ITV

Tag: ungli

  • Dharma earns Rs 100 crore opening weekend in 2014

    Dharma earns Rs 100 crore opening weekend in 2014

    MUMBAI: Dharma Productions had a busy 2014 with a romance hat trick in the first half of the year – Hasee Toh Phasee along with Phantom Production, 2 States along with Nadiadwala Grandsons & UTV; and Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania in July.  With its last release Ungli, Dharma has become a production house with probably the widest range of film varieties this year.

     

    All the films had something unique about them – right from a romedy with a fresh storyline, to a bestseller adaptation, to a tribute to legendary Bollywood love stories. Whereas, Ungli was film from a genre unknown to Dharma until now. This year, Dharma also became the launchpad for three more promising directors – Vinil Matthew (Hasee Toh Phasee), Abhishek Varman (2 States) and Shashank Khaitan (Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania). Ungli was Rensil D’silva’s second outing with Dharma.

     

    With the audience accepting all these films with open arms, Dharma Productions is set for an exciting line-up in next two years. It will be exploring multiple collaborations and giving an opportunity to many new talents.

     

    Here’s to the youth power.

  • ‘The Badlapur Boys’ manage Rs 50 lakh at the BO

    ‘The Badlapur Boys’ manage Rs 50 lakh at the BO

    MUMBAI: The first sports film on the traditional Indian sport Kabaddi, The Badlapur Boys shows some figures worth its while collecting about Rs 50 lakh for the opening weekend.

     

    Main Aur Mr Right found no favour with the audience. Bhopal: A Prayer For Rain, a docudrama on the 1984 Bhopal gas leak tragedy, does too little too late. The film is just a past memory for most and it puts together just about Rs 1.25 crore in its first week. Sulemani Keeda has failed badly.

     

    Ungli has added Rs 60 lakh to its collections in second week taking its two week tally to Rs 15.4 crore. Zid has collected Rs 35 lakh in its second week to take its two week total to Rs 6.25 crore.

     

    Action Jackson, though counted among major productions, has failed miserably. The film with worse than mediocre content, opened badly not surprisingly ending its first week Rs 46.15 crore.

     

    Happy Ending ended its third week run with not such a happy ending. Kill/Dil managed to add Rs 10 lakh in its fourth week to take its four week tally to Rs 33.97 crore.

     

    Chaar Sahibzaade (Punjabi) is set to emerge as the biggest regional grosser of the recent times.

  • ‘Action Jackson’ reports Rs 29.1 crore at BO

    ‘Action Jackson’ reports Rs 29.1 crore at BO

    MUMBAI: Action Jackson has proved to be one of the worst films, content wise and the opening response has been poor for a top star film. The film has been able to put together a poor Rs 29.1 crore for its opening weekend.

    Sulemani Keeda too failed to find audience. Bhopal: A Prayer For Rain collected a symbolic Rs 70 lakh in its first weekend at the box office.

    Ungli has been poor; managing just Rs 14.8 crore in its first week at the box office. Zid which collected Rs 5.9 crore for its first week, is poor.

    Zed Plus, a satire on security to VIPs has failed to create ripples as it collects a poor Rs 55 lakh in its first week.

    Happy Ending too has failed miserably. The film has collected Rs 1.25 crore in its second week to take its two week total to Rs 14.75 crore.

    Chaar Sahibzaade continued to be rock steady as it added Rs 7.7 crore in its fourth week to take its four week total to Rs 30.8 crore.

    Kill/Dil has run its course adding just Rs 30 lakh in its third week taking its three week total to Rs 33.87 crore.

     

  • A poor week at the BO

    A poor week at the BO

    MUMBAI: Ungli is poor. The film has managed to garner just about Rs 9.55 crore for the first weekend. The film is stale and suffers due to poor title as well as the content. It is the poorest performers among Emraan Hashmi films.

     

    Zid has proved to be the second best in a very poor week. The film, where the producer and the director parted ways and unwanted, explicit scenes came in, failed to work. The film has proved to be an unmitigated disaster managing to collect about Rs 3.5 crore.

     

    Zed Plus, despite limited screenings, has not been able to draw crowds. Happy Ending is a disaster at Rs 19.1 crore in its first week.

