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Tag: Naam Shabana

  • Filmmaker Neeraj Pandey to debut with cop drama ‘Khakee: The Bihar Chapter’ on Netflix

    Filmmaker Neeraj Pandey to debut with cop drama ‘Khakee: The Bihar Chapter’ on Netflix

    Mumbai: Inspired by the true story of how Bihar’s most dangerous criminal was caught, Khakee: The Bihar Chapter marks the first foray onto Netflix for iconic creator Neeraj Pandey. The crime series follows the epic tussle between two men on both sides of the law—one a feared gang lord and the other a fiercely upright Indian Police Service officer Amit Lodha.

    Neeraj Pandey, who helmed box office hits such as MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, Baby, Special 26, Naam Shabana, A Wednesday, and Aiyaary, is bringing his inimitable style to this story of anarchy and conflict that changed Bihar forever, said Netflix.

    The project is produced by Friday Storytellers and directed by Bhav Dhulia, starring Karan Tacker, Avinash Tiwary, Ashutosh Rana, Ravi Kishan, Anup Soni, Jatin Sarna, Nikita Dutta, Abhimanyu Singh, Aishwarya Sushmita, and Shraddha Das.

    Speaking about his collaboration with Netflix and his upcoming series, Pandey said: “As an admirer of the platform, which stands for such diversity in content and formats, I am elated to announce Friday storytellers’ partnership with Netflix for our upcoming series Khakee-The Bihar Chapter. This cop-and-crime thriller, set during the early 2000s in the heartland of Bihar, is a big story which we have been wanting to create and share for some time. And through the directorial lens of Bhav Dhulia and the production expertise of my partner Shital Bhatia, we have endeavoured to bring the flavour alive with the tonality and treatment. Shot in extremely trying circumstances in Jharkhand and Bihar across multiple covid waves, it boasts of a talented ensemble depicting strong characters, which we hope will resonate with the local and global Netflix audiences.”

    Netflix India’s VP of content Monika Shergill said, “We are excited to bring one of India’s best storytellers, Neeraj Pandey, to Netflix with his powerful crime drama series Khakee: The BiharChapter. Neeraj, a thrilling true story about the rise of a feared criminal and a determined cop, will transport audiences in India and around the world on an intense and unprecedented journey through Bihar.”

  • &pictures to screen the Indian spy thriller ‘Naam Shabana’ on Saturday, 29th June at 9.30pm

    &pictures to screen the Indian spy thriller ‘Naam Shabana’ on Saturday, 29th June at 9.30pm

    MUMBAI: A spinoff of the 2015 box office hit Baby, Naam Shabana follows the life and journey of a spy. Directed by Shivam Nair, the thriller features Taapsee Pannu as Shabana Khan along with Akshay Kumar, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Anupam Kher and Manoj Bajpayee essaying pivotal characters. &pictures, Naye India Ka Blockbuster movie channelis all set to air this actioned packed movie on Saturday, 29th June at 9.30pm.

    Two Indian agents working under Ranvir Singh (Manoj Bajpayee) are killed by an international arms dealer Mikhail (Prithviraj Sukumaran), who has been on the wanted list of several intelligence agencies. A year later Shabana Khan (Taapsee Pannu), a college student who is also a Judo fighter is followed by an Indian agency as a potential recruit.One day on her way home after a date, she and her friend Jai are attacked by a group of four drunk men who eve tease her. The situation gets out of control and Jai is beaten to death. Shabana who is disturbed after Tahir’s brutal murder gets a call from an unknown number asking if she wants to avenge her lover’s death. A distraught Shabana agrees to join the agency and eliminates Tahir’s murderers with the help of Ajay Singh (Akshay Kumar) and Ranvir Singh. After the last encounter, Shabana is recruited by the agency and undergoes extensive training and is put on a mission to track down and eliminate Mikhail.

    Will Shabana be successful in tracking down Mikhail? Or will Mikhail escape the agency’s clutches this time too?  

