Cocktail: Two Is Company, But Three May Not Always Be Crowd!

Two is company, but may not always be a crowd – is probably the message, Homi Adjania’s upcoming film ‘Cocktail’ wants to convey. Cocktail as the name suggests is about a love triangle between a young Gautam Kapoor (Saif Ali Khan), Veronica (Deepika Padukone) and Meera (debutante Diana Penty).

24-year-old vivacious and wild Veronica (Deepika Padukone) and Meera, shy introvert (Diana Penty), 23, start living together during the summer in London. Meera is trying to recover from her fraud marriage to Kunal Ahuja who has cheated her off her life-savings by using the excuse of setting up a base for them in London and is spending her time under Veronica’s roof until she gains a foothold in this foreign land.

While Veronica, on the other hand, is fancy-free and footloose, wild-child, impulsive, constantly looking for distractions to escape facing issues of a troubled upbringing. Being opposites the two forge a loyal and solid friendship. Soon Gautam, 32, (Saif Ali Khan) enters their lives, moves in with them and has a whirlwind relationship with Veronica much to Meera’s protective disapproval. Both Gautam and Veronica believe in living for the moment and they honestly consider this a fling rather than a serious relationship. As three people share one roof, their friendship grows and becomes a beautifully balanced friendship between three people.

Catch up with a few facts about the film, as it hits theatres this Friday, 13th July!

• Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone will be sharing screen space for the third time after Love Aaj Kal and Aarakshan

• The film’s shooting began in London and has been shot on streets like Borough High Street, Portobello Road, Piccadilly Circus, Borough Market, Clapham Junction, Mayfair, Leicester Square, Bank Station, Brick Lane and many others.

• It is known that Deepika has grooved to a party song on a table, in The Grand nightclub, and is quite similar to the sequence from ‘Love Aaj Kal’ where she danced on a table in the song ‘Chor Bazaari’. The scene also saw the use of club lights and a DJ being hired to play the music, to give the song a real look and feel.

• A Pakistani song, whose rights have been bought by the makers, will be revised and sung in the film. Written by Imtiaz Ali, the film is eyeing a 13th July, 2012 release.

• Imran Khan was the first choice for director Homi Adjania, but since he was not sure, Saif was roped in for the role. • Diana Penty is another ramp-to-reel model, who debuts with this film.

• Deepika was offered both Veronica and Meera’s role, but she opted for Veronica as that was more challenging for her! • The official trailer crossed 1 million hits across Youtube in a span of three days.

• The film has been made on a budget of Rs. 45 crores!

 

                        

Krrish: India’s Answer To Hollywood’s Superman!

Krrish, a sequel to ‘Koi Mil Gaya’ was produced and directed by Rakesh Roshan. A sci-fi film, the film had Hrithik Roshan play the role of Krrish aka Krishna who is born with super powers that he had inherited from his father. The film was made to appeal global audiences. The film’s special effects were at par with Hollywood film and for which it also won several awards. The technical team for the film was also hired from Hollywood, while the action sequences were directed by Chinese martial art specialist, Tony Ching. A major part of the film was shot in Singapore.

The film released worldwide in June 2006 at a cost of around 45 Cr (US$8.98 million) and with 1000 prints, both which were close to record figures for an Indian film at the time. Krrish received mixed reviews, but was loved by the audiences and was declared a blockbuster The film became the second highest earning Indian film of 2006 and grossed a worldwide total of approx 117 Cr (US$23.34 million).

Check out a few noteworthy facts from the film:

Like all other film, Filmkraft made sure that the name of the film started with the alphabet ‘K’

Hrithik Roshan broke his right thumb and a toe during the strenuous training for the ambitious wire work used in the film.

Hrithik Roshan received special training in Hong Kong for the special leap he makes in this film.

While performing a stunt scene on the circus set, Hrithik Roshan tore his hamstring tear in his right leg. Doctors prescribed bed rest for two weeks, but he continued shooting for the film after two days using painkillers. He also singed his hair while running through a fire in the same action scene.

Amrita Rao was the initial choice for Priya’s role, but Rakesh Roshan was impressed by Priyanka Chopra’s performance in Aitraaz and decided to cast her instead. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was also in the race for the role.

When Hrithik Roshan jumped off a 30-foot-high clock tower in Singapore for an action shot, a cable broke in a freak accident. He fell to the ground and would likely have ended up dead or in a wheelchair had it not rained before the shot. The crew had installed a canopy on which he promptly fell. He was not hurt and continued shooting some minutes later. The Roshans feel his life was spared by divine intervention.

The film contains product placement worth ~Rs. 12 crore (~US$3 Million).

