Spoilers ahead…
You can see all the money they spent up there, on the big screen. But the film never rises above the “watchable” or “hmm… not bad” category.
All fantasy movies are derivative, and Ayan Mukerji’s Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva is no different. From the Star Wars universe, we get a Luke Skywalker-Darth Vader angle. From the Matrix universe, we get the “love is the greatest superpower” angle. From the X-Men universe, we get a school (or an ashram, here), where a mentor presides over a group of people with superpowers. And so on and so forth. The trick is not to make us forget these references. The trick is to make us say: “Oh wow, look how they took all these bits and pieces from all these other fantasy universes and did their own thing.” In other words, it’s not what you are taking from elsewhere. It’s what you are adding to what you are taking from elsewhere. It’s how you are building your own world, your own universe.
You can read the rest of the review here:
https://www.galatta.com/hindi/movie/review/brahmastra-part-one-a-shiva/
And you can watch the video review here:
Copyright ©2022 GALATTA.
Baradwaj Rangan 
brangan
September 8, 2022
I think I will do this for the big movies henceforth, so that other threads are not derailed by comments about these…
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AlterEgO (@skc89)
September 8, 2022
Good idea. I can already see how entertaining this thread going to be.
The Imax theatre I booked my show sent out an email that the screening now will be in 3D as intended by the filmmaker.
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brangan
September 8, 2022
Really? In Chennai, there is no option for 2D. It is either 3D or IMAX-3D.
From what you say, did you book for a 2D version?
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AlterEgO (@skc89)
September 8, 2022
My bad. This is in the US. Should have mentioned the location. It was Imax 2-D when booking opened and now it’s only Imax 3-D.
Glad they have 2-D version screening in regular screens as well.
Can’t stand 3-D and mentally feel the image is dull/darker.
Curious to know the reason behind this 3-D decision by the makers as if its groundbreaking tech.
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Anu Warrier
September 8, 2022
I must say I’m looking forward to this film. Out tomorrow, isn’t it?
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sanjay
September 8, 2022
Lets hope Brahmastra can stop the bleeding and loss of face for bollywood since its a biggie.
Continuing the dialogue on why Hindi movies have been conking out lately I had read this sometime back and feel RGV made a few valid points on how audience view movies these days.
https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/exclusive-ram-gopal-varma-talks-laal-singh-chaddhas-debacle-says-look-box-office-scenario-imagined-aamir-khan-film-bomb-badly/
“RGV continued, “This is more relevant today. A lot of people feel that OTT is a threat. I personally feel that YouTube is a threat. It comprises so many kinds of videos, from well-packaged news to funny comedy sketches to viral videos of scandalous stuff done by politicians. Hence, the attention span is going down. Also, the mind-set is such that you can go anytime off YouTube and resume whenever you feel like it. But with OTT and theatres, the mindset is that you have to invest 2-3 hours of your time. That kind of attention is going to keep decreasing in the future.”
Ram Gopal Varma added, “A few weeks back, I was in Bengaluru and met an acquaintance. I asked him about his movie viewing habits – how many times he goes to the theatres in a month and how many films he watches on OTT on average. To which he said that he and his wife have stopped going to the cinemas. As far as OTT is concerned, he told me that every once in a while, he and his better half make a plan to watch a film on a digital platform. They end up watching only the trailers for 30-40 minutes, unable to decide what to watch, and they go to sleep! But this is so true. The way the recommendations pop up, it’s so difficult to decide what to watch. Eventually, you’ll decide upon the recommendation from a friend.”
He further said, “There was another acquaintance who told me that he saw a particular film in a theatre. When I asked him how the film is, he replied, ‘I was missing my remote control’! This was his way of saying that the film was boring and lengthy and he wished he could have fast-forwarded it.
“My assistant told me that when he sits down to watch some content on OTT on TV, he also keeps his iPad open to watch another film. That’s not all. On the phone, he’s watching YouTube! And whatever is interesting at any given point of time, he watches that. I don’t think there’s any bigger nightmare for a filmmaker than this,” laughed Ram Gopal Varma.”
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Aman Basha
September 8, 2022
I think Brahmastra will be a huge success and break Hindi Cinema’s bad spell. It is also the biggest multi starrer since K3G featuring Amitabh Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor, Nagarjuna and _________(;
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Madan
September 8, 2022
Advance booking is the highest for any Hindi film post pandemic but well behind KGF. It’s possible that the film will do 300 cr plus if the word of mouth is good. But the high budget demands that it join RRR and KGF in the 1000 cr club. Now whether that will happen is the question. Advance booking at least is low in South belt; MAYBE good reviews will bring audience there. Hindi films are not crossing over to South while KGF and RRR did tremendous business in Hindi version too.
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therag
September 8, 2022
Maybe PVR should start providing free ADHD meds along with movie tickets.
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Rambo
September 8, 2022
I have very little faith in bollywood to pull off a high budget VFX heavy project. The usual signs of that are smaller budget movies that demonstrate strong scripts and good writing that find success. I see that in Kollywood and to some extent in Tollywood. But not so much in bollywood of late? So i suspect it will suck wind. But they do need a solid hit and for the sake of that industry, am hoping this can deliver.
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Aman Basha
September 8, 2022
Rajamouli is presenting this film; even Aamir couldn’t convince him to give a good sound byte about LSC and the last time he praised a movie, it became Pushpa.
Also the biggest stars of three generations are coming together; I expect the film to do wonders.
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Voldemort
September 8, 2022
I think the film will do decent business, there’s a good amount of buzz around it. It’s only a matter of time before Papa Jo goes around giving interviews on how single handedly the film revived Bollywood, saved lives, removed poverty, made India a developed nation, etc. and how having two Amitabh Bacchans helped the film.
On a serious note, I hope the rumors of the cameo by ahem a certain someone are true. That would be great fun to watch on the big screen.
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kaizokukeshav
September 9, 2022
Frankly I wasn’t that impressed by the depth of the lore in the trailer, it felt more like an anime adaptation or some wanna-be marvel remake. Movies like this really need a strong action choreography and graphics that blend with the culture and environment.
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Satya
September 9, 2022
NGL, Brahmastra feels like a rehash of MCU’s The Eternals. Wish to watch the film before concluding.
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MANK
September 9, 2022
The film has had a great opening. That’s a big relief for the industry. But the reviews till now are mixed. Let’s see what Brangan say about the film
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Madan
September 9, 2022
No idea if the film is good or bad, haven’t seen it. But loved this line from Rahul Desai’s scathing review:
“I go in with hope, despite being armed with the knowledge that thinking big in Hindi cinema is too often sacrificed at the altar of thinking wide. The thrill of pure creation for a movie-loving nation is too often reframed as a quest to appease disparate Hindi-speaking cultures”.
https://www.filmcompanion.in/reviews/bollywood-review/brahmastra-review-ranbir-kapoor-alia-bhatt-part-one-shiva-review-fantasy-adventure-is-an-over-engineered-misfire/
Yes, this so much. I accepted Baahubali and RRR though that’s miles away from the kind of cinema I REALLY dig because Rajamouli makes the film he believes in, confident that he will find an audience for it (and he does, film after film after film). KGF ran and won’t argue with numbers but it too was paying way too much tribute to Big B angry young man era.
