I updated my list of Bollywood movies on Netflix with one new addition to the catalog. The 2016 boxing drama Saala Khadoos is now available for streaming. The film is really entertaining and the perfect choice for a movie night while the Olympics are underway.
One of the biggest box office showdowns of the year happens on August 12, 2016, with the release of two very different period films. The Indus Valley-set Mohenjo Daro stars Hrithik Roshan and is directed by Ashutosh Gowariker. It’s their first reunion since Jodhaa Akbar.
Mohenjo Daro opens in nine Chicago area theaters on Friday: AMC River East 21 in Chicago, Century 12 Evanston/Cinearts 6 in Evanston, Regal Round Lake Beach Stadium 18 in Round Lake Beach, MovieMax Cinemas in Niles, Muvico Rosemont 18 in Rosemont, AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington, Marcus Addison Cinema in Addison, Regal Cantera Stadium 17 in Warrenville, and AMC Loews Woodridge 18 in Woodridge. It has a listed runtime of 2 hrs. 35 min.
The weekend’s other new release is Rustom, set in Bombay in 1959 and based on a true crime story. It stars Akshay Kumar, Ileana D’Cruz, and Esha Gupta.
Rustom opens on Friday in six Chicago area theaters: River East 21, MovieMax, South Barrington 30, Cantera 17, Woodridge 18, and Century Stratford Square in Bloomingdale. It has a listed runtime of 2 hrs. 28 min.
Dishoom gets a third week at the Cantera 17.
Other Indian films showing in the Chicago area this weekend:
Though the three Khans dominate the Hindi film industry at home and abroad, it’s important not to overlook Hrithik Roshan’s popularity in the United States and Canada. Check out Hrithik’s North American box office returns since 2001.
Though not as prolific as other Bollywood heroes, Hrithik is certainly dependable at the box office. Ten of the thirteen films he’s released since 2001 — the ones for which I have reliable data — have earned at least $1 million in the States. His only movie to earn less than $500,000 in North America was 2009’s Luck By Chance, in which he played a small supporting role (despite featuring prominently on the film’s poster).
With the three Khans in a league of their own, let’s pit Hrithik’s track record against that of a more comparable A-list star: Akshay Kumar, an actor as profligate as Hrithik is picky. Though Akshay has had a great 2016 so far — with Airlift earning $1.8 million here in January and Housefull 3 $1.3 million in June — this chart I made in 2014 showed his earnings in North America trending down. None of the four films he released in 2015 made $1 million.
Akshay’s highest finish in the all-time Bollywood box office list for North America is 45th place for 2008’s Singh Is Kinng. Five of Hrithik’s films rank above that, including two in the Top 20 (Jodhaa Akbar in sixteenth place and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara in eighteenth place). While Akshay may have greater lifetime receipts due to volume, Hrithik’s earning potential for any given film is higher.
Hrithik and Akshay face off in theaters on August 12, 2016, with the release of Mohenjo Daro and Rustom, respectively. Mohenjo Daro reunites Hrithik with his Jodhaa Akbar director Ashutosh Gowariker, but the film’s leading lady, Pooja Hedge, is a newcomer to Hindi films (as opposed to his superstar Jodhaa Akbar heroine, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan). On the other hand, movies with patriotic themes — like Holiday, Baby, and Airlift — have been Akshay’s bread and butter in recent years, and he plays a Navy officer in Rustom. It’s going to be fun to see who wins this box office duel.
Sources: Box Office Mojo and Rentrak, via Bollywood Hungama
I updated my list of Bollywood movies on Netflix with one new addition to the catalog. Director Leena Yadav’s Parched is now available for streaming. It won the Audience Choice award for Best Feature at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles earlier this year, along with joint Best Actress awards for the main cast, which includes Radhika Apte and Tannishtha Chatterjee.
Two movies are set to expire from Netflix in the coming days: Taal on August 12 and Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain on August 15. I haven’t seen Taal, but Bhopal is worth checking out before it hits bricks.
Hindi films were in a holding pattern over the weekend, biding time until the release of Mohenjo Daro and Rustom on August 12. Of the Bollywood movies still in North American theaters from August 5-7, 2016, Dishoom led the pack with $117,601 from 73 theaters ($1,611 average). That brings its total to $742,108 after its second weekend.
In its fifth weekend, Sultan took in $28,174 from twenty theaters ($1,409 average), bringing its total earnings to $6,180,930. Madaari completed its third weekend in North America with $1,592 from four theaters ($398 average) to bring its total to $163,408.
Source: Rentrak, via Bollywood Hungama
With two big films on tap for next weekend — Mohenjo Daro and Rustom — no new Hindi movies are opening in the Chicago area on Friday, August 5, 2016. Dishoom carries over for a second week at MovieMax Cinemas in Niles, AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington, and Regal Cantera Stadium 17 in Warrenville. Sultan gets a fifth week at the Cantera 17 and MovieMax, which also holds over Madaari for a third week.
One new release of interest to fans of Indian cinema is Bazodee, a musical romance about an NRI in Trinidad and Tobago who falls for a handsome rasta singer. Bazodee stars Bollywood veteran Kabir Bedi and opens locally at the Cantera 17, Regal Round Lake Beach Stadium 18 in Round Lake Beach, and AMC Loews Woodridge 18 in Woodridge.
