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HIMESH MANKAD | 4 April 2017

Salman Khan’s upcoming period drama, Tubelight has created new records much before its release as the theatrical, music as well as satellite rights of the film are sold for astronomical rates.

Deserving so, as the film marks return of Kabir Khan and Salman Khan after the success of Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Ek Tha Tiger. While the producers (SKF in this case) have made profits of over Rs 170 crore, a lot is at stake for the distributors as well as exhibitors.

The all India distribution rights of the period drama have been sold for Rs 132 crore (excluding CI) which means that the film would break even in India at collections close to Rs 250 crore. This is a huge task given the fact that only 5 films, i.e. Dhoom 3, PK, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Sultan and Dangal, have managed to surpass the number in India.

While the combo of Salman Khan and Eid would get the initial, it becomes very important for the content to live onto the humongous expectations. While films usually get the ‘Blockbuster’ tag at collections above Rs 250 crore, for Tubelight, it would merely be a recovery point.

Non-Theatrical Revenue for the film:

India Rights: Rs 132 crore (NH Studioz)

Overseas Rights: Rs 50 crore (Expected)

Satellite Rights: Rs 60 crore (Salman Khan’s deal with Star Network)

Music Rights: Rs 20 crore (Sony Music)

Total: Rs 262 crore

The film budget is estimated to be around Rs 90 crore (All inclusive) and the producers have made table profit of around Rs 172 crore thus being the highest ever for a Bollywood film. It would be interesting to see if Salman Khan manages to keep the distributors happy yet again and gives them their yearly ‘Eid Blockbuster’.

Note: The figures have been compiled from trade sources and Catch News does not claim any legitimacy over the accuracy of the data, and cannot be held responsible for any discrepancy in the same.

HIMESH MANKAD | Updated on: 28 February 2017

Salman Khan is set to return as a host on Bigg Boss for the eighth consecutive year, but this time around with a major twist.

Khan has been vocal about his plan to host a reality show called ‘The Farm’ which will be the Indian adaptation of Romanian show of the same name hosted by his alleged love interest, Ilulia Vantur. Our sources reveal that Bigg Boss 11 will be nothing but ‘The Farm’ wherein the celebrities will spend close to 3 months inside a farm.

The show will have celebrities doing everything on their own right from milking the cow and goat to sowing seeds. A farmer will also be present on the show to help the celebrities learn various techniques of farming.

The team at the Colors channel have already started working on the concept and the show is expected to start from October this year, once Salman is done with Tiger Zinda Hai.

HIMESH MANKAD | Wed, 22 Feb 2017

Salman Khan recently wrapped up shooting for Tubelight in Mumbai wherein Kabir Khan had recreated Manali at an urban studio.

Unlike other Salman Khan films, this one involves a lot of post-production to get the authenticity of the Sino – Indian war right. Sources reveal that Khan and his marketing team are planning to have a short promotional campaign for the film that would start only after the euphoria around Baahubali 2 takes a backseat.

Salman, who has always been against the concept of prolonged film marketing, has planned a 40 to 42 days promotional campaign that would begin with a trailer launch in second week of May. Unlike Ek Tha Tiger and Bajrangi Bhaijaan which had a teaser followed by trailer, the makers this time would go the old school way by unveiling the trailer and following it up with a song launch every week.

The movie is confirmed to release on June 23. Tubelight will enjoy an extended 5 day weekend as Eid is expected to fall on Monday, June 26.

February 9th 2107

Two films, MS Dhoni: The Untold Story and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil premiered on television during the Republic Day weekend however the Ranbir Kapoor film failed to grab the desired eye balls.

While none expected the Karan Johar directorial to do well on television owing to the urban appeal, MS Dhoni biopic was expected to fetch good ratings. In the official chart released by BARC for 2017 week 5, it is Salman Khan's Sultan that has dominated upon its channel premiere on Sony Wah.

The film garnered huge TVT rating of 98 Lakh which is the second highest for any film that has released in 2016. Despite not being the world television premiere, the Ali Abbas Zafar directorial has managed to get very good ratings thereby justifying the high price at which it was sold.

