16 |
O C TO B E R 1 8 , 2 0 0 9
think!
ART
GOES POP
LIFE-SIZE PAINTINGS of Rajnikanth
compete with works by Indian masters,
while Hollywood collectibles jostle with
books on art at the new Osian store
Karthik Balasubramanian
■ letters@hindustantimes.com
A
n incongruous simian from
Tim Burton’s Planet of the
Apes greets me as I enter
Osian’s art shop at Vama, the
plush, exclusive store at
Pedder Road. An elegant, slim-fingered
hand pokes out of a rude gauntlet; it
takes a beat to realise the ape is a man-
nequin dressed up in one of the movie’s
(original, as I discover later) costumes.
As I walk further inside the store,
this strange blend of elegance and pop-
art is reinforced.
Another mannequin, dressed up as
the killer from Scream, leers out of its
death mask at an ornately framed paint-
ing of a woman praying (by S G Thakur
Singh) across the corridor.
As I wander around, I suddenly feel
giddy. Six Rajnikanths. A whole wall
devoted to full-length Rajnikanth paint-
ings. When one Rajnikanth is usually
more than you can handle. An insane
desire to buy one of the Rajnikanth
paintings seizes me.
I’ll get the money, somehow, I prom-
ise myself. Then I’m told they are not
for sale: they are part of Osian’s per-
manent archive.
Osian’s is an art institution that was
established in 2000. Its many activi-
ties include art auctions, Bollywood
merchandising, film festivals and pub-
lishing, to name a few. This store, which
opened two weeks ago, also sells books
on art and culture; sculptures; litho-
graphs and oleographs from major
printing presses of the past, like Raja
Ravi Varma’s Karla and Malawi press-
es; and the Calcutta Fine Art litho-
graphic press.
Every couple of months, the serious
art works displayed adhere to a cen-
tral theme (this month, it’s religion).
In a shrine in the interior of the shop,
there are rare works by great Indian
masters like V Gaitonde, Nandalal Bose
Single… and lovin’ it
THEY WERE
edged out slowly
by the multiplexes.
But the success of
Wanted has
brought single
screen theatres
back into the
reckoning
Roshmila Bhattacharya
■ roshmila.bhattacharya@hindustantimes.com
J
ab mein ek baar commitment de
deta hoon to uske baad khud ki
bhi nahin sunta (Once I make a
commitment, no one, not even I,
can change my mind),” declares
Salman Khan with all the bravado of a
Bollywood action hero. The theatre
bursts into a cacophony of claps, cheers,
and ceetees (loud whistles).
You must have guessed the movie in
question — Wanted. And that this scene
was played out, not in a plush multi-
plex, but in a single screen theatre, the
kind that you perhaps stopped fre-
quenting many moons ago.
The theatre we’re talking about is
one of Mumbai’s most famous single
screens, the 1,000-seater Galaxy at
Bandra, and the celebrations were
reflected in the ‘House Full’ board out-
side. Having crossed the Rs 50 crore
mark in four weeks, and still going
strong, Wanted is on its way to becom-
ing one of the biggest hits of the year.
It is theatres like Gaiety that have
fuelled the film’s box-office success.
Wanted, an action film in the undilut-
ed Bollywood tradition, is not your
slick, smart ‘multiplex movie’; it is
aimed at a far more inclusive audience,
drawn from multiplexes as well as small
theatres across the country. It is, if you
and M F Husain.
But there is something distinctly
post-modern about Osian’s space. Apart
from the innermost area, kitsch and
refinement are not strictly segregat-
ed. So the Rajnikanth paintings are
part of the same permanent collection
that enshrines Husain’s and Bose’s
works.
Curator and art connoisseur Neville
Tuli, who conceived of Osian, has never
been chary of blurring the distinctions
between pop-art and high art. In an
earlier exhibition, he put up a paint-
ing by Gaitonde alongside a film poster,
the idea presumably being that an art-
work is an artwork is an artwork. And
in this shop, Bollywood memorabilia
and Hollywood costumes soften the
somewhat daunting, sometimes con-
fusing quality of the serious artworks
on display.
I tear my eyes off the six Rajnikanths
and discover two posters of Mughal-
e-Azam; closer inspection reveals they
are canvas originals from which the
posters were reproduced. An indent-
ed section of the wall is devoted to
other classic Bollywood film posters:
I spot Chor Bazaar, Mahal, Namak
Haram and more.
At the entrance to this nook, on a
stand, is a huge tome splashed with
photographs of Amitabh Bachchan.
The coffee-table book recreates the
entire course of Bachchan’s five-decade
long career. On the opposite wall sit a
pair of paintings of Biblical scenes by
Rajan Kakkanadan.
THE GARGOYLE AT THE
ENTRANCE
But are these works affordable? Will
a visit to Osian’s be an extended exer-
cise in window-shopping? The happy
answer is yes to the first question, no
to the second. Some of the Bollywood
memorabilia carries a price tag of a
reasonable Rs 2,000, and there are
children’s books available for Rs 60.
■ MASS VS CLASS? Single screen theatres contributed to 65 per cent of the
business of Wanted (top) — an out-and-out entertainer starring Salman Khan.
On the other hand, the hip, urbane Wake Up Sid (right), derived 85 per cent of
its business from multiplexes.
wish, the antithesis of the urbanised,
Westernised multiplex movie.
As Manoj Desai, owner of Gaiety,
puts it in tradespeak, “Wanted is a
mass entertainer, revolving around a
clear-cut hero and heroine with no con-
fusion in the plot. Not surprisingly, it
struck a chord.”