     

    Kill/Dil adds another Rs 2.75 crore to its collections in the second week to take its two week total to Rs 33.57 crore.

     

    Chaar Sahib Zaade rocks. The film has added Rs 8.2 crore in its third week (includes Punjabi and Hindi versions) to take its three week total to Rs 23.1 crore.

     

    Happy New Year has added Rs 40 lakh in its fifth week taking its five week total to Rs 171.6 crore.

     

    Rang Rasiya has collected Rs 25 lakh in its third week to take its three week total to Rs 4.95 crore.

  • ‘Ungli’…Fingered!

    ‘Ungli’…Fingered!

    MUMBAI: While the Indians may love a Robin Hood kind (he robbed for charity), vigilante films, which have been made by the dozens in Hollywood, they are not very popular genre in India because, this is a nation supressed by some or the other rulers and have got used to the idea. So what if their own people like Municipal head or RTO boss or traffic cop and others supress you and put a price on just about everything you need to survive, we take it in our stride. Why bother to fight for your right when you can buy it in anything between Rs 100 to a lakh and be done with it?

    It is a common scene that in a city like Mumbai, traffic police don’t stop you from doing wrong, they stand round the corner to let you do that and cash in on your crime! It is the same when one is unfortunate enough to need the help of the ‘service’ of one of the government agencies.

    Randeep Hooda, Angad Bedi, Neil Bhoopalam and Kangana Ranaut are friends who are let down by the society and people in high places. Their gym instructor and brother of Kangana, Arunoday Singh, is lying in a coma with little chance of recovery; he is in this condition because he was hit brutally by a fixer’s, Mahesh Manjrekar, son who handles bribe collection and distribution of the Mumbai police force. There is only one witness, senior citizen Arunoday who is trying to defend himself from Manjrekar’s son.

    Producers: Hiroo Johar, Karan Johar.
    Director: Renzil D’Silva.
    Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Wmraan Hashmi, Kangana Ranaut, Neha Dhupia, Randeep Hooda, Angad Bedi, Neil Bhoolam.

    The senior citizen is threatened not to identify the culprit in the court and, as a result, the culprit is set free. The foursome lose faith in the system and decide to mete out justice on their own. They turn vigilantes. They decide to take on the corrupt and punish them on the spot when and where found guilty of corruption. The electronic media, always at the end of the butt of joke in movies, make these vigilante gang famous from their very first exploit. Also, the way they give names lacking imagination like Coal Gate (inspired by Watergate!), Bollywood (inspired by Hollywood), they name the gang as Ungli Gang because that is the sign they left behind after their first episode of instant justice.

    While every department takes its turn at being punished by the Ungli gang, the police is hot on its trail. The people in high places are uncomfortable with this gang fearing their turn someday and want its illegal activities to end and to put them in prison. So the corrupt police force selects the most honest cop, Sanjay Dutt, to capture the gang who in turn enrols the rebellious junior, Emraan Hashmi, to do the job. Emraan is a rebellious cop and generally anti-establishment.

    Emraan Hashmi joins the Ungli gang to liquidate it. Instead, he sees the gang’s point of view and becomes a part of it. As it progresses, the film strays.
    The script is quite hackneyed and direction patchy. There is no eye for details in things like designations and stars worn are three for all ranks and there are many such glitches. Musically, Dance Basanti… and Pakeezah have appeal for youth. Dialogue is good at places. The film looks dated having taken its time in making.

    Ungli has had a poor opening and has little chance of showing much improvement over the weekend.

                                                      

                                            ‘Zed Plus’…Nothing plus about it

    Zed Plus is supposed to be a satire on the security system of the Indian police protection branch locally and the National Security Guard nationally. Zed Plus is supposed to be a security cover provided to a VIP. Since the perception of who is a VIP and deserving of such a security is determined on threat perception, it is the cause for this film promoted as a satire. One day, a local puncture mender with his workshop on the highway, Adil Hussain, earns this Zed security. This is all about him.

    This is a famous dargah town in Rajasthan which goes back 500 years. The originator of the Dargah had a family of 12 children which has now flourished into 400+ heirs but only one man runs the dargah and pockets all the takings. The others rebel and it is decided that all the heirs will get a chance to perform the rituals at the dargah one by one, each getting a turn every 15 months!

