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Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapur took some time off from rehearsals for next Saturday's Rock Stars show at Nassau Coliseum, and sneaked into a North Jersey theatre showing 36 China Town. But they must have been disappointed seeing the film showing to not so big an audience. The movie has joined nearly a dozen films in the last six weeks that have done either disappointing or disastrous business. It could do very good business in India, but it is highly doubtful if it can reach average status here, grossing at least $250,000.
The only exception to the dismal scene is Deepa Mehta's Water. "The beautiful crown in Mehta's Indian trilogy," declared The Houston Chronicle, giving a solid review to the film that shows the degradation of widows in a holy city but also applauds the liberating spirit slowly awakening under Gandhiji's reformist calls. The Hindi language film with English subtitles is slowly expanding across America, wooing mostly mainstream audiences in cities ranging from Seattle to Houston and Boston.
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On the other hand, the English-language The Mistress of Spices, which could not find mainstream buyers, was released in just about 20 American theatres by a distributor who generally releases low budget Hindi films. It showed mostly in the Hindi film circuit. The Aishwarya Rai-starrer, released on the same day as Water three weeks ago, received one of the least publicised openings in North America. It was ignored by mainstream publications and reportedly made just about $100,000. Ash's previous mainstream film Bride & Prejudice grossed a pleasing $7 million in North America.
Apart from the poor quality of recent releases being the key cause of their unusually low grosses, there is another key factor. Audiences in America, Canada and the United Kingdom become highly selective in the summer, saving up money for star-studded shows.
Ask many Kareena fans in New York or any other city where she is appearing with Salman Khan, John Abraham and Shahid Kapur, and they would gladly say they won't be spending five times (say $50) of the movie ticket to see Kareena perform live.
To the recent list of heavy losers include Pyare Mohan, that grossed just about $200,000 in a month, or Darna Zaroori Hain, which grossed even worse. The Akshay Khanna-starrer Shadi Se Pehle was another thud.
The ongoing success of Water may look ironic to some. Ironic because many Indians have already seen it on video following its opening in September after its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film that has grossed about $600,000 in America (after having fished over $1.5 million in Canada) in a slow expansion in its three weeks, is going to add 30 more screens the next Friday, taking its screen count to 90. Currently 23 on the box-office chart, it has received rave reviews from the likes of The Washington Post, USA Today and The New York Times. It could jump into the top 15 list next weekend.
The Chicago Tribune gave it three and half stars out of a four maximum and so did The Philadelphia Inquirer. William Arnold, critic for Seattle Post Intelligencer -- who happened to be in Mumbai about a decade ago when hoodlums stopped the screening of Fire objecting to the theme of lesbian relationships between Hindus -- gave the new film a thumbs up, even asserting that it paid tribute to Hinduism. "Like its predecessors (Fire and Earth), it is an authentic visual epic: a grandly designed and photographed, David Lean-style evocation of India that captures its rapturous colours and timeless, poetic beauty with Oscar-worthy production values and movie-star attractive actors," he wrote.
He added: "Like Fire, it is a feminist-minded, tragic love story that fearlessly attacks the enslaving hypocrisy of a patriarchal tradition that has developed over thousands of years of socio-economic imperatives and now "disguises itself as religionÂ…But like Earth, it is also a celebration of the glory of Hindu culture, extremely critical of the British and the lingering legacy of the Raj."
Mehta says she is not worried that many Indians have seen the film on video. She would have been deeply worried with such happenings a few years ago, she says. "Today, I believe people have discovered the joys of seeing a film on the big screen," she adds. "I would love to have those people who have already seen Water in their homes to see it in theatres again," Mehta said three weeks ago while in New York to promote the American release of the film. "Besides, by supporting films made by people of Indian origin, the community is also telling Hollywood studios that more such films to be made and distributed to the South Asian and mainstream audiences."
Helping to promote the film further, Lisa Ray is appearing in several New York theatres for a Q and A following the screenings.
Fox Searchlight is distributing Water in the American market. If next week's expansion yields decent returns, Fox could eventually take the film to more than 150 theatres.
