New recipes taste success
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Small is beautiful and successful too. ‘Bheja Fry’, ‘Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd’, ‘Metro’ and ‘Cheeni Kum’ have hit the bull’s eye. Sangeetha Devi. K
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Hit note ‘Bheja Fry’
Put a small time idiot singer (Vinay Pathak) and a music company executive Ranjeet Thadani (Rajat Kapoor) together and what you get is a film that’s generously injected with humour. First time director Sagar Bellary’s Bheja
Fry was an unlikely candidate for a hit around three months ago. Made with a modest budget of Rs. 60 lakh, it struggled to make its way into the multiplexes. But once in, there was no brushing it aside. It’s the surprise hit of the first half
of 2007 and has made more than Rs. 12 crore and recently crossed the landmark 50 days, a rarity these days when most films usurp collections in the first few weeks and exit cinema halls.
‘Metro’
Sagar Bellary has company this year. Films made with small budgets, targeting the multiplexes, have become true blue hits. Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd, Metro and Cheeni Kum are the other small bud
get hits that have marked their compelling presence amidst biggies like Guru, Shootout at Lokhandwala, Namastey London and Tara Rum Pum. “When people’s favourite dish, comedy, is served right, why will th
ey not accept it?” asks a jubilant Sagar. Admitting that neither he nor his crew anticipated the overwhelming response, he says, “Word of mouth publicity worked for the film and I need to thank women especially because they’ve taken to the movie more than men.”
set cash registers ringing alongside big budget films like ‘Shootout at Lokhandwala’
Verbal duels
Crisp one-liners and witty verbal duels are the common factors between Bheja Fry and Cheeni Kum, but Cheeni was backed by Tabu, Amitabh Bachchan, cinematographer P.C Sreeram and music director Ilayaraja. But Sagar
refrains from commenting on whether star power is really necessary to make a film work. “Everyone knows that stars alone can’t pull a film through, but it takes films like Bheja Fry to prove that. I am not undermining the
pull that stars have over the box office. Films work extremely well when stars complement a good screenplay,” he adds.
Anurag Basu’s Metro has worked at the BO being a fine example of multiple stories woven together using an ensemble cast. “I knew we would make a good film and was confident that the screenplay and actors would make the f
ilm work. Yet, the film has crossed my expectations and I am glad it’s doing so well. People in the metros are relating to the story,” he says.
To weave in stories of turbulent relationships in the big, bad metro, Anurag uses a call centre as the premise. “My cousins work in call centres and it was easy for me to understand people and the work pattern. Plus, the episode where Sharmaan gives out his apartment to his bosses’ clandestine affairs was taken out of a similar occurrence in the apartment complex where I live in. From what I’ve heard, people relate to such instances that they see in their own neighbourhood,” he explains.
Small wonders have made news so far but the biggies are round the corner. Coming up first is Yash Raj’s much-expected Jhoom Barabar Jhoom directed by Shaad Ali in mid-June and Ram Gopal Varma’s Ramu Ki Shol
ay in August. Others like Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Jodha Akbar with Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai and the Shah Rukh Khan starrer Chak De are also on the anvil. Will small budget films continue to rule? R
20;They will, if the story and screenplay are strong,” believes cinematographer P.C. Sreeram of Cheeni Kum. “You can’t merely live on hype. Audiences have matured and want substance,” he concludes.
* * *
2007: BO collections in India
Guru: Rs. 50 crore
Shootout at Lokhandwala: Rs. 15 crore in the opening week
Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd: Rs.13 crore
Cheeni Kum: Rs 8 crore so far in India and $ 1.1 million in the US and the UK
Bheja Fry: Rs. 12 crore and still going strong
Life in a Metro: Rs. 20 crore and still drawing crowds
Tara Rum Pum: Rs. 34 crore
Namastey London: Rs 30 crore
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