Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2001 5:53 pm
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BOLLYWOOD DEMANDS MORE BREATHING SPACE
By Suhel Johar
Magic Lantern
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Bollywood is resilient, if nothing else. Like a lover scorned, the industry found itself listless at the end of last year. It had posted its largest ever loss of Rs 300 crore. The films released in 2002 had failed to sizzle, except for a few flashes in the pan like 'Raaz', 'Kaante' and 'Saathiyaa'. We are through with the first quarter of the current year and the dismal trend of movies failing to set the cash registers tingling at the box office continues.
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What's worse is the fact that from next Friday there'll be no new releases. Already starved of new mega-movie releases thanks to the recently held World Cup cricket telecast, cine-goers may now have to face a famine of new movies next week. There will be no new Hindi movie releases or fresh re-runs of old movies from April 4 as the association of distributors are defiant and are refusing to co-operate, according to veteran producer K D Shorey, senior vice- president of Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association (IMPPA) which is headed by Smita Thackeray.
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A unanimous resolution to that effect was passed at a high-level joint meeting held last evening at The Club, Andheri, where office- bearers of the four major producers' bodies - IMPPA, WIFPA, AMPTPP and the Guild - were present. "Fortunately we are having the total support of producers Dhirajlal Shah whose mega-budget film 'The Hero' is releasing on April 11 and producer Suneel Darshan whose movie 'Andaaz' is also releasing in April," insists Shorey who feels that the embargo could be indefinite if the distributors continued to be indifferent.
Apparently, at a joint meeting held in November 2002, the Film Distributors' Council had assured the producers' cartel that they would comply with the latter's conditions within a fortnight. Among the six conditions was the stipulation that distributors would permit the producers from allowing telecast of their movies after a 'hold-on' period of one year instead of the current embargo of five years.
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Meanwhile cinema theatres will continue to screen only those movies, which have already been released, until the warring parties call for a ceasefire. But this will not affect the release of 'Yeh Dil' and 'Chota Jadugar' which is set for release on April 4, because the producers of these films are South India based and not affiliated with any of the four Mumbai major producers' bodies- IMPPA, WIFPA, AMPTPP and the Guild. The films that will be immediately affected are 'The Hero' and 'Andaaz', slated to release on April 11th and 18th, respectively.
Coming back to the first quarter there were more than a dozen films releasing in this period. But there was just a small budget flick like 'Jism' that performed credibly at the box office while many biggies like 'Talaash', 'Dum', 'Dil Ka Rishta', 'Baaz- A Bird In Danger', 'Escape To Taliban', 'Satta', 'Khushi', 'Churaa Liya Hai Tumne' and 'Ek Aur Ek Gyarah' turned out to be damp squibs at the box office. That they did not draw in huge crowds may or may not be attributed to the World Cup.
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Anyway, the industry has now pinned its hopes on few films that include Anil Sharma's 'The Hero- The Love Story Of A Spy', starring Sunny Deol, Preity Zinta and Priyanka Chopra, scheduled to hit the screens on April 11 is the first biggie in the coming months that the industry is looking forward to bring some cheer. Made at a budget of Rs. 55 crore it is the costliest film ever made in the history of Bollywood.
It will be followed by 'Andaaz', produced by Sunil Darshan and directed by Raj Kanwar which stars Akshay Kumar, Priyanka Chopra and Lara Dutta in the lead. The casting of former beauty queens together is nothing short of a coup.
In May Ram Gopal Verma, who brought you 'Rangeela', 'Satya' and 'Company', gives you 'Bhoot'. It's a ghost story starring Ajay Devgan, Urmila Matondkar and Rekha.
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Come June 27, the 'Hum Aapke Hain Koun' and 'Hum Saath Saath Hain' Barjatyas will release 'Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon' - a remake of Rajshri's successful film of the 70s called Chit Chor. Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan and Kareena Kapoor star in the film enacting roles that were played by Amol Palekar, Vijyendra Ghatge and Zarina Wahab, respectively in the original.
The month of August will see two biggies coming in quick succession of one another - while Rakesh Roshan's special effects film, 'Koi Mil Gaya' (Hrithik Roshan and Preity Zinta), will be released on 8th August. The ageless actress Rekha also stars in Rakesh Roshan's 'Koi Mil Gaya'. This one draws inspiration from old Hollywood favourites, namely E.T. and Forrest Gump.
Based on the Kargil war J.P. Dutta's patriotic fare, 'L.O.C' (which stars half the film industry including Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan, Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan!) will make it to the cinemas on Independence Day (15th August).
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Saif Ali Khan reappears in 'Kal Ho Na Ho', directed by Nikhik Advani. It also features Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta. The film is said to be inspired from Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Anand. Shah Rukh Khan will also be seen in his own production 'Main Hoon Na' which will mark his buddy and choreographer Farah Khan's directorial debut. The film also stars Sushmita Sen, ZayedKhan and Sunil Shetty who plays a negative character in the film. Another SRK starrer to hit the screens this year is Aziz Mirza directed film, 'Chalte Chalte', featuring Rani Mukherjee.
The remaining period of the new year will also see a long list of products by debutante directors. The first biggie is of course writer-turned-director Honey Irani directs Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Gracy Singh and Anil Kapoor in family drama 'Armaan'. The film is slated to follow 'Bhoot' in the month of May. Rohan Sippy's 'Kuchh Na Kaho', starring Abhishek Bachchan with Aishwarya Rai is also set to hit the marquee this year.
Ad man Shashank Ghosh, who coined the line 'Yehi Hai Right Choice Baby' will debut this year with his film, 'Vaisa Bhi Hota Hai', it is slated for a September release. The film is a bunch of incidents, with the central story set in Mumbai. It is a "bad boy kind of film" with an autobiographical end.
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Many of the new filmmakers address an urban audience. Padam Kumar's 'Supari' is about four youths facing the 'Dil Maange More' syndrome. It is about big money, stylish clubs, and designer labels, a very south Bombay film. Audiences can look forward to a variety of films in this genre like the Anuraag Mathur's 'American Chai' and Kushan Nandy's '88 Antop Hill'. All of them are due for release this year. More proof that sex sells in Bollywood comes in the shape of Deepak Tijori's 'Oops', a film based on the junior dancers in Bollywood. And unarguably the most anticipated film of all in this genre is Kaizad Gustad's 'Boom'. Starring Amitabh Bachchan, Jackie Shroff, and Gulshan Grover, the film looks at extortion in the modelling industry.
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