Rajesh Krishnamurthy takes a sneak peek at what’s coming our way later this year
It was years ago when Indian cinema was taking it’s first steps in the international arena that a Hollywood scribe coined the term “Bollywood” to describe the fledgling Indian industry in derisive fashion. Over the years the derisively named Bollywood has time after time proved that it and indeed the entire Indian film industry has much more substance than the west would give it credit for.
Bollywood has been constantly evolving and now boasts of a global audience from Alaska to Adelaide and Montreal to Mogadishu. Millions of fans across continents love every tear that trickles down the shapely heroine’s cheek, every punch that the hero throws and every latka and Jhatka of the item numbers on celluloid.
Traditionally too Bollywood has provided cheap and affordable entertainment to the masses in India and therefore to even think of recession in Bollywood is almost sacrilege … Daiya re daiya, ka hoi joun hamar phillumwa band ho jayi? Ka kari hum thod maja mare ke wastin?
However unthinkable or unpalatable it may be, that is the reality in a globalised world. Although the industry captains may not acknowledge it in public the signs are there for all to see. For the last 2-3 quatrers no major film with A-list star cast has been released except perhaps the Akshay Kumar thriller flick 8x10 Tasveer, Abhishek Bacchan’s Delhi-6, both of which sank without causing a single ripple.
Most major productions that are on the floors have had their schedules pushed back (depending on the stage of completion). The Abhishek starrer “Drona” for example spent Rs. 22 crores (approximately NZ$8.5 million) on the villain’s get up and associated special effects alone! Many keenly awaited projects have also been downscaled in terms of budget. Singh may have been King a couple of seasons ago but in Bollywood today “Recession is King”.
Some of the movies that have been released in the recent past are Anubhav, 99, Aloo Chat, Coffee House, Detective Nani, Zor laga ke Haiya, etc. The one common thread between them being no A-list star cast, small budget and off beat/cross over themes and a limited release in B&C class territories.
Big banners and premier production houses like Ronnie Screwwala’s UTV, Pritish Nandy Communications and a few others have either postponed or down sized projects. The stars too are not entirely untouched by the recession. Many A-list stars have reduced their asking price and have also reduced their signing amount. Many of them have also gone for trade-ins of territory collections instead of taking a full pay cheque. Established thespians like Rajanikant have even gone so far as to refund the distributors losses on his big budget films like “kuselan”, which was remade in Hindi as Billu (barber!) with King Khan in the lead.
However it’s not all doom and gloom in Bollywood just yet. The later half of 2009 is all set to witness some fireworks at the box office with a long list of top notch directors and actors vying for the title of “ viewers favourite”.Some of the forthcoming flicks that you can look forward to are:
Rocket Singh – Salesman of the Year starring Rishi & Neetu da puttar…decked up as a sardar a la Sunjay Dutt in ‘Sarhad Paar’ & Salman Khan in ‘Heroes’.
Kites- A Hrithik Roshan home production directed by Anurag Basu and not Rakesh Roshan but still starting withtheir perrinialy favourite alphabet‘K’. Starring Hrithik Roshan, Barbara Mori, Kangana Ranaut
My name is Khan- This film re-unites the super-hit jodi of all time (SRK & Kajol), that was last seen in Karan Johar’s ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’ .Rumour has it that the story is an intensely emotional one based on a true story.
Paathshaala- directed by Milind Ukey the film stars Shahid Kapoor and Ayesha Takia, Nana Patekar& Suniel Shetty. According to reports it is India’s most lavish children’s film yet!
Run Bhola Run-A comedy thriller directed by Neeraj Vora Starring old war horse Govinda,Amisha Patel ,?Tusshar Kapoor and Celina Jaitley.
Mai aur Mrs Khanna – A Salman Khan home production of sorts the under the joint Banner of Sohail Khan Productions & UTV Motion Pictures.Star Cast: Salman Khan, Govinda, Sohail Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Preity Zinta.?
Veer- directed by Gadar director, Anil Sharma, Veer is a big budget magnum opus a period film set in the 18th century.It’s story is reportedly penned by Salman Khan himself.
De Dana Dan- Comedy is back and so is Priyadarshan doing what he does best. Hopefully it will recreate the laugh riot magic of Hera Pheri. The movie stars hot onscreen pair-Katrina Kaif and Akshay Kumar,Suniel Shetty , Paresh Rawal, Sameera Reddy and Neha Dhupia also star in the film.
London Dreams Flim: London Dreams Director:Vipul Shah ,Cast: Salman khan Asin , Ajay Devgan. A lavishly mounted movie with an A list star cast after the successful Namastey London by the same production team.
Three Idiots- is the tentative title for Rajkumar Hirani's upcoming film starring Mr.Perferction Aamir Khan.The film also starrs Kareena Kapoor, R. Madhavan and Sharman Joshi.