no, on the contrary the film openly criticizes bribing in sports bodies in India…..this is the differnce. It is the confidence in one’s own product…which akki seldom has and hence churns out mediocre products
Pseudo secularist pseudo liberal commentary at its best, by folks who in all probability vote for the communists and cheer films demeaning Hindu god men. “Crazy Muslim other” ~ more films are made in Hindi cinema degrading Hindu priests painting them all with the same brush but I never see Nehruvians like Qalandar or Satyam objecting to this stereotype. But as soon as it comes to a Muslim villain, you guys go up in arms as though we’ve never had pro Muslim propaganda in Hindi films (SMJ is the latest example).
The comment was pretty much no holds bar and completely biased and non diplomatic. Merits a response in the same coin. I’m sure these admirers of Mughal and British India (for the kind who believe Gandhi was the greatest man to set foot on earth and Nehru remains India’s greatest leader) refuse to believe in the tyranny of Muslim rulers of the past or the loot & plunder of the Brits. Battle of Saragarhi has nothing to do with the “evil Muslim” in the first place. Its about the bravery and valour of the Sikh battalion just as Bajirao was about the valor of Peshwa Bajirao. If the Muslim tyrants were at the receiving end of their valor, I don’t see a reason why they or their sympathizers should be losing their minds in 2018.
In the case of Saragrahi there is no question of Muslim tyranny: the Raj was invading and occupying the Pashtun lands on the Indo-Afghan borders, and using Indian labor to fight these wars. Now that is not UNcommon in imperial settings, happens all the time (for instance more Marathas fought in Aurangzeb’s armies than in Shivaji’s), but let’s not pretend that we are talking about mere facts here — indeed your comments themselves illustrate as much.
It’s funny you are calling me an admirer of British India when I’m the one complaining about the glorification of an imperial conflict where Indians were basically fighting for the Raj.
More broadly, don’t distort my argument: no issue with a film on the valour of Bajirao — objection is to the distortion in that film and the reasons for the same (this is different from artistic license, which must be taken and is inevitable — but equally everyone should be free to discuss the meaning and implications of certain narratives). And you accuse me of selective outrage but are equally guilty: for instance I don’t see you upset that Bajirao doesn’t even mention the fact that the Peshwa kingdom was among the most oppressive in history from the Dalit perspective, or that Maratha raids were so feared and resented in regions like Bengal and Rajasthan that (to take one example) to this day one word for “dacoit” in Bengali is in fact “Marattha” (which I only learned a few years ago; similarly, even the Jodhpur fort tourist book alludes to this history). That’s fine, one is entitled to make the film one wants to make (although some films cannot be conceived depending on the politics of the day), and no film can be “about everything”, but equally, one is free to critique it.
I actually find the comment by Qalandar on Hindu Muslim totally unnecessary, uncalled for and agendaic. Such comments disturbs the harmony. It make people to react and take extreme stand, out realising the damage it can cause.
Munna, while i appreciate the stand on the cause…a stand on the root require more courage.
Your opposition and priorities are completely misplaced here. Kesari is based on “real” events and unfortunately, the opponents here are indeed the so-called minorities of today. As much as you wish for, they cannot portray the saffron brigade or the Russian mafia or the CIA as the antagonists in this scenario. No point fretting over this i suppose?
LOL there are lots of real events — the interesting thing is which are selected and for what reasons. Plus, another point I was noting first is that it is highly unusual in India to make a film glorifying an imperial conflict — it’s not striking or surprising if someone makes Kranti or Mangal Pandey, but if someone made a film on the Battle of Koregaon it would be absurd to say this is simply factual and there is nothing to comment: such a film would obviously be understood as an assertion of Dalit pride (heck given contemporary politics and what just happened in Mumbai earlier this year, I doubt such a film could be released if it simply glorified Dalit soldiers fighting for the East India Company and made villains of the Marathas).
I am all for films being made on any of the past events, even with a bit of fiction added as in case of Bajirao or Padmaavat. I have no qualms in a movie made on Dalit pride or one that demeans Brahmins or one that even questions the actions of the great Lord Rama or Lord Krishna in Ramayana or Mahabharata respectively. If the fringe or certain politicos have issues with them, I believe they need to be shut down in the name of “actual freedom of speech”. In the same vein I’d have no issues with a Kesari or a Padmaavat as well, but the fact that you seem to take exceptions right now leaves little difference between you and the fringe.
You are missing the crucial distinction: I am not saying no one has the right to MAKE Kesari — it is YOU who seems to resent the fact that I am criticizing it. One is free to make the film, one ought to be free to critique it — to equate the latter with the actions of the fringe who call for film bans and such things is evidence of bad faith.
Abhishek, nonetheless, did let out a bit of a scoop here — before beginning work on Gulab Jamun he will be doing another film. However, he said he couldn’t reveal any more.
I found the first Metro too inauthentic, too self-consciously Hollywoody a film – the sort of film a Bengali filmmaker might make while patting himself on the back that he’s made a “serious” film. It seemed to wallow in itself…
Metro was not HW-y. It was a scene to scene lift from a HW film. I would define Talaash as something HW-y with all the cliches of its genre. Anyways, indian plex audience like such stuff. Its simply lazy film-making.
Saw Darkest hour. Gary Oldman was top notch as Churchill. I could barely recognize him. His grunts, idiosyncrasies..Read that there were many cinematic liberties; Liked he girl acting and interaction underground with Churshill.
My probably only qualm was, in some scenes he walking too fast for his age.
this was really one for the big screen! Specially in the right formats. I’ve wanted to revisit Interstellar but again after the big screen it’s hard to get used to home viewing. Maybe more time needs to pass. The one film that is possibly the most difficult in this sense (among releases in recent years) is Gravity.
Well I saw it on plane (same as Fury Road!)..So big TV at home is an upgrade 🙂 Also I was not aware of Dunkirk..Darkest Hour and Dunkirk are intertwined…
ps – Colleague of mine said it is worse movie he has seen with constant noise through out the movie..I wanted to argue ..but My reputation is not good, as I recommended Cloud Atlas and he couldn’t finish 15 minutes..
By the way Fury Road was great in the theater too! You also shouldn’t miss the new MI in the theater if you like the series. I think this is the best one after the first (next up for me would be 4).
I am pretty bored of (America’s unending) Churchill love — forget the fact that there is never any discussion about his imperialism and his racism (even in his own era these were considered anachronistic at best), much less his shameful role in the Bengal famine, perhaps that is too much to expect from a popular film industry, it’s just so lazy. Anytime someone needs to make a film that is going to be reviewed softly, hey let’s tap that vein 🙂 I am sure OLdman has done a great job, I just can’t bring myself to watch it!
Some movies get favorable treatment because of subject, probably is true..I guess this doesn’t offend me enough not to watch it..
More wider question is should cinema be mixed with politics..Politics within a movie or actor’s conduct in private life..Akshay Kumar, Kevin Spacey, Client Eastwood, George Clooney.
I think politics and personal conduct can be different: some times an actor’s politics and cinema are deliberately mingled (eg x or y Tamil actor where, after a point, the cinema becomes a springboard for a political career; someone like a Manoj Kumar is in this category in a sense as well). With something like Kevin Spacey it’s different, and more difficult for me: his personal conduct has nothing to do with the content of his films (I admit I feel a bit uneasy at ending his career for these reasons, especially given I am convinced that half the people in the industry are probably just as awful).
I think cinema is quite often mixed with politics. Even when it’s not dealing overtly with such subjects. Some of the greatest movies in the history of cinema are ‘offensive’ in their politics. Spike Lee’s current film features footage from D W Griffith’s seminal Birth of a Nation which featured members of the Ku Klux Klan as heroic figures. It was an utterly racist film, yet there’s no denying the film’s importance in terms of introducing cross-cutting and so on. Great poets have written works praising the likes of Stalin! It’s a difficult thing to examine. Recently when V S Naipaul died the same debate cropped up again. Undeniably a great writer but also one who boasted about beating his wife so badly once that she couldn’t step out of the house for some days. You can have a repugnant human being and/or the worst kind of politics that is twinned with the most remarkable art. It’s a paradox of life I suppose. How the same mind and sensibility are capable of both!
Getting back to the Churchill film here I just wasn’t interested enough in the subject. Otherwise I’d check it out. But what is also true is that Churchill keeps getting a pass where many others don’t. Now of course one has to be careful about not exporting the standards of the present into the past but by some accounts Churchill was more racist and anti-Semitic than many in his age. And this quite apart from a truly monstrous event like the Bengal famine. Put differently there were many others like him in the annals of imperialism but most of those people are not portrayed as heroes these days. Churchill is so much a part of the romance of WWII and in turn American consciousness that he’ll probably keep getting ‘good press’ at the popular level for quite some time.
I would love to see an All-Bollywood Mahabharata casting, but do believe Aamir is too earnest to be a good Krishna, he lacks a certain playfulness (I hope this isn’t some drab TV serial Krishna but the “natkhat” bhaiyya-type that we need; Akshay actually did a pretty solid job as Krishna!). If this were 10-12 years ago I would have said Madhavan would be a great Krishna but right now the cupboard is a bit threadbare.
PS — the best Krishna we NEVER had was Bachchan in Mr. Natwarlal: he struck the perfect balance between a sense of play, and even a hint of something dangerous (as the Divine always must have, if it is not to lapse into the “merely” heroic — this is the problem with all the TV serials made on Hindu mythological subjects, they are reverential and have no sense of the uncanny; masala cinema at its best captured this much better, ironically (or perhaps BECAUSE) it wasn’t aiming to represent the Divine for the most part), a smoothly enigmatic figure…
Asian Games 2018: On Friday, the Indian coach of the Iranian women’s kabaddi team achieved the colossal: An astounding 27-24 victory against overwhelming favourites India to ring in Iran’s emergence as the Asian Games champions.
Written by Shivani Naik | Jakarta | Updated: August 25, 2018 6:56:28 am
How an Indian coach plotted India’s fall in Asiad Kabaddi
Shailaja Jain is coach of the Iranian women’s team that stunned India to win gold in Jakarta.
When her daughter was barely nine months old, Shailaja Jain abruptly weaned her from breastfeeding to take up a trial posting as a district kabaddi coach at Ichalkaranji in Maharashtra. Two years ago, “Mrs Jain”, as the Iranians call her, distanced herself from the idea that her Indian nationality should restrict her career ambitions. “Once you decide to take a leap, you shouldn’t think too much,” she says.
On Friday, the Indian coach of the Iranian women’s kabaddi team achieved the colossal: An astounding 27-24 victory against overwhelming favourites India to ring in Iran’s emergence as the Asian Games champions.
”If they had asked nicely, I might have even helped the Indian men’s team with insights into the Iranian opponents they lost to yesterday. But their attitude makes me feel like I am a criminal for coaching outside,” says the 61-year-old tactician.
In the women’s final, she spotted a glaring hole on India’s right flank and sent two of Iran’s best raiders to wreak havoc. “Within 2-3 minutes, India’s morale was down after our raiders attacked that right corner. Their defence crumbled, and we took advantage,” she says, describing her plan with relish.
India’s shaky right wing was always going to collapse at the Garuda Theatre — but Iran’s capabilities had needed bolstering, and it was for this that Jain was roped in by an insistent Iranian kabaddi federation.
“I was not only reluctant but worried about going to Iran,” she says, recalling how within a week of a one-month trial in 2016, the Iranians sped up her visa formalities and had her on the first flight out to Tehran. “I’m a pure veg-eating Jain. And you know how some of us think about Islamic countries. So, of course, I was wary of the dressing laws and how women are treated, and whether I’d be able to get vegetarian food. But many things are misconceptions. There are certain restrictions, but not all of them are bad,” she says.
”Plus, if I hadn’t taken this up, people wouldn’t be so interested in my life story. It’s because I won the Asian Games with Iran beating favourites India, and I am a successful coach,” says Shailaja, adding that she had refused an Iranian offer in 2008 because they weren’t paying her enough.
Iran never compelled her to wear the head-scarf, she says. “There are certain rules of that country, and I took it positively and would wear an odhini, like we do on a salwar kurta. I could not be stuck because of these things,” she says.
Shailaja was born in Nagpur and grew up watching her mother play kabaddi. “I played all sports — kabaddi, langdi, kho-kho, running. I followed a friend who was selected to the Maratha Lancers club and stuck on while she left,” she says. Playing at the national and university levels, she agreed to a marriage proposal from a man who hailed from a rural background in Jalgaon but encouraged her kabaddi, marrying in 1980.
”He didn’t earn much, but my father-in-law sent me money to complete a course at NIS (National Institute of Sports). The Jain samaj isn’t always very forward-thinking but my in-laws were, despite coming from a village,” she says. This burning drive would see her leave a three-month-old daughter in the corridor of a school where she was interviewing for a coach’s post. After coaching around 300 players to top-level kabaddi, she retired from the NIS job in 2014. But Iran had been watching, keen on hiring her, impressed by an interview from a decade ago.
”I love the Iranian girls because their fitness is excellent. They played all sports, football, rugby, karate, taekwondo and martial arts, before coming to kabaddi,” she says. It’s why she knew that when the finals’ star Khalaj Ghazal was struck on the head, she didn’t need to be taken off. “I knew she was tough,” she says.
What “Mrs Jain” brought to the table was technical basics. “I took time to fix their technique. How to fall back after grabbing the ankle, not fall in front. If you’re catching the thigh, not to move the back leg in front, stay where you are. Fundamentals,” she says.
She reckons that India’s selection controversies and favouritism did them in. She would love to coach in India “but without interference”. “In Iran, I had control. The list of the last 12 players was approved with only my signature,” she says.
Shailaja also refused to accept the simplest of gifts. “I didn’t want to feel indebted to anyone and be coerced into selecting them. I told them, ‘everything after gold’. I told them only gold was my mission as coach. Your winning is secondary,” she says, laughing. “It obviously meant several sleepless nights because I was under pressure to deliver.”
At the same time, she was brutal in pruning the squad from 42 to 12. “I wanted a winning team. I created a WhatsApp group. I’d usually put inspirational messages. But in the lead-up, every day, I would trim the group. Removing them from the group meant they hadn’t made the team,” she says.
While she had no issues with dressing rules, discussions on food often got interesting even as she lugged packets of khakhra, pickles and papads. “I love their preparations, only if there wasn’t meat in it. So I’d make them find veg substitutes. Even in their raita, they’ll sneak in meat,” she says.
As ambitions go, it has been a lifelong dream. “I wanted to do something different in life. Now I’m Asian Games champion coach,” she says. And while she has achieved the unthinkable in Jakarta, she adds that she’s not averse to coaching India. “I love India, India is my country, but I love kabaddi also.”
Exclusively confirmed!! First poster of #ThugsOfHindostan will out in the first week of September and a short teaser will be out mid of next month. The trailer will release on 27th September at an event in mumbai and it will be attached with the prints of #SuiDhaaga. pic.twitter.com/NGb20rAnBp
Box Office: ‘Ant-Man And The Wasp’ Nabs Record $24M Friday In China
Arriving seven weeks after its North American debut, Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp got off to a superheroic start in China. The Walt Disney release earned around $24 million on its opening day, including $1.5m in Thursday midnight previews. That’s bigger than the opening day launches for Black Panther ($22.7m), Spider-Man: Homecoming ($21.6m) and (exchange rates and online ticketing fees notwithstanding) bigger than any superhero launch that wasn’t technically an Avengers movie (including Captain America: Civil War). That positions the film for a terrific $70-$75m opening weekend.
Rajamouli’s Father Denies Manikarnika Reshoot Rumours
Needless to say, that rumours started circulating that ‘Manikarnika’, the biopic on Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi are being re-shot as the makers of the movie aren’t happy with certain portions of the movie. But, Rajamouli’s father said that he is very happy with the final output, the performances and the VFX works done and predicted that it is going to be a true blockbuster. There is also ambiguity regarding the release date.
Sep 3 is TOH poster release, 27 Sept is trailer…..well, daily these days we here AK news – proper PR machinery at work there….building up the pre-release hype – this one is going to be mammoth
The All India distribution price of #Gold is around 60 crores. For all the distributors to break even, #GoldMovie has to earn 120 crores. Anything above 140 crores, it will be a Hit. Lets see how things progress in the coming days. #SatyamevaJayate#ThugsOfHindostan
Prabhas is going to team up with Mr Perfectionist Aamir Khan for an upcoming project Mahabharata, which is going to be made on the whooping budget of Rs 1000 Cr, say sources. It is known news that Aamir Khan is planning to make Mahabharata and according to the latest buzz, Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan has approached Baahubali star Prabhas to play an important role. The talk has been initiated but nothing is yet finalized. If Prabhas will give green signal, then two top stars- Aamir Khan and Prabhas will be seen sharing the screen space in Mahabharata and it will be a double treat for the fans of both the stars.
It is heard that after wrapping up the shoots of his next upcoming film Thugs of Hindostan, Aamir Khan will join the makers of Rs 1,000 crore budget movie ‘Mahabharata’. According to reports, this upcoming movie Mahabharata is going to be one of the most expensive films to be ever made in the Bollywood industry.
As expected, the loss of director Danny Boyle (apparently over clashes with Daniel Craig about casting and over clashes with the studio over overall story direction) has allegedly caused the next 007 flick (distributed by MGM and Annapurna in North America and Universal/Comcast Corp. overseas) to be pushed back from November of 2019 to (presumably) November of 2020. That gets the movie out of the way of the Warner Bros./Time Warner Inc.’s Wonder Woman 1984, Paramount/Viacom Inc.’s Terminator reboot and Walt Disney’s Frozen 2. Universal has plenty of big flicks (Hobbs and Shaw, Secret Life of Pets 2, Glass, etc.) to keep it warm next year.
A November 2020 launch would position it to be the go-to event movie of the season prior to James Cameron’s Avatar 2 (presumably) launching in December. And to the extent that the filmmakers are (understandably) struggling with how to make 007 relevant in an era where America and Russia are technically being run by stereotypical Bond villains, it may be easier if the producers wait just long enough for Donald Trump to (hopefully) be a lame duck president. But that will still mean a five-year gap between movies.
Landau: In 1995, Cameron shared with me a scriptment that he had read for something called “Avatar.” I loved it. I fell in love with it, but the technology was not there at the time to make the movie. And we waited another ten years to make the film. And I said to him in 2005, I think we’re at a point where technology is there and that we can be the impetus to push it to allow us to tell this story. Technology was not about 3-D, it was about creating immersive and engaging characters who could be the Na’vi and the Avatars.
As we’ve moved on with the sequels to “Avatar” we made a very conscious decision to stage the whole four sequels on Pandora. We don’t need to go to another world if we want water, we’re going to go to the oceans of Pandora. Just like you see in Flight of Passage. Also, some of those creatures that you see (on Flight of Passage), don’t be surprised if they show up in the films.
We’re going to go to totally different environments, we’re going to meet different cultures. Just like our planet is as diverse culturally as we are environmentally. We want to introduce people to different cultures. In the first movie, we only met the Omaticaya clan, and they are the clan here allowing us to come to the Valley of Mo’ara. But as we venture out we’re going to different environments and different clans.
This nails it then. Shocking as the movie was really good but failed to excite people to pay and come to theatre.
A wannabe Chak De…as Jayshah said is what couldn’t enthuse.
Warner Bros. has nabbed Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer to score its highly anticipated “Wonder Woman 1984,” according to an announcement made on the composer’s site. The sequel to 2017’s record-breaking superhero hit, “Wonder Woman,” the follow-up sees the return of director Patty Jenkins (“Monster”), and stars Gal Gadot and Chris Pine. Jumping in time to take place during the Cold War, “Wonder Woman 1984” also adds Kristen Wiig to the franchise as the villainness Cheetah.
Speaking of Saade Saati now titled Pagalpanti, the earlier reports had suggested that the film revolves around the Hindu belief that the bad luck caused due to the influence of Shani aka Saturn lasts for seven and a half years. As for the leading lady, the details are yet to be revealed.
BOI now saying 105crrs lifetime for Gold. It’s disappointing number considering all the hype, reviews and holidays (15th august, bakrid, rakhi etc). Funny that BOI keeps pushing Akshay as biggest superstar after Khans while his movies box office collections are even being passed by new comers and younger generation. May be Akki need to give a break to non stop deshbhakti kind of movies. Its getting stale and repititive.
As a true Akki fan, you should be disappointed. You should be worried if the quality is not good. But the fact is they are all good movies so far incl GOLD (watch it if you haven’t). So pls don’t be alarmed and suggest anything out of panic. Wait for the next Akki season.
Its because of boi’s obvious bias that i m not convinced that smj producers are over reporting. That film is doing good anyways. Boi idiots are more likely to under report it.
Will never happen. Aamir had issues with modi since fanaa. Bjp cant stand him either. Asslicking chakki is the best option for them. Salman wont touch it as it will anger his core fanatic base.
BTW, Narendra Modi is a potentail blockbuster. If any big star plays, the movie will wreack havoc. I still wonder why people will be intolerant towards the star who will play him. Q, any thoughts here?
I mean look at alternative scenario.
Another potential blockbuster could be a movie on Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. Their biopics will do very well. However the actors playing a congress leader will not be labeled.
About 20 years ago, on a Mahashivratri night, engineering college classmates and future filmmakers Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK took a spin on their motorcycles in the town of Tirupati. They met locals who spoke of a female spirit who was whisking away men in the dead of the night. The locals protected themselves by writing “Stree re pura” (Telugu phrase, meaning stree, come tomorrow) on the walls of their homes.
“The thought of it was ridiculous,” Nidimoru said. “Here you have them writing come tomorrow, and the spirit is like, oh okay, I will come tomorrow, and then the same thing happens the next night and the spirit is like, oh shucks, they did it again, I will come tomorrow, I guess.”
The experience stayed with Nidimoru and DK as they left India for work in the United States of America and later embarked on a filmmaking career. They realised that the urban legend went by different names or had subtle variations across India. “In Karnataka, they call it nale ba,” DK said. “In Rajasthan, the same thing happens, apparently in the cold nights of the winter months.”
This decades-long preoccupation is finally making its way to the theatres on August 31. The horror comedy Stree, written by Nidimoru and DK and directed by Amar Kaushik, stars Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi and Aparshakti Khurana.
“We found the social satire element in it,” Nidimoru said. “That in today’s India, it is men who are scared to step out of houses at night. That men have to take a woman along with them in the night to stay protected. And that men would have to wear tight clothes and step out because once stree took you, only your clothes were left behind. Also, this stree is all about consent. She calls you first and only when you turn, she takes you.”
DK added, “The key in the story isn’t the ghost but how everyone is reacting to its supposed presence. Once we found the satire in it, we immediately embraced the possibilities of the idea.”
aamir is doing humongous work with Paani foundation for 4260 villages in Maharashtra and BJP CM Dev Fadanvis has gone all out to support aamir – so all talks of aamir not close to BJP is baseless. Modi has often invited Aamir when ever there is an opp.
Lol are u really so naive? When u do real ground work with results, any ruling govt is forced to tag along. Question is why the fuck cudnt fadnavis get this work done himself????
Let Paresh Rawal play Modi. He has moved to that camp long back.
Certainly don’t want Aamir playing the man.
Aamir seems close to Maharashtra BJP — and that’s it. No more.
On May 1, 2015, Aamir met the CM, Fadnavis. He agreed to help with the CM’s new program Jal Yukta Shivir, do whatever was possible to bring drought relief to state. A five year journey was chalked out through the next few months. Aamir met industrialists, many at his home, jointly ( the media had then talked about this), got assured financial backing. He was snapped standing and talking to Ratan Tata. Aamir and Satyajit Bhatkal had bid good bye to Satyamev Jayate 3 rd season, in Oct 2014. They now wished to do something practical and take the SJ concept forward. Aamir has spoken about this.
At the recent Paani awards he has spoken about taking the water conservation – soil enrichment idea deeper, not necessarily wider.
The CM assured Aamir that Paani would be supported by state administration — whichever party is in power.
State Congress leaders Raj Thackeray …all present at awards function.
Next October, Fadnavis will have to contest again. This success with water issue — will certainly help him.
@LS – Aamir can and should play Modi – it has tremendous character graph – everyone has a right to have an opinion about him – but I know that he has worked with all sincerity for Guj. and now trying his best for India – the kind of life he has lived makes a good biopic for sure – but I doubt anyone will approach Aamir. Aamir is close to BJP CM in Maha. But due credit to CM also, he has done this for people. And in politics, if a leader does something so good – it is always being considered as party-politics – nothing wrong here. CM is being so pro-active is a nice thing for people as a whole. Aamir has been fearless otherwise with SMJ exposing many Govt. bodies also in lot of episodes. Paresh Rawal (again a BJP guy) is very close and fond of Aamir.
So this makes aamir close to maha bjp by your logic? Please answer something straight for a change. Why cant a state cm do this work with all the resources at his disposal? Why did aamir’s ngo have to do this work?
And it is sad that some fans want him to play anyone from gulshan kumar to osho to modi – just for a cheap blockbuster to his name. Chakki can do with such fans (although he already has a few already).
Even the most upright and honest leader in India cannot move a pencil from Point A to Point B without ensuring that some grease gets slathered on a few palms. All the flagship schemes that are announced by GOI or by well-meaning state govs hardly have a 30-35% penetration due to the massive leakage. Therefore, it would be very naive to think that Fadnavis or Modi or Adityanath etc can effect massive groundlevel changes just by throwing money at these issues.
However, when anchored by a private enterprise helmed by a big public figure (such as Aamir), alongwith full commitment of time by said figure, the intended penetration for these projects increases dramatically.
Consider Swach Bharat and the Toilet Construction Scheme. These initiatives have been forced to go through Panchayati Raj route for funds disbursement. I’ve heard accounts of upto 30-40% funds been skimmed off at Sarpanch levels. and the remainder reaches the beneficiaries well after the toilet gets constructed. So, what in the world can Modi do, sitting alone from his office?? He actually needs lots more Aamir Khans to bring all his schemes to fruition. But do we even have one more Aamir in this country of 1.4B, who can set aside self-enrichment goals and work for the country?
Qalandar “the idea that they are even reformers is itself propaganda.”, if you think of him as animal rights crusader or PETA leader then your outlook will change. I think most of the changes he has made are related to slaughter houses. If he was member of a band, with long grungy hair and torn jeans, he would be already given a nobel prize in peace and humanity. Orange, bald looks are not cool and makes you hindutvavadi which is a dirty word these days! In my eyes, he sure is a reformer as animal rights champion and activist.
If he were a genuine animal rights activist he would be moving against factory farming, which underpins so much of dairy and meat consumption in India and all over the world, and is associated with appalling cruelty that people don’t think about because it is behind the scenes. (As an aside, contemporary factory farming is so brutal and barbaric that even vegetarians are complicit: because once milk and eggs are extracted from these animals so ruthlessly, they become so weak and “untenable” that slaughter is the only recourse — there’s a perfect continuum between factory dairy farming and factory slaughterhouses.) As an aside, Yogi is also associated with other things than animal rights: threats of violence and mayhem over the years, implication in rioting, and he has by his own admission founded a private militia. Doubtless the Hindu Yuva Vahini only focuses on animal rights.
“.., the intended penetration for these projects increases dramatically…”
And this is primarily because otherwise corrupt officials who can stop clearances in their tracks without receiving the requisite lard, are forced to co-operate under the piercing media glare that a persona such as Aamir brings to the ground. These officials are left with no choice but to keep the cogs of bureaucracy moving in such circumstances.
Ever wonder why countless well-meaning professionals, engineers, doctors et al go to rural area to try to do something, but return back dejected? They try to tap into all the available govt schemes for effecting a change on the ground, and they quickly realize that everyone from peon up to the highest echelons of state power are totally corrupt.
I know wealthy businessmen, merchants etc who try to earmark crores of personal wealth towards any sort of social scheme; and have to quickly backtrack when they realize that more than half of that money will end up in the pockets of the corrupt. If the hurdles are so huge, how can ordinary non-media spotlighted people ever hope to achieve any change?
So only when an Aamir hits the ground; the halo of his over-sized persona steam-rolls over all hurdles and prys open all doors of corrupt babudom.
Well, Modi has two options if he is an ‘honest’ politician (and personally I have no such delusions). Either change the system of babudom and do whatever it takes for that. Else resign. Instead he will prove his honesty with ridiculous slogans during 2019 LS elections.
“..Either change the system of babudom and do whatever it takes for that. ..” They need absolute power to enforce a draconian will on the very well entrenched IAS/IPS bureaucrats. Just look at the tremendous pushback received for something as irrelevant as Lateral Entry into the services. The babus would have none of it. These people have created a thick mesh of networks which ensures that not a single file passes through the press, until some juice is squeezed out into open palms.
Who is “they”? The likes of Fadnavis and ________ (fill in as many names as you like here) are creatures and creations of these nexuses of commerce and the State, the idea that they are even reformers is itself propaganda. And when one gets to Adityanath (arguably the biggest fanatic ever to be made CM anywhere in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, or Bangladesh) to even speak of reforming babudom is a pretty sick joke: Adityanath is there not to reform anything (in case a glance at his Gorakhpur track record doesn’t already tell the story) but to underscore that Pakistan is the model, that Hindutva is what is going to be used to win in 2019, nothing else.
The Congress is the party of crony capitalism; the BJP is the party of crony capitalism + Hindutva. And the capitalists are ok with either as long as they get to bend the rules and loot the public’s resources — what is new is that in our era they also seem to want to be considered heroes by that very same public!!!
That comment abt the only difference between congress and bjp is the hindutva rhetoric is bang on target! And its also just a rhetoric, nothing more than that.
From promises of ‘transformational’ development BJP is down to ‘sacch niyat’ rhetoric this time around. Well, intentions are useless if you cant produce results. He is just lucky that his opposition is a waste like rahul.
nykavi: your representation of the businessman who wants to do good but is stymied by government is just as misleading as anyone else talking about Adityanath and development (no one instals a guy like Adityanath if you are interested in development — you do it because you realise there won’t be any development track record to speak of and so hardcore communal politics need to be plugged): the reality in India is businessmen shamelessly exploiting and participating in corruption to loot the public… and then turning around and propagandising images of themselves as fearless entrepreneurs who achieved all that they did DESPITE government restrictions. In a nutshell, this generation of Ambanis, Adanis etc are unimaginable without crony capitalism and illegal favours from the government. One isn’t naive to expect anything different, but to see the valorisation of the businessman as some force for good that is OPPOSED to government control of the economy, rankles (in a world where the government truly did get out of the way, whatever else happened, Ambani and Adani would not be where they are, that’s for sure). For an example of some superb fact-checking on corporate malfeasance check out: http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reportage/coalgate-2-0
Sorry, I know this if off-topic but couldn’t resist 🙂
And PS — if you are going to point out examples of honest, by-the-book entrepreneurs, then one can ALSO point to several several examples of honorable IAS officers doing their duty in very difficult circumstances; you can’t just say everyone is corrupt, actually as between India’s businessmen AS A CLASS and the babus AS A CLASS, I am not at all sure I would pick the former over the latter for character and probity.
If Irrfan says it, it is cool and progressive. But if Yogi bans public slaughter of goats with private backyard slaughter ok, then it is hindutva and regressive. Irrfan at 2:30 mark:
The problem is rose colored glasses. If you see yogi, you automatically judge him based on his clothes. Ignore the clothes and focus on his actions. They are progressive on all accounts.
Yogi is judged on his actions and words: numerous instances of hate speech over the years, the track record as Gorakhpur MP, and his founding of a militia. The notion that he is being judged on his clothes is offensive (why would I think a man who dressed like a sadhu is a right-wing extremist?! A sadhu is just a sadhu — or sometimes, Bachchan in Shaan — and one can’t really infer too much about his politics), and smacks of bad faith. With Yogi one doesn’t need to scramble to find the one issue on which Irrfan and he agree (millions of people agree on that issue, doesn’t mean that inoculates Yogi against charges of extremism, because those charges were never premised on him being an animal rights champion).
He has to start somewhere in his animal rights movement? Maybe with public slaughter of sheep in bakri id and taking selfies with dead animals? It is like Marie Antoinette saying if bread is not available, eat cake. If he is allowed, factory farming might be next dimension, which btw is not that much of a problem in India. And to call the yuva vahini “militia” group is laugh worthy. Maybe mayavatis and yadavs will help us all.
Watched Nayak (hindi remake of original Mudalvan by Shankar) again after many years – Anil is sincere but originally it was Aamir who was offered the role and he rejected it! I wish he had done this….they are planning Nayak 2 – hope aamir does it this time….
Nayak is significantly inferior to Mudalvan — even the soundtrack works much better in Tamil than Hindi (eg something like “Chirya tu hoti to” sounds trivial and silly, whereas “Azhakaana Ratsasiye” is just addictive). The whole bus accident-that-becomes-a-riot bit might be favorite Shankar sequence…
I’ll say this again, if they did this right they’d have the biggest absolute grosser of Indian cinema on their hands. Of course Im not realistically expecting this. They might still get the biggest Hindi grosser but that would have been an opportunity missed. Should be an entertaining film either way but it would be a pity to have this cast and this subject only for the most monstrous initial ever that eventually settles down to the biggest grosser but isn’t more than this on the trending. Given Aamir’s involvement there’s at least a hope for the ideal scenario. Then again this is only a Yashraj production directed by Acharya!
He of course knows the potential but you can’t replicate Rajamouli’s imagination so easily. BB (incidentally I liked part 1 way more than part 2) hardly has an extraordinary script but the director has great imagination here. Aamir is a somewhat different sensibility. He’s more the sort of person who focuses on the script and here it means having the right dramatic script in place with masala elements. Aditya Chopra doesn’t have that gene, in any case he’ll just be happy with the biggest total ever, Acharya strikes me as the sort of director who’s only as good as the script. So it’s really about how much has been done here with the script. BB’s script is not substantial enough, it depends on scale, Rajamouli’s flair, and a myth-like structure. This is perfectly fine as a choice but a different kind of masala is much more script-centric. The latter is what one should expect from TOH. There will of course be masala elements here but it won’t be like BB which is essentially a collection of grand moments in every sense. Or put differently what Rajamouli does is not as easy as it looks, I’m not running him down, just saying that a more script-centric film needs to get the cathartic (if you will) elements right. Differently still, if you’re just doing Dhoom or D2 you can keep things plastic but when you introduce a more substantial script, as was the case in D3, then you need to get it right in a different sense. This is why most people express disappointment with D3. It still has the ‘most’ script among the three films but it doesn’t develop the more substantial script in the best sense.
Of course it has the most ‘script’ as it’s ripped off classics like The Prestige & Deewaar & created a complete joke of a film with hardly anything going for it. The second time an AK film unabashedly plagiarized a Nolan classic, a fact the “intellectual” fans (blind worshippers) of the thinking actor conveniently ignore.
Last couple of reports say Aamir may play Karna (Jha previously reported the Arjuna character would be played by him). So maybe he now wants Prabhas as Arjuna.
I will anyday prefer Aamir playing Karna than Arjuna. He truly is an alien outsider in a mediocre industry when it comes to merit.
yes that’s a reasonable expectation but it will need to be liked to get there. Even the biggest initial won’t get it to 500. You’re talking about doing 125 or so more than Dangal. That film had great trending. Now the TOH initial will be in a different stratosphere altogether. Nonetheless the film will have to be liked more than D3 was (a film which broke most or all records in the first 10 days or so) to get to 500. In any case my point is a different one. The film could have a potential way more than 500. The point is that you’re getting Aamir and Bachchan together for the first time, you have a big period production which promises lots of masala, you have the Yashraj banner. After all this a 100 or so more than Dangal might be the biggest ever for Hindi but that’s hardly living up to the potential of the production. The film should be historic in terms of the absolute gross but again my debate in Hollywood language would be a film doing 550m (great) when it could do 700m (extraordinary).
Extended week 1 business could be 250 Cr plus or even closer to 300 Cr if the film has strong WOM, so in this scenario 400 Cr should be a given. But you’re totally right, as a cinematic moment this is a big deal. It was a big deal when Chopra got SRK and Bachchan together and this with the space Aamir has found himself in is no less. It’s got 23 days before competition arrives and that’s plenty to set new records but I’m more interested in the decency of the film. At least have some scenes to savour between the 2 leads.
Your estimates here lay out well how a good film here could easily do well in excess of 500. The other way of looking at it is the BB all India number (all versions). A Hindi super-grosser ought to be able to do as much. But yeah otherwise it’s true that one way or the other one is still looking at the biggest Hindi grosser. D3 too did it at the time.
the one thing that is for sure here is that it will not be easy to build up this kind of hype for a project for a very long time. This film literally has all the elements in place. Dhoom used to be Yashraj’s biggest box office card but after this no matter what D4 is or isn’t, it will seem like an anti-climax.
