THE CLASH OF TITANS.
“Hum shareef kya hue,poori duniya hi badmaash ban gayi.”
“Bajirao ne Mastani se mohabbat ki hai, ayyaashi nahi.”
Come December 18, and Bollywood will witness one of its biggest clash ever- between Rohit Shetty's magnum opus 'Dilwale' and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ambitious project 'Bajirao Mastani.'
Obviously, due to the presence of King Khan and being a typical Bollywood masala movie,Dilwale has the edge over its counterpart.
But nothing can be finalised yet.
You know what happened when Hrithik-Kat's action packed remake of Hollywood's 'Knight and Day' - 'Bang Bang' clashed with Shahid,Shraddha,Tabu,Irfan Khan starrer dark,niché movie 'Haider'.
Although Bang Bang managed to earn 170cr. at the box office (they expected 200cr+) with a poor critic rating ,Haider managed 60-65cr. approx,garnering superb critic reviews that paved the way for a horde of awards for the movie and its cast.
That says it all.
The content is the king.
•DILWALE
SRK and Rohit Shetty came together for the official remake of 'Angoor'.
But in the process, churned out the blockbuster 'Chennai Express' worth 227cr. at the box office.
Then they came again and made 'Dilwale' instead ,with the magical jodi of 'SRK-Kajol' alongside Varun Dhawan,Kriti Sanon and a stellar supporting cast of Boman Irani, Varun Sharma,Johhny Lever,etc.
SRK and Varun play brothers and Kajol and Kriti their respective love interests. The movie is produced by King Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment (RCE) and Rohit Shetty Productions.
The response the trailer received was overwhelming,shattering many records. Theatres in Dubai even started selling the movie tickets even before the trailer was released!
The music of this much awaited movie is by none other than Pritam and he has weaved his magic in most of the songs. Amitabh Bhattacharya with the lyrics is an icing on the cake. Above that, every song except 'Manma Emosan' and 'Premika' is sung by Arijit Singh.
RCE will be distributing Dilwale themselves in the domestic market and have already sold the rights of the film to various independent distributors for a whopping total Rs. 130 crores. At the same time, overseas markets play a big role in overall box-office collections as SRK has a huge fan following in overseas too. RCE is in talks with various distributors for overseas, out of which Yash Raj films (YRF) is a front runner and tentatively, the overseas sales is valued at Rs. 40 crores.
Music: (Sold to Sony for Rs. 15 crore)
However, a source within RCE denies this saying that the figure is rather low, “The music rights of Dilwale sold to Sony will be the highest priced rights till date within the industry, more than the Salman Khan film (Bajrangi Bhaijaan) that
was sold for Rs. 18 crores.”
Earlier, SRK decided to sell Dilwale's music rights to Sony instead of the usual T-Series after Bhushan Kumar said that “Kick's music was better than Happy New Year's ”, resulting in a loss making venture for the music company.
Dilwale marks the return of
SRK- Kajol jodi after 'My Name Is Khan' and their fans are super duper excited for this Xmas.
•BAJIRAO MASTANI:
Bajirao Mastani is a historical romance movie produced and directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali .The film narrates the story of the Maratha warrior Peshwa Bajirao I of the Maratha Empire and his second wife Mastani. Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone portray the titular protagonists, and
Priyanka Chopra plays Bajirao's first wife Kashibai .
The film was first announced in 2003. Sanjay Leela Bhansali initially wanted to cast Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai (his lead pair from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam ) for the titular roles, but could not cast them together after their highly publicised break-up. Bhansali shelved Bajirao Mastani and went on to direct Black (2005),
Saawariya (2007), Guzaarish (2010), and Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (2013). Throughout these ten years, media speculation continued about the production and casting of Bajirao Mastani. In July 2014, it was confirmed that Bhansali had revived the project with Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone (the lead pair of Bhansali's Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela ) playing the titular roles and Priyanka Chopra playing Bajirao's first wife, Kashibai.
The first trailer of Bajirao Mastani received a lukewarm response. But it was the second trailer that made it evident that this movie will give a stiff competition to Dilwale.
As a safety measure,the distributor's Eros started their campaign earlier by 'capturing' single screen theatres down South and even signed a bond which states that they would screen only this movie,at least for a week. The movie is also slated to be released in Tamil and Telugu versions.
According to sources, the movie will get a 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' type of distribution abroad. (Bajrangi Bhaijaan was also distributed by Eros.)
Things started souring for the Bhansali camp after the release of the song Pinga.