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Akhilan
September 9, 2022
Yeah MANK and Madan. Anupama Chopra in her review described the movie as “loud”, though I was a bit surprised that she praised the visual-effects and called it consistently brilliant throughout whilst Rahul Desai found it to be “flat and blurry.” I chuckled particularly at this line from his review: “Isha exists not so much as a lover, but as a human Alexa; her only job is to robotically ask him questions and follow him around and make sure he’s fine.” Nevertheless, I think I’m going to give this a go and watch it in the theaters purely based on my love for Ranbir.
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rabie
September 9, 2022
give me a deeply flawed HINDI film like shamshera over this hollywood meets bollywood ( with akhtars level dialogues ) mashup
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sanjay
September 9, 2022
Agree @rabie.
Bollywood should start making small breezy light movies with normal look of these actors and connect with daily life of the masses. Bollywood today has completely alienated the movie going audience. I dont mean the dark dingy sets of realistic cinema but regular city / village life. On OTT they over do the realistic crap of small city showing blue colored lanes and bylanes and the sets seem artificial and you never invest in that world due to fakeness. Just make movies with regular vibes we watched in movies like a Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman or what Hrishikesh Mukherjee etc. showed in 70s and 90s.
The senior actors like Khans and Kumars should do movies with marital issues and household chores or something on the lines of The pursuit of happyness and show real life issue Indians face on a daily basis. All these actors have inherent charm and that is why they have remained relevant for so long so why not use it to connect with real time India instead of going for these meaningless Hollywood inspired big spectacles.
Watching promos and teaser of a Bhaijaan and Pathan and the works makes me cringe so much. Fighting with these artificial state enemies not realizing the real enemies are the power brokers sitting in Delhi and Mumbai. Take on the establishment like a Pushpa did and hammered the shit out of these corrupt policemen and politicians. Have not seen KGF but RGV says that is an antiestablishment movie too.
Return to basics otherwise I don’t see any hope.
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H. Prasanna
September 9, 2022
It may not be a good thing for the Hindi film industry and the viewing public if a Hindi film not as good as say RRR, KGF, Vikram is making the same/more money.
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Satya
September 9, 2022
On a lighter note, Ranbir Kapoor should be our ‘Traveling Star’, for almost all the roles he plays have taken the self-discovery journeys.
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Madan
September 9, 2022
” Have not seen KGF but RGV says that is an antiestablishment movie too.” – Well, it is ‘anti establishment’ by setting it in the 70s and casting Indira as the villain. You cannot seriously be suggesting Bollywood should take on CURRENT establishment. If they do, you will see boycott trend multiply 100x.
And by the way, why is Pathan cringe when Kamal just did action in Vikram? What is Shah Rukh supposed to do? Audience says they don’t want romance or comedy and they will watch slice of life films at home on OTT. Action and spectacle are the only tentpoles left. You can make a 100-150 cr vehicle max like Thiruchitrambalam but anything bigger and it has to be larger than life. The underlying trend itself is not very appetizing but it is what it is and filmmakers will have to go along with it. They are going to try, I am sure. Bollywood got caught out with a lot of films made pre-covid that are suddenly outdated in the post-covid epoch.
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Aman Basha
September 9, 2022
I think Brahmastra will do 300+ in Hindi. I am going, only for a certain someone who apparently steals the movie in a few scenes 🙂 The whole cast is literally yeh tara, woh tara, har tara.
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Madan
September 9, 2022
Aman Basha: I think it will do 100 cr more or less in opening weekend due to the buzz. But from thereon will depend on wom. It came out during a dry spell though because Shamshera and LSC didn’t do well and it might benefit from that. Has a good two-three week run before competition arrives in the form of VV and PS.
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sanjay
September 9, 2022
I don’t trust SRK to be unprepossessed and uncolored and be objective in film making and this has shown in all his movies in last 10 /12 years. In real life he may be a dude and still gives smart, grounded and intelligent interviews ( very impressed on his take on Aryan not doing movies clip to David Letterman ) but on screen he wants to be an Aryan or impress his kids he still got it. Nothing wrong in doing an actioner but don’t just focus on your abs and try a Hritik. You have been movies for so long it should easily come to you action sometimes is in the mind and racy- pacy should be screenplay and not your toned body. Sometimes I feel they are making movies to impress their Bollywood wives and inner circles – I am not 60 and can do a Tiger Shroff even now. The best quote to summarize his career now was from Rohit Shetty who rightly pointed – when you go out to make a Angoor with SRK it turns out to be a watermelon. I was so disappointed with Zero and blamed Anand Rai for pampering the egos of people on his set and not making the movie he set out to make. I thought srk in that Tanu weds manu mould would be so nice to get back to real self but that ended up into a senseless spectacle of vfx crap….will not forgive him for ruining one of my most favorite song from last decade Mera Naam Tu from the movie.
Salman despite the star power remains delusional and though Akki has graduated well, the sheer volume and money grab is such a put off and it has now started to show on screen. Aamir – the last hope fell off the cliff too and in such a rude manner. All these intelligent filmy folks cannot simply look at the screen and say wtf am I doing…. I literally wanted to slap him making all those faces and doing the things he did in LSC. He has actually spoilt my 3Idiots, Dhoom 3 and PK experience where he had acted similar and I can never revisit that cinema.
I know the political atmosphere is shitty and Bollywood running scared but try to make an intelligent movie like what Suriya did in Jai Bhim and take on the judiciary or the system running behind it. We know the Govt of today acts like a mafia and Shah actually represents a Rami Reddy in real life too but someone needs to bell the cat and that is where image of these actors is taking a beating. In the make-believe world of cinema, we know these heroes are pussy cats. Alas we will never get a De Niro doing a – “ I’d Like to Punch Trump In the Face”
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gdb
September 9, 2022
“Rajamouli is presenting this film; even Aamir couldn’t convince him to give a good sound byte about LSC”—
This is because Kjo is the distributor of Bahubali in north and is responsible for the film being watched so widely pan-India. I am sure Rajamouli will be happy to return the favor in anyway possible to Karan who is the producer of Brahmastra.
It is so cute the way all the reviewers are reviewing Brahmastra so gently. Though the overall opinion is that the movie is no great shakes, everyone is trying to say only the positives of the film and is encouraging and urging people to watch it on big screen. Either out of sympathy or out of good will, everyone is rooting for this movie and wants it to succeed to end the bollywood hit drought…. That is very heart warming to see.
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gdb
September 9, 2022
Talking about reviews, I watched the trailer of Chup. It looks like the plot is about a film maker who goes around killing critics for giving his movie bad reviews!! Serial killer movies have become a joke now. Reasons for serial killers to kill have become more and more silly…. I have seen one where a guy goes around killing women for wearing colored contacts . Very difficult to take them seriously anymore.
