Noone would have quite expected the response that Rajneeti got at the box office on Friday. The film opened to huge numbers, comfortably beating every other release this year and extended its good run into the weekdays. Its is a perfect example of a film that has been universally accepted – the business was good everywhere – big cities, smaller cities, towns, villages, multiplexes, single screens.
So what worked for Rajneeti?
- Script – Gone are the days when stars alone could guarantee a good opening. A good film without the presence of major stars can open to an extraordinary response.. the success of Rajneeti has proved yet again that script is indeed the king, not stars who can merely assure a good weekend.
- Word of mouth – With Twitter, Facebook, mobile phones etc.. the word of mouth spreads like wild fire. If the response is negative, the impact is almost instant. For Rajneeti the response was extremely positive and the weekday figures prove just that.
- Presence of Katrina Kaif and Ranbir Kapoor – Rajneeti wasn’t exactly a film that the youngsters would have been keen on watching. But the presence of Ranbir and Katrina meant the youngsters thronged to theaters.
Week 1 Collections
| Day | Collections |
|---|---|
| Friday | 10.25 crores |
| Saturday | 11 crores |
| Sunday | 12.50 crores |
| Weekend | 33.75 crores |
| Monday | 6 crores |
| Tuesday | 5.5 crores |
| Wednesday | 4.75 crores |
| Thursday | 4 crores |
| Total | 54 crores |
Advertisements
so the collections are declining.. at last ..and fast and furiously… should give it a flopo tag ..well suited for the kind of trash it is and deserves .. its thumbs down from all of us here
i can see no bbuster in it the revenues are nosediving
It feels gud wen a gud mv wrks. Itz 1 of d best mvs 2 hav cum out dis yr.
Great movie..best of the year..amazing performance by everyone..especially loved Arjun and Ranbir..
Bahut dino baad achchci movie aayi hai….SUPERDUPER HIT!!!!!
its a very good movie…..i like ajay but his role was not too good…..
movies like these will always fail at bo..shashi kapoors kalyug also failed at bo in 1982. it was also similar story
@megha,
Hi megha, apparently you are hellbent on declaring Rajneeti a flop. I can see that you didn’t like the film but tell me one thing, what is the problem if it becomes a blockbuter (which it has) inspite of you not liking it. There are many films which I didn’t like but others liked and those films became hits……what is so unusual with that, everybody has his own taste. And in my opinion a well made film mostly works well at BO even it doesn’t have an SRK or Akki in it because these stars can only ensure a healthy opening weekend. After that the film survives only if its good…
@Megha..
and one more thing, people can have different veiws on whether this film is good or bad as it depends on an individual. BUT you can not say that it is a flop as the collections of this film are there for all to see and according to them it is a BIG HIT whether you like it or not…
nobody wants a bad film to work.. woiuld u liked if RGV ke sholay had worked?? if aladdin had worked??? u want only good films to work.. what is there in rajneeti that u dont know already or havent seen before .. if u want any film that kat stars in to be a hit ..then its a different matter .. but why unnecessarily hype and declare a dumb witted movie a superhit when its struggling.. all right the initial word of mouth was good and we also went to see because of that .. but when we found out that it was a dumb ass film it was our duty to refrain others from the torture.. nobody in his/her sane mind can like this film
somewhere sometime you will remember when this film flops athat megha had already predicted its downfall .. when you search for rajneeti has flopped u will surely ger my quote .. and i have no hesitancy in saying that this product has failed with me and if it has failed with me then it must fail universally cos i do not buy anything substandard
Hi Megha….thanks for clarifying. But I have still to find a person who liked RGV ke sholay or aladin, But I have found many people who liked the film including a lot of educated and sane people. I don’t like a film just because it has my favourite actor in it. I love Amir but I didn’t like Raja Hindustani (although it was a hit). I like Hrithik but I didn’t like some of his films.
