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More news →April 12 'Swabhimana Day'
The Karnataka Film Workers Artists Technicians Federation (KFWATF) called for the Karnataka Government to declare April 12 ' the death day of icon of Kannada cinema Dr.Rajkumar as 'Swabhimana Day' ' Self esteem day. On the occasion of first death anniversary of Dr.Rajkumar this announcement should be made by the government says President of the KFWATF Ashok in a media release.
Come April 10, well get to watch Kamal and Mallika Sherawat
While on 'Dasavataram', the film is having a worldwide release on April 10. Nayanatara and Asin are playing the glamour girls in the film. But the real oomph factor would be provided by Mallika Sherawat. She will be playing a surprise role in the film, which is being kept under wraps. It would be really interesting to watch this unusual pair on screen. However, given that it is Kamal Haasan, we are bound to watch some really scintillating performances from both of them.
Happy April for Kollywood
Finally the slew of bad runs has come to a halt in Kollywood. In the first three months, the box office witnessed just a couple of movies going on to make some profit. Myskin's 'Anjathey' managed a good run while the likes of 'Sadhu Miranda', 'Pazhani' and 'Sanda' among others managed a decent opening. Come April, the fortunes are back in Kollywood. A couple of releases this month managed to witness bumper opening. Dhanush's much-hyped 'Yaradi Nee Mohini' and Jeyam Ravi's 'Santhosh Subramaniyam' have witnessed a terrific beginning. Both the films released coinciding the summer vacation has ushered positive vibes in the industry. With the likes of director Simbhu Devan's 'Arai En 305il Kadavul', Kamal Haasan's 'Dasavadharam' and Vijay starrer 'Kuruvi' ready to hit the screens in the coming days, it is hoped that the industry will rake in more moolah.
Box Office Analysis-April 06 , 2006
First weekend performance of latest release It was as dull as it gets in the weekend gone by! Four films that were released tried to make their presence felt before the biggies start striking from the coming weekend and none of them made any impression whatsoever on the audiences. Incidentally each of the four flicks, 'Chand Ke Paar Chalo', 'Madhubaala', 'Ho Sakta Hai' and 'Naughty Boy' had a woman centric plot but that wasn't good enough for either females or males. Obituaries have been written long ago for sex-based films and the opening of 'Madhubala' and 'Naughty Boy' was no different. Preeti Jhangiani's attempt at starring in an old fashioned drama cum love story 'Chand Ke Paar Chalo' too didn't pay much dividends in spite of reasonably OK publicity while 'Ho Sakta Hai', the best product of all, came at the time when the craze of watching horror flicks has all but died down. If only it had come during the 'Bhoot' or the 'Darna Mana Hai' days, it may have fetched a positive opening. Net result? None of the movies show any promise of going beyond the first week with multiple biggies releasing one after another from coming weekend on! Last week's movies 'Being Cyrus' kept itself in news throughout the week gone by and helped itself get an average, though not spectacular, opening. For an offbeat film in English starring mainstream actors, it was quite an accomplishment to reach the 2 crore mark, in spite of a selective release. A 'typical' multiplex film that should prove to be beneficial for its producers in an extended run, 'Being Cyrus' has successfully opened new avenues for independent film makers who want to try out something different within commercial boundaries. As expected, the film garnered the best collections from Mumbai with around one-third of its first week total being attributed to it. This Homi Adajania film should manage to break even but that's about it. 'Souten' is yet another flop for Mahima Chaudhary when she must have been pining her hopes from this movie centered on her character. She got good reviews from most of the places but audiences were wary about the movie's theme and believed 'Souten' to be one of those sex-laced films. A 70 lakhs first week total is hardly flattering and it seems impossible for the film to even break-even and cover the production cost. Karan Razdan gets another supreme box office failure after 'Umar' and now has his hopes lying on the third successive release 'Eight - Shani' that should come in a couple of weeks or so. From the past 'Umar' is out of theatres in 2 week flat with a sub-20 lakhs total. Simply disastrous! Collections of 'Banana Brothers' have been so shocking that Anupam Kher may want to erase the film from his filmography. Ironically his once-upon-a-time contemporary Paresh Rawal, who started his career a little later than him and went on to play comic roles after a successful stint at playing a villain, has delivered second super hit of the year, Malamaal Weekly, solely on his presence. The fall in collections was minimal in the third week with more than 4 crores being added to its kitty. The film is now one of the fastest to have crossed 20 crores since 2005 and is the BIGGEST ever Bollywood success for Priyadarshan. The film has been enjoying a repeat run amongst the audiences who are simply freaking out on Paresh/Om Puri/Asrani/Riteish/Rajpal combo. One now eagerly awaits the DVD/VCD of the film to be out on stands as it should mean added revenue for this family film. 