Happy Wednesday! Time to talk Bahubali 2! Or maybe something else, have you been watching anything different? Because I haven’t! 3rd watch in theaters last night.
Well, I haven’t really been watching much of anything, because every second of free time has gone to apartment hunting. I found the absolutely perfect place over the weekend (and $100 under my budget! I would actually be saving $50 a month over what I pay now), except that I kind of want to get a dog at some point, and it doesn’t allow pets. I put a hold on it, so at least I will have somewhere to move, but I still have hopes of finding a pet friendly place.
I haven’t been reading much of anything either. Really, all I have been doing is driving back and forth to apartment showings, and then coming home and watching Murder She Wrote while I pack boxes.
dontcallitbollywood 
I was going to see BB2 for the fourth and final time on Sunday in a non-IMAX version (to get the trailers and the Telugu intermission notice) — my last chnce. Unfortunately I got sick and couldn’t go. I’m still in recovery mode, but I’m debating if I want to see it one more time in IMAX. It’s not that I felt a need to see it one more time when I left the theater last time, but, as I read all the discussions of it here and elsewhere, people keep mentioning little details that I didn’t notice, so I feel like I should go and check it out again, and see the coronation scene on the big screen one last time. 🙂
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I know what you mean! I saw it for the 3rd time, and there were certain scenes I was particularly watching for because of our conversations here. Really, the producers should be giving me a cut of the ticket sales for hosting a conversation place 🙂
On Wed, May 10, 2017 at 8:24 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Trailer of first Punjabi super hero movie is out
Although, I am not too thrilled by it. A lot of scences in the trailer are copied from man of steel.
Even Diljit’s costume is copied from man of Steel. But every superhero is derived from Batman or Superman. It is too heavy on comedy. But special effects are pretty good for a punjabi movie. My collegues were discussing about flying Jatt. I said that this movie would have been better with Diljit. I am keeping my fingers crossed. But this movie can be path breaking. Its trailer also didnt give any detail in the movie.
Please give your reviews
In the spirit of Game of Thrones. I am changing my name from King of Punjab to King in the north. The white wolf
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Songs of Lahoriye are making waves. They are really good. Emotional and melidious. It is good that Amrinder Gill has sung his own songs here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb63LbmzLCE
Looks like movie will be hit.
Unfortunately, It is really difficult for me to watch movies now in theatres. I will haVE TO wait to watch it on TV.
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My Lahoriye post is awaiting moderation
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I also saw a movie named Ardaas. It is a good movie with good messages.
It was almost unbelivable that Gippy Grewal wrote it, directed it and produced it
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Did I write something wrong? All my comments are awaiting moderation.
Did I offend you or anyone for any reason?
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No, it’s because you changed your name so the system doesn’t recognize you and I have to manually approve.
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Okay.
I had to change. I have changed my name in every social network. I do it during Game of Thrones season.
Please review my comments.
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Oh it’s no problem, they are all approved now. You just had to wait for me to get to a computer and see that they were pending, and they were approved right away.
On Wed, May 10, 2017 at 9:14 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Last week I watched:
Kali – I’ve already written that I like it. Few days ago I also checked Sai Pallavi on wikipedia, and I’m shocked that she made only 3 movies, and Kali was he second or third movie. She is so talented!
Rockstar – really didn’t plan to watch it but I was obsessed lately with Kun Faaya Kun song. I saw this song so many times on youtube, and I was curious why Ranbir is thrown from his house and must live in temple. What can I say? Basically its Tamasha meets Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. Maybe if I hadn’t seen both those movies few months ago I would liked it more. Or maybe if Nargis Fakhri had known how to act, or maybe if lady who dubed for her hadn’t so annoying voice..(btw why Imitaz have thought it’s a good idea to cast a girl who neither can act nor speak hindi? Doesn’t it cost more to dub her, and shoot her many times?) I put her on my “to avoid at any cost” list just under Katrina Kaif and Shraddha.
I started watching Oru Indian Pranayakadha, but I’m stuck in the middle. Thought it will be funnier.
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I had the same reaction to Oru Indian. It’s fine, it’s fun, but it didn’t knock my socks off in any way. Pleasant time-pass.
