In a year filled with some oh-so-brilliant performances, be it the scintillating Kahaani or the high on verve Cocktail and the lovingly scandalous Heroine, our pick for the season is up for grabs. Have a check!

Vidya Balan for Kahaani

Vidya Balan in a still from Kahaani Movie

The new Big B in the tinsel town, Miss Balan has been setting some records straight for the past three years, grabbing almost all awards. The most bankable actress in B-town today, Vidya Balan marveled as Vidya Bagchi, a wife on a relentless search for her missing husband in Sujoy Ghosh’s beautifully written Kahaani. Vidya, the actress scored milestones with this flick that boasted of a gripping narrative and some brilliant performances.

Deepika Padukone for Cocktail

Deepika Padukone in a still from Cocktail Movie

Stylish, trendy and in vogue, our lovely Khuda Jaane lady moved away from her showpiece theorems and showed the hidden actress inside her. Deepika Padukone excelled as Veronica in the film Cocktail, which is definitely the biggest turning point in the leggy diva’s career graph! She agrees, we agree too!

Parineeti Chopra for Ishaqzaade

Parineeti Chopra in a still from Ishaqzaade Movie

A chulbuli and effervescently volatile actress in the maiden Bolly venture and then an entire drift apart to a feisty and fiery Zoya in Ishaqzaade, Parineeti Chopra the versatile performer shot to instant fame, with more audience connect as she donned the two different roles with equal aplomb. While LVRB got her all debut awards last year, Ishaqzaade triggered her to the powerful list of A grade actresses, merely with her second film!

Katrina Kaif for Ek Tha Tiger

Katrina Kaif in a still from Ek Tha Tiger Movie

Kabir Khan, the maverick brought out India’s best action superstar actress to the fore in the form of our Mashallah Katrina Kaif who delved into the better versions of emoting on screen with Ek Tha Tiger and made sure her action sequences come just perfect. For an actress who is hardly applauded for her performance, ETT was a nice changeover.

Priyanka Chopra for Barfi!

Priyanka Chopra in a still from Barfi! Movie

In an obvious male centered film, making a mark isn’t a cakewalk for the actress. But our sweet and adorable Jhilmil Chatterjee from Barfi! made it possible and how. Playing the role of an autistic girl with assumed conviction, Priyanka Chopra won hearts. Essaying all the elements of emotions with equal ease and earnestness, Priyanka is definitely a strong contender for the throne this year. When she twitched the small finger into her beloved’s one, we tried doing the same.

Kareena Kapoor for Heroine

Kareena Kapoor in a still from Heroine Movie

Madhur Bhandarkar’s gamble on Bollywood, revealing the nitty-gritties of its core, emphasizing on the relations prevalent in the industry was quite a bore but what saved the ship from sinking completely was a brilliant act by Mahi Aroa aka our lovely Bebo. Kareena Kapoor made Mahi, the Heroine look absolutely natural and evoked equal amount of rage, anger, brashness, sympathy and equal empathy with the course of the protagonist’s life.

Sridevi for English Vinglish

Sridevi in a still from English Vinglish Movie

Living almost as a recluse in a world where her contemporaries were making comebacks, some good and some too dull, Sridevi took time to make an astounding comeback of sorts, one with an immensely refreshing plot in English Vinglish. Sridevi’s comeback vehicle was more elegant than sexy, and Gauri Shinde assured the presence of a Shashi in most middle class Indian housewives. The queen of expressions bamboozled us with her magical maneuvers, and we were awed by her terrific screen presence. Sridevi, even in a light blue ordinary sari can still make wonders!

Katrina Kaif for Jab Tak Hai Jaan

Katrina Kaif in a still from Jab Tak Hai Jaan Movie

She came running in an exquisite orange ghagra choli, dolled up with a lovely red fur coat around her, and we knew what we were going to witness. Staging the throne as the leading lady of the last Yash Chopra directorial venture, Katrina Kaif rose to pinnacles in her career, making all her dreams come true with Jab Tak Hai Jaan. The genius instilled within Mr. Chopra was enough to drive and flesh out the best from Katrina as Meera. Her emotions surpassed all her previous encounters and she stood out in an arena ruled by King Khan.

In a year with as many as over 100 good films, we highlight the top 10 films that stood out on the muh-tor dialoguebaazi department.

Agneepath

Still from Agneepath Movie

When KJo revisited the legendary sphere that his father had built around himself, he chose to deliver dialogues with all the punch. Reminiscing the brilliant ‘Agneepath Agneepath’ lines from Harivansh saab’s recitals or the ‘tum kya leke aaye the aur kya leke jaoge’ by the menacing antagonist, the writer did a fair job of putting some powerful words into the mouths of the lead stars.

Vicky Donor

Still from Vicky Donor Movie

When Dr Chaddha recalled sperm donation, an ancient process, much from the times of Mahabharata, referring Vicky as the new age Aryaputtar, we went lotpot in laughter. Vicky Donor’s dialogues caught the attention, assessing the underlying area of seriousness with their charm and humour!

