All AbOuT MoViEs N mOrE.....

Thursday, 8 January 2015

Sunday, 4 January 2015

Box office update of Bollywood in 2014

2014 has ended and its time to look back at the business of movies in 2014. In terms of business it will be remembered as the year when we got the first Bollywood movie to touch 300 cr figure and the movie is "PK". "PK" took 17 days to became the first and so far only bollywood movie to enter in the 300cr club. Apart from that two other movies enters in 200cr club and seven other movies enters in 100cr club.

Here are the top 10 grosser of 2014 as per box office collections :

2014 Box Office Positions	Movie	Lead Stars	Directors	India Nett Collection in Crores
1	PK	Aamir Khan, Anushka Sharma, Sanjay Dutt,Sushant Singh Rajput	Rajkumar Hirani	294.00*
2	Kick	Salman Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez,Randeep Hooda	Sajid Nadiadwala	233.00
3	Happy New Year	Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone,Abhishek Bachchan, Sonu Sood, Boman Irani, Vivaan Shah	Farah Khan	203.30
4	Bang Bang	Hrithik Roshan, Katrina Kaif	Siddharth Anand	181.03
5	Singham Returns	Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan	Rohit Shetty	141.00
6	Holiday	Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha	A.R. Murugadoss	112.65
7	Jai Ho	Salman Khan, Daisy Shah	Sohail Khan	111.00
8	Ek Villain	Sidharth Malhotra, Shraddha Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh	Mohit Suri	105.50
9	2 States	Arjun Kapoor, Alia Bhatt	Abhishek Varman	104.00
10	Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania	Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan	Shashank Khaitan	76.81

Apart from these movies there were so many movies made with small budget which made huge profit though these movies collection were not too big but their profit percentage was very big.

Film	Box Office Collection (Lifetime) (In Cr)	Box-office verdict
Khoobsurat	25.87	Hit
Finding Fanny	35.91	Hit
Creature 3D	20	Hit
Mary Kom	64	Hit
Mardaani	36	Hit
Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania	76.81	Hit
Heropanti	55	Hit
Main Tera Hero	55.00	Plus
Ragini MMS 2	47.00	Super-Hit
Queen	61.00	Super-Hit
Highway	27.25	Average
Gunday	76.55	Plus
Hasee Toh Phasee	35.5	Plus
Yaariyan	40	Super-Hit

Review of Bengali film Badshahi Angti

Actor Bibhu Bhattacharya's unfortunate demise created a new challenge for director Sandip Ray to continue with his Feluda series without the inseparable character of Jatayu,but Sandip Ray took this challenge brilliantly and make a fresh start from the very first novel of Feluda sereis "Badshahi Angti" where the character of Jatayu is not there. With this initiative not only he get extra time to find a perfect actor for the character of Jatayu but also he got a chance to handover the baton to an young actors to play Feluda and his sidekick Topshe.

So while watching this you will get the nostalgic feeling of watching a Feluda movie but also you will get a fresh and contemporary approach too which will appeal to the current generation.

As the story is based on the first novel of the series so our very own sleuth Prodosh C Mitter(Abir Chatterjee) is not a professional detective yet rather he is working in a bank and working as detective is his hobby only. During a visit to Lucknow to an uncle's place he found himself involved in a mysterious case of a missing ring. The ring which was once worn by Aurangzeb and later goes to too many hands and finally goes missing from Feluda's uncles's house. There are a lot of interesting characters who are all in the suspect's list like Dr. Srivastava(Bharath Kaul) who was the last owner of the Ring, Mahavir (Tathagata Mukherjee) whose father has gifted the ring to doctor,the animal lover Banabihari Sarkar (Paran Bandopadhyay) or his aide Ganesh Guha(Rajatava Dutta). In his investigation Feluda is joined by his cousin Topshe (Sourav Das). and finally how they solved the mystery is the rest of the story.

Along with these characters, another important character of the film is the backdrop of Lucknow and Haridwar which has became alive with the perfect cinematography by Sirsha Ray. While watching the film you can feel you are watching a investigation of a missing ring and at the same time you are also watching a travelogue of Lucknow and Haridwar city. From Bada Imambara, Kaizar Bag , Bhulbhulaiya to the Ganges ghats of Haridwar every place has been captured with the eyes of a tourist and there is enough information also about those monuments as Feluda or Banabihari keeps playing perfect guide to Topshe from time to time. Even you will get a glance of Lucknow special kebab and other Nawabi food items too.