BB2 did 250 cr in a normal 7 day week one without any holidays. So ToH’s extended week 1 of 9 days can easily go to 300 cr in Diwali festive week. That week has a lot of restricted holidays apart from the national one. Question is, will the hype be at BB2 level and will the WOM be at BB2 level.
On the former, I think a lot of factors are already there for building up the hype cycle. Aamir in a lead role after 2 years, return of D3 blockbuster team of YRF/Acharya/Aamir, Aamir-Bachchan in one film for first time, Aamir back in Lagaan/RDB domain of anti-colonial sentimentality, a budget of 200+ cr with best available production values, etc etc. What they now need is a few good posters and a kickass trailer to be released as planned over the month of September. BB2 trailer was really good and did half of the job of building hype (the other half was already there due to it being second part to a hugely successful BB1). ToH team still has one month time, so they should take good care to get the trailer right.
Regarding WOM, it will depend on how the movie eventually shapes up. I expect it to be a lot better than D3, given that Aamir has dedicated more than 2 years of his time to this project and has been fully involved since its inception (which was not the case for D3, which he shot as a stop-gap project between Talaash and PK).
Overall, I wont be surprised if we get 300 cr in first week (9 days) and a cume of 550 cr. I think 700 cr is not possible with Acharya and Adi’s involvement (there is bound to be some consequences!). But yes, 3I would have done 700 cr in current market and with GST in place.
And I will repeat this again. I have no doubt that single day business will touch 50 cr on Nov 8th. But the true measure of WOM will be on Sunday (Nov 11) – IF it can again touch 50 cr on that day. With really good WOM it can surpass the opening day figure.
A Hindi record grosser doing at par with BB2 all India is an absurd expectation. Core Telugu & Tamil film markets in the interiors of TN, AP, Karnataka & Telangana hardly have a market for Hindi films. The reach of Hindi cinema in the south does not extend beyond the metropolitans of Bangalore & Hyderabad (not even Chennai or Kochi). As an individual whose spent the last decade of my life in the south of the vindhyas I could vouch for that. In a best case scenario, the potential of a Hindi film would probably be about 20% higher than the Hindi version of BB2 at about 600+. Or perhaps 700 in a post GST market. Even an HAHK wouldn’t hv an inflated adjusted number of 700+ today.
Sometimes it might be a good idea to read carefully what the other person is saying! I wasn’t assuming overnight Hindi penetration in Southern markets when I said that. I was suggesting comparable participation in Hindi markets. The latter has more or less underperformed 99% of the time over last 25 years or more. There are few exceptions. Ghajini for example was huge in some of these centers, something that is not adequately reflected in the gross (massive as it was at the time, a fair bit came from non-multiplex centers). The Bollywood gross is mostly about multiplexes. These have mushroomed over time and the gross has increased as well. To an extent the subjects are also a bit different than they were in the 90s. A salman starrer still has more universal appeal than a major SRK one in the 90s. The reason Aamir is ahead of the game even with a film like Dangal is because everyone else is underperforming. Dangal did hugely well but all else being equal it shouldn’t be outgrossing blockbuster films from Salman or whoever! And so a film that drew that universal audience and appealed to all kinds of markets and was liked enough in most of these could absolutely get that gross (even accounting for the fact that market penetration in TN or Andhra has always been greater than in Hindi ones, i.e. per capita cinemas/screens). Because of the segmentation of the audience it’s not easy to design such a film. But the Salman films minimally show that if they were better works and trended better a lot more would be possible. With TOH there are all the makings of a perfect storm. Whether it lives up to its billing is another matter. But I am talking about potential here. The biggest openers today would already be doing 400 regularly if they trended better (and I’m not talking exceptional trending).
Might as well keep expectations realistic than being a snobbish know it all at most times. Whatever your rubbish estimates about the so called potential of a film might be, even the biggest of blockbusters with a 90%+ word of mouth can never cross 600-700 cr in the current scenario unless it gets 2 months of competition free release with adequate face value & huge production scale.
“Of course I never said that these were my expectations but then you’re not likely to read anything carefully anytime soon.”~ not that you’re anywhere near being specific at any juncture, a trait well shared and admired by you and your cronies. An neat cover up for your Aamir fan kid’ism and your shamelessly unabashed left wing inclination.
After playing a demanding and physically challenging role in Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi Kangana Ranaut will be seen playing kabaddi player in Ashwiny Iyer’s Panga. She will also be re-uniting with Rajkumar Rao and Anurag Basu for a movie titled Imli.
Commenting about working again with Anurag Basu, Kangana said, “He taught me what ‘acting’ truly is and I owe my interesting career graph to him. We met again after a long gap during which I have grown as an actress, but with him I’m still a child who has a lot to learn”.
If Ambani is backing MB and Aamir is on board – TOH 550 Cr will have a worthy successor -I think TOH has good 25 days solo run – unless some hollywood biggie is also releasing….that is going break every record in sight…aamir khan makes those nos. like 200-300-350 cr so easy!!! akki has never been there, sallu is on a slippery ground, srk is long out of that zone…..
If MB really happens and IF Prabhas is his co-star, then rest assured that they will target BB2’s all-version business of 1000 cr nett in India with first part of the series itself.
Even if the casting falls in place, question still remains – who will direct it? I agree with Satyam that Aamir dont have the imagination of Rajamouli to build a cinematic universe out of scratch. That is a Cameron/Lucas-kind of unique skill-set in film-making (one reason I am looking forward to Alita:BA coming this Christmas).
And its not easy to make such a film. Pre-production will take one year (2019), shooting at such a scale will take another year (2020) and post-production with all vfx work will take another year (2021). So we are looking at 2022 summer release at earliest.
4 year gap between TOH and MB1 may not make many hard core fans happy!
And contrary to popular fan sentiments here, i believe that its a worthwhile investment of his time. Because if it clicks, he can make another 3-4 films for MB franchise in quick time. The returns can be humongous over time.
LAGAAN was a very big affair for that time and its influence exceeded that of a normal producer. How do we know Aamir doesn’t have the imagination? He has been playing with this wish in his thoughts for decades. His strength are well told simple stories so far, but that should not fool us. He’s not Rajamouli, of course. But that doesn’t mean that only Rajamouli can do MB (and we already know what it will look like).
Aamir is liberating Maharashtra from the drought, an area the size of Germany. He did SMJ. This man thinks big when he wants to. These ideas originate first in the head. Directing is more a matter of time and whether he will take it. Of course it needs a fantastic script, anything else would disappoint me. I’m not in favour of Aamir making MB, but I’m sure it would be something unique.
Rajamouli has categorically told last year in many interviews that he will be directing Aamir’s MB. He is keeping quiet simply becoz that is how aamir is known to work – less noise during the work. Now Prabhas is on board. Things are falling in place with Ambani backing it (Reliance stock is rocketing! in last one month its mkt cap has gone up 1 Lac crore!). Definitely things will be on the biggest canvas India can offer to the world as now China mkt is a far bigger territory and then US will be tgted to with LOTR scale….only power that now is required to make this or break this…well, that of Lord Krishna’s 🙂 he has the final call in this….
Rajamouli is currently prepping for his next that will only start shooting after its lead stars are free from their ongoing projects. That film will be shot next year and may not release before 2020.
If we assume that MB will not go on floors before 2020, even then the entire pre-production will have to happen without the director’s involvement! It is logistically not possible for Rajamouli to direct the first part (unless Aamir does another film in between).
I believe Rajamouli may come in to direct latter parts of the series. Not now.
Btw, there is a big chance that Prabhas will agree to Aamir’s proposal. This guy does not mind gaps between his releases. BB2 released 2 years after BB1 and now Saaho will release 2 years after BB2 in 2019 summer. He is also reportedly getting married next year and is scheduled to shoot a romantic film in 2019 which will probably release in 2020. So if he signs up MB and the first film releases in 2022, then it will be another regular 2 year gap between his releases.
As for Aamir, there was 4 year gap between DCH and MP. And there was 3 year gap between 3I and Talaash (not counting DG, since is was not a commercial film from any angle). So another 4 year gap for Aamir is not a big deal for him. Fans may get impatient, but that cant be helped. No gain without pain.
#HappyPhirrBhagJayegi shows HEALTHY GROWTH on Sat… Sun is expected to be better… Opening weekend biz is expected to be in the same range as the first part [#HappyBhagJayegi had collected ₹ 10.71 cr]… Fri 2.70 cr, Sat 4.03 cr. Total: ₹ 6.73 cr. India biz.
Sometimes the sudden fire accidents raises some doubts. Agree that memorablia was lost but the Studio is still there. I also felt bad when Ashirwad was sold. Nothing is sacrosanct anymore.
The family sold the parental home (“Krishna Raj”) in Pali Hill, a gracious bungalow that has now been torn down and an apartment complex is being built in its place — there is no hope for preservation of architectural heritage in India when even the most affluent in society cannot be bothered to maintain homes that they can easily afford to. Earlier Sanju had done something similar, and Twinkle did likewise with Rajesh Khanna’s bungalow on Carter Road.
Starring Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal and Abhishek Bachchan, Manmarziyaan will be released in India on September 14 after its world premiere at the 2018 Toronto Film Festival (September 6-16) under the title Husband Material.
‘Ant-Man And The Wasp’ big in China, soars past $500m worldwide
Ant-Man And The Wasp grossed $71.2m from 28 territories for a $332.6m international running total that will soon overtake the 2015 original’s $339.1m final tally. The $544.1m worldwide haul has surpassed Ant-Man’s $529.3m.
The $68m China debut ranked as the fourth highest debut in the territory for a Marvel Cinematic Universal release and the third highest by a Western film so far this year, while the $7.2m Imax portion delivered the highest ever August debut there.
South Korea now ranks as the film’s second highest market on $42.4m, followed by the UK on $19.8m, Mexico on $15m, and Australia on $14.6m, with Japan still to come. Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly star.
This is big news. YRF launched in-house yfx wing yFX for ToH …
****
From its inception, Aamir Khan’s Thugs Of Hindostan was conceptualised as a visual spectacle to be released in IMAX format. With the visual effects being an integral part of the action adventure, it has been learnt that producer Aditya Chopra and Khan decided that the VFX will be handled in the studio’s in-house special effects wing, yFX. Turns out, it was for the Amitabh Bachchan and Katrina Kaif starrer that Chopra had specially launched the visual effects wing in 2016. In the past, the production house’s offerings were usually outsourced to other VFX studios.
A production source reveals, “When Vijay [Krishna Acharya, director] narrated the script to Adi and Aamir, they both understood that the film had to be mounted on a large scale. It was then that Aditya decided to set up a VFX wing specially for the job. While the team has handled portions of some of YRF’s offerings, Thugs will be the first project that will be fully handled by yFX.”
Chopra also understood that having a VFX wing on standby would ensure that the post-production would work in tandem with the shoot of the period drama, thus ensuring that the film meets its November release. “The real challenge was to take up an IMAX film. Every time a crucial sequence was shot, it was immediately worked upon within the stipulated timeframe.” The source goes on to add that Chopra and Khan’s decision was reaffirmed when footage of several big-budget films were leaked. “With Baahubali 2’s footage being leaked, Adi was certain that he needs to monitor the film’s VFX work within closed doors.”
The spokesperson of Yash Raj Films said, “We wanted to present a film that would stand out with its visual extravaganza. Thus, came the inception of yFX — a team that worked on several projects first to take on the mammoth task at hand for Thugs Of Hindostan.”
And with launching of yFX, the BO fight between ToH and 2.0 in nov is now a show-down between ‘make in india’ vs hw (apart from the north vs south thing). Sep to nov is going to be fun!
Not sure how much Sultan will do in China as it will be facing competition from Antman and MI6 next weekend. But ToH can get to 70M range in the opening weekend.
How?? Even if DP is 55 cr, it will need 110 cr or so for just recovery. Its a different matter that DP may be 60 cr based on reports already posted here.
Gold has not been able to cross 100 cr after second weekend. In fact Happy Bhag gaayi has done better over this weekend.
@himeshmankad you have it all wrong. Aa films is distributing the film on commission. Please check with me or Anil Thadani before assuming it’s sold for 60 cr
I want to make a final reply to a resident idiot in this forum who raises one question from time to time – why dont aamir fans criticize him for dumbing down any ‘influences’ from nolan’s films?
Well, its not because aamir is dumb. Its because bollywood audience by large is much less mature than hw counterpart. And an occasional d3 is ok as long as he keeps doing dg, talaash, pk, dangal and ss. But yes, after spending 2 years dedicated to toh, i do expect it to be lot better than d3. However, it need not be a dangal – baahubalis were fine!
#Gold registered a steep decline in Weekend 2… Will cross ₹ 100 cr mark, but, business-wise, one definitely expected bigger numbers, especially after a terrific Day 1 [#IndependenceDay: ₹ 25.25 cr]… [Week 2] Fri 1.85 cr, Sat 3.10 cr, Sun 4.75 cr. Total: ₹ 99 cr. India biz.
HINDI FILMS that made it to the ₹ 100 cr Club in 2018… 1. #Padmaavat [Jan] 2. #SKTKS [Feb] 3. #Raid [March] 4. #Baaghi2 [March] 5. #Raazi [May] 6. #Race3 [June] 7. #Sanju [June] 8. #Gold [Aug] India biz. Note: ₹ 100 cr mark is no longer the yardstick for a film’s success.
Continuing from above:
Q: “..The Congress is the party of crony capitalism; the BJP is the party of crony capitalism + Hindutva. ..”
You forgot to add ‘Dynasts and Sycophants” to the description of the Congress.
Crony Capitalism is the lifeblood of every major political party in every democracy around the world. Be it Repubs or Democrats, or Labor/Conservatives or Cong/BJP; each and every one of them have politicians making sweet deals with their favorite industry-groups and its businessmen. That pretty much is how any modern democracy works the world over.
So then, one has to distinguish these parties in some other ways. And the stark distinction between the BJP and Congress in one word is: Dynasty!
If BJP is Hindu, then the Cong is beholden to other religions. One just cannot wish that fact away. Their blatant vote-bank politics is pretty obvious for all to see.
But the bigger point here is, that you keep misjudging the ‘Hindutva’-bias of every Hindu who backs the BJP. It is not at all a love for ‘Hindutva’, in fact a wide swathe of us are not even ritualistically practicing Hindus. Rather it is a hatred of Dynasty; and the outrageous attempts by an internal coterie of sycophants to keep every worthwhile candidate ‘OUT’ of the sanctum-sanctorum at all costs. The incredulous sight of seeing a National Party cut itself to pieces just so they can prop up a Man-Child to be the PM! We are all contemporaries of RaGa, and believe me, we millions of educated self-made worldwise desi-borns scratch our heads everytime we see/hear him.
People are ready to ignore Modi’s communal past, just because they see a lot of themselves in his rise from poverty, thru sheer hard work and merit (guile cunning as well, which everyone needs to rise up anyways!) to occupying that top post. It is reflective of every Indian who has become successful in the last 3 decades. And all of us stridently abhor the blatant Congress sycophancy which took root during the time of Indira. And look at the systemic endemic corruption which this unbridled lust for dynastic power created, starting from the 60s onwards, in each and ever institution of democratic India.
So let me tell you this: You remove the Nehru-Gandhi Dynasty from the Congress, and you will see millions of educated Indians flock back to it. Unfortunately, this is something most liberals who want to stick to the Congress do not understand; and do not know how to address.
ha ha – well said NK – I can still understand ppl hating BJP for some reasons – but can never understand why and how can ppl still love Cong. for any reasons????? i mean that RG fellow winking in vote motion and asking NM to get up etc……well one must be out of mind to even consider this ppl worthy of being this nation’s leaders……
Agreed on every count here! You have precisely pointed out why Bjp will win next year (although not by a landslide this time). There will be much more back-scratching and compromises this time around to put together the required number of seats.
But they were elected representatives. They could catch votes. When there is such an easy way to capture power, why not use them? We had congress prime ministers like Shastri, Rao and Manmohan singh who are outsiders. Those who wanted to grow left the party and formed their own parties like Sharad Pawar. No one is preventing other promising ones like Jyotiraditya scindia and Sachin Pilot to leave and form their own parties and pose a challenge.
the unpalatable truth is that the party wants the Gandhis to campaign at an all India level, not others because they know who can get some hearing and who cant. The much ridiculed rahul Gandhi is at ease in chennai, in Mumbai, in Delhi or in Punjab as well as foreign countries because of his surname and history behind it. The party is still benefitting from that surname and its history. And why will congress throw them out and become dead? Gandhis are rulers or catalysts and they are still a force to reckon with. Dynast or not it is all personality politics.Can you imagine BJP without Modi as of now?
As for corruption. Bihar under RJD, UP under SP, Tamilnadu under two dravidian parties,Yeddiyurappa of BJP, WB under non congress rule and the many skeletons waiting to be exposed and which are now in hiding are examples which debunks the theory that congress mukt means corruption mukt.
Not to forget Mayawati and Bahujan Samaj Party in the last para.
As for communal politics by congress, it is an evil norm in India. Except communists, every party plays these cards covertly or overtly.
But there is one difference: in every democracy there is vote bank politics, but in India today it is considered illegitimate to do any kind of vote bank politics if it is targeted at Muslims — but it is 100% legitimate to engage in vote-bank politics that are targeted at Jats, Dalits, Thakurs, Marathas, you name it. This is a double standard, and is now so widely held a view that the Congress gets frightened lest anyone accuse it of being (shocker! hold your breath!) soft on Muslims.
[Aside: the Congress’ partiality towards Muslims is itself gravely exaggerated: throughout the 1970s and 1980s many of the Sanghis were themselves in the Congress as the only game in town, and the Congress was “appeasing” both Muslims and right-wing Hindus (today many conveniently forget half of this equation — if there was a Shah Bano the Congress would “balance” by allowing puja at Ayodhya); not to mention the multiple instances of communal violence where victims never got justice, and where violence was state-sponsored (e.g. Hashimpur). What has changed is that with the rise of the Right, right-wing Hindu voters have definitively jumped ship from Congress to BJP; Muslims often do not have any alternative since the BJP keeps heaping abuse on them — but where they HAD/HAVE a choice (UP, Bihar) Muslims also abandoned the Congress.]
Q, off course the BJP also has its vote-bank to pander to. They started with Brahmin-Baniya, and kept expanding it to include almost all the various castes, sub-castes in the Hindu universe. The Cong on the other hand kept losing chunks of their constituencies over the decades and are now left with a precious few. However, in the liberal lexicon, a BJP pandering to its core vote-bank equals ‘communalism’; whereas when other do the same, it is ‘secularism’. And this is what the enlightened voter rejects!
So then, why wax eloquent on secularism vs communalism, when in fact everyone is practicing the same cynical politics.
And hence, my original proposal to you: Get rid of the Gandhis, and then see which party musters the biggest combo of vote-banks. IMHO, that will be a big equalizing event by itself. If the Congress persists with this Dynastic status-quo, it will keep bleeding its constituencies over to the BJP. The only effective way to stop the BJP is to convince the voter that the Cong is a meritocratic party. It ultimately becomes a game of whoever can stitch the most vote-banks together.
Nykavi: the equivalence is completely false: in the entire history of the Congress, what career would an anti-Hindu have had?! Whereas in the BJP today, if you are virulently anti-Muslim Indian, no one will push back against you, and it might even be a way to advance in the party (any number of high officials or ministers could be cited here). To compare this deliberate and overt stigmatisation of a particular group with the ordinary push and pull of any democracy and set up an equivalence between them, simply does not hold water. The BJP most certainly has parallels “on the other side”, but that, I’m afraid, would be the other side of the border, where parties go around demonising and stigmatising Ahmedis, while those accused of being pro-Ahmedi are too cowed to say and do much and simply stay silent on the issue. Muslim-oriented vote bank politics over the decades was in no way anti-Hindu (it was unhelpful and not good IMO but that is a separate issue), it was simply ordinary, in the way of parties today who say “hey let’s do X or Y because the Jats want it”. The vote bank consolidation of the BJP, an ambitious attempt to stress a Hindu identity against a Muslim “other”, is pretty explicitly anti-Muslim, it’s the very basis of the BJP consolidation. It is not the Hindu version of what was happening earlier, it is different in kind.
PS — on a different note, i would say that if the Congress has any life today, it is not because of dynasty or any inherent merits (it hardly has any), but because people see no other alternative to Modi and the BJP. So if there is any vote swing the other way in 2019, it will simply be a result of how badly the BJP has mismanaged everything except for the media and the art of winning elections (I admit I didn’t expect this level of incompetence from them on either the economy or foreign policy; the other stuff was not a surprise).
No one is saying that getting rid of congress means getting rid of corruption. Some of us have issues against personality politics, just like star system in film industry. We like to see films succeed based on its content and value rather than a star getting an initial. Its a different matter that among star vehicles i will prefer ranveer succeeding than say ranbir who gets everything on platter. Not that i am a ranveer fan, far from it.
We need an effective opposition. Otherwise we will be under another one party rule which will be as well as dynasty which may get away with anything just because it has numbers. Whether it is emergency or demonetisation.
“..They could catch votes. When there is such an easy way to capture power, why not use them? ..”
Actually, they were propped up by power of media and creation of a cult. When you take the first two decades of a country’s formative years (ie during the time of Nehru and early Indira years), and use entire Government Machinery, its educational institutions, think tanks et al and dedicate them to slavishly create a Dynastic Cult, off course the naive junta will buy it in spades. By the time Sanjay died, the elevation of the cult was complete. Every half-brained nitwit arising from those genes was now to become anointed emperor. This is why a non-politician like Rajiv got to run the country for 5 yrs and ultimately leave it bankrupt!
Thankfully, all of this couldve been done until before the Internet and social media. Before the power of thought and opinion and its dissemination was available to common-folk like all of us here. And this is why RaGa finds it so difficult to follow the footsteps of his father, who just lazily sauntered his way into the PM chair.
“..Can you imagine BJP without Modi as of now?..” The same question was asked when Vajpayee retired. But you see, when there is a grassroots org that itself elevates people based on merit, there will always be someone who rises to the occasion. So just to compare, after the Kennedy’s everyone thought that the Dems were finished. Yet they delivered Carter, Clinton and Obama. Even the Repubs, after the Bushes, cud deliver Trump!
Unfortunately, aside from the BJP, none of the other parties have any semblance of a meritocratic system in place. Each and every one is a baap-beta or bua-bhatija or what-have-you party.
It is junta’s mistake. So why blame the gandhis who took full advantage of the opportunities given to them on a platter? Afterall politics is also a sort of business.
The same junta also defeated the gandhis. So why to blame the junta which elects the people according to the times it lives? the junta has no option but to elect someone and they do it when they are convinced according to their intellect.
Intellect of a junta that is adversely poverty stricken and embarrassingly uneducated? Even for those privileged ‘educated’ ones, indian system of education is a farce. And I am saying this after getting advanced ‘degrees’ from reputed schools both in India and abroad. Democracy itself is a farce when you have such a hapless population in the first place.
Who is responsible for bollywood’s nonsensical star driven films? The audience? The film-makers and producers? Or the stars themselves? No one is beyond the blame game, but ultimately everyone follows the money. The money-bags create a star system and use it for their advantage,ie, to make more money. The stars get the perks, and the junta makes a fool of themselves.
“…It is junta’s mistake…”
Cmon! So you will blame those uneducated ignorant whom you were supposed to enlighten? How cynical?
“..Media ka mayajaal…”
The media was a tightly controlled group of entities, firmly under the thumb of the State in those early years. And they even got censored during Emergency. So the Gandhi cult continued unhindered until way into the 80s. Any cult of Hazare/Kejriwal or even Modi is too puny to even compare to this vast colossal Gandhi State that had been created by the time Rajiv arrived. It perhaps was a twist of India’s fate or some phenomenon of Nature that all three (ie Indira and sons) died violently, and thus created a natural space for other leaders and parties to sprout and grow.
How trump got elected? Its not a Russian conspiracy but you can dig about CA. India is living in stone age technically while the next technical revolution is engulfing the developed economies.
And the same media went against gandhis and created another cult when AH and AK started their indefinite dharnas. And who ultimately benefitted from that? Media ka mayajaal.
Gold Second Weekend Business
Monday 27 August 2018 12.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Gold saw a big drop in collections as it grossed 9.25 crore nett in its second weekend which has taken its business to 97 crore nett apprx. The collections were low over the weekend though Sunday got a decent number due to Raksha Bandhan.
Gold will cross the business of films like Raid and Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety to become the sixth highest grosser of the year and overall its a decent fare as makers have made money while India was on commission so the all India distributor will also be in the black. There will be losses in Overseas as it was an acquisition there but the main thing is that it should have done more business in India and held on better.
I was a bit disappointed as was expecting GOLD to be Akshay’s biggest grosser, till someone tole me that
“The likes of Marcus, ideaunique and other Aamir Khan fans call lesser successes like Secret super star and Talaash a HIT.
So enjoy Naveen…GOLD is a good success and most importantly a good movie.”
So am happy now. 2019 has just begun for Akshay with one superb movie – padman and another good one – GOLD
An entry in 100 crore club also shows the consistent run at Akshay Kumar has had at the box office as he has more films in the 100 crore club as compared to Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Ajay Devgn and Hrithik Roshan. Although Kumar doesn’t have the humongous blockbusters under his kitty so far, he has managed to be consistent in delivering the small scale hits thereby ensuring circulation of funds within the industry.
looks like boi is consoling itself and akshay fans by calling gold a success. like it called tmk a semi hit when it was a mostly ridiculed movie like raone, which boi gave a hit tag.
a rather big achievement. big b after completing 30 years in the industry in comparison was doing stuff like sooryavansham and lal baadshah, that too coming after long breaks which he continuously took after the mid 1980s
Bachchan has 4 National Awards. Three of them since 2000.
Salman Khan isn’t even fit to receive a ghanta award.
I’m surprised even reasonable people fall prey to such nonsensical & empty rhetoric.
Since Bradman scored 6996 runs, scores of batsmen have crossed that threshold. None come close to his unbelievable average. Alistair Cook has almost scored twice as many runs as The Don. No one, literally no one, will call that a rather big achievement compared to what Bradman achieved.
It’s not about the quantity…it’s always about the quality!
First…this is not a comparison about superstardom. Bachchan is the biggest superstar in the history of indian cinema. Period
Second…there is no doubt that the Khans have made it to the top for much longer than Bachchan or just about anyone in hindi cinema. Is plain and simple. QSQT in 1988, MPK in 1989 and Deewana in 1991. While SRK has def. taken a dive, Aamir and Salman are going like the energizer bunny. However, I am not sure if either of them will be doing the kind of movies Amitabh is doing in his 70s (Aamir will probably retire from acting after turning 60 and Salman will just fizzle out and wouldn’t do character actor roles!
Third…..TOH is first and foremost an Aamir movie though the biggest USP is Amitabh and Aamir coming together for the first time. Aamir is the one making all the important decisions about the movie (along with Adi) and he will be getting the biggest chunk from the movie’s profit.
The comparison is not a fair one, given that audience expectations, the business-side of the industry, etc., are all completely different. Today we are in an era of star-producers, which goes a long way towards ensuring the survival of someone like SRK (had he been solely dependent on directors he would have been done a long time ago). A fairer critique might be that Bachchan is not the sort to be a successful producer.
the fact that there is all this buzz for Aamir and Amitabh coming together, itself illustrates his abiding relevance.
PS — there is also a lot of ‘elided’ history here: for instance, Salman spent years in the wilderness, and one can’t just tack on the Veergati years to the post-Wanted years. In fact, with the rise of the YRF/Dharma paradigm, both Aamir and Salman struggled to stay relevant throughout the 1990s, although they deserve a lot of credit for re-inventing themselves later on (there aren’t too many examples of people becoming their industry’s top stars 10-15 years after debut)…
these debates are too stale and downright silly to get into all over again, specially when I’ve certainly said my bit on all of this many many times. I have a simple rule though, most of the time when these comparisons come up with Bachchan I tend to switch off. I might argue or not but I know this is simply not a serious ‘debate’. People are a) not truthful and simply feeding their fan instincts b) most of the time they don’t even know what they’re talking about as a simple matter of knowing the facts. c) they completely distort the present as well and offer these alternative histories (Salman on top since his debut or whatever.. yeah right!).
One should not have to make the case for Bachchan (or Bradman as Saket has appropriately brought up) and if nonetheless one is doing so perhaps one is crazier than the opposition!
StreetPharmacist would make bad faith arguments about how Aamir wasn’t any kind of star during the 1990s, whereas I am saying something quite different: he was shut out of the dominant paradigm and had to chart a different path. That path most assuredly was a struggle…
(Aside: among the reasons it was a struggle was ALSO that the likes of SRK/Johar/YRF played dirty with him, although he certainly has made his peace with two of those three now!)
YRF is now giving him 70% profit sharing deal and is pleased to have him call the shots on set. KJo is quite despo at this point to sign him for Osho biopic …
And SRK at this point is begging YRF to give him Dhoom 4.
Salman and Aamir both started with a bang and had no. of successful films during first 10-15 years. Salman entered into wilderness post 90s and then returned huge with Dabang. He was doing quite well till late 90s. Of course SRK was having big hits from YRF and Johar every 2nd year or so in 90s and early 2000s but he had no of below par movies in between. Anyways the big hits SRK had from Johar and YRF kept him at top. Aamir actually had more of a roller coaster ride in 90s. He had some big hits, some great performances but BO wise he kept having few hiccups. But he was always counted as a huge star. There were many stars doing quite well in 90s and the competition was more open. SRK was never too far ahead in 90s since Aamir, Salman and others kept the competition alive. SRK’s most dominant years were from 2002 to 2004. At that time Aamir was away solving his personal life, Salman was going through tough time professionally and personally, Sunny’s and Govinda’s careers were over, Hrithik after his super start was struggling to find his feet, Vivek oberoi was just a spark that didn’t last, Abhishek Bachchan was struggling to live the hype. It was a one man show then until Aamir returned. Rest is history. 😉
Due to health reasons and that accident, Bachchan aged faster and so he could not do those kind of movies any longer. But he did well once he accepted his old man image and comfortable in that.
To be honest advances in medical sciences, technologies, products etc. is helping not just actors but even sports persons to last longer or play harder and/or more frequently. Of course in today’s over competitive mindset people have become far more professional and dedicated and that has helped as well. I would prefer how things were in past though. Far less predictable, more exciting and far more room for heroism.
LOL, Taran finally admits this (see at the bottom):
taran adarsh
Verified account
@taran_adarsh
6h6 hours ago
HINDI FILMS that made it to the ₹ 100 cr Club in 2018…
1. #Padmaavat [Jan]
2. #SKTKS [Feb]
3. #Raid [March]
4. #Baaghi2 [March]
5. #Raazi [May]
6. #Race3 [June]
7. #Sanju [June]
8. #Gold [Aug]
India biz.
Note: ₹ 100 cr mark is no longer the yardstick for a film’s success.
Ravi Teja – Ileana D’Cruz – Sunil… First look poster of #Telugu film #AmarAkbarAnthony… Directed by Sreenu Vaitla… Music by Thaman… Produced by Mythri Movie Makers… 5 Oct 2018 release… #AmarAkbarAnthonyFL: taran tweets
Folks, a quick question:
I couldnt catch Sanju in the theatres. Would anyone know when the movie will hit PaytoView or DVD circuit? Dont want to download this one.
Top Actor This Decade: Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar at the top two spots, the rest of Bollywood follows!
ByHimesh MankadAug 27, 2018 – 1:46 pm IST
No 5 Aamir
No 4 SRK
No 3 Ajay
No 2 Akshay
No 1 Salman
The top two stars of the decade so far when it comes to delivering the huge blockbusters are Salman Khanand Aamir Khan, whereas the top two stars in terms of aggregate Box-Office collections this decade areSalman Khan and Akshay Kumar.
While Aamir Khan has the magnitude of humongous blockbusters this decade, but not the quantity, Akshay Kumar on the other hand as the quantity but not the magnitude of blockbusters. It is Salman Khan who has somehow managed to strike a perfect balance between magnitude and quantity.
Also few foolish Aamir Khan try to ignore Aami’s absconding ways to his focus in all aspects incl shadow direction, script correction etc of Aamir.
When Aamir did do the direction for TZP, he stole the credit and did it himself. Since then all producers have strict clause that he won’t interfere. Also Aamir is very particular that he should be given credit for his work. Hence he doesn’t interfere…so there flies off the crow for these bigots claiming to be Aamir Khan’s fans. Fact is they are enemies. True fans like me always help him. Aamir is doing Mahabharat foe sure now. he ignore all people who wanted him to do something else.
Just like Abhishek Bachchan reads Satyam’s comments and chose films, Aamir agrees with most of my sincere advises for him. In next 2-3 years, he is going to work very hard. He is reading more scripts now than he has done in last decade. he will produce more movies like Mogul starring others. He may also accept to play second lead to younger stars and do more movies, because he knows the credit will go to him. He has learn from his mistakes of Secret Superstar. Wait and Watch.
“He may also accept to play second lead to younger stars and do more movies, because he knows the credit will go to him. He has learn from his mistakes of Secret Superstar. Wait and Watch.” I know many ppl were annoyed very much after watching Gold (Rangan has ripped it apart and below his article, comments are super-hilarious) – but et tu? Naveen? I did not know that watching Gold can make one write such things? 🙂 boss daaru laga rakhi he kya?
I’m sorry to report that I’m not as important a person as you are. Aamir might be following your advice but Abhishek Bachchan assuredly isn’t following mine..
Yes….Aamir is looking to play second lead to a younger actor because his movies are flopping left right and center! and how the hell was SS a mistake? because you think he was looking for a Dangal type blockbuster? I mean you are a Akshay fanatic but can you please get your head out of your own you know what to check what’s really happening?
If we are going to call Gold an unmitigated failure — and I am totally ok with that — then we must also revise a bunch of classifications for a bunch of other films as well (eg various SRK films over the last decade; or even certain Salman films like Dabang 2 must be re-examined, especially once all the genre advantages are accounted for).
I wouldn’t call Gold an ‘unmitigated failure’ but it is def. an underachiever. Since he works in these low budget movies, it’s been a while since Akshay has delivered an out and out flop.
Naveen has a nice modus operandi – when he realizes that he is caught in too much akki-worshipping, he simply changes the subject to aamir-bashing 😉 ha ha and he starts talking that Big B is the USP of TOH – it is an Aamir Khan film and Big B is above all such comparisons now. He himself knows that he can no more give even 150 cr solo-hero hits but no one expects him to do that! his very presence and first-time pairing with Aamir is certainly a USP but to count his past laurels and try to put him above Aamir here is blasphemy! but then akki-fans are known to have repeated attacks of delrium 😉 So Talaash becomes a bad film and SS becomes a no-show!! Gold should be sent for Oscars now…..
Akshay Kumar is the 7th Highest paid actor in the world!!
What???? In the world?????…that’s freaking awesome. This is brilliant from the self made star. He is the tortoise in the race. Silent killer.
The interview:
Q1. After being featured on the Forbes highest paid global entertainers’ list earlier this year, you’ve now been ranked the world’s 7th highest paid actor. How does it feel?
Well, I’m not going to lie, it feels good momentarily, but I never take these lists too seriously, as they keep changing, like seasons. It’s not something I had aimed for. The idea is only to do good, better, and best work. But, of course, I’m forever grateful when things like these come my way.
Q2. Your latest film Gold has been receiving rave reviews from critics and audiences alike. Which compliment has been the best so far?
It’s always good to see your work being lauded and appreciated, be it by the critics or the audiences. But honestly, when I open my social media [accounts] and see so many clips of cinema halls filled with people standing up for the National Anthem and thanking the makers for introducing them to a piece of history that they had no idea about, that for me is heart-touching and the perfect payback, as that’s what we wanted, to establish a connect between the audiences and team India.
Q3. You’re reuniting with Kareena Kapoor Khan for Good News (after Kambakkht Ishq, 2009). How’s Kareena as a co-star, and when do you start shooting?
Yes that’s right. Kareena and I share a good rapport and an amazing on-screen chemistry, if I were to say so myself (chuckles). We hopefully begin [shooting for] Good News at the beginning of 2019, in January.
Q4. There are rumours that you’re going to contest for a Lok Sabha seat from Punjab or Delhi in the 2019 elections. Is this true?
Like you said yourself, they are rumours. I’m not contesting elections, at least nothing that’s on the cards. At the moment, I’m extremely happy with the work that I’m doing, and I’d much rather continue doing that.
Q5. A reference in the purportedly leaked Justice Ranjit Singh commission report in Punjab suggests that you mediated a meeting between Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insaan and politician Sukhbir Singh Badal, regarding the release of the former’s controversial film. What do you have to say?
(Laughs) See, here’s another rumour. I haven’t seen or read any such report, but if all this is written, I find it most amusing. I’ve never met this person — Mr Gurmeet Ram Rahim — ever in my life. I have met Sukhbir Singh Badal once or twice, that too at public functions. So all this is clearly somebody’s wild imagination working overtime. What is this report about?
