Tag Archives: Kai Po Che

Streaming Video News: October 3, 2022

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I just updated my list of Bollywood movies on Netflix with yet another massive list of films that will soon expire from Netflix. Following the big purge of UTV titles on October 1, most of the rest of the UTV catalog will expire on November 1. Because of the ways that films are co-produced by multiple studios, I suspect a lot of this activity is due to a realignment of streaming video contracts. Many of these titles may wind up on Netflix again, although some will likely make their way other streamers (such as Disney+/Hotstar/Hulu in the case of movies produced by Disney India, like ABCD 2 or Zokkomon.)

Here are all of the movies leaving Netflix on November 1, with titles I’ve reviewed at the top followed by other titles in alphabetical order:

In other streaming news, the mass exodus of Yash Rash Films content from Amazon Prime that I wrote about last week turns out to have been more of a housekeeping matter. Previously, every YRF title had two separate catalog IDs: one from the initial time they were added to the Amazon Prime catalog and then when the movies were added again (for some reason). All of the original YRF catalog entries were wiped out on October 1, but the newer catalog IDs remain. So for now, the vast majority of YRF movies are still available on Amazon Prime. You can find all of them on my list of Bollywood movies on Amazon Prime.

Streaming Video News: November 2, 2018

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I updated my list of Bollywood movies on Netflix with 35 Indian movies that were just added to the streaming catalog. Three Tamil films, two Malayalam movies, and the 2018 Punjabi drama Asees are now available, along with a trove of Hindi films released theatrically from 2006-2015. Most of the titles are new to Netflix. Here are links those I’ve previously reviewed:

I also updated my list of Bollywood movies on Amazon Prime with three Kannada films that released theatrically this year: Katheyondu Shuruvagide, Sankashta Kara Ganapathi, and Uddishya. For everything else new on Netflix and Prime — Bollywood or not — check Instant Watcher.

Bollywood Sports Movies on Netflix

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Click here to view my full, up-to-date list of all Hindi movies currently available on Netflix.

India’s semi-finals exit from the Cricket World Cup altered a lot of people’s weekend plans. If you’re still in a sporty mood, check out these Bollywood movies about athletes, available on Netflix:

ChakDeIndiaChak De! India (2007)

This is probably my favorite sports movie ever. Shahrukh Khan plays the coach of the talented but underestimated Indian national women’s field hockey team. It’s a great film for families, and especially for girls. Its pro-diversity message also makes it one of the most patriotic Bollywood films out there.

Kai_Poche_film_posterKai Po Che! (2013)

Three cricket-loving young men find their hopes for the future dashed by an earthquake and a wave of political and religious violence. Kai Po Che is worth watching for performances by some of Bollywood’s hottest young stars.

 

sikandarSikandar (2009)

Like Kai Po Che!, Sikandar is another film in which violence intrudes upon the life of a young athlete, this time a soccer player.

 

 

say-salaam-indiaSay Salaam India (2006)

A coach turns a bunch of wrestlers into cricket players.

 

 

ZnmdcoverZindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011)

Three single friends go on one last road trip, challenging themselves with extreme sports like sky diving along the way. A fun movie with a super cast. My favorite part of ZNMD is the song “Señorita,” sung by the movie’s stars: Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, and Abhay Deol.

Best Bollywood Movies of 2013

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What stands out most on my Top Ten list for 2013 is the diversity of genres represented. No matter what you’re in the mood for, there’s a really good movie on this list. (Click on the title of each movie to read my original review.)

Want a fun teen dance flick? Check out ABCD: Any Body Can Dance.
Looking for a good sports movie or biopic? Try Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.
In the mood for a family drama set in the underworld? You’ve gotta see Aurangzeb.

In addition to the great variety on the list, all the movies mentioned are accessible to an international audience. Familiarity with Hindi movies and their structure may enhance one’s appreciation of Phata Poster Nikla Hero or Commando: A One Man Army, but a lack of prior experience shouldn’t keep Bollywood newcomers from enjoying them. In fact, Commando‘s best selling point is that it’s a martial arts action flick with a romantic dance number in the middle.