Other Indian movies showing in the Chicago area:
Dishoom performed well in its opening weekend in North American theaters. From July 29-31, 2016, the action flick earned $435,497 from 111 theaters ($3,923 average). That was enough to finish in twentieth place overall in North America.
The shocking news from the weekend was how dramatically business for the Tamil/Telugu film Kabali fell in its second weekend of release. After earning nearly $4 million in its opening weekend, Kabali earned just $239,352 from 141 theaters ($1,698 average) in its second. That’s a drop of nearly 95%. Tickets for Indian films in languages other than Hindi cost more during their first week in North American theaters, but the price drop in the second week isn’t steep enough to explain such low returns. For example, in Chicago area theaters, opening weekend adult tickets were priced at $20 and up. As of today — Kabali‘s fourteenth day in theaters — two local theaters are still pricing adult tickets at $18, two at $10, and one at $4.50 (the Century Stratford Square in Bloomingdale, for you bargain hunters out there). Kabali‘s total earnings in the United States and Canada stand at $4,436,528.
Back to Hindi films, Sultan is finally running out of steam. In its fourth weekend, it earned $83,785 from 41 theaters ($2,044 average), bringing its North American total to $6,107,827.
Other Bollywood movies still in theaters:
Sources: Box Office Mojo and Rentrak, via Bollywood Hungama
I updated my list of Bollywood movies on Netflix with three new additions to the catalog. The 2005 drama Amu, the 2015 documentary For the Love of a Man, and the 2016 action sequel Ghayal Once Again are now available for streaming. I couldn’t make heads or tails of Ghayal Once Again‘s plot, but maybe you’ll have better luck.
2.5 Stars (out of 4)
Buy the DVD at Amazon
Buy the soundtrack at iTunes
As I walked out of the theater following Dishoom, I tried to downplay my concerns about the way the film handles its female characters. Then something in the lobby reminded me that one’s social conscience doesn’t turn off when viewing media billed as light entertainment.
Dishoom‘s main hero is Kabir (John Abraham), a tough cop who doesn’t play by the rules. He’s introduced tossing a man out of an elevator for daring to ask him not to smoke indoors. We’re supposed to laugh when Kabir tells the man that he offered to let him take the stairs instead.
In the next scene, Kabir meets his girlfriend, Alishka, in her apartment. He deduces that she’s been having an affair and that the man is hiding in the apartment. Kabir draws his gun, points it at Alishka’s head, and tells the hiding man that he has three seconds to reveal himself or Kabir will kill Alishka. (The man reveals himself, sparing Alishka’s life.)
Writer-director Rohit Dhawan underestimates how disturbing this scene is, lumping it in with the elevator scene as a means to establish Kabir as a rule breaker. I was almost lulled into acceptance myself until I saw something most ironic playing on a monitor in the theater lobby. There was Jacqueline Fernandez — Dishoom‘s leading lady and Kabir’s eventual love interest — dancing to the Spice Girls’ “Wannabe” in front of a banner that read “End Violence Against Girls.” (The video is embedded below.)
Violence against women is enough of a problem in India (and around the world) that Fernandez was moved to star in a public service announcement decrying it, yet her character in Dishoom falls for a man who was ready to murder his girlfriend. One step toward ending violence against women in the real world is to stop normalizing it onscreen.
The scene with Kabir’s girlfriend is such a shame, because Dishoom is otherwise a pretty fun movie. Kabir travels to the Middle East to find a kidnapped Indian cricketer (played by Saqib Saleem) before a high-stakes match with Pakistan. Kabir is aided by a rookie cop named Junaid (Varun Dhawan) and a wise-cracking thief (Fernandez).
The performances are uniformly solid. Varun (director Dhawan’s brother) supplies the laughs while Abraham serves as straight man. Fernandez gets to be funny, too — and she steals the show in the killer dance number, “Sau Tarah Ke.” Saleem does fine work, as does Akshaye Khanna in a villainous role.
Dhawan knows how to make a great-looking movie, full of bright colors and pleasing shots. The cricket scenes in particular stand out. Here’s hoping that Dhawan chooses a sports film as his next project.
Yet, for all the things that I enjoyed about Dishoom, it’s hard to fully recommend it given its troublesome lead character. It would be easy to write Dishoom off as a mindless action entertainer, but maybe that’s exactly why we should be even more critical of the message it sends about violence against women.
Here’s Jacqueline Fernandez’s PSA for The Global Goals:
Links
The Bollywood buddy cop film Dishoom — starring John Abraham, Varun Dhawan, and Jacqueline Fernandez — hits Chicago area theaters on July 29, 2016.
Dishoom opens on Friday at the AMC River East 21 in Chicago, MovieMax Cinemas in Niles, AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington, and Regal Cantera Stadium 17 in Warrenville. It has a listed runtime of 2 hours.
Madaari carries over for a second week at MovieMax and Cantera, but with limited showings at both theaters. Sultan gets a fourth week at MovieMax, South Barrington 30, Cantera, and AMC Loews Woodridge 18 in Woodridge.
Other Indian movies showing in the Chicago area this weekend include: