Chicago wins, box-office grins!

It''s a gamble which has shown that pre-Oscar publicity works in India. Chicago, directed by Robb Marshall and starring Renee Zelwegger, Richard Gere and Catherine Zeta Jones, has not only grabbed six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Zeta Jones, but is reaping a golden harvest at the desi box-office.
This, when Chicago was the only Hollywood movie to be released in India around the time of the Academy Awards to cash in on pre-Oscar buzz.
After opening in select cities across India on March 21, Chicago is already showing signs of a jump in collections. ‘‘Between Friday and Sunday, collections were steady. But ever since Chicago won more than a handful of Oscars, collections have risen by more than 40 per cent,'''' informs Tushar Dhingra, head of programming for PVR Cinemas, which is distributing the film in India.
Set in the 1920s, Chicago is the tale of chorus girl Roxie Hart (Zellwegger) who shoots her unfaithful lover. In jail, Hart meets Velma Kelly (Zeta-Jones), another chorus girl and murderess, who enjoys media attention and legal manipulation thanks to her attorney, Billy Flynn (Gere), who is billed as the king of the old ‘razzle dazzle''.
Soon enough, Flynn handles Roxie''s case as well, and Velma finds herself as old news as Roxie becomes the most famous murderess in town, and one who is on her way to getting out of jail and becoming a star. The two leading ladies, in turn, go through a series of attempts at getting what they both want: freedom and fame.
Chicago''s sweeping statement at the Oscars has once again put the spotlight on musicals, which have carved a niche for themselves in the history of the Oscars. Directed by Harry Beaumont, The Broadway Melody (1929) was the first musical to win the Best Picture trophy. In the 1960s, musicals really came into their own, with four films —West Side Story (1961), My Fair Lady (1964), The Sound Of Music (1965) and Oliver (1968) —winning the Best Picture trophy.
All That Jazz was the last musical to be nominated in the Best Picture category —till 2001 and Moulin Rouge. Meanwhile, Miramax, the studio behind Chicago, is now in the process of finalising deals to remake Guys And Dolls, the Broadway musical of the 1950s which was made into a movie in 1955. Well, going by Chicago''s success in India, that''s music to the desi box-office''s ears!