Qalandar
I promise somewhat irregular posts on (in no particular order) Indian politics, cinema, and anything else that catches my fancy... Why "Qalandar"? So-called "liminal" religious traditions are a particular interest of mine, and "qalandar" is the sort of untranslatable, ambiguous, yet enormously evocative word that for me touches upon and articulates the experience of the sub-continent's "little" traditions in a particularly memorable way...not to mention the fact that in popular lingo the word has more than a merely religious/spiritual connotation, and can mean a bunch of other things, including a smart alec, wannabe, what-have-you...
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The price and involvement of Fox itself made MNIK one of the most hyped movies ... there were fan expectations ...
MNIK made its collection on curiosity factor that did under perform at the box office for the so called 'huge' ...
MNIK was huge movie, made hugely, meant to do huge everywhere.
It was probably most hyped movie of last 20 years(since ...
Achilles... Blasting KANK and MNIK on their domestic gross is like blasting Gadar and D2's overseas gross..
These two movies ...
Quite strange.. Taran reports 16.33 Million USD for MNIK in the international Market and claims highest ever collections in overseas.. ...
I am sure once Gayle and McCullum join,KKR batting will get some boost.Batting is their major worry. 
Link
It use to be fun site when Mom use to pick "dhaan" from rice and bunch of "Goraiya" would flock ...
Well, I will not get into this but Karan's film will end its run in India between 73-75 crore, ...
That was a BOI ploy doga.rnbdj didnt beat sik opening week.They were with 42 cr for rnbdj for 2 weeks ...
Housefull ATTBB,
BOI claimed 43 cr for SIK and 45 cr for RNBDJ..Then they cgnaged it to 39 cr for SIK ...
som tripathy 10 September 2007
10:03:51 am
thanks qalandar.
Qalandar 10 September 2007
10:09:14 am
The commentary is weird: FI says all the new releases took dull openings — and then in the next line it says HB took a good opening…
jeegs 10 September 2007
10:16:34 am
Qalandhar : the new openings may be RGv ki AAg , Dhoka and Victoria they released on 31st august and this issue is of Saturday 1 september .
som tripathy 10 September 2007
10:17:35 am
qalandar:i guess that could be a mistake.
looking at the numbers it is very clear that HB is not as strong as PARTNER in small centres.
joginder 10 September 2007
10:19:32 am
Qalandar, Jeegs is perfectly right…I was just about to type the same thing…
som tripathy 10 September 2007
10:19:39 am
jeegs u r spot on.komal must have said about the weak initial about the three new releases.
Qalandar 10 September 2007
10:22:19 am
makes sense guys, thanks…
beldevere 10 September 2007
10:22:41 am
Jog(hope i can call u that) – i always had a question. Your box office reviews always matches BOI. Are you a contributor to BOI?
som tripathy 10 September 2007
10:24:17 am
same question has been playing in my mind too,joginder.
Tango 10 September 2007
10:28:09 am
This what Komal says (summarised for first day)
“All the three releases of last Friday failed to impress the paying audience as well as the critics. Ananth Narayan Mahadevan’s VICTORIA NO. 203 looks like a half hearted attempt and expectedly the opening was poor across India. A definite disaster and there are no surprises in that outcome. Pooja Bhatt’s DHOKHA is a good attempt gone wrong in execution and publicity. Though a few of the critics liked the movie, the opening was dull to weak and the makers cannot hope for more than a fair performance. Coming to RAM GOPAL VARMA KI AAG, the film which released at 75 cinemas of Bombay-Thane got of to a weak start. Outside of Bombay, the opening was below the mark almost everywhere, but good in several centers of U.P.”
http://www.aol.in/bollywood/st.....index.html
rks 10 September 2007
10:31:04 am
Is there any data how many cinemas a movie is playing currently? Like CDI third week cinema count or partner 4th week?
Qalandar 10 September 2007
10:34:20 am
RKS: the only thing given is the print count in the box; the collections give cinemas for some centers but not for others. In general I have noticed that FI seems to use “cinemas” and prints interchangeably.
som tripathy 10 September 2007
10:34:54 am
rks, i guess the print count is more or less same as the number of ciemas playing a movie.i could be wrong though.
