Trade Talk:  Salman’s Eid  Film Opens To An Underwhelming Boxoffice

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.