A big thank you to everyone who participated in the Contest held yesterday on the special occasion of the completion of 75 weeks of Fenil’s Bollywood Talk. Unfortunately, only 6 people submitted their answers. It would be great if even others had given a try. But no probs, as I got so many wishes and congratulatory messages. It made my day!

The best part is that all the 6 participants-Piyush (tictactoe), Akhilesh (k_akhilesh), face value (face_it), Syd (sydbarett), Simran (kaumudi_n) and Sidz (Sidz_B) gave the correct answer which is ‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!’! The dialogue (“Bete aisa kar. Sirf Paneer Pakode le. 5 piece aayenge. Dhai-dhai khaa lena dono log baant ke. Ya tum teen aur ye do. Apni apni capacity hoti hai! Heh heh!”) is spoken by the waiter (Rajiv Gaur) to the teenaged Lucky (Manjit Singh) when the latter goes to a posh restaurant with his so-called girlfriend (who was called ‘greeting card wali’ by Lucky’s pals in the film!). I chose this dialogue as it was a very funny and quite realistic scene. In fact, I thoroughly loved the first 20 minutes of the film the most as it throws light creatively on the Lucky’s teenaged life.

‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!’ was released last year (at the time when the Bolly talk completed 25 weeks!). The lead actor of the film was Abhay Deol, known for doing path-breaking and out of the box films. The film received 4 Filmfare Awards including Best Actor (Critics) to Manjit Singh. The lead actress of the film, Neetu Chandra, was embroiled in a controversy earlier this year due to her hot photoshoot. And Abhay Deol appeared inDev D, a radical film, which became the craze of the nation for quite a long time!

Since all the participants won, all will get a prize. Since Piyush was the first one to quickly submit his answer, he’ll get a bigger prize! Akhilesh’s M2M came 4 minutes late or else he would have been the first one! Anyways, CONGRATS TO THE WINNERS AND THANKS A TON FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION!

And lastly, I was really impressed to see Mr Faisal’s appreciative comment in my yesterday’s DP! Thanks a lot…your presence and your wonderful comments meant a lot to me!

AND READ THE 75TH BOLLYWOD TALK HERE

WILL KURBAAN WORK @ THE BO?

For the first time, a nice decent film is releasing around my birthday time! Every year, either no film releases or crap films hit the screens during my birthday. Last year, Yuvvraaj had released! Thankfully, this year, Kurbaan, one of the most anticipated films of the year, is releasing 2 days before my birthday! Sorry to do such kind of a publicity of my birthday but I wanted to share this piece of joy!

Speaking about the film, the film is produced by Karan Johar but still the film looks so ‘UnJoharish’! Unlike past films of Karan Johar, the film is gritty, is based on terrorism and looks violent and thrilling. Notice the film’s look in the promos-arent the visuals top-class and doesn’t the film look completely like a Western film?

The film is directed by debutant Rensil D’Silva who had written Rang De Basanti. The film stars the hottest couple in Bollywood-Saif Ali Khan andKareena Kapoor. Kareena, like everytime, looks stunning and even Saif looks great in his new look. Besides, the film also has Vivek Oberoi who unfortunately is being sidelined. He is absent in the film’s posters and is seen only for nanoseconds in the film’s promo. According to Johar, this is purposefully done so that people don’t get an impression that Kurbaan is a love triangle. Rensil says showing any scene of Vivek will give away the suspense of the film. Point taken but then why isn’t he’s a part of promotional events of the film like interviews and all? What I feel is-if Vivek’s role is so special, they should have not revealed his presence in the film before the film’s release, just like how no one knew about Salman’s presence in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (there are many such instances). Flashing him for a second in the teaser doesn’t look good.

Notwithstanding this, the film’s promotion has been great. It has been low-key and yet, it has managed to make people curious. The music is fantastic and again very UnJoharish! Songs are haunting and ‘Shukran Allah’ and ‘Kurbaan Hua’ has already become hits.

However, although the film looks great in the promos, it should be a well-made film to sustain in theatres. According to some reports, the film is made on a huge cost. It might be difficult to recover the cost, keeping in mind the adult certificate it has received from the Censor Board.

