Catching up with the new box-office trend

A terrible thakur, a village in terror, a rain of bullets and a ravaged bandit queen with revenge on her mind...Toss these ingredients together and you have the recipe for the latest box-office success formula. Believe it or not but its not always the star-studded, big-banner bonanzas that make the cash counters jingle in the interiors. After spine-chilling horror films in the Ramsay mould, sex education films and bedroom dramas, it's daku dhamakas that have recently caught the imagination of the masses in the villages and small towns and resulted in assembly line productions.

The trend began with the surprise success of films like Putlibai, Munnibai and Johrabai. And suddenly you had gun-toting and horse-hoofing lady dacoits like Ramkalis and Chamkalis exploding on the big screen. In the coming months audiences in the B and C-grade centers will be exposed to a barrage of such mass entertainers with Aakhri Dacait, Ganga Dacait and Hasina Dacait ready to hit the theatres with alarming regularity. Close on their heels will follow Daku Maharani, Daku Bhairav Singh and Daaka. Geeta Mera Naam, Saugandh Geeta Ki and are also looking to cash in on the rape-revenge formula while Bindya Maange Bandok, Mitaade Bindiya Uthaade Bandook, Shola Aur Barood, Bindiya Aur Bandook and Teer, Talwar Aur Bandook will fire their own bullets and create their own bandit queens.

Mehraj, the manager of Victory Films Enterprises whose Mitaade Bindiya Uthade Bandook will storm the theatres on September 15, admits that the producer of this film, LM Khan, decided to cotton into the rape-revenge formula despite the fact that his earlier film, Rahasya, a small budget suspense thriller had enjoyed a 15 weeks run in Mumbai, because "dacoit films are the rage today". However, Mehraj is at pains to convince you that their maar dhad dhamaka is not your usual bang-bang dacoit film. "It's different," he asserts persuasively. "For one the heroine of this film is not the dacoit, the villain, Hyder Ali is. He harasses the villagers and rapes the heroine, Poonam Dasgupta when she protests against his reign of terror. She refuses to cow down and gangs up with three city youths who incidentally are the look-alikes of Sanjay Dutt, Nana Patekar and Amitabh Bachchan, to destroy the man who has destroyed her life," Mehraj explains. He goes on to assert that while Mitaade Bindiya Uthade Bandook is a small-budget, mass entertainer it is not catering to only the interiors. "We're hoping to make an impression even in the metros like Mumbai. We are looking for name and fame and not just easy gains," he maintains.

Name and fame, that's the motivating factor for many such film-makers. Thakur Tapasvi, the director of Lady Dacoit, points out that had he and his producer Mohini waited to make a film with top stars like Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan they might well have waited all their life. But by making a Lady Dacoit with newcomer Seema Sidhu, they got the chance to live out their dream and carve a niche for themselves in show business. Today thanks to Lady Dacoit, Thakur Tapasvi claims that he's a known name in the industry and has already bagged his next film, Kaam Granth.

Lady Dacoit if its director is to be believed, has netted its producer Mohini over Rs 50 lakh from UP alone and another Rs 35 lakh from Punjab on a Rs 35 lakh investment. "I've had people telling me that after a long time they've seen a dacoit film with seven hit numbers," Thakur Tapasvi beams proudly. The film opened recently in Bihar and is scheduled for a September 8 release in Mumbai. Keeping in mind the growing audience for such films in Mumbai amongst the rickshawwallahs, bhajiwallahs, UP bhaiyas and the campus crowd, Tapasvi has reason to be optimistic.

Of course, all makers of such films honestly admit that their target audience are not in the metros but in the small towns and the backward villages of UP, Bihar, Punjab, Rajasthan and some border areas of Nepal. In such places dacoits and thakurs are a part of everyday life which is why it is easy for the audience packing the ramshackle theatres there to empathize with the wicked thakur and the ruined village belle. Such characters are so close to their real world that the story unfolding on screen could well be their own. "In fact, we make an effