Bollywood asianculturevulture vibes – Monsoon Wedding brings stars out; UK next for elite gathering (?), while next month sees box office battle

As the rains and celebrity activity keep Mumbai occupied, here’s what’s also happening at the box office…

By Rodrigues C

AFTER a dry beginning and massive drinking water shortage – Mumbai is finally witnessing heavy downpours and an adequate water supply.

The lakes providing water to the city are 70 per cent full, thereby bringing cheer to the city.
Interestingly, another event also brought cheer to the city.

And it was a wedding like nothing that the city has ever witnessed.

Yes, we are talking about the Anant Ambani-Radhika Merchant wedding, which has been grabbing headlines worldwide for the last few months because of the pre-wedding glam events; Rihanna performed in February at the couple’s three-day bash in Jamnagar, Gujarat, which was also attended by Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates, with Katy Perry, the Backstreet Boys and Pitbull headlining an event on a cruise ship in May in Europe.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former British PMs Boris Johnson and Tony Blair, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Kim and Khloé Kardashian, actor and one time World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) star John Cena and singer Justin Bieber -who also performed, were there too, along with many other well-known guests.

But let’s just restrict this to the Indian entertainment contigent.

Superstars Rajnikanth, Amitabh Bachchan, his wife Jaya Bachchan and son Abhishek Bachchan showed up in traditional attire.

Bollywood icons – Anil Kapoor wore a bandhgala, while Sanjay Dutt opted for an embroidered black sherwani.

Of the younger crowd, Ranveer Singh grooved to the track ‘Tattad tattad’ in the event hall. Ananya Panday and the India world T-20 winning cricketer Hardik Pandya matched steps to ‘Zoobi Doobi’.
Titans of Bollywood – Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan danced together as well.

Other celebrities – Gauri Khan, Karan Johar, Priyanka Chopra, Nick Jonas, AR Rahman, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Varun Dhawan, Venkatesh, Jackie Shroff and Rajkummar Rao, all showed up in traditional outfits as well.

Hindi film star Alia Bhatt and her husband actor Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Sidharth Malhotra, Madhuri Dixit, Vidya Balan and husband Siddharth Roy Kapur, Arjun Kapoor, Kriti Sanon, Katrina Kaif and her husband Vicky Kaushal, Shahid Kapoor, Ajay Devgn, Nayanthara, Malayalam actor Prithviraj, Rekha and Hrithik Roshan also all showed up at the wedding. And, this is not the end, the celebrations will now move to Stoke Park in Berkshire, according to society magazine, Tatler. Owned by the Ambanis, the establishment – a former luxury golf club – is said to be unavailable to outsiders until September. The Independent is reporting that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will attend celebrations in August. Reports in India meanwhile have suggested the celebrations are over. Let’s see.

Moving on, ‘Kalki 2898 AD’ has continued with its good box office in India numbers despite competition from films such as ‘Bad Newz’, ‘Indian 2’ and ‘Sarfira’.

So far, the movie has collected £58.1 million at the domestic box office here India. Its overall worldwide collections now stand at £95.5m since its June 27 release. The Nag Ashwin sci-fi thriller is now India’s fifth highest grossing movie; internationally its stands at number eight among Indian films. In all likelihood, the film will become the fourth highest-grossing movie of all time at the domestic box office if it overtakes the collection of Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Jawan’, which made £59.8m.

Director Anand Tiwari’s ‘Bad Newz’ which released in the theatres on July 19, has been doing relatively good business. Featuring Vicky Kaushal, Triptii Dimri, Ammy Virk and Neha Dhupia, the comedy has now collected over £3.7m. ‘Bad Newz’ is believed to be sequel to ‘Good Newz’, which featured Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Kiara Advani and Diljit Dosanjh. Kamal Haasan’s ‘Indian 2’ released in theatres in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi on July 12 with great expectations considering it’s a sequel to the actor’s 1996 cult hit ‘Indian’, which was made on a budget of £1.4m and went onto collect as much as £5.9m at the box office. What took the makers so long to come out with a sequel is anybody’s guess. Well, the current instalment made on a budget of £23.3m, has so far collected £14m, despite getting mixed reviews.

Haasan reprised his role as Senapathi is this Shankar directorial. Shooting for the third sequel, ‘Indian 3’ has wrapped up; it is currently in the post-production stage and is scheduled to release early next year. Kajal Aggarwal plays the lead role. The other big offering of the month, Akshay Kumar’s ‘Sarfira’, which is a remake of the 2020 Tamil movie ‘Soorarai Pottru’ has bombed at the box office. Budgeted at around £9.3m, the movie has so far generated a little more than £2m. The thriller, which released on July 12 also features Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal and Seema Biswas. Interestingly, the movie had received positive reviews. Kumar has had a string of flops recently, including the most recent big budget thriller ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’.

August will see some big releases such as ‘Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha’ with Ajay Devgn and Tabu, ‘Vedaa’ with John Abraham and Sharvari Wagh; ‘Stree 2’ with Shraddha Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao; and ‘Ulajh’ with Janhvi Kapoor and Gulshan Devaiah.

Many eyes are will be on Kumar’s August 15 release ‘Khel Khel Mein’, also featuring Ammy Virk, Fardeen Khan, Taapsee Pannu and Vaani Kapoor. Willl Akki’s fortunes change?