Apparently the song which was to be compared with the yesteryear hit dance-off 'Dola Re' between Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit fell short of expectations. The errors added to the humiliation.
The fabric that is used in the clothes wore by Deepika and Priyanka in the song weren't available in India that time. The way the dress was draped is wrong again. Mastani and Kashibai met just once in their lifetimes,that too in a formal meeting. Now, where did this dance off come in between?
Above that,Kashibai had a limp. How come she dance so perfectly?
In the whole movie, you will see Kashibai sans a limp.
Pinga is a type of dance form and what they did on screen was 75% lavani and 25% Pinga.
Even Priyanka was confused perhaps. After the song shoot,she tweeted that they have completed the 'Lavani' song. Later she deleted the tweet.
Clearly, Mr. Bhansali has failed in his research.
But this was just the beginning.
The angry descendants of Peshwa Bajirao and Mastani expressed their disapproval and disgust at the portrayal of their ancestors by the director in his movie.
The controversy, which broke out after Pinga song featuring Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone was released, has now snowballed into a bigger issue with the descendants flaying Bhansali for wrongful portrayal of iconic historical characters under the guise of cinematic liberty.
Descendants, who came together to share their grievances included UdaySinh Peshwa (Descendant of Bajirao Peshwa), Awais Bahadur Nawab Saheb, Nawab Zulfiqar Bahadur IV, Shaheen Bahadur, Nawab Usman Bahadur (ninth generation descendants of Mastani) and Sardar Sathyasheelraje Dabhade (descendant of commander-in-chief, Umabaisaheb Dabhade).
Taking strong objection to the choreography of fight sequences, Sardar Sathyasheelraje Dabhade said, “Liberty taken by Mr. Bhansali is not right. You cannot tarnish somebody’s image. You cannot have Bajirao jumping to reach an elephant’s head. History has to be shown as it is. There were many families that were involved in that era. There were other important characters but right now they are showing just Bajirao, Mastani and Kashibai. What about our family? We have also shed blood.”
Uday Sinh Peshwa expressed his disgust at Sanjay Leela Bhansali renegading the promise made to the Peshwa descendants when they visited the sets. Said Uday, “When my family was invited on sets, we were just shown one set and nothing else. We had requested Bhansali to keep everything according to true history. He had promised that the film would be excellent. But what we have seen in the trailer have left us deeply disappointed. There is a scene where Ranveer Singh is shown pouring water over Priyanka Chopra’s head. Those are private moments. How can you show that? We agree with cinematic liberty but the dignity of the person should be kept intact.”
Mastani’s descendants also protested against the now popular dialogue ‘Bajirao ne Mastani se mohabbat ki hai, ayyashi nahi’ terming it downright vulgar and shameful.
While Peshwa descendants had no problem with the actors (Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra) essaying the roles, Mastani descendants were not convinced with the actors chosen to play their ancestors.
For the moment, the families have demanded the movie to be screened for them. Accusing Bhansali of eluding their requests for a meeting, the families members said, “There has been no communication from Bhansali’s end and he has not responded to our calls or letters. Neither have we received any response to our letters written to the CM or cultural minister.”
While the film is based on the book of Rau, Uday Sinh Peshwa asserted that the book itself was a fictional account and one with mistakes.
The family members also made it clear that they want the movie to be released but with the removal of the objectionable scenes that have been causing them much stress. However, the families are still undecided on the course of action to be adopted should Sanjay Leela Bhansali not agree to their demands.
Ranveer Singh on the other hand made it clear in a recent interview with dna that they'll screen the “All the characters are fictitious and any resemblance to any person born,dead or alive is mere coincidental” slate at the start of the movie!
Hoping everything is settled amicably between the concerned families and the filmmaker as soon as possible.
•THE REAL CLASH
Two movies are releasing the same day and that's actually fine. There are just 52 weeks in a year and more than 500 Bollywood movies release a year. So it's normal if two movies clash a day. But when it's about two big budget movies,then the situation changes.
In this case,the main clash isn't between Rohit Shetty and Mr. Bhansali,or between Varun Dhawan and Ranveer Singh.
The real clash is between
Shah Rukh Khan and Eros.
SRK and Eros have worked together in Ra.One and Om Shanti Om. And over the years the actor has maintained very warm ties with the Lulla brothers.
According to sources, the seeds of discontent were sown when Ra.One failed to generate the kind of returns Eros had expected and the distributors inked a deal with Ajay in London for Son of Sardaar.
