Dr Rajiv Vijayakar

The times are a-changing for Bollywood.

The formulas won't work anymore. Add to it the general recession and the mafia's continual hold on the film fraternity, business as well as creativity are at an all-time nadir.

Trade analysts have now realised that the audiences follow a simple rule of thumb -- they endorse a film that holds attention for its length and touches them. There is no loyalty to any fixed genre.

Chandni Bar and Dil Chahta Hai rewrote convention as much as Lagaan, and clicked. Gadar was a cleverly- padded formula film that touched raw nerves by its taut look at a slice of history. And Raaz redefined popular taste, just as Style and Yeh Dil Aashiqanaa did.

Here's a closer look at the going-ons in Hindi cinema today:

Scripts, not directors or stars, are the heros:

If flops made directors look for 'safe' formulae in their next films (Sanjay Leela Bhansali opted for Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam after Khamoshi), hits made them take success for granted (David Dhawan with Kyo Kii... Main Jhuth Nahin Bolta, Priyadarsan in Yeh Teraa Ghar, Yeh Meraa Ghar).

Only Ram Gopal Varma kept churning every kind of film, regardless of its box office outcome.

Today, everyone has realised that the film's true hero is its script. Technical razzmatazz, item songs, stunts, computer graphics, star-roster and chartbusters cannot compensate for a bad script.

Manufacturing designer hits aimed at specific target audiences is fatal (Yaadein, Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein) and the status of a filmmaker counts for nothing except for getting an opening draw.

Reasonable budgeting:

The economics have taken a turn towards the sensible and moderate. As Tanuja Chandra says, "In these days of great recession, we have already made a table profit on Yeh Zindagi Ka Safar. Though the film did not run, no one lost any money."

Kasoor was yet another example of a plus film as it was made and sold on a medium budget, while Chori Chori Chupke Chupke¸ funded by slush money, also took on a success tag thanks to its reasonable pricing.

Chandni Bar was billed a greater hit Gadar because of the selling price-collections ratio, though the figures slipped to 23 per cent of auditorium capacity by the fourth week. Dil Chahta Hai, thanks to its huge pricing, is considered a hit only in the metros.

Shah Rukh Khan and his co-producers Juhi Chawla and Aziz Mirza sold Asoka for one-third the normal price commanded by a Shah Rukh Khan film. This ensured that Asoka was a profitable venture even if not a hit in the audience sense.

Distributors, financiers and even music companies are now looking at a more realistic picture. Tips -- the leading name in the film audio business since 1995 - has received crippling blows from the money it has paid Subhash Ghai for Rahul and Yaadein, and to Rajkumar Santoshi for Lajja, and has shrewdly led the way in slashing cassette and CD prices and has shown the music market a rare vibrancy in these bad days with the success of the Raaz soundtrack.

As for stars, despite the Hrithik-Aamir-Shah Rukh reign and post-Gadar Sunny euphoria, even the fancy guesstimates of Rs 30-50 million have been shown to be what they are -- complete hype.

SRK has categorically said that he has always charged Rs 3.5 million a film for many years now, and he, Hrithik and Amitabh prefer to make money through ads and shows.

Quick Production

Continuity, reasonable costs and freshness are key words in the industry today. You cannot stretch your schedule to two or three years.

Shrewd directors know that pre-production is the area where lots of time should be spent, if at all. This thus automatically puts an end to the monopolistic reign of a few stars.

Multiple Productions:

Even established makers like those of Yash Chopra, Rajshri (who are working on an English film), Mukta Arts and Vashu Bhagnani are branching off into multiple ventures.

This ensures a steady stream of films, security for the staff, covers bets in case a film flops, and leads to separate teams working efficiently on a variety of projects.

Lot of new blood is flowing in too by way of talent -Yash Chopra's new films have music by men like Jeet-Preetam and Rahul Sharma, while Vashu has introduced directors like Ashu Trikha, Gautham Menon and Anupam Kher.

