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Tag: Ajay Devgn

  • Eros acquires domestic rights of Tezz

    Eros acquires domestic rights of Tezz

    MUMBAI: Eros International Media Ltd has acquired the India distribution rights of Venus Records and Tapes’ forthcoming venture Tezz.

    Eros had earlier acquired the international rights of the film.

    “With its stylish look, great action and catchy music there is a positive buzz and anticipation around Tezz,” said Eros International president of marketing and sales Pranab Kapadia.

    The film, revolving around the hijacking of a bullet train, features Mohanlal who plays a dutiful cop of the Scotland Yard Police. The film also has Ajay Devgn and Anil Kapoor in the pivotal roles.

  • Son Of Sardar to release on 13 November

    Son Of Sardar to release on 13 November

    MUMBAI: Ajay Devgn Films and Viacom18 Motion Pictures have decided to release the Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt, Sonakshi Sinha and Juhi Chawla-starrer Son Of Sardar during the Diwali vacations on 13 November.

    The film is a remake of Telugu movie Maryada Ramanna. It is the story of Raghava Rao marrying Ramineedu’s sister. However, the families differ on a point and factional feuds run between them. Raghava Rao comes to know that Ramineedu’s brother Ankineedu has returned from jail and to avenge his vengeance, Raghava Rao attacks him.

    Both Raghava Rao and Ankineedu die in the clash. Raghava Rao”s wife takes away his son Ramu to Hyderabad and brings him up there. After 28 years, Ramu returns to the village to sell away his five-acre land. During his journey to the village, Ramu comes across Aparna and they become good friends. The crux of the story is the twosome’s journey forward in life.

    Initially, the title Son Of Sardar was registered with Akshay Kumar‘s production house but later he allowed Devgn to use it.

     

  • A mixed year for Bollywood

    A mixed year for Bollywood

    Indian box office couldn‘t have been more definite with its message in 2011: content is king. If anything, The Dirty Picture symbolised it all. Made on a budget of around Rs 200 million, the film netted Rs 839 million from the box office. The big disappointments were Game and Ra.One, both expensive films with the Shah Rukh Khan venture easily being his costliest product.

    For the first time, four Bollywood films — Ready, Bodyguard, Singham and Ra.One — crossed the Rs 1 billion mark in a year.

    More Bollywood films were released in 2011 compared to the earlier year, with the flood coming in the final quarter. The year saw 141 films hitting the screens, up from 130 in 2010. The fourth quarter saw as many as 40 releases, followed by 38 in the second and third quarter respectively.

    Trade analysts say Bodyguard, Ready, Singham were the three big hits and The Dirty Picture, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Murder 2, Delhi Belly and Sahib, Biwi Aur Gangster did respectable business.

    But will 2011 be known for its hits or flops? Says producer Mukesh Bhatt, “On the whole, it was a good year for small-to-medium budget films. Several big budget films failed to gain at the box office. People fell for films with good content and that is why films like Murder 2, The Dirty Picture and No One Killed Jessica worked while bad films like Ra.One, Desi Boyz and Rascals among others had to bite the dust.”

    The year belonged to Salman Khan who spun out Bodyguard and Ready. Ajay Devgn also had a great year with his super hit Singham.

    2011 saw the return of action-oriented genre in a big way with the release of films like Bodyguard, the top grosser of the year with a net collection of Rs 1.47 billion, Ready, Singham and Force among others. The year also saw the release of many comedy and romantic films.

    Bollywood filmmakers dug their hands into other genres like 3D films (Ra.One and Haunted 3D), crime and suspense thrillers (No One Killed Jessica, Murder 2, 7 Khoon Maaf and Not A Love Story).

    The surprise hit of the year, however, was The Dirty Picture, a low-budget film inspired by the life and death of a racy 1980s B-movie actresss Silk Smita. The film put much-needed steam to the year that started slowly. Said Bhatt, “Small and medium budget films like The Dirty Picture proved to the world that content is the only force that drives a film, not big stars.”

    2011 saw Bollywood taste big success with the remakes of south Indian films. These include Singham, Bodyguard, Ready and Force that were remade from their Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu originals.

  • Masti sequel planned

    Masti sequel planned

    MUMBAI: Going by Bollywood’s penchant to churn out franchises of their last hits, producers Indra Kumar and Ashok Thakeria have shown interest to take the Masti series forward.

    The duo have now approached Sanjay Dutt to replace Ajay Devgn‘s character from the original.