Tango 10 September 2007
11:26:54 am
rks- CDI was in 41 cinemas in week 3 and also in week 4(just Bombay) and the trend was the same (almost) in Delhi.
Heyy Babyy was in 59 in Bombay in week 1 and in 49 in week 2 (just Bombay city) and the trend was the same in Delhi.
But these stats cannot give the correct picture as its the number of multiplexes shows/day that can change the collections dramatically, spl in cities.
rks 10 September 2007
11:51:26 am
Thanks tango.
satyam 10 September 2007
01:11:07 pm
Thanks Qalandar as always. These scans are most helpful. I note here that the Bombay tax break for CDI kicked in in the third week itself. I note this here for a simple reason. because the film is now going to be a big grosser I have noticed some snide comments here comparing it to the RDB or Fanaa gross. Well for the latter I’ve already said it would have been at least 62 crores with Gujarat. But leaving this aside RDB is an 18 month old film and Fanaa is more than a year old. In today’s money those grosses would also be more! So CDI even with the tax breaks has not overtaken anything.
Also the tax breaks need to be mentioned for any film that does get it. We mentioned this for LRM here. This is not to take anything away from these films but when one does comparisons of the box office with other films these details have to kept in mind. Given that some of the partisans here keep pretending that the Don initial would have been higher (I would have thought it was already ‘imaginatively’ higher in their calculations!) but for the JeM opposition (poor Lagaan never got this side of the argument despite the Gadar opposition!) I think it is entirely fair to mention these tax breaks as well.
In any case great work Qalandar. The more one sees your scans the more some of the ‘cloud’ is cleared in these matters. Some others here scan so selectively that Komal could be anything from a SRK fan to a Jarmusch fan!
Having said that I have seen FI enough to know that he’s more than a little soft on SRK in many ways. And of course his new film journal will have the active ’support’ (surely a euphemism if there was ever one) of SRK and Karan Johar.
Qalandar 10 September 2007
01:16:44 pm
You’re very welcome satyam. btw, FI every week carries a much more detailed BO section (several pages long), which appears to me to give a theater-by-theater breakdown for certain centers (Mumbai always, Delhi-U.P. and Ahmedabad too). I haven’t been putting those up as the numbers are meaningless to me (i.e. a 1 cr. figure in ahmedabad means something to me; but a X,000 figure in Ahmedabad’s PVR or something is just a number), but if NGites want them I am happy to put those up too.
The data is very useful in FI; the reviews and “news” pieces are quite amateurish, but then I guess everyone buys it for the data.
On being “soft” on SRK: lol, you haven’t seen anything yet until you’ve seen some of the “news” items.
som tripathy 10 September 2007
07:49:26 pm
“Having said that I have seen FI enough to know that he’s more than a little soft on SRK in many ways. And of course his new film journal will have the active ’support’ (surely a euphemism if there was ever one) of SRK and Karan Johar.”
satyam:he may have some softcorner for srk, but he never tries to manipulate numbers to show his liking towards srk.i think he is very honest and strict when it comes to the reporting of movies.i very well remember , how he had predicted not so good things about DON and GURU in the initial days as far as BO is concerned, but latter on he rectified himself when these movies did well.unlike taran komal often admits his mistake when he sees himself going wrong with his predictions about a certain movie.he is IMO much more credible than the likes of Taran and Indu mirani.
“In today’s money those grosses would also be more! So CDI even with the tax breaks has not overtaken anything.”
yes that is true.RDB n FANAA would have added another 4-5 crores had they released now.now coming back to CDI,it has done really well so far and noone knows howmuch it is gonna gross at the end.if it adds another 15-20 cr in the coming weeks, then i would say it has done superbly in its run.anyways i would wait fot its run to end before i jump on to any conclusion, i mean all sorts of comparisons with fanaa or rdb or lrm or howmuch tax exemptions have helped etc. etc.IMO cdi at best can get an advantage of 4-5 crore from this tax exemption.
Tango 10 September 2007
08:03:23 pm
Correct Som “unlike taran komal often admits his mistake when he sees himself going wrong with his predictions about a certain movie”
Latest being Heyy Babyy about which he was not very upbeat but gave it the correct numbers and report.
But this mania about being soft on this and hard on that continues.
