The shockingly low boxoffice figures of Salman Khan’s new release Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan(KKBKKJ) has sent shock waves across the film industry.
Was Pathaan a freak blockbuster?Or is the audience in no mood to please Bhai on Eid and would rather stay home to watch Amazon Prime Video stunning true-crime docu-series Dancing On The Grave? Patrick Graham’s Dancing On The Grave is actually a dance on the grave of Bollywood. It mocks all the traditional concepts of entertainment , it belittles the belief that documentaries are not spellbinding. It is much more than an engrossing true-crime series.It is a cautionary tale , one so balanced and non-judgemental that even the honorable judge who makes an appearance at the end, is given a chance to explain why this crime fell into the ‘rarest of rare’ category.
Rarest of rare,is what this docu-series is. Without taking sides it tells us why it is important to value what we have and to not lose it for what we think is a better life.Respect your light ignore the darkness. Some would disagree with this thought. But when a woman is as rich and beautiful as Shakereh Khaleeli she is bound to have gold diggers around.
Salman’s film also falls into the ‘rarest of rare’ category, although for all the wrong reasons. It is the first completely anarchic mainstream Hindi byproduct or should we say Bhai-product. Of late Salman Bhai has done some pretty chaotic films . His only non-mediocre works in recent times are Sultan and Bajrangi Bhaijaan.
KKBKKJ scrapes the bottom of the barrel. The film, if one may call it that, is abysmally short of fresh ideas. There is no evidence of a directorial intervention anywhere in this bhai-product.
It’s a free-for-all experience. And Bhai’s team knew it. All preview shows were cancelled a week before release.
Contrary to what was reported, there was no celebrity-screening scheduled of KKBKKJ on Thursday evening.And no, Salman Khan did not cancel the screening in deference to Mrs Yash Pam Chopra’s death . All shows, including the screening for family and friends, were put on hold till Friday morning when the film was released.
Early indications are, KKBKKJ will be a huge setback for the film industry and another blow to Salman’s stardom. He must work with better directors. And he must stop ghost-directing his films.