Saturday, September 24, 2011

'Bodyguard' Day wise Collection

Wed 21.6 cr, 
Thu 19.50 cr, 
Fri 14.08 cr, 
Sat 15.07 cr, 
Sun 18.68 cr.
Total 1st weekend(Extended) 88.93 cr

Mon 9.16 cr,
Tue 7.34 cr,
Wed 5.9 cr,
Thu 3.14 cr,
Total 1st week Collection(Extended) 114.47 cr

2nd week
Fri 3.53 cr,
Sat 5.02 cr
Sun 6 cr,
Total 2nd weekend 14.55 cr

Mon 1.75 cr,
Tue 1.32 cr
Wed
Thu
Total 2nd week 21.71 cr
Total 1st & 2nd week 136.24 cr

3rd week
Fri 1.18 cr,
Sat 1.83 cr
Sun 2.62 cr
Total 3rd weekend 5.62 cr

Mon 87.14 lacs
Tue
Wed 65.78 lacs
Thu 
Total 3rd week 8.83 cr
Total Collection till 3rd week 145.07 cr

Total life time Collection from Indian Box Office148 cr



Thursday, September 22, 2011

Bollywood’s Ten Iconic Love Stories


10 Hindi film romances that left the biggest cultural and cinematic impact, over the years.
Here they are, in alphabetical order:
1.Aradhana 
Shakti Samanta's 1969 classic, a gut-wrenchingly emotional remake of To Each His Own, gave us Rajesh Khanna at his very best. An air force officer, he dies in a plane crash leaving behind a pregnant widow.

She lets a wealthy couple adopt the boy she gives birth to, but remains the child's nanny and watches helplessly as he grows into the spitting image of his father. A deeply dramatic and well-crafted film, this one's hard not to fall for.
  
2.Barsat 
Not just does this Raj Kapoor romance boast of his legendary pairing with Nargis, but also of a completely different romantic subplot between Prem Nath and Nimmi.

Kapoor and Nargis face numerous trials and tribulations on their way to romantic union, and so spirited are the performances from the leads, and so palpable the chemistry, that the film grips you right from the start.

There's more romance in Barsaat's posters alone than in most Bollywood screenplays.

3.Bobby 
Young romance never had a representative quite like Bobby. Rich kid Raj, played by Rishi Kapoor, falls for a poor teenager, played by dazzling young debutante Dimple Kapadia.

Their fathers Pran and Prem Nath predictably object to the relationship and all hell breaks loose, but the kids themselves are absolutely stunning in the parts, injecting freshness and verve into Hindi cinema itself with this delightful little film made by Rishi's dad.   

4.Devdas 
There have been many screen interpretations of Sarat Chandra Chatterjee's classic novel, but none had the cinematic impact of Bimal Roy's 1955 take on the tale, starring Dilip Kumar as the drunken antihero alongside Suchitra Sen's Paro and Vyajayanthimala's Chandramukhi.

The film defined big-screen romance in the 1950s and the film continued to influence our love stories decades after it was made. 

5.Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge 
Aditya Chopra's directorial debut is the stuff of absolute legend: Shah Rukh Khan, a beer-pinching commitment-phobic womanist falls in love with a girl he meets on a train.

This girl Kajol will soon be married to a man she doesn't know. He shows up and decides, against all Bollywood tradition, that he will not run away with her.

A forward-thinking film that, along with Hum Aapke Hain... Koun?, defanged mainstream movies by removing the villain character. 

6.Kaagaz Ke Phool 
Guru Dutt's exquisitely elegiac film about a man and his muse remains one of Hindi cinema's finest ever gems, and as romances go, it's hard to beat a pair like Dutt, playing a smitten film director, and the ethereal Waheeda Rehman, who plays the woman who takes his breath away.

She becomes a star after he casts her as Paro in his Devdas, but soon things go awry as his life goes to ruin and he ends up a drunken, inglorious shell of his former self. Heartbreaking, and perfect.  