As a director Sandip Ray has played the masterstroke by choosing the story to relaunch the series with a fresh lead actor.His direction is good from choosing perfect actors to perfect locations.

Abir Chatterjee has already made his mark as Byomkesh so far but he has played the character of Feluda with the same confidence and has created the character of his own. In fact Abir looks more suitable as Feluda in terms of his screen age in comparison to earlier Feluda played by Sabyasachi Chakraborty. We will definitely look forward to watch more Feluda movies with Abir Chatterjee playing the lead.
Unfortunately the same can not be said for the debutante actor Sourav Das who has played Topshe for the first time. His looks matches with the screen age of his character but his acting is just average. Though it can be overlooked considering that he has act with the veterans in his very first film at this young age. Hope he will give more mature performance in the next movies of the series.

Among the others Paran Bandopadhyay is brilliant as animal lover Banabihari Sarkar, once again he has proved that he is the best character actor of Tollywood in recent times. The rest of the cast including Bharath Kaul, Biswajeet Chakraborty, Dipankar De has given appropriate support. Rajatava Dutta has very little to do as Ganesh Guha, in fact he has dialogues in only one scene. Probably he has done this role only as a gesture of friendship.

Among the technical team the person who deserves special mention is cinematographer Shirsha Ray. He has captured the scenic beauty of Lucknow and Haridwar very lavishly. The editing is good and keeps the pace correct for a n adventure thriller. The background music is obviously the main attraction of a Feluda movies without that signature theme music in background the Feluda nostalgia would have been incomplete.

Overall "Badshahi Angti" is a must watch for all Feluda fans, go and watch the new generation Feluda who still smokes cigarette but at the same time he also prefers to drink coffee at CCD. Even if you are not a die hard fan of Feluda still you can enjoy this adventure thriller with talented actors and beautiful locations of Lucknow and Haridwar.

Sunday, 9 November 2014

Review of Bengali movie Khaad

If it is a Kaushik ganguly directed movie then there is no doubt that you are going to see totally fresh and unconventional story.With his latest venture "Khaad" director Kaushik Ganguly have made no exception. Once again he has proved that only he can think and choose a really different story without thinking about its commercial perspective. Thanks to the production house Venkatesh Films and Surinder films too for encouraging such talented story teller to tell his story without making any compromise for commercialization.

The story is about 15 passengers who were travelling together by a bus by some hill area of North Bengal while they met with an accident and their bus dropped into a pit (Khaad). As a result all of them got trapped in the pit in the middle of a jungle where they are not even sure how to get out from there. Before this accident these passengers rarely know each other but this crisis situation brings them together as a team as they have to live together to survive and to find an way to get an exit from the jungle. The rest of the story shows how they survive the day and the night in the middle of a jungle far away from the civilization. Their bonding begins with sharing each others identity and food and later the situation turns in such a way that they share the deepest secrets of their life as confession. Finally at the climax their is surprising twist but it may not go well with each audience.

Probably this is the first time that someone has tried such a story and this credit must be given to the story writer. Another challenge with this story was to write a perfect and engaging screenplay and director Kaushik Ganguly has succeeded in that too. The screenplay never tries to give too much information about the characters background or how they will overcome with the crisis rather it has tried to capture the moments in between. the moments where bond with each other in the time of crisis. There is light moments as well as emotional moments too as a result in spite of having the same location same 16 character in their same wardrobe the film never looks monotonous. Another complex part of the screenplay was to give ample scope to all 16 characters and the script has been written fairly enough to give every character something to leave an impression. The characters have different socio-economic background which reflects in their clothes, their dialogues, their body language and in their interaction with each other too.

As a director Kaushik Ganguly has once again proved his brilliance. His narrative style is very much engaging. He knows how to get the perfect job from his actors as well from his technical team. A director like him can assure that Bengali movies can be made without taking help from South Indian DVDs or old Bengali literature.