6 days back, the Shiv Sena raised a hue over the poster of Kurbaan. They feel that Kareena showing her bare back is indecent and is against Indian culture. This is just another publicity stunt by a political party to be in news. Their argument is meaningless as if we look at the poster, then anyone can figure that Kareena’s complete back isn’t shown-more than half of it is darkened. Hence, it is useless hullaballoo and nothing! Grow up, you fools!
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ONE STORY; TWO NEWS!

I was pleasantly amused to read about item girl Shefali Jariwala’s police complaint article in Times of India and Mumbai Mirror newspaper last Friday. Both papers have given contrastingly different information on this incident that I have shared below:
WHO COMPLAINED?
Acc to Times (TOI): Shefali Jariwala
Acc to Mirror (MM): Shefali Zariwala
COMPLAINED AGAINST WHOM?
TOI: Harmit Guljar
MM: Harmeet Gulzar!

REASON FOR COMPLAINT:
TOI: Hubby Harmit used to harass Shefali for dowry. He used to create problems in her life and assaulted her. He took Rs 20 lakh from her relatives and recently withdrew Rs 30 lakh from his and Shefali’s joint account, without telling her.
MM: Harmeet withdrew Rs 12 lakh from the joint account without informing Shefali. When she demanded an explanation, he assaulted and abused her! (No mention was made on the dowry harassment angle!)

WHO GAVE THE INFO ON THE CASE?
TOI: Additional Police Commissioner (West) Amitabh Gupta
MM: ACP Dilip Suryawanshi and DCP K M M Prasanna!

As you can see, both papers of the same company give such contrasting views to the same story! Let me know what’s your views on this!

P.S.: Notwithstanding this episode, I love Times and Mirror newspapers a lot. I have been reading it since a long time and today, if I am a bit knowledgeable about the world, then it’s due to these newspapers!

TO KNOW THE WINNERS OF THE BOLLYWOOD CONTEST HELD YESTERDAY, CLICK HERE

The longest series on MS, Fenil’s Bollywood Talk just got more special! Tomorrow it is all set to complete 75 Glorious Weeks! Started on June 19, 2008, the bolly talk was posted every single week without fail!

And like the 50th week celebrations, this time a small game kind of thing is organized too! Below I have put a dialogue and you have to guess the name of the film in which this dialogue was used. And if you want to submit your answer, M2M ME YOUR ANSWER. DO NOT POST IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. ANY ANSWER IN THE COMMENTS WILL BE IMMEDIATELY DELETED!

The dialogue is: “Bete aisa kar. Sirf Paneer Pakode le. 5 piece aayenge. Dhai-dhai khaa lena dono log baant ke. Ya tum teen aur ye do. Apni apni capacity hoti hai! Heh heh!”

Some helpful clues:
1. The film was released last year
2. The lead actor is known for doing hatke films and has a considerable fan base
3. Although this wasn’t a huge box office hit, it was seen and loved by many. It also got a couple of Filmfare Awards.
4. The lead actress in the film was embroiled in a controversy earlier this year while the lead actor came up with a radical film in the beginning of the year which became the craze of the nation for some time!

So guess the answer and if you are right, then you’ll get a cool prize! All participants will also get a small gift! Winners will be announced tomorrow in the afternoon!

REMEMBER, M2M ME THE ANSWERS, NO POSTING IT IN THE COMMENTS SECTION!

‘So when will the next terror attack take place?’-scary question isn’t it? Some may tell me not to think of this or ask such dangerous questions, giving the excuse of ‘shubh shubh bolo’. But let’s get real-the terrorists are not going to keep quiet. They are going to attack once again which will like everytime hit us real hard. However, when will they attack is difficult to answer. But based on the past attacks, one thing is for sure-the terrorists use a proper pattern which decides the date of attack, the no of attacks in a year etc. The pattern changes regularly but one thing is for sure-a definite pattern if followed for sure.

I observed that not a single terrorist attack takes place in the year when Lok Sabha (LS) Elections are held. That’s why there were no bombings or any such terrorist attack in the year 2004. This year too LS Elections took place. 11 ½ months have passed since the year began and no untoward incident has happened. So if I am not wrong, then nothing will happen even in the rest of the days of 2009. And surprisingly, maximum terror attacks happen in the year before the LS Elections! 2003 saw 5 terror attacks while in 2008,4 serial blasts took place in 4 different cities and also the unforgettable 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks! Now why such a pattern is followed and whether there is any nexus between politicians and terrorists is difficult to answer.

