Azhar had a fair opening in mass centres especially in Gujarat where the morning numbers were pretty good. The metros of Mumbai and Delhi did not open well. Overall the opening is around the 25% mark. This is actually better than most films released this year but some of these films managed to improve well in the evening and if that happens with Azhar then it will be a solid first day. The opening of Azhar is the better than the last 6-7 releases of Emraan Hashmi but its short of a Jannat 2 or Raaz 3. The impact of doing weird films like Shanghai, Ghanchakkar etc has made a difference to the opening of his films. Azhar is going to be relying on word of mouth especially in North and East india. Gujarat starting well is a plus and its a high contributing area and also sustains very well. This will probably mean that Mumbai circuit will do best on day one even though collections in Mumbai city are not that good.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who left for Cannes Film Festival yesterday, confirmed that her upcoming film ‘Sarbjit’ will be screened at the festival. The actress said, "I am looking forward to presenting my movie ‘Sarbjit’ to the media, the film industry out there and whoever we manage to invite." However, Randeep Hooda who plays the titular role in the film won’t be going for the screening as, due to a surgery for appendicitis, he has been advised not to travel. Directed by Omung Kumar, the movie also stars Richa Chadha.
FILM REVIEWS - THE BOYS PLAYED HIM KUNAL GUHA Making a biopic on a controver sial person is fraught with chal lenges, more so if the person in question is alive. Getting the script validated and ensuring cinematic liberties are acceptable becomes essential. In this process, it is likely that the film gets moulded into something entirely different, as seems the case here. Based on the once-shamed Indian cricket captain, Mohammad Azharuddin, who was charged with match-fixing, the right-handed batsman's life has often made tabloid front pages for reasons beyond the sport. But this one opens with a disclaimer that many facts and people represented don't bear any association with reality and that the film doesn't intend to insult or upset anyone either. That said, accurate depiction and character research go out of the window. The film begins at a point in the Indian cricket captain's life when he was accused of match-fixing. Mohammad Azharuddin (Emraan Hashmi) convinces his childhood friend Reddy (Kunaal Roy Kapur) to represent him as he contests the charges that banned him from the game. The prosecution, Meera Varma (Lara Dutta), is consistently aggressive and resolute in her mission to convict him.The film intermittently shuttles between flashbacks, beginning with his childhood, when a doting grandpa (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) encourages him to respond to every insult with his bat, only when he's on strike. Later, we find a tongue-tied Azhar courting his first wife Naureen (Prachi Desai). In their first meeting, following a few stray compliments, he moves on to “the weather conditions are good.“ The next event in the skipper's life is the chance meeting with Bollywood starlet Sangeeta (Nargis Fakhri) and the ensuing relationship between the two. A part of the film also explores the gruelling challenge of putting up with the egos of players like Ravi Shashtri (Gautam Gulati) and Manoj Prabhakar when he was first made captain. Emraan Hashmi's ability to mimic the former Indian skipper is immaculate -he manages everything, from the cricketer's stiff body language to his incoherent speech, right down to his habit of pursing his lips while speaking. He even packs in a peculiarity -sliding his tongue over his lips while churning his thoughts -a quirk the captain exhibited in many post-match ceremonies and sticky situations on the field. The muscularlipped Nargis Fakhri and sakura-cheeked Prachi Desai, playing the two leading ladies in Azhar's life, seem decidedly marginalised.Whether their parts were never fleshed out or snipped out in the final toothcomb, we can't tell. Both have an equal number of scenes where their eyes well up and provide short yet suitable distractions. Lara Dutta as the feisty lawyer is determined but flipping her wigs to convey passage of time was an idea that could've been thought through. Kunaal Roy Kapur, supposedly channelling an Andhraite, sounds like an annoyed Parsi or a puberty-stricken teen -his vocal chords swing across the spectrum between dialogues.But the worst casting decision has to be Varun Badola as Kapil Dev; he's managed the mooch, but little else. Despite the manic obsession this country has with the sport, director Tony D'souza fails to tell a compelling story. The songs by Amaal Mallik and Pritam fail to evoke any mood and don't even live up to those in usual Emraan Hashmi movies, with lyrics including `maula' and so on. A problem with this film is that it won't agree well with ardent Azhar fans, given the slips in factual accuracy. And his detractors would argue against his engineered victim image in the film. So the point is, who does that leave Azhar with?
Azhar grossed 6-6.25 crore nett on its first day. The film should have been a little higher but but could not show any major growth at the big multiplexes in the evening. The film had opened better than films like Kapoor & Sons and Ki & Ka but the evening growth was lower than those films. The best collections for the film came in Nizam / Andhra which will top 40 lakhs nett and Mumbai which will be around 2 crore nett. The film was low in Delhi city, East Punjab and the Eastern India markets. The film will have to show growth of 20-25% on Saturday which would probably give it a chance to have a decent run at the box office due to lack of releases in the enxt few weeks. The opening is the highest for an Emraan Hashmi starrer since Raaz 3 which came in 2012..
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's Sarbjit to be screened at Cannes Film Festival Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who is the face of a cosmetic line, left for the French Riviera on Thursday. The actress is all set to walk the Cannes red carpet on May 13 and 14. In an exciting turn of events, Aishwarya’s upcoming film ‘Sarbjit’ directed by Omung Kumar will be screened at the ongoing Cannes Film Festival on May 14. It will be followed by a press conference the next day. This will be the 15th year of Aishwarya gracing the Cannes red carpet. Earlier at a press conference, Aishwarya had expressed that Cannes is the best platform for showcasing the biopic. However, her co-star Randeep Hooda will give the Cannes premiere of 'Sarbjit' a miss because the doctor advised him against travelling after his appendicitis surgery. 'Sarbjit' is the true life story of Sarabjit Singh, an Indian farmer who inadvertently crossed the India border into Pakistan, subsequently arrested, jailed and put on a death row. It depicts a 23-year tumultuous period, which Dalbir Kaur (Sarabjit Singh's sister) endured trying to secure her brother’s release from imprisonment. Sarbjit is slated to release on May 20 worldwide, but will make it to the UAE on May 19.
