WILL MOVIEGOERS HOP ON THE MADGAON EXPRESS?

The performance of the last Friday’s releases was a mixed bag. Yodha put up disappointing numbers, despite the makers providing a buy-one-get-one-ticket-free scheme on Saturday and Sunday. The first-week collections will be around Rs. 22-23 crores and the film hopefully would cross the Rs. 30 crore mark. Bastar - The Naxal Story, on the other hand, is a washout. The last film of this team, The Kerala Story, collected Rs. 6.75 crores on Day 1. Bastar - The Naxal Story, in its lifetime, will struggle to cross 50% of the first-day collections of The Kerala Story and that says it all. However, Kung Fu Panda 4, as predicted last week, collected Rs. 2.50 crores, which is more than the day 1 collection of Kung Fu Panda 3 (Rs. 2.10 crores). The first week collections are expected to be around Rs. 16 crores and it’s bound to have a long run in cinemas. The collections can cross the Rs. 30 crore mark or even the Rs. 35 crore mark.

This week, two diverse films will try their luck in cinemas. The biggest one is Madgaon Express. It marks the directorial debut of Kunal Kemmu and stars Pratik Gandhi, Divyenndu, Avinash Tiwary and Nora Fatehi. The comic caper’s trailer has been well-received and it promises to be a crazy, youthful entertainer. However, the film looks more of an urban flick and not a mass comedy like Dhamaal, Dhol etc. The songs also haven’t worked. The opening, hence, will be in the range of Rs. 1.50-2 crores. On the first day, viewers can get one ticket free on every ticket and this might boost the earnings. A good word of mouth can help the film earn well. The Holi holiday on Monday, March 25, will also benefit.

Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, meanwhile, will have paid previews from tonight, Thursday, March 21 and a full-fledged release from tomorrow. It is directed by Randeep Hooda and also features him in the role of the freedom fighter. The film got into controversy last year when Mahesh Manjrekar revealed that he was supposed to direct the film and he left the project due to interference by Randeep. The producers also got into a tiff with the actor. The issue was then resolved. Meanwhile, Veer Savarkar is a controversial figure and as a result, the trailer has received polarized reactions.

Swatantrya Veer Savarkar’s buzz is limited but it won’t have Bastar - The Naxal Story’s Rs. 35 lakhs type disaster collections on day 1. The number will be slightly more as a section of the audience will be curious to see the film. This target audience’s response is important if the film needs to have a good run in cinemas.

Swatantrya Veer Savarkar will also be released in Marathi.

On March 13, a pre-release screening of Bastar - The Naxal Story was held at the Jawaharlal Nehru University’s (JNU) Convention Centre auditorium. The screening, organized by the Rashtriya Kala Manch, led to widespread uproar as the varsity’s election committee had not granted permission for it. Moreover, Sudipto Sen’s directorial venture—which focuses on the Maoist insurgency, and alleges that students at JNU had ‘celebrated’ the killing of 76 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans—was viewed by many as a means to influence the JNU Students’ Union elections that is slated for March 22. 

In the latest development, the screening has evoked such polarizing response that the Rashtriya Kala Manch has pre-emptively cancelled the screening of another controversial movie, JNU: Jahangir National University. 

The title of director Vinay Mishra’s upcoming movie— starring Ravi Kishan, Piyush Mishra and Urvashi Rautela—is a blatant wordplay on the prestigious university in Delhi.

A student, on condition of anonymity, tells mid-day, “It has been unanimously decided that the film won’t be screened. Regardless of which party wins the student election, slander against the university’s name will not be tolerated.” 

The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) has written to Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit to pursue the matter legally. Mid-day got an excerpt from the letter that reads, “This film’s [poster] has a saffron image of the country with the text [reading], ‘Can one educational institution break the nation?’ This shows exactly what the film intends to portray. They want to parrot the popular line of calling JNU as anti-national and against the people of the country… We are with the vast majority of secular and democratic-minded citizens of our country. We request the Vice Chancellor to take action against this movie.”

Pandit has yet to respond on the matter. Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) that has allegiance to the RSS has stayed mum. The student adds, “They won’t come out and condemn this movie and its narrative that seeks to demonize this university’s students. For now, the film screening being [cancelled] is a win, but something needs to be done against this defamation.”