Also, Mumbai has been the favourite hotspot for terrorists. The best terror attacks are reserved for Mumbai and maximum causalities and death take place almost everytime they attack here. Some info: 209 people died in the 2006 Serial Train Blasts and 183 were killed in 26/11 mayhem.

Now we come to the ‘answerable’ question-how prepared are we to tackle the next terror attack? It’s good to see a good amount of security at Mumbai’s important railway stations, Churchgate and CST. But what is the possibility that terrorists will attack the railway stations once again? This time, they may attack some other spot in a different way. Terrorism thrives on unpredictability. They will attack such a place and in such a way that no one has thought of. For instance, who had imagined in his wildest dreams that terrorists will spray bullets and kill everyone in sight on 26/11 at CST, Leopold Café, Hotel Taj/Trident/Oberoi and a place like Nariman House? So the key is to use every grey cell and come up with every possibility about future attacks.

Let’s think of some possibilities. This time, they may steal a helicopter and throw grenades or fire while it is up in the air. Taking hostage a multiplex screen full of 250 viewers and killing or injuring them or blowing the screen apart can happen. There are lots of such other possibilities and its upto our authorities to think of it and take the needful precautions. It is impossible to foil a terror plan before it is executed but it isn’t difficult to reduce its damages. And if we manage this, there’s a possibility that terrorists may finally abandon targeting India, just like the way they did to US post 9/11. So let’s hope better sense and peace prevails!

Figures taken from breakingnewsonline.com

WHY PEOPLE DOWNLOAD SONGS?

The current scenario for the music industry is bad. Almost everyone is interested in downloading songs from the internet rather than buying audio CDs. A person may be having a strong word against piracy of movies but not against that of songs available on the internet. And there are various reasons for these-a pirated print of a movie may be of bad quality but pirated versions of songs are always perfect. In fact, there’s hardly any difference in quality in the downloaded version and CD version of a song. Secondly, one has to shell out 160 bucks to buy an audio CD but songs on the net are available for free of cost! Also, the songs are on the net are available on the very day that it is released in the market. Thus, this kind of piracy is thriving and people of all classes are downloading songs and stuffing them in their PCs or their phones and iPods.

The reason why I am talking about this is because of Tum Mile, the film which is releasing tomorrow. The wonderful songs of this film were out some 3-4 days before its official release in the market! Websites like songs.pk proudly mentioned on the home page that ‘Tum Mile-Exclusive’! The news spread like wild fire and its songs got the maximum number of downloads. This, of course, infuriated the director (Kunal Deshmukh), the producer (Mahesh Bhatt) and the music director (Pritam) who felt that this would hit the music sales. Mahesh Bhatt, on the other hand, saw a positive side to this tragedy. In his words, “Pirates have declared Tum Mile music a hit. I guess they know more than everyone else. They got to the consumer even before we opened sales. This pretty much speaks volumes about the kind of excitement that the product has generated over the months. The black-waala’s word is always more reliable than that of the critic!”

Notwithstanding the anger and positive side to this incident, no one bothered to ask as to how the songs got leaked to the internet in the first place. Some insider was involved, without doubt. Also, why no step is taken to stop piracy of songs? I feel the biggest reason as to why people download songs is because of the price of the audio CD which costs 160 bucks. Ironically, a VCD of a film nowadays is available at as low as Rs. 40! Then why the hell is audio CD priced so much? It’s high time that the prices are reduced to 50 or 60 bucks and I am sure that this will curb illegal downloading by almost 40-50%. Unfortunately, no one wants to do it.

Talking about the film, it stars Emraan Hashmi andSoha Ali Khan and is based on the July 26Mumbai floods. It is directed by Kunal Deshmukh, whose first film Jannat took a surprisingly huge opening and became one of the big hits of 2008. Tum Mile is also expected to open huge. But like everytime, it will be the content that would decide whether or not the film would sustain in the following days. Anything that comes from Bhatt stable is always interesting so let’s hope Tum Mile rocks!

P.S.: An interesting joke is being circulated on the net since 3 days. Keeping in mind the sudden showers in Mumbai since Tuesday, the SMS reads, “Now the Bhatts have made it rain to promote Tum Mile!”
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WHO WILL WATCH AAO WISH KAREIN?