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vijay
September 9, 2022
“everyone is trying to say only the positives of the film and is encouraging and urging people to watch it on big screen. ‘
not this guy..
https://www.filmcompanion.in/reviews/bollywood-review/brahmastra-review-ranbir-kapoor-alia-bhatt-part-one-shiva-review-fantasy-adventure-is-an-over-engineered-misfire/
or this..
https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/brahm%C4%81stra-part-one-shiva-movie-review-ayan-mukerjis-spectacle-lacks-a-soul/article65869670.ece
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MANK
September 9, 2022
Looks like the film is average. not very good but not very bad either. So maybe it will not crash on Monday and might make enough to generate a sequel.
From Brangan’s review it’s clear that film is a visual spectacle but does not have much emotional depth, which is expected from Ayan Mukherjee. This is very much a Hollywoodish film and not a desi masala, and that might hurt its prospects in the north. Unsurprisingly, the film has opened much better in metros and the south.
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Ravi K
September 9, 2022
Going by the trailer, there’s a whiff of desperation around this film. As if the makers are seeing the successes of Hollywood and South Indian films and the failures of Bollywood films and saying “hey, we can make something like those films you like, we promise! Please don’t leave us!”
It’s not only the failure Hindi films that irks the Hindi film industry, it’s also the successes of South Indian films encroaching on their own territory, which was basically unchallenged. First there was Robot, and then Bahubali blew the doors open in a big way. However, I think even Bahubali was seen as a one-off, and the KGF/RRR/Pushpa hat-trick was quite a blow to the Bollywood industry, especially when their own films were flopping.
RRR has garnered a considerable following in the West as well, with non-diaspora audiences and quite a few Hollywood industry professionals raving about it. A lot of people caught the Hindi dub on Netflix, but it also had a successful limited release in some US theaters. Bollywood tried making crossover films and getting their stars in Western productions and talk show appearances. Nothing worked. Then RRR comes along and sweeps up all the attention that Bollywood has been desperately trying to get for the last 20 years.
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kaizokukeshav
September 10, 2022
“In other words, we are never in that Astra-world”-
My best guess is the actors themselves never really bought the storyline, I saw Amitabh playing Amitabh and Alia playing Alia etc. Probably the cast and crew were never focused on making something that’s path breaking because most of these actors are so popular that they never wanted to prove their merit anymore. Except for the director, I never saw any of the actor talking about the story or the experience of the movie. Simply put, they didn’t fall in love with the process… it’s just routine work for them.
But if we take a Prabhas, a Yash or an Allu Arjun, they REALLY want to make themselves recognized in broader lands and carry the journey of their industries to the next level.
Bollywood producers will be wondering, “we understand the spectacle part par ye soul kya hota hai re?”. Time for them to do some searching now that free lunches are hard to find.
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Madan
September 10, 2022
“It’s not only the failure Hindi films that irks the Hindi film industry, it’s also the successes of South Indian films encroaching on their own territory, which was basically unchallenged. First there was Robot, and then Bahubali blew the doors open in a big way. However, I think even Bahubali was seen as a one-off, and the KGF/RRR/Pushpa hat-trick was quite a blow to the Bollywood industry, especially when their own films were flopping.” – Absolutely. If you watch Manoj Desai’s interviews on Filmi Fever, he keeps saying it’s a matter of shame that ‘South’ films are running in ‘North’. But why should that be? Bolly doesn’t have some jaagirdari over North. Now that the audience has started accepting (some) South films, they will run in the North as well.
Pushpa was the one that really caught Bolly off guard. The sleeper hit Kartikeya 2 shocked them too. They expected RRR and KGF2 to run bigtime because of SS’s track record with the former and the success of KGF1 in the case of the latter. But Pushpa had no such visual or franchise hook and they had no idea Allu Arjun had such a following up North.
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Madan
September 10, 2022
There’s a lot I don’t agree with in the article, like this argument that it’s about ‘content’. I think Rahul Desai’s explanation makes more sense – that it’s about the conviction with which the big South hits of the last few months have delivered the content (which is what kaizhokukeshav also said above).
https://www.newindianexpress.com/entertainment/hindi/2022/sep/04/sunday-special-bust-of-bollywood-a-crisis-with-many-faces-2494524.html
But this, this is bang on:
“But equally Bollywood didn’t pay enough attention to the film which topped the box office that year ‘Gadar: Ek Prem Katha’, a masala entertainer that truckloads of people watched, especially in the north. Where ‘Lagaan’ was about a past, where India had won a fictional cricket match, ‘Gadar’ was about the harsh reality of Partition, and the lives and loves that were forever divided. Bollywood decided its course, with the new middle class embracing multiplex favourites, such as ‘Dil Chahta Hai’, ‘Lagaan’, and ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’. The Tier II and III towns, which had loved ‘Gadar’, just didn’t get enough well-made entertainers that spoke to them about real issues.”
Yes, the very epoch of the last two decades was defined by ignoring the biggest hit of the start of it. This year, again, Kashmir Files is the hit that the industry doesn’t ‘like’. But you take out the songs and the romantic track (and well, the Sunny Paaji-isms) from Gadar and you get Kashmir Files. That gritty tone to tackle an emotive issue that resonated with the heartland was ALREADY in vogue way back in 2000.
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MANK
September 10, 2022
I said the same about Gadar in an earlier comment. Suppressing or ignoring its success and lionizing DCH and K3G has cost the industry bigtime. The entire northern belt began ignoring Bollywood and started opting for Bojpuri cinema, and then once the more glossy south masala invaded through TV and youtube then they drifted towards that. Also the hindi film stars have begun to look more and more weird. Tiger Shroff and Varun Dhawan and their ilk looks like aliens and hardly human. Allu Arjun is a guy that the common people can relate to very easily. He looks like the rest of us, and performs extraordinarily well; he has style, attitude. He is the kind of star the common (B-C Center) folks wants to see.
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gnanaozhi
September 10, 2022
The movie is migraine inducing, all glitz and an empty shell.
Walked out midway because I just didn’t buy the concept of the “Astra world”. Albir played themselves, the Big B was himself again, the story was extremely generic and the dialogues insipid.
According to analyst Harish Mankad the first day take is 50cr worldwide (40cr domestic). Given word of mouth ranges from bad to average, my bet would be on the movie crashing hard from Monday onward and closing out at 180-200 cr total.
Which for an alleged budget of 500 cr? Even take 200-250 cr is quite a disaster though they will make profits ultimately with the OTT sale.
As to various comments on “oh noes current establishment evil, poor Bollywood”, the very fact that the industry collectively boycotted the largest Bolly hit of the year, Kashmir Files…a low budget sleeper indie making 300+ cr should be a clue to nepobabies and film makers like Kjo on what the actual market wants. This has nothing to do with the “current establishment” or even the boycott trends (which have only a minimal effect) but everything to do with how tone deaf and insular…sort of like the let them eat cake moment Bollywood has become and this reflects in the output.
I mean your audience is telling you something and you have morons like Kareena going “don’t watch if you don’t want to”…wut? That’s your market dodo, you can at least pretend to be humble and not piss off the people the pay to consume your content.
