Kerala Vishu/April Box Office - Exclusive Report

Kerala Vishu/April Box Office - Exclusive Report

7 Days has passed in Mollywood's biggest season, Summer Vacations and its time to have a look into how the movies have been performing at the Box Office.


1. 7th Day

We have a surprise entry at No.1. The film opened to a superb response, especially in main cities, beyond all expectations. 7th Day leads the Vishu releases (as of now) despite the film not belonging to mass entertainer genre, which audience used to prefer on Holidays. The last 2 thrillers Prithvi did worked on long run and WOM and didn't have an opening to boas off. 7th Day took the best opening for a Prithvi starrer.

Gross: 5.15 crores in 8 days
Superb Opening, Marching towards Super Hit

2. Ring Master

Dileep's Mass sumer vacation entertainer aimed at Ladies and Kids didn't take a grand opening, but the status has remained even through out without major drop either.

Gross: 4.58 crores in 8 days
Good Opening, Marching towards a Hit

3. Gangster

After a terrific opening the film fell badly like a pack of cards at Box Office. The film was removed from most of its stations within 6/7 days.

Gross: 3.95 crores in 9 days
Great first day, fell after wards - Disaster

4. Pauly Technique

The film took an average opening, and with average WOM future doesn't look much good for Pauly and his Techniques.

Gross: 2.65 crores in 8 days
Above Average

5. Ohm Shanthi Oshaana & Drishyam 

Still Continuing their blistering run in selected main centers and in many B & C class centers.

Mega Hit & All Time Blockbuster

6. Maan Karate

The film got an almost free week as Summer releases were pushed to 1th due to elections. The film was bought for a meagre prize and collected many times that amount. Film performed beyond expectations and many theaters chose the film to continue for a 2nd and 3rd week.

Gross: about 85 lakhs in 15 days

Hit


1 By Two *ing Fahadh Faasil was released this pat Friday (April 19th) to an average opening and below average WOM. So looks like that won't make any difference to the tally. Last Friday of April will 3 releases
Dulquer-Nazriya's Samsaram Arogyahtinu Hanikaram, Indrajith's Masala republic and Allu Arjun's Lucky The Racer [Race Gurram]



PS: The figures are approximate values and may not necessarily be actuals

Gangster - Malayalam Movie Review - Mammootty, Aashiq Abu, Nyla Usha

Gangster - Malayalam Movie Review - Mammootty, Aashiq Abu, Nyla Usha

Crew

 Directed by     Aashiq Abu
Produced by     OPM Dream Mill Cinemas
Written by     Ahmed Sidhique, Abhilash Kumar
Music by     Deepak Dev
Cinematography     Alby
Editing by     Saiju Sreedharan
Art Direction: Ajayan Chalissery 
Action Direction: Anbariv  
Choreography: Anb Ariv  
Costume Design: Sameera Saneesh
Distributed by     Aan Mega Media
Release dates     April 11, 2014
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

Cast

    Mammootty as Akbar Ali 

    Nyla Usha as Sana Muhammed
    Sekhar Menon as Anto
    Aparna Gopinath as Lilly
    John Paul as Uncle Sam
    T. G. Ravi as Hajikka
    Kunchan as Mani Menon
    Hareesh Peradi as Michael
    Dileesh Pothan as Vidhura

 'Gangster' has been making news from the time the project was announced, way back in 2010. Due to date issues, script rewrites and many other reasons the film kept on getting postponed. Finally the film has hit the screens with the backing of one of the best pre release publicity campaign ever, with excellent buzz .

‘Gangster’ is a revenge action-drama set against the backdrop of Mangalore’s organized crime groups. Mangalapuram underworld is ruled by three factions, lead by Akbar Ali, Mani Menon and Uncle Sam. Everything was going peacefully till Anto, Uncle Sam's son enters the scene. Like all movie Gangsters, Akbar too has some principles, against  which Anto moves, which creates backlashes. The opposition becomes stronger and Akbar gets pushed to a corner. Will he rise against his enemies and gets his revenge?, forms the rest of the story.