The other release tomorrow is Aao Wish Karein (AWK), which marks Aftab’s debut as a producer. He has also acted in the film along with Aamna Sharif. It seems more like a kiddie film but unfortunately, like most Hindi films, no attempt was made to publicize AWK well. The film is not on the ‘movies to watch’ list on kids and thus, this would be yet another flop of 2009.
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AJAB PREM-4TH BIGGEST OPENER OF ALL TIMES!

Last Friday’s release Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani has thrown a surprise. No one expected it to open so huge. It is on the no 4 slot of biggest openers of all times after collectingRs 24.5 crores in 3 days! The first week collections are expected to close at around 41 crores. It may also cross Love Aaj Kal’s first week collect of Rs 42.87 crs which are the highest first week collections of 2009. Kudos to the entire team of this film!

TWO DIVERSE FILMS THIS WEEKEND!

8 Fridays left before the year 2009 comes to an end. Out of these 8, 7 Fridays are marked with the release of some very big and significant films. Tomorrow, Fri Nov 6, will see the release of two extremely diverse films-Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (APKGK) and Jail. While the former is an adorable romantic comedy, the latter is an intense realistic film.

Without doubt, APKGK has an edge over Jail. The Ranbir-Katrina starrer will surely open huge thanks to its lead pair, songs, wonderful promotion and its director (Rajkumar Santoshi) who is back to comic genre after Andaz Apna Apna. Also I feel even the title of the film is damn impressive. What makes it unique is that it’s a long one! Nowadays, we hardly have film titles consisting of 5 words. We mostly find one or two word titles. The very few recent long titled films which I can recollect is Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Maan Gaye Mughall-E-Azam, Money Hai To Honey Hai, Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na etc. Coming back to the film, it also seems like a clean entertainer and thus, a perfect family film as well. However, again, the big names associated with the film and wonderful promos don’t guarantee that the film would rock (recently, there have been many such films). So, I am gonna watch this film but like everytime, withless expectations!

Jail, on the other hand, have more chances of being impressive than APKGK. Director Madhur Bhandarkar has always projected realism wonderfully and Jail also looks like another winner from his side. The true picture inside prisons that the film is going to place before the audience is a major reason for watching this film. Neil Mukesh, like everytime, has gone into the skin of his character and is expected to deliver a smashing performance. The film should grow big time with a positive word-of-mouth.

In the end, it will be the content and the audience verdict that will matter. So which film are you planning to watch? Do let me know!
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PAA’S FIRST CUT IS OUT!

The first cut of themost unique film of the year, Paa, is out! The USP of the film as we all know by now is Amitabh Bachchan portraying a 12 year old child suffering from Progeria with Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan as its parents. The film is directed by Cheeni Kum director R Balki. On the eve of the promo release, I was mightily excited with so many questions running in my mind! Will Amitabh Bachchan look convincing as the child? How has he altered his voice, posture, mannerisms etc in order to suit his character? Will Abhishek Bachchan look convincing as Amitabh’s dad? And what about Vidya Balan? Will she be sidelined in this film or does she have an important role as Big B’s mom? So many questions but not all got a satisfying reply. The first teaser exposes Big B’s looks but doesn’t project his dialogue-delivery. But I am sure it’ll manage to create hype with each passing day!

Ideally, the promotional campaign of the film should have kick-started last month on Oct 11 i.e. on Amitabh Bachchan’s birthday. It would have been the best day for the launch. But instead, the makers just gave afull page ad of the film in newspapers with no pic of its lead actors and just a write-up ‘Amitabh turns 13 today’! Now, the film is just a month away (it’s releasing onDec 4) and the maker may not get much time to publicize now.

So here’s the promo of Paa, uploaded below! CHECK OUT AND DO LET ME KNOW YOUR VIEWS! DO NOT MISS IT!

(THIS IS MY 100TH DP!!)

LONDON DREAMS OR ALADIN?

The following twoFridays are going to see the release of four big films two in each week. WhileAjab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani and Jail are releasing on Nov 6, London Dreams and Aladin are hitting the screens tomorrow, i.e. Oct 30.

London Dreams (LD) was originally to be directed by Raj Kumar Santoshi and he had planned the impossible-casting Shahrukh Khan and Aamir Khan together! Santoshi even managed to do a joint narration with Aamir and SRK. Both seemed genuinely interested while the narration was going on. But later, due to some unknown reason, both of them stopped responding to Santoshi’s calls and the project was put on the backburner. At that time, the film was titled Rashque (jealousy).