I have never seen Rockstar, although I love the soundtrack. The only reason I kind of want to watch it is because it was Shammi Kapoor’s last performance, opposite his great-nephew, and the little clips I have seen of them together look really beautiful. The plot is based on a Punjabi tragic folklore romance, like Mirzya. A different one, and it wasn’t as heavily promoted, but most reviewers picked up on it. Which meant the whole second half had this kind of weight of tragedy on it since everyone knew how it was going to end. As for Nargis, yeaaaah. I’m assuming they wanted a slightly foreign actress because it is easier for the audience to accept promiscuity and stuff like that from someone they know isn’t “really” Indian. So I will allow the casting an unknown and dubbing her voice decision. But surely he could have found a better Indian-heritage New York actress than Nargis Farkhri!
On Wed, May 10, 2017 at 10:55 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I didn’t know Rockstar is based on tragic romance. If I knew , I would never watched it. SPOILERS
I hate stories when woman dies . And why it’s always the girl who fall ill? I have health anxiety, and I try my best to avoid everything illnes related. I just can’t watch it. I hate when movie makers deceive me. Like with Katti Batti: I thought “Posters are so cheerful, it will be fun”
So if there all other movies with hidden deaths of women, pleas tell me.
ADHM : “Oh, Karan’s movie about friendship and love, I’m sure it will be good”
Rockstar: ” “Movie about guy who want to be a rockstar. There can be some self destruction, but I don’t think somebody will die”
And Ranbir was soooo stupid in this movie. He wasn’t able to make one thing right. It wasn’t even real tragedy, because it wasn’t fate, but his stupidity who killed the girl. I don’t really know what to think about Rockstar. It wasn’t bad, but wasn’t good either. Like Tamasha – Imitaz wanted to give us deeper message, but it is not so deep like he thought. It could be much better.
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Here is the love story it is based on:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heer_Ranjha
I first ran across it because of the “Heer” song in Jab Tak Hain Jaan, which is also my favorite song from that movie. The refrain is, essentially, “I am tired of being Heer, I want to be Sahiba and you to be Mirzya”. Because of what you complain about, Ranbir doesn’t DO anything! Ranjha in the original lets his girlfriend be married off and then goes and wanders around until he finds her again. Mirzya kidnaps her from her wedding. Both of them end tragically, but at least Mirzya tried something!
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I watched Heer- Ranjha last year, 1992 version with Anil Kapoor and Sridevi. Man, this movie was so sloooow. It was like old theatrical spectacle. Now when you told me, Rockstar indeed have much in common with Heer-Ranjha. And the girl’s name in the movie is Heer too.
Btw somethimes I surprise myself with odd movies I chose. I still haven’t watched Fan, but have seen Heer-Ranjha or this boring malayalam movie White. I should work on my movie choices 😉
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Sridevi is about as far as you could get from my conception of Heer! So energetic and healthy and happy. What an odd casting choice.
I would recommend Fan over Rockstar, I think, but it is not an easy watch. Don’t feel bad for putting it off.
On Wed, May 10, 2017 at 4:28 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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You may not be able to enjoy oru indian pranayakatha without understanding political situations in kerala.First half is trolling kerala congress party.Second half is a typical romcom.Most people liked first Half only
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Ditto. Some of it is cultural.The political shennanigans are amusing to those of us who see it everyday- on newspapers on TV etc.You have to know these people to enjoy them onscreen. The ridiculous things they are willing to do, the ignorance,the pettiness.That’s the key to enjoying Sathyan Anthicad’s movies.Same with Jomonte Suvisheshangal (Joemon’s Gospel).For eg, in Oru Indian Pranayakatha, there’s the ignorant Congressman played by Innocent who appears on every TV debate but does not know anything about the subject he’s going to speak,Muthumani’s up-coming young politician who got her chance thanks to her dad being a Member of Parliament.The scene where she tries to charm the hero’s mother by asking her the recipe for Tapioca is hilarious because we know the context.In Jomonte Suviseshangal there’s again Innocent as the Mayor’s husband who takes bribes on her behalf,The doctor who dabbles in real estate, the daughter who keeps count of every favor,every penny she spends on her family.We enjoy these movies more because we meet them daily, heck they are us.Sathyan pokes fun gently at us and our preconceptions.Of course these days Sathyan does not know how to wrap things up – to give a proper climax.The movie just ends abruptly in a feel good note.