Now only thing I want to say here is that you may not have liked Rajneeti and there must be a lot of other people who didn’t either. But the collections shown in this article are a fact and in this case the film is already a HIT so where is the scope of it getting flopped now…..so if a film finds a lot of people liking it so why should we try to dictate what they should like and what they shouldn’t. I hope you don’t take it personally…..
just to clarify that in my last comment when I said “But I have found many people who liked the film including a lot of educated and sane people” I was referring to Rajneeti and not RGV ke sholay of aladin….
i dont know why people likd this shindig>>!!!
this blockbuster needed a review like this….
Rajneeti does not seem like a Political movie.. And no, it doesnt even seem like a movie “inspired” from Mahabharata. Rajneeti is more like a gangster/mafia film.. A film dominated by car blasts, assasinations, murder etc.. It looks more inspired from “The Godfather” and the movie also ends up reminding people of the “Sarkar” movies. The worst thing about Rajneeti is that it actually, and very seriously, believes its potraying Indian Politics. Hell, its marketing campaign made it look very much like a political movie. But dont be fooled because this is 90% like some Mafia Family movie and 10% about politics.
The Story goes like this :- A party is run by two brothers. One Brother’s son is Manoj Bajpai and the other Bro’s sons are Arjun Rampal and Ranbir. Nana Patekar plays Ranbir’s and Arjun’s Maternal Uncle, who is also the comissioner of the Party. So, Manoj’s father, who is the president of the party, suffers a stroke and is paralysed. So, he appoints Arjun and his father as the people to run the party.. Manoj is shocked and is damn angry.. And then starts a whole lot of betrayal, car blasts , planning, assasinations, arguements, Intense Hindi speeches etc basically everything which supposedly happens in “Rajneeti”. Enter Ajay Devgan, who aspires to be a Dalit Leader and who is also the abandoned Elder Half Brother of Ranbir And Arjun.. Enter Katrina, who is the daughter of an Industralist who funds the party.. She plays the role of an obsessed Ranbir Stalker.. Enter a Firangi Actress, who is Ranbir’s GF from Abroad..
I like Prakash Jha as a Director. I found his Gangajal and Apaharan pretty powerful and moderately realistic. I was expecting the same from Rajneeti. A movie which will be good, powerful movie and will also be a pretty realistic take on Indian Politics. Instead, it comes across as a damn disappointing, cheesy and unrealistic movie filled with WTF moments. There are lots of negative stuff to write about this movie, so I will basically write it in points.
Positive stuff about the movie :-
1.) Performances by Nana Patekar, Ranbir Kapoor, Manoj Bajpai and Arjun Rampal. Nana Patekar is the best Actor of the movie. Does justice to his role. Manoj Bajpai performs very well as the angry and jealous political scion. Ranbir too acts well. Though Ranbir looks uneasy at times, he does perform pretty well. Arjun Rampal plays the role of a Short Tempered politician’s role pretty well.
2.) The First Half of the movie is good and pretty engrossing.
3.) The movie is NOT at all boring or dragging. It has running time of 180 mins but it doesnt really drag. Thats a big +.
Negative Stuff about the movie.. :-
Where to begin…
1.) Katrina Kaif.. Poor Gal. It clearly looks that she tried very hard to act well and to deliver Hindi Dialogues.. And she does succeed in acting well at times but its her character which fails her. She is supposed to be this full of life, innocent, madly in love kinda girl in first half but instead of that, she comes across as a Psycho to me who is obsessed with Ranbir.. Her entry is stupid.. And she has lot of WTF moments. One of the WTF moment is when she takes Ranbir to a restaurant where she just randomly asks him “When are we getting married!”.. Just see the movie to witness the WTF scene no. 1. Another scene, Random WTF no.2 – An item song which takes place in a pub.. This song is approx 1 min long and is DAMN random.. As Random as Saif-Bips suddenly dancing to “Race sanson Ki” in Race movie.
2.) Ajay Devgan.. Disappoints. As much as I hate to say it, but Ajay is just stuck up with one expression throughout the movie. He is as broody and sad as how Abhishek was in Drona! And he is like that throughout the movie!
