Will Hello scrape home?

Hello which had opened to average reviews has apparently done well in the first three days. The collections dropped after it released last week but then had a good show on Sunday. Even its director Atul Agnihotri said themovie has done well and also perfomed well in the Gulf. Hehh heheh hehe Our current directors usually give figures of the two big western countries to show how the film has received abroad - but Atul has come up with another country/region now - the Gulf. Soon we will have Subhash Ghai claming 100% collections in Vietnam, Ghana and Colombia. Guys gives us a break. We know one has to look pleased and happy - but u don't have to lie.

Anyway, here is the Rediff link in case u are interested. http://specials.rediff.com/movies/2008/oct/13box.htm

One movie I am glad about in that list is Welcome to Sajjanpur - thiough I do not agree with the line saying "Its too preachy". Crap - it was a well made movie with no sermonizing - in fact the message was put across quite well.

This will be a good omen for Salman who has had an ordinary year so far and is supposed to have a big budget release soon - the Heroes film which is directed by Samir Karnik. It also stars Preity Zinta, Vatsal Sheth, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Mithun Chakraborty, Dino Morea, Sohail Khan and Riya Sen. The patriotic genre has worked for earlier movies like Rang De Basanti. Lets see if it works for this se tof very desperate actors.

Color has gone out of Ghai's Black & White world

Yeah, I am referring to the fate of his much touted arty film Black & White. It has bombed and so have his hopes of breaking the jinx that seems to have stuck to him like glue. Yaadein, Kisna and now Black & White. The list is growing long and alarmingly long. And this despite him taking a break from directing in between to concentrate on his Whistling Woods Institute and producing other directors movies.

So in between he did have movies like to the credit of Mukta Arts. So at least that would have cheered him up. When one tries to recollect the last time Ghai got a hit, one would have to go back to the stone ages. Heh hehehe. Joking. Actually the 90's. Now that may not be a long time for the lifetime of a person, but for a director/producer of Ghai's repuation, it sure seems painfully long. The movie that can be considered a hit would be Pardes (Taal was a semi-hit or average I would say).

The problem with him is that he hasn't grown as a director. Our film people are extremely formulaic, superstitious (all heroines should have names starting with M), and have delusions about their own grandeur. No good bound script, no research, no thorough study of the subject or taking characters that suit the role. Its more of let me take my two best friends in the industry and make a movie. And lets also take that nubile young thing who is very agreeable to 'everything' and launch her movie career. And then we get a dud of a movie.

In his defense he did try to get away from the regular tripe he dished out to audiences, but he was not rewarded. He needs to have another go at such a genre. Go Ghai, GO!

Subhash Ghai's Black & White may turn out to be a surprise hit

The movie Black & White which is to be released by Ghai's Mukta arts soon may actually surprise a lot of people and become a hit. And the person who may be surprised the most might be Subhash Ghai himself!!! Thats because the last time he gave a hit, we were in the stone ages.

It has been a sad degeneration of a film maker who was handed the title of Showman, previously belonging to Raj Kapoor. Obviously the pressures were too much or he got carried away and got too conceited. For any person, and more importantly a professional artiste, growth is very important. What is success without intellectual growth. Perhaps thats why they say that failure hands out more lessons than success. Perhaps thats what happened to Mr. Ghai. He got big successes - perhaps easier than others got them. That went to his head and he assumed he knew all there was to film making. But film making is nothing but story telling in a audio-visual medium. And one needs to be able to read the lessons every day life gives you. Not announce films without stories, re-use formula's and pay more importance to the name of the actress you are launching. And in many cases rename her so her name is more correct numerologically (is there is any word like that).

And the trap is truly set when film makers go to controversial stars with criminal backgrounds just to ensure they get a chunk of the media bytes (Sanjay Tada Dutt?). The movie he made in that case Khalnayak was trash (cept that raunchy Choli number by Ms Dixit) and it was badly received but for Mr. Ghai it was good enough to count as a hit. Now thats where you know a person has fallen on hard times when he finds mediocre success thrilling. I found even Saudagar all tripe. And then things went worse. Movies like Yaadein, Kisna though he got a Pardes in between. That i reckon was his last hit.

Now the erstwhile Showman has started producing more movies in the hope of improving his success rate. Makes sense na? If it clicks, its a Mukta film. Else the director botched up the vision. As had Nagesh Kukkunoor in Bombay to Bangkok. Sigh!!!

Anyways, Black & White is carrying reports (planted I guess) that the young kid, Sinha is impressive in the film and it make even a seasoned pro like Anil Kapoor insecure. How insecure we will see after the movie releases. The music is by Sukhwinder and he has given the expected Punju flavor and the title song is good- earthy and catchy. The trailers look promising. The story seems ok. Lets see the movie. Best of luck, Mr. Ghai.