Entertainment
Lights, camera, little action: ‘Bell Bottom’, ‘Chehre’ yet to pull crowds
Two back-to-back big releases — Akshay Kumar’s ‘Bell Bottom’ and the Amitabh Bachchan star vehicle, ‘Chehre’, both well-received by critics — may have buoyed the spirits of film exhibitors, but their box-office collections have been far from encouraging.
‘Bell Bottom’, which was released on August 19, according to trade analysts, has grossed Rs 18.55 crore till date. Compare this with the Rs 64.99 crore collected in its opening weekend by ‘Good Newzz’ (with Diljit Dosanjh), Akshay’s last film before the first nationwide Covid-19 lockdown. And that was far less than the extended opening weekend earnings — Rs 97.56 crore — of the other big 2019 film, ‘Mission Mangal’.
A number of factors have contributed to this significant drop in earnings: cinema theatres are still under lockdown in Mumbai and Pune, depriving Bollywood of 25 per cent of its revenues; the requirement in a number of malls for patrons to produce double vaccination certificates before being allowed in, which is affecting attendance in theatres located in malls; and, significantly, the closure of 1,500 single screens across India because of the pandemic-induced economic stress.
On ‘Chehre’, which opened on Friday, the analysts were not very bullish about box-office figures. Karan Taurani of Elara Capital predicted that it would make a “lifetime collection” of Rs 5-6 crore because of its “niche” storyline that only a “discerning audience” would appreciate.
Taurani also pointed out that collections have been low because of “very low occupancy in morning shows and night shows not being allowed”. He also blamed the low occupancies forced by social distancing norms being in force. Also, over the last eight days, barring this past Sunday, which did see a spike in Delhi as a result of Raksha Bandhan festivities, attendance in theatres was at an all-time low across Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Exhibitors, however, are cautiously optimistic about their business coming back to life, even if partially, because of ‘Bell Bottom’ and ‘Chehre’.
Gautam Dutta, CEO, PVR Limited, said in a conversation with IANS: “Post the reopening of cinemas after the second wave, ‘Bell Bottom’ was the first big Bollywood movie to have hit the big screen. And it has done reasonably well within the restrictions in capacity, show limitations and weekend closures.”
He also emphasised the lockdown still in place for cinema theatres in “major markets such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.”
The sentiment was share by Rajender Singh Jyala, Chief Programming Officer, INOX Leisure.
Speaking to IANS, he said: “We have always said that the industry needed a couple of mass entertainers to kick off the recovery process, and we are glad that these have arrive and are doing phenomenally well, despite the restrictions.”
“We positively hope that the momentum built by the fantastic response to ‘Bell Bottom’ in the week gone by, and the hype around ‘Chehre’, would mark the onset of our revival journey.”
For Dutta, more than the initial numbers, it is the momentum that matters. He said to IANS: “We are encouraged by the release of the long-awaited ‘Chehre’ today. Hope this will encourage producers from the Bollywood fraternity to announce their big films for theatrical release and get movie-goers back to cinemas.”
Bollywood
Naseeruddin Shah backs SRFTI students’ protest: BJP trying to frighten future filmmakers

Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah extended his support to students of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute who are currently staging an indefinite sit-in after a violent incident on campus recently.
Naseeruddin claimed that the BJP wishes to take revenge on all who do not subscribe to its beliefs and policies, and SRFTI students are the latest targets.
On Saturday, the veteran actor dropped a video on his official handle saying, “Namaskar, adab, I’m Naseeruddin Shah. The BJP, the bloody jhooti party, after its manipulative victory in the Bengal elections, now seems all out for revenge on anyone who does not subscribe to their beliefs and their policies. The latest victims of this vendetta are the students, the aspiring filmmakers of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute. In return for their demand for accountability from the administration, they have been served show cause notices, put under surveillance, threatened and now have even been asked to vacate the hostels.”
Naseeruddin added that BJP wants not just to back and encourage the shameless propaganda in its favour, and it is now hoping either to brainwash or frighten the future filmmakers of this country.
“I can promise you that is not going to happen. These are the young people who in the future will tell us the truth about themselves and about our country and about the state we are in,” he assured.
“I urge all right-minded citizens to support the demands of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute students,” the actor said before ending the clip.
For the unversed, SRFTI students have been staging an indefinite sit-in outside Vice-Chancellor Santosh Ajmera’s office since October 12, demanding his resignation.
Students and members of the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat (ABGP), an RSS-affiliated consumer awareness group, got into a clash during a programme on September 27.
On October 4, another tussle took place as a protest was organised by the members of the Bangiya Hindu Jagaran Mancha. According to reports, a few protesters attempted to force open the gate of the institute after police stopped them.
Bollywood
Janhvi Kapoor admits she gained weight after Karan Johar stopped talking to her

