It is a foregone conclusion that Khatta Meetha will open well at the box office. In fact, this has been a constant phenomenon for Akshay Kumar and though his earlier effort De Dana Dan with Priydarshan did have to settle down for an average status after a very good start, one does expects the ‘jodi’ to fetch better returns this time around. The promos have been good from the very beginning and though a blockbuster outcome isn’t quite expected, Khatta Meetha is the kind of film that is safe at the box office from the very first day.

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Ever since the strike which took place last year, there has been one common phenomenon week after week.

There is a constant inflow of garbage that has taken place practically every Friday. The truth though was that in majority of instances, shows had to be cancelled on the opening day or at maximum the films were discontinued by the time first weekend got to a close. Still, nondescript films like ‘Meri Padosan’, ‘Coffee House’, ‘Ek Se Bure Do’ or more recently ‘Kuch Kariye’, ‘Muskurake Dekh’ or ‘Vroom’ have made it to the theaters. This shows that there has been no dearth of software, whether good or bad, in the industry. Some of these films have waited for a period when there are no big releases, some have battled the Ramzan/Shraddh time period while a few (case in point being ‘Chase’) have even dared to come face to face with a biggie (‘Housefull’). However, for the first time in last 12-15 months, there has been a situation when not a single notable film (you read it right) arrived in theaters.

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Deepika Padukone and Neil Nitin Mukesh, who are shooting together just can’t get enough of complimenting each other.

Says Deepika, “Neil is such a well brought-up guy, absolutely impeccable in his manners. Besides being a brilliant actor, he’s also a great technician. I see him turning director soon. My other co-star, Imran Khan, in Break Ke Baad is great fun too. We shot in Delhi and bonded immediately.”

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Ever since Deepika Padukone’s saree clad look in ‘Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey’ was released a way back, there have been widespread reactions in the industry. People have stood up and noticed the new look Deepika who till just a few weeks back was seen in a bikini for ‘Housefull’. However, just as the makers of ‘Housefull’ and ‘Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey’ come with different sensibilities, so is being reflected in the subject as well as character presentation.

With Deepika bringing in a new facet of her ‘revolutionary’ persona for Ashutosh Gowariker’s period film, a solo shot has managed to bring quite some limelight to ‘Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey’ which is at least half a year away from release.

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For someone who was called teakwood for at least half a decade before seeing some acclaim coming his way, Arjun Rampal has come a long way indeed. It is difficult to believe that the man, who was considered gawky by quite a few during his initial days of ‘Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat’ and ‘Deewanapan’, would one day rise up to the highest pedestal and turn out to be receipient of awards at the National level (for ‘Rock On’).

Now that ‘Housefull’ has got some good acclaim coming for him, Arjun Rampal is back on scene close to two years after the release of ‘Rock On’. He is also looking forward to the release of ‘Raajneeti’ this June where he has a pivotal role to play. Still, one wonders where Arjun was for most part of year 2009. Except for a sole release in the form of ‘Fox’ (which came and went without making any noise whatsoever), Arjun seemed totally missing from all the action?

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52 crores at the end of first week (as confirmed by the co-producers of the film – EROS) means that Akshay Kumar as well as Deepika Padukone have now enjoyed the biggest starts ever of their career, with ‘Housefull’ surpassing the first week collections of ‘Kambakkth Ishq’ and ‘Om Shanti Om’ respectively. While it is quite clear that the film will surpass the collections of Akshay Kumar’s biggest money spinners till date – ‘Welcome’ and ‘Singh is Kinng’ – both of which crossed the 70 crores milestone, chances are bleak that Deepika Padukone’s ‘Om Shanti Om’ record of 88 crores would be beaten.

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‘Housefull’ has taken a huge opening all over and early indications are that at the least, the film would be tagged a HIT status. The film has benefited everyone, especially its leading ladies Deepika Padukone, Lara Dutta and Jiah Khan. While the actors – Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh and Arjun Rampal – already share a great personal and professional relationship with director Sajid Khan and producer Sajid Nadiadwala, the heroines can be expected to work in many more films with the makers in near future, considering the kind of mileage they earned due to ‘Housefull’ enjoying such a bumper pre-release and post-release promotion.

Due to this very reason, one can’t help but ask Nadiadwala if there is a ‘once-much-in-vogue’ three film deal that he has got into with the Deepika Padukone, Lara Dutta and Jiah Khan?

“I hate the deals thing. Period”, comes a quick reply from Nadiadwala, “Suppose I sign a person into a deal but later one of us doesn’t like each other, we would still have to work together. For corporate houses, something this may work but sorry, this is not the way I operate.”

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Movie lovers can heave a sigh of relief with the release of ‘Bird Idol’, ‘City of Gold’, ‘Kuchh Kariye’ and ‘Muskurake Dekh Zara’. Why, one may ask, since none of these films survived even a week at the box office? Well, that’s because majority of these were the ones that belonged to ‘come today gone tomorrow’ category and barely managed to find a slot for themselves before biggies starting arriving with ‘Housefull’. Now that each of these films is finally out, it’s a matter of celebration for the industry because hopefully, collective failure of each of these films would be the last leg of the disastrous 2010 that Bollywood has been exposed to so far. 5 minutes before start

Did each of these films deserve to be total washouts though? Not really because ‘City of Gold’ did carry enough merits to at least manage face saving collections. However, just as it happened in case of ‘Lahore’ a few weeks back, sometimes a few good movies too get totally ignored due to lack of awareness and too big a crowd and same happened in case of ‘City of Gold’ as well. One wonders if the film would do anything good on home video front as well since it doesn’t belong to the kind that promises family entertainment.5 minutes before start

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‘Housefull’ has released and other than a dozen odd things for which the film has been noticed, loved and seeing repeat audience, it is the crackling chemistry between real and reel life friendship of Akshay Kumar and Riteish Deshmukh which is for all to see. The ‘jodi’ has been unanimously acknowledged and loved by one and all and it is remarkable to see even the junior actor turning out to be a scene stealer here.

Looks like it’s the Sajid Khan brand of humour that has rubbed upon him, right Riteish?

“I will tell you what – Sajid Khan has his own brand of comedy”, says Riteish, “There are various aspects of film making. There are some comedies where it all looks critically cool and fantastic. Then there is another kind of humour where you say that maza nahi aaya. And then there is another where something might be critically unfriendly but audiences would enjoy it. In your review you may say that this it is not something that goes with the sensibility of good comedy.”

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