There was an earlier directors’ episode with Raju Hirani, Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra and Kunal Kohli. That one had people mostly preening and self-promoting (except Hirani – who seems too nice to do that). So I was not expecting much from this episode. I did not get much either, but this was still a bit of an eye-opener.
What was expected:
Farah being the loudest mouth in the bunch. Hirani being the same gentlemanly type that he usually is. Karan going on and on about the Khans for all seasons, and other similar and oft-repeated questions. The usual man on the street stuff that is a useless time-filler was there. God forbid that a talk show being hosted by a director and with directors for guests would actually discuss the process of movie making! It did not. If that is why you were thinking of tuning in – avoid.
What was unexpected:
Hirani was very diplomatic but even he thinks he makes “intellectual” films! I was blown away by that. All of them like commercial cinema over cerebral cinema and were basking in the glory of their box office successes. While Karan was cowering from the media backlash over KANK, he seemed more confident after MINK – and would insert his own name into every question about directors! Make it about your guests dude, this is not very polite. Nor was it pleasant to see them being a bit condescending to Imtiaz – he has now joined the “club” because he is invited to be on this show! However, the show keeps getting A-listers so there must be some “prestige” associated with it or why would they come?
Farah must have had a BAD falling out with Deepika – listed her last and Katrina has been bumped up high on her list.
More KOFFEE here
This was a below average episode for me. Apart from Imitiaz's rapid fire answers it was same old. As a host Karan shouldn't plug himseself in the proceedings. That looked and sounded narcissistic.
ReplyDeleteAgree, that is why I thought it was the MNIK vs KANK state for aran. He was subdued that time and narcissism came to the fore this time.
ReplyDeletestate for Karan*
ReplyDeleteI guess Karan now knows he has nothing much to lose so why be subdued, why not narcissistic.
ReplyDeleteAfter KANK he must have though some chance is left. :)
I mean take the top star of the country 2 times back to back(that too after KKHH and K3G),plus Biggest Jodi of last 10-15 years(SRK-Kajol)+ the biggest budgets around and not even reach top 5 ranking movie of the respective years.(BO wise).
Its seems more like KJO doing damage to SRK, than anything else, or say not living upto him.
KANK was like 7th that year, MNIK will be 5th or so.
Only Overseas has been the saving grace for KJO both times.
SRK can still give a Rab Ne without KJO, what will KJO do without SRK?
Doga - your comment is fair as far as the domestic theatricals go, but MNIK earned a superlative in overseas collections. I do not think Karan has much to be ashamed of here. When do you think another Hindi film will break the MNIK overseas record?
ReplyDeleteI dont think any Hindi movie will break MNIK Overseas record in many years, may be 10 years or so.
ReplyDeleteThe Kind of Distribution MNIK got, will be very hard for any movie to get.
Also wherever extra it released Bahrain,Germany,Egypt, it did well.
Total Number of Prints crossed 600, which is like almost double of normal hindi movies.
Something like 3 Idiots trended extremely well wherever it released overseas, but that was like 350 prints and ended up 15+ cr short Overseas.
Interesting point about MNIK overseas is that actually it opened better than 3 Idiots in all Traditional Territories.
ReplyDeleteUSA 1.9 Million vs 1.65 Million
UK 900,000 Pounds vs 350,000 Pounds
UAE 890,000 Dollars vs 800,000 Dollars
Australia 437 K vs 398 K
But it comparatively-fizzled out in all the above territories and 3 Idiots went ahead overall, except UK(2.6 Million vs 1.8 Million, because of the huge gulf between the opening).
It was after the Non-Traditional Territories started kicking in that that MNIK overseas numbers reached a point where normal Hindi movies wont reach for sometime now.
And actually it trended beautifully in places like Indonesia,Germany,Bahrain,Egypt compared to the above.
