Kaminey reviews and Weekly Box Office thread (14th

Kaminey reviews and Weekly Box Office thread (14th – 20th Aug 2009)

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47 | August 17, 2009 at 12:10 pm | 212 views | NaachGaana Bol| Share

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Weekly review and box office thread: Love Aaj Kal is on a shaky ground,takes a slump on Monday(Reports)

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OutKast 12 August 2009
01:25:36 pm

Taran Adarsh reviews Kaminey

Dhan Te Nan. Vishal Bhardwaj pays homage to cinema of yore and that’s reason enough to go out and grab tickets for one of the most keenly anticipated films of our times.

A few monsoons ago, Farah Khan paid homage to the cinema of 1970s with OM SHANTI OM. Now Bhardwaj picks up characters that we have witnessed on the Hindi screen before, but executes it like Tarantino and Guy Ritchie do. He creates a film that’s so different from movies we’ve witnessed thus far.

Let’s say, KAMINEY is bold, stark, funny and unpredictable and that’s what works in its favour. There’re two more reasons: Shahid Kapoor and of course, ‘Dhan Te Nan’. Okay, we’ve seen Shahid pitching in a sincere act in his earlier films, but KAMINEY should catapult him to superstardom. His double role in KAMINEY is exemplary.

There’s another star in KAMINEY and that’s ‘Dhan Te Nan’. Your heart starts beating faster every time you hear this in the background or also when Shahid breaks into the song. The track is as big a craze as ‘Jumma Chumma’ [HUM], ‘Ek Do Teen’ [TEZAAB] and ‘Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai’ [KHAL-NAYAK] and will contribute enormously in attracting viewers in hordes.

Having said that, I wish to add that KAMINEY is not the usual masala film. Sure, it’s a well-made film, but there’s no spoon feeding here. One has to be attentive, very attentive to grasp the goings-on and also the twists in the tale. It’s not one of those lock-your-brains-at-home types, for sure. And that might not be too appealing a thought for those who swear by candyfloss or meaningless ha-ha-thons.

To cut it short, KAMINEY is a film with an attitude. Like it or leave it, but you’d never be able to ignore it. Word from the wise: Go for this hatke experience!

Rating : 4/5

OutKast 13 August 2009
10:57:50 am

Nikhat Kazmi (TOI) reviews Kaminey

Dhan Te Nan! It’s time to sound the bugle for Bollywood’s first film which is full of brains, brawn and belligerence besides being a bravura attempt to rewrite the tried and tested idiom of desi movielore.

Yes, Kaminey is a smart and balsy film that brings Hollywood to Bollywood, reminiscent of the adventurism of Quentin Tarantino’s action thrillers which catapult the viewer into the dark, violent world of crime and criminals, leaving you no time to blink or breathe easy.

More importantly, Kaminey is the first film which also credits its viewers with some intelligence. It demands your unbridled attention from the word GO and allows you to sit back only at your own peril. For if you aren’t attentive and intelligent to figure some things out yourself, specially in the first half hour, you might be missing the twists in this sassy tale of twin brothers who end up hating and loving each other, all in a frenetic 24-hour time span. Of course, director Vishal Bhardwaj does tell it all gradually, but he presumes you’ll solve the jigsaw without much of spoon feeding. And therein lies the power of Kaminey. It teases you with its smartness and constantly challenges you to keep pace with the breathless tenor of the drama that unfolds through fast cuts, dizzy hand-held camera angles and a dark, brooding ambience. Watching Kaminey is like sitting on the edge of a volcano which can explode any time. And explode it does!

……

Truly, Kaminey’s a heady vodka martini, leaving you both shaken and stirred. And no, don’t even ask for the popcorns. You’ll leave them untouched coz this one just isn’t the regular-run-of-the-mill popcorn flick.

Tarantino, take a bow. Brave new Bollywood is here.

Rating: 4 Stars

RAJ 14 August 2009
09:44:10 am

Just returend from the thaetres after watching Kaminey in a full house theatre…After watching the movie ,one thing which immediately comes to mind….”"Is the Censorboard of India have gone insane?”" Why the hell the movie has been slapped with “A” certificate???

Coming back to the movie,i felt like watching a HW crime caper “in Hindi” throughout the 2 hrs 16 mins…This is something else man…The direction is something which would take BW forward..the performances are top notch..The actor who makes the maximum impact is Amol Gupte….Sahid Kapoor is awesome …Priyanka is more than adequate …This is a movie which definitely ‘ll take Sahid to the top league….