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I saw Raja Hindustani over the weekend, which I loved! I’ve never been a huge Karisma Kapoor fan, but I actually really liked her performance in RH.
I also just checked out Deewar from the library, so I’m excited to watch some classic Amitabh & Shashi!
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Karisma is so great! But she had to be in a bunch of really terrible films that didn’t let her shine. If you want more good Karisma performances, check out Biwi No. 1, Jaanwar, Judwaa, Andaz Apna Apna. Or maybe you’ve seen those and don’t like her in them, in which case ignore my advice 🙂 Oh, and of course Dil To Pagal Hai!
Deewar is SO GOOD. But, the subtitles can’t really capture the dialogue. If you have any Hindi at all, pump up the sound and focus to try to get the deeper meaning to them. Also, be prepared to not care AT ALL about the young romance plot.
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Thanks for the recs! I really wasn’t sure where to start with Karisma because like you said some of her work looks really terrible, so I’ve stayed away, but I’m def adding these to my to-watch list along with Jeet, which at the very least promises some terrible Sunny Deol dancing! I did like Karisma in DTPH, but I LOVE Madhuri, so I’m afraid she always suffers a bit in comparison.
And thanks for the heads up about Deewar 🙂
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Jeet is so great! Not the kind of plot/movie you would expect at all. But it’s also a very early Karisma, the stand out actress for me from that was Tabu. Who has a smaller role, but does a better job with it.
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Did some one say Jeet? I cant stop. It is a really good movie. Sunny Deol is so badass in it. I loved his scences. I will say that non Sunny Deol scenes were pretty much unwatchable for me.
His dialogues were good but his silent acting was also good. Best reaction for one sided lovers.
Only Sunny Deol made this movie great.
My friends teased me with this movie. And I was asked to reanct a scence from this movie on my farewell.
What other Sunny Deol movies u like?
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Sorry to be late to the party, but this is the very last week of classes and it is killing me. But I did watch Koyla (third time) and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, which had me crying repeatedly, and I am not usually a crier. But it is such a sad lesson to learn, the value of friendship. The weirdest thing is that I usually do not like Ranbir Kapoor all that much, but I thought he was so good in this. And I always love Anushka. I would love to see Baahubali again, especially after NPR Morning Edition had a little news item about it.
http://www.npr.org/2017/05/10/527720100/indian-film-baahubali-2-is-breaking-box-office-records
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Oh, they are going to get COMMENTS! You do not say that the Telugu industry is the “underdog” compared to the Hindi industry without getting comments. A lesson I learned the hard way!
Was this your first time seeing ADHM? Was that the one that came out while you were traveling and you missed it? It’s really an amazing movie, isn’t it? Especially for a big stars Karan Johar movie. It’s got the Karan touches with the songs and the sappy bits. But it is not at all the plot you think it will be, and the message is not the message you think it will be either.
Koyla is just a blast! Oh, and that’s one of the movies that I had to come back and think about again after reading the Subhadra legend. A woman who fell in love with Arjun from hearing about him/seeing a portrait. Her father wanted to marry her to someone else, but her brother wanted her to marry Arjun, and Arjun ended up kidnapping her with her brother’s blessing. Anyway, once I read that all those movies where the older brother gives his blessing for the romance against the wishes of the elders of the family had a new resonance. Beyond the regular resonance of “well, that’s what happens, the person of your own generation understands you better”.
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Yes, ADHM came out when I was in Nebraska on research last fall, and was only playing in Denver and Omaha, with me halfway between. As for Koyla, I may have to own it. I don’t even hate Jonny Lever in it.
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So, I had a vacation last week, and I (1) Finished Iti Mrinalini, which I enjoyed. I even thought of a drinking game: Spot Ranvir Shorey. Seriously, he keeps drifting through and saying a word or two, and a couple of times he just walks through the background. He should be wearing a T-shirt that says MY MOTHER-IN-LAW DIRECTED THIS MOVIE AND MY WIFE’S IN IT TOO.
