Sexy
Jism Overtakes Dil Ka Rishta
in
Audience Rating
MUMBAI:
Last week saw the release of two big films.
The first was an erotic thriller 'Jism'
starring Bipasha Basu, John Abraham and
Gulshan Grover, produced by actress Pooja
Bhatt and directed by Amit Saxena, a debutant.
The other release was that of 'Dil Ka Rishta'
which had Aishwarya Rai, Arjun Rampal and
Priyanshu Chatterjee in the cast. This was
Aishwarya's home production - produced by
her brother Aditya Rai and directed by Naresh
Malhotra.
Both
the films were publicized in a big way by
the makers. The story of Jism was written
by Pooja Bhatt's father Mahesh Bhatt while
Dil Ka Rishta was written by Vrinda Rai,
Aishwarya's mother. Box office-wise, both
the films had a good opening but later the
collections dipped. Komal Nahata, a trade
analyst, asked by ANI about the box office
response of the two films, said Jism being
a subject based on sex was a hot proposition
and created a lot of curiosity, while Dil
Ka Rishta is a flop. Heroines in Indian
cinema are not a major draw and in this
case both the heroes, Arjun Rampal and Priyanshu
Chatterjee, are not hot properties. Arjun
has been giving flops consistently while
Priyanshu is a new-comer and he was not
even promoted in the film.
So does that make Jism the first hit of
the year? The answer was: Jism cannot be
termed a superhit or a blockbuster but an
average film on which everybody will make
money. Made on a relatively small budget,
it will make decent collections in cities."
Jism based on an erotic subject with Bipasha
portraying a bold role, is definitely attracting
people to theatres but the slow pace of
the film seems to have affected the earning.
On the other hand, Dil Ka Rishta, a weak
subject with poor screenplay, is not even
having that kind of audiences and collections
fell on the second day itself. But the music
of Dil Ka Rishta composed by Nadeem -Shravan
is already a rage and songs are doing well
on the music charts. By contrast, Jism has
a rather dull music score. But the latter,
being a sex thriller, is making people curious
to watch for once at least.
Even the presence of Aishwarya Rai could
not brighten the box office fate of the
Dil Ka Rishta. A big budget film, it will
be a loser in all the territories. Here
is a random survey on public opinion on
Jism and Dil Ka Rishta. "I liked Dil Ka
Rishta OK film, Aishwarya was good," said
Jaggu. But according to Megha, "Dil Ka Rishta
is a total 'bakwaas'. It is not even worth
watching once". Rohini agrees with her,
saying "Dil Ka Rishta" is not a good film
definitely." Ajai saw Jism and remarked,
"I don't know how to react. There is nothing
in the film. Everybody seems to be doing
everything ...". But there are admirers.
"Jism is decent film", commented Rohit.
Stated Kshama, "After a long time I saw
a good film like Jism where Bipasha has
done the role of a woman of substance. A
very good performance. Also John Abraham
is very good in the film".
With a dismal 2002 for films, the year 2003
bought some hope but the failure of the
2003 releases like Taalash, Tujhe Meri Kasam,
Bollywood Hollywood, Aapko Pehle Bhi Kahin
Dekha Hai and Dil Ka Rishta, despite the
moderate success of Jism, does not angur
well for the industry.
"How do you foresee 2003 after dismal 2002
for films," Nahata was asked. The answer
was: "If 2002 was bad, 2003 will be no good.
Only I can say year 2004 will bail out the
industry from the present crisis. Films
are being made but they do not have any
substance, so the future seems a bit uncertain."
All eyes are now set on next releases like
Vivek Oberoi and Diya Mirza's Dum, Tushar
Kapoor and Esha Deol's Kucch to Hai, Kareena-Fardeen's
Khushi and Karisma's Baaz. All that can
be said now is: they look promising.
January 23, 2003
