Desi Train

When is the fate of a movie actually sealed, stamped and delivered? After the first show? The first weekend? The entire first week? Or just the first day?

Many facts about different movies will support different views. Sholay and Munnabhai MBBS were sad starters. Destined to doom. Infact there was an emergency meeting at Amitabh Bachchan’s house after Sholay was released and the first week response was less that encouraging. Ideas were thrown in. One of the them, I dare say, was to change the climax. Yes. Amitabh’s death scene. Change that to keeping Jai alive.

Mercifully that did not happen as things changed and word of mouth was enough to take Sholay up, up and up.

And then there are movies with big stars that “generally” (though not always) get a big initial. All weekend shows “Housefull”. Monday, perhaps then is the litmus test of whether the crowd liked it or not, to pull in the weekday crowd into the theaters.

For me, I decide whether to see the movie or not, right when I get to see

(a) The poster
(b) Summary of the movie
(c) Title

Poster, perhaps I used to make posters as a kid. Being the lone child, I had to find a hobby. So it was the third page of the Times of India, a blank drawing book and half a dozen pencils and an eraser. I spent about 5 years as a kid simply being engrossed in this hobby. And since the movies weren’t that many, I would end up redrawing them all over again. At times adding my own imagined scenes in those posters, like a fight scene, a jeep or a car blowing up in the air, characters holding a gun or a knife etc…

In fact at the age of six I’d told my grandpa that when I grow up I’ll make a movie and title it “Chaku Aur Bandook” (Hinglish: Knife and Gun) – so there I was making posters of my future movie. Mercifully good sense has prevailed and Chaku aur Bandook has not been the cause of a producer jumping from a Bombay high rise.

Posters. Superman, the movie (the first) had me counting days before I could watch it. Similarly Qurbaani and Jaanbaz (Firoz Khan always had an eye for still shots)… So much so that a poster of a flop title led me to see a nice, cut above the rest movie – Zulm Ki Hukumat, starring Govinda – was an out and out Godfather copy. Now, no one in his sane mind in the late eighties/early nineties would go and see a movie call Zulm Ki Hukumat. For Godsakes there were a gazillion movies having names like that (Paap ko jalaakar, Zulm kil lalkaar, Zulmi Balma and whatever).

But the posters of Zulm ki Hukumat were in black and white and they had Govinda shooting at someone. Very tastefully done. Instant attraction. Gotta see the movie. And wow!!!

Similarly Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak… Aamir with dark glasses looking upwards, intriguing… very intriguing…

You should have seen JP Dutta’s efforts in creating posters for his movie. Even if you were blind you would end up rushing to buy a ticket – first day first show. Not sure what he does now. Umrao Jaan. Yeah right! But that’s cause…

impressions those posters had on me was slowly dying down. These days I end up seeing the movies before I see the posters.

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Titles and Summary form the attraction pull factor. Take Old Boy. I was intrigued. Read the story premise on Yahoo. Man abducted and kept in a room for 14 years. Damn it!!! Took my car out and rushed to see it at a theater 30 miles away.

Same for Kaun? Though the end result wasn’t as exciting as I had been imagining in my head.

The two line story is all it takes for me to decide six months before the movie is released on whether I’m gonna watch it or not.

Take for example Border. Damn I wanted to see a war movie, not made for a long time in Bollywood. LOC yeah (it was hell of a 4 hours though). Khaaki. Damn story looked awesome (not impressed much) And more recently Khosla Ka Ghosla (right on the dot).

Then there are some that surprise me. “Ek Hasina Thi” – the title put me off and I hadn’t read the movie’s premise. Who the hell wants to watch a love story. Perhaps its of a hero, a heroine, heroine dies, hero remembers her, as he walks down the beach in an perfectly ironed kurta pyjama.

But then WHOA!!! A filmmaker wins me over when he surprises me. Ek Hasina Thi was one such movie.

So let’s take a bunch of forthcoming movies:

Dhoom 2: Yeah.

Umrao Jaan: Run lola run…

Guru: Maybe (storywise) Sure (posterwise)

Vivah: Only on DVD to kill time… because though I was intrigued by the concept – the time between the engagement and marriage – what all can the couple go through… but then I saw the previews on TV where Shahid Kapoor mouths some dialogues… and the fate of Vivah was sealed in my books.

Kabul Express: You damn right I’m in. (poster, story, and title all three get an A)

So does this mean the fate of many a movie is sealed right when it is announced in the media?

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This entry was posted on Thursday, October 26th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
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