Bastar - The Naxal Story is a film about how the Naxalite movement has wreaked havoc in the country. The makers depict how the Maoists function and how they have been harassing and even torturing locals for something as basic as unfurling the tricolour. A few scenes are extremely disturbing. Sadly, the makers don’t make good use of the opportunity. The film is haphazardly made and hence, one never gets connected with the goings-on or with the journey of the brave officer and the widow. A few developments are not explained properly while some of them are plain silly. A character, for instance, coolly sneaks out of a car though it is surrounded by hundreds of enemies from all sides! An office is presumably absolved of all charges because of her monologue, despite using words like ‘ghanta’ in front of the seniors. These scenes don’t match with the claims of it being a realistic film. Speaking of performances, Adah Sharma, who did quite well in The Kerala Story, is quite stiff here. Indira Tiwari leaves a mark and in fact, she dominates the climax. Vijay Krishna (Lanka Reddy) is aptly cast. Subrat Dutta (Milind Kashyap) shines in a cameo. Shilpa Shukla (Neelam Nagpal), as always, is dependable. Yashpal Sharma (Utpal Trivedi) does well but goes over the top in the beginning scenes. Raima Sen (Vanya Roy) repeats her The Vaccine War act. Anangsha Biswas, Gopal Singh (Shrivastava) and Kishore Kadam (Rajendra Karma) are fair while Purnendu Bhattacharya (Narayan Bagchi) and Anupam Joardar (Union minister) are okay. All in all, Bastar - The Naxal Story is a poorly made film.

My rating - ** out of 5!

WILL THE NEW RELEASES ALSO BRING CHEER TO THE INDUSTRY?

Last week’s Shaitaan has emerged as a big hit. It was expected to open well but very few could predict pre-release that it would collect Rs. 15 crores on the first day. The collections got a boost due to the Mahashivratri holiday and yet, the collections didn’t fall or remain the same on Saturday. The film collected Rs. 19 crores and Rs. 20.50 crores on the second and third day respectively. The Monday drop was normal – Rs. 7.50 crores. The film is expected to collect around Rs. 80 crores in its first week and depending on the performance in the subsequent weeks, the lifetime earnings can be in the range of Rs. 125 crores and Rs. 145 crores. For a mid-sized film, these collections are extraordinary.

All eyes now are on the three major releases tomorrow, two in Hindi and one in English. The biggest release is Yodha, starring Sidharth Malhotra, Raashii Khanna and Disha Patani. It is produced by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions and is a hijack drama. The film was shot way back in 2021-22 and was scheduled to release in September 2023 and later December. Due to overcrowding, it moved to March 15. The trailer was launched two weeks back mid-air in a grand fashion. The promo is interesting while the songs are decent. But the excitement among the public is minimal and they would adopt the wait-and-watch strategy. Hence, the opening won’t be huge and would be around Rs. 4-5 crores. It might go higher if moviegoers come out in huge numbers in the evening and night shows. It’ll need a positive word of mouth to grow on the weekdays and sustain.

Bastar - The Naxal Story reunites The Kerala Story team – actor Adah Sharma, producer Vipul Shah and director Sudipto Sen. It is about the Naxalite movement and how it has wreaked havoc in the country. The trailer is quite disturbing. The Kerala Story also promised a lot of uncomfortable moments and this factor appealed to the audience. But the same kind of curiosity is missing with The Kerala Story. Due to negligible buzz, it has got very limited shows. The opening will be around Rs. 1 crore and the makers can hope for a terrific word of mouth so that it gets a good jump from Saturday.

Finally, Kung Fu Panda 4 will also see a release tomorrow. It is a successful animation franchise and probably the second biggest in India after Frozen 2. Kung Fu Panda 3 had a very delayed release in India and yet, it collected Rs. 32 crores. This stunned the industry since animated films rarely do well in the country. Hence, the expectations are immense from Kung Fu Panda 4 and the advance ticket sales are also healthy. Kung Fu Panda 3 opened at Rs. 2.10 crores and the fourth part’s day 1 collection might surpass this figure.