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Q: I’ve been shocked at the Bollywood film awards this year to see that a 45 minute performance by this Shah Rukh Khan offloading off Indian patriotism and hockey girls has been given an award over a solo, title role, career defining performance by Abhishek Bachchan. But then I found out that the awards juries did the same thing to Amitabh Bachchan in Deewar. Amitabh did not get best actor award for Deewar in 1975 either? Can the two situations be compared? And can Abhishek Bachchan still win the national award?
A: As for the 2nd part, whether Abhishek Bachchan can win the national award; in ordinary circumstances he would be a strong nominee. But the reality is under congress government the awards have become highly political as evidenced by Parzania being awarded last year. As for Guru and Deewar, yes that’s correct. Both Guru and Deewar won plenty of awards. But Amitabh Bachchan was denied the best actor award for Deewar in 1975. And Abhishek Bachchan was not given the best actor award for Guru in 2007. What Abhishek Bachchan may take upon though is that regardless of the award, 1975 is still identified with Amitabh Bachchan and his towering performance in Deewar, not the actor they gave the award to. 2007 will also likely be identified with Abhishek Bachchan, and his breakthrough in Guru.

Q: Some trade publicists (with agenda?) in media are saying Jodhaa Akbar is picking up? And that it will recover?
A: The 2nd weekend in metros showed some good numbers though it can’t be called a pickup. Since then the bookings have been very poor at 8-10% even where the weekend was steady. So no Jodha Akbar is not ‘picking up’ at all. In places like Mumbai its week 2 collections are looking decent because of the weekend, while at others, most others infact, it has gone down big. And it continues to draw blanks from Rajasthan and mostly blanks across Madhya Pradesh despite the lifting of ban. As for recovering, even films like Hrithik Roshan’s own Yaadein 7 years ago or Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal last year recovered after selling X video and Y satellite rights but theatrically they were below average performers. Jodha Akbar is struggling at the theatrical box office relative to its cost. Its a 50 crore film and UTV will not recover share more than 45 crores.

Q: Who is the highest paid actress in the Indian film industry: Kareena Kapoor or Aishwarya Rai? Is it true that Kareena Kapoor is starring in Pink Panther 3 that’s being planned?
A: Aishwarya Rai. No, Kareena Kapoor is not starring in any Pink Panther 3.

Q: Why can’t Abhishek Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan host the awards instead of these Khans? Abhishek Bachchan is every bit as witty as SRK and Hrithik Roshan as popular. Why aren’t they the hosts?
A: Sure Abhishek Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan can host. The better question being raised however is should anybody who is competing for awards be serving as its stage host also?

Q: How did Razia Sultan fare at the box office?
A: It was a monumental disaster

Q: How does Mangal Pandey: The Rising compare to Jodha Akbar?
A: Mangal Pandey opened much better. Mangal Pandey broke the Bombay record as well as national opening mark, something Jodha Akbar failed to do in its opening. MP subsequently dropped rapidly however.

Q: What was the opening of Hrithik Roshan’s Lakshya?
A: Lakhshya opened in the range of 90%+ before settling down

Q: Any idea what the budget for Mughal-e-Azam was?
A: 1.5 crores in 1960