Round and About – II

With Wanted last year and now Dabangg, Salman Khan seems to have found his winning formula. There’s no one who can quite carry off a larger-than-life superhero of the so-called masala action films of the 1980s – a genre, the South, especially Tamil and Telugu, still does with a lot more flair and conviction. Little wonder, his upcoming films too are Southern cinema re-makes – of Ready (Telugu) and Bodyguard (Malayalam). Southwards Ho!

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Just finished reading the synopsis of Priyadarshan’s Ajay Devgn – Akshaye Khanna – Bipasha Basu starrer Aakrosh coming up on October 1. Hmmm, wonder what the makers of Mississippi Burning (1988) would say about this one… From burning crosses to burning trishuls… Really!

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Yet another discussion on the pathetic state of smaller, content-driven ‘mulitplex’ cinema with a fellow filmmaker. More and more moaning about lack of infra-structure for the indie film – be it a total rethink in marketing strategies, or creating the concept of art-house theatres with a proper distribution network, and most importantly, having a different pricing structure for such films. Only see two ways to make a film now – go the totally no-budget digital route or play the game, chase the star, persist, persist, persist and make that dream blockbuster! Actually, can pursue both ends of the spectrum simultaneously – why not?

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Finally, an interesting bit of old time trivia – Raj Khosla’s initial announcement of Bambai ka Babu (1960) with Dev Anand and Madhubala. Of course, the film was ultimately made with Suchitra Sen.