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Can Bachchan pull off a hat-trick?
By: Dinesh Raheja
December 18,2002
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With the finishing line of 2002 well within sight, a last-minute sprint by the Ole Dependable Amitabh Bachchan (Kaante) could trigger off a wave of optimism in the beleaguered industry.
Significantly, Bachchan has delivered hits at the tail end of both the last two years — 2000 (Mohabbatein) and 2001 (K3G). If he manages a hat-trick this year, Bachchan, who already has a fair sprinkling of white in his beard, could prove to be the Santa of the industry.
Especially since last week’s two new releases have redefined tepid at the box office. Barring a few centres like Delhi, Agra and Chennai, the Sunny-Sunil-Shilpa bonecruncher, Karz has done better than Anil-Karisma-Shilpa’s emotional balderdash, Rishtey, in most other places.
However, even the collections of Karz witnessed an abrupt U-turn, after a good start on the opening weekend. Rishtey manages a per print average of Rs 4.1 lakh in Mumbai as against around half that in most other places, but the portents are not good.
By next week, unless there is a sudden spurt in the collections of Karz and Rishtey, they may end up sharing a common ‘flop’ tag.
The titillating sex comedy, The Guru holds the audience entranced in Mumbai and Delhi. In Delhi, both the dubbed and English versions of the film have grossed more than they did in Mumbai.
The two releases of the week, the barely-publicised Maseeha and Guru Mahaguru, are hot candidates for the also-rans of the year. Sunil Shetty, in a papyrus-slim role that looks suspiciously like a last minute add-on, fails to prove the maseeha of Maseeha.
Since Kaante’s release was delayed, Metro, a premium city theatre, patronised Maseeha. But cinema patrons haven’t. After Ashutosh Rana in Pardesi Re, now Naseer-Om Puri stick out like scarecrows at a traffic junction in the crassly commercial Guru Mahaguru.
Now that Makdee has been awarded the tax-free tag, the tale of a twin’s tryst with a cackling witch, brooms in an impressive 45 per cent (Rs 4.4 lakh) more than last week.
The release of the week, Chalo Ishq Ladaye (Govinda-Rani Mukerjee) played truant from the theatres — last minute hiccups regarding delivery of prints, it seems.
Ever the eager-beaver, and unaware of the last-minute development, I ended up at Eros theatre to see Govinda’s clowning on the first day. Brusquely turned away, I took refuge in Sterling cinema and saw Let’s Talk.
In Ram Madhvani’s English film, Let’s Talk, a wife (Maia Katrak) disillusioned with her stagnating marriage, finds herself pregnant — from her interior designer. Faced with the daunting dilemma of breaking the news to her husband (Boman Irani) the wife imagines a series of possible repercussions.
The insights the filmmaker offers us are only occasionally revelatory, but the film keeps us guessing about where it is headed, which is refreshingly uncommon in Indian films.
Also, despite all their marital trauma, the couple is shown dining, drinking and even mopping up while moping. There’s something true to life about how, amidst all their personal squalor, the couple goes about their routine chores with mechanical precision.
The novelty in the form works, the wry ‘n’ spry dialogue echoes the spoken English of the urban Indian (a quality lacking in Leela) and the idea of employing varied notes of a thumri as bookends between the heroine’s episodic flights of imagination is a whizzy device.
Maia Katrak has an enigmatic smile but she is totally overshadowed by Boman Irani. The camera seems to have caught Irani unawares, whether he is sauntering around in a towel two sizes too short for him, relieving his bladder or puking. Irani slips into myriad avatars — vain, vicious, vulnerable, wacko.
Like a conjurer, you don’t know whether he will end up pulling out a rabbit or a bird when he dips his hand in his hat of acting tricks.
......http://www.mid-day.com/entertainment/news/2002/december/39341.htm
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