Bachchan rules, but content is king
The year 2007 has finally tasted success, with two diverse films, “Cheeni Kum” and “Shootout at Lokhandwala”, doing very well.
Unlike last year, when there was a series of runaway hits like “Rang De Basanti”, “Krrish”, “Dhoom:2″, “Lage Raho Munnabhai” and “Fanaa”, this year had so far produced only one blockbuster “Guru” and a couple of successes like “Ta Ra Rum Pum” and the low-budget “Bheja Fry”.
The mammoth collections in 2006 had helped Bollywood, the world’s largest in terms of volume and ticket sales, cut losses to $22 million from over $30 million in 2005.
“‘Cheeni Kum’ and ‘Shootout’ are also doing well overseas,” Suleman Mobhani, co-founder of IndiaFM, a top Bollywood trade website told IANS on telephone from Mumbai.
“But this year the collection is bad compared to last year.”
In Britain, “Cheeni Kum” has grossed over Rs.22.1 million and “Shootout…” has collected around Rs.9.9 million. In the US, the latter has made around Rs.9.4 million, Mobhani added.
The two movies were released May 25 and have contrasting scripts.
“Cheeni Kum” is a romantic comedy in which Bachchan, an arrogant chef, falls in love with a woman nearly half his age while “Shootout…” narrates the real life story of an encounter between police and gangsters in broad daylight on the streets of India’s financial hub Mumbai.
Though the media has tried to portray the iconic actor as instrumental in reversing Bollywood’s falling fortunes, some analysts feel the content of these films were the primary reason for their success.
“It will be incorrect to say that these films are successful only because of Amitabh,” veteran critic and trade analyst Komal Nahta told IANS. “Their subject is the key to their success.”
“You can still say that Bachchan is largely responsible for ‘Cheeni Kum’ doing well as he has the most screen presence in the film but in ‘Shootout’, he’s just a character actor while Sanjay Dutt and Viveik Oberoi are the main characters who have acted well. Then how is Bachchan responsible for its success?”
Big B in “Shootout…” plays the role of a lawyer who fights to save the encounter-loving Mumbai policemen from the law.
Bachchan, 64, has acted in over 160 movies and is popular across the globe. This year his films, except for “Nishabd”, which was panned by people, as they could not accept the iconic actor playing the role of a man in love with a girl of his daughter’s age, have all done well at the box-office.
He still has around three films left for release this year.
“Bachchan is no doubt good in the movies and a very valuable contributor to their success but he is not the only driving force,” Mobhani said.
— IANS
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