Urban gangwares continue to lure Bollywood

NEW DELHI: all right, but they encapsulate aconcoction which could well become a trendy Bollywood recipe.Ecstatic and very optimistic with the "hundred per cent returns"that , is garnering,debutant director Sujoy Ghosh says, "We experimented a lot in this film in termsof editing, cinematography. There is no formula that decides a flop or a runawaysuccess. One just has to go with the conviction that the story will do well. Soalthough we may have a theme that has been attempted before, my film works on anentirely changed format. The basic fact of cinema is how you tell a story. Ifyou grab the interest of the audience, then I guess that is the very key. I amvery happy with my product."Ghosh is not really bothered that hisfilm "may not reach audiences in the interiors of Bihar." On the fact that by its very urban-centricscope and an interspersing of English dialogue limits itself, he contends:"There was no misconception in our mind about the target audience. When a movieis being made, one has to be very clear about the market. And so we kept a tightcontrol on our budget and made it within three crore. This included publicity,production et al." Taran Adarsh, Editor,, reinforces what Ghoshsays. "Films like are verymetro-centric films and do well only in urban centres."Thepot-pourri of fun, friendship and love as delineated among a clutch ofthree-four friends in an urban milieu may not be setting the box-office aflame,but it continues to lure filmmakers. The gangwares formula as regurgitated in was first attempted some threedecades back by Guru Dutt''s brother with some success in. It starred Subhas Ghai andseveral other newcomers from FTII. unwittingly re-churned the theme in 1999 followed by, (2001), and (2002).Few thought wouldsell. According to industry sources, it could recover only about 60 per cent ofthe approximate five crore that went into itsmaking. had Saif Ali Khan play the precursor to his critically acclaimedrole in . In spite of being abreezy, pop-corn flick, it was a "losing proposal" doing marginally better than in recovering its costs., starringR. Madhavan, Namrata Shirodkar, Sanjay Suri, Jimmy Shergill, Sonali Kulkarnicould not recover the eight crore that was spent in its making. featured four starlets -- Vaibhav, Aamir Ali, Prashant Chainani and Yash. Like it tried to be experimental withan all-new cast, but sank without a murmur–star and all. turned out to be dishybecause it had more than just the right ingredients. Sterling performances by amega cast and music that still dots the charts ensured that the film was lappedup by the urban audiences. A or may not gross the kindof revenues that a or could because of their veryurban tone and setting, but what cannot be denied is the bottomline that if afilm is well-cooked, it will sell well, gangware, gangfare, or what haveyou.