"SRK would have shrugged it off, had it not been for the aggression with which Eros and Devgn went for Yash Chopra's swan song," says the source, adding, "The nail in the coffin was the complaint they tried to lodge with the Competition Commission."
A source close to Eros has a slightly different take on the issue. "When Ajay pitched his film to Kishore Lulla, he could not refuse him, even though he was only mildly interested. Ajay and the Lullas go back a long way. They had worked with his most trusted lieutenant Kumar Mangat on Omkara and U Me Aur Hum. The Devgn-Eros partnership also happened at a time when the Lullas had already started cooling off a bit with Shah Rukh over Ra.One 's tepid response," said the source.
Interestingly, SOS also marked the return of Salman Khan (who plays a cameo in the film) to the Eros camp. The distribution giants and Sallu had a fallout over Veer , with matters reaching the court.
Nonetheless, SRK would have overlooked all of this, had it not been the dogged determination with which Eros seemed to stoke the SOS versus Jab Tak Hai Jaan fire. "Shah Rukh discovered that it was Eros which had planted the idea of taking matters to the Competition Commission, accusing Yash Raj of unfair means. Shah Rukh and the Lullas had been friend for many years, and he felt this was hitting way below the belt," adds the source.
Come this Christmas and Bajirao Mastani was to release on the 18th and Dilwale on the 25th.
Later,Dilwale was pre-poned by a week to 18th, hence setting up a clash with Eros' Bajirao Mastani.
Obviously, the reason being the good collections that the movie can collect during the pre-festive season and after that when the movie enters its second week,the collections will be boosted due to the Christmas weekend.
And most probably, the Badshaah of Bollywood and the King of clashes
[ Remember Om Shanti Om v/s Saawariya, Jab Tak Hai Jaan
v/s Son of Sardaar and Chennai Express v/s Once Upon A Time in Mumbai Dobaara? (Although OUATIMD was postponed by a week,it didn't help.) ]
,has decided to take the war to the next level.
✒✏✒
•Sources:
The Indian Express Online Media Pvt. Ltd.
dna
Bollywood Arena
The Times of India
Wikipedia
koimoi.com
✒✏✒
“Bajirao ne Mastani se mohabbat ki hai, ayyaashi nahi.”
Come December 18, and Bollywood will witness one of its biggest clash ever- between Rohit Shetty's magnum opus 'Dilwale' and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ambitious project 'Bajirao Mastani.'
Obviously, due to the presence of King Khan and being a typical Bollywood masala movie,Dilwale has the edge over its counterpart.
But nothing can be finalised yet.
You know what happened when Hrithik-Kat's action packed remake of Hollywood's 'Knight and Day' - 'Bang Bang' clashed with Shahid,Shraddha,Tabu,Irfan Khan starrer dark,niché movie 'Haider'.
Although Bang Bang managed to earn 170cr. at the box office (they expected 200cr+) with a poor critic rating ,Haider managed 60-65cr. approx,garnering superb critic reviews that paved the way for a horde of awards for the movie and its cast.
That says it all.
The content is the king.
•DILWALE
SRK and Rohit Shetty came together for the official remake of 'Angoor'.
But in the process, churned out the blockbuster 'Chennai Express' worth 227cr. at the box office.
Then they came again and made 'Dilwale' instead ,with the magical jodi of 'SRK-Kajol' alongside Varun Dhawan,Kriti Sanon and a stellar supporting cast of Boman Irani, Varun Sharma,Johhny Lever,etc.
SRK and Varun play brothers and Kajol and Kriti their respective love interests. The movie is produced by King Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment (RCE) and Rohit Shetty Productions.
The response the trailer received was overwhelming,shattering many records. Theatres in Dubai even started selling the movie tickets even before the trailer was released!
The music of this much awaited movie is by none other than Pritam and he has weaved his magic in most of the songs. Amitabh Bhattacharya with the lyrics is an icing on the cake. Above that, every song except 'Manma Emosan' and 'Premika' is sung by Arijit Singh.
RCE will be distributing Dilwale themselves in the domestic market and have already sold the rights of the film to various independent distributors for a whopping total Rs. 130 crores. At the same time, overseas markets play a big role in overall box-office collections as SRK has a huge fan following in overseas too. RCE is in talks with various distributors for overseas, out of which Yash Raj films (YRF) is a front runner and tentatively, the overseas sales is valued at Rs. 40 crores.
