I’m a bit surprised that Eros Entertainment’s Paathshaala, starring Shahid Kapoor, isn’t opening in Chicago. The IPL cricket tournament has stalled movie releases internationally as well as in India. There’s a chance Chicago won’t get a new Hindi film until the star-studded Housefull releases on April 30.
Other Indian movies showing around Chicagoland the weekend beginning Friday, April 16 include In Ghost House Inn: Harihar Nagar 3 (Malayalam), Prasthanam (Telugu) and Varudu (Telugu) at the Golf Glen 5, which continues to show IPL matches on weekend mornings. Sathyam Cinemas in Downers Grove is showing two Malayalam movies, Drona and My Big Father.
Finally, Chicago area Bollywood fans have a reason to return to the theater. Prince stars Vivek Oberoi as the world’s greatest thief, who loses his memory during the course of a heist. He has six days to recover his memory and save the world. The movie is produced by the same team behind Race, so expect logic-defying action scenes and minimal story.
There are no other Hindi films playing in the Chicago area this weekend. Though it left area theaters weeks ago, My Name Is Khan just passed the $4 million mark in nationwide earnings.
Other Indian movies playing in theaters this weekend include Paiyaa (Tamil), Thanthoni (Malayalam) and Varudu (Telugu) at the Golf Glen 5. Paiyaa is also showing at Sathyam Cinemas in Downers Grove.
The Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles hosts the only new Hindi movies opening in the Chicago area on Friday, March 12: the cop thriller Right Yaaa Wrong, which stars Sunny Deol, Irrfan Khan and Konkona Sen Sharma, and a little known comedy with a long title, Na Ghar Ke Na Ghaat Ke.
Expect next week to be light on new Hindi movies as well, with wider Chicago area releases of movies featuring big stars resuming March 26.
The Golf Glen 5 is also showing Indian Premier League cricket matches in the morning every weekend through mid-April. Check the theater’s website for match times.
One new Hindi movie opens in the Chicago area on Friday, March 5, 2010. The comedy Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge stars Ajay Devgan and Konkona Sen Sharma as a married couple desperate to rid themselves of an annoying house guest, played by Paresh Rawal.
Last weekend’s other new release, Teen Patti, leaves theaters after one week.
The only other Hindi film showing in the Chicago area this weekend is My Name Is Khan, which has earned $3,634,423 in the U.S. so far. It continues its run at the South Barrington 30, Cantera 30 and AMC Loews Pipers Alley 4 in Chicago.
Two new Hindi movies open in Chicago area theaters on Friday, February 26, 2010. Karthik Calling Karthik stars Farhan Akhtar as the shy title character who secretly loves his coworker, Shonali (Deepika Padukone). Their lives change when Karthik gets a phone call from a man also claiming to be Karthik.
I’m not sure what to expect from KCK. The official description makes it sound like a romantic comedy, while the trailer makes it look like a thriller. But Akhtar and Padukone are my two favorite actors, so I trust them to make a compelling movie.
The other movie opening this weekend is Teen Patti. The thriller stars Amitabh Bachchan, R. Madhavan and Ben Kingsley as mathematicians who find a way to win at teen patti (a card game similar to poker) and recruit some college students to help them test their equation in casinos. The premise sounds similar to that of the 2008 Hollywood film 21.
Both films are showing at two suburban Chicago theaters this weekend: AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington and AMC Cantera 30 in Warrenville.
The South Barrington 30 and Cantera 30 are carrying over My Name Is Khan for a third week, which continues showing at AMC Loews Pipers Alley 4 in Chicago and Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles as well. MNIK earned over $700,000 in its second week in U.S. theaters, bringing its total earnings to $3,253,168 so far.
3 Idiots leaves U.S. theaters after 9 weeks, having earned $6,523,103.
Other Indian movies showing at the Golf Glen 5 this weekend include Drona (Malayalam — not Abhishek Bachchan’s Drona), Leader (Telugu), and Vinnai Thaandi Varuvayaa (Tamil) and Ye Maya Chesave (Telugu), which are the same movie filmed at the same time, only in different languages and with different actors in key roles. Both VTV and YMC feature music by A. R. Rahman.
With My Name Is Khan dominating screen space, there are no new Hindi movies opening in Chicagoland this weekend. MNIKearned $2,264,983 in U.S. theaters during its opening weekend, which included an extra day because of Monday’s Presidents Day holiday. The movie had the highest per screen average with $18,875, beating Valentine’s Day‘s $17,227 per screen haul.
If you’ve still not gotten around to seeing 3 Idiots, it’s sticking around for a ninth week at the South Barrington 30.
Other Indian movies showing in the Chicago area this weekend include Leader (Telugu), Thamizh Padam (Tamil) and Uthara Swayamvaram (Malayalam) at the Golf Glen 5 and Chattambi Nadu (Malayalam) at Sathyam Cinemas in Downers Grove.
