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Deepa
Mehta's WATER Becomes Top-Grossing Hindi Film of 2006
Deepa Mehta's controversial motion picture Water has
become the highest-grossing Hindi-language film in North
America for 2006. Starring Lisa Ray and John Abraham,
the period drama about Hindu widow houses in 1930s India
has grossed $2.3 million in the United States since
its release on April 28 surpassing the $2.2 million
gross of Aamir Khan's hit Rang De Basanti which opened
on January 27. Khan also stars in the third-biggest
Hindi hit of the year, Fanaa, which debuted on May 26
and has grossed $1.9 million to date.
Even
more impressive, Water's figure includes only ticket
sales from the United States while the grosses for the
Aamir Khan films include both the U.S. and Canada as
they released in both countries simultaneously. The
third film in Mehta's elemental trilogy opened in her
native Canada in November 2005 and was a critical and
commercial hit there as well.
In
the U.S., Water has played in limited release reaching
91 theaters at its widest point of distribution and
has remained in the Top 30 for the past seven consecutive
weeks fueled by strong word-of-mouth. The award-winning
film has performed best in the New York metro area where
it has grossed over $554,000, or one-quarter of the
entire national gross. Fox Searchlight, the film's American
distributor, is still opening Water in new cities around
the country and expects the picture to keep playing
for many more weeks to come.
For
details Contact: Gitesh
Pandya,
Khel
Shuru 
They
say the weather has to be good for the movie to be good.
The weather on Sunday May 7th was a pleasant one. Of
course I didn't expect the movie to be the same because
honestly, how many NRI films have you seen and came
out of the theater saying this was some money well spent.
Here
is a shocker. My risk taking abilities finally bore
fruit as I watched Khel Shuru among a packed audience,
who along with me, were also enjoying almost every second
of the movie. When I came out, Differential Films and
the filmmakers had earned my respect. So much so that
I wondered what happened to WayOfLife, their first film
which just released and tanked.
Source
Desi
Movies in American Cinema :
As I am writing this, it so happens that a pair of Indians
are riding high on the Hollywood charts. Director Tarsem
Singh has the number one grossing film of the week in
"The Cell," a psychological thriller in the
same vein as "Silence of the Lambs" and "Seven."
Look to the top of the video rental list and you'll see
M. Night Shymalan with his megahit "The Sixth Sense"
on top. Not bad, right?
Perhaps
it's a credit to the skills of these two enormously
talented, young directors that their heritage is not
obvious in their movies. Sure there were a couple of
desis in minor roles in "The Sixth Sense,"
in addition to Night himself in a cameo, but on the
whole, these two movies ARE Hollywood movies for all
intents and purposes. These two directors deserve all
the early success they've achieved, even as their styles
and backgrounds differ. Shymalan is a natural storyteller;
a fact reflected in his new contract which pays him
equally for the script and directing. Moreover, Shymalan
is an American, having grown up in the United States.
An admirer of Spielberg, Shymalan had his sights set
on Hollywood since childhood desiclub.com
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