Next week, 2 holidays come together, 15th and 16th. My school-going son, who is a rare movie buff, ardently feels there is no better way to ‘celebrate’ the 2 days than seeing KANK. Seeing what, I’m perplexed. He smiles indulgently, declaring it’s Karan Johar’s latest blockbuster, Kabhie Albida Na Kehna, KANK in short. I withdraw with a sheepish grin to the old world of newspaper editorials.
The powerful Karan. Also makes blockbusters.
Picture source : http://www.hindu.com/mp/2005/06/14/images/2005061400110403.jpg.
My son huddles into frenetic consultations with his mobile-carrying friends on his cell. Awhile later, he looks grim, excitement webbing at a fast pace. I look up inquiringly. Appears the tickets are alarmingly expensive (I later find the asking rate is as high as 250 rupees in some Kolkata ‘plexes), and so my son and his friends are not interested.
Here is a point. Karan Johar has quickly acclimatized to creating mammoth tear-jerkers – I’ve a small stat below from ‘insanities.indivibes.net’ that tells it all – that carry very little message than what is already told a million times by his fellow bollywood film-makers. He takes shelter in a multi-starrer like KANK and succeeds in creating a lot of hype (high ticket prices for example), hoping it would fetch him pots of money. My own take, based on recent trends and profiles of movie-goers, is that KANK will just about bring his money back and will not probably be what you call a ‘hit’.
A pride of place for Karan Johar.
Picture source : http://insanities.indivibes.net/upload/crykaranjohar.jpg.
I remember sometime back HT Brunch featured him on the cover. He comes across as a super-rich, suave, smooth-talking, sympathy-evoking single man, who also happens to be a film director and who pityingly looks for a plot for his next movie. With the amount of money and influence he has at his disposal, I only hope he churns out interesting things to watch, or better still, hire a competent director who can put his resources to good use.
Leave a Reply