Happy day before Tubelight! I think I have picked my optimal showtime. Later show, but closer theater, so I can still be home at a reasonable hour. Same theater where I saw Bahubali opening night, Sultan for the second time, and Fan opening night. You will notice from that list that this theater only plays the biggest releases. Which allows me to make some box office predictions! Oh, and I also needed to do a post because Salman just released a video of Epic Cuteness.
Remember how before Bahubali 2 came out I said it would break into the top 3 of the American box office? And then it did and all the “real” industry news sources in America were all “WHAT IS HAPPENING????”? Because American entertainment reporters are adorably naive about Indian film? Well, I want to do the same thing. Tubelight is going to be in the top ten this weekend for absolutely goshdarn sure. Probably top 5. Maybe top 3. Heck, I’m going to go ahead and put my money down and say number 4 at the box office in America.
It’s releasing on as many screens as Bahubali 2, so far as I can tell from the showtimes in my area (showtimes close together means multiple screens at the same theater) and where it is playing (showtimes at theaters that hardly ever show Indian films means it is blanketing the market). And I am sure it will be sold out or close to it on all of them. But B2 had the advantage of being a Telugu/Tamil film, so inflated prices opening weekend. And being IMAX, so another reason for inflated prices (if you are wondering why Transformers does so well at the American box office, same thing, if it’s 3D or IMAX, the tickets are super expensive and the box office gets an artificial bump when compared to none 3D/IMAX). And so I am going with Tubelight being top 5, not top 3. We will see if anyone gets around to reporting that, or if they decide it isn’t “news” unless they really really can’t ignore it.
In totally unrelated news, remember how we all fell in love with Haarshali in Bajrangi Bhaijaan? I don’t know if this new adorable small child will be quite as spectacular, but Salman wants us to think he is. So he is tricking us! Tricking us with his evil mind games! Releasing a video of the audition process where they found his co-star, which means about half a dozen adorable central Asian looking little boys running around and dancing and mugging for the camera.
Okay, Matin Rey is clearly the best out of all these kids. I can see why the cast him. But it’s the cumulative cuteness that really puts this particular video over the top.
dontcallitbollywood 
Salman (or someone in his team) has a good eye for casting the cutest child actors.Not only Harshaali but all the children in Chiller party were well cast.Each of them suited his or her character.And they all had such cute nicknames too -Secondhand aka Lakshman(because he gets all his elder brother Ram’s cast off clothes and toys),Encyclopedia,Panauti…they were a nice bunch.
Speaking about Lakshman, I like the nod to Ramayana in Tubelight.Salman and Sohail are named as Lakshman and Bharat respectively.Just like Bharat in the epic, Salman is toting his elder brother’s shoes with him and firmly believes that his brother will come back.Wouldn’t it have made more sense to name Salman as Bharat and Sohail as Ram?
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I was fascinated by the glimpse we got of the casting session for the kids! They clearly wanted a happy natural child, not one how could perfectly memorize lines. It looked like essentially just a play day, right? Played music, the kids danced, gave them some games, had them pretend to hug someone they really liked, and then naptime. But it let them see how was really mugging for the camera, who was a real extrovert, and just cast that kid.
I hope they do something similar to Bajrangi in terms of the requirements of the performance. It was brilliant to make Haarshali’s character mute, because that way she could just be her natural self and not stumble over dialogue. Maybe in this one they will make him not able to speak Hindi, so he and Salman can communicate mostly through sign language, which would have a similar effect.
For the name thing, I wonder if they went with Lakshman because that way they are less trapped by the epic? Like, if someone is named Ram, I assume he will be banished, call in love, rescue someone, etc. etc. But with Bharat-Lakshman, they can pick and choose a little, keep the shoe thing and Bharat missing his brother, but do whatever they want with the Lakshman character. Plus, it keeps the focus firmly on Salman’s story, “Bharat’s” story, of being left behind. Which is a take we don’t get to see much.
Although, come to think of it, that was Hum Saath Saath Hain too! Salman as Bharat instead of Ram.
On Thu, Jun 22, 2017 at 9:33 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I just want to second the shoutout to Chillar Party — a truly delightful film. But, just for the record, neither Salman nor anyone from his team had anything to with the casting on this one. Salman came in after the film was already made, and decided to “present” it, to give it the added clout of his presence in the promos, etc. (much like the way Karan Johar is the “presenter” of Bahubali, not producer nor distributor)
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It doesn’t look like your predictions for Tubelight are going to come true. The film is really struggling in both India and overseas.
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Interesting! Well, hopefully this will be a lesson, a big name star and big promotional campaign and big release date can’t guarantee an opening if the film isn’t very good.
I still bet it will be high at the American box office, just because the American audience is sooooooooo predictable. And it really is dominating screens here, if I want to see a movie for Eid, this is it.
On Fri, Jun 23, 2017 at 1:41 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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