There was nothing worthwhile to write home to Ma about, in 2008,save for Ghajini.
So, it was with a lot of hope( one needs to be hopeful at least in the beginning of the New Year,aint it?),
that one looked forward to the mid-January release of the "loudest" of all releases for the year,Chandni Chowk to China,Warner Brothers' first foray into Bollywood.
Its excruciatingly painful to go into what happened post-release.
We'll save it for another day.
The important thing right now,is not to lose focus,perspective and hope at some of the projects nearing release in the first quarter. ( to be calling it 2009's significant releases would be a tad too generous).
The Releases slated (more or less confirmed) till March would be ZOYA AKHTAR"s Luck by Chance (30 January),the directorial debut of AJIT PAL'S Victory (also 30 January),ANURAG KASHYAP's Dev D( 6 February), PRIYADARSHAN'S Billu Barber(13 February), RAKEYSH OMPRAKASH MEHRA's Delhi-6 (20 February),KUMAR JAY's Shortcut (6 March),and the Khan Family drama Kissan (20 March),but this forms only a part of the Big Picture for 2009. "Victory" went down even before you could say Bhajji!
Dear Mr.Ajit Pal,if this was taken in the Great Indian Sporting Spirit of Lagaan,Chakde India and Iqbal,errr..they had a strong foundation of what we call a basic necessity in film-making,a SCRIPT!And a well thought-out,researched one at that.
Cameo roles never saved a Movie!!
Didint anybody tell you that?Weel,in case you didnt know,there was another debut performance by a first-time director,Zoya Akhtar,who got her Luck By Chance to the Cinemas along with your CRICKET SAGA.
It was tightly edited,warm and honest.
And that made a superior product.
I am beginning to think the family tree is the culprit!
That leaves DEV D,a.k.a the return ( yet again)of Anurag Kashyap,this time with a sleazy,-(well, thats what they set out to portray with the publicity drivel,but seems to have fizzled out!),in-your-face,irreverent take on Devdas,and Priyadarshan bloating up yet another lovely sweet movie from Gods own Country,packaging it as Billu Barber with Irfan Khan riding with the King for better or worse.
Delhi-6 is bent down with expectactions,stooping so badly with the mighty dollar figures that have been piled on it.
After all,it comes after RANG DE BASANTHI.
Would it be a repeat of the SWADES theme?
Rakeysh knows.
Would these mighty hopefuls sizzle up before the actual Summer sets in?
The Constant Fan will tell.
Tags: Bollywood