Here's the list of most watched films of 2016 on Television (In TVT):

PRDP (World Television Premiere): 2.51 crore

Sultan (World Television Premiere): 1.10 crore

Sultan (Premiere on Sony Wah): 98 lakh

Dishoom (World Television Premiere): 95 lakh

Housefull 3 (World Television Premiere): 78 lakh

MS Dhoni Biopic (World Television Premiere): 72 lakh

Baaghi (World Television Premiere): 70 lakh

Dilwale (World Television Premiere: 67 lakh

Bajirao Mastani (World Television Premiere): 54 lakh

Mohenjo Daro (World Television Premiere): 49 lakh

Aamir Khan's Dangal will soon premiere on the Zee Network and the film is expected to challenge the current record holder, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo.

HIMESH MANKAD@himeshmankad | 31 August 2016

AR Murugadoss has finally put all the speculations to rest as the director, in an exclusive interaction with Catch, confirmed that he is definitely directing Salman Khan in a film that would be produced by Atul Agnihotri.

Murugadoss revealed that he has already narrated three scripts to Salman; however, the subjects did not excite the superstar.

"I narrated two or three scripts to Salman Khan but it didn't quite work out. He is currently busy with some other projects and hence I started shooting for the Mahesh Babu film. Directing Salman in a film is a dream and that film will definitely happen. The film will happen once everything (script and dates) falls into place," said Murugadoss.

On being asked if he is reworking any of the three scripts he narrated to the Sultan actor, the director said:

"No, my next with Salman would not be what I already narrated. I have another idea which I will start working on after I am done with Mahesh Babu's film. I will meet Salman soon to discuss it."

So far, Murugadoss directed three Hindi films and all of them have been Tamil Remakes. However, his next with Salman would be an original script belonging to the action drama genre.

Salman Khan's upcoming films include Tubelight, Tiger Zinda Hai, AR Murugadoss's untitled next, and Dabangg 3.

18 August 2016

Actor-director Arbaaz Khan has neither confirmed nor denied reports of Sonakshi Sinha being a part of Dabangg 3.

While there have been reports that Sonakshi will not be part of the third installment of Dabangg, Arbaaz says it's not completely true.

When asked about the same, Arbaaz told IANS: "There is nothing like that... The script is not ready. There will be changes in the film and there could be an introduction of some actors."

He said it's not completely true that Sonakshi is not going to be a part of Dabangg 3.

"It all depends on the script. You got to move on and make something interesting for the audience," he added.

Arbaaz feels people jump to speculations and make it black and white.

"You have to be very careful of how you don't lose the connect with the audience by not having Sonakshi and how you give something new to the audience," he added.

Sonakshi was launched in Bollywood with the blockbuster film Dabangg in 2010. The actress went on to be part of Dabangg 2, which was directed by Arbaaz.

Dabangg 3 will go on floors by end of 2017.

-- IANS

@himeshmankad | First published: 9 July 2016

It is now popular knowledge that Salman Khan made a cameo in Riteish Deshmukh's debut Marathi film, Lai Bhaari. The superstar, while promoting Sultan, revealed that he would love to be a part of more regional films and he will soon request Riteish to give him another role in one of his upcoming Marathi films.

With his cameo in Lai Bhaari still fresh in our minds, it seems like the regional cinema audience is on for yet another treat. Riteish Deshmukh, in an interview with Catch for the promotions of Great Grand Masti, revealed that he is working on a special character for Salman in his next Marathi film, Mauli. He said:

"Salman Khan is very dear friend of mine and he is a very generous actor. He offered to be a part of my next Marathi film and I am very grateful for that. We are working on it, and you might get to see him a Marathi film again."

Directed by Nishikant Kamat, Mauli is expected to go on floors by November 2016. The film is said to be an out and out action entertainer.

Raman Raghav 2.0: Government should stop treating Bollywood like a secondary industry , says Anurag Kashyap

@himeshmankad | June 23 2016

Anurag Kashyap is currently gearing up for the release of his directorial, Raman Raghav 2.0 - a psychological thriller starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Vicky Kaushal.

Catch spoke to the acclaimed director about the rising prices of movie tickets. When asked if the price of tickets should be slashed by multiplexes in order to increase audience footfall, Kashyap said:

"Only the government can do that, you can't expect a producer to do that as even he has the pressure to recover his cost. There is no support from the government, we are taxed heavily. There are so many taxes and if the government wants to do that, they can do it easily."

He added that the government needs to stop treating Bollywood like a secondary industry.

He added that the government needs to stop treating Bollywood like a secondary industry.

"They have been treating us like a secondary industry for a very long time. Salman Khan too made a statement in one of his interviews. He said 'Stop taking us for granted' and I agree with him. It is about time they start taking us seriously," he said.

Raman Raghav 2.0 releases on 24 June, 2016.