For Abhishek Bachchan, Raavan is one of the most important films of his career. Its his most ambitious project to date and after duds like Drona and Delhi 6, Abhishek quite desperately is in need of a solo-hit.
For Reliance Big Pictures, after suffering huge losses with Kites, they’d be hoping that Raavan goes the Rajneeti way. Both films have one thing in common, both are adaptations of popular Indian epics. Prakash Jha for Rajneeti was inspired by Mahabharatha and Mani Ratnam’s Raavan is based on Raavan.
Unlike Kites and Rajneeti (both films opened to a bumper response), Raavan is likely to completely rely on word-of-mouth. If the movie is good, the WOM should be positive and the film after a good opening should hold steady during the weekdays. If the WOM is negative, Raavan is likely to go the Kites way, just that the weekend collections should be much lesser.
Here’s our box office prediction for Raavan
Opening Weekend
- If Good – 25 crores
- If mixed – 22 crores
- If bad – 20 crores
Week 1
- If Good – 40 crores
- If mixed – 35 crores
- If bad – 25 to 28 crores
Lifetime
- If good – 65 to 75 crores
- If mixed – 50 to 55 crores
- If bad – 35 to 38 crores
I am going to watch Raavn tomorrow and will post my review soon. I have expectations from the movie and I hope I dont come disappointed..
@mega
hi megha this review is biased and full of prejudice this writer hasnot watched the movie so how can he comment on something he has not seen
listen megha the most thing i hate in this world is prejudice and preconception because they are alwways wrong the german philospher kant spent 11 YEARS trying to make his dissetation on pure mind so that he can save reason ina way to get rid of prejudice
the sentence
Rizwan’s death saw the police commissioner punished and cover stories written by missionary writers.
proves that he hasnt seen MNIK
rizwan doesnt die at all
also in the film srk says on the tongue of rizwan
whosoever kills anyone he killed the whole human beings and whosoever jogged/ live up anyone he liven up the mankind all
this is koran/ the holly book
so this shows that islam is innocent of the ones who kill people with no reason
and what happened to mr kaul is one specific specimen not to all groups or ethnicities
whereas what happening to muslims is predominant
hi megha ihope you are not mrs kaul also
but mrs cool
youssef: (June 18, 2010 at 7:44 am)
why doesnt he go to kjo to make his story cinematised
Hi Youssif: I saw Ravan yesterday ( and I did post my review under one of the pages last night, when I was back from cinema, but can’t find it now!)
Anyways.. it’s as I expected.. Mani Ratnma’s good direction, something unique, different, a new flavour to bollywood movies.. Aishwariya was good.. the music, songs were excellent ( but was angry that the song Ranga Ranga was incomplete!) nice cinematography.. but I didn’t like 2 things in this movie:
1) I wished if the hero wasn’t Abhishek.. Shahrukh could play this role instead
2) Didn’t like the ending.. last 5 minutes.. expected something else to happen!
( and still.. my favourite movie for Mani Ratnam is Dil Se)
An indian guy told me last night that the tamil actor who played as Aishwariya’s husband in Ravan (hindi version) played Abhishek’s role in the tamil version and he did better, his performance was much better than Abhishek.. Abhishek wasn’t bad, he tried his best in this difficult role but I wished if Shahrukh took this role.
Allover.. it’s a cinema movie, don’t watch it on a dvd or online, you’ll enjoy this new flavour movie but u won’t enjoy watching it on a small screen.
@Indicie why you are so late in putting up reviews,,eagerly awaiting your movie review. I have seen the movie and will not post my review before you..so please put ur review soon..
@indicine
I meant to say after you…:):)
im sure indicine is itching to help the bachchans by giving this trash 3.5 stars ..!!!
sorry fathiya. ive become too predictable ..wont cross with u if uve liked the film.. but why srk to do this badlooking guys role??? hes too good and good looking to venture into bad looking guy territory held by abhishek!!!
i follow srk and love his tweets so its his raone that im looking forward too.. i believe he has lost lot of weight for the film to get into some sort of space suit
i know when i will see the film i will not give it more than 1.5 also these south indian heroes do not have any future in bollywood yet they make their appearances .. im sure here also the focus will be more on abhishek and aish ..!!!..all his heoes who acted in north indain films are nowhere…
if the fillm is too dark and shot in dark colours doesnt do well .. welll so much of prediction from me ..lets se what indicine has to say..
also im sure there may not be any husband wjife intimate scenes between aish and vikram..oh so cliched na..?? when the real life husband is in the film too/// wonder why they didnt keep at least one kiss scene between the wife and husband in the film to show the bond they share…?? nowadys even naseer is kissing and kiss has become oh so passe..
