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After the beating of Kyun! Ho Gaya Na... and Fida at the box-office, the industry has a hit to raise a toast to. Yash Raj Films is riding high with the cop-and-robber flick Dhoom running to full houses across the country. “Phataphati. People are returning to see the film again and again. Such festive mood and collective viewing have not been seen in the halls since Lagaan,” claims director Sanjay Gadhvi.
Music director Pritam is equally ecstatic. “Trade analyst Komal Nahata told me to check out how people are dancing in the aisles to Dhoom macha le.” Well, similar scenes have been reported closer home, at 89 Cinemas as well.
Critics, though, have ripped the film apart. “One article called it a ‘No-brainer bikes, babes and brawn flick’. I called up the journalist to say she was right. The film does not have a storyline,” says Gadhvi.
Nothing succeeds like success and Gadhvi expects a few films to follow the formula. “There is a tendency in the industry called bhend-chal (follow-the-leader), where once a sheep takes one path, the others follow.”
But he holds out a warning for other film-makers. “It is difficult to make a movie like this. It has very little emotion, drama and romance — the three staple ingredients that make a Hindi movie. Every scene is not a bike chase or a song. So one has to keep the viewer interested, without any help from the plot.”
A dhoom dhadaka party is planned this weekend. But from Monday, it’s back to work at the Yash Raj office. The music release of Yash Chopra’s directorial venture Veer-Zaara is slated for September 18, with the launch of the Yash Raj music label. So there is hardly time to rest on laurels.
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| Heather: Soul show |
He hates Bollywood’s over-the-top song and dance routines, but his favourite film is Grease. And it is to follow in his hero John Travolta’s footsteps that Ramu Gupta journey’s from Delhi to New York to find a film career. Instead, the hapless young man becomes a porn star and guru of sex, helping a wealthy socialite and wooing his lady love at the same time.
But it is the wild song-and-dance sequences — in Hindi, of course — that makes The Guru such a hugely hilarious hit. Jimi Mistry is back with a bang, this time in Hollywood, in a rib tickler vastly different from the Om Puri-starrer East Is East. He utilises every one of his funny bones to make the audience laugh right through.
And he’s a natural, although having two pretty women — Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei and model-turned-actress Heather Graham — by his side does help to boost his image. While the film pokes fun at the Hindi film industry, the characters are silly and loveable.
The film is roughly based on the experiences of Shekhar Kapur, executive producer of The Guru, when he moved to London. Although director Daisy von Scherler Mayer didn’t realise it was going to be such a huge production (Hollywood, after all, can’t quite grasp the extravagance of Bollywood) and the choreographer had just a few days of rehearsals with the cast, the three main characters are naturals.
Catch Mistry pursuing his love (Graham), a porn star with a simple soul, and helping the aimless socialite (Tomei), on Star Movies on Saturday at 9 pm. Two unmissable funny moments: Mistry describing matters below-the-belt the Macarena (go figure!) and the underwear dance by Mistry and Tomei, which was never in the script, just an impromptu improvisation by the actors.
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| Ricky: Awards galore |
It is being touted as ESPN-STAR Sports’ last show of strength before the Board of Control for Cricket in India decides who to award the cricket rights. And the sports bouquet is trying to ensure that the NatWest Challenge between India and England turns out to be something special.
Like Asia Cup, this series too is being simultaneously telecast on ESPN and STAR Sports, the latter beaming it in an all-Hindi format. The commentary teams for the three ODIs include regulars like Boycott, Gavaskar, Shastri and Slater on ESPN. The Hindi commentary on STAR Sports has Arun Lal, Rajesh Chauhan, Shekhar Suman and Maninder Singh. Former Pakistan pace twins Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis feature on both channels.
Contests are also being tossed in to woo the viewer. The Man of the Match contest has respondents SMS-ing the name of the player they predict would rule the game. If it matches the judges’ selection, they win prizes. Mobile Super Selector will also allow viewers to participate in the popular virtual game through their mobile phones and win prizes every day.
Don’t like office, huh? Rest assured, you’ve got company. But there is a funny side to office life and that’s what the new series on Star World promises to hold out. Set in a branch of Wernham Hoggs, a stationery company outside of London, The Office features the kind of workplace you would slit your wrists to avoid.
A world away from the glossy offices, slick professionals and witty dialogue of many a TV show, this new series is all about underpaid dead-end jobs, irritating colleagues and a smug, sexist boss. In short, it’s a place where molehills become mountains every hour.
The series, which premieres on Saturday at 10.30 pm, has won many an award, including two Golden Globes, four BAFTAs and 17 other awards.
In fact, The Office became the first British comedy programme to win a Golden Globe award for Best Comedy.
So catch Ricky Gervais as regional manager David Brent or, in short, the world’s worst boss. Watch him making sure that the world knows who is in charge in his office. Incidentally, Ricky also became the first British actor to win a Golden Globe for TV comedy.
Remember how Polish artist Tomek Kawiak saw a programme on French television on Durga Puja and was inspired to come down to work at Kumartuli? The French have always had an abiding interest in déese Durga. And as the Pujas approach, it is refreshing to see what is so familiar to us through foreign eyes.
A French team, under the direction of Frédéric Soltan and Dominique Rabotteau, has captured the autumnal festival on camera. Entitled The Goddess With Feet of Clay, the programme will come to us on Discovery on Sunday, at 9 am.
