Tuesday, July 26

Bollywood, Box Office and ZNMD


The Box Office never ceases to amaze you. 

I have not seen Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara(ZNMD) yet. Plan to watch it over the weekend. 


After watching Delhi Belly, I actually thought Farhan and Co will have a tough task making money off ZNMD. Apart from the fact that it was made at a budget of mindboggling 70 crores, DB had raised the bar all of a sudden, in terms of story, screenplay and pacing. But after the rave reviews it got, Mayank Shekhar of HT going as far as calling it a Dil Chahta Hai for this generation, I upped my expectations. Still, for the movie to break even was a bleak chance, I thought. 

Bang comes this announcement from Eros Films, the co-producers. 

"Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara grosses Rs. 108 crores in 10 days,with Rs 86 crores coming from India alone". 

Zapped, aren't you? So what are your thoughts - a good movie making good money or a film which has many stars, a great story and great direction doing well?

Thursday, July 14

Some thoughts on Delhi Belly

I did not write a review for Delhi Belly because it does need one. Its a landmark film, in terms of putting together a 'transfer of diamonds gone horribly wrong' with a group of three friends who are having their own issues, GF wise, shit wise, landlord wise etc. Yes, the movie has abuses, more so in the maatrabhaasha, which should not make any difference to the average cinegoer, because that is what happens in real life. 
 
And did not we want to see movies which are real in terms of story and setting; away from the snow covered peaks of Swiss Alps(YashRaj) or the streets of New York(Karan Johar)?

Considering the above, some of the feedback I got for the movie was extremely disappointing. 

"Its a vulgar film." 
 
Vulgar is a relative term right! I found Satyam Shivam Sundaram and Ram Teri Ganga Maili not just vulgar but offensive because they sought to hide the sleaziness of their Director beneath the weight of some religious figure. That is vulgar! Anil Kapoor and Juhi Chawla gyrating to "Main maalgaadi tu dhakka laga" is vulgar. Countless Govinda movies with double meaning dialogues is vulgar. 

Calling a Santro this-is-what-you-get-when-a-donkey-f@#$%-a-rickshaw is simply stating that a Santro is an ugly car. 

Right???!!!