2013 was a great year for films featuring ensemble casts. Movies like Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola and D-Day showcase the work of veteran stars, while Shuddh Desi Romance and Kai Po Che! — both of which star Sushant Singh Rajput — feature up-and-comers with bright futures ahead of them.

D-Day also features my single favorite scene in any movie from 2013: a heartbreaking song montage about the doomed relationship between an assassin (Arjun Rampal) and a prostitute (Shruti Haasan).

My favorite Hindi movie of 2013 offers the perfect mix of passion and drama in a beautiful setting. If I could dream up an ideal romantic movie, it would be Lootera. [Buy it on DVD here.]

Writers Vikramaditya Motwane and Bhavani Iyer took a short story by O. Henry and adapted it to depict a tumultuous time period in India, as family fortunes were dismantled in the years following partition. Imagine trying to cope with the heightened emotions of first love while your way of life is turned on its head. Such are the circumstances for Pakhi (Sonakshi Sinha) and her beau, Varun (Ranveer Singh).

Fans of Victorian literature or contemporary period dramas like Downton Abbey: Lootera is made for you.

Best Bollywood Movies of 2013

  1. Lootera — Buy at Amazon
  2. D-Day — Buy/rent at Amazon or iTunes
  3. Kai Po Che! — Buy/rent at Amazon or iTunes
  4. Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola — Buy/rent at Amazon
  5. Shuddh Desi Romance — Buy/rent at Amazon or iTunes
  6. Commando: A One Man Army — Buy at Amazon
  7. ABCD: Any Body Can Dance — Buy/rent at Amazon or iTunes
  8. Aurangzeb — Buy/rent at Amazon or iTunes
  9. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag — Buy/rent at Amazon or iTunes
  10. Phata Poster Nikla Hero — Buy at Amazon

Previous Best Movies Lists

Streaming Video News: May 14, 2013

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Kai Po Che! is now available on Netflix streaming. With the recent addition of ABCD to the catalog, two of my three favorite Bollywood films of 2013 are currently available on the service. If they add Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola, I’ll be all set.

Opening March 29: Himmatwala

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At long last, a likely Bollywood blockbuster is set to open in Chicago area theaters. Himmatwala stars Ajay Devgn in a remake of the 1983 action flick of the same name. In Singham, Devgn’s open-handed slap attacks were accompanied by a lion’s roar, and now he wrestles a tiger in Himmatwala. Is this big cat theme deliberate?

Himmatwala opens on Friday, March 29, 2013, 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. 30 min.

Last weekend’s new release, Rangrezz, does not get a second week after earning an absolutely pathetic $4,318 from 11 theaters in the United States. Other notable earnings figures from last weekend include $16,951 for Kai Po Che! from 18 theaters and just $1,006 (yikes!) for The Attacks of 26/11 from 51 theaters.

Other Indian movies showing at the Golf Glen 5 this weekend include Chennaiyil Oru Naal (Tamil), Jaffa (Telugu), Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga (Tamil), and Swamy Ra Ra (Telugu).

Opening March 22: Rangrezz

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Pickings remain slim in Chicago area theaters. Only one new Hindi movie opens locally on March 22, 2013, and it’s not the one I wanted. Instead of the creepy-looking Bipasha Basu/Nawazuddin Siddiqui horror flick Aatma, we get Rangrezz, producer Vashu Bhagnani’s latest attempt to turn his son, Jackky, into a Bollywood star, against the wishes of audiences everywhere.

Rangrezz opens on Friday at the Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles. It has a listed runtime of 2 hrs. 20 min.

The Golf Glen 5 is the only theater in the Chicago area carrying any Indian movies this weekend, including the Hindi films The Attacks of 26/11 and Kai Po Che! (which has earned $1,080,384 from four weeks in U.S. theaters), as well as Paradesi (Tamil) and Romans (Malayalam).

Just four weeks after its theatrical release, The Attacks of 26/11 joins the catalog of films of available on Eros Now on Friday. Like 3G, it’s considered a premium title that’s free to subscribers or available for a 48-hour rental for $1.99.

