Tuesday June 17 2003 12:56 IST
'Bhoot' factor makes way for this week's offbeat films
IANS
MUMBAI: In imitation-infested Bollywood, "Bhoot" was a breath of fresh air, and this week promises two more original releases - "Jhankar Beats" and "Supari".
"My 'Jhankar Beats' is 'Bhoot' with songs," quips debutant director Sujoy Ghosh. "I've waited very long for this moment and boy, the 'Bhoot' factor sure makes a difference."
Unlike Ghosh, "Supari" director Padam Kumar isn't entirely new to the marquee. He earlier made the Sunny Deol-starrer "Champion" that introduced Rahul Dev.
But for all practical purposes "Supari" is a new beginning for Padam Kumar. And the one quality that Kumar shares with his colleague at the box-office this week is the "'Bhoot' expectancy factor".
Like a lot of filmmakers who are ready with non-conformist mainstream products that dare to push the envelope, Padam Kumar feels the success of Ram Gopal Varma's "Bhoot" can only add tickets to "Supari" at the box-office.
Though Sujoy Ghosh and Padam Kumar share their mutual devil-may-care admiration for "Bhoot", their films are as different from Varma's spooky trendsetter and from one another as creatively possible.
"Yes. But there are similarities," points out Ghosh. For one both the films chronicle the ups and downs in the lives of a bunch of suburban youth. While Padam's young actors, Uday Chopra, Rahul Dev, Purab Kohli and Akaash Saigal, drift into the dark world of the underworld, Ghosh's three young protagonists, played by Rahul Bose, Sanjay Suri and newcomer Shayan Munshi, stray into the satirical stratosphere of smiles, sex and yes, songs.
Both the films stress songs and music. Coincidentally both films feature the music of Vishal-Shekhar, which in itself is an unusual choice for the song-fixated industry.
Says Ghosh: "It isn't as though I believe songs and music to be indispensable to my cinema. But since my heroes are musicians, music came naturally to the film."
Music apart, neither of the two releases this Friday kowtows to conventions of the box-office. "Supari" is a comment on gangsters. But the violence is cerebral and the characters abide by none of the laws of the genre of the outlaw.
Though a full-scale musical, "Jhankar Beats" with its wacky sense of humour and an insatiable appetite for adventure breaks norms like a bull in a China shop.
According to enterprising producer Pritish Nandy, "Jhankar Beats" is a fun film. But one that takes the definitions of entertainment to new areas.
Director Ghosh makes a telling point. "The film industry is undergoing a tremendous period of upheaval. During one week we get a hardcore mainstream film like 'Andaaz'. The very next week we're given way-out 'Bhoot'. Then after last week's sweet state-of-the-art love story 'Chalte Chalte' it's time this week to push the envelope again."
Will "Supari" and "Jhankar Beats" fulfil the need to push the envelope beyond the frontiers of mainstream entertainment?
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