LD is now Vipul Shah’s venture and in place of SRK, he has casted Ajay Devgn and Aamir Khan is replaced by Salman Khan. Although the current version has created curiosity amongst moviegoers, I really really wished the film was made with the original cast. Just imagine, SRK and Aamir Khan together would have rocked completely. Even if the film was bad, just seeing them together would have been a paisa vasool experience!

LD has impressed overall everyone ever since its first promo was out. The song and the musical theme of the film have made it a must watch for everyone. Also, director Vipul Shah’s track record has been fantastic. All his past films (Aankhen, Waqt, Namastey London, Singh Is Kinng) were big time hits. Asin, who is very choosy when it comes to signing films, is also a part of this bid budget project. The film is expected to get a good opening and become a hit.

Since LD will be the first choice for majority, the 2nd release tomorrow, Aladin, may suffer. Frankly speaking, Aladin seems more impressive than LD to me as somehow I have never been interested in films about music bands (I wasn’t even excited for ‘Rock On!!’ before it released). Coming back to Aladin, it has the finest special effects ever seen in any Bollywood movie so far. The film’s star cast is amazing and it may turn out to be a fantasy joyride. On the flipside, the film isn’t well promoted. Also, there are chances that the film may highly disappoint. In the past, there have been countless big budget films which were pathetic and Aladin may also turn out to be the same. Also, the co-producers of the film are Eros who had come up with a similar kind of film last year which became the disaster of the season. That film was DRONA! What if Aladin is also on the same lines? So I’ll prefer to wait for the response and then decide whether or not to go for it!

Which film will be your first choice? Do let me know!
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BLUE’s SEQUEL IN THE OFFING?

There is no certainty yet as to whether Blue has managed to recover its 80-90 crs (or maybe more) cost and yet, its producers are planning its sequel! According to the reports, Katrina will have a longer role in the sequel. Director Anthony D’Souza has announced that John Abraham will be a part of the sequel without even consulting him, thus, pissing off John! Anthony also says that this time the adventures will take place in the sky too!

I was just wondering-what will they name the sequel to Blue? How about ‘BLUE TWO-TH’?!!

DDLJ ENTERS ITS 15 YEAR; STILL RUNNING SUCCESSFULLY IN MUMBAI!

One of the best Bollywood films of all time, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ) has been running since its release in 1995 at the Maratha Mandir theatre in Mumbai! Very surprisingly, the solo 11:30 am show of DDLJ still gets viewers and during weekends, it is easily 70-100% full! It was released on October 20, 1995 and this Tuesday, it entered into its 15th year!

However, a lot of doubts have been raised as to how such an old film still manages to get audience. Some say that Yash Raj Films, the producers of DDLJ, are forcefully running the movie at Maratha Mandir to create a record. But none of this is true and I can vouch for that as I myself have gone to see DDLJ couple of time there. Some of the reasons for DDLJ’s successful running:

1. OUTSTANDING ENTERTAINER: DDLJ is a sweet well-made feel good film that has its heart at the right place. It was a cult film at that time as it managed to place something interesting before the audience and at the same time, didn’t trudge a different path. And SRK’s mind-blowing performance created frenzy among the females. You can find many (males too) who have seen the film more than 30/40/50/100 times and are ready to watch it again! Thus, it’s a film which almost any moviegoer can watch it anytime!

2. SHAH RUKH KHAN’S CRAZE: Shah Rukh Khan has one of the biggest fans following. So many fans from other cities/countries that are on a visit to Mumbai make it a point to watch DDLJ at Maratha Mandir!

TICKET PRICING: The rates of DDLJ’s show are damn cheap. Balcony tickets cost Rs 22, Dress Circle tickets are priced at Rs 20 while stall tickets are available for Rs 18. With such low rates, it becomes damn affordable for anyone, even for the poorer sections living nearby, to watch DDLJ many times!

4. LOCATION OF MARATHA MANDIR: The theatre is situated opposite Mumbai Central Railway Station, the southernmost terminus in Mumbai on Western Railway. Many travelers who reach the station in the morning but have a late afternoon train to catch decide to watch the film in order to pass their time! Even though Apsara, Novelty, Minerva theatres aren’t very far from the station, travelers still prefer watching DDLJ. Also, the hawkers, vendors and other poor people working/dwelling near Maratha Mandir go for it as for them it’s the ultimate entertainment. Other single screens nearby have closed and they can’t afford multiplex tickets. So they prefer watching DDLJ due to cheap ticket rates and also because the film never bores!