To play the role of Krrish, Hrithik Roshan lifted weights and went on a special diet for two months to add 15 pounds of muscle to his frame.

 

 

                          

‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’

Lage Raho Munnabhai was a sequel to the popular Munnabhai MBBS that was directed by Raj Kumar Hirani and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The sequel also had Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi in the lead roles. In the sequel, Sanjay Dutt plays a goon, who starts meeting the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi and is inspired to practice the latter’s principles of truth and Satyagraha (Non violence) to solve the problems of common people!

Lage Raho Munnabhai had Vidya Balan as the female lead and Boman Irani, Saurabh Shukla, Dilip Prabhavalkar, Dia Mirza, Jimmy Shergill and many others in supporting roles. Abhishek Bachchan was also seen in a cameo in the film. The film was received both critical and commercial success.

The film was a box office success and was declared a Blockbuster after it collected an estimated 119 Cr (US$23.74 million) worldwide. Lage Raho Munna Bhai was the third highest grossing Bollywood film of 2006, earning an estimated 95 Cr (US$18.95 million) gross in India alone. Its total worldwide lifetime gross is 145.57 Cr (US$29.04 million).

 

Some interesting facts about the film are:

1. It received four National Film Awards. 

2. Lage Raho Munna Bhai was the first Hindi film to be shown at the United Nations.

3.  It was screened before a packed house of mostly French students who “clapped till the credits were finished” during the Tous Les Cinema du Monde section of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

4. The Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, praised the film, stating that it “captures Bapu’s message about the power of truth and humanism.”

5. Vidya Balan’s character of a radio jockey was inspired by real life radio jockey – Mallishka, who was a popular RJ with the now defunct Win 94.3 FM channel in Mumbai.

6. The original script was based on lawyers, but director Hirani was not happy with the script and worked for two years to get it right.

7. Vidya Balan’s opening line for her radio show, “Gooooooood Moooooooorninnnng Mumbai!”, was similar to Robin Williams’ opening for his radio show (“Gooooooooood morning, Vietnaaaaaaaaammm!”) in the 1987 film Good Morning, Vietnam.

8. The sequel was initially known as Munnabhai Meets Mahatma Gandhi and was later retitled Munnabhai 2nd Innings before being given its current name.

9. Warsi admits that he had “forgotten” the character of Circuit and had to watch the DVD of Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. three times before being able to film the scene in the correct way. Sanjay Dutt (“Munna Bhai”) also confessed that he had to watch the first film eight to nine times in order to recapture the “persona” of Munna Bhai

10. Boman Irani prepared for the role of Lucky Singh by spending time with Sardarjis (male Sikhs) in auto spare parts shops to research his role

                           

 

 

Singham’s Money Game

The what, where and how of ‘Singham’ is sorted and listed out right here:

Singham started extremely well at single screens with occupancy around 90% and was average at multiplexes with 50%–60% occupancy.

In the first four days, the film collected approx Rs 35 Cr. After five days, the earnings were around Rs 40.75 Cr without any drop. The opening week gross collections were Rs 44.2 Cr in India and Rs 3.5 Cr from overseas to fetch a total opening week gross of Rs 47.7 Cr, thus putting the nett weekend collections at Rs 31.07 Cr including Rs 12 Cr in Mumbai area alone.

In the second week, it collected Rs 26.34 Cr nett to take the total two week net collections at Rs 77.74 Cr.
The film is currently the sixth highest second week grosser. It collected 6.50 cr in its fourth week bringing its collections to 92.67 cr in four weeks.

Singham earned Rs 97.87 Cr nett in India, at the end of its theatrical run.

Singham total gross collection in India was Rs 100 Cr making it a member of Bollywood’s 100 Cr club which includes films like Ghajini,3 Idiots, Dabangg , Golmaal 3, Ready,Bodyguard, Ra.One, Don 2 and Agneepath.

The film grossed over Rs 140 Cr worldwide. It was elevated to Blockbuster verdict worldwide. In Mumbai, the film remains among the top five in terms of distributor’s share earning more than Rs 20 Cr.

 

                               

‘MunnaBhai M.B.B.S.’

MunnaBhai MBBS – was a ribtickling comedy directed by ace director Raj Kumar Hirani and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and the first of the Munnabhai series. The film had Sanjay Dutt in the title role of a goon who goes to medical school to fulfill his father’s dreams. Munna is helped by his sidekick, Circuit in all his antics which leaves everyone in splits. But through all the fun and enjoyment, Munna conveys a universal message of spreading love.