Q6. It is about incidents of desecration of Guru Granth Sahib in Punjab in 2016…
Well, as I’ve always maintained, I and my family have always had the highest regard for Sri Guru Granth Sahib, and I’d request everyone to refrain from associating my name with any such controversy.
Ant-Man and the Wasp earned another $9.2 million in China yesterday (technically Monday, thanks to time-zone magic), bringing the MCU film’s four-day gross in China to $77.4m. By the way, the film’s $68.2m Fri-Sun debut is the fifth-biggest comic book superhero movie in U.S. dollars, but just below Spider-Man: Homecoming ($69m), Avengers: Age of Ultron ($86m), Captain America: Civil War ($97m) and Avengers: Infinity War ($200m). It’s actually in fourth place, ahead of Spider-Man: Homecoming if you count only Chinese currency. So, barring a massive comedown, it’ll end up one of the biggest, if not the biggest, solo (or non-Avengers) superhero movies of all time in what will soon be the biggest moviegoing marketplace around. So Ant-Man and the Wasp is a box office giant in China, which is a little ironic.
The big debut in China was enough to push the $165 million-budgeted sequel over the $500m mark and past the $519m worldwide total of Ant-Man. On its own merits, it is a success in North America. Its likely $215m domestic finish will put it ahead of Solo: A Star Wars Story ($213m) and ahead of the raw ($180m) and adjusted ($208m) domestic totals of Ant-Man from back in 2015. In an era when many sequels earn less than their predecessors, that’s a win. And Peyton Reed-directed flick earned good reviews and snagged a solid 2.86x weekend-to-final multiplier. And yet, when compared to prior MCU movies, especially when adjusted for inflation, it is near the bottom of the list. The adjusted gross puts it ahead of only Thor, Captain America, Ant-Man and The Incredible Hulk.
Does this matter? Well, within the MCU brand, no. Yes, it is a little ironic that what is arguably Marvel’s smallest ongoing superhero franchise in North America may end up being the biggest in China. And it’s doubly interesting when you consider that Ant-Man and the Wasp was the first MCU flick with a female superhero sharing co-billing in the title. After years of clamoring for a super-powered MCU superheroine in a leading (or co-leading) role, fans and general moviegoers turned Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly ’s Ant-Man and the Wasp into one of Marvel’s lowest-grossing domestic earners. And as much as we like to claim that China is hostile to movies about women and/or minorities, they may push Ant-Man and the Wasp over the $600m mark in global box office. Just like Coco.
AR Rahman to collaborate with American-British singer Bishop Briggs [best known for her popular single #River] for #LoveSonia… The song – #IAmMore – is penned by Rianjali… #LoveSonia is directed by Tabrez Noorani… 14 Sept 2018 release.
Taran tweets
That Kapoor & Sons director Shakun Batra has been working on an Osho Rajneesh film is not exactly breaking news. Or even the fact that Aamir Khan’s and Alia Bhatt’s names have been thrown around in relation to the project. But now insiders are saying that the project, which will be produced by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, will be a Netflix Original miniseries and not a feature film.
Aamir Khan is still more or less locked to play the bearded godman, while Alia Bhatt is expected to play his faithful spokesperson and ‘devotee’ Ma Anand Sheela. According to sources, Shakun had been working on the project well before the Netflix documentary series Wild Wild Country dropped a few months ago, reigniting interest in the controversial Bhagwan and his faithful aide.
There is a wave of anguish and regret at the announcement that R K Studios will be sold. A young filmmaker, a diehard Bhakt of Raj Kapoor, says the demolition of the RK dream is not a sign of resignation and majboori, as declared by Rishi Kapoor, but a sign of laziness.
“Raj Saab’s two sons should’ve joined hands after his death to ensure R K Studios flourished. And it would’ve been easy. They could’ve got any director, any actor any technician to come and work for a RK Film. Damn, saying the name of the banner aloud is like a prayer. I am sorry to say this. But they’ve squandered away the Great Man’s dream,” says the filmmaker.
The legendary Lata Mangeshkar who spent many afternoons watching those Raj Kapoor classic films come to flickering life, says it it truly a sad day to hear of the end of R K Studios. “I have many, many fond memories of R K Studios. It was a fountain of creativity. There, some of the greatest movies and songs of Indian cinema were created. Raj Saab was so filled with passion. I’ve never seen any filmmaker who gave so much of himself to every film he made. I was not part of his first film Aag in 1948. But from Barsaat in 1949, I was an integral part of his films right until Henna.”
Lataji reveals that Raj Kapoor was to direct Henna. “Everything, the story, screenplay, lyrics and songs were decided by Raj Saab. Then he passed away. And that’s when his son Randhir stepped in to fulfil his father’s unfinished dream… R K studios ka jaana, dil ke armaanon ka mit jana.” Lataji quotes a line from an immortal song from a Raj Kapoor starrer Anari.
The legacy, luckily, cannot be wiped away. R K Studios may go. RK’s dream lives on forever.
Re: “…says the demolition of the RK dream is not a sign of resignation and majboori, as declared by Rishi Kapoor, but a sign of laziness.”
Ha! He might have added “greed” as well. Which is, of course, his right, but then Rishi K doesn’t get to trot out the ol’ “majboori” angle. What “majboori” led the family to sell off “Krishna Raj” and destroy one of the more unusual (among the fast dwindling) bungalows on Pali Hill? The same sorts of people then take to twitter complaining about why “we” don’t preserve heritage in India!
RE: “Lataji reveals that Raj Kapoor was to direct Henna….”
Off-topic, but you’ve gotta love the (I can only call it lazy!) way some journalists write: who is this a revelation for?! On par with my “revelation” that the sun rose today 🙂
“…To compare this deliberate and overt stigmatisation of a particular group with the ordinary push and pull of any democracy and set up an equivalence between them, simply does not hold water. The BJP most certainly has parallels “on the other side”, but that, I’m afraid, would be the other side of the border, where parties go around demonising and stigmatising Ahmedis, while those accused of being pro-Ahmedi are too cowed to say and do much and simply stay silent on the issue. ..”
Which invariably takes us back to the obvious conclusion: Without a Whole Sub-Continent, one finds in India a truncated community that is desperately lacking in numbers that can adequately represent it in this wide democracy. And which then takes us back to our previous discussions, and my personal Utopian dream of a non-partitioned Wholly Democratic Sub-Continent that would’ve by now given equal rights to all its citizens. Instead of this tri-partite mess of a land. Perhaps if people have more sense, or perhaps if there is some God given humongous calamity, they might re-think the devastating effects of 75 yrs of futile separation.
There are other considerations apart from religious harmony or disharmony. Economic ones, reservations for the neglected castes and woman empowerment. Language issues, regional pride movements villages versus cities development versus environment etc. After independence, state reorganisation took place because of one group dominating the other.
Re: “There are other considerations apart from religious harmony or disharmony. Economic ones, reservations for the neglected castes and woman empowerment. Language issues, regional pride movements villages versus cities development versus environment etc.”
Agreed! And parties that forget about all these issues and focus like maniacs on only one issue run the risk of being out of touch with the electorate, i.e. of believing that the echo chamber they operate in is the entire country (I suspect Modi and Shah are too smart to repeat the mistakes of 2004, but then again, these geniuses also thought de-monetisation was a good idea. They have achieved what I thought was a magic trick no-one could perform: make many of us miss Chidambaram’s handling of the economy!!!!)
The environment, as ever, remains the biggest issue hardly anyone is talking about — we prefer to focus on Divine causes for things like the Kerala floods or the Uttarakhand avalanche. The consumption model that aims at US-style consumption patterns for larger and larger groups of people is environmentally unsustainable (in America and the West for sure, but even more so for us given our population size and given that we aren’t going to get the opportunity to mercilessly pillage colonies), and yet the failure of the imagination is such that it is Gandhi who is dismissed as unviable, whereas the path that is causing destruction all around us is presented as the only “realistic” path!
And following enviroment reforms quickly prints one a hindutva vadi be it cleaning Ganga or banning illegal slaughter houses. Didn’t expect Qalandar to be dripping in so much hate and mistrust. No congress govt has done as much for the ‘minorities’ as Modi has. He has in fact bent so much backwards on this that I do not appreciate it! A famous Pakistani journalist said that a young bride expects special treatment and privileges but when she is 60+ years old, she should consider herself as part of the family and not such a drama queen.
Re: “ Didn’t expect Qalandar to be dripping in so much hate …”
This is a crazy line. I challenge anyone to find the “hate” in my comments here. In fact, given that you seem to have brought in references to Hindutva in an ordinary discussion on the environment, development, etc., look who’s talking about agendas.
Ganga will never get cleaned by any amount of govt initiatives, even if billions are allocated. It is not possible. So stop blaming govt and shouting “modi-modi” from roof tops at every opportunity. He is trying but it is not something that can be resolved by just govt. Just like Paani foundation in Maharastra resolved the water-droughts which resulted in farmer suicides in past, by making it a people’s movement. It would be impossible for Fadnavis or any govt to have the scale of resources (they had been working on the issue for years) that each individual labor-shramdaan created in each village. Ultimately Govt, charitable organizations, corporate houses, paani foundation provided guidance, gave training to people and pitched in under impossible circumstances where machinery was needed but it was the shramdaan or free labor done by each villager, putting their differences aside, that made them drought free. Left to govt, this problem of water in villages would still be a problem. You cannot speak from both ends of the mouth. Pro-enviroment and pro-slaughter houses. How did demonitisation negatively affect you? Did you lose all your black money? If it didn’t affect you, then most likely it didn’t affect common indian people either!
swati: Black money has not disappeared. But unemployment has increased. The initial shocks affected good and bad people. Good people are those who are daily wage earners, people in private jobs who lost employment due to many cash based employers shutting shop. Some bad people also lost some money but they soon recovered. They invested in bitcoins and gold and diamonds. So it is a mixed bag sending shockwaves throughout the country for those also who just have enough cash at home and draw money from banks for payments to meet household expenses. And they had to stand in long ATM queues for days together applying for leave. No problem because now everything is as before after initial hiccups.
Ganga cleaning is more important than preserving Taj Mahal. Just we need a dedicated NGO who can chip in. I dont understand how come other rivers like Cauvery, Brahmaputra, Narmada are relatively clean?
As a vegetarian planning to turn into vegan, any slaughter makes me wince. Whether it is bird, fish or animal. That is another matter. Our armed forces are mainly non vegetarian and for good reasons. They have to fight strong enemies. We cant argue with food habits but we can always opt for a more environmental friendly ways. On the one hand we blame slaughtering by humans for food needs while turning a blind eye when wild animals do the same to other animals. We call it food chain. All this cruelty inbuilt in nature makes me wonder whether earth is the real hell. We are relatively safe than those innocent animals in jungles constantly living under the shadow of death.
Anil Kapoor’s two films flopped badly Fanney khan and Race 3. And now Ek Ladki ko dekha to aisa lagaa with him.
Tried to watch Race 3. But hero does not make his appearance while unwanted characters make disinterested appearances and mechanical moves.
A Salman film without Salman but daisy shah and anil Kapoor taking centre stage. Was salman making a guest appearance? I lost interest and dont want to watch it.
Ek Ladki ko Dekha from the trailer appeared to be another symptom of the Hindi industry trend of making any ol’ crap and calling it a sequel — It’s like making a Rahul-loves-Sonia love story and saying it’s a “sequel” to Jodha-Akbar because the two are reincarnated. I also wondered at the age of the Kapoor character — if the dude was even 20 (looking like 40) in the year 1942, wouldn’t he be 95 now?! Other sequel classics are films like Golmaal 2 and 3 (the characters are different) and then you have Housefull “series” (the characters and mostly the actors are also different). This might be the funniest thing about all of these movies.
Race 3: Sanjana you might have written the best review of this film. Frankly, Salman seemed so “off” from the trailer itself, as if he’d been smoking weed and someone told him about the easiest paycheck any actor could ever make (“Bhai, bas aa jao set pe, KUCH bhi KARNA nahin padega!”)…
When Nehru naively thought that dams are the modern temples, the first stone was cast. And we have innumerable dams which may cause tremendous damage and blame games. Instead of big dams which displace people and destroy fertile lands, we can have water management and afforestation. Recently I read that maharashtra and Goa may face Kerala like situations due to this. Either dams may burst due to excess water or submerge entire villages when gates are opened.
This time Vasai Virar bore the brunt along with Thane and Palghaar. They are thinking of building sea walls to contain huge waves inundating places. Fortunately they are considering other alternatives like sandbags and artificial reefs to contain the waves.
During those dam days, engineering became the most sought after subject. Now the saturation point is reached, the demand for certain categories of engineers has decreased.
And more “locally”, in cities as diverse as Bombay, Calcutta, and Houston, we have destroyed the natural protections against floods (mangroves, swamps, etc.), leaving more and more people increasingly vulnerable — far beyond dams, we are unable to imagine alternatives even when there are several sources all around us (it’s just that as a culture, we find it impossible to draw inspiration from “the poor” or from traditional ways of living — especially if it means giving up or changing a lifestyle). Plus it’s a politically tricky issue as well, because the “other” can always turn around and say “well you have been doing XYZ for decades and centuries, so why shouldn’t I?”… and so we all head over the cliff edge…
Revisited “Trishna” (Based on Thomas Hardy’s classic novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles) (Director: Michael Winterbottom
Writers: Michael Winterbottom (screenplay), Thomas Hardy (novel)
Stars: Freida Pinto, Riz Ahmed, Mita Vasisht)
For the first 66% of the movie, it is an excellent display of acting by Freida in an author-backed role, the movie falters in the last part and how! the characters take a 360 degree turn and what unfolds is appalling! what starts as a sincere love story with a poignant display of protagonist’s life ends as a soft-porn where the hero becomes beast and well, obviously gets killed by the protagonist! I wonder the book had the same bizarre turns of events…in any case, Freida is excellent here and obviously movie had difficulty finding release in India because of its R-rated content. But I would have been happier with a better ending here….anyone has read the novel?
reminded me of 1947-Earth, another book-to-film adaptation – it was quiet loyal to the original novel and so the end, even though came as as a shock, was ok as the novel had the same turn of events..
Seems YRF are going all out here. I’m quite confident that the film may live up to expectations. All these formats, languages and deliberate news daily – I would bet decent money that the Diwali myth will go on November 7th, the film should release on that day when business ‘nosedives’…
I would not be surprised with a couple of 50 Cr+ days…of course if I was livewire and this was Salman I’d be predicting 15 straight 40 Cr+ days…
The initial extended weekend will be bigger than what salman gets in eid. If it comes on 7th nov then day one will probably be in 35 cr range. But it can easily bump up to 50 cr on next day. If wom is ok, then another 50 on sunday 11th.
At the end of 2017, with both The Last Jedi and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle packing them in, it seemed like both the Star Wars franchise and The Rock were two of the safest box office bets in Hollywood. In two years, the revival of the space opera series had produced three $1bn+ megahits, including the relative gamble of a spin-off adventure while Dwayne Johnson had somehow managed to turn the sequel to a 22-year-old, moderately successful family film into a $923m smash, Sony’s biggest hit to date. But this summer, audiences turned their back on both.
Disney had been spacing out their Star Wars installments by a year but just five months after The Last Jedi, Solo: A Star Wars Story bounded on to screens and the overwhelming response was one of utter fatigue. It limped towards less than $400m globally, a number that’s particularly problematic given its bloated $275m budget, making it the sixth most expensive film of all time. It’s led to a reported rethink of the ambitious one-a-year strategy, putting into question just how much of the Star Wars universe people actually care to explore.
Later in the summer, Johnson reappeared just three months after his big-budget B-movie Rampage made a solid $526m worldwide (yet with marketing costs on top, it’ll take an estimated two years of home media sales and TV deals to break even). With Skyscraper, he was testing his considerable popularity with his third wide-releasing lead role in just eight months. The ultimate result was rather lukewarm, with the $125m budgeted film making just over half of that in the US and so far failing to cross the $300m barrier worldwide.
Both Skyscraper and Solo, while hardly adored by critics, felt like victims of poor scheduling rather than poor quality. Would Solo have performed better if released during the now synonymous Star Wars Christmas period? Maybe. If audiences had to wait more time for another Rockbuster would they have shown more interest in Skyscraper? Possibly. But it’s clear that neither brand is quite as infallible as many had assumed and expectations should be duly adjusted.
Since a long time, there were the reports that the filmmaker Karan Johar has offered two projects to Baahubali star Prabhas but both the time the actor clearly denied doing those films and the gave different reasons to both. Now interesting thing is that once again he has got an offer from Bollywood and this time the project is too large on a scale that maybe Prabhas will not reject it.
Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan’s magnum opus project Mahabharat is once again in the discussions and if belief to the reports, Mr Perfectionist Aamir Khan wants to cast Prabhas in the magnum opus project. The budget for the project will be more than 1000 crores and it will be made in three or five parts. Aamir Khan will start working on this project after Thugs of Hindostan.
According to the reports, Aamir Khan offered Arjuna’s role to Prabhas and it is known that Arjuna’s role as the main centres of Mahabharata. There is no doubt that if Prabhas joins Mahabharata then not only to Aamir but also to Prabhas the film is totally a deal of profit.
Prabhas is a well-known superstar of south cinema with his recently successful films Baahubali series. Now the hopes are that Prabhas may sign this biggie project. It is being told that the project will take more than 10-15 years to be made. Every part will be directed by different directors but Aamir will be a part of every project.
Those expecting aamir to retire can now sulk. There will be one MB film every 2-3 year for the next decade. Its good that they will be rotating directors. Best way to keep a franchise fresh. Wont be surprised if Rajamouli directs the second film. Questio is will Aamir play Karna or Krishna?
Marcua, ideaunique, Jayshah, Aamirsfan…all were dead against Aamir Khan doing Mahabharat…i dont know what problem they had.
I always knew Aamir will do Mahabharat.
Why are you guys coming after me now? relax. This Aamir Khan is what iam fan of. Not the one who did Secret Superstar or PK.
I’ve not been against Mahabharata at all. I’m also not against SS or PK. I prefer that to crapfests like Housefull, It’s Entertainment, Shaukeens or Singh is Bling….
In a video that was uploaded on the day of the film’s release, Mr Vijay can be seen hammering the fact that Genius’s first day first show was sold out while there were only 55 patrons in the other release of the week, Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi. What he didn’t mention was that Genius’s 12:30 pm show was playing in G7’s Gossip cinema, which only has 105 seats. Anybody who is from this business would know that getting a 105-seater theatre full on the first day is not a difficult job. Bobby bhai meanwhile compares this phenomenon with Shah Rukh Khan–Kamal Haasan starrer Hey Ram and that even that film couldn’t get a house full board on the first day but Genius did. The reporter covering the video meanwhile is harping on the fact that college students have been bunking to see the film. When asked, Utkarsh says he has to pinch himself as he can’t believe he has generated such kind of a craze! Anil Sharma is also asked the same question and he proudly says that even he has bunked college to watch films. The ‘Three Wise Men’ meanwhile surround Anil Sharma like excited kids surround Santa Claus on Christmas and can be seen mouthing their favourite dialogues from Genius and Anil gives a wide smile, as if he has just delivered a Baahubali.
Celebrities like Rishi Kapoor, Gurdas Maan and Javed Akhtar didn’t charge a penny for actress-filmmaker Nandita Das’ forthcoming film Manto. She says there is more to life than money.
Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who plays the late Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto in the film, offered to do it just for “Re 1 largely for Manto and little bit” for Nandita.
Work in progress… Sunita Gowariker, Ashutosh Gowariker and Nitin Desai gear up for the shooting of #Panipat… Filming will take place at ND Studios [#Shaniwarwada is being recreated]… Stars Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Kapoor and Kriti Sanon… Music: Ajay-Atul… 6 Dec 2019 release. pic.twitter.com/9ZDwdLV1dn
Arshad Warsi… New poster of #BhaiajiSuperhit… Stars Sunny Deol, Preity G Zinta, Arshad Warsi, Shreyas Talpade and Ameesha Patel… Directed by Neerraj Pathak… 19 Oct 2018 release. pic.twitter.com/5ZIJwGgsvF
This 100 cr race, Akshay is going to win eventually. He is already No 2 and don’t think he will be beaten with 2pontt0 coming in Nov. That will take him to 10, only 3 short of Salman.
in 2019, Akshay has 4 releases…so he can go atleast 13 if not 14.
The final tally in the long run may have Akshay boasting of a Sachin Tendulkar like record in 100 Cr. Unbeatable. Don’t think Sachin ever scroed 300. 100s are more revered.
Longevity, class, good health and talent will be the key to beat it.
Big stars are delivering 100 Cr flops – it’s not a prestigious club anymore. Even 200 Cr for a major star in a widely received genre is par the course. With Salman the expectations are 300 Cr for the kind of films he does. Likewise for Aamir – in fact probably more for Aamir as he comes with a gap – TOH will be expected to go past Dangal if it’s just a reasonable enough film. Even if it’s at Dhoom 3 level it will be expected to clear 350 Cr given the release expectations. Of course if it’s really liked it will be expected to get close to BB2. With Akshay’s record 2.0 is an anomaly, if it does really well we know he’s not going to get that proportional level of credit as the lions share will go to the franchise, Shankar & Rajni.
LOL, Taran finally admits this (see at the bottom):
taran adarsh
Verified account
@taran_adarsh
6h6 hours ago
HINDI FILMS that made it to the ₹ 100 cr Club in 2018…
1. #Padmaavat [Jan]
2. #SKTKS [Feb]
3. #Raid [March]
4. #Baaghi2 [March]
5. #Raazi [May]
6. #Race3 [June]
7. #Sanju [June]
8. #Gold [Aug]
India biz.
Note: ₹ 100 cr mark is no longer the yardstick for a film’s success.
I don’t agree with Naveen’s analogy at all for many reasons but to be clear even in cricket not all centuries are made equal. It depends on the opposition, the conditions, the situation at that point etc. Or it might just be about a batsman’s total dominance irrespective of anything else. Keeping this in mind there is an analogy with cinema though not one that works for Naveen’s argument. Looking at the list above it’s one thing if Tiger Shroff is doing a 100 or Alia Bhatt especially getting to it with a subject like Raazi and quite another when Akshay does it as a much more established star and with safer subjects. If anything the problem with Akshay is a rather singular one. He has a really hard ceiling irrespective of genre. With every other star success leads to a higher ceiling, at least to some degree. John Abraham has just showed this. With Akshay irrespective of genre (houseful sequel or Rustom), irrespective of how many decent films he does that are minimally liked, irrespective of the track record, irrespective of the initial he is simply not able to clear that 100-130 range and the latter usually happens on a very good day. Usually it’s just the former. It’s truly a hard ceiling with him.
Satyam, noone can disagree with the first part of your comment.
However you disagree yourself when you compare all of the Akshay films with all of the Tiger shroff’s. Tiger aced with Baaghi 2. The last film of Akshay in comparable genre was Rowdy Rathore. So a movie like that with Akshay should do more than what Baaghi 2 did. I believe it will.
Alia Bhatt doing Raazi is similar to John doing Satyamev Jayate. These are first time for them. These hits happen. Its like that Sehwag’s century in 67 balls. You cannot compare such flash in the pan with Mr consistent.
Akshay has been giving hits across genres for some time now. He is scoring centuries across all pitches. This makes his centuries remarkable. If he has done one or two…once can still have doubts. But he has done most of the 9 centuries in last 3 years across different genres and few of the being the most difficult and unique stories.
Alia has delivered a Raazi within a short career of a few years. Akshay still hasn’t reached that quality even after 3 decades and hundreds of movies. Think about it
RE: “He has a really hard ceiling irrespective of genre. With every other star success leads to a higher ceiling, at least to some degree.”
One thing that is strange is that Akshay seems to have moved away from the terrain that got him the biggest success of his career — Rowdy Rathore — in favor of films that are a little more staid (Rustom, Holiday, Airlift etc.); these are definitely more refined than something like Rowdy Rathore, but, the economic logic for the “shift” isn’t the most clear (to me, at least). i.e. in retrospect this might be deemed a sensible move if indeed he moves over to a political career at some point, but purely as a question of the film industry, he didn’t have to cede this terrain as completely as he did (it’s not like the grosses in themselves justify this sort of thing). I believe he missed a trick here, and could have struck a better balance between the two kinds of movies.
And it need not be so binary, there is a third sort of film (a la Manoj Kumar’s Purab aur Paschim) where Akshay was quite credible, especially with the overseas Punjabi crowd in the UK and Canada (indeed on both sides of the Indo-Pak border), i.e. Namaste London, or (IMO the best Akshay film in years, despite a rather absurd foundational premise) Patiala House, which is, despite everything, quite moving and very watchable. These are films that hearken back to an older vein in Hindi film cinema (even if it isn’t my favorite vein), one of rootedness and belonging (sometimes in some xenophobic ways), but that don’t harness this to any broader political project. Patiala House in fact both stages the paradigm and subverts it, with the rather unusual move of a protagonist who wants to play cricket for… England (in that sense it is the ultimate immigrant narrative, and perhaps the only one Bollywood has produced, and a very far cry from the sort of NRI drivel YRF/KJo were putting out for years). And this question of playing for England is a question of belonging, of feeling “at home”, and not of any national “project”…
The most raucous crowd at the cinema I’ve seen is for Singh is Kinng back in 2008. Akshay Kumar got whistles like anything, the queues went to the outside – I’ve seen plenty of SRK films on day 1 in his peak (98-05) and there was not this noisy crowd but I guess he didn’t do that kind of role.
I think this ceiling will break pretty soon but this strategy only makes sense if he consistently delivers 200 Cr + films. It should be remembered that GST changes probably have benefited business by 10% or so.
Bigger shares net collections wise. The grosses comparatively are lower than pre GST.
So part of good story for Bollywood can be explained by this. The day we look at gross figures is the day trade comes out of puberty!
Akshay’s standing record will be the number of flops delivered in a single career. Hasnt he already overtaken the combined number of flops delivered by the 3 khans?
He is one of those middle-order batsman who can score 40 consistently in ODI (never gets chance in Tests), but seldom converts them into 50 (forget scoring hundreds).
In tennis, he is like one of those veterans on circuit who can win some ATP250 or 500 titles now and then. But one one expects him to clinch a masters event or a slam.
Both Satyam and Jayshah is making making wrong assumption that all films are same in terms of cost.
Till the time movies are made at 50-60Cr budget, 100 Cr will remain an importsnt landmark.
For movies with 80-90 cr cost, one needs 175-200 cr nett to break event. Again this is not a thumb rule but a guidance.
Satyam also says that all films of Akshay has the same gross. Fact is even in his list, there are films like Padman which is made at 35-40 cr and needed breakeven at 75cr and Gold made at 50 Cr which needed 100 Cr.
We can say that all films of Aamir or Salman has a cost which usually requires 175-200cr nett to breakeven….the same is not true for other stars. Usually for others, the cost of the movie is such that 80Cr-100 Cr is the benchmark to make profits and that’s why 100 Cr remains the most relevant number even now.
Hence the logic that flop of one star made more than hit of another is also a wrong deduction if comparing films of different budgets.
I could take you seriously if you say the same about Secret Superstar. Unfortunately you don’t and the budgets you quote are questionable. The reality is this. Like livewire you make remarkable pre release predictions for Akshay’s films – the numbers never get there but your position stays the same. Let us know when that lightbulb moment hits you.
Here’s the deal. I can take you and Akshay seriously if you take yourself seriously. If you predict 150 or 200 Cr for Gold and a film falls well short your sign of wisdom is not going all out again next time. Not just this film it’s happened for as long as I’ve known you for everything Akshay does. Beyond a point one can learn a bit to be realistic.
Optimism is one thing but not learning is another. My logic relies on you being genuine otherwise I’ll play the game the way you play it.
This is such a lame list. No inflation adjustment whatsover! No accounting of overseas blowouts such as Dangal/SS. All these things ought to be considered.
And if they go back to 1950, it is conceivable that other than the 3 Khans (who will perhaps be in various positions of the Top 10), none of the rest will find themselves even in the Top 25.
Even going back a decade, a Ghajini or even RNBDJ are over 200crs now! So as D2, OSO, RDB, Fanaa, Wanted etc would all be over 150. A 3I is easily at Dangal levels or perhaps even more.
Just elementary currency conversion shows USD to INR was hovering in 35-40 range back then, and that range resets upwards by Rs 5 every two years, ending at double today. Resulting inflation cannot simply be wished away.
D2, OSO were biggest grossers of their time. In today’s market and currency these are 300+ cr films. RDB and Fanaa are 200+ cr films. 3I would minimally be in BB2 range, 500+ cr. Ghajini would do 400 cr now with similar level of acceptance.
So, 137 in 2008-9 has become 280 today!! ie More Than Double. So, if this is factored in, the Top3 slots will remain occupied by 3 Khans but perhaps in different orders. Someone shud try it and send the list back to nahi Nahata.
This is such an amazing series, great website for inflation indexing.
100 in 1980 grew to 426 in 2000-01
100 in 2000-01 has grown to 280 in 2018-19.
which means 100 in 1980 = 1192 today.
I cant find data going back to 1970 on this site. But just backward trending based on the last 4 decades would mean at least 80% inflation growth from 1970 to 1980.
Difficult to evaluate how much of this can be applied to BO. So a 10cr grosser in 1980 would equal 120cr today, which seems very low, considering that there weren’t all that many films that crossed even 1cr from 1980-1985.
Yakuza might shine some light on this.
You are looking at the value change of currency and applying it to BO inflation? Inflation in BO terms is more about rise of ticket prices. With constant penetration of mushrooming multiplexes across A, B and C centers, a huge percentage of audience who watched Ghaijini in single screens in 2008 will be watching it in plexes if released today. That means paying 3 times more ticket prices. Add the GST advantage and how much the tickets are spiked than usual rates in plexes for holiday releases these days …
As I said Ghajini’s 100 cr in 2008 is no less than TOH’s 400 cr in 2018 (assuming it gets there).
This rumor had been floated before also. But for this to happen in reality, a lot will depend on the fate of ToH in China. If it does 120-150M usd in mainland china, then chinese backing wont be a problem. Lets not forget that epic period films like BB2 and Asura had been embarrassing turkeys in China this year.
This weekend BO action is in China. Antman and Wasp total in open week 1 is 95+M. It will hope to do another 20M this weekend. And MI6 and Sultan is releasing this weekend. MI6 should get to 50+M weekend cume. So 10+M weekend haul for Sultan will be decent result. If that happens, it should end up a total in 15-20M range depending upon how it ends.
China Box Office Preview: Sultan is projected to make $6M on 3-day opening. In advance ticket sale, it's actually ahead of Bajrangi Bhaijaan($8.53M debut) but didn't show strong growth as what Salman's previous film did in recent days. So giving a conservative forecast. #Sultanpic.twitter.com/FjFmXAX3Ow
China Box Office Preview: Mission Impossible: Fallout is projected to make $70M on opening weekend. Fallout is stronger than most superhero solo titles and The Mummy in advance ticket sale at the same point. Also WOM from the premiere is very strong. #MissionImpossible#Falloutpic.twitter.com/ffNDKF1SjR
Dil Se is such a fine addition to Netflix.. cant believe it’s already been 20 years since its release! Remember watching it on DD the first time on television (when tremors were felt)
I sincerely believe ManiRatnam was in top form while filming this. This can be called one of his very finest and better than Roja and Bombay,the teo other films preceding it in his terrorism trilogy.
Such amazingly layered and haunting film and a rare cinematic masterpiece that is hard to shake off if you finish watching it despite watching it so many times before.
Imo SRK has rarely performed as well as he did in this film. A damn good intense portrayal that the likes of Salman and Akki will take eons to match it
Rehman’s music: jitni tareefki jaaye kam hai.. easily one of the best hindi music albums ever! Will easily find a place in the top 5.. capturing the essence and mood of the film perfectly well and even elevating the film to unscalable heights
Rahman and Ratnam has to be the best music director/director collaboration ever in Indian cinema
Remarkable album, probably Rahman’s best in Hindi. I would love to revisit this film. I literally got bored in 1998 with it but I’m sure I will like it today.
“Rahman and Ratnam has to be the best music director/director collaboration ever in Indian cinema”
I guess yes, if you completely have no knowledge of Indian Cinema of yester years.
I would rather take Raj Kapoor/Shankar Jaikishen.
Barsaat
Awara
Shree 420
Sangam
Mera Naam Joker
How about Vijay Anand/SD Burman
Raj Khosla/LP
Hussain/RD
And many many more…
I have no knowledge of other cinema in India besides Bollywood so I assume there are other great combos in other languages too.
I find Rehman highly overrated and in some way I blame him for state of music in Bollywood today. He made songs with any singers who may have sounded good for the song he composed but were lousy singer and it started trend of anybody can be a singer. Baba segal for example. How many of Rehman songs are super hit in past decade? Decade is a long time.
I’ll take Desai/LP combo anyday over Ratnam/Rehman.
I don’t agree on blaming Rahman as he can’t control the crap music others dish out but kind of see the point on his choice of singer’s…I don’t know why Sonu Nigam has been abandoned by the industry, haven’t heard him on new songs for ages.
At this point, I am still skeptical of 2.0 making it on proposed 29th Nov release date. The teaser/trailer was supposed to be released on 15th Aug and attached to Gold prints. But that got postponed by one month and they are now saying it will come on Ganesh Chaturthi (Sep 13). Somehow the progress on post production vfx isnt falling in place for this film. If 2 min teaser cant come out without hiccups, how will a 3 hr film make in in time??
The film has to release in 2018 otherwise Akshay’s quota for film releases in the year is at its lowest ever! The way this film is shaping up it will either be boom or bust!
Whenever it releases I am going to watch it just to check how the heck 500 crores were spent!
Anyways, if it gets further postponed (Pongal is another likely date for this one), then ToH gets 4 open weeks till Total Dhamaal, which is scheduled for Dec 7 release as of now.
TOH first look poster is expected anyday now. As Aamir and his fandom are going to celebrate 30 years with TOH bang (hopefully), here is QSQT redux from 1988:
Technically you are correct of course, but I personally like this Earth song more than any songs from Ghulam. And in my opinion Earth was a turning point for Aamir, while Ghulam was run-on-mill. Love a couple of songs from Sarfarosh (1999).
I like the couple of Earth and Sarfarosh of 1999 as much as the couple of Lagaan and DCH of 2001. Of course there was another great couple of Mann and Mela in between … Haha.
The catchiest song was a total rip-off of a Rachid Taha Arabic song… Kaali Naagin Ke Jaisee… but yeah songs were good. Of course the champions on this front were Nadeem-Shravan, who ripped off Pakistani songs left, right and center over the 1990s (later on Anu Malik got into that act too).
Q…I am shocked that you liked Mann….that was a horrible movie and EACH and EVERY song was copied. These 2 really got Aamir thinking about his future and Lagaan was the result.
LOL our messages crossed, was just making the same point about the song (don’t think I realized EVERY song was copied! God that sort of thing really irritates me).
I don’t get people’s lovefest with Sarfarosh. Except for Aamir \ Naseer scenes in the end, it’s a pretty average movie IMO. The love story / songs only slow down the real movie.
I think Sarfarosh is important because it was one of the first movies that spoke frankly about political issues without using euphemisms (e.g. “Pakistan” instead of “dushman mulk” or “padosi” etc.), AND did so in a reasonably refined way (the film even accorded some measure of empathy to “the other” with some of Naseer’s dialogues); finally it was also the first film I can think of that seemed sensitive to/aware of political divisions WITHIN Pakistan (the whole Muhajir-angle). More generally as well, at the time I remember feeling that the dialogues seemed fresh and natural (I remember Aamir’s line about not going in for IAS as opposed to IPS because he didn’t just want an easy life; that line caused a bit of a stir in some quarters). The one unforgivable absurdity in Sarfarosh was the idea of making a ghazal singer an ISI agent, that is so ludicrous an idea it marred the film for me (in the entire history of Indo-Pak relations, no cultural/artistic figure of any reknown has even been accused or suspected of such a thing — even as a mere plot device, what sensitive information would a singer get access to?! LMAO).
In addition to your fine note the characterizations were really strong here. Specially in terms of the somewhat ensemble cast that comprised the police team around Aamir. And this sort of thing wasn’t very common at the time either.
