Markable

Neeraj Pandey has been on a creative siesta after Special 26. The film that earned rave reviews from the critics, catapulted Akshay Kumar into a league above being a mere Khiladi actor. Kumar was earlier known mostly for his wonderful stunts and fabulous fitness but after Special 26, people began noticing him for his acting as well. With the recent association between Neeraj and Akshay, it seems another sparkling film is at vicinity. The duo have earlier proved their prowess by delivering a memorable and intelligent film, and are all set to strike fortune again it seems.

Recently many news reports informed that Akshay was spotted shooting in Kathmandu, Nepal for an extensive schedule for Pandey’s next film which is a thriller. Though the details of it were reserved carefully, a leading daily reported that the film has been titled ‘Baby’.

The film is expected to release in the Republic Day weekend of 2015. Akshay has been shooting relentlessly for the film. With Gabbar in hand, Akshay has been running on packed schedule. The actor will not take a break and fly down to Istanbul to finish shooting Baby’s second schedule as well.

Well, the Khiladi Kumar’s energy is mesmeric. Keep checking out this space to learn more about the film.

2 States held up quite well in its third week. The film raked in approx 1.80 crores on its third Friday at the Domestic Box Office. This has been a 50% drop for the film since its second week. Nevertheless, the collections are still no way near bad! With this, the film now stands with a total of 89.11 crores at the domestic box office.

Stuck at the second slot as the highest grosser of 2014, this Alia Bhatt-Arjun Kapoor starrer has had a great run at he box office till now. The film has surpassed the collections of other big star film such as Amitabh Bachchan’s Bhoothnath Returns, also left behind Kangana Ranaut’s Queen which is 2014′s successful film.

On its 3rd Friday, 2 States collected more than the combined business of last week’s releases Revolver Rani and Kaanchi.

There was an expectation of The Amazing Spiderman 2 giving tough competition to 2 States considering it is one of Hollywood’s widest release ever in India but the Abhishek Verman film kept up its stride. The film is nearing the big 100 crore barrier, although it will have to continue its steady pace in order to attain this figure.

Star cast: Anshuman Jha, Asif Basra, Amit Sial, Uttkarsh Majumdar, Faiz Mohammad, Suruchi Aulakh, Yaushika Verma, Shameem Khan

Director: Janaki Vishwanathan

What’s Good: The film’s satirical tone and ace concept makes it a well grounded plot right from the start.

What’s Bad: The abruptness of the film will tick you off. The film had every ingredient to seem interesting and the inability to build on the good parts makes it quite a half baked watch.

Loo break:  More than just a few.

Watch or Not?: Yeh Hai Bakrapur could have been quite an intelligent take on India’s affiliation for blind faith. But the film somehow manages to kill its caliber with its shabbily done screenplay and reckless editing. The script lacks intuitiveness which was expected of it. Not entirely unwatchable but the film leaves by a sinking feeling which cannot be the residue of a confident product. It is a crucial story told without any keenness.

The story of the film is set in a small, predominantly Muslim village where the Qureshi family owns a goat. The family wants to discard their pet but that isn’t acceptable to the little boy who loves his pet. A way must be plotted to save him from going away.

The boy does get his way through but his pet goat suddenly becomes the talk of the town and beyond attaining a Superstardom overnight. With endorsements flocking his way, the goat becomes the subject of people’s likings and even Hindu-Muslim politics.

How does this end is what is an interesting thing to look out for in this film.

If you sniff closely, Yeh Hai Bakrapur has the essence of a politically inclined story. But what draws your attention to the film is its childlike innocence and how the writing invests in building a tender story revolving around Shahrukh, the goat. The animal, for no credit of his, evolves into a seraphic creature of sorts. Definitely the commentary is on how interrelated blind faith and illiteracy is, but the message comes out quite contrived. There is a clear lack of clarity in the film’s writing which leads to a sloppy screenplay for it.

Though the end product isn’t much to my satisfaction, I cannot help but bring up the tenderness in the tale. Yes, the main reason why the milieu of the film seems even remotely attractive is because of the child like glee in the wee moments of the film. The child’s love for his goat arouses an array of really delicate emotions.