@ fathiya dil se is very good film
i agree also anjali by mani ratnam
but to be frank i dont like fright night movies that much
i liked only
ed gain
and child s play trilogy
texas chainsaw massacre
rayya w sakina egyptian movie
the tipping point
silence of the lambs
but have never watched any indian fr movie
hi megha what do you say
i didnt hear your reply are u satisfied or what
Wrong Megha.. there’s a wife and husband scenes in the movie.. and the movie’s shooting was very nice.. actually that’s the best in this movie with the music.. it’s not dark.. it’s in the jungle of Kerala but with nice sceneries and shooting.
Megha: what’s yr rating for Dil Se? I’m surprised that u like Shahrukh! I thought you don’t! I’m also eager to see RA1 but a bit worried.. I could never imagine Shahrukh as a super hero! I think he doesn’t fit in one!
Ravan is not a bad movie and in fact, I want to see those nice scenes again specially the first scenes.. where the song (Behne deh) that’s the best part which I’d love to see again.
I wish if the movie would work at cinema, and after the success of Raajniti which I thought wd be a flop so now we can’t predict anything! which movie would work and which not.
Shahrukh could play Abhishek’s role.. Shahrukh’s expressions for love in the movies is much better than Abhishek.. in the lake with Aishwariya, during the song Behnede.. I just imagined Shahrukh and wished if he was in this song!
Yousif: I didn’t see these films which u mentioned for Mani Ratnam but I saw Bombay which was quite good but didn’t like some scenes in Bombay. I will try to see some parts on youtube.
I saw Yuva, Guru, Dil Se and now Ravan, and Dil Se is the best.
@ fathiya
hi megha is a fan of srk already but her obssesion of making movies flop is the lietmotive behind understimating my name is khan or because by the harsh treatment and antagonism of these silly sina followers i guess she might have believed them or something all in all ican assert that she is also an ardent fan of srk and knows about srk more than u know about him but she is dragged by some antisrk stupid freak who dont estimate true art that’ s y
what i like in her is that she listen to people carefully but she shoud listen to the truehearted ones not the liars
as far as raone is concerned i think that srk will fit for sure for his role
as he had always made us accustomed us to his perfectionin his roles however i doont like superhero movies i didnt like koi mil gaya that much i didnt like superman batman spiderman at all they seem all greek to me neither did i like krish but i hope that srk bring something breakthroughing in this genre though its far reached because its doomed to be childish
iam looking for don 2 AND XTEM CITY AND HIS MOVIE THE CHANCELLORS MANUSCRIPT
@ FATHIYA iam deadly sure that you will like mani ratnam s anjali because its one of his masterpieces along with dil se
but they other films are not his but hwood movies frightnight movies if you like these genre do watch them they are fantastic
ed gain bio psy thriller frightnight
and child s play trilogy
texas chainsaw massacre
the tipping point
silence of the lambs
and the egyptian movie
rayya o skina
youssuf dear my problem is not with any star in fact i follow quite a few of them on my twitter acount .. its the film and its treatment that upsets me.. after cwetain point of time in your age u cannot get to like frivolousness and below mediocrity ..mnik has done well in uae and other arab countries but didnt do well in india
people may have felt there that the movie absolves all muslims of the crime they have committred by saying that there are good and bad people .. but that message is there in every film even 100 rifles starring raquel welch..
for me the movie should be gripping away from cliches meaningful and to the point
rajneeti and ravan taken from two epics flounder badly
the directors believe that since people already know the epics they can twist the story to their liking and start putting tags to the characters like they did in rajneeti .. i wonder if katrina was draupadi in the film??? i expected her to get married to atleast samar too..
in ravan tooo the directors focus is on portraying ramayan like characters .. the narrative should be such that the viewer should not be able to guess .mani ratnams obsession with southindian hero continues .. now i do not like south indian settings in a north actors film .. the background score is again south indian.. and the flavour is south indian. ive repeatedly felt that south indian flavour does not work well with us . it should be limited to south indian films
within a span of 20 mts i was onto the third song in this ravan ..crazy…and abhshek is trying hard to look evil but isnt..