Most films get dated over time. They might remain very watchable but they lose their edge. Not just pure commercial films but also somewhat different ones. Then there are questions of memory. When we like something at a certain point in time we often live with that memory. We don’t necessarily ‘update’ it. Whether one likes Sarfarosh more or less I don’t think it can be called an ‘average’ film relative to the standards of the 90s and even since. Today the same film would ‘look’ (in the technical sense) a lot more impressive but we’re not really making better films even at this very moment (this despite all the self-congratulation in the industry and the media). For instance Raazi is a good example. It’s again better than the average but I found it hopelessly overrated. It’s actually a bit flat for the subject. It ought to have been a lot more gripping, it’s merely engaging. Even leaving this aside there really is no ‘big deal’ here (Highway for example was a lot better than this). For me Sarfarosh is a much better film than Raazi, it’s not even close. Again just taking a random contemporary example of a film (Raazi) that was praised a lot. Having said all this do fans sometimes overpraise films like Sarfarosh? Sure! It happens all the time and with many films. The Indian audience is in any case always likely to overpraise something that is somewhat different without gauging whether that film is a good one for its terrain. In other words Raazi to my mind is poor relative to what it attempts, otherwise I’d take it over every Salman film (and so on..) out there!
I’d also make a related point. It’s the relatively rare film that’s ‘great’ (considered such) in its age and embraced in box office terms and that then remains ‘great’ over time. Most of the time the truly interesting film is not likely to do extraordinarily well with its immediate audience. Because what is instantly acceptable or can be absorbed that way is not a film that’s going to make anyone uncomfortable in any sense. Works like Awara or Guide or Bachchan’s great scripts from the 70s are exceptions. These are not surprisingly triumphs of writing (though Awara might be in a class of its own in terms of never compromising on its subversion). Or there are films that are very fine at what they do without necessarily being truly radical works. Some of Dev Anand’s classics would qualify in this sense or a film like Lagaan. Then there are always examples of middle cinema, smaller films that work with a more limited audience, here there might be more of a match between a celebrated film and the same standing the test of time (though even so the more ignored examples of 70s middle cinema for instance are at least as many as the more discussed ones). In either one of these sets I can think of many more films that ought to get more attention than they do. Sometimes such works are reinvented over time of course. All of this is not an argument against the pure entertainer (Shammi Kapoor! but also most films of most stars), my point only is that there’s nothing to ‘see’ (pun intended!) here beyond a point. They’re enjoyable films and one has said everything. But even that which is interesting or which ought to be seen or reinvented can still remain dated in other ways. All of this has been a very long way of saying that to get a film which is interesting in an enduring sense and that also remains popular is always a hard act to pull off. Everything else is about relative strengths and weaknesses. Finally, and perhaps most crucially, there are always masterpieces that have never found their audience.. at least not ‘so far’. The problem in India is that there isn’t a proper film culture in the critical sense, hence it’s always extremely hard to make the case for a film that doesn’t work at the box office. Even when people like such films they always assume there’s something wrong with them. They always read the quality of a film backwards off the box office result.
I recently saw Sarfarosh and as Satyam said, it is very well made movie which hasn’t dated much (except may be in production values). Only minor changes could be done in some of the dialogues, where they could have been less melodramatic but I think sensibilities wise it is still fresh.
I haven’t re-visited Sarfarosh in a while but did watch QSQT again last year, and Ghulam a couple of years ago. Both held up very well indeed: Ghulam is a regular film in every way, so it’s no mean achievement that it was fresh and interesting even when it was released. QSQT is simply one of the best love stories ever made in Bollywood — again what works really well here is that the entire cast is strong, not just Aamir and Juhi (can’t imagine this film without Dalip Tahil or Goga Kapoor)…
On the contrary, i find the dialogue-baazi in the end as the worst part of the film. Agree with Satyam on every count here, great set of comments. Compared to the stuff being made at that time Sarfarosh is a classic. Its still fresh on revisit, much like QSQT.
Aamir’s character had v strong characterization, much like Talaash among his latter films.
The apple did not fall far from the tree! I remember how betrayed I felt when I realized that just about every othervsong from films like Phool aur Kaante, Aashiqui, Sadak was ripped off.
Heard good review from a trusted source who has read it. With a good director this may had great potential as a film. Acharya and YRF may not be able to do proper justice to the novel even with Aamir’s involvement.
Before MB happens, there is one film Aamir will surely act in.
*****
Kiran Rao gearing up for new film
Filmmaker Kiran Rao, who made her directorial debut with “Dhobi Ghat” in 2011, says she has finally found a new story worth telling for the silver screen.
“I am focusing on my writing really, apart from my involvement in the MAMI (Mumbai Academy of Moving Image) Mumbai Film Festival. I know it has been quite some time that I have not made a film and kept giving excuses that my baby is small, but I think this is high time that I have to put it (a film) out there,” Kiran told IANS here on Thursday.
“I was working on eight story ideas but none of them satisfied me in the end. I was working around it for the last seven years. But I promise that I have finally zeroed in on one and I am finishing the script and gearing up for the film,” she added.
Amitabh Bachchan to make Kollywood debut with SJ Suryah’s Uyarndha Manidhan
S J Suryah shared a small video of Superstar Rajinikanth unveiling the title poster of Tamil film Uyarndha Manidhan, starring Amitabh Bachchan. The bilingual film will be helmed by Tha Tamilvaanan.
Kamal Haasan’s next production with Vikram goes on floors
Kamal Haasan’s Raaj Kamal Films International will bankroll the project along with Trident Arts. The untitled film stars Chiyaan Vikram and Akshara Haasan.
SATYAMSHOT 
August 24, 2018 at 6:26 AM
Jeeves:
https://www.news18.com/news/movies/happy-phirr-bhag-jayegi-review-jimmy-shergill-inspires-funny-moments-in-this-mistaken-identity-film-1855017.html
Dangal reference in Happy Phir ….
https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/happy-phirr-bhag-jayegi-review-movie-ratings-sonakshi-sinha-jimmy-sheirgill/story-jg7PQBqby0693AFXzShfwL.html
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August 24, 2018 at 6:28 AM
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August 24, 2018 at 6:29 AM
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August 24, 2018 at 7:05 AM
John Abraham’s Satymeva Jayate has earned Rs 75.09 crore in nine days. The film is a hit but the major contributor remains the Independence Day box office collection of Rs 20.52 crore. It followed it up with Rs 7.92 crore on Thursday, Rs 9.18 crore on Friday, Rs 9.03 crore on Saturday, Rs 10.26 crore on Sunday, Rs 3.76 crore on Monday, Rs 3.79 crore on Tuesday, Rs 6.67 crore on Wednesday and Rs 3.96 crore on second Thursday of release.
Akshay’s sports drama is heading towards the Rs 100-crore club having earned an estimated Rs 88.9 crore at the box office since its release on Independence Day. According to trade aggregator Bollywood Hungama, Gold started its box office journey with Rs 25.25 crore on opening day, it saw a dip on Thursday with Rs 8.10 crore collection, it earned Rs 10.10 crore on Friday, Rs 12.3 crore on Saturday, Rs 15.55 crore on Sunday, Rs 4 crore on Monday, Rs 4 crore on Tuesday, Rs 6 crore on Wednesday and Rs 3.6 crore on Thursday.
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August 24, 2018 at 7:05 AM
https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/gold-vs-satyameva-jayate-box-office-akshay-kumar-film-heads-to-rs-100-cr-club-john-abraham-film-earns-rs-75-cr/story-adtb7B67vF4652e0H3gI3I.html
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August 24, 2018 at 7:12 AM
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August 24, 2018 at 8:44 AM
This is the worst butchery of old songs that I have ever seen. The guy I feel bad for is Sunny Deol….past his prime and relying on Salman to sell his movie. tsk tsk tsk
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August 26, 2018 at 3:57 AM
Dharmendra was awesome in Johny Gaddar , it was goosebumps encapsulated nostalgia moments seeing him rough tough macho man on wrong side of law .. in last 28 years , JG was only relief for He Man. No one able to capitalize his persona and screen presence for 28 years ?
Anyways, he is 81 now … wishing best for YPD2.
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August 26, 2018 at 5:19 AM
If he was younger, he could have played Krishna and Hema Radha.
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August 24, 2018 at 7:19 AM
Both Gold & SMJ have done well over the extended first week with collections of 88 cr+ & 66 cr+ respectively. Although the trend has been topsy turvy, the successful ultimate outcome has proved to be yet another feather in the cap for Hindi cinema in what’s been a good solid year at the BO.
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August 24, 2018 at 7:39 AM
Yes cut down smj for obvious reasons … no wonder boi figures have takers.
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August 24, 2018 at 9:09 AM
Doesn’t matter to me whether it’s 66 or 75. None of it comes into my pockets anyway. Nor am I interested in spamming a page with personally biased comments or which “star” belongs to which “galaxy”. The only reason I quote boi (despite being an ardent critic of theirs in case u never noticed) is coz it’s still the official standard source available unless comscore officially starts tracking numbers for all films consistently.
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August 24, 2018 at 9:12 AM
‘official’??? And you talk about others spamming this blog …
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August 24, 2018 at 7:48 AM
Yes indeed. Analysis like this makes Satyamshot look less biased.
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August 24, 2018 at 8:15 AM
Lol we can actually do without some unwanted and silly fan rants here. Your ground is most shaky when u need to bring down other stars to uplift ur fav’s status.
JA has put mr bharath in his right place.
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August 24, 2018 at 8:20 AM
ROFLOL – LRC
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August 24, 2018 at 8:25 AM
Dont worry abt ur hallucinations that people want to bring down akshay here, not many believe that he ever belonged to the elite list of superstars. But jeetendra also had fans during his days ….
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August 24, 2018 at 9:31 AM
Few people have the habit to have the last word. You are biased to the core Mr Marcus, have little knowledge of cinema and try to act as smarty pants which usually have a reverse effect.
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August 24, 2018 at 10:22 AM
Didn’t see any tweet from Taran quoting a 75 cr figure for SMJ. Unless few wannabe smartasses wanna consider Koimoi & BHungama (dubious sources which make BOI seem like BoxOfficeMojo) as gospel, i don’t see SMJ being anywhere near 75 cr in week 1. 66+ in itself is a very solid number for this film nevertheless.
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August 24, 2018 at 4:11 PM
Good that you can ‘see’ BO numbers when comscore isnt tracking!
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August 24, 2018 at 7:23 AM
EXCLUSIVE| Gold director Reema Kagti on casting Akshay Kumar, her Big B fascination & trend of sports films Updated Aug 24, 2018 | 10:42 IST | Kriti Tulsiani
In an exclusive interaction, Gold director Reema Kagti opens up about casting Akshay Kumar in Gold, her fascination with Amitabh Bachchan, why sports films will always be loved and box office clashes.
https://www.timesnownews.com/entertainment/news/bollywood-news/article/exclusive-gold-director-reema-kagti-on-casting-akshay-kumar-her-fascination-with-amitabh-bachchan-the-trend-of-sports-films/273989
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August 24, 2018 at 8:02 AM
It’s been 20 years of DIL SE…& it still remains THE BEST of Ratnam amongst in his trilogy of Roja, Bombay [very disappointing and cliched for me], and DIL SE…
Something I had reminisced looong back..
——
As one awaits with anticipation the new product RAAVAN from Mani Ratnam, one’s mind and heart are enveloped by nostalgia—the nostalgia of being audience the first time to another masterpiece by the same helmer: ‘Dil Se.’
1998 was the year when MVarma had fantastically assaulted our senses with the crime master-piece SATYA. Just one month later, the Indian audience was to be treated to a product by another master-craftsman, Ratnam. While the topic and treatment would be vastly different from each other, the common bind that every cineaste was confident about was that he/she would be witness to a terrific blast of cinematic talent.
As a person who had been elated with Ratnam’s offering THIRUDA THIRUDA (arguably India’s first truly entertaining adventure movie in decades) — after his mega-hit ROJA— but also massively disappointed with the horrifically clichéd BOMBAY, I was looking forward eagerly to DIL SE.
I happened to catch the movie—with tickets purchased in black of course—the first Sunday of its release in Santosh theatre (one of the very few theatres in Bangalore that promised a good screen and good audio) with a friend of mine. By that time, the reviews were already out and the usual great suspect, Mr. Khalid Mohamed, had thumbed-down the film, albeit in an uncharacteristic display of low-key verbiage due to the fact that he was talking about the art of a director of Ratnam’s caliber. The reviews were almost unanimously disappointing, and so were personal accounts of friends/relatives. I could not believe it, but the statistical aspect of rejection of the movie was quite significant.
As the end credits rolled, I still remember being dumb-struck and could not budge a centimeter from my balcony seat; trying to still absorb the sum-total of images and music from the movie. When my friend and I were the only two left in the theatre, I turned around and asked my friend,’ What exactly did the reviewers/general public not like in the movie?’ We got up, had some lunch, and I caught a bus back to my hostel. For the next two days, I was simply unable to filter out the images of DIL SE from my mind. I was so over-whelmed by the movie that my mind was not even willing to enter into a debate with some fellow hostelites over the merits/demerits of the movie. I wanted to hold on to the magic of DIL SE as long as possible. I
DIL SE is like a poem; a poem encompassing love, sensuality, and the most dangerous gamble of humankind: life. It is an ode to the strength and weaknesses of the emotion called love; to the man-woman relationship in all its beauty as well as its not-so-beautiful manifestations; to the helplessness of a person who is as strong only as his heart. When viewed through the prism of the realities of life, DIL SE would end up a major disappointment. DIL SE is not for the person that is a realist; one who never looks back in life but only ahead; one who cannot flex his heart back to vulnerability. The lead character in this movie is someone who is not cornered by the boundaries of reality; or even of life in general. If DIL SE is a poem, then the emotional crests and troughs of Amarkant Varma (Shah Rukh Khan) are the penetrating words of this poem. Right at the outset, Ratnam makes it clear that the audience would be witness to a character comprising of a never-say-die (pun intended) attitude, one that is romantic and utterly honest to one’s heart to the core. The initial words of Amar at the railway station lay the ground for his characterization. While the realist might balk at the notion of a short conversation being labeled ‘the world’s shortest love story’, the romantic is going to have his/her heart flutter at such a start to the movie. When Amar mentions that he could get the character of Meghna (Manisha Koirala)—whom he meets barely a minute ago—stars and also conquer forts; it becomes crystal-clear that this is a man who doesn’t really bother syncing his heart and mind before mouthing words. In contrast, Ratnam makes his lead character fall head-over-heels in love with the female character who is not completely a realist, but someone who is definitely hardened owing to her volatile background. The background music when Meghna asks for just a cup of tea is fantastically ominous and serves as a portent to the fact that this one could end up a beautiful but doomed love story.
Mani Ratnam creates a magical tragedy pitting a foolish yet optimistic character against a disillusioned semi-realist. The character of Meghna is semi-realist in the sense that the humanistic part of her character is negated by the harsh realities of her past, present, and future. She has carefully buried all feelings of a ‘normal’ person like love, the yearning for family, for children, etc., beneath her hardened exterior. Time and again, Amar manages to scratch her shell and she lapses into this layer of her character; but she is quickly pulled back to reality either by her commander or her comrade (Mita Vashisth).
Ratnam is a master when it comes to creating romance on the screen and he leaves the viewer breathless with many magical moments shared between the lead pair. The ones that stand out, however, are the scenes that are steeped in pathos: the conversation between Amar and Meghna at the radio station when Meghna asks for a job a (Amar asking Meghna to wipe her tears before she leaves touches the audience heart-breakingly and simply elevates the scene to amazing heights); Amar and Meghna conversing about the 3 things they like and dislike in life; Amar getting up in the morning to discover Meghna’s disappearance and her sand-written words; Meghna coming to Amar’s house on the day of his engagement (Mr. Khan’s expressions and the background music when he faces Meghna at his engagement simply wring the heart); Amar discovering Meghna taking a bath and gazing at her sensually—hitting with an impact more powerful than a hundred explicit scenes put together— but respectfully keeping his distance and closing the door, cinematically opening it to the outstanding SATRANGI RE song; the climactic conversation between Amar and Meghna before the blast, to name a few.
Besides these two compelling characters, there are two other characters that leave a haunting impact on the audience; the music and cinematography. The lensing of the movie by Mr. Sivan is exquisite and evokes surrealism in various hues and angles. Whether it is the chase sequence in Connaught place, whether it is the sands of Ladakh, whether it is the Rajpath, Mr. Sivan’s capture of the moving images is a soulful feast to the eyes.
There are truly no words to describe the words of Gulzar. He, the wizard of Urdu, of Punjabi, of Hindi, of metaphors, of similes, of rhymes, is in top-notch form. His words are embodiments of sensuality, love, desperation, and longing. Sample this from the song DIL SE RE—the futility yet necessity of love, of relationships, come across beautifully:
bandhan hain rishton mein – There are restrictions within relationships,
kaanton ki taarein hain – and there are chains of thorns,
patthar ke darwaaze diwaarein – doors and walls of stone,
belein phir bhi ugati hain – even so, the leaves grow root,
aur gunche bhi khilte hai – and even so, their buds bloom,
aur chalte hai afsaane… – and the stories keep continuing…
The wordings of the song CHAIYYAN CHAIYYAN are bathed in the magic of the beautiful language of Urdu and will remain fragrant for years and years to come. The song captures the purity of love and the dedication of a lover hauntingly:
yaar misaale os chale, paaon ke tale firdos chale – She walks like the morning dew, beneath her feet the heaven moves;
kabhi daal daal kabhi paat paat – Sometimes the trees’ branches, and sometimes the leaves;
main hawa pe dhoondoon uske nishaan – I keep searching for traces of her in the air;
sar ishq ki chhaaon chal chhaiyya chhaiyya – With your head blanketed by love’s shade come, come, my shadow
One can go on expanding on the beauty of the other songs; SATRANGI RE evokes the zenith of passion and sensuality; AE AJNABI is an ode to pining; JIYA JALE conjures up feelings of a person who is just about to enter the boundaries of a relationship and love.
Rahman’s music matches up to Gulzar’s poetry in notes and spirit and the resultant ‘sound of music’ is the stuff of legends. Twelve years since the movie, the songs and the music still echo the same magic that they weaved at their birth. The sands of time haven’t rusted the soundtrack one bit.
Ultimately, the film remains a triumph for the director in Ratnam. His sense of romance, of imagery, of visual poetry, is awe-inspiring. Ratnam showed tremendous spine when he made the lead characters blow themselves to smithereens in the end. He did not succumb to the cinematic pressure of somehow making the lead characters survive and boldly emphasized that however beautiful or probable, in life, not all loose ends get tied perfectly. Viewers will note that Ratnam leaves no stone unturned in conveying a sense of hopelessness when the character of Meghna, NEVER once (even when she is about to die) tells Amar that she loves him, though Amar literally destroys his life for her. The fact that she cannot bring herself to confess her reluctant love for Amar painfully brings out the torment that she faces being caught between misplaced idealism at one end and the humanistic feeling of love at the other.
DIL SE can be arguably called the most symbolic movie post the 1970s in the Hindi film industry. It works like a Shakespearean tragedy. When discerning the movie, if one tries to infuse a sense of factuality into the proceedings, the movie would fall apart like a pack of cards for the viewer. Consider the scene when the terrorists visualize the assassination of the President – the scene is so minimalistic in its depiction that it almost could be fit into a stage-play. But Ratnam takes a longer time in registering the emotions on the faces of the terrorists; implying that it is the characters’ mind-set that should be the main take-way from the scene and not the nitty-gritty of the assassination plot by itself. Ratnam has an enviable record of movie-making that somehow manages to attract the same degree—yet differing in kind—of attention from both the general public and the critic. He somehow manages to strike a balance neither resorting to over-simplification nor to a clinical depiction of the topic. His films are like one big feast. The political angle in his films are like salt and pepper in the main dish—a bit more of them and they ruin the main dish; the main dish being that of human conflict amidst a sense of turmoil. And his achievement remains that he manages to garnish just the right amount of salt and pepper.
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August 24, 2018 at 8:20 AM
I liked dilse songs better than roja. And dont rate bombay that highly either. Isnt thiruda thiruda the album with the song chandralekha? There was a hindi dubbed album available, which was a great one.
Btw, not just bombay, i thought rangeela was also quite an over-rated album. The album sold more for urmila’s skin show imo.
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August 24, 2018 at 8:42 AM
How does an ALBUM sell more because of a skin show?
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August 24, 2018 at 9:07 AM
Because … it makes the songs popular!
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August 24, 2018 at 9:13 AM
No one buys an ALBUM because of a skin show…..they will watch the movie. Rangeela is one of ARR’s best hindi album. Heck it even won the best music composer for Rahman at FF against DDLJ. As for the movie itself, its enjoyable in parts.
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August 24, 2018 at 4:08 PM
You need spoon-feeding? Take it then!
Albums or movie tickets sell more on hype than merit in the commercial domain (we are not talking classical music here for you kind info!). Skin shows make songs popular, so people buy the album. Item songs make the movie popular, so masses go and watch it. Do you want me to write an essay so that you can get such simple stuff? This isnt rocket science!
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August 24, 2018 at 4:17 PM
Its also irritating to respond to silly comments who worship FF awards … FF awards, seriously???
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August 24, 2018 at 9:09 AM
It may come as a surprise for you, but ‘item’ songs are also added fill more bums in theaters … and sell more tickets.
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August 24, 2018 at 9:14 AM
Dude….stop b’sing. You just wrote that Rangeela’s ‘album’ was selling because of Urmila’s skin show. That has nothing to do with Item songs in movies.
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August 24, 2018 at 4:09 PM
Please take ur shit elsewhere if you cant understand simple stuff.
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August 24, 2018 at 10:15 PM
Couldn’t finish this piece An jo despite trying very hard. It is always better to be brief but to the point so that everyone can enjoy. Anyway good going but i hope you will consider you suggestion..
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August 25, 2018 at 6:12 PM
Oh sorry this was just a random review written a looong time back. I would have written it differently today. Will try to condense such write-ups if I am commenting instead of a review…Thanks.
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August 25, 2018 at 5:55 PM
Thoroughly delectable piece of write-up An Jo; although I’m not a fan of Dil se yet your & BR’s take on it has spurred me to revisit it!! Keep writing with élan👍👍
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August 26, 2018 at 7:13 PM
Thanks Myselfaamir.
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August 24, 2018 at 9:15 AM
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August 24, 2018 at 9:25 AM
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August 24, 2018 at 9:33 AM
Movie review: 3/5
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movie/happy-phirr-bhag-jayegi/critic-review/
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August 24, 2018 at 10:23 AM
BollyTrick
@TrickBolly
7h7 hours ago
Thursday BO Update:
#Gold: ~ 3.25 cr (Total ~ 89 cr)
#SatyamevaJayate: ~ 3.5 cr (Total ~ 68 cr)
Both #Gold & #SatyamevaJayate have done well in first extended week.
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August 24, 2018 at 10:25 AM
Looks like SMJ has picked unto Gold level or may be even better. But, Comes weekend, Gold will be marginally better.
Overall, SMJ producer figures looks inflated, no one in trade buying their 76 cr extended week figure.
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August 24, 2018 at 10:26 AM
Looking forward to watch GOLD today.
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August 24, 2018 at 10:32 AM
https://www.mid-day.com/photos/popular-bollywood-film-shooting-locations-in-mumbai/15933
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August 24, 2018 at 10:36 AM
After ‘Gold’ success, Akshay Kumar wants ‘Kesari’ to release on next Independence Day
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/entertainment/hindi/after-gold-success-akshay-kumar-wants-kesari-to-release-on-next-independence-day/videoshow/65510273.cms
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August 24, 2018 at 10:59 AM
If it is indeed true that “Kesari” is based on the battle of Saragarhi (where a small number of Sikh soldiers faced down a much larger band of Pashtun tribesmen in the late-nineteenth century), it is pretty shameful that we’ve now moved on to glorifying the British Raj’s colonial conquests in the sub-continent (the Sikh soldiers were part of the British Raj army that had expanded into the North-West Frontier), anything to show some imagined “us” beating off the crazy Muslim “other” — it could be Bajirao Mastani or fighting for the Union Jack, hey as long as there’s a Muslim on the other side! The symbolism of the word “kesari” will also not be lost on anyone. Akshay Kumar has really gone down a pretty shameful road, from waving an ABVP flag at a rally to this sort of thing…. all while getting naturalized as a Canadian citizen. I have long had a soft spot for Akshay but he is really shilling for a particular political agenda in a more naked way than almost any other major Hindi film actor.
More broadly, this sort of thing mirrors the ideological shifts in the Indian bourgeoisie — far too many of us have gone from identifying with the once-colonized to only being able to identify with the currently-powerful (the reflexive idolization of military force, the identification of very many in the middle-classes with (e.g.) the American conservative project, the impatience with the poor and dispossessed).
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August 24, 2018 at 11:40 AM
boss he is preparing a ground for his political career – of-course for BJP 😉 after Kesari, it maybe a film called Kamal 😉 and then “Panja harao man” and what not! 🙂 that is why, as Naveen wud like us all to believe, Akki is the biggest star on the milkyway and galaxies…….;-)
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August 24, 2018 at 12:20 PM
Outstanding comment Qalandar.. agree with everything here..
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August 24, 2018 at 12:53 PM
Don’t agree here Q.
Akshay’s nationalism is not against any religion. Why do you think so? RIght from baby to Holiday to Gold, there has been no jingoism…its plain solid patriotic films.
Him holding ABVP flag was a momentary thing which was never used to earn mileage etc. Fact that noone took any advantage itself shows it was non controversial.
The actor was present at a women’s marathon event which was organised as a mark of women’s empowerment keeping with the theme of his film. The marathon was also a space where participants joined their voices together to demand for a tax-exemption on sanitary napkins.
However, the seemingly non-political and social cause driven event got a political tone when Akshay Kumar went on to use a flag belonging to the BJP’s youth wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) to kick-off the marathon. Akshay tweeted a picture of him flagging off the marathon with the message:
“Flagged off Delhi University’s Women Marathon. These lovely ladies are taking the cause of women empowerment forward and running for tax-free sanitary pads #PadManInDelhi”
Both Salman and Akshay has been pro-establishment for some time. They remain so because they come from minority backgroup (muslim and sikh) resp. Political parties uses them but none of them are affiliated as they are seen in diverse camps.
Akshay is known for his pro-government stance. The actor’s film, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, in 2017 had a sequence that totally backed PM Narendra Modi’s demonetisation move. The Bollywood Khiladi had also met Modi in May last year to seek his blessings for the film. I don’t see this more than promoting a social cause of open defecation. The support that the movie got post release showed that Akshay had to involve government to maximise the impact. He succeeded in this and he needs to be applauded.
On Battle of Sarigarhi…its too early to say that it will be anti muslim. Afghans have been loved in India and even now. I doubt if Kesari is intended to be as communal as you are suggesting. So the apprehensions are unjustified and prejudiced.
My post is not to make you like Akshay once again. It is to share the perception from the other side of the coin. Akshay has max number of muslim fans after Salman.
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August 24, 2018 at 12:58 PM
And do watch Gold. Any other star would have tried to take mileage of the Partition effect on the team’s composition. It was very easy to have painted the Muslim players as anti nationals because few of them chose to play for Pakistan.
But not Akshay Kumar. The movie touched upon the subject beautifully where one really felt for the players. Not once one feel bad about their decision. One of the best cinematic moment on partition. Do watch it if you can.
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August 25, 2018 at 9:50 AM
I do intend to watch it — haven’t yet had a chance to
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August 24, 2018 at 1:03 PM
To conclude Mr Qalandar, i also think it has become fashionable to pull down anything pro-government (Swachch Bharat) by calling it as attack on minority. Just like you were once a fan of Akshay, so was i about your writings and views. Akshay lost one fan and now so do you.
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August 24, 2018 at 3:13 PM
RE: “Just like you were once a fan of Akshay, so was i about your writings and views. Akshay lost one fan…”
Actually, I never said that: I don’t have such a binary view on people (was fan / now not a fan — I suppose there are exceptions, in that there are people of whom I can never be a fan, e.g. SRK). I am perfectly OK being a fan of people but taking strong exception to certain things they do or stances they take. In Akshay’s case, my soft spot was in particular a function of a certain popular “trace” of Hindi cinema’s heritage that I could discern in him (“Khakee” is my favorite example, but there are others, such as “Insaan” or even “Bhool Bhulaiyya”), and this in an era when much of the industry has abandoned that sort of terrain (the article I posted a few comments ago (“Horror Show”), while quite old, still serves the purpose today), hence my disappointment at some of these recent turns — but that isn’t the same thing as saying I am no longer a fan. Heck, even with Amitabh (I am no bigger fan of anybody than I am of HIM) I have grave reservations about various things he does; similarly, I like Aamir Khan a lot but find his to be a most unattractive personality.
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August 24, 2018 at 4:13 PM
ha! as Naveen can not defend akki’s choices, he tried to put Q on backfoot by saying that he lost one fan!! really? are fans like that? that can not stand difference of opinion? it is like saying that akki has comply with all that you like or else you will no more be a fan of his!!! what the….Q do not take these guys seriously….tom if u write one line in favor of akki….he will be ur best fan again 😉
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August 24, 2018 at 5:13 PM
No worries IdeaUnique, Naveen and I have known each other for years (I remember he used to be targeted by some SRK acolytes), I am sure he is as chill with me now as he ever was!
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August 24, 2018 at 3:14 PM
Naveen: with all due respect, I don’t think anyone has ever pulled down Swachch Bharat on the grounds that it is anti-minority! I have followed this extensively and have seen a lot of criticism of it as a scam, sham, PR exercise, as ill-thought out and under-funded, but not that it was anti-minority. And even if anyone has, to accuse me of that sort of thing is most unfair.
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August 24, 2018 at 4:15 PM
yeah and he went all out and fell at the Govt’s feet to promote Padman……now let us say aamir and dangal….he could have gone to the sports minister and would have tried grab the publicity….did he do any of those things? no, on the contrary the film openly criticizes bribing in sports bodies in India…..this is the differnce. It is the confidence in one’s own product…which akki seldom has and hence churns out mediocre products
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August 24, 2018 at 1:03 PM
There is a Hooda movie also:
https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/battle-of-saragarhi-see-randeep-hooda-as-havildar-ishar-singh-1749379
Apparently it is big among Sikhs. I was not aware of it.
https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/when-21-sikh-soldiers-stood-against-10000-men-the-battle-of-saragarhi/
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August 24, 2018 at 1:06 PM
Pseudo secularist pseudo liberal commentary at its best, by folks who in all probability vote for the communists and cheer films demeaning Hindu god men. “Crazy Muslim other” ~ more films are made in Hindi cinema degrading Hindu priests painting them all with the same brush but I never see Nehruvians like Qalandar or Satyam objecting to this stereotype. But as soon as it comes to a Muslim villain, you guys go up in arms as though we’ve never had pro Muslim propaganda in Hindi films (SMJ is the latest example).
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August 24, 2018 at 1:13 PM
There is no need to be personal. Different people different opinion..
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August 24, 2018 at 1:29 PM
The comment was pretty much no holds bar and completely biased and non diplomatic. Merits a response in the same coin. I’m sure these admirers of Mughal and British India (for the kind who believe Gandhi was the greatest man to set foot on earth and Nehru remains India’s greatest leader) refuse to believe in the tyranny of Muslim rulers of the past or the loot & plunder of the Brits. Battle of Saragarhi has nothing to do with the “evil Muslim” in the first place. Its about the bravery and valour of the Sikh battalion just as Bajirao was about the valor of Peshwa Bajirao. If the Muslim tyrants were at the receiving end of their valor, I don’t see a reason why they or their sympathizers should be losing their minds in 2018.
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August 24, 2018 at 1:56 PM
In the case of Saragrahi there is no question of Muslim tyranny: the Raj was invading and occupying the Pashtun lands on the Indo-Afghan borders, and using Indian labor to fight these wars. Now that is not UNcommon in imperial settings, happens all the time (for instance more Marathas fought in Aurangzeb’s armies than in Shivaji’s), but let’s not pretend that we are talking about mere facts here — indeed your comments themselves illustrate as much.
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August 24, 2018 at 2:06 PM
It’s funny you are calling me an admirer of British India when I’m the one complaining about the glorification of an imperial conflict where Indians were basically fighting for the Raj.
More broadly, don’t distort my argument: no issue with a film on the valour of Bajirao — objection is to the distortion in that film and the reasons for the same (this is different from artistic license, which must be taken and is inevitable — but equally everyone should be free to discuss the meaning and implications of certain narratives). And you accuse me of selective outrage but are equally guilty: for instance I don’t see you upset that Bajirao doesn’t even mention the fact that the Peshwa kingdom was among the most oppressive in history from the Dalit perspective, or that Maratha raids were so feared and resented in regions like Bengal and Rajasthan that (to take one example) to this day one word for “dacoit” in Bengali is in fact “Marattha” (which I only learned a few years ago; similarly, even the Jodhpur fort tourist book alludes to this history). That’s fine, one is entitled to make the film one wants to make (although some films cannot be conceived depending on the politics of the day), and no film can be “about everything”, but equally, one is free to critique it.
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August 24, 2018 at 1:26 PM
I actually find the comment by Qalandar on Hindu Muslim totally unnecessary, uncalled for and agendaic. Such comments disturbs the harmony. It make people to react and take extreme stand, out realising the damage it can cause.
Munna, while i appreciate the stand on the cause…a stand on the root require more courage.
root-cause analysis.
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August 24, 2018 at 1:33 PM
You might never have seen it but some have a long track record of principled opposition to stereotyping: https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/www.outlookindia.com/website/amp/horror-show/263057
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August 24, 2018 at 1:45 PM
Your opposition and priorities are completely misplaced here. Kesari is based on “real” events and unfortunately, the opponents here are indeed the so-called minorities of today. As much as you wish for, they cannot portray the saffron brigade or the Russian mafia or the CIA as the antagonists in this scenario. No point fretting over this i suppose?
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August 24, 2018 at 1:51 PM
LOL there are lots of real events — the interesting thing is which are selected and for what reasons. Plus, another point I was noting first is that it is highly unusual in India to make a film glorifying an imperial conflict — it’s not striking or surprising if someone makes Kranti or Mangal Pandey, but if someone made a film on the Battle of Koregaon it would be absurd to say this is simply factual and there is nothing to comment: such a film would obviously be understood as an assertion of Dalit pride (heck given contemporary politics and what just happened in Mumbai earlier this year, I doubt such a film could be released if it simply glorified Dalit soldiers fighting for the East India Company and made villains of the Marathas).
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August 24, 2018 at 2:01 PM
I am all for films being made on any of the past events, even with a bit of fiction added as in case of Bajirao or Padmaavat. I have no qualms in a movie made on Dalit pride or one that demeans Brahmins or one that even questions the actions of the great Lord Rama or Lord Krishna in Ramayana or Mahabharata respectively. If the fringe or certain politicos have issues with them, I believe they need to be shut down in the name of “actual freedom of speech”. In the same vein I’d have no issues with a Kesari or a Padmaavat as well, but the fact that you seem to take exceptions right now leaves little difference between you and the fringe.
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August 24, 2018 at 2:09 PM
You are missing the crucial distinction: I am not saying no one has the right to MAKE Kesari — it is YOU who seems to resent the fact that I am criticizing it. One is free to make the film, one ought to be free to critique it — to equate the latter with the actions of the fringe who call for film bans and such things is evidence of bad faith.
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August 24, 2018 at 12:22 PM
Are Abhishek Bachchan, Ileana D’Cruz the new entrants in Life in a Metro sequel?
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August 24, 2018 at 12:52 PM
Abhishek, nonetheless, did let out a bit of a scoop here — before beginning work on Gulab Jamun he will be doing another film. However, he said he couldn’t reveal any more.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/abhishek-bachchan-on-working-with-aishwarya-rai-in-gulab-jamun-always-a-pleasure-to-work-with-missus/story-LYJvzYktJrqrEpQtmEhe3O.html
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August 24, 2018 at 4:46 PM
more on this rumor:
http://www.asianage.com/entertainment/bollywood/250818/anurag-basu-drops-ranbir-picks-up-abhishek-bachchan.html
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August 24, 2018 at 5:20 PM
I am liking his choices. Manmarziyan and sequel to life in metro. Not sure abt gulab jamun though.
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August 24, 2018 at 5:33 PM
not sure if Metro is more than a rumor at this point.
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August 24, 2018 at 5:41 PM
I found the first Metro too inauthentic, too self-consciously Hollywoody a film – the sort of film a Bengali filmmaker might make while patting himself on the back that he’s made a “serious” film. It seemed to wallow in itself…
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August 24, 2018 at 5:42 PM
yeah can’t say I’m a fan! But it might add to his multiplex credibility at this point, if Manmarziyan works.
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August 24, 2018 at 10:04 PM
Metro was not HW-y. It was a scene to scene lift from a HW film. I would define Talaash as something HW-y with all the cliches of its genre. Anyways, indian plex audience like such stuff. Its simply lazy film-making.
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August 24, 2018 at 1:59 PM
Saw Darkest hour. Gary Oldman was top notch as Churchill. I could barely recognize him. His grunts, idiosyncrasies..Read that there were many cinematic liberties; Liked he girl acting and interaction underground with Churshill.
