Less than a year after two of India's favorite actors decamped for Miami to film a romantic comedy, Bollywood mega-star Shahrukh Khan is preparing to make the same trip to shoot one of his country's first big-budget superhero movies.
Ra.One promises to bring imaginary mayhem to South Florida as Khan's character, a Miami software engineer, accidentally gives life to a video-game villain. And while the movie's announced $3 million local budget is modest by Hollywood standards, local production officials see Bollywood's quick return to Miami as a milestone.
Just nine months ago, production officials were touting Miami's first major Bollywood movie: Dostana, the comedy starring Abhishek Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra that went on to blockbuster status in India. Now there's another Bollywood production coming -- this one with a larger budget and an actor Newsweek last year dubbed the world's biggest movie star.
And though Ra.One won't start shooting until February at the earliest, another Indian movie crew this week was filming in Miami -- a far smaller production with an estimated budget of about $300,000 that officials still see as part of an encouraging trend.
Like Dostana, Ra.One won't bring the kind of windfall a Hollywood feature delivers to South Florida's production industry. India makes movies for far less money than the United States does, and Ra.One plans on bringing crews from Mumbai to avoid the higher wages demanded by many of Florida's unionized production workers.
The two productions will bring a burst of activity for an industry that saw a sharp drop in business in 2009. The culprits: a global recession and cuts in Florida's movie and TV subsidy fund from its 2007 peak of $25 million to this year's $11 million.
Past studies credit the ``Bollywood Effect' for bringing Indian travelers to obscure destinations in Europe and the Pacific picked as locations for Indian films. Now with India's 1.1 billion population increasingly producing affluent families, the Bollywood Effect is seen as more lucrative.
``It's a huge market and language is not a barrier, as it is in China,' said Rolando Aedo, senior vice president of marketing for the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, which is mostly funded by county taxes on hotels. ``The fact that we've got this movie that's going to deliver more media impressions than I could ever afford to buy, even in the best of times -- the timing is extremely fortunate.'
While Dostana portrayed Miami as a glamorous place to fall in love, Ra.One plans a more ominous take on the city. Khan's Shekhar must take the form of a video-game hero in order to battle the technological monster he created: a powerful being called Ra.One.
Movie producers have tentative approval to close portions of Brickell Avenue twice on Sundays in late February or March for a car chase relating to the monster mayhem caused by Ra.One. And film officials say the fights and chases will stretch into South Beach, the Miami River and other parts of downtown Miami.
Bollywood blogs already are buzzing about Ra.One and its Miami plans. Most of the attention centers on Khan, a Bollywood mega star often described as a cross between Brad Pitt and George Clooney in terms of fame and popularity.
We've witnessed many Hindi movies getting indefinitely postponed and shelved over the years. Unfortunately, the list includes some big projects like Salman Khan and Alia Bhatt's Inshallah, Dostana 2 starring Kartik Aaryan and Janhvi Kapoor and more, which got the audience quite excited when announced but never saw the light of day. While Bollywood continues to churn out multiple movies every year, we've compiled a list of much-anticipated big-budget Hindi movies that got shelved or postponed indefinitely due to various reasons after being announced.
According to a Times of India report, filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali has dropped the idea of remaking Meena Kumar's 1952 classic movie Baiju Bawra with Ranveer Singh due to financial issues. The report also stated that the ace filmmaker is planning to collaborate with the likes of Shah Rukh Khan or Salman Khan soon for his next project.
Sanjay Dutt, who revived his career with the Munna Bhai franchise, was about to collaborate with filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani for a third installment. Still, the project never materialized due to various reasons. The makers had even announced the project (Munna Bhai Chale Amerika) with a short teaser featuring Dutt and Arshad Warsi in their characters.
Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt starrer Dus was shelved following filmmaker Mukul Anand's demise. While the team had completed approximately eighty per cent of the project, the producers decided to shelve the project completely after Anand's tragic death, according to a Times of India report.
