Kambakkht IshqBecause the braindead entertainment journos just put out the press releases, whatever  is issued by the PR guys. Indiafm has been continously pumping figures as if there is no tomorrow. Most of the other newspapers/websites also doing the same. Copy-paste the press release. But there have been few reports which dimissed the 100 crore claims.

Check out this report in LiveMint. According to it, the figures are as follows

Release – 700 prints in India & 260 prints in the overseas market.

Cost – Rs 75 crore including print and publicity, entirely funded by Eros International.

Collections – First week closed at Rs 20 crore distributor share (India) and will touch Rs 25 crore across its entire run. Collections were affected due to a massive downfall in the film from Monday evening onwards.

Verdict : Kambakkht Ishq team popped the bubbly, the dampener this week was that Eros will suffer a loss of almost Rs 10-12 crore on this film.

Indiafm

Cost : Rs. 62 crore, including print and advertisement cost.

Collections :  This report on Indiafm.com is the same as the official press release. According to Trash Adarsh, the film has grossed Rs. 100 crore worldwide in its first week, making it one of the most successful openings in Indian cinema.

Rs. 70 crores in India (Rs. 42 crores nett) and Rs. 21 crores overseas business, with music & digital platforms grossing Rs. 10 crores.  ( Why would anyone count music & digital platform rights with the box office collections ? A clear indication of being desperate to add up the numbers and make it 100!)

The Times Of India

And now the figures according to today’s TOI (page 10. Could not find the online link. You can check the e-paper here and go to page 10, the header is For cine buffs, content is king )

Sold – At a price of Rs 80 crore

Collections – In the first week distribution share is Rs 30 crore, it is certainly difficult to recover the entire cost. Even if satellite rights are sold for Rs 10 crore and home video for Rs 2-3 crore, recovering costs is going to be a tall order – Trade analyst Amod Mehra. 

BoxOfficeIndia.com

Collections : Kambakkht Ishq had an excellent first week of around Rs 36 crore nett. The film has done brilliant business in the North while collections in South India circuits like Mysore are on the lower side. The collections on the 8th day have shown a big fall of around 65-70%.

So, what to believe and what to chuck ? As someone wrote on a blogpost, Box office news and updates of Kambakkht Ishq is more eventful than the movie itself. Couldn’t agree more!

A small break from filmy fridays. Take a look at the pic. Its tough being US president. When your every move is captured, few things will surely look funny. Check out the reaction of Frech President Nicolas Sarkozy. Pic from G8 Summit in Italy.

Barack Obama

 

Shortkut - The con is onShortkut – The con is On. Shortkut with a “K”, whatever that means. Produced by Anil Kapoor, directed by Neeraj Vora, written by Anees Bazmee and stars Akshaye Khanna, Arshad Warsi and Amrita Rao. And if the early reviews are any indication, its time to switch off the con even before it gets on!

Raja Sen ( Rediff ) – At least it’s better than Kambakkht Ishq and New York put together – 2/5.

Taran Adarsh ( Indiafm) – Is a poor show all the way. A major disappointment – 1 /5

Khalid Mohamed (Aslibaat) – Just another cup of copy….sugarless – 1/5

Rajeev Masand ( CNN IBN ) – Shortkut leaves you bored – 1/5

Baradwaj Rangan (New Indian Express) – A dreadful satire of the film industry is symptomatic of everything that’s wrong with our mainstream cinema

Anand Vaishnav ( Buzz18) – An interesting plot goes haywire due to a lifeless script – 1.5 / 5

Gaurav Malani (Indiatimes) – Cut every possible path, short or long, leading to this film – 1.5 /5

Shubhra Gupta ( Indian Express ) – Arshad Warsi, fine actor, RIP  ?

Minty Tejpal ( Mumbai Mirror ) – Avoid this shortcut – 1/5

Aniruddha Guha ( DNA ) – Is a con job by its makers – 1/5

Mayank Shekhar ( NDTV ) – If you happen to catch this disaster, don’t say, I didn’t warn you.

Mayank’s review sums it up well. Do we need tos ay more!

MohanlalFor all you fans of Mohanlal, here is some good news.  He was commissioned  into the army today as honorary Lt Colonel. He joins the Territorial Army, the part-time citizen’s work force which works with the regular army. 

Mohanlal will serve the 122 Infantry Battalion  of Madras Regiment in  Kannur.  According to news reports, some rules were also amended to accomodate the 49 year old actor as men above the age of 42 are not allowed to join the volunteer force.

Two new pics from Vishal Bhardwaj’s Kaminey has been released. Priyanka Chopra as Sweety. Take a look.

Priyanka Chopra 2

 

Priyanka Chopra

sankatcity2Like me, if you belong to the tribe who loved Sanjay Khanduri’s Ek Chalis Ki Last Local, but never went to the theatre and managed to catch it only on tv/dvd after someone reccomeded it strongly, and you still feel guilty about it, then here is a chance to redeem yourself. Get your tickets booked for this week’s release Sankat City, directed by Pankaj Advani. His first release.