'Taxi No. 211' continues to hold on well even in the 5th week by netting in an additional crore to bring the total closer to 20 crore mark. The film now stands at 19 crore and it should be a matter of 2 more weeks when 'Taxi No. 9211' reaches the elite 20 crore club. 'Aksar' is now in its final leg as its total hardly moves after the 8th week. There were hopes that it may turn out to be 9 crore hit but the collections have fallen short by around 25 lakhs here. Nevertheless, the film is a decent success for everyone involved and has got Ananth Mahadevan number of other interesting projects to direct. 'Rang De Basanti' barely movies from its position as the collections remain amazingly steady even in the 9th week. A crore and a little more have been added on to make its collections stand at 49 crore. Nevertheless, it's unlikely that the collections would continue to be steady in the coming weeks too with arrival of so many biggies one after another. It was a different scenario in the months of February and March when multiplexes had only RDB as an ace to be screened in multiple shows, but now with so many more options, there obviously is going to be a cut in shows for RDB. Having said that, RDB is still a comfortable 50 crore hit and firmly establishes Aamir Khan's position after a shaky 'Mangal Pandey'. With 'Fanaa' looking strong, SRK will need to have twin successes in the form of 'Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna' and 'Don' to battle it out for the No. 1 slot! In the future The most important phase of Quarter 2 of 2006 starts with arrival of 'Shaadi Se Pehle', 'Saawan - The Love Season' and 'Banaras - A Mystic Love Story'. Each of the three films release a day earlier to benefit from the 'Ram Navami' holiday. Out of the three, 'Shaadi Se Pehle' is a comfortable success in sight due to refreshing theme, Akshaye Khanna's presence [he has never had it better with multiple comedy hits under his belt], Mallika Sherawat's oomph appeal and a reasonably popular music. Tremendous publicity of the film means that an excellent opening [80%-90%] is a given and it should only be consolidated if director Satish Kaushik indeed manages to tickle the funny bone. 'Saawan - The Love Season' is another film that appears to be a safe bet, especially in the single screen theatres due to Salman Khan's towering presence. Producer-director Saawan Kumar may just get a hit under his belt after years if audiences in the interiors catch fancy for their favorite star. The third release 'Banaras - A Mystic Love Story' is the only film that doesn't really appear to be mass appealing in the true sense. Urmila's decision to act in unconventional films [Ek Haseena Thi, Pinjar, Naina, Tehzeeb to name a few] may be getting her lot of laurels but box office success continues to evade her barring a film or two that have just managed to break even. 'Banaras - A Mystic Love Story' too has an offbeat theme and though Pankaj Parashar's reputation as a director promises a polished product, the opening is not expected to be more than 50%. After that it depends upon the film's quality and overall impact it makes to result in word of mouth that may take it past the safety mark as the week follows.
Box Office Analysis-April 13 , 2006
First weekend performance of latest release All predictions pertaining to a good beginning to Quarter II of 2006 fell flat as none of the three releases opened as per the expectations! There was a strong belief that 'Shaadi Se Pehle' would take a very good opening due to big banner, good starcast and decent promotion but that wasn't the case! For a movie of such stature, a 80-90% opening was expected but that was hardly the case as it ranged from below average to average. The only consolation factor for 'Shaadi Se Pehle' was that it opened to unanimously poor reviews, just like the surprise superhit of the year 'Malamaal Weekly'. But while Priyadarshan-Paresh combo took an upper hand over the critics, that hasn't been the case with 'Shaadi Se Pehle' as it manages to remain only in the average range. Though the movie boasted of a good first half, the poor ending is touted to be an anti-climax! It was expected that Salman Khan's presence would give 'Saawan - The Love Season' a reasonably good opening, at least in the interiors. Though it was good at some centers in the heartland of India [as expected], at the remaining places it was mainly in below average to poor range. This badly made movie was rejected as days progressed and though the film remains in news due to Salman's arrest [and now him being bailed], it seems difficult for it to cross the safety mark. One wonders what next does Saawan Kumar have in mind after his reunion with Salman too has failed to get him the desired results!? Confused! This was the common thought of most of the critics and 'junta' who watched 'Banaras - A Mystic Love Story'. The film proved to be mystic for everyone involved as it didn't even take a worthwhile opening. After 'Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Maara', this