Trade Talk: Dulquer Salmaan & Sunny Deol's Chup tops the to-see list
Trade Talk: Dulquer Salmaan & Sunny Deol's Chup tops the to-see list
This week at the Bollywood turnstiles, it is two South Indian superstars scampering for space in the Hindi belt. There are as many six films vying for our attention on Friday.
R Balki’s Chup is definitely the piece de resistance. Balki never fails to energize mainstream Hindi cinema with his completely unexpected themes. His last film Padman in 2018 was about a humble Tamilian who discovered economical sanitary pads for underprivileged women. Chup does a thematic volte-face. It is about a serial killer on a rampage against film critics. The ultimate revenge saga of a filmmaker against his bete noire!!
Interestingly, two South Indian superstars Dulquer Salmaan in Chup and R Madhavan in Dhokha Round D Corner vie for attention in the Hindi belt in two suspense thrillers. Dhokha is directed by Kookie Gulati who hasn’t seen much success yet. But one Friday can change fortunes. Madhavan whose last release Rocketry fetched him huge critical acclaim is very low-profile about Dhokha. He says he wants the audience to see it and decide what they think rather than giving a hundred interviews and bytes about a film the junta knows nothing about.
On the OTT platform, there are two releases this Friday. Hardik Gajjar’s Atithi Bhooto Bhava on Zee5 features Pratik Gandhi of Scam fame with Sharmin Segal, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s niece. It also stars Jackie Shroff and is said to be a horror comedy. Reputed for his heroine-oriented films, Madhur Bhandarkar has not directed a film since Indu Sarkar in 2017. With Tamannaah Bhatia helming Babli Bouncer not much excitement is expected to erupt this week on Disney+ Hotstar.
Prem Geet 3 is a fantasy production about the Khazak kingdom in the Himalayas set in the remote past. Zero buzz in spite of the current fantasy flavour.
Gaalib is the week’s most unwanted release. It is supposedly a film about the notorious Afzal Guru’s son played by Nikhil Pitalay and his mother played by ‘Sitamaa’ Dipika Chikhlia. I wonder what purpose this film is supposed to serve. I don’t think anyone is keen to find out.
All in all, the only saving grace this week seems to be Balki’s Chup which is expected to get a more than decent opening. Word of Mouth is a major selling point in a film such as this whose impact is reliant on the content. Balki’s homage to Guru Dutt in what looks like a twisted murder thriller has gotten all the fans of Guru Dutt interested.
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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