Rowdy Rathore

Still from Rowdy Rathore Movie

Spelling masala to the tee, Rowdy Rathore fed each one of us with a mouthful of gritty and bloody terms, with flavours of spice from here and there. Main Jo Bolta Hu Woh Karta Hu, Aur Jo Main Nahi Bolta Wo Main Definitely Karta Hu became a catchphrase soon. Expected, as usual!

Gangs of Wasseypur

Still from Gangs of Wasseypur Movie

Highlighting the political sabotages in the rural districts of Bihar was a difficult task. But thanks to the grueling dialogues that were thrown here and there in Gangs of Wasseypur that made it easy. Cuss words were used with a  lot of staunch, and the ‘Us harami ko Mitana Hai Hamein, Goli Nahin marenge, Keh Ke Lenge Uski’ was just a trailer of what we were about to witness.

Bol Bachchan

Still from Bol Bachchan Movie

A remake that was meant to be compared to its legendary counterpart, Bol Bachchan did an amazing job at leaving up to all expectations, much because of the character’s amazing histrionics, coupled by the witty and push-you-to-thinking one liners mouthed by the cast, at large. Specially the tooti-footi aangrezi like ‘English is a very funny language – Naa pine hain, naa apple; phir bhi pineapple’ by our Prithviji did wonders!

Heroine

Still from Heroine Movie

Grasping onto the spotlight and bringing in the glitzy world of glamour and stardust to the centre, Madhur’s Heroine lacked a coherent plot, but the dialogues were quite a gamble that played off excellently. Kareena mouthed some realistically true and harsh lines in the film, with ‘Actors ki dosti tumse nahi, tumhare position se hai’ and the Dubai dialogue creating a media frenzy. After all, ‘Hollywood ho ya Bollywood, har heroine mein teen qualities hotei hai’ because ‘confidence ke saath bolo na toh film industry jhooth ko bhi sach maan leti hai’.

English Vinglish

Still from English Vinglish Movie

It was Sridevi’s comeback vehicle, the ultimate battle between our lovely Chalbaaz star and Angrezi that kept us glued to our theatre seats, but English Vinglish could never climbed its way to the pinnacle, sans its heart warming yet hard hitting dialogues that struck the right chords with the audiences. Specially the tryst at the airport immigration office, where Sridevi is ridiculed for her low knowledge of the language, being questioned, how she would actually manage to stay in the States without knowing English, up came the reply amidst a rip roar, ‘Just like the way you manage in our country without knowing Hindi’!

Student Of The Year

still from Student Of The Year Movie

The Cha mein u ki matra, ta mein ee ki matra, aur ya mein aa ki matra might refer to something as foul as a Hindi gaali, but the way it was sugar coated and presented showed the amount of labour and wit that had gone into making each line of the film. Karan and his team, take a bow!

Jab Tak Hai Jaan

Still from Jab Tak Hai Jaan Movie

This film was a masterpiece in its own records, a remarkable milestone in the lives of many as Yash Chopra had the perfect swan song with JTHJ scoring hugely big on the dialogue front too. Aditya Chopra’s inspiring lines, starting from the special Jab Tak Hai Jaan poem, to the ardent show of aplomb and attitude deserve applause. The ‘Jab zindagi se bachne ke liye koi bomb suit nahin pehenta, toh bomb ke saamne kyun pehenna? Zindagi toh har din jaan leti hai. Bomb toh bas ek baar lega.’ showed the power and strength while Anushka’s ‘sweet hoon, entertaining hoon, sexy hoon’ act made her a complete ‘jackpot’!

Dabangg 2

Still from Dabangg 2 Movie

A rip rarer of sorts, Salman Khan who is known to mouth some awesome lines, that anyway becomes the golden liens of the year. And Dabangg 2 was no difference. ‘Swagat nahi karoge aap humara’ went Salman and then there was the entire hysteria about the hernia catch or the cooker ki ceetee line. But the ‘waqt tumhara kharab aaya hai aur din hum gine’ was the ultimate show stealer!

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The Kareena Kapoor starrer now stands at a domestic box office collection of 41.70 Crores. Thankfully for the film, it has also made about 9.50 Crores at the overseas box office which brings up its worldwide box office total to 51.20 Crores.

Kareena Kapoor in a Still from Heroine Movie

The distributors have suffered huge losses due to the non acceptance of the movie by the masses. From the looks of it, the movie won’t even last another week at the box office. Release of English Vinglish and Kismet Love Paisa Dilli this week are sure to give a final blow to Heroine.

Heroine Poster

Heroine started witnessing considerable drops ever since last Friday. The movie made a small 1 Crore on it’s 2nd Friday, 1.20 Crores on Saturday and an approx 1.40 Crores on Sunday. Madhur Bhandarkar’s much hyped project Heroine could make only 3.60 Crores on it’s 2nd weekend at the domestic box office.

The Kareena Kapoor starrer now stands at a domestic box office total of 40.10 Crores. Also another 9 Crores at the overseas box office brings up its worldwide box office total to 49.10 Crores.

