New Releases Add More Red To The Bollywood Report Card
By SAMPURNMonday, June 28, 2010
June 28, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): If not for anything else, a (miniscule) section of audience concerned about the industry and trade were wondering if the nostalgic value attached to the ‘Krantiveer - The Revolution’, sequel to commercial hit of the mid-90s, ‘Krantiveer’ (Nana Patekar, Dimple Kapadia), would help the film gain some eye balls at the least. However, this was not the case to be as the film didn’t find any takers whatsoever on its release. The film was greeted with empty halls all over though single screens were comparatively (and strictly relatively) better than multiplex screen.
A disastrous opening of the film means that ‘Krantiveer - The Revolution’ has joined the list of those inconsequential films that arrive in those weeks which are preceded and followed by a bigger release. With no major film willing to take any chance by coming between ‘Raavan’ and ‘I Hate Luv Storys’, a window was provided to ‘Krantiveer - The Revolution’. However, this too was questionable as the show timings handed over by those select few multiplexes where it released were totally unfriendly. With less number of shows coupled with poor spacing, whatever little prospects that this debut venture of Jahan Bloch, daughter of producer-director Mehul Kumar, carried, were quashed.
However, it isn’t as if an aggressive promotion and marketing aided with better release slots would have helped the film much. Common complaint from all junctures was that the film was too preachy. There was ‘dialgoue baazi’ after ‘dialogue baazi’, something that was at one point of time hallmark of Mehul Kumar cinema. The fact though is that what worked in ‘Krantiveer’, ‘Tirangaa’ or ‘Kohraam’ couldn’t be expected to work again 10-15 years down the line and this is what brought the downfall of ‘Krantiveer - The Revolution’.
Other release of the week, ‘Mr. Singh Mrs. Mehta’, arrived without any fanfare, save for a solitary media plug centred on the nude scenes of leading lady Aruna Shields. However, the very fact that the makers were banking on this very angle meant that there was nothing else which they themselves felt would bring the audience in. There was zero promotion which preceded this adulterous drama that found a very select release across the country. Let aside the audience giving a thumbs down to the film, there were none at all to begin with. The result? An out and out no-show at the box office and yet another red in the list of Bollywood releases this year.
–Joginder Tuteja /Sampurn Wire