is yet another movie for Urmila that tries to bridge the gap between art and commercial but with little effect. The movie has been appreciated for its technical finesse [courtesy Pankaj Parashar] but general lack of interest amongst the audience to watch it, combined with a theme that didn't really entice many to watch the flick has resulted in an all around no-show. All in all, a disappointing first week in April when a much better outcome was expected! Last week's movies March ended on a 'horrifying note' [and no, it's not just the 'horror' flick 'Ho Sakta Hai' responsible for it!] with each of the four releases tanking at the box office completely. Even the combined collections of 'Chand Ke Paar Chalo', 'Madhubaala', 'Ho Sakta Hai' and 'Naughty Boy' failed to cross the 50 lakhs mark across the country, which tells the tale! At least 2 comebacks have gone for a toss after these releases - Preeti Jhangiani's for 'Chand Ke Paar Chalo' and Rahul Roy's for 'Ho Sakta Hai'. Sameer Dharmadhikari, who started off reasonably well with Madhur Bhandarkar's 'Satta', is having a torrid time after back to back failures with 'Rafta Rafta - The Speed' and now 'Madhubaala' failing as well. None of the four films managed a release on an all-India basis and wherever they did release, they made a quick exit at the end of week one. A forgettable outing for everyone involved and a week that Bollywood would choose to ignore! From the past 'Multiplex' film 'Being Cyrus' had a decent second week as it witnessed a customary 50% fall in its collections. Still it managed to add in a crore more to its kitty and now stands as 3+ crore film. For a low budgeted experimental film, these are fine collections but still not large enough to call 'Being Cyrus' a BIG success. At maximum, the film is a coverage though there could be an improvement in collections as films of this genre have an audience of their own that are unaffected by other Bollywood releases which arrive one after another. 'Being Cyrus' should end between 4-4.25 crores, which is good enough for a first time director [Homi Adajania] who was set out to do something unconventional while roping in mainstream actors for his English film. After 'Umar', Karan Razdan gets his second box office disaster in a row as 'Souten' fails miserably in its second week with near non-existent collections. The film has more or less ended its run below the 1 crore mark. 'Malamaal Weekly' continues to make its investors 'malamaal' on a 'weekly' basis as it remains at the top of the charts for the maximum collections in a week. Even in the fourth week, the film managed another 2.5 crore in its kitty hence bringing its collections close to 23 crores. The film has been doing exceedingly well across the country with good collections from each of the A, B and C centers. While the stand was divided amongst trade pundits that the film would do well either in multiplexes or remote areas, the final result tells a different story altogether with audiences flocking the theatres for this no-brainer comedy! On the other hand 'Taxi No. 9211' has now turned out to be a sleeper HIT by silently chugging closer to the 20 crore mark. Though the film's publicity was stopped around 3-4 weeks back, that hasn't deterred the audience from still checking it out at the theatres. Maintaining its position in the Top 5 charts, the film added another 50 lakhs odd in its 6th week. Those who thought that the film is too Mumbai-centric have been proved wrong as though its biggest share has come from Mumbai, it is also a reasonable success across majority of centers in the country. 'Rang De Basanti' continues to take a minimal fall [~20%] as weeks progress and adds in another crore. Even after a 10 weeks stay at the box office, it is still being shown at approximately 150 screens which is simply phenomenal in today's age when the screen life of even a successful film is around 5 weeks at an average! With the milestone of 50 crores being achieved, it now has to be seen how much extra distance does it go from here. The film's original DVD and VCD too are out at just the right time that makes the film stay on with the audience for some more weeks to come. In the future Much awaited movie for the month of April, Humko Deewana Kar Gaye, releases this Friday. With no other worthwhile competition in sight, it should be a home run for this Akshay Kumar-Katrina Kaif film. Great production values with T-Series at the helm and fantastic promotion should ensure that the film takes an excellent opening in the range of 80%-100%. Anything less than a 10-12 crore opening week should be surprising for this Raj Kanwar film that boasts of chartbuster musical score [Title song - Himesh Reshammiya, Fanaa - Anu Malik]. The film seems to be an ideal fusion of Indian values with a modern day touch and should be particularly appealing to family audiences. The other (probable) release of the week is Karan Razdan's long delayed 'Eight Shani'. Dealing with supernatural, it comes at a time when Indian audience has moved away from the horror genre. With near to negligible publicity and lack of face value, the outcome of the movie should be hardly surprising for anyone.