From the looks of it the movie won’t last more than a week at the box office. A lifetime collection of 43-44 Crores is the best the movie can achieve in India.

The makers of the movie will not be in a loss via this venture but the distributors sure will. After the huge publicity and the hype that ensued it was only expected that Heroine would be a super-hit. However, the masses seemed to not like the movie to that extent and showed their finger down.

Better luck with an “ORIGINAL” story next time Madhur.

Kareena Kapoor in a Still from Heroine Movie Halkat Jawani Song

The film is seeing a steady drop just after its 1st week run at the domestic box office. Having made about 9 Crores at the overseas box office, Heroine now stands at a worldwide box office total of 47.7 Crores. From the looks of it the movie will not make more than 4 Crores in it’s 2nd weekend and about 6 Crores in the 2nd week.

The movie it seems felt prey to bad reviews, festivities, T20 Cricket and other factors. However, even the audiences did not seem to be a big fan of the movie and hence the box office collections.

Heroine

Kareena Kapoor hot in Heroine Movie Stills

Kareena Kapoor was the ultimate driving force of the film. Madhur Bhandarkar known for creating honest cinema didn’t exactly create a wonder cinema this time. Heroine received mixed reviews from critics. Bhandarkar’s direction overpowers the film making it very predictable. Kareena’s performance does manage to stand out making her charcter memorable and her role poignant. The female narrative works for this film well garnering the sympathies of the audience for Mahi’s character who pops pills and valiantly fights depression. Kareena has her finger of the pulse of her character and plays it fine. The film was, however, criticized for its mundane screenplay. After opening at a collection of 7.20 crores, the film is estimated to rake up almost 42 crore rupees.

Jism 2

Sunny Leone Hot in Jism 2 Movie Stills

Jism 2 is an erotic thriller that garnered much hype as it was the Bollywood debut of the famous Indo-Candian Porn Star, Sunny Leone. There were mixed reviews on the film. A few critics hailed Sunny Leone’s performance as great and the movie as sexy. While others thought it was a drag bore with a generous dollop of erotica and a failed anti climax. The film opened with a good collection of 7.50 crores on the first day and raked up a lifetime earning of 33.50 crores. The film aroused a great deal of curiosity because of Sunny Leone’s brand name being attached to the film.

Dangerous Ishhq

Karisma Kapoor hot in Dangerous Ishhq Movie Stills

Dangerous Ishhq was a fantasy driven, supernatural film which was the comeback venture of Karisma Kapoor after a nine year long break. Karisma who is known for her brilliant acting skills and delivering masterpieces like Zubeidaa was criticized harshly for this film. Her acting was earnest but the film was a terrible torture. The film could barely manage a collection of 6.05 crores.

Kahaani

Vidya Balan in a still from Kahaani Movie

2012 began stupendously with Vidya Balan’s Kahaani. She had already given a smasing performance in Balaji’s The Dirty Picture. This film was quite in contrast to her previous role. Set in the serene “City of Joy”, Kolkata, the film is essentially a suspense thriller. Vidya played a pregnant lady who lands in Kolkata to search for her missing husband and mysterious circumstances and incidents follow. The film captured the ethnic beauty of the Bengali culture and life of Kolkata. The plot was full of mesmerizing suspense and the plot worked as the USP of the film. The movie raked a huge profit at box office. It opened at 2.07 crores and earned a lifetime amount of 59.26 crores.

Women oriented roles are preferred as Bollywood takes a sharp turn towards realism. Women narrators are better equipped to tell stories with a greater finesse, keeping intact the sensitive value of the film. The dramatic content is always on a high when a woman is a protagonist. Bollywood has always been male dominated with most stories centered on the lives of the heroes. Women characters were created to play a supporting role. They added a tinge of romance. Lately, stories were created keeping in mind the woman as the pivotal character on the role which holds and binds the film together. This change in Bollywood will certainly help in a more sensible characterization, rather than creating a male dominated and chauvinistic beat of cinema.

Kareena Kapoor in a Still from Heroine Movie

Heroine made a decent 3 Crores as per early estimates on it’s 1st Wednesday at the box office. The Kareena Kapoor starrer had made 3.70 Crores on Monday and 3.30 Crores on Tuesday. It now stands at a domestic box office collection of 34 Crores.

The movie has failed to impress audiences overseas and ended up making a mere 2.5 Crores which sums up the worldwide box office collection to 36.5 Crores.

Heroine’s collections so far are in no way bad for the makers of the film. However, the distributors are all set to lose a huge chunk of their investment thanks to the movie’s below average performance in mass belts like Gujrat, Rajasthan, CI and CP.

This weeks release OMG Oh My God! and Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal are sure to have an averse effect on the film. It’s really doubtful if the money will make decent money in its 2nd week.

