Bollywood asianculturevulture vibes – All conquering series with glittering movie star cast

September is all about a Netflix release – Aryan Khan – son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan – directorial debut has a nation enthralled, while there are mixed fortunes for cinema producers…

By Rodrigues C

MONSOON rains are back in Mumbai but have failed to dampen the Navratri and Durga Puja spirit in the city. Celebrated with great gusto and led mainly by migrant Gujarati and Bengali communities in the city, it’s a reminder that festival season is well upon the country at large.

The downpour hasn’t stopped people from flooding the traditional dance events which are held in open air grounds. The city has been under red alert for rains frequently during the last one week.

So, a ‘star kid’, as children of Bollywood actors are known here, has been making mighty headlines in India for his directing prowess. Aryan Khan, is 27 – and he is no kid but he is the son of Bollywood bigwig Shah Rukh Khan.

The camera shy Aryan Khan decided to start his Bollywood journey with a TV series on Netflix and everybody is talking about it; its trending at no 1 on Netflix India.

Aryan Khan’s father started his celluloid journey on the small screen as well but as an actor in the show ‘Fauji’ (1989), which played on Doordarshan, India’s national network. Is this another big Khan in the making? We wonder.

‘The B**tards of Bollywood,’ has received rave reviews from critics and audiences alike.

It has won kudos for its visual style, direction and storytelling.

For the record, the show features Bobby Deol, Raghav Juyal and Mona Singh, not a huge star cast, considering who all our first time director could have commanded to star in his series.

Well, that’s how it works in Bollywood. May be Aryan Khan couldn’t get dates of the biggies.

So, he decided to get them as cameos. And the list of cameos in ‘The B**tards of Bollywood’ is impressive, nothing that the small screen has witnessed in India.

The prized catches were SRK’s buddies: Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and Karan Johar followed by actors Ranveer Singh, Emraan Hashmi, Arshan Warsi, Ranbir Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao, Sara Ali Khan, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Disha Patani and ‘Baahubali’ star director SS Rajamouli.
SRK made a cameo in Episode Six.

The premiere too was star studded what with Madhuri Dixit, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Ajay Devgn, Kajol, Farah Khan, and Johar gracing it other than SRK, his better half Gauri Khan and daughter, Suhana Khan.

No other TV show in India has attracted so many big names and surely history won’t repeat itself… unless and until there is a season two of ‘The B**tards of Bollywood’.

Moving back to theatres, the courtroom comedy-drama ‘Jolly LLB 3’, starring Akshay Kumar and Arshad Warsi, hit screens on September 19.

It opened with a £1.2 million haul followed by £1.9m and £2m. As things stand, the film has collected £9m and is bound to cross the magic figure of ₹100 crore (£9.8m), which is considered a milestone when it comes to Indian films.

Tiger Shroff-Sanjay Dutt starrer ‘Baaghi 4’ released in theatres on September 5.

Its first day earnings on the Friday stood at £1.7m, which dropped to £900,000 on Saturday.

On Sunday, the film made £980,000. From here, the film started seeing a drop in its collections, which now stand at £6.5m. The film is believed to be budgeted around £7.8m and will now recover its losses through a sale to an OTT provider.

Telugu film ‘Mirai’ staring Teja Sajja and Manchu Manoj was made on a huge £13.8m budget, but bit the dust at the box office. Released on September 12, the film could only manage to collect £8.4m. Its box office run is now over.

Another film that brought misery to its producers is ‘The Bengal Files’. Released on September 5, it was believed to be budgeted between £2.9m and £4.9m but could only recover £1.5m.

The winner of the month was undoubtedly the Telugu actioner ‘They Call Him OG’. Featuring Pawan Kalyan, Emraan Hashmi and Priyanka Mohan, it is shattering records for its lead. It’s now Kalyan’s highest grossing film. Even before its release on September 25, the film had already raked in a massive £2.05m from paid previews a day prior. Believed to be budgeted around £24.5m, the thriller collected £6.1m on its first day, a Thursday. But the following days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday saw massive drops with collections hovering around £1.8m, 1.81m and £1.81m respectively. The film has done well overseas raking in about £5.8m.

Films such as ‘Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari’ with Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor; ‘Kantara A Legend Chapter 1’ with Rishab Shetty and Rukmini Vasanth; ‘Thamma’ with Ayushmann Khurrana, Rashmika Mandanna and Nawazuddin Siddiqui; and ‘Go Goa Gone 2’, with Saif Ali Khan, Vir Das and Kunal Kemmu will see the light of the day in October along with the festive lights of Diwali flickering… Till then…