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Tag: Badrinath Ki Dulhania

  • New films fail to attract viewers

    *The poor run of films at the box office continues unabated save for an odd Dangal or a reasonable entertainer in Badrinath Ki Dulhania. Not that any of these films can sustain a multiscreen cinema complex for more than a few weeks

    The week saw two new releases, Phillauri and Anaarkali of Aarah, both female-oriented and also off the beaten track. Phillauri saw actor Anushka Sharma turn producer launching her production banner, Clean Slate Films. The sustainability of such a films is grossly limited and they draw footfalls, albeit in limited numbers, barely for a weekend.

    A lot of actors are turning to production activities. But, Anushka, rather than take cue from her peers such as Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan, and make a commercially viable film, chose an abstract theme, that of superstition and supernatural. The intent seems to be awards rather than rewards; probably for the protagonist, Anushka herself, as well as for some technical aspects like special effects. What good is an award if the people have not taken to your film?

    What raises a question, besides the choice of subject, is that what was the logic of making a film almost entirely in Punjabi?

    *Phillauri, counting on only Anushka Sharma to draw the crowds could not quite manage that. The film’s opening was not encouraging, with Punjab where the film’s lead actor, Diljit Dusanjh is a big star, faring little better. The film colledted Rs 13.9 crore for its opening weekend

    *Anaarkali Of Aarah, though a local story of Bihar, and with rural background, found some appreciation as the film offered some great performances by its main actors, Swara Bhaskar, Sanjai Mishra and Pankaj Tripathi. However, these factors did not reflect on the film’s box office collections as the film remained in the range of a few lakh.

    *Director duo Abbas Mustan, who gave many successful films with various actors in their career as directors, failed badly when it came to launching their family scion, Mustafa. A totally outdated story idea and patchy script were not the right recipe to launch an actor. The film managed to collect Rs 3.25 crore in its first week.

    *Trapped collected Rs 2.1 crore in its first week.

    *Aa Gaya Hero proves to be the swan song for Govinda’s career. Must hurt more because this also happened to be his home production. The film struggled to cross the one crore mark to end its first and last week with the figures of a little over one crore.

    *Badrinath Ki Dulhania, made the most of poor crop of new releases. The film collected Rs 26.6 crore in its second week and is still holding steady in its third week. The film has taken its two week total to Rs 99.2 crore.

    *Commando 2 added Rs 35 lakh in its third week to take its three week total to Rs 23.95 crore.

    *The Ghazi Attack has added Rs 40 lakh in its fifth week taking its five week tally to Rs 19.3 crore.

  • ‘Badrinath Ki Dulhania’ is on its way to becoming a hit

    The time period for the release of Badrinath Ki Dulhania was dicey to say the least. The film was released bang in the middle of days of election results in the most politically volatile states of the North India, board exams and the pre-Holi Friday. Also, cinema halls are closed till mid-noon on Holi day and one or two shows are cancelled across most cinemas.

    Being a youth-oriented musical romance, the film could have drawn and deserved a better opening response over the weekend. The film did have a sagging second half till it picks up later towards the end. But, the young pair of Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt had a great chemistry going, and the film sustained all the onslaughts best as it could.

    Badrinath Ki Dulhania opened on Friday with about Rs 12 crore, improving a little by little over Saturday and Sunday. Being the solo release and an entertainer helped. The film collected Rs 54.7 crore in its extended weekend of four days.

    *Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai has managed a poor Rs 20 lakh in its first week.

    *Commando 2, a forced sequel, had nothing to offer except action by Vidyut Jammwal. He may be an ace martial arts exponent but how many times can one watch the same person doing same action sequences? What people prefer is stunts and that, just about every hero seems to be doing, thanks to special effects.

    The film, which did Rs 14.6 crore business during its first three days, managed to add little over seven crore for rest of the four days to close its first week with Rs 21.8 crore.

    *Rangoon adds to its misery as the film dropped Rs 19.1 crore in first week to Rs 65 lakh in its second week. The film takes its two week tally to Rs 19.75 crore which, for all practical purposes, is the film’s lifetime business.

    *The Attack On Ghazi continued to add bit by bit to the collections. The film collected Rs 2.5 crore in its third week to take its three week tally to Rs 17.95 crore.

    *Jolly LLB has collected Rs 2.4 crore in its fourth week to take its four week total to Rs 106.2 crore.

  • Badrinath Ki Dulhania: Part fun, part dull

    Director Shashank Khaitan seems to be creating a franchise of his own as he comes back with ‘Badrinath Ki Dulhania’ after his earlier film, Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania. This film too starts off in Hindi belt but later traverses to Singapore to break the monotony.

    In the process, Badrinath Ki Dulhania also heavily promotes the woman’s cause, her independence and right to choose.

    Varun Dhawan’s character is a barely educated lad from Jhansi working as a recovery man for his well-off but steadfast and old-fashioned father played by Rituraj Singh. Singh’s character considers himself lucky. Since he has sired two sons, daughters, according to him, are a liability. He does not care if his sons love some girl, they have to marry according to his wishes and the dowry that the girl brings is his prime consideration.

    Accordingly, his elder son, Yash Sinha’s character had to sacrifice his love and marry Shweta Basu Prasad’s character who brought along a car showroom besides cash as dowry. She is well-educated but a working woman is no-no for Rituraj.

