The Hindi film industry’s good times seem to have come to a standstill. After three blockbusters ? Fanaa, Phir Hera Pheri, and Krrish ? in five weeks, two films ? Corporate and Golmaal ? have come a cropper in two consecutive weeks.
Golmaal proved that even well made, star-studded comedies can fail. Golmaal promised fun unlimited. But on the opening day of the film, audiences in theatres were shockingly small. Though the entertainment value of the film featuring Ajay Devgan was as good as some other recent comic hits, it was no box-office match for titles such as Phir Hera Pheri and Malamaal Weekly. The poor opening could be attributed to a couple of reasons: one, the promos didn’t really capture the flavour of the film. Two, Ajay Devgan has an action hero image whereas the film is an out-and-out comedy. Besides, the music didn’t really catch on with the masses, further diluting the chance of an impressive start.
These days a film’s opening seems to decide the fate of the revenue it’s likely to generate. While Golmaal lost the battle in a good part of the country, its collections picked up in centres like Mumbai. As luck would have it, the producers released the film themselves in the Mumbai circuit while they sold the rights to distributors at fancy prices in the rest of India. So while the producers aren’t financially in the red, most of the distributors will be. Made at a cost of Rs 13 crore to Rs 14 crore, revenue from the Mumbai territory is expected to be nearly Rs 3.5 crore.
Corporatisation may be the new Bollywood mantra but Madhur Bhandarkar must be cursing the day he decided make Corporate . His brand value just got eroded with Corporate. The metros may not have cold shouldered the Bipasha Basu film, but its performance in the rest of the country is nothing to write home about. And if Sahara is not shedding tears, it is because the production house made it at a modest budget of Rs 6 crore ? and that’s been recovered from the distributors.
Talking of recovery, the other day Amitabh Bachchan was shooting for Karan Johar’s Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (KANK) without fully recovering from a severe cold, chest congestion and gastroenteritis. But in front of the camera, the 60-plus superstar was dynamite, matching step for step with Kajol (yes, she makes a special appearance in the Rock ’’roll Soniye song) and son Abhishek Bachchan. During the small break, however, Bachchan senior asked the spot boy to fetch some ice cream from his van, even as wife Jaya and son Abhishek looked on. Treating himself to a huge dollop, the ageing actor explained, “Cold kills a cold.” When a concerned Kajol asked how he could eat an ice cream, Bachchan replied, “My doc said, ice cream is good for me!” Kajol shot back: “He didn’t say it was good for you; he only said it wasn’t bad for you.”
Normally, Amitabh Bachchan does not go for shootings if he’s so unwell. But he had to make an exception for KANK that’s due for release next month. Any delay in shooting the last song would’ve meant postponing the release of the multi-starrer being made by Karan Johar. His close buddy Aditya Chopra has surprised the trade, though, by announcing that Dhoom 2 would not be released on Diwali as scheduled. Dhoom 2 was to have battled it out with Farhan Akhtar’s Shah Rukh starrer Don on the festive occasion. But with Dhoom 2 having opted out of the race, two other films might make it to the cinemas with Don. Sajid Nadiadwala has preponed his Jaan-E-Mann by a month and J.P. Dutta is also planning a Diwali release for his Umrao Jaan.
While the official reason for the delay of Dhoom 2 is that its post-production would need more time, know-alls say that the postponement is because of Aditya Chopra’s divorce from wife Payal. Although the separation is by mutual consent, it has taken its toll on the family. Not just Aditya but even his dad Yash Chopra has been very disturbed by the turn of events. Besides Dhoom 2, Chopras’ Kabul Express has also been postponed from September to an October release, lending further credence to the postponed-due-to-divorce story.
Yash Chopra is known for announcing the release dates of his films well in advance and, importantly, sticking to them. In any case, the bountiful Diwali week is the favourite of the Chopras whose Veer-Zaara, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge, Dil To Pagal Hai and Mohabbatein were all Diwali releases. Anyway, Diwali won’t be lacklustre without Dhoom 2. After all, there’ll be Jaan-E-Mann and Umrao Jaan to instill jaan in the film scene that month.