]]> http://www.koimoi.com/box-office/heroine-1st-wednesday-box-office-collections/feed/ 2 http://www.koimoi.com/bollywood-news/shah-rukh-khan-s-jthj-movie-poster-inspired-copied-or-is-it-a-co-incidence/ http://www.koimoi.com/bollywood-news/shah-rukh-khan-s-jthj-movie-poster-inspired-copied-or-is-it-a-co-incidence/#comments Wed, 26 Sep 2012 08:08:19 +0000 Arijita Bhowmik http://www.koimoi.com/?p=141449 Intellectual Property is one of those shady areas in the legal loopholes that not many wish to deal with and the dealings are pretty confusing too. So often certain plagiarisms go unnoticed intentionally as parties don’t wish to get involved in the complex proceedings of proving who originally owns the creativity of innovation portrayed in the matter at hand. Let’s take a look at a few posters which we are not quite sure if are inspirations or imitations.

Jab Tak Hai Jaan

Jab Tak Hai Jaan and Special Forces Posters

Going by the first look of Shah Rukh Khan’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan‘s poster, the news doing the rounds is, it’s an inspired copy of the poster of the 2011 French film, Special Forces. A minute look at the JTHJ poster reflects a fair outline of the French film poster indeed. Well we have to say, this poster imitating trend isn’t entirely new to the industry! So here’s a quick rewind to some of the unabashed copy cat posters of Bollywood.

Ra.One

Ra.One and Batman Begins Posters

Shah Rukh Khan might have insisted on the originality of his home production but we surely cannot say the same about his film’s poster. The poster of Ra.One with Shah Rukh carrying Kareena Kapoor in his arms is an exact replica of the Nolan’s Batman Begins poster. And hence we see it is not first time SRK’s movie poster has been accused of rip-off.

Heroine

Heroine Poster and The emancipation of Mimi Album Still

Madhur Bhandarkar‘s ambitious project Heroine might not be making adequate waves in the box office but its poster created some furor over its similarity with Mariah Carey’s photo for her album The emancipation of Mimi.

Ek Tha Tiger

Ek Tha Tiger Poster Wallpaper, Prince of Persia Wallpaper and Max Payne Poster

The Yash Raj Films blockbuster Ek Tha Tiger may have broken upturned quite a many records up till now but the first view of the film’s poster showed several parallels had been drawn. The posters of the film bear significant resemblance to the game covers of Max Payne and Prince of Persia. Also Abhishek Bachchan’s Drona shared similarity to Prince of Persia’s wallpapers.

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Lords of Dogtown Posters

Zoya Akhtar’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara movie may not have an original start after all. The movie’s poster with Hrithik Roshan, Abhay Deol and Farhan Akhtar walking down the road seems to be highly adopted from Lords of Dogtown’s poster.

Murder 2

Murder 2 Poster Wallpaper, Bad Guy Poster Wallpaper and AntiChrist Poster

Vishesh Films is famed for its inspired and remade films and when it comes to the posters of its films the scene is no different. While the erotic thriller Murder 2’s posters wear stark resemblance to the posters of South Korean film Bad Guys and Lars von Trier’s AntiChrist (2009).

Jannat 2

Jannat 2 and The Mechanic Posters

Like we already said, Vishesh Films is famed for its inspired and remade films. And here we have Emraan Hashmi and Esha Gupta starring Jannat 2‘s poster which seem inspired from The Mechanic’s poster.

Hulchul

Hulchul and My Big Fat Greek Wedding Posters

An exact rip off of the My Big Fat Greek Wedding’s poster is the Priyadarshan laughter riot, Hulchul’s poster. The poster looks exactly similar and is without doubt an unabashed imitation of the former.

Akele Hum Akele Tum

Akele Hum Akele Tum and Kramer vs. Kramer Posters

And lastly, we have to include the 1995 Aamir Khan and Manisha Koirala musical, Akele hum Akele Tum which shares not only the poster of the 1979 Hollywood drama, Kramer vs. Kramer but is also inspired from its story.

Other Hindi movies with imitated posters are Kites from The Notebook (2004), Anjaana Anjaani from An Education (2009), Mausam from Titanic (1997), Hisss from King Arthur (2004), Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge? from License to Wed (2007), RGV’s Phoonk 2 from The Chaser (2008) and Ugly Aur Pagli from the American sitcom Til Death (2006-2010).

And going by these many movies we get a fair overview of the industry’s hasty functioning and reckless attitude when it comes to poster creativity. And regarding whether Shah Rukh’s JTHJ poster is a copy, inspired or just co-incidence that only Khan can tel. Yet till then the poster might just go on adding dollops of hype to the upcoming release and might further it’s build up in the days to come.

In this period the star power has risen yet again with Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, Ajay Devgan booking the top 5 slots with their respective films grossing over the 100 Crore benchmark in this period. But surprise surprise as Vidya Balan starrer Kahaani has made a fair entry in the list of the rockers of the first half. It goes without doubt that the delightful Barfi! is supposed to make a home run given the brilliant reception and has taken a great lead in our list which sadly evaded Kareena Kapoor starrer Heroine’s fate.