Among the actors it can be said it has more than a dozen of actors playing different characters and every actor has been given fair chance to leave their mark. Still among them who have impressed more are Kamaleshwar Mukherjee, Kaushik Ganguly, Gargi Roychoudhury, Rudranil Ghosh, Lily Chakraborty and Mimi Chakraborty.
Kaushik Ganguly has once again proved that he is capable to deliver his excellence both behind the camera as well as in front of camera as an actor. His emotional scene in the confession sequence is heart touching. Gargi Roychoudhury has underplayed her character of an well known Tollywood actress very well. She never goes over the top but still expressed a lot with her silence. Lily Chakraborty has her moments as Kaushik's cancer patient mother who know she is dying but still tries to hide her pain to make her son happy.happy. Rudranil Ghosh has played such role of a poor deprived person earlier too and this time also he has done full justice with his character. Mimi Chakraborty has provided the much needed comic relief as the foul mouthed newly wed bride. Her abusive dialogues may have given the film an Adult certificate but it will surely bring laughter to the audiences faces. Pallavi Chatterjee has made a good comeback. But among the actors the true Revelation is director turned actor Kamaleshwar Mukherjee. He has done a bit roles earlier too but this is his first full fledged acting debut and he has done a fantastic job as the trekking expert with a secret. One actress who could have done a better job provided the potential of her character is Tanushree. She has a strong character and a well written scene where she outburst out of her mental stress, but Tanushree has disappointed in that scene.

The technical team is also in a very good form here. Soumik Halder has captured the hills and jungles very realistically. The sequences shot in the night with the light source as the burning flames nearby , are superb.Same can be said for Anirban and Dipak's sound design which has helped to create the atmosphere more authentic. The background score has been used very good way to give emotional sequence the much needed high. Bodhadittya Bandopadhyay's editing is crisp , specially the way the background of the characters has been showed in short and crisp way.

The music by Indradeep Dasgupta is yet another high point of this film. There is only two songs which has been used in the movie and both the song have been written very well by Srijato and Indradeep himself. And both the songs have such soulful melody that it lasts with you for a long time. Special mention should be given for the use of these two songs in the script where there is hardly any scope for songs.

Overall it is a story which has the potential to connect with the audiences. Although the climax is a bit shocking and the pace of the story is a bit slow but the brilliant acting by the ensemble cast and the emotional sequences will always keep you glued to your seats till the end.

Sunday, 12 October 2014

A quick update on the happenings in Bollywood in Quarter 3 of 2014

Quarter 3 of 2014 is over so its time to look back at the happenings of Q3 of 2014 in our Hindi film industry.

Business of Bollywood in July:

The month of July began with Vidya Balan starrer "Bobby Jasoos". Both the critics andaudiences had expectations from this movie because of the presence of Vidya Balan and her many disguises in this movie but it disappointed everyone with its weak story. As a result it failed to deliver at the ticket window.The first big hit of July was "Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania". It was romantic comedy from Dharma productions and just like the other two hits from Karan Johar this year, this film also got a good response for its fresh new approach, hit music and lovely on screen chemistry between the lead pair Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt.

After two weeks came one of the most awaited films of this year "Kick". This Salman Khan starer came onthe auspicious occasion of Eid and became a blockbuster like Salman Khan's other Eidreleases. It had all ingredients needed for a Salman Khan blockbuster movie and as a result it got huge opening and a bumper response later too.It became the biggest grosser of this year so far. Also it became Salman Khan's first entry (and only entry so far) in the 200 crore club wit a box office collection of around 233 crore.

Business of Bollywood in August:

In the beginning of August "Kick" fever was already there so no movie could survive in first two weeks even Akshay Kumar starer "Entertainment" got an average response but could not be a big hit.But in the third week hit machine director Rohit Shetty returned with his favorite actor Ajay devgan with "Singham Retrurns". It was released on the holiday of Independence Day. It got the biggest opening for any Ajay Devgan movie and very soon enters in 100 crore club. Also with its final collection of around 139 crore it became the biggest hit of Ajay Devagan's career.
One week later a small budget women oriented film came from Yashraj film's featuring the chopra bahu Rani Mukerjee in the leading role. It was "mardaani". It had not been released or promoted in a larger scale

but for its hard hitting bold subject and the brilliant acting by the whole cast of course lead by Rani herself caught cine-goers attention. Due to good reviews and word of mouth publicity this film finally becomes a hit with around 36 crore box office collection which was very big for such a small movie.
In the last month serial kisser Emraan Hashmi tried to back on his comfort zone with "Raja Natwarlal" but this time he failed to make a comeback.