somewhere u know that he will not do anything bad on aish or even if he does rape her or whatever he is her husband in real life .. i feel the casting has been entirely wrong . cos people are familiar with their real life status. and vikram with his mouche looks a south indian . which doesnt speak well for us .. the film is a rout and will be gone within 2 days cos im watching it noew and it is intolerable .. but will finish it and keep posting my comments
oh and that husband wife moments have been put up in a song where our dancing doll is showing quite a few of those kathak steps.. and yes she has displayed a lot of cleavage not much to my liking with my two grown up sons around.. im lucky to have not wasted money to watch this crap..so far ..lets see what lies ahead
i dont know why you pple stick to say that the MNIK is cliched and pathetic
and i think that you wrong because there is no cliche init on the contrary it targets and fights the cliche of antiislamism preconception and its not pathetic for srk didnt shed any tear and is not a tear jerker but smoothly take you to shed tears because its human and shahrukh khan in the role surpasses dustin hoffmans rain man
i watched some of forrest gump and i think that tom hanks knows nothing about autism hence his envisagement is flawful in fact his depiction is self derison parody
if you want to see a real autist acting watch srk acting in the church scene of his son s obituary and watch stephen wiltshire the human camera on youtube
and you realise why srk is the best actor in the world
concentrate on the eye contact miss and and the of the down teeth with the uper teeth meeting enforcement speech deivery
my name is flawless it deserves all the oscars of the ongoing year
hi dearie
i dont know why you pple stick to say that the MNIK is cliched and pathetic
and i think that you wrong because there is no cliche init on the contrary it targets and fights the cliche of antiislamism preconception and its not pathetic for srk didnt shed any tear and is not a tear jerker but smoothly take you to shed tears because its human and shahrukh khan in the role surpasses dustin hoffmans rain man
i watched some of forrest gump and i think that tom hanks knows nothing about autism hence his envisagement is flawful in fact his depiction is self derison parody
if you want to see a real autist acting watch srk acting in the church scene of his son s obituary and watch stephen wiltshire the human camera on youtube
and you realise why srk is the best actor in the world
concentrate on the eye contact miss and and the of the down teeth with the uper teeth meeting enforcement speech deivery
my name is flawless it deserves all the oscars of the ongoing year
Raavan suckss…………
1.5/5 from my side…..
Another flop for Abhishek and Aishwarya…….
Will not even cross 25 crores in my opinion….
@ Indicine: 35 crores if bad: I don’t think so…….. Kites had an earth shattering start and it could not cross 45 crores lifteime business because of negative word of mouth…. Raavan has an ordinary start of around 45% all over India and it will be around 15 to 20% by the end of this week because of negative reports from media so how will it get to 35 crores?? Not possible.
@ Fathiya: Are u sure that you really liked this movie???? It was a very weak script I think… This is the worst movie that has come out from Mani Ratnam’s banner. His all other movies were very good and meaningful but I am afraid this movie has nothing to offer except for some good cinematography. Aishwarya looks good in parts……..Abhishek is very annoying……I don’t like him at all. And I agree with Megha that why do you want SRK playing a bad guy in a bad movie like this…. He could only damage his image by doing this movie…. Good for SRK that he is not a part of this flop movie.
Trust Ram Gopal Varma to allow a joke on himself time and again. He was the last man standing and came up with a big laugh even as his Aag was a butt of jokes for months at stretch. The jokes ended after a while but he never stopped laughing. So much so that in every major conversation with them, the topic of Aag invariably comes up and Ramu too doesn’t mind giving a byte or two on the making and the subsequent destruction of Aag.
No wonder, due to the very fact that he was laughing on his own work (Aag, Shiva – the new one – and some more films) meant that detractors had to find a new way to hit back on the filmmaker who doesn’t mind taking a dig on films by other people as well. While his sweet and sour war of words with Karan Johar comes with an ability of creating front page headlines till date, Ramu truly believes that ever since Aag, he has found himself in a position where he has to bear with other flops as well. Reason being that every time a film flops, it finds a reference to Aag by getting titled as ‘XYZ director ki Aag’.
Says Ramu with mock laughter, “When Tashan came, they said its ‘Aditya Chopra ki Aag’. For Chandni Chowk to China, it was Nikhil Advani ki Aag’. For Kites it was ‘Rakesh Roshan ki Aag’. Now Raavan is being termed as ‘Mani Ratnam ki Aag’. I guess apart from bearing with my own flops, I have to now bear with flops coming from others as well.”
While he is busy with bringing his epic film Rakta Charitra (arriving in two parts) closer to completion mark, Ramu is keeping himself abreast with what’s happening in the world of Bollywood. Also, he is allowing himself a chuckle or two with some of the famed films failing left, right and centre. No wonder, he doesn’t quite mind when reference to Aag comes in every few months.
“I have realized that Aag has now become more popular than Sholay”, he dares to make a bold statement, though with a reason, “That’s because a hit like Sholay comes once in a lifetime whereas a flop like Aag comes every few months. That’s the reason why there are so many references to Aag made time and again.”
Not to be bogged down by scathing comments that are usually reserved for him, he makes a final strike by stating, “I am happy that if not anything else, I at least managed to set up a bench mark for flops. I can see that Aag will live on for many more years to come.”