    The film is all about this small town with a dargah as its claim to fame. While the film peers in to the lives of the townfolk, it returns to its main theme only much later.

    Kulbhushan Kharbanda is the prime minister of India surviving on day to day basis with his blackmailing coalition partners. Just about every coalition partner is blackmailing him with threats of withdrawal of support everyday unless their demands are met.

    When the PM, Kharbanda, is all at sea, some unidentified caller advises him to visit this famous Peepali Pir dargah in Rajasthan which would solve his problems. Of among the 400+ guys to take their turn to be the Khadim of the dargah, it happens to be the turn of Adil to conduct the rituals of the dargah on the day the PM is slated to visit.

    The PM arrives, the town is cleared of all ugly sights including Adil’s puncture shop and the front platform of his wife’s (Mona Singh) footwear shop. Many are left jobless. The PM’s dargah visit works for as soon as he enters the premises, the PM’s problems are getting solved one after the other. He has only Adil to thank for all the favours of the dargah. He is happy with Adil and asks Adil to spell his problems if any and the PM would solve them for him. Adil says he is threatened by his neighbour, Mukesh Tiwari, only for the PM to understand as the national troublesome neighbour, neighbouring country (Pakistan).

    The PM instantly orders a Zed Plus security for Adil, a victim of Pakistani threats! The rest is left to the media who make him into a national hero like it did a simple village man, Omkar Das, in Pipli Live.

    Adil becomes a celebrity overnight. A local hero, he is chosen by the Rajasthan CM to contest for his party. His degeneration has started, he is taught to accept bribe. He is manipulated by his PM and his Rajasthan CM, both being anti each other.

    Our hero, Adil, is right out of Raj Kapoor’s Shri 420. He decides to return to his normal life. He realizes his follies and greed and confesses to them at an election meeting.

    Zed Plus may be a satire but hardly worth any mirth. The only problem Adil faces due to the security is that he can’t visit his paramour without the security guards following him. The PM’s PA knows a gaff has been made by the PM but he has to stick to the story of threat from the neighbouring country so that the PM is not made to look like a fool. Hence, despite Adil’s requests to withdraw his cover, it stays.

    While the idea was worth exploring, it is stretched too much trying to pack in parallel stories. Direction is fair. Songs have purely thematic appeal. Editing is slack. Adil Hussain performs very well equally supported by Mukesh Tiwari.  Mona Singh is adequate. Sanjay Mishra is good as usual. K K Raina impresses.
    Zed Plus has weak face value leading to its poor opening. It faces bleak prospects.

  • MTV’s goal: Make voting ‘cool’

    MTV’s goal: Make voting ‘cool’

    MUMBAI: It’s been a week since the Lok Sabha elections started, and since then social media has been flooded with ‘ungli’ pictures.

    Many believe that 2014 elections will see a better turnout than previous years. Thanks to not only the anti-incumbency votes, but also the 12 crore first-time voters who will play an important role.

    Political parties have left no stone unturned to put forward their vision and mission for the coming years, news channels are busy questioning and highlighting those motives. However, this time around, general entertainment channels (GECs) too have joined in to educate and urge people to go out and vote.

    With 12 crore first-time voters, the youth entertainment channels have taken upon themselves to make sure that youngsters go out and exercise their right. “We have more than 12 crore first time voters. It is not that they are unaware and don’t care about the nation; but, they do need a strong motivation to go out and vote,” says MTV marketing and insights head Sumeli Chatterjee.

    The channel started a ‘Rock The Vote’ campaign in December and will continue till the elections end. The channel’s seven-month long initiative’s ultimate objective is to make voting cool; so much so that a person feels embarrassed to step out without the voter-ink mark on the day of elections.

    MTV ‘Rock The Vote’ was created at the intersection of politics and pop-culture and was presented as an integrated media initiative that would drive conversations around elections. The campaign that sounds a wake-up call for the youth to vote drives on a simple philosophy – If you don’t vote, you can’t complain.

    Based on the study done by the channel, even though youth has a comment and opinion on everything around them – whether it is the traffic, professor, food or even weather and they voraciously tweet, post and share their point-of-views. Yet, somehow their participation in voting process has been traditionally poor. The study states 97 per cent of the youth agree that they can bring about change, but only 15 per cent feel they have a say in choosing the government.

