By now we all know the importance of OTT/digital platforms and their impact upon our lives, the pandemic having the environment around us. With cinemas remaining closed for several months & with several issues plaguing the entertainment sector even today, it’s very unclear as to how things would turn out for the industry for the rest of 2021 as well. While the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has been in the news of late for the development of a ‘toolkit’ by 17 major OTT platforms, in line with the implementation of the self-regulation code that was introduced in 2020, now they have made a major announcement, all these 17 major OTT platforms will offer one month’s free subscription to Indian consumers.Continue reading “Breaking News: Leading OTT Platforms to Offer a One-Month Free Subscription for Indian Audience, Move Aimed at Widening Subscription Base”
Category Archives: Madaboutmoviez Specials
Indian Multiplexes Now all set to Take Care of the Annoying Moviegoer
Aren’t we all used to watching movies in multiplexes and single screen cinemas where there is now a problem that is growing day by day, one that has been a threat to a serious movie buff’s movie watching experience? Well we are talking about the annoying mobile phone of course, a useful tool generally but a tremendous irritating factor at the cinemas. Haven’t you come across people talking loudly on their mobiles even in the middle of a movie, with the least amount of botheration for the people around them? Haven’t we seen people annoyingly playing games/checking their social media platforms/chatting or just randomly fiddling with their phone, without caring to see if the bright screen of their mobile phone/tablet is disturbing others or not? Yes multiplex chains in particular do carry advertisements requesting patrons to put their mobile phones on silent mode or to switch it off while watching a movie? But how impactful has this been so far? Nothing seems to work mostly and you end up having to ask the concerned person to refrain from using his phone, even if that means you may have to get into a nasty argument at times.Continue reading “Indian Multiplexes Now all set to Take Care of the Annoying Moviegoer”
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Breaking News: RGV and Aamir Khan to Join Hands for a Biopic on Narendra Modi,Mann Ki Baat
While the quality of most of his recent releases might be debatable, there is no doubt about Ram Gopal Varma aka RGV‘s ability to stay in the news. He is also someone who is quick to realize the potential in a topic that could be of relevance for a feature film. A recent example being his revelation on Twitter in terms of his intent to make a film on Sasikala, after all the controversial happenings in Tamil Nadu politics following the passing away of the former CM, J.Jayalalitha. But this latest news beats everything else in terms of whatever he has done so far. As per informed sources from his production house, RGV is now planning to announce a biopic on none other than Narendra Modi. Tentatively titled “Mann Ki Baat”, what is even more surprising is that RGV is already in talks with Aamir Khan to play the lead role of India’s PM. As we all might remember, RGV and Aamir Khan had earlier collaborated on Rangeela. While the film did turn out to be a commercial success, they had almost sworn not to work together again.This makes the news appear even more interesting and the project will soon be the most talked about film over the next few months for sure.
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The Best of Indian Cinema in 2016: A Perspective
Let me begin by honestly admitting that 2016 was a lukewarm year for Indian Cinema, at least that would be something that I firmly believe in. Be it Bollywood/Hindi cinema or any of the regional language film industries, things were largely subdued for a major part of the year. Be it businesswise or with respect to the quality of output, 2016 definitely seemed to lag behind 2015, forget going anywhere beyond that for a comparison. It’s not that the year was totally beyond redemption, there were some positives as well, but they were not sufficient enough to completely lift up the spirit of Indian cinema overall. Let’s begin by taking a look at Bollywood to start with. 2016 saw only 2 big blockbusters, Sultan and Dangal, none of the other successful films were runaway hits as such. So while Salman Khan and Aamir Khan delivered big time with Sultan and Dangal respectively, SRK came up with Fan which met with a mixed response, while gaining back some traction with one of the better Hindi films of the year, Dear Zindagi.Continue reading “The Best of Indian Cinema in 2016: A Perspective”
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Breaking News: Deepika Padukone is now part of Baahubali: The Conclusion?
