I read an ad in Bombay Times last week:
Fanaa - Worldwide collections Rs.90 crores (excluding Gujarat & still counting)
Fanaa may well be the highest grossing Hindi Film ever in Bollywood history (I am not too sure of the collections of HAHK & DDLJ, but i think Fanaa has far surpassed them).
It makes you wonder that How, an average scripta at best managed to fool so many people worldwide to watch the movie more than once. ( i believe you have to watch a film atleast twice for it to make mind numbing collections) & i came up with a few answers.
1. Aamir , after RDB is as HOT as he was after DCH & Lagaan, if not more. Also, Aamir has a thing for huge openings. Even the much maligned Mangal Pandey opened to a 19 crore opening weekend, which was the biggest ever, till Fanaa came along with an outrageous Rs.32 crore opening weekend. Also RDB was a universal hit, loved by all generations and highly influential for the youth.
2. Kajol returns ! ! ! . DDLJ, Ishq, Baazigar, KKHH, K3G . . disappearance . We all loved her. Film makers sweared by her. Karan JOhar called her the best heroine of this era, the next one coming 10 spots down. she was sweet, effervescent, bubbly, lovable and so not a typical Bollywood heroine .... AND SHE WAS RETURNING ! ! !
3. KAJOL WITH AAMIR ! ! !.Aamir post RDB ... Kajol, post retirement and weight loss - a match made in heaven. Never paired before, as fresh as ... well, themselves ... and both astounding actors, able to hold the fort on their own ..
well, if all this wasn't enough, along came the Narmada controversy ...Aamir has a thing for timing ...
i ask - his stand on the narmada issue had to do with his experiences while shootng in Bhuj, right. well, Lagaan released in 2001. Why was he silent for 5 years ?. and , where is he now ?
Movie made money. that's it. that's his cause.
anyways, it was good he stood up for it, coz whatever his intentions might be, it led to a movement culminating in a righteous Supreme Court Order.
Well, after so much pulicity, including free publicity through the news channels due to Gujarat controversy, the movie got the response it wanted, deserved or not. the Gujarat govt, by banning Fanaa in their State, enabled it to generate curiosity leading to collections elsewhere more than it would have garnered in a normal scenario.
so, Fanaa races to rs. 90 crores in a month. Its still huge. Well, not many must have hated the movie like i did. After all only the script was BAD. Acting was superlative and it was a trear for shayari lovers like me ... and then there was KAJOL .... i love her.
anyways, Fanaa's record wont remain a record for long, i believe.There is a spate of Big Budget, Big Banner movies lined up this year.
Krrish (see next post)
KANK
Don
Omkara
Corporate
Saanwariya
Sholay
although only Krrish, Kank, Saanwariya and maybe Don will be able to match Fanaa and go beyond.
Lets hope for a Bumper year for Bollywood, as that will increase more corporates to enter the industry and we will get better made films.
for now, ho jaao Fanaa . . . .
Monday, June 26, 2006
STEEL-Y RESOLVE
It's a story straight out of a movie script.
Lakshmi Niwas Mittal has finally brought about the Mittal Steel - Arcelor merger.It took him all of 2006 till now to finally end a saga of offers, rejections, meetings, allegations, etc. an how did he manage it - well, to quote Don Corleone from The Godfather, made immortal on screen by Marlon Brando - "he made them an offer they couldn't refuse".
At $32.5 billion, this is the biggest ever Steel merger. It will be called Arcelor-Mittal and will produce over 100 million metric tonnes of steel every year, which is more than thrice the production of the next biggest company - Nippon Steel (32 mio mt)
This is a highly sweetened offer as compared to Mittal's $22.7 original offer.Despite loads of resistance from the Board, Mittal persisted and it paid off, and how ! !
Let me share with you another piece of information i've gathered over the last 2 days. This is the story of how Mr.Mittal decided to buy Arcelor in the first plac. It was his son, Aditya Mittal's idea. Here is how the conversation goes, in a nutshell.
LNM - Lakshmi Niwas Mittal AM - Aditya Mittal
LNM: Son, Ispat steel has accepted my final offer.
AM: you had to up it considerably from our original offer, right dad ?
LNM: Yes, with Arcelor also bidding, we had to make an offer which was out of their reach !
AM: Dad, lets avoid such bidding wars in the future. Let's just buy whole of Arcelor !
LNM: Good Idea Adi, I ll just talk it out with my M&A guys. Let's buy Arcelor.
Well, the power of money, simply the power of money would enable you make make such outrageous statements - "Dad, let's buy Arcelor" .. as if he's buying the newest bicycle in the market ! !.
Anyways, this is not the end to the Mittal metal saga ... It's only a new beginning.
Lakshmi Niwas Mittal has finally brought about the Mittal Steel - Arcelor merger.It took him all of 2006 till now to finally end a saga of offers, rejections, meetings, allegations, etc. an how did he manage it - well, to quote Don Corleone from The Godfather, made immortal on screen by Marlon Brando - "he made them an offer they couldn't refuse".
