Director and writer Abu Aleeha believes that the success of a film lies in picking the right genre. He points out that horror comedy, which is gaining huge popularity worldwide, especially in Bollywood, is a winning choice for capturing audiences and hitting box office targets. Abu Aleeha also made a horror comedy film ‘Kataksha’, earning 19.3 million rupees at the box office.
The conversation started when the CEO of 422 Murad Kazmi asked him for advice in choosing a film genre.
The Taxali Gate writer said, “I suggested horror comedy, which made him laugh. He teased me, saying I was one of the few who had attempted it, and asked about the outcome. I admitted that either we didn’t execute it well or audiences weren’t ready for cinema post-Covid. However, I emphasized that horror comedy is a globally popular genre that doesn’t require a large cast or elaborate production design.”
Abu Aleeha continued, saying “With compelling characters, you can captivate audiences for two hours in a single location. The success of Stree 2, which will soon cross 300 crores, and Munjya, which earned over 100 crores two months ago, proves this point.”
He concluded, “My advice is to create a film that audiences want to see, rather than what’s easily producible.”
Here is a look at the box office results of some well-known horror-comedies:
Indian Movies Stree – INR 180 crores Bhool Bhulaiya- INR 266.88 crore.
Munjya – 132 crore at the box office. Pakistani Films Rangreza (2017) – PKR 2 crores. Koi Tujh Sa Kahan (2014) – PKR 1 crore.
Claim: Abida Parveen released a new song ‘O Mere Maula’ in collaboration with the Indian duo Salim and Sulaiman
Fact: ‘O Mere Maula’ is a new rendition of Abida Parveen’s 2016 song called ‘Noor e Elahi’
Legendary Sufi singer, Abida Parveen’s song, “O Mere Maula in the collaboration with Indian musician/singer brother duo Salim-Sulaiman has gone viral across the border. It was uploaded on April 9 and gained over 300,000 views on YouTube. It is currently trending on YouTube.
Bollywood actor, Pankaj Tripathi is also featured in the Music Video. He is known for popular roles in films, Mimi, Mirzapur, Bareilly Ki Barfi, Stree, Gangs of Wasseypur,andSacred Games.
The video is shot in three world cities of Mumbai, Toronto, and Islamabad. However, this song was actually released on Jul 5, 2016, with the song titled, Noor E Ilahi which is an earlier upload of the same music video, surpassing 19,000,000 views till now.
Bollywood actor Pankaj Tripathi has opened up about his cyber interaction with A-list Pakistani drama actor Iqra Aziz in an interview. The Stree star stated that a fan messaged him about the Raqeeb Se diva’s praise for his acting prowess.
He was informed by the mutual fan that Iqra is a very famous actress of Pakistan and as a fellow artist he made sure that he responds to her appreciation.
Taking to her Instagram stories on November 5, Aziz shared a picture of Pankaj Tripathi and wrote, “Hayee Kaleen bhaiya ap mere favourite ho (Oh Kaleen, you are my favourite).”
But Aziz would’ve never thought her random appreciation would be acknowledged by the Indian actor who also starred in Netflix’s Sacred Games.
Tripathi responded with an emoticon, a screenshot of which was shared by Aziz on her Instagram stories lately.
“Pankaj ji replied to me and I can’t believe it!” wrote Aziz on top of the screenshot with several celebratory emoticons.
Mirzapur’s season 2 recently premiered on Amazon Prime and received a lot of appreciation from the fans. Tripathi plays the leading role of Akhandanand Tripathi aka Kaleen bhaiya in the reknowned Indian show.
The story revolves around a shocking incident at a wedding procession that ignites a series of events entangling the lives of two families in the lawless city.
The Supreme Court of India has issued notices to the makers and producers of the web-series Mirzapur and Amazon Prime Video.
According to reports, a bench headed by Chief justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde admitted the plea and sought a response from the makers of the web-series and Over The Top (OTT) platform Amazon Prime Video.
The petition sought a direction that the government of India set up a core screening committee for web series, films, or other programmes that are directly released on online platforms.
The plea said, “The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting must make a certificate from a government authority mandatory before releasing any web series, movies, or program on OTT platforms.”
“By showing such ridicules and shameless things on the name of a city/ district is the insult of approximately 30 lakh population and rich culture of Mirzapur,” added the plea.
Supreme Court issues notice to makers and producers of web series ‘Mirzapur’ and Amazon Prime Video, on a petition complaining about the portrayal of Mirzapur district, UP in a bad light in the web series. SC seeks response from the OTT platform and series makers pic.twitter.com/NW074JKI9b
The PIL was filed by Sujeet Kumar Singh, a resident of Mirzapur, who said the web-series makers had shown Mirzapur as a city of goons and adulteress. The show, which was released on Amazon Prime Video on November 16, 2018, explores crime, murder and general lawlessness in a typically dysfunctional fictional town in the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh. Its second season was released in October 2020.
The plea has made the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Excel Entertainment Private Limited and Amazon Prime Video as parties in the case.
The court’s notice comes two days after an FIR was registered in Uttar Pradesh (UP) against the creators of Mirzapur for hurting “religious, social and regional sentiments” and “damaging social harmony”.