After Salman Khan, Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna, Bollywood actors Janhvi Kapoor and Varun Dhawan will be seen as guests on the third episode of the popular chat show, ‘Koffee with Karan’.
As the makers unveiled the teaser of the forthcoming episode on Saturday, Varun and Janhvi revealed that filmmaker Karan Johar had stopped speaking to them both. The ‘Mili’ actress added that she even ended up gaining weight when the director was not talking to her.
During the teaser, Karan shared the reason of his silent treatment, saying “I was hurt with both of you.”
Janhvi pitched in with, “I gained weight when we stopped talking.”
Accusing KJo of being too dramatic, Varun added, “Karan, you said very dramatic shit. You became Bachchan from K3G: ‘Mein bada hoon, haq hai mera.'”
While it is not clear why the filmmaker stopped talking to both Varun and Janhvi, it seems like all is well between them now.
As a fun twist to the episode, actor Arjun Kapoor joined Varun and Janhvi for the rapid fire round on the show.
As Karan asked Varun, who will he like to take career advice and marriage advice from, he immediately took Arjun’s name.
Additionally, as Janhvi was asked to name one Instagram account that is ‘giving’ all the time, she replied, Ravi Kishan. After that, she also went on to imitate his viral punchline: ‘Money follows my brother!’. Arjun also accompanied his sister.
Sharing the teaser of the next episode of ‘Koffee With Karan’ on his Instagram handle, Karan wrote the caption, “@varundvn & @janhvikapoor on my couch…need I say more? This one was all madness and love + a very special (longstanding) guest. Koffee with Karan Season 9, Episode 3, streaming Wednesday at 7pm, only on The Peacock Hub on JioHotstar.”
Bollywood
‘Bigg Boss 20’: Rohit Shetty questions Lovepreet Gill, Scout’s closeness

Filmmaker Rohit Shetty questioned Lovepreet Gill about her relationship with fellow contestant Scout on the reality show ‘Bigg Boss 20’, pointing out that their physical closeness, including Scout massaging her legs, hands and neck, could be perceived differently by viewers outside the house.
In a promo shared by the channel on Instagram, Rohit stepped in for hosting duties, and Salman Khan had prior commitments. The filmmaker asked Lovepreet about her bond with Scout.
Lovepreet maintained that she considers Scout a brother, while Rohit said their interactions were “looking absolutely wrong” from an outsider’s perspective.
“When he’s massaging your legs, massaging your hands, massaging your neck. Love, that doesn’t look right. You tell Scout to massage your back. He’s massaging your calves. It’s not looking good at all,” Rohit said.
To which, Scout chimed in: “I do, Mahi di too.”
Rohit replied: “Scout! What you see outside, what you feel outside, that’s what I’m telling you. It’s looking absolutely wrong.”
The 20th edition of Bigg Boss started on September 6.
It has a diverse lineup of 16 celebrity contestants including names such as MC Mary Kom, Kanika Mann, Mahhi Vij, Kushal Tanwar, Arishfa Khan, Qazi Touqeer, Asif Khan, Aamrapali Dubey, Uditi Singh, Tanmay Singh aka ScoutOP, Rohed Khan, Yung DSA and Love Gill.
Bigg Boss is an Indian Hindi-language reality television show of the Bigg Boss franchise in India that airs on Colors TV. It is based on the Dutch format of Big Brother. The 20th edition started on September 6.
Rohit is known for making action comedy and masala films. His breakthrough came with the first installment of the comedy film franchise Golmaal, starring Ajay Devgn, Tusshar Kapoor and Arshad Warsi, which became a sleeper hit.
He tasted further success with franchise included Golmaal Returns, Golmaal 3 and Golmaal Again, each of which went on to rank among the highest-grossing films of the year.
Rohit returned to the action genre with Singham after eight years of his debut action thriller Zameen, which also starred Devgn in the lead.
Later on, it expanded into the Cop Universe with Singham Returns, Simmba and Sooryavanshi. His other notable successes include All the Best: Fun Begins, Bol Bachchan and Chennai Express; the latter became the highest-grossing Hindi film, surpassing 3 Idiots at that time.
Apart from film directing, he is also seen as a host for the stunt-based reality adventure show Khatron Ke Khiladi.
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