The Hindu Business Line : Big-budget mithya

Last year, the small movie became big. This year, it was consolidation time: the small movie became bigger. And that’s the biggest takeaway from 2008: it’s going to cross over to 2009, and become the mantra for the new year.

In 2007, small was defined by Bheja Fry: the sleeper hit, made at an unbelievably paltry sum of Rs 60 lakh, raked in a profit of Rs 12 crore. That arc electrified the industry, reeling under a string of big-budget losses.

This year, small got redefined. Welcome to Sajjanpur cost about Rs 12 crore, and recovered enough of its outlay for it to be counted a success. A whole range of medium-budget films (Rs 12-20 crore) – Aamir, A Wednesday, Sarkaar Raj, 1920, were money-earners.

Hits & misses

Conversely, a whole bunch of costly films, with expensive stars, died at the box office. Having Amitabh Bachchan in your film is no guarantee that it will get the crowds: Bhootnath, starring a kid, and the Big B as a friendly ghost, was a good example. Producer Ravi Chopra went all out to publicise his film, on all media platforms, but the public stayed away. Even two superstars are not enough: Amitabh and Salman together could not save God Tussi Great Ho.

Other high-profile disasters included Harry Baweja’s Rs 60-crore extravaganza Love Story 2050, Goldie Behl’s equally expensive Drona, Rakesh Roshan’s production Krazzy 4, and the biggest turkey of them all — Yashraj’s ultra-glossy, ultra-empty Tashan.

The presence of superstars is not enough. Lavish production values are not enough. In-your-face publicity blitzes are simply not enough. If 2008 has one definitive truth, it is that the old-style of making films doesn’t work anymore. Love Story 2050 was a futuristic tale set 50 years on, told in a style which creaked. Ditto for all the other films which came in, all guns blazing, and retired, whimpering, within the first weekend.

Not all big budget films turn into disaster zones, though. Every year, there are a handful of mega-budget films which become massive hits: Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Rs 40-crore Jodhaa Akbar, Abbas-Mustan’s Race, and Anees Bazmi’s Singh Is Kinng were the box-office badshahs of 2008 , but each had a unique selling proposition which powered their performance: the first had a sizzling couple, Aishwarya and Hrithik (no other pair set the screen ablaze as much), the second had the sort of bad guys and bad gals never seen in Bollywood before, and the third had Akshay Kumar at the peak of his popularity. And the fourth big hit of the year, Golmaal Returns served up levels of idiocy we’ve never witnessed.

The second lesson, a corollary of the first (that big is not necessarily better), was this — just because it’s small, it will not necessarily click with the viewers. In the last five years, there have been enough small-budget, small-canvas films which have been roundly rejected, simply because they didn’t have a strong connect. The year also had its share of small films, which were not good enough: Onir’s Sorry Bhai is one of them — it had a set of winsome young actors, and veterans Shabana and Boman in top form, but the film’s trajectory was pallid.

Shubhra's top ten

Mithya: Serio-comic topper.

in the order of when they appeared in theatres, of what worked for me this year — they are all of different genres and different styles, not all of them made money, but they all had one thing in common: they took the mainstream Hindi film to the next level.

Mithya: not Rajat Kapoor’s best, but even so a serio-comic thriller which gave us Ranvir Shorey as a failed actor struggling to become whole. Shorey is terrific; so is the supporting cast.

Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na: Abbas Tyrewala’s sparkling, if over-long directorial debut, it gave us the best debutant leading man of the year. Imran, Aamir’s nephew is real, grounded, and very, very winsome.

Mumbai Meri Jaan: Nishikant Kamath’s moving tribute to the spirit of Mumbai, it was the best ‘terror-based’ film in a year which had a slew of movies on the same theme, and which ended with the real-life terror attack on 26/11.

Rock On: First-time director Abhishek Kapoor’s saga of four men who discover each other, and a way of living they thought they had lost, gave us Farhan Akhtar in a completely new avatar: we knew he could direct, but hey, he can act, and sing too! It helped that the film had classy sets, smart supporting acts, and some eminently hummable ditties.

Welcome To Sajjanpur: Simply because it brings one of our best filmmakers back into our midst. Sajjanpur is glossier rural tale than the ones Shyam Benegal’s made before, but heck, it’s Benegal being his old socially observant, deeply relevant self.

Hulla: Another first-time director Jaideep Varma’s affectionately drawn portrait of urban living in Mumbai; leading man Sushant Singh’s sleepless in suburbia role is a metaphor for what we can do to each other, and for each other.

Dasvidaniya: Yet another first time director, Shashant Shah, turns a familiar plot — of a dying man tying up loose ends - into an understated, elegant elegy. Beautifully written, and wonderfully acted, it has producer Vinay Pathak in his best role ever.

Dostana: one more debut feature, this time by one of Karan Johar’s assistants, Tarun Mansukhani’s movie on pretend gay couples was playful and fun all the way, with Abhishek Bachchan in his only worthwhile role of the year, scraping barely by in the face of stiff competition, John Abraham’s completely lust-worthy bare butt.

Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye!: Dibakar Banerjee’s second, after Khosla Ka Ghosla is a much sharper, better film. It gives us a face of Delhi we don’t see in mainstream films, and an ordinary guy doing what he can do best to keep afloat — Lucky is a thief with a conscience, with some deliciously drawn partners in crime.

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi: Aditya Chopra’s third with Shah Rukh Khan, it’s tired plot devices would automatically exclude it from this list, but it makes my Top Ten only because Shah Rukh plays his most endearing, lovable character till date: his Surinder Sahni, who drives a scooter to work, and takes packed lunch made by his newly acquired wife, is a perfect New Age hero.

Aamir Khan’s high voltage actioner Ghajini, via a Hollywood original and a Tamil remake, is out this week. Would it have made it here? The answer lies in the first day first show!