Business of Bollywood in September:

The month of September started with a big hype with Priyanka Chopra starer biopic "Mary Kom". Priyanka Chopra's acting surely caught everyone's attention but overall the movie got mixed response from critics as well as from audiences and as a result in spite of getting a good start its box office collection remained limited between 60-65 crores.
In the second week came two surprise hits one was "Creature 3D" featuring Bipasha Basu in the lead. This movie was not a favorite with critics neither with the audiences but due to its good standard visual effects and its limited budget this film became an above average successful film. Another surprise hit was "Finding Fanny". It was a really unconventional film which was made in English though there

was Hindi dubbed versions too. It was a small budget film with a non commercial subject but due to the presence of hugely popular stars Deepika Padukone and Arjun Kapoor it got good enough response at the box office and became hit. Its collection was almost 35 crores.
There were two other small films which released together on the third week, these were "Daawat-E-Ishq" from Yashraj Films and "Khoobsurat" an official remake of 70's Hrishikesh Mukherjee classic made with the same name. Both the films failed at box office.

So overall it shows Q3 was better than Q2 as per the box office collections. Q3 has one 200 crore films 1 100 crore and 4 more hits which made a collection between 35-70 crores.

Top Performances of Q3 2014
Actors-

Ajay Devgan - Singham Returns
Nawazuddin Siddiqui - Kick
Randeep Hooda - Kick
Tahir Raj Bhasin - Mardaani
Naseeruddin Shah - Finding Fanny
Pankaj Kapoor - Finding Fanny

Actresses-

Vidya Balan - Bobby Jasoos
Rani Mukerjee - Mardaani
Priyanka Chopra - Mary Kom
Dimple Kapadia - Finding Fanny
Deepika Padukone - Finding Fanny

Top Songs of Q3 2014

Saturday Saturday - Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania
Aaj Phir Tum Pe - Hate Story 2
Jumme Ki Raat/Hangover - Kick
Johny Johny - Entertainment
Ziddi - Mary Kom

Thursday, 2 October 2014

Review of Bengali movie "Chatushkone"

Master story teller Srijit Mukherji is back with yet another unconventional and engaging story in the form of "Chatushkone". With his every film he keeps experimenting and he has continued that trend with this film too. It is only Srijit Mukherjee who can think to cast four directors as a lead instead of mainstream actors ( though at last moment he has to cast two actors due to some casting issues). This is a journey of four different person and their self discovery with a brilliant twist at the end.

It is the story of four directors who are from different backgrounds; Dipto (Chiranjit Chakraborty) a well known actor of mainstream cinema and a director too of commercial Bengali movies, Shakyo (Gautam Ghosh) a well known cinematographer turned director who use to make movies mostly for festival circuits, Trina (Aparna Sen) an actor turned director who was a glamorous heroine at one time and now a successful director and Joybrato (Parambrata Chatterjee) an actor who is also interested to be a director and has directed few movies but is more successful as an actor than director. Very interestingly the characters has too much similar career graph with the real life actors who has played the characters on screen and it works in favor of the movie. But the similarity ends with the career-graph only their reel life relationship is quite different than real life.

One fine day all these four directors gets an opportunity from a rich producer to make a film together where there will be four different stories directed by the four of them. The producer is ready to spend any amount of money but he has only two conditions all the four stories should have a common theme that is death and all the four directors have to go to an isolated island (Henry's Island) to meet the producer personally to narrate their stories. After some initial inhibition they agreed to work on this project together and started their journey. On their way in the journey the story unfolds more details about each of the individual , their relationship with each other and their background too. At the climax there is a big twist which is very tough to guess from earlier and this adds the much needed boost to the story at the end.

It is of course a suspense thriller but unlike a typical thriller it is not fast paced rather it goes on smoothly so that the audience can have enough time to know more about the characters so that they can be well prepared for the climax. The screenplay has been written very well which keeps the audiences engaged throughout the film. Although in the beginning it may look little confusing to some people as two parallel stories were continuing in past and present but till the end everything gets cleared so at the end no question remains unanswered. Another credit should be given to the story writer Srijit Mukherji as he has written four separate independent stories apart from the main story. These stories have been used as the film conceptualized by the directors in the film. The way the films within the film has been inserted in the screenplay that is also commendable. It never looks forced and also it never looks that the short stories are impacting the main story because the short stories itself are very much engaging. The dialogues also goes very well with the

situations and characters. There are some reference to the actor's real life which adds some humor too , like the way Parambrata's character Joy keeps making fun of the films which Parambrata has directed so far in real life, or when Dipto played by Chiranjeet is describing his story his wife's character has been shown using Kirron Kher's picture which reminds us of "Bariwaali".Also there is the so much famous dialogue of Chiranjeet "Bou harale bou paoa jay kintu Maa harale Maa paoa jay na".