One may think these were more Muslim dominated markets, but that would be be proved wrong from the UAE numbers and popularity in Germany and France. In the US and other traditional markets one has to keep the time frame in mind. Christmas and New Year is basically a long holiday of almost 10 days with a LOT of movie watching. A February release cannot catch up to that.
ReplyDeleteI tend to disagree with Pardesi. Of course reach is one thing but it doing million plus in Indonesia and good business in middle eastern countries is for the fact people could relate to it. In UAE 3 idiots earnings were still more (Audience is mix of Muslim and Southern States). Of the bigger overseas markets, I think UK was the only where MNIK was ahead of 3 Idiots.
ReplyDeleteIt did good in Europe which has been relatively new market. We don't know the demographics of the audience clearly to encash it for future movies. Lets see if other movies do similar business?
Khanabadosh - are you saying UK is mostly Muslim and has more muslim population than UAE? And how does Malaysia business explain Germany and France? Are you also saying that release over Christmas is equivalent to release in February?
ReplyDeleteOfcourse Holidays give advantage, but 3 Idiots run isnt just based on that.
ReplyDelete3 Idiots trending is way beyond Ghajini or Rab Ne etc(similar timed releases).
Infact, it had like $595,000 3rd Weekend in the US, which even equates with first weekend of some big movies, and that was Jan 8-10.
http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=3idiots.htm
In the UK, Cinema's are shut down on Christmas day as well as some part of Dec. 26.
UK, MNIK released in 91 Prints compared to 53 of 3 Idiots, as its supposed to have high resonance in the populace there(UK does have huge Pakistani/Bangladeshi Audience) and also going by SRK's Popularity there and it paid off seeing the opening numbers it got there.
And obviously it did tremendous in Middle Eastern/African countries, where it had like $100,000 weekend opening but kept on for many weeks to reach 500+ K numbers in various territories, which do have a higher muslim populace.
And Indonesia 1+ Million, where earlier movies used to do 40-50 K max.
And there is nothing wrong in them liking/resonating with the concept/movie.
Just Like say a Yamla Pagla Deewana will do better in Punjab/UK or a Singh is Kinng does way better in Punjab/UK or Canada, where its the highest grossing BW movie,only that MNIK had a wider base audience.
The Movie, My Name is Khan tried to tackle a very pertinent topic about a certain section of the population and their trials and tribulations, and actually it would have been a failure on the movie's part if it would have not resonated with that section of the audience,so it has suceeded in doing some of what it had started with in mind.(Its not just any running around the tree's movie, is it?)
Infact the Title of the movie itself is quite strong and tells honest muslims to stand for themselves.
Now i have myself advocated that the movie is not made just for them but for the general population but ofcourse its a favorable theme for them.
The counter point might be that ideally,anyone other that muslims should see the movie and even muslims would want that them to see and undersand the situation but at the end of the day its cinema and cant be force fed.
But atleast anyone who has gone through the hardship and then see's it on the big screen will find solace somewhere that its been noted and pointed out,in whichever manner or success,because that secondary to him/her.
The above point should not be ignored because its also true that some,perphaps negligible(2%)part of the audience must have shunned the movie just going by its Name.(lets not be blind)
Thats the reality.
As for holidays and Non-holidays, every star has had the good times.
ReplyDeleteAt one point SRK used to be Diwali King and people used to be scared coming on or near that time.
Now its Ajay in Diwali,Aamir in Christmas,Salman on EID.
Kal Ho Naa Ho did huge during EID.
TMK and then Don 2 will come on christmas.
A movie not trending well has nothing to do with holiday/non-holidays.
Holidays cant save a movie which is not liked by the audience same way a movie audience is looking forward to, like say Peepli opens well even during supposedly bad time for boxoffice(Ramzan).
Pardesi - I did give credit of opening European markets but rest of the places it is due to the fact there are more Muslims. If you mean SRK popularity and Fox reach helped the film (Not the subject) then we can judge from another commerical movie of similar scale and if it does that kind of business or not.