7.Lamhe
A criticism often levelled against Yash Chopra films is that, however masterfully made, they take a tragically 'safe' route in the end, choosing family-friendliness over the mature end the film is genuinely careening toward.

This 1991 Anil Kapoor-Sridevi starrer was the exception, a progressive and almost scandalous love story featuring Sridevi at her very best and Anil Kapoor with a moustache-free upper lip. 

8.Maine Pyaar Kiya 
As far as influential films go, this Salman-Bhagyashree starrer set the bar pretty damned high. Right from the lines about the lack of apologies and gratitude between friends to that baseball cap with Friend on it; from the carrier pigeon to the game of antakshari, everything made a helluva impact.

The Sooraj Barjatya film sounds like malarkey on paper but, thanks largely to Salman Khan and the music, has an irrepressibly naive charm that just can't be denied.  

9.Mughal-E-Azam 
It doesn't get any more epic than K Asif's period masterpiece that remains the grandest Hindi film ever made, and the romance between Dilip Kumar's Salim and Madhubala's Anarkali is too dazzling to look away from.

The actors conjure up unbelievable chemistry, making the very touch of a feather on Madhubala's gorgeous face into one of Indian cinema's most erotic moments of all time. 

10.Silsila 
The most mature of our mainstream romances,Silsila is the story of two lovers torn apart by bad, loveless marriages.

It is a tale of passion and being driven to infidelity, a story where infidelity itself is more about comfort than cheating, and yet a story where the passion -- between Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha -- palpably scorches up the screen.

A very fine film, especially if you pretend the last 20 minutes never happened.  

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Top 5 biggest grossers of Bollywood


Salman now has 3 films in the Top 5 biggest grossers ever, which is dominated by the two Khan’s – Salman and Aamir. 
Have a look at the list of Top 5 Biggest Grossers of Bollywood
1. 3 Idiot - 202 cr
2. Bodyguard - 145.07 cr (Still Running)
3. Dabangg - 145 cr
4. Ready - 122 cr
5. Ghajini - 115 cr

Being Salman Khan = Being The Biggest Brand of Bollywood

Bollywood Big Story is back again debating the most talked about Bollywood Superstar, Salman Khan. Only Salman Khan can generate the kind of euphoria,
madness, passion, debates and fan following hitherto seen only with Rajnikant. The words style guru, trend setter, cool dude, heartthrob rest easily with
Khan. His fans swear by him, giving him God-like status. His benevolence only add to his connect with the masses at large.
ZoOm poses the question, has ‘Brand Salman’ become invincible? It was said that only Sex and Shahrukh sell, but now it seems, only sex and Shahrukh may not
sell, but Salman definitely sells, everything and everyone else is governed by the laws of nature, but not Salman Khan. Today’s generation doesn’t
necessarily look for a meaningful song or a good story, all they want is something that vibes with them. Salman Khan has become one such commodity or a
brand, and can be sold at anytime and anywhere and in any packaging. The association of a brand name like Salman Khan with any movie does not really require
any other endorsement.
The big names of the industry agree on it to an extent.
Farhan Akhtar feels, “Salman’s stardom comes from the love that his audience has for him and eventually his work. It’s a great time for him; people who are
working with him should enjoy themselves and not really worry about what’s going to happen next.”
Aamir Khan says that “Salman has proved that he’s no. 1 and has left all of us behind. Salman’s stardom is huge right now and none of us even come close to
him.”
Salman’s take on himself becoming the no.1 brand that sells – “When it comes to making a choice about whether I want to do a film, I put myself in the shoes
of the audience. I only do films that I would like to watch. I think right now my choice matches with that of the Indian audience.”
What do our analysts have to say more about the ‘Being Salman Khan’?
Watch out Bollywood Big story unfolding insights of the industry biggies on this Saturday September 17, 12:30pm, only on zoOm, India’s No. 1 Bollywood
Channel.