That being said, am surprised that there is a belief that Bollywood is “running scared” when many A listers virtue signal ever so often with many even openly anti govt (which is their constitutional prerogative) but then again it is a free market and if the market doesn’t want to plonk money on someone whose ideology doesn’t align with theirs, then it is only fair they don’t.
At the end of the day, all Bollywood needs to do is push out decent content in touch with what the audience today wants. If they stay clear of virtue signalling there a bonus but then again as citizens they are entitled to their opinions but then the audience too are entitled to their own opinions.
Vikram Veda might be the next real hit for B’wood though because it looks like top notch content and then the upcoming warmovie (Pippa) might just be the Uri of this year. Pathan… Can’t really tell as Srk has been having a horrible run at the BO the past few years.
If Salmonella bhoi has a release yeah he will make money and then some but the rest of the B’wood slate? Looks to be a torrid time ahead for them.
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Madan
September 10, 2022
gnanozhi : I am not blaming current establishment for Bolly’s woes. I was only countering Sanjay’s suggestion that the solution to the industry’s woes is in Bolly adopting an anti establishment posture. KGF was harking back to the past so it’s not meaningfully anti establishment. RRR is anti colonial and Vikram is just anti drugs, maybe one of Kamal’s least political ventures. So in fact, which by the way is what those who advocate boycotting Bollywood say, South films are doing well because their stars don’t get into pointless virtue signalling on social media which achieves nothing and only alienates potential viewers. Kamal is pretty vocal politically and miles away from BJP, but Vikram didn’t do well in Hindi anyway. Besides people are either actually ignorant of the politics of South stars or wilfully ignoring it, sort of riding South as the Trojan horse to bring down Bollywood. We will see what goes down IF say Dharma and YRF do go belly up and it’s now a ‘straight fight’ between South producers and the Sangh.
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Madan
September 10, 2022
And yes, VV looks like a good bet. It’s clashing with PS but that film doesn’t have a cast that would draw in North viewers (though it may pull off a stunner like Baahubali).
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vijay
September 10, 2022
More mediocrity from Gaaliwood, smart decision to stay away form this
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Aman Basha
September 10, 2022
What a wonderous coincidence that the King scores his century and Hindi cinema scores a blockbuster at the same time.
Saw it, liked it (ok-ok). Abki Baar 300 Paar, I actually think it has a shot at 350 now. Happy to bet if @gnanozhi is willing.
“openly anti govt”-From when did non national become anti national, poor Akshay Kumar 🙂
For all the anti nepo bhashan, everyone here from the producer to the director to the leads are nepokids 🙂
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Prat
September 10, 2022
This movie was supposed to be bollywood catering to what the audience wants. It’s seeped in saffron. What anti-establishment or virtue signalling? KJo was retweeting BJP’s tweets more ardently than a bhakt would have.
As to the worries of not getting enough movies that cater to the right wing, I guess more hateful crap like Kashmir Files is on the way.
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$$
September 10, 2022
Anyone wondering why Karina and alia has the audacity to say watch our movies only if you want to. It’s because they are both married to money bags .therefore the Change from Humble middle class people to this .
Ajay devgan had asked in an interview as to how saif can afford to go for a European vacation so often every year. it’s because his ancestors the pataudi family has amassed amazing wealth Just like all other Royal families in India before the British left.
How their movies does at the Box office doesn’t make any difference to their lifestyle. It might affect their producers directors and distributors but definitely not them. The paparazzi and the common men will still go crazy seeing them in public, producers will still give them movies to star in and give them the importance they crave for.
Same with alia…quiet a difference from being a bhatt bought up in middle class setting to being a part of Kapoor family. Apparently it is a big deal for her. She has been acting like it’s quite an achievement….
Expect more wtf comments from them in the future too.
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meme
September 10, 2022
“Tiger Shroff and Varun Dhawan and their ilk looks like aliens and hardly human.”–
They look like Zoolander
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Yajiv
September 10, 2022
“bhatt bought up in middle class setting”
Mahesh Bhatt is middle class? Wow, I guess I’m below the poverty line then.
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$$
September 10, 2022
In mumbai, he is upper middle class . His wife also had to work to take care of the family. Don’t go by the glamour in Bollywood. The likes of Mahesh Bhatt survive by making movies on shoe string budget and making b grade films to make money and survive. He doesn’t have ancestral wealth like the kapoors to fall back on.
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Aman Basha
September 10, 2022
@Yajiv: Mahesh Bhatt grew up a bastard, his mother the unacknowledged second wife. Zakhm is supposed to be his own parents’ story. He didn’t have a privileged childhood by any means.
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Yajiv
September 10, 2022
@Aman: Thanks for the info. But the Bhatt in question in @$$’s comment (which I was responding to) was Alia. So my comment was about Mahesh in his later years, not his childhood.
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Shalini
September 11, 2022
“My best guess is the actors themselves never really bought the storyline, I saw Amitabh playing Amitabh and Alia playing Alia etc.”
Yeah, that’s what I feared yet expected. There is nothing more tedious than watching performers mug through material they don’t buy/believe in. Reminds me of “Drona,” another attempt at a fusion of Western fantasy and Indian mythology genres that suffered from an leaden and conviction less performance from it’s lead, Abhishek Bachchan. As I’ve already bought tickets for a showing of “Brahmastra” tomorrow I shall now approach it with the expectation of being bored for 2.5 hours. Ah, well.
“I guess more hateful crap like Kashmir Files is on the way.”
I have thus far successfully resisted all attempts by kith and kin to persuade me to watch “The Kashmir Files,” but this comment tempts me, like nothing else has, to rethink my stance.
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$$
September 11, 2022
Mahesh in his later years too wasn’t a very rich man like the Kapoors.
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kaizokukeshav
September 11, 2022
“bhatt bought up in middle class setting”
So middle-class that he could still direct movies ‘at-will’ irrespective of results and support his kids to become stars with a kick-start in the industry.
Isn’t because of these fake sympathies why the Nepo kids are hated?
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$$
September 11, 2022
Chill. What is this? a boycott bollywood comment section? No fake sympathies and no hating nepo or any other kids in saying that Alia bhatt was bought up in middle class setting especially compared to the Kapoors. And Mahesh Bhatt didn’t do anything to make Alia a star. He in fact directed one of the few flop films in Alia’s career…Sadak 2. If it was left to Mahesh to start her career, Alia would have been a b grade actress, acting in flop films.
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Madan
September 11, 2022
Shalini: The hateful part of Kashmir Files is the needless insertion of Hindutva propaganda and exaggeration/caricaturization of the media and academia. I laughed when a character, supposedly a learned govt officer, tells the protagonist in full earnest that Indian media calls Hizbul and LeT as rebels and not terrorists.