Music: (Sold to Sony for Rs. 15 crore)
However, a source within RCE denies this saying that the figure is rather low, “The music rights of Dilwale sold to Sony will be the highest priced rights till date within the industry, more than the Salman Khan film (Bajrangi Bhaijaan) that
was sold for Rs. 18 crores.”
Earlier, SRK decided to sell Dilwale's music rights to Sony instead of the usual T-Series after Bhushan Kumar said that “Kick's music was better than Happy New Year's ”, resulting in a loss making venture for the music company.
Dilwale marks the return of
SRK- Kajol jodi after 'My Name Is Khan' and their fans are super duper excited for this Xmas.
•BAJIRAO MASTANI:
Bajirao Mastani is a historical romance movie produced and directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali .The film narrates the story of the Maratha warrior Peshwa Bajirao I of the Maratha Empire and his second wife Mastani. Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone portray the titular protagonists, and
Priyanka Chopra plays Bajirao's first wife Kashibai .
The film was first announced in 2003. Sanjay Leela Bhansali initially wanted to cast Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai (his lead pair from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam ) for the titular roles, but could not cast them together after their highly publicised break-up. Bhansali shelved Bajirao Mastani and went on to direct Black (2005),
Saawariya (2007), Guzaarish (2010), and Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (2013). Throughout these ten years, media speculation continued about the production and casting of Bajirao Mastani. In July 2014, it was confirmed that Bhansali had revived the project with Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone (the lead pair of Bhansali's Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela ) playing the titular roles and Priyanka Chopra playing Bajirao's first wife, Kashibai.
The first trailer of Bajirao Mastani received a lukewarm response. But it was the second trailer that made it evident that this movie will give a stiff competition to Dilwale.
As a safety measure,the distributor's Eros started their campaign earlier by 'capturing' single screen theatres down South and even signed a bond which states that they would screen only this movie,at least for a week. The movie is also slated to be released in Tamil and Telugu versions.
According to sources, the movie will get a 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' type of distribution abroad. (Bajrangi Bhaijaan was also distributed by Eros.)
Things started souring for the Bhansali camp after the release of the song Pinga.
Apparently the song which was to be compared with the yesteryear hit dance-off 'Dola Re' between Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit fell short of expectations. The errors added to the humiliation.
The fabric that is used in the clothes wore by Deepika and Priyanka in the song weren't available in India that time. The way the dress was draped is wrong again. Mastani and Kashibai met just once in their lifetimes,that too in a formal meeting. Now, where did this dance off come in between?
Above that,Kashibai had a limp. How come she dance so perfectly?
In the whole movie, you will see Kashibai sans a limp.
Pinga is a type of dance form and what they did on screen was 75% lavani and 25% Pinga.
Even Priyanka was confused perhaps. After the song shoot,she tweeted that they have completed the 'Lavani' song. Later she deleted the tweet.
Clearly, Mr. Bhansali has failed in his research.
But this was just the beginning.
The angry descendants of Peshwa Bajirao and Mastani expressed their disapproval and disgust at the portrayal of their ancestors by the director in his movie.
The controversy, which broke out after Pinga song featuring Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone was released, has now snowballed into a bigger issue with the descendants flaying Bhansali for wrongful portrayal of iconic historical characters under the guise of cinematic liberty.
Descendants, who came together to share their grievances included UdaySinh Peshwa (Descendant of Bajirao Peshwa), Awais Bahadur Nawab Saheb, Nawab Zulfiqar Bahadur IV, Shaheen Bahadur, Nawab Usman Bahadur (ninth generation descendants of Mastani) and Sardar Sathyasheelraje Dabhade (descendant of commander-in-chief, Umabaisaheb Dabhade).
Taking strong objection to the choreography of fight sequences, Sardar Sathyasheelraje Dabhade said, “Liberty taken by Mr. Bhansali is not right. You cannot tarnish somebody’s image. You cannot have Bajirao jumping to reach an elephant’s head. History has to be shown as it is. There were many families that were involved in that era. There were other important characters but right now they are showing just Bajirao, Mastani and Kashibai. What about our family? We have also shed blood.”
Uday Sinh Peshwa expressed his disgust at Sanjay Leela Bhansali renegading the promise made to the Peshwa descendants when they visited the sets. Said Uday, “When my family was invited on sets, we were just shown one set and nothing else. We had requested Bhansali to keep everything according to true history. He had promised that the film would be excellent. But what we have seen in the trailer have left us deeply disappointed. There is a scene where Ranveer Singh is shown pouring water over Priyanka Chopra’s head. Those are private moments. How can you show that? We agree with cinematic liberty but the dignity of the person should be kept intact.”