Ek Tha Tiger Stills



















Reeling It All In

R.K. Mehrotra has been torn between agony and ecstasy ever since Id this year. And all because of one man: Salman Khan. Neither the phone nor the cash register has stopped ringing for the general manager of Delhi’s Delite cinema ever since Bodyguard released on August 30. Mehrotra has kept his phone off the hook to escape the million requests for tickets. It is harder, though, to hide his glee at Bodyguard’s dream run at his theatre: running full house, for a record 28 shows over seven days. “All the shows had been booked in advance,” says a thrilled Mehrotra. “The window for current bookings hasn’t even opened yet. It’s unprecedented.” The last film that got him so keyed up in his 30 years in the trade was 16 years ago, with the same hero, a little less larger-than-life Salman. “Hum Aapke Hain Koun ran for 52 continuous weeks, of which six months were houseful,” says Mehrotra, 1994 a landmark year in his mind. So will Bodyguard match up to that historic run? Certainly not, Mehrotra is quick to respond. Forget six months, Bodyguard may not even last six weeks at Delite. But it may well bring in three times HAHK’s earnings.
Bodyguard is already raking it in, and how. As far as cash registers go, the film has smashed every possible record in the country (see box)—first day, weekend and week collections. As we go to press, it had already crossed the magical Rs 100-crore figure, and looked set to continue its steady climb up the all-time hits. “It has made money like no other film before,” says Amul Mohan of business journal Super Cinema. “It’s got off to a blazing start, now the sky is the limit,” says Reliance Entertainment CEO Sanjeev Lamba, the film’s presenter and co-producer. Its other co-producer, Atul Agnihotri, goes on to claim: “We have upped the benchmark for success.” Never mind that we may in a few weeks totally forget what Bodyguard was all about, and move on to yet another record-smashing superhit.

Opening scene Brisk sales of Bodyguard tickets at the Delite cinema hall in Delhi. (Photograph by Narendra Bisht)
And therein lies the story of today’s Bollywood blockbuster, somewhere between Mehrotra’s current euphoria for Bodyguard and his abiding nostalgia for HAHK. It’s a story of significant qualitative change too, in which the crores earned have only been multiplying liberally but the stay and hold of the films at the box office is steadily getting shorter. “Forget golden and silver jubilees, the days of even a 100-day hit have gone,” says Delhi distributor Sanjay Mehta. The only constant, as actor Imran Khan puts it, is that “a blockbuster is still the bread and butter, the backbone of the industry”.

“Moving pictures were a novelty once. Now viewers are satiated, film viewing is not spontaneous, it’s more calculated.” Prasoon Joshi, Adman-lyricist
“You can call them blockhead busters. Everything is reduced to simplistic mass consumption.” Shiv Visvanathan, Anthropologist

“Sholay was not even released all over India. It was not shown in Delhi in the first run, nor was it shown overseas.” Ramesh Sippy, Filmmaker
“I am now looking forward to garner a larger chunk of the audience and deliver three-digit figures at the box-office.”Emraan Hashmi, Murder 2star

The Bollywood blockbuster as we knew it is dead. Long live the blockbuster. There have been several of them this year—Ready, Singham, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Murder 2, Delhi Belly. The run of luck has taken the filmmakers themselves by surprise. “ZNMD is considered a multiplex hit. It’s amazing that multiplexes alone have coughed up such huge numbers,” says filmmaker Zoya Akhtar. “It could well be Bollywood’s best year in a decade,” declares Mohan. “The business generated has been extraordinary,” agrees trade expert Amod Mehra.
 

 

The 1948 blockbusterChandralekhagrossed Rs 1.55 crore with an audience of 3 crore, 60% from rural India.
 

