Bharati Dubey (MID-DAY; June 12, 2014)

With the first half of the year now getting over, it’s perhaps time to look at how Bollywood has fared so far. And if the box office returns are anything to go by, a new trend seems to have emerged, as films with younger stars have done better than ever before.

Prabhat Choudhary of Spice, a marketing communication agency, says, “The openings of Gunday, 2 States, and Heropanti show a definitive change in the way young names are now perceived. There has been considerable excitement around the new brigade for a while now but in the last six months, they have started showing their box office viability.’’ This trend seems to have started with Ram Leela in 2013 and it has continued into the first half of this year.

Shailesh Kapoor of Ormax Media says, “Gunday and 2 States took the trend forward. Ek Villain could get a huge opening for a film with a relatively young and fresh star cast.’’ For the last 10 years, box office openings have been big for only those films that starred Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar and Hrithik Roshan.

Last year, with Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani, Ranbir Kapoor proved that he can get a huge opening. “This year, we have seen that a fresh star cast, along with a good concept and trailer, can fetch a Rs 10 crore opening. If this continues, we will see many big budget films featuring young stars like Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Sidharth Malhotra and Arjun Kapoor,’’ adds Shailesh Kapoor.

Going against the grain
While Highway featured Alia Bhatt and Randeep Hooda, 2 States had Alia and Arjun Kapoor and Heropanti was a launchpad for Tiger Shroff and Kriti Sanon. Divya Kumar’s Yaariyan too had just a bunch of newcomers but the film was a hit. Sidharth Malhotra did a ‘fun film’ like Hasee Toh Phasee, but his role in Ek Villain has negative shades to it. Taran Adarsh says, “The younger lot is heavily into experimentation.’’ Mahesh Bhatt stresses on the importance of deconstructing one’s brand. “That’s what we did with Citylights. If you keep making the same kind of cinema that has worked at the BO, you will not find enduring success.”

Women-oriented films
Shailesh Kapoor says that Kangna Ranaut-starrer Queen’s first day collection at the box office was less than Rs 2 crore but it has now collected around Rs 60 crore. “Such a high conversion from first day to lifetime has not happened in the last five years.’’ Adarsh says that the success of Queen and Ragini MMS 2 shut up those who believed that women- oriented films can’t get the numbers. “Both Kangna and Sunny Leone carried the film on their shoulders,” he says.

Docus got their due
With Gulabi Gang getting a big theatrical release, thanks to Sohum Shah, the road for other documentaries is now riddled with fewer problems. A recent example is Nisha Pahuja’s film, The World Before Her that managed to release in several cinemas across the country.

Big films in second half
Trade analyst Komal Nahata points out that since the second half has many festivals plus national and public holidays, it is natural for producers and top stars to slot their releases accordingly. “We have Salman Khan’s Kick releasing on Eid, Ajay Devgan’s Singham Returns is out on August 15, whereas Shah Rukh Khan-’s Happy New Year will hit the big screen on Diwali and Aamir Khan’s P. K. will release on December 19, just a week before Christmas,’’ he says.

BOMBAY TIMES (March 7, 2014)

Sampat Pal Devi is the founder of Gulabi Gang, a group of pink sariclad lathi-wielding women vigilantes and activists from Bundelkhand, Uttar Pradesh. The leader had moved the Delhi High Court seeking a restraining order on Gulaab Gang’s release, citing, the makers had not taken any permission from her before making the film, which is reportedly based on her life.

Allowing her plea, the Delhi High court stayed the release of the film. Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva restrained the film’s producers and their agents from “releasing, exhibiting, distributing and promoting” the film in India till the next date of hearing on May 8. Sampat Pal told us from Delhi, “They did not take any permission from me before making the film, when the copyright to Gulabi Gang belongs to me. Unhone chori kiya hai. Humara tamasha bana ke rakh diya.”

The activist is not too keen on seeing the film either. She claims, “Main unki picture kyu dekhu? They are big people. They never came to me.” Nor is she flattered with Madhuri Dixit-Nene bringing her character to life onscreen. “Madhuri playing my role might be good for the audience, not me.” While many perceive this move to be a publicity stunt, Sampat Pal rubbishes the accusations, saying, “Let people say what they want to say.”

In spite of several attempts, Gulaab Gang’s producer Anubhav Sinha, chose not to respond to our calls or messages at the time of going to press.

HIGHWAY grossed around 13-13.25 crore nett in its first weekend. The film had an upward trend over the weekend but due to a slow start at most places it needed a bigger jump on Saturday. The growth had to be over 50% but was around the 35% range.

