QA: How did Mani Ratnam's Dil Se do at box office

Q: Can I Hate Luv Storys be a big grosser?
A: It hasn't opened that particularly well. Single screens are poor in range of 5-10%. Multiplexes in Bombay were 40-50% for the day overall. Delhi a tad better. Multiplexes in Indore were only around 25%. Calcutta about 15-20%. First day business can be estimated around 4-5 crores. If the normal Saturday-Sunday upticks happen, it will have a 15-17 crore weekend. From there, it will have to have great word of mouth.

Q: Why is Yuva considered a landmark?
A: It isn't, except by perhaps Abhishek Bachchan and Mani Ratnam crew. That film was a flop.

Q: Why did Aishwarya Rai-Abhishek Bachchan hold premiere for a film they called Raavan in London?
A: These folks were not likely to hold the premiere of such a movie at Ayodhya.

Q: How did Mani Ratnam's Dil Se do at the box office?
A: Dil Se was a flop too, despite Shahrukh Khan

Q: I heard that Mani Ratnam has communist connections? He turned Ramayan into a maoist manifesto. He has to be a communist.
A: There have been rumors of links to the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). Mani Ratnam himself however has not admitted to being a communist as per public knowledge.

Q: So when is Film Industry making an interpretive inversion of Quran and its Prophet Muhammad?
A: No idea

Q: How did Censor Board clear Raavan in the first place? And that too with a U rating? Not only its theme, it has scenes of grotesque violence, with talk of rape, hands being cut? These censor board people need to be beat up!
A: Well, that's another issue of controversy right now, the censor board and who's on it and whether they are violating the laws and their intent. As there were accusations of politically driven objections at censor board against Rajneeti also recently.

Q: Will Amitabh Bachchan repeat success of KBC1&2 if he were to come back with KBC4?
A: Not according to us. KBC1 had a novelty factor going for it in 2000. KBC2 came right after Bachchan had been in 4 successes in a row at box office in 2005 including Black, Bunty&Babli and Sarkar. The ratings for Big Boss in 2009 when Bachchan was on the air weren't as impressive and by now, the general format of a KBC type show is well worn out. Though it may not be as big a disaster, it's like coming back with Mrityudata genre of cinema in the late 1990s when public had already moved on.

Q: Who's considered a safe mass hero in India?
A: Akshay Kumar right now. And maybe Salman Khan also.

Q: How much does Canada contribute to the North American box office for Bollywood?
A: Varies but for a hit film there, upto 20%

Q: Does Vikram or any south indian actor have a future in Bollywood?
A: Vikram is a talented actor but playing an 'evil ram' is not the way the impress mainstream India/Hindi audiences. It was a bad choice for a 'launch' into the hindi mainstream, and he's already in mid-40s in terms of age. Also any Tamil or south indian actor would need to fix their accented Hindi. Not Hindi of literature but colloqial Hindi atleast needs to be crisply delivered. Prithviraj who's of Kerala background has a better hold on Hindi than Vikram.

Q: What percentage of US/UK gross goes to distributors?
A: In UK about 35%, in US about 45-50% of gross is their share.