 
Multiplex movies to larger-than-life mass films, a raunchy comedy to a twisted thriller, anything and everything seems to have worked big time. “Viewers are better exposed,” says Imran. “They want dal-chawal as well as pizza. They are developing a taste for all kinds of films.” The Khans might still rule the industry, but Ajay Devgan is back in the top league with the thumping Singham. Its director Rohit Shetty has officially been anointed the No. 1 commercially successful filmmaker. “He is the new David Dhawan,” says Mehra. Her first film, Luck By Chance, had made Zoya Akhtar the critics’ choice. Now she is angling for the top league, the second woman filmmaker after Farah Khan to get that billing. “Maybe the industry will be more confident of me, there will be more trust in my ideas,” she says. “It will enable me to make films I want to make.” Others too are basking in Bollywood’s golden glow. ‘Serial kisser’ Emraan Hashmi, for instance, who with the mega success of Murder 2, a bigger hit than the original Murder, finds himself “one step higher” in the stardom ladder. “I am now looking forward to garner an even larger chunk of the audience and deliver three-digit figures at the box-office with my next film,” he says.But 2011 has also been the year when the blockbuster game is seeing the biggest twist in its tale. The new catchphrases are “saturation release” and “frontloaded films”: exploiting the potential of films in the first week itself. “You have to capture the maximum viewers and collect the most from a film in the opening week,” says Lamba. Call it carpet-bombing: Bodyguard was released across a mind-boggling 2,600 screens in the country. Digital technology has helped cut down on print costs, making such wide release affordable. Uday Kaushish of Delhi’s Sheila cinema says the menace of piracy largely triggered the trend of blanket release. So if earlier a film would come to Delhi with just 13-14 prints, it now runs in about 16-18 shows a day, every half hour, in a single multiplex alone. By contrast, Sholay, filmmaker Ramesh Sippy recalls, did not even release all over India: “It wasn’t shown in Delhi in the first run, nor overseas.”

Renewed life Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara revived some sagging Bollywood spirit
The explosion of multiplexes and boom in shows has also meant that tickets are no longer hard to come by. It’s a far cry from this snippet from a long-gone era. Describing the audience response to Alam Ara (1931), Abdulally Esoofally, partner of Ardeshar Irani, recounts in B.D. Garga’s book So Many Cinemas: “Imagine our surprise when we found that on the day of release, surging crowds started gathering near the Majestic Cinema right from early morning and it was with considerable difficulty that we ourselves could enter the theatre. In those days queues were not known to filmgoers and the booking office was literally stormed by jostling, ‘riotous’ mobs, hankering to secure anyhow a ticket to see a talking picture in the language they understood. All traffic was jammed and police aid had to be sought to control the crowds. For weeks together tickets were sold out and black market vendors had a field day.” Today, the black marketer is a forgotten creature, long out of business.
Much of this change owes to the corporatisation of the industry. The movie has now become a “product” and “franchise”, to be aggressively marketed and attractively packaged, driven by the logic of profit, investment and return. Stars, in turn, have become brands, and the viewer a consumer. “It has become about maximising profits and minimising losses,” says writer-filmmaker Paromita Vohra. Seemingly simple box-office figures come dressed in corporate jargon: robust pricing, new targets, positive momentum, monetising the non-traditional revenue market. “A blockbuster is no longer a heightened emotional experience but a hyped-up, ephemeral event,” says Vohra. It’s use-and-throw cinema.

The smiles are back An enthralled audience at a cinema hall. (Photograph by Narendra Bisht)
 

 

A publicity campaign announcing the fifth week for the 1935 blockbusterHunterwali, starring Fearless Nadia.
 

