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Tag: Irrfan Khan

  • Aishwarya Rai, Irrfan Khan on a reality show for the first time ever

    Aishwarya Rai, Irrfan Khan on a reality show for the first time ever

    MUMBAI: For the very first time in the history of television, superstars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Irrfan Khan will be seen on a reality show! The actors will be gracing the stage of India’s biggest dance reality show – Dance India Dance Season 5 as guest judges on a special episodethis Sunday, 30th August at 9PM on Zee TV. 

     

    Ash and Irrfan were on the show to promote their upcoming thriller Jazbaa and the contestants and masters did not leave any stone unturned to floor the stars with their dancing prowess and fun spirit. While master Mudassar came prepared with some sher-o-shayari and showered Ash with compliments, the contestants decided to display their biggest strength, their dancing ability to woo the special guests. 

     

    Pankaj and Ashish from Punit Ke Panthers performed a contemporary act depicting deceit in friendship. The two swiftly and gracefully moved to the song ‘Kaminey’ and brought out with conviction the love between two best friends, seamlessly flowing into emotions of  being cheated on by one. Ashish and Pankaj who are known for their flawless contemporary performances, created magic with this act and moved Aishwarya to tears. Even before the dancers could get up and take a bow after the final pose, a teary-eyed Ash gave them a standing ovation. She shared how this soulful performance touched her and she could see the honesty and dedication of the contestants. Ash even congratulated Master Punit for the tremendous execution of a simple concept. The other act which left the mega stars Irrfan and Ash completely spellbound was the aerial act by contestants Anuradha and Kaushik from Mudassar Ki Mandli on the popular track ‘Ranjha Ranjha’.  Gaiti ke Gangsters weren’t far behind and the two pillars from the team, Sahil and Nirmal dedicated their act to the beauty queen.  They paid her tribute by depicting her journey from a super model to a superstar and performed to some of her most iconic songs, recreating her signature moves. They ended their act by showering flowers on Ash and this clearly had the gorgeous actor blushing a beet root red.

     

    But the show wasn’t complete without the masters exhibiting their dancing skills! The three came up on stage and requested Ash to shake a leg with them to her popular dance number ‘Kajra re’. Ecstatic on seeing their dream girl dance LIVE in front of them, the contestants jumped at this opportunity and joined her on stage. 

     

    Both Ash and Irrfan were seen having a ball and did not shy away from showering praises on the talented contestants for the exceptional acts they put up! 

  • Essel to back Jazbaa’s robust release with aggressive promotions

    Essel to back Jazbaa’s robust release with aggressive promotions

    MUMBAI: Gone are the days when an all India release of a movie used to make headlines for robust distribution. Gradually Bollywood has emerged as a global affair not only for the Indian diaspora but also for the vernacular audience. 

     

    Essel Vision is leaving no stone unturned to ensure an enhanced reach for its upcoming Hindi movie Jazbaa. With multilingual audio and simulcast release across the globe, Essel has plans of garnishing the movie in an exquisite manner.  

     

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Essel Vision Productions business head Akash Chawla says, “This is the first time an Indian movie will have a simulcast release in the Middle East with an Arabic dub. We are also looking to have a dubbed release for Spanish and English market alongside Hindi release for the Indian diaspora.”

     

    Digital will spearhead the promotional and marketing strategy for the movie. “The promotional strategies will be backed by Zee all through. Zee has a huge bouquet of channels and we will be promoting the movie across all of them in both international and Indian markets,” he adds.

     

    There will be a mega trailer launch on the sets of Dance India Dance, which will reach out to mass. In the US, the producers plan to launch a promotional tour on 17 September, 2015. A series of activities are also on the cards for the premiere of the movie, which is scheduled on 9 October, 2015.

     

    MSM Motion Pictures’ recently produced Piku showed how brand integration can be a substantial source of revenue for producers. When queried if Jazbaa will also have brands integrated in the movie, Chawla says, “There are a few brands that are subtly placed in the movie but we kept the number as low as possible because we did not want interrupt viewers. I don’t think brand integration is yet a substantial source of revenue when it comes to movies.”

     

    Essel Group took the decision of fully entering into film production with Jazbaa after tasting success with Lunchbox and D-Day as co-producers. The movie, which stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Irrfan Khan, is directed by Sanjay Gupta. The movie tells the story of an advocate who is stuck between professional life and motherhood.

