Forthcoming releases to ring out 2011

Here is what is left for us to view:

Mausam - Pankaj Kapur directs his son and Sonam Kapoor in a love story across time.  Other than a long time in the making, a Veer Zaara hangover, and Shahid's ridiculous mustache, the movie does have some decent songs and curiosity associated with Pankaj Kapur's debut as director.

Speedy Singhs - Akshay Kumar produced this film directed by Robert Lieberman and starring (the only name of note) Russel Peters and many other no names.  All reports say this is a certified dud.

Force - Nishikant Kamath's direction, John Abraham and Genelia D'Souza starring in an action drama that looks like John's muscles are doing most of the acting.  Music is by Harris Jayraj but it has not made many waves yet.

Rascals - David Dhawan directs Sunjay Dutt and Ajay Devgn playing bad boys with teh ever incomprehensible Kangana Ranuat.  Music is by Vishal Shekhar.

Ra.One - directed by one Anubhav Sinha, and produced by Shah Rukh Khan, this one promises thrills and CGI action in 3D. Kareena Kapoor costars as the red saree clad Chammak Challo.  Music is by Vishal Shekhar.

Ladies v/s Ricky Bahl - directed by Band Baaja Baraat phenom Maneesh Sharma, this one stars Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma.  Expect fireworks!

Rockstar - Imtiaz Ali directs Ranbir Kapoor and Nargis Fakhri in this rock music extravaganza.  Music is by A R Rahman, and Sadda Haq and Kun faaya Kun are already making waves.

Don 2 - Farhan Akhtar sheds his actor avatar and dons the director's hat for this sequel to the 2006 remake of Don.  This one promises a unique story and boasts of Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra in the cast.  Music is by SEL, and this will close the year out in a grand style!

Tell us how you think each of them will do critically and at the box office.

Don 2 updated with brief clip - Priyanka and Hrithik!

Don 2: filming to start soon - SRK interview

 

The mercury's rising, and the October heat is just setting in, but Shah Rukh Khan is packing his woolies and preparing for a cold, bleak winter.

Not in Bollywood, of course; but in Berlin, where he is jetting off to in a couple of days to begin work on Excel Entertainment's Don 2. It is a two-month-long schedule, 

Enough of the remakes, please.......

Year after year we as Bollywood fans have been bearing remakes... remakes of movies of bygone era, remakes of South Indian movies, remakes of Hollywood movies, and the ones who are really different, remake the Asian movies, like Anurag did, Cavite into Aamir. And I somehow understand the phenomenon of remake of movies of different cultures, different languages. I can understand Munnabhai's South version, or Ghajini's north version, what really confuses me is when an old movie is remade.

Khan's 'Don 2' gets German support

Remake sequel will shoot in Berlin early next year

By Nyay Bhushan

September 1, 2010, 01:55 AM ET

Shah Rukh Khan. (Getty)

NEW DELHI -- "Don 2" starring Shah Rukh Khan and directed by Farhan Akhtar will shoot in Berlin early next year and receive a funding of 550,000 Euros, regional film support agency Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg said on its website.

The sequel to the 2006 action movie -- itself a remake of the classic seventies original starring Amitabh Bachchan -- is produced by Akhtar's banner Excel Entertainment, Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment and German co-producer Mathias Schwerbock's Film Base Berlin.

Khan has a major following in Germany and has attended the Berlin festival twice to showcase his films "Om Shanti Om" and "My Name Is Khan," which was distributed worldwide by Fox Star Studios India.

Khan is currently shooting his latest production "Ra.One," slated for a June 2011 release.

Da.One - Don 2 and Ra.one sold for impossible to recover prices?

A whopping amount of Rs 300 crore is riding on Shah Rukh Khan’s next two films, RA.One and Don 2

Agreed, Bollywood has lost crores this year because a lot of expensive films failed to retrieve their expected turnovers (Blue, of course, stands apart for its sheer wastage of money). But the biggest production companies seem to have blind belief in films that star Shah Rukh Khan. Nearly Rs 300 crore is riding on King Khan’s shoulders.



Newsflash: Reliance Big Pictures has not hit rock bottom with the poor turnover of the Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai starrer Raavan. Neither has Hrithik Roshan and Barbara Mori’s Kites debacle at the box office obstructed their soaring fund levels.

The buzz in the trade is that Reliance Big Pictures has bought the rights of Don 2 from Excel Entertainment for Rs 125 crore, which is about Rs 25 crore more than what they purchased Kites for. The deal has taken place even before Don 2 has gone on the floors, which implies that even in today’s times when films are flopping days after their release, the buyers in the market have extreme faith in a film that has Shah Rukh playing the lead.

Added to this is, there is talk in the industry of Eros International buying Shah Rukh’s home-production RA.One for a whopping Rs 175 crore.

A leading distributor says, “Shah Rukh rocks. He is still one of the top three stars in this country. His film guarantees good returns. Yes, Reliance Big Pictures has bought Don 2 for an amount which is definitely more than Rs 100 crore. But I think that Shah Rukh’s deal with Eros International on RA.One could be a funding proposal, which implies that Shah Rukh can still sell the film to other buyers.”

Even trade analysts in the film industry seem to second this view. A leading trade-analyst says, “I am unaware of the exact figures between Red Chillies Entertainment and Eros International, but I know that Shah Rukh is asking for at least Rs 150 crore for RA.One, wherein he has used some top-notch technicians to take his project to a very high level.”

Priti Shahani, chief strategy and marketing officer of Reliance Big Pictures confirmed, “It’s true that we have Don 2 in our slate of films for next year, but there is no truth in the purchase price that is being speculated in the market.”

