Happy Sunday! I got my coffee, I got my little dog snuggled against me, I am all set to enjoy this lovely film with y’all. Unless no one shows up within the first 15 minutes in which case I cancel and do something else 🙂
Continue readingOne of the lucky few DCIB readers who met Shahrukh in real life described the sensation as like Christmas morning. So it makes total sense to call an SRK movie a “Christmas movie”. Right? Or at least, I think it makes sense to all DCIBians.
Continue readingI have a friend who had a really sucky week so, for Friend Movie Night this week, I want to pick something that has really truly NOTHING sad in it. And it’s HARD!!!
Continue readingHappy Happy Saturday! And SRK day!!! What a wonderful start to the day/weekend, spending the morning with SRK.
Continue readingI have DECIDED!!!! We are doing Chennai Express, and we are doing Saturday morning. Because it is what I want and all the world is cold and grey around me, so I get to do what I want. Also, my dog is too skinny.
Continue readingThe movie is selected, Courtney’s campaigning and my own heart told me what to do. But when do we watch it????
Continue readingSo much snow! Cannot go outside, cannot drive anywhere, can’t even take out the trash that is piling up in my kitchen (yes, it is gross, but breaking my leg trying to go down the backsteps is also gross). Let’s cheer me up and take me out of myself!
Continue readingOooo, only 8 films left! And 6 of them have full scene by scenes in my archives. I think I better start cranking through these posts a bit faster.
Continue readingYou ready for how rumpled I am today? I have retreated to online quizzes! I never do online quizzes. Like really, never. But something about watching a happy sitcom and methodically answering questions about myself is really nice.
Continue readingIt’s also Mahesh Babu’s birthday, so I put up a review of a movie I disliked for him. Now to balance, a review of a movie I liked!
Continue readingShoot, I just wrote and posted Deepika’s 101 a few weeks back. And while she’s had good songs, that’s not where she shines the most so a “songs post” doesn’t really fit. But I think I can do a post talking about her best roles.
Continue readingI always remembered this as a really good movie, but I hadn’t watched it straight through in a few years and thought maybe I was mis-remembering. No, it really is a really good movie!
Continue readingI am possibly, maybe, beginning to overdose on Shahrukh love. Not totally, but I am at least ready to try making fun of him a little. In a loving way.
Well, this has been a fascinating journey! I’m kind of tempted to do another series on, like, Shahrukh action films or something. (part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here)
Did that sound mean? Â That sounded kind of mean, didn’t it? Â Well, I don’t care, I’m seeing Arjit Singh tonight and you aren’t, nah-nah-na-nah-nah (is that how that is spelled?). Â And so you can be extra jealous, here is a reminder of why Arjit is so cool.
Notice how I put the really exciting picture at the top so we would remember why this really matters?
So, currently, the highest Shahrukh movie on the all time gross list for India is number 5. Â NUMBER 5!!! Â The shame of it! Â Ahead of him is PK, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Bahubali, and Dhoom 3. Â The whole list is here on wikipedia.
Now, you know what all these films have in common?  They are all from the past 5 years.  And the film at the top is usually from within the past 2 years.  In America, we are used to that, the top grossers are always fairly recent, but in India that wasn’t always the case.  Mother India set a box office record in 1957 that stayed in place for 3 years until Mughal-E-Azam surpassed it in 1960.  Mughal-E-Azam held the record until Sholay beat it in 1975.  Sholay  held the record until Hum Aapke Hain Koun came along in 1994.  Hum Aapke Hain Koun was toppled quickly by DDLJ in 1995.  Then DDLJ lost it’s crown to Kuch Kuch Hota Hai in 1998.  That record held until 2001 when it was beaten by both Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham and Gadar: Ek Prem Katha.  Gadar held the record until 3 Idiots in 2009, at which point everyone breathed a sigh of release because they could start pretending Gadar never happened (very very problematic messages in that film).  And then 3 Idiots held the record for a long time, by a big big margin, until it was finally beaten by Chennai Express in 2013.  All Shahrukh fans cheered and celebrated and laughed in the faces of their Aamir-fan friends, or at least that’s what I did.  Truly, it was a magical time!
(Shahrukh, take a bow! Â You earned it!)
And then about 2 months later, Dhoom 3 came out and Aamir was on top again. Â It stayed up there for a year, until PK came out, and then Aamir had the two top spots. Â PK is still up there, but Bajrangi Bhaijaan did really well this summer and came close to beating it. Â And Bahubali, of course, is a huge deal since it is the only non-Hindi film up there (although it was distributed by a Bombay based production house, Dharma, which is very important in terms of overseas awareness and national reach in India).
So, on the micro-level, this just means we all need to buy as many tickets for Dilwale as humanly possible in order to return Shahrukh to his rightful ranking. Â I don’t care if you are actually seeing Star Wars, you buy your ticket for Dilwale!!!
But on a macro-level, in terms of global trends, economics, and the future of the industry, what does all of this mean and where does it come from?
dontcallitbollywood 