Gangster is undoubtedly one of the stylized movies to come out of 'Mollywood'. But it doesn't matter if you are working with the world's best crew unless there is a proper script. Adding to the woes of 'ages old storyline' is lack of a proper script, hell the film doesn't even have proper dialogues. Sekhar, who plays the villain open his mouth (and irritates us ) more than Mammootty. There are no claps worthy moments in the films, except for die hard fans in which Mammuka appears in different stylish costumes and cooling glasses.

The films doesn't make any connect with the audience at any point of time. Even when Akbar is left to die., cos the characters have been poorely etched.The film is painfully slow, as if some art house director made a mass film, thanks to the plethora of slow motion (Somebody was saying 90 mins films stretched to 140min).Aashiq Abu might have obsessed with the looks that he forgot that there was no story to tell or engage viewers. Even 'Saga Alias Jacky' [another over hyped stylized gangster movie that failed to set Box Office on fire]  looks like a classic compared to this. If a class movie is what the makers intended to make, please watch Aaranya Kandam or Gangs of Wassyepur.

There are references to God Father, Sholay and even Breraking Bad.

Feels really sorry for Mammootty the actor. He is looking dashingly handsome, which we have seen many times in the recent past, but once again the script fails him. Compared to those, here he has nothing to do, rather than walking around changing costumes and accessories. Nyla & Aparna got nos scope to perform, but where looking their beautiful best. Sekhar I think over did the role, and fails to make any impact after the initial sequences. Rest of the cast were also just going with the motions

The animation portions in the beginning and during climax, (clearly inspired from QT's Kill Bill) was a brilliant Idea, rather than making the same old Kid, who do Mammukka's childhood in almost all his recent films, do those. The promotional material says 'Gangster Rises' and the film do resembles 'The Dark Knight Rises', even though it would be unfair to Nolan to compare both.

The Cinematography was Outstanding, one of the best that we have seen in Mollywood.Special credits should be be given to the stylists - be it the Makeup man, or the Costume designer, have done excellent job in making the film look slick and stylish. Aashiq Abu looked like had no control over proceeding and his graph is going down after a promising start to career. The sufi song was good, but the placement was wrong. BG score was okay. Script & Dialogues were BAD. Can't imagine this is what they come up with in 4 years and multiple rewrites.

So in all Gangster is an unholy mess of a movie that fails to even come anywhere in the vicinity of the hype that it created.

Verdict: Colossal Disappoinment

Rating: 1.75/5

Last Word: Stay Away !!!

Gangster - Kerala Release Paper aD with Theaters List - Mammootty, Aashiq Abu, Nyla Usha

Mad rush of releases @ Kerala Box Office Next Week

Vishu/Summer Releases at Kerala Box Office

Summer vacation has begun, but big releases are yet to hit the screens thanks to Parliament Elections, which falls in the state on April 10th. So all the biggies will be in a mad rush to grab theaters and eye balls from 11th.

 Gangster

Gangster is undoubtedly the biggest and most high profile release of this season. Four years in planning, the film finally hit the screens on April 11th. Nothing much about the film has been released to the public. The mystery around the film is creating a buzz amongst people. The trailer, posters have been trending in social media sites. Gangster is directed by Aashiq Abu, stars Mammootty, Nyla Usha, DJ Shekar, Aparna Gopinath, Kunjan etc.

Aprill 11th - Aan Mega Media Release - In 100+ screens

Trailer - 

Ring Master

 Dileep films no matter how bad they are tend to work in Summer Holidays, thanks to Dileep's hold amongst Ladies & Kids. Ringmaster is a Comedy-Thriller, where Dileep will play the role of a Dog trainer go gets into some troubles and is on rush to solve some mysteries. Film is directed by Raffi (of Raffi-Meccartin duo) & stars Honey Rose, Keerthy Suresh etc.

April 12th - Vaishaka Cinema - 80+ screens

7th Day

15th time Prithviraj will be playing a cop in his career. Another investigation thriller for him after Mumbai Police & Memories. 7th day deals with 'David Abraham' a middle aged cop unofficially investigating a case to youch a group of youngsters are tied up to. Film is directed by debutant Syamdhar

 & written by Akhil Paul.

