Karan Johar has rubbished rumours that the deal with Fox Studios for distributing their upcoming film My Name Is Khan is worth 100 crores ($20 million).
Says Karan “Let me tell you the amount mentioned is nowhere near being a realistic one. The deal between Star Fox Studios, my company and Red Chillies is an internal matter and can’t be discussed in public. What makes this deal so historic is not the money involved, but the attempt to cross the diaspora with a Hindi language film”
Karan calls it historic, but we wonder how different this deal is from Warner Bros who distributed Akshay Kumar’s Chandni Chowk To China, which eventually released on only about 120 theatres in the United States. If we expect My Name Is Khan to re-create the Slumdog magic in US, its next to impossible. Neither is the film in English nor is it directed by a British director!
Slumdog, while not an Indian movie, per se, has opened many Americans’ minds and whetted the appetite for Indian cinema. I know that if I have the opportunity to see MNIK in a theatre, I will be there! Even if it only appears in a greater array of art cinema houses, that would be great. As it is, I have to drive 70 miles if I want to see a Bollywood film on the big screen!
Its NOT impossible at all. I feel this film will be GREAT and Americans will love it. I feel that Shahrukh will do full justice to his role and this film will be beyond AMAZING. like the above post, I too have to go quite a distance to see a bollywood film and if it will be in theaters that don’t usually show Bollywood films, then I am so happy. I will go see it everyday untilt hey stop showing the film:)
and by the way, when Karan “rubbished rumours” hat the film has not been bought for 100 crores then why not talk his word for it.
okkkayyyyyyy! what do u mean that it is not in english and not made by a british director!!INDICINE u guys r mean to ur own race! WoW!!! r u trying to say that indians r not capable! that was just verrry rude of saying that slumdog was made by a british! u should be ashamed of ur self! no offence but that was just verrry rude!!! please don’t delete this comment cause i want everyone to notice that part!! and about how much mnik is sold for! doesn’t matter!
Priyanka, we didn’t mean it in a bad way. What we meant was, The Oscars or Hollywood don’t give much importance to Indian films at all.
Haven’t we seen much better films than Slumdog Millionaire, which afterall was a typical Bollywood masala film but made by a British director? Not that we aren’t capable, we are infact capable of much more, given the budget those movies are made at.
And by “it is not made in English”.. Why would Americans watch Hindi films? A language they dont understand.. It would never get a mainstream release. Would slumdog be watched by millions of americans if it was a film made in Hindi? Would it win the oscars?
That news and the way it expresses show how you aren’t objective at all about The King Of Bollywood Shahrukh!!!! Stupid from Indicine
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No offence priyanka but you are a bit of an idiot (I know it says not to be rude but its true). It was totally obvious what indicine were trying to say! They weren’t de-meaning indian cinema, just being realistic and I agree with them. Just because we are really looking forward to it and know its going to be a big hit in the east doesn’t mean that it stands a chance in the west.
With fox behind karan, it would do better in terms of sales compared to other indian films released but won’t be on the scale of Slumdog.
Also, on the whole Indian directors are very talented but the hunger for simple, silly, immature films in india is far to great to ignore. Now, because of he emerging new middle class the films are starting to mature story wise, there is now a growing appetite for sensible films. For the most part, directors like David Dhavan can stick to their stupid comedies but the Indian directors with real talent need opportunities and on the most part they probably won’t find it in India. Don’t get me wrong, there are some amazing indian films out there but for every 1 good film there is 100 that are crap. Shekhar Kapur is a great example, when in India he made “Mr. India” a copy of Martin steven’s film but when he worked for the british film industry he made the highly acclaimed “Elizabeth” and “The Golden Age”. Also, I liked the film Asoka but it didn’t really garner any awards world wide but when the director moved to make the indo-saxon film “before to rains” it won tons of awards and high acclaim, a film like that would not have been appreiciated by mainstream indian audience.
So my point is that just because the east/asian/indian audience will like the film doesn’t mean it will do well across the pond.
And I know there will be a few slow people here who will quickly look beyond my point and get offended, well tough, live with it. No point convincing people like you :P
I think this will be a good hit in the west because if it will be released in the U.S. the movie will have subtitles. And Priyanka I think you have a good point so Suraj be quiet