A few bullet points before we bid goodbye to the Year of Hope. With sports stadiums, wedding venues and cinema theatres opening to full capacity, 2022 ushered in an anticipation of cheer.
But some thoughts must be addressed. With a decisive 2024 around the corner, politics is here to stay, deal with it.
Celebs who make political or social statements must be prepared for the consequences. Amitabh Bachchan kept sagely silent for decades after the Bofors episode but commented on FoE at the Kolkata International Film Festival when Yash Raj Films’ Pathaan was being smashed by the bhagwa gang and the green.
People usually wisecrack, “If I’ve upset both sides, then I must be doing something right.” January will decide if SRK and YRF can afford to smirk. Meanwhile, AB can’t wince when citizens put him on the mat, they too can exercise FoE.
Ayushmann Khurrana said Indians were intolerant of homosexuality to explain the failure of his film Chandigarh Karen Aashiqui. The audience in turn questioned if homo-phobia had anything to do with the failure of Anek, Dr G and Action Hero too.
Ayushmann’s fee, which was slashed by 50 per cent to hover around Rs 12 crore, may see a further cut when ticket collections don’t cover even his salary.
“Vanity working on a weak head produces every sort of mischief.” Jane Austen’s line fit many a head. The KajolRevathy duo, for example, that made Salaam Venky, one of the biggest disasters of the year. But so fuelled by self-importance that director Revathy was hopping mad at critics and the audience for not embracing her product.
Sajid Khan, who was sent to Coventry for sexual misdemeanour, had his obnoxious image cleaned up with Salman Khan hosting him in Bigg Boss. In the months to come, Sajid’s behaviour will flip the coin over his return as director.
Shehnaaz Gill (a former Bigg Boss participant) is said to be acting in Sajid’s comeback film and she’s already in the cast of Salman’s Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan. It’s all one big camp that’s backing Sajid.
This was the year when political rivals Jaya Bachchan and Shatrughan Sinha found themselves on the same side as both rooted for Mamata Didi.
I remembered Jaya when we lost Mulayalam Singh Yadav in October. She’d once told me how she was in a helicopter with MSY and he knew, “Every village, every corner of UP from up there.”
Jaya hasn’t played musical chairs and has remained firmly on the side of the Yadavs, Amar Singh or no Amar Singh.
The world opening up meant more movies tumbling into theatres and stumbling at the box office with the exception of three genuine hits in Hindi — The Kashmir Files, Bhool Bhulaiya 2 and Dhrishyam 2. It also saw premature celebrations like Uunchai being declared a hit when its lifetime recovery will be about Rs 30 crore against a cost of Rs 35 crore. The success party was as erroneous as giving Tabu the credit for Dhrishyam 2 when it was Akshaye Khanna in the driver’s seat as the top cop.
Notably, three films with a budget of Rs 15 crore (The Kashmir Files, Kartikeya 2, Kantara) minted money hand over fist. Kartikeya 2 collected Rs 150 crore worldwide, Rs 50 crore in Hindi alone, and Kantara fetched Rs 400 crore worldwide, Rs 90 crore in Hindi. Anupam Kher was a part of Kartikeya 2, so it has been a good year for him though not exactly a hat-trick.
Delightfully, unrestricted revelry meant bumping into Javed Akhtar on several occasions, including a function where he was the chief guest but forgot to turn up until he was chased over the phone, and at Divya Dutta’s new apartment for Ganpati celebrations.
With too much to watch on OTT and too little time to read books, Javed left me with this meaningful thought. Said he to me, “For every web series I watch, I must read a book. That’s the only way I’ll get to read all the books piled up by my bedside.”
Inspired by Javed Akhtar, I too will carry all my unread books into 2023 and hope to read them all.
Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author