 
Compare this to a Sholay, which went on to become a phenomenon in the Hindi film industry. “The craze for Sholaygrew with every passing day,” says Sippy. Shohini Ghosh, professor at AKJ Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, remembers watching it in Calcutta: “We didn’t have a vocabulary to express but knew we had seen something never done before. Sholay defined the craft of cinema for us the way Ray defined our appreciation of the art of filmmaking.” Adman Santosh Desai recalls how the “scale of experience” stayed much after the film was over. It wasn’t about box-office collection. “It was about contributing to cinema. Can any recent blockbuster claim to find a permanent place in our cinema history?” asks Ghosh.Desai compares contemporary blockbusters to a cloudburst and those of yore to a monsoon downpour. “They seeped in, entered the popular consciousness, grew over a period of time,” he says. “Now they are not being tested in a serious way.” So a Ready or Singham come and go without leaving any mark or influence behind it. “The formula is getting more quickfix and shallow. In the age of instantism, depth is anyhow not possible,” says media commentator Sudheesh Pachauri. “As a result, what you get is not a film but a series of cues to the viewer to get excited about the star,” says social anthropologist Shiv Visvanathan. “There are no myths, nuances and folklore of popular cinema. Everything is reduced to simplistic mass consumption.” He has a new term for them: blockhead-busters. Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt puts it best: “Cinema has lost its soul and become a spectacle-delivering agency. It was a tool to inspire, usher in change and complexity. It has now become an amusement park of stars.”
Cinema is also becoming a case of people getting the films they deserve. With the viewer changing with the times and caring little for cinema, it’s reflecting in our blockbusters. “Moving picture was a novelty then. Now the audience is satiated, film viewing is not spontaneous, it’s calculated,” says adman-lyricist Prasoon Joshi. Most times, cinema-watching is incidental, a denouement to a family outing. It’s also competing with the other diversions available to a young viewer. “It’s a bombardment of the senses: from TV, the mobile and internet,” says Sippy. “There is a limitation to a viewer’s retention power for cinema. Now you can download a scene or song you like. Earlier, you had to go back to the hall to see it.”
The corporates, however, believe that cinema’s potential has been exploited only marginally. They see bigger returns, bigger audiences and bigger markets. There is a string of blockbusters up ahead to test this out: Shahrukh Khan’s Ra.One and Don 2, Ranbir Kapoor’s Rockstar, Saif Ali Khan’s Agent Vinod.... But as with all trends, the question is, how long will it last? Will Bollywood’s bubble burst soon? Or will Salman’s next, Ek Tha Tiger, become the fastest to reach the Rs 200-crore mark? Who knows?

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?278248 

Friday, September 16, 2011

Amar & Prem are back !

'Sher Khan' on hold

The much-talked-about project of Sohail Khan, SHER KHAN, has been put on hold for the time being. Starring Salman Khan in the lead, the film, to be filmed in 3D, was expected to release in Eid 2012. But the project has been put on hold for the time being. Instead, Salman and Sohail are expected to start another film, a horror-comedy, which has the brothers all charged up.

This new film, which is not titled yet, will now release in Eid 2012. Await official announcement!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Pritam chooses Dhoom 3 over Ek Tha Tiger

Music director Pritam Chakraborty was supposed to compose the music for Dhoom 3and Ek Tha Tiger, both YRF films. But since the music of both the films needed to be composed simultaneously, it was difficult for Pritam to work on both the projects at the same time. 

Besides, Pritam has a line up of other movies like Players, Tezz, Barfee, Race 2, Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai 2 and Jannat 2, so it was difficult for him to compose bothDhoom 3 and Ek Tha Tiger at the same time. Hence, he requested producer Aditya Chopra to excuse him from one of the films. 

Since Pritam has worked on the Dhoom franchise from the beginning, Aditya Chopra told him to work on Dhoom 3 and leaveEk Tha Tiger. Pritam also agreed with Aditya's decision. 

YRF has now roped in music director Sohail Sen to compose the music of Ek Tha Tiger. Sohail Sen was the music director of YRF's recent release Mere Brother Ki Dulhan. Aditya Chopra was really impressed with his work and asked him to compose the music of Ek Tha Tiger and he gladly agreed to do so. 