Although Akshay Kumar’s OMG Oh My God!, releases this September end but we still go ahead with our list as it takes merely 3 days of the month. With an assortment of comedy, action, drama and thriller we present the list of flicks grabbing the top slot and rounding up the first nine months of the industry.

The 9 month report card offers a mix of drama, action, comedy, dirty comedy and speaking loud and clear that star power and content both do work independent of each other.

Ek Tha Tiger

Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif starrer Ek Tha Tiger Movie Poster

The imminent winner with no hiccups on the way is Sallu Bhai’s Ek Tha Tiger which saw an Independence Day opening with a fabulous 32.92 crores on its opening day itself. The Yash Raj’s experiment with high dosage of stunts and reworking of the hit pairing of Katrina Kaif and Salman Khan did box office wonders for the multi Crore venture. The film has said to have earned about a staggering 198 crores and no wonder rules our list as the top grosser till now.

Rowdy Rathore

Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha starrer Rowdy Rathore Movie Poster

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s gaudy adventure into the comic genre has surely proved lucky. The Prabhu Deva directed action masala with Akshay Kumar and the recent Bollywood lucky charm, Sonakshi Sinha gave the box office a severe jolt to make way for an astounding 131 Crores. The film’s return to the flashy attires and smarty one liners with quirky dance moves has aptly secured the film the second slot in our list.

Agneepath

Hrithik Roshan and Priyanka Chopra starrer Agneepth Movie Poster

The third position has been retained by the action drama Agneepath, a remake of Yash Johar’s 1990 film with the same name. The film produced by Karan Johar boasted of a heavy star cast containing Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt and Priyanka Chopra. With high hopes pinned the film broke the opening day record of Bodyguard with 2 3.00 crores, later to be overrun by Ek Tha Tiger. Gradually a box office blockbuster the film has grossed about 123 Crores.

Housefull 2

Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, Shreyas Talpade, Ritesh Deshmukh, Asin, Zarine Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez and Shazahn Padamsee starrer Housefull 2 Movie Poster

When you have a mad house with unpredictable characters what do we hint at….obviously Sajid Nadiadwala’s Housefull 2. The film did manage to steal the limelight with earnings of about a staggering 114 Crores. A long line of stars lead by Akshay Kumar and the charm of yesteryear actors like Mithun Chakraborty, Rishi Kapoor and Randhir Kapoor made the success of the movie seem inevitable.

Bol Bachchan

Ajay Devgan, Asin, Abhishek Bachchan and Prachi Desai starrer Bol Bachchan Movie Poster

Rohit Shetty and Ajay Devgan’s super hit pairing struck the bull’s eye yet again and this time with Abhishek Bachchan in the trio’s laughter riot Bol Bachchan. Claiming to be the official remake of Gol Maal (1979) the film ran to packed theatres garnering an impressive 102 crores ranking in the top five positions. The female leads were played by Asin Thottumkal and Prachi Desai.

Barfi!

Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Ileana D’Cruz starrer Barfi! Movie Poster

Anurag Basu’s warm and vivacious romantic comedy Barfi! has created ripples enough to place it in our list of highest earners. Since its release in 14^th September the film has already collected about 101.50 Crores plus and has been chosen as India’s Official Entry to 85^thAcademy Awards. With rave reviews on Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra’s brilliant performance, the heart rendering  romantic comedy is Rabir’s ticket to the 100 Crore Club.

Cocktail

Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone and Diana Peny starrer Cocktail Movie Poster

A notable gross of 76 Crores puts Cocktail at the seventh spot as per our rankings. The casual story revolving around friendship, love, trust involving three friends received mixed reviews and made for a great business confirming the film’s success rate. Deepika Padukone as the wild and brash Veronica made for the film’s USP added to which was Saif Ali Khan’s jovial presence along with pretty thing Diana Penty.

Raaz 3

Emraan Hashmi, Bipasha Basu and Esha Gupta starrer Raaz 3 Movie Poster

Vishesh Film’s horror sequel Raaz 3 released in the first week of this month has managed to pull the audience drawing about 70 Crores up till now. The Vikram Bhatt direction has Bipasha Basu return to the Raaz series since its first installment, with Emraan Hashmi and Esha Gupta in the lead. Well going by the collections it seems the chill must have gone down with the audience pretty well.

Kahaani

Vidya Balan starrer Kahaani Movie Poster

No high end budget no reputed actors yet the lone pregnant Vidya Balan stole the show slowly and steadily for Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahaani which has earned about 59 Crores. The Kolkata centric film shot with women oriented subject in the crore became one of the most talked about films of the year and received great critical reviews.

Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum

Ritesh Deshmukh, Tusshar Kapoor, Sarah Jane Dias, and Neha Sharma starrer Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum Movie Poster

Ekta Kapoor produced sexual comedy Kyaa Super Kool Hai Hum has made a great statement earning 45 Crores in total and 33 Crores in its opening weekend. The film with Ritesh Deshmukh and Tusshar Kapoor is a sequel to the 2005 hit, Kyaa Kool Hain Hum.

