Trade Talk: As Phone Bhoot, Mili, and Double XL battle this week, Bollywood goes from bad to worse

The other day, I was speaking to a very respected and successful director about the currently plummeting standards of Hindi films.

“How do you bear to drag yourself into theatres week after week to see the kind of films that are being released these days?”

I agree, it’s becoming a growing ordeal. How do I drag myself to see Double XL or Phone Bhoot. If I, as  a movie buff, can’t bear the thought of sitting through these films, why would I expect the audience to make the effort?

As a young viewer put it bluntly, “Yeh log mere chacha lagte hain kya  ke main unke ghar pe  wahiyaat khana kha  ke chale  aaoon(are these filmmakers my uncles that I should eat  substandard food served in their homes?).

Shockingly, there are as many as seven, yes seven, Hindi releases this Friday : Double XL, featuring Huma Qureshi and Sonakshi Sinha as two overweight ladies, hoping the avoirdupois would translate into box0office figures. Phone Bhoot, featuring Katrina Kaif as an anorexic ghost. Mili with Janhvi Kapoor, playing a woman trapped in freezer.

Shaakuntalam, starring Samantha Ruth Prabhu in a costume drama dubbed from Hindi, director Jayatheeratha Varanasi, which is a tumultuous love story with the Holy City as it backdrop, and Dhoop Chaon, which has no information on its theme and other details.

Finally, there is something named Ram Rajya. I turn to the film’s synopsis for information:  “RAM RAJYA” entertains you with full humour, its nostalgic songs, romance, dance, fight and drama. It will give full value for money and message to reunite our country above religion, Caste or Creed.”

Some of these are not even worth considering, and are getting a what is known in trade parlance as a “token release”, a contractual obligation, before they go to the OTT. Although, I doubt they would work on any platform.

Nobody is holding his breath for any of these. In one of the multiplexes, only one show of Double  XL is scheduled, while there are five and four shows each of Phone Bhoot and Mili.

There is some interest in Phone Bhoot as it is Katrina Kaif’s first release after marriage. But the ghostly spin hardly injects that adrenaline rush into the box-office that, say, Stree did.

Then there is Mili, which has instant recall-value, thanks to the legendary Jaya Bhaduri starrer. The film stars another legend Sridevi’s daughter. Janhvi Kapoor has given her heart and soul to the role of a girl trapped in a freezer. The film is a remake of  the Malayalam film Helen. Producer Boney Kapoor firmly believes that remakes still have the power to get bums into the seats.

We shall soon know.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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