DOSTANA
Kudos For Not Thinking Straight
by Vishal Verma
A Yash Raj release of a Dharma Productions picture. Producers: Karan Johar & Hiroo Johar. Writer –Director : Tarun Mansukhani (debut). Genre: Comedy. Target Audience: Metros, NRI’s, College Crowd.
Abhishek Bachchan...... Sameer
John Abraham...... Kunal
Priyanka Chopra...... Neha
Bobby Deol...... Abhimanyu
Kirron Kher – Mom
Sushmita Mukherjee – Landlady
Technical Analysis
Darling, it’s now official. Karan Johar’s film has the best of gay jokes and gags. But hello kindly excuse, ‘Dostana’ is no Angels In America, or Bow barrack Mountain or now I pronounce you Chuck and Larry. The only thing which it takes from the Adam Sandler movie (now I pronounce you chuck and larry) is the gay illusion which the two room partners create for others. Rest it stands as a movie on its own.
It needed balls and guts to think different and against the normal and Kudos to Karan Johar, Tarun and of course to the established actors who accepted the challenges and came out with flying colours.
‘Dostana’ is Hip – courtesy Manish Malhotra & Narula (who else). Unrestrained, and Funny. Like ‘ Kal Ho Naa Ho’, Dostana is also an example of earnest, unfettered exuberance. This flick benefits from a modern look and design, set and shot in U.S. brilliantly captured by Ayananka Bose, and armed with a postmodern, no-holds-barred approach especially in the first half which entertains the audience very well. The chemistry between John and Abhishek is fabulous where Abhishek delivers his careere career best and John also shows remarkable improvement.
Not only Abhishek and John, infact all the actors be it Priyanka – who gives her second best after Fashion, Kiron Kher- fantastic once again, Boman Irani – Brilliant and Bobby Deol – very good make up for the stretched second half along with gags.
It's not easy being ironic and sincere in sudden turns and be convincing the whole way through, but this movie somehow manages it through its characters along with its humour and gags.
It does loses its way a bit in the second half, & struggles to come out of gags and fails to add melodrama in the turn of events but it still manages to pull through, because it keeps its spirit up.
The Story
Set in Miami, when Sameer (Abhishek Bachchan) and Kunal (John Abraham) are turned down for an apartment because the landlady (Sushmita Mukherjee) doesn't want two strapping young men to corrupt her young sexy niece Neha (Priyanka Chopra) , they hatch a plan: they pretend to be gay to secure the apartment.
Over a period of time, Sameer, Kunal and Neha become buddies. When Neha's boss Abhimanyu (Bobby Deol) enters the fray as the third contender for her affections, it gets even hotter…
Promotion
To be honest, the teasers are doing their jobs & the In-film placements and associative marketing activities for the film has contributed 35 per cent out of the entire marketing spends set aside for the movie.
The production house has roped in fashion magazine Verve, apparel brand Pantaloon and cosmetic brand Maybelline as a part of its marketing strategy. In addition to this, Dostana's apparel range has also been put for sale across 43 Pantaloon outlets across the country.
Apart from the above mentioned brand tie-ups, web portals such Bookmyshow and Makemytrip are also executing strategic activities. Bookmyshow.com opened advance booking of the movie a month before the film's release, whereas Makemytrip.com is promoting its various tour packages cashing in on Dostana's Miami angle.
Social networking... site Facebook.com has also been used to promote the movie. The website sports banner ads featuring each of the actors, which urges users to make their own Dostana gang and quiz via an application.
Channels like MTV, NDTV 24x7 and Aaj Tak have been roped in as media partners. Additionally, portals such as Sulekha, Samachar, MSN, Google, Yahoo and Rediff have tied up as well.
The brand associations for Verve, Maybelline, Pantaloons, and Bookmyshow.com have been done by Madison Communications' arm MATES.
All this activities are likely to create more buzz and bring in more audience.
However, Media Promotion By Nilufer Qureshi (hype) has been selective, ignoring the fact that every bit counts.
Business Analysis
Releasing worldwide with 1000 prints (700 in India which includes digital, the rest overseas) will find its share of metro audience thanks to the teasing Promos, quality humour and gags with the branding and tie ups etc.
‘Dostana’ will make the most of its harvest in Metros and Multiple Screens. It is bound to get more patronage by word of mouth from the college going crowd and is most likely to end up as a winner in Metros.
Abhishek, Priyanka and John can sleep well cause they at last have a winner at the end of the year.
Prospects in single screen is limited cause it is a good entertainer but not a wholesome or a family entertainer.
More credits
Executive Producer : Manoj Mittra, Music Directors: Vishal Dadlani & Shekhar Ravjiani.
Lyricist: Anvita Dutt Guptan, Kumaar & Vishal Dadlani. Cassettes and CD's on Sony.
Cinematography: Ayananka Bose. Choreography: Farah Khan & Vaibhavi Merchant.
Editor : Manan Sagar. Sound: Baylon Fonseca. Dialogue: Anvita Dutt Guptan. Costume
Aki Narula & Manish Malhotra. Media Consultant: Nilufer Qureshi (Hype). Previewed at Cinemax, Versova Mumbai at 6:30 p.m. on 13/11/08.