Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan lost their star value

A great change has taken place in Bollywood. Till date, it was the movie stars who dominated deals with the distributors; the bigger the stars, the higher the price tag of the movie but that is not happening any more. Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan, two of the top actors of Bollywood, are finding it very difficult to find distributors for their movies. Nobody is ready to pay the money the producers are asking for.

Hrithik Roshan’s Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara and Abhishek Bachchan’s Game have remained unsold. Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara is a multi-starrer movie. It has Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Abhay Deol, Katrina Kaif, Kalki Koechlin and Naseeruddin Shah. The movie had been shot in exclusive locations in Europe. The movie has been directed by Farhan Akhtar’s sister, Zoya Akhtar, and produced by Excel Entertainment, owned by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani. Game, which stars Abhishek Bachchan and Kangna Ranaut has also been produced by Excel Entertainment.

News reports are saying that Excel Entertainment is looking forward to sell both the movies as twin-package deal for Rs.1 billion but the distributors are not ready to pay so much money for the movies.

An official from a top corporate house said, “Yes. This is true. Ritesh did come to us with a twin deal of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Game. Game did not excite us as a business proposition. We are not likely to discuss this with him any further.”

A senior official from PVR cinemas confirmed that Ritesh Sidhwani approached them to sell Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara and Game and said that this is a big deal which requires multiple discussion session and his company would thoroughly go through the entire deal but he admitted that the money is too high for the two movies which put them in a dilemma.

In the first half of 2010, Hrithik Roshan’s Kites Hindi movie and Abhishek Bachchan’s Raavan tanked at the box office. Both were big budget movies and had been marketed aggressively but both of them failed miserably. Anil Ambani’s Reliance BIG Pictures which bought the distribution rights of Raavan, lost huge amount of money.

Times of India reported that Sidhwani’s spokesperson sent them an SMS which says, “The deal is already closed and it is for three films, not two. We can’t give you the details now.”

This incident reveals that a new trend is rising in Bollywood. Gone are the days when a star’s name would determine the price of a movie.

Kites and Hrithik Roshan shine at box office

Hrithik Roshan and Barbara Mori starrer Kites collected Rs. 210 million on its opening day in India. It observed the second highest opening weekend collection in the country after Aamir Khan starrer 3 Idiots.

The movie also set a new record in terms of first weekend collection around the world.

Kites is the first movie of Hrithik Roshan that observed the biggest release. It had been released simultaneously in 2000 screens in India giving 10,000 shows daily and 500 screens in overseas. The movie had full house in 30 countries.

Reliance BIG Pictures, the distributor of the movie, aggressively marketed worldwide which created lots of curiosity among people. The company is very happy with the results.

Sanjeev Lamba, CEO, Reliance BIG Pictures said, “We are extremely delighted with the film’s initial response at the box office and expect it to set new benchmark for the Indian film business.”

Producer Rakesh Roshan is also very happy with the result.

In North America, Kites became the first to debut on the “Top ten list.” The movie was in number ten spot. The movie collected $1 million from May 21, 2010 to May 23, 2010.

It also opened at number five position at the UK box office.

The movie also received rave reviews from different news papers. The New York Times praised Hrithik Roshan’s acting and dancing skills. The San Francisco Chronicle referred Kites as a “beautiful opera.” Hollywood reporter said that Hrithik Roshan anchored the movie with solid believable performance and a palpable chemistry with his co-star.

Kites also earned an 85% score on Rotten Tomatoes.com, a famous movie review aggregator website, based in the US.

Bihar Munsif court lifts release stay order on Kites Hindi movie

Hirithik Roshan’s Kites will have no other major hiccup as a Bihar Munsif court lifted the stay on the release of the movie.

Few days ago, the Bihar Civil Court at Sitamarhi District ordered a stay on the release of the movie till May 24, 2010, on the ground of copyright infringement. A man named Laxmi Prasad of Sunbeam Holding said that Rakesh Roshan, producer of the movie, was supposed to pay him Rs50 million for the copyright of the action sequences.

However, FilmKraft and Adlabs challenged the release stay order passed by a Bihar Munsif Court. The court will hear the suit on May 24, 2010.

Regarding the matter, Rakesh Roshan told reporters that he never heard of this person before. He said, “I have no idea who this guy is. He lives in some village in Bihar and claims that he has the copyright for the action of my film. How is it even possible? The action director of our film is Hollywood-based Spiro Razatos. There is absolutely no truth in this. My legal advisors are looking into the matter and the team is flying to Bihar today (Tuesday) and I hope the matter is resolved soon.”

Kites is romantic movie which stars, Rakesh Roshan’s son, Hrithik Roshan and Mexican model turned actress, Barbara Mori.

Hrithik Roshan starrer Kites gets into Copyright Infringement Trouble

Hrithik Roshan’s upcoming movie, Kites, is scheduled to release in theatres on May 21, 2010 but the release might be postponed as Bihar Civil court ordered a stay on the release of the movie till May 24, 2010.

Laxmi Prasad of Sunbeam Holding filed a complaint against Rakesh Roshan in the court. The complaint says that Rakesh Roshan did not pay him Rs. 50 million for the copyright of the action sequences.

However, Rakesh Roshan told reporters that he had never heard the name of the person before. He said, “I have no idea who this guy is. He lives in some village in Bihar and claims that he has the copyright for the action of my film. How is it even possible? The action director of our film is Hollywood-based Spiro Razatos. There is absolutely no truth in this. My legal advisors are looking into the matter and the team is flying to Bihar today (Tuesday) and I hope the matter is resolved soon.”

Mr. Roshan also denied of making an “out-of-court settlement” with Laxmi Prasad and said that he had never heard of him or made any sort of negotiation.

Well, such issue of copyright infringement is not new in Bollywood in 2009, a script writer named Suchitra Bhatia claimed that the script of Yash Raj Films’ New York Hindi movie was actually written by her.

Aamir Khan starrer, 3 Idiots also faced similar controversy as it is said to have been inspired from popular novelist Chetan Bhagat.