In fact, I was hearing about all the created paronia taht “Historically” a Bachchan hater but having watched the flashback sections for 4-5 years that is another fake propogandah.
Tango 10 September 2007
08:05:06 pm
What amazes me abt Komal is that 90-95% of the time he is correct with his predictions.
Tango 10 September 2007
08:07:37 pm
And BTW this guy has hardly seen any Film Information except for a few scanned things
He had even claimed recently that “All 5 trade magazines had different totals for Devdas” so I asked him which are the 5 that had diff totals? And he just dissappeared .
jeegs 10 September 2007
10:26:00 pm
“Well for the latter I’ve already said it would have been at least 62 crores with Gujarat. But leaving this aside RDB is an 18 month old film and Fanaa is more than a year old. In today’s money those grosses would also be more! So CDI even with the tax breaks has not overtaken anything.”
RDb 18 months back did 51 crores add another 6 crores for inflation it would have done 57 crores.
FAnna came after multiplex boom and nothing has changed much since then it did 53 crores back and add 2 crores for inflation and 4 crores for gujarat it would have done 59-60 crores. CDI by all means would do same or more than that .
it has already done 51 crores . yes your number will be lower but then on the opposite side all the people be it joginder , Abid , BOi and JAY(he had 3 weeks total 42-44 crores and that was same as BOI) have same numbers soo one tend to believe them .
so considering all this CDI will def. do same as Fanna or more but will def. do more than RDB.
satyam 11 September 2007
06:39:54 am
Som: For the record KOmal was wrong on RDB, Guru, MUnnabhai, BnB. Not an awesome record in my view! With most of these films he was wrong not on the first day but well into the first week! And there’s no credit for correcting oneself later on when in fact it is the obvious. Also how is it possible for a trade expert not to know a few days into the release of a film how a film is holding up or being received?
On Don he only said what was obvious, that the film had a weak opening. Much as everyone said the same on CDI. But the above list doesn’t include any SRK film!
And he’s not more honest than the rest at all. Films like CC and Don and KHNH were called hits by him in the popular media but his journal gave them lower ratings!
I don’t really find any one expert more credible than the rest.
satyam 11 September 2007
06:43:27 am
Jeegs: I find the IBOS numbers more credible on those Aamir films, in fact I looked into the numbers in detail myself when I was doing the Guru numbers. The IBOS figures are 54 crores for RDB and 58 crores for Fanaa and these are my operative figures.
Much as the BOI figures on CDI are simply too high as far as I’m concerned though not as high as the scandalous Partner total!
Tango here who used to love his producer totals and Taran as well when he provided one for Guru suddenly decided he was off producer totals when Eros revealed a 41.5 crore one for Partner. Why? Because at that very moment Eros had a close to 49 crore one for the film!
satyam 11 September 2007
06:44:58 am
“On being “soft” on SRK: lol, you haven’t seen anything yet until you’ve seen some of the “news” items.”
I am not surprised Qalandar. I have seen some of these items myself.
jeegs 11 September 2007
07:05:52 am
“Much as the BOI figures on CDI are simply too high as far as I’m concerned though not as high as the scandalous Partner total!”
dont think so BOI total is at all high even Jays total fall in the same range as BOI till third week . Jay has been not around during weekend and we dont know his fourth week total.
“Tango here who used to love his producer totals and Taran as well when he provided one for Guru suddenly decided he was off producer totals when Eros revealed a 41.5 crore one for Partner. Why? Because at that very moment Eros had a close to 49 crore one for the film!”
Tango had explained to JAyshah that EROS gave a figure only at regions where they distributed it and in some of the cicuits they sold it to other distributors . This was more or less confirmed by HEy Babyy total from EROs (27.80 crores).
Everybody knows PArtner was better than Hey BAbyy in week 1 now if Hey Babyy is 27.80 crores in weel 1 than Partner doing 30 crores makes more sense . NOw PArtner cannot do only 12 crores in 2 week and thus the 42 crore total may be incomplete as explained by Tango .
As For GURU if one is calcualting From Tarans Numbers than one should also accept 18 crores total given by him.
