Archive for Kunal27

Dowry is something which doesn’t even raise an eyebrow in India. You go to a wedding and most of the time you will find people what parents are giving to “their daughter”. “Ek gaddi diti hai, Skoda, 15 lakh cash te killo sona” I have heard this line may be millions of times….. In many communities there are “Fixed price” grooms, who get dowry according to their degrees. Engineer 50 Lakh, Doctors 75 Lakhs, NRI 1 Cr. Choice is yours, no EMI allowed, though the in-laws might ask for more as and when the need arises.

Not too many things could have gone wrong with this flick, a successful first installment, trio of may be the “legendary” family, the most successful heroine in recent times, and the most talked about couple in India, but then at times things don’t go as per script and yes many things went wrong with this movie.

Had there been a time when you have failed to differentiate between reality and a dream? Had there been a time when your mind failed to perceive whats real and whats not? Had there been a time when you think you have woken up, stopped your alarm clock, and are strolling towards the door when the fact is that you are still asleep????????

Welcome to the fascinating world of Cameron Crowe, or may be the scary world of the director where reality and dreams don’t seem to have any borderline.

David Ames (Tom Cruise) is an affluent, extremely good looking, flirtatious, easy going and did I mention good looking, guy who inherited a publishing house of his father. His life can envy anyone in the world, he has a casual romance with extremely hot Julie, Cameroon Diaz, and even calls her his eff buddy. He has friends from all corners of glamor and wealth, expensive wines, rocking parties and rich lifestyle. Then the life takes an unexpected turn. In his 33rd Bday party, his friend played by Jason Lee, introduces him to Sofia, Penelope Cruz, and the life of David Ames changes forever, for good or bad……

For last couple of days I guess we have been having some hard hitting posts about celebrity responsibilities and their actions. First it was about how celebrities generally prefer some “easy” social issue side stepping the controversial ones, and then Satyam’s post about how bachchan’s have been targetted by every Tom Dick and harry of politics and still there is an erie silence over this issue.

You can find Satyam’s post over here:

Now Bal Thackeray Goes after Amitabh Bachchan

I am sorry that I am making a different post about it, or even “hacking” some of the points proposed by previous authors, but my sole intent is to enlarge this discussion and may be introduce few more arguing points on the whole issue.

You people are way too nice and way too kind to actually accept me with my trash writing and bad jokes, and what you get in return??? more trash writing and even worse jokes. So here is next in installment.Why am I over here? I want to tell you about this superb movie, A Few Good Men, and why am I doing this? because remake of the same movie in Hindi “Shaurya” is to come soon on April 4 2008, and you guys have to know what a hair raising experience it can be to see this movie and absorb the aura of a brilliant story with impeccable acting of some of the best actors of India. So treat it as a review/preview.

I came across a news a few months back that legendary “A Few Good Men” will be made in Hindi. I was kinda scared, why? because when one of your all time favorite movie is going to be remade, you can not help wondering if the new makers would spoil your love for the original. But then I heard the star cast, Rahul Bose, KK Menon, Javed Jafri, and I was relieved again. Javed Jaffri I guess is highly underrated actor by everyone, at the same time acting talents of KK Menon and Rahul Bose can not be exaggerated.

Now lets get on with the review part. First shot of the A Few…. and

Thanks to Katrina and Bolly. 

I was going through these articles about Aamir’s Gajini breaking every record possible by getting sold for more than Rs. 90 Cr. What it means is that not only this movie is expected to be the highest grosser ever in the history of Indian cinema, it might very well out pace many international projects. But something really doesn’t make sense, and trust me its not about Aamir going bald, but the fact that when every market of the world is going down at the speed of sound if not light, Indian film market is expected to bamboozle past every sane expectation. This can be viewed as a reason to celebrate as well as moment to get utmost cautious. Any economics student can tell you that only thing worse than a dead market is an inflated one, and the reason is that it creates a false value for the product, which can neither be cashed nor be withheld, in the end proving out to be a kiss of death for both consumer and producer.

Now lets leave market economics and enter into filmi economics. Last year Om Shanti Om was made at a whooping budget of Rs 35-40 Crs. and was sold to Eros, amid huge fanfares, for Rs 75 Crs. The movie came with a bang, with all sorts of controversies, and toughest competition possible (which actually helped in the publicity of the movie), and ended up shattering all box office records ever set by an Indian movie, in shortest time span ever imagined. Movie till now has grossed around Rs. 85 Crs. at max, according to every box office number cruncher. Now this might be seen as a great news for some, specially Shahrukh Khan, who not only delivered the most successful Indian movie ever, but also ended with a cool profit of 35-40 Crs in the bank. That is almost 100% profit if someone is keeping records. But honestly speaking, was it such a profitable venture for Eros, who ultimately ended up buying the movie????