3.) The Firangi girl.. Gosh. Comes across as a stupid and whinning girl friend. I mean, your Boyfriend’s Dad has been shot dead and she fking complains about Ranbir not calling her anymore! And she even lands up suddenly at his house! Jesus.. Talk about having two obsessed female characters over same hero.
4.) The second half just fails man.. Plain and simple. It tries to go for some shock values and all but it just doesnt click. There are just too many things happening.. And it starts to look more like some gangsta movie than a political one.
5.) So many illogical stuff in this movie.. In the whole movie, it seemed as if the whole state politics revolved only around one party.. And when that party gets split.. it revolves around those two only.. What about other parties? Was there no main opposition to the party before it split up?
6.) One of the biggest -ve Point, atleast for me,.. WHERE THE HELL IS NASEERUDDIN SHAH!! I kept waiting for him to show him and then realized that he had just a 2 minutes role in the start of the movie where he just impregnates a woman (the son is… ajay devgn). I really wanted to see Naseer in the movie.. But it was damn disappointing to know that he had a cameo of 2 mins.
7.) Some damn awkwards scenes. One eg – Shruti Seth, who looks damn hot in a saree, has a 1.5 min “steamy” scene with Arjun where she keeps talking about wanting a ticket to contest and Arjun keeps grunting.. good I didnt see this movie with Dad.
8.) Whats with the record number of pregnancies in this movie? Almost every single female character gets pregnant… Isnt there something known as “safe” sex?
9.) One of the Main Drawback is the predictablity of the movie.. You know that X might get assasinated. You know that Mr. Y is having just too much fun and that aal is not gonna be well for him in near future. You know that certain “extras” are gonna do their part of betraying a certain character etc.. Basically, the twists are predictable.
10.) Lacklustre Songs and Background score.
11.) Leaders, big politicans, Big cops etc are killed left and right and no one makes a noise.. Hell, media reports it for like a day.
11.) Last, the term “Rajneeti” is repeated so much that it rival’s the record of “Luck”, where the term was repeated dozens of times.
I am thoroughly disappointed with this movie. I expected a lot and it turned out to be something else.
Rating :- 2/5
P.S :- When you have the audience laughing at scenes which are meant to depress or sadden you, then you know that there is a big problem.. The characters aren’t great. And most characters are stuck up with same expressiosn throughout the movie.. Hell, Katrina gives the most expressions.. Go figure!
you need to put up true reviews like these for the public to judge the movie not the kinds u put up a;lways praising the movie all the time .. this movie will max do 50-60 cr business .. all pray to lord that this is all it is able to do .. otherwise my faith will be lifted from good cinema….!!!!
A very detailed review indeed…well done Megha. But you seem to think that if you dont like the film then it must be substandard. But I wonder how a substandard film can get so many decent reviews from so many respected critics. See some of the ratings below, just for record:
Rajeev Masand (IBN) – 3.5/5
Taran Adarsh – 4/5
Nikhat Kazmi (Times of India) – 4/5
Anupama Chopra (NDTV) – 3/5
Mayank Shekhar (Hindustan times) – 3/5
Kaveree Bamzai (India Today) -3.5/5
Gaurav Malani (Indiatimes.com) -3.5/5
They all mentioned some shortcomings in the film but liked the overall product…
There are also some reputed critics like Khalid mohammad who didn’t like the film but even they said that the film has its moments. I think RGV will feel deeply honoured if he gets to know that you compared his sholay with Rajneeti. I still have to see a good review of a real substandard film RGV Ke Sholay.
I know a substandard film can be sometimes likes by the masses, but how would you justify these reviews. Maybe they got bribed by the Director…..
mostly the reviews the good ones will follow after a paid dinner and cocktail followed by 5 lakhs in cash delivered by the pro at their homes ..so greatly undettered i will slam the movie for its worthlessness and will be happy if you too help me in this endeavour .. i will appreciate if u could help in spelling doom for this film
lemme tell you that lot of people assumed that the film is based on sonia gandhi and went to see the film but now please dont go
and please for heaven sake do your own rating ..never believe this f…ers to give u the right ptcture cos they are all sold out elements u dont know when they shift priorities .. next moment they will give ramus film 7/5
and the best WTF scene for me the kunti karna encounter scene ..tthat fell flat awesomely the dialogues looked imminent and taken from vedvyasas epic .. that was the biggest thundering faalling flat wtf moment of the entire film
I think you are right, the reviews can be biased…..but i only wonder how some big budget movies like kites manage to get so many bad reviews…..maybe they spend all the money in making the film and forget to pay the critics.
