Gangubai Kathiawadi is the fourth successful film which has proved the detractors of the big screen and of Bollywood terribly wrong. Just to refresh the memories of the frustrated souls who had written the obituary of the big screen in general and the Hindi film industry in particular, following the demise of one of its young leading men, Sushant Singh Rajput, in June 2020, less than three months after the Coronavirus pandemic and lockdown. With nothing better to do and with all the instigation from some equally frustrated souls from within the film industry (whose names need not be mentioned here because they are all too obvious), such idle minds lost no time in accusing some industry people of murdering Sushant! Alongside their ill-founded indignation and self-created venom for the so-termed murderers, they also declared that Bollywood had finished itself by harbouring such ‘killers’. They predicted that the audience would never patronise cinemas in general and Bollywood films in particular after this exposé.
Then came Sooryavanshi. It was the first major release after 19 months of cinema closure (with intermittent reopening in parts of India). The film took a bumper opening and went on to net almost Rs. 200 crore in a worthwhile innings at the box-office. The Rohit Shetty film was the first slap on the faces of the messiahs of doom. For, it had managed to pull the audiences back to the cinemas in spite of the Coronavirus fear. And it had amassed the huge collections notwithstanding the fact that cinemas were permitted to function at only 50% of their normal capacity.
The next big thing to happen to cinemas was Spider-Man: No Way Home (English and Hindi dubbed). The Hollywood film went on to write box-office history of sorts as it had a long and meritorious run at the cinemas in spite of the raging Omicron variant. Pushpa: The Rise Part 1 (dubbed), released in the same week as Spider-Man: No Way Home, was not a Bollywood film, but the Hindi dubbed version alone crossed the Rs. 100-crore mark. What’s creditable is that it was the saviour for cinemas during the period when the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus was spreading indiscriminately and, therefore, cinemas were being ordered to function at reduced capacities, by the state governments.
Last week saw the release of the woman-centric Gangubai Kathiawadi. With no hero in the film, it was left to Alia Bhatt to carry it to the box-office winning post on her slender shoulders. Perhaps, Kangana Ranaut might like to explain how a product of nepotism has been able to deliver a Rs. 100-crore film (it should touch the magical mark in the second week), that too, without resorting to cheap tricks like you know who. Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s genius was on full display in the film but the best part of its success is that what was thought to be a film from which the womenfolk will run miles away, is bringing the ladies to the theatres in hordes. Actually, those who thought that Gangubai was for men only, forgot that Bhansali is a maverick maker, not someone who sells sleaze. Even in a subject of a prostitute, he made sure that the ladies audience would feel comfortable. He showed so much in the film… and yet, he didn’t show anything. That’s his genius!
All in all, four films in four months — from November 2021 to February 2022 — have underlined that dogs may bark but Bollywood will continue to make its mark!