And I also rewatched Bajirao Mastani, but the bigger news is that I finally got to see Dear Zindagi! Yay SRK in a beard and mental health professionals in movies honoring their ethical standards!! I’ve been working my way through your posts on it, and one thing you mentioned is the same thing that struck me: Alia’s trauma is just the right amount of trauma for a movie of this weight. (This is the problem I always had with Monsoon Wedding: Yippee! Happy Punjabi wedding! Singing and dancing and–wait, what?) This is not only positive for dramatic reasons, but also in terms of the social message: you can get help for anything that is making you less happy than you could be. You don’t have to be seriously messed up.
I also loved the whole rest of the cast and I sort of wish Gauri did a movie series which focuses on the each member in succession. (Ooh! Maybe Jackie winds up with Raghuvendra after the engagement which is clearly a rebound and will never last! ) I loved Jackie and Fatty and for a while I was thinking of them as Alia’s id and superego, but when her superego gets pregnant and she goes to stay with her id the metaphor sort of breaks down. And how great was Angad Bedi in that tiny role, with happiness and shock and sadness floating across his face? I would like to see him in a whole movie where he’s the hero and also I would like to give him a hug.
The ending is perfect! It was out for so long that I knew they wouldn’t end up together but I was afraid of a big “I love you but it can never be!” type deal. And Shahrukh really is careful about ethics, not even having a coffee with her after the session. It’s refreshing to see. I number two Indian mental health professionals among my friends and acquaintances and this film honors the work and spreads the message.
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Jackie could do SO MUCH BETTER than Raghuvendra! Unless Raghu has a huge change of heart and turns into a humble guy who worships his perky young wife.
I like the id and superego idea, to bad it breaks down. But I also feel like half the time that’s how 3 female friendships work. One is the responsible one, one is the fun one, and one is the in between one. I know that’s how it usually works for me!
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I have watched Bahubali 2 twice in local theaters (ours is a small town and no IMAX). I have plans to take my mom to watch it in theater. Then I will re-watch it again and again when it releases in DVD.
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Bahubali has the addictive power of taking audience to a different world for several days. Their brain keeps rerunning this movie. So audience should be cautioned upfront that they should have resistance power instead of getting carried away by it’s emotions…unless they don’t mind sitting on the emotional roller coaster for longer.
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I absolutely agree. I felt absolutely swept up for the next day or two. I think my friends got tired of me working it into every conversation.
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I could use your advice on this one. I saw the original when it came out nearly two years ago, and I enjoyed it–but it’s not as if I remember much detail. I mean, I don’t even remember much about the movie I saw last month–whatever movie that might have been. Can I get away without rewatching “The Beginning” before I go to see “The Conclusion?” I had some time to go to the theater last week to see this, but I passed because of my concern. Maybe I should just read the original’s Wikipedia entry to catch up, what do you think? =)
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You should read my posts! I did two longish posts on B1 a couple weeks back for just this situation. They go over the plot in some detail, plus analysis.
Generally speaking, B1 and B2 are made more as partner movies than a sequel and original. You should know what happens in both of them, but you could watch B2 and then B1 just as easily as doing it the other way around. Also, there is a little bit over the opening credits to remind you what happened in the last film. And a voice over as well. They want the audience to be situated and follow what is happening.
On Thu, May 11, 2017 at 11:06 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Thank you! =D
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I’m in a bit of a movie watching slump. There have been no new releases that I have access to and I’m bummed. I did watch The Reluctant Fundamentalist with Riz Ahmed and it was typical Mira Nair. Interesting but underdeveloped somehow. Shabana Azmi and Om Puri where hardly used at all…a waste of talent. But I did really like the Peter Gabriel and Atif Aslam song at the end. The Ghazi Attack was the last Indian movie I’ve watched and that was a couple of weeks ago! I have a few classics that I’ll probably try this weekend.
I’m patiently waiting for the DVD releases of Badrinath and Dangal and I feel like they keep getting pushed back. Is there something up with the DVD release and distribution system in India? It used to be that the DVD release would be sooner than in the States…like 2 months or less. Now it takes forever!
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I’ve been noticing the same thing about the DVDs, and my local store said that they’ve been getting word that it is coming, and then it gets pushed back again. So its not just a sales technique to get us excited, they really are changing release dates last minute even for wholesalers.
I suspect two reasons, firstly the concern with issuing the DVDs while it is still in theaters (Dangal just started playing in China this week). And secondly, that they have to time it after streaming now. It seems like the pattern is theaters-streaming-DVDs. So there’s an extra gap squeezed in between theaters and DVDs now.