    To change this, the campaign was launched.

     

    But is the youth ready to listen? “We have kept the communication simple, direct and tongue-in-cheek; so that it resonates with the young, rather than sound preachy. We created a host of sharable assets like funnies and cartoons, music anthem, merchandise, crowd-sourced videos – that the youngsters can share with each other while engaging in a serious discussion on elections. Music, humour and Bollywood, are the three anchor points for MTV ‘Rock the Vote’ campaign,” answers Chatterjee.

    And since, youth is constantly in an attention deficit state, to sustain interest for more than seven months was a herculean task for the channel. In order to keep it alive and buzzing among the TG, it tried to keep every part of the initiative very interactive with crowd sourced videos, engagements across colleges integrating the college festivals, tongue-in-cheek cartoons, hashtag wars, voter-ink selfies etc.

    Social media especially Twitter played a lead role in driving the interactivity along with the on-ground college concerts with Mohit Chauhan, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Indian Ocean, Arijit Singh, Amit Trivedi etc. “We also launched a new mobile feature on Twitter that enabled offline users to listen to the conversations on #RockTheVote – this is the first time across the world, that this feature was made available to users. The best endorsement of a philosophy is when the fan wears the same. With Puma, MTV has launched a new t-shirt range promoting the messaging for voting this election,” she adds.

    The Twitter Townhalls included real time Q&A on youth issues like freedom of speech on social media, education system and reforms, job opportunities etc. On-ground activities included voter education/registration camps across 40 plus colleges along with live debate amongst student groups on elections and youth issues. An half an hour series was created on MTV that brings a funny and satirical take on these youth issues. It also brings in organisations / people from their respective fields to put out their views on the issues. For example, Greenpeace was invited as a spokesperson for the episode that dealt with environment issues on MTV ‘Rock The Vote’ series on Television.

    In-collaboration with young Bollywood stars like Varun Dhawan, Nargis Fakhri, Ileana D’Cruz, Alia Bhatt and Arjun Kapoor, the channel has created short vignettes. Half an hour satirical bulletins with stand-up comedians on the state of various national issues that affect the citizens, an anthem and music video with Papon and Clinton Cerojo, have also been created to spread the word. The MTV t-shirt range with Puma is in retail already promoting the messaging for voting this election.

    Apart from this, the channel has also partnered with ‘Rock the Vote (USA)’, a non-profit, non-partisan organisation which pushes political awareness amongst youth across many countries including the USA, Canada and Chile.

    Although, media agencies handling political parties have signed special in-programming deals with some channels, MTV has association with political parties only from an awareness creation perspective. They haven’t included them in its regular programming schedule. But does the channel see the youngsters imbibing it in real life too? “The youngsters are really smart. Talk to them in their lingo, and they love to talk back. The Twitter Townhall and the Live Debates with leading political party spokespersons like Congress, BJP and AAP, saw a reach of 14 million plus on Twitter. So yes, we do see the youth making an effort to understand the process and the people involved. Once the interest is developed, the action will follow,” says Chatterjee optimistically.
     

    And with its social media buzzing with activities like selfies of the voter-ink marks, the channel feels it has won the battle, it had started in December.

    So, ‘Don’t be a Goat, go Rock the Vote’, MTV style.

  • Reliance Entertainment and Dharma Productions sign international distribution deal

    Reliance Entertainment and Dharma Productions sign international distribution deal

    MUMBAI: Dharma productions has got into an agreement with Reliance Entertainment for distributing four movies under the Dharma name overseas. Reliance entertainment’s parent company Anil Dhirubai Ambani Group (ADAG) is equal partners with DreamWorks, allowing it to market and distribute four upcoming movies namely Gori Tere Pyaar Mein, Hassi Toh Phassi, Ungli and Humpty Sharma ki Dulhaniya.

    The first in line is Gori Tere Pyaar Mein starring Kareena Kapoor and Imran Khan. Recently Reliance Entertainment had a deal with Viacom 18 India to distribute its movie Bhaag Milka Bhaag. Movies under the group include big names such as 3 Idiots, Bodyguard, Talaash and Ghajini.

    In the last four years, Reliance entertainment has expanded to around 85 countries.