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Tag: Indu Sarkar

  • Film audience rues being taken for granted: stars & others’ poor show this week

    *What Shah Rukh Khan and director Imtiaz Ali have done with Jab Harry Met Sejal can be called a patch-up job. The distributors may lose money but what Shah Rukh Khan has lost in this one weekend is his 25 years of stardom and goodwill.

    The Pandora’s Box opened with a poor response. The film turned out to be the most negatively rated film ever; the audience anger was palpable — for being taken for granted. To add to their fury were the escalated admission rates at the cinema halls, especially at the multiplexes.

    The film collected approximately Rs 145 million on day one, dropped a little on Saturday followed by and managed similar collections even on Sunday to end its first week. The film was expected to get some sustenance on Raksha Bandhan holiday in many parts of India.

    *Gurgaon, a film about a local land-grabbing mafia of Gurgaon city, found no takers. Local issues don’t draw viewers.

    *Mubarakan failed to encash on its potential. Despite being a family entertainer, it suffered due to poor opening and, then, also failed to pick during its first week. However, due to negative reports of Jab Harry Met Sejal, the film got a better second weekend. It collected Rs 349 million for its opening week and added Rs 60 million in the second weekend.

    *Indu Sarkar, the film on the Emergency, collected Rs 45 million in its first week. Very poor.

    *Raag Desh, the film about three INA soldiers facing the wrath of the British army, remained very poor. It collected about Rs 7.5 million in its first week.

    *Munna Michael added Rs 11.5 million in its second week taking its two-week tally to Rs 319.5 million.

    *Lipstick Under My Burkha collected Rs 64 million in week two to take its two-week total to Rs 169 million.

    *Jagga Jasoos collected about Rs 8 million in its third week to take its three week tally to Rs 512 million.

    *Mom collected Rs 7.5 million, taking its three-week total to Rs 326 million.

  • Indu Sarkar…….Who cares!

    There seems to be some kind of intent among some filmmakers to please the present dispensation at the helm in India. So, we have a film here which concocts a story around 1975/1977 Emergency declared in India by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi to save her government and her position. This is a women-oriented film, following soon in the line-up of recent failures such as Mom, Mattr and the ilk.

    Emergency was a black spot on the world’s largest democracy, India. And, it was a serious issue when the best and bravest of nationalist leaders either went into hiding or were whisked off from their homes at midnight and consigned to jails.

    And, when all and mighty of the opposition were helter skelter, running to save their own skin, filmmaker, Madhur Bhandarkar, finds this underdog played by Kirti Kulhari, a stuttering marriage unhappy woman, to take on the might of the authority of the emergency imposing powers. Her inspiration being the character of Anupam Kher, leading an identifiable Hindu right wing group who arouses her conscious and edges her on to lead a move to free the country!! One wonders, why Kher and his group expect a woman to take on the might of emergency while they stay in the background!

    There are references and scenes dedicated to the excesses of the emergency era like slums demolitions and forced nasbandi (sterilisation) on young and old alike (Though this was limited to the Hindi belt, mainly to Delhi and UP, and bore no all India effect.) besides strong armed tactics and violence by those ruling. Kirti finds her cause in life when she learns that her husband, played by Tota Roy Chowdhury, being a government servant, is responsible for acts of slum demolitions etc.

    Indu Sarkar, the title, has the connotations that Indira (Gandhi), referred to as Indu by those close to her including Moraraji Desai, was the Sarkar, the ultimate authority. But, that hardly adds to the film’s USP.

    The Emergency, like many other events such as the Sikh massacre, are a thing of the past and of use only for the sling matches by the opposing political parties. Indians forget and forgive fast.

    This is 2017 and this film bears no relevance today and is a futile exercise and waste of resources. Films like Nasbandi (IS Johar) and Kissaa Kursee Kaa (Amrit Nahta), released soon after the Emergency, were disasters.

    Producers: Bharat Shah, Madhur Bhandarkar.

    Director: Madhur Bhandarkar.

    Cast: Neil Nitin Mukesh, Supriya Vinod, Anupam Kher, Tota Roy Chowdhury.

  • Emergency-based ‘Indu Sarkar’ released, three cases dismissed

    NEW DELHI: ‘Indu Sarkar’, a film which dramatises the period of the National Emergency between 1975 and 1977, was released today after the dismissal of three different cases against the film.

    The Supreme Court yesterday dismissed the plea of a woman, who claims to be the biological daughter of late Sanjay Gandhi, seeking a stay on the release of the film.

    A three-judge bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra said the film is an “artistic expression” within the parameters of law, and there was no justification to stall its release.

    The film had earlier faced problems when the Central Board for Film Certification had demanded 14 cuts in the political drama. Abiding by the revising committee of the CBFC’s suggestions, director Madhur Bhandarkar made revisions to the film, about which Bhandarkar informed the apex court.

    Counsel for the petitioner had submitted that the movie was “full of concocted facts and is totally derogatory.”

    The Bombay High Court had rejected a similar plea by the woman on 24 July on the grounds that the petitioner was unable to make her case seeking stay on the release of the movie. The court had further observed that none of the acknowledged descendant of Sanjay Gandhi had raised an objection to the movie.

    The Delhi High Court also dismissed yesterday the plea by a lawyer to revoke the CBFC’s clearance. Merely stating that one is a strong believer of Gandhis does not give a right to seek a stay on the release of the film, it said. The petition claimed the movie depicted late Indira Gandhi and her late son Sanjay in a bad light and was a “propaganda film.”