On Fri, May 12, 2017 at 10:14 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Talking of Dangal in China, have you been following the box office reports? They somehow seem unreal to me (in the “fake news” sense). A part of that could be due to the fact that there’s a clear agenda to downgrade Bahubali (and let’s face it, it must be so galling to have your moment of triumph all perfectly planned, only to have this upstart “regional” film come and wipe out all previous records and rewrite box office history so completely, rendering everything and everyone else moot). But beyond that, I just have trouble believing that so many screens are available to Dangal in China, especially when apparently there is a big Chinese release at the same time. I’m also having a hard time trying to understand what in Dangal would appeal to a Chinese audience (unlike, say, 3 Idiots, where the commonality of the educational grind would make the film immediately accessible and appealing). On top of that there were earlier reports I read about China’s policy of restricting both the number of foreign films and the number of screens available to them (as well as the run duration) so as not to affect Chinese productions; and now I’m reading that they have a very different type of distribution set up there, where most of the money grossed stays with the Chinese distributor, and only a small fraction , like 1%, actually comes back to the producer. Putting all these factors together, I find it very hard to believe that the film is “making” $100 million there in two weeks (as it is expected), or has already made $40 million, or whatever. And that’s without getting into the issue of how reliable Chinese currency conversions are. 🙂 So what do you think about all this? Is Aamir just trying to wrest the success narrative back to his own film, or has there indeed been a breakthrough into a humongous new market for Hindi/Indian films?
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You are very smart! In the Hollywood news, people are just beginning to put the numbers together and realize that the Chinese market may be a bit of a mirage. As in, Chinese distributors are grossly exaggerating the box office numbers that they report. Which anyone could have figured out, like you did, just from common sense. There aren’t that many screens available, the ticket prices are pretty cheap, and why would the audience be flocking to all these movies that have nothing to do with them?
I don’t think it’s something specific to Dangal though. I think there’s been a Chinese release for major films for a while now, including Bajrangi Bhaijaan I think and Baahubali 1. But I also think the Chinese might have been exaggerating the figures for all of them.
I could see Hindi films having some audience share in China, from my research there’s always been some back and forth (often illegal bootlegs), so the Chinese audience would be somewhat familiar with Hindi films and open to them. But I don’t know if I believe this huge box office blast.
Even if it is true, it’s got less to do with the quality of the film than the distribution. China giving them that many screens and letting it play so widely. Dangal won the golden ticket (probably because of its Disney connections, Disney is heavily into the Chinese market already), but any film that got so many screens would probably do similar business.
On Fri, May 12, 2017 at 11:00 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Thanks, I forgot about the Disney connection, or more correctly, didn’t realize it was there till discussion on this Chinese collections came up. Regarding previous Indian film releases, the point being made about Dangal is how it is smashing all previous collections for Indian films. So, whereas a Bajrangi or even Bahubali 1, or even 3 Idiots, made say, $3-5 million lifetime, we now have Dangal which is making that much and more *per day.* Yes, Disney would have some effect, but I’m frankly surprised that even Disney would have so much penetration.
For the present, I’ll just take all these Chinese numbers under advisement, and wait for the dust to settle to determine what the final figures are.
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The Dangal news is just becoming ridiculous now. From making $3 million on its first day, now supposedly it’s making $14 million/day, and is expected to make $130 million by the end of the second week. Now I’m getting these numbers from an Aamir fan posting them at another blog, but he is giving links to some Chinese Box office site, so I suppose he’s not just making them up. BUT — I can’t help noticing that the Chinese box office talk really ramped up as soon as Bahubali approached Rs.1000 cr worldwide. Since then this constant hyping of Dangal, and now it’s poised, supposedly, to overtake Bahubali’s worldwide numbers, and there are some articles on how Dangal is the “first” Bollywood film to gross Rs. 1000cr worldwide. I guess Bahubali doesn’t count since it’s not “really” a Bollywood film. So there’s definitely an agenda to bring down Bahubali at work here, which really makes it difficult to determine how accurate all these numbers are. It supposedly surpassed Dangal’s India lifetime total a day or two ago. But is that really the future that should be celebrated by Bollywood? Should they now start making films to attract the Chinese audience, the way they were making films to attract the US/UK audience a few years ago? I’m truly baffled by this turn of events, and would appreciate any comments you want to weigh in with.
