Raavan in US: Good reviews, poor box office performance

Raavan, which got fairly decent reviews in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times, opened to a disappointing box office in North America.

Distributor Reliance has said it grossed $550,000 in three days. The previous Mani Ratnam film Guru which also paired Abhishek Bachchan and Aiswarya Rai had opened three years ago with a $1 million weekend in America and Canada and went on to earn an impressive $2.4 million in both countries.

If Raavan follows the standard rate of attrition in North America (about 60 percent slum in the second week), it will have a hard time reaching $1 million.

Many viewers in New York and New Jersey cinemas thought that the film was too brutal and at times very dark. A few said they had come to the theatres imagining the film was a modern day take on Ram, Ravan and Sita but were surprised by the twists in the story and that the character played by Vikram had shades of good and bad. They had thought only the character of Ravan would be dark and demonic.

It looks like Raavan will gross about half of what two recent successes have grossed in North America. Raajneeti, a bonafide success and Kites each grossed about $1.6 million in North America, though the latter was deemed a flop because of its huge production cost (estimated to be $20 million).

How Raavan will hold in the next two weeks will be crucial to the film's final fate.

Meanwhile, it is getting some respect from mainstream publications.The New York Times called the film 'richly atmospheric.'

It added: 'Raavan has Bollywood glamour aplenty, with the lovely if occasionally dramatically challenged Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.'

But the film's real star is Mani Ratnam, it asserted, ' a talented visual storyteller who directs action crisply and fills the screen with striking images. Artful but not arty, Mr. Ratnam?delivers the goods.

A R Rahman's score is 'excellent,' the review added, and singled out 'an eye-popping climactic battle, between the bad-good Beera and the good-bad Dev, on a teetering suspension bridge. And that, folks, is entertainment.'

LA Times argued that it is Aishwarya who is a scene-stealer in the film. 'Bollywood superstar Abishek Bachchan has the title role of the romantic adventure epic Raavan, the review asserted, ' but the movie belongs to his exquisite real-life wife Aishwarya Rai. A blue-eyed beauty who resembles Myrna Loy...'

It added: 'Director Mani Ratnam and his colleagues give Bollywood fans full value. Ratnam's pace is steadfastly brisk, and his film is replete with dizzying camerawork, myriad complications, violent mayhem, broad humour, usual musical interludes, a cliffhanging climactic confrontation and a finish that strikes a note of poignancy.'

Source http://movies.rediff.com/report/2010/jun/21/us-box-office-raavan.htm

Diving Abhishek in Raavan just a fake?

Mani Ratnam’s much awaited film Raavan released last week after a huge promotion. The film opened with a moderate response but the lead actor Abhishek Bachchan , is already in the news, not for his role but for a controversy.

MS Balram, a former national diving champion, has claimed that the actor is lying. He said that Abhishek’s breathtaking dive off a cliff scene was done by him and not by the actor himself. The shot was used in the promotions of the movie many times as a special attraction.

The death defying stunt has turned out to be a source of trouble for the filmmaker now. The Bangalore-based diving champion Balram said that he has great respect for Abhishek and Mani Ratnam but at the same time, it is wrong to say that the actor did the stunt himself. The actor claimed that no body double was used.

Balram said that he is proud to be a part of Raavan and just wants to set the record straight. While interacting with media, the junior Bachchan claimed, “I went ahead to do the dive scenes myself even though Mani Ratnam opposed it.”

An uncomfortable Balram stated, “I am not here to create any controversy or to attract publicity because personally, I am a big fan of the Bachchans. I just want Mani Ratnam sir’s movie to do well. But, it is also true that I was paid for doing the stunt and I am proud that I could do it.”

Blaram claims that he was offered to do the stunt in 2008 through a friend, who worked with Mani Ratnam’s team. He now monitors the training at the Kempe Gowda Swimming Pool at Hanumanthanagar in Bangalore.

The stuntman added, “My brother Bhushan persuaded me to accept the offer. I joined the team at Hoggenakkal, where it was filmed. I had gone through many dry runs before I gave the final shot on December 19, 2008.”

The truth is best known by the team of Raavan but the audience must have enjoyed the excellent diving scene from a high cliff!

Source http://entertainment.oneindia.in/bollywood/gupshup/2010/abhishek-raavan-body-double-210610.html

Abhishek Bachchan Will Promote Raavan On Indian Idol

Abhishek Bachchan also seems to take the small screen route for his forthcoming movie, Raavan. Reality shows have been used as a perfect medium to win audience’s mind.

The upcoming movie from Mani Ratnam, Raavan is all set for its release. The small screen will be able to add a grab a great amount of attention from the general audience.

Abhishek will promote Raavan on the Indian Idol 5 platform on Sony. It will add much more power to the overall promotion for the much talked about movie.

Sources say that the actor is all set to shoot with the judges and contestants of Indian Idol. The judges are Salim Merchant, Anu Malik and Sunidhi Chauhan.

The special episode for Raavan’s promotion will be aired next week on Sony entertainment channel.

The movie is set to release on June 18and surprisingly Abhishek plays a negative role in the movie in the name of ‘Beran’. The other lead roles are Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Vikram (actor from South India).

Govinda and Ravi Kishan also seem to play quite an important role in the movie.

However, Abhishek had also once promoted Drona on the small screen television program ‘Balika Vadhu’, but the movie failed at the box office.

Reality shows have always been a good platform for movies to be promoted every now and then. ‘Indian Idol 5’ has also been a platform for Housefull, Badmash Company and Raajneeti in the recent past.

Source http://www.india-server.com/news/abhishek-bachchan-will-promote-raavan-27995.html