My probably only qualm was, in some scenes he walking too fast for his age.
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August 24, 2018 at 2:00 PM
I will revisit Dunkirk which is on HBO.
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August 24, 2018 at 2:36 PM
this was really one for the big screen! Specially in the right formats. I’ve wanted to revisit Interstellar but again after the big screen it’s hard to get used to home viewing. Maybe more time needs to pass. The one film that is possibly the most difficult in this sense (among releases in recent years) is Gravity.
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August 24, 2018 at 4:01 PM
I love to rewatch Interstellar even on laptop screen!
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August 24, 2018 at 6:04 PM
Well I saw it on plane (same as Fury Road!)..So big TV at home is an upgrade 🙂 Also I was not aware of Dunkirk..Darkest Hour and Dunkirk are intertwined…
ps – Colleague of mine said it is worse movie he has seen with constant noise through out the movie..I wanted to argue ..but My reputation is not good, as I recommended Cloud Atlas and he couldn’t finish 15 minutes..
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August 24, 2018 at 7:03 PM
Some people did complain about the Dunkirk soundtrack along similar lines. On a related note check out Blackklansman. Simply fantastic.
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August 24, 2018 at 7:14 PM
By the way Fury Road was great in the theater too! You also shouldn’t miss the new MI in the theater if you like the series. I think this is the best one after the first (next up for me would be 4).
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August 24, 2018 at 2:34 PM
This is such a stale subject (churchill!) that I’ve not been very interested in the film.
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August 24, 2018 at 3:04 PM
I am pretty bored of (America’s unending) Churchill love — forget the fact that there is never any discussion about his imperialism and his racism (even in his own era these were considered anachronistic at best), much less his shameful role in the Bengal famine, perhaps that is too much to expect from a popular film industry, it’s just so lazy. Anytime someone needs to make a film that is going to be reviewed softly, hey let’s tap that vein 🙂 I am sure OLdman has done a great job, I just can’t bring myself to watch it!
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August 24, 2018 at 4:00 PM
Agreed on all counts here.
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August 24, 2018 at 4:17 PM
Churchill wasa monster. Irony was he was shown as a hero that fought against the devil hitler. Lol@white supremacy
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August 24, 2018 at 6:15 PM
Some movies get favorable treatment because of subject, probably is true..I guess this doesn’t offend me enough not to watch it..
More wider question is should cinema be mixed with politics..Politics within a movie or actor’s conduct in private life..Akshay Kumar, Kevin Spacey, Client Eastwood, George Clooney.
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August 24, 2018 at 7:08 PM
I think politics and personal conduct can be different: some times an actor’s politics and cinema are deliberately mingled (eg x or y Tamil actor where, after a point, the cinema becomes a springboard for a political career; someone like a Manoj Kumar is in this category in a sense as well). With something like Kevin Spacey it’s different, and more difficult for me: his personal conduct has nothing to do with the content of his films (I admit I feel a bit uneasy at ending his career for these reasons, especially given I am convinced that half the people in the industry are probably just as awful).
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August 24, 2018 at 7:13 PM
I think cinema is quite often mixed with politics. Even when it’s not dealing overtly with such subjects. Some of the greatest movies in the history of cinema are ‘offensive’ in their politics. Spike Lee’s current film features footage from D W Griffith’s seminal Birth of a Nation which featured members of the Ku Klux Klan as heroic figures. It was an utterly racist film, yet there’s no denying the film’s importance in terms of introducing cross-cutting and so on. Great poets have written works praising the likes of Stalin! It’s a difficult thing to examine. Recently when V S Naipaul died the same debate cropped up again. Undeniably a great writer but also one who boasted about beating his wife so badly once that she couldn’t step out of the house for some days. You can have a repugnant human being and/or the worst kind of politics that is twinned with the most remarkable art. It’s a paradox of life I suppose. How the same mind and sensibility are capable of both!
Getting back to the Churchill film here I just wasn’t interested enough in the subject. Otherwise I’d check it out. But what is also true is that Churchill keeps getting a pass where many others don’t. Now of course one has to be careful about not exporting the standards of the present into the past but by some accounts Churchill was more racist and anti-Semitic than many in his age. And this quite apart from a truly monstrous event like the Bengal famine. Put differently there were many others like him in the annals of imperialism but most of those people are not portrayed as heroes these days. Churchill is so much a part of the romance of WWII and in turn American consciousness that he’ll probably keep getting ‘good press’ at the popular level for quite some time.
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August 24, 2018 at 4:20 PM
ET is claiming Aamir wants Prabhas in MB. Nice strategy to tap into uncharted southern territories if true.
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August 24, 2018 at 10:25 PM
Prabhas as Arjuna and Aamir as Krishna is quite a dream cast.
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August 25, 2018 at 12:13 AM
Get his friends Rajni as Duryadhan and Kamal as Shakuni. Bachchan can play Vishwa. 1000 cr investment from Ambani and Rajamouli to direct …
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August 25, 2018 at 9:46 AM
I would love to see an All-Bollywood Mahabharata casting, but do believe Aamir is too earnest to be a good Krishna, he lacks a certain playfulness (I hope this isn’t some drab TV serial Krishna but the “natkhat” bhaiyya-type that we need; Akshay actually did a pretty solid job as Krishna!). If this were 10-12 years ago I would have said Madhavan would be a great Krishna but right now the cupboard is a bit threadbare.
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August 25, 2018 at 9:54 AM
PS — the best Krishna we NEVER had was Bachchan in Mr. Natwarlal: he struck the perfect balance between a sense of play, and even a hint of something dangerous (as the Divine always must have, if it is not to lapse into the “merely” heroic — this is the problem with all the TV serials made on Hindu mythological subjects, they are reverential and have no sense of the uncanny; masala cinema at its best captured this much better, ironically (or perhaps BECAUSE) it wasn’t aiming to represent the Divine for the most part), a smoothly enigmatic figure…
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August 25, 2018 at 11:50 AM
Natwarlal is one of my favorite Bachchan films.
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August 24, 2018 at 9:40 PM
https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/asian-games/asian-games-2018-how-an-indian-coach-plotted-indias-fall-in-asiad-kabaddi-5323922/
Asian Games 2018: On Friday, the Indian coach of the Iranian women’s kabaddi team achieved the colossal: An astounding 27-24 victory against overwhelming favourites India to ring in Iran’s emergence as the Asian Games champions.
Written by Shivani Naik | Jakarta | Updated: August 25, 2018 6:56:28 am
How an Indian coach plotted India’s fall in Asiad Kabaddi
Shailaja Jain is coach of the Iranian women’s team that stunned India to win gold in Jakarta.
When her daughter was barely nine months old, Shailaja Jain abruptly weaned her from breastfeeding to take up a trial posting as a district kabaddi coach at Ichalkaranji in Maharashtra. Two years ago, “Mrs Jain”, as the Iranians call her, distanced herself from the idea that her Indian nationality should restrict her career ambitions. “Once you decide to take a leap, you shouldn’t think too much,” she says.
On Friday, the Indian coach of the Iranian women’s kabaddi team achieved the colossal: An astounding 27-24 victory against overwhelming favourites India to ring in Iran’s emergence as the Asian Games champions.
”If they had asked nicely, I might have even helped the Indian men’s team with insights into the Iranian opponents they lost to yesterday. But their attitude makes me feel like I am a criminal for coaching outside,” says the 61-year-old tactician.
In the women’s final, she spotted a glaring hole on India’s right flank and sent two of Iran’s best raiders to wreak havoc. “Within 2-3 minutes, India’s morale was down after our raiders attacked that right corner. Their defence crumbled, and we took advantage,” she says, describing her plan with relish.
India’s shaky right wing was always going to collapse at the Garuda Theatre — but Iran’s capabilities had needed bolstering, and it was for this that Jain was roped in by an insistent Iranian kabaddi federation.
“I was not only reluctant but worried about going to Iran,” she says, recalling how within a week of a one-month trial in 2016, the Iranians sped up her visa formalities and had her on the first flight out to Tehran. “I’m a pure veg-eating Jain. And you know how some of us think about Islamic countries. So, of course, I was wary of the dressing laws and how women are treated, and whether I’d be able to get vegetarian food. But many things are misconceptions. There are certain restrictions, but not all of them are bad,” she says.
”Plus, if I hadn’t taken this up, people wouldn’t be so interested in my life story. It’s because I won the Asian Games with Iran beating favourites India, and I am a successful coach,” says Shailaja, adding that she had refused an Iranian offer in 2008 because they weren’t paying her enough.
Iran never compelled her to wear the head-scarf, she says. “There are certain rules of that country, and I took it positively and would wear an odhini, like we do on a salwar kurta. I could not be stuck because of these things,” she says.
Shailaja was born in Nagpur and grew up watching her mother play kabaddi. “I played all sports — kabaddi, langdi, kho-kho, running. I followed a friend who was selected to the Maratha Lancers club and stuck on while she left,” she says. Playing at the national and university levels, she agreed to a marriage proposal from a man who hailed from a rural background in Jalgaon but encouraged her kabaddi, marrying in 1980.
”He didn’t earn much, but my father-in-law sent me money to complete a course at NIS (National Institute of Sports). The Jain samaj isn’t always very forward-thinking but my in-laws were, despite coming from a village,” she says. This burning drive would see her leave a three-month-old daughter in the corridor of a school where she was interviewing for a coach’s post. After coaching around 300 players to top-level kabaddi, she retired from the NIS job in 2014. But Iran had been watching, keen on hiring her, impressed by an interview from a decade ago.
”I love the Iranian girls because their fitness is excellent. They played all sports, football, rugby, karate, taekwondo and martial arts, before coming to kabaddi,” she says. It’s why she knew that when the finals’ star Khalaj Ghazal was struck on the head, she didn’t need to be taken off. “I knew she was tough,” she says.
What “Mrs Jain” brought to the table was technical basics. “I took time to fix their technique. How to fall back after grabbing the ankle, not fall in front. If you’re catching the thigh, not to move the back leg in front, stay where you are. Fundamentals,” she says.
She reckons that India’s selection controversies and favouritism did them in. She would love to coach in India “but without interference”. “In Iran, I had control. The list of the last 12 players was approved with only my signature,” she says.
Shailaja also refused to accept the simplest of gifts. “I didn’t want to feel indebted to anyone and be coerced into selecting them. I told them, ‘everything after gold’. I told them only gold was my mission as coach. Your winning is secondary,” she says, laughing. “It obviously meant several sleepless nights because I was under pressure to deliver.”
At the same time, she was brutal in pruning the squad from 42 to 12. “I wanted a winning team. I created a WhatsApp group. I’d usually put inspirational messages. But in the lead-up, every day, I would trim the group. Removing them from the group meant they hadn’t made the team,” she says.
While she had no issues with dressing rules, discussions on food often got interesting even as she lugged packets of khakhra, pickles and papads. “I love their preparations, only if there wasn’t meat in it. So I’d make them find veg substitutes. Even in their raita, they’ll sneak in meat,” she says.
As ambitions go, it has been a lifelong dream. “I wanted to do something different in life. Now I’m Asian Games champion coach,” she says. And while she has achieved the unthinkable in Jakarta, she adds that she’s not averse to coaching India. “I love India, India is my country, but I love kabaddi also.”
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August 24, 2018 at 10:55 PM
Chak De Iran? This story is exact opposite of CDI and Gold.
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August 24, 2018 at 10:11 PM
2.0 trailer on Sep 13.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/tamil/movies/news/rajinikanth-starrer-2-0-teaser-to-be-unveiled-on-vinayaka-chathurthi/articleshow/65531060.cms
And expected Sahoo release date is 15 jan.
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August 24, 2018 at 10:14 PM
And …
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August 24, 2018 at 10:16 PM
So the madness is about to begin. Both teasers of Toh and 2.0 are expected to come out in mid september.
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August 24, 2018 at 11:11 PM
250 cr budget vs 500 cr budget – Cant get bigger than this!
From Sep till Nov its going to be all TOH and 2.0.
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August 24, 2018 at 11:23 PM
What is the first day collection of now hindi releases? Any idea?
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August 24, 2018 at 11:44 PM
Not following much of BO these days sanjana. A bit tied up.
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August 26, 2018 at 5:44 AM
I m hearing TOH is releasing on 8th Nov.First day record wld be gone by a margin which is around 40cr ATM.Even 60cr nett is on ATM.
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August 24, 2018 at 10:23 PM
Box Office: ‘Ant-Man And The Wasp’ Nabs Record $24M Friday In China
Arriving seven weeks after its North American debut, Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp got off to a superheroic start in China. The Walt Disney release earned around $24 million on its opening day, including $1.5m in Thursday midnight previews. That’s bigger than the opening day launches for Black Panther ($22.7m), Spider-Man: Homecoming ($21.6m) and (exchange rates and online ticketing fees notwithstanding) bigger than any superhero launch that wasn’t technically an Avengers movie (including Captain America: Civil War). That positions the film for a terrific $70-$75m opening weekend.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2018/08/24/box-office-marvel-ant-man-and-the-wasp-24m-friday-china-paul-rudd-evangeline-lily/#3531d981755c
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August 25, 2018 at 12:17 AM
Rajamouli’s Father Denies Manikarnika Reshoot Rumours
Needless to say, that rumours started circulating that ‘Manikarnika’, the biopic on Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi are being re-shot as the makers of the movie aren’t happy with certain portions of the movie. But, Rajamouli’s father said that he is very happy with the final output, the performances and the VFX works done and predicted that it is going to be a true blockbuster. There is also ambiguity regarding the release date.
Read more at: https://www.mirchi9.com/movienews/rajamouli-father-vijayendra-prasad-denies-manikarnika-reshoot-rumours/
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August 25, 2018 at 12:32 AM
Sep 3 is TOH poster release, 27 Sept is trailer…..well, daily these days we here AK news – proper PR machinery at work there….building up the pre-release hype – this one is going to be mammoth
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August 25, 2018 at 1:24 AM
So 9+ weeks of promotion. Cool.
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August 25, 2018 at 1:35 AM
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August 25, 2018 at 1:39 AM
Sorry for my innocence but may i know who he is?
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August 25, 2018 at 1:41 AM
One of those random trade guys that the likes of you keep quoting all the time.
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August 25, 2018 at 2:24 AM
http://www.koimoi.com/box-office/decoding-gold-heres-a-look-at-the-economics-of-this-akshay-kumar-film/
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August 25, 2018 at 1:44 AM
Rs 1000 Cr budget for Prabhas Film
Prabhas is going to team up with Mr Perfectionist Aamir Khan for an upcoming project Mahabharata, which is going to be made on the whooping budget of Rs 1000 Cr, say sources. It is known news that Aamir Khan is planning to make Mahabharata and according to the latest buzz, Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan has approached Baahubali star Prabhas to play an important role. The talk has been initiated but nothing is yet finalized. If Prabhas will give green signal, then two top stars- Aamir Khan and Prabhas will be seen sharing the screen space in Mahabharata and it will be a double treat for the fans of both the stars.
It is heard that after wrapping up the shoots of his next upcoming film Thugs of Hindostan, Aamir Khan will join the makers of Rs 1,000 crore budget movie ‘Mahabharata’. According to reports, this upcoming movie Mahabharata is going to be one of the most expensive films to be ever made in the Bollywood industry.
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August 25, 2018 at 1:50 AM
perfect choice, I hope Aamir chooses his cast with utmost sincerity
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August 25, 2018 at 1:53 AM
As expected, the loss of director Danny Boyle (apparently over clashes with Daniel Craig about casting and over clashes with the studio over overall story direction) has allegedly caused the next 007 flick (distributed by MGM and Annapurna in North America and Universal/Comcast Corp. overseas) to be pushed back from November of 2019 to (presumably) November of 2020. That gets the movie out of the way of the Warner Bros./Time Warner Inc.’s Wonder Woman 1984, Paramount/Viacom Inc.’s Terminator reboot and Walt Disney’s Frozen 2. Universal has plenty of big flicks (Hobbs and Shaw, Secret Life of Pets 2, Glass, etc.) to keep it warm next year.
A November 2020 launch would position it to be the go-to event movie of the season prior to James Cameron’s Avatar 2 (presumably) launching in December. And to the extent that the filmmakers are (understandably) struggling with how to make 007 relevant in an era where America and Russia are technically being run by stereotypical Bond villains, it may be easier if the producers wait just long enough for Donald Trump to (hopefully) be a lame duck president. But that will still mean a five-year gap between movies.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2018/08/24/james-bond-25-gets-delayed-should-daniel-craig-quit-while-hes-ahead/#1d437b6a3c97
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August 25, 2018 at 1:57 AM
Landau: In 1995, Cameron shared with me a scriptment that he had read for something called “Avatar.” I loved it. I fell in love with it, but the technology was not there at the time to make the movie. And we waited another ten years to make the film. And I said to him in 2005, I think we’re at a point where technology is there and that we can be the impetus to push it to allow us to tell this story. Technology was not about 3-D, it was about creating immersive and engaging characters who could be the Na’vi and the Avatars.
As we’ve moved on with the sequels to “Avatar” we made a very conscious decision to stage the whole four sequels on Pandora. We don’t need to go to another world if we want water, we’re going to go to the oceans of Pandora. Just like you see in Flight of Passage. Also, some of those creatures that you see (on Flight of Passage), don’t be surprised if they show up in the films.
We’re going to go to totally different environments, we’re going to meet different cultures. Just like our planet is as diverse culturally as we are environmentally. We want to introduce people to different cultures. In the first movie, we only met the Omaticaya clan, and they are the clan here allowing us to come to the Valley of Mo’ara. But as we venture out we’re going to different environments and different clans.
https://insidethemagic.net/2018/08/interview-avatar-film-producer-jon-landau-talks-sequels-pandora-the-world-of-avatar-at-walt-disney-world/
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August 25, 2018 at 2:08 AM
45 percent Friday drop for Gold compared to Thursday
https://boxofficeindia.com/report-details.php?articleid=4215
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August 25, 2018 at 2:17 AM
This nails it then. Shocking as the movie was really good but failed to excite people to pay and come to theatre.
A wannabe Chak De…as Jayshah said is what couldn’t enthuse.
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August 25, 2018 at 2:17 AM
So second weekend wont be even 10 cr ???
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August 25, 2018 at 2:33 AM
After this fiasco, 2.0 may get postponed to some holiday release in 2019. Dont think they can risk a non-holiday release for 500 cr film.
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August 25, 2018 at 3:43 AM
Trending like Race 3, big first day collections, then phusss
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August 25, 2018 at 3:52 AM
No much worse. Race 3 opened at 26 cr and folded at roughly 130 cr. Gold opened at 25 cr and will end at 105 cr!
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August 25, 2018 at 9:27 PM
Considering the scale of release, screen count and fake 130 cr number for Race 3, I think Gold did better.
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August 25, 2018 at 10:00 PM
Economics wise the distributor losses will be definitely less for Gold. Race 3 lost mammoth sums of money.
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August 26, 2018 at 5:49 AM
Race 3 did around 165cr Marcus.
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August 25, 2018 at 2:15 AM
Warner Bros. has nabbed Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer to score its highly anticipated “Wonder Woman 1984,” according to an announcement made on the composer’s site. The sequel to 2017’s record-breaking superhero hit, “Wonder Woman,” the follow-up sees the return of director Patty Jenkins (“Monster”), and stars Gal Gadot and Chris Pine. Jumping in time to take place during the Cold War, “Wonder Woman 1984” also adds Kristen Wiig to the franchise as the villainness Cheetah.
https://www.indiewire.com/2018/08/hans-zimmer-wonder-woman-score-1201997393/
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August 25, 2018 at 2:26 AM
[post created]
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August 25, 2018 at 2:39 AM
Those rejoicing on GOLD’s less than expected BO show…BEWARE!!!!
2POINT0 is coming !!!
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August 25, 2018 at 2:43 AM
After a clean HIT, a potential national award winning and biggest social impact movie ever made in modern era, PADMAN
and
a less than excepted, above average / semi-hit GOLD
2019 has just begun for Akshay!!!
#2point0 Is Coming
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August 25, 2018 at 2:44 AM
U said the same abt gold when padman underperformed.
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August 25, 2018 at 2:49 AM
Liar Liar
Pants on Fire!!
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August 25, 2018 at 3:00 AM
2.0 is mainly Rajni and Shankar’s movie.
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August 25, 2018 at 3:11 AM
Yes, i agree.
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August 25, 2018 at 3:13 AM
True, but its hindi business will rest on akshay’s shoulders.
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August 25, 2018 at 4:03 AM
That is also true. And if well liked and Akshay character is received well then may be will help Akki’s next release.
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August 25, 2018 at 8:49 AM
yes it will do 100 crore in hindi belt going by Akki’s BO limit
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August 25, 2018 at 8:57 AM
And each cr will count towards recovering that 500 cr budget!
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August 25, 2018 at 2:48 AM
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August 25, 2018 at 2:50 AM
Dostana actors John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchan reunite for Anees Bazmee’s Pagalpanti
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/scoop-dostana-actors-john-abraham-abhishek-bachchan-reunite-anees-bazmees-pagalpanti/
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August 25, 2018 at 3:29 AM
Movie is titled – Saadhe Saati
Speaking of Saade Saati now titled Pagalpanti, the earlier reports had suggested that the film revolves around the Hindu belief that the bad luck caused due to the influence of Shani aka Saturn lasts for seven and a half years. As for the leading lady, the details are yet to be revealed.
Sounds fun. John Abraham on a roll now.
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August 25, 2018 at 7:44 AM
hope this isn’t true!
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August 25, 2018 at 9:49 AM
God this sounds like a terrible idea, hope this rumor is untrue — Abhishek has great comic timing but Bazmee is a crap director.
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August 25, 2018 at 2:58 AM
BOI now saying 105crrs lifetime for Gold. It’s disappointing number considering all the hype, reviews and holidays (15th august, bakrid, rakhi etc). Funny that BOI keeps pushing Akshay as biggest superstar after Khans while his movies box office collections are even being passed by new comers and younger generation. May be Akki need to give a break to non stop deshbhakti kind of movies. Its getting stale and repititive.
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August 25, 2018 at 3:04 AM
As a true Akki fan, you should be disappointed. You should be worried if the quality is not good. But the fact is they are all good movies so far incl GOLD (watch it if you haven’t). So pls don’t be alarmed and suggest anything out of panic. Wait for the next Akki season.
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August 25, 2018 at 3:11 AM
Its because of boi’s obvious bias that i m not convinced that smj producers are over reporting. That film is doing good anyways. Boi idiots are more likely to under report it.
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August 25, 2018 at 3:28 AM
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/will-finally-play-narendra-modi/
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August 25, 2018 at 3:31 AM
I Hope Akshay doesnt play Narendra Modi…else he will be called anti-minority.
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August 25, 2018 at 3:39 AM
If Aamir plays Narendra Modi then i am sure noone will have any problem.
#BiasedIntolerance?
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August 25, 2018 at 3:42 AM
Will never happen. Aamir had issues with modi since fanaa. Bjp cant stand him either. Asslicking chakki is the best option for them. Salman wont touch it as it will anger his core fanatic base.
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August 25, 2018 at 3:45 AM
Ajay Devgn. Or rishi kapoor.
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August 25, 2018 at 3:37 AM
BTW, Narendra Modi is a potentail blockbuster. If any big star plays, the movie will wreack havoc. I still wonder why people will be intolerant towards the star who will play him. Q, any thoughts here?
I mean look at alternative scenario.
Another potential blockbuster could be a movie on Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. Their biopics will do very well. However the actors playing a congress leader will not be labeled.
So who are intolerant.
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August 25, 2018 at 4:01 AM
About 20 years ago, on a Mahashivratri night, engineering college classmates and future filmmakers Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK took a spin on their motorcycles in the town of Tirupati. They met locals who spoke of a female spirit who was whisking away men in the dead of the night. The locals protected themselves by writing “Stree re pura” (Telugu phrase, meaning stree, come tomorrow) on the walls of their homes.
“The thought of it was ridiculous,” Nidimoru said. “Here you have them writing come tomorrow, and the spirit is like, oh okay, I will come tomorrow, and then the same thing happens the next night and the spirit is like, oh shucks, they did it again, I will come tomorrow, I guess.”
The experience stayed with Nidimoru and DK as they left India for work in the United States of America and later embarked on a filmmaking career. They realised that the urban legend went by different names or had subtle variations across India. “In Karnataka, they call it nale ba,” DK said. “In Rajasthan, the same thing happens, apparently in the cold nights of the winter months.”
This decades-long preoccupation is finally making its way to the theatres on August 31. The horror comedy Stree, written by Nidimoru and DK and directed by Amar Kaushik, stars Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi and Aparshakti Khurana.
“We found the social satire element in it,” Nidimoru said. “That in today’s India, it is men who are scared to step out of houses at night. That men have to take a woman along with them in the night to stay protected. And that men would have to wear tight clothes and step out because once stree took you, only your clothes were left behind. Also, this stree is all about consent. She calls you first and only when you turn, she takes you.”
DK added, “The key in the story isn’t the ghost but how everyone is reacting to its supposed presence. Once we found the satire in it, we immediately embraced the possibilities of the idea.”
Read more at
https://scroll.in/reel/890955/the-key-to-horror-comedy-stree-its-not-the-ghost-but-everyones-reaction-to-it
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August 25, 2018 at 4:26 AM
https://www.news18.com/news/movies/thugs-of-hindostan-is-not-getting-edited-on-monitors-but-in-yrfs-special-preview-theatre-1855607.html
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August 25, 2018 at 5:22 AM
aamir is doing humongous work with Paani foundation for 4260 villages in Maharashtra and BJP CM Dev Fadanvis has gone all out to support aamir – so all talks of aamir not close to BJP is baseless. Modi has often invited Aamir when ever there is an opp.
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August 25, 2018 at 5:28 AM
Lol are u really so naive? When u do real ground work with results, any ruling govt is forced to tag along. Question is why the fuck cudnt fadnavis get this work done himself????
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August 25, 2018 at 6:23 AM
Let Paresh Rawal play Modi. He has moved to that camp long back.
Certainly don’t want Aamir playing the man.
Aamir seems close to Maharashtra BJP — and that’s it. No more.
On May 1, 2015, Aamir met the CM, Fadnavis. He agreed to help with the CM’s new program Jal Yukta Shivir, do whatever was possible to bring drought relief to state. A five year journey was chalked out through the next few months. Aamir met industrialists, many at his home, jointly ( the media had then talked about this), got assured financial backing. He was snapped standing and talking to Ratan Tata. Aamir and Satyajit Bhatkal had bid good bye to Satyamev Jayate 3 rd season, in Oct 2014. They now wished to do something practical and take the SJ concept forward. Aamir has spoken about this.
At the recent Paani awards he has spoken about taking the water conservation – soil enrichment idea deeper, not necessarily wider.
The CM assured Aamir that Paani would be supported by state administration — whichever party is in power.
State Congress leaders Raj Thackeray …all present at awards function.
Next October, Fadnavis will have to contest again. This success with water issue — will certainly help him.
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August 25, 2018 at 8:24 AM
@LS – Aamir can and should play Modi – it has tremendous character graph – everyone has a right to have an opinion about him – but I know that he has worked with all sincerity for Guj. and now trying his best for India – the kind of life he has lived makes a good biopic for sure – but I doubt anyone will approach Aamir. Aamir is close to BJP CM in Maha. But due credit to CM also, he has done this for people. And in politics, if a leader does something so good – it is always being considered as party-politics – nothing wrong here. CM is being so pro-active is a nice thing for people as a whole. Aamir has been fearless otherwise with SMJ exposing many Govt. bodies also in lot of episodes. Paresh Rawal (again a BJP guy) is very close and fond of Aamir.
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August 25, 2018 at 8:28 AM
So this makes aamir close to maha bjp by your logic? Please answer something straight for a change. Why cant a state cm do this work with all the resources at his disposal? Why did aamir’s ngo have to do this work?
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August 25, 2018 at 8:56 AM
And it is sad that some fans want him to play anyone from gulshan kumar to osho to modi – just for a cheap blockbuster to his name. Chakki can do with such fans (although he already has a few already).
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August 26, 2018 at 3:02 AM
Even the most upright and honest leader in India cannot move a pencil from Point A to Point B without ensuring that some grease gets slathered on a few palms. All the flagship schemes that are announced by GOI or by well-meaning state govs hardly have a 30-35% penetration due to the massive leakage. Therefore, it would be very naive to think that Fadnavis or Modi or Adityanath etc can effect massive groundlevel changes just by throwing money at these issues.
However, when anchored by a private enterprise helmed by a big public figure (such as Aamir), alongwith full commitment of time by said figure, the intended penetration for these projects increases dramatically.
Consider Swach Bharat and the Toilet Construction Scheme. These initiatives have been forced to go through Panchayati Raj route for funds disbursement. I’ve heard accounts of upto 30-40% funds been skimmed off at Sarpanch levels. and the remainder reaches the beneficiaries well after the toilet gets constructed. So, what in the world can Modi do, sitting alone from his office?? He actually needs lots more Aamir Khans to bring all his schemes to fruition. But do we even have one more Aamir in this country of 1.4B, who can set aside self-enrichment goals and work for the country?
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August 26, 2018 at 1:52 PM
Qalandar “the idea that they are even reformers is itself propaganda.”, if you think of him as animal rights crusader or PETA leader then your outlook will change. I think most of the changes he has made are related to slaughter houses. If he was member of a band, with long grungy hair and torn jeans, he would be already given a nobel prize in peace and humanity. Orange, bald looks are not cool and makes you hindutvavadi which is a dirty word these days! In my eyes, he sure is a reformer as animal rights champion and activist.
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August 26, 2018 at 2:28 PM
If he were a genuine animal rights activist he would be moving against factory farming, which underpins so much of dairy and meat consumption in India and all over the world, and is associated with appalling cruelty that people don’t think about because it is behind the scenes. (As an aside, contemporary factory farming is so brutal and barbaric that even vegetarians are complicit: because once milk and eggs are extracted from these animals so ruthlessly, they become so weak and “untenable” that slaughter is the only recourse — there’s a perfect continuum between factory dairy farming and factory slaughterhouses.) As an aside, Yogi is also associated with other things than animal rights: threats of violence and mayhem over the years, implication in rioting, and he has by his own admission founded a private militia. Doubtless the Hindu Yuva Vahini only focuses on animal rights.
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August 26, 2018 at 3:23 AM
“.., the intended penetration for these projects increases dramatically…”
And this is primarily because otherwise corrupt officials who can stop clearances in their tracks without receiving the requisite lard, are forced to co-operate under the piercing media glare that a persona such as Aamir brings to the ground. These officials are left with no choice but to keep the cogs of bureaucracy moving in such circumstances.
Ever wonder why countless well-meaning professionals, engineers, doctors et al go to rural area to try to do something, but return back dejected? They try to tap into all the available govt schemes for effecting a change on the ground, and they quickly realize that everyone from peon up to the highest echelons of state power are totally corrupt.
I know wealthy businessmen, merchants etc who try to earmark crores of personal wealth towards any sort of social scheme; and have to quickly backtrack when they realize that more than half of that money will end up in the pockets of the corrupt. If the hurdles are so huge, how can ordinary non-media spotlighted people ever hope to achieve any change?
So only when an Aamir hits the ground; the halo of his over-sized persona steam-rolls over all hurdles and prys open all doors of corrupt babudom.
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August 26, 2018 at 5:30 AM
Well, Modi has two options if he is an ‘honest’ politician (and personally I have no such delusions). Either change the system of babudom and do whatever it takes for that. Else resign. Instead he will prove his honesty with ridiculous slogans during 2019 LS elections.
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August 26, 2018 at 7:40 AM
“..Either change the system of babudom and do whatever it takes for that. ..” They need absolute power to enforce a draconian will on the very well entrenched IAS/IPS bureaucrats. Just look at the tremendous pushback received for something as irrelevant as Lateral Entry into the services. The babus would have none of it. These people have created a thick mesh of networks which ensures that not a single file passes through the press, until some juice is squeezed out into open palms.
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August 26, 2018 at 7:48 AM
Who is “they”? The likes of Fadnavis and ________ (fill in as many names as you like here) are creatures and creations of these nexuses of commerce and the State, the idea that they are even reformers is itself propaganda. And when one gets to Adityanath (arguably the biggest fanatic ever to be made CM anywhere in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, or Bangladesh) to even speak of reforming babudom is a pretty sick joke: Adityanath is there not to reform anything (in case a glance at his Gorakhpur track record doesn’t already tell the story) but to underscore that Pakistan is the model, that Hindutva is what is going to be used to win in 2019, nothing else.
The Congress is the party of crony capitalism; the BJP is the party of crony capitalism + Hindutva. And the capitalists are ok with either as long as they get to bend the rules and loot the public’s resources — what is new is that in our era they also seem to want to be considered heroes by that very same public!!!
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August 26, 2018 at 10:25 AM
That comment abt the only difference between congress and bjp is the hindutva rhetoric is bang on target! And its also just a rhetoric, nothing more than that.
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August 26, 2018 at 10:50 AM
Some lynched guys also wish it were just rhetoric…
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August 26, 2018 at 8:55 PM
In india the influential can get away with anything. The lynching could have been much worse than whats happening.
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August 26, 2018 at 5:35 AM
From promises of ‘transformational’ development BJP is down to ‘sacch niyat’ rhetoric this time around. Well, intentions are useless if you cant produce results. He is just lucky that his opposition is a waste like rahul.
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August 26, 2018 at 7:44 AM
nykavi: your representation of the businessman who wants to do good but is stymied by government is just as misleading as anyone else talking about Adityanath and development (no one instals a guy like Adityanath if you are interested in development — you do it because you realise there won’t be any development track record to speak of and so hardcore communal politics need to be plugged): the reality in India is businessmen shamelessly exploiting and participating in corruption to loot the public… and then turning around and propagandising images of themselves as fearless entrepreneurs who achieved all that they did DESPITE government restrictions. In a nutshell, this generation of Ambanis, Adanis etc are unimaginable without crony capitalism and illegal favours from the government. One isn’t naive to expect anything different, but to see the valorisation of the businessman as some force for good that is OPPOSED to government control of the economy, rankles (in a world where the government truly did get out of the way, whatever else happened, Ambani and Adani would not be where they are, that’s for sure). For an example of some superb fact-checking on corporate malfeasance check out: http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reportage/coalgate-2-0
Sorry, I know this if off-topic but couldn’t resist 🙂
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August 26, 2018 at 7:55 AM
And PS — if you are going to point out examples of honest, by-the-book entrepreneurs, then one can ALSO point to several several examples of honorable IAS officers doing their duty in very difficult circumstances; you can’t just say everyone is corrupt, actually as between India’s businessmen AS A CLASS and the babus AS A CLASS, I am not at all sure I would pick the former over the latter for character and probity.
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August 26, 2018 at 1:59 PM
If Irrfan says it, it is cool and progressive. But if Yogi bans public slaughter of goats with private backyard slaughter ok, then it is hindutva and regressive. Irrfan at 2:30 mark:
The problem is rose colored glasses. If you see yogi, you automatically judge him based on his clothes. Ignore the clothes and focus on his actions. They are progressive on all accounts.
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August 26, 2018 at 2:25 PM
Yogi is judged on his actions and words: numerous instances of hate speech over the years, the track record as Gorakhpur MP, and his founding of a militia. The notion that he is being judged on his clothes is offensive (why would I think a man who dressed like a sadhu is a right-wing extremist?! A sadhu is just a sadhu — or sometimes, Bachchan in Shaan — and one can’t really infer too much about his politics), and smacks of bad faith. With Yogi one doesn’t need to scramble to find the one issue on which Irrfan and he agree (millions of people agree on that issue, doesn’t mean that inoculates Yogi against charges of extremism, because those charges were never premised on him being an animal rights champion).
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August 26, 2018 at 3:45 PM
He has to start somewhere in his animal rights movement? Maybe with public slaughter of sheep in bakri id and taking selfies with dead animals? It is like Marie Antoinette saying if bread is not available, eat cake. If he is allowed, factory farming might be next dimension, which btw is not that much of a problem in India. And to call the yuva vahini “militia” group is laugh worthy. Maybe mayavatis and yadavs will help us all.
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August 25, 2018 at 8:30 AM
Watched Nayak (hindi remake of original Mudalvan by Shankar) again after many years – Anil is sincere but originally it was Aamir who was offered the role and he rejected it! I wish he had done this….they are planning Nayak 2 – hope aamir does it this time….