This movie may not cross the LAK ’s end nett gross(Courtesy Censor borad,swine flu and absence of family audience) but would definitely will be a important land mark commercially and contentwise……

rks 14 August 2009
09:49:24 am

Bharadwaj, Shahid redefine filmmaking with ‘Kaminey’ (IANS Film Review – Rating: ****) – Joginder Tuteja

“Kaminey”: Rare And Unique

NDTV Review : Kaminey

Tango 14 August 2009
10:07:40 am

Thanks Raj. The general feedback is similar to what you say.

Unfortunately for me, I took things for granted and went live (instead of advance booking) but returned without watching the movie, as it was totally full. This has happened for the first time to me since Khakee.

In a nutshell, it is a shootout between Saif and Shahid for spot no. 5.

RAJ 14 August 2009
10:35:20 am

Tango,

“”In a nutshell, it is a shootout between Saif and Shahid for spot no. 5.”

Agree Tango…

With Kaminey getting good response from both audience and
critics(When was the last time it happened) i am sure DBH looks prety strong now…Wanted team better watch out…

cticize 14 August 2009
10:47:25 am

Watched Kaminey is a PACKED paid preview in Indore. The crowd was more into it unlike Love Aaj Kal which was drab on more ocassions. Kaminey is a different and a hatke film with the entertainment intact and i am bound to say that even Single Screens will like it. There are many hilarious moments and also some real intelligent ones.

All the performances are good and Amol Gupte and Shahid Kapoor stand out. The promo of Ishqiya has garnered great applause ..

I have a feeling Kaminey will catapult Shahid over Saif coz despite a huge LAK Saif remains limited to some sects of audience with the cool dude image. Shahid has more to him.

The Movie has taken a 90% Opening Day all over barring Mumbai and Maharashtra where it remains to open and i have not even an iota of doubt that it would have opened even bigger in those circuits.

OutKast 14 August 2009
11:00:50 am

Shubhra Gupta(Indian Express) reviews Kaminey

Rating: ****

Vishal Bharadwaj makes a first half that’s so good that it’s near flawless. Charlie lisps. Guddu stammers. To create identical twins with a distinctive speech impediment is a master-stroke. And to set them in a sea of dubious, dodgy characters, where they all have to swim or sink, has the audacious stamp of a director who’s always gone where everyone else in Bollywood has feared to tread.

He gives the twins completely different, completely captivating identities. Charlie dreams of finding a ‘fortkut’ to fortune, while doing the dirty work for a betting syndicate. The earnest Guddu works, quite appropriately, with an NGO. The love of his life is Sweety ( Priyanka), who’s done a little fiddle of her own to get close to the cute guy who stammers. The lead characters of a Hindi film who are not straight and narrow, and proud of it? You lick your chops, and settle down to the rest of the feast you hope will be as delicious.
….

Still, we would say, go watch, because this is Bollywood’s first all-the-way-out-to-there pulp fiction. Just lower your expectations. A Vishal Bharadwaj film, even this one with such strong shades of Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie and Stephen Frears gives you more than you’ll get in most of the pap that comes out of Bollywood. Savour a super-sexed up Shahid ( his grungy, muscled, long haired look is a killer), an equally sexy Priyanka ( she does such a good job of playing a strong-willed Marathi `mulgi’ that you overlook her immaculate French manicure, almost ), and an Amol Gupte as the parochial Bhope who can always act if his directorial aspirations don’t get off the ground ( he’s the one who started `Taare Zameen Par’, which Aamir took over).

I came away with a stunning build-up, some spectacular sequences, and terrific music. But from a Vishal film, I wanted the full monty.

Qalandar 14 August 2009
11:05:35 am

At Outkast’s request; this is from Ankit’s separate post:

http://movies.rediff.com/repor.....review.htm

Once in a particularly blue moon, comes a film that makes you wolf-whistle. One that then ties you to the edge of your seat and forcibly pins you there and pounces on you, eventually leaving you sitting in the dark, drained and grinning and more satisfied than a film has any business leaving you. This, ladies and gentlemen, is that kind of ride.

And way more.

Vishal Bhardwaj reinvents the filmi rollercoaster with feverish glee as he takes a wonderfully twisty plot and paces it flawlessly around a bunch of madcap, irresistible characters. It takes nearly twenty minutes to get used to things, the characters, the words they speak, they way they speak them, and the tone of the film — heck, to get used to this film’s world. Then on, the film just freakin’ flies.

Yet before getting into the breakneck chaos, it is this unapologetic figure-it-out stance that we must initially applaud. Too often are our caper films and thrillers compromised by oversimplification and spoonfeeding, by filmmakers believing audiences need things spelt out and giving them bite-sized flashbacks to easily digest each twist. No more, says Bhardwaj, throwing us a delicious jigsaw and letting things fall into place in their own sweet time. The result is startlingly clever, an innovative film with genuine surprises. Kaminey is the kind of film whose success we ought all pray for, because it’ll prove smart cinema works.