    Varun joins the baraat of his friend headed for Kota. There, he spots Alia Bhatt, also a guest, and instantly falls for her. It is a one-sided love as Alia is a headstrong and independent girl who wants to work to bring her middle-class family out of a tight financial situation. Also, Alia has an elder sister, played by Aakanksha Singh, who, according to tradition, has to marry first.

    Nice guy that he is, Varun decides to help Alia and her family find a suitor for Aakanksha on the condition that Alia will marry him in the same mandap. Varun does manage to find a match for Aakanksha and the wedding day is decided.

    Things don’t go as planned, however, and Varun has to chase Alia all over again.

    Enjoyable so far, the film loses pace as the location shifts to Singapore where Alia has taken up a career in an airline. Varun is left to do a Devdas act, slipping into a bout of self-pity. This part slows down the film considerably for a while before it comes back into some fun and songs. The climax is interesting while it also delivering a message.

    The script is penned keeping in mind that the theme is youth-oriented and romance, with light moments aplenty, especially in the first part. The second half needed to be spruced up. Direction is competent and the songs are well placed.

    The film has a popular musical score with Humsafar…..,Rokenaruke…. Tenutakiyabina…. being hummable while the title song has a sectional appeal. The remixed Tammatamma… is already popular number from the film Thanedaar (1989). Cinematography is good.

    Varun plays his carefree character with élan. Alia makes a good pair with him, and acts well. Sahil Vaid makes a mark. Rituraj is impressive. Yash, Shweta and Aakanksha land good support.

    Otherwise a plus film, Badri Ki Dulhania will have to contend with pre-Holi weekend which affects collections, especially in the Hindi belt, board exams and election results aftereffects for next few days.

    Producers: Hiroo Johar, Karan Johar.

    Director: Shashank Khaitan.

    Cast: Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Gauahar Khan, Mohit Marwah, Aakanksha Singh.

  • Amazon Prime, Dharma enter licensing deal

    Amazon Prime, Dharma enter licensing deal

    MUMBAI: Amazon and Dharma Productions today announced a long-term agreement that will make Prime Video India the subscription streaming home for well-known films and upcoming new releases from Dharma Productions.

    The digital premiere will include keenly awaited films like Ae Dil Hai Mushkil starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma, Ok Jaanu starring Aditya Roy Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor, and Badrinath Ki Dulhania, starring Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt. With this deal, existing Prime members will have access to unlimited streaming of this popular content as a part of their Prime membership.

    “We are excited to have Dharma Productions’ library and future slate of titles for the upcoming launch of Prime Video,” said Amazon Video India country head director Nitesh Kripalani. “We know our Prime members are going to love the broad selection of films and stories – everything from soulful romance to heartfelt and funny family stories – that Dharma does so well.”

    “We have kept a close eye on the explosion of digital media, and the increased consumption trends of Bollywood content on Video-On-Demand and OTT Platforms”, said Dharma Productions CEO Apoorva Mehta. “We at Dharma felt that the time couldn’t be more right for us to mark our presence on such sought after platforms. We are confident that partnering with a credible brand like Amazon will go a long way in ensuring that our content will not only be seamlessly streamed, but will also see a huge demand from users of Prime Video.”

    The library of films on Prime Video will comprise of blockbuster titles like Kapoor & Sons, Brothers, Shaandaar and Gori Tere Pyar Mein, in addition to successful Dharma films in the recent past like Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Student of the Year, Kal Ho Naa Ho, and Agneepath, to name a few.

    Amazon Prime already offers unlimited free One-day and Two-day delivery to over 100 cities on eligible items from India’s largest selection of products, 30 minutes early access for members on top deals and more benefits for an unparalleled shopping experience.

  • Amazon Prime, Dharma enter licensing deal

    Amazon Prime, Dharma enter licensing deal

    MUMBAI: Amazon and Dharma Productions today announced a long-term agreement that will make Prime Video India the subscription streaming home for well-known films and upcoming new releases from Dharma Productions.

    The digital premiere will include keenly awaited films like Ae Dil Hai Mushkil starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma, Ok Jaanu starring Aditya Roy Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor, and Badrinath Ki Dulhania, starring Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt. With this deal, existing Prime members will have access to unlimited streaming of this popular content as a part of their Prime membership.

    “We are excited to have Dharma Productions’ library and future slate of titles for the upcoming launch of Prime Video,” said Amazon Video India country head director Nitesh Kripalani. “We know our Prime members are going to love the broad selection of films and stories – everything from soulful romance to heartfelt and funny family stories – that Dharma does so well.”

    “We have kept a close eye on the explosion of digital media, and the increased consumption trends of Bollywood content on Video-On-Demand and OTT Platforms”, said Dharma Productions CEO Apoorva Mehta. “We at Dharma felt that the time couldn’t be more right for us to mark our presence on such sought after platforms. We are confident that partnering with a credible brand like Amazon will go a long way in ensuring that our content will not only be seamlessly streamed, but will also see a huge demand from users of Prime Video.”

    The library of films on Prime Video will comprise of blockbuster titles like Kapoor & Sons, Brothers, Shaandaar and Gori Tere Pyar Mein, in addition to successful Dharma films in the recent past like Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Student of the Year, Kal Ho Naa Ho, and Agneepath, to name a few.

    Amazon Prime already offers unlimited free One-day and Two-day delivery to over 100 cities on eligible items from India’s largest selection of products, 30 minutes early access for members on top deals and more benefits for an unparalleled shopping experience.