They said it would last a month at the most. But Bollywood’s latest strike dragged its feet for twice that long, making its presence, or rather absence, felt not only in Indian theatres but in far away places – all the way from Dublin to Dubai.
What of bhangra drum beats and larger-than-life song and dance numbers? What of villainous characters and sweet mothers? Of beautiful starlets and moustached actors? It was looking like a bleak summer without any of the above playing at a theatre near you. But that changed this weekend, and film distributors are rushing to stock up on reels in hopes that the musical-starved masses will be lining up once again.
In this most recent dispute, Bollywood producers, who finance the films, and western-style multiplex theatre owners were in disagreement over how to split earnings. Initially, the producers wanted a 50/50 split of box-office takings, but the theatre owners rejected it. New agreements put in place give producers a 50 per cent cut in the first week of a film’s showing, which decreases in subsequent weeks. But owners said they would rather see a Hollywood-style system in place where the payments are based on ticket sales, thus on the performance of each film.
Whatever the arguments, the strike left a void in the lives of those who care even a little bit about commercial Hindi films. It also disrupted my movie-watching routine, which I hope to be able to resume soon. Once a month, I go through the long list of releases and earmark at least one Bollywood film playing near me. I don’t always pick the best of the lot – my choice depends on a number of things. My mood might be for comedy, a romantic thriller or a period drama. In turn, it would be balanced out by whatever Hollywood was offering that month. For example, I would have liked to pair Terminator Salvation and all its intensity with something like Jab We Met (When We Met), a laid-back look at love and friendship.
My hopes are now not entirely dashed. The summer blockbusters are coming shortly and I cannot help but admit that I am looking forward to watching Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor share screen time with Sylvester Stallone and Denise Richards in Kambakth Ishq – a story about an Indian supermodel and a Hollywood stunt man.
After all, a good movie is a good movie, regardless of when it is released. I just hope that they hurry up.
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