But in any case I am willing to accept your argument that the review can be biased. So we can agree on a point that we dont need to see the reviews for liking or disliking a film. So why should people see even your review or my review. They should go watch the film and make their own openion and that has been my point all along.
And I believe that even a big star cast film like Kites or Veer or Blue which gets a huge opening can’t get to the 60-70 crore mark if people don’t like it. So, if a film gets there then there must be a lot of people who liked it no matter what Taran Adarsh, Nikhat Kazmi, Khalid mohammed or Megha write in their reviews (biased or unbaised)…..
i think people are basically foolish and the makers makeuse of this trait..!!!
many were led to believe that this movie is an autobiography of soniia gandhi…!!!as was shown from posters and went to see the film .. during its early days i too thought that it was based on her story perhaps…!!!
but as soon as that was cleared i knew that this movie is intolerable .. i think most of you are sticking on to this film because it stars your favorites kat and ranbir otherwise deep down inside you all know that it is a bad fim and cannot be seen with elders
also i think kites did get good reviews from everywhere at least on thew first day .. but the film was so bad that the critics had to change their tune the next day .. you can read all the fav reviews on this site itself right from a af an to the critic ..however once me and fathiya panned the film people bagan to agree with us
see if you are truthful people will agree with you.. and i think by my virtue of truthfulness i ahve managed to stay afloat
@indicine or any 1 else,can u tell me when the promo of peepli live will release?
@megha You are just talking crap dear.The movie is already declared a super duper hit.
http://in.movies.yahoo.com/news-detail/91224/RAAJNEETI-rules-at-Box-office-worldwide.html
Not so many people like the movie for wrong reasons.
What you are talking about kites also does not make sense.It received bad mouth publicity since no one liked the movie.But this is not the case with Rajneeti.Most of the public has appreciated it and the the box office is proof.
@suresh You are spot on.If reviews can be manipulated then it could have been done with Veer and Kites too.But they were bad movies that is it.
and the thing that people were made to beleive it is a story of sonia gandhi is also crap..and if you felt that way it is your mistake..Prakash Jha always said in his interviews that it was not the case..Plus talking about the mafia element in the movie..it is true to some extent.but that is what politics is in our country..plus it was clearly known that the movie was on the lines of mahabharata..it just showed as to what extent a person can go to gain power..
plus not everyone’s favorites are NOT kat and ranbir…ranbir was the surprise package of this movie..
But I really liked Arjun Rampal and Manoj Bajpai’s performance..amd there is nothing in the movie which you cannot see with elders..grow up..
hi megha this review is biased and full of prejudice this writer hasnot watched the movie so how can he comment on something he has not seen
listen megha the most thing i hate in this world is prejudice and preconception because they are alwways wrong the german philospher kant spent 11 YEARS trying to make his dissetation on pure mind so that he can save reason ina way to get rid of prejudice
the sentence
Rizwan’s death saw the police commissioner punished and cover stories written by missionary writers.
proves that he hasnt seen MNIK
rizwan doesnt die at all
also in the film srk says on the tongue of rizwan
whosoever kills anyone he killed the whole human beings and whosoever jogged/ live up anyone he liven up the mankind all
this is koran/ the holly book
so this shows that islam is innocent of the ones who kill people with no reason
and what happened to mr kaul is one specific specimen not to all groups or ethnicities
whereas what happening to muslims is predominant
hi megha ihope you are not mrs kaul also
but mrs cool
youssef: (June 18, 2010 at 7:44 am)
why doesnt he go to kjo to make his story cinematised
@ naina….Thanks naina for understanding my point. My real reason for having such a lengthy discussion with megha was that I think people should respect others views also. Some people seem to think that if they don’t like a movie then everybody else has a duty of following them by not liking it……hav they heard about the expression “independent thinking” or maybe its only for them.
