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Boolywood
Box Office Taps By Sheena Parikh
Repetitively melodious music by A.R. Rehman and a thin story line (rich boy meets poor girl with a love triangle thrown in for effect) as old as the Bombay film industry itself have failed to jar the `Taal' of showman Subhash Ghai's latest directorial venture. `Taal,' has captured the box office as successfully as it did the raw beauty of the sleepy Chamba valley in Himachal Pradesh state. The initial reports on this Akshaye Khanna, Aishwaraya Rai, Anil Kapoor starrer have been good.The first day collections of Taal were quoted at 89 per cent, and theatres boasted `House full' boards for the first three days. It has been doing well in the overseas market as well, as per reports. At Metro in Bombay there was almost a stampede when the theatre opened for the first show. However, the market response notwithstanding, a section of well-known producers and distributors has even been indulging in blatant criticism of the film. Nothing new in that, of course, and in case, their criticism has failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the distributors who are extremely confident and optimistic about the film's prospects. They believe the price they paid for it was justified. They were all invited to a special screening of the film and came out happy. Creatively, it is Ghai's best film ever, said J.P Choksey. The story line may be cliched, but the conceptualisation of the scenes, the gloss and grandeur and the lighting and music have more than made up for it, he added. The formula of `Taal' is old, but Ghai has proved that old wine in a new bottle does sell — and sells well, especially in the age of packaging and presentation and in a market where looks count. It is a love story of a poor girl and a rich guy (yes another one of those). But this rich young guy is different from others. He does not run away with his girl, nor does he give her up "for the sake of his family's `izzat' (honour)" Manav (Akshaye), son of billionaire (or at least multi-millionaire) Jagmohan Mehta (Amrish Puri), meets the beautiful and talented daughter Manasi (Aishwarya) of well-known folk singer of Chamba, Tarabhai (Alok Nath). Of course, they fall in love but then step in Manav's snooty family which leaves no stone unturned to insult the village belle and her father, with an ignorant Manav himself doing his bit to humiliate them. By the time he discovers his mistake, and the `wrong' done by his family, it is too late. Manasi has moved on to stardom and is on the verge of marrying a famous music remixer Vikrant Kapoor aka Kapu (Anil Kapoor) _ a brash, glossy showman with a sensitive side who lets go his girl at the last minute back into the arms of the man she loves — and, (no suprise for this one) into the lap of his family. `Miss World' Aishwarya has evolved as an actress. In `Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam' she came across as an aristocratic girl who knew what she wanted and went for it. There her strength lay in outspokenness and mischievousness. In `Taal' she has done a good job at playing an enigmatic, simple, mysterious and beautiful girl who doesn't know her own mind. Akshaye has proved he cannot be
written off yet while Anil Kapoor plays his part to the hilt in
what could turn out to be an award-winning performance. It is not
easy, after all, to play the part of a loud, brash, superficial
showman with a Production values are really good. Ghai, along with cinematographer Kabir Lal and art director Sharmishtha Roy have given some incredibly gorgeous visuals of Chamba, Mumbai and Toronto. Saroj Khan has come up some brand new choreography for this film. A.R. Rehman's music, though repetitive, has given just the right `beat' to Ghai's `taal' and to Anand Bakshi's lyrics. What `Taal' might lack in substance it has made up in the sheer value of is entertainment. Another film released simultaneously with `Taal' was Mehul Kumar's `Kohram.' While `Taal' had the best of cinemas in Bombay, with Metro leading the way. And Kohram, with Central Plaza as its main cinema, has had to remain content with mostly non-air-conditioned cinema halls. But, interestingly, trade papers have quoted higher percentages for the Amitabh Bachchan-Nana Patekar starrer `Kohram' which registered 98 per cent collections in Bombay on the very first day. If it continues these collections it will wipe out the sad memory of Mehul's last effort, `Mrituudaata'. It will also do a world of good to the sagging careers of it's top heroes. As on July 31, there were 200 films on the floor in different stages of production. But what is worrying is that many of them were launched at a time when as many of 93 had yet to find buyers for any territory. As many as 76 films are still waiting to be released and 20 of these are yet to find even one buyer. This means that there are crores of rupees that have been blocked, which is a bad sign for the film industry. Back
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