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August 25, 2018 at 2:20 PM
Nayak is significantly inferior to Mudalvan — even the soundtrack works much better in Tamil than Hindi (eg something like “Chirya tu hoti to” sounds trivial and silly, whereas “Azhakaana Ratsasiye” is just addictive). The whole bus accident-that-becomes-a-riot bit might be favorite Shankar sequence…
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August 25, 2018 at 9:11 AM
Coming from a debut director, the trailer of Love Sonia is surprisingly well cut. The film had garnered some praise in the film festival circuit …
http://www.dailyhawker.com/entertainment/love-sonia-grabs-rave-reviews-at-indian-film-festival-of-melbourne/
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August 25, 2018 at 9:22 AM
Looks like Happy Bhag Gayi is giving Gold a run for money today also. Shame Naveen, Shame …
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August 25, 2018 at 9:29 AM
ToH pic …
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August 25, 2018 at 9:37 AM
I’ll say this again, if they did this right they’d have the biggest absolute grosser of Indian cinema on their hands. Of course Im not realistically expecting this. They might still get the biggest Hindi grosser but that would have been an opportunity missed. Should be an entertaining film either way but it would be a pity to have this cast and this subject only for the most monstrous initial ever that eventually settles down to the biggest grosser but isn’t more than this on the trending. Given Aamir’s involvement there’s at least a hope for the ideal scenario. Then again this is only a Yashraj production directed by Acharya!
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August 25, 2018 at 9:52 AM
And Aamir knows the potential with BB2, must have seen it,many times, studied it carefully and will ensure either of TOH or MB challenges BB2
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August 25, 2018 at 11:59 AM
He of course knows the potential but you can’t replicate Rajamouli’s imagination so easily. BB (incidentally I liked part 1 way more than part 2) hardly has an extraordinary script but the director has great imagination here. Aamir is a somewhat different sensibility. He’s more the sort of person who focuses on the script and here it means having the right dramatic script in place with masala elements. Aditya Chopra doesn’t have that gene, in any case he’ll just be happy with the biggest total ever, Acharya strikes me as the sort of director who’s only as good as the script. So it’s really about how much has been done here with the script. BB’s script is not substantial enough, it depends on scale, Rajamouli’s flair, and a myth-like structure. This is perfectly fine as a choice but a different kind of masala is much more script-centric. The latter is what one should expect from TOH. There will of course be masala elements here but it won’t be like BB which is essentially a collection of grand moments in every sense. Or put differently what Rajamouli does is not as easy as it looks, I’m not running him down, just saying that a more script-centric film needs to get the cathartic (if you will) elements right. Differently still, if you’re just doing Dhoom or D2 you can keep things plastic but when you introduce a more substantial script, as was the case in D3, then you need to get it right in a different sense. This is why most people express disappointment with D3. It still has the ‘most’ script among the three films but it doesn’t develop the more substantial script in the best sense.
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August 26, 2018 at 8:02 AM
Of course it has the most ‘script’ as it’s ripped off classics like The Prestige & Deewaar & created a complete joke of a film with hardly anything going for it. The second time an AK film unabashedly plagiarized a Nolan classic, a fact the “intellectual” fans (blind worshippers) of the thinking actor conveniently ignore.
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August 26, 2018 at 8:38 AM
that’s a different point altogether. I’m not debating originality here. Not that Dhoom and D2 were trail-blazing originals!
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August 25, 2018 at 10:36 AM
I maybe wrong, but with a diwali release and 3 open weeks Aaamir would expect this to do 500 cr like BB2’s hindi version.
And he maybe thinking about BB2’s pan-india business when approaching Prabhas to co-star with him …
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August 25, 2018 at 10:45 AM
Last couple of reports say Aamir may play Karna (Jha previously reported the Arjuna character would be played by him). So maybe he now wants Prabhas as Arjuna.
I will anyday prefer Aamir playing Karna than Arjuna. He truly is an alien outsider in a mediocre industry when it comes to merit.
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August 25, 2018 at 11:50 AM
yes that’s a reasonable expectation but it will need to be liked to get there. Even the biggest initial won’t get it to 500. You’re talking about doing 125 or so more than Dangal. That film had great trending. Now the TOH initial will be in a different stratosphere altogether. Nonetheless the film will have to be liked more than D3 was (a film which broke most or all records in the first 10 days or so) to get to 500. In any case my point is a different one. The film could have a potential way more than 500. The point is that you’re getting Aamir and Bachchan together for the first time, you have a big period production which promises lots of masala, you have the Yashraj banner. After all this a 100 or so more than Dangal might be the biggest ever for Hindi but that’s hardly living up to the potential of the production. The film should be historic in terms of the absolute gross but again my debate in Hollywood language would be a film doing 550m (great) when it could do 700m (extraordinary).
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August 25, 2018 at 12:04 PM
Extended week 1 business could be 250 Cr plus or even closer to 300 Cr if the film has strong WOM, so in this scenario 400 Cr should be a given. But you’re totally right, as a cinematic moment this is a big deal. It was a big deal when Chopra got SRK and Bachchan together and this with the space Aamir has found himself in is no less. It’s got 23 days before competition arrives and that’s plenty to set new records but I’m more interested in the decency of the film. At least have some scenes to savour between the 2 leads.
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August 25, 2018 at 12:15 PM
Your estimates here lay out well how a good film here could easily do well in excess of 500. The other way of looking at it is the BB all India number (all versions). A Hindi super-grosser ought to be able to do as much. But yeah otherwise it’s true that one way or the other one is still looking at the biggest Hindi grosser. D3 too did it at the time.
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August 25, 2018 at 12:18 PM
the one thing that is for sure here is that it will not be easy to build up this kind of hype for a project for a very long time. This film literally has all the elements in place. Dhoom used to be Yashraj’s biggest box office card but after this no matter what D4 is or isn’t, it will seem like an anti-climax.
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August 25, 2018 at 3:40 PM
ticket rates since 2016 have increased. also dangal didn’t have gst benefits like movies such as tzh onwards and later enjoyed.
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August 25, 2018 at 10:16 PM
BB2 did 250 cr in a normal 7 day week one without any holidays. So ToH’s extended week 1 of 9 days can easily go to 300 cr in Diwali festive week. That week has a lot of restricted holidays apart from the national one. Question is, will the hype be at BB2 level and will the WOM be at BB2 level.
On the former, I think a lot of factors are already there for building up the hype cycle. Aamir in a lead role after 2 years, return of D3 blockbuster team of YRF/Acharya/Aamir, Aamir-Bachchan in one film for first time, Aamir back in Lagaan/RDB domain of anti-colonial sentimentality, a budget of 200+ cr with best available production values, etc etc. What they now need is a few good posters and a kickass trailer to be released as planned over the month of September. BB2 trailer was really good and did half of the job of building hype (the other half was already there due to it being second part to a hugely successful BB1). ToH team still has one month time, so they should take good care to get the trailer right.
Regarding WOM, it will depend on how the movie eventually shapes up. I expect it to be a lot better than D3, given that Aamir has dedicated more than 2 years of his time to this project and has been fully involved since its inception (which was not the case for D3, which he shot as a stop-gap project between Talaash and PK).
Overall, I wont be surprised if we get 300 cr in first week (9 days) and a cume of 550 cr. I think 700 cr is not possible with Acharya and Adi’s involvement (there is bound to be some consequences!). But yes, 3I would have done 700 cr in current market and with GST in place.
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August 25, 2018 at 11:06 PM
And I will repeat this again. I have no doubt that single day business will touch 50 cr on Nov 8th. But the true measure of WOM will be on Sunday (Nov 11) – IF it can again touch 50 cr on that day. With really good WOM it can surpass the opening day figure.
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August 26, 2018 at 8:15 AM
A Hindi record grosser doing at par with BB2 all India is an absurd expectation. Core Telugu & Tamil film markets in the interiors of TN, AP, Karnataka & Telangana hardly have a market for Hindi films. The reach of Hindi cinema in the south does not extend beyond the metropolitans of Bangalore & Hyderabad (not even Chennai or Kochi). As an individual whose spent the last decade of my life in the south of the vindhyas I could vouch for that. In a best case scenario, the potential of a Hindi film would probably be about 20% higher than the Hindi version of BB2 at about 600+. Or perhaps 700 in a post GST market. Even an HAHK wouldn’t hv an inflated adjusted number of 700+ today.
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August 26, 2018 at 8:35 AM
Sometimes it might be a good idea to read carefully what the other person is saying! I wasn’t assuming overnight Hindi penetration in Southern markets when I said that. I was suggesting comparable participation in Hindi markets. The latter has more or less underperformed 99% of the time over last 25 years or more. There are few exceptions. Ghajini for example was huge in some of these centers, something that is not adequately reflected in the gross (massive as it was at the time, a fair bit came from non-multiplex centers). The Bollywood gross is mostly about multiplexes. These have mushroomed over time and the gross has increased as well. To an extent the subjects are also a bit different than they were in the 90s. A salman starrer still has more universal appeal than a major SRK one in the 90s. The reason Aamir is ahead of the game even with a film like Dangal is because everyone else is underperforming. Dangal did hugely well but all else being equal it shouldn’t be outgrossing blockbuster films from Salman or whoever! And so a film that drew that universal audience and appealed to all kinds of markets and was liked enough in most of these could absolutely get that gross (even accounting for the fact that market penetration in TN or Andhra has always been greater than in Hindi ones, i.e. per capita cinemas/screens). Because of the segmentation of the audience it’s not easy to design such a film. But the Salman films minimally show that if they were better works and trended better a lot more would be possible. With TOH there are all the makings of a perfect storm. Whether it lives up to its billing is another matter. But I am talking about potential here. The biggest openers today would already be doing 400 regularly if they trended better (and I’m not talking exceptional trending).
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August 26, 2018 at 1:09 PM
Might as well keep expectations realistic than being a snobbish know it all at most times. Whatever your rubbish estimates about the so called potential of a film might be, even the biggest of blockbusters with a 90%+ word of mouth can never cross 600-700 cr in the current scenario unless it gets 2 months of competition free release with adequate face value & huge production scale.
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August 26, 2018 at 1:58 PM
“Might as well keep expectations realistic than being a snobbish know it all at most times.”
you only have to learn about ‘irony’.
Of course I never said that these were my expectations but then you’re not likely to read anything carefully anytime soon.
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August 26, 2018 at 2:48 PM
“Of course I never said that these were my expectations but then you’re not likely to read anything carefully anytime soon.”~ not that you’re anywhere near being specific at any juncture, a trait well shared and admired by you and your cronies. An neat cover up for your Aamir fan kid’ism and your shamelessly unabashed left wing inclination.
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August 26, 2018 at 6:04 PM
Wow, the amount of bile in this forum has to be seen to be believed.
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August 25, 2018 at 1:06 PM
Neha with full blown baby bump.She was pregnant before marriage as was speculated.
https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/neha-dhupia-is-pregnant-angad-bedi-announces-with-adorable-post-1905738
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August 25, 2018 at 1:39 PM
After playing a demanding and physically challenging role in Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi Kangana Ranaut will be seen playing kabaddi player in Ashwiny Iyer’s Panga. She will also be re-uniting with Rajkumar Rao and Anurag Basu for a movie titled Imli.
Commenting about working again with Anurag Basu, Kangana said, “He taught me what ‘acting’ truly is and I owe my interesting career graph to him. We met again after a long gap during which I have grown as an actress, but with him I’m still a child who has a lot to learn”.
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August 25, 2018 at 6:28 PM
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August 25, 2018 at 8:30 PM
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August 25, 2018 at 8:31 PM
Bharat still.
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August 25, 2018 at 10:20 PM
Antman and Wasp is heading towards 70+m $ opening weekend in mainland china.
http://english.entgroup.cn/boxoffice/cn/daily/?date=08%20/26%20/2018
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August 25, 2018 at 11:07 PM
If Ambani is backing MB and Aamir is on board – TOH 550 Cr will have a worthy successor -I think TOH has good 25 days solo run – unless some hollywood biggie is also releasing….that is going break every record in sight…aamir khan makes those nos. like 200-300-350 cr so easy!!! akki has never been there, sallu is on a slippery ground, srk is long out of that zone…..
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August 25, 2018 at 11:23 PM
If MB really happens and IF Prabhas is his co-star, then rest assured that they will target BB2’s all-version business of 1000 cr nett in India with first part of the series itself.
Even if the casting falls in place, question still remains – who will direct it? I agree with Satyam that Aamir dont have the imagination of Rajamouli to build a cinematic universe out of scratch. That is a Cameron/Lucas-kind of unique skill-set in film-making (one reason I am looking forward to Alita:BA coming this Christmas).
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August 25, 2018 at 11:34 PM
And its not easy to make such a film. Pre-production will take one year (2019), shooting at such a scale will take another year (2020) and post-production with all vfx work will take another year (2021). So we are looking at 2022 summer release at earliest.
4 year gap between TOH and MB1 may not make many hard core fans happy!
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August 25, 2018 at 11:46 PM
And contrary to popular fan sentiments here, i believe that its a worthwhile investment of his time. Because if it clicks, he can make another 3-4 films for MB franchise in quick time. The returns can be humongous over time.
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August 26, 2018 at 6:51 AM
LAGAAN was a very big affair for that time and its influence exceeded that of a normal producer. How do we know Aamir doesn’t have the imagination? He has been playing with this wish in his thoughts for decades. His strength are well told simple stories so far, but that should not fool us. He’s not Rajamouli, of course. But that doesn’t mean that only Rajamouli can do MB (and we already know what it will look like).
Aamir is liberating Maharashtra from the drought, an area the size of Germany. He did SMJ. This man thinks big when he wants to. These ideas originate first in the head. Directing is more a matter of time and whether he will take it. Of course it needs a fantastic script, anything else would disappoint me. I’m not in favour of Aamir making MB, but I’m sure it would be something unique.
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August 26, 2018 at 6:58 AM
Rajamouli has categorically told last year in many interviews that he will be directing Aamir’s MB. He is keeping quiet simply becoz that is how aamir is known to work – less noise during the work. Now Prabhas is on board. Things are falling in place with Ambani backing it (Reliance stock is rocketing! in last one month its mkt cap has gone up 1 Lac crore!). Definitely things will be on the biggest canvas India can offer to the world as now China mkt is a far bigger territory and then US will be tgted to with LOTR scale….only power that now is required to make this or break this…well, that of Lord Krishna’s 🙂 he has the final call in this….
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August 26, 2018 at 7:27 AM
would be simply incredible if Rajamouli directed it!
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August 26, 2018 at 9:02 AM
Rajamouli is currently prepping for his next that will only start shooting after its lead stars are free from their ongoing projects. That film will be shot next year and may not release before 2020.
If we assume that MB will not go on floors before 2020, even then the entire pre-production will have to happen without the director’s involvement! It is logistically not possible for Rajamouli to direct the first part (unless Aamir does another film in between).
I believe Rajamouli may come in to direct latter parts of the series. Not now.
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August 25, 2018 at 11:59 PM
Btw, there is a big chance that Prabhas will agree to Aamir’s proposal. This guy does not mind gaps between his releases. BB2 released 2 years after BB1 and now Saaho will release 2 years after BB2 in 2019 summer. He is also reportedly getting married next year and is scheduled to shoot a romantic film in 2019 which will probably release in 2020. So if he signs up MB and the first film releases in 2022, then it will be another regular 2 year gap between his releases.
As for Aamir, there was 4 year gap between DCH and MP. And there was 3 year gap between 3I and Talaash (not counting DG, since is was not a commercial film from any angle). So another 4 year gap for Aamir is not a big deal for him. Fans may get impatient, but that cant be helped. No gain without pain.
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August 26, 2018 at 1:11 PM
If Columbus is a myth there might as well be proof that the earth is flat!
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August 26, 2018 at 1:23 AM
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August 26, 2018 at 1:26 AM
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August 26, 2018 at 1:44 AM
So Happy Bhag Gayi is still ahead of Gold on Sat …
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August 26, 2018 at 1:27 AM
saturday update
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August 26, 2018 at 3:00 AM
http://www.koimoi.com/box-office/rajkummar-rao-shraddha-kapoors-stree-set-to-be-the-biggest-horror-success-of-2018/
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August 26, 2018 at 3:17 AM
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August 26, 2018 at 4:55 AM
Legendary RK studios up for sale
https://in.news.yahoo.com/rk-studios-sale-rishi-kapoor-051724898.html
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August 26, 2018 at 5:08 AM
Sad.
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August 26, 2018 at 5:27 AM
10 years back our great Ranbir Kapoor had claimed during his debut that he would revive RK studios and reclaim it to its lost glory …
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August 26, 2018 at 5:32 AM
None of them have the love and dedication like Raj Kapoor or Shashi Kapoor. Randhir Kapoor has the will but no finances and other support.
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August 26, 2018 at 5:33 AM
Agreed on Raj and Shashi. Not sure about Randhir. Its such a waste of resources from the others.
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August 26, 2018 at 5:40 AM
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/shocking-kapoors-plan-sell-off-iconic-rk-studios-last-years-fire-accident
Sometimes the sudden fire accidents raises some doubts. Agree that memorablia was lost but the Studio is still there. I also felt bad when Ashirwad was sold. Nothing is sacrosanct anymore.
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August 26, 2018 at 7:25 AM
The family sold the parental home (“Krishna Raj”) in Pali Hill, a gracious bungalow that has now been torn down and an apartment complex is being built in its place — there is no hope for preservation of architectural heritage in India when even the most affluent in society cannot be bothered to maintain homes that they can easily afford to. Earlier Sanju had done something similar, and Twinkle did likewise with Rajesh Khanna’s bungalow on Carter Road.
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August 26, 2018 at 8:32 AM
financially wiser……a small flat in Pali Hill cost u 10-15 cr – so selling a bungalow or Studio in Mumbai will easily fetch u more than 100 cr
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August 27, 2018 at 3:45 PM
Well we usually want more money than we really need.
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August 26, 2018 at 6:27 AM
very sad..
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August 26, 2018 at 5:44 AM
https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/films/story/20060703-30-bollywood-movies-that-never-were-released-782839-2006-07-03
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August 26, 2018 at 6:16 AM
https://www.scoopwhoop.com/entertainment/film-stars-original-names/#.0plc9bz3f
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August 26, 2018 at 9:00 AM
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August 26, 2018 at 9:34 PM
Watched BLACKKLANSMEN. What a subtle and under-stated but powerful movie! Do watch it.
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August 26, 2018 at 10:16 PM
You’re the third person I know in the last two days to say so — can’t wait to watch it (alas I will likely have to wait until the coming weekend!)
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August 26, 2018 at 10:54 PM
Starring Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal and Abhishek Bachchan, Manmarziyaan will be released in India on September 14 after its world premiere at the 2018 Toronto Film Festival (September 6-16) under the title Husband Material.
https://scroll.in/reel/891456/complicated-unreasonable-messy-kanika-dhillon-on-modern-love-in-manmarziyaan
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August 26, 2018 at 10:56 PM
‘Ant-Man And The Wasp’ big in China, soars past $500m worldwide
Ant-Man And The Wasp grossed $71.2m from 28 territories for a $332.6m international running total that will soon overtake the 2015 original’s $339.1m final tally. The $544.1m worldwide haul has surpassed Ant-Man’s $529.3m.
The $68m China debut ranked as the fourth highest debut in the territory for a Marvel Cinematic Universal release and the third highest by a Western film so far this year, while the $7.2m Imax portion delivered the highest ever August debut there.
South Korea now ranks as the film’s second highest market on $42.4m, followed by the UK on $19.8m, Mexico on $15m, and Australia on $14.6m, with Japan still to come. Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly star.
https://www.screendaily.com/box-office/ant-man-and-the-wasp-big-in-china-soars-past-500m-worldwide/5131984.article
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August 26, 2018 at 11:04 PM
And Incredibles 2 is just 3M away from 600M mark at US box-office!
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August 26, 2018 at 10:58 PM
This is big news. YRF launched in-house yfx wing yFX for ToH …
****
From its inception, Aamir Khan’s Thugs Of Hindostan was conceptualised as a visual spectacle to be released in IMAX format. With the visual effects being an integral part of the action adventure, it has been learnt that producer Aditya Chopra and Khan decided that the VFX will be handled in the studio’s in-house special effects wing, yFX. Turns out, it was for the Amitabh Bachchan and Katrina Kaif starrer that Chopra had specially launched the visual effects wing in 2016. In the past, the production house’s offerings were usually outsourced to other VFX studios.
A production source reveals, “When Vijay [Krishna Acharya, director] narrated the script to Adi and Aamir, they both understood that the film had to be mounted on a large scale. It was then that Aditya decided to set up a VFX wing specially for the job. While the team has handled portions of some of YRF’s offerings, Thugs will be the first project that will be fully handled by yFX.”
Chopra also understood that having a VFX wing on standby would ensure that the post-production would work in tandem with the shoot of the period drama, thus ensuring that the film meets its November release. “The real challenge was to take up an IMAX film. Every time a crucial sequence was shot, it was immediately worked upon within the stipulated timeframe.” The source goes on to add that Chopra and Khan’s decision was reaffirmed when footage of several big-budget films were leaked. “With Baahubali 2’s footage being leaked, Adi was certain that he needs to monitor the film’s VFX work within closed doors.”
The spokesperson of Yash Raj Films said, “We wanted to present a film that would stand out with its visual extravaganza. Thus, came the inception of yFX — a team that worked on several projects first to take on the mammoth task at hand for Thugs Of Hindostan.”
MID_DAY
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August 26, 2018 at 11:01 PM
Good to see they are gunning for IMAX format.
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August 26, 2018 at 11:24 PM
And with launching of yFX, the BO fight between ToH and 2.0 in nov is now a show-down between ‘make in india’ vs hw (apart from the north vs south thing). Sep to nov is going to be fun!
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August 26, 2018 at 11:08 PM
Not sure how much Sultan will do in China as it will be facing competition from Antman and MI6 next weekend. But ToH can get to 70M range in the opening weekend.
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August 26, 2018 at 10:58 PM
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August 27, 2018 at 1:37 AM
Gold distributor cost was around 55crs…Looks like it will end up as average.
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August 27, 2018 at 1:40 AM
How?? Even if DP is 55 cr, it will need 110 cr or so for just recovery. Its a different matter that DP may be 60 cr based on reports already posted here.
Gold has not been able to cross 100 cr after second weekend. In fact Happy Bhag gaayi has done better over this weekend.
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August 28, 2018 at 4:09 AM
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August 26, 2018 at 11:29 PM
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August 26, 2018 at 11:30 PM
ToH pic …
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August 27, 2018 at 12:09 AM
I want to make a final reply to a resident idiot in this forum who raises one question from time to time – why dont aamir fans criticize him for dumbing down any ‘influences’ from nolan’s films?
Well, its not because aamir is dumb. Its because bollywood audience by large is much less mature than hw counterpart. And an occasional d3 is ok as long as he keeps doing dg, talaash, pk, dangal and ss. But yes, after spending 2 years dedicated to toh, i do expect it to be lot better than d3. However, it need not be a dangal – baahubalis were fine!
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August 27, 2018 at 1:58 AM
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/sushant-singh-rajput-shraddha-kapoor-starrer-film-titled-chichore/
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August 27, 2018 at 2:00 AM
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August 27, 2018 at 2:03 AM
Targeted at immigrants and aspiring ones? 👅
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August 27, 2018 at 2:10 AM
https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/delhi-s-criminal-minds-find-new-ways-to-hide-bodies-in-plain-sight/story-gARJpTVMTMCy1Mh8hRA16N.html
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August 27, 2018 at 2:15 AM
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August 27, 2018 at 4:20 AM
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August 27, 2018 at 4:26 AM
Not even 10 cr in second weekend. Good in a way, naveen will be in hiding till 2.0 release.
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August 27, 2018 at 4:25 AM
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August 27, 2018 at 4:50 AM
The new coinage should be 100 crore flops like Race 3 and less than 100 crore hits like HM and SS.
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August 27, 2018 at 5:20 AM
Continuing from above:
Q: “..The Congress is the party of crony capitalism; the BJP is the party of crony capitalism + Hindutva. ..”
You forgot to add ‘Dynasts and Sycophants” to the description of the Congress.
Crony Capitalism is the lifeblood of every major political party in every democracy around the world. Be it Repubs or Democrats, or Labor/Conservatives or Cong/BJP; each and every one of them have politicians making sweet deals with their favorite industry-groups and its businessmen. That pretty much is how any modern democracy works the world over.
So then, one has to distinguish these parties in some other ways. And the stark distinction between the BJP and Congress in one word is: Dynasty!
If BJP is Hindu, then the Cong is beholden to other religions. One just cannot wish that fact away. Their blatant vote-bank politics is pretty obvious for all to see.
But the bigger point here is, that you keep misjudging the ‘Hindutva’-bias of every Hindu who backs the BJP. It is not at all a love for ‘Hindutva’, in fact a wide swathe of us are not even ritualistically practicing Hindus. Rather it is a hatred of Dynasty; and the outrageous attempts by an internal coterie of sycophants to keep every worthwhile candidate ‘OUT’ of the sanctum-sanctorum at all costs. The incredulous sight of seeing a National Party cut itself to pieces just so they can prop up a Man-Child to be the PM! We are all contemporaries of RaGa, and believe me, we millions of educated self-made worldwise desi-borns scratch our heads everytime we see/hear him.
People are ready to ignore Modi’s communal past, just because they see a lot of themselves in his rise from poverty, thru sheer hard work and merit (guile cunning as well, which everyone needs to rise up anyways!) to occupying that top post. It is reflective of every Indian who has become successful in the last 3 decades. And all of us stridently abhor the blatant Congress sycophancy which took root during the time of Indira. And look at the systemic endemic corruption which this unbridled lust for dynastic power created, starting from the 60s onwards, in each and ever institution of democratic India.
So let me tell you this: You remove the Nehru-Gandhi Dynasty from the Congress, and you will see millions of educated Indians flock back to it. Unfortunately, this is something most liberals who want to stick to the Congress do not understand; and do not know how to address.
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August 27, 2018 at 5:59 AM
ha ha – well said NK – I can still understand ppl hating BJP for some reasons – but can never understand why and how can ppl still love Cong. for any reasons????? i mean that RG fellow winking in vote motion and asking NM to get up etc……well one must be out of mind to even consider this ppl worthy of being this nation’s leaders……
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August 27, 2018 at 6:00 AM
Agreed on every count here! You have precisely pointed out why Bjp will win next year (although not by a landslide this time). There will be much more back-scratching and compromises this time around to put together the required number of seats.
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August 27, 2018 at 6:07 AM
But they were elected representatives. They could catch votes. When there is such an easy way to capture power, why not use them? We had congress prime ministers like Shastri, Rao and Manmohan singh who are outsiders. Those who wanted to grow left the party and formed their own parties like Sharad Pawar. No one is preventing other promising ones like Jyotiraditya scindia and Sachin Pilot to leave and form their own parties and pose a challenge.
the unpalatable truth is that the party wants the Gandhis to campaign at an all India level, not others because they know who can get some hearing and who cant. The much ridiculed rahul Gandhi is at ease in chennai, in Mumbai, in Delhi or in Punjab as well as foreign countries because of his surname and history behind it. The party is still benefitting from that surname and its history. And why will congress throw them out and become dead? Gandhis are rulers or catalysts and they are still a force to reckon with. Dynast or not it is all personality politics.Can you imagine BJP without Modi as of now?
As for corruption. Bihar under RJD, UP under SP, Tamilnadu under two dravidian parties,Yeddiyurappa of BJP, WB under non congress rule and the many skeletons waiting to be exposed and which are now in hiding are examples which debunks the theory that congress mukt means corruption mukt.
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August 27, 2018 at 6:15 AM
Not to forget Mayawati and Bahujan Samaj Party in the last para.
As for communal politics by congress, it is an evil norm in India. Except communists, every party plays these cards covertly or overtly.
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August 27, 2018 at 12:02 PM
But there is one difference: in every democracy there is vote bank politics, but in India today it is considered illegitimate to do any kind of vote bank politics if it is targeted at Muslims — but it is 100% legitimate to engage in vote-bank politics that are targeted at Jats, Dalits, Thakurs, Marathas, you name it. This is a double standard, and is now so widely held a view that the Congress gets frightened lest anyone accuse it of being (shocker! hold your breath!) soft on Muslims.
[Aside: the Congress’ partiality towards Muslims is itself gravely exaggerated: throughout the 1970s and 1980s many of the Sanghis were themselves in the Congress as the only game in town, and the Congress was “appeasing” both Muslims and right-wing Hindus (today many conveniently forget half of this equation — if there was a Shah Bano the Congress would “balance” by allowing puja at Ayodhya); not to mention the multiple instances of communal violence where victims never got justice, and where violence was state-sponsored (e.g. Hashimpur). What has changed is that with the rise of the Right, right-wing Hindu voters have definitively jumped ship from Congress to BJP; Muslims often do not have any alternative since the BJP keeps heaping abuse on them — but where they HAD/HAVE a choice (UP, Bihar) Muslims also abandoned the Congress.]
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August 27, 2018 at 1:19 PM
Sanjana: on a completely different note, I recently read this piece and thought you’d appreciate it: http://www.caravanmagazine.in/culture/literature/gn-devy-challenges-concept-knowledge
In case you haven’t already read it, I highly recommend the book by Devy discussed herein, “The Crisis Within”
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August 27, 2018 at 1:31 PM
Thanks Q for the suggestion. I will do so.
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August 27, 2018 at 1:44 PM
Q, off course the BJP also has its vote-bank to pander to. They started with Brahmin-Baniya, and kept expanding it to include almost all the various castes, sub-castes in the Hindu universe. The Cong on the other hand kept losing chunks of their constituencies over the decades and are now left with a precious few. However, in the liberal lexicon, a BJP pandering to its core vote-bank equals ‘communalism’; whereas when other do the same, it is ‘secularism’. And this is what the enlightened voter rejects!
So then, why wax eloquent on secularism vs communalism, when in fact everyone is practicing the same cynical politics.
And hence, my original proposal to you: Get rid of the Gandhis, and then see which party musters the biggest combo of vote-banks. IMHO, that will be a big equalizing event by itself. If the Congress persists with this Dynastic status-quo, it will keep bleeding its constituencies over to the BJP. The only effective way to stop the BJP is to convince the voter that the Cong is a meritocratic party. It ultimately becomes a game of whoever can stitch the most vote-banks together.
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August 27, 2018 at 2:31 PM
Nykavi: the equivalence is completely false: in the entire history of the Congress, what career would an anti-Hindu have had?! Whereas in the BJP today, if you are virulently anti-Muslim Indian, no one will push back against you, and it might even be a way to advance in the party (any number of high officials or ministers could be cited here). To compare this deliberate and overt stigmatisation of a particular group with the ordinary push and pull of any democracy and set up an equivalence between them, simply does not hold water. The BJP most certainly has parallels “on the other side”, but that, I’m afraid, would be the other side of the border, where parties go around demonising and stigmatising Ahmedis, while those accused of being pro-Ahmedi are too cowed to say and do much and simply stay silent on the issue. Muslim-oriented vote bank politics over the decades was in no way anti-Hindu (it was unhelpful and not good IMO but that is a separate issue), it was simply ordinary, in the way of parties today who say “hey let’s do X or Y because the Jats want it”. The vote bank consolidation of the BJP, an ambitious attempt to stress a Hindu identity against a Muslim “other”, is pretty explicitly anti-Muslim, it’s the very basis of the BJP consolidation. It is not the Hindu version of what was happening earlier, it is different in kind.
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August 27, 2018 at 2:35 PM
PS — on a different note, i would say that if the Congress has any life today, it is not because of dynasty or any inherent merits (it hardly has any), but because people see no other alternative to Modi and the BJP. So if there is any vote swing the other way in 2019, it will simply be a result of how badly the BJP has mismanaged everything except for the media and the art of winning elections (I admit I didn’t expect this level of incompetence from them on either the economy or foreign policy; the other stuff was not a surprise).
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September 5, 2018 at 1:25 PM
Aside: just read this searing piece on growing up Ahmedi in Pakistan.
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August 27, 2018 at 6:19 AM
No one is saying that getting rid of congress means getting rid of corruption. Some of us have issues against personality politics, just like star system in film industry. We like to see films succeed based on its content and value rather than a star getting an initial. Its a different matter that among star vehicles i will prefer ranveer succeeding than say ranbir who gets everything on platter. Not that i am a ranveer fan, far from it.
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August 27, 2018 at 6:25 AM
We need an effective opposition. Otherwise we will be under another one party rule which will be as well as dynasty which may get away with anything just because it has numbers. Whether it is emergency or demonetisation.
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August 27, 2018 at 6:31 AM
“..They could catch votes. When there is such an easy way to capture power, why not use them? ..”
Actually, they were propped up by power of media and creation of a cult. When you take the first two decades of a country’s formative years (ie during the time of Nehru and early Indira years), and use entire Government Machinery, its educational institutions, think tanks et al and dedicate them to slavishly create a Dynastic Cult, off course the naive junta will buy it in spades. By the time Sanjay died, the elevation of the cult was complete. Every half-brained nitwit arising from those genes was now to become anointed emperor. This is why a non-politician like Rajiv got to run the country for 5 yrs and ultimately leave it bankrupt!
Thankfully, all of this couldve been done until before the Internet and social media. Before the power of thought and opinion and its dissemination was available to common-folk like all of us here. And this is why RaGa finds it so difficult to follow the footsteps of his father, who just lazily sauntered his way into the PM chair.
“..Can you imagine BJP without Modi as of now?..” The same question was asked when Vajpayee retired. But you see, when there is a grassroots org that itself elevates people based on merit, there will always be someone who rises to the occasion. So just to compare, after the Kennedy’s everyone thought that the Dems were finished. Yet they delivered Carter, Clinton and Obama. Even the Repubs, after the Bushes, cud deliver Trump!
Unfortunately, aside from the BJP, none of the other parties have any semblance of a meritocratic system in place. Each and every one is a baap-beta or bua-bhatija or what-have-you party.
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August 27, 2018 at 6:44 AM
It is junta’s mistake. So why blame the gandhis who took full advantage of the opportunities given to them on a platter? Afterall politics is also a sort of business.
The same junta also defeated the gandhis. So why to blame the junta which elects the people according to the times it lives? the junta has no option but to elect someone and they do it when they are convinced according to their intellect.
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August 27, 2018 at 6:56 AM
Intellect of a junta that is adversely poverty stricken and embarrassingly uneducated? Even for those privileged ‘educated’ ones, indian system of education is a farce. And I am saying this after getting advanced ‘degrees’ from reputed schools both in India and abroad. Democracy itself is a farce when you have such a hapless population in the first place.
Who is responsible for bollywood’s nonsensical star driven films? The audience? The film-makers and producers? Or the stars themselves? No one is beyond the blame game, but ultimately everyone follows the money. The money-bags create a star system and use it for their advantage,ie, to make more money. The stars get the perks, and the junta makes a fool of themselves.
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August 27, 2018 at 7:00 AM
But then how someone like Trump got elected?
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August 27, 2018 at 7:30 AM
“…It is junta’s mistake…”
Cmon! So you will blame those uneducated ignorant whom you were supposed to enlighten? How cynical?
“..Media ka mayajaal…”
The media was a tightly controlled group of entities, firmly under the thumb of the State in those early years. And they even got censored during Emergency. So the Gandhi cult continued unhindered until way into the 80s. Any cult of Hazare/Kejriwal or even Modi is too puny to even compare to this vast colossal Gandhi State that had been created by the time Rajiv arrived. It perhaps was a twist of India’s fate or some phenomenon of Nature that all three (ie Indira and sons) died violently, and thus created a natural space for other leaders and parties to sprout and grow.
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August 27, 2018 at 8:22 AM
How trump got elected? Its not a Russian conspiracy but you can dig about CA. India is living in stone age technically while the next technical revolution is engulfing the developed economies.
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August 27, 2018 at 6:49 AM
And the same media went against gandhis and created another cult when AH and AK started their indefinite dharnas. And who ultimately benefitted from that? Media ka mayajaal.
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August 27, 2018 at 6:30 AM
http://www.koimoi.com/bollywood-news/rambo-rajkumars-daughters-turn-choreographers-for-taapsee-pannu-in-manmarziyaan/
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August 27, 2018 at 8:08 AM
https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/inside-rk-studio-raj-kapoor-nargis-all-photos-5327202/
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August 27, 2018 at 8:09 AM
Gold Second Weekend Business
Monday 27 August 2018 12.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
Gold saw a big drop in collections as it grossed 9.25 crore nett in its second weekend which has taken its business to 97 crore nett apprx. The collections were low over the weekend though Sunday got a decent number due to Raksha Bandhan.
Gold will cross the business of films like Raid and Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety to become the sixth highest grosser of the year and overall its a decent fare as makers have made money while India was on commission so the all India distributor will also be in the black. There will be losses in Overseas as it was an acquisition there but the main thing is that it should have done more business in India and held on better.
https://boxofficeindia.com/report-details.php?articleid=4221
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August 27, 2018 at 8:12 AM
I was a bit disappointed as was expecting GOLD to be Akshay’s biggest grosser, till someone tole me that
“The likes of Marcus, ideaunique and other Aamir Khan fans call lesser successes like Secret super star and Talaash a HIT.
