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Tara Rum Pum

Bollywood half yearly review: A lacklustre show!
04th July 2007 23.52 IST
By Nikhil Kumar

In the first six months of 2007, filmmakers in Bollywood have not been able to build up on the success of last year.

If 2006 was the most successful year in Bollywood’s recent history, the first half of 2007 offers little reason to rejoice. With the exception of a few films, majority of movies came a cropper at the box-office. And the irony is that most of these flops featured big stars.

The year has so far been very bad for Yashraj Films. Their two big releases this year, Tara Rum Pum and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom have bit the tinsel dust despite high production values, intense marketing and the presence of stars like Saif Ali Khan , Rani Mukherjee , Abhishek Bachchan , Preity Zinta , Lara Dutta , Bobby Deol and Amitabh Bachchan .

On the other hand, a film like Metro , which had no big star except Shilpa Shetty , has proved a crowd puller. This only goes to show that big production houses and big stars do not guarantee box-office success. A gripping story and skillful direction are quintessential to a flick’s good run.

The biggest disappointment of the year was Nikhil Advani’s Salaam-e-Ishq which boasted of a kaleidoscopic starcast including Salman Khan , Priyanka Chopra , John Abraham , Vidya Balan , Akshaye Khanna , Ayesha Takia , Anil Kapoor , Juhi Chawla and Govinda . The film, telling six parallel love stories, turned out to be an exhausting watch and sank at the box-office without any trace.

A sliver of hope shone through Mani Ratnam’s film Guru , which starred Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan in a story based on the life of industrialist Dhirubhai Ambani. The film got very good reviews from critics and enjoyed a good run at the box office.

While son Abhishek impressed with his superb performance in ‘Guru’, dad Amitabh Bachchan’s act of a royal guard in Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s much-awaited Eklavya did not find many takers. The filmmaker paid too much attention to cinematic aesthetics (stunning cinematography and slick editing et al) but relegated the most important thing (the story) to the backdrop.

The year also saw Amitabh Bachchan acting in two films in which he was paired with young actresses. He played a family man smitten with his daughter’s friend in Ram Gopal Varma’s Nishabd , and a 64-yr-old chef in love with a 34-yr-old woman ( Tabu ) in sarcastic comedy Cheeni Kum .

Although ‘Nishabd’ was a flop at the box office, the film, in the opinion of this writer, was beautifully made by Ramu, who went into the mind of the protagonist by the way he presented the story. ‘Cheeni Kum’, on the other hand, enjoyed a moderate success at the marquee.

Even as big films were going turkey at the box-office, a small budget movie like ‘Bheja Fry’ won many hearts, partly because of its heart-warming story and partly because of Vinay Pathak’s excellent performance.

Actress Katrina Kaif ’s career got on a roll with the success of Vipul Shah’s movie Namastey London which had Akshay Kumar playing a Punjabi guy trying to win the heart of a British brat.

Vivek Oberoi ’s sinking career also got a new lease of life with the success of Apoorva Lakhia’s film Shootout At Lokhandwala .

Yet in comparison with the first half of 2006 (which had a huge hit in Rang De Basanti ), the revenue in the first six months of 2007 is four times less, according to analysts.

However, trade pundits believe that losses will be covered in the second half of 2007, which has big movies like Chak De India , Aaja Nachle , Om Shanti Om , Saanvariya , Goal and Jodha Akbar up for release.

Related
Tara Rum Pum
Jhoom Barabar Jhoom
Abhishek Bachchan
Preity Zinta
Lara Dutta
Bobby Deol
Amitabh Bachchan
Metro
Shilpa Shetty
Salaam-e-Ishq
Salman Khan
Priyanka Chopra
John Abraham
Vidya Balan
Akshaye Khanna
Ayesha Takia
Anil Kapoor
Juhi Chawla
Govinda
Guru
Aishwarya Rai
Eklavya
Nishabd
Tabu
Cheeni Kum
Katrina Kaif
Namastey London
Akshay Kumar
Vivek Oberoi
Shootout At Lokhandwala
Rang De Basanti
Chak De India
Aaja Nachle
Om Shanti Om
Saanvariya
Goal
Jodha Akbar