Boxoffice Will Be Dominated By Majid Majidi This Week

There  is little competition  for  the Iranian  magician Majid Majidi’s  Mumbai saga  Beyond The  Clouds  at the boxoffice this week. Sources close to  Zee Studios  who have  co-produced  the film feel the  film will have a  safe run at the  Indian boxoffice as  the other releases this week are not the stuff  mass entertainment  is made  of.

So what  kind  of  boxoffice figures is Zee expecting?

Says Sujay Kutty , Business Head Zee Studios,  “I wouldn’t want to put a number to such a beautiful movie.The expectation is to open such windows to do make in India movies and Zee studios would take the lead in making such movies every year.”

While the  other releases this week  like Hansal Mehta’s Omerta, Sudhir Mishra’s Daas Dev  and the Abhay Deol-Patralekha ghost-comedy  Nanu Ki Janu clearly  do not aim for  a mass release ,the Majid Majidi  drama hopes to crack a large audience with its Mumbai-based saga of  the hardships of siblings  from a chawl  (played  by debutantIshaan Khattar and Malavika Mohanan).

It is a classic rags-to-rags  saga propelled to global attention  by the direction of  Asia’s finest Majid Majidi.This  is his first film in a non-Iranian language.

Says trade  analyst Atul Mohan, “I am really excited for this one! Want to witness what magic  internationally renowned filmmaker Majid Majidi is going to create. I think history will be recreated just like what we witnessed during Slumdog Millionaire almost a decade back.”

The  comparison to  Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire  is  relevant  since the Beyond The Clouds is set in Mumbaiand will present an outsider’s perspective on the squalor of the chawl life.