Ranbir beats cousin Kareena in box office race

Ranbir Kapoor's deaf and mute character in "Barfi!" seems to be giving cousin Kareena Kapoor's glamorous avatar in "Heroine" a run for her money!

The sweet and simple love story of a mute and deaf boy in "Barfi!" seems to have touched the heartstrings of viewers who are still flocking theatres to savour the unconventional romantic flavour. On the other hand, "Heroine", with an an overdose of glitz, doesn't seem to have the same effect on the moviegoers.

It is obvious from the fact that the Rs.30 crore-"Barfi!", released Sep 14, has raked in Rs.82.05 crore net at the domestic box-office, while "Heroine", which released a week later, has garnered just Rs.32 crore. Made at a budget of Rs.20 crore, it has recovered the cost, but is not as big a success as "Barfi!".

Both the films have been produced and distributed by Disney UTV.

"'Barfi' is performing exceedingly well across all international markets. The movie is resonating with audience and such sustenance across second weekend and weekdays is rare to see in recent times! Exhibitors all across have retained a good number of shows despite new releases," Amrita Pandey, executive director - syndication, international distribution, Studios, Disney UTV, said in a statement.

"Barfi!" is India's official entry to the prestigious Academy Awards in Best Foreign Language Film.

Gaurav Verma, director, India Theatrical Distribution, Studios, Disney UTV, says that it is like "icing on the cake".

"The second weekend saw more and more people coming in for the film and seeing the response we are in talks with exhibitors to add more screens for 'Barfi!'" he added.

As far as the international markets are concerned "Barfi!" seems to be ruling the roost there too. It has earned $4.82 million, while "Heroine" collection is $1.75 million as of Tuesday.

But Pandey claims that none of the female-centric films in recent years have received a response as good as "Heroine".

She said "Heroine" had a "phenomenal opening in all major international markets"!

"This was a highly anticipated movie and our marketing push has helped pull in massive crowds to theatres," she added.

Saif, Kareena visit London theatre to check Heroine's response

Kareena recently celebrated her 32nd birthday in London with Saif Ali Khan. Now the actor will be accompanying his ladylove to a screening of Heroine in a London theatre to check out the reasponse the film has been getting from Bebo's UK fans 

Our source says, `In India, the film has been getting a mixed response. But apparently in UK, it is doing well. The film was entirely shouldered on Kareena's performance and she is very happy with the way it has turned out.

So she will visit a London film theatre and get live feedback from her UK fans. She has invited Saif to join her during the screening.` 

Box office: 'Heroine' disappoints, 'Barfi!' still sweet

While Madhur Bhandarkar's film gets a slow start at the BO, 'Barfi!' is on an upward swing 

Madhur Bhandarkar's much-anticipated Heroine released with mix response. Although it was expected to get a huge opening and the producers released 2000 plus prints, the film didn't live up to the expectations. The trade feels that though the opening was good for a woman-oriented film, the film failed short of expectations.

Heroine has managed to earn Rs 22.49 crore in its first weekend (Friday Rs 7.35 cr, Saturday Rs 7.41cr and Sunday Rs 7.73 cr) On the other hand, Barfi! has collected around Rs 57.14 crore in its first week and Rs 15 crore in its second weekend making its total to Rs 62.14 crore in the first 10 days.

An interesting study of the moolah raked in by woman-oriented films in recent years in their first weekend indicates Rs 8.82 cr for 7 Khoon Maaf, Rs 10.85 cr for Tanu Weds Manu, Rs 12.02 cr for No One Killed Jessica, Rs 29.89 cr for The Dirty Picture, Rs 13.25 cr for Kahaani, Rs 6.28 cr for Hate Story and Rs 17.38 cr for Jism 2.

Girish Wankhede, official spokesperson of a multiplex chain says, `The reviews and the audience reactions for Heroine are mixed. And for Barfi!, the timely Oscar entry announcement has boosted the collections and in fact we are thinking of increasing shows at our theatres.` 

Trade analyst Atul Mohan says, `I think both Barfi! and Heroine should have been spaced out as both are from the same production house.` Trade expert Amod Mehra adds, `Heroine has nothing new to offer and the second half is dragging. It is a depressing film and will loose at least 20 to 30 per cent of its investment.`

Monday Movie Review: HEROINE

Rating **1/2

Madhur Bhandarkar's fascination for home-truths is known fact. Be it unseen or rather, unexplored world of bar dancers, the hind truths of media business and socialites, or the home truths of corporate sector and glamour aisles. Madhur has always succeeded in making his mark, by all his previous releases. 

After exhibiting his adroitness in conceptualising the home truths on celluloid, Madhur is once again here with a theme based on the hind side of showbiz. 

