Desi Critics vs. International Critics

This past weekend saw the release of Mira Nair's The Namesake in India, which opened to good reviews (it is currently at a 66%, click here for all news and reviews for the film). Like Deepa Mehta's Water, which opened earlier this month, the positive reviews didn't translate to good box office, as The Namesake has had a poor opening in India while it is doing great business overseas. We often hear the term 'masses vs. classes' when describing Bollywood films and these two films are perfect examples of those. While The Namesake is struggling in India, it has cracked the top 20 in the U.S. and as of last week had already crossed the $1 million mark. Also interesting is the difference in reviews of the films between international critics and desi critics. RottenTomatoes.com, which sums up critics reviews for English films has The Namesake at a 73% (if you were to tabulate the percentage using the formula we use), while on our site with the desi critics, it is at a 66%. Similarly Water was at a 77% with international critics while it was at a 71% on this site. The trend doesn't stop at films targeted at international audiences. The recent Vidhu Vinod Chopra multistarrer Eklavya had an impressive 63% (with 46 critics reviews counted). However, many critics of the film noted that is was more of a film that international audiences would enjoy, which rang true. Of the 14 reviews that were four stars or higher, 5 were from international critics. Overall, 7 of the 31 positive reviews the film received from critics were from international critics, while the film had no negative reviews from international sources (however had 15 negative reviews from desi critics). For all news and reviews for Eklavya, click here. It will be interesting to see if a film can do well both with Indian audiences and International audiences. Perhaps that may happen with Mira Nair's next, Shantaram, as that not only stars Hollywood superstar Johnny Depp, but also will featured Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan.