QnA Continues

Q. What are the total collections and verdicts of Sanam Teri Kasam, Ghayal Once Again, Sanam Re, Fitoor, Loveshuddha, Neerja, Aligarh, Tere Bin Laden : Dead or Alive, Jai Gangaajal and Teraa Suroor? – Saksham

A. Sanam Teri Kasam 9 crore Flop, Ghayal Once Again 36 cr Flop, Sanam Re 27 crore Average, Fitoor 19 crore Disaster, Loveshuddha 3 crore Disaster, Neerja 76 crore Super Hit, Aligarh 2 cr Disaster, Tere Bin Laden 3 cr Disaster, Jai Gangaajal 31 crore Flop, Teraa Suroor 11 crore Flop.

Q. What do you think about the look of Akshay Kumar in 2.0?

A. It was weird. But for some reason leaked images are blurry and of extremely low quality, even though camera phones can capture good images these days. Let’s wait for his look in the official movie still or poster.

Q. What would be average foot falls or Net India collections if movies like Andaz Apna Apna and Karan Arjun have released now ?

A. Putting two big stars in the movie doesn’t mean double the collections or insane box office records. A film like Andaz Apna Apna might be on par with the opening of Dhoom 3 – which is currently the highest non-holiday opening. The fact that Andaz Apna Apna can still be watched in today’s times, means it has every chance of becoming the highest grosser of all time. Karan Arjun might not even work with the city audience because of its content, but will do well at smaller centres. Would still do 200 crore plus though.

Q. Housefull 3 trailer release date?

A. Will be out this month. Could be in a couple of weeks times, around April 15.

Q. Given the current standing, can Katrina Kaif redeem herself with a film laden with a seamless script and taut direction? She needs someone who could really tap into her talent & exploit it on the celluloid. Thoughts please? – Tuhin Pal

A. Katrina has worked under directors like Yash Chopra, Kabir Khan, Rajkumar Santoshi, Zoya Akhtar.. just to name a few. If they couldn’t make her act, wonder who will? Credit to her for becoming one of the most successful actress in the industry. Her success record is comparable to some of the biggest female stars. For someone to come to India from British and make it so big in the industry is even more difficult, because it’s hard to get the diction and expressions right. A lot of people credit Salman for her success, but if that was the case, why didn’t stars like Sneha Ullal, Zarine Khan and Daisy Shah make it big?

Can she make a comeback to the top? She can, but she neither has big films nor is age on her side.

Q. At present Akshay Kumar is getting a lot of offers because of which he churns out 3-4 movies per year, but how long is it gonna last? 5 years? 10 years?

A. He’s 48 and has shown no signs of slowing down. The love from the audience is increasing too. So as long as his films work at the box office, producers will continue to invest in his films. He’s important for the trade too, because he generates footfalls at smaller centres 3-4 times a year.

Q. With opening day collection between 15-20 crores…do you think Fan will be able to cross 200 or 250 crores even with positive word of mouth?

A. We’ve answered this question several times before. The first target for a film like FAN is 150 crore. 200 crore is a possibility with extremely positive word-of-mouth. Even with Bajrangi Bhaijaan level word-of-mouth, it’s highly unlikely to do 250 crore. Non-festive release, no songs, lack of mass appeal.

Q. Out of 10, how much would you rate Azhar trailer? – Shubham Chawla

A. 6.5 on 10. The way they depicted those cricket matches were a little unrealistic, but good trailer nonetheless.

Q. When is the Sultan trailer coming?

A. Teaser of Sultan is coming with FAN on 15th April. Trailer should be out in the 2nd half of May.

Q. Looks like content oriented films will do well this year. Good news for Bollywood. What do you think indicine? Rohan Verma

A. 2016 is going to be the defining year when audience will watch only those films that have a good story to tell. Airlift and Neerja were real-life stories, Kapoor & Sons was well-appreciated family drama with good music and Ki & Ka had role-reversal as its USP. Everything else has been rejected, even sex-comedy film from an established franchise.

Q. Regarding SRKs new movie signing, three rumors have been heard i.e. him doing a romantic movie with Anand Rai, a comedy with Imtiaz and recently heard about him and SLB. Which one of them is a mere rumour and which one actually signed up by SRK?

A. SRK in Aanand L Rai and Imtiaz Ali film is almost confirmed. Official announcement after he signs the film. Sanjay Leela Bhansali film might have discussed his ideas, but there is nothing more to it. Bhansali is currently working on two scripts. Once he finalises the script of his next, he will approach actors.

Q. Can you name a book that is meant for filmmaking and its whole process?

A. You should give this book a try, highly informative. The Filmmaker’s Handbook on Amazon India

Q. Longest and shortest run time of Bollywood film?  - Rajesh

A. Mera Naam Joker and LOC Kargil are the longest films made in Bollywood. Both had a runtime of 255 minutes (4 hours 15 minutes). A film is only considered to be a ‘feature film’ when it has a run time of 40 minutes or more, otherwise it becomes a ‘short film’. There have been quite a few films that have had runtimes of 40-45 minutes.

Q. Do you think Tollywood will over take Bollywood after 10-15 years looking at the films making nowadays, I mean truly world class?

A. S. S Rajamouli films might compete with Bollywood films, but apart from that very few Telugu films have made an impact outside south states. The language barrier is also too big. Hollywood is a far bigger threat to Bollywood than regional films.

Q. How important was the success of Ki and Ka to Arjun Kapoor? Why do you think it opened well? Yatish

A. Arjun does command a fairly good following at mass centres (because of his action image in films like Gunday and Tevar), which is one of the reasons why Ki and Ka took a decent opening in circuits like C.P Berar and C.I. The collections at smaller centres was higher than a similar film like Kapoor & Sons.

Reason for the film opening well could also be Khatron Ke Khiladi, because television does increase an actor’s reach quite significantly. TV shows like Dus Ka Dum and Bigg Boss were one of the reasons why Salman turned his career around. The other factor is the concept of role reversal, which had generated quite a bit of curiosity. Kareena’s presence added to the film, but not by much because her track record in films without the Top 6 established stars is quite poor. A film like Gori Tere Pyaar Mein only opened to 2.8 crore.

As for how important the success of Ki and Ka was to Arjun Kapoor. It was crucial, because it was risky film. He didn’t have a release for nearly 1 year and 3 months after the failure of Tevar. Post Ki and Ka, he doesn’t have a movie release for the next 1 year. So now that Ki and Ka has opened well and should easily recover costs, it will help him get better film offers. Also, it set him up well for a film like ‘Half Girlfriend’ – which has tremendous potential because it’s based on a popular Chetan Bhagat novel.

Q. Which film will open better Fan or Housefull 3?

A. Housefull 3 should take a bigger opening because it belongs to a popular franchise and will appeal to a larger section of the audience.

That ends our QnA session for today. More than 20,000 people tuned into the live QnA today. Thank you for your support.