    Other than Dutt, the other principal cast seems to remain the same including Aftab Shivdasani, Riteish Deshmkukh and Genelia D‘Souza.

    The producers have been regularly featuring Dutt in the sequels of Dhamaal.

  • Ajay Devgn turns action director

    Ajay Devgn turns action director

    MUMBAI: Following his father Veeru Devgan’s footsteps, Ajay Devgn has taken over duties of action director in his ambitious film Son of Sardar. He will devise and execute all the heavy-duty fight for his Sardar character.

    Confirming the same, director Ashwin Dheer said, “Yes, Ajay has designed the action scenes himself. It‘s in his genes.”

    It all started when Ajay‘s Sardar character had to perform a stunt on a horse. The actor felt that the way he was being told to do the stunt was not in keeping with the decorum required for the character he was essaying. He did the horse sequence his way. That‘s when director Ashwin Dheer and Devgn decided to let the latter take over the film‘s stunts.

    It may be noted that Devgn has always been fond of action sequences and has been taking more than a passing interest in them.

    Incidentally, Ajay‘s father was an eminent action director.

  • Rascals nets Rs 230 mn at BO

    Rascals nets Rs 230 mn at BO

    MUMBAI: Traditionally considered as a dull period for the box office till Diwali, the number of releases continues unabated.

    Rascals, despite Sanjay Dutt and Ajay Devgn leading the cast and comedy specialist David Dhawan at the helm, fared poorly. Having opened reasonably well on Dussehra day, its slide started the very next day as reports of poor content spread. Even weekend collections were not up to the mark and the film took a steep dive today. The film did a net collection of Rs 230 million in its first four-day run at the box office.

    Love Breakup Zindagi and Sountrack suffered from lack of patronage with many shows being cancelled.

    Force fell far short of other South remakes with John Abraham enjoying very limited following and the movie having precious little to offer except action. The movie netted Rs 245 million in its first week.

    Sahib Biwi Aur Gangster got Rs 61 million in its first week.

    Meanwhile, Hum Tum Shabana failed to make a mark at the box office collecting a meagre Rs 19.5 million in its firstweek.

    Mausam rated as a failure, adding just Rs 31 million in its second week. The two-week total of the Shahid Kapur starrer is Rs 304 million.

    Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, with Rs 9 million collection in its fourth week, took its tally to Rs 588 million.

  • Rascals collects Rs 86.3 million on opening day

    Rascals collects Rs 86.3 million on opening day

    MUMBAI: Rascals, produced by Sanjay Dutt Productions and Rupali Aum
    Entertainment, has collected Rs 86.3 million on the first day of its
    release, according to an official statement.

    Rascals had a limited release and low ticket prices compared to the weekends.

    The stars of the film include Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgn and Kangana Raut.
     

  • Rascals: A poor comic film

    Rascals: A poor comic film

    MUMBAI: With most stars turning to film production and also since most are past their romantic role playing age, a comedy film seems to be the only choice.  

    Producer: Sanjay Dutt, Sanjay Ahluwalia, Vinay Choksey.
    Director: David Dhawan.
    Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgn, Kangna Ranaut, Lisa Ray, Chunky Pandey, Arjun Rampal, Satish Kaushik.

    The The film Rascals is actor Sanjay Dutt‘s foray into film production; playing safe, he opts for a comedy film entrusting the helm to David Dhawan who has quite a successful track record with this genre. But the fact that a comedy would need a good writer with some very sharp gags seems to have been overlooked.

    Dutt and Ajay Devgn are two conmen, rather born conmen as the animation depiction in the film‘s titles would suggest. Next the duo pick on Arjun Rampal, a self styled toughie; while Ajay Devgn steals his bag with Rs 3 million in cash, Sanjay Dutt makes away with his Mercedes.

    Soon both are headed for Bangkok sitting next to each other on a flight trying to con each other where Devgn emerges the loser as Dutt makes away with all his cash and belongings. Both check into a ritzy hotel and their con business turns to game of outwitting each other to find favours with Kangna Ranaut who they see splashing her money around.

    The rest of the con game consists of both the lead men contesting for who smooches and necks Kangna Ranaut the most! There are a few distractions in the form of Chunky Pandey, Lisa Ray, Satish Kaushik and Hiten Paintal brought in and out of scene at whim; hence, effectively contributing nothing.

    The script has no coherence and the gags on which the film is built are banal and childish, the laughable ones being about three in all! With no script to go on, David Dhawan manages a farce at best and the only time you are amazed at his confidence is when he lives the film‘s end open to a sequel!