  • Non-Khan Bahubali2 shows the power of three — Rs 300 cr

    It is happy hours for the exhibitors, especially the multiplex properties. After starving for footfalls, Bahubali 2: The Conclusion has come as a saviour. Never look a gift horse in the mouth so no matter it is not a Hindi super star film, just a dubbed film from South. The film carried a solid brand equity created by its predecessor, Bahubali: The Beginning.

    The multiplexes tried all possible avenues to feed their auditoriums in absence of films. Earlier, they tried to programme IPL matches and other such events to no avail. Who would want to watch an exciting match of cricket in a dark hall under a disciplined guidelines when you can watch it at home or a restaurant or a club with drinks and full control over the proceedings with a remote in your hand?

    So, building multi-screen halls was not a wise decision which proves a liability when you don’t have a Salman Khan or Aamir Khan film. They give you a fortnight audience while others manage a weekend’s feed.

    Saying, ‘where the next meal is is coming from’ won’t be an exaggeration in case of these multiplexes.

    Bahubali: The Beginning came out of the blue and left promising a lot. Hence, Bahubali 2: The Conclusion, became the most awaited film by both, the audience as well as the exhibition trade. To every stakeholder’s relief, the film has more than lived up to all the expectations the earlier film promised.

    Because, except Bahubali 2 there is nothing the multiplexes as well as the single screens have to screen. They have been facing the ‘No audience, No show’ routine for a long time.

    *Bahubali 2: The Conclusion (Dubbed from Telugu) has been collecting figures all through its first week which most Hindi superstar films do on their day one or two if they manage to find a holiday release. In fact, the film has exceeded best Hindi film collections by miles.

    *Since the entire exhibition trade is surviving on just one film for the last few days, here is how and why: The film has continued to maintain collections in high crore range all through its first weekend by collecting Rs 40 crore on Friday and Saturday and peaking at Rs 46 crore on Sunday to end its opening weekend with over Rs 146 crore.

    The victorious run continued as the film kept on the same scale on Monday with part of India having a holiday. The collections dropped by 25% on Tuesday but that was not alarming since the film picked up again. Finally, the film ended its first week sweep of the box office with a total take of Rs 245.6 crore.

    The film has been enjoyed a fitting second weekend which is reported to have added another Rs 80.2 crore for its second weekend thus taking its 10 day total to Rs 325.8 crore.

    The other films released in recent weeks, Noor, Maatr, Begum Jaan, Naam Shabana, Phillauri have all ended with disastrous outcome.

    *Last week’s release, Mantostaan, despite a very limited release, has failed to draw the audience.

  • Sequels sans conviction, ploys abound

    MUMBAI: Somehow, the makers of sequels, prequels kind of films seem be doing so without conviction and, mainly paying no heed to content. Unlike most others, Naam Shabana did all except naming the film Baby 2 or some such to promote and market the film. All possible connections were made to identify it with the earlier film, Baby, otherwise.

    It is supposed to be a prequel telling the story of how Tapsee Pannu happened to become a spy!

    Akshay Kumar, the force behind the production house of Naam Shabana, even made an unnecessary and forced appearance in the film. His presence in the film was poorly scripted and no efforts made to justify it. In fact, he ended up trivializing the character created for the film’s protagonist, Tapsee Pannu.

    Akshay Kumar’s presence was probably fitted in to carry forward the brand equity of Baby and to also make viewers think they were not short changed.

    Ploys don’t draw the audience which also happened with Naam Shabana as the opening response remained tepid. The film took its patron for granted with its content as well which limited its growth over the weekend.

    *Having opened at about four crore on Friday, Naam Shabana collected approx. Rs 14 crore for its opening weekend. The going will be tough during rest of the week for the film.

    *Phillauri remained below average with its best figures coming from North compared to other circuits but not good enough on the whole. The film collected Rs 20.6 crore in its first week as it went on dropping each day of the week.

    *Anaarkali Of Aarah could not convert the appreciation it received from certain pockets into box office gains. The film fell short of one crore mark in its first week.

    *Badrinath Ki Dulhania continued to make the most of poor oppositions as well as its status as the only entertainer available. The film added an impressive Rs 10.65 crore in its third week to take its three week tally to Rs 109.85 crore.