ReplyDeleteAlso,in my first comment itslef, i had given Credit to Overseas numbers :)
ReplyDeleteBut fact remains, other than KJO, no other director gets 50% of its theatrical share from Overseas.
Now either that means his movies do great overseas , or that they underperform in India, :)
Sensible comments from Doga as always.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all any comparisons of MNIK with 3 Idiots are ridiculous. One was a serious movie on a pertinent topic and the other was a comedy. MNIK was good until it went downhill with the whole Wilhelmina & Hurricane track. One can argue that even 3 Idiots has some lame scenes but a comedy will get away with a lot of stupidity which a serious movie cannot.
Entertaining movies (or what majority consider entertaining) will always do better than serious movies. Ghajini, Dabangg, 3 Idiots will always do better than a TZP/CDI.
MNIK response was mixed. Even the ones who liked it cannot argue against the fact that it was not perfect. 3 Idiots was immensely loved and majority of the people found it to be totally entertaining. I am pretty sure that 3 Idiots enjoyed multiple viewings from quite a lot of people because it was entertaining.
MNIK doing well in Muslim countries or with countries with sizable Muslim population due to the fact that they could identify with the movie. Similarly 3 Idiots doing so well in USA is also due to the fact that a lot of Indian population in the US is from the Engineering background. 3 Idiots was released (not initially but in later weeks) in US in places where Hindi movies never release (MNIK did not release in those places).
off-topic..sorry on Topic ;)
ReplyDeleteGiggling with Karan
1. Holidays cannot save a bad film, but they can help a good film; there is no denying that fact. And the more the holidays the more a good film will benefit.
ReplyDelete2. I do not find any logic in the statement that UK has a bigger Muslim population. Bigger than what? UAE? Malaysia and Indonesia have big Muslim populations, but also a lot of Indian origin people (mostly from South), hence Tamil films do very well there.
3. Karan and SRK combination has always ruled overseas. Think of this - before the 3 Idiots avalanche - this combo had the top overseas hit record for 3 years (KANK), and before that for another 3 years (K3G)! Have these films flopped in India? I think not, but yes they have done better overseas.
4. I think the flaws were there for all to see in both 3 Idiots and MNIK, but one was serious and the other a comedy form the maker of MunnaBhai. People will rather see a comedy more times than they will a serious film. The star persona was subdued in MNIK - yet the film worked. Compare this to Action Replayy or Guzaarish! So IMHO there should be some credit given to the makers.
5. KB "If you mean SRK popularity and Fox reach helped the film (Not the subject) then we can judge from another commerical movie of similar scale and if it does that kind of business or not." Indeed. The market has opened, and let then try it out. The rest will be revealed to us. But Malaysia is a case in point. Why not compare Enthiran, MNIK and other top Hindi films there?
6. "Giggling with Karan" - that commentary is spot on! There is just ennui in the show now, and some sensational moments of revelations or bitching.
"People will rather see a comedy more times than they will a serious film. "
ReplyDeleteI think overseas people go for stars. If the movie has decent songs and good stars they will watch. Otherwise housefull,Golmaal3 (comedy) would be giving competition to MNIK or 3 Idiots in gross. Agree that for same star a comdey would do better than serious film. But then we have seen Jodha AKbar doing fabulous business in US.
Jodhaa Akbar was a romance, and a period drama; I would not class it as a serious film. It itself did not claim to be "historical"!!
ReplyDeleteMaa exchange review?
ReplyDeleteWhat? That was too cryptic for me to get!
ReplyDeleteIt is a new serial on Indian television where they change housewives for 7-8 days with some rules. First episode featured Pooja Bedi. Initially I thought it would be like Raakhi Sawant show but I think it is good in the sense that how people react when you put them in difficult situations. Last episode I saw had wife of Sudesh Berry changed house with Apara Mehta.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rediff.com/movies/slide-show/slide-show-1-apara-mehta-i-dont-have-double-face/20110127.htm