Hindi
Films’ miscalculated releases & no face or value
Four films releasing in one week, all lacking in face value with no star who can pull the audience and worst of all, the wrong period to release, bang on the day the Ganesh Festival started.
Ganesh festival has never been the right time to release a film and expect people to flock to cinema halls. This festival which was celebrated as a public event in Maharashtra mainly with some influence till Surat in Gujarat, and Baroda and Indore both having considerable Maharashtrian population being erstwhile Maratha states and, a part of Karnataka.
Now, the festivities are almost pan India and catching up. Entire Maharashtra celebrates this festival and, now, the celebrations have spread equally across entire Gujarat, MP, Karnataka and heading towards other parts of India.
To add to the miscalculated release, the Ram Rahim court ruling made matters worse as it just about ruled out people in the two states of Haryana and Punjab as well as the parts of Delhi venturing out to watch a movie.
Considering the quantum of punishment to the accused baba, there is little hope of moviegoers stepping out in the affected areas. Then, there are flood situations in parts of East to contend with.
Here is the gory picture:
*A Gentleman, an unlikely title which failed to convey anything what the film was about, backfired. If you don’t have enough imagination to name your film, why go ahead and make one at all? Don’t know who uses this word gentleman anymore!
The film opened badly and remained almost stagnant on day two, Saturday. The film showed a marginal increase on Sunday to end its opening weekend with Rs 113 million.
*Babumoshai Bandookbaaz, an odd title for an all-India audience, again shows lack of imagination. The film goes haywire within minutes after its start. It starts with the Vividh Bharati signature tune playing and Kishore Kumar songs on the air but, soon, shifts to the mobile phone era! Nobody ages in this film and you don’t know where it is all happening.
A total bankruptcy of ideas, the film managed to cross the Rs 10 million on the opening day, nothing changed on day two and day three as the film collected Rs 35 million for its opening weekend.
*The fact that the company with a sound background and pedigree, Yash Raj Films should release its all new star cast, Qaidi Band, during the Ganpati Festival, showed a lack of acumen. The film had nothing going for it anyways so why this hasty release? The fact that the film carried the dreams of many newcomers, it deserved a better exploitation.
The film hovered around Rs 3-million figure over its first weekend and can be called the worst failure from Yash Raj Films who, when they make such economical films, are known to cash in from various sources while also creating a library.
*Sniff is poor as collections remained poor at about Rs 4 million for the first weekend.
*Bareilly Ki Barfi falls short of its target as the poor opening took its toll and the film showed only a marginal improvement over its first weekend even as the collections started diminishing as the new week began. The film ended its first week with Rs 165 million.
*Partition: 1947 (Hindi-Dubbed) meets with a disastrous outcome managing to collect just about Rs 7 million in its opening week.
*Toilet Ek Prem Katha adds a handsome Rs 266 million in its second week taking its two-week tally to Rs 1.2 billion.
*Mubarakan collected Rs 11 million in its fourth week taking its four-week total to Rs 564 million.
Hindi
Dhurandhar 2 trouble: BMC moves to blacklist Aditya Dhar’s B62 Studios
Blacklist move follows torch, drone and permit violations; producers lean on a legal workaround
MUMBAI: Mumbai’s civic bosses have turned up the heat on a big-ticket sequel. The BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) has moved to blacklist Aditya Dhar’s B62 Studios after a string of safety and permit breaches during the shoot in Mumbai. The message is blunt. Flout the rules, forfeit the privileges.
Officials cite repeated violations, including lit torches in a high-security heritage zone, a drone flown without clearance, location changes, a terrace used without permits, and two generator vans run without approvals. Mumbai Police stepped in during a night shoot in the Fort precinct, seizing five mashals and warning the crew to avoid flammable props. A separate case was filed at MRA Marg Police Station against location manager Rinku Rajpal Valmiki for flying a drone without permission.
The civic playbook is escalating. A-ward officials have recommended blacklisting the studio from the state’s single-window filming portal, forfeiting a Rs 25,000 deposit and imposing a Rs 1 lakh penalty. The deputy municipal commissioner has cleared the proposal for action, with notices to follow.
Yet the production’s pulse remains steady. A source close to the unit says filming continues and the March 19 release, timed for Eid, Gudi Padwa and Ugadi, remains intact. Co-producer Jio Studios can route fresh permissions through an unblacklisted applicant, a loophole that keeps cameras rolling even if named applicants are barred. The ban bites, but it does not block.
The film, starring Ranveer Singh, arrives with commercial heft. The previous instalment minted over Rs 1,300 crore worldwide, sharpening the incentive to stay on schedule. The sequel also faces competition from Toxic: A Fairytale for Grownups by Geethu Mohandas, headlined by Yash.
For now, the crackdown raises compliance costs, not curtains. Permits can be rerouted, penalties paid and shoots rescheduled. In Mumbai’s film economy, the show rarely stops. It simply finds a new entry point and races to make its date.
