Raajneeti gets huge opening, Arjun, Manoj and Prakash Jha in seventh heaven
By Devansh Patel, June 5, 2010 - 14:34 IST
One film scholar says, "Friday will decide the fate of Raajneeti." A distributor says, "I don't think the film will last because of its political backdrop." An overseas marketing head of a production house says, "Raajneeti is a dicey film. Its chances of not connecting to the overseas audiences are many." All this jazz and then this - Raajneeti receives a thunderous 90% opening. All the above then doesn't make sense, does it? It all boils down to 'The film opened well. People bought the tickets. Audiences got sold to Raajneeti. Job done and everything else is history, and the guy who is very much responsible for the thunder this summer is Mr. Prakash Jha. A director of his calibre confesses this morning, "I have now realised that I can make and take risks in terms of commerciality. I will be open to new ideas for my next film. Raajneeti's opening has taught me that good work never goes unnoticed. It's the goodness which has stood out so far. Now it's time to see how the goodness gets transformed into greatness in the coming days." Jha continues, "Raajneeti had everything working against it if you see the commerciality in terms of business of Bollywood. But the opening proved me wrong. I am in seventh heaven."
A very jovial, excited and shocked Arjun Rampal said this morning, "It's a shock to know that Raajneeti has not only opened with a great percentage but the crazy fact is that I've just got a call from Prakash who told me that Raajneeti has opened very well in the U.K and Australia. It has got a bigger opening than 3 Idiots. Now that's a shocker." He continues, "We have got the most unexpected start and now looking for the snowball effect. Raajneeti, if it works for a few days more, will have a fate like Rock On. The word of mouth is the key here. The time has come to hit the last hammer. I am so happy with the opening the film has got. My weekend is going to be great (laughs)."
Manoj Bajpai too was in a shock but confident when he quoted, "I know that any good product gets sold quickly. Raajneeti is facing the same fortune. The news of the opening comes to me as a shock because we never thought that a film of this scale will get a big jump start. Somewhere, people had faith in our film and that's a victory for me and our team. Faith in any film decides its fate too, I think."
You never can tell what works, why it works, how it works but the fact is that it works...and how. Now the question asked is, 'Will Raajneeti be able to sustain its opening?'
Anupamaa
Naagin 7
3