In Theaters March 15, 2013

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Update: The new release 3G is currently available on Eros Now not only to subscribers but on a 48-hour rental basis for $1.99. However, due to rights restrictions, the film isn’t available online in India, Pakistan, Burma, Fiji, UAE, Mauritius, Kenya, or South Africa.

Uh-oh. This is the second weekend in a row with no new Hindi movies opening in Chicago area theaters. The absence of Jolly LLB isn’t a surprise, but I expected Y-Films’ Mere Dad Ki Maruti to release here. I’m still hopeful that we’ll get the Bipasha Basu horror flick Aatma next week, but there’s a chance Chicago area Bollywood fans will have to go without until Himmatwala debuts on March 29.

The good news is that Eros Now subscribers can watch 3G on the streaming service starting this Friday, March 15, the same day that it opens in India. That bad news for Neil Nitin Mukesh fans is that the failure of 3G to get a large roll out on the heels of a very small U.S. release of David last month seems to definitively rule him out as a bankable international leading man. I expect we won’t see much of him in The States in the future outside of roles in ensemble pictures like 7 Khoon Maaf.

In the meantime, Kai Po Che! — which has earned $1,013,738 from three weeks in U.S. theaters — carries over for a fourth week at the Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles, AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington, and Regal Cantera Stadium 17 in Warrenville.

The Golf Glen 5 is also holding over The Attacks of 26/11 for a third week, as well as Back Bench Student (Telugu), Paradesi (Tamil), and Romans (Malayalam).

In Theaters March 8, 2013

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For the first time in months, there are no new Hindi movies opening in Chicago area theaters this weekend. The sequel Saheb, Biwi aur Gangster Returns didn’t make the cut locally, which isn’t a surprise given that the original Saheb, Biwi aur Gangster earned a pathetic $13,634 in the two weeks it spent in U.S. theaters in 2011.

As of Friday, March 8, 2013, Kai Po Che! remains the most widely available Hindi movie showing in Chicagoland. After earning $876,568 from its first two weeks in the U.S., it carries over at the AMC River East 21 in Chicago, Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles, AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington, and Regal Cantera Stadium 17 in Warrenville. Many theaters have cut back on the number of showings per day of Kai Po Che! and other niche films to free up screenspace for Oz The Great and Powerful, so make sure to check the schedule before heading to the theater.

With first weekend U.S. earnings of $159,619, The Attacks of 26/11 gets a second weekend at the Golf Glen 5, South Barrington 30, and Cantera 17. The Golf Glen 5 is the only area theater holding over last week’s other new release, I, Me aur Main, which presumably fared even worse at the box office.

Other Indian movies showing at the Golf Glen 5 this weekend include the Telugu film Gundello Godari and the Malayalam film Manjadikuru (“Lucky Red Seeds“).

Opening March 1: I, Me Aur Main and The Attacks of 26/11

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Two more new Hindi movies are set to open in the Chicago area on March 1, 2013. The romantic drama I, Me Aur Main stars John Abraham as a pampered man-child opposite Chitrangada Singh and Prachi Desai.

I, Me Aur Main 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 1 hr. 46 min.

Director Ram Gopal Varma’s thriller The Attacks of 26/11 also opens in area theaters on Friday. Given the relative freshness of the wounds inflicted by the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, I’m curious to see if RGV will rein in some of his more eccentric directorial quirks and tell a more somber, straightforward story.

The Attacks of 26/11 opens on Friday at all of the above theaters and has a listed runtime of 1 hr. 59 min.

Kai Po Che! posted strong first-weekend U.S. earnings of $522,765, meriting a second week in all of the above theaters plus the AMC River East 21 in Chicago. The disappointing gangster drama Zila Ghaziabad, predictably, does not get a second week.

On Friday, Special 26 begins its fourth week at the South Barrington 30, while ABCD departs local theaters with total U.S. earnings of $218,257.

Other Indian movies showing at the Golf Glen 5 on Friday include Kammath & Kammath (Malayalam) and Mr. Pellikoduku (Telugu).