While it all begins well, the story’s slow build up infuriates one, almost making one lose interest. The story doesn’t really move much, beating around the bush over and over again. The characters become flat and doesn’t evolve further over the course of the film and most importantly, the pivotal point of story stands defeated by the time the end credits flow down the big screen.

It is the lack of a nuanced story in a plot of this vein, is what I understood as the problem with the film’s script. The way the script infuses the tragedy of poverty is near perfect but doesn’t really build on the main theme too much. The ripples caused by the goat Shahrukh isn’t exactly believable due to the shaky storytelling in those parts. The flow of the film ends up grinding your brains to pulp ending in nothing more than sheer futility.

Anshuman Jha does a stellar job and manages to emerge as a startling performer every time he is on screen. He is endearingly innocent and awfully sweet.

Suruchi Aulakh is another one hard to miss. She holds her ground with the character and plays it with perfection.

Asif Basra is great in his part too and adds well to the film.

Janaki Vishwanathan’s work is potent but lacks finesse. There are a multiple sequences in the film that conveys mostly the story’s inability to settle well with the audiences. The unhurried pace could have been used to establish something but it is eventually wasted away with a climax and an ending that clearly lacks soul.

Though there is authenticity in how she frames the rural background of the film and uses it as a character in her film, the loose second half with a sloppy storytelling and finally a blunt ending doesn’t reflect well on the film.

Indian Ocean’s music is put to good use too but, the film doesn’t turn out to perfection.

I did not leave the hall with a smile after Yeh Hai Bakrapur for the simple reason that I saw there was lot more potential entrapped in the story than what came out on screen. The frenzy for filmstars in our country left unexplored despite being hinted on repeatedly.

The flat climax and dissatisfaction after the ending left me dull. There was so much matter put to so little use. I am going with a 2.5/5.

Each year, the summer movie season is ruthless, filled with movies claiming and switching release dates, then studios cannibalizing each other to score a hit. Most of the time, however, there's the gentleman's agreement between all of them to keep the peace and usually release one blockbuster at a time. Part of this strategy comes from some execs watching their fellow producer bomb when they overestimate the broad appeal of their film. In summer, movies die loudly, and they leave scars.

Which is why we've decided to break down most of the summer's offerings, observing exactly what it is about some films that cause them to succeed and fail. This involved number crunching, market analysis, educated guesses, and the application of a few snobby biases. We've separated these groups into obvious hits, less-obvious hits, so-so performers and outright bombs, all comparative to budgets. All gross numbers are global totals unless otherwise specified. Feel free to bookmark this, and check it at the end of the summer.

Godzilla – Few summer films have had marketing as impressive as this monster mash, which is seeing release after two more frivolous summer entertainments (Amazing Spider-Man 2, Neighbors). Ads have obscured the monster, but favored the disaster footage, a money-shot heavy approach that likens this picture to, ironically, a film like the ones made by 1998 Godzilla director Roland Emmerich, albeit more serious. That film, by the way, grossed $379 million globally despite being hated by just about everyone. With an inflated overseas market, this thing could be looking at upwards of $200 million domestically, and $600 million global.

X-Men: Days Of Future Past – Strangely enough, the X-films haven't broke out like other superhero franchises: the highest grossing effort is the $459 million registered by X-Men: The Last Stand. Because it's eight full years later, because the overseas market has changed, because this is in 3D, and because this is following the Fast And Furious model of filling the cast with characters from all previous films, there's reason to believe this film will obliterate that number. Last year's The Wolverine was extremely well-received internationally, grossing $414 million worldwide, but it was a smaller, lower-budgeted affair. This new film promises armies of mutants, killer robots and time travel, basically the exact opposite elements that made The Wolverine the lowest grossing X-film domestically. X-pect (EL OH EL) grosses close to $275 million domestically, and $600 million worldwide.

How To Train Your Dragon 2 - The animated sequel bump doesn't always occur for some films: Kung Fu Panda 2 and Happy Feet Two are two recent examples of animated sequels that lacked the domestic success of the originals. But consider the case of Shrek 2 and Despicable Me 2, and realize that Dreamworks' Dragons franchise has had a presence on television with the Riders Of Berk series, and you're looking at the first animated kid flick of the summer obliterating the original's $494 million take, with possibly a $700 million worldwide tally.