Box Office: Raavan set to lose on day 1 of the war
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Mani Ratnam’s Raavan’s advance is horrible to weak throughout (except Tamil Nadu) and the 100 crore film maybe heading towards the same verdict as its namesake unless the mainstream Indian public gives it a great word of mouth post-release on Friday.
If Raavan’s backers thought that questioning Ram and advancing a Raavan-Sita angle in seriousness was a marketing masterstroke, it has infact proven a huge, and perhaps a disastrous, fatal miscalculation, as a huge percentage of the population of India north of Tamil Nadu is staying away in the early going as advance is ranging from 5% to 30% through bulk of the country. Reports citing huge bookings in India are basically inaccurate at this point.
This is not the first film to attempt and fail with this revisionist subtext either. In 2001, Raj Kumar Santoshi’s big budget Lajja (a film incidentally Aishwarya Rai was to do) where the film’s ‘Sita’ questioned ‘Ram’; ended up sinking badly at the box office in 2001 despite a huge starcast. And yet Lajja was a multistarrer, not directly related to Ramayan, and not seen as consquential for bulk of its lead actors’ careers. Raavan however may prove to be. Especially for its lead actor Abhishek Bachchan who may not be able to recover with the mainstream Hindi audiences if Raavan’s big budget attempt at inverting the Ramayan fails, which is where it seems to be headed.
The opening release volume of Raavan on opening Friday at theaters has turned out to be not so huge (10-12 shows/day at bulk of plexes) on its own but still the advance booking occupancies are having difficulty getting started. The advance is hovering around percentage figures of 10-15% in Mumbai and across Maharashtra which is not good. Theaters which have Rs 6 lakhs gross collection capacity for Friday have registered advance of only Rs. 60,000/- for example. In a state like Bengal where Abhishek Bachchan movies had opened comparatively better in past, there the advance too is pathetic right now. Punjab is equally weak as is Rajasthan.
And more interestingly in the Uttar Pradesh, considered the homestate of Ram, and once considered a Bachchan foothold because of Amitabh Bachchan’s father being from there, Raavan’s prospects are looking outright dismal. Many theaters are said to have refused to book the film outright here and in others where the film is releasing, outside a few theaters contolled by the distributors, the advance is as good as dead.
It is now worth pointing out that in the same Uttar Pradesh some years back, the UP based Bunty & Babli had done near record business across the state and the Hindi belt in general with centers like Lucknow and Kanpur and Noida and Gorakhpur recording bumper openings and near record collections. And in his heyday, Amitabh Bachchan blockbusters like Ram Balram, Don, Ganga Ki Saugandh and Mr. Natwarlal used to be inevitably powered by the reverberence of the Hindi towns and interiors. Given Raavan’s relevance to Uttar Pradesh however, some are speculating if those days may never return again for future Bachchans starrers in the North.
Delhi city is just a tad better but weak still on Raavan.
Comparing this to Guru by the same cast in 2007 also sheds some interesting light. Though Guru too was an unconventional topic and was dismissed by the trade media initially, Guru in Januray of 2007 actually had a pretty solid and robust advance booking in major grossing centers of India such as Bombay, Calcutta, Ahmedabad and Bangalore going into its release weekend on Jan 12, 2007. Though because of inflation this will not be blatantly apparent in raw collections, in the same theaters Raavan has recorded a 15-20% advance, Guru had numbers 4 times as big.
The only silver lining is Raavan is set to open better in Chennai, Tamil Nadu and thereabouts. But there the problem is the bulk of the prints (around 225) and screenings are for the Tamil version. So for example, a chennai multiplex maybe playing Raavan on 2-3 shows a day only and 10-12 shows for its Tamil version whereas Guru in Hindi was playing on 10 shows a day by itself. So the presumed collections of Raavan have been diverted there in favor of the Tamil Ravan edition. And yet in the end, the fact that the tamil version may be faring comparatively better in Chennai has little use for Raavan’s overall recovery. Because Tamil Nadu is not a big enough market to put together a Rs 250-300 crore turnover like Raavan was hoping to do or like a 3 Idiots did over India. There is little hope for Raavan’s recovery if it does not do big business outside Tamil Nadu and right now there is little hope for that unless the film does a complete U-turn with the mainstream masses over the weekend and the family audiences who are staying away due to the percieved inversion against The Ramayan.
It’s only hope then would be to put up a huge number overseas where it has been released on 325 prints. Raavan has been billed as a 1250 print release in India.
im very happy at this disaster ….
I m going 2 watch raavan and i hope it will be a hit film. A.R rahaman’s music is awsome.people’s attraction will be more from his work.I will reply tomorrow by watching it and I hope it won’t be disappointed