TWO FILMS WITH SAME PLOT AND ALMOST SIMILAR TITLES!

This year, two films are set to release and both these film’s stories revolve around news channels and sensationalism. These two films are Percept’s Raftaar 24×7 and Ram Gopal Verma’s Rann. While Raftaar 24×7 stars Aditya Pancholi as the media baron and Emraan Hashmi as his favourite protégé and journalist, Rann has Amitabh Bachchan and Ritesh Deshmukh donning similar roles. And about 1 ½ months back, RGV changed the title of his film to India 24×7! So Raftaar 24×7 and India 24×7-two films with same plot now also have similar titles!

Although RGV is very keen to name his film as India 24×7, he may not be able to do it because ‘24×7’ is patented with NDTV channel. This means even Raftaar would have to drop 24×7 from their title. And how come they registered this title when 24×7 is patented with NDTV?

I loved the title ‘Rann’ a lot actually. The word means ‘war’ in Sanskrit and it suits the film as it is based on the war between news channels for attracting greater eyeballs. In RGV’s film, ‘India 24×7’ is the name of the news channel and that’s why he wanted this title.

Rann (let’s call it by its original name!) surely has a lot of chances to be a big hit. Besides Big B and Ritesh, it also stars Gul Panag, Raima Sen, Paresh Rawal, Mohnish Behl, Suchitra Krishnamurthy, Rajat Kapoor, Sudeep and Rajpal Yadav. Every actor in the film is of the view that Ritesh will surely be the scene-stealer in the film.

On the other hand, Raftaar looks like a small film in comparison! Besides Emraan and Aditya Pancholi, it also stars Neha Dhupia and Sagarika Ghatke. Directed by Shamim Desai, it is produced by Percept Picture Company while Rann is produced by Ghajini’s producer Madhu Mantena! So Raftaar will have to release before Rann or else it would be ignored completely. Also, it may be termed as ‘poor man’s Rann’!

Raftaar is in the news since long time so it’s shooting as well as post production should be nearing completion. RGV on the other hand is also completing Rann’s post production and is all set to start work on his next film, Rakta Charitra. So Raftaar would surely release first, maybe by August. As for Rann, it should hit the screens by the end of the year. Check the link below to know about the interesting characters in Rann and you’ll agree with me that Rann may prove to be one of the finest films of 2009!
The link: http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/slideshow/2009/04/18/373/index.html
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FAR REACHING EFFECTS OF THE PRODUCERS V/S MULTIPLEX TUSSLE!

Last week, MSian Shalu Dhyani made a very valid point regarding the tiff between multiplexes and producers. I had mentioned in my last week’s Bollywood talk as to how single screen theatres and moviegoers have to suffer in this ongoing tussle. Shalu observed that even the footfalls in malls nowadays have decreased due to no release of any significant film. Almost all multiplexes are located inside malls. Moviegoers who come to catch their favourite film in multiplex also indulge in shopping sometimes or most of the times, at least spend money at the food court. But with no new films releasing and multiplexes ‘forcibly’ running films like 8×10 Tasveer, Fast and the Furious etc, viewers are shunning multiplexes which in turn has taken a toll on the malls too.

Even food suppliers in theatres are facing the heat. With viewers hardly visiting theatres, samosa and pop corn sales have hit an all time low, affecting all the people related to this field. And an article in The Times of India last week confirmed that advertising agencies who own the large hoardings in cities are also facing losses since no new film is being promoted.

There must be many such people or agencies dependent on films who must be having a bad time right now. It’s high time the problem gets solved!

This post first appeared on MouthShut.com:

http://www.mouthshut.com/diary/dihhsmnqn/Fenils-Bollywood-Talk46