Transformers: Age Of Extinction - Transformers: Dark Of The Moon was weaker domestically than its predecessor, though the strong global numbers took the film over the billion dollar mark. The signs would suggest a slightly shrinking appeal, but no studio dared to challenge this franchise's dominance over the 4th of July weekend. Not only is it opening a full week before Independence Day, but there's very little to challenge the picture on that date, giving Age Of Extinction two full weekends to most likely cross $200 million domestic, on its way to a $300 million franchise-standard domestic gross and at least $800 million worldwide.

Dawn of The Planet Of The Apes – The earlier film was an August surprise, coming out of nowhere to gross $481 million. This one comes two weeks after Transformers dominates the marketplace, and does so with the added strength of 3D, and an arguable upgrade at director in Matt Reeves. This franchise remains beloved by fans – even 2001's hated reboot earned $362 million worldwide – and as they move closer to territory established by the original films, expect new fans and baby boomers to be intrigued, to the tune of $525 million global.

Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 finally opened in U.S. theaters on Thursday night after proving to be a draw overseas. The film pulled in an estimated $8.9 million on Thursday night, and is targeting a $95-100 million opening weekend tally.

But this thread is WIDE open to discussion. You checked out Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Some loved it! Some despised it. We’re giving you an open forum to discuss the movie with the freedom of spoilers!

If you haven’t seen Spidey’s sequel yet, run! This page is LOADED WITH SPOILERS. The rest of you can spend the weekend raving (or ranting) about our newest Spider-Man movie. And participate in our poll below, telling us how you thought The Amazing Spider-Man 2 turned out.

How many stars would you give The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ? 

 

Rating: 3/5 Stars (Three stars)

Star cast: Vijay Raaz, Manu Rishi, Raj Zutshi, Vishwajeet Pradhan

Director: Vijay Raaz

What’s Good: A poignant and humane story contrary to the antagonist ones we hear of India & Pakistan.

What’s Bad: A loopy, repetitive plot line that wears off the film’s novelty.

Loo break: Few in the second half.

Watch or Not?: There can be no two views on the fact Kya Dilli Kya Lahore is an immensely watchable film. Despite spitting similarities with No Man’s Land, the heartfelt plotline holds a certain enigmatic appeal in its story. A Pakistani and an Indian have more in common than expected. Vijay Raaz deserves a pat for tackling the film with superseding gravitas and strength. Loopy second half aside, this film is the closest caliber of recent releases has come to excellent.

User Rating: 

The film opens in 1948 when India and Pakistan’s partition is still afresh. Pakistani soldier Rahmat Ali is sent to the Indian post to retrieve a crucial map. The Indian outpost is left under the guard of the army cook Samarth. The two are stuck in an awkward situation which gets them talking, arguing, blaming only to realize that they both are plagued with similar problems and not for their fault.

Gulzar’s distinctly moving lines narrates the crux of the film. “Lakeerein hain toh rehne do. Kisine rooth kar gusse mein shayad khench di thi.” The India-Pakistan history is troublesome and has been documented multiple times in history, literature and cinema. Bollywood specifically has studied the dynamics of the complexity of the antagonistic relationship existent in many fabulous films from Deepa Mehta’s Earth to a more mainstream Gadar or Veer Zaara. How is this film any different from being in pile on? The film’s narrative is touching but not tear jerking and that is where it stands tall over sappy tales on the issue.

There is not so much of a story but moments and the lovely dialogues that weaves strongly the feeling of the futility of war. It is no Shaw’s Arms and the man and Raaz does understands the limitations of his conversationalist film. He keeps the story tight and flowing but in the film’s second half the novelty erodes. It seemed to be a half baked movie which was stretched tediously.

What particularly impressed me in the film is the accusations and counter accusations! Amidst all the hatred, two very unlikely people traced fondness in the most unusual ways. A Pakistani born and bred in Delhi and an Indian born and bred in Lahore indulge in an enjoyable camaraderie that saves this otherwise paper thin plot which dons a monotonous avatar half way through. The noble head refrains me from complaining too much but with so much potential wasted, it is hard to not crib here.

