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Ashtavinayak’s Blue with its huge reported cost of production (COP) of Rs 85 crore was, of course, the high risk one. Followed by Ajay Devgan’s All the Best, at Rs 40 crore, and Sohail Khan’s Main Aur Mrs Khanna, also at Rs 40 crore. Add print and publicity, which in layman’s terms means ‘hype’ , and the numbers just skyrocket by crores, specially Blue, which is believed to have spent close to Rs 15-18 crore in creating the buzz.
So what are the Friday soothsayers saying? First the plexes, which collectively contribute above 60% of all opening figures. The buzz spend on Blue looks like its worked with a reported 85% opening across screens. While Ajay Devgan has managed to tickle the funny bone of viewers and also got a decent opening of 50%, Salman and Kareena have managed to woo an average 35% as well.
“Since all three films are from different genres , we’ve given them an equal number of shows. Each film has 150 shows across our 76 screens,” says Devang Sampat, senior vicepresident , Cinemax, who agrees Blue’s has worked for now. Yet, the sweat on the brow is for Blue, with close to Rs 100 crore invested can Dhillin Mehta, chief executive officer of Ashtavinayak Cine Vision recover his money? For one, IDBI, his bankers who have lent the highest they have to any film (Rs 40 crore) have been given back their money. But the risks all lie with Mr Mehta. His two distributors-PVR who have picked up North and UP and Shemaroo which has picked up International have struck a deal of advance payment.
This means if Blue draws viewers, then whatever their losses they will be paid back by Mr Mehta unlike a minimum guarantee where the risks is shared. Mr Mehta though is not scared. He is, in fact, confident with the response of 1800 print and 2,250 screens cashing in big for him. “Cash flows are not a problem in Diwali and the response has surpassed our initial expectations. All morning shows on Friday have been running to full houses across the country,” says a confident Mehta who had just come out of a meeting with his distributors. While Mr Mehta’s calculates half his net return from theatrical revenue and also sees a big chunk coming from satellite, the industry opinion is divided, with Blue not really being a satellite audience movie. Adding all revenues, Mr Mehta’s supporters see his big budget gamble possibly break even with some Luck thrown in, while industry sees at least a Rs 20-25-crore loss.
Shemaroo Entertainment, which holds the international distribution rights for Blue, is making sure they go all out. “For such a big-budget film where the stakes are high you need to go all out which we are doing,” says Hiren Gada, director , Shemaroo.Main aur Mrs Khanna… aksar yeh baatein karte hai… ke agar Mr Khanna hote to aisa hota… Mr Khanna hote to vaisa hota. That precisely sums up the story of this film in short.
Samir Khanna (Salman Khan) has lost riches and respect in Melbourne city after being accountable for a big beating in the business world. Without a job, his ego is hurt when wife Raina (Kareena Kapoor) becomes the sole breadwinner of the family. He decides to shift to Singapore and strangely doesn’t want to take along his beloved wife.
Samir asks Raina to migrate to India but she stays back in Melbourne and finds a job at the airport terminal. There she befriends Akash (Sohail Khan) and together they only end up talking about Mr Khanna. Raina who has been working for months in Melbourne is suddenly questioned on her job permit. Does the film intend to say that women with their husbands away aren’t allowed to work in Australia? Such inanity is only induced so that Raina and Akash are forced to pose as couple to save her job.
Predictably Akash falls for Raina and by the time he decides to propose, Mr Khanna is back. Expectedly a love triangle is set with Akash trying to win Raina by outshining Samir and the one-upmanship reminds of Salman-Akshay’s Mujhse Shaadi Karogi. Of course you know who wins the girl and the loser is given a consolation prize through the decade-old done-to-death starlet special appearance in the last scene. The film desperately struggles between being a comedy and a sensitive emotional drama but miserably fails on scoring in either genre. The character conflicts seem too insignificant which make you indifferent towards the resulting drama. The narrative lacks depth and ends up being a conventional love story. Prem R Soni tries too hard to add a shade of sensitivity in his direction but loses the grip as his writing is too fragile. The pacing is slow but thankfully the length is short.
Sudeep Chatterjee’s cinematography fails to capture the beauty of Australia as the setting just doesn’t move beyond the Melbourne airport. Sajid-Wajid’s music is easy on the ears. Of the redeeming moments is the one when Sohail invites Kareena for an impromptu jig on the yesteryear soft number Bade Achche Lagte Hai. Of the cast, Salman Khan looks dull and disinterested and his biting-words dialogue-delivery disappoints even more. Kareena Kapoor is regular and should clearly avoid doing drunken scenes where she overacts outrageously. Sohail Khan attempts hard to infuse life in this dead-drama with his buffoonery but fails to impress.
Preity Zinta’s item number evidently modeled on the lines of Kajra Re is certainly not happening. She looks too old to play a seductress. Yash Tonk makes up for a cheaper version of Rajpal Yadav. And for god’s sake, is Bappi Lahiri following Himesh Reshammiya to be a fulltime actor? Every time he speaks a frog croaks in the background score. Meanwhile what were Dino Morea, Nauheed Cyrusi and Mahek Chahel doing in the film?