MxMIndia

Tag: Pathaan

  • For all the naysayers of the cinema medium, it’s time to wake up and smell the popcorn, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    The Box-office Boom: Gadar 2 & Co

     

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorThe Indian box-office is minting money. After an extended lull that stretched 3.5 years, punctuated by an odd film here and there, like RRR, K.G.F: Chapter and Pathaan, there is an unmistakable buzz at the ticket windows. The weekend of August 11-13 grossed nearly Rs 400 crore at the domestic box-office. To put this number in perspective, films releasing across the entire month of February 2023 grossed a similar amount (Rs 396 cr). August 2023 is in the reckoning to become the first-ever month ever to achieve the Rs 2,000 crore gross mark. It’s a long shot, but not out of bounds as of today.

     

    The boom has been ably supported by Rajinikanth’s Jailer, and the franchise social comedy OMG 2. But it’s Gadar 2, a sequel to the blockbuster 2001 film Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, that is headlining the windfall. The film is on its way to challenging Pathaan, released just earlier this year, to become the highest-grossing Hindi film of all time at the domestic box office.

     

    In September, Shah Rukh Khan will have a shot at breaking his own record, and Gadar 2’s, with Jawan. Later that month, Prabhas’ pan-India film Salaar – Part 1: The Ceasefire releases, and is expected to gross 100+ cr all India on its first day itself. 2023 is now well on course to become the highest-grossing year of all time, at the Indian box-office.

     

    It’s a narrative Indian cinema needed desperately. Knives have been out, targeting the cinema medium and its relevance in today’s streaming-centric entertainment ecosystem, since the pandemic set in, in the first half of 2020. Lack of solid films from the Hindi film industry, barring the odd one every 4-5 months, have not helped matters. But all that is a thing of the past, with Gadar 2, OMG 2, and Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani delivering within two weeks of each other, after the Hollywood-led boost in the Barbenheimer week.

     

    Outdoor entertainment options are scant in India, and movie-going remains the only inclusive one. It takes a film like Gadar 2 for the inclusivity to realise its true potential. The contrast between the urban, multiplex-centric audience profile of Oppenheimer and Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, and the wide, all-in audience profile of Gadar 2 is a healthy sign for the medium, and its robust growth in the coming years.

     

    The success of Gadar 2 is also a validation that the star system has been re-imagined. In Pathaan or Jailer, we see conventional stardom at work, in its full glory. In Oppenheimer, it’s a director’s fan base at work. In Gadar 2, it’s the enormous equity of the original film and its characters, rather than that of its lead star, who hasn’t exactly been active or successful in recent years. This multiplicity of factors that can take audiences to the theatre allow for different types of content models to co-exist, and for the cinema medium to prosper.

     

    For all the naysayers of the cinema medium, who were eager to record its obituary in 2020/21, it’s time to wake up and smell the popcorn.

     

  • Shailesh Kapoor presents his pick of the five media and entertainment events that headlined the first half of 2023

    6 Months, 5 Headlines: The Year So Far

     

     

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorWe are halfway through the year today, which is good excuse for a mid-year review. Here’s my pick of the five media and entertainment events that headlined the first half of the year, in chronological order of sorts:

     

    Pathaan: An SRK reboot

    Six months into the year, there’s been only one genuine blockbuster in Hindi cinema in 2023: Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan. The actor made a mini comeback of sorts (his last major hit dates back to 2013 – Chennai Express). Pathaan went on to become the highest grossing Hindi film of all time, both in terms of its opening and its lifetime business. In the process, it also put to rest the presumptuous argument that movie-going will be replaced by OTT. (I wrote about Pathaan and SRK’s superstardom in January in this column).

     

    India Shining, at the Oscars

    India’s brush with the Oscars has been, at best, a case of so-near-yet-so-far. There hasn’t been much to shout about in recent years, except AR Rahman, Gulzar and Resul Pookutty winning Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire (2008). This year, we had not one but two winners, in Naatu Naatu (RRR) and The Elephant Whisperers, and a creditable nomination for All That Breathes. The RRR song even got a stage performance at the Oscars, and there seemed more Indian presence at the Oscars in 2023, than across all previous years put together!

     

    IPL: Bigger by the year

    A long but immensely successful season of IPL dominated viewership, both on linear television and online, in the first half of 2023. The IPL’s ability to grow stronger each year is an incredible one. The league has been one of my go-to topics in this column, and I wrote about it twice this year, at the start and the end of the season.