    Dutt and Devgn both lacking a natural comic streak resort to buffoonery and seem to be the only ones enjoying what they are doing instead of letting the audience in on it too. Kangna Ranaut is supposed to contribute in oomph; not burdened with much clothing, she manages that amply. Arjun Rampal is wasted while with Chunky Pandey, Satish Kaushik and Lisa Ray nothing is expected and nothing is forthcoming. Lack of catchy songs is made up by bevy of dancers and crowds. Bangkok locations are pleasant. But, then, they have been so in all the horde of recent films shot there! For a funny film, dialogue writing is sad.

    Rascals is a poor example of a comic film which will start telling on its box office performance within first three days. 

    Love Breakup Zindagi: Just another love story
     
     

    Producer: Sahara Motion Pictures, Born Free Entertainment P Ltd.
    Director: Sahil Sangha.
    Cast: Zayed Khan, Dia Mirza, Cyrus Sahukar, Tisca Chopra, Satyadeep Misra, Vaibhavi Talwar, Pallavi Sharda, Umang Jain, Anurita Ghosh.

    Weddings are still the popular tried and tested situations for a new love to blossom; what is more, they also give you scope to use upample footage of a thin story line in the name of colourful marriage rituals like sangeet, mehendi etc.

    Love Breakup Zindagi is one more in the line up of wedding romances with a bit of contemporary where a boy and girl from different worlds meet and are drawn to each other but don‘t instantly say ‘I love you‘, leaving scope open for other part of the film‘s story to materialise.

    Zayed Khan is a well placed adman in Delhi with his associate and friend Cyrus Sahukar as his soul mate. Zayed Khan has a steady girl friend in career oriented Pallavi Sharda who is not totally convinced she is the girl for him while Cyrus Sahukar is twice divorced and, hence, much experienced in the ways of women‘s matters. Dia Mirza is a Mumbai based creative kind whose banker boy friend, Vaibhav Talwar, is too busy for them to find a suitable date to marry.

    There is boy‘s side and there is girl‘s side in a wedding: Zayed Khan and Cyrus Sahukar are from the boy‘s (Satyadeep Misra) side while Dia Mirza is from the girl‘s. Anurita Ghosh, a friend, lands up at Chandigarh to attend their wedding. Somehow, a Punjabi wedding is a norm for film love stories to flourish! A twin love story starts at the wedding, Zayed and Dia Mirza being ones to be attracted to each other and Cyrus Sahukar finding his third love in Tisca Chopra.

    Wedding over, the four are back on their respective desks only for Zayed Khan to be conveniently sent to Mumbai for office work while, also conveniently, her suitor, Vaibhav Talwar having to go to Singapore. The seeds of romance, sowed in Chandigarh, take roots as Zayed Khan is taken on a Mumbai Darshan tour by Dia Mirza. For things to fall in place in the end, she puts all her daily sojourns down in a diary which can work out a quick understanding on parts of all concerned and bring the film to a happy end!

    The problem with Love Breakup Zindagi is that it is just another love story with an Indian wedding as the backdrop. Things are held out on a platter for the duo to fall in love, later meet and date at fancy and bring in the third angle only for the brevity sake at the end. There are a few pleasant moments but not enough to carry a routine film with nil face value through.

    Music is fairly good. While Zayed Khan and Dia Mirza are passable, Cyrus Sahukar and Tisca Chopra perform more convincingly; Umang Jain and Anurita Ghosh are good, considering this is their debut film. Vaibhav Talwar, Pallavi Sharda and Satyadeep Misra are okay.

    Love Breakup Zindagi has had no takers at most centres on its opening day and nothing much is expected to change over the weekend.

     

    Soundtrack has limited box office aspirations
     

    Producer:Sanjiv Goenka, Apurv Nagpal.
    Director: Neerav Ghosh.
    Cast: Rajeev Khandelwal, Soha Ali Khan, Mrinalini Sharma, Mohan Kapoor.

    Soundtrack is inspired from the English film It‘s All Gone Pete Tong, described as a comedy. Soundtrack, however, shows no traces of a comedy and, if at all it had to be slotted in a genre since it does not fit any regular one, it can be slotted into a new genre — weird film.

