Happy New Year: Movie Review

• Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan, Sonu Sood, Boman Irani, Vivaan Shah
• Director: Farah Khan
• Music: Vishal Dadlani, John Stewart Eduri (as John Stewart), Shekhar Ravjiani
• Run time: 180 min

The Highs: Grand canvas, shot at exotic locations in Dubai, Good dance sequences, funny at times, Deepika steals the show
The Lows: Lengthy, too many dance scenes, mix of several things, Farah khan’s humor may not appeal to many, SRK is predictable

The purpose of Happy New Year is only to entertain. It’s frantic, noisy, gaudy, funny at times, joyless in between, and also very lengthy. Farah Khan tries to give you everything in those 3 hours – heist, revenge, melodrama, comedy, romance, numerous dazzling dance sequences, and also a dose of patriotism.

Though its entertaining, has everything going well for it business-wise, it may come across as a movie that is low on content to some.

The canvas is grand, its shot at some exotic locations in Dubai, is visually appealing, has SRK and Deepika Padukone in it, but at then end of the three hours, you get a mixed feeling – it does entertain at places but its not a great movie.

SRK’s eight pack abs in Happy New Year, and he’s almost fifty. That’s commendable.

Here are some more reviews for Happy New Year…

Hindustantimes says watching Happy New Year is a Slog
Indiatoday calls it a below average film

SRK’s Brilliant Idea to Promote Happy New Year Movie

Here’s a brilliant marketing idea from SRK to promote his upcoming film ‘Happy New Year’, something that fetched the marketing wizard Shah Rukh Khan 200 crore rupees even before the movie released in the theatres.

If you thought stars like Shahrukh Khan are so successful only because of their hard work and talent, you’re mistaken. They’re equally good at promoting their films, which plays an important part in the success of the film. And though it may not be an inborn talent (marketing their films), these guys have definitely learn the ropes over the years.

Film promotions and marketing always add up to the production cost, eventually increasing the overall budget of the film. For his upcoming ‘Happy New Year’, SRK plans to do something totally different, something that has not been tried ever before, and something that will fetch him massive amount of money, even before the movie releases in the theaters.

So what exactly was his game plan?

SRK is planning to do worldwide shows with the film’s cast, including Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan, Sonu Sood and Boman Irani, ahead of the film’s release (this Diwali). Director Farah Khan will also join the team.

The actors will be rehearsing during August in SRK’s office and the shows are expected to happen in September and October. The shows will be held in UK, US, Canada, and a few more countries. Post the foreign tour, the team is also expected to perform in India.

So how does the math work out?

Each show is expected to fetch SRK Rs 7 crore, and they’re planning to do around 25-30 shows. By that calculation, it will put almost Rs 200 crore in his kitty even before the film hits the theatres.

And what about the cast? Will they do the stage fee for free?

“The cast agreed to the arrangement as SRK will pay them over and above their acting fee. More than hundred professional dancers will also be hired. It’s an ambitious venture which aims to be even bigger than the Temptations Reloaded concert tour,” says a source close to the production house.

Will Shah Rukh Khan’s Happy New Year beat Aamir Khan’s Dhoom 3 records at the box office? Well, only time will tell. But there are many who feel that this idea will hit the jackpot big-time. And if SRK really succeeds with this initiative, it could open up new avenues of revenue generation for Bollywood’s dream merchants.

So all those producers who are are pushing their stars to give time for interviews, photo shoots and TV shows, they should probably try to thing out of the box and come up with something really innovative.