But the depiction of the exodus/genocide tallies with documented facts. Liberals objected to the insinuation that Muslim neighbours abetted the militants in the killing and/or driving out of Pandits but that they did so is borne out by many first hand testimonies of Pandits (of course I am preaching to the choir in saying this to you). The Newstrack docus show Kashmiri Muslims including children saying (at that time, viz 89-90) they want to be part of Pakistan and not India. Maybe it makes some libs flinch to see all this but they need to then question their assumptions instead of dismissing it as propaganda.
A better film about the exodus could have been made but the lib ecosystem didn’t make it in 30 years unless one counts VVC’s film. So Kashmir Files it will have to be. It was honestly not as bad as I feared though then again, I expected the whole thing to be one lengthy whatsapp univ message. But maybe Vivek Agnihotri was overcome by what he read and heard about the Pandits sufferings and decided to make an unexpectedly sincere film, if one that is still marred by the insertions of propaganda whenever it isn’t depicting the exodus.
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Rahul
September 11, 2022
Nothing against the Bhatts or the Kapoors, but the middle class or upper middle class does not work as a relative to something. For example, by your logic, you can say the Kapoors are lower class relative to the Adanis and so on.
It is not uncommon for Indians with a monthly income of lakhs to claim that they are middle class, but it is incorrect. I apologize in advance for the pedantry, but the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) locates the middle class between a household income of 2 lakhs per annum and 10 lakhs per annum. This definition is not recent, so it may need to be adjusted for inflation, but seems to be far below the perception of an average Indian internet user.
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Madan
September 11, 2022
“It is not uncommon for Indians with a monthly income of lakhs to claim that they are middle class, but it is incorrect. ” – Amen, thank you.
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kaizokukeshav
September 11, 2022
“And Mahesh Bhatt didn’t do anything to make Alia a star”
Not debating this, but my point is how much of being a ‘Bhatt’ helped Alia to get a chance of lead role in SOTY …while this debate is there in South too (Tollywood is a Nepotist hell), the so called stars keep escaping by saying it’s only a launchpad.
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$$
September 11, 2022
In the last comment, I meant to say Alia had a middle class upbringing (compared to the kapoors)…according to an interview given by her mom Soni.
U mean to say Alia didn’t grow up middle class, according to NCAER (insert shock and disbelief emoJi). This news has the same shock value as the one about Ananya’s dad never getting invited to Koffee with Karan or never being cast in Dharma movies .
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Aman Basha
September 11, 2022
Actually Alia’s launch is still a mystery. I get why KJo would launch Sridevi’s daughter or Chunky Pandey’s or the others (they are all his friends and what not) but Mahesh Bhatt nearly destroyed Dharma with Duplicate. He never came on set for the whole movie shooting, making things so bad that even SRK had to direct a song. Dharma was saved only because SRK and Kajol did KKHH with Karan. Yet KJo builds the career of the same Bhatt’s daughter. I do think he saw potential in her and he probably doubles as her agent of sorts.
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Rahul
September 11, 2022
“U mean to say Alia didn’t grow up middle class”
This time I will type slowly so that you can follow. I did not claim or imply anything about Alia. I just said, that these things do not work at a comparative level.
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brangan
September 11, 2022
kaizokukeshav: Isn’t because of these fake sympathies why the Nepo kids are hated?
I have a question about this.
Why are nepo kids “hated” (even the super-talented ones like Alia and Ranbir and Ranveer) in Bollywood, whereas not in the Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam industries.
Even the non-talented ones here get repeated chances after several flops and no one says anything.
And at least, Bollywood keeps casting heroines who know the language 😀
I mean the Bolly-hate is such that a perfectly reasonable statement from Alia gets twisted into a click-bait headline that makes her sound like a monster.
This is what she said:
“So, who’s having the last laugh? At least until I deliver my next flop? For now, I am laughing! At the end of the day, use that to fuel your work. I can’t keep defending myself verbally. And if you don’t like me, don’t watch me. I can’t help it [as in, nepotism]. That’s something I can’t do (anything about]. People have something to say. Hopefully, I will prove to them with my movies that I am actually worth the space I occupy. ”
The second statement in bold is actually (to me) a pretty sensible statement.
If someone asked me for the 1000th time about nepotism, I would also says, “I can’t keep defending myself verbally.”
I don’t understand this south-versus-north hatred, when there is plenty wrong in the southern industries, too. Anyway, it’s a Sunday morning and I felt like chiming in. I’m outta here 🙂
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Ravi K
September 11, 2022
The nepotism issue has some shades of grey because the industry does tend to favor the children of famous and powerful people to about exclusion of outsiders. But those kids from film families are not necessarily devoid of talent. When you grow up around actors and filmmakers and film sets, you’re bound to learn some tricks of the trade. And being from a film family can get someone a foot in the door (either with their parents producing/directing their debut or through industry connections) but there’s no guarantee the audience will accept them. The flipside of a Hrithik or Salman is Mimoh Chakravarthy or Harman Baweja.
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Madan
September 11, 2022
“I don’t understand this south-versus-north hatred, when there is plenty wrong in the southern industries, too. ” – Raitas riding a Trojan Horse to grab power from B0llywood, that simple. And no, I don’t mean the govt literally creating fake accounts on twitter to spread propaganda against Bollywood. None of that is necessary with such a great assemblage of citizen cadre ready to defend ‘their’ govt against ‘enemies’ and attack enemies of their choosing. Right now, South film industry is not the enemy. We will see what happens when it is. And it’s not just South-North. Vivek Agnihotri as well as North East, Goan or Keralite BJP politicians are allowed to eat beef, but it’s suddenly a problem that Ranbir said he is a beef guy back before Modi even took power. If the libs did this, righties would scream bloody murder about cancel culture. But now it’s all about vanquishing anti-sanatani forces or whatever is the pressing problem for the ‘suffering’ ‘middle class’ owning at least two flats and a car in major metropolitan cities.
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Voldemort
September 11, 2022
BR : Agreed that the hate is somewhat harsh towards the Bollywood nepo kids, but I think it’s different from the nepotism in the Southern Industries.
Not all of the nepo kids are hated. The previous generation – Hrithik, Shahid, etc are loved by the public. Even in this generation, Kiara, Shraddha, etc aren’t hated at all. In the case of Ranveer, some people find his over the top behavior annoying but he is almost never seen as a product of nepotism. And even Ranbir was loved right from his debut, even now people don’t trash him like they do Alia and the likes. The reason is that the above mentioned people do not act holier-than-thou, do not proclaim themselves as the best and superior to everyone else, do not deny their privilege and say things like ‘but we have struggle’ ‘Do you know I auditioned for one part?'( out of the several I played). They also don’t throw shade on other actors from outside the industry and take digs on them repeatedly. They at least pretend to be humble (the public loves humble people for some reason) They don’t have overactive PR screaming that they are the best thing to happen to Bollywood, they don’t make fun of others’ English when they themselves can’t speak a sentence without throwing in a hundred ‘likes’ and fillers. They don’t have a mentor papa who literally inserts their name in every sentence they ever speak, calling them the next Meryl Streep.
Some of these kids get roles again and again and again despite all their films flopping. Some of them are terrible actors, make zero effort to improve themselves, they think it’s fancy to not know Hindi.