This time with Heroine, Madhur has tried to reveal the murkier secrets of an actresses' life, who has an ongoing tryst with agony and plight pertaining to personal and professional life. This much talked about cine cantata of Madhur, featuring Kareena, Randeep Hooda and Arjun Rampal opened with an occupancy of around 55% at multiplexes. 

There is widely prevailing notion about the showbiz which says that, darkness always prevails behind the spotlight. So is the story of Madhur's directional venture, Heroine, which is knitted around the voyage of an actress in the glittery lanes of showbiz. And her rendezvous with the dark side of fame and eminence. 

Heroine is tale of Mahi Arora (Kareena Kapoor) a prominent superstar of Bollywood, who has got all fragrances of goodies in her bunch of success blooms. Besides this Mahi suffers from bipolar disorder with mood swings, predominated by a sense of insecurity and loneliness. And the only source of soothing delight for Mahi is, her unconditional and everlasting dote on reigning superstar Aryan (Arjun Rampal). 

But as the story proceeds her insecurities start taking over the control of her life, where she lands up in a state of dilemma, due to sheer contradiction between her outer life and inner world which demands a soothing comfort of true love. As story moves ahead, her quest and longing for true love starts taking her to disastrous depths. 

After exhibiting his dexterity in handling the home-truths pertaining to glamour aisles, media industry, corporate world, and even the life of bar dancers this time Madhur some what failed in penning down a flawless script for one of the most over hyped cine flick of his career.

Infact the script of Heroine seems to be overly burdened with stereotypical element, showcasing those common features of "Madhur's type of cinema" for which homosexuality, Page-3 parties with gallons of liquor flowing, a gay fashion designers and bitchy celebs are a must. 

The script no where gives you a fragrance of freshness, rather it gets more and more monotonous with frames rolling ahead. Apart from it's characteristic resemblance with the previous cine cantatas of Madhur (especially Fashion). The script becomes monotonous, repetitive within itself also. 

With every successive sequence Heroine makes you feel that it is the same narrative which you have seen just a couple of minutes ago and the only difference lies in the shift of set. 

Even at times script of Heroine seems to be more of a gossip tabloid, which tries to take a dig at some of the real life incidents of Bollywood actress in order to authenticate its proclamation of being a reality based cine tale pertaining to Bollywood

In nutshell, contrary to his previous cine ideas which were thoroughly novel, this time Madhur has completely failed in knitting an entertaining script. 

With rhetoric pattern inspired from Socratian way of thinking, dialogues of Heroine may leave some impact upon you at one or two places but on the whole, masses are expected to get surprised by the phraseology, adopted by the ace director for this most ambitious project of his.

Well as far as screenplay and flow of the narration are concerned, then after having those award winning cine flicks like Fashion, Corporate, Page -3 and Chandini Bar in his kitty, this time Madhur has failed in meeting his own benchmark.

Though like typical Madhur Bhandarkar movies Heroine also begins with a curiosity raising sequence, providing a take off to audience apprehensions, but as the frames move ahead the onscreen substance seems to be divorcing from the reality, with everything kissing the horizons of obtruded melodrama.

Contrary Bhandarkar style of direction every single sequence of the film, Heroine is loaded with tonnes of predictability coated around it. Which is surely a disappointment for die hard Bhandarkar fans. With tons of soil from the previous grounds, Heroine once again showcased the feminine-traits of a designer, homosexuality, bitching celebs everything seems to be copy, pasted from his previous cine cantatas. 

As far as direction is concerned then in Heroine Madhur some what failed in extracting best from his protagonists. Though Kareena's oomph in movie was at all time best, but inspite of that her performance could have been better. Infact despite having the patronage of an ace director like Madhur, Kareena looked getting derailed from her performance track as the movie rolls ahead. 

With narration flowing ahead at snails pace and run time of around 2 hrs 30 minutes Heroine at times becomes so overburdening that, you simply feel like being punished. 

Clad with oodles of glamour around her, Kareena has looked scorching hot in the movie, but as far as her performance is concerned then up till an extent Bebo disappoints the fans who expected a memorable performance from her. 

As a superstar Arjun Rampal is proficient and leaves a thorough impression. And on the other hand Randeep Hooda too delivered a satisfactory in a brief, but significant role.

As far as supporting cast is concerned then Divya Dutta as a PR professional leaves an impact. 

In the music department, Heroine failed in making it to chart busters list. With Halkat Jawani as the pick of the deck, for those who relish soft and soothing tunes, there are a couple of tracks like Tujhpe Fida, Khwahishein, Saiyaan which are well integrated in the narrative. 

With so much hype created to provide a massive impetus to its opening on the BO, Heroine somewhat lacks the trademark trait of Bhandarkar cine flicks. And as far as its emerging as a massive success is concerned, then it's Kareena's fan following which may do the miracle for the movie which is otherwise expected to emerge as the cine flick slightly above the average mark.
To sum up, after watching so many women centric cine delights offered by Madhur, Heroine somewhat fails in meeting the previous benchmarks set by the director, and could only be watched to witness the oodles of oomph of Kareena.

