Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2001 5:53 pm
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SUBHASH GHAI DECIDES TO GOOSESTEP WITH OTHER FILMMAKERS
By Pankaj Shukl
Magic Lantern
Film making in Bollywood is summed up very aptly by the Hindi expression bhed chaal. If a particular type of film succeeds at the box office, it gives rise to many clones. Things have come to such a pass that even a 'showman' of the stature of Subhash Ghai is playing the game of 'follow the leader'. His production company, Mukta Arts, is all set to make a 'war film', following in the footsteps of J.P.Dutta ('Border'), Mehul Kumar, Anil Sharma and Tinu Verma and a whole host of others.
Ghai has started working on his script and has reportedly signed Dilip Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan to play two generations of 'war heroes'. The leading lady of his film will in all probability be Aishwarya Rai.
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Ghai is presently passing through the leanest phase of his 25-year-old career as a director. His last two films, 'Taal' and 'Yaadein' have not lived up to expectations. Currently, David Dhawan is directing one of his films, 'Ek Aur Ek Gyarah', that has Sanjay Dutt, Govinda and Jackie Shroff as the main players. This film will be typical Dhawan slapstick stuff.
What is worrying Ghai about this project is the fading magic of Dhawan at the box office. In the past two months, two of Dhawan's films have bitten the dust at the box office. First, it was 'Hum Kisise Kum Nahin', which bombed despite the presence of heavyweights like Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Sanjay Dutt and Ajay Devgan. Close on its heels, 'Yeh Hai Jalwa' too did not find many takers. These two flops have jolted Ghai's confidence in Dhawan, say people close to the 'showman'.
Ghai's last three films as producer have led to heavy financial loss for him. His experiment in roping in outside directors and providing them the necessary finance and facilities so that they could concentrate on doing their work well came unstuck with the lack of success of the Prakash Jha directed 'Rahul'.
Then, Ghai's own baby, 'Yaadein', failed to enthuse the audience. It might have earned decent revenue abroad but only evoked loud yawns in the home market. This, despite the presence of box office favourites like Hrithik Roshan, Kareena Kapoor and Jackie Shroff. Mukta Arts' stock plunged further with the flop of 'Badhaai Ho Badhaai'.
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Ghai, of late, has become very reluctant about disclosing his plans to the media and those close to him aver that his confidence has been greatly dented. He has evidently decided to return to the 'masala' kind of films that were his forte till 'Pardes'. It was after 'Pardes' that the focus in his films shifted from the common man in the street to rich NRIs, but this seems to have contributed to the debacle of his subsequent films. Ghai, however, seems to have realised the folly of this switch, and his next film as director is going to be typical Bollywood 'masala' stuff.
Ghai was recently in New Delhi for research on his war film that will be launched before winter sets in.
  :angry:  
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