Tango 11 September 2007
07:21:11 am
Liar Liar , Komal never said Don opening was weak
I find IBOS totals atrociously low for Partner 12 crores (last week they gave less than reported)
Namastey London by 7 crores,
Shootout At Lokhandwala by 8 crores
Yeah man incredibly inaccurate person missed 4 movies in 4 years
what a high error percentage 
So which were the 5 journals that had different totals for Devdas
? 
Heyy Babyy cut short by about 4 crores
Apne … and the list goes on.
It will be interesting to see if any movie can cross Guru on IBOS or not.
satyam 11 September 2007
07:22:38 am
Jeegs: Jay’s Partner total is very different from BOI’s. His final range here is 53.6-57.9 crores. His lower end of the range therefore more or less coincides with my high end. His 3 week CDI total was in the 40-43 crore range. BOI’s 3 week number is 51 crores! His final prediction for CDI is exactly the same as mine.
And if I believed every ‘explanation’ Tango gave I’d be brain dead which happily I’m not (though others might beg to differ!).
Tango 11 September 2007
07:23:20 am
So Siddharth had outshone Amir in RDB and was the real star
Where is he now?
Tango 11 September 2007
07:25:48 am
Make sure you are on medicines on November 9 also.
Problem is you all cannot jump on to the Sawariya bandwogon as Ranbir is a bigger threat to your fav
satyam 11 September 2007
07:27:01 am
Oh dear.. more personal attacks…
Nahata has this odd habit of getting it wrong on major non-SRK films!
Tango 11 September 2007
07:28:07 am
Why should Tango give any explanation to a microscopic YOU , who is the butt of all jokes both at NG & SB
As I told you are you my mother-in-law that i should give you explanations
Tango 11 September 2007
07:30:01 am
So which were the 5-journals that had different totals for devdas box-office expert
Oh dear is avery feminine expression, everything fine ?
satyam 11 September 2007
07:30:25 am
I must defend poor Siddharth though. He’s a hot star in Telugu, does Tamil from time to time as well. He never intended to make it big in Hindi cinema though he was obviously happy to do a good role in RDB. That he outshone Aamir is a bit ridiculous (even allowing for latitude with a SRK partisan) but he definitely had his moments in the film. And he of course had the important moment in the climax. Had a major Hindi star done this role the audiences would have perceived him as stealing the show. Even leaving this aside I do have a weakness for Siddharth in RDB but I cannot honestly say he steals the show from Aamir.
satyam 11 September 2007
07:37:02 am
I see we are back to sexist attacks now. I suppose the communals ones are around the corner. I actually could name those 5 journals. Naming a Complete Cinema isn’t very hard in addition to a FI or a Trade Guide. But I refuse to let someone as compromised as you are in these matters to dictate the agenda!
As for whether I’m lying on Don put up the year end ‘06 scan for FI and we’ll see in a minute who’s telling the truth! You’re rather prolific with scans when you want to be! I’m sure you can manage this.
I must admit though that what offends me even more than the dishonesty is this kind of low level sexist attack or the earlier communal ones. Or the ones where you were trying to question my sexuality and/or sexual preferences. And what not.
Again I am offended only to the extent that these things reveal a certain ‘mentality’ of bias when it comes to these things. But whether you call me a ‘woman’, ‘gay’, ‘anti-Muslim’, ‘transvestite’, all of which you have directly or indirectly suggested in the past I do not care really. Not least because I do not regard any of these terms (with the exception of anti-Muslim) as terms of abuse! But you do and therefore it tells me something about you.
jeegs 11 September 2007
07:55:32 am
“Jeegs: Jay’s Partner total is very different from BOI’s. His final range here is 53.6-57.9 crores. His lower end of the range therefore more or less coincides with my high end. His 3 week CDI total was in the 40-43 crore range. BOI’s 3 week number is 51 crores! His final prediction for CDI is exactly the same as mine.”
I was never talking about JAys PArtner total . I was only talking about JAys CDI total .
now BOi total of 51 crores is for 4 wks . their 3 week total was also 43 crores.
I was only answering the question of EROS giving 42 crores for PArtner 2 wks.
devesh 11 September 2007
09:11:08 am
god knows till wen will this fight for totals continue…
every1 is free to believe what they want to… it doesnt matter wich movie earned more than which1…
let satyam believe all his totals, and so on and so forth, y these repeated posts about trying to convince each other aabout total grosses… there are many sources at hand, beleive what you want to…