@ Megha…….you seem to be completely in denial mode about the fact the movie is a superhit already, so what can v say now.
Rajneeti (2010):
A Complex Plot & an EDGE OVER GODFATHER
I take opportunity to mention our consolidated/joint review which we earlier stated on other local domain and wish to share the same lines on INDECINE as well, as this site has some serious critics who dwell on the merits or demerits of a production title.
The Film has earlier been released in Pakistan on main single screen cinemas and multiplexes with a good response. The political saga “Raajneeti” is harsh but authentic depiction of multitude characters breaking into the rising political-set up certainly displays a resentful eagerness of the step by step advancement of blinkered arrangement, electioneering, and malicious campaigning and reinforced /entwined with ancestral revenge.
“Raajneeti” is prima facie set in the backdrop of party-dominant democracy, it chronicles the affluent Pratap clan and a clash for Control of the political party.
The characters revolve around fragmentary Veerendra / (Manoj Bajpai) and low caste secret legatee Sooraj / (Ajay Devgan) against Rakish Prithvi /(Arjun Rampal) and a cerebral Samar / (Ranbir Kapoor). Mahabharata and its tale of political kingpin angling for a Kingdom, producer–director-co-writer, Prakash Jha aims for something incisive about disillusioned destiny and revolting ambition in modern democracy.
Tracking the ethical decline of Samar from family interloper to callous power player is meant to be the film’s searing through-line and the same is well executed. Ranbir Kapoor’s performance is flinty rather than calculating and could be termed vociferous compared to the uninhibited turns around him, while the parallels act shift to score the equalizer feels less like inevitably tragic providence.
This film would re-define Katrina Kaif astrophysical image and her inspirational presentation would silence most of hard nit prick critics and for ‘Rajneeti’ Prakash Jha bases the epic theme of Mahabharat and acclimatizes in the modern day Indian politics. The Film premise has an assortment of unfolding and the audience may get perplexed at the beginning of the film, but the tension keeps on mounting and reaches its peak in the second half and that’s the success key.
Manoj Bajpayee and Arjun Rampal are relayed as the descendants of scheming vanguard political party. They part ways; and Manoj Bajpayee slips in cahoots with Ajay Devgan, who portrays the role of a leading opponent electoral clan. Ranbir Kapoor portrayed as younger sibling of Arjun Rampal who haphazardly gets involved in the politics despite having no pre vision or intention to budge in a dangerous and alter canvas of a political war.
The screenplay in ‘Rajneeti’ is well written and there seem some similarities with old Hollywood movie Godfather, but the film outshines in its own capacity. It is quite rare to see screen adaptation done in a meticulous manner.
Performance of Ranbir Kapoor is a decent one and far better done than his previous below par movies. Cinematography of Rajneeti is very good and presentation looks so real and equally forceful. Digital surround Sound editing of the film is up to mark.
The character of Sarah Jean Collins played by Sarah Thompson is poignant and holds balance with Ranbir.
Nana Patekar is extremely versatile artist who does the character in most natural manner; other actors in the film cannot match his level of performance. Arjun Rampal delivers fine performance as per the requirement of the film.
It would be pertinent to say that Katrina Kaif in this film has really matured, relayed her lines flawlessly and displays a dignified performance. The Film has considerable dose of violence and gore.
Overall the Film Rajneeti is well made and convincing ****1/2.
We wish to see this film emerge as successful in the local cine-market and aboard. On a scale of one to ten we would merit it at 8.2/10.
Kind Regards: Fasial Kazim Haider, Nadeem, Natasha tannaz, Syed Taimur Ali, Mahwish Sehr
The Cinema Circle, Karachi Pakistan.
Hi Faisal,…I really liked your review……would like to see more reviews from you in future on indicine…