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It reminds me a lot of the Krrish 3 versus Chennai Express numbers. No one believed the Krrish 3 numbers because they just didn’t make sense. It was a good movie with a wide release, but those box office figures did not add up. They were still reported, because the producers were issuing them and you don’t want to straight up say “you’re lying”, but they didn’t make sense. And they aren’t usually included in the global records lists for Indian film in the years since. And it felt kind of like they were trying to take the Chennai Express news cycle. Not that the point was to lie about the figures, but the point was that every news article which mentioned Chennai Express also had to mention Krrish 3. Just like every news article that mentions Bahubali 2 now has to mention Dangal.
In terms of the reliability of the numbers, there is no comparison. The North American ticket counting system is incredibly accurate and specific. If Baahubali 2 is reported as #3 in America, that is rock solid fact. The only inaccuracies possible are theaters who don’t report at all. Meaning the ticket sales could be even higher, but not possibly lower.
For Chinese numbers, I have no idea where it comes from, but I just can’t imagine that it is as reliable as the North American system. Especially since, as I mentioned before, Hollywood has begun to doubt those numbers themselves. I wonder if that is why China is possibly artificially inflating the Dangal figures? A bit of gamesmanship to get the attention of the American companies, showing them that they have a rival in the market?
Or, it could just be because Tubelight is about to release, and it is a co-production. Boost these figures, and we will be quicker to believe false Tubelight figures. And more Indian producers will be eager to sign on for co-productions.
So I guess I would say that the Chinese might be/are lying about the figures for their own reasons. And the Indian producers are spreading it around as much as possible just to try to ride the publicity wave of Bahubali 2 (not because they actually think these numbers will stand up to scrutiny). I assume the Dangal satellite premier/streaming/DVD release will be coming soon and they want to boost interest in advance.
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It does seem like an agenda at work especially seeing the headings – Watch out Baahubali 2, a new superhit is in town. And, stuff to that effect. I mean, why put down one to get the other one noticed? I am especially upset that when Baahubali2 did well initially it was an ‘Indian’ film. Now that Dangal is getting up there with the BO records, its suddenly become all about a ‘Bollywood’ film. 😐 The media folks really need to take a chill-pill! I am just happy for everyone and really glad that the folks associated with Baahubali seem to have their feet firmly on the ground and their heads screwed on straight.
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Dangal in particular is not a film that I like going up against Bahubali. It has an American producer, and minimal “Indian” touches to the filming. No real big dance sequence, no romance, nothing that marks it as uniquely “Indian”. Whereas Bahubali is so Indian it couldn’t possibly be from anywhere else! So I don’t know why the media is jumping on the Dangal story, you would think they would be proud of their local film, not the film that is so much less interesting.
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I like the Chennai Express Krish 3 comparison. I think that’s a fair analogy to what’s going on here. Except now, instead of not including the “Krish” numbers (i.e., Dangal), most of the box office sites are just skipping the Bahubali numbers. Indicine has just published an article calling Dangal as having the highest worldwide gross by a significant lead over all other leads. So I took a look at the article, and it has Dangal on top, with $55 million worldwide — but, just below that, they have an article that Bahubali 2 has collected $100 million just in North America, which is the highest of any Indian film! In the Dangal article, they listed all the top world wide grossing films, and guess what, Bahubali 2 is not in that list at all. Instead, they list all “Bollywood” films. At other places there is apparently arguments/debates going on whether BB2 should even be called a Bollywood film, since it is dubbed. It’s like a directive went out from Aamir to all the trade sites (and I mean the reputable ones like Indicine and Bollywood Hungama) to stop writing about Bahubali 2 and only focus on Dangal.
Margaret, all those reasons why you don’t like Dangal or think it’s an Indian film, are the reasons why the Indian media are praising it to the skies as pointing the way to what Indian films “should” become in the future. And of course, more articles are coming from the usual suspects about how Bahubali is such a terrible film and is setting back Indian cinema.
