Date: February 23 2008
Jodhaa Akbar, the historic film by Ashutosh Gowarikar has broken all overseas records and achieved the status of being the 4th Biggest Opening Film in the World . The movie has generated a whopping $8.1m from 15 territories worldwide. In the UK, the movie opened at Number 10 in the charts, grossing £500,000 in the 1st week. The best part of all this is that this is the first time that an Indian film has been reviewed so widely by mainstream press in US/UK. All the reviews have been extremely positive, except for the one that was put up in San Francisco Chronicle. It is also said that a reporter from ABC News (TV), Boston went to a theatre last week to review a Hollywood film and was alarmed to see the long queue for Jodhaa Akbar. This has actually prompted the reporter to cover this historic film from India this weekend.
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Source: New India Press
Date: February 23 2008
MADE at an estimated Rs 40 crore, Jodhaa Akbar, Ashutosh Gowarikar's magnum opus, was supposed to rewrite box office history. Surprisingly, the Rajput community and Hindu outfits thought otherwise: They accused him of rewriting history. The movie's based on the epic romance between secular Mughal emperor Akbar and his Rajput wife Jodhaa Bai. Protesting outfits like Punjab Vishwa Hindu Parishad, International Hindu Sanrakshak Parishad and Akhil Bharatiya Rajput Abhivakta Sangh think the two are not even man and wife, forget other controversies about the Hindu-Muslim relationship. Some protesters think Jodhaa is actually the wife of Akbar's son.
Ashutosh says he has research scholars and books to his defense, but succumbing to stone pelting, effigy burning and a lone bomb blast in Mumbai, the movie has faced a blanket ban in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, besides battling protests in Punjab and other parts of the country. But in Chennai, there is no protest, nor was there even a stray incident of violence. On the contrary, the movie is doing extremely well and multiplexes have planned to hold special screenings today and tomorrow. Take Inox for instance. Their biggest recent hit in Hindi was Taare Zameen Par. “But that picked picked up a little later. Instead, from its release, Jodhaa Akbar has been running to packed houses,” says an official source in Inox. Though two new movies, including a Tamil one, got released this Friday, Jodhaa Akbar has received very good response and is running houseful. At Inox, movies generally have one extra show during weekends, but Jodhaa Akbar has two weekend special screenings owing to high demand. At Sathyam Cinemas, the scene is no different. Two weekend screenings will be held apart from the usual five shows. "Expectations were high even before the release of the movie and it has been running packed houses," says Supriya, Manager, Communications, Sathyam Cinemas.
This is significant, keeping in mind that Sathyam is one of the bigger theatres in the city with a capacity of 948. So, for fans of Hrithik and Ash in the city, it doesn't really seem to matter if the facts have been distorted as long as they get their money and time's worth. And for those who are interested in catching the movie this weekend, the multiplexes say they are already Houseful! RECENT TAMIL MOVIES THAT GENERATED HEAT MIRUGAM (2007) The most recent example, Mirugam, which originally featured a jallikattu sequence, had it axed after the Jallikattu Protest Forum conducted a mass hunger strike asking it to be removed NEW(2004). The movie was said to have portrayed women in an obscene manner and a song (Markandeya) was banned from screening. Many women's organisations protested against the movie. New was finally banned, one year after its release BOYS (2003) Directed by Shankar, the movie faced the wrath of the censor board and women's organisations for vulgarity. A petition was filed to ban the movie and workers of Pudhiya Tamizagam threatened to protest outside all theatres BABA(2002). This Rajnikanth-starrer came under the scanner for the song Rajyama Imayama that had a line that was an unfair commentary on the ideology of Periyar. Also, the PMK called for an open boycott of the movie as Rajni was said to be misleading the youth by smoking on screen KAMAL'S FILMS Mumbai Express, Vasool Raja MBBS, Sandiyar: All of them faced opposition for their titles.
The other two got released with their English titles but Sandiyar could be released only after it was renamed as Virumandi SOME CONTROVERSIAL MOVIES DA VINCI CODE (2006) Da Vinci Code was banned in Punjab, Goa, Nagaland and Meghalaya as it was said to spread anti-Christian messages. A government order banning its release in Tamil Nadu was quashed by the High Court and it was screened in theatres in the city. The movie ran to packed houses PARZANIA (2007) It was banned in Gujarat as it shows a Muslim locality being attacked by a Hindu mob. Parzania was released in Chennai without any controversy, just the way Fanaa, another movie banned elsewhere, was released here FIRE (1996) A film featuring a lesbian relationship, it was banned in most parts of the country. But in Chennai, there were no protests and the movie was screened in theatres PADOSAN (1968). A Hindi remake of a yesteryear Tamil film Adutha Veetu Pen, Padosan was protested against by the Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu for the stereotypical portrayal of a South Indian musician, played by Mehmood.