For Eros till now movie has made a profit of Rs. 11 Crs, but then again mind you, its not all Eros’s money, more than 50% belongs to the theater owners for showing the movie. Hence a profit of around 5 Crs for Eros. But they have the satelite rights of the movie for next 5 years hence they might add up 5-7 Crs more after DVD sales and satellite channel viewing . So after investing Rs 75 Cr you end up with a profit of around 12-15 Cr max, that is 20% profit. This might be a good number for some, but I feel when you take a risk of such a degree, profit margin should be a bit better. But still its ok. Hence I feel like that Eros will not make more than Rs 100 Crs on biggest movie of the Indian cinema till now.

Now if you take Gajini’s numbers, and expect the similar rage for the movie, which I must say is not that easy, considering Shahrukh has the biggest fan base of the world, and that too pretty loyal. Can this movie actually make money????? Indian films, infact Hindi films do not have as big of a market as English films, due to the reason of piracy. HBO won’t show pirated copy of say Gladiator, hence you will go to hall to see the movie. And then again a movie ticket in US cost $7, and $4 before 4:00PM. In US mind you, where average income is quite a bit. On the other hand, an average Indian makes less than a dollar a day, ends up paying Rs 280 per ticket on any multiplex. Which BTW comes out to be more than $7 by current currency rates. Hence a family of 4 has virtually stopped going to movies. And when they step out, they don’t want to see anything less than spectacular, else we have many examples of last year. At the same time I must point out that Hindi movie fans are not exactly like Rajnikanth fans, who take tickets for back to back shows, even before watching the movie. The ones who actually throw money and sindoor at Rajni’s entry in the movie (All these are facts, with 0% exaggeration).

I do not know from where to start???? Should I curse rediff first, or CNN-IBN or who else, as I saw the movie because I saw 4 stars everywhere, but may be they were out of 10.

I saw the first day first show here in US, that was Friday, Feb 15 2008, 5:00 PM. After traveling in massive rain for 2 hours, and boy was I disappointed??? And you know what was even worse, that I didn’t have to wait till interval to realize that I made a wrong choice, it was clear from the first 10 minutes itself, in the first “epic” fight.

Those who know me really well know how much I slammed Asoka, because I felt that it was a strong subject dealt so poorly by the director, but tonight I spent 2 hours discussing with my brother, how powerful Asoka was when compared with JA, and he agreed.

Why I am comparing this movie with Asoka??? because Ashoka and Akbar have always been my real heroes. They are the real historical figures, who are respected by one and all, regardless of religion, caste, or cadre. And I read about both in school history books, but sad to say, Akbar’s chapter was much more interesting in that history book than JA.

And the love affair continues; after last year’s absence of Saif, Shahrukh-Saif “jodi” appeared once again on what is deemed as, Indian oscars, for the third time. Only difference was this time they were bit more sarcastic, there were few more pot shots, and whole lot more or wounded souls.

I know I a late in discussing this matter which must have been analyzed on 1000s of different sites, and millions of people, but I had a rough week. Though I agree that the award show which actually gives power award to Yash Raj for making, JBJ, LCMD, TRRP, must not be an award ceremony as prestigious as Oscars. But hey we are filmi people, and no matter what these are the oldest award and still one of the most respectable ones, even more than National awards I believe which has become more of a political gimmick nowdays.

Anyhow, going ahead with the topic. I know that many “jokes” of one of the best “couple” fell flat on the face. But what I was glad to see was that they were rude, I remember Jon Stewart trying to be that when he hosted 2006 Oscars, but was crushed on the ground by whole of media. The fact is that these balooning egos need some one pinch the air out of them, and Shahrukh and Saif did exactly that. Whether that was Ram Gopal Verma, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, or Sanjay Leela Bhansali, everyone got the well deserved whipping. I know there are many sympathizers for these names on these boards, but the fact is these people actually came out as sore losers. Whether that be Vidhu Chopra’s comments after Oscar nominations or SLB’s after reports of Saawariya, we as audience got a feeling as if they don’t really care about us, they are self indulged egotists, I know Shahrukh is also one of them, but for some reason he has credentials to prove that, and on top of that, you won’t find Shahrukh blasting off press. He might say something tongue in cheek, but never blasted his top off as his targets had done in the past.

Some called it taking too far, but I ask you guys, haven’t you seen Jon Stewart???? when he blasts his targets off the globe every weekday night at 1:00 AM central, the whole of world loves him. His antics are never questioned but also gave him a cult reputation. But I think we Indians do not have a sense of humor, thats why for every comment, there are protest marches,  some articles and some frownings, may be we are too comfortable with some Ruby Bhatia, Simi Gerewal, and Karan Johar, but when someone comes to say what we all feel like as a joke, we deem it as rude.