So delicious is the movie’s gradual unravelling that I refuse outright to let you in on the plot itself — an enthralling tale of drugs, deceit, dingbats and dead-ringers — because you need to discover this on your own. Go in as fresh as you can, you deserve to taste this one by yourself. Letting on what actually happens would make me one of the film’s titular knaves.

Suffice it to say that Tassaduq Hussain, who also shot Vishal’s brilliant Omkara , does it more than adequate visual justice, and the largely-handheld film emerges very stylistic indeed. It’s fast, funny and constantly rollicking, and the characters are spectacularly entertaining.

As is the cast. Shahid Kapoor plays Guddu the stutterer and Charlie with a lisp, saying f for every s, and does strongly enough to credibly seem like two different people; Priyanka Chopra’s delightfully high-strung Sweety pulls off hysterical Marathi with impressive fluency. Yet it is the ensemble of fantastic oddballs who truly make this film special: from Amole Gupte’s demented Santa Claus routine as Maharashtra-lovin’ gangster Bhope Bhau to Chandan Roy Sanyal’s lethally capricious coke-lover Mikhail, from Shiv Subrahmanyam’s helpless corrupt cop Lobo to Tenzing Nima’s ludicrously likable drug-smuggler Tashi — the film is full to the brim with splendidly unfamiliar faces, each of whom deserve a hand, not just the ones singled out here.

And Vishal generously gives each character their time in the spotlight. Guddu heartwrenchingly recounts his middle-school love, while Sweety captures beer-driven arousal with charming realism. Bhope bribes a big-eared nephew with chocolate, while Lobo coaxes the stutterer to give a police statement through song. The Bengali gangsters shoot bullets near each other for laughs, while the Marathi ones are transfixed by Guddu-Sweety screensavers on a laptop. Charlie unwraps a cellphone from plastic as he tries to placate gangsters, while — in an extraordinary moment — Mikhail sets the screen ablaze as he staggers in on the same gangsters, high on coke and unpredictable as a broken roulette wheel. There’s so much to marvel at in these characters that it isn’t funny. Oh wait, it is. Very.

What raises this rambunctious gangster movie head and shoulders above its genre is the writing. The wordplay is constant, subtle and absolutely exquisite — a tough ask when one hero trips over words and the other narrates — yes, narrates — with a lisp. And there’s a witty duality running through the film’s twin tales: a character barks into a phone, and this sound echoes later when someone pleads in front of Bhope, daring not to take his name but just calling him repeatedly big brother, “bhau-bhau”; Mikhail introduces himself to Bhope by calling himself Tope Bhau, and nearing the climax Bhope is told by another that they have ‘topein’ (cannons) too; when Mikhail wins a race, arriving just in time, he breaks into the Spiderman theme — and Charlie responds with Fpiderman-Fpiderman. When a character wants to steal a king’s ransom in drugs to help a pregnant woman, another snarls back: ‘Toh kya meri coke ujaadega?’ Ha. It’s nuanced, lovely writing, the sort we never get to see in films nowadays.

Bhardwaj has never been secretive about his Quentin Tarantino adoration, referencing the director in Blue Umbrella and doing it here again with high heels and an injection. While Tarantino exclusively uses music he already loves because he doesn’t trust anyone to create anything as good, Bhardwaj has always done it all himself, writing, directing and composing — not to mention singing, and its worth noting the slight s/f lisp he gives the film’s magnificent title track when it plays on screen. Yet here he takes a leaf from QT’s book and brings back the saucy RD Burman track ‘Duniya mein logon ko’ (from 1972’s Apna Desh) and makes it his own, giving it sassy new context out of its dated backdrop — no more Rajesh Khanna in a red suit, this song is now all Shahid.

So the film leaps through implied ultraviolence and dark humour and you hold on, exhilarated — just as you have through, say, Guy Ritchie’s Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels. And while that itself would be no mean feat, Bhardwaj ups the ante with an audacious climax, suddenly bringing emotions right to the fore.

And while films of this ilk are full of disposable-bodies and corpses-in-waiting, one discovers that Vishal has — sneakily, stealthily, surreptitiously — kept the sentiments so darned real that by the time the climax rolls around, you do actually give a damn about these characters.

Wow. Now if that isn’t kameenapan, I don’t know what is. Awefome.

Qalandar 14 August 2009
11:13:23 am

Comments to Ankit’s original post (Ankit: for ease of reference, Som had been combining the various reviews of a film in one thread, so that we could easily find comments related to a particular film in one place. That rule MIGHT be changed going forward, but until it is, I am persisting in the interests of consistency; thanks to Outkast for pointing it out):

ANKIT (12 August 2009; 07:08:41 am): “It has got me more excited. YES!!! YESSSS!!!! YEFFFFFF!!!!!”

