1.49 PM Thursday, 28 March 2024
  • City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
  • Dubai 04:57 06:11 12:27 15:53 18:37 19:51
28 March 2024

Starry Bollywood summer scorchers for UAE fans

Published
By Bindu Suresh Rai

Its summer blockbusters season in Bollywood and a sound marketing campaign these days is worthless without a pit stop in the emirate, en route to cashing in on box office gold.
 
This summer is no less, with “Bol Bachchan” stars, Abhishek Bachchan and Ajay Devgn, being the latest in a plethora of celebrities to fly by Dubai, close on the heels of Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone for “Cocktail” and Priyanka Chopra and Shahid Kapur for “Teri Meri Kahaani”.
 
The Empire Films release is slated to hit UAE cinemas on July 4, with an insider telling Emirates 24|7 that the two male leads, along with Asin and Prachi Desai, are expected to walk the red carpet a couple of days earlier for “Bol Bachchan’s” world premiere.
 
Meanwhile, “Teri Meri Kahaani’s” world premiere, one of alleged four, is slated for the week leading to June 21, which is the official release date of the romcom in the UAE.
 
As for the “Cocktail” stars, Khan, Padukone and Diana Penty are expected here mid-June for a promotional campaign – including mall and nightclub visits – in the lead up to the romcom’s global release on July 12.
 
And the box office winner is…
 
If the films’ first looks are anything to go by, then “Cocktail’s” zany humour and frothy romance emerges as the clear box office winner this summer.
 
Produced at an estimated budget of Rs400 million, the Eros International and Illuminati Films release has been written by famed director, Imtiaz Ali, and helmed by the super talented Homi Ajdania.
 
In a sea of nonsense, fun and sensibility could strike gold at the ticketing booths.
 
Meanwhile, “Teri Meri Kahaani” seems to be heavily banking on the lead pair’s on again, off again off-screen romance that has exhausted writers and fans of Chopra and Kapur.
 
While director Kunal Kohli’s romcom does promise a unique telling of three love stories across different eras in one single package, it will take more than just off-screen gossip to get viewers to vouch for “Teri Meri Kahaani’s” credibility.
 
Rounding up the trio is the unimpressive trailer of Rohit Shetty’s “Bol Bachchan”.
 
Lead star, Bachchan’s bankability at the box office is already under fire after unable to churn out a hit since 2009’s “Paa”, which was almost entirely his father Amitabh Bachchan’s baby.
 
And while Devgn has been riding high with Shetty in the “Golmaal” trilogy, the madcap comedy that is apparently inspired from the original “Golmaal” of yore may just be the hit that baby Bachchan needs.
 
We won’t hold our breaths though.