Box Office KOMAL NAHTA

 

 

Vishal Bharadwaj’s Omkara may have bowled the critics over enough to get stars from almost every national, international and local newspaper but audience reports didn’t at all tally with what the media made the adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello out to be. Like the tragic ending in the Bard’s play and, therefore, the film, the box-office performance in most of India was also tragic, to say the least. No doubt the producer made money. But most of the distributors who acquired the multi-starrer at phenomenal prices will lose hefty sums of money.

If the first week’s collections are any indication, some of the more unfortunate distributors could lose 30 to 40 per cent of their investments.

The figure could be scary, considering that the film was sold for Rs 4.5 crore plus for the Mumbai territory and Rs 3.35 crore for Delhi-UP etc. Collections on the first three days in Mumbai were excellent but they dropped from Monday onwards. However, in many other circuits the opening was so dull that the trade began writing the film’s obituary from day one itself. And no, all those four and four-and-a-half stars could not make Omkara a box-office success.

Interestingly, several newspapers and television channels whose critics rated Omkara a masterpiece later carried stories on how big a flop it was proving to be at the ticket-windows.

The media, it seems, would also have to eat their words on the much talked about Amitabh Bachchan-Shah Rukh Khan cold war. There’s absolutely nothing wrong between Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan on the one hand and Shah Rukh Khan on the other. The Bachchans and King Khan got along like a house on fire on the sets of Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, which is slated for an August 11 release.

In fact, Shah Rukh Khan has gone to the extent of saying that of all the actors in the multi-star cast film, Abhishek Bachchan is the best. There are barely three scenes in the film where Shah Rukh Khan and junior Bachchan share the screen. And Shah Rukh Khan rues: “I wish I had more scenes with him,” adding that “the media may write anything about the so-called cold war between us, but the fact is that we are great friends.”

Khan says that in the US the two stars tried to tone up their bodies by joining a gym. “But we soon realised that we weren’t achieving much,” he smiles. But the gym camaraderie blossomed into friendship, though it did little to shape their bodies. So while on the one hand Shah Rukh Khan thinks that Abhishek Bachchan’s performance is the best in the film, he also feels that Amitabh Bachchan bagged the best role.

“He is a Casanova and jumps into bed with pretty firang ladies in bikinis, he is the luckiest among all the stars of KANK,” chuckles Khan. Amitabh Bachchan plays the character of Samarjit Singh Talwar a.k.a. Sam in the film. Clearly, nobody will talk like this about a co-star if there’s a cold war on between the two.

Finally, the countdown to Karan Johar’s KANK has begun. It is one of the costliest, star-studded and most eagerly awaited films of recent times. Karan Johar kept a special preview show of the 3-hour-20-minute love story on July 30 for the cast and crew and their family members.

Hrithik Roshan (with wife Suzanne) and Aditya Chopra were among the few others who watched the film at Yash Chopra’s posh preview theatre. Perhaps choreographer Farah Khan was the only crew member missing from the show. Farah never attends the first trial show of Karan Johar’s films. She is superstitious about it. Even without seeing the film, Farah feels that Karan Johar has a hit on his hands because he had a terrible fall on the sets of his film in the US, something that had also happened in K3G (Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham).

Besides the film, guests at the KANK show were also treated to a delectable fare in the interval. Karan, like his late father Yash Johar, loves to play the perfect host. His intervals are as eagerly awaited as the trial shows of his films because he has great food laid out for his guests. With such hospitality being offered, the one and a half hour delay in starting the film did not really bother any one.

A good 45 minute break occurred during the interval. But the congratulatory handshakes and hugs for Karan Johar went on till 3.30 am. Anyway, that has made Karan more nervous than ever. “I hope the audience likes the film,” says the film maker who ended up spending Rs 10 crore extra just because he wanted to shoot the film in New York. KANK’s box office fate will be decided next week.

Komal Nahta is editor of Film Information