5. CURIOSITY: I know many who stay far away in the suburbs of Mumbai but have gone to watch DDLJ out of curiosity and amusement that the film is still running!

Some 6-7 years back, even I found it difficult to believe that the film managed to get audience in each show. But then, DDLJ is a magical film. Also, when I had gone to see DDLJ in its 500th week, I was surprised to see that people who were there in the show (it was housefull) were so engrossingly watching the film. They knew the film perfectly as they had seen it many times and they could have cracked jokes andpassed stupid comments in emotional scenes, as masses generally do. But they didn’t and were shanti se seeing it! DDLJ, indeed, is much more than magical, I guess! Whatever it is, it rocks and I hope it keeps running forever!
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ACCEPT THAT YOU GUYS MADE A BAD FILM!

Blue and All The Best have done a great job at the BO but the 3rd Diwali release, Main Aurr Mrs Khanna (MAMK) have failed miserably. The film could neither impress the critics nor the audiences. Director Prem Soni gave two reasons for film’s debacle-first, the producers made a mistake for going easy on the film’s publicity and second, there was a general resentment against the film and attempt was made to sabotage it! Producer Sohail Khan, on the other hand, blames the co-producer of the film,UTV, for releasing the film during Diwali with Blue and All The Best. According to him, MAMK wasn’t perfect Diwali stuff and that people want to watch comic films in the festive time (Ironically, Prem Soni a month ago was heard saying that Diwali is the perfect time for MAMK!). He wanted the film to release next year during Valentine’s Day.

(CONTINUED IN THE COMMENTS SECTION)

PICK YOUR CHOICE THIS DIWALI!

Diwali is round the corner and three very big films are set to release in the Diwali weekend. These films are Blue, All The Best and Main Aurr Mrs Khanna. Over the last two years, it has been seen that the Diwali week attracts the highest number of audiences which result into mind boggling collections. Last year’s Diwali release, Golmaal Returns surprised one and all after it collected 38.69 crores(Source: Boxofficeindia.com) in its opening Diwali week! This year too, historic collections are expected to happen by these three films. My take on these films:

BLUE: Undoubtedly, Blue leads in the Diwali race. The film has aroused the highest curiosity among moviegoers and is expected to have an earth-shattering opening. But in order to sustain in theatres, it should be a well-made film. Also, what goes against the film is its verrrrryyyy high budget. The figure is not known-some say its 90 crs, others peg it at 100 crs and Times of India 2 days mentioned it as 120 crs. Whatever maybe the cost, it is definitely huge and in order to recover the amount, the film needs to be good so that it can attract as many audiences as possible. Here’s wishing the film and its team good luck!

ALL THE BEST: This is an important film as it marks Ajay Devgn’s debut as a producer with his banner ‘Ajay Devgn Ffilms’. Also this is the first film where Ajay’s surname will be spelt as ‘Devgn’ instead of Devgan. So he’s the latest to join in the bandwagon of actors screwing their names for numerological reasons! I wonder how can people think that removing or adding an alphabet in their names will result in their film becoming a hit?! If Ram Gopal Verma had made some alterations in his name, then would Aag been a blockbuster?! Make good films, publicise them well and release it at a right time-that’s the simple and magical formula! Coming back to the film, All The Best (ATB) promos are impressive and people are equally excited for it as for Blue. It remains to be seen as to which films registers higher collections, although chances are that Blue will lead.

MAIN AURR MRS KHANNA: This is a film which may get neglected due to ATB and Blue. The film’s opening day collections may be bad but it pick up by word-of-mouth. But for that, the film has to be well-made. Salman-Kareena pairing is excellent (Coincidentally, the last time they had paired together was for Kyon Ki, which had also released in Diwali in 2005!). Preity Zinta’s item number ‘Happening’ is loved by some while others have dubbed it as ‘Poor man’s Kajra Re’! The film is produced by Sohail Khan and Ronnie Screwvala (UTV). But due to some dispute between the two, Screwvala’s name is not seen in the film’s ads in newspapers and TV. I sincerely hope that Main Aurr Mrs Khanna (MAMK) works at the BO if genuine efforts are put in.