The list stands rock solid till September and is to experience a major shift with prominent releases lined up in the coming months. An interesting wait would be for Shah Rukh Khan’s Jab Tak Hain Jaan, Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor’s Talaash, Akshay Kumar’s Khiladi 786, Ajay Devgn and Sonakshi Sinha’s Son of Sardaar and the majorly anticipated Salman Khan’s Dabaang 2.

With these power packed grand releases a huge dislodgement is anticipated in the Top 5 positions of the list. An exciting battle is brewing for the year end as one expects the crucial competition for the top slot between Shah Rukh, Aamir, Salman and Akshay. So will it be Shah Rukh’s evergreen romance again, Khilladi’s return to action or Salman again knocking off his own record like always or might it be Aamir taking forward what he started with 3 Idiots.

It will be a wait and watch exciting situation, but you can guess, comment, vote and hope that the best wins the race.

Madhur Bhandarkar and Kareena Kapoor on the sets of Heroine

“I knew that people were sitting with a microscopic view and were also thinking about what I would be showcasing in ‘Heroine’. They were expecting certain revelations as well. My only thought was that one should see ‘Heroine’ as a film at the end of the day. There is a lot of fiction added to it after all. I am not here to ruffle any feathers”, says Madhur.

However his brand of shocking exposé has time and again followed that route, whether it was Fashion, Page 3 or Corporate. How could one anyways expect a film on an actress life to be devoid of that?

Smiles Madhur, “Well, that’s my style of filmmaking. I am known for making films with different premises and it isn’t as if I am repeating any shock element. If my films are getting critical acclaim, box office rewards and National Awards as well then I must be doing something right.”

Kareena Kapoor starrer Heroine Movie Poster

Yet again a new release went exactly as per script at the box office over the weekend gone by. As predicted, Heroine was expected to open at an average of 60% collections and enjoy a stable release right through the weekend. This is how the Madhur Bhandarkar directed affair behaved as well with a good opening Friday followed by Saturday and Sunday showing 10%-15% growth on day by day basis as well.

Though various sources have claimed contradictory collections which may indicate erratic footfalls for the film, UTV has set the records straight by releasing the official collections as per which the film has indeed performed well and is on road to making profits. Standing at 25 crores over the first weekend, the film is a decent success, especially considering the fact it’s controlled costs. Also, Heroine is now en route to be highest grossing Madhur Bhandarkar film after Fashion and Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji, both of which collected in the range of 30 crores each.

The film was impacted in a major way by two factors – a) Mixed reviews, some of them which were really scathing, and b) rise in fortunes of Barfi!, especially after the Oscar nomination which raised further curiosity amongst the viewers. Even though audience word of mouth for the film has ranged from decent to good, hence allowing stable collections over the weekend, the Kareena Kapoor starrer could have enjoyed a better status if not for the aforementioned factors. Having said that, these are still good collections for a woman centric film and overall, a profitable venture. Also, Kareena has benefited further from all around positive reviews about her performance.

Kareena Kapoor in a Still from Heroine Movie

The movie would have made higher collections but it seems many factors are working against the movie; the first issue being Barfi! Now the Ranbeer Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra starrer is offering some handsome competition to Heroine; the funny part being both the movies are UTV’s ventures. We can’t help but wonder why would they chose such close release dates. Other factors include festivities in few parts of the country and the  ICC T20 World Cup.

All said and done Heroine would have definitely made more moolah had things been luckier for it.

Kareena Kapoor in a Still from Heroine Movie

It seems the film will gross some mighty numbers for a movie centered around a female protagonist. As compared to Barfi! the opening day footfall is pretty less. However, one of the reasons for the same can be that Heroine released on many more screens than that of Barfi!

The best part about Heroine is the fact that it might actually make some good money even in the single screen theaters. Adding up both the multiplex and single screen theaters will surely give a great box office collection at the domestic box office.

Kareena Kapoor in a Still from Heroine Movie

She needs no introduction, no pleasing talk, no assurance…. She is the original Heroine, the most prominent face of Bollywood, she is stylish and confident, she is the iconic  Kareena Kapoor aka Bebo. Declared as “India’s Most Beautiful Woman” (People Magazine) and it surely justifies the buzz which surrounds her.

What can we say about her that isn’t already said? The media has been grazing frantically over her recent release Heroine and her nuptials with the Saif Ali Khan. Loads of unending speculations and the hype around her never die. A favourite of the three Khans and darling of the Nawab, Kareena has had several blockbusters to her credit. Here the gorgeous and meticulous actress deserves a special note of attention on her Birthday.

We take a look at Bebo’s fabulous filmi career which has placed her in the league of A-listers and made her one of the bankable actresses of the industry. And we present some of the remarkable films of the gorgeous lady celebrating her powerful presence in the industry:

Kareena Kapoor in a Still from Chameli and Omkara Movie

Bebo might have had a string of releases that notched her up the list but one path breaking film of her career that made critics look up was her role of prostitute in Chameli (2004) and it was followed by Govind Nilhani’s  Dev,  film on Hindu Muslim unrest. She won Critics awards and appreciative critical reviews on her performance and the audience saw a newer and substance worth Bebo. The 2006 Omkara, an adaption of Shakespeare’s Othello became another trophy to her collection. A widely acclaimed film, Kareena’s performance of the tumultuous character emoting powerful expressions won her a slot in Filmfare’s “Top 80 Iconic Performances”. Kareena’s star value had already elevated to considerable heights.

