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Tag: Tusshar

  • Balaji to scale up film biz with Rs 1.5 bn investment

    Balaji to scale up film biz with Rs 1.5 bn investment

    MUMBAI: For movie production houses, the bet has to be on bigger budgets. Balaji Motion Pictures Limited (BMPL), the film production arm of Balaji Telefilms, is investing Rs 1.5 billion in six movie projects as it attempts to scale up the business after a string of box office successes from small-to-medium budget films.

    This marks a significant shift in strategy and signals the company‘s appetite to take bigger risks in a game that is being increasingly dominated by studios who work on a wider slate of productions and releases.

    BMPL has lined up a slate of six films for the upcoming year which includes co-production with filmmakers like Vishal Bhardwaj, Anurag Kashyap and Sanjay Gupta, alongside sequels to Balaji’s own successful properties such as Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai and Ragini MMS.

    The company led by its promoter Ekta Kapoor will release five films in the next fiscal. It had released only one film namely Kya Super Kool Hain Hum in the current fiscal which had net box office collections of approximately Rs 220 million over the first weekend.

    Its most recent success at the box office was in the form of biographical drama The Dirty Picture that breached the Rs 1 billion mark. The film that was inspired by the life of Silk Smitha was made on a budget of Rs 180 million.

    Similarly, Ragini MMS, built on a meagre budget of Rs 10.3 million, went on to collect Rs 70 million at the box office. Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai and Love Sex Aur Dhokha also had successful runs at the box office.

    BMPL had posted a net profit of Rs 35.99 million on revenues of Rs 241.2 million during the second quarter of the current fiscal.

    BMPL CEO Tanuj Garg said, “We have put together a strong line-up with a lot of variety. The significant ramp-up in our slate demonstrates the seriousness and passion with which we are growing the movie business. We believe that an equal focus on co-productions and acquired properties is not only a financially prudent approach for us but should also accelerate our growth momentum. We’re pleased to be the only entity with market dominance in television and films alike.”

    Garg said that all the movies except Ragini MMS is in advanced stage of productions. However, it is yet to close any satellite rights for its films.

    The first to release on 18 April is Ek Thi Daayan, a co-production with Vishal Bhardwaj and directed by debutant Kannan Iyer. The super-natural thriller is top-lined by Emraan Hashmi, Huma Qureshi, Kalki Koechlin and Konkona Sen Sharma, and marks the coming together of Vishal Bhardwaj and Emraan Hashmi for the first time.

    Releasing on 1 May is the multi-starrer Shootout at Wadala, a co-production with Sanjay Gupta. The industry’s first prequel (to Shootout At Lokhandwala) stars Anil Kapoor, John Abraham, Kangana Ranaut, Tusshar, Manoj Bajpai, Sonu Sood, Ronit Roy, and many other big names, to be announced shortly.

    To release on 7 June is Kuku Mathur Ki Jhand Ho Gayi, a co-production with Bejoy Nambiar. The quirky Delhi-based comedy launching young talents is directed by noted ad film-maker Aman Sachdeva making his film directorial debut.

    On 5 July is Lootera, directed by Vikramaditya Motwane of the critically acclaimed Udaan fame. The epic period love story marks the first-time pairing of Ranveer Singh and Sonakshi Sinha. Lootera is a co-production with Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane and Vikas Bahl of Phantom Films.

    The Milan Luthria-directed Once Upon A Time In Mumbai-2 is the banner’s tentpole Eid release scheduled for 8 August. Starring Akshay Kumar, Imran Khan, Sonakshi Sinha and Sonali Bendre, the romantic drama is among the most keenly awaited cinematic features of 2013.

    Closing the slate for the year, will be the youth date film, Ragini MMS-2, top-lined by Sunny Leone. Directed by Bhushan Patel, the sequel to the biggest sleeper hit of 2011, Ragini MMS, will be a heady combination of thrill, horror and sensuousness. It releases on 11 October.

  • (S)excitingly entertaining

    (S)excitingly entertaining

    MUMBAI: Kyaa Super Kool Hai Hum is a sex comedy: all the gags and innuendoes in the film are about sex. A generation back, it would have been termed vulgar but it is considered quite acceptable by moviegoers now. The film makes no pretence of a story of any kind and depends mainly on its dialogue and suggestive actions.

    Tusshar Kapoor and Riteish Deshmukh are buddies and roommates in Mumbai. While Tusshar dreams of becoming a film star, Riteish is a DJ and aspires to cut his own disc someday. Tusshar meets his love, Neha Sharma, who has the habit of travelling ticketless in a city bus even as her car follows. On one such adventure of hers, when asked to show her ticket by the checker, Tusshar stands by her. For Tusshar love has already happened but Neha Sharma is put off by his continuous calls and stalking. For the convenience of the script, Riteish happens to fall for Neha Sharma‘s best friend, Sara Jane Dias.

    Riteish owns a pug named Suckru, which is his main source of income. The pug is lent out for mating and the monies thus earned keep the duo going. All that Riteish has to do is play some fast music which arouses his dog into a sexual frenzy. The jokes are mainly plays on words, like Tusshar is Adi and his answer to Devdas is him, Adi-Das. He is being screen-tested by Rohit Shetty (guest role) for his next film, Chinghum. Neha Sharma‘s favourite TV show is ‘Bade Achhe Lagte Hai‘ and references to other film titles in a funny way. Tusshar also models for a teleshopping firm and sells remedies for constipation and whitening creams. To Tusshar‘s boast that he has one thing that girls don‘t, the girl‘s reply to him is, ‘they do, it vibrates and is battery operated‘. That is the flavour of this film.

    Finally, when Sharma agrees to meet Tusshar, he puts a diamond ring on her finger; no matter that it is their first date. Sharma has had enough of him and, with her friend Dias, heads for Goa. It is time for some picturesque visuals and also to introduce two more funny men: Anupam Kher who is Dias‘ father, and Chunky Pandey, a municipality dog catcher turned conman Baba 3G. Anupam Kher is Baba 3G‘s disciple. The Baba relieves him of his riches on regular bases. He has palmed off a bitch, a pug again, to Anupam Kher convincing him she is his mother from last birth.

    It so happens that the ring Tusshar presented to Sharma was made from a diamond worth five lakh that Ritiesh had lovingly put on Suckru‘s collar. The ring has to be retrieved from Sharma; excuse enough for the boys also to land up in Goa. More craziness of the corny kind follows. The girls have decided to pretend to be a couple to help Sharma keep Tusshar off. Chasing Dias, Riteish ends up in a gay club whose owner, Howard Rosemeyer, gets the hots for him instantly.

    Anupam Kher‘s hobby is to collect film memorabilia of a peculiar kind. He has the tiny blouse Vidya Balan supposedly wore in The Dirty Picture, the soap Ramu Kaka used in Sholay, the sperm bottles used in Vicky Donour and so on! In fact, anything to do with sex and the film makes sure it is used as a part of its gags: there is sex talk, gay sex, lesbian sex, doggy style sex and what have you!

    Kyaa Super Kool Hai Hum may not have much of a story but the script has been smartly put together for all the sex gags to be incorporated some of which again are well worked out. Music does not have much scope in the scheme of things here but the film has a couple of passable numbers. Direction is good and in control of what is at hand. This is not really a performance film since dialogue does the entertaining. What is left to actors is mostly buffoonery and Tusshar Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh and Anupam Kher all do well with some contribution from Chunky Pandey and others. Of the girls, Sara Jane Dias is more expressive while Neha Sharma is okay.

    Kya Super Kool Hai Hum may be crude but it does the job of entertaining and having opened to good response, it should sail safe with its investment at the end of week one.