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Of beasts and verses...
— SUBHASH K JHA
It has been the beast of times and the verse of times for Hindi movies. While the monsterhit Om Shanti Om mowed across the box office like King Kong on cocaine, Saawariya, which was poetry in motion, got severe flak from a section of Mumbai's movie-watchers. And that includes critics,
some of whom seemed to have made up their minds to dismantle the film even before the release. But there are others in the film industry, who have spoken in favour of Saawariya. Rakeysh Mehra has gone on record to say he's jealous of Sanjay Leela Bhansali after Saawariya.
Priyanka Chopra told me she couldn't get the exquisite images out of her head. And, by the way, Sony Pictures, who produced the film, are happy enough to want to make another film with Sanjay.
So, what went wrong with the marketing of Saawariya in India? A part of the problem was the film's premature promotion. Even the film's premiere was held a day early, on Wednesday, instead of the mandatory Thursday. The nay-sayers had a field day spreading the crude word all over the industry.
Many minds closely associated with the film now openly admit that more caution was required in the marketing of Saawariya. Also, this was no Diwali film. It was more suited to Christmas.
Secretly, many bigwigs of Bollywood have told me Sanjay should have never taken on Om Shanti Om. "You can't fight King Khan's film. It's bound to be a self-defeating exercise," said a hotshot director, very close to Shah Rukh and a great admirer of Sanjay's work. King Khan is laughing all the way to the bank once again. Om Shanti Om is debatably the biggest hit of 2007. That makes it two hits in a row, the first being Chak De India, for SRK. Next, he'll start working for best friend Karan Johar's My Name Is Khan (yes, KJo has gotten over his K-joy!), which probably brings SRK–Kajol together once again, provided the mercurial Kajol says 'yes'. She hasn't done so yet. Fingers crossed!
Chak De India has given an opening to sports films in Bollywood. Although Vivek Agnihotri's Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal (the weird title, because they couldn't get good ol' Goal) started before the release of SRK's hockey film, it's release is well-timed to cash in on the euphoria of Chak De India.
Early indications aren't too heartening though. At the most, Dhan Dhana Dhan… is expected to be an average success. This despite John Abraham and Bipasha Basu going all out to promote the film on every television channel.
Between Madhuri Dixit and Bipasha, it's hard to say who should win 'The-Most-Publicity-Prone-S c re e n - Q u e e n - O f - T h e - We e k ' award. You couldn't move on your couch without one of them popping out of one of the 1004 channels. Does the aggressive pre-release hype really help?
Going by the fabulous fate of Jab We Met, publicity is certainly not the key to a film's success. Here was a sleeper hit that came accompanied by negative vibes. A lead pair, who never had a success together and a reclusive, media-shy director Imtiaz Ali, whose only claim to fame was one quirky quickie Socha Na Tha.
What worked for Jab We Met was the feeling of fresh air in the Great Big Outdoors. Imtiaz shot the entire film on various virginal locations in India giving the romance a touch of classy credibility. Interestingly, one of the primary quibbles against Saawariya is its studio-built atmosphere of conscious artifice.
Does that mean the studio film is now defunct?
Coincidentally, the two most outstanding performances of the season come from the Kapoor khandan. If Ranbir Kapoor has proved to be a chip off the old block, Kareena has breathed fire into female power in our industry at a time when womenoriented movies don't seem to be working too well.
Ranbir is now shooting his second film for Yashraj Productions with his childhood buddy Siddharth Anand as director. The fact couldn't have gone down too well with Kareena's close friend Saif, who after Salaam Namaste and Tara Rum Pum, had become a continual collaborator on Siddharth's projects.
Or so he thought. But in showbiz, there are no lasting loyalties. Only elastic morals. And plastic props.
some of whom seemed to have made up their minds to dismantle the film even before the release. But there are others in the film industry, who have spoken in favour of Saawariya. Rakeysh Mehra has gone on record to say he's jealous of Sanjay Leela Bhansali after Saawariya.
Priyanka Chopra told me she couldn't get the exquisite images out of her head. And, by the way, Sony Pictures, who produced the film, are happy enough to want to make another film with Sanjay.
So, what went wrong with the marketing of Saawariya in India? A part of the problem was the film's premature promotion. Even the film's premiere was held a day early, on Wednesday, instead of the mandatory Thursday. The nay-sayers had a field day spreading the crude word all over the industry.
Many minds closely associated with the film now openly admit that more caution was required in the marketing of Saawariya. Also, this was no Diwali film. It was more suited to Christmas.
Secretly, many bigwigs of Bollywood have told me Sanjay should have never taken on Om Shanti Om. "You can't fight King Khan's film. It's bound to be a self-defeating exercise," said a hotshot director, very close to Shah Rukh and a great admirer of Sanjay's work. King Khan is laughing all the way to the bank once again. Om Shanti Om is debatably the biggest hit of 2007. That makes it two hits in a row, the first being Chak De India, for SRK. Next, he'll start working for best friend Karan Johar's My Name Is Khan (yes, KJo has gotten over his K-joy!), which probably brings SRK–Kajol together once again, provided the mercurial Kajol says 'yes'. She hasn't done so yet. Fingers crossed!
Chak De India has given an opening to sports films in Bollywood. Although Vivek Agnihotri's Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal (the weird title, because they couldn't get good ol' Goal) started before the release of SRK's hockey film, it's release is well-timed to cash in on the euphoria of Chak De India.
Early indications aren't too heartening though. At the most, Dhan Dhana Dhan… is expected to be an average success. This despite John Abraham and Bipasha Basu going all out to promote the film on every television channel.
Between Madhuri Dixit and Bipasha, it's hard to say who should win 'The-Most-Publicity-Prone-S c re e n - Q u e e n - O f - T h e - We e k ' award. You couldn't move on your couch without one of them popping out of one of the 1004 channels. Does the aggressive pre-release hype really help?
Going by the fabulous fate of Jab We Met, publicity is certainly not the key to a film's success. Here was a sleeper hit that came accompanied by negative vibes. A lead pair, who never had a success together and a reclusive, media-shy director Imtiaz Ali, whose only claim to fame was one quirky quickie Socha Na Tha.
What worked for Jab We Met was the feeling of fresh air in the Great Big Outdoors. Imtiaz shot the entire film on various virginal locations in India giving the romance a touch of classy credibility. Interestingly, one of the primary quibbles against Saawariya is its studio-built atmosphere of conscious artifice.
Does that mean the studio film is now defunct?
Coincidentally, the two most outstanding performances of the season come from the Kapoor khandan. If Ranbir Kapoor has proved to be a chip off the old block, Kareena has breathed fire into female power in our industry at a time when womenoriented movies don't seem to be working too well.
Ranbir is now shooting his second film for Yashraj Productions with his childhood buddy Siddharth Anand as director. The fact couldn't have gone down too well with Kareena's close friend Saif, who after Salaam Namaste and Tara Rum Pum, had become a continual collaborator on Siddharth's projects.
Or so he thought. But in showbiz, there are no lasting loyalties. Only elastic morals. And plastic props.
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