Kareena Kapoor in a Still from Jab We Met and 3 Idiots Movie

But the success of Jab We Met brought about a whirlwind of sorts to her career. Kareena’s portrayal of lively, impulsive and childlike Geet did wonders to her image and she ended up with major awards and delightful appreciation. Some would say that she had reached the peak but the best was yet to come. One of the record holding highest grossing movies of the industry, 3 Idiots (2009) opposite Aamir Khan was a “dream come true” for Bebo. She gave the film an endearing feminine presence as the chirpy medical student and held firmly despite it being an all men show.

Kareena Kapoor in a Still from Bodyguard and Ra.One Movie

Yet another hit with another Khan flew in her kitty with Bodyguard in 2011. Bebo had always shared a great rapport with Salman Khan and the bang on success of the movie gave a great push to her career and she became a hot property. She continued her stint with the Khans in Shah Rukh Khan home production Ra.One (2011). Although her acting did not receive any impressive credits for the movie but her value had tremendously risen, creating a niche for her and a much in demand stature whom directors would run after to sign for.

In this game of Bollywood where money plays and only cut throat competition plays fair Kareena has managed for herself pretty well. She has stood tall amidst her contemporaries and secured a solid berth in the industry. Coming from a rich legacy of filmi Khandan she is blessed not only with looks to die for and has spontaneity in her acting skills. Not only has she snatched the top spot with her acting prowess but she is an inimitable trendsetter!  She rocks the look and makes the industry a stylish place to be. And with her Heroine she reaches a new chapter where the competition is she herself competing to transgress from her earlier endeavors. The actress not much known for steamy scenes has given ample amount of steamy scenes and shot smoking scenes for the film.  The expectations are skyrocketing and Bebo herself has claimed Heroine as an “important film” for her career.

We keep our fingers crossed for the Bollywood’s most glamorous woman‘s daring step with her ambitious release. Coincidentally, Kareena shares her special day with that of Heroine’s release.  And here’s wishing the sexy and beautiful icon on her years of stardom and several more to come.

Heroine Movie Poster

Rating: 1.5 stars (One-and-a-half stars)

Star cast: Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Randeep Hooda, Divya Dutta, Shahana Goswami, Ranvir Shorey.

What’s Good: Some performances; the title track and Saiyaan song.

What’s Bad: The story and script seem to be in an endless loop; stereotypical, uni-dimensional characters; Kareena’s frequent breakdowns in the movie.

Loo Break: Any number of times.

Watch or Not?: Heroine movie irritates more than entertains, but some of the performances are nice.

User Rating :

An apt title to Madhur Bhandarkar’s magnum opus would be Bipolar rather than Heroine as the movie seems more like a peek into the head of someone with a serious psychiatric disorder than into the glamorous world of acting, movies and the like.

Mahi Arora (Kareena Kapoor) is the moody, spoilt actress on top of her game. Not only does she have the best movies in her kitty, she’s also in a relationship with the much married superstar Aryan Khanna (Arjun Rampal). While Aryan is trying to get his divorce finalized, Mahi goes from being the adoring lover one moment, to stark-raving-possessive girlfriend in the other. Going with the flow, our pouty actress also has a drinking problem and regularly visits her shrink for prescription drugs. The ominous narrator announces how Mahi was always about extremes: consumed in love or withered with fury.

After another of her screaming incidents, Mahi gets humiliatingly dumped by Aryan. Her career is down in the dumps and so is she. Enter fairy godmother/PR person (Divya Dutta) who waves her magic wand and gets our heroine out of the molasses. Mahi also finds love again, this time with the charming cricketer Angad Paul (Randeep Hooda). To sharpen her skills as an actor, Mahi also signs up for an art film directed by a national award winning director (Ranvir Shorey), which co-stars Shahana Goswami.

The movie does a rinse-and-repeat from here on with heartbreak, love and heartbreak again. Watch the rest of the movie for more close-ups of Kareena’s blood-shot eyes, her incessant break-downs and some really confusing blocks in the story.

Kareena Kapoor Heroine Movie Stills

Heroine Review: Script Analysis

Madhur Bhandarkar may try and claim his stories to be “real” every time, but this time the writer-director is downright lazy. He, along with writers Anuradha Tiwari, Manoj Tyagi and Niranjan Iyengar, has taken page-3 stories about stars and based them around a few characters. This wouldn’t have been a problem, except that the movie comes out as being too fake.

