Ready
Starring – Salman Khan, Asin Thottumkal, Paresh Rawal, Mahesh Manjrekar
Director – Anees Bazmee
Producer – Rajat Rawail, Bhushan Kumar, Nitin Manmohan, Kishan Kumar, Sohail Khan
Music – Pritam, Devi Sri Prasad
Release Date – June 3, 2011
The Bollywood remake of an original south hit by the same name, Ready was originally to be shot in Mauritius, but the location was changed to Colombo at the request of Salman Khan, who stated he preferred Sri Lanka due to its close proximity to India and its suitable landscape for Indian productions. Ready’s shooting started on 20 June 2010 with the first schedule of shooting lasted for over 27 days during which approximately 40% of the filming was completed. The second schedule of shooting was slated to start in October 2010, but was delayed due to eye problems faced by Khan. The lead actor requested Anees Bazmee to delay the shoot until the condition of his eye improved which resulted in shooting commencing in Mumbai from November 3, 2010 with portions filmed in Film City and Cherish Studios. The final schedule of shooting started in February 2011 in Bangkok.
Advance bookings were opened on 29 May (five days prior to release) in several multiplexes, with the bookings for advance tickets at single screens in some areas going on to match the advance bookings of Dabangg and in some areas out performing the 2010 Khan blockbuster.
It would be safe to say that things got of to a promising start. In India, Ready released at least 1000 UFO digital prints and almost 1900 prints in all; a first for an Indian film and was greeted by an overwhelming response at the box office. 95-100% occupancy was reported at majority of the single screen theatres with multiplexes reporting 60% to 100% occupancy. The collections for Ready were 13 crore on its first day of business alone whilst the second day saw business drop ever so slightly to 12.37 crore. Opening weekend collections for ready have been reported as being approximately 42.25 crore and the first week collections are reported to be approximately 69.50 crore.
Total collections so far are reported as 99,37,00,000 with the overseas market reporting figures of 8 crore across US, UK, UAE and other foreign markets. Ready performed particularly well in the United Arab Emirates grossing $1,200,000 by the end of the second weekend. Collections in the UK reached £495,000 while in America, Ready grossed $780,000 at the end of its second weekend.
Reviewers had a hard time agreeing on the success of the film, with reviewer Rajeev Masand writing for IBNLive, stating that ‘Ready is strictly for die-hard Salman Khan fans who’re willing to forgive the fact that this tasteless, senseless film has no plot to speak of, yet lazily unfolds over two hours and thirty minutes’. Masand went on to give the film 1.5 out of 5.
Taran Adarsh on the other hand stated that Ready was a ‘full on entertainer’ and was a film ‘that has just one motive – entertainment’ and that Ready succeeded in its attempt ‘absolutely’ and gave the film 4 out of 5.
Gita Vanan reviewed the film for BollySpice and mentioned that ‘while Ready isn’t rocket science, it’s Salman’s masala magic science. Take off your thinking cap and you’re sure to be entertained thoroughly’ and awarded the film 3.5 out of 5.
Ready isn’t holding back on gathering the accolades either with it currently being, the second highest weekend grossing Bollywood film (the first being Salman’s 2010 release Dabangg and that do a non–holiday weekend), and the third highest grossing Bollywood film of all time after 3 Idiots and Dabangg.
That is why Salman Khan heads. Ladies and Gents, I give you the mid year number 1 – Ready.