One point I want to make about these Chinese collections to the worldwide total to Dangal. When Bollywood trade sites report a film’s earnings, they report what’s called the nett (sic) gross from India (total sales minus entertainment tax), but the total gross from outside India. So already they are mixing up different types of numbers. And the verdict in India is based on “distributor’s share”, which is some fraction of that nett gross. So they are reporting the gross collections from China and adding it to the previously reported numbers for Dangal. But the key difference about Chinese grosses is that, most of that collection is kept with the Chinese distributor, and the producer only gets a miniscule percentage of it. The number I’ve read is 1-2% of the gross, compared to roughly 50% from every other country except India. So all these collections that everyone is orgasming over for Dangal may add very little to its producer. At the same time, people are now trotting out that Bahubali 1 “flopped” in China, not realizing that this verdict is based on what the producer actually got back — which, being miniscule, very likely didn’t make up for their costs of distribution. But I wonder if that will be followed up at any time in the future.
BTW, if Dangal is completely produced by Disney, are its numbers being reported on any American box office site, like Box Office Mojo or others?
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My understanding is that most producers make very little money off of the box office, because they sell the distribution rights for a flat rate. Not all, Rajshri has always distributed for itself, and Yash Raj and Dharma are beginning to as well, and of course Red Chillies launched their distribution wing with Dilwale. So I always read the box office figures more as a mark of popularity of the film, and star power of the actors, than for the actual profit they will be making people. At least, immediate profit.
Which just makes the Chinese numbers more pointless. Because if Dangal does great in China, that’s nice for the Chinese distributors, but it doesn’t mean that any Indian distributor/production house is going to see any benefit in giving Aamir’s next movie a bigger budget. Or that Aamir has any greater popularity than already known among the Indian audience. The only message it has is, again, for Tubelight, which is being produced in China. Maybe this is an internal thing? They are trying to justify the Tubelight experiment by quoting false figures to their own government? But both those things are very much true for Bahubali! It is HUGELY significant for what it says about audience taste, both nationally and internationally, and what kind of a budget and opportunities the stars and filmmakers will get from now on. And that is the story that really should be covered.
And i totally get what you mean about Dangal and the future of Indian film! Another time the box office stories seemed off to me was Bajirao versus Dilwale. Bajirao did better than expected in a lot of ways, but Dilwale made as much or more money in the various international. Only Dilwale was a silly embarrassing movie, and the narrative people wanted to run with was that Bajirao, with the dramatic respectable historical plot, was breaking new ground overseas. So there were lots of stories about Bajirao, and Dilwale was swept under the carpet.
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I finally found an article in Variety.com which gave an update on Dangal (as of a couple of days ago), which is basically reporting the Chinese box office numbers that everyone else is, without comment or elaboration.
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I think you must be right about the streaming in-between slowing things down. I just started watching Waqt.
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Hey! How’d your introduction to Indian movies party go? Did you end up going with Ram Leela?
I’m waiting for Badrinath too! By the way, this is T.J Stevens 🙂
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Hi T.J! I did end up going with Ram Leela and it definitely held most everyone’s interest. There were the usual expressions of confusion and awe when you introduce the newbies. Everyone loved Ram’s entrance and Leela’s evil mom. Many were talking about other Romeo & Juliet adaptations and comparing them.
I’m looking forward to a smaller group next time!
In addition to Badrinath and Dangal, I’m also waiting for Rangoon and Phillauri!
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Ugh, Rangoon. Yay, Phillauri!
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That’s great! I still haven’t seen Ram-Leela though it’s been on my watchlist for a while now.
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I watched Ek Niranjan again since we ended up talking about it. It was decent but I think you might like it since you liked Bujjigadu. Barring an unnecessary comedy track, it’s a pretty fun time pass movie. It does have an interesting ending though. Ek Niranjan is on youtube with subtitles if you want to check it out 🙂
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I still haven’t written up Robot, because it’s been two weeks of all Bahubali. If I do that next Tuesday, I can watch Ek Niranjan for the Tuesday after next! Oh, and that’s the one where we get to see Kangana and Prabhas on screen together.
On Fri, May 12, 2017 at 4:31 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yup that’s the one!
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Did you get a chance to see a 2007’s Manoj Bajpai war drama, called 1971? His acting skill in the movie is by far, for me, the best I have seen. The movie is based on a true story and pretty well directed. I guess the movie is not available on Einthusan, but I think it is uploaded on Dailymotion.
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I’ll have to see if I can find it.
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