It’s annoying to see the stereotypes played out in almost every character: the designers are gay, reporters have a bitchy aura and always sport funky jewellery, the path to the dark side begins with cigarettes and alcohol, bad people sleep around etc. Except the few lead characters, everyone else is as good as cardboard cut-outs. The writers seem to be intent to stuff in as much tragedy as they can into Mahi’s woe-is-me life and towards the end you just can’t stop rolling your eyes. While they might want you to feel for Mahi, you find yourself laughing off her character than ever rooting for her. The 3 hour long movie gets repetitive with Mahi’s heartbreak, psycho rage and love doing cartwheels repeatedly. The bright side is that the writers have shown the number of problems heroines face in the industry with their short shelf life, lecherous actors, being written off after marriage etc. Niranjan Iyengar’s dialogues are alright though the ones like “Manipulate karo ya ho jao” doesn’t really certify his ingenuity.

Heroine Review: Star Performances

Kareena Kapoor owns the movie as the, er, bipolar actress Mahi. As much as you would like to appreciate her ability to showcase the mood swings behind the camera, her character badly suffers from hackneyed writing. Arjun Rampal is alright as Aryan with Randeep Hooda bettering him as the suave Angad. Divya Dutta does well in her uni-dimensional role as the PR agent. Shahana Goswami and Ranvir Shorey are very good in their small roles.

Heroine Review: Direction, Music & Technical Aspects

The captain brings the ship down, sail, deck and all. Director Madhur Bhandarkar made his movie from a magnum opus to a monstrous blob that has too many leaks to be fixed. And the leaden script is of no help. Madhur should have focused on a few aspects of Mahi’s life instead of thrusting everything into a 3 hour long haze with alcohol, psychological problems, mummy-issues, role mongering, lesbian relationship… Salim-Sulaiman’s music is nice with Halkat Jawani, Saiyaan and Heroine being the noteworthy songs. Editor Devendra Murdeshwar has done a passable job. Cinematography by Mahesh Limaye is good.

Heroine Review: The Last Word

Kareena Kapoor does a good job and, heck, you even get to see her in a pseudo lesbian scene along with other steamy scenes. If that’s enough to drag you to see Heroine, go ahead. Give it a miss otherwise.

Heroine Trailer

Heroine releases on 21th September, 2012

Heroine Movie Making | Kareena Kapoor, Madhur Bhandarkar

Kareena Kapoor on the sets of Heroine Movie

Heroine releases on 21st September, 2012

Madhur Bhandarkar and Kareena Kapoor at an event

Madhur Bhandarkar is excited, and how. After ensuring that his actresses deliver nothing but an award winning performance, right from ‘Tabu’ [Chandni Bar]‘ and Konkona Sen Sharma [Page 3] to Bipasha Basu [Corporate] and Priyanka Chopra/Kangana Ranaut [Fashion], he is now ready to deliver Heroine with Kareena Kapoor. With the film just round the corner, Madhur Bhandarkar can’t help but prepare audience for what lies ahead, especially when it comes to Kareena’s performance in the film.

“The way she has acted in the film has to be seen to be believed. The best part about her performance is that 15 minutes into the film you would forget Kareena and instead watch Mahi Arora on screen; that’s the beauty of her performance. Another key strength of hers is that she takes audience into confidence as they travel along in her journey. This journey could be happy, tragic or come with its own dose of debauchery but audience don’t leave her aside. In fact even as I am talking about this, I am getting goose bumps. I have gone through this stage even while editing and putting together the final cut”, says Madhur.

What is also interesting is the fact that the film comes in the year when Indian film industry is celebrating 100 years of cinema. Since Kareena belongs to the First Family of filmmakers who continue to be in the business for fourth generation, it was just apt that she plays the title role of Heroine, isn’t it?

“Absolutely”, promptly says Madhur, “That’s correct. And again, you can continue to rule in the industry only if you are totally focused on the job. I can assure that people would definitely see a different aspect of Kareena.”

Heroine releases all over this Friday.

Kareena Kapoor (Heroine Movie Stills)

After being in news for over a couple of years, Madhur Bhandarkar’s Heroine is finally up for release. For a film that boasts of a subject which promises to give an inside account of what Bollywood is about, one would have expected certain controversies to be accompanying its release. Thankfully that hasn’t happened which means the Kareena Kapoor starrer is finding a clean arrival for itself.

The film has created decent buzz for itself which means it should open well, especially at the single screens due to a catchy title, a superstar in the central role and a couple of item/special numbers to boast of. While Bhandarkar’s films have traditionally done well in the multiplexes, ‘Heroine’ should turn out to be a well that helps him make further inroads across segments. Moreover a solo release should further help its cause.

Heroine is seeing a wide release for itself which means an average opening occupancy around 60%-70% should be good enough for it to stabilise further over the weekend. The film benefits from the fact that single screens are waiting for a big arrival after Raaz 3 [Barfi! had a sparse release there] and if Heroine indeed catches fancy of audience in the interiors, it has one full week open for itself. Given the fact that it has been made on a reasonable cost and isn’t really striving for any records to be created or broken (even for women centric films), Heroine should sail through smoothly.