AAROHI (12 August 2009; 07:16:09 am): “Not releasing in Mumbai this week: http://movies.rediff.com/report/2009/aug/12/movie-releases-in-mumbai.htm. Might get postponed in other places as well.”

ANKIT (12 August 2009; 07:39:27 am): “Kisi ki buri nazar lag gayi. Sad. I hope it releases on Friday here. I already have the tickets.”

AKSHAY (12 August 2009; 08:45:16 am): “Wow, fantastic review*. Can’t wait to see the movie, have already got my tickets booked for Thursday evening show”

*[Qalandar: referring to the Raja Sen review]

NEELU (12 August 2009; 09:15:43 am): “Can’t wait! No Fwine Flu here Fo hooping it iF out on time!”

JULIE (12 August 2009; 09:18:26 am): “this looks like a winner all the way, both critcally and commercially. At last the drought is ending.”

NEELU (13 August 2009; 07:57:14 am): “Kampala to Mumbai- Meet Cajetan Boy, the man who wrote the story on which Kaminey is based.
http://www.timeoutbengaluru.ne.....8;source=5

Vishal Bhardwaj’s Kaminey explores a singe day in the lives of identical twins from Dharavi, but the story was actually born an ocean away. The plot was created by Cajetan Boy, a writer and short-film director from Nairobi, whom Bhardwaj met in Kampala in 2005. “I am excited to see how it will be handled by an experienced and renowned director working with a budget,” Boy told Time Out in an email interview.”

OutKast 14 August 2009
11:15:03 am

Thanks Q !

cticize 14 August 2009
11:31:57 am

Good Good positive all over

Gorilla 14 August 2009
11:39:19 am

This is a superhit.

cticize 14 August 2009
11:44:29 am

Hope it becomes one, i like VB to also have a Boxoffice hit.

rks 14 August 2009
11:53:24 am

All positive reviews till now – AllBollywood

OutKast 14 August 2009
12:04:36 pm

Anand Vaishnav (Buzz18) reviews Kaminey

It’s the film all of us have been waiting for. Almost everyone I know has already decided that they would love Kaminey – without even seeing the film. Yet one must rate a film for what it is, without being bogged down by slick, promos and the director’s past record.

Vishal Bhardwaj’s Kaminey is a one-of-a-kind experience. All those expecting a dark, action-packed entertainer, be warned. This is grittier stuff. Kaminey is the director’s tribute to Guy Ritchie, Taratino, Coen Brothers and the entire cult of pulp flicks.

So you’ve got a film full of crazy gangsters, black humour, intervening sub plots, accidental murders…all leading to a lot of confusion and mayhem. If Burn after Reading was about a gym bag, Kaminey is about a guitar and some pouches of cocaine. Somewhere down the line, Vishal cleverly merges the age-old, double role theme into this chase. The narrative takes its own sweet time to unravel – only to pick up tremendously after the first 30 minutes.

What makes this film special is the writing and detailing. The movie is a multi-cultural, multi-lingual crime thriller with gangsters from every region of India. The director gets all the mannerisms and accents right. And this diversity is what livens up many of the intense conflicts. Vishal’s choice of authentic locations further enhances the scenes. Even the graffiti outside the toilets looks completely real.

…..

But Kaminey has its downers. Firstly the film is too long. A plot of this genre is never story driven. And it’s always the characters and their confusion that keep you engaged. But there is only this much of confusion that you can take. Also, the proceedings get a bit too heavy on the senses – especially the lengthy, explosive climax.

Vishal Bhardwaj deserves full credit for making a film that has no parallel in Bollywood. There have been attempts to make smart, crime thrillers in the past – But Kaminey achieves a balance between packaging and experimentation.

Verdict: Kaminey is a film that expects you to be attentive. Even though you might need a breather once the lights come on, it certainly is unlike anything that’s come out in a long, long time.

Rating: 3.5/5

sykopathic 14 August 2009
08:04:06 pm

Kaminey Paid Preview Figures Gurgaon

Friday 14th August 2009 14.00 IST

Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network

Kaminey had a fabulous response for paid previews at Gurgaon. The film had paid preview shows at all the multiplexes of the city. Below are the figures for Thursdays paid previews with number of shows in brackets.