Promoting nepotism is not a problem if there is also opportunity for outside talent. Promoting your favorite family friends is okay, but aggresively denying the opportunities of others is what makes people resent them so much. It is a private enterprise, anyone is free to cast their friends or whoever they want, but when fathers, uncles and friends build a nexus to actively hurt others’ chances who are not from family or even extended friends and family, people might get annoyed.
Not saying any of this is right. Extreme levels of hate towards anyone is not right. But at least a certain part of it is of their own making.
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brangan
September 11, 2022
Voldemort: There’s no denying that Bollywood stars say stupid things. But the way that gets blown out of proportion seems to me a post-SSR death phenomenon. Before that, the tone of the headlines was more mocking than actively cruel.
I wonder what these boycott people will do if they hear the nunerous insider stories about the southern industries and how some stars have actively blocked the gates for younger actors in favour of their children and so on.
Anyway… chalk these comments down to a lazy Sunday. Otherwise I only care about how stars are on screen and not off it.
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MANK
September 11, 2022
Brangan, don’t be apologetic for being prolific in the comments section 🙂
With Hindi film industry, there’s this aspect of regionalism also, where people up north believe that nepo kids are blocking the entry of actors from North India into Bollywood. SSR episode only amplified this
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kaizokukeshav
September 11, 2022
@brangan: This nepo topic is a can of worms but will try to debate.
“Why are nepo kids “hated” in Bollywood, whereas not in the Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam industries”
The hate…it’s not personal. It arises from the fact that the audience have no option but to watch their faces IRRESPECTIVE of the results until they are made to accept that nepo kids are stars. This happened in Telugu and Hindi. I am not kidding, almost every nepo kid is launched multiple times until they look decent with every iteration. How many livelihoods of great upcoming actors are lost by the time this is done ?
In AP alone, theatres are in the hands of handful producers who can take the call about which film can be released, and the first priority is…for their family and kids. So, can I release my own movie that may be better, instead of a bad nepo kid movie ? A definite no.
I don’t think Nepo kids are not hated elsewhere, but they are only a minority. Why they are minority may be a better question, may be the audience don’t care or the nepo kids are not really grabbing the cake from good actors like in Tamil and Malayalam.
Why can’t the audience request for more enjoyable 3 hours ? May be a great actor have lost an opportunity to play Gangubai, was there a casting director at all ? While it’s somewhat unfair to get the hate from audience, are the nepo kids even getting the point ?
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vijay
September 11, 2022
Kaizo, also in Tamil there have been cases of sons of actors/producers losing out on their careers as well despite the launchpads they had..Prashanth( a half-decent actor), Gautam Karthik, Shantanu(whom Bhagyaraj was desperate to launch), Manoj(Braja’s son), and so on and on..these happened in parallel with rise of big stars with absolutely little or no backing like Rajni, Vikram, Ajith and the likes..that may have given an impression that nepo-launched or not, you need some talent and presence and a connect to survive as a star around here or you just won’t survive.. (Vijay may be the only exception to this)..Hindi industry probably needs a couple more Ranveer Singhs to brak this nepo image..
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Voldemort
September 11, 2022
BR : Right. There’s a world of difference between mocking and being actively cruel. However, that unfortunately is how Twitter and other social media works.
I wonder what these boycott people will do if they hear the nunerous insider stories about the southern industries and how some stars have actively blocked the gates for younger actors in favour of their children and so on.
LOL.
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Madan
September 11, 2022
“It arises from the fact that the audience have no option but to watch their faces IRRESPECTIVE of the results until they are made to accept that nepo kids are stars. This happened in Telugu and Hindi. I am not kidding, almost every nepo kid is launched multiple times until they look decent with every iteration. ” – But this happens in politics too. And also in business. ‘Nepo kids’ are allowed to wipe out hundreds if not thousands of crore more than even Arjun Kapoor or Ananya Pandey can and nobody asks what happened to the people working for these large orgs that suffered due to mismanagement by the nepo kid or small shareholders of these cos. What actually is so important about fixing such a low stakes, low priority field like film industry when nepotism and network is rife in every walk of life in India? And by the by, the consequences can be grossly damaging in biz too. Chairman’s granddaughter is allowed to draw a 25 lakh salary as ‘management trainee’ for doing nothing while the MD will threaten to and maybe actually deduct the cost of some business loss from an entry level employee struggling to make ends meet. Why is this OK if what the film industry does is so horrible? And if it’s OK, please tell me what do you propose to do about it.
The only field that is insulated from nepotism is sport and the reason is simply that sport is brutally objective. If Ranji bowlers don’t disrobe the idiot nepokid batter, Nortje or Boult will and that’s not a risk worth taking. Maybe the army, at least the frontlines posted in Kashmir/Ladakh, is similar. But anywhere where it’s cushy, nepokids have plenty more room to hide and plenty more opportunities to fail. It’s unfair but it’s life. The only question that should matter is whether the nepokid is able to entertain. If the answer is yes, it doesn’t matter if the family is accumulating more wealth by gatekeeping outsiders.
“Why can’t the audience request for more enjoyable 3 hours ? May be a great actor have lost an opportunity to play Gangubai, was there a casting director at all ? While it’s somewhat unfair to get the hate from audience, are the nepo kids even getting the point ?” – If it was only restricted to that, it wouldn’t be such a charged topic. It’s more like, “if we can’t attack the nepo kid on their acting, we will police what they say in press appearances, we will attack their politics, anything to make the film fail”. Whatever else that kind of approach may be, it is not a particularly rational one. I might still be on board if it was at least ideologically consistent but it clearly isn’t. I have given examples above but basically if it’s a South star or someone viewed favourably by right wing, they will get a pass on the same things for which nepo kids are attacked. And that’s a double standard.
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lurker
September 11, 2022
@vijay – Even wrt Vijay (the actor), he has survived and thrived because he has been somewhat smart with his choice of scripts. He rode an a string of breezy romantic movies in the late 90s (Khushi, Badri and the like), and switched over to urban actioners after the success of Thuppakki. Not a big fan of his recent movies but his rise is fairly well-earned.
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vijay
September 11, 2022
Vijay did’nt tick a single box for me, for what I expect from a star and especially in the 90s..I think post 2005, when he matured, his looks changed and he became somewhat palatable on screen..but with all those mid-90s soft porn flicks he did with Sanghavi, he needed his father’s backing to push him through all those flops and keep churning out such films until 1997/98.. He made his debut sometime around 1992..to survive for 6 years, especially initial years, without any noteworthy films can be possible only if you had a strong backing like he did..
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vijay
September 11, 2022
BTW, Even in the 2000s he had half a dozen flops in a row and lost his cool in Villu’s press meet post-flop and barked at the press.Even after all that…..