     

    Chawla is optimistic about the movie’s success globally. “We will have as robust release as possible and rest will depend on audience,” he says.

  • Essel Vision bags distribution rights of Lionsgate’s ‘The Last Witch Hunter’

    Essel Vision bags distribution rights of Lionsgate’s ‘The Last Witch Hunter’

    MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited’s (Zeel) content studio, Essel Vision Productions has acquired the distribution and marketing rights of Lionsgate’s supernatural thriller The Last Witch Hunter starring Vin Diesel.

     

    Essel Vision recently revealed the first look of the movie to moviegoers in India.

     

    The company will release the film in theatres across India a day prior to its worldwide release on Thursday, 22 October, 2015. The Last Witch Hunter features an ensemble cast led by Diesel, Academy Award-winning Michael Caine and Rose Leslie, widely acclaimed for her role as Ygritte in the blockbuster series Game of Thrones. The film is directed by Breck Eisner.

     

    Essel Vision Studio business head Akash Chawla said, “We’re always looking to collaborate with the most successful content companies in the world as well as to give new filmmakers an opportunity to showcase their work. Following our successful ventures into television, short form content, Bollywood, regional cinema and music, our exclusive deal with global content leader Lionsgate to handle all the marketing and distribution of The Last Witch Hunter in India cements our leadership in handling Hollywood blockbusters as well.”

     

    “Vin Diesel is one of the biggest action heroes on the planet. Following the record-breaking success of Furious 7, his next film is breathlessly anticipated by his fans here in India and around the world. Today’s sneak peek marks the first step in our innovative and aggressive marketing campaign to ensure that the film receives the mammoth reception it deserves,” added Chawla. 

     

    “The Last Witch Hunter showcases action superstar Vin Diesel at his exciting best, and we’re delighted to partner with our friends at Zee Entertainment to bring his latest thriller to Indian moviegoers,” said Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-chairs Patrick Wachsberger and Rob Friedman.

     

    “The large and fast-growing Indian marketplace offers tremendous opportunities. With their marketing prowess and distribution expertise, Zee Entertainment is the right partner, The Last Witch Hunter is the right film and Vin Diesel is the right superstar to help us conquer the box office there,” they said.

     

    Essel Vision will also make its foray into Hindi motion pictures in October with the release of Jazbaa, starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Irrfan Khan, which is being directed by Sanjay Gupta.

  • IndiaMart to focus on app; launches new campaign

    IndiaMart to focus on app; launches new campaign

    MUMBAI: E-commerce industry is estimated to reach $16 billion by the end of 2015, out of which 29 per cent contribution is predicted from e-tailing, giving an opportunity to those in the sector to uncover innovations to grab the biggest bite of the pie.

     

    One of the oldest players in the business, IndiaMart, has launched two new TVCs to maximise its mobile penetration. Echoing its core motto ‘Kaam Yahin Banta Hai,’ the campaign featuring Irrfan Khan emphasises on various aspects which fulfills specific requirements of buyers through its mobile platform.      

     

    The campaign seeks to establish IndiaMart as the first port of call for all business buyers. “With ‘Kaam Yahin Banta Hai’ as the brand promise, we wish to showcase the ease and convenience that the platform offers to its buyers, by connecting them to the most relevant suppliers. Targeted at the smart buyers who are looking for a much reliable, quick and effective solution for all their key buying requirements, the IndiaMart app helps shorten the time that they spend in finding genuine and right business partners,” says IndiaMart vice president – marketing Sumit Bedi.   

     

    The e-tailer has roped in Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan as the brand ambassador. “Khan’s persona is very much in line with the values of IndiaMart, as the brand strongly displays responsibility and integrity. Moreover, Khan is one of the most celebrated actors of the Indian film industry, having an extremely effective style of communicating messages, by even adding humour, so that a common man is able to establish a connect. We were very confident that Khan would lend realism to our brand and would be able to connect with our target audience and drive the message home,” opines Bedi.

     

    McCann Group has executed the campaign capturing the USP of IndiaMart: convenience – ease of buying. The campaign targets TV, online display and social media. “Apart from mass platforms like TV and online display, social media is an extremely fast moving medium in today’s world and is probably the best way to make your brand be heard. Gaining so much of popularity, we are happy to have connected with a huge set of people on these platforms,” he informs.

     

    E-commerce companies are concentrating on increasing the penetration of their mobile apps for higher growth. So much so, that big players in the space, claim to have more than 50 per cent of their revenues coming in from mobile apps. 

    IndiaMart app has witnessed over 2 million downloads across all platforms. “The app dedicatedly focuses on strengthening its mobile offering, which is leading to an increased productivity for our users. We see relatively higher engagement on our mobile platform vs. desktop. Yes, we are certainly looking forward to increase the number of app users through a mix of brand and performance campaigns,” says Bedi.

     

    Bedi feels an app is more convenient, giving information on the go which is very beneficial to the buyers across rural and urban areas. Not only that, according to him, app opens the avenue for specific marketing too. “With more insights from user data, platforms like us are able to push customised notifications and ensure extremely personalised experience for the user,” he adds.

     

    But there are challenges too and emphasizing on them Bedi asserts, “From marketing point of view, there are different challenges for brands. For example – on any app store, a user can instantly look at screenshots of the app, its latest reviews and the overall rating. Thus, one needs to ensure that the app store content is optimized for all this and encourage the user to download the app.”

     

    Recent research signifies that e-tailing ventures are aggressively spending to substantiate their app presence and soon they might dissolve the website. Myntra is one such example. The venture recently acquired by Bansals doesn’t have a web presence anymore. When asked if IndiaMart will also take a similar route, Bedi opines, “Growing at an exponential pace, India leads the way in internet usage on mobile in the world (65 per cent users on mobile internet). Smartphones have greatly influenced the consumer buying behaviour. 41 per cent of the e-commerce transactions are conducted via smartphone and the medium offers an immense potential. Though, we are definitely focused on strengthening our app route as we see relatively higher engagement on our mobile platform, but, we will not force our users in any way and will continue to have presence across platforms.”

     

    “We would continue to invest in our product experience and brand to stay ahead. We plan to stay focused on our app route so as to enable users to easily find reliable suppliers in their preferred location with more ease,” Bedi concludes.

  • Colors set to launch ‘The Anupam Kher Show’ season 2 in July

    Colors set to launch ‘The Anupam Kher Show’ season 2 in July

    MUMBAI: “You could dream and stop or believe and reach the stars” was the core message of Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC), Colors, promised last year and delivered through its talk show – The Anupam Kher Show – Kucch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai.

     

    After having a popular stint last year, The Anupam Kher Show is all set to have its second season with an hope to extract more jewels of experience from celebrities and making them the shining beacon of possibilities for the audiences. The channel continues to have Jyothi Laboratories’ Henko as the ‘powered by’ sponsor.

     

    The show is expected to go on-air in July and will continue to be a Sunday property.

     

    The Anupam Kher Show is a format that has not been explored much but definitely experimented with by Hindi GECs. With this show, the genre saw a re-birth.

     

    Hosted by veteran actor – Anupam Kher, the show gave an unprecedented glimpse into the lives of celebrities, as they revealed stories of faith, hope, struggle, victory and success.

     

    Produced by Actor Prepares Productions, season one saw prominent celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan, Alia and Mahesh Bhatt, Vidya Balan, David and Varun Dhawan, Akshay Kumar, Kangana Ranaut, Kapil Sharma, Parineeti Chopra and Aditya Roy Kapur, Sonam Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor, cricketer Yuvraj Singh, Om Puri and Naseeruddin Shah on the show.

     

    In order to take the show a notch higher this season, Colors and Kher’s endeavour is to create a comfortable setting for the celebrities to share interesting anecdotes from their lives, which propelled them to achieve the goal they had set for themselves.

     

    This season the line-up of celebrities include Kajol, Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Priyanka Chopra, Boman Irani, Irrfan Khan and Gulzar amongst others.

     

    Unlike other chat shows where celebrities come to promote their movies, the beauty of The Anupam Kher Show is that it involves no movie integrations, is completely non-scripted and sans cue cards.

     

    Though Kher had made the second season announcement a while back on Twitter, Colors CEO Raj Nayak made an announcement at the IIFA Awards 2015 this past weekend in Kuala Lumpur.

     

    Kher’s tweet read, “Thank you @ColorsTV & @rajcheerfull for another season of #TheAnupamKherShow. Let’s share more inspiring stories.”

     

    Sources inform that all the 12 episodes have been canned at Yash Rah Studios, Mumbai.

     

    Background

     

    The Anupam Kher Show – Kucch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai is an extension of Kher’s autobiographical play Kuch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai where he has openly spoken about his failure and how he manipulated his destiny. The thespian through the conversations with Bollywood’s biggest celebrities plans to uncover the hidden chapters from their book of life, stories of their resilience, heart breaks, triumphs and how they’ve turned every obstacle into a milestone just the way he resurrected his own life.

     

    When compared to earlier talk shows such as Movers and Shakers on Sab, Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai on Zee TV, Issi Ka Naam Zindagi on Star Plus and Koffee With Karan season 4 (repeats) on Star Plus, The Anupam Kher Show was rated the highest in terms of viewership for the launch episode.

     

    According to data provided by the channel, The Anupam Kher Show opened with 2,591 TVTs in week 28, whereas Movers and Shakers recorded 2,283 TVTs,Issi Ka Naam Zindagi registered 1,089 TVTs and Koffee With Karan season 4 had garnered 738 TVTs.

     

    According to Nayak, people’s perception was that talk shows don’t get the ratings and by achieving the title of highest rated show during launch, he believed the show had managed to get both, perception and ratings.

  • &pictures to premiere ‘Haider’

    &pictures to premiere ‘Haider’

    MUMBAI: &pictures, India’s premium mass Hindi movie channel, with an aim to engage and entertain the audiences will premiere the five National Awards winning superhit drama Haider on &pictures, this Saturday, 30 May at 8 pm.  The film that garnered a high degree of national and international acclaim features some of the most versatile actors including Shahid Kapoor, Tabu, Irrfan Khan and Kay Kay Menon.

     

    Haider an inspirational work from one of the most prolific directors of our times, Vishal Bharadwaj,  is widely celebrated for its performances, music, screenplay and dialogues. The film which is a league apart from other films made on Kashmir, narrates a trying tale of a boy in search of his missing father interwoven with the miseries and atrocities of the residents of the region. Highlighting these aspect the channel has taken the creative route to promote the film with #HaiderAlagHai.

     

    ZEEL Deputy Business Head, Hindi Movie Channels Ruchir Tiwari stated, “A story of obsessive intertwined relationships, Haider is different in many ways. There might have been many films that captures the hearts of critics and masses alike but Haider is definitely one of the best stories you’ll ever watch on screen. Touted as a contemporary classic, brave and edgy the film deserved to be pegged with avant-garde pitch and #HaiderAlagHai surely brings out those prominent aspects of the film.  At &pictures, it is our constant endeavor is to engage our audiences through distinctive campaigns and initiatives and with the premiere of Haider the viewers are surely in a rare treat.”

     

    Speaking on the television premiere of Haider on &pictures, the spectacular Shahid Kapoor said, “Haider is the defining moment of my career. The movie is a wonderful amalgamation of emotions right from anger to love, friendship, betrayal and beautifully scripted by Vishal Bhardwaj. I’m extremely delighted that the movie is premiering on &pictures for people to watch it in the comfort of their homes.”

     

    Shradha Kapoor also spoke about her movie reaching out to the masses and said, “Haider is one of the finest films of Bollywood and a milestone in my career. The depiction of the state and people of Kashmir is by far the most beautiful I’ve ever seen in any movie and I’m fortunate to have been a part of this film. I’m glad that the movie will now reach out to a large number of Indian households for people to sit together and watch on &pictures. I’m certain that the viewers will love the movie kyunki picturein toh bohot banti hain lekin Haider alag hain.”

     

    Shot in the picturesque valleys of Kashmir, Haider scores a poignant and unconventional music by Vishal Bhardwaj himself.  Graced with Kashmiri folk instruments the melodies add an exquisite operatic quality to the movie.

  • ‘Piku’ piques brands’ interest for product placement

    ‘Piku’ piques brands’ interest for product placement

    MUMBAI: As many as six brands, a couple of them first timers, have inked a product placement deal with Multi Screen Media’s (MSM) recently released film Piku, which is directed by ShoojitSircar and stars Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone and Irrfan Khan.

     

    The six brands namely Amul, Syska, Himalayan Water, PriyagoldSnakker, Jaypee Greens, and Mitashi have been placed it in the movie without disrupting the flow of the story. Of these, Syska and Himalyan Water are debutants in the space of product placement in movies.

     

    Each of these brands communicates and highlights different aspects of the film. While Amul takes up the family space with its sub-brands Amul Milk and Amul Ice-cream, Syska talks about how gadgets help in keep us going in our busy lives via their Bluetooth and Power Bank Range. Himalayan Water, on the other hand, talks about the mantra of living natural in our ever so busy life, whereas PriyagoldSnakker talks about relishing the small and sweet moments of life.