  • Naam Shabana……Halfhearted!

    MUMBAI: You realise that whatever Naam Shabana had to show has already been shown in the film’s promos. The strategy may draw the initial audience to an extent but, since they are not going back being a very happy lot that is about all.

    Akashy Kumar did Baby with Tapsee Pannu (2015) playing a brief role. Akshay, being a star of over 25 years of standing, is accepted readily playing an action hero. But, when you are letting loose a female protagonist who you expect to carry a film through in place of Akshay, you need a build-up for her. So Tapsee who featured in Baby is given a backstory here. Her past, which makes up for the first part of the film and, when she is assigned a mission, that makes for the latter part of the film.

    If you look at the film that way, it is what is referred in the West as a double bill: two films at the price of one.

    Tapsee, playing Shabana Khan, is one stern person drained of all emotions. Brought up in predominantly Muslim locality of Mumbai in a small flat, she and her mother have suffered heavily from her drunkard father. Both women, Tapsee and her mother, have been at the receiving end of nonstop violence. Not to be a victim of any kind of violence again, Tapsee is training for martial art.

    Relentlessly wooed by her college mate, played by Taher Mithaiwala, Tapsee is not ready for any sort of commitment. Her idea about men is not positive thanks to her father’s behaviour. The only person Tapsee trusts and confides into is her mother.

    Taher finally manages to win Tapsee’s love and, after spending a cosy evening with him but before she could say she also loves him, Tahir becomes the victim of a group of spoilt boys from Delhi making merry in Mumbai. While that saves Tapsee from being molested, the experience also leaves her devastated as well full of rage.

    Tapsee now wants revenge, nothing sort of kill the perpetrators. The police is no help. That is when she starts getting help from anonymous source. Tapsee is trained to be a lethal weapon by her benevolent caller. Her offenders are located for her and all the arrangements are made for her to get to her enemies and kill them. Also shadowing her is her guardian angel played by Akshay Kumar.

    Having sought her revenge, Tapsee is now ready for the purpose her helpers had in mind for her. It seems, a national agency was tracking her moves and aggression all along and intended to enrol her as a spy to work for the country. Her handler so far keeping tabs on her is the character of Manoj Bajpayee.

    Having agreed to join the agency, Tapsee’s assignment is to liquidate an international arms supplier played by Prithviraj Sukumaran. Many agents have earlier lost their lives trying to tackle Prithviraj and, he also keeps getting his looks changed through plastic surgery.

    Finally, Prithviraj is tracked to Malaysia and it is time to move the narration out of congested Mumbai streets and to a more picturesque locations in Kuala Lumpur. Here, after some more trackers losing their lives to Prithviraj, it is left to Tapsee to tackle him singlehandedly.

    Naam Shabana, in an effort to give a back story to Tapsee, fails to connect the two parts. The way other characters are etched out make Indian spies look like fools and their parts look like they are playing a game of spies. Then, to send a novice agent to a villain who has been painted huge is not convincing. And, making Akshay her shadow and a guardian angel seems more an attempt to keep Akshay on the screen so the viewer does not feel cheated.

    Direction fails to detect or solve these and other glitches. While the first half story has been seen in few films earlier, it is still watchable due to Tapsee’s efforts. The second half sags. Music though out of place comes in three songs. Dialogue is good in parts. Editing needed to be sharper.

    Tapsee Pannu performs very well carrying her angry young girl image through with conviction. Akshay Kumar has really nothing to do and he does nothing to alleviate the situation. Prithviraj Sukumaran makes a mark. Manoj Bajpayee is okay.

    Danny and Anupam Kher make fleeting appearances to no avail. Taher Mithaiwal is fair. Naam Shabana is a halfhearted effort, the only comfort being in its seemingly low making costs.

    Producers: Neeraj Pandey, Shital Bhatia.

    Director: Shivam Nair.

    Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Akshay Kumar,. Manoj Bajpayee, Anupam Kher, Danny Denzongpa, Prithviraj Sukumaran.