Box office Business Talk | ONE MORE WICKET LOST!

With the industry going through a turbulent phase thanks to some big-budget films nosediving at the b.o., all eyes were on February to do the trick.

But, unfortunately, Mehul Kumar's wake up call, JAAGO, released in the first week of Month II, didn't find many takers.

Modelled on the lines of the maker's immensely successful TIRANGAA and KRANTIVEER, the film industry was optimistic that JAAGO might revive the theatrical business, which is going through a slump currently.

After all, Mehul Kumar was most comfortable attempting realistic fares in the garb of commercial cinema. And he did succeed twice, didn't he?

But there are phases in every person's life…

Take Prakash Mehra, for instance. The Mehra – Bachchan chemistry worked in a big way in LAAWARIS, SHARAABI, MUQADDAR KA SIKANDAR and NAMAK HALAAL, but JAADUGAR, meant to be a comedy on the lines of NAMAK HALAAL, proved a tragedy for its investors.

Let's talk about Manmohan Desai, the badshah of masala fares. Can we ever forget AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY, PARVARISH, NASEEB, COOLIE and MARD? But the same formula, which resulted in serpentine queues outside theatres at a point of time, didn't work completely when GANGAA JAMUNAA SARASWATHI released.

Times are changing. Naturally, the mindset of an avid cinegoer has also undergone a sea-change. What may have worked in the 1980s or early 1990s may not be accepted anymore.

"Why should we blame the audiences for not thronging the theatres?" Manmohan Shetty, theatre owner, lab owner and the man behind some of the biggest projects today, tells me. He raises another valid point: "Let's not blame the exorbitant ticket rates at the multiplexes for the current state of affairs."

I agree with Shetty partly. As long as our films fail to excite the audiences, the percentage of flops will continue to dominate Bollywood.

Taking cue from this writer's editorial last week [the January analysis], a prominent producer, who happens to be a top notch distributor as well, called to say that it is indeed getting difficult to please the viewers in all the four corners of the country.

I've been given to understand that the man on the street, who spends his hard-earned money to watch a film, is just not interested in watching rapes, bullets, bloodshed, slaughter, violence, mayhem, riots, bomb blasts, scams on the big screen anymore.

The Indian newspapers and news channels are full of it, so why spend money for watching them on the big screen? Point to be noted!

Perhaps, what an avid cinegoer is interested in watching is a feel-good entertainer [KOI… MIL GAYA, KAL HO NAA HO, MUNNABHAI M.B.B.S.]. Movies that make you forget your worries/sorrows for the next three hours. Or family dramas [BAGHBAN, CHALTE CHALTE]. Only such films have the potential to prove universal hits!