The first major Bollywood release of 2010 is upon us. My Name Is Khan features Shahrukh Khan as Rizvan Khan, an Indian immigrant with Asperger syndrome living in San Fransisco. Kajol plays Rizvan’s love interest, Mandira. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 jeopardize their happiness, and Rizvan undertakes a cross-country journey to prove his love for Mandira.
I’m always interested in perspectives on 9/11 from filmmakers outside of the U.S., as in the 2009 Hindi films New York and Kurbaan. I’m a bit concerned about MNIK‘s surface similarities to Forrest Gump (a guy with social problems on a cross-country journey), a movie I wasn’t crazy about. But I have faith in SRK and Kajol to give spectacular performances that will win me over.
My Name Is Khan opens in the Chicago area on Friday, February 12 at the AMC Loews Pipers Alley 4 in Chicago, Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles, AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington and AMC Cantera 30 in Warrenville. MNIK has a listed runtime of 2 hrs. 25 min. Based on the amount of time the AMC theaters are allowing between showings (usually a reliable indicator), I suspect the movie’s actual runtime is longer than that.
The only other Hindi movie showing in the Chicago area this weekend is 3 Idiots, which continues for its eighth week at the South Barrington 30. The movie has earned $6,463,622 in U.S. theaters thus far.
Striker departs theaters after one week. I don’t have figures on how much it earned in U.S. theaters, but American YouTube viewers have rented the movie just 1,283 times since its worldwide release last Friday. I hope Striker gets more attention when it releases on DVD, because it’s terrific.
Other Indian films playing in the Chicago area this weekend include Body Guard (Malayalam), Kedi (Telugu) and Thamizh Padam (Tamil) at the Golf Glen 5. Kedi is also showing at Sathyam Cinemas in Downers Grove.
It’s a light weekend for Bollywood films in Chicago, with only one new movie opening. Striker stars Siddharth as a poor kid who makes his way in life as a carrom hustler. It opens on Friday, February 5, 2010 at the Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles.
If you can’t make it to Niles to see Striker, fear not. Fans in the United States can watch the movie on YouTube for $4.99 starting on Friday, the same day that it opens in theaters. Follow this link to Studio 18’s YouTube page, then click on the red “US visitors click here” arrow in the upper right corner of the page.
Striker will be available for free to YouTube users in other countries starting on February 6. This is the first collaboration between YouTube and a Bollywood studio to provide streaming film content, and I hope the experiment works.
As for last week’s new releases, the Golf Glen 5 is carrying over Ishqiya, while the AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington is carrying over Rann. 3 Idiots gets an astounding seventh week on screens at the South Barrington 30 and AMC Cantera 30 in Warrenville.
Veer leaves theaters after two weeks, having earned $499,685 in the United States.
The Golf Glen 5 is showing a host of other Indian films this weekend, including Asal (Tamil), Bindaas (Telugu), Happy Husbands (Malayalam) and a remastered version of 1957’s Maya Bazaar (Telugu). Sathyam Cinemas in Downers Grove features the movies Goa (Tamil), Namo Venkatesa (Telugu) and Vairam (Malayalam).
Two new Hindi movies open in the Chicago area on Friday, January 29, 2010. Rann (“Battle”) is director Ram Gopal Varma’s fictional exposé of corporate media corruption, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Ritesh Deshmukh.
This weekend’s other new movie is Ishqiya, starring Vidya Balan as an alluring widow and Arshad Warsi and Naseeruddin Shah as the two thieves who fall in love with her.
Salman Khan’s Veer enters its second week in area theaters after earning $334,562 in the U.S. in its opening weekend. The movie carries over at the Golf Glen 5, South Barrington 30 and AMC Cantera 30 in Warrenville.
The super hit 3 Idiots sticks around for an amazing sixth week, having already earned $6,294,393 in U.S. theaters. It continues to run at the Golf Glen 5, South Barrington 30, Cantera 30 and AMC Loews Pipers Alley 4 in Chicago.
Chance Pe Dance leaves theaters after two weeks, having earned a disappointing $164,188 total in the U.S.
One new Hindi movie opens in Chicago area theaters this weekend. Veer is a historical epic about a fictional Pindari warrior fighting India’s British occupiers in 1825. Salman Khan, who co-wrote the screenplay, stars as the title character.
After earning just $117,917 during its first weekend in U.S. theaters, Chance Pe Dance carries over for a second week at the South Barrington 30. Meanwhile, 3 Idiots, which has earned over $6 million in the U.S. so far, sticks around for a fifth week at the South Barrington 30, Cantera 30 and AMC Loews Pipers Alley 4 in Chicago.
