Bollywood Calling!!

I have never really understood Bollywood. I doubt anyone has, even those who are actually involved in it on an everyday basis but still it rankles me that a world I so closely follow and a world that I feel so passionate about is a world which is as unpredictable as the Indian Cricket Team's performance. They can give us the crappiest of movies and we all lap it up and make it a blockbuster and they could give us a movie to be cherished for years, yet we would reject it like we had never heard of it.

Which brings us to the question-Is publicity all that matters in Bollywood? Certainly it does matter a great deal but you can't say its a sureshot method to give a hit. For then would you please explain to me the failure of Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. Huge starcast, best production house in India, Amitabh Bachchan doing a desi Johnny Depp, superhit music, great dance numbers, hoardings all over the town and yet it turned out to be a complete turkey at the box office. As a newspaper advised JBJ's producer, Adityya Chopra, 'Mr Chopra...repeat...Script is King.' But is it? Or is Shahrukh Khan the king? For if script was king, then be sure of one thing-Om Shanti Om wouldn't be the biggest hit of the decade. Yes, a movie that lacked complete sense and kept making one gag after another, each one getting harder to bear as time went by and yet somehow, that movie has gone on to be labelled the biggest hit of the decade. Sheesh-whatever happened to path breaking cinema. The only reason why that movie actually ever worked was because of the brand we call Shahrukh Khan. Replace Sharukh Khan with Sanjay Suri, a hugely talented but equally hugely overlooked actor and the sceario changes completely. Wonder how many would have gone to see Sanjay Suri do a Dard-e-Disco even with the hottest woman in India currently-Deepkia Padukone(I would have but only bcoz of miss Padukone). Most likely, we wouldn't even have heard of the movie.

So maybe SRK is king? Nope, nope. That theory isn't completely true either. Remember Swades? Lauded as SRK's best work till date? It had everything-didn't it? A great script, a fantastic director, wonderful A R Rahman melodies, heartfelt romantic moments(customary of every SRK movie till Chak De India), strong patriotic sentiments, a classic return of the 'prodigal son' story and yes-it even had the final piece of the jigsaw required for a blockbuster-King Khan. And yet the movie bombed. It went on to become a DVD classic and people still cannot understand how this atrocity of rejecting a fantastic movie was committed, yet the truth is the film was a major dud at the box office.

So what really makes the box-office tick? Honestly-that's an answer that not even the most knowledgeable of men can anwer. There's no sure-shot formula to winning gold at the box-office. Yet when a perfectly good movie gets rejected and a perfectly horrendous movie flops, it stings a little bit. While Om Shanti Om wasn't exactly a bad movie, in all honesty-it was a decent entertainer but the fact is that movie wasn't half as good as the other SRK movie of the year, Chak De India and yet it has done almost twice the business. When a movie like Rang De Basanti, Taare Zameen Par, Black or Chak De India does well or when a well publicised but horrendous movies like Jhoom Barabar Jhoom and Mela are downright rejected, we applaud the sensibility of the audience. Yet, at the same time, when movies like Om Shanti Om and Krish which are nothing but an exercise at letting India know who its superstars are, begin to break box office records, then you have to say not all is right with Indian cinema. Movies are meant to be entertaining-sure. But since when does an assault at our senses start getting branded as entertainment. And that's exactly what movies like Om Shanti Om, Krish and Gadar represent.

What's even more revolting is when perfectly good movies are confounded to also ran's status at the box office. Reasons might vary from no star power to not entertaining enough to 'audience is not in the mood for these kind of movies' but the truth is a good movie is a good movie is a good movie. They are watchable at any time of the year and there's no particular time to catch a good movie. Because then Jab We Met should have released only on Valentine's day and Mangal Pandey should have been a huge hit because it released on Independence day. The truth is Rang De Basanti could have released at Valentine's day for all I care, but it would still be as good a movie as it was when it was released on Jan 25th. Mood should certainly not be the reason for branding a movie good or bad.

Which is why I don't understand why Halla Bol didn't work either. It was a perfectly good movie backed up by power-house performances by Ajay Devgan(a star in his own right) and Pankaj Kapur(just magnificient) and yet they said that audience is not in the mood for hard hitting cinema. Screw hard hitting cinema. All we should care about is good cinema.

There were 3 really good movies last year which failed to find an audience. Johnny Gaddar, Mumbai Salsa and Strangers were what you would brand good cinema. None of them were regular run of the mill stuff, yet each was equally entertaining and had all the ingredients required for commercial cinema. What they lacked was a recongisable face. And so 3 movies which showed that Bollywood was moving in the right direction turned into examples of 3 movies which showed that the Indian audeince is still not ready to accept a different branch of entertaining cinema. Johnny Gaddar in particular was as wild a ride as you could get in a cinema thatre. Despite its failure at the box office, I have no doubts in my mind that this movie would go on to become a retro-classic. Because its that damn good.

Mumbai Salsa, the story of the rich but still only in their mid-20's people living the cool urban lifestyle in Mumbai was a touching tale of trials and tribulations in relationships and one which made you think that life is not as simple as it looks for the people who make it young. Yet thanks to a completely new cast, this movie too failed to reach its audience. Again a movie that is highly recommended if you are looking for soething different yet entertaining this weekend.

Strangers on the other hand was a genre even harder to understand. While both Johnny Gaddar and Mumbai Salsa were well-paced movies(Johnny Gaddar was so fast it didn't give you time to think), Stranger on the other hand takes its time building the story but keeps you rivetted till the end before giving you a final jolt. This was one was a classic thriller in the Alfred Hitchcock mould, one which when viewed with patience increases its repeat value.

Johnny Gaddar, Strangers and Mumbai Salsa-all three movies have quite a lot in common. Devoid of star cast,a new brand of entertaining cinema, perfectly good movies, handled by inexperienced directors with aplomb(Mumbai Salsa and Strangers had debutante directors) and yet reunited in their common failure to reach an audience. Really a pity. For if these movies had worked, then I would have been sure that our audience has indeed grown up and Bollywood was moving in the right direction. Yet, thanks tho the failures of these movies, doubts persist.

Atleast you go catch these movies. Believe me, if you really know what good cinema is, then these movies are definitely worth a view.