DAYS before the April 25 release of Mrityudaata, there were frantic attempts to churn up hysteria over Amitabh Bachchan's much-touted comeback film. Just a few days later, it left everybody associated with it red-faced by crashing as a dud.
DAYS before the April 25 release of Mrityudaata, there were frantic attempts to churn up hysteria over Amitabh Bachchan's much-touted comeback film. Just a few days later, it left everybody associated with it red-faced by crashing as a dud.
Before the release, advertisements, splashed all over, announced that the "angel of death is back and he's dangerous". Hundreds of kids were hired to deck themselves in 'angel of death' posters and made to walk Mumbai's streets in the sweltering heat for the Bachchan bacchanalia. A computer firm, Raja Interactive, linked up with the Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited (ABCL) to set up touch-screen kiosks at theatre halls with the promotional Game of Death series. Bachchan launched his personal website which he would update himself, while his wife would chat with his fans. The brand created with ABCL's launch was to be buttressed with the Mrityudaata bonanza.
But the bomb has everybody exploding. A day after its release, tickets were there for the taking. Black marketeers, true barometers of the box-office, cursed their fate and that of Bachchan's. Aziz, a tout outside Bandra's Gaiety-Galaxy theatre, was dismissive: "I brought so many tickets and now I will make a loss of more than Rs 20,000." Others less fortunate than Aziz have currency complaints running to crores. At Gaiety-Galaxy, Bachchan's comeback was given a polite shove into the smaller capacity Galaxy. When the second week advance booking opened at Eros, there was not a single buyer. An occurrence unheard of in the history of Eros and the superhero's career. Distributors who shelled out a hefty Rs 2.5 crore per territory recovered a dismal crore. Reports that Gujarat distributor Pragati Films and Thane distributor Ashok Asandas have suffered a loss of Rs 60 lakh and Rs 50 lakh respectively haven't helped.
Equally detrimental has been a damning survey from a city-based tabloid pegging Bachchan at No 5 of their readers' hate-list. "Bachchan has made statements that he has seen the film in bits and parts. The least he could have done was to have viewed it in entirety. If he couldn't sit through the whole thing, what gives him the impression that the audience will?" says Amod Mehra, chief, Entertainment Business Network. The industry has worked up a lather wondering about the burn-out of Bollywood's first-ever brand. Distributors are screaming murder. The Shroffs of Shringar Films, who released it, are shame-faced. Exhibitors, who expected a rerun of his legendary hits like Zanjeer , are giving lectures on high-priced stars who are unable to guarantee a film's success. While Bachchan reportedly charged Rs 3 crore for this home production, for K.C. Bokadia's coming venture he was apparently paid Rs 5 crore.
Santosh Singh Jain of the Film Distribution Council of India, who bought the film for distribution in Central India, says there will be chaos in the industry. "They have sold the film for Rs 2.5 crore per territory. With six territories in India and overseas, along with video rights, the producer has easily made around Rs 20 crore. Distributors have been hit hard and will definitely do a rethink on all his forthcoming films. In films today, the star with his impossible price is the true villain."
AS for director Mehul Kumar, after the recent super-flop Lahoo Ke Do Rang and now Mrityudaata , he is putting up a brave front. "In this industry envious people hold parties when their rivals hit the dust. But I gave my best and so has Amitji. I cannot understand why the audience rejected it. We presented Amitji differently: he is acting his age. He is angry, but it is a sophisticated presentation. We have fight sequences, done up stylishly. It is among the costliest films to have been made."
There are few takers for Kumar's bravado. Even avid Bollywood fans cannot accept the action sequences that show Bachchan's age and are scathing in their denouncement of the much-flogged storyline. But Kumar is determined to carry on with another Bachchan project, Aye Watan Tere Liye , which he will produce and direct. Apparently, the Mrityudaata lesson is yet to sink home, since the storyline will be duplicated, where Bachchan will play a CBI chief, taking on corrupt politicians. The cast, despite its rejection, is again repeated, with Dimple paired with Bachchan. Kumar is not worried that distributors will run scared. "I have sold the distribution rights," he crows.
"There is no need for Kumar to jump with joy over this," says Komal Nahata, editor of the trade journal, Film Information . He explains that distributors are allowed to have a rethink on their deals on A-grade films which command fabulous prices on the distribution circuit. "Distributors pay an initial deposit of Rs 20 lakh and pay the rest after delivery of prints. Now, with Kumar's next Bachchan project they will simply forfeit their deposit. They will prefer bearing a loss of Rs 20 lakh than take on a flop."
Mrityudaata will finish Bachchan. Playing lead is fine, but why is he shown doing unbelievable stunts? He has to rethink his career and choose the right director," Nahata suggests. But Bachchan's plate, which is already full, includes Bokadia's Lal Badshah , David Dhawan's Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and Tinnu Anand's Major Saab (an ABCL project where he is paired with Nafisa Ali) and projects with directors Indra Kumar(propped up by co-stars Aamir Khan and Madhuri Dixit) and Priyadarshan. Insiders predict producers will have to slash rates to Rs 1 crore per territory since the superstar has lost his commanding position.
