Sex is hard to sell at the box office this year. After "Kiss Kiski Kismat", Mallika Sherawat is ready with "Bachke Rehna" where Rekha keeps her able company. NOT QUITE THE RIGHT SPLASH: Actress Illene in "Rog". ONLY SEX and Shah Rukh Khan sell in Bollywood, Neha Dhupia purred last year. Well, one cannot say about Shah Rukh, but in Bollywood-2005 sex does not sell. Ask countless kittens who gave it all, showed the right curves, gave the right pouts. All to no avail. Nobody was watching their skin show, played as it was to near-empty stalls. Be it South African actress Illene's "Rog" or Preeti Jhangiani's "Chahat"; or Dhupia's "Sheesha" or even Payal Rohatgi's assembly-line takes on sex in the name of candour in "Fun" or "Laila", no matter what Bollywood has shown, the films have been shown the door by cinemagoers. Yet these are no C-grade flicks put together in a hurry by Bollywood producers keen to squeeze out every penny of the sex towel in the wake of "Jism", "Murder" and "Hawas". While last year, cinemagoers found some novelty in a frank portrayal of sex on the silver screen, this year they seem to be suffering from an overdose. They no longer lust for sex. At least on celluloid. Last year when Mallika Sherawat went to town with her "single and ready to mingle " line to go with bare-back photos, everybody looked up interested. Ditto for Dhupia, who frankly admitted her first solo heroine film, "Julie" had no saleable name like Shah Rukh, hence had to make do with sex. The masses, long used to heroines claiming they had been cheated by the director in showing skin, appreciated her frankness. The film, blasted by the critics, won over the common cinemagoer. A tale of a girl ditched in love taking to Sin Street, the film opened the floodgates for all wannabe successful actresses, smart producers and directors desperate to score one hit.

Disastrous results If Karan Razdan had a reasonable outing with "Hawas" and "Girlfriend" - the latter stirring people with its tale of same-sex affiliation - this year Ashu Trikha tried the trusted sex-and-song formula with "Sheesha". What's more, leaving nothing to chance, he decided to have two Neha Dhupias in the film, giving himself an opportunity to increase the sex quotient. That he did. With disastrous results. The film sank faster than the time it took for its heroines to slip into negligible clothes. Much the same has been the case with "Rog". Mahesh Bhatt's film caught the attention of people for its melody. And some bold - read semi-nude - photographs of the foreign girl. The film, actually a love story of a cop, opened amidst expectations of another "Murder". No luck. The masses went back disappointed, as Illene's sex appeal, despite all her beauty, proved the equivalent of a ripple in a swimming pool. Much the same fate awaited the coming together of Manisha Koirala and Preeti Jhangiani in "Chahat - Ek Nasha". One, a former queen bee now trying to find something to fill her nostrils, the other, desperate after being edged out of the box office sweepstakes by sex kittens like Mallika and Neha Dhupia. Preeti gave it all - a rain dance, tiny costumes, bathing sequence, hot pants, etc. Nobody even feigned interest, and director Jaiprakash's film had to be taken off at most places within a week of its release. If anything, Preeti, who had started her career as a nice girl next door in Yash Chopra's "Mohabbatein", proved a bigger disaster than even her critics had anticipated. Much like the girl who started it all - Bipasha Basu. When she purred and pouted her way through "Jism", everyone thought she would fill in for the likes of Zeenat Aman and Parveen Babi. But a host of flops - "Rakht", "Rudraksha" - later, her 'Sensex' has nosedived. This year when she paired with old friend, Dino Morea, in "Chehra" the film found no takers whatsoever. The film arrived with a whimper, departed with a ghostly silence. Ash failed too However, if Bipasha was a big '0', she can take solace from the failure of the biggest of them all - Aishwarya Rai. The lady, known for two stiff lips, shed all her inhibitions in Leena Yadav's "Shabd", the story of a novelist sending his wife away to another man for his new work. The film, with a long lovemaking song, and a rain- drenched sequence, came a cropper in front of a no-star, yet successful "Page 3". If Rai failed to win over film lovers with her sex appeal, imagine the plight of the Payal Rohatgis or Anupama Vermas! If Payal's effort to bring to the screen spouse swapping's risks or a girl's attempt to use men in "Fun" and "Laila" failed miserably, Anupama Verma with fellow actresses for company in "Padmashree Laloo Prasad Yadav" did not do any better. The film was noticed only for Laloo, and no matter how many clothes and inhibitions Verma and company dropped, the masses refused to queue up. So, this year, unlike the past, sex does not sell at the box office. But those who swear by lust and love aren't giving up. In the pipeline are films like "Mazaa Mazaa" which talks of a "dream of a 15 year girl" (sic), "Bluefilm" where Mahesh Bhatt wants to prove that he can improve upon the average showing of "Zeher". Of course, he has "Nazar" too, with all its lip-smacking controversy surrounding Pakistani actress Meera. Or "Deh" where 20- something Amrita Arora attempts to woo 40-something Mahesh Manjrekar. Not to forget Mallika who is ready with "Bachke Rehna". Clearly, we have not seen the last of the skin shows. Bollywood is ready with more. The question is: Who is watching?

The Hindu
Friday, April 29, 2005