DT City Centre – 47,421 (2)

DT Mega Mall – 43,075 (2)

Big Palam Vihar – 43,969 (2)

SRS – 32,374 (2)

PVR MGF – 1,17,456 (5)

PVR Ambience – 57,478 (2)

PVR Sahara – 17,937 (1)

TOTAL – 3,59,712 (16)

sykopathic 14 August 2009
08:06:43 pm

Kaminey Opens Very Strongly Life Partner Below Average

Friday 14th August 2009 17.30 IST

Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network

Kaminey has opened very strongly at most places in India. The opening is excellent in Delhi/NCR, East Punjab and South while other circuits are good. Multiplexes are excellent all over. Good single screens are also fabulous like Payal in Dehradun has collected 81,874 in its first three shows against a capacity of 85,653. making it 95.59% collection so far. The film has not been released in Mumbai city and Pune which will mean around 23-25% lower all India collections than normal. The first day should settle with around 90% collections.

Life Partner opened to a below average response with afternoon shows showing around 35-40%. The first day may finish at around 50-55% collections and the film will have to rely on word of mouth. Again no Mumbai city and Pune means 23-25% lower all India collections for Life Partner

Aarohi 14 August 2009
11:24:40 pm

Rajeev Masand’s review of Kaminey:

When was the last time you came out of a film wishing you could go back in and watch it again immediately so the excitement in your stomach stays longer?

Vishal Bharadwaj’s Kaminey is a film you’ll either love or passionately despise.

It’s an unpredictable crime drama that combines violence and dark humor in a manner that’s reminiscent of the films of Quentin Tarantino, Guy Ritchie and the Coen Brothers. And yet Kaminey is so original and inventive in the manner in which it takes Bollywood’s favorite formula – twin brothers – and turns it on its head.

Read the rest of the review: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/mas.....242-8.html

Ankit 14 August 2009
11:35:08 pm

“When was the last time you came out of a film wishing you could go back in and watch it again immediately so the excitement in your stomach stays longer?”

Yeserday. . And I am going tomorrow to watch Kaminey again. .

cticize 15 August 2009
12:28:26 am

Yep..after RM’s review, i am gonna watch Kaminey again.

sykopathic 15 August 2009
01:44:09 am

B.O. update: ‘Kaminey’ opens with a bang, ‘Life Partner’ picks up
- By Taran Adarsh, August 15, 2009 – 00:37 IST
As expected, KAMINEY opened to an excellent response, garnering one of the best openings in recent times. Vishal Bhardwaj + Shahid Kapoor + ‘Dhan Te Nan’ have done the trick. The film is being liked immensely by the youth. The first day collections, excluding Mumbai and Pune, should be huge. Today [15th August] being Independence Day holiday, the business is expected to be superb again.

On the other hand, LIFE PARTNER had a 25% to 30% start across various screens. The film was affected due to the KAMINEY wave, but the business picked up from noon onwards. The 3 p.m. shows showed a jump at several screens and the evening and night shows were even better. The film is being liked by family audiences.

sykopathic 15 August 2009
01:46:53 am

Kaminey Gets Big Opening Life Partner Below The Mark

Saturday 15th August 2008 13.30 IST

Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network

Kaminey opened to an excellent response all over with the all India average on day one being around 90%. Multiplexes are excellent all over and most single screens have also seen good collections. The film should score very well over the weekend and the test will be Monday but with good reports especially amongst the youth the film should emerge a winner.

Life Partner opened below the mark at around 35% but improved as the day went along. The reports are fair but it remains to be seen how the film fares over the weekend and thereafter.

Agyaat managed around 4.75 crore nett business in its first week. The collections have seen a huge drop on its 8th day.

Tere Sang grossed around 2 crore nett in its first week. The film managed to stay steady with low collections through the first week.

Love Aaj Kal has had another good week with around 16.50 crore nett in week two. The second week collections are around 60% lower than week one. The two week nett business is around 59.25 crore. Multiplexes in Delhi NCR, Punjab and Mysore continue with strong collections. SUPER HIT

sykopathic 15 August 2009
03:02:31 am

Kaminey Grosses 5.25 Crore Nett On Day One

Saturday 15th August 2009 15.00 IST

Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network

Kaminey has done business of approx 5.25 crore nett on day one without Mumbai/Thane and Pune. If theatres in Mumbai/Thane and Pune were not closed then business would have been in the 7 crore nett region. The film also collected around 50 lakhs in paid previews on Thursday. In terms of 2009 openings, the opening of Kaminey can be termed as the third biggest of 2009 after Love Aaj Kal and Kambakkht Ishq.

The approx breakdowns for day one from some of the circuits are as follows.

Delhi/UP – 1.50 Crore

East Punjab – 63 lakhs

CI – 18.50 lakhs

Rajasthan – 30 lakhs

Mysore – 31 lakhs

shaktikapoorfan 15 August 2009
04:26:29 am

Looks good but fffff..fisappoints
Khalid Mohamed

Wow visual: a young man standing on the railway tracks of Cotton Green is blasé about the train speeding past him. Another eye boggler: at a lavish Afro-style party, a gold-toothed don unveils a painting for a curly-top hottie. More: a desperado wife-to-be gapes at a computer screen to book a honeymoon package. Cool, imaginative and accomplished.