As a director there is nothing new to say about Srijit Mukherji, with every new film he is continuing to be better. Here too his detailing for every technical aspects is praise worthy, not only in the main story but also in the short stories which comes as a film into the film. As the story is about directors so he has got enough chance too to show how he himself gets prepared for the perfect presentation, for example when every director in the movie are discussing about their short films they also discuss about the production design , the camerawork , the characterization. Apart from the modern day story there is a flashback too set in the retro era of 70s that also has been handled very well by the director.

There are four main lead actors and all of them are brilliant. Aparna Sen acts very much real

like her own real life personality.She is good in the character of a director as well as a middle aged married woman who still cares for the guy who was her love interest at one point of her life. Gautam Ghosh is also very natural. He has underplayed his character of a director as well as a common friend between two separated lovers.Both Aparna Sen and Gautam Ghosh have got chance to act something different from their real life in the short stories directed by their characters. They are too good in that too. Chiranjeet is mainly a commercial film star and his only claim to fame as an actor was "Bariwaali" so far, so there was lots of doubt about his casting , but after watching the film everyone will understand how well he has done as the arrogant director Dipto as well as the helpless smoking addict Bedashruti in his short story. He has acted beyond expectation in both the characters. Parambrata Chatterjee also outshines along with the senior actors. He has provided some light moments in the middle of the serious acting done by the senior actors. The way he has played spoof on his directorial films is quite funny. Although in the beginning his portrayal of the under confident junior director seems quite similar with his portrayal of the character of Haru from his last release "Hercules". But at the climax he will definitely get accolades from everyone.

Among the supporting cast there is a bunch of seasoned actors who have appeared in one

scene appearances or in an extended cameo. Among them the person who is undoubtedly the best is Kaushik Ganguly. Even in his one (if we neglect his blink and miss appearance in the beginning) scene appearance, he has proved his talent. Among the others Payel Sarkar, the successful actress from mainstream commercial cinema has done quite better job than her earlier performances as an actresses of Black and White era. Her make up is too good. Only she could have been little less louder in the scene where she is fighting with her boyfriend over some ego clashes. Indrashis and Rahul are good with their expressions and makes their presence felt even with very less dialogues. Barun Chanda has once again proved his acting skills in the character of Malay(Trina's husband).
The other actors who have shined in the cameos are Koneenica Banerjee, Arpita Chatterjee, Sumit Samddar, Shantilal Mukherjee, Anindya Chatterjee, Neel Mukherjee, Deboleena Dutt.

The technical team has also supported a lot to represent the director's vision to the big screen and make it a audio visual treat. Cinematographer Sudeep Chatterjee's camerawork is

exceptionally well. The way he has played with different shades and colors to show the different stories is awesome.He has used a variety of colors from black & white to blue to red to sepia. The DOP has shot every single shot in such a way that he has brought life to even the background and the objects, whether it is a burnt cigarette butt thrown on the road or four candles lighting on a table. The other brilliant technician in the crew is the editor Rabiranjan Moitra. He has blended all four sub tracks so well in the main story , it is truly commendable, hats off to him.The background music by Indradip Dashgupta is very effective to portray the emotions of the character in a better way. The production design and sound design is also brilliant, not only in the main story but also in the four short films. Special mention should be given for the way Bedashruti's room has been decorated and thanks to the director for explaining the production design process in the segment using the character of Dipto as the narrator.

The music is always a plus point in Srijit Mukherjee's film and probably he used to lock all the best tracks of his friend and composer Anupam Roy to use in his movies. There is not too much scope to fit songs in the narration so there is only four song in the film even in that last two songs are there in last 10 minutes. All the songs are good but the two songs which will remain with you for a long time is "Boba Tunnel" and "Basanto Ese Gechhe".

Over all "Chatushkone" is yet another brilliant film from Srijit Mukherjee. The best gift for this Puja to the Bengali film audiences as well as the Bengali film industry. Go and enjoy the film and you will get to see four interesting short films too as Puja bonus .