BANG BANG VS HAIDER!

It’s the best weekend of the year. Rarely it happens that one gets a five-day weekend (Thurs Oct 2 is Gandhi Jayanti, Fri Oct 3 is Dussehra and Mon Oct 6 is Bakri Eid). Hence, two films can easily release together and excel at the box office. And as a result, two big films – Haider and Bang Bang – are all set to hit screens tomorrow. My views:

BANG BANG: It is the official remake of the Hollywood film Knight & Day and stars Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif. The promotions of the film have been subtle but damn impactful. It started almost as early as 2 ½ months ago when the first look and the superb teaser was unveiled. After that, there was no marketing activity at all and nobody missed it as well. After all, the impact of the teaser was still at its peak. Then came the songs ‘Tu Meri’, ‘Meherbaan’ and the title song and each track worked big time. The so-called mandatory events still hadn’t commenced and again, nobody missed it. The events commenced just 2 weeks before and it added to the fun. Then, Hrithik initiated the unique #bangbangdare wherein he nominated his friends in the industry like Shah Rukh Khan, Ranveer Singh, Farhan Akhtar, Dabboo Ratnani, Uday Chopra, Nargis Fakhri, Priyanka Chopra etc and dared them with a challenge. Surprisingly, almost everyone took up the challenge! It was heartening to say these stars going out of their way to fulfill the dare and it proved that friendship means a lot in this industry and that not everyone is heartless and busy here! And needless to say, these dares generated tremendous excitement. There was no more need for anything extra but still the makers gave us the theatrical trailer. It was terrific and the excitement for the film grew many notches higher! Hrithik and Katrina didn’t do any appearances on comedy and reality shows, as is the norm nowadays and they are totally justified in doing so. After all, celebs gracing the TV shows and trying to look happy and interested has become passé. Also, the hype is already there for the film.

The film is all set to take a record opening tomorrow. In fact, the film might cross the 150 crore mark in it’s first week itself, given the number of holidays. However, there are reports that the film’s cost is huge – almost 140 crores. Hence, it’ll need to go beyond 200 crore and reach at least 250 crore mark to be called a huge hit. That’ll happen only if response is positive. Or else, the film might fall after the holidays are over. 1 ½ months ago, Singham Returns had a thunderous opening and earned 110 crore in Week 1. Shockingly, it then collected just 30 crore more in subsequent weeks as response wasn’t very positive. Bang Bang can go the similar path if word of mouth isn’t encouraging. The film looks great and I hope it is a great entertainer!

HAIDER: This is not exactly a typical entertainer and is dark, intense and intriguing. It stars Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Tabu, Irrfan Khan and Kay Kay Menon. Despite the dark nature, the film created tremendous excitement thanks to the amazing theatrical trailer. Kashmir never looked so beautiful. And Shahid seems to have given the best performance of his career with the film. For the climax scene, he has given a monologue running into 5-6 pages and he has given it in one shot. Surely a scene to watch out for! Songs gradually picked up, with Aao Na seems to be the best of the lot. It’s directed by Vishal Bhardwaj who has a sizeable fan base and certain respect among the moviegoers.

Many have wondered if Haider’s clash with Bang Bang is justified. After all, Bang Bang looks like a big-budget entertainer and can mightily eat into Haider’s collections. However, Haider is made on low costs – Shahid and Vishal haven’t charged and have opted for profit sharing. And with significant excitement and so many holidays, Haider can easily turn out to be a commercial success. Even if it collects 6-7 crores each day, it’ll amass 30-35 crores by Monday which will be huge. However, the film should impress audiences and should not turn out to be too dark or too artistic. If that happens, it will surely then face a tough time.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE BANG BANG OR HAIDER AND WHY? DO LET ME KNOW!