RADIO
SARGAM REPORT: A REVIEW OF THE YEAR - 2004!
This year
was better than the previous two years, but didn’t make a huge
impact. Main Hoon Na and Veer Zaara which were panned by critics turned
out to be the biggest films along with Dhoom, which was intended as
a commercial flick. But sex sold the most and Murder turned out to be
the biggest hit of the year. Hum Tum and Mujhse Shaadi Karogi were the
other hits of the year. This means that there was just one superhit
in the form of Murder and five hits in a year. Swades, Lakshya, Bride
and Prejudice, Kyun Ho Gaya Na, Deewar, Phir Milenge and Yuva were some
of the biggest disappointments of the year at the box office.
Sex was
also a big seller. The moderate successes of films like Julie, Hawas,
Tauba Tauba, Aitraaz and Girlfriend apart from the superhit Murder showed
that sex can still make it. A mediocre filmmaker like Karan Razdan gave
two successes in the form of Hawas and Girlfriend becoming the only
maker to give a 100 per cent record along with Farah Khan and the Yash Chopra
camp who gave Hum Tum, Dhoom and Veer Zaara. Even Anurag Basu who gave
Murder failed with Tumsa Nahin Dekha which was sold on a single smooch.
But the year belonged to the re-releases – Sholay and Mughal-e-Azam
which showed that filmmakers are really bad these days.
THE
ACTORS OF THE YEAR!
Hrithik
Roshan and Aamir Khan had no releases this year. Amitabh Bachchan made
up for that and had a tad too many, whilst Abhishek Bachchan finally
got a hit to his name even though it was a multi-starrer in the form
of Dhoom. He had a bad film in the form of Naach. Ajay Devgan did well
in Khakee and Raincoat and that was all for him. Saif Ali Khan managed
his first solo hit with Hum Tum and excelled in Ek Hasina Thi. But the
year belonged to Salman Khan who did well along with Shah Rukh Khan
and Akshay Kumar.
THE
ACTRESSES OF THE YEAR!
Rani Mukerji
reigned with Hum Tum and Veer Zaara. Preity Zinta did well in Veer Zaara
but Lakshya missed the mark. Sushmita Sen has broken into the big league
with Main Hoon Na, but Vaastu Shastra was a flop for her. Priyanka Chopra
had many releases and two of them got her the accolades and the money
for the makers. While she saved Aitraaz from being a washout, she helped
the success of Mujhse Shaadi Karogi. Mallika Sherawat could have made
murder a hit, but she murdered the audiences with Kis Kiski Kismat.
Aishwarya Rai was the biggest disappointment of the year. Name it- bad
performances in Bride and Prejudice, Kyun Ho Gaya Na, Khakee marred
her year. A decent performance in Raincoat would not prevent her from
getting wet in the rain of flops.
THE
FILMMAKERS OF THE YEAR!
Farah Khan excelled with Main Hoon Na, Rajkumar Santoshi did a good
job with Khakee, but inserted songs in the wrong places, Yash Chopra
showed a decline with Veer Zaara and ditto with Ashutosh Gowariker for
Swades. Sriram Raghavan made his mark with Ek Hasina Thi and M F Husain
showed how to lose money with Meenaxi - Tale of Three Cities. David
Dhawan showed a return to form with Mujhse Shaadi Karogi but Ram Gopal
Varma’s Naach showed how bad a dancer he was. Mani Shankar who
impressed with 16 December shows what a maker can do with stars and
what he cannot do as well.
THE
DEBUTS OF THE YEAR!
2004 has been a year for debuts of film directors more than actors and
actresses. There were no significant debuts in 2004 by young actresses
and actors making one wonder whether we have run short of talent. Among
the talked about films Ajay Ghei from Vishal Bharadwaj’s Maqbool,
the Pak actor Muammar Rana in Shashi Ranjan’s Dobaara and Kunal
Kapoor in MF Husain’s Meenaxi A Tale of Three Cities only manage
to capture some attention among the men. Frankly the only refreshing
face was that of Navjot Singh Sidhu who played himself in Mujhse Shaadi
Karogi. Among the women, the stylish Soha Ali Khan made her debut in
the last film of the year Ananth Mahadevan’s Dil Maange More and
Gayatri Joshi debuted in Ashutosh Gowariker’s Swades while Udita
Goswami made a mediocre appearance in Pooja Bhatt’s Paap. Frankly,
none of these six deserve the fresh face of the year award.
Among the
directors, there was a record 20 plus who entered Bollywood. Sriram
Raghavan did impress with Ek Hasina Thi, Pooja Bhatt was average with
Paap and Shimit Amin raked in some applause and the shekels with Ab
Tak Chhappan. But it was Farah Khan who took the cake with Main Hoon
Na. Among the failures, one can talk of Samir Karnik with Kyun Ho Gaya
Na, Kabir Sadanand with Popcorn Khao, Mast Ho Jao and Atul Agnihotri
with Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha. The real director of the year should go
to the late K Asif whose film Mughal-E-Azam captured the hearts of the
millions and the film managed to edge out Veer Zaara in collections
in some theatres as well. Sholay’s release had more meat, but it
was Mughal-e-Azam all the way.
EXCLUSIVE REPORT BY RADIO SARGAM