And even if you don’t belong to the same tribe, dont miss Sankat City. Its quirky, funny & paisa vasool masala film that doesn’t ask you to enter the theatre without your brains. It tickles your brains and so, make sure you carry your brains alongwith your tickets.

I entered the theatre exactly two minutes late and so missed the national anthem. But if any film deserves to have national anthem as its theme song, then this is the one. Name it and you will have it. Characters from almost every region of the country…Punjabi, Bengali, Jat, Madrasi, Hyderbadi, Marathi. And the director is not biased for anyone. They all belong to the same tribe…insane with different eccentricities, who get stuck in bizaare situations and have one common problem – money.

Characters which are rare in hindi cinema…babas in bathtubs, baba-bhakts looking for dynamites, vegetarian hero and hero with hyderabadi duplicate. And yes, a meteor that changes luck…! ( Finally someone killed that Kuch Kuch Hota Hai meteor funda. Toote taare ko dekhkar tumne kya maanga ? Bus maa ki aankh maanga tha.

In Sankat City, the world is completely round, everyone bumps into other one, a merry-go-round and the all the dots finally gets connected to give that masala end. The first 20minutes or so looks jarring, the camera moves constantly as the characters are introduced one by one and the focus keeps on shifting. But once you settle in, its a roller coaster ride. Advani’s writing is smart and his direction doesn’t match upto his script. Or may be things can change if he gets the resources. Its easy to understand the problems of any director when you go to a producer with Kay Kay & Rimi Sen as lead actors.

Kay Kay has gone from one extreme to other. From the silent brooding type to the over the top kind. And at times, he is quite irritating. The film belongs to the ensemle cast…Anupam Kher, Manoj Pahwa, Yashpal Sharma, Dilip Prabhavalkar, Virendra Saxena and many others whose name I don’t know.

There is only one reason for not watching it – if you don’t know what andkosh means! And I have only one personal grudge…my favourite actress’ role had so lil to do, that doesn’t justify her potential in any way. I don’t even know her name but I love her. Check out this superb short film of Zee Cinema….Paap Ka Anth…she is the one…Dakurani Champabai!

Is today something special ? Something to do with feeling nostalgic! First, the post on Hum Log @25 and now this one. On his new blog post, Ram Gopal Varma has put up four on location pics from his film Shiva. Take a look. And to quote Ramu, before you check out the pics…

If you promise not to laugh I am posting here some location pictures from “Shiva” which my mother dug up from an old closet.

And now check out his current avtaar. The look, the style, the attitude, the pose, ah..the dude! Gained a lot, and lost some cinema sense in exchange ? The maverick surprises us always, from one extreme to other.

To read the full post on Shiva & the famous cycle chain scene, click here.

Hum Log@25!

Posted: July 8, 2009 by moifightclub in cast & crew, News, television, Thoughts
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Hum LogRemember Hum Log. Badki, Majhli, Chutki, Basesar Ram, Daadi, Nanhe & Ashok Kumar’s closing act. One of the most popular tv serials to air during DD days is 25 years old.  Rediff pushed the rewind button and spoke to some  of the actors who became household names with Hum Log. Click here to read the full feature. 

Kamal HaasanThats what the news reports suggests. It was suppose to be a big budget film starring Kamal Haasan & Asin. Walt Disney was producing it and to be directed by Bharatbala.

Problem ? Kamal Haasan. It seems he wanted changes in the script and backed out when the changes weren’t made. Our guess – He must have asked Bharatbala to cast him in all the possible 19 roles in the same film! Thats what he has been doing these days.

Current status – Most probably Asin will also back out of the film as she decided to do it because of Kamal Haasan. The makers are now talking to Vikram for the same part. Music is by A R Rahman. And here’s the synopsis, according to wikipedia…

The story of this film revolves around a Japanese samurai warrior (Tadanobu Asano) who travels to Kerala to learn the secrets of the ancient Dravidian martial art of Kalaripayattu from a veteran martial art trainer (Kamal Haasan). In the process he falls in love with a beautiful Chera princess (Asin Thottumkal). Whether he learns the martial art and whether he wins his love or not, forms the core of the story.

A new pic from Vishal Bhardwaj’s film Kaminey has been released. Its of Amole Gupte. And with every new pic of Amole Gupte, we get a feeling that he is going to be the show stealer. Take a look. 

Amole Gupte

Amole Gupte is the same guy who wrote Taare Zameen Par and was suppose to direct it also. But was replaced by producer Aamir Khan as he decided to turn director all of a sudden.

The film stars Shahid Kapoor (in double role ) & Priyanka Chopra. Amole plays the role of Sunil Shekhar Bhope, Priyanka’s brother and is known as Bhope Bhau. A news bit what we recently heard, and are finding difficult to believe, is that that Kaminey is set in the backdrop of Bengali mafia in Mumbai. Marathi is the norm, but bengali ?We surely are excited.

BTW, whats your K-poison ? The music is out. We are playing Kaminey’s title track in loop. Its the song of the year….meri arzooo, ….kamini….mere khwab bhi, kaminey…….ek dil se dosti thi….yeh huzoor bhi kaminey!  What’s your track ?

For more on Kaminey, click here & here. And for lyrics of Dhen Tedaan click here.