     

    JioCinema: Free for all

    The IPL was the also the scene of a disruption that not many saw coming, till a few weeks before it: JioCinema, the newly relaunched service from Viacom 18, decided to remove the paywall behind which the league has streamed all these years on Disney+ Hotstar. The platform has followed it up with an aggressive AVOD-led strategy, putting out big theatrical films and a major web-series (Asur 2) as free content. This has set the proverbial cat among the pigeons in the OTT industry in India. There’s unlikely to be a dull moment around, anytime soon.

     

    Cinema of the Right, by the right, for the Right

    While The Kashmir Files stood out as an aberration in 2022, this year saw two major films appropriate the Hindutva narrative. The Kerala Story seemed like a direct inspiration from the success of The Kashmir Files, and did equally well too, and is the second-highest grossing film in India this year so far (across languages), behind Pathaan. Adipurush went the mythology way, riding on the unconditional reverence for the Ramayan in large parts of India. The film opened at staggering levels, but soon went on to become a victim of the very idea it was trying to ride on. Irony, you had me at the vacant Hanuman seat.

     

    Shailesh Kapoor is Founder and CEO, Ormax Media. And is a long-standing columnist of MxMIndia and writes on Fridays. His views here are personal.

     

  • Motu Patlu is the favourite show on kids channels and Taraak Mehta the fav TV show

    Candy Crush is favourite kiddie game: Nickelodeon Awards

    By Our Staff

     

    The Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards 2022 are set to take place on June 28 (that’s tomorrow). As per a release, the awards received 1.7 million votes.

     

    The film Pathaan emerged as the Favourite Movie, and Shah Rukh Khan earns the title of Favourite Movie Actor for his role. Kiara Advani bags the title of Favourite Movie Actor (Female), while Hrithik Roshan and Madhuri Dixit are declared as Favourite Dancing Star (Male) and (Female), respectively. The Favorite Sportsperson title is won by PV Sindhu, along with a host of special awards being presented to Ayushmann Khurrana, Kartik Aryan, and Bhumi Pednekar.

     

    Popular sitcom Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chasmah maintains its winning streak by securing the title of Favourite TV Show for the eighth consecutive time, with actor Dilip Joshi once again taking home the award for Favourite TV Actor (Male).

     

    Momos take the crown as the ultimate favourite food among the generation, while Candy Crush Saga claims the title of the Favuorite Mobile Game. Nickelodeon’s Motu Patlu is the Favourite Show on Kids Channel, with Motu himself being the Favourite Indian Cartoon Character.

     

    Speaking on the massive response received for Kids’ Choice Awards 2022, Sonali Bhattacharya, Head – Marketing, Kids TV Network, Viacom18, said: “With year-on-year successful editions of the Kids’ Choice Awards, Nickelodeon continues to be the ultimate platform that puts kids at the centre of all that it does. This year’s edition garnered a record-breaking 1.7 million votes, proving that kids have been empowered to voice their choice. Our focus with Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards 2022 was to engage with kids on all platforms where they consume content. By tapping into these touchpoints, we were able to drive inclusivity and participation to this one-of-its-kind award. We are delighted with the response and thrilled that we could meaningfully entertain our young audiences.”

     

    The Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards 2022 will be hosted by Varun Buddhadev and have a digital simulcast on June 28, 2023 on various network platforms, including Nickindia.com and Sonicgang.com, as well as the social media platforms of Nickelodeon India, Sonic Gang, MTV India and Colors. JioTV will also air it.

     

  • The audiences are smart enough to tell a real controversy from a fake one, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Pathaan: Cinema over Politics

     

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorTill about three weeks ago, there seemed imminent danger that Yash Raj Films’ Shah Rukh Khan starrer Pathaan, which released on Jan 25 this year, will have to face headwinds from several right wing affiliated groups. There were threats to disrupt the film’s release, over ‘issues’ that can best be described as manufactured. Our news channels did their job in blowing up these trivial issues (the orange dress objection is outrageously amusing), and it seemed that the film may struggle to get a proper release in some of the states.

     

    Today, on the 10th day of the film’s release, it has gone on to break every possible box-office record in India, ad remains in contention to be the highest Hindi film grosser of all time. It has revived the overseas box-office of Hindi films, and ushered in the SRK 2.0 era. The protests have disappeared, as have the pro-right news channel debates. A comment from the Prime Minister, urging his party workers to stay away from talking about films, was a command too direct to ignore.

     

    There’s a lot to learn from the unfolding of events over the last two weeks. Boycott campaigns targeting Hindi films had been normalised in 2022, and when a film failed, a large part of the failure was attributed to these campaigns. In many cases, those involved with the film (actor, director, producer, etc.) fueled this narrative themselves, as if to exonerate themselves of the responsibility of having failed to make an audience-friendly film.

