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What ails the industry?
If the year ends with only two hits, the film industry is in trouble
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Subhash K Jha
The film industry has plenty of reason to be worried. Collections have fallen to an all-time low. Theoretically foolproof projects with the best stars and technical crew sold to distributors at premium rates have bitten the dust on the first day itself.
Dussehra releases Mahesh Manjrekar's Hathyar and Anant Mahadevan's Dil Vil Pyar Vyar bombed at the box-office. "The latter sank without a trace," says exhibitor Roshan Singh who released the R D Burman musical fare in Bihar.
The experimental Hansal Mehta teen flick Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai and the star-studded film Deewangee, with a sturdy storyline and gripping narration, also left the audiences cold.
The three Diwali releases --- Talat Jani's Jeena Sirf Merre Liye, Manoj Aggarwal's Waah! Tera Kya Kehna and Somnath Sen's Leela --- are heading for disaster.
Is it because the audiences just do not want to make the effort to go into theatres any longer?
Ram Gopal Varma says, "If I knew why films flopped, I would not make one. No one knows why films do well or flop. The experts think films are not working because of their bad content. But you realise the good or bad content only after the film's release. Every filmmaker believes in what he makes. If Sooraj Barjatya's Hum Aapke Hain Koun...! had flopped, I would have given you a deft analysis on the reasons. The very factors that made it a huge sucesss --- rich people getting married and celebrating constantly --- could be used to argue against the film. A director, or even those who preview his film, may think that he has made a masterpiece. But audiences may reject the film outright. How do we explain that?"
Sanjay Leela Bhansali, whose Devdas met with success at the box office, elaborates, "It is not enough to make an unconventional film or to make a virtue out of a film with no stars in it. These 'qualities' per se cannot attract audiences. Somewhere, the audience has to forge a bond with a film for it to click. Stars make that bond easier. But while you cannot use only them to bring in the crowds, you also cannot say that stars dont work any longer. I don't mind working with newcomers if the script demands it. Some of my ideas demand new faces. There is a thrill and challenge of the unknown in working with raw talent. But stars give you a ready market and the correct performances without that much effort."
The coming weeks will be decisive for the industry with the release of big-budget and much-awaited films like Sanjay Gupta's Kaante, Suneel Darshan's Talaash, Harry Baweja's Karz: The Burden Yash Chopra's production of Shaad Ali's Saathiya.
If the year ends with only two full-fledged hits --- Vikram Bhatt's Raaz and Bhansali's Devdas --- the industry will be in serious trouble.