Box Office Analysis-April 20 , 2006
First weekend performance of latest release 'Humko Deewana Kar Gaye' was expected to arrive with a bang and consolidate its position for the rest of the week. Surprisingly nothing like that happened with theatres across the country showing a mixed response. The opening was between average and good but nothing extraordinary. Reviews from the trade and response from the audience too was mixed as the film didn't really have much new to offer. There was mush, good songs and a polished feel throughout but a routine treatment meant that only the lovers of conventional candy floss cinema fancied watching Akshay-Katrina romance. Introduction of Anil Kapoor in the film's promotion has added a zing that should prove to be beneficial. Early reports indicate that the film should be safe though a HIT tag seems to be elusive! It would be surprising of 'Eight Shani' manages to enter in its 'eight' day at the theatres with the movie failing to get a proper release across the country. When compared to Karan Razdan's earlier two disasters 'Umar' and 'Souten - The Other Woman', the film got better reviews due to an interesting subject but that didn't really help the film gain mega bucks. Last week's movies Just like this week's 'Humko Deewana Kar Gaye', even last week's 'Shaadi Se Pehle' had flattered to deceive during it's pre-release period. After the end of week one, the collections told the tale as they read around 7.5 crore from the entire country. Expectedly Mumbai was the biggest contributor as the collections read around 1.5 crore while Delhi was way below par with only 70 lakhs. Normally for a film coming from a big banner and reasonable starcast, one would have expected Delhi to contribute at the least 1 crore! Still, since the occupancy has OK in the interiors, 'Shaadi Se Pehle' should end up as an average flick [at the most] and comfortably cross the 10 crore mark. 'Saawan - The Love Season' has been a 'drought season' for its investors who may have thought [rightly so] that Salman Khan's name was good enough to get them fortunes at the box office. Sadly nothing like that happened and producer/director Saawan Kumar has himself to blame for the way he has treated the subject. The movie has been a big letdown with only 2.5 crore at the end of first week. Quite poor! It was expected that the film will do well at least in the interiors but it was a sorry tale there too after the first weekend went by. Salman's jail episode didn't help the film either. The film should be off the theatres in a couple of weeks from now. The mystery of 'Banaras - A Mystic Love Story' remained unsolved as there were hardly any who ventured into the theatres. After a dismal opening, the collections continued to be abysmal with only 0.5 crores coming at the end of the first week. Just like Urmila's last docudrama 'Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Maara', 'Banaras' too has met with a similar commercial fate and will fade away from the public memory soon. Pankaj Parashar delivers second disaster in a row after 'Ittefaq' [Manoj Bajpai, Isha Kopikar]. From the past 'Chand Ke Paar Chalo', 'Madhubaala', 'Ho Sakta Hai' and 'Naughty Boy' released on the same day and while each of them were poor shows all the way from day one, the only two releases that (barely) survived at the theatres in the second week were sleaze flicks 'Naughty Boy' and 'Madhubaala'. Still that doesn't mean that sex still sells because collections were still near to negligible. In the final run, each of the four flicks have sank without a trace. As mentioned in the last week's column, 'Being Cyrus' is inching its way to the 4 crore mark as the total at the end of the third week reads 3.5 crores. Released selectively, the movie has done decently for itself with money still continuing to trickle in [though on the lower side] from the cities. With number of films releasing in last couple of weeks, things slowed down a bit for 'Malamaal Weekly' as it completed 5 weeks at the box office. There was around 50% fall in collections but still the film managed to add in 1 more crore. The film is now close to 24 crore mark and its the right time for the original DVD/VCD to be out soon! Ditto for 'Taxi No. 9211' that has now celebrated 50 days at the box office but took a massive fall in its 8th week with just around 10 lakhs coming in. The film should breathe its last in the theatres by coming agonizingly close but falling short of the 20 crore mark. For the first time since the film's release, 'Rang De Basanti' garnered less than a crore as it fell around 50% in its 11th week. The film still enjoys a superhit status with the collections crossing the 50 crore landmark. Though the film should end its run in 4-5 weeks from now, Aamir Khan's presence will continue to be felt 'Fanaa' that comes in May end. In the future 'Pyare Mohan' and 'Tom Dick and Harry', both being comic stories of physically handicapped men, were supposed to release on the same day i.e. 21st April. Surprisingly TDH, a better marketed product and more promising of the two, has backed out and is now coming two weeks later. This sets the stage clear for 'Pyare Mohan' that will be the sole release of the week now. Inspite of an Inder Kumar tag and decent starcast of Fardeen, Viveik, Esha, Amrita and Boman, the film has been under promoted while the response to the songs has been average too. Nevertheless the advantage of an open week coupled with Inder Kumar's HIT record over all these years should ensure that 'Pyaare Mohan' takes average to decent beginning at the least.