Filmmaker Shoojit Sircar had teamed up with Amitabh Bachchan for an exciting project titled Shoebite. Still, the movie never saw the light of day due to a tussle between legal tussle between production companies, according to The Times of India.
After the phenomenal success of Uri: The Surgical Strike, the actor-director duo of Vicky Kaushal and Aditya Dhar were all set to collaborate for an exciting project, The Immortal Ashwatthama. Kaushal even confirmed the news when he appeared on Karan Johar's chat show, Koffee With Karan. According to News18, the makers decided to shelve the project after suffering a loss of Rs 30 crore loss in its pre-production stage.
Announced in August 2019, filmmaker Karan Johar's passion project Takht is yet to go on floors. While the pandemic postponed the project, Johar, in a recent interaction with Film Companion, did confirm that he'll resume the project after Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani. Furthermore, he even added, "It was an epic, period film based on the Mughal era. That, again, is a family film. It's based in that era, but it is about the interrelationships of that era, those people and those people that existed in the real world." Johar's ambitious project would feature Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Janhvi Kapoor, Bhumi Pednekar, Vicky Kaushal and Anil Kapoor in prominent roles.
Are you in search of some amazing comedy movies to watch on OTT? There are countless entertaining films that are available on Amazon Prime, guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. We have picked the top 10 Hindi comedies including both old and new favourites. Get comfortable on the sofa and prepare to laugh your heart out at these cult films.
Follow the journey of Munna Bhai, a lovable goon with a heart of gold, as he poses as a medical student to fulfill his father's dream. With its blend of humor, drama, and heartfelt moments, "Munna Bhai M.B.B.S" is a comedy-drama that will leave you both laughing and touched by its message of kindness and redemption.
I think I am getting old, because the people around me were laughing and enjoying the movie while I was yawning like a hippopotamus(I almost took a nap in the second half). Is this what happens when you are exposed to world cinema and have a yardstick to compare? Or am I seriously getting old!!! ?
A great story gone wasted. This movie could have been much better. But, I have a feeling that it is going to work. It will be a hit because people were enjoying it! And Oh! Yes, there was this couple(boy-girl) sitting just in front of me in the theatre, whom I took to be conjoined twins. You know, the ones who are born with conjoined heads and which can only be separated by surgery? It was only during the interval when one of them got up to get the popcorns, that I gasped in horror and realised that they were lovers and their heads could actually be separated!
I think u should try for a movie reviewer post at some place. This is very nice review. I am sure that u r getting old. Lets be fair man. Until when u can lie to people that u r stilllllllll young ?
Your review is very good, but then as you said the movie is bad I am not gonna be watching it (as if I would have had time to watch it otherwise, My backlog is several years. I just finished watching Oceans 13, Order of phoenix and Pirates at worlds end). John seems to be the next get Salman khan.
I watched that movie on the same day you posted the review but not able to post my comment till now. What the hell happened to Abishek. Why he did so nonsensical role ? For Karan Johar ? His acting also irritated me. If Priyanka is not there in that movie, I might have used bad words everywhere when ever I mention about this movie. I like Priyanka for her eyes because I think her self confidence can be seen in her eyes ? Any way why cant Karan Johar makes it public as in all his movies I am finding this kind of stuff. I think the main theme of this story was taken from the comedy part of Kal Ho Na Ho. How this became hit ? Are there no other movies in Hindi right now ?
i totally agree with all that johnyML has said about this orthodox film by karan johar, which is totally insensitive to homosexual drives. in fact, there is no homosexuality shown in the film, as it had been shown in 'brokeback mountain'. since there is no homosexulaity in the movie, it is very ridiculous for karan johar to say, "we have to deal with homsexuality".
furthermore, karan johar's attempts to create a 'karan johar history' within the movie with intertextual references of songs from his previous movies is too self-congratulatory. notwithstanding, like johnyML, i too enjoyed the film for its antics.