The FIR was filed by local journalist Arvind Chaturvedi who alleged that the Amazon Prime Video show hurts religious, social, and regional sentiments and damages social harmony. Chaturvedi also claimed that the series has hurt religious beliefs and feelings by focusing on abusive and illicit relationships. It is pertinent to add here that Chaturvedi has also written a book on the life of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Chaturvedi also accused the makers of spoiling the image of UP and presenting the city of Mirzapur in a poor light. He claimed that the web series shows abusive content, incest, and illicit relations.
Meanwhile, Amazon Prime is also under fire for its recently released political drama Tandav. The show is facing backlash for its portrayal of Hindu Gods and it has been alleged that the show depicts them in a poor light. Several BJP leaders have called for a complete ban on the show.
Tandav creator Ali Abbas Zafar on Tuesday announced that the cast and crew of the show has decided to implement changes in the series in order to pacify viewers who have been hurt because of the content.
Zafar shared an official statement from the cast and crew of Tandav on Twitter and asserted that the team had no intentions to hurt or offend the sentiments of any caste, race, community, or religion.
“We have the utmost respect for the sentiments of the people of our country. We did not intend to hurt or offend the sentiments of any individual, caste, community, race, religion or religious beliefs or insult or outrage any institution, political party or person, living or dead,” read the statement.
A case has been filed against the producers of Mirzapur, as well as Amazon Prime Video, for allegedly hurting “religious, social and regional sentiments” and “damaging social harmony”.
As per the reports, the complainant, Arvind Chaturvedi, has alleged that the Amazon Prime Video show hurts religious, social, and regional sentiments and damages social harmony. Chaturvedi also claimed that the series has hurt religious beliefs and feelings by focusing on abusive and illicit relationships. It is pertinent to add here that Chaturvedi is a local journalist, who has also written a book on the life of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The makers of the superhit web series have also been accused of spoiling the image of Uttar Pradesh (UP).
An FIR has also been reportedly filed against Mirzapur producers Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, and Bhaumik Gondaliya. They have been charged under IPC sections 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the IPC along with sections of the Information Technology (IT) Act.
This is not the first time that the show has found itself embroiled in a controversy. Last year, a day after its release, Mirzapur’s MP Anupriya Patel had also demanded action against the show.
In a tweet on October 24, 2020, MP Anupriya Patel had written that under the leadership of PM Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the city of Mirzapur has shown development and is “a centre of harmony”.
The complaint against Mirzapur comes days after an FIR was lodged against the makers of Tandav. The recently-released show is facing backlashfor its portrayal of Hindu Gods and it has been alleged that the show depicts them in a poor light. Several BJP leaders have called for a complete ban on the show.
Tandav creator Ali Abbas Zafar on Tuesday announced that the cast and crew of the show has decided to implement changes in the series in order to pacify viewers who have been hurt because of the content.
Zafar shared an official statement from the cast and crew of Tandav on Twitter and asserted that the team had no intentions to hurt or offend the sentiments of any caste, race, community, or religion.
“We have the utmost respect for the sentiments of the people of our country. We did not intend to hurt or offend the sentiments of any individual, caste, community, race, religion or religious beliefs or insult or outrage any institution, political party or person, living or dead,” read the statement.
The team also thanked the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for guiding and supporting them in the matter.
“We thank the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for guidance and support in the matter. We once again apologise if the series has unintentionally hurt anybody’s sentiments,” it added.
Earlier on Monday, the cast and crew of the political-drama had extended their apologies to the viewers for “unintentionally” hurting their sentiments.
Just when I thought I was done with Bollywood films for this year, given how terrible this year’s releases have been, Ludopopped up as I was scrolling through Netflix. The film had just released and was already trending in the top ten on Netflix Pakistan.
Featuring an ensemble cast of Pankaj Tripathi, Aditya Roy Kapur, Abhishek Bachchan, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Rajkummar Rao, Sanya Malhotra, Rohit Suresh Saraf and Pearle Maaney, Ludo is a tough film to describe considering the multiple storylines running side by side. On one hand, you have Akash (Kapur) and Shruti (Malhotra), who are trying to cover up a sex tape before Sanya gets married to the man of her dreams, while on the other you have Bittu (Bachchan), who just came out of jail and ends up running into a little girl who kidnapped herself so her parents would pay attention to her. Then you have Alu (Rao), who runs a restaurant and dances to Mithun’s disco moves when he is stressed. He deeply loves his childhood crush Pinky (Shaikh), though she is married with a baby.
Akash and Shruti
On the surface, the characters have nothing to do with one another but their fates are all connected through Sattu Bhaiya (Pankaj) who is the resident gangster. As the leads try to sort out the problems in their lives, they end up getting entangled with one another in a very messy web controlled by Sattu Bhaiya. He manages to run everyone’s lives even while lying on a hospital bed.
Sattu Bhaiya
Written and directed by Anurag Basu, Ludo is a highly entertaining and enthralling watch. It keeps you gripped with its twists and turns and has been masterfully directed. A movie like this, which has multiple plotlines and characters, each with a different, distinct story, running side by side, could have easily fallen apart. But Basu holds it all together skilfully.
Though it is slightly longer than average films these days, you will not feel yourself getting bored at any point – there is enough drama, comedy and romance to keep you hooked.
Alu and Pinky
All the leads gave brilliant performances though it was Pankaj who blew me away with his acting and expressions. Despite being a gangster, you couldn’t help but like his character all because of how Tripathi brought it to life.
Bittu
The cherry on top was the songs and background music, which perfectly complemented the theme and mood of the film. I have been listening to Aabaad Barbaad and Hardum Humdum on repeat.
