Bachchan’s feat of clay

And in this industry, word-of-mouth has a stronger impact than film reviews and television interviews. The Star channels may have touted the film as the next best thing to the Independence Day, but after the release of Mrityudaata, the industry had to face facts. According to a poll conducted by Mid-day, Bachchan cropped up at number five in the 10 most-hated people list! Few demi-gods have had a fall so steep.

The failure also means that Bachchan’s aura of intelligence and invincibility has been dented. He is reported to have bypassed directors like Govind Nihalani and Shekhar Kapur in favour of Mehul Kumar on the reasoning that Mehul was attuned to the commercial ear and could deliver a hit a la Krantiveer. Also, Mehul is considered to be a good writer. Things started going wrong while the shooting was under way as Mehul leaned more and more on his previous success for inspiration. Prakash Mehra, the veteran director who gave hits like Zanjeer and Muqaddar Ka Sikander, says, "The movie looks like a leftover of Krantiveer. I cannot fathom what compelled Bachchan to work with Mehul Kumar. I am surprised by his ignorance."

What aggravated Bachchan’s woes was his attitude of leaving everything to the director once the script had been finalised. While this approach has won him the admiration of the industry, in this case, it backfired.

The other reason why the movie has bombed is that Bachchan deviated from the policy of having a well-known back-up hero and heroine. His last few movies had a second younger pair as an added attraction. But here, the movie was tailor-made for Bachchan, relegating the other actors to insignificance. The movie also fails on all other fronts. The direction is patchy and poor, the camera work is, at times, out of focus. The script is weak and the dialogues insipid. And other than the Daler Mehendi song, the rest of the songs are jarring on the senses. And for a comeback movie (though he insists he was only taking a break), one would have expected Bachchan to be there in the opening scene. That does not happen. He makes his entrance much later in the film, that too in the incredulous role of a drunken doctor who can’t walk in a straight line, but can carry out an operation with impeccable finesse.

While his performance has been as excellent as ever, it seems Bachchan has realised that his magic will not be enough. He has already stepped up the shooting pace of the next ABCL venture, Major Saab. The debacle of Mrityudaata will have severe implications for his company. Sold at Rs three crore per territory, the film looks unlikely to be able to recover that amount. The film would need to run house-full for 10 weeks to break even. That means, ABCL will have to compensate the distributors with Major Saab. But Bharat Shah of VIP Films asserts that nothing of this sort is likely to happen. "It is a one-way traffic. No one pays back. If you lose money, you lose it."

Whether ABCL compensates or not, its next ventures will definitely not command such a high price as the distributors have become wary. That may put the company in a deeper financial morass than ever before. But Balkrishna Shroff of Shringar Films which has distributed the film on behalf of ABCL does not think he is in a hot spot. "The film is average and the reactions have been okay. We are confident about recovering our costs," he says. Shah does not share his optimism. He believes any picture costing above Rs two crore is always too expensive. Adds Manoj Chaturvedi of ABC films, "Rs three crore is a wrong price to quote. His other movies will certainly not get that much. Expectations were high, but the film was okay. If it had not been over-hyped, it would have done better."

In fact distributors were waiting for the release of Mrityudaata before committing themselves to Bachchan’s other films, Major Saab and Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, because they felt the price being demanded was too high. Chaturvedi believes that even Bachchan’s market price will be affected. "The barometer has changed and Amitabhji has lost his charm," he says. According to him, Bachchan should stop playing angry-young-man roles and switch to angry-old-man roles like Dilip Kumar.

Mukul Anand, the director of movies like Hum and Khuda Gawah, also wonders whether the Amitabh persona is still as strong as ever. "The media has overdone the bit that Amitabh starrers failed because of other people. This time, with Mrityudaata, he is handling the project by himself and he has only himself to answer to," he says. Anand adds, "The problem is that he has succumbed to the need to be successful." But while the success of Major Saab assumes paramount importance in keeping ABCL afloat, Bachchan’s market price is not expected to plummet too much. He is a veteran actor and too big a name for a drastic fall. He has been condemned through the decades for various reasons, but that has never made him a lesser actor. Perhaps Mrityudaata has shocked the industry simply because a Big B film carries unrealistic expectations.

"Amitabh the actor cannot be written off ever. He is a force to reckon with," says Ramesh Sippy (see box). Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about Amitabh the businessman. Especially if Major Saab also flops.

How would they cast the big B?

Hrishikesh Mukherjee: "I never thought about creating a role especially for Amit. He has no specific image and you can cast him in any role. He has the talent to bring out the best from whatever role you give him. He is not so comfortable with romantic roles.

And is best in an emotional dramatic role."

Mukul Anand: "He has done what he wanted to do, proved what he wanted to. It has always been his decision. He is too conscious of his own persona. But the point is, what do you work with the past or the present. He may be a brilliant actor, but nowadays everybody is a brilliant actor."

Ramesh Sippy: "That is a very hypothetical question. Amitabh is a fine actor. You think of a subject and he will fit into it. He can expand on his persona. People have condemned him forever. That has not made him less of an actor. Amitabh the actor cannot be written off, he is a force to reckon with."

Prakash Mehra: "There are so many ifs and buts. Amitabh is a great actor and he has done very well even when the scripts were weak. But if I were to ever offer him a role, it would be that of an elder brother or head of the family with grown up kids. Of course, he will sings songs. But in Hindi cinema, even fathers can sing songs. Yes, he can still be a hero. It depends on the definition of a hero. A hero can be 75 years old or 20 years old."

"I need to make big-budget films"

Chatting with newsmen at Raj Mandir in Jaipur, Bachchan looked relaxed. Due to the initial hype a total of 326 prints, including 66 prints for the overseas market, were circulated.

But, when the film actually opened in the Pink City, audiences were in for a major disappointment. And apparently, so was the Big B. He denied having even seen the film, before it was released. And that was his final word on the subject.

On other subjects he was not so reticent. Bachchan admitted that his company was facing a financial crunch, because of which it had slowed down the purchase of audio rights of many films. "Also, the distribution of foreign films was not functioning properly," he confessed. "We are looking forward to ABCL spreading its activities in all fields associated with film-making. The only hassle is the lack of a proper creative team and someone to head the team," he added. Bachchan has a lot of confidence in the corporate culture that he thinks he has brought about in the industry. "It is essential to set up more corporate companies in the industry, in order to bring about professionalism in the industry," he said.

Asked if he would toy with parallel cinema, he said, even here, the problem of economics come to the fore. "I need to keep making big-budget films for my investors," he said.