Manu Rishi is infallible in his role. One of the underused actor in the industry, he puts his heart and soul in role that does full justice to his potential.

Vijay Raaz is brilliant. If it is possible, the actor presents one of his most balanced performances till date. He is nuanced in his work and near perfect at what he does.

Both Manu and Raaz make Samarth Pratap and Rahmat Ali quite unforgettable in a film which won’t stay back for too long.

Vijay Raaz’s debut effort as a filmmaker has a powerful fabric in it. Somehow the narrative reminds one of No Man’s Land without any evident similarities. The futility and tragedy of war is explored quite well by Raaz. Aplomb with intelligence in its lines, the problem lies in maintaining consistency. The new filmmaker loses coherence and beats around the bush conveying the same point after a while. For advantages, Gulzar’s poetry helps but Shandaliya’s avoidable and forgettable music doesn’t help the film’s cause.

In the end, Kya Dilli Kya Lahore portrays quite an emphatic picture of how war and hostility doesn’t benefit anyone. Human beings pitted against each other, brainwashed by ‘nationalistic’ sentiments are afterall people facing similar dilemmas and issues. Raaz and Rishi play a fantastic duo whose affinity remains the film’s best part. As a filmmaker, Raaz doesn’t quite do justice to the tapestry of the film he had in mind but creates a decent watch. I am going with 3/5.

Even if you've only seen trailers for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, you know that the latest film from Sony must have entailed a hefty sum of effort in the design of sets and characters alike. One scene in particular showcases an electrified Jamie Foxx wreaking havoc on Times Square — no mean feat for even the most able-bodied of production teams. Check out a few remarks from director Marc Webb and stars Foxx, Dane DeHaan, and Emma Stone to hear about all the work that went into creating the world of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and the villains who inhabit it.

On the mammoth Times Square scene:

Marc Webb: "We shot for only one or two nights in the actual Times Square, and then we built and entire version of Times Square out in Long Island. Simply because the logistical obligations of that scene were so complex that we had to... and we could, amazingly. I remember that scene came up in the script and we worked on it a little bit, and I was denying myself the pain and fear of thinking about how I was going to [do it]. Like, 'Oh, that’s so cool.' I was like, 'I don’t know how the f**k I’m going to do this.' And then I was like, 'Well, we’ll just build part of Times Square.' They’re like, 'Okay.' I kept on waiting for someone to be like, 'Are you insane?' But they were just like, 'Oh, okay, yeah. We’ll just do this here…' But it ended up being a logistically very difficult thing, just in terms of bringing the amount of lights that were required and the amount of cement that was required. Marc Friedberg, our production designer, did a really extraordinary thing, and there’s a huge spectacle, of course. There’s lots of explosions and extras and all that stuff, but really it’s a very important scene for Electro. Spider-Man’s biggest fan becomes his biggest foe, and there’s an emotional texture that has to ring true."

Columbia Pictures via Everett Collection

The actors talk how costumes and makeup helped to bring their characters to life:

Dane DeHaan: "My makeup took three and a half hours for the Goblin. And then it was another hour just to get into the suit. I literally had four people using screwdrivers and wrenches getting into that suit."

Jamie Foxx: "Mine was like taking me and dipping me in blue candlewax for like four hours. And then I’d come out, and then the CGI guys would be there, and they’d look at me, take pictures, and say, 'Stand this way, say this, laugh.' [Performs evil laughs and grunt] All these things. It was really fun. It’s like you were back at your crib, where you’re looking in the mirror, practicing how to act. Then when I looked at it and saw what they did with the CGI, it was incredible. Because people don’t even know that that’s actually me. They think it’s all CGI."

"We [spent] 16 to 17 hours on finding the right suit to wear, or the right makeup. And they took it from there. These guys are geniuses at what they do. The guy that was the head of the CGI department, he was like, 'We got it. We know what we want to do. We want to make a thunderstorm inside your body,' and all these other different things. It was great to see it all work."