Indeed, Vishal Bharadwaj’s fifth film Kaminey is a slice-of-low-life. Stylistically, it’s very Martin Scorsese-Quentin Tarantino-and-uh-huh-Ram Gopal Varma-in-his-lettuce-salad-days. Now, Bharadwaj localises the style to Mumbai’s nether world, wanders in and out of hell’s kitchens, five-star suites, yachts and chawl toilets, all in a techno-manner that can even bear comparison to Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire. Plus the texture here is consistently bleak, rain-splashed and cloudy.

Read rest at http://www.aslibaat.com/index.php?id=143

julie 15 August 2009
05:11:16 am

Most impressive performance by Shahid. I for one have been for long arguing that this guy has mettle and the talent to make it in the big league and so he has. Shahid is the unofficial Number 5 now. He inched closer to that spot with his last film Kismat Konnection and JWM (prior to that) and has assuredly lapped up that spot with this film. His ranking is definitely ahead of Saif as he has hit the jackpot not once but on quite a few occassions now. JWM, Vivah and now this one. Even KK was AA at the BO.

His film has opened to such an immense response and for the first time I had to return from a theatre yesterday without a ticket for this film.

The crucial question is where does this leave Akshay who is the most vulnerable in a sense if his BLUE is not a Hit to Super Hit at least. I still think that there is a gap between number 4 and number 5 but question is for how long? Problem with Akshay’s films is that people have just come to expect some mindless crap in the name of entertainment (although Blue definitely looks more promising than that).

Saif is firm at the next spot, followed by Salman but where is Abhishek going from here? Seems to be on a trend towards Global recession which is a downward spiral (although Ravan looks promising).

julie 15 August 2009
05:31:35 am

Very ironically for those who have been arguing that Akshay is some sort of BO cult in the UK, would be in for a surprise if I tell them that I could not get tickets for a Shahid movie on a Friday evening show, but could easily get tickets for CC2C and KI (with half hall empty) on the first weekend.

fiddler 15 August 2009
08:19:28 am

Shahid in my books is a firm number 5. Saif has been inconsistent over the last few years and with him its always a case of one step foward and another backward.. for every hum tum or LAK there is a thoda pyar thoda magic or TRRP. the biggest plus Shahid has on his side is his age. At 27, in his age group apart from Ranbir there is no competition. Saif at 38 is looking too old for the whole loverboy scene and just does not have the massy appeal to work in other genres

ACHILLES 15 August 2009
09:38:41 am

Julie – Have not seen Kaminey yet, but i wont be so fast to put Shahid in the top league or A List as yet.

Surely after a good run starting from Vivaah to JWM to Kaminey, he has jumped out from the tier two stars like Saif, Salman, Abhishek. But i wont put him with the likes of Aamir/Srk yet. Maybe with Hrithik and Akshay. More so because Akshay has had a downfall with the likes of Tashan, CCTC, Tasveer, KI – one after another in a span less than two years.

Hrithik is out of minds of the audience due to his self-imposed exile and prolonged absenteeism can hurt as much as flops.

There is a chance that Akshay may be back if Blue and DDD become big hits … i have doubts on BW action movies, specially like Wanted which is a wannabe Ghajini/Gadar and Blue looks like a wannabe Dhoom 2.

Gadar/Ghajini happened only twice in last 10 years … D2 happened once … only Race which released two years after D2 fell short of end gross by 20 cr.

ACHILLES 15 August 2009
09:48:16 am

but yes, if his next releases this yr – hadippa and yahoo – becomes hits then he will have a case for himself.

Gorilla 15 August 2009
10:39:22 am

Good news for Shahid and bad news for those still wishing to wait Akshay’s fall; instead of worrying about Hrithik’s vulnerable No 4 position. By the time Dil bole hadippa and Wanted releases, Hrithik will be at No 7 (behind Saif as well).

Opening of a film by Hrithik is already in question because of average opening response of Jodha Akbar despite having Aish, Rehmaan and Ashutosh’s name. The last big opening that he got was way back in 2006. It’s 2009 and his BO credentials are doubtable.

Gosh…the Hrithik fans. Smell the coffe ladies!

Gorilla 15 August 2009
10:41:30 am

‘D2 happened once’

correction – ‘D2 happened once upon a time’

julie 15 August 2009
01:32:05 pm

Ach – but it is hard to deny that Shahid is very firmly planted in the higher bracket. My reckoning is that he is No. 5 becasue Saif has had a fairly sinusoidal graph in the recent years. I am personally very happy for Shahid that he has made it in life without any big connections.

