Tag Archives: Armaan Jain

How Do New Bollywood Heroes Fare in the US?

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The upcoming release of Tiger Shroff’s A Flying Jatt got me thinking about just how hard it is to launch a career as a Bollywood hero abroad. It’s difficult enough to succeed in India, but even more so overseas, where fans aren’t bombarded with the same kind of media saturation. That’s assuming that a distributor is even willing to put your film in theaters. Although Arjun Kapoor is a star now, his first picture — Ishaqzaade — didn’t release in the United States.

A Flying Jatt is Shroff’s third release since his 2014 debut, a promising sign for his Bollywood career prospects (at least for a while). I looked at some of his contemporaries from 2010 on to see how they’ve fared since their debuts. I only considered actors who launched under similar circumstances to Shroff: first-time actors without previously established entertainment careers (regional films, singing, TV, etc.) who were the sole male lead in their film, as opposed to, say, Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra who launched together in Student of the Year. Also, the hopeful hero’s film needed to be released in the United States (which excludes Kapoor and Saqib Saleem).

That leaves us with six contenders, including Shroff. Here they are, in order of their debuts:

Ranveer SinghBand_Baaja_Baaraat_poster
Debut film: Band Baaja Baaraat
Release date: December 10, 2010
US box office: $71,374
Of the 32 films that released in US theaters in 2010 for which I have data, Band Baaja Baaraat ranked 30th in total gross. That early hiccup didn’t hinder Singh’s rise to stardom. His most recent film — Bajirao Mastani — earned $6,653,317 last year.

Girish KumarRamaiyaVastavaiya
Debut: Ramaiya Vastavaiya
Release date: July 19, 2013
U.S. box office: $52,200
While $52,000 is nothing to crow about, Kumar’s followup film — Loveshhuda — made just $1,787 in the US earlier this year. Might be time to accept that this dog won’t hunt.

Shiv DarshanKarle_Pyaar_Karle_Movie_Poster
Debut: Karle Pyaar Karle
Release date: January 17, 2014
US box office: $3,110
I have an inexplicable fondness for Karle Pyaar Karle because of how hilariously horrible it is, and Shiv Darshan is especially awful in it. The only reason I don’t recommend the movie is because it’s racist near the end (also, I have no idea where to find it). You may not have a future as an actor, Shiv, but I’ll always remember you.

Tiger ShroffHeropanti_Poster
Debut: Heropanti
Release date: May 23, 2014
US box office: $63,172
While Heropanti wasn’t a hit here, Shroff’s followup — Baaghi — made $437,243 earlier this year. If A Flying Jatt can come close to that, it bodes well for Shroff’s longevity.

Armaan JainLekar_Hum_Deewana_Dil_poster
Debut: Lekar Hum Deewana Dil
Release date: July 4, 2014
US box office: $10,529
Even after rereading my review of Lekar Hum Deewana Dil, I still have no recollection of having seen it. That’s the kind of impression Armaan Jain made on me: none at all.

Sooraj PancholiHero
Debut: Hero
Release date: September 11, 2015
US box office: $83,973
Hero did comparatively well for a debut film, but Pancholi’s personal/legal problems could make studios consider him a liability, especially if he’s ever convicted of a crime related to Jiah Khan’s suicide. The jury’s still out on Pancholi, in more ways than one.

Box Office Sources: Box Office Mojo and Bollywood Hungama

Movie Review: Lekar Hum Deewana Dil (2014)

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Lekar_Hum_Deewana_Dil_poster2 Stars (out of 4)

Buy or rent the movie at iTunes
Buy the DVD at Amazon
Buy the soundtrack at Amazon

Everyone does stupid stuff during college, but rarely something as reckless as getting married on a lark. The characters in Lekar Hum Deewana Dil (“With Our Joyful Hearts“) take that matrimonial leap and spend the rest of the film paying the consequences.

Dino (Armaan Jain) and Karishma (Deeksha Seth) are best buddies, though their university chums suspect that their feelings for one another are more than platonic. Karishma’s father insists that his daughter marry at age twenty-one, citing a vague family tradition as precedent.

To save Karishma from an arranged marriage, she and Dino elope on his motorcycle. They get married, but they never actually consummate it because neither of them thought to buy condoms, and they’re constantly on the run from their parents.

When they do find a peaceful moment, Dino and Karishma are faced with the realities of married life. They don’t have jobs, they’re running out of money, and they know nothing about how much it costs to run a household. Practical pressures strain the couples’ relationship, and Karishma calls the road trip off when she is forced to poop in the jungle.

The second half of the movie deals with the fallout from the elopement. The focus on practicalities that dominated the first half disappears, and the second half centers more on whether or not the couple is destined to be together.

Given the tenor of the first half, whether the couple is meant to be together isn’t of utmost importance. The question is whether they are ready to be together, but Lekar Hum Deewana Dil glosses over that. By the end of the film, Dino and Karishma are mostly unchanged from the privileged, immature kids they were at the beginning.

That’s not to say that Dino and Karishma are bad characters. They just don’t evolve. If anything, they devolve, spending most of their time after the interval screaming at each other.

Jain — who looks like a young clone of Saif Ali Khan — and Seth are competent, but they’re not asked to display much range. Few other characters get much screentime except for Dino’s older brother Dev (Sudeep Sahir), who is fine until a bizarre romantic subplot turns him into a stammering oaf.

One of Lekar Hum Deewana Dil‘s selling points is a soundtrack by A. R. Rahman. The music is good, but it’s hard to enjoy within the context of the film. Director Arif Ali favors jerky handheld cameras and claustrophobic closeups on faces. Combine those with quick edits, and the song-and-dance numbers — especially the opening one — become an exercise in avoiding motion sickness.

Links

  • Lekar Hum Deewana Dil at Wikipedia
  • Lekar Hum Deewana Dil at IMDb

Opening July 4: Bobby Jasoos and Lekar Hum Deewana Dil

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July 4, 2014, sees two new Hindi movies opening in Chicago area theaters. First up is one of the two movies releasing in 2014 that I have been most excited about (the other was Highway): Bobby Jasoos! Vidya Balan plays a woman who aspires to be Hyderabad’s number one detective.

Bobby Jasoos opens on Friday at 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 hrs. 1 min.

The other movie releasing on Independence Day is Lekar Hum Deewana Dil (“With Our Joyful Hearts“), a romantic drama featuring newcomers Armaan Jain and Deeksha Seth.

Lekar Hum Deewana Dil opens on Friday at the South Barrington 30, Cantera 17, and AMC River East 21 in Chicago. It has a listed runtime of 2 hrs. 10 min.

Ek Villain carries over for a second week at the AMC Showplace Niles 12 in Niles, South Barrington 30, Cantera 17, and MovieMax, which also gives a third weekend to Humshakals.

As far as other Indian movies go, the Century Stratford Square in Bloomingdale has Punjab 1984 (Punjabi w/English subtitles), while MovieMax carries Ra Ra Krishnayya (Telugu), Arima Nambi (Tamil),  Autonagar Surya (Telugu), Bangalore Days (Malayalam), Oohalu Gusagusalade (Telugu), and Mundasupatti (Tamil).