There is no animosity between Pritam and Sohail. In fact Pritam was really happy that Sohail has been chosen to compose the music of Ek Tha Tiger. Pritam said, "I really like Sohail's music and wish him all the best with Ek Tha Tiger."

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Reflections - Is Salman indeed going the Rajinikanth way?

'Bodyguard has netted over Rs.100 crores in an extended 9 day long week' - Yeah, true!

'It is Salman Khan's third straight film to achieve this milestone' - Exactly, isn't that wonderful? 

'It is a barely average movie and has done well 'mainly' due to Salman's charisma' - Errrr, really? 

'This is pretty much on the lines of 'no brainer' cinema by Rajinikanth and Salman is getting into the same mould' - Okay, so hold on to that! 

First two reactions from industry, trade as well as the 'aam junta' are facts. 

Second reaction is coming mainly from the 'web frequenting' segment, which by the way isn't Salman's target audience. 

Third reaction is where one needs to pause for a moment before jumping on any conclusion. Reason? There is a lot to discuss and debate before state something as blatant as that. 

And it is with this week's 'Reflections' where we kick-start this debate! 

Is credit being refused where it is due? 

Box office reception to Bodyguard is for all to see. Record breaking collections are on public display and to attribute a grand opening to Eid/Ganesh Chaturthi holiday season is nothing but a foolish statement to make. Well, to refresh one's memory, even Bol and a small time film called Mummy Punjabi released on Eid and while former (despite being well made) has somehow limped into the second week, the latter is nowhere to be seen. Ok, so competition from Salman was huge but then this is where the credit factor comes in. Salman has reached where he is after being in the business for over two decades. So if he has actually managed to build a fan base, it is due to his body of work over a period of time. 

All said and done, let's not make a statement like 'Bodyguard has worked 'just' due to Salman factor'. That's because the term 'just' comes with its weight in gold here. 

Do fans stay on? 

So while it is now established that the film has worked due to certain strengths that certainly includes Salman's star power and hasn't been a winner only due to it's release during the festive season, let's move on to the fan part of the conversation. Much has been written about how 'Salman's fans are loyal', 'They would accept anything that comes from their beloved 'bhai''', 'It is just impossible to shake their belief in Salman', let's just hold on those thoughts and gradually take back a few steps. 

While the world is going gaga over Salman (and rightly so) for the triple success he has shown with Bodyguard, Ready andDabangg, let's not forget that he is the same Salman whose Main Aurr Mrs. Khanna, London Dreams and Veer released one after another and turned out to be flops. These by the way came immediately after Salman's first big hit in the recent past -Wanted. So where were the fans who refused to endorse any of these three films? 

Let's go further back in time. Within a month's time after the huge success of Partner, Salman was seen in Marigold: An Adventure In India and post that came God Tussi Great Ho and Yuvvraaj. Each of these three films was a huge flop. 

Prior to that, No Entry was a huge success but there were half a dozen flops that Salman faced after that - Kyon Ki, Saawan - The Love Season, Shaadi Karke Phas Gaya Yaar, Jaan-E-Mann, Baabul and Salaam-E-Ishq. One can continue to talk about such flip-flop that happened in Salman's career but that's not the point of the debate here. After all, hits and flops are part of life for any actor. The issue lies in the theories that circulate after a few hits when the term 'invincible' comes to core. Now that's a scary feeling not just for a moviegoer but also the star under consideration because no one can ever escape failure. 

This is where the entire theory around 'fans would never show their back to their screen idol' fails because leave aside anyone else, this has happened to Salman himself at so many junctures in his career. 

So what does a fan want? 

Simply put, a fan has his own way of operating. All he wants is good entertainment and when it comes to that, he can smell it from a good distance. Try releasing Yuvvraaj as it is with the original set of promos and results won't be any different today. If Bodyguardwould have arrived soon after a Wanted, Partner or a No Entry, there wouldn't have been any surprises in store. How a film is created, packaged and presented to the audience is what truly matters. This is what attracts his attention first. So if the star in motion happens to be someone who is anyways promising good entertainment for quite some time, it only turns out to be 'sone pe suhaaga' moment. 