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Neps
September 11, 2022
Telugu industry is filled with chiranjeevis family. There is atleast 15 to 20 actors from his family working in movies. Malayalam industry has dq, fafa, boban, pranav all nepo kids. Thay all act very humble in public. People seem to be more tolerant of them now. In tamil too, vijay,surya , karthi, jeeva, vishal all nepo kids.Iam sure,vijay and Surya are grooming their sons for their debut. An advantage South has is that, the nepokids will already have a built in fan base. Ones’ grand dad’s and dad’s fans automatically become the debutante sons fans.
I think in hindi SSR death lead to the backlash against nepokids. It’s like that dialogue in the movie thappad. In the movie, One slap made her see all the unfair things she has been putting up with in the marriage. Similarly, SSR death seems to have triggered the audience to see all the mediocrity they have been putting with, the umpteen chances nepos seem to be getting while the non nepos seem to be losing like an ssr, the arrogant statements given by nepokids in interviews, kangana dropping truth bombs about nepokids privileges. Then covid came. While aam admi was in a strict lockdown, the celebs were posting pics of their vacations in Maldives and other vacation spots. That must have triggered them further. I don’t think the north has a strong hysterical fan culture like in south to cushion the stars from all the attacks. So they seem to bemore vulnerable to audience’s criticism.
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Heisenberg
September 11, 2022
IMO, the difference in nepotism reaction between north and south could also be how much the new ‘star’ is forced on the audience. Like Ananya Pandey’s name was suddenly all over the news/websites and I didn’t even know her dad. The first movie I finally saw her was in Gehraiyan. Another factor is the actual/perceived wealth of these kids. They do not make a debut in small budget films – all have a big launch backed by parents.
In Tamil, today’s top nepo stars like Vijay, Surya literally had to reinvent themselves to become what they are today. It’s not like Arjun kapoor who can complete 10 years without learning anything.
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Neps
September 11, 2022
“The only field that is insulated from nepotism is sport and the reason is simply that sport is brutally objective.”–
Also in films, do nepos become directors , cameramen or editors…. jobs that require specific skills? I see all the nepos wanting to become actors…job with least skill requirement and most returns.
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brangan
September 11, 2022
Neps: All the time. Go into any director’s office and you’ll find many ADs have a “connection”. (This does not mean they aren’t skilled, just that they had a foot in the door.) Same with editors, cameramen… it’s like in every field.
Also, there are producers (I have seen this in Tamil) who will listen to narrations from newbies only if they come with a recommendation or have been AD with some famous director.
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Prat
September 11, 2022
The whole nepotism debate ultimately comes to naught because even the non-nepo actors who enter want to bring their own kith and kin when they succeed – Ayushman Khurana, Vijay Deverakonda etc. bringing their brothers, etc. Whenever the rare non-nepo actor is invited to Koffee with Karan, it is sad when he makes them defend nepotism (“life’s not fair so why should bollywood be?”). Some of them say that it’s okay because their own kids might one day enter the industry. An interesting after effect is that a non nepo actor like Karthik Aryan can succeed now riding the anti Bollywood wave and not because of his own acting skills. Given that nepotism in politics and other spheres in the country are WAY more dangerous, I wish our people would realise that this whole movement is just a major diversion from the actual social and economic issues plaguing India and move on.
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KayKay
September 11, 2022
“They do not make a debut in small budget films – all have a big launch backed by parents.”
I’ve mentioned this as well in another comments thread, that the biggest difference between the Indian Film Industry and any others is that nepo kids not only get a foot in the door, but are led to the plushiest corner of the office and given the biggest desk.
In Hollywood, the sons of Clint Eastwood, Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks, to name a few still largely slave away in low budget movies or do supporting roles (Denzel’s son broke through in TENET but hasn’t exactly been hailed as the Next Big Thing and even there was overshadowed by Robert Pattinson). Unlike the Indian Film Industry, or as someone pointed out, especially the South Indian Film Industry, in Hollywood, nobody thinks you’re some big “paruppu” just because you sprung from the loins of a Hollywood Legend. An accident of birth does not automatically entitle you to the Keys to The Kingdom.
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Rahul
September 11, 2022
I am the least concerned about nepotism and boycotting troll gangs in Bollywood. The biggest thing that concerns me is the anti-Hindi atmosphere that Nawazuddin talked about recently. Even with their backs to the wall and with so many years in the making, they couldn’t come up with decent dialogues for Brahmastra (I haven’t seen it, just going by what I am reading). They do not have the ethos to come up with half-decent Hindi writing and are too afraid to defer to the Hindi-speaking writers because they think they are superior.
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vijay
September 11, 2022
“Also, there are producers (I have seen this in Tamil) who will listen to narrations from newbies only if they come with a recommendation or have been AD with some famous director.”
That’s atleast understandable..its more like a ‘referral’ which even corporates use when they recruit. That’s not exactly nepotism. Producers are investing the big bucks and they tend to be conservative and if somebody comes with a peer recommendation they may get an edge….but if a producer is repeatedly trying to launch his own kith/kin/friends at the expense of(or against) better talent then it becomes a different issue..
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Prat
September 12, 2022
Anti-hindi atmosphere: I think it’s true for the other languages too. Our native fonts are disappearing from posters, lyric videos, title credits. With every passing generation, the literacy and proficiency in our native languages are degrading further (you need only check a school kid’s language paper to ascertain this). As our country is getting more and more exposed to the West, an increasing number of our people think and read and write in English. And this is associated with more “wealth and knowledge and class” so the bollywood elites exploit it to retain the post colonial inferiority complex.
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Apu
September 13, 2022
“The biggest thing that concerns me is the anti-Hindi atmosphere that Nawazuddin talked about recently.”
– Funny that there is supposed anti-hindi stance in Bollywood when everywhere else Hindi and the culture it represents is pushed down the throat of non-Hindi speaking populace.
I had tickets to Brashmastra but could not go because we had a COVID situation at home. I do not mind spending some money to see spectacular effects in a movie hall, and I am probably the rare few who finds it difficult to believe historical fiction but is ok with fantasy fiction, so I avoided RRR. Going by reviews, I think the wait for a good director to successfully marry India’s mythology with modern special effects continues.
For all those who say Bollywood is being boycotted because these actors act holier-than-thou and are not humble enough, I am very confused. Our Bollywood audience seem to be ok with Kangana making comments that casts doubts on her mental stability and can drive other actors to suicide but has no patience with Ranbir who talked about eating beef. Seriously?
I am probably stating the obvious but the whole support/boycott thing seems political and driven by a Hindutva wave well nurtured by the current political majority.
– LSC is boycotted in 2022 because Aamir met the Turkish President in 2017, after the President had expressed concern over treatment of Muslims in India.
– Shamshera gets boycotted because a Brahmin is shown to be the villain.
The lower caste and minority religions do not have much clout any way, so we can maybe continue to not boycott movies with Christian/Muslim/lower caste villains.
Going by this, only movies that are really really good will get audience into theaters in spite of all the calls to boycott. Which by itself is not a bad thing, because why spend money on mediocre movies, but, this might mean that movies made at a lower budget with lower publicity might not be successful, for e.g. “Jayeshbhai Jordar”.