     

    The brands have also extended their partnership into a marketing tie-up on the ATL & BTL mediums. Brands like Amul, Syska, Priyagold Snakker and Mitashi have created co-branded TV spots and played it across various music, news, sports and general entertainment channels (GECs).

     

    PriyagoldSnakker also created special Piku Chocolate Packs, which are being sold in the market. Himalayan Water supported the film via BTL promotions across their retail chains and also created special Piku Neck Tags for their bottles.

     

    Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) managing director R S Sodhisaid, “We are happy to have associated with this fantastic, slice-of-life, family based, fun film. The association of the film with our most popular milk and ice-cream brand will appeal to all audiences across the nation. We have had several appropriate film associations in the past, which helped us connect with the audience in a better manner. We wish the movie all success.”

     

    SSK Group of Companies director Rajesh Uttamchandani added, “Tie-ip with multi-starrer movie Pikuhas taken our brand to the next level and with Irrfan Khan as our brand ambassador and a leading protagonist in the movie, it makes this an apt choice. Aww! Entertainment has played a phenomenal role in making this journey successful.”

     

    MSM motion pictures senior vice president revenues and marketing Vivek Krishnani said “Piku is uniquely positioned because it has appeal across different age groups, therefore it is important for the film to travel to diverse audiences across the country. The film has garnered interest across a cross section of brands who have found Piku to be an ideal platform to reach out to their consumers, who are also movie going audiences. We are glad to have Aww! Entertainment as one of our key agencies that have led some of our critical brand associations.”

  • Shoot begins for Tom Hanks & Irrfan Khan starrer ‘Inferno’

    Shoot begins for Tom Hanks & Irrfan Khan starrer ‘Inferno’

    MUMBAI: Principal photography has commenced on Inferno, the new film in Columbia Pictures’ Robert Langdon series, which has taken in more than $1.2 billion worldwide to date. The film is slated for release on 14 October, 2016.

     

    In the film, Academy Award winner Tom Hanks reprises his role as Langdon. An international cast of actors, including Felicity Jones, Irrfan Khan, Omar Sy, Ben Foster, and Sidse Babett Knudsen, joins him. The film is directed by Ron Howard and produced by Brian Grazer and Howard.

     

    The screenplay is by David Koepp, based on the book by Dan Brown. The project’s executive producers are David Householter, Dan Brown, Anna Culp, and William M. Connor.

     

    Inferno continues the Harvard symbologist’s adventures on screen: when Robert Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Sienna Brooks, a doctor he hopes will help him recover his memories and prevent a madman from releasing a global plague connected to Dante’s Inferno.

     

    Howard said, “I’m so excited to be starting production on our third Robert Langdon film. Audiences everywhere have shown a tremendous appetite for the Robert Langdon adventures and Inferno has all of the intrigue and action they could want.”

     

    The film will be shot on location in such exotic cities as Florence, Venice and Budapest. Howard’s production team includes director of photography Salvatore Totino, production designer Peter Wenham, editors Dan Hanley and Tom Elkins, and costume designer Julian Day.

  • ‘Piku’ peaks at box office; earns Rs 25.22 crore

    ‘Piku’ peaks at box office; earns Rs 25.22 crore

    MUMBAI: The Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone and Irrfan Khan starrer Piku might have started slow at the box office on Friday but interest was piqued amongst movie goers as it earned positive word of mouth. Piku managed to gain patrons during later shows on Friday. The movie’s wheels picked up additional “motion” on Saturday and Sunday.

     
    The film improved by leaps and bounds with Rs 5.32 crore collections on Friday, Rs 8.7 crore on Saturday and Rs 11.2 crore on Sunday to take its opening weekend figure to Rs 25.22 crore.

    Kuch Kuch Locha Hai proves a dud with no takers. Expecting Ram Kapoor and Sunny Leone to sell high priced tickets came as a cropper. The audience can’t be taken for granted with half-baked ideas. The film managed to collect just about Rs 2.4 crore in its first weekend.

     
    Sabki Bajegi Band manages a meager Rs 20 lakh in its first week. Proves a disaster.

    Gabbar Is Back backfires. The film is the worst among recent Akshay Kumar releases and the idea to cash in on famous Gabbar character from Sholay and its brand equity fails. The film stays afloat thanks to a four day weekend due to holidays collecting Rs 36.6 crore in its first four days but drops thereafter ending its first week with a total of Rs 56.4 crore.