An official from Eros International also confirmed that their latest purchase is RA.One, while refusing to reveal the exact terms and conditions of the agreement.

Sunil Lulla (President, Eros International), Amit Khanna (CEO, Reliance Big Pictures), Ritesh Siddhwani (Excel Entertainment) and Shah Rukh Khan remained unavailable for comment.

Currently, Shah Rukh is busy shooting for RA.One. As soon as he completes it, he’ll start work on Don 2, which co-stars Priyanka Chopra and Arjun Rampal. And all this hard work does indeed pay off. And how!

LINK

Granted it is Mumbai Mirror (and Vicky Lalwani) and could be complete fabrication, but not good news if it is true. The logic might have been that if MNIK could almost recover 95 cr as a serious film, maybe entertainers will be huge. BUT the non-traditional overseas market that MNIK tapped was very niche and I doubt those people will come out for Ra.one and Don 2.

Da.One - Don 2 and Ra.one sold for impossible to recover prices?

A whopping amount of Rs 300 crore is riding on Shah Rukh Khan’s next two films, RA.One and Don 2

Agreed, Bollywood has lost crores this year because a lot of expensive films failed to retrieve their expected turnovers (Blue, of course, stands apart for its sheer wastage of money). But the biggest production companies seem to have blind belief in films that star Shah Rukh Khan. Nearly Rs 300 crore is riding on King Khan’s shoulders.



Newsflash: Reliance Big Pictures has not hit rock bottom with the poor turnover of the Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai starrer Raavan. Neither has Hrithik Roshan and Barbara Mori’s Kites debacle at the box office obstructed their soaring fund levels.

The buzz in the trade is that Reliance Big Pictures has bought the rights of Don 2 from Excel Entertainment for Rs 125 crore, which is about Rs 25 crore more than what they purchased Kites for. The deal has taken place even before Don 2 has gone on the floors, which implies that even in today’s times when films are flopping days after their release, the buyers in the market have extreme faith in a film that has Shah Rukh playing the lead.

Added to this is, there is talk in the industry of Eros International buying Shah Rukh’s home-production RA.One for a whopping Rs 175 crore.

A leading distributor says, “Shah Rukh rocks. He is still one of the top three stars in this country. His film guarantees good returns. Yes, Reliance Big Pictures has bought Don 2 for an amount which is definitely more than Rs 100 crore. But I think that Shah Rukh’s deal with Eros International on RA.One could be a funding proposal, which implies that Shah Rukh can still sell the film to other buyers.”

Even trade analysts in the film industry seem to second this view. A leading trade-analyst says, “I am unaware of the exact figures between Red Chillies Entertainment and Eros International, but I know that Shah Rukh is asking for at least Rs 150 crore for RA.One, wherein he has used some top-notch technicians to take his project to a very high level.”

Priti Shahani, chief strategy and marketing officer of Reliance Big Pictures confirmed, “It’s true that we have Don 2 in our slate of films for next year, but there is no truth in the purchase price that is being speculated in the market.”

An official from Eros International also confirmed that their latest purchase is RA.One, while refusing to reveal the exact terms and conditions of the agreement.

Sunil Lulla (President, Eros International), Amit Khanna (CEO, Reliance Big Pictures), Ritesh Siddhwani (Excel Entertainment) and Shah Rukh Khan remained unavailable for comment.

Currently, Shah Rukh is busy shooting for RA.One. As soon as he completes it, he’ll start work on Don 2, which co-stars Priyanka Chopra and Arjun Rampal. And all this hard work does indeed pay off. And how!

LINK

Granted it is Mumbai Mirror (and Vicky Lalwani) and could be complete fabrication, but not good news if it is true. The logic might have been that if MNIK could almost recover 95 cr as a serious film, maybe entertainers will be huge. BUT the non-traditional overseas market that MNIK tapped was very niche and I doubt those people will come out for Ra.one and Don 2.

Priyanka Chopra to return in Don sequel

It is confirmed. Priyanka Chopra is all set to reprise her role of femme fatale Roma in the sequel to Farhan Akhtar's 2006 Don-The Chase Begins Again.

Though it was always on cards that Shah Rukh Khan would feature in Don 2 which is expected to pick up from where the remake of the Amitabh Bachchan [ Images ] starrer Don left, there was always mystery around the presence of the leading lady in the film.

However, Chopra, who recently won the National Award for the best actress for her role in Fashion, has confirmed her presence in the sequel.

"Yes, I am doing Don 2. Ever since I worked in the first movie, I was looking forward to being on board for the sequel as well. It would be good to be a part of Don 2 as it is an action thriller," Chopra told PTI from the US where she is currently shooting with Ranbir Kapoor for Siddharth Anand's Anjaana Anjaani.

Read more from HERE

Priyanka Chopra to return in Don sequel

It is confirmed. Priyanka Chopra is all set to reprise her role of femme fatale Roma in the sequel to Farhan Akhtar's 2006 Don-The Chase Begins Again.

Though it was always on cards that Shah Rukh Khan would feature in Don 2 which is expected to pick up from where the remake of the Amitabh Bachchan [ Images ] starrer Don left, there was always mystery around the presence of the leading lady in the film.

However, Chopra, who recently won the National Award for the best actress for her role in Fashion, has confirmed her presence in the sequel.

"Yes, I am doing Don 2. Ever since I worked in the first movie, I was looking forward to being on board for the sequel as well. It would be good to be a part of Don 2 as it is an action thriller," Chopra told PTI from the US where she is currently shooting with Ranbir Kapoor for Siddharth Anand's Anjaana Anjaani.

Read more from HERE