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Cricket craze is gone: will the movie survive |
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| By Behindwoods News
Bureau. |
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March 26, 2007 |
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It is a movie that was made with only the
World Cup in mind. It was supposed to cash
in on the mindless and fanatical passion of
Indians for cricket. At a time when some movies
were backing out of their release dates fearing
the world cup,
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the producers of this movie were planning the schedules
to be able to make the release coincide with the peak
of the cricket fever. In a country where cricket has ceased
to be just a game (a leading cricket writer recently described
cricket thus, ‘one bloke with a lump of leather
in his hands trying to throw down three sticks and another
bloke with a piece of wood in his hand trying to protect
the sticks’) it only makes sense to mix cricket
with movies and…. you have a winner; its not that
simple. Aamir Khan did it with a lot of success back in
2001 in Lagaan but it need not work this time round.
In 2007, trying the magical amalgamation of movies and
cricket is Say Salaam India. Maybe this is the first time
you are hearing this name. Well, that is not without reason,
the movie has been shot on a budget which reportedly is
not much above shoestring. It stars two actors/models
who at their peak were strugglers at best. Now, at least
four years past their peak (which had nothing much to
write home about) they try to register success. The rest
of the cast consists of a handful of boys picked up by
the director.
Hat Trick, the movie that had released a weekend back
too had used cricket, but more as a ‘metaphor’
according to director Milan Luthria. But Say Salaam India
is centered on cricket. Given the cricket frenzy in the
country trade pundits were giving this motley team a chance
at the box office. But all that seems to have faded now.
Maybe the movie has come a weekend too late. By the time
the movie hits theaters the Men in Blue (Indian cricket
team) will have landed in India to ‘God only knows’
what kind of reception after a World cup performance devoid
of pride, courage and character. Effigies burning, houses
under siege, careers facing the axe- Indian cricket has
not seen worse days in a long time. Amidst all this you
have a movie releasing that has a team of underdogs (wearing
blue jerseys) rallying to defeat a team of brats (wearing
yellow jerseys-Australia).
Barring a miraculous defeat of Bangladesh at the hands
of (a bunch of Saturday afternoon children’s park
amateurs- as a cricket analyst described) Bermuda, Say
Salaam India will sink without a trace maybe even without
a proper release and that will be the end of the cricket-cinema
combine for quite some time. At least until the Indian
cricket team picks itself up and does the country proud.
By the way, if the producers of Say Salaam India are listening,
it might be a good idea to let the movie remain in the
cans until the Men in Blue see better days. The gamble
might just pay off.
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