Sundaram Need Not Be Satyam

krysh   | Movies, People, Talking-Points | January 20, 2009 at 4:56 am         Print

Lunch kills half of Paris, supper the other half..That’s what Montesquieu said..After watching CCTC I feel like saying that Chandni Chowk killed the movie and China buried it.. Or it was killed in Chandni Chowk and eventually buried in China or something to that effect..All said and done not a very good start to the New Year Box-Office..But there is hope that is capable of giving birth to millionaires of the slums and Pirates of the Satyam in the same bandwidth.. Yes it is possible.

Up till now against the much applauded rags-to-riches saga and much maligned portrayal of the dark underbelly of Indian slum milieu, the portrayal of bodies beautiful scored high and took an extra sheen in Bollywood..All said and done it has been celebration of the big and beautiful in Bollywood..Sundaram ruled in a big way!..Few pointers:

In the year gone by the Showman bit the dust and Show-it-man ruled ( Maybe the real show- it -guy donned the princely suits that did not suit his image at all)..But the year again belonged to the shirtless.. ( Race, Dostana, Singh Is Kinng, Ghajini).. As if six packs were not enough..came the rage of eight..

This Show-it-man went a step ahead and redefined the adage ‘Jo Dikhta hai wo bikta hai’ (One who is seen, sells) to ‘Jo Dikhata hai wo bikta hai’ ( One who shows, sells) and then to ‘Jo bikta hai wo baar baar dikhata hai’ ( One who sells, shows—again and again)..

It further showed that the kick-ass action still pays if it is packaged well, even if the packet itself is small and little..And anything short of a mega release is most probably going to get a kick-in-the-ass!..Take an example of few of the‘mini’ movies released in two weeks between Nov-Dec -2008..Dil Kabbadi, Oh My God, Maharathi, Meerabai Not Out, Gumnam, Sorry Bhai, Dasvidaniya, Oye Lucky Lucky Oye and Wafaa..Except OLLO to an extent all others tanked..Against this compare the results of Dostana, RNBDJ and Ghajini!..

To really have an orgasmic release bring the audience to a particular level of heat with media blitz..Then unleash the power of prints..Thousand at least, and see the cash counters tingle. Carpet Bombing is the name of the game ..(CCTC has done the same where Producers smiled like a laughing Buddha but left a trail of bleeding distributors and sub-distributors).

So-called mature audience is gullible..It is willing to hog the hype ..Marketing ,Media and Money make the movie run..Mouth publicity and mini-budgets are again an exception to the rule..

It seems Hindi cinema audience is highly star-struck and any movie doing well without them and on the basis of a good story and script is just another exception proving the rule : A Wednesday and Welcome to Sajjanpur to name a few.

Some good news..Good music—whether melody ( Kabhi – Kabhi Zindagi Mein Koi Acchha Lagta Hai, Tujhko Pata Hai Na Maa, Teri Aur Teri Aur, Aasman Neela Kyun Hai, Haule Haule or Guzaarish) or foot-thumping disco/ rock/bhangra beats ( Pappu Can’t Dance Saala, Ma Da Laadla Bigar Gaya Or Tainu Kohdi Kiney Charaya Pootni Deya and Jai HO!) still has some power to lure the audience to theatres..At least Rahman Rocks..

The cash crunch after the global meltdown has put the box-office bounty hunters on the backfoot..Fortune favors the brave but sheer bravado can f*@!? up the film’s fortunes..Ask any big-wigs in production and distribution departments of the corporate entertainment houses..

And in this changing scenario with the stoppage of downpour of easy money, one can only hope that corporate vultures adhere to some sort of ‘accountable culture’ and don’t go the Satyam way..Don’t you assume Satyam kind of saga is not possible in the entertainment industry ?..The non-governance may be an aberration in the corporate world as such but in movie-making it is kind of a norm..A five crore film being promoted as fifteen crore film..Production costs of any movie in Bollywood could be a worthy sequel to True Lies..And then there are the huge advertisements proclaiming the gross amount garnered by any big-budget movie with how-so-ever a gross story line..Hundred crores to two hundred crores is becoming a trend..Wonder how come income-tax sleuths can’t find anything glaring about such gross mis-representation and ask a crucial question: What is the Satyam?

So behind many beautiful faces of Gordon Gekko ( Michael Douglas in The Wall Street) striding the glam-sham set of tinsel town that thrives on ambition, greed, fame and lure of lucre—all ingredients of a potboiler itself, there lurks the possibility of lies to cover the truth..Of late the crime has donned a shirt with starch white-collar..In Bollywood it may be walking with more abs than shirts..If you doubt me just ponder over what Mario Puzo felt when he quoted Balzac in the beginning of Godfather “ Behind every great fortune there is a crime!”..