Chequered year for Bollywood

Chequered year for Bollywood - NDTV.com: "The cine-world witnessed some old wines packaged in new NRI bottles, the blurring of hate lines between India and Pakistan through cinematic bonding, and sex stepping out of night into the limelight. While the Yash Chopra romance, Veer Zaara, sought to reflect the thawing of hate lines between both countries through the format of cross-border romance, films like Khamosh Pani starring Kiron Kher gave a stark account of the partition and its impact on women.

Ashutosh Gowarikar's Swades in a sophisticated package tried to tug at the emotional chords of Indian Diaspora scattered across the world. Cross-over films like Bride and Prejudice, Raghu Romeo also tried to blur the dividing lines but failed to garner a white-man audience. The year saw the topic of extra marital affairs coming with a bang, but this time with a feminist touch.

Films like Aitraz and Tum chose to tackle the subject of bedroom politics. There was a lot of 'skin show' this year and grabbing viewer's attention by their unabashed display in films like Julie, Hawas, Murder, Tauba Tauba and Ab Bas, which saw the blurring of lines in the question of 'to be' or 'not to be' dressed. Heroines like Mallika Sherawat with their un-apologetic statements on the right to display skin, made headlines, drawing out new contours on the map of cinema.

The year also proved that clean comedy was still a crowd puller. Stories of men-on-the-street dreaming tall, weaving tales of hitting the jackpot and meandering through life's journey sometime through a pack of white lies and sometime on a belief in the almighty, drew crowds. Films like Munnabhai MBBS and Mujshe Shaadi Karoge fetched good revenue both in the domestic market and in the international market. Movies like Hulchul and Main Hoon Na made their mark as they tickled the funny bones of cinegoers.

Saif, this year managed to shrug off the allegation of giving hits only when teamed with other stars, by ensuring a solo hit through the film Hum Tum. Abhishek Bachchan, managed his maiden bonafide hit in the film Dhoom and wowed critics with his performance in Yuva. The year saw both Bachchans trying to test their selling power on the Indian film marquee. The senior Bachchan was seen in at around eight films this year, including Khakhee, Dev, Deewar, Lakshya, Veer Zaara while the Junior Bachchan saw him starring in films like Naach, Phir Milenge, Yuva and Dhoom. While Khakee and Veer Zara fared well, films like Lakshya, Deewar did not make the mark.

Actress Kareena Kapoor proved to be the blue-eyed girl this year with her films like Aitraz, Musafir, Fida, Chameli getting the audience to notice her. However, the film industry's earlier blue-eyed-girl, Aishwarya Rai, did not fare well on the domestic front. Her films like Kyon.. Ho Gaya Na were bidden adieu without much ado. The 'B factor' failed to work this year with `Big Budgets', Big film directors' failing to ensure `Box-office' collection. The presence of the Big B also failed to garner collections in films like Lakshya. Mani Ratnam's Yuva, Farhan's Lakshya and J P Dutta's LOC failed to sell the directors' dreams on the celluloid to cinegoers.

Multistarrers like Mahesh Manjrekar's Rakht, Rajiv Rai's Asambhav also proved that cinegoers wanted something more than just an impressive star cast. Small budget films and 'popcorn entertainment' found more takers.

2004 did not reap luck for debutant directors like Kabir Sadanand (Popcorn Khao--Mast Ho Jao), Ashwin Chaudhary (Dhoop), Samir Karnik (Kyo Ho Gaya Na), Sanjay Upadhyay (Satya Bol). The limelight also did not shine on new faces like Vatsal Seth (Tarzan, the Wonder Car), Shawar Ali (Hawas) and Samin Dattarani (Uf Kya Jado ..)

The on-screen drama spilt to the streets this year as Shiv Sainiks staged demonstration over the screening of the film Girlfriend. The theme of a lesbian relationship did not go down well with the party workers who termed the film of damaging the Indian mindset and cultural fabric.

Another film to ignite the wrath was M F Hussain's Meenaxi. Hussain's latest muse actress Tabu had to bid a hasty goodbye as members of a community threatened agitation over the use of certain verses from the Holy Book. (PTI)