The big battle of Bollywood is here

By Lakshmi Balakrishnan

NEW DELHI, JUNE 16. ``House Full'': Two words that theatre owners across the city have been itching to say for some time. Now with the much talked about match between Aamir Khan's XI of undivided India and Sunny Deol's partitioned one finally on, these two words are finally on their lips and across ticket counters. Only, all those connected with the world of cinema -- distributors, theatre owners and, yes, the audiences -- are wondering if for once the result could be a draw.

While Aamir Khan's first production looks all set to bowl the audiences over with its surprise element of cricket, machoman Sunny Deol's sentimental love story too seems to have struck the right chord with Delhiites. And though both films have received a huge initial response with almost all shows up to Tuesday ``House Full'', the market is divided over which film will finally hit the bull's eye.

Despite being a long film, ``Lagaan'' seems to have gone down well with the audience. ``The auditorium literally turned into a stadium in the last hour. After a point of time, it was more like watching a cricket match than a film. The length just did not seem to matter,'' said a Karol Bagh resident who saw the film at Rachna on Saturday.

``Lagaan is a lethal mix of patriotism and cricket fever. After a long time we have a film which is finding favour with both the classes and the masses,'' says Saurabh Varma of Chanakya Cinema.

Some even go to the extent of describing the perfectionist Khan's film as flawless. ``Though a period film, it is very contemporary. For once, there are no bad Britishers and no scenes of freedom struggle. It is a youthful theme and the plot is simply catchy,'' gushes Ms. Meenu Kapoor of Pitampura who saw the film on Friday and then caught up with ``Gadar'' on Saturday.

As for the much talked about Deol magic, it is having its own effect. ``Gadar's release will definitely affect our business. Delhi and UP areas will be the most affected as the story revolves round characters that go down well with people here,'' says Mr. Uday Kaushish, owner of Sheila Cinema.

Too happy to call ``Lagaan'' a flop and ``Gadar'' a superhit is an official of Plaza Cinema. ``See after a week. Sunny will still be hot. How can you sustain for long by making people watch a gulli-danda match for an hour?'' says the manager, insisting that it is gulli-danda and not cricket that is played out in the film.

Irrespective of who wins this particular war, Bollywood might just emerge as the real winner. After a long drought of dud films, happy days seem here at last for tinseltown.

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