Utpal Acharya, Vice President,
Programming and Distribution, Inox
Leisure Ltd, puts figures to the divide:
“Single screens contributed 65 per cent
to the business of Wanted, as opposed
to 35 per cent from multiplexes. With
Ghajini, the ratio was 55:45 in favour
of the single screens. But with Wake
ARTS&SCREENSAVER
■ FEELING KITSCHY? Six full-length Rajnikanth paintings adorn a wall at the Osian bookstore, which also has classic Bollywood posters (below)
IN THIS SHOP, BOLLYWOOD
MEMORABILIA AND
HOLLYWOOD COSTUMES
SOFTEN THE SOMEWHAT
DAUNTING, SOMETIMES
CONFUSING, SERIOUS
ARTWORKS ON DISPLAY
There is also an early work by Subodh
Gupta, priced at Rs 8 lakh. It seems
the struggling young artist had once
tried, and failed, to sell it for the pal-
try sum of a thousand rupees. Now, I
am not at liberty to divulge the price
at which Osian’s acquired it, but I can
tell you they got it for a song.
Perhaps you could pick up a future
masterpiece here. The Tim Burton
ape at the entrance might make you
think you are entering a fun-house,
but it is a gargoyle protecting the
icons in the inner sanctum. At the
very least, a visit to the Osian store
should serve as a splendid introduc-
tion to Indian art.
Up Sid, it was 85:15 for multiplexes.”
Trade analyst Amod Mehra agrees,
pointing out that Love Aaj Kal, which
collected Rs 34 crore in its first week
in India, netted Rs 25 crore from the
multiplexes, while Rs 25 crore of
Wanted’s Rs 31 crore earnings came
from single screens.
Wanted’s producer Boney Kapoor,
who’s popping the bubbly, points out,
“At multiplexes, the producer-dis-
tributor’s share goes down with every
passing week. But at single screens, if
the going is good, a producer can earn
up to an 80 per cent share even in the
third or fourth week.”
CULTURE CONNECT/ALL ABOUT SHOWBIZ
MORE FOR LESS
Any discussion on the subject of sin-
gle screens vs multiplexes eventually
boils down to simple economics. To get
down to basics, a 1,000-seater single
screen theatre, with tickets priced at
Rs 50, brings in Rs 50,000 at full occu-
pancy.
In comparison, a packed 400-seater
multiplex screen will net a minimum
of Rs 8,000 since its ticket prices are
S U N DAY H I N D U STA N T I M E S , M U M B A I
approximately four times higher.
In addition, says ------------,
“Multiplexes can run 15 to 20 shows
a day as compared to the four or
five shows at single screens. So,
while the number of patrons may
be higher at a single screen, it would
take it a week or two to get the
kind of takings a multiplex would
gross in a couple of days.”
On Sundays and national holi-
days, multiplexes can add extra
shows and hike prices by up to 30
per cent (with governmental sanc-
tion), bringing in even more rev-
enue.
That explains why, in recent
years, most film-makers have
focused on multiplexes and there
are not too many of the “mass
entertainers” that Desai talks
about.
Desai adds that, while most
single screen theatres in the
city have upped their admis-
sion rates to Rs 150 and even
Rs 200, he would rather pro-
vide families with an
evening’s entertainment
that’s not too hard on the
pocket, with tickets from
Rs 55 to 100.
“A regular moviego-
er won’t grudge spend-
ing Rs 200 for four
tickets on a flop movie.
But if his budget were
to go up to Rs 1,000,
he would feel cheat-
ed,” reasons the veteran
exhibitor.
THE NEW ART FILM?
Also, it isn’t easy to make a movie
that can bring in two very different
audiences. “Multiplex movie is just the
new phrase for the ‘art film’ of old,”
says Mehra. He adds, “Comedy and
romance work equally well in both the-
atres though action has a definite edge
with the masses.
A Ghajini or a Wanted, though, would
be a big draw at upmarket theatres as
well if they catch the fancy of the youth,
who comprise 80 per cent of the mul-
tiplex audience."
KUNAL PATIL / HT PHOTOS
TOP BOLLYWOOD GROSSERS
SINCE 2000
114.80 Ghajini (2008)
86.78 Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008)
79.42 Om Shanti Om (2007)
77.86 Dhoom 2 (2006)
73.47 Krrish (2006)
NOT ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION
IN 2009
66.35
Love Aaj Kal
56.95 Wanted
47.48 Kambakkht Ishq
46.10 New York
41.92 Kaminey
* ALL FIGURES IN CRORES
* GROSS COLLECTIONS IN INDIA
SOURCE: BOXOFFICE INDIA
( )
Wanted is a mass
entertainer, revolving around a
clear-cut hero and heroine with
no confusion in the plot. Not
surprisingly, it struck a chord
MANOJ DESAI
owner, Gaiety theatre
With the single-screen crowd, movie
reviews are not really a criterion; even
four-star reviews fail to bring in the
crowds. Word-of-mouth publicity and
recommendations from friends, not
critics, work best here.
Devang Sampat, Vice President
Marketing, Cinemax India, Ltd., offers
another insight: “The location of a the-
atre could be a determining factor too.”
He explains, “Wanted is a big hit in
Cinemax, Mira Road; Hollywood movies
find favour at our theatre in Andheri
(East), while the multiplex in Goregaon
gets a full house for Wake Up Sid.”
Desai, who insists that he’s not going
to convert any of his six theatres —
Gaeity, Galaxy, Gemini, Gem, Gossip,
as well as Maratha Mandir — into
multiplexes, asserts that it’s not the
end of the road for single screens.
Says he, “The two will have to co-
exist and contribute equally to the
box office to give the industry real
blockbusters.”