The film was released on just over 700 screens which helped the film as it was not playing in places where it had little chance of collecting. Today films which only have chances at city multiplexes are going to 1200 plus screens and most of these films hardly have collections at certain centers

HIGHWAY was restricted to 1-2 screens at multiplexes with only better collecting multiplexes going to two screens and the single screen was very limited to a few big cities.
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HIGHWAY was steady on Monday but with low collections as it grossed around 2.25 crore nett taking the four day total to 15.50 crore nett. The drop from Friday is just 30% approx but collections were low on Friday.

The film should hold steady over the weekdays and finish with around 21 crore nett in the first week which is on the lower side as a lower costing film like HASEE TOH PHASEE grossed 27 crore nett over the first week and that was just decent not great.

The second week will see competition from SHAADI KE SIDE EFFECTS, another film targeting the city multiplex audience. The approx four day breakdown of the film is as follows.
Friday - 3,25,00,000
Saturday 4,50,00,000
Sunday 5,50,00,000
Monday 2,25,00,000
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DARR @ THE MALL made little impact at the box office despite a wide release. The first weekend business was in the range of 3-3.25 crore nett as it collected around 1 crore nett on day one and it was in the same range in day two. Sunday however was slightly higher.

The collections are very bad for a film which has released on close to 1200 screens. The film could not put up decent collections even in circuits where horror films tend to do better. The poor start and no growth leaves the film with no chance at the box office.

The other releases of the week like DEE SATURDAY NIGHT and GULABI GANG were total washouts with the former not even touching 10 lakhs and the latter having negligible collections.

Bharati Dubey (MID-DAY; February 13, 2014)

Even as Gulaab Gang gears up for release on March 7, it is being said that the film is based on Sampat Pal’s life, which has already been captured in the documentary, Gulabi Gang.

However, Soumik Sen, director of Gulaab Gang, denies this. “The film is not inspired from any real- life story as it is a work of fiction. So the question of giving credit to anyone doesn’t arise,” he says.

On the other hand, Gulabi Gang leader Sampat Pal tells HitList that she has seen the film’s promos. “How can the makers say that their film is a work of fiction? It’s our story and Madhuri Dixit is playing me in the film. If it is not my story, I want to ask them which other women’s gang do they know of in the country? Why don’t they just accept that their film takes inspiration from my life and take my permission to show it? I would have no issues with them then,” says Pal, who has already filed a case against the makers of Gulaab Gang in the Delhi High Court.

Sohum Shah, who is releasing a documentary on the Gulabi Gang, says that no comparisons should be drawn between the two. “Gulabi Gang’s release date was decided by PVR; we did not choose this date. Besides, one is a documentary and the other is a work of fiction,” he says.

In the meanwhile, the documentary has received support from the right corners. A source says, “Kiran Rao is hosting a screening of Gulabi Gang on Thursday night and Aamir’s friends Prasoon Joshi, Rajkumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Ayan Mukerji are expected to attend the same.”

Sonali Joshi Pitale (MID-DAY; February 4, 2014)

Sohum Shah and Anand Gandhi are backing the release of the documentary Gulabi Gang that will release just before Soumik Sen’s film Gulaab Gang. Directed by Nishtha Jain, the documentary is set to release on February 21 and it is said that Sen’s film has drawn inspiration from this documentary.

A source says, “Soumik and his team have referenced this documentary extensively as it was shot two years ago and has already been to many film festivals. But ironically, the documentary was not getting much support here. Moreover, Gulaab Gang’s makers have not taken permission to make a film on the life of Sampat Pal, who leads this group of pink sari clad women in real-life.” Seeing the lack of support for the documentary, Sohum and Anand decided to present the same.

“Documentaries often do not get a proper platform. Our own film, Ship Of Theseus, saw a theatrical release because of Kiran Rao’s support. Now we are taking the opportunity to help Nishtha. However, I am not sure if Soumik has copied anything from the documentary as I haven’t seen his film,” says Sohum, adding that there is no hidden agenda behind releasing the documentary ahead of Sen’s film that releases on March 7.

Sen’s film stars Madhuri Dixit in the lead role and Juhi Chawla as the antagonist. Upon being contacted, the filmmaker denied drawing inspiration from the documentary. “My film is a work of fiction,” Sen said. However, another source insists, “There are a few incidents in the film which are rooted in reality and are strikingly similar to Sampat’s story.”