Where does this leave the Bachchan brand on which ABCL is banking? The corporation has already spread its resources extremely thin by putting its fingers into too many business pies. Most projects today, including 10 films, are in various stages of incompletion, depleting its bottomline. Already, after an initial Rs 19-crore contribution to the company's seed capital, Bachchan has had to pump in another Rs 45 crore, reportedly, by selling off his stake in Ipca Laboratories. With little expertise in areas like media buying and television time-selling, the onus of assured income lies on the Bachchan brand which already yielded the company close to Rs 8 crore endorsing BPL. That brand has been seriously dented.
Tinnu Anand, who has been cajoled into directing Major Saab and is currently shooting on a tight schedule within the National Defence Academy at Pune's Khadakvasla, has been falling ill with the stress, even being hospitalised twice in a row. He says circumspectly: " Major Saab should have been Bachchan's first film after the gap. Here he is shown playing his age. Amit is the father-figure to Ajay Devgan. The action hero takes care of the fight sequences, though Amit also has some scenes. It would have set a trend in the industry, creating characters for older men like in Hollywood where actors Sean Connery and Harrison Ford command top positions."
GOVIND Nihalani, with whom Bachchan has a project lined up, rues the superstar's decision to kick-start a career with a zilch-value film. "As a corporate head now I guess his decisions will unfortunately be dictated by company requirements. Even today, I believe he is the only actor who carries conviction in any kind of role. It is sad to see that he is wasted in roles far below his capacity. You cannot expect a 55-year-old to act as a 35-year-old. He was never a chocolate box hero. So, the fire in him, whether it was anger as in Zanjeer , or the comic fire in Amar Akbar Anthony , is yet to be tapped. I expect the Govinda-Amitabh combination in Bade Miyan to be a jugalbandi that will prove the fire is still there."
Another person understandably unwilling to write off the Bachchan legend is Shroff of Shringar films. He suggests that Mrityudaata be given a four-week run before it is dismissed as a super-flop. But the trade is still reeling under the impact of the flop. Theatre-owners' Association chief U.A. Thadani frets that Bachchan has singed himself with this film. "It is natural that when a distributor takes on a film as big as Mrityudaata he takes the guarantee from the producer that money be returned if the film does not earn anything. The film had no opening, did not get even 25 per cent collections in the first week. The money will now have to be returned, but then who knows when that will happen."
ABCL's contention that it was among the costliest films, thus leading to its exorbitant price on the distribution network, is also being dismissed as a lie.
Screen editor Rauf Ahmed feels that the film was made on a tight budget, with a quickie storyline that could not have incurred the vaunted production costs. c
He adds that though Bachchan was the last of the numero unos on the film firmament, he cannot aspire to that post anymore. "That era is dead, since films are no longer the only medium of entertainment. Everyday, the channels screen several of his films where he had given those incredible performances. Bachchan will be judged against that. Today, unfortunately, producers want to make a fast buck and tend to draw up a hasty storyline around saleable stars." The mood at the Bachchan residence in Juhu, too, is sombre. Insiders say the box-office debacle came close to the departure of several ABCL professionals. Brother Ajitabh, who initially opposed his sibling's corporate dabbling, has been roped in to hold ABCL's act together. "It has all happened together," says a family source.
"ABCL's failure is the fault of its white-collared, blue-blooded professionals. The cars, the mobile phones, the hefty salaries. They even demanded mineral water. What was the need for 150 people on the staff when even a director like Prakash Mehra runs his show with a little over 10 ?" Hints of a run-down health chart haven't helped either: mysathenia gravis, a muscular condition that Bachchan made famous, "a left shoulder that isn't holding up, a stomach that is stitched up in 14 places, a hernia that cannot be operated, cataract and acute asthma," as alleged by one of his former directors, has left Bachchan breathless. Unconfirmed as they stand, the truth is that Bachchan in his fifties is no longer in the great shape of his successful seventies.
The sight is far from spectacular and the fall from grace, hard. Is this the beginning of the end of the greatest superhero of our times? "Amitabh Bachchan's virgin value is over," says script writer Salim Khan. "The novelty that he brought into his roles is being duplicated by younger heroes. Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty: everyone does the kind of roles that bore his trademark. But you cannot compete with youth and energy at this level and the image of an avenging hero at this age does not suit him." A director who worked with him prior to his self-imposed sabbatical adds on condition of anonymity: "We worked so hard to make him look good. It was a strain."
Not everyone thinks he is ageing disgracefully. "Yes, in certain portions of the film he has not been photographed well," agrees Taran Adarsh, editor, Trade Guide . "But the charisma is intact and though the age factor does come in, one film can't decide his fate. Manmohan Desai once compared him to Haley's comet and said a star like Amitabh strikes once in 70 years."
As the situation stands, the script is being blamed and the director has received the short end of the stick. But unlike the major disasters of the past where the buck always bounced right back to the producer-director's door, this time Bachchan cannot shy from the shambles. "Since he himself was the producer, the director cannot be blamed," opines Prakash Mehra. "How did he agree to this outdated script?"
But then, as Salim Khan admits, Big B is in a Catch-22 situation: if one is making films like those he excelled in, he runs the risk of being repetitive. If not, he runs the risk of making a Main Azad Hoon . In his hey day, Bachchan worked with dream teams: gold-spinners Salim-Javed, Manmohan Desai, Prakash Mehra, who knew his strengths and weaknesses. Salim-Javed have gone their separate ways. Desai is no more. Mehra's feel of the pulse of the people is in doubt. For that matter, so is Bachchan's.
And for once, the original angry young man appears as The Lost Action Hero.
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