“Opening of a film by Hrithik is already in question because of average opening response of Jodha Akbar ”

Arre Gorrila ji the memories of Tashan’s OPENING seem to have receeded and wasn’t Tashan supposed to be the BB in waiting for all 4. Akshay, Kareena, Saif and Anil. What about CC2C? I am embarassed to say that I watched the film during it’s opening weekend in a crowd of 8 out of which 2 left before Interval.

Jodhaa Akbar gave a lot os sleepless nights to hardcore Akshay and SRK fans for almost a year (it still does) but alas not only was it a hit becasue of Hrithik but he walked away with all the accolade and the awards.

ACHILLES 15 August 2009
06:20:57 pm

Julie – IMO the Kaminey moment for Shahid is similar to Guru moment for Abhishek … Abhishek also had a few hits leading to Guru like Dhoom, Bunty Bubli and semi-hits like Sarkar, KANK … Shahid also had Vivaah, JWM on his way (except for a D2 like embarrassment).

But Guru was not able to make Abhishek a top star in anyway … he simply did not have a follow up in the last 2-3 years … everything from Jhoom to Drona to Sarkar Raj failed to live upto expectations .. the only movie that worked to some extent was Dostana – but still was not even a clean hit.

Anyways, without diverting too much, my take on this is that unless Shahid can followup Kaminey with a couple of hits, this will be temporary euphoria.

Anyways, Akshay is a singular case … after 14-15 years in the industry and doing a helluva number of movies (to be fair to him he had his share of average successes and few hits to survive so long) he suddenly have a string of hits – his volume quotient reminded some about the days of Amitabh and Rajesh Khanna when they wud give several hits every year … but Akshay’s 2007 seems more like a fluke run now … he did 2 movies in 2008, one became a hit, one failed … now in 2009 he had two flops and one average runner … forget the volume of hits, he is now struggling to get one hit in a year. The KI initial does point that he still has a box office pull – but his audience are now wary of his movies.

Plus he isnt the guy with a Guru or JA or CDI or Kaminey to his name … after Aamir doing it again and again with Lagaan, DCH, RDB, TZP – its essential for a top star to gain some prestige with such hits.

Angels and Belds 16 August 2009
07:07:47 am

comparing kaminey to guru is blasphemous. The former is a classic – the latter was just hyped crap – one of mani ratnam’s worst movies.

faw kaminey today – ekdum paifa vafool!
fhahid and priyanka were awefome…
vifhal if a geniuf!

the whole movie is a roller coaster ride – the first half is serious and the second half is like a satire. its obvious that vishal had lot of fun making this movie and it shows! this is in the johny gadar mode with probably the best background music in hindi movies in a long long time. must watch!

sandy 16 August 2009
07:37:30 am

Oh wow! you like it Beld. It won’t release here till Tue-Wed I hear, so can’t see till then. But the good thing is, that this film will have a terrific week 2 now, considering major numbers will flow in from Bombay-Pune.

Doga 16 August 2009
08:28:37 am

Kaminey will be a easy hit from now on.

Shahid looks solid right now.

This is the transition phase, the real top 5 will be made in the next 2-3 years.

OutKast 17 August 2009
12:21:17 pm

‘Kaminey’ going strong at box office

NEW DELHI: Vishal Bharadwaj’s unusually titled and much-awaited dark thriller “Kaminey”, starring Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra, is turning out to be a strong player at the box office.

“‘Kaminey’ is the biggest opening for any Shahid, Priyanka and Vishal Bhardwaj film so far. We are completely delighted with the moviegoers reaction who have loved the film. The response has been fantastic,” Girish Johar, AVP, UTV Motion Pictures, told IANS over phone from Mumbai.

The movie which released Friday marks the acting debut of “Taare Zameen Par” writer Amole Gupte, who has impressed audiences in the film.

The audience are lapping up the movie for a heady mix of Shahid’s two avatars, edgy and power-packed music and fast-paced narrative.

“‘Kaminey’ has received rave reviews and the movie has witnessed strong box office collections across locations. With the opening up of multiplexes in Mumbai today (Monday) we have seen the expected rush in advance bookings and expect the strong response to continue throughout the week and the coming weekend,” said Tushar Dhingra, COO BIG Cinemas.

….

“We are running 26 shows for ‘Kaminey’ in a day while six shows are kept for ‘Life Partner’ which has not been liked at all. The comedy is not that good. We collected only Rs.400,000 over the weekend with the latter movie,” said Awasthi.

A source from PVR cinemas said: “‘Kaminey’ has done exceptionally well and the reaction has been fantastic. We are hoping the movie will stretch at least for the next two weeks. However, ‘Life Partner’ has done only average business.”

