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Tag: Guest Iin London

  • Box Office: Mom & Guest bring solace after Tubelight fails

    Two veterans, both with a huge fan following in their peak, Sridevi in Mom and Paresh Rawal in Guest Iin London, were expected to lead the charge at the box office. If one looked at the making of both the films, the production costs looks moderate. But, what matters is how much the theatrical rights have been sold for. And, in that sense, Mom riding the crest.

    The best recent film of moderate budget to excel has been Hindi Medium which achieved a high figure of about Rs 65 crore at the domestic box office. In case of Mom, the price at which it is sold and the kind of reports it has generated, it may fall short of its target by lengths. The difference is that, while Hindi Medium was an entertainer, Mom is a designed to be heavy film. And, they are not usually worth Rs 200 to 1000 that their admission rates command. No need to say, the eventual sufferers are the cinema chains.

    Mom had an inherent drawback in that an earlier film, Raveen Tandon starrer, Maatr, was based on the same theme. Since, the films are now made for the multiplex audience, a lot of the patrons would realize that Mom is just a female version of 1974 Hollywood trendsetter, Death Wish.

    *Mom opened to very weak response on Friday despite an overambitious release strategy as it was released across more screens than the film justified. The result was that many screens showed collection in few hundreds which showed on the film’s first day collections of a bare Rs 2.4 crore (Rs 24 million). The film showed an expected rise on Saturday and Sunday. The weekend collections according to trade sources are estimates are little over Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) while those released by the makers are over 14 crore.

    *Guest Iin London proves a damp squib. Following in the formula of Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge, which was no great shakes in itself, the film backfires in Toto. One must be really out of sync with the realities to think that another instalment of Paresh Rawal giving a noisy outlet to his stomach problem amounted to a comedy! It is a juvenile stuff to say the least. With the first day figures of Rs 1.2 crore.

    *Ek Haseena Thi Ek Deewana Tha has had a poor run at the box office with just Rs 1.05 crore to show while the weekend collected Rs 4.2 crore.

    * Tubelight, Salman Khan’s home production, sold at an exorbitant price which needed to do a business which none of his films has done before, is a total disaster. Strange that the film won’t even manage a lifetime business of what his film Sultan did in its opening weekend. The film had collected over 180 crore in its five day extended weekend.

    The film has added Rs 10.6 crore in its second week taking its two week tally to Rs 114.3 crore.

    *Bahubali2: The Conclusion has added about Rs 30 lakh in its 10th week.

  • Guest Iin London….Forced comedy

    Guest Iin London is a kind of unofficial sequel to the director Ashwani Dhir’s own 2010 film, Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge? Paresh Rawal played the uninvited guest in Ajay Devgn house in that film. Paresh Rawal is the common factor as the guest in Guest In London. His hosts have changed, though.

    The character of Kartik Aaryan works in London and is at the mercy of his maniacal boss because if he loses his job, his visa would be cancelled, too. Kartik can’t afford this situation because he plans to settle and make a career here. He finds a solution which many Asians are known to use to get permanent visa and that is to marry a local girl.

    It seems there are intermediaries too to fix such temporary marriages. Using the services of one such, Kartik decides to marry the character of Kriti Kharbanda whose bio data has the unique distinction of having two fathers and two mothers! Ergo, she has never known true family love. For sums agreed upon, Kriti agrees to marry Kartik for a period of six months till he gets his visa.

    The authorities in the UK seem to be aware of such visa weddings so Kartik and Kriti have to present themselves in a magistrate’s court to attest that theirs is not one such arrangement. At the court, one who sees through their ploy is the character of Sanjay Mishra, a Pakistani court clerk. The wedding is to take place after 10 days. Meanwhile, Mishra turns out to be the next door neighbour of Kartik and he takes it upon himself to spy on the couple to catch their lie.

    That is when the guests, Paresh Rawal and the character of Tanvi Azmi, come into the couple’s lives. Somehow, the guests drop in at Kartik’s office on the basis that they are the neighbours of one of his uncles! They end up forcing hospitality on the couple since Kriti has also moved in.

    Initially, Kriti and Kartik find the guests useful to make their marriage pact look legit. For their selfish cause, they let the guests take over the reins of the house. Every day is a party as Paresh and Tanvi inculcate the great Indian values into the couple and the mainly their subcontinent neighbours.
    By this time, Kriti feels like she belongs and that she has a family now. She has fallen in love with Kartik and wants their wedding to be for real. That having been achieved since both love each other, the equations change. The couple finds the guests to be an impediment on their lives. They want to get rid of them.

    The justification for Paresh Rawal and Tanvi Azmi’s forcing themselves as guests on Kartik and Kriti has been summed up through an irrelevant sob story and melodrama.

    The film figures in the comedy genre and one is not meant to look for logic in comedy. The problem here is that, even after sacrificing logic, the film fails to create comedy. The scripting is poor and the comic situations are forced and, hence, fail to work. Paresh Rawal’s passing of gas with thunderous sounds is not considered comic anymore. Other attempts at comedy are juvenile. Direction is poor. There is no support from the musical score. Editing is weak. Dialogue fail to evoke laughter except when related to Mishra’s Pakistan connection. The use of Punjabi lacks the flavour.

    Performances are just about passable. Kriti and Kartik make a good pair but the makers fail to create adequate chemistry between the two. Paresh Rawal sails through the film mainly on his reputation of being a great actor; he does not add to that in this film. Tanvi Azmi’s use of Punjabi lets her down. Sanjay Mishra is good as always. Ajay Devgn’s guest appearance serves no purpose.
    Guest Iin London has had poor opening and lacks merits to improve.

    Producers: Kumar Mangat Pathak, Abhishek Pathak.

    Director: Ashwani Dhir.

    Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Kriti Kharbanda, Paresh Rawal, Sanjay Mishra, Tanvi Azmi, Ajay Devgn (Sp Appearance).