The Dirty Picture pockets Rs 39 crore in five days.
She is the new hero of Hindi cinema. And it’s proving to be a money-spinner as well. The Dirty Picture, a biopic on late southern siren Silk Smitha, has —along with glitzy promotional activities — raked in Rs 39 crore in five days, highlighting Bollywood’s new-found success with movies based on women as the central theme.
The figure is almost equivalent or close to recent releases like Rockstar and Desi Boyz; only that they had a far higher production cost and wider release. As for The Dirty Picture, it was produced at a Rs 32 crore budget (including promotional activities) and released across 1,600 screens last Friday. Desi Boyz was released in 2,200 screens, while Rockstar was released in 1,800 screens.
“Viewers across multiplexes and single screens have unanimously accepted the film,” says Ekta Kapoor, joint managing director, Balaji Telefilms, producer of The Dirty Picture that stars Vidya Balan in the lead role. “It carries a human story...something that happens all around us.”
The 144-minute movie has already covered a large part of Kapoor’s production costs, as she had already sold her film to distributors, Kundan Thad-ani’s A A Films for a reported Rs 19 crore and a satellite deal with Sony for Rs 8 crore, besides music rights to T-series for Rs 2 crore. Independent film distributor Suniel Wadhwa feels such subjects help create a new genre of films. “This year itself, there have been four movies with women as protagonists,” notes Wadhwa, who was formerly with UTV as head of its distribution wing.
One among these, No One Killed Jessica, based on the case of the 1999 murder of Delhi-based model Jessica Lal, tasted critical as well as commercial success. The 136-minute movie, released on January 7, did not have any hot-selling hero, but banked solely on Rani Mukerji and, again, Vidya Balan. Produced by UTV, the Raj Kumar Gupta-directed film collected Rs 35 crore.
A senior UTV official says a spurt in multiplexes has made it conducive of late to make movies for an urbane audience. “Bollywood is now coming of age. There is a more contemporary portrayal of women,” he notes. “When we released Jessica, we saw Rani and Vidya as two heroes, rather than taking the film as banking on a women-oriented theme.”
Quick to follow was Turning 30, a Prakash Jha-produced film (released on January 14) with the story of a young urban woman who grapples with personal heartbreak and a professional crisis in her advertising career. Starring Gul Panag in the lead role, the movie directed by Alankrita Shrivastava was released across 125 screens.
Then came UTV’s 7 Khoon Maaf. Starring Priyanka Chopra, the 148-minute film, directed by Vishal Bharadwaj and released on February 18, was based on veteran writer Ruskin Bond’s Susanna’s Seven Husbands, the story of a woman who bumps off her seven spouses.
Experts believe acceptance of such movies can embolden Bollywood to make more such subjects. There are a host of progressive filmmakers (such as Madhu Bandarkar, besides Bharadwaj) who have shown the way with Chandini Bar, Fashion, Dor, Aisha, Lajja, Chameli, We are Family, Corporate and, now, the Kareena Kapoor-starrer Heroine.
Film trade analyst Taran Adarsh says movies ideally reflect a change in the fabric of society.
“The woman today is no longer confined to the kitchen. She strikes a balance between work and home. That way, they just do not fulfil a glamour quotient or play the role of a mother,” he notes. “Times have changed now with Bipasha Basu playing a key role as a businesswoman in Corporate and Priyanka Chopra aspiring to be a successful model in Fashion.”
That way, Bollywood is becoming relatively realistic as well.
