It will be interesting to see which way the tide flows...
Meena Iyer
In the next six weeks, 120-odd crore will ride on some of Bollywood's best female talent. As per a rough estimate, Rani Mukerji's Aiyyaa is budgeted at 8 crore plus print and advertising (P&A). Sridevi's English Vinglish would roughly be around 16 crore plus P&A. Preity Zinta's Ishkq in Paris is approximately pegged at around 15 crore plus P&A. Manisha Koirala's Bhoot Returns has a budget of around 9 crore plus P&A.
However, instead of a sense of elation, there is a feeling of deja vu surrounding the projects. Trade sources say that all the women-oriented films coming together is an unhappy coincidence. But it cannot be helped because through the year the male superstars take away the best release dates — and leave the women with no choice but to come bunched together.
A leading distributor-exhibitor says, "There are a couple of points to note here. Heroines can scream themselves hoarse about being equals, but they are far from that, especially as far as the film trade goes. Instead here they are the lesser mortals. While people keep a safe distance of two weeks from a Salman Khan film because no one wishes to be buried under Sallu's box office spoils, here distributors/exhibitors are not even giving these women-oriented films a chance to breathe easy. Also, earlier filmmakers would dread coming in the pre-Diwali period. But now there is no choice because Republic Day, Eid, Pre-IPL, post-IPL, Independence Day and Diwali dates are booked for the big guys."
Incidentally, women star-power came into focus because of Vidya Balan. Her The Dirty Picture made at a budget of approximately 21 crore netted around 78 crore in total and, Vidya's Kahaani, made on an even more modest budget of 8 crore plus P&A, got its producers something to the tune of 40 crore.
On the flip side, Kareena Kapoor's Heroine, which was made for approximately 24 crore with an additional P&A cost, hasn't given its investors any reason to rejoice.
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