The new Bollywood film opening in Chicago area theaters on October 5, 2012 — English Vinglish — marks the return of superstar actress Sridevi after a fourteen-year absence from the big screen. The film also has the worst theatrical trailer I’ve ever seen:
This alternate trailer — which never aired at my local cinema — is more substantive:
English Vinglish opens on Friday at the Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles, AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington, and Regal Cantera Stadium 17 in Warrenville. It has a listed runtime of 2 hrs. 10 min.
Of last weekend’s two new Hindi releases, OMG Oh My God carries over at all three of the above theaters, while Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal is deservedly booted from all local theaters except the South Barrington 30. The South Barrington 30 is also the only theater holding over Heroine, which has earned $560,285 in its first two weeks in U.S. theaters.
Barfi!, meanwhile, continues to perform phenomenally well at the box office, having earned $2,462,008 in three weeks in the U.S. It gets a fourth week at the South Barrington 30, Cantera 17, AMC River East 21 in Chicago, and Regal Gardens Stadium 1-6 in Skokie.
Other Indian movies showing at the Golf Glen 5 this weekend include Puthiya Theerangal (Malayalam), Rebel (Telugu), and Thaandavam (Tamil).
Worst trailer?please elaborate.
looks like the british comedy tv show ‘ mind your language ‘
Actually the people over here found this promo funny. I found it okay. Actually this is just a teaser. The promo is here (with subtitles) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki0A9bOoyq8
By the way, KLPD isn’t releasing there?
Cheers 🙂
No sign of KLPD anywhere in the Chicago area, Keyur. Are you going to see it?
I didn’t like the promos. And now when the film is released, it has got a terrible response. People are saying it’s vulgar and cheap! So obviously I am avoiding it.
Having said that, its director (whose interview I had taken and who became very friendly with me) messaged me today asking me to see it and let him know how I found it!
So I am in a confusing situation 😀 Still don’t know what I will do 😛
Good luck, Keyur! You’re in a real pickle. I’m glad KLPD didn’t open here so I don’t have to see it!
Lol! Thanks, Kathy. Pickle is the right way of describing it 🙂
Kathy, I agree with you 99% of the time, but I loved the trailer for English Vinlish…. other than the end where Sridevi “looks around” at the people in the theater. I thought it was clever. Hopefully the film will be a winner.
Karma
I guess I’m in the minority when it comes to the trailer/teaser. The video I linked to is the only thing they’ve been showing in my local theater, not the real trailer that Keyur linked to (which is MUCH better). What I don’t like about the teaser with Sridevi in front of the certificate is that the gimmick doesn’t convey any useful information about the movie. After having seen it about ten times in the theater, I’m so sick of it. I’ll amend the post to include a link to the other trailer as well.
On a related topic, Sridevi is 49?! She looks 29!
Kathy,I just finished watching Barfi!!I loved loved the film…cried a lot and had a wide smile on my face!I felt good.And I am glad that it was sent to Oscars..I know some of the scenes were lifted,but except for the Notebook scene(which was just a simple scene,nothing great),others scenes do nothing to the plot,like the Kikujiro scene.It can be easily edited out.Well,and there are quite a lot ‘copied’ films that have won oscars ..Like someone mentioned in ur blog that The Departed was completely lifted from internal affairs..And last year’s winner The Artist too had scenes lifeted from other films.Even Slumdog was a mish-mash of so many bollywood films.And there many others.But yes,originality matters and plagiarism shouldn’t be encouraged at all!Basu surely should have given credit to his inspirations.
But I would like to say the films non-linear screenplay was one of the greatest assets..I really really enjoyed and loved the film.Lets see,if it gets to the final nominations.Cos it is actually pure Oscar material.
You bring up a good point, Anushka, that one of Barfi!’s strongest aspects is its non-linear plot progression. And Barfi!’s story is total Oscar bait. In the future, I hope Basu avoids even the perception of impropriety so that the audience can just focus on how good the movie is.
In defense of The Departed, it was an official remake of Infernal Affairs, which means that the writers of the original film were compensated for their work.