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Male bonding is back as the favourite box-office draw with the
latest Hindi pot-boiler getting the age-old formula just right and
setting the stage for more to come. The Salman Khan-Govinda-starrer
"Partner" restores faith in on-screen male camaraderie as a hit
recipe to boost ticket sales.
"Do You Wanna Partner", asks the hit number from the film and
the cash registers have been ringing in affirmation ever since its
release, sending Bollywood into celebration mode.
"Partner" also marks the comeback of the original king of comedy,
David Dhawan.
Actor-politician Govinda has been struggling to regain his rhythm,
with his recent double-hero film "Bhagam Bhag" and multi-starrer
"Salaam-e-Ishq" failing to click.
Similarly, Salman, who has many two-hero hits to his credit, could
not save either "Jaan-e-Mann" - in which he helped co-star Akshay
Kumar get the girl (Preity Zinta) he himself loved - or
multi-starrer "Salaam-e-Ishq" from box-office drubbing.
After a phase when male bonding was mostly treated with mawkish
sentimentality in Indian cinema, today, films feature men either
crackling up the screen or just hanging out and brooding.
In films like Ramesh Sippy's "Sholay", Rajshri's "Dosti", Raj
Kapoor's "Sangam" in the 1960s and Kamal Haasan's Tamil film
"Anbesivam", friendship meant crying on each other's shoulders,
sacrificing and even dying for each other.
Male bonding found a new definition and direction in Farhan
Akhtar's "Dil Chahta Hai", where Aamir Khan, Akshaye Khanna and
Saif Ali Khan simply chilled out.
In the recent slew of films based on underworld or the police
force, the lead star often has a better on-screen chemistry with
his best pal that even overshadows his chemistry with his heroine.
In "Munnabhai M.B.B.S." and its sequel "Lage Raho Munnabhai" Sanjay
Dutt's scenes with his sidekick Arshad Warsi are hilarious and
sometimes heart wrenching.
"In the search for newer scripts, filmmakers are now going beyond
the boy-girl romances to explore and carve out newer themes and
relationships in movies," says box office analyst Komal Nahta.
Financially, it makes sense for filmmakers to hedge the risk on
more than one shoulder, especially as only a couple of stars are
crowd pullers.
So we have "Bluffmaster" that explores the friendship between
Abhishek Bachchan and Riteish Deshmukh and "Taxi No 9211" that
brings together two diametrically different personalities - essayed
by Nana Patekar and John Abraham.
But the male bonding in today's films is different from that in
yesteryears when friends would take up guns or even sacrifice their
lives for one another as in "Sholay", "Yarana", "Dostana" and "Amar
Akbar Anthony".
For example, a scene like the one in 1977's "Dharam Veer" where
Dharmendra and Jeetendra hold hands, look deep into each other's
eyes and swear undying friendship and love for each other is
unthinkable today.
The only exception is Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan playing to
the galleries as they hold hands in front of the homophobic
Kantaben in "Kal Ho Naa Ho".
The idea that that ultimate test and enduring hallmark of male
friendship is sacrifice as depicted in "Sangam", "Yaarana",
"Dostana", "Qurbani" and, of course, "Sholay", may have been
diluted but is still prevalent.
While films like "Dil Chahta Hai", "Dhoom", "Dus", "Bluffmaster"
and "Garam Masala" show that you can live for your new age
friendship but need not die for it, "Rang De Basanti" goes on to
depict 21st century celluloid buddies who gladly lay down their
lives.
During the shootout scene in "Rang De Basanti", Aamir Khan tells
Sharman Joshi to escape but Sharman, who has been opposing the idea
of them taking up arms, stays on.
Guys who stick up for each other are the latest obsession with
Hollywood too.
"The Longest Yard", a film about a group of prisoners who bond to
make their football team the best, is this season's flavour.
Unsurprisingly, "Partner" is inspired by Andy Tennant's Hollywood
movie "Hitch" (2005), a romantic comedy featuring Will Smith, Eva
Mendes, Kevin James and Amber Valleta.
In "Partner", Salman plays an expert on women who guides Govinda to
winning the love of Katrina Kaif. But Salman himself has a tough
time wooing Lara Dutta.
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On-screen bonding will be in full view in the Friday release "Cash"
which is one of many films slated to come out under the banner of
Adlabs Films Ltd this year. The Anubhav Sinha film is a high-octane
heist thriller set in Cape Town, South Africa.
The film revolves around an ace con artist, Ajay Devgan, who hires
a set of top-notch robbers - Esha Deol, Zayed Khan, Dia Mirza and
Riteish Deshmukh - to steal a set of priceless diamonds in South
Africa.
The group faces a threat from an underworld don, played by Suniel
Shetty, who is after the same diamonds and also from the head of
security (Shamita Shetty). How these three groups manage to thwart
one another forms the rest of the story.
By Priyanka Khanna
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