'Bajrangi Bhaijaan': Another Eid miracle awaited from Salman Khan

July 16, 2015

salman-khanNew Delhi, Jul 16: Given the lacklustre journey of Bollywood in the first half of 2015, a remunerative miracle at the box office is much-awaited. All eyes are on superstar Salman Khan's "Bajrangi Bhaijaan", which delves into Indo-Pak relations, to break the dry spell, say trade analysts.

With only two films - "Tanu Weds Manu Returns" and "ABCD 2" - crossing the Rs.100 crore mark in Hindi cinema in 2015 so far, expectations are high from Kabir Khan's directorial which is set to hit the screens on Friday.

What's interesting is that the movie releases with a U/A certificate a day before Eid -- an occasion which has always reaped gold for Salman at the box office, proven by the success of films like "Kick", "Ek Tha Tiger", "Bodyguard", "Dabangg" and "Wanted".

"Expectations from 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' are really huge. We are hoping that it may cross Rs.300 crore. Pre-booking of the film has been fantastic," Delhi-based film distributor Joginder Mahajan told IANS.

Releasing on more than 5,000 screens across 50 countries, including the US, Britain, Pakistan and Australia, "Bajrangi Bhaijaan", which also stars Kareena Kapoor Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in pivotal roles, is the story of a man discovering love during a journey from India to Pakistan as he takes a dumb and mute girl back to her country.

According to Devang Sampat, business head - Strategy, Cinepolis, the anticipation from "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" is "humongous and the opening will be as grand as it could get".

"Right from the time when the teaser was released till the cusp of release date, the buzz has been getting stronger and stronger. The film is expected to outperform Salman's previous releases and may make a box office record of Rs.300 crore plus numbers," Sampat told IANS.

He added that more than 70 percent seats are booked and he is confident the opening weekend will go houseful for the movie.

"Eid and Salman have been a lethal combination," Sampat said.

Another trade expert, Mumbai-based Rajesh Thadani, also said that "'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' will break Salman's earlier records".

Currently, S.S. Rajamouli's southern magnum opus "Baahubali: The Beginning" is breaking Indian records. But it's success won't impact "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" -- which co-incidentally has been written by Rajamouli's father K. V. Vijayendra Prasad, who also penned "Baahubali" -- pointed out experts.

"Overseas too, 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' is releasing in a record number of screens. The 'Baahubali' competition is there, but Salman has a big fan following overseas," Thadani said.

Sampat added: "Nothing can stop Salman from taking an opening and that too on Eid. Both movies can survive and perform at the box office. Salman has been a hero of the masses. It's a given that the film will work in tier-II and tier-III towns."

However, the only place where the film might face some trouble is the national capital where the state government has hiked the entertainment tax.

"It's sad that Delhi government is increasing the entertainment tax from 20 percent to 40 percent. Whenever there is a hike in entertainment tax, people skip going to cinema halls. But the business of the film will be huge pan-India," Mahajan said.

Till now, "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" is riding on word of mouth publicity, and Salman's colleagues in filmdom -- Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan -- did their bit by publicising the first look of the film on Twitter.

It now only remains to be seen whether the "Dabangg" Khan is able to spin his magic on the pious occasion of Eid once again!

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News Network
March 5,2020

New Delhi, Mar 5: Urging netizens to adopt traditional salutation styles like 'namaste' and 'salaam' to greet everyone in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, megastar Salman Khan on Thursday shared a picture from his workout session.

Flaunting his perfectly chiselled body, the 'Sultan' actor shared a picture of himself sitting on a pull-down machine with folded hands as a mark of Indian tradition 'namaste'.

"Namashkaar ... hamari sabhyata mein namaste aur salaam hai! Jab #coronavirus Khatam ho jaye tab Haath milao aur gale lago...." he captioned the picture.

Khan recently touched the mark of 30 million followers on Instagram on Saturday and shared a short video on the platform thanking his fans for it.

In the video, he first thanked fans with folded hands and then a salute.

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News Network
April 8,2020

Mumbai, Apr 8: Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has started the process of transferring funds into the accounts of daily wage workers of the film industry, the Federation of Western Indian Cine Employees (FWICE) said on Wednesday.

The actor had recently pledged to financially support 25,000 daily wage workers who have been badly hit by the 21-day lockdown to contain the coronavirus spread in the country.

According to B N Tiwari, FWICE, President, Salman has made an initial payment of Rs 3,000 each to the daily wage workers of the film industry, starting Tuesday.

"We had given him the final list of 23,000 workers so far, who were in dire need of financial help. He is going to transfer money in installments as he doesn't want people to misuse it. He has transferred about Rs 3,000 to every worker yesterday and he will transfer money again after some time. We are thankful to him for helping our workers," Tiwari told PTI.

A source close to Salman said the superstar will continue to support the workers until the situation improves in the country.

"We have started the process from Tuesday. We will be giving sufficient money to workers monthly, we will also give money next month and if the situation is still the same, we will continue to financially help the workers till it doesn't return to normalcy," the source said.

FWICE said Yash Raj Films have also provided a financial help of Rs 5,000 to around 3,000 workers.

"Besides Salman, a lot of people from Bollywood have come forward to help the workers, including Ajay Devgn and Rohit Shetty, who have given Rs 51 lakh each. Boney Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor too have given money and there are few more who have offered financial assistance to the federation. We also received Rs 1.5 crore from the Producers Guild of India on Tuesday.

"The federation has received a total amount of Rs 3 crore from film industry people. We are yet to receive money from Netflix, which they had announced for daily wage earners and also from Amitabh Bachchan, who is going to provide ration to one lakh workers. He is going to provide coupons which we should receive in a day or two," Tiwari said.

He further said Bachchan's ration coupon for workers will also be given to other associations across the country, such as in Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Karnataka.

Tiwari said FWICE is in the process of making another list of needy workers and then they will begin the process of transferring money.

"The Rs 3 crore that the federation has received will be distributed among our five lakh workers in Maharashtra. We will start sending money from April 14 in phases. Those who haven't received any financial aid will be helped first. We are in the process of making a list of such workers for the same," Tiwari said.

"FWICE has also begun distributing ration to workers in suburban Andheri and Jogeshwari. So far we have distributed 5,000 packets of ration and we will give more, he added.

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News Network
June 6,2020

New Delhi, Jun 6: Actor Ayushmann Khurrana took the internet by storm as he posted a picture of himself in the dark 'Joker' avatar on Saturday.

Artist Swapnil Pawar transformed Khurrana into the 'Joker' through his artwork which the actor posted on his Instagram.

"Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it ... I'm an Agent of Chaos!" Khurrana quoted a famous dialogue from the film 'Joker' in the caption.

The 35-year-old actor, who hasn't played an outright negative role in his career further revealed his fascination for negative characters in the caption.

"Sinister, menacing, evil, cold, conniving yet brilliant, genius - have always thought of playing a negative character like Joker. Thank you @swapnilmpawar for reading my mind and this incredible artwork!" he wrote.

Khurrana believes that though it is good to portray different roles and he would love to play a negative character but the message at the end should be positive.

"I will be happy to play a negative character. I would love to play a morally corrupt person. That will be out of my realm. But the message, at the end of the day, should be positive. I don't want to endorse wrongdoings on screen," he said.

The new look of the 'Article 15' actor won hearts as the post was flooded with scores of comments from his fans.

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