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Rahul
September 13, 2022
Apu, yeah I’m aware of that. It’s ironic that Bollywood is the reason why many non-Hindi-speaking people understand and speak Hindi, and Hindi imposition is a big part of the pan-Indian ambitions of the right-wing parties in India, but they also seem to hate Bollywood.
Anyway, I don’t care if Bollywood starts making anglicized movies like Delhi Belly. In fact, I enjoyed it a lot. But if the characters are Hindi speaking and rooted in that space, the most powerful studios are not equipped to handle it. Outside that gripe, I think everybody should be free to like, dislike, learn or forget any language as per their choice and convenience.
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nagesh
September 14, 2022
sir, how are you able to review a film that is for kids, teens and young adults.. you have seen it all.. what could have been done differently that would have surprised you
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Santa
September 14, 2022
Regarding Karan Johan and Alia Bhatt, here’s what he wrote in an article a few years back:
“When it came to Alia, I wasn’t even talking to Mahesh Bhatt! I’ve even gone on record saying we had issues. We had auditioned 5,000 people and she was one of them. If there was anyone better than Alia Bhatt, she would have been in the movie, but there wasn’t. She just stood out. Maybe her name played a role in why, but I think her body of work already proves that’s not it.”
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H. Prasanna
September 14, 2022
The best take on nepotism i have heard recently comes from “non-nepotism” actor Vijay Deverakonda on Koffee with Karan: “I don’t complain about nepotism because my kid will act in the future.”
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Karthik
September 14, 2022
I would perfectly fine with “more spectacle than soul”. Thats probably how I would peg the latter day Star Wars films. I’d even say the prequels are spectacles that sucked the soul out of the original universe. But I still enjoyed watching them on a big screen, complaints notwithstanding. I doubt if anyone soul searches at a Transformers movie.
But
It’s how you are building your own world, your own universe. Brahmastra never quite manages to do that.
and
we are never in that Astra-world
is whats making me go towards an OTT for this one. In a slice of life movie like Wake Up Sid you can invest far less in world building and leave it to the audience to make up the rest, but you cant do that in a fantasy/sci-fi space. The writing either needs to be more “classical” or you need to be a freaking magician pulling a raccoon out of a hat like the Daniels’.
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Santa
September 15, 2022
BTW, I was really hoping for the title of this review to be ‘Wake up, Shiva’
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Nappinai (@Nappinai2)
September 15, 2022
“Why are nepo kids “hated” (even the super-talented ones like Alia and Ranbir and Ranveer) in Bollywood, whereas not in the Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam industries.”
I don’t think there is a logical answer to this. I know this usually becomes a discussion on nepotism and politics but the reality is less about that and more about the fact that the audiences have lost the connect with these stars. It’s like the reverse of why people adore Bhai despite his personal and professional shortcomings. You can rant about that being unfair and question people’s moral compass/ sensibilities but it’s not going to change the outcome, no? There’s nothing new here just that the coin has flipped.
IMO, what changed this is Sushant’s death. I do think Bollywood in their tone deafness completely missed the audience’s pulse and dismissed the entire thing as bots.
There was genuine anger which was the reason political parties jumped on the bandwagon. Ex: RW had been saying these things about Amir forever, it’s only after 2020 that they were being taken seriously. The hold of the star power on the masses had popped if you ask me.
I do think SSR’s passing away has parallels to Diana’s where a crowd projected themselves on the dead person and felt personal grief. This also manifested as casting the other group as a villain (Bollywood/ Prince Charles) who affects them personally. Charles is now the king, so he did after all win but he knows that he wont be loved like his mother or even his sons.
That’s how this dynamic will pan out I feel, an uneasy relationship of the masses with the likes of Alia/RS etc.. where their movies will run if good but the public will pounce on them for the slightest transgressions offscreen. Time can always make things better though.
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Madan
September 16, 2022
Why is there now a stop the steal effort going on w.r.t Brahmastra? The film has already done nearly 300 cr worldwide. Yes, I know it’s gross but gross is the figure tossed around for EVERY film by the same outlets so if you are ok with that, you should be ok with this figure for Brahmastra too. Even with the loss of momentum, it doesn’t need more than 100 cr worldwide to get to average and that’s very doable, as I said before, in a BO window where there is no competition from other big films. So why are people now trying to either ‘prove’ the figures wrong or, as this video does, redefine the bar as ‘Brahmastra is a failure unless it becomes the all time biggest blockbuster’?
Debating and asking questions about the collections is absolutely OK. But to deny them or move the goalposts so that it is ’emotionally’ a ‘flop actually’ even if it does average business is just silly. The opening, especially the growth on the weekend, did ensure it would not be a flop like LSC, Shamshera or Liger. And a film that grew on Saturday and Sunday did basically get decent word of mouth on Friday. Even for all the crowing by the haters about the weekday collections, a 9 cr figure on Thursday is not a disaster, again.
If the goal was to get back as much of the cost as possible in the first instalment but establish with a universe to make multiple sequels and spin offs, Brahmastra is well placed to achieve that. And I say this as someone who has never watched a single MCU film in theater and would be very happy to see the Indian equivalent of it tank gloriously. Because its success means, as said in the other thread about GVM’s new film, the death of human interest films that develop characters and tell a story rather than a series of mass moments or a montage of video trailers.
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Gdb
September 16, 2022
Ranbir has moved on to his next film with ananya Pandey.
Wow..i didn’t know she was in so much demand. Apparently liger flop doesn’t make any difference to her saleability. Iam sure this movie was signed before the liger fiasco. Looks like she is going to be the actress of the present lot who is going to bag all the major projects with a listers, now that alia is taking a break.
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Gdb
September 16, 2022
Also iam surprised why jhaanvi isn’t being cast opposite major stars. Has she opted to do heroine centric movies that gives indie vibes than be a part of blockbuster movies with stars?
Compared to the other actresses, she gives such old world vibes . Don’t know how good she is as a performer since i haven’t watched her work.
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Madan
November 10, 2022
Watching this or I should say TRYING to watch this. The fx as you said are top notch. And yeah, where’s the soul? But for there to be soul, there has to be timing. When the gaps between two lines of dialogues are longer in 3D Disney movies, even SRK and Nagarjuna struggle to keep up the intensity. This is without getting into the love storiyan part which I was so happy for OTT to let me skip. Imagine having to endure THAT on the big screen! I might persevere and get to the finish but to quote Kapil Dev, yeh tough nahin lekin mushkil zaroor hoga. Uh, a sequel to this? Count me out.
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Madan
November 10, 2022
OK, at this point, I am convinced Amitabh can read out the phone book with gravitas and intensity. He has lit up this film in no time. He has got the tone dead on.
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Madan
November 10, 2022
Done with it. Couldn’t have made it through without the skip button. Too convoluted, too much explaining to like literally push the concept in detail down the throat. Too little trust of the audience, too little momentum. Without AB’s entry as the guru, it would have been a complete turkey.
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Rohit Sathish Nair
November 22, 2022
A podcast episode celebrating 30 years of Yoddha, as while a discussion about more recent “Chosen One” films like Kantara and Brahmastra:
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