Internet gossip about trouble in the Bachchan bungalows (the latest being Abhishek's irritation over posing with Aishwarya at a preview of Sarbjit) should be taken with a pinch of salt. For, one thing the family does is close ranks and rally around one another in public. There's a story going around about the time Aishwarya's last film Jazbaa was on release. When the host of a certain TV show tweeted his uncomplimentary views on Jazbaa, ma-in-law Jaya Bachchan was quick to dial the channel bosses. She wanted them to delay this scribe's show that Friday, in a bid to postpone the telecast of his review by a few hours. Did it work? The show couldn't be rescheduled but apparently, the review could be slightly tweaked.
But does any of this ultimately matter? Both Jazbaa and Sarbjit were cold-shouldered by the box office with Aishwarya's work in particular coming in for flak.
A cold box office is perhaps one of the reasons for Shah Rukh Khan and Farhan Akhtar to postpone the release of Raees . But director Rahul Dholakia is clearly not happy. "When you announce a date, you must release your film on that day," he told me at a private screening of Phobia. The promo of Raees that he put out months ago with SRK's surma-lined eyes and the catchline "Baniye ka dimaag , miyanbhai ki daring", still carries the tagline "Eid 2016". "No more promos for now," promised Rahul. "All promotions and publicity will be on hold for a while.
"I've finished all my shooting, including Pakistani actress Mahira Khan's work in it. The editing is going on," went on Rahul, shrugging that the producers probably had their reasons for putting off his film. He's going to use the extra time for special effects. While the reason touted is with Salman Khan's Sultan being the Eid offer of 2016, it is advisable to avoid a clash, there's also the feeling that it is too soon for SRK to have another release. And he should give the audience time to get over his two back-to-back box-office rejections, Dilwale and Fan . However well-made Raees may turn out to be, it does seem to be a judicious decision to wait it out.
The screening of hottie Radhika Apte's Phobia was like a mini-premiere at Sunny Deol's private theatre. Kalki Koechlin and Radhika posed for photographs and admired each other's work. All week long, there were screenings of Kalki's Waiting, in which she stands up to Naseeruddin Shah shot for shot, and Radhika's Phobia . Both were released this Friday but no SRK-Salman brand clashes happen in this bracket of small-budget cinema.
Eros International have also been busy all week - apart from hosting shows of Phobia , they had a special screening of their new Prosenjit-Rituparna film Praktan with English subtitles. Praktan has aroused enough curiosity over the estranged lead pair coming together after 15 years. Directors Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukhopadhyay (of Bela Sheshe fame) have cleverly cast them as an estranged couple in the film too. The screening was held in Eros' cosy private theatre where they had Nandita Roy fly down to meet the Mumbai press. It's a heartening new move that producers with deep pockets like Eros, who make lavish films like Bajirao Mastani , also back regional cinema like Praktan or a small film like Phobia and hold important shows for so many invitees.
There's a whole group of extremely young actors, all of them brimming with talent and ready for a challenge, who seem to be rooting for one another. At the Phobia screening, there was also Rajkummar Rao (Citylight, Queen , Aligarh), Gulshan Devaiah (Hate Story , Hunterrr) and Adil Hussain (I hate to but have to keep introducing him as Sridevi's husband in English Vinglish and Tabu's in Life of Pi).
By the way, the male lead opposite Radhika in Phobia is Satyadeep Mishra, former husband of Aditi Rao Hydari.
A surprise appearance came from Prateik Babbar who is whispered to have lost out on his career because of the hazy world he had chosen to go into. "He's cleaned up his act now," a filmmaker whispered to me. Will Prateik get a second chance like Sanjay Dutt did?
Prateik's case leads me to a disturbing thought: Shahid Kapoor's much-awaited Udta Punjab has been grounded by the censor board, ostensibly over its liberal use of abuses. But think again. Directed by Abhishek Chaubey, whose debut film was the daring Ishqiya with Vidya Balan-Arshad Warsi in 2010, the promos of Udta Punjab have promised a gritty tale of substance abuse ruining the green fields of Punjab. With Assembly polls in Punjab close at hand, perhaps the drug menace makes Udta Punjab an uncomfortable topic for those in power. Does that make it taboo territory for celluloid to currently explore? The CB objections indicate that something's not kosher out here.
Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author