Mastani’s descendants also protested against the now popular dialogue ‘Bajirao ne Mastani se mohabbat ki hai, ayyashi nahi’ terming it downright vulgar and shameful.
While Peshwa descendants had no problem with the actors (Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra) essaying the roles, Mastani descendants were not convinced with the actors chosen to play their ancestors.
For the moment, the families have demanded the movie to be screened for them. Accusing Bhansali of eluding their requests for a meeting, the families members said, “There has been no communication from Bhansali’s end and he has not responded to our calls or letters. Neither have we received any response to our letters written to the CM or cultural minister.”
While the film is based on the book of Rau, Uday Sinh Peshwa asserted that the book itself was a fictional account and one with mistakes.
The family members also made it clear that they want the movie to be released but with the removal of the objectionable scenes that have been causing them much stress. However, the families are still undecided on the course of action to be adopted should Sanjay Leela Bhansali not agree to their demands.
Ranveer Singh on the other hand made it clear in a recent interview with dna that they'll screen the “All the characters are fictitious and any resemblance to any person born,dead or alive is mere coincidental” slate at the start of the movie!
Hoping everything is settled amicably between the concerned families and the filmmaker as soon as possible.
•THE REAL CLASH
Two movies are releasing the same day and that's actually fine. There are just 52 weeks in a year and more than 500 Bollywood movies release a year. So it's normal if two movies clash a day. But when it's about two big budget movies,then the situation changes.
In this case,the main clash isn't between Rohit Shetty and Mr. Bhansali,or between Varun Dhawan and Ranveer Singh.
The real clash is between
Shah Rukh Khan and Eros.
SRK and Eros have worked together in Ra.One and Om Shanti Om. And over the years the actor has maintained very warm ties with the Lulla brothers.
According to sources, the seeds of discontent were sown when Ra.One failed to generate the kind of returns Eros had expected and the distributors inked a deal with Ajay in London for Son of Sardaar.
"SRK would have shrugged it off, had it not been for the aggression with which Eros and Devgn went for Yash Chopra's swan song," says the source, adding, "The nail in the coffin was the complaint they tried to lodge with the Competition Commission."
A source close to Eros has a slightly different take on the issue. "When Ajay pitched his film to Kishore Lulla, he could not refuse him, even though he was only mildly interested. Ajay and the Lullas go back a long way. They had worked with his most trusted lieutenant Kumar Mangat on Omkara and U Me Aur Hum. The Devgn-Eros partnership also happened at a time when the Lullas had already started cooling off a bit with Shah Rukh over Ra.One 's tepid response," said the source.
Interestingly, SOS also marked the return of Salman Khan (who plays a cameo in the film) to the Eros camp. The distribution giants and Sallu had a fallout over Veer , with matters reaching the court.
Nonetheless, SRK would have overlooked all of this, had it not been the dogged determination with which Eros seemed to stoke the SOS versus Jab Tak Hai Jaan fire. "Shah Rukh discovered that it was Eros which had planted the idea of taking matters to the Competition Commission, accusing Yash Raj of unfair means. Shah Rukh and the Lullas had been friend for many years, and he felt this was hitting way below the belt," adds the source.
Come this Christmas and Bajirao Mastani was to release on the 18th and Dilwale on the 25th.
Later,Dilwale was pre-poned by a week to 18th, hence setting up a clash with Eros' Bajirao Mastani.
Obviously, the reason being the good collections that the movie can collect during the pre-festive season and after that when the movie enters its second week,the collections will be boosted due to the Christmas weekend.
And most probably, the Badshaah of Bollywood and the King of clashes
[ Remember Om Shanti Om v/s Saawariya, Jab Tak Hai Jaan
v/s Son of Sardaar and Chennai Express v/s Once Upon A Time in Mumbai Dobaara? (Although OUATIMD was postponed by a week,it didn't help.) ]
,has decided to take the war to the next level.
✒✏✒
•Sources:
The Indian Express Online Media Pvt. Ltd.
dna
Bollywood Arena
The Times of India
Wikipedia
koimoi.com
✒✏✒
Quite a good research bro ;)
ReplyDeleteTy bro :)
ReplyDeleteDon't know about you but I'm a big fan of SRK.
ReplyDeleteMe too! 🙈😍
ReplyDelete