In a surprising development it has been learnt that Deepika Padukone is now part of the already huge team of S.S.Rajamouli‘s Baahubali: The Conclusion, the sequel to last year’s blockbuster, Baahubali: The Beginning. Already busy with the shoot of her first Hollywood film, xXx: The Return of Xander Cage, the 3rd film in the xXx franchise, Deepika is known to have shot for a couple of days recently in total secrecy for Baahubali: The Conclusion. While all the attention in the last few days regarding Deepika has been the discussion over whether she is disappointed at losing out the National Award (Best Actress) to Kangna Ranaut despite amazing performances in Piku and Bajirao Mastani, a little birdie tells us that Rajamouli was quite clear that the news of Deepika’s presence in the project was to be kept under wraps till a suitable opportune moment was to come across. Now that we know that Deepika is part of Baahubali: The Conclusion it becomes all the more clear that the project has just bigger in proposition, not just in Telugu and Tamil, but most importantly in the dubbed Hindi version. One might remember that Baahubali: The Beginning is the first and so far the only regional film to do an All India business of above 100 crores (nett) in the Hindi dubbed version.Continue reading “Breaking News: Deepika Padukone is now part of Baahubali: The Conclusion?”
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The Best of Indian Cinema in 2015: A Perspective
2015 has been an interesting year overall for Indian Cinema, there have been a lot of films across languages which appealed to both the audience and critics alike. Writers and filmmakers seem to have shown their willingness to explore a variety of topics, often surprising people in the process. As for Hindi Cinema it was a decent if not an excellent year and there were quite a few interesting developments observed. There were some good Hindi films in the first half of 2015 including Baby, Badlapur, Dum Lagake Haisha, NH10, Piku, Tanu Weds Manu Returns etc. This clearly indicated that variety was key and that even a big star like Akshay Kumar was keen to try out meaningful films within the commercial boundary. The third quarter of the year was dominated by two biggies, Baahubali and Bajrangi Bhaijaan, while thankfully a relatively smaller film like Masaan also got noticed. Baahubali’s success in Hindi is unprecedented, as no dubbed film has performed anywhere close to how Baahubali has performed in Hindi. It will be interesting to see if this remains an exception to the norm or whether there will be more such films to follow. The last quarter of the year saw some interesting films like Talvar, Titli and Bajirao Mastani, while the success of Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 took everyone by surprise. SRK showed that he definitely is good at marketing, but that alone can’t change the quality of a film like Dilwale. Sooraj Barjatya returned after a long hiatus with Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, which despite having Salman Khan in a dual role, didn’t do as well as expected.Continue reading “The Best of Indian Cinema in 2015: A Perspective”
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Top 10 Bollywood Films of 2015
Let me start the post with the disclaimer that I haven’t seen some of the acclaimed films of 2015. The most prominent ones among them are Titli, Manjhi, Drishyam,Maragarita with a Straw and Court (though I am told that the last one is mostly in Marathi). On the other hand, I have purposefully kept BAAHUBALI away from this list because the Hindi version is primarily a dubbed one. So, my post may suffer from the problem of exclusion. At the same time, it’s a highly personal choice and in no way reflects the true merit of any film.Continue reading “Top 10 Bollywood Films of 2015”
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The Best of Malayalam Cinema in 2015: A Perspective
At the very outset while I do feel that 2015 wasn’t an exceptional year for Malayalam Cinema, there were some interesting films and certain interesting trends were noticed as well. The number of releases overall dipped a bit this year, with an overall number of 153 releases (140 straight and 13 dubbed releases) compared to 163 last year. There were disruptions to the movie business seen in the form of the exhibitors association shutting down the theatres in Kerala on 2 separate occasions. While in July we saw a strike (thankfully only for a day) due to protest over the piracy controversy surrounding Alphonse Putharen’s Premam, we saw the the Christmas releases being threatened thanks to the strike over the Government’s decision to introduce a Rs. 3 cess on tickets intended to be used for helping poor artists of the industry with a monthly pension. There were quite a few films which saw success at the box office, including 3 bonafide blockbusters, all of them bringing in a fresh aspect of filmmaking.Continue reading “The Best of Malayalam Cinema in 2015: A Perspective”
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Bollywood Movies 2015: The Year End List
2015 was arguably a good year for Hindi Cinema. Though there might not have been any landmark movies, but there were many brave attempts and I am sure a few of them will live long enough to be discussed on forums like these.One can never possibly compile the year’s best list. A movie, like love, is an extremely subjective experience. So I won’t say this is my list of year’s best films,but rather list of 10 films that engaged me sufficiently and a few of them left an impact deep enough to mull over them for days in a row.Continue reading “Bollywood Movies 2015: The Year End List”
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