Abhishek Bachchan’s 3-D factor

Abhishek Bachchan FactorStrange things happen in showbiz, and you don’t know how to explain it.

How do  you explain  the  fact that Abhishek Bachchan’s next three films all  have titles  beginning with  the letter  ‘d’….drona, followed by Dostana and Delhi 6.

How do you  explain  the fact that last month  Madhavan was shooting for  two films  simultaneously both beginning with  the  number ‘3′….3 Patti and  3 Idiots.

How do  you  rationalize  the revival  of interest  in  the supernatural? Eerie  -fairies are  flying around filmdom. The  fur hadn’t even stopped flying over Phoonk…after  a ceaseless string of   homages  to  the underworld  Ram Gopal Varma’s  ode to the other-world.

Now last week it was Vikram Bhatt’s turn to turn on  the terror-faucet full-blast.  I saw a lot in common  between Ramu’s Phoonk and  Bhatt’s 1920. Both   play on primeval fears  of  the audience. Vikram has no nimbu-hari-mirch  in his storytelling. In fact I found the spice in 1920 terribly bland.

But  the critics  in Mumbai have  chosen  to be kind  to  1920. It’s the law  of  proportions. He’s  been blasted  for his last six films, so why not  praise  him this time?  There  is no  other logical  reason  for  the generous  spirit  displayed  for  this  film on spooks and spectres.

I wonder  if  Phoonk and  1920 will  spawn a  never-ending  spate  of these  spook fests. The  last thing we need  in  this  country   of  endless  superstitions and  blinkered blind faith  is  green-chillie  red-faced flicks with women possessed and flying  around  the  rooms  looking for nirvana

Give  us  a break, yaar!  So far this year we’ve had plenty of  quality  products. But   not too many  that have succeded.  The surprise success   among the  spate of terrorist films  is Wednesday which has shocked analysts  by making some profits.

But let’s not get carried away. We’ve    this nasty habit  in this country   of  dancing around  the turnstiles at  the smallest  pretext. Wednesday has made more money  than Rohit Shetty’s Sunday.  But it has made less  profits  than  the big moolah rakers  of  the year . There aren’t too many  of  those  around   this year. The year started with  Jodhaa Akbar . So far  the  only  other  profiteering  projects are  Race and  Singh Is Kinng.

Goldie Behl’s  Drona  will be the  next  big one It’s prospects are  boosted  by the fact that  it  looks   very different  from anything  we’ve seen before. Then  there’s  Subhash  Ghai’s Yuvraj and  Karan Johar’s Dostana.  Any of these  3  films could  prove a  blockbusters. God knows, we need  one of those desperately this year.

Every week a bouquet  of  film are being  released and  they are flopping. Last Friday’s Last Lear proved  to be   purely a case of elitist auto-eroticism.  It  was  appreciated  by  a  small section  of  the super-discerning  audience  and  a minuscule section of the critics who gave more praise to  1920 than the Last Lear.

Randeep Hooda made one more bid at hero-giri in Ru-ba-ru. And failed  miserably.  His leading lady was Shahana  Ghosh who  was seen   a couple  of weeks ago giving  an all-new dimension  to  the embittered wife’s role in  Rock On. Just goes to prove.it’s not about actors. It’s about where you put them.

Star  Of  The Week: Amitabh Bachcchan in  The Last Lear. He’s a cynical  half-blind totally-eccentric  homophobic  theatre actor  who  keeps peering at peeing  passersby from his window . He recites  Shakespeare at  breakneck speed. And  finally breaks his neck and  goes into a  coma.  He’s  a marvel of craft anf spontaneity. He  is Amitabh Bachchan

Subhash K Jha. (SAMPURN)


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