    Margarita With A Straw collects Rs 55 lakh in its third week to take its two week tally to Rs 5.8 crore.

  • ‘Piku’: Joyride

    ‘Piku’: Joyride

    MUMBAI: Juhi Chatruvedi came up with the idea of a sperm donor in Vicky Donor in 2012. One of the things never discussed on an open forum. The film hit the bull’s eye. This time again in Piku, she has come up with a theme, which deals with a problem millions of people suffer from but never discuss in the open: constipation.

    To Juhi’s credit, like she did in Vicky Donor, here too she makes the story an all-encompassing one. The kind of films, say, Hrishikesh Mukherjee would make. Weaving around the story of a hypochondriac, it adds the aspects of romance, family ties et al in a subtle manner while not making the film a one track toilet humour; she soon converts it into a road movie that leads to a traditional family and roots ending.

    Amitabh Bachchan, the 70 year old homebound widower, suffers from chronic constipation but, being a hypochondriac, he imagines all other illnesses possible. Albeit, his illnesses are all psychosomatic, like if his temperature moves from 98.4 to 98.8, he feigns illness. 

    Bachchan is the kind who is disappointed if his blood tests reports or BP are normal. Deepika is his only daughter too much in love with her father and tolerates all his idiocies. She complies with all his whims of being a hypochondriac though she knows there is nothing wrong with him. Taking his temperature, taking his blood pressure and preparing his medical doses from hundreds of pills he has gathered.

    Deepika hates Bachchan’s ways but also complies with them. Bachchan’s constipation updates are bizarre, and he even sends her updates about it through her office receptionist, which is read out in an important client meeting.

    Just when you think you have had enough of the toilet humour, thankfully, the film changes track and becomes a road movie.

    Irrfan, a qualified engineer, runs his dead father’s private cab service since he was sacked from his job in the Middle East. His company regularly caters to Deepika, dropping her to office every morning and getting her home again. She is as finicky as her father, Bachchan, and no driver from Irrfan’s company wants to ferry her. They do it reluctantly, though. 

    Bachchan has this lucrative offer to sell his huge house in Kolkata, which he is reluctant to sell while Deepika thinks it is time they got rid of it. Bachchan decides to travel to Kolkata to take a final call on the matter. The palatial villa is occupied by Bachchan’s brother and sister in law, who are insecure fearing the villa will be sold. Bachchan has his own peculiar reasons for not travelling by air or train.

    A vehicle is booked with Irrfan’s company but no driver is willing to drive Deepika for such a long journey. Eventually, Irrfan has to drive them and this drive is a fun ride for the audience. This is where the film takes a detour from toilet humour and road show and introduces a bit of family and traditions. 

    Bachchan was never in favour of selling his ancestral home while Deepika was. There a is a third influence as dumb sounding cab driver who, they learn is the owner of the fleet. It turns out he is not dumb but very clever and logical. His suggestions help Bachchan and Deepika change their way of thinking. Thanks to him, even Deepika is convinced that the ancestral property should not be sold. 

    Bachchan’s one ultimate aim in life is to get rid of his constipation before he dies. But, before that, he also wants to live a normal life. Towards this end, one fine day, he borrows the house help’s bicycle and goes on a 25 km ride through Kolkata and gorges on street food. With that, he also comes out of his psychosomatic cocoon and realises his wish of a clear stomach for once! 

    The side track is about Irrfan and Deepika’s chemistry. Hard as she tries not to get impressed with his native intelligence, eventually, she does develop a soft corner for him.

    This is a very clever and balanced script which is thoroughly enjoyable. Shoojit Sircar, who also directed Vicky Donor, from Juhi’s script, does a neat job once again with Piku. Dialogues are quirky at times to blend with Bachchan’s character and generally witty. Music is functional. Cinematography is pleasing. Editing is crisp. The film is all about performances and all three, Bachchan, Irrfan and Deepika excel. Maoushumi Chatterjee in a brief role is as lively as ever. Raguveer Yadav is good.

    Piku is an entertainer all the way and despite the tepid opening response, it should pick up over the weekend.

    Producers: N P Singh, Ronnie Lahiri, Sneha Rajani
    Director: Shoojit Sircar
    Cast:Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Irrfan Khan, Moushumi Chatterjee, Raghuveer Yadav, Jishu Sengupta