Bhojpuri Sholay

Bhojpuri cinema has done it again. It has notched a super commercial success where Hindi film maker failed. The Bhojpuri remake of Sholay called ‘Gabbar Singh’ is most intelligent adaptation with big stars and big names in it. It succeeded where Ram Gopal Verma failed. It created a classic with commercial success. The film tells the story of an army man going wrong and that explains why he wears army fatigue and is good at gun.
This film Gabbar Singh has been made by TV Czarina Ekta Kapoor and has her father the hero of yesteryears, Jeetendra, as Thakur Bladev Singh, now legendary role played by Sanjeev Kumar. And the Gabbar Singh is current Bhojpuri superstar Ravi Kissen with handle bar moustache! This is an interesting casting coup as for Jeetendra it is the first Bhojpuri film and for Bhojpuri film it brings the organized film making of the biggest TV software making firm Balaji and Ekta’s business acumen. Not surprisingly, it has met with huge commercial success. This is a big day for Bhojpuri film as more important than Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini acting in a Bhojpuri film as this marks the professionalization of the Bhojpuri films. The organized money and professional support will result in economic stability and weed out fly by night operator who have started making movies in Meerut style had held camera and laptop based editing software.
But more interesting is the fact that the comment made by a Bhojpuri film maker that only a film made by a Bihar/UP person succeed as they only understand the cinematic expectations of the region. Just by including a mandatory litti-chokha song and a buxom heroine one can’t ensure a success. Films are failing like anything. These overnight operators hire cheap equipment, less qualified technicians, compromise on sets and make up and ultimately depend upon locally available talent – all that do not conjure a workable solution. Just by sticking to Bhojpuri language one can’t ensure a commercial success.
The entry of big film makers (more than big stars) augurs well for the nascent film industry. But then the problem is low density of cinema halls and the very low entry fee to them in the state will always hamper the prospects of films being made and released exclusively for the region. The region loosely called poorvanchal has to wake up to the strong wave of local cinema and to cater to them must have their own version of multiplexes. The revolution in the way people of Bihar-UP watch films has to happen now. Governments of the two states have to realize that investments in more hall density will lead to massive rise in revenue. The limited prints (ten only) release of Bhojpuri Gabbar Singh has brought out this plight like never before. We must sit up and take notice.