At $32.5 billion, this is the biggest ever Steel merger. It will be called Arcelor-Mittal and will produce over 100 million metric tonnes of steel every year, which is more than thrice the production of the next biggest company - Nippon Steel (32 mio mt)
This is a highly sweetened offer as compared to Mittal's $22.7 original offer.Despite loads of resistance from the Board, Mittal persisted and it paid off, and how ! !
Let me share with you another piece of information i've gathered over the last 2 days. This is the story of how Mr.Mittal decided to buy Arcelor in the first plac. It was his son, Aditya Mittal's idea. Here is how the conversation goes, in a nutshell.
LNM - Lakshmi Niwas Mittal AM - Aditya Mittal
LNM: Son, Ispat steel has accepted my final offer.
AM: you had to up it considerably from our original offer, right dad ?
LNM: Yes, with Arcelor also bidding, we had to make an offer which was out of their reach !
AM: Dad, lets avoid such bidding wars in the future. Let's just buy whole of Arcelor !
LNM: Good Idea Adi, I ll just talk it out with my M&A guys. Let's buy Arcelor.
Well, the power of money, simply the power of money would enable you make make such outrageous statements - "Dad, let's buy Arcelor" .. as if he's buying the newest bicycle in the market ! !.
Anyways, this is not the end to the Mittal metal saga ... It's only a new beginning.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Let me put it this way ! !
hey guys, i ve written a chapter (the first chapter , actually) from a book i propose to write ...
tell me what you feel ... here goes ...
Chapter I : It’s all gotta start somewhere . .
“Ma, breakfast”
“Drink your milk first while reading the paper”
“No milk today, it’s Saturday !”
“Nice try. Naam lidhu chhe etle have pee le”
End of argument. The same way it ends everyday. God knows what is it with moms and milk.
Anyways, I took my mug of milk and sat at the table glancing through the morning papers. I started all my days the same way – going through all the news papers I get. TOI, Mumbai Mirror, BT & Eco Times.
I read Mirror at the end, my favourite part being Page 32 – ask the sexpert !
i am a 25 year old woman and have the following questions: 1. How does one get pregnant? 2. Is the stroking of the clitoris necessary in order to get pregnant? 3.should the stroking be done before or after sex?
????????. are ther still such dumb people ?.
Anyways, as I was reading other enlightening stuff on page 32, I felt a familiar tingling feeling in my pants again – my cell phone was vibrating. Varun.
“hey”
“listen, I have a problem. You can help me”
“tell me”
What I heard from him next was one of the most preposterous & stupid ideas ever to get out of the ‘problem’ he had. I decided to humour him.
“you sound crazy”
“hey, I don’t have much to play with here. Let’s go for it”
“have you spoken to her?”
“hey, I was hoping you would do that”.
I was not going to go there, nope.”Varun, she’ll think I’m joking. It’s better you tell her”
“ok”
“call her post 12. she has a clinic today”
“done. bye.”
I finished the newspapers and left for office, completely forgetting about the phone call. It was just not possible. Ha !
By the way, I’m Mihir, and this is a story about me. . . .Me & Her.
tell me what you feel ... here goes ...
Chapter I : It’s all gotta start somewhere . .
“Ma, breakfast”
“Drink your milk first while reading the paper”
“No milk today, it’s Saturday !”
“Nice try. Naam lidhu chhe etle have pee le”
End of argument. The same way it ends everyday. God knows what is it with moms and milk.
Anyways, I took my mug of milk and sat at the table glancing through the morning papers. I started all my days the same way – going through all the news papers I get. TOI, Mumbai Mirror, BT & Eco Times.
I read Mirror at the end, my favourite part being Page 32 – ask the sexpert !
i am a 25 year old woman and have the following questions: 1. How does one get pregnant? 2. Is the stroking of the clitoris necessary in order to get pregnant? 3.should the stroking be done before or after sex?
????????. are ther still such dumb people ?.
Anyways, as I was reading other enlightening stuff on page 32, I felt a familiar tingling feeling in my pants again – my cell phone was vibrating. Varun.
“hey”
“listen, I have a problem. You can help me”
“tell me”
What I heard from him next was one of the most preposterous & stupid ideas ever to get out of the ‘problem’ he had. I decided to humour him.
“you sound crazy”
“hey, I don’t have much to play with here. Let’s go for it”
“have you spoken to her?”
“hey, I was hoping you would do that”.
I was not going to go there, nope.”Varun, she’ll think I’m joking. It’s better you tell her”
“ok”
“call her post 12. she has a clinic today”
“done. bye.”
I finished the newspapers and left for office, completely forgetting about the phone call. It was just not possible. Ha !
By the way, I’m Mihir, and this is a story about me. . . .Me & Her.
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