April 11th - August Cinemas - 70 screens

Teasers

1 By Two

Arun Kumar Aravind is back after critically acclaimed 'Left Right Left'. Stars Fahadh Faasil, Murali Gopy, Honey Rose, Abhinaya & is written by noted writer Jeyamohan. Fahadh plays Circle Inspector Yousaf Marakkar& the story is about the cat and game mouse between Yousaf & characters played by Murali & Honey.

April 11th - Thameens Films - 50-60 screens

Trailer

 

Pauly Technic

'Pauly Technic' tells the story of Pauly & his techniques to get the better of Pushkaran, a local politician & his romance with Pushkaran's daughter, SI Aswathy. Is directed by M.Padmakumar and stars Kunchako Boban, Bhavana, Aju Varghese etc. Is written by 'Ordinary' writer Nishad Koya.

April 11th - 50-60 screens

Video Song

'Naan Sigappu Manithan' stars Vishal & Lakshmi Menon. Vishal will be playing Indran who is has a form of sleep disorder called Narcolepsy. Film is directed bu Thiru (Samar) & produced by UTV Motion Pictures & Vishal Film Factory. Will Release in TN on 11th, but Kerala release will be on 15th.

April 15th - E4 Entertainments - 50-50 screens 

Trailer

 

 

Allu Arjun's 'Lucky The Racer will not be releasing simultaneously with 'Race Gurram' (April 11th) due to unavailability of theaters. It might be pushed to April 25th where it will clash with Dulquer Salmaan & Nazriya's 'Samsaram arogyathinu Hanikaram'

Mammootty's Gangster makes a grand debut smashing records !!

The film which has been awaited by one and all is slowly getting unveiled, piece by piece, thanks to the master publicist, Director Aashiq Abu. In order to capitalize on the craze and expectations surrounding the movie, Aashiq took special care not to divulge anything till he wanted people to know it. Every detail associated with the movie was released as an event, with much fan fare. And it is working wonders, People are talking about it, its creating waves in social media, fans are excited about more than Mammootty's new theatrical release 'Praise The Lord'.

The film's Facebook page got 35,00o likes within 24 hours of the page going public, the most for a Malayalam movie page. The tally now stand at 61,054 likes [with 65,555 talking about this NOW].
The posters even though got mixed response where equally liked and shared by everyone, spreading it all over the cyber space, making even other language buffs take notice. Then the trailer was launched yesterday (20/03/2014) @ 7pm and within 24 hours it has crossed 2.2 lakh, smashing the previous record by a huge margin. 'One By Two' trailer which released last week got about 1.05 lakh views in 24 hours & the 10 sec Mr. Fraud teaser got 90,000 views in a day.

Now with the film making all kinds of noise before release, hope it can beat the record for the biggest opening by a Malayalam movie, set by Casanovva 2 years ago.

Gangster will hit the screens on April 12th as a big Vishu/Summer release.

Gangster - First Look Posters - Mammootty, Aashiq Abu, Nyla Usha

Gangster - First Look Posters - Mammootty, Aashiq Abu, Nyla Usha

Click On Images to View in Full Size

 

'Gangster' to finally start rolling - Aashiq Abu, Mammootty

The much awaited and long delayed Aashiq Abu - Mammootty project is finally going to start rolling by December this year according to the director. The Director himsel broke the news via his social media page. The film is being planned as a Vishu (April) 2014 release. Pre Production is in its final stage. Ahmad Siddique who acted in Salt N' Pepper & Thattathin Marayathu along with 22FK, Da Thadiya writer Abhilash Kumar [Actress Lena's husband] will be penning the script. Madhu Neelakandan will wield the camera, while Deepak Dev will handle the Music department. 'Gangster' will be the first big screen venture of Open Your Mouth Cinemas' (OPM) founded by Aashiq Abu. Aashiq is presently busy with his film titled 'Idukki Gold'.