So enjoy Naveen…GOLD is a good success and most importantly a good movie.”
So am happy now. 2019 has just begun for Akshay with one superb movie – padman and another good one – GOLD
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August 27, 2018 at 8:24 AM
No one here claims ss or talaash as clean hits in india. But we dont buy the boi narrative either like some explicit morons here.
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August 27, 2018 at 8:33 AM
Did you just put Gold and Secret Superstar in the same para? You don’t see any difference between the two?
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August 27, 2018 at 8:39 AM
SS was well received for its size in India. While Talaash did not.
Reema Kagti could not score much with either aamir or akshay.
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August 27, 2018 at 9:03 AM
An entry in 100 crore club also shows the consistent run at Akshay Kumar has had at the box office as he has more films in the 100 crore club as compared to Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Ajay Devgn and Hrithik Roshan. Although Kumar doesn’t have the humongous blockbusters under his kitty so far, he has managed to be consistent in delivering the small scale hits thereby ensuring circulation of funds within the industry.
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August 27, 2018 at 9:15 AM
You can win 10 bronz madels in a row but one Gold (pun intended) is much bigger than all those bronz madels. Catch my drift?
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August 27, 2018 at 9:58 AM
looks like boi is consoling itself and akshay fans by calling gold a success. like it called tmk a semi hit when it was a mostly ridiculed movie like raone, which boi gave a hit tag.
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August 27, 2018 at 8:20 AM
salman completes 30+ years in the industry
a rather big achievement. big b after completing 30 years in the industry in comparison was doing stuff like sooryavansham and lal baadshah, that too coming after long breaks which he continuously took after the mid 1980s
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August 27, 2018 at 12:22 PM
Bachchan has 4 National Awards. Three of them since 2000.
Salman Khan isn’t even fit to receive a ghanta award.
I’m surprised even reasonable people fall prey to such nonsensical & empty rhetoric.
Since Bradman scored 6996 runs, scores of batsmen have crossed that threshold. None come close to his unbelievable average. Alistair Cook has almost scored twice as many runs as The Don. No one, literally no one, will call that a rather big achievement compared to what Bradman achieved.
It’s not about the quantity…it’s always about the quality!
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August 27, 2018 at 8:22 AM
whether anyone likes it or not, the truth is the Khans have lasted longer in the industry as bankable lead stars than Big B
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August 27, 2018 at 8:31 AM
its not about liking it or not…its a fact….and Aamir and Salman are showing no sign of slowing down.
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August 27, 2018 at 8:47 AM
This senseless comparison is done to evoke a response. I am unfortunately falling for it.
Isn’t Amitabh coming with the biggest movie this Diwali, 50 years after his debut?
In the 2point0 Vs TOH Battle, fans are pitching it as Amitabh/Aamir Vs Rajini/Akshay clash.
While Aamir, Akshay and Rajini have been spoken a lot, i think Amitabh will surprise us the most and will be the deciding factor.
Amitabh is like currency…will never fade ever!!! He is incomparable.
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August 27, 2018 at 8:50 AM
Toh is a very big gamble and the actor who will be hit most and become butt of jokes will be aamir if it fails.
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August 27, 2018 at 9:10 AM
First…this is not a comparison about superstardom. Bachchan is the biggest superstar in the history of indian cinema. Period
Second…there is no doubt that the Khans have made it to the top for much longer than Bachchan or just about anyone in hindi cinema. Is plain and simple. QSQT in 1988, MPK in 1989 and Deewana in 1991. While SRK has def. taken a dive, Aamir and Salman are going like the energizer bunny. However, I am not sure if either of them will be doing the kind of movies Amitabh is doing in his 70s (Aamir will probably retire from acting after turning 60 and Salman will just fizzle out and wouldn’t do character actor roles!
Third…..TOH is first and foremost an Aamir movie though the biggest USP is Amitabh and Aamir coming together for the first time. Aamir is the one making all the important decisions about the movie (along with Adi) and he will be getting the biggest chunk from the movie’s profit.
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August 27, 2018 at 4:08 PM
no one is speaking about Akshay for 2point0. it’s Rajini all the way
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August 27, 2018 at 12:06 PM
The comparison is not a fair one, given that audience expectations, the business-side of the industry, etc., are all completely different. Today we are in an era of star-producers, which goes a long way towards ensuring the survival of someone like SRK (had he been solely dependent on directors he would have been done a long time ago). A fairer critique might be that Bachchan is not the sort to be a successful producer.
the fact that there is all this buzz for Aamir and Amitabh coming together, itself illustrates his abiding relevance.
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August 27, 2018 at 12:33 PM
PS — there is also a lot of ‘elided’ history here: for instance, Salman spent years in the wilderness, and one can’t just tack on the Veergati years to the post-Wanted years. In fact, with the rise of the YRF/Dharma paradigm, both Aamir and Salman struggled to stay relevant throughout the 1990s, although they deserve a lot of credit for re-inventing themselves later on (there aren’t too many examples of people becoming their industry’s top stars 10-15 years after debut)…
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August 27, 2018 at 1:02 PM
these debates are too stale and downright silly to get into all over again, specially when I’ve certainly said my bit on all of this many many times. I have a simple rule though, most of the time when these comparisons come up with Bachchan I tend to switch off. I might argue or not but I know this is simply not a serious ‘debate’. People are a) not truthful and simply feeding their fan instincts b) most of the time they don’t even know what they’re talking about as a simple matter of knowing the facts. c) they completely distort the present as well and offer these alternative histories (Salman on top since his debut or whatever.. yeah right!).
One should not have to make the case for Bachchan (or Bradman as Saket has appropriately brought up) and if nonetheless one is doing so perhaps one is crazier than the opposition!
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August 27, 2018 at 7:42 PM
Aamir struggled to stay relevant throughout the 90s? Somewhere StreetPharmacist is having a chuckle reading this comment 😉
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August 27, 2018 at 8:02 PM
StreetPharmacist would make bad faith arguments about how Aamir wasn’t any kind of star during the 1990s, whereas I am saying something quite different: he was shut out of the dominant paradigm and had to chart a different path. That path most assuredly was a struggle…
(Aside: among the reasons it was a struggle was ALSO that the likes of SRK/Johar/YRF played dirty with him, although he certainly has made his peace with two of those three now!)
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August 27, 2018 at 8:26 PM
YRF is now giving him 70% profit sharing deal and is pleased to have him call the shots on set. KJo is quite despo at this point to sign him for Osho biopic …
And SRK at this point is begging YRF to give him Dhoom 4.
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August 27, 2018 at 8:34 PM
How the world turns 😂
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August 27, 2018 at 8:40 PM
🙂 So true.
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August 28, 2018 at 12:14 AM
Salman and Aamir both started with a bang and had no. of successful films during first 10-15 years. Salman entered into wilderness post 90s and then returned huge with Dabang. He was doing quite well till late 90s. Of course SRK was having big hits from YRF and Johar every 2nd year or so in 90s and early 2000s but he had no of below par movies in between. Anyways the big hits SRK had from Johar and YRF kept him at top. Aamir actually had more of a roller coaster ride in 90s. He had some big hits, some great performances but BO wise he kept having few hiccups. But he was always counted as a huge star. There were many stars doing quite well in 90s and the competition was more open. SRK was never too far ahead in 90s since Aamir, Salman and others kept the competition alive. SRK’s most dominant years were from 2002 to 2004. At that time Aamir was away solving his personal life, Salman was going through tough time professionally and personally, Sunny’s and Govinda’s careers were over, Hrithik after his super start was struggling to find his feet, Vivek oberoi was just a spark that didn’t last, Abhishek Bachchan was struggling to live the hype. It was a one man show then until Aamir returned. Rest is history. 😉
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August 28, 2018 at 12:31 AM
Nice summation Coolguy, and agree on all counts.
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August 27, 2018 at 8:44 AM
Due to health reasons and that accident, Bachchan aged faster and so he could not do those kind of movies any longer. But he did well once he accepted his old man image and comfortable in that.
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August 27, 2018 at 3:36 PM
To be honest advances in medical sciences, technologies, products etc. is helping not just actors but even sports persons to last longer or play harder and/or more frequently. Of course in today’s over competitive mindset people have become far more professional and dedicated and that has helped as well. I would prefer how things were in past though. Far less predictable, more exciting and far more room for heroism.
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August 27, 2018 at 3:37 PM
I just realized sports persons may not be right lingo. I meant sports men and women.
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August 27, 2018 at 8:45 AM
And Salman will be like Dharmendra trying to look younger and act younger.
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August 27, 2018 at 9:54 AM
LOL, Taran finally admits this (see at the bottom):
taran adarsh
Verified account
@taran_adarsh
6h6 hours ago
HINDI FILMS that made it to the ₹ 100 cr Club in 2018…
1. #Padmaavat [Jan]
2. #SKTKS [Feb]
3. #Raid [March]
4. #Baaghi2 [March]
5. #Raazi [May]
6. #Race3 [June]
7. #Sanju [June]
8. #Gold [Aug]
India biz.
Note: ₹ 100 cr mark is no longer the yardstick for a film’s success.
[he’s only a few years late!]
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August 27, 2018 at 10:12 AM
so he is not ready to call Gold a success as yet. unlike boi.
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August 27, 2018 at 11:05 AM
100 Cr comment is for Race 3.
It’s nothing new and Taran has told this before.
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August 27, 2018 at 10:09 AM
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August 27, 2018 at 10:12 AM
Ravi Teja – Ileana D’Cruz – Sunil… First look poster of #Telugu film #AmarAkbarAnthony… Directed by Sreenu Vaitla… Music by Thaman… Produced by Mythri Movie Makers… 5 Oct 2018 release… #AmarAkbarAnthonyFL: taran tweets
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August 27, 2018 at 10:24 AM
Folks, a quick question:
I couldnt catch Sanju in the theatres. Would anyone know when the movie will hit PaytoView or DVD circuit? Dont want to download this one.
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August 27, 2018 at 10:58 AM
Bollywood Hungama Exclusive
Top Actor This Decade: Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar at the top two spots, the rest of Bollywood follows!
ByHimesh MankadAug 27, 2018 – 1:46 pm IST
No 5 Aamir
No 4 SRK
No 3 Ajay
No 2 Akshay
No 1 Salman
The top two stars of the decade so far when it comes to delivering the huge blockbusters are Salman Khanand Aamir Khan, whereas the top two stars in terms of aggregate Box-Office collections this decade areSalman Khan and Akshay Kumar.
While Aamir Khan has the magnitude of humongous blockbusters this decade, but not the quantity, Akshay Kumar on the other hand as the quantity but not the magnitude of blockbusters. It is Salman Khan who has somehow managed to strike a perfect balance between magnitude and quantity.
Read the research report at
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/features/top-actor-decade-salman-khan-akshay-kumar-top-two-spots-rest-bollywood-follows/
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August 27, 2018 at 11:01 AM
Is this for real? I mean i will not have Aamir at No 5. This is an insult. He however needs to do more movie else most will not give him his dues.
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August 27, 2018 at 11:09 AM
Also few foolish Aamir Khan try to ignore Aami’s absconding ways to his focus in all aspects incl shadow direction, script correction etc of Aamir.
When Aamir did do the direction for TZP, he stole the credit and did it himself. Since then all producers have strict clause that he won’t interfere. Also Aamir is very particular that he should be given credit for his work. Hence he doesn’t interfere…so there flies off the crow for these bigots claiming to be Aamir Khan’s fans. Fact is they are enemies. True fans like me always help him. Aamir is doing Mahabharat foe sure now. he ignore all people who wanted him to do something else.
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August 27, 2018 at 11:14 AM
Just like Abhishek Bachchan reads Satyam’s comments and chose films, Aamir agrees with most of my sincere advises for him. In next 2-3 years, he is going to work very hard. He is reading more scripts now than he has done in last decade. he will produce more movies like Mogul starring others. He may also accept to play second lead to younger stars and do more movies, because he knows the credit will go to him. He has learn from his mistakes of Secret Superstar. Wait and Watch.
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August 27, 2018 at 11:28 AM
“He may also accept to play second lead to younger stars and do more movies, because he knows the credit will go to him. He has learn from his mistakes of Secret Superstar. Wait and Watch.” I know many ppl were annoyed very much after watching Gold (Rangan has ripped it apart and below his article, comments are super-hilarious) – but et tu? Naveen? I did not know that watching Gold can make one write such things? 🙂 boss daaru laga rakhi he kya?
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August 27, 2018 at 11:42 AM
I’m sorry to report that I’m not as important a person as you are. Aamir might be following your advice but Abhishek Bachchan assuredly isn’t following mine..
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August 27, 2018 at 7:59 PM
Ha!
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August 27, 2018 at 10:45 PM
Satyam you are wise like Aamir Khan and i am loud like his fan. Both know that we yield power.
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August 27, 2018 at 11:02 PM
Yes aamir fans are loud and akshay fans are clever and subtle.
Fans do tend to reflect the distinguishing traits of their idols, no doubt about that as per comments in this blog.
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August 27, 2018 at 12:27 PM
Yes….Aamir is looking to play second lead to a younger actor because his movies are flopping left right and center! and how the hell was SS a mistake? because you think he was looking for a Dangal type blockbuster? I mean you are a Akshay fanatic but can you please get your head out of your own you know what to check what’s really happening?
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August 27, 2018 at 3:04 PM
Gold’s failure at the box office has impacted the heads of Akshay fans, that is crystal clear
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August 27, 2018 at 3:18 PM
If we are going to call Gold an unmitigated failure — and I am totally ok with that — then we must also revise a bunch of classifications for a bunch of other films as well (eg various SRK films over the last decade; or even certain Salman films like Dabang 2 must be re-examined, especially once all the genre advantages are accounted for).
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August 27, 2018 at 3:48 PM
agreed.
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August 27, 2018 at 3:44 PM
I wouldn’t call Gold an ‘unmitigated failure’ but it is def. an underachiever. Since he works in these low budget movies, it’s been a while since Akshay has delivered an out and out flop.
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August 27, 2018 at 4:05 PM
Naveen has a nice modus operandi – when he realizes that he is caught in too much akki-worshipping, he simply changes the subject to aamir-bashing 😉 ha ha and he starts talking that Big B is the USP of TOH – it is an Aamir Khan film and Big B is above all such comparisons now. He himself knows that he can no more give even 150 cr solo-hero hits but no one expects him to do that! his very presence and first-time pairing with Aamir is certainly a USP but to count his past laurels and try to put him above Aamir here is blasphemy! but then akki-fans are known to have repeated attacks of delrium 😉 So Talaash becomes a bad film and SS becomes a no-show!! Gold should be sent for Oscars now…..
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August 27, 2018 at 10:41 PM
Akshay Kumar is the 7th Highest paid actor in the world!!
What???? In the world?????…that’s freaking awesome. This is brilliant from the self made star. He is the tortoise in the race. Silent killer.
The interview:
Q1. After being featured on the Forbes highest paid global entertainers’ list earlier this year, you’ve now been ranked the world’s 7th highest paid actor. How does it feel?
Well, I’m not going to lie, it feels good momentarily, but I never take these lists too seriously, as they keep changing, like seasons. It’s not something I had aimed for. The idea is only to do good, better, and best work. But, of course, I’m forever grateful when things like these come my way.
Q2. Your latest film Gold has been receiving rave reviews from critics and audiences alike. Which compliment has been the best so far?
It’s always good to see your work being lauded and appreciated, be it by the critics or the audiences. But honestly, when I open my social media [accounts] and see so many clips of cinema halls filled with people standing up for the National Anthem and thanking the makers for introducing them to a piece of history that they had no idea about, that for me is heart-touching and the perfect payback, as that’s what we wanted, to establish a connect between the audiences and team India.
Q3. You’re reuniting with Kareena Kapoor Khan for Good News (after Kambakkht Ishq, 2009). How’s Kareena as a co-star, and when do you start shooting?
Yes that’s right. Kareena and I share a good rapport and an amazing on-screen chemistry, if I were to say so myself (chuckles). We hopefully begin [shooting for] Good News at the beginning of 2019, in January.
Q4. There are rumours that you’re going to contest for a Lok Sabha seat from Punjab or Delhi in the 2019 elections. Is this true?
Like you said yourself, they are rumours. I’m not contesting elections, at least nothing that’s on the cards. At the moment, I’m extremely happy with the work that I’m doing, and I’d much rather continue doing that.
Q5. A reference in the purportedly leaked Justice Ranjit Singh commission report in Punjab suggests that you mediated a meeting between Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insaan and politician Sukhbir Singh Badal, regarding the release of the former’s controversial film. What do you have to say?
(Laughs) See, here’s another rumour. I haven’t seen or read any such report, but if all this is written, I find it most amusing. I’ve never met this person — Mr Gurmeet Ram Rahim — ever in my life. I have met Sukhbir Singh Badal once or twice, that too at public functions. So all this is clearly somebody’s wild imagination working overtime. What is this report about?
Q6. It is about incidents of desecration of Guru Granth Sahib in Punjab in 2016…
Well, as I’ve always maintained, I and my family have always had the highest regard for Sri Guru Granth Sahib, and I’d request everyone to refrain from associating my name with any such controversy.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/akshay-kumar-on-being-ranked-7th-highest-paid-actor-in-the-world-i-am-forever-grateful/story-WZAFjBmMW4b1wy3zUBsINL.html
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August 27, 2018 at 11:37 PM
Ant-Man and the Wasp earned another $9.2 million in China yesterday (technically Monday, thanks to time-zone magic), bringing the MCU film’s four-day gross in China to $77.4m. By the way, the film’s $68.2m Fri-Sun debut is the fifth-biggest comic book superhero movie in U.S. dollars, but just below Spider-Man: Homecoming ($69m), Avengers: Age of Ultron ($86m), Captain America: Civil War ($97m) and Avengers: Infinity War ($200m). It’s actually in fourth place, ahead of Spider-Man: Homecoming if you count only Chinese currency. So, barring a massive comedown, it’ll end up one of the biggest, if not the biggest, solo (or non-Avengers) superhero movies of all time in what will soon be the biggest moviegoing marketplace around. So Ant-Man and the Wasp is a box office giant in China, which is a little ironic.
The big debut in China was enough to push the $165 million-budgeted sequel over the $500m mark and past the $519m worldwide total of Ant-Man. On its own merits, it is a success in North America. Its likely $215m domestic finish will put it ahead of Solo: A Star Wars Story ($213m) and ahead of the raw ($180m) and adjusted ($208m) domestic totals of Ant-Man from back in 2015. In an era when many sequels earn less than their predecessors, that’s a win. And Peyton Reed-directed flick earned good reviews and snagged a solid 2.86x weekend-to-final multiplier. And yet, when compared to prior MCU movies, especially when adjusted for inflation, it is near the bottom of the list. The adjusted gross puts it ahead of only Thor, Captain America, Ant-Man and The Incredible Hulk.
Does this matter? Well, within the MCU brand, no. Yes, it is a little ironic that what is arguably Marvel’s smallest ongoing superhero franchise in North America may end up being the biggest in China. And it’s doubly interesting when you consider that Ant-Man and the Wasp was the first MCU flick with a female superhero sharing co-billing in the title. After years of clamoring for a super-powered MCU superheroine in a leading (or co-leading) role, fans and general moviegoers turned Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly ’s Ant-Man and the Wasp into one of Marvel’s lowest-grossing domestic earners. And as much as we like to claim that China is hostile to movies about women and/or minorities, they may push Ant-Man and the Wasp over the $600m mark in global box office. Just like Coco.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2018/08/27/box-office-why-marvel-ant-man-and-the-wasps-huge-china-debut-is-so-ironic-paul-rudd-evangeline-lilly/#35c8e6081776
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August 28, 2018 at 12:07 AM
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August 28, 2018 at 12:20 AM
AR Rahman to collaborate with American-British singer Bishop Briggs [best known for her popular single #River] for #LoveSonia… The song – #IAmMore – is penned by Rianjali… #LoveSonia is directed by Tabrez Noorani… 14 Sept 2018 release.
Taran tweets
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August 28, 2018 at 12:46 AM
From Rajeev Masand:
http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/cinema/everybody-loves-keerthy
Another Netflix Osho Series
That Kapoor & Sons director Shakun Batra has been working on an Osho Rajneesh film is not exactly breaking news. Or even the fact that Aamir Khan’s and Alia Bhatt’s names have been thrown around in relation to the project. But now insiders are saying that the project, which will be produced by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, will be a Netflix Original miniseries and not a feature film.
Aamir Khan is still more or less locked to play the bearded godman, while Alia Bhatt is expected to play his faithful spokesperson and ‘devotee’ Ma Anand Sheela. According to sources, Shakun had been working on the project well before the Netflix documentary series Wild Wild Country dropped a few months ago, reigniting interest in the controversial Bhagwan and his faithful aide.
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August 28, 2018 at 2:14 AM
Aamir is not doing this.
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August 28, 2018 at 3:09 AM
Why make this in the first place? Wild wild west ia a decent docu series. What more value can kjo and his team possibly add?
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August 28, 2018 at 1:58 AM
TOH/YRF/Aamir PR is in overdrive mode – daily there is some (fake)news in media about Aamir doing a certain project:
http://www.catchnews.com/bollywood-news/brahmastra-actor-alia-bhatt-to-collaborate-with-aamir-khan-in-osho-biopic-read-details-inside-129877.html
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August 28, 2018 at 2:16 AM
Very few takers for Gold
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/floods-hit-festival-gold-buying-in-india/articleshow/65541394.cms
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August 28, 2018 at 2:52 AM
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will attend the WFT Awards Gala on September 8 in the evening in Washington, DC where she will be honoured with the Meryl Streep Award which is given an actor’s exceptional work in cinema. The WIFT Gala is hosted by the Washington DC South Asian Film Festival (DCSAFF).
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/exclusive-aishwarya-rai-bachchan-receive-meryl-streep-award-washington-september-8/
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August 28, 2018 at 3:38 AM
What exceptional work did she do in films??? Raincoat?
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August 28, 2018 at 2:53 AM
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August 28, 2018 at 3:58 AM
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/features/illustrious-r-k-studios-comes-end/
There is a wave of anguish and regret at the announcement that R K Studios will be sold. A young filmmaker, a diehard Bhakt of Raj Kapoor, says the demolition of the RK dream is not a sign of resignation and majboori, as declared by Rishi Kapoor, but a sign of laziness.
“Raj Saab’s two sons should’ve joined hands after his death to ensure R K Studios flourished. And it would’ve been easy. They could’ve got any director, any actor any technician to come and work for a RK Film. Damn, saying the name of the banner aloud is like a prayer. I am sorry to say this. But they’ve squandered away the Great Man’s dream,” says the filmmaker.
The legendary Lata Mangeshkar who spent many afternoons watching those Raj Kapoor classic films come to flickering life, says it it truly a sad day to hear of the end of R K Studios. “I have many, many fond memories of R K Studios. It was a fountain of creativity. There, some of the greatest movies and songs of Indian cinema were created. Raj Saab was so filled with passion. I’ve never seen any filmmaker who gave so much of himself to every film he made. I was not part of his first film Aag in 1948. But from Barsaat in 1949, I was an integral part of his films right until Henna.”
Lataji reveals that Raj Kapoor was to direct Henna. “Everything, the story, screenplay, lyrics and songs were decided by Raj Saab. Then he passed away. And that’s when his son Randhir stepped in to fulfil his father’s unfinished dream… R K studios ka jaana, dil ke armaanon ka mit jana.” Lataji quotes a line from an immortal song from a Raj Kapoor starrer Anari.
The legacy, luckily, cannot be wiped away. R K Studios may go. RK’s dream lives on forever.
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August 28, 2018 at 7:30 AM
Re: “…says the demolition of the RK dream is not a sign of resignation and majboori, as declared by Rishi Kapoor, but a sign of laziness.”
Ha! He might have added “greed” as well. Which is, of course, his right, but then Rishi K doesn’t get to trot out the ol’ “majboori” angle. What “majboori” led the family to sell off “Krishna Raj” and destroy one of the more unusual (among the fast dwindling) bungalows on Pali Hill? The same sorts of people then take to twitter complaining about why “we” don’t preserve heritage in India!
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August 28, 2018 at 7:33 AM
RE: “Lataji reveals that Raj Kapoor was to direct Henna….”
Off-topic, but you’ve gotta love the (I can only call it lazy!) way some journalists write: who is this a revelation for?! On par with my “revelation” that the sun rose today 🙂
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August 28, 2018 at 4:11 AM
From Above:
“…To compare this deliberate and overt stigmatisation of a particular group with the ordinary push and pull of any democracy and set up an equivalence between them, simply does not hold water. The BJP most certainly has parallels “on the other side”, but that, I’m afraid, would be the other side of the border, where parties go around demonising and stigmatising Ahmedis, while those accused of being pro-Ahmedi are too cowed to say and do much and simply stay silent on the issue. ..”
Which invariably takes us back to the obvious conclusion: Without a Whole Sub-Continent, one finds in India a truncated community that is desperately lacking in numbers that can adequately represent it in this wide democracy. And which then takes us back to our previous discussions, and my personal Utopian dream of a non-partitioned Wholly Democratic Sub-Continent that would’ve by now given equal rights to all its citizens. Instead of this tri-partite mess of a land. Perhaps if people have more sense, or perhaps if there is some God given humongous calamity, they might re-think the devastating effects of 75 yrs of futile separation.
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August 28, 2018 at 7:27 AM
Well said, agree completely with this! Of course, neither you nor I are holding our breath waiting for this to happen… leaving only…cinema
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August 28, 2018 at 7:39 AM
There are other considerations apart from religious harmony or disharmony. Economic ones, reservations for the neglected castes and woman empowerment. Language issues, regional pride movements villages versus cities development versus environment etc. After independence, state reorganisation took place because of one group dominating the other.
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August 28, 2018 at 7:42 AM
Re: “There are other considerations apart from religious harmony or disharmony. Economic ones, reservations for the neglected castes and woman empowerment. Language issues, regional pride movements villages versus cities development versus environment etc.”
Agreed! And parties that forget about all these issues and focus like maniacs on only one issue run the risk of being out of touch with the electorate, i.e. of believing that the echo chamber they operate in is the entire country (I suspect Modi and Shah are too smart to repeat the mistakes of 2004, but then again, these geniuses also thought de-monetisation was a good idea. They have achieved what I thought was a magic trick no-one could perform: make many of us miss Chidambaram’s handling of the economy!!!!)
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August 28, 2018 at 7:46 AM
The environment, as ever, remains the biggest issue hardly anyone is talking about — we prefer to focus on Divine causes for things like the Kerala floods or the Uttarakhand avalanche. The consumption model that aims at US-style consumption patterns for larger and larger groups of people is environmentally unsustainable (in America and the West for sure, but even more so for us given our population size and given that we aren’t going to get the opportunity to mercilessly pillage colonies), and yet the failure of the imagination is such that it is Gandhi who is dismissed as unviable, whereas the path that is causing destruction all around us is presented as the only “realistic” path!
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August 28, 2018 at 3:29 PM
And following enviroment reforms quickly prints one a hindutva vadi be it cleaning Ganga or banning illegal slaughter houses. Didn’t expect Qalandar to be dripping in so much hate and mistrust. No congress govt has done as much for the ‘minorities’ as Modi has. He has in fact bent so much backwards on this that I do not appreciate it! A famous Pakistani journalist said that a young bride expects special treatment and privileges but when she is 60+ years old, she should consider herself as part of the family and not such a drama queen.
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August 28, 2018 at 4:22 PM
Re: “ Didn’t expect Qalandar to be dripping in so much hate …”
This is a crazy line. I challenge anyone to find the “hate” in my comments here. In fact, given that you seem to have brought in references to Hindutva in an ordinary discussion on the environment, development, etc., look who’s talking about agendas.
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August 28, 2018 at 4:34 PM
PS — it would be nice if politicians actually cleaned the Ganga rather than just talking about it: https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/clean-ganga-project-fails-to-make-progress/article9996997.ece/amp/
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August 28, 2018 at 8:37 PM
Ganga will never get cleaned by any amount of govt initiatives, even if billions are allocated. It is not possible. So stop blaming govt and shouting “modi-modi” from roof tops at every opportunity. He is trying but it is not something that can be resolved by just govt. Just like Paani foundation in Maharastra resolved the water-droughts which resulted in farmer suicides in past, by making it a people’s movement. It would be impossible for Fadnavis or any govt to have the scale of resources (they had been working on the issue for years) that each individual labor-shramdaan created in each village. Ultimately Govt, charitable organizations, corporate houses, paani foundation provided guidance, gave training to people and pitched in under impossible circumstances where machinery was needed but it was the shramdaan or free labor done by each villager, putting their differences aside, that made them drought free. Left to govt, this problem of water in villages would still be a problem. You cannot speak from both ends of the mouth. Pro-enviroment and pro-slaughter houses. How did demonitisation negatively affect you? Did you lose all your black money? If it didn’t affect you, then most likely it didn’t affect common indian people either!
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August 28, 2018 at 10:10 PM
swati: Black money has not disappeared. But unemployment has increased. The initial shocks affected good and bad people. Good people are those who are daily wage earners, people in private jobs who lost employment due to many cash based employers shutting shop. Some bad people also lost some money but they soon recovered. They invested in bitcoins and gold and diamonds. So it is a mixed bag sending shockwaves throughout the country for those also who just have enough cash at home and draw money from banks for payments to meet household expenses. And they had to stand in long ATM queues for days together applying for leave. No problem because now everything is as before after initial hiccups.
Ganga cleaning is more important than preserving Taj Mahal. Just we need a dedicated NGO who can chip in. I dont understand how come other rivers like Cauvery, Brahmaputra, Narmada are relatively clean?
As a vegetarian planning to turn into vegan, any slaughter makes me wince. Whether it is bird, fish or animal. That is another matter. Our armed forces are mainly non vegetarian and for good reasons. They have to fight strong enemies. We cant argue with food habits but we can always opt for a more environmental friendly ways. On the one hand we blame slaughtering by humans for food needs while turning a blind eye when wild animals do the same to other animals. We call it food chain. All this cruelty inbuilt in nature makes me wonder whether earth is the real hell. We are relatively safe than those innocent animals in jungles constantly living under the shadow of death.
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August 28, 2018 at 6:11 AM
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August 28, 2018 at 6:25 AM
https://www.hindustantimes.com/tv/amitabh-bachchan-on-salman-khan-wanting-to-host-kbc-he-is-welcome-to-do-it/story-kGMpuVHNOfA30EPymgKoHM.html
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August 28, 2018 at 6:47 AM
https://www.jagran.com/entertainment/bollywood-akshay-kumar-film-gold-failed-to-reach-100-crore-on-12th-day-at-box-office-18358740.html
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August 28, 2018 at 7:31 AM
Anil Kapoor’s two films flopped badly Fanney khan and Race 3. And now Ek Ladki ko dekha to aisa lagaa with him.
Tried to watch Race 3. But hero does not make his appearance while unwanted characters make disinterested appearances and mechanical moves.
A Salman film without Salman but daisy shah and anil Kapoor taking centre stage. Was salman making a guest appearance? I lost interest and dont want to watch it.
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August 28, 2018 at 7:38 AM
Ek Ladki ko Dekha from the trailer appeared to be another symptom of the Hindi industry trend of making any ol’ crap and calling it a sequel — It’s like making a Rahul-loves-Sonia love story and saying it’s a “sequel” to Jodha-Akbar because the two are reincarnated. I also wondered at the age of the Kapoor character — if the dude was even 20 (looking like 40) in the year 1942, wouldn’t he be 95 now?! Other sequel classics are films like Golmaal 2 and 3 (the characters are different) and then you have Housefull “series” (the characters and mostly the actors are also different). This might be the funniest thing about all of these movies.
Race 3: Sanjana you might have written the best review of this film. Frankly, Salman seemed so “off” from the trailer itself, as if he’d been smoking weed and someone told him about the easiest paycheck any actor could ever make (“Bhai, bas aa jao set pe, KUCH bhi KARNA nahin padega!”)…
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August 28, 2018 at 7:42 AM
Haha! Actually I like to watch Salman from the beginning. He has some charisma.
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August 28, 2018 at 7:58 AM
as if he actually does “Kuch bhi” in other films 😉
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August 28, 2018 at 8:05 AM
lol!
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August 28, 2018 at 10:06 AM
he’s given his luck to sonam with veere de wedding and sanju…
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August 28, 2018 at 10:08 AM
she had Neerja last year too
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August 28, 2018 at 8:05 AM
When Nehru naively thought that dams are the modern temples, the first stone was cast. And we have innumerable dams which may cause tremendous damage and blame games. Instead of big dams which displace people and destroy fertile lands, we can have water management and afforestation. Recently I read that maharashtra and Goa may face Kerala like situations due to this. Either dams may burst due to excess water or submerge entire villages when gates are opened.
This time Vasai Virar bore the brunt along with Thane and Palghaar. They are thinking of building sea walls to contain huge waves inundating places. Fortunately they are considering other alternatives like sandbags and artificial reefs to contain the waves.
During those dam days, engineering became the most sought after subject. Now the saturation point is reached, the demand for certain categories of engineers has decreased.
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August 28, 2018 at 10:09 AM
And more “locally”, in cities as diverse as Bombay, Calcutta, and Houston, we have destroyed the natural protections against floods (mangroves, swamps, etc.), leaving more and more people increasingly vulnerable — far beyond dams, we are unable to imagine alternatives even when there are several sources all around us (it’s just that as a culture, we find it impossible to draw inspiration from “the poor” or from traditional ways of living — especially if it means giving up or changing a lifestyle). Plus it’s a politically tricky issue as well, because the “other” can always turn around and say “well you have been doing XYZ for decades and centuries, so why shouldn’t I?”… and so we all head over the cliff edge…
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August 28, 2018 at 10:47 AM
https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/how-dams-can-control-floods/article24794603.ece?homepage=true
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August 28, 2018 at 1:59 PM
Revisited “Trishna” (Based on Thomas Hardy’s classic novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles) (Director: Michael Winterbottom
Writers: Michael Winterbottom (screenplay), Thomas Hardy (novel)
Stars: Freida Pinto, Riz Ahmed, Mita Vasisht)
For the first 66% of the movie, it is an excellent display of acting by Freida in an author-backed role, the movie falters in the last part and how! the characters take a 360 degree turn and what unfolds is appalling! what starts as a sincere love story with a poignant display of protagonist’s life ends as a soft-porn where the hero becomes beast and well, obviously gets killed by the protagonist! I wonder the book had the same bizarre turns of events…in any case, Freida is excellent here and obviously movie had difficulty finding release in India because of its R-rated content. But I would have been happier with a better ending here….anyone has read the novel?
reminded me of 1947-Earth, another book-to-film adaptation – it was quiet loyal to the original novel and so the end, even though came as as a shock, was ok as the novel had the same turn of events..
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August 28, 2018 at 2:10 PM
3D, IMAX, TAMIL/TELUGU Version……..TOH PR update – http://www.asianage.com/entertainment/bollywood/280818/thugs-of-hindostan-bollywoods-biggest-release-yet.html
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August 28, 2018 at 2:18 PM
Big B and aamir are unrecognisable. Looks quite interesting.
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August 28, 2018 at 3:15 PM
These are not the TOH pics. Its’ not even BIgB in that pic.
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August 28, 2018 at 4:38 PM
Seems YRF are going all out here. I’m quite confident that the film may live up to expectations. All these formats, languages and deliberate news daily – I would bet decent money that the Diwali myth will go on November 7th, the film should release on that day when business ‘nosedives’…
I would not be surprised with a couple of 50 Cr+ days…of course if I was livewire and this was Salman I’d be predicting 15 straight 40 Cr+ days…
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August 28, 2018 at 9:20 PM
The initial extended weekend will be bigger than what salman gets in eid. If it comes on 7th nov then day one will probably be in 35 cr range. But it can easily bump up to 50 cr on next day. If wom is ok, then another 50 on sunday 11th.
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August 28, 2018 at 11:33 PM
Looking at the release schedule over september and october, there is going to be a box office drought for 2 months before ToH release.
If it releases on 8th Nov, it may as well open to 55 cr. Some random trade guy in twitter has even predicted 60 cr in such a scenario.
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August 28, 2018 at 2:24 PM
https://scroll.in/reel/892145/when-dharmendra-saved-a-village-from-dacoits-before-sholay
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August 28, 2018 at 11:04 PM
There is too much of a good thing
At the end of 2017, with both The Last Jedi and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle packing them in, it seemed like both the Star Wars franchise and The Rock were two of the safest box office bets in Hollywood. In two years, the revival of the space opera series had produced three $1bn+ megahits, including the relative gamble of a spin-off adventure while Dwayne Johnson had somehow managed to turn the sequel to a 22-year-old, moderately successful family film into a $923m smash, Sony’s biggest hit to date. But this summer, audiences turned their back on both.
