After Saiyaara, a film I could not relish for multiple reasons, as clear from my review, did well, the industry has again gone into its now-frequent low phases, but for the dubbed South film, Mahavtar Narsimha. On the way is War 2, this Independence Day week, along with the Rajinikanth-Aamir Khan South behemoth, Coolie.
In between, I watched Dhadak 2, the sequel in spirit to Dhadak (2017), which was the remake of another super-hit I never relished, the over-the-top-dark Marathi film, Sairaat. Dhadak 2, in retrospect, deserved an original, directly-apt title for its story of love between a girl from an upper caste and her lover from the repressed community. Branded in a way, its fate was additionally sealed as a “a tragic love story”, which it was not!
Shortly after its release, I was hit by a terrible virus, which laid me out for seven days flat. I did pen a few stories, but did not have the energy to write the review of Dhadak 2’s co-release, Son of Sardaar 2, which I wanted to write with great precision due to its distinct style.
And in the following week, I missed out on Zora and Andaaz 2.
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Son of Sardaar 2
So, at first, let me reflect on Son of Sardaar 2.
Son of Sardaar 2 was a sequel in spirit to Son of Sardaar (2012), though Ajay Devgn’s character was named the same and another protagonist (Ravi Kishan) was named after the character essayed by Sanjay Dutt in the original. Sanjay was to do this film, but could not.
This time, the goings-on were whackier and happily far less violent. UK was the base, and the mad incidents included bringing in a war-tank into his massive estate as Ravi Kishan wants to test if Ajay, who is pretending to be from the Army, is genuinely telling the truth. As shown in last year’s Khel Khel Mein, everyone here has a skeleton in his romantic closet and circumstances compel each to come out in the open, and move on after explanations and forgiveness (if needed). The message was clear: Humans err, deviate, but one must have a broader outlook and forgive, as we can err too, especially if we love them and they love us. There was also a hint at sweetening bonds between Indians and Pakistanis living in the UK.
This wholesome family comedy, as with Khel Khel Mein (2024), has been rejected by an increasingly-unpredictable audience. So also, ironically, despite its trenchant script and intense performances, has Dhadak 2 been cold-shouldered by the audience.
Zora
In this phase, Rajiv Rai, whose track-record in the past includes five consecutive successful-to-blockbuster action dramas Tridev, Vishwatma, Mohra and Gupt, returned after 21 years (his last thriller, Asambhav, which tanked) with a movie called Zora.
Gupt (1997) remains among Hindi cinema’s finest and cult whodunits, and Rajiv decided to come back with another such suspense drama. However, the differences between Gupt and this one undid everything.
All his films, with the exception of Asambhav, had memorable music by his constant composer Viju Shah. Zora had just one quite average song. Rajiv’s films were all with a great star-cast. Zora had complete newcomers. The director said that his production cost was just Rs. 2 crore, with other costings also limiting the total to about Rs. 5 crore. As per my colleagues who watched the film, the lack of spending showed. The story was also not in sync with audience tastes and the lack of production scale and values all ultimately led to disaster.
Andaaz 2
And Andaaz 2 was another sequel in spirit gone askew. Made 22 years after an original (Andaaz) that launched two ramp queens, Miss World Priyanka Chopra Jonas as a major heroine (after her small role in The Hero) and Miss Universe Lara Dutta making a debut, with Akshay Kumar heading the cast and some popular songs by Nadeem-Shravan, the film introduced three completely wishy-washy newcomers sans stature, persona, substance or even memorable names. It had music by a solo Nadeem (billed as a part of Nadeem-Shravan!) and was directed by Suneel Darshan himself (Suneel’s production, Andaaz had been helmed by Raj Kanwar). The misjudged sequel with a (as per colleagues) dated storyline and treatment faced the same fate as Zora, though this time the publicity made a trifle of a difference.
In the present scenario, where current bookings of less than 6 to 10 people make ‘plexes cancel a show, it unlikely that I will be able to watch either of these films, with the two big hits mentioned above going strong and the forthcoming week blocked mainly by War 2 and Coolie.
There was no incentive in the case of either Zora or Andaaz 2 for audiences to put in big money to watch. I had hopes that Nadeem’s music would at least make some mark, but that has also proved a false hope. Would these films have benefited from a direct-to-digital (OTT) release? Unlikely. OTT is where even small-town audiences now want something riveting and fresh and yet classically entertaining—a “Same Same But Different” fare is their choice. Note Dhoom Dhaam as a recent example.
And I have just received the news that Mahavtar Narsimha, a simple, time-tested mythological story of Bhakta Prahlad and the demon Hiranyakashyap, told without razzmatazz in animation format without any big names among voiceovers, has crossed Rs. 123 crore nett in Hindi. This becomes the first-ever animation film to cross the 100-crore mark in Hindi cinema!
So, do the other hits this year—Chhaava, Sitaare Zameen Par, Raid 2, Housefull 5 and Saiyaara and two more films that have done decent business audience-wise, Kesari 2 and Sky-Force, also prove something collectively?
Yes! Apart from the variety they want, the audience will only become increasingly unpredictable from now on!