The last week was the celebration week for Bollywood. The release of the two movies ‘Om Shanti Om’ and ‘Saawariya’ in fact threw an open fight in the popular theaters all over the world. Both the movies had created a sensation among the movie fans long before their release, and the theaters witnessed a flood for advance booking. Now, the wait is over; they are here, and there is a lot of fuss going on about the two movies.
As usual, Shah Rukh Khan fans got exhilarated after watching OSO. King Khan did not disappoint them. Deepika Padukone rocked the theatres as well as the hearts of many youngsters with her stunning performance with SRK. By watching the initial trend, we should say that OSO marches ahead Saawariya. It may be the SRK effect or the Fara Khan effect that created the magic in OSO and that made the majority of the crowd to support OSO. While OSO got 100% positive response from the first-day viewers, Saawariya was pushed back. Many of those adventurous and crazy movie watchers who got to watch Saawariya were seen highly depressed at the end of the movie. They commented it as a ‘sluggish’ movie that does not have a powerful story line.
Shahrukh and Farha Khan on the sets of Om Shanti Om
Of course, Saawariya is not the kind of movie that one would expect to become a blockbuster in Indian theaters where the movies like ‘Dhoom2’ break the records. The theme of Saawariya is based on music, and the slow pace of the movie has to be maintained in order to complement it with the rhythm of the theme. Those who expect the comic and action thrillers from such movies will surely get disappointed. Some of the serious movie watchers who understood what Saawariya is all about were quite happy about the theme of the movie. The performance put forth by Ranbir and Sonam was excellent. They created yet another ‘young jodi’ in Bollywood. Though the movie could not impress many of watchers, surely Ranbir and Sonam have conquered all their hearts.
The race has started. With the initial response greatly in favor of OSO, the fate of Bhansali’s Saawariya is now in the balance. This gives an important lesson to the movie makers – never compete with one another by releasing the movies on the same day. The fate of one can surely determine the fate of the other. While Saawariya is an excellent creation from Bhansali, much better than the movies released in the past few weeks, its fate is being decided by the ‘winning factor of OSO’. It is high time that we have true film critics who can make the crowd understand the goodness in every movie.
An interesting twist on the fate of Bhansali is taking place at the backdrop. While many accused Bhansali for editing the scenes of Salman Khan and inviting the grudges of the favorite actor, the Bachchan family lent a helping hand to Bhansali by offering the support of the entire family of actors for the upcoming Bhansali movie ‘Bajirao Mastani’. Bhansali had earlier decided Salman Khan to play against Aishwarya Rai; however, after the Saawariya episode, there are little chances that Salman would turn up for this movie. Bhansali has consented for Abhishek Bachchan to replace Salman. What’s more, Big B is also given an important role in this movie! Now, the fate of Sanjay Leela Bhansali is in the hands of Bachchans!
Now, it is the turn of another rib-tickling movie from Anees Bazmee that has the casts, including the most-wanted villain-turned-comedian Akshay Kumar and the actor giants like Anil Kapoor, Firoz Khan and Nana Patekar. The movie is based on a simple story that surrounds Akshay Kumar and his girlfriend (Kareena Kapoor) who happens to be the sister of three mobsters, played by none other than the above trio. The year 2007 is favorable to Akshay Kumar, and hope that he will become a certified comedian for the future movies with this movie.
Guess who’s getting busier day by day? It is none other than Priyanka Chopra. The leading lady actor has no time to take a breath because she is involved in a marathon projects. She is about to finish the shooting of Rumi Jaffrey’s comedy movie, ‘God, Tussi Great Ho’. The two movies that she has been involved in recently, ‘Dhrona’ and ‘Love Story 2050’ are full of actions and thrillers. They are going to hit the theatres in December. The next projects that are in line for Priyanka is Madhur Bhandarkar’s ‘Fashion and a Karan Johar film that is going to be directed by Tarun Mansukhani.
A film from Yash Raj will see one of the youngest couples in the story, with Ranbir and Bipasha Basu playing the lead roles. The movie is being directed by Siddarth Anand. It seems that the movie has got a lot of things in offer, which the crew does not want to reveal at the moment. One thing is clear- Ranbir is not the same as in Saawariya. Remember, he is playing the role against Bipasha… Sounds interesting; isn’t it?
It is not uncommon to see city names as the titles of the movies. After the selection of the name ‘Dilli 6’ for a Rakeysh Mehra movie that has a story line surrounding the famous Chandni Chowk with pin code 6 where Mehra spent a great part of his life, now it is another movie with the name ‘Mumbai 7’ that coincides (for Bunty Walia Productions who is producing the movie, the naming is just a coincidence, not intentional) with a similar concept. ‘Mumbai 7’ is a movie is based on the famous Mohammad Ali Street in Mumbai that has got the pin code 7. Like the ‘Dilli 6’, ‘Mumbai 7’ too is a thriller cum love story. What a coincidence! Let the war between the cities hit the Bollywood.
This Diwali has been momentous for Bollywood. The fireworks that started with the release of OSO and Saawariya have not subdued. The lights are on at every production houses. The actors are busy with the sparkling stage shows where the promo campaigns have been centered. Great time for Indian movies!
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