Does the accusation hold good? 

Sad state of affairs though is when a superstar is 'accused' of doing the 'same thing' over and above again. One wonders how a Salman in Bodyguard, was in any way similar to that of Ready and, whether any of these two films had any connection with Dabangg or Wanted. All that was common in each of these four films was high entertainment quotient. Plus of course the charm and charisma of a man who goes by the name of Salman Khan. Needless to say, it would be foolhardy to let a superstar shed away his persona (and it isn't the 'image factor' that I am talking about here) that only adds on to the overall cinematic experience. 

Salman need not lose heart though as he isn't the only one finding himself in the box. Shah Rukh Khan, despite playing Raj 8 years ago in Chalte Chalte and Rahul 13 years ago in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai still finds critics saying - 'Arrey yeh wahi Raj/Rahul type NRI role hoga'. Now this isn't just ill research, but it also shows the myopic view that some have when it comes to acknowledging a superstar's presence. Still all he has done is continuing to move on, deliver hits and retaining two things that have made him THE Shah Rukh Khan that he is today - 'an intrinsic charm and charisma'! 

This pretty much establishes the fact for that an actor who is playing well within the commercial realms of affairs and isn't quite stepping into a different arena, it is just fair to expect that he won't change his overall personality just to be different. Yes, his surroundings would differ, the conflicts would change and the setting would vary but then it would be akin to lending a bad advice if he is asked to look the other way. 

Is there anything called as 'Hit formula'? 

Get the persona right. Let your charm and charisma stay on. Don't look the other way. Establish yourself as a demigod and voila, the hit formula is ready. Right? Wrong! 

It isn't just a 'star packaging' that can make a film super-success. Bodyguard worked because it did well as a package. Ditto for Ready and before that Dabangg. To insinuate that one film led to the success of other would be akin to living in a dream world. Yes, it can help in opening collections for a day or two but not beyond that. 

So is Salman really going the Rajinikanth way? 

This is where one goes back to the original subject of discussion. As has been established by now: a) Credit needs to come in where it is due, b) There isn't anything like a life long fan base which would accept anything and everything, c) A film's packaging works as a whole and d) Despite an actor's sincere efforts, accusations are always going to come in regardless of hits or flops. 

Now these are the four pointers that are pretty much attached to Rajnikanth as well. His Robot and before that Sivaji worked because of (a) and (c). He continues to suffer due to (d) and there have been phases in his career too where he has seen setbacks in the form of (b). 

In fact my biggest point of contention before any debate arises like this is - 'How much do we all collectively know about Rajinikanth?' I can bet that a man on the street in South India knows much more about the cinematic journey of Rajinikanth than majority of people from Bollywood media who have suddenly found the term 'Rajinikanth' as enthralling enough to key into any conversation. 

Are most of us even aware that in the whole decade gone by, Rajinikanth has done only two films in the lead role other thanRobot and Sivaji? Here too while Chandramukhi was a hit, Baba was a flop (which by the way came after he had delivered four Tamil successes in a row in years before that). 

This means that even as one starts comparisons between the cinematic journey of Salman Khan and Rajinikanth, it stands on a weak platform because the working style as well as current standing of both these superstars is entirely different. 

The need of the hour is.... 

- For everyone to relax and just enjoy the show

- Not to jump into conclusions around tagging. It is easy to attach but equally painfully to detach. 

- To remember that a film is meant to be enjoyed - Let's look at it subjectively instead of attributing it to just to a superstar alone; it is unfair to a film as well as the actor

- Not to be cynical in our approach towards looking at a film's success. If we feel it deserves to work and it indeed works then that's great. If we feel it doesn't deserve to work but it still works then let's acknowledge and move. 

- Let Salman be what he is instead of drawing any comparisons. It's good work that speaks, not the tag.