     

    The film is about a small town lad, Rajeev Khandelwal, who comes to Mumbai gifted with his zeal for music; soon he is a top sound maker on the disco circuit, almost a genius. The success goes to his head and life is all about wine, women and drugs thereafter. However, the profession of loud noises in nightclubs does take its toll on his life; soon he is losing his hearing, thanks to noise and drug abuse and finally he is stone deaf.

    This all had to happen to him just when he was on the verge of getting a break to score a film soundtrack. While the hero lives his life in fast lane, there is his alter ego, dressed as a clown, one never figures out doing what: is he a good impression on the hero or a bad one? Whatever it may be, the alter ego is surely an irritant for the viewer.

    Now the genius is AWOL since he does not want the world to know about his deafness and all sorts of speculations are made about his act; from RJs to DJs to singers and filmy music composers comment on him and his absence. In-between there are slides quoting the greatest composer in history, Beethovan, who also went deaf but continued to compose, conduct and perform after the handicap.

    Ditched by his woman, Rajeev Khandelwal comes to terms with his plight; he meets Soha Ali Khan, a deaf person, who teaches him to lip read as well as to cope with life after deafness. Rajeev Khandelwal descends back to earth, turns into an obedient momma‘s son and overcomes his shortcoming to prove his genius scoring a number his father taught him as a child to present it in public performance.

    Not much credit can be given to writer/director, the source being a foreign film. Musical score is good, fast paced. Rajeev Khandelwal does a good job carrying almost the entire burden of the film. Soha Ali Khan is okay.

    Sountrack is not the kind of film to nurse any box office aspirations.

  • Fox Star Studios partners Vishal Bhardwaj for a comedy flick

    Fox Star Studios partners Vishal Bhardwaj for a comedy flick

    MUMBAI: Fox Star Studios, Vishal Bhardwaj Pictures, Ajay Devgn Films and Wide Frame Pictures have come together to make a comedy film titled Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola.

    Said Fox Star Studios CEO Vijay Singh, “Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola is a very special film for us at Fox Star Studios – it brings together the extremely talented director Vishal Bhardwaj, Bollywood‘s most successful and consistent actor across genres Ajay Devgn and the industry veteran Kumar Mangat of Wide Frame. We believe the nationwide appeal of this hilariously rustic comedy, the coming together of great talent and a title which raises eyebrows will make this an eventful film for audiences in 2012.”

    While the film will star Ajay Devgn and Anushka Sharma, Vishal Bhardwaj will play a three-pronged role of producer, director, writer and music composer respectively for the project.

    “I have had the idea of this comedy in my head for almost eight years. It‘s a totally new genre and completely different from what I have done in my previous seven films,” says Bhardwaj.

    The filmmaker will first do Devgn‘s film and then take up Sajid Nadiadwala film based on Chetan Bhagat‘s novel 5 States.

  • Singham powers Star Gold to 221 GRPs

    Singham powers Star Gold to 221 GRPs

    MUMBAI: For Star India, the unconventional strategy of premiering a big-ticket film on its movie channel rather than on Star Plus seems to have worked.

    Powered by the Ajay Devgn-starrer Singham, Star Gold has seen a 70- GRP (gross rating point) jump, aiding the channel to cross 200 points.

    Star Gold closed the week ended 10 September with 221 GRPs, up from 151 GRPs in the trailing week.

    Singham, which was premiered on 10 September, clocked 8.7 TVR, highest on any Hindi movie channel in the recent past and third highest after 3 Idiots (10.88 TVR on Sony Entertainment TV) and Dabangg (9.2 TVR on Colors).

    “We are very happy with the viewers’ and advertisers’ response for the premiere of Singham. And we have many more movies in our bank to enhance viewing experience,” Star Gold senior vice-president Hemal Jhaveri said.

    When compared to the screenings on Hindi movie channels, Singham’s roar is the loudest, followed by 3 idiots (6 TVR, second airing) and Robot (4.1 TVR), both on Max.

    Star Gold had put all the marketing efforts behind creating a buzz around the world TV premiere of the movie.

    The Hindi movie genre, fought at the top among Max, Zee Cinema and Star Gold, is marred with low stickiness.

    “The ratings may help other channels to think of premiering films on movie channels, which ideally should be the case. The top four GECs alone show 20-25 movies collectively every week. This practice should stop,” the business head of a rival movie channel said.

    Jhaveri believes that the players need to constantly change the game. “The rules are changing and there is no set formula. We are also experimenting. We were the first to air five movies a day and now have increased it to six. We have cut down on our advertising time and it is helping increasie the time spent on the channel,” he said.