     

    With Pathaan, the theory that politically-motivated campaigns can impact the fate of a film at the box-office have been laid to rest. As long as a film can release, in a way that it’s safe to visit a theatre, the audience will embrace it on merit. Which is not to say that the audience’s political leanings will not impact their movie choices. In an analysis published on the Ormax Media website in 2021, films that propagate nationalist ideas, such as Uri: The Surgical Strike and Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, showed stronger audience traction among those supporting the ruling party (BJP).

     

    But these films wore their politics on their sleeve. In Pathaan’s case, there is little in the content that’s overtly political. Taking a simplistic and safe approach, the film packages its ideas of secularism and ‘nation over religion’ in a way that’s largely apolitical, and never sermonic or ideological. The origin story of the protagonist, Pathaan, has a distinctly secular ring to it. But it’s never used as a messaging device. The film, primarily a crowd-pleasing entertainer, makes its political points, but leaves it to the audience to interpret them, through their own political lens.

     

    The audiences are smart enough to tell a real controversy from a fake one. That Shah Rukh Khan is a Muslim is not an argument this country will buy, to not watch a film. Ironically, this may have propelled some of his fans, who belong to all religions and political ideologies, to support the film even more. As if to make the point that even though cinema can tell political stories, it is not a medium for politicians to play their murky games.

     

    SRK’s Amar Akbar Anthony comment at a recent press conference, held to celebrate the film’s success, is the only authentic political message in or around Pathaan. In a way, that comment sums up why the inane controversy around the film fizzled out. Because unlike the film, it did not appeal to its target audience.

     

  • Despite no box-office presence of note for almost a decade, Shah Rukh Khan’s is a case study in what true superstardom is, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    SRK: The Last Superstar Standing

     

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Shailesh KapoorFive days hence, Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan will release worldwide. The film marks the return of SRK to the cinemas after an unusually long gap of more than four years since his last release Zero in December 2018. During this period, the actor has featured in some cameos, most recently in Laal Singh Chaddha and Brahamstra. But it’s been quite some wait to see him in a lead role again.

     

    The wait seems even longer because his last few releases have ranged from being unremarkable to disappointing. The search for an SRK film that did well at the box-office and found audience appreciation too would take us back to 2013, when Chennai Express released, and then further back to 2008 and 2007, when Rab Na Bana Di Jodi and Om Shanti Om released, respectively.

     

    It’s been a decade, then, since we saw SRK deliver a film worthy of his superstar status. But 2023 is the year where he seems to be in a hurry to correct that. Pathaan will be followed by Atlee’s Jawan and Rajkumar Hirani’s Dunki. All three films have an anticipatory vibe to them. Pathaan is set to open huge, on the right side of Rs 40 crore, and its second day is likely to cross the 50 cr mark, with the Republic Day national holiday push.

     

    How SRK has managed to maintain his stardom, despite no box-office presence of note for almost a decade can be a mystery to many. But it’s also a case study in what true superstardom is, and how it manifests itself.

     

    The tag ‘superstar’ is used so loosely by the media today, that it has lost its real meaning. When I was growing up in the 80s, Amitabh Bachchan was the only reigning superstar. None of the other stars of the time, such as Mithun Chakraborty, Rishi Kapoor and Anil Kapoor, carried that tag. Only in the early 90s did Shah Rukh Khan get associated with that word. Sunny Deol, who had some huge box-office successes in the 90s, was not called a superstar either. In fact, Madhuri Dixit was the only other star in the first half of the 90s to enjoy that status.

     

    Somewhere from the mid-90s, the media started using the word more liberally. Today, it is used almost interchangeably with the lesser version “star”, which itself is used to describe almost every other actor, including those who do not carry any box office pull at all.

     

    SRK’s stardom was built in the 90s, through a spate of successful love stories, some conventional and others experimental for their time. His romantic persona continues to be his dominant pop culture imagery, a tribute to which is the one of the brighter spots in Laal Singh Chaddha. But the actor has been keener on exploring the action genre in recent years, because of his age and also his personal preference for it. But he’s still looking for a big action blockbuster that gets the box office going beyond just the opening weekend. Pathaan hopes to be that film.

     

    In an era of excessive content and media options, including OTT, short videos and social media, building a superstar persona seems next to impossible. The aura of superstardom came with an idea of inaccessibility and scarcity, which today’s media ecosystem does not support. It’s safe to say that we have already seen the last of our true-blue superstars. And Shah Rukh Khan could be the last man standing from that list, if 2023 is any indication.