...all the way to the bank.
Filmi-clan starchild Hrithik Roshan is really coming into his own. He married a decent girl, he's given the clan a son, and, even more to the point, he has starred back-to-back in two heavily-financed, state-of-the-art Bollywood blockbuster superhits with strong offshore crossover appeal. KRRISH was shot primarily in Singapore with Hong Kong martial-arts effects – a monster hit with the under-12 demographic. KRRISH looks like no Bollywood flick has ever looked. Furthermore, it's a science fiction movie.
DHOOM 2, his latest vehicle, was shot in Brazil and South Africa. Its glossy combo of bikes, bombs and booty is devastating the emergent-economy teen-to-tween crowd. Hrithik actually kisses somebody in this flick, casually dismissing the ultimate cornball Bollywood taboo. This faultlessly dumb and glossy comic-book action movie, naturally, bids fair to become Bollywood's biggest American hit ever. This is the "newfangled Bollywood."
They've got star-appeal, they're completely ethnically indeterminate, they speak faultless English, they have special-effects talent and can hire whatever they don't have in-house, and they have passports. All they really need at this point is some kind – any kind – of relatively legitimate and stable Bollywood financial system.
Supposedly, Hrithik is trying to line-up a three-movie deal from an Indian industrialist for a shattering sum of rupees. If Hrithik can do this, and get his dad the producer off the hook from the goondahs who keep trying to shake him down, he really is gonna be the "Indian Superman."
It's fun to watch this perfectionist GenX technician of Bollywood cinema methodically playing his industry cards, year by year. Hrithik keeps his nose clean, everybody in the business likes him, the press dotes on him, he's in terrific physical shape – literally looks superhuman – he's probably the best male dancer in Bollywood, and sometimes he actually deigns to act. He's determined and he's smart. The hundred-year-old Indian filmi system has bred itself a champion racehorse here.
Obligatory YouTube trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeKGl3aeG5k
http://in.rediff.com/movies/2006/nov/28dhoom.htm
Dhoom 2 rocks the US
Arthur J Pais in New York
November 28, 2006 13:27 IST
Exceeding even the most optimistic expectations, Dhoom 2 blasted through the North American market grossing $979,000 over the weekend in 63 theaters. The film, which opened on Thanksgiving Day in about 40 theaters, looted a mind-blowing $1.3 million for the four-day weekend. Though its gross in the United Kingdom was not available on Monday, the romantic adventure produced and distributed by Yash Raj Films is said to be mimicking its American run.
It is the third largest opening ever for a Bollywood film in North America – and the biggest opening ever for a non-Shah Rukh Khan film, according to Gitesh Pandya of Boxoffice Guru. The opening record is still held by Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, another Yash Raj film, with a $1.01 million weekend in 2001. Hrithik Roshan, who plays one of the leads in Dhoom 2, had a strong part in K3G, which, of course, had a bigger star cast dominated by Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan.
Even The New York Times could not resist Dhoom 2, and ran a 350-word review on Monday. Calling the film 'giddy' and 'slick,' junior reviewer Rachael Saltz declared, 'The film is shot in sharp, primary colors, with sophisticated stunts, exotic location hopping and songs sung partly in English.'
"A lot of things have changed since then and we expect the new Yash Raj film to be one of the biggest hits of the decade," Jawahar Sharma who runs the American office for Yash Raj had told rediff.com a few days before the films release. "For some reason the film (Dhoom) did not catch on in America or in the UK, but slowly when people started hearing what a big hit it had become in India, they started watching it on video. And soon people were asking if there would be a sequel."
The movie's star cast – Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Bipasha Basu – would add to its appeal, Sharma had said. The film was No 17 on the American box-office, currently topped by the kids movie' sensation Happy Feet which danced to $38 million in 3800 theaters, taking its 10-day total to $99 million. It was followed by the new James Bond film Casino Royale which lifted some $30 million in 3400 theaters, taking its 10-day total to $94 million.
It is quite possible the theater count for Dhoom 2 could go up next week, as many theaters reported a full-house for many shows over the weekend.
As for Aishwarya, whose Umrao Jaan grossed about $1 million in North America despite being an instant flop in India, it looks like The Times really loves her. But her co-star also came for praise from The Times.
'Dhoom 2 may represent the newfangled Bollywood,' the review said, 'but old-fashioned star power is what animates and elevates it about its occasional narrative flaws,' adding, 'When Mr Roshan's surprisingly green eyes meet Ms Rai's surprisingly blue ones, it's a delirious moment of unself-conscious, slightly cartoonish movie magic.'
