Hindi
Bollywood bets on three big releases to set the pace
MUMBAI: The Bollywood industry has taken time to wake up after being bowled out in the first two quarters of the year with the cricket World Cup and the Indian Premier League (IPL).
A drought of new releases and content that failed to work hit the multiplexes and film producers during the first half of the calendar year. The only bright spot was the release of the Salman Khan-starrer Ready on 3 June which turned out to be a hit as it netted Rs 1.14 billion at the domestic box office in its three-week run. Double Dhamaal has also had a good start, netting Rs 235 million in its first weekend.
The supply tap is opening up this week with three big releases. Transformers has already launched mid-week and Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap
and Delhi Belly are hitting the screens today. Multiplexes hope this will set pace for the third quarter of the year.
Cinemax India CEO Sunil Punjabi believes there will be no clash between the two titans, Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan. “Since the two films belong to different genres, a clash is unlikely. Transformers is also very popular amongst Hollywood followers. There shouldn‘t be a question of one cutting into each other’s box office collections”, he says.
The industry is keeping its fingers crossed. In July, there are back-to-back releases of Vishesh films’ Murder 2, UTV’s Chillar Party (both on 8 July), Zindagi Na Mile Doobara (15 July) and Ajay Devgn’s Singham ( 22 July).
Avers Cinepolis head of strategy Devang Sampat, “I hope the three films draw in audiences. We hope July to be a good month for us.”
Hindi
Rashmika Mandanna, Shanaya Kapoor and Naila Grrewal climb IMDb’s Indian celebrity rankings
Upcoming films and returning shows are driving fan interest across Bollywood and streaming
MUMBAI: Bollywood’s popularity contest has a new weekly scorecard, and the numbers are telling. IMDb’s Popular Indian Celebrities list for this week places Shanaya Kapoor at number six, buoyed by buzz around her film Tu Yaa Main. Naila Grrewal slots in at seven on the back of the returning comedy series Maamla Legal Hai, while Rashmika Mandanna climbs to eighth, riding mounting anticipation for Cocktail 2.
The list, available exclusively on the IMDb app for Android and iOS, tracks trending Indian entertainers and filmmakers each week, drawing on data from more than 200m monthly visits to the platform worldwide.
Further down the rankings, Raaka is keeping two of its biggest names in the spotlight. Deepika Padukone holds 11th position, with Allu Arjun close behind at 13th, as the film continues to find traction with audiences.
The list offers fans a weekly pulse on who is breaking through, who is holding steady, and who is fading. It is a barometer as unsparing as the box office itself.