'Heroine' performs well in overseas market

Kareena Kapoor-starrer "Heroine" is working wonders in the overseas market.

The Madhur Bhandarkar movie, based on the ups and downs in the life of an actress, was reportedly made at a budget of Rs.20 crore.

It released in 42 screens in the Middle East Thursday, and has earned $350,000, with 19 screens still to report the numbers.

In India, Britain and the US, the movie opened Friday.

It registered Rs.7.5 crore earnings in India, in Britain, it made $78,402 from 41 screens, while in the US, "Heroine" minted $140,000 (it released in 112 screens, and six screens are yet to report the numbers.

"'Heroine' has seen a phenomenal opening in all major international markets. This was a highly anticipated movie and our marketing push has helped pull in massive crowds to theatres. No other female lead has seen such a response in recent years," Amrita Pandey, executive director, Syndication, International Distribution - Studios, Disney UTV, said in a statement.

"Heroine" also features Arjun Rampal and Randeep Hooda in key roles. The movie had a strong buzz around it, and it was heavily promoted across all quarters.

Bollywood incomplete without Salman: Kareena

Salman Khan is on the brink of completing a silver jubilee in Bollywood, and actress Kareena Kapoor says the industry is incomplete without him.

"I think we all are big fans of Salman and he has been my and Karisma's (Kapoor) co-star. I am really happy with his 25 years because this industry is incomplete without Salman," the 31-year-old said here.

The actress, who is awaiting the release of her film "Heroine" spoke on the sidelines of a special shoot for comedy TV show "Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah".

About her appearance on the show, Kareena said: "I think it's the number one TV show, so we are happy that we could promote our film 'Heroine' on such a popular stage."

The serial's most popular character, Daya Jethalal Gada, essayed by actress Disha Vakani, made Kareena do the garba. Kareena, who has danced to "Halkat jawaani" in the film was quite a sport.

"All of them are quite halkat so we danced on 'Halkat jawaani' and the show has got that spirit. I also did the garba and Punjabi dance and I also made them dance to my song. So the concept has been well-woven in the script," Kareena said.

Directed by Madhur Bhandarkar, "Heroine" hits theatres this Friday and also stars Arjun Rampal and Randeep Hooda.

Kareena Kapoor on the Sets of "Halkat Jawani" Music Shoot

First Look: Arjun Rampal and Kareena Kapoor in HEROINE

HEROINE's 'Halkat jawani ' n 'Saaiyaan' crosses 1 million hits on YouTube. S

Kareena Kapoor's peppy number "Halkat jawani" from "Heroine" is grabbing eyeballs. It has crossed over one million hits on YouTube.

The video was officially put on the site Aug 16, and has received a stupendous response.

From Ganesh Acharya's choreography to Kareena's svelte looks, viewers have praised the song for all its aspects.

"Heroine" will release Sep 21

Also the news has it that "Saaiyaan" has also done the same. OFFICIAL TWEET BY MUSIC COMPOSOR SALIM MERCHANT OF SALIM-SULAIMAN DUO

VIDEOS BELOW

HALKAT JAWANI

SAAIYAAN

Kareena Kapoor takes on Katrina Kaif in Heroine

Kareena Kapoor has gone ahead and taken a dig at fellow actress Katrina Kaif and her foreign origin.

But don’t let your imaginations run wild, as the potshots are strictly part of the script of her upcoming movieHeroine.

In one of the scenes, the 31-year-old is seen poking fun at another actress with uncanny resemblance to Kaif. While interacting with a journalist in the scene, the actress claimed that the latter got successful only because her boyfriend (Salman Khan) was a big star.

Bebo even remarks on how the actress' passport should be checked to identify her real name, age and country of origin.

Although Kapoor girl was reluctant to do this scene, she was convinced by director Madhur Bhandarkar, who reasoned that several aspiring actresses did come to India to try their luck in films.

Kaif’s passport issue got hyped when Deepika Padukone quipped about it on chat show Koffee With Karan.

OFFICIAL TRAILER: Heroine

First Look: HEROINE

Check out the first look of one of the most awaiting film of 2012 "HEROINE"

KAREENA KAPOOR Looks Ravishing.

First look of 'Heroine' in June

Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar is set to unveil the first look of "Heroine" with Kareena Kapoor next month.

"For everyone who's asking #Heroine first look will be out by June 1st week! Bas thodasa Intezar aur (The wait's not so long)," Bhandarkar tweeted.

Bhandarkar earlier revealed the first look of the film with Aishwarya Rai at the 2011 Cannes International Film Festival, however, the actress had to opt out of the film because of her pregnancy.

Kareena replaced Aishwarya after that.