The movie has now opened in Mumbai theatres.

OutKast 17 August 2009
12:26:01 pm

‘Can you place your faith in me?’

The Cast and crew reminisce about working on the sets of Vishal Bharadwaj’s latest film, Kaminey, which opened this week to positive reviews.

I just went into the studio and gave it my all,” laughs Vishal Dadlani, popular music director, singer and rock star of music band Pentagram, when I ask him to share with us some of the challenges involved in singing “Dhan Te Nan”, his recent hit from the film Kaminey. The song, as many of us are aware, is a chartbuster already, and almost on the verge of gaining cult status. “I’ve had lots of hits, not just as a music director but also as a singer,” explains Dadlani, adding that “‘Dhan Te Nan’ is everyone’s song. It’s the song for the discotheques, it’s the song for the rickshaw-wallahs too.” He gives credit to the film’s music director, Vishal Bharadwaj, for that. “I’ve been a huge fan of his work and this song — especially with the hook “Dhan te nan” — is a throwback to the 1970s; it’s kitsch rock. I loved the reverse strings, and the palette that was offered in the song,” he says. When Dadlani first listened to it, the scratch was done by Bharadwaj himself. “He sounded phenomenal in the rough track and, frankly, I wondered why he wanted someone else to sing it,” says Dadlani. “He’s such a calm and composed guy, and such a pleasure to work with.”

While Dadlani, a successful music director in the film industry, speaks of the feedback he is getting for the song, Honey Trehan, chief director and casting director of the film, quips, “Basically this film is full of kamineys. When I was hired as the casting director for the film, I just knew the film would be the most challenging one of my career.”

Just three days after its release (the Maharashtra government’s order to shut down the cinema halls notwithstanding) Kaminey has been well received by audiences and critics alike. “It’s a success, I’ll tell you that,” says Chandan Roy Sanyal, a theatre actor who debuts in the film as Shahid Kapoor’s sidekick (he’s the character with the unkempt look in the song “Dhan Te Nan”).

ACHILLES 17 August 2009
02:57:37 pm

After watching the movie, i can say Shahid has improved a lot … he has successfully been able to get over the boyish image with Charlie, which i believe is the final hurdle for him.

But he needs follow up movies now .. its not everyday he will get Bharadwaj to direct him. Hope his forthcoming Hadippa and Yahoo become good hits and propel him further forward.

Among all genX stars in the same age bracket – Shahid is far more promising than Dopey Ranbir or Cutie Imran or Looney Baweja.

Doga 17 August 2009
08:36:25 pm

Kaminey strikes a strong $726,834 in first weekend in USA.

This i suppose will be first Shahid movie to cross 1 mill, in USA, i guess its time to hail the brand new superstar of India.(Slow but surely steady).

Kaminey looks like will have stronger legs so i wont be surprised if this one does 1.6-1.8 mill in USA. Good going.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/m.....aminey.htm

Love Aaj Kal on the other hand has somehow fizzled out, with $85000 only this weekend, will end up around 2.45 mill, still a huge number.

rks 18 August 2009
08:29:41 am

Despite swine flu, multiplex biz zooms during weekend

Kaminey is expected to do an overall business of around Rs 25-28 crore in its first week of release, even with the swine flu fear looming large say film experts.

Multiplexes say their average occupancy during the weekend stood at around 75-80 per cent for Kaminey, just a shade lower than this month’s blockbuster, Love Aaj Kal, that had opened to an average multiplex occupancy of over 90 per cent in its opening weekend (July 31-August 2) and had generated around Rs 22-25 crore in the first three days of its release across the country.

rks 18 August 2009
08:34:36 am

Mid-rung Bollywood houses enter regional movie sector

The cost of an average Hindi movie is around Rs 30-35 crore, more than 10 times that of the average regional film. It would cost around Rs 1-3 crore for making a Gujarati or Marathi film, while a Bhojpuri one would cost around Rs 50 lakh to 2 crore. So, too,with Malayalam (Rs 80 lakh–Rs 3 crore), Kannada (Rs 1.5-3 crore) and Bangla (Rs 80 lakh- Rs 3 crore).

Anna 18 August 2009
08:47:17 am

“Kannada (Rs 1.5-3 crore)”

Average cost of an Kannada film is around 4 to 6 crores and budget of big movies easily touch Rs 12 crores

imgr8 21 August 2009
10:32:52 pm

Ach the general consensus says that Shahid is better than Hrithik too. He’s a better dancer, has a cuter smile, is younger, has waaaaay better hairstyle, and doesn’t even suffer from horsey nostrils. BTW you shouldnt let out your man crushes so easily, cutie Imran?