Both Blue and ATB are made on a lavish budget and some experts are of the view that these films should have got a solo release. This is applicable especially for Blue. With such a high cost, the film should not have had any competition as ATB and MAMK may eat into its collections. But on the flipside, Blue may profit a lot from the overseas territories. Shemaroo, the overseas distributors of Blue, have planned to release this film in territories where no Hindi film has ever released before. This is a right move, considering that Blue has global appeal. Also, there is no big film releasing next Fri (Oct 23). So all three films has two weeks to rake in as much moolah as possible! Good luck to all the three films! May all films succeed big time at the BO!

And do let me know which film you are most interested in!

BOLLYWOOD IS SO VULNERABLE!

(Quotes derived from article published in The Times of India on Oct 3; Picture Source: Hindustan Times. Sorry for mentioning this so late)

A very ugly incident arose on Friday when Wake Up Sid (WUS) released across the country. The film, directed by debutant Ayan Mukerji and produced byKaran Johar, has several characters calling Mumbai by its old name, Bombay. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Raj Thackeray’s party, was furious with this and its members tried stopping the screening ofWUS at two theatres in South Mumbai and at a couple of places in Pune. Johar, fearing that the matter may go out of hand, immediately went to Thackeray’s Shivaji Park residence and apologized to him. He assured that he had no intention of hurting anyone’s sentiments and that he would add a disclaimer in the film in 2 days.

The incident created a furore and Raj Thackeray’s rivals perceived it differently, of course, with vested interests and Johar was made a scapegoat by all of them.

I discussed this issue with more than 50 people (many of them Maharashtrians) and not a single person felt that there is any harm in calling Mumbai as Bombay. Go to South Mumbai and many residing there still refer to the city asBombay. In fact, South Mumbai is often called SoBo (Bo is the short form of Bombay). Then there are so many organizations and companies whose name consist of ‘Bombay’. Bombay Stock Exchange, Bombay Blues (a famous chain of restaurants), Bombay Times, Bombay Parsi Punchayat, Bombay Catholic Sabha, Bombay Dyeing etc are the classic examples. The sunset point in Mahabaleshwar is called Bombay Point since decades. Jet Airways uses the code ‘BOM’ to refer to Mumbai. The funniest part of this whole incident-Raj Thackeray’s son Amit Thackeray studied in a reputed school called BOMBAY SCOTTISH! Ha ha ha!

It was equally shocking to know the quotes given by Raj Thackeray’s rivals. Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan called the whole incident a publicity stunt. That is, all this drama was created so that WUS gets more audience. A stupid comment, in my opinion, asJohars has and will never resort to such tactics to market their films. Also, there was no need for Johar to do any kind of publicity stunt as WUS had already aroused lots of curiosity amongst youngsters. The film already witnessed massive advance bookings, even before the audiences learnt of this controversy. Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut was of the view, “If he (Johar) really feels sorry about it, he should apologise to Maharashtra and the millions of Marathi manoos staying here”. Arre, who cares if Mumbai is called Bombay? People here are more interested in having a better infrastructure, traffic-free roads, organized transport system and sense of security. No one’s sentiments are going to hurt if anyone uses the word Bombay. BJP leader Kirti Somaiya claimed, “Nobody has the right to refer to it by the old name when it has already been renamed Mumbai”. Again, a senseless statement as there’s no law that makes calling a city by its old name illegal. One can fearlessly refer to Mumbai as Bombay, Kolkata as Calcutta, Bengalooru as Bangalore, Vadodra as Baroda, Thiruvananthapuram as Trivandrum, Chennai as Madras and also New York as New Amsterdam!

Raj Thackeray questions, “Why can’t people accept Mumbai if they can accept Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram?” But he should be told that people in these Southern cities don’t have to apologize to any tom, dick and harry if they use the old name of the city. And Thackeray has always been comparing with the Southern States. Last year he justified his signboard campaign (threatening shop owners to change their signboards into Marathi) by stating, “In Kerela and other South Indian states, all the signboards are written in their language, so why not the same in Maharashtra?” Maybe then Raj should make a comparison on all fronts. Kerela has high levels of literacy-why doesn’t he strive to attain the same in Maharashtra too? At least that’ll help the state. Changing the signboards to Marathi and revolting when someone uses the word Bombay is not going to help Mumbai progress even an inch.

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