The film also had Arshad Warsi, Gracy Singh, Boman Irani and Rohini Hattangadi in supportingroles. Jimmy Shergill also appeared in a cameo. It was the last film in which Dutt appeared with his father, veteran actor Sunil Dutt before the latter passed away. Made on a budget of Rs. 10 crore, the film’s box collections boasted of a Rs. 30.75 crores.

The film was an instant hit with winning several awards including the 2004 National Film Award for Best Popular Film, several Filmfare awards, including the Critics Award for Best Movie, Best Screenplay, and was declared an instant blockbuster at the Indian box office.

Check out a few interesting facts of the film:

 

1. The original choice of ‘Circuit’s role was Makrand Deshpande, but later went to Arshad Warsi

2. The original choice for Munna bhai in Munna bhai M.B.B.S was not Sanjay Dutt but Shah Rukh Khan. Vivek Oberoi was also considered for the role. Shah Rukh developed a back problem and subsequent date problems, but he gave valuable inputs during the scripting of the film and was given due credit for it.

3. Rani Mukherjee was very keen on this film and had signed on for the role of Chinky, but she couldn’t do the film due to date problems. Then Tabu was brought in, but she soon dropped out. Finally, the role went to Gracy Singh.

4. This was Sunil Dutt’s first appearance in sixteen years

5. Sanjay Dutt had to lose his weight for the role.

6. There are many pigeons in a film which were a reference to the pigeons in Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s film, Parinda

7. The semicircular hall had 15-feet windows, which had to be broken open for the lighting to be right. 

8. Arshad’s character was initially called Khujli, which was changed to Circuit on his suggestion and it became immensely popular.

 

                          

‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai released in 1998 and marked the directorial debut of film maker, Karan Johar. A youthful, fun-filled, refreshing love story Kuch Kuch Hota Hai was an instant hit with the youth.

Still remembered and watched by many, the film had all the ingredients of a funky romance that graduates into a mature love story. The film had Kajol, Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukerji in the lead roles. This was Kajol and SRK’s fourth film together. Salman Khan also played a cameo in the film. Filmed on a budget of a little more than eight crores, the film grossed a whopping Rs. 103.88 crores at the box office.

Let’s refresh our memories with some lesser known facts about the film:

Rani Mukerji’s role was offered to Twinkle Khanna who refused to do it.

Karan Johar asked Rani Mukerji to lose 10 kgs in three months and then come for the shooting. But instead Rani gained five more kilos when she met him after three months and Karan had no choice but to go on with the shooting.

The role played by Salman Khan was initially offered to Saif Ali Khan, who turned it down.

Neelam Kothari made a special appearance in the film and played herself

The film was shot in a span of nine and a half months

It was largely shot in Mauritius

During the bicycle sequence in the “Yeh Ladki Hai Deewana” song number, Kajol lost control of her bike, fell flat on her face and was knocked unconscious while also injuring her knee.

The song “Ladki Badi Anjaani Hai” features a violin sample from the song “Rangeela Re” from the 1969 movie Prem Pujari.

Composed by Jatin-Lalit, the album became the best selling Bollywood soundtrack of the year.

                      ‘

‘Black’

‘Black’ featuring Rani Mukerji and Amitabh Bachchan in the lead roles, received global acclaim and was hailed as one of twenty five Bollywood must-see films.

The film inspired by a Hollywood film, The Miracle Worker depicted the story of a blind and a mute girl and her relationship with her teacher, who himself develops Alzheimer’s at a later stage. Directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the film went on achieve an iconic status and was screened at several international film festivals. The film grossed close to Rs. 22.5 crore at the box office.

Take a sneak peek at some of the interesting facts of the film:

Sanjay Leela Bhansali was inspired to make the film after he read Helen Keller’s autobiography and visited the Helen Keller Institute for research. He also read the autobiography of deaf-mute pianist Geraldine Lawhorn for ideas.

Rani Mukerji initially turned down the role of Michelle McNally, as she thought she could prepare herself for the role.

She wore deep tinted contact lenses to hide her light green eyes!

Amitabh Bachchan watched documentaries to prepare for his role.

He and Rani both studied sign language and Braille for 7 months.

The film was largely shot in Shimla and Mumbai.

A fire broke out on the sets in Mumbai that destroyed costumes and props and everything had to be rebuilt again.

Zamir Dhale, who was blind and deaf was constantly around while the film was being shot. He helped Rani Mukerji and Amitabh Bachchan to understand the world of the blind and the deaf. He also taught how to communicate with such people through sign language.

While shooting a sequence in Shimla that required snow fall, there was no snow. So bags of salt and snow making machines were brought in from Mumbai to create a snowy landscape.