Airlift enters Rs.100 crore club in India
Mumbai– Actors Akshay Kumar and Nimrat Kaur-starrer “Airlift”, which revolves around the evacuation of Indians from Kuwait during the 1990 Iraq-Kuwait war, has entered the Rs.100 crore club in just 10 days since its release.
Directed by Raja Krishna Menon, “Airlift”, which released on January 22, minted Rs.19.26 crore in its second weekend, thus taking its cumulative total to Rs.102.76 crore.
“’Airlift’ is now in the Rs.100 crore club with its box office collection crossing the Rs.100 crore figure on Sunday. It has met our expectations of being in the Rs.100 crore club and we are sure that with the Uttar Pradesh government making it tax free, in the second week the movie will do much better business,” Prashant Tiwari, chairman, Prateek Entertainments, which has released the film, said in a statement.
The film relates how the Indian government evacuated 1,70,000 people of Indian origin and also of other nationalities through 488 flights during the Iraq-Kuwait war. “Airlift” also stars Feryna Wazheir and Purab Kohli. It has been appreciated for the gripping storyline and Akshay’s performance.
‘Saala Khadoos’ collects Rs.9.93 crore in opening weekend
Mumbai–Actor R. Madhavan’s “Saala Khadoos”, a bilingual sports drama film, has collected Rs.9.93 crore in its opening weekend. The movie is running well on positive word-of-mouth.
Directed by Sudha Kongara Prasad and produced by Rajkumar Hirani, “Saala Khadoos”, which released on Friday, revolves around a boxing coach (Madhavan) who is relentlessly pushing his protege, Ritika Singh, to overcome obstacles and achieve her goals as a boxer. The film, which has released in Hindi and Tamil, collected Rs.4.2 crore on Sunday (Hindi Rs.2.42 crore and Tamil Rs.1.78 crore). The Sunday numbers were almost double of what it was on Friday (Rs.2.19 crore).
This growth can be termed as an exceptional one for a film which has been made on a budget of Rs.15 crore, inclusive of marketing and advertising expenses, read a statement. The movie has shown an upward trend over the weekend and was expected to do well in the coming days too, trade analysts averred.
There’s a part of me in all my film roles: Madhavan
Mumbai–Actor R. Madhavan says all the roles he has played onscreen so far look so real because the characters have a part of him in them. “There is a part of Maddy which has been there in all the characters I have played onscreen. ‘Saala Khadoos’ is no different. The audiences will get to see a part of real Madhavan in the movie,” Madhavan said on Zoom TV’s show “Yaar Mera Superstar”.
He says he becomes a “khadoos” (stubborn and grumpy) in real life mostly when “someone tries to pull other people down”.”I get ‘khadoos’ and irritated when people make mistakes despite being given instructions or when someone tries to pull another person down or when someone intentionally hurts the other person,” he said.
Directed by Sudha Kongara Prasad, “Saala Khadoos” also features boxer-turned-actress Ritika Singh in a pivotal role. The film released on Friday, and is riding high on word-of-mouth.
Nil Bate Sannata role very challenging: Swara Bhaskar
Mumbai–Actress Swara Bhaskar says that her next release “Nil Bate Sannata” was very challenging for her since she plays a 15-year-old’s mother in the film. “My next release is ‘Nil Bate Sannata’ coming on April 22, which is an extremely brilliant and beautiful film. It is the story of a mother – and I’m that mother – to a 15-year-old. It was a very challenging role for me. Numerous people told me that it was a career suicide considering the fact that which actress would play a role of a person older than her and that too a 15-year-old’s mother.
“But it was such a beautiful story that I couldn’t refuse. And I’m very proud that I did the film. You need to find out what the meaning of ‘Nil Bate Sannata’ is because it is a very interesting title and it has a very sweet meaning,” she said. Swara has even received the Best Actress award at the Silk Road film festival in China for the film. “Of course the award goes to the whole film,” she maintained.
The film is being presented by Anand L. Rai, who brought Swara into the spotlight with his film “Tanu Weds Manu”. He went to cast her in all his next films like “Raanjhanaa” and “Tanu Weds Manu Returns”. The film is directed by “Dangal” director Nitesh Tiwari’s wife Ashwini Iyer Tiwari. Swara was last seen in the Salman Khan-starrer “Prem Ratan Dhan Payo”.
Kangana launches Big Fish Ventures’ table reservation app
New Delhi–Bollywood “Queen” Kangana Ranaut added some warmth in the chilling weather of the capital when she came to launch the table reservation app of Big Fish Ventures, a Delhi-based startup that runs premium dining lounges such as The Vault Cafe, The Junkyard Cafe, Cafe Public Connection, Indian dhaba restaurant GaramDharam and Bandstand.
Through this app, customers can make reservations, redeem loyalty points and avail promotional offers in just one click and Kangana feels its a great initiative for people like her who plan on the spot. “It’s a cool idea and cool app. For me, I think it’s great initiative for people like us who plan on the spot. It’s very hand and useful,” the actress, looking glamorous in paant suit teamed with short hair look, told reporters post the launch of the app at the The Junkyard Cafe here.
The app will cater to the 60,000 customer base who frequent these restaurants every month in a better way and plans to bring over 2 lakh customers by end of 2016. “We will bring over 2 lakh customers on our mobile app by end of 2016 and will be doing over 5,000 table reservations per day by June 2016. We plan to invest over $3-4 million over next 3 years,” said Big Fish Ventures founder Umang Tewari.