Remakes Are Taboo:

There was a time when remakes of Southern/Bengali films enjoyed a very high success rate. Today it's another story. While Bengali remakes are virtually defunct, the Southern remakes no longer hold the appeal and success potential of a Milan, Ram Aur Shyam or Sargam.

A rare Hera Pheri and Biwi No 1 apart, most recent remakes of even massive Southern hits, like Nayak, Yeh Teraa Ghar Yeh Meraa Ghar, Bulandi, Aashiq and Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein have bombed.

And no dubbed or bi-lingual film has succeeded after Hindustani five years ago.

Southern film star Chekravarthi has admitted that the sensibilities of the North are vastly different. His production Durga will be released even in the South as a normal Hindi film!

Multiple Singers:

The trend of getting multiple singers for a film, even for one hero or heroine seems to work.

Says Viju Shah, "Today's consumer wants his favorite singer on the album, so it is assumed that more albums will sell if more singers are there, as every singer's fan will buy them. In their time, films like Vidhaata and Karma with ten singers or more were rarities. Today, a film with only three or four singers is considered not only odd but also risky. There is also an unwritten layering of singers - graded into various cadres like the top-sellers [Alka Yagnik, Sunidhi Chauhan, Udit Narayan, Sonu Nigam], the second-grade veterans [Kumar Sanu, Kavita Krishnamurthy], the trendy 'young' voices [Jaspinder Narula, Shaan, KK], the specialists [Richa Sharma, Sukhwindara Singh] and the also-rans [absolute unknowns, strugglers as well as past top names like Sadhana Sargam or Amit Kumar].

Every film preferably must have combinations of at least the first four groups.

'Guest' Composers:

Defintion: Composers who step in because the original composer cannot deliver.

Anand Raaj Anand, for example, is called in to infiltrate. Sanjeev-Darshan's inadequate training is highlighted by absolute novices stepping in as guest composers, like Adnan Sami in Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke and Nitin Raikwar for Style.

Anything for a hit song, seems to be the motto. Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam, has six composers, while Aankhen takes the cake for attributing a single tapori song Phateli jeb sil jaayegi to three music directors -- Jatin-Lalit, Aadesh Shrivastav and Nitin Raikwar!

Title Taglines:

It's here to stay, though it originally began as a ploy to circumvent title rights. When Raj Kanwar could not get Yash Chopra to part with Daag, he called his film Daag-The Fire.

Suneel Darshan used Rishtaa (a title registered by Indra Kumar) to get Rishtaa-The Bond Of Love. Later he amended it under pressure from the Association of Producers to Ek Rishtaa-The Bond Of Love.

But Gadar - Ek Prem Katha, Jaal - The Trap, Jaani Dushman - Ek Anokhi Kahani are only the beginning of many more to come.

The Number Game:

The use of extra letters and unconventional spellings is said to be a foolproof aid to success.

Unfortunately, this seems to be working only for Ekta Kapoor's TV serials. Numerology, present in sporadic cases in the past, is now endemic.

A demoralised Sunil Shetty is now Suniel Shetty (Suneil Anand never made it!). Karriena Kapoor (in Asoka) did not work and Lady KK is back to the phonetically apt Kareena after K3G.

And a whole lot of hilariously spelt films are on the way, like Ppaltan. Even Anu Malik (who remains the only successful example of numerology seeming to work magic a decade ago) and Sonu Nigam have changed their names to Anu Maliik and Sonu Niigaam!

The Crossover Films:

Thanks to Aamir Khan's commitment to quality and vision, and his belief in our cinema's appeal, Lagaan is a sell-out among the non-NRI population overseas in all its 3 hour-42 minute glory.

This makes it the first crossover Indian film, and more representative of Indian cinema than all the festival films of Satyajit Ray, Shyam Benegal and Mira Nair. This is probably the most promising trend going today, and Aamir has proved that - like Awara in USSR 50 years ago - Indian films have not only an audience among non-Indians but also the power to take on Hollywood!