Disney had been spacing out their Star Wars installments by a year but just five months after The Last Jedi, Solo: A Star Wars Story bounded on to screens and the overwhelming response was one of utter fatigue. It limped towards less than $400m globally, a number that’s particularly problematic given its bloated $275m budget, making it the sixth most expensive film of all time. It’s led to a reported rethink of the ambitious one-a-year strategy, putting into question just how much of the Star Wars universe people actually care to explore.
Later in the summer, Johnson reappeared just three months after his big-budget B-movie Rampage made a solid $526m worldwide (yet with marketing costs on top, it’ll take an estimated two years of home media sales and TV deals to break even). With Skyscraper, he was testing his considerable popularity with his third wide-releasing lead role in just eight months. The ultimate result was rather lukewarm, with the $125m budgeted film making just over half of that in the US and so far failing to cross the $300m barrier worldwide.
Both Skyscraper and Solo, while hardly adored by critics, felt like victims of poor scheduling rather than poor quality. Would Solo have performed better if released during the now synonymous Star Wars Christmas period? Maybe. If audiences had to wait more time for another Rockbuster would they have shown more interest in Skyscraper? Possibly. But it’s clear that neither brand is quite as infallible as many had assumed and expectations should be duly adjusted.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/aug/28/2018-movies-films-best-worst-box-office-performance-summer
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August 28, 2018 at 11:31 PM
What an asshole this guy is …
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/shocking-hrithik-roshan-booked-duping-retailer-rs-21-lakhs/
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August 29, 2018 at 1:33 AM
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/features/exclusive-rishi-kapoor-deserves-lot-acknowledgment-versatility-reasons/
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August 29, 2018 at 1:37 AM
Prabhas As Arjuna!
Since a long time, there were the reports that the filmmaker Karan Johar has offered two projects to Baahubali star Prabhas but both the time the actor clearly denied doing those films and the gave different reasons to both. Now interesting thing is that once again he has got an offer from Bollywood and this time the project is too large on a scale that maybe Prabhas will not reject it.
Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan’s magnum opus project Mahabharat is once again in the discussions and if belief to the reports, Mr Perfectionist Aamir Khan wants to cast Prabhas in the magnum opus project. The budget for the project will be more than 1000 crores and it will be made in three or five parts. Aamir Khan will start working on this project after Thugs of Hindostan.
According to the reports, Aamir Khan offered Arjuna’s role to Prabhas and it is known that Arjuna’s role as the main centres of Mahabharata. There is no doubt that if Prabhas joins Mahabharata then not only to Aamir but also to Prabhas the film is totally a deal of profit.
Prabhas is a well-known superstar of south cinema with his recently successful films Baahubali series. Now the hopes are that Prabhas may sign this biggie project. It is being told that the project will take more than 10-15 years to be made. Every part will be directed by different directors but Aamir will be a part of every project.
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August 29, 2018 at 1:53 AM
It sounds too far fetched, time consuming and impractical. At the end of it all of them will become 60 or 65 plus or 50 plus and 3 general elections!
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August 29, 2018 at 1:59 AM
Those expecting aamir to retire can now sulk. There will be one MB film every 2-3 year for the next decade. Its good that they will be rotating directors. Best way to keep a franchise fresh. Wont be surprised if Rajamouli directs the second film. Questio is will Aamir play Karna or Krishna?
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August 29, 2018 at 2:03 AM
Question is how many babies will be born from this forum in this time?
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August 29, 2018 at 2:20 AM
Please ask Naveen
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August 29, 2018 at 2:54 AM
Marcua, ideaunique, Jayshah, Aamirsfan…all were dead against Aamir Khan doing Mahabharat…i dont know what problem they had.
I always knew Aamir will do Mahabharat.
Why are you guys coming after me now? relax. This Aamir Khan is what iam fan of. Not the one who did Secret Superstar or PK.
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August 29, 2018 at 2:58 AM
Thanks for making my day with ur daily dose of standup comedy.
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August 29, 2018 at 3:44 AM
I’ve not been against Mahabharata at all. I’m also not against SS or PK. I prefer that to crapfests like Housefull, It’s Entertainment, Shaukeens or Singh is Bling….
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August 29, 2018 at 7:11 AM
i thought you loved Housefull 1 and 2. 3 was crap.
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August 29, 2018 at 7:33 AM
I doubt I ever said that. May have for the Hera Pheri series but not Housefull.
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August 29, 2018 at 3:26 AM
In a video that was uploaded on the day of the film’s release, Mr Vijay can be seen hammering the fact that Genius’s first day first show was sold out while there were only 55 patrons in the other release of the week, Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi. What he didn’t mention was that Genius’s 12:30 pm show was playing in G7’s Gossip cinema, which only has 105 seats. Anybody who is from this business would know that getting a 105-seater theatre full on the first day is not a difficult job. Bobby bhai meanwhile compares this phenomenon with Shah Rukh Khan–Kamal Haasan starrer Hey Ram and that even that film couldn’t get a house full board on the first day but Genius did. The reporter covering the video meanwhile is harping on the fact that college students have been bunking to see the film. When asked, Utkarsh says he has to pinch himself as he can’t believe he has generated such kind of a craze! Anil Sharma is also asked the same question and he proudly says that even he has bunked college to watch films. The ‘Three Wise Men’ meanwhile surround Anil Sharma like excited kids surround Santa Claus on Christmas and can be seen mouthing their favourite dialogues from Genius and Anil gives a wide smile, as if he has just delivered a Baahubali.
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/features/marketing-strategy-anil-sharmas-genius-gives-important-lesson-not-go-overboard-saving-disastrous-film/
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August 29, 2018 at 4:03 AM
Celebrities like Rishi Kapoor, Gurdas Maan and Javed Akhtar didn’t charge a penny for actress-filmmaker Nandita Das’ forthcoming film Manto. She says there is more to life than money.
Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who plays the late Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto in the film, offered to do it just for “Re 1 largely for Manto and little bit” for Nandita.
http://www.koimoi.com/bollywood-news/manto-rishi-kapoor-javed-akhtar-other-celebs-who-worked-for-free-to-support-the-movie/
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August 29, 2018 at 4:04 AM
It should have been here.
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August 29, 2018 at 8:34 AM
Which battle of Panipat is this based on, the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd? I assume the 3rd… should be interesting in that tragedies are tricky to handle….
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August 29, 2018 at 4:20 AM
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August 29, 2018 at 4:48 AM
http://www.koimoi.com/box-office/akshay-kumar-with-same-points-as-ajay-devgn-is-a-position-below-in-koimois-power-index-heres-why/
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August 29, 2018 at 5:01 AM
Surprise! No Raazi. I mean alia.
Entire past is erased.
akshay has nine 100 crore film. with one more, he will achieve a record of ten 100 crore film.
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August 29, 2018 at 5:17 AM
According to this list value of 100 Crore movie Ghajini in 2008 is same as value if 100 Crore movie Gold in 2018.
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August 29, 2018 at 5:22 AM
Of course this is the daftest thing about this list…that time stands still. GST is ignored too.
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August 29, 2018 at 5:22 AM
Just pray that bollywood trade has been able to count 100 correctly.
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August 29, 2018 at 7:51 AM
This 100 cr race, Akshay is going to win eventually. He is already No 2 and don’t think he will be beaten with 2pontt0 coming in Nov. That will take him to 10, only 3 short of Salman.
in 2019, Akshay has 4 releases…so he can go atleast 13 if not 14.
The final tally in the long run may have Akshay boasting of a Sachin Tendulkar like record in 100 Cr. Unbeatable. Don’t think Sachin ever scroed 300. 100s are more revered.
Longevity, class, good health and talent will be the key to beat it.
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August 29, 2018 at 8:17 AM
Big stars are delivering 100 Cr flops – it’s not a prestigious club anymore. Even 200 Cr for a major star in a widely received genre is par the course. With Salman the expectations are 300 Cr for the kind of films he does. Likewise for Aamir – in fact probably more for Aamir as he comes with a gap – TOH will be expected to go past Dangal if it’s just a reasonable enough film. Even if it’s at Dhoom 3 level it will be expected to clear 350 Cr given the release expectations. Of course if it’s really liked it will be expected to get close to BB2. With Akshay’s record 2.0 is an anomaly, if it does really well we know he’s not going to get that proportional level of credit as the lions share will go to the franchise, Shankar & Rajni.
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August 29, 2018 at 8:42 AM
something I posted the other day:
LOL, Taran finally admits this (see at the bottom):
taran adarsh
Verified account
@taran_adarsh
6h6 hours ago
HINDI FILMS that made it to the ₹ 100 cr Club in 2018…
1. #Padmaavat [Jan]
2. #SKTKS [Feb]
3. #Raid [March]
4. #Baaghi2 [March]
5. #Raazi [May]
6. #Race3 [June]
7. #Sanju [June]
8. #Gold [Aug]
India biz.
Note: ₹ 100 cr mark is no longer the yardstick for a film’s success.
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August 29, 2018 at 8:43 AM
every month a film is now doing a 100!
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August 29, 2018 at 8:44 AM
Your argument is stupid.
Every 100 of Sachin is equally valuable. But in movies 100 crore today is equal to 50 Crore in 2008.
Cricket 100 / 200 / 300 runs are similar to
Superhit / Blockbuster / All time blockbuster for movies
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August 29, 2018 at 8:54 AM
I don’t agree with Naveen’s analogy at all for many reasons but to be clear even in cricket not all centuries are made equal. It depends on the opposition, the conditions, the situation at that point etc. Or it might just be about a batsman’s total dominance irrespective of anything else. Keeping this in mind there is an analogy with cinema though not one that works for Naveen’s argument. Looking at the list above it’s one thing if Tiger Shroff is doing a 100 or Alia Bhatt especially getting to it with a subject like Raazi and quite another when Akshay does it as a much more established star and with safer subjects. If anything the problem with Akshay is a rather singular one. He has a really hard ceiling irrespective of genre. With every other star success leads to a higher ceiling, at least to some degree. John Abraham has just showed this. With Akshay irrespective of genre (houseful sequel or Rustom), irrespective of how many decent films he does that are minimally liked, irrespective of the track record, irrespective of the initial he is simply not able to clear that 100-130 range and the latter usually happens on a very good day. Usually it’s just the former. It’s truly a hard ceiling with him.
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August 29, 2018 at 1:35 PM
Satyam, noone can disagree with the first part of your comment.
However you disagree yourself when you compare all of the Akshay films with all of the Tiger shroff’s. Tiger aced with Baaghi 2. The last film of Akshay in comparable genre was Rowdy Rathore. So a movie like that with Akshay should do more than what Baaghi 2 did. I believe it will.
Alia Bhatt doing Raazi is similar to John doing Satyamev Jayate. These are first time for them. These hits happen. Its like that Sehwag’s century in 67 balls. You cannot compare such flash in the pan with Mr consistent.
Akshay has been giving hits across genres for some time now. He is scoring centuries across all pitches. This makes his centuries remarkable. If he has done one or two…once can still have doubts. But he has done most of the 9 centuries in last 3 years across different genres and few of the being the most difficult and unique stories.
So pls compare wisely.
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August 29, 2018 at 6:44 PM
Alia has delivered a Raazi within a short career of a few years. Akshay still hasn’t reached that quality even after 3 decades and hundreds of movies. Think about it
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August 29, 2018 at 7:36 PM
RE: “He has a really hard ceiling irrespective of genre. With every other star success leads to a higher ceiling, at least to some degree.”
One thing that is strange is that Akshay seems to have moved away from the terrain that got him the biggest success of his career — Rowdy Rathore — in favor of films that are a little more staid (Rustom, Holiday, Airlift etc.); these are definitely more refined than something like Rowdy Rathore, but, the economic logic for the “shift” isn’t the most clear (to me, at least). i.e. in retrospect this might be deemed a sensible move if indeed he moves over to a political career at some point, but purely as a question of the film industry, he didn’t have to cede this terrain as completely as he did (it’s not like the grosses in themselves justify this sort of thing). I believe he missed a trick here, and could have struck a better balance between the two kinds of movies.
And it need not be so binary, there is a third sort of film (a la Manoj Kumar’s Purab aur Paschim) where Akshay was quite credible, especially with the overseas Punjabi crowd in the UK and Canada (indeed on both sides of the Indo-Pak border), i.e. Namaste London, or (IMO the best Akshay film in years, despite a rather absurd foundational premise) Patiala House, which is, despite everything, quite moving and very watchable. These are films that hearken back to an older vein in Hindi film cinema (even if it isn’t my favorite vein), one of rootedness and belonging (sometimes in some xenophobic ways), but that don’t harness this to any broader political project. Patiala House in fact both stages the paradigm and subverts it, with the rather unusual move of a protagonist who wants to play cricket for… England (in that sense it is the ultimate immigrant narrative, and perhaps the only one Bollywood has produced, and a very far cry from the sort of NRI drivel YRF/KJo were putting out for years). And this question of playing for England is a question of belonging, of feeling “at home”, and not of any national “project”…
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August 30, 2018 at 1:31 AM
The most raucous crowd at the cinema I’ve seen is for Singh is Kinng back in 2008. Akshay Kumar got whistles like anything, the queues went to the outside – I’ve seen plenty of SRK films on day 1 in his peak (98-05) and there was not this noisy crowd but I guess he didn’t do that kind of role.
I think this ceiling will break pretty soon but this strategy only makes sense if he consistently delivers 200 Cr + films. It should be remembered that GST changes probably have benefited business by 10% or so.
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August 30, 2018 at 6:42 AM
What exactly are the GST changes — lower rates?
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August 30, 2018 at 6:52 AM
Bigger shares net collections wise. The grosses comparatively are lower than pre GST.
So part of good story for Bollywood can be explained by this. The day we look at gross figures is the day trade comes out of puberty!
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August 29, 2018 at 8:48 AM
Akshay’s standing record will be the number of flops delivered in a single career. Hasnt he already overtaken the combined number of flops delivered by the 3 khans?
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August 29, 2018 at 9:04 AM
If toh is as lame a film as d3 it will do 300 cr, if watchable it will do 400. If good masala then 500.
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August 29, 2018 at 12:05 PM
Akshay is like that batsman who cannot convert 50s to big daddy hundreds, Joe Root. Aamir and Salman are the Kohlis and Smiths.
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August 29, 2018 at 9:55 PM
He is one of those middle-order batsman who can score 40 consistently in ODI (never gets chance in Tests), but seldom converts them into 50 (forget scoring hundreds).
In tennis, he is like one of those veterans on circuit who can win some ATP250 or 500 titles now and then. But one one expects him to clinch a masters event or a slam.
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August 29, 2018 at 1:27 PM
Both Satyam and Jayshah is making making wrong assumption that all films are same in terms of cost.
Till the time movies are made at 50-60Cr budget, 100 Cr will remain an importsnt landmark.
For movies with 80-90 cr cost, one needs 175-200 cr nett to break event. Again this is not a thumb rule but a guidance.
Satyam also says that all films of Akshay has the same gross. Fact is even in his list, there are films like Padman which is made at 35-40 cr and needed breakeven at 75cr and Gold made at 50 Cr which needed 100 Cr.
We can say that all films of Aamir or Salman has a cost which usually requires 175-200cr nett to breakeven….the same is not true for other stars. Usually for others, the cost of the movie is such that 80Cr-100 Cr is the benchmark to make profits and that’s why 100 Cr remains the most relevant number even now.
Hence the logic that flop of one star made more than hit of another is also a wrong deduction if comparing films of different budgets.
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August 29, 2018 at 1:50 PM
I could take you seriously if you say the same about Secret Superstar. Unfortunately you don’t and the budgets you quote are questionable. The reality is this. Like livewire you make remarkable pre release predictions for Akshay’s films – the numbers never get there but your position stays the same. Let us know when that lightbulb moment hits you.
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August 29, 2018 at 2:36 PM
This still doesn’t make your logic correct. Pls try again.
BTW the high predictions are signs of optimism…accepting a different result is wisdom.
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August 29, 2018 at 2:46 PM
Here’s the deal. I can take you and Akshay seriously if you take yourself seriously. If you predict 150 or 200 Cr for Gold and a film falls well short your sign of wisdom is not going all out again next time. Not just this film it’s happened for as long as I’ve known you for everything Akshay does. Beyond a point one can learn a bit to be realistic.
Optimism is one thing but not learning is another. My logic relies on you being genuine otherwise I’ll play the game the way you play it.
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August 29, 2018 at 9:40 AM
This is such a lame list. No inflation adjustment whatsover! No accounting of overseas blowouts such as Dangal/SS. All these things ought to be considered.
And if they go back to 1950, it is conceivable that other than the 3 Khans (who will perhaps be in various positions of the Top 10), none of the rest will find themselves even in the Top 25.
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August 29, 2018 at 9:42 AM
And even if the aim was to creat a contemporary Power Index, at least consider Inflation Adjustment going back to 1990 for true equivalence.
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August 29, 2018 at 10:12 AM
Actually movies from last 5-10 years only matters for current power index.
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August 29, 2018 at 10:46 AM
Even going back a decade, a Ghajini or even RNBDJ are over 200crs now! So as D2, OSO, RDB, Fanaa, Wanted etc would all be over 150. A 3I is easily at Dangal levels or perhaps even more.
Just elementary currency conversion shows USD to INR was hovering in 35-40 range back then, and that range resets upwards by Rs 5 every two years, ending at double today. Resulting inflation cannot simply be wished away.
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August 29, 2018 at 10:01 PM
D2, OSO were biggest grossers of their time. In today’s market and currency these are 300+ cr films. RDB and Fanaa are 200+ cr films. 3I would minimally be in BB2 range, 500+ cr. Ghajini would do 400 cr now with similar level of acceptance.
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August 29, 2018 at 1:11 PM
Click to access costinflationindex1981-2011.pdf
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August 29, 2018 at 1:13 PM
I was looking what are the tax consequences if you sell property in India! Apparently you don’t have to pay tax on inflation unlike USA 🙂
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August 30, 2018 at 3:38 AM
This is for 2018-19
http://www.simpletaxindia.net/2018/06/cost-inflation-index-fy-2018-19-released.html#more
So, 137 in 2008-9 has become 280 today!! ie More Than Double. So, if this is factored in, the Top3 slots will remain occupied by 3 Khans but perhaps in different orders. Someone shud try it and send the list back to nahi Nahata.
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August 30, 2018 at 4:10 AM
This is such an amazing series, great website for inflation indexing.
100 in 1980 grew to 426 in 2000-01
100 in 2000-01 has grown to 280 in 2018-19.
which means 100 in 1980 = 1192 today.
I cant find data going back to 1970 on this site. But just backward trending based on the last 4 decades would mean at least 80% inflation growth from 1970 to 1980.
Difficult to evaluate how much of this can be applied to BO. So a 10cr grosser in 1980 would equal 120cr today, which seems very low, considering that there weren’t all that many films that crossed even 1cr from 1980-1985.
Yakuza might shine some light on this.
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August 30, 2018 at 4:22 AM
You are looking at the value change of currency and applying it to BO inflation? Inflation in BO terms is more about rise of ticket prices. With constant penetration of mushrooming multiplexes across A, B and C centers, a huge percentage of audience who watched Ghaijini in single screens in 2008 will be watching it in plexes if released today. That means paying 3 times more ticket prices. Add the GST advantage and how much the tickets are spiked than usual rates in plexes for holiday releases these days …
As I said Ghajini’s 100 cr in 2008 is no less than TOH’s 400 cr in 2018 (assuming it gets there).
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August 29, 2018 at 12:42 PM
I want Akki to play Krishna, Arjun, Karna and all that can be imagined in MB – 5 or 6 roles he can play! and who is aamir khan by the way? 😉
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August 29, 2018 at 7:51 PM
MB is getting steamier….https://www.deccanchronicle.com/entertainment/bollywood/300818/china-may-back-the-mahabharata.html
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August 30, 2018 at 1:37 AM
This rumor had been floated before also. But for this to happen in reality, a lot will depend on the fate of ToH in China. If it does 120-150M usd in mainland china, then chinese backing wont be a problem. Lets not forget that epic period films like BB2 and Asura had been embarrassing turkeys in China this year.
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August 29, 2018 at 11:02 PM
https://scroll.in/reel/892116/kerala-floods-film-industry-redraws-release-calendar-worries-about-footfalls-and-fate-of-locations
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August 30, 2018 at 12:51 AM
When Aamir starts promotion, its all over the place.
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August 30, 2018 at 12:56 AM
This weekend BO action is in China. Antman and Wasp total in open week 1 is 95+M. It will hope to do another 20M this weekend. And MI6 and Sultan is releasing this weekend. MI6 should get to 50+M weekend cume. So 10+M weekend haul for Sultan will be decent result. If that happens, it should end up a total in 15-20M range depending upon how it ends.
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August 30, 2018 at 7:20 AM
Here is a more conservative projection:
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August 30, 2018 at 7:30 AM
With a 6-7m weekend, it may struggle to get past Toilet’s 14m total.
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August 30, 2018 at 7:38 AM
Thank god the Chinese can differentiate between Sultan and Dangal!
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August 30, 2018 at 8:05 AM
And MI6 projection is 10X of Sultan …
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August 30, 2018 at 1:27 AM
Dil Se is such a fine addition to Netflix.. cant believe it’s already been 20 years since its release! Remember watching it on DD the first time on television (when tremors were felt)
I sincerely believe ManiRatnam was in top form while filming this. This can be called one of his very finest and better than Roja and Bombay,the teo other films preceding it in his terrorism trilogy.
Such amazingly layered and haunting film and a rare cinematic masterpiece that is hard to shake off if you finish watching it despite watching it so many times before.
Imo SRK has rarely performed as well as he did in this film. A damn good intense portrayal that the likes of Salman and Akki will take eons to match it
Rehman’s music: jitni tareefki jaaye kam hai.. easily one of the best hindi music albums ever! Will easily find a place in the top 5.. capturing the essence and mood of the film perfectly well and even elevating the film to unscalable heights
Rahman and Ratnam has to be the best music director/director collaboration ever in Indian cinema
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August 30, 2018 at 3:28 AM
Remarkable album, probably Rahman’s best in Hindi. I would love to revisit this film. I literally got bored in 1998 with it but I’m sure I will like it today.
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August 30, 2018 at 6:41 AM
this film deserves a new transfer though. The existing first generation DVD is terrible.
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August 30, 2018 at 7:18 AM
“Rahman and Ratnam has to be the best music director/director collaboration ever in Indian cinema”
I guess yes, if you completely have no knowledge of Indian Cinema of yester years.
I would rather take Raj Kapoor/Shankar Jaikishen.
Barsaat
Awara
Shree 420
Sangam
Mera Naam Joker
How about Vijay Anand/SD Burman
Raj Khosla/LP
Hussain/RD
And many many more…
I have no knowledge of other cinema in India besides Bollywood so I assume there are other great combos in other languages too.
I find Rehman highly overrated and in some way I blame him for state of music in Bollywood today. He made songs with any singers who may have sounded good for the song he composed but were lousy singer and it started trend of anybody can be a singer. Baba segal for example. How many of Rehman songs are super hit in past decade? Decade is a long time.
I’ll take Desai/LP combo anyday over Ratnam/Rehman.
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August 30, 2018 at 7:29 AM
Surely Rahman/Ratnam combo also belongs to your elite list above? Or is it that anything modern has to be thrown out the door?
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August 30, 2018 at 7:33 AM
I don’t agree on blaming Rahman as he can’t control the crap music others dish out but kind of see the point on his choice of singer’s…I don’t know why Sonu Nigam has been abandoned by the industry, haven’t heard him on new songs for ages.
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August 30, 2018 at 1:40 AM
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August 30, 2018 at 1:50 AM
https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/abhishek-bachchan-jp-dutta-paltan-manmarziyaan-5332091/
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August 30, 2018 at 2:59 AM
Sanjana.. The day you thrashed/ ridiculed Master, he took a hide.. Now you are the one who can bring him back.Please do it as we need him here.
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August 30, 2018 at 3:12 AM
He has come back. Occassionally.
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August 30, 2018 at 3:31 AM
What else will a srk fan do when his god figure has lost all relevance?
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August 30, 2018 at 3:20 AM
Some are fed up of daily arguments and so they come occassionally when they feel like it. I also miss Master.
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August 30, 2018 at 7:20 AM
Good debate/arguments are good but see the comment above and you’ll know why some people stay away and comment occasionally.
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August 30, 2018 at 7:27 AM
Ouch! SRK fans are as bitter as i said above. No surprises there.
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August 30, 2018 at 2:43 AM
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August 30, 2018 at 4:10 AM
Hritik’s Super30 is running away from Kangana’s Manikarnika. LOL
http://www.koimoi.com/bollywood-news/super-30-release-date-changed-hrithik-roshan-averts-the-clash-with-kangana-ranaut/
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August 30, 2018 at 6:32 AM
https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/bollywood/rajkummar-rao-on-stree-co-star-shraddha-kapoor-she-was-supposed-to-do-my-debut-film-kai-po-che-5066721.html
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August 30, 2018 at 6:47 AM
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/features/exclusive-shraddha-kapoor-opens-stree-shakti-kapoors-instagram-life-failure-haseena-parkar/
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August 30, 2018 at 7:14 AM
At this point, I am still skeptical of 2.0 making it on proposed 29th Nov release date. The teaser/trailer was supposed to be released on 15th Aug and attached to Gold prints. But that got postponed by one month and they are now saying it will come on Ganesh Chaturthi (Sep 13). Somehow the progress on post production vfx isnt falling in place for this film. If 2 min teaser cant come out without hiccups, how will a 3 hr film make in in time??
https://www.dnaindia.com/bollywood/report-teaser-of-rajinikanth-akshay-kumar-starrer-20-to-be-out-on-september-13-2655366
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August 30, 2018 at 7:21 AM
The film has to release in 2018 otherwise Akshay’s quota for film releases in the year is at its lowest ever! The way this film is shaping up it will either be boom or bust!
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August 30, 2018 at 7:33 AM
Whenever it releases I am going to watch it just to check how the heck 500 crores were spent!
Anyways, if it gets further postponed (Pongal is another likely date for this one), then ToH gets 4 open weeks till Total Dhamaal, which is scheduled for Dec 7 release as of now.
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August 30, 2018 at 7:40 AM
TOH first look poster is expected anyday now. As Aamir and his fandom are going to celebrate 30 years with TOH bang (hopefully), here is QSQT redux from 1988:
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August 30, 2018 at 7:54 AM
And 20 years back … 1998:
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August 30, 2018 at 7:55 AM
And 10 years back – 2008:
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August 30, 2018 at 8:35 AM
1947 Earth released in festival circuits in 1998 but India release was 1999 (the same weekend as Hello Brother..the timeless Salman classic!)
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August 30, 2018 at 8:36 AM
the only 1998 movie Aamir did was Ghulam.
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August 30, 2018 at 8:52 AM
Technically you are correct of course, but I personally like this Earth song more than any songs from Ghulam. And in my opinion Earth was a turning point for Aamir, while Ghulam was run-on-mill. Love a couple of songs from Sarfarosh (1999).
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August 30, 2018 at 8:56 AM
I like the couple of Earth and Sarfarosh of 1999 as much as the couple of Lagaan and DCH of 2001. Of course there was another great couple of Mann and Mela in between … Haha.
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August 30, 2018 at 9:09 AM
Mela was terrible, but I quite liked Mann, saw it multiple times in the cinema.
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August 30, 2018 at 9:18 AM
I like songs of Mann, somehow never warmed up to that film.
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August 30, 2018 at 9:48 AM
The catchiest song was a total rip-off of a Rachid Taha Arabic song… Kaali Naagin Ke Jaisee… but yeah songs were good. Of course the champions on this front were Nadeem-Shravan, who ripped off Pakistani songs left, right and center over the 1990s (later on Anu Malik got into that act too).
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August 30, 2018 at 9:47 AM
Q…I am shocked that you liked Mann….that was a horrible movie and EACH and EVERY song was copied. These 2 really got Aamir thinking about his future and Lagaan was the result.
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August 30, 2018 at 9:49 AM
LOL our messages crossed, was just making the same point about the song (don’t think I realized EVERY song was copied! God that sort of thing really irritates me).
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August 30, 2018 at 9:50 AM
I don’t get people’s lovefest with Sarfarosh. Except for Aamir \ Naseer scenes in the end, it’s a pretty average movie IMO. The love story / songs only slow down the real movie.
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August 30, 2018 at 10:01 AM
I think Sarfarosh is important because it was one of the first movies that spoke frankly about political issues without using euphemisms (e.g. “Pakistan” instead of “dushman mulk” or “padosi” etc.), AND did so in a reasonably refined way (the film even accorded some measure of empathy to “the other” with some of Naseer’s dialogues); finally it was also the first film I can think of that seemed sensitive to/aware of political divisions WITHIN Pakistan (the whole Muhajir-angle). More generally as well, at the time I remember feeling that the dialogues seemed fresh and natural (I remember Aamir’s line about not going in for IAS as opposed to IPS because he didn’t just want an easy life; that line caused a bit of a stir in some quarters). The one unforgivable absurdity in Sarfarosh was the idea of making a ghazal singer an ISI agent, that is so ludicrous an idea it marred the film for me (in the entire history of Indo-Pak relations, no cultural/artistic figure of any reknown has even been accused or suspected of such a thing — even as a mere plot device, what sensitive information would a singer get access to?! LMAO).
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August 30, 2018 at 10:26 AM
In addition to your fine note the characterizations were really strong here. Specially in terms of the somewhat ensemble cast that comprised the police team around Aamir. And this sort of thing wasn’t very common at the time either.
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August 30, 2018 at 11:05 AM
Most films get dated over time. They might remain very watchable but they lose their edge. Not just pure commercial films but also somewhat different ones. Then there are questions of memory. When we like something at a certain point in time we often live with that memory. We don’t necessarily ‘update’ it. Whether one likes Sarfarosh more or less I don’t think it can be called an ‘average’ film relative to the standards of the 90s and even since. Today the same film would ‘look’ (in the technical sense) a lot more impressive but we’re not really making better films even at this very moment (this despite all the self-congratulation in the industry and the media). For instance Raazi is a good example. It’s again better than the average but I found it hopelessly overrated. It’s actually a bit flat for the subject. It ought to have been a lot more gripping, it’s merely engaging. Even leaving this aside there really is no ‘big deal’ here (Highway for example was a lot better than this). For me Sarfarosh is a much better film than Raazi, it’s not even close. Again just taking a random contemporary example of a film (Raazi) that was praised a lot. Having said all this do fans sometimes overpraise films like Sarfarosh? Sure! It happens all the time and with many films. The Indian audience is in any case always likely to overpraise something that is somewhat different without gauging whether that film is a good one for its terrain. In other words Raazi to my mind is poor relative to what it attempts, otherwise I’d take it over every Salman film (and so on..) out there!
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August 30, 2018 at 11:09 AM
Definitely think Sarfarosh is better than Raazi
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August 30, 2018 at 11:19 AM
I’d also make a related point. It’s the relatively rare film that’s ‘great’ (considered such) in its age and embraced in box office terms and that then remains ‘great’ over time. Most of the time the truly interesting film is not likely to do extraordinarily well with its immediate audience. Because what is instantly acceptable or can be absorbed that way is not a film that’s going to make anyone uncomfortable in any sense. Works like Awara or Guide or Bachchan’s great scripts from the 70s are exceptions. These are not surprisingly triumphs of writing (though Awara might be in a class of its own in terms of never compromising on its subversion). Or there are films that are very fine at what they do without necessarily being truly radical works. Some of Dev Anand’s classics would qualify in this sense or a film like Lagaan. Then there are always examples of middle cinema, smaller films that work with a more limited audience, here there might be more of a match between a celebrated film and the same standing the test of time (though even so the more ignored examples of 70s middle cinema for instance are at least as many as the more discussed ones). In either one of these sets I can think of many more films that ought to get more attention than they do. Sometimes such works are reinvented over time of course. All of this is not an argument against the pure entertainer (Shammi Kapoor! but also most films of most stars), my point only is that there’s nothing to ‘see’ (pun intended!) here beyond a point. They’re enjoyable films and one has said everything. But even that which is interesting or which ought to be seen or reinvented can still remain dated in other ways. All of this has been a very long way of saying that to get a film which is interesting in an enduring sense and that also remains popular is always a hard act to pull off. Everything else is about relative strengths and weaknesses. Finally, and perhaps most crucially, there are always masterpieces that have never found their audience.. at least not ‘so far’. The problem in India is that there isn’t a proper film culture in the critical sense, hence it’s always extremely hard to make the case for a film that doesn’t work at the box office. Even when people like such films they always assume there’s something wrong with them. They always read the quality of a film backwards off the box office result.
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August 30, 2018 at 12:53 PM
I recently saw Sarfarosh and as Satyam said, it is very well made movie which hasn’t dated much (except may be in production values). Only minor changes could be done in some of the dialogues, where they could have been less melodramatic but I think sensibilities wise it is still fresh.
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August 30, 2018 at 2:21 PM
I haven’t re-visited Sarfarosh in a while but did watch QSQT again last year, and Ghulam a couple of years ago. Both held up very well indeed: Ghulam is a regular film in every way, so it’s no mean achievement that it was fresh and interesting even when it was released. QSQT is simply one of the best love stories ever made in Bollywood — again what works really well here is that the entire cast is strong, not just Aamir and Juhi (can’t imagine this film without Dalip Tahil or Goga Kapoor)…
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August 30, 2018 at 9:52 AM
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August 30, 2018 at 10:04 AM
Q…I agree about with your points about ‘Pakistan’ and ‘Muhajir’ but the movie itself wasn’t that great….except the dialoguebaazi at the end!
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August 30, 2018 at 11:40 AM
On the contrary, i find the dialogue-baazi in the end as the worst part of the film. Agree with Satyam on every count here, great set of comments. Compared to the stuff being made at that time Sarfarosh is a classic. Its still fresh on revisit, much like QSQT.
Aamir’s character had v strong characterization, much like Talaash among his latter films.
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August 30, 2018 at 2:01 PM
What a song. It takes me all way back in the memory lane and a glass of scotch.
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August 30, 2018 at 7:55 PM
🙂
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August 30, 2018 at 8:08 PM
Some old wine from the cellar for you …
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August 30, 2018 at 10:00 AM
It’s funny that you mentioned Nadeem \ Shravan because Mann’s music was the debut of Sanjeev \ Darshan…..Shravan’s sons!
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August 30, 2018 at 10:04 AM
The apple did not fall far from the tree! I remember how betrayed I felt when I realized that just about every othervsong from films like Phool aur Kaante, Aashiqui, Sadak was ripped off.
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August 30, 2018 at 11:42 AM
Anyone read the novel ‘Confessions of a Thug’ here?
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August 30, 2018 at 11:58 AM
Heard good review from a trusted source who has read it. With a good director this may had great potential as a film. Acharya and YRF may not be able to do proper justice to the novel even with Aamir’s involvement.
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August 30, 2018 at 11:52 AM
Before MB happens, there is one film Aamir will surely act in.
*****
Kiran Rao gearing up for new film
Filmmaker Kiran Rao, who made her directorial debut with “Dhobi Ghat” in 2011, says she has finally found a new story worth telling for the silver screen.
“I am focusing on my writing really, apart from my involvement in the MAMI (Mumbai Academy of Moving Image) Mumbai Film Festival. I know it has been quite some time that I have not made a film and kept giving excuses that my baby is small, but I think this is high time that I have to put it (a film) out there,” Kiran told IANS here on Thursday.
“I was working on eight story ideas but none of them satisfied me in the end. I was working around it for the last seven years. But I promise that I have finally zeroed in on one and I am finishing the script and gearing up for the film,” she added.
https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/kiran-rao-gearing-up-for-new-film-118083000898_1.html
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August 30, 2018 at 1:53 PM
Amitabh Bachchan to make Kollywood debut with SJ Suryah’s Uyarndha Manidhan
S J Suryah shared a small video of Superstar Rajinikanth unveiling the title poster of Tamil film Uyarndha Manidhan, starring Amitabh Bachchan. The bilingual film will be helmed by Tha Tamilvaanan.
https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/tamil/amitabh-bachchan-tamil-debut-s-j-suryah-uyarndha-manidhan-5333306/
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August 30, 2018 at 1:56 PM
Kamal Haasan’s next production with Vikram goes on floors
Kamal Haasan’s Raaj Kamal Films International will bankroll the project along with Trident Arts. The untitled film stars Chiyaan Vikram and Akshara Haasan.
https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/tamil/kamal-haasan-vikram-film-on-floors-5333180/
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August 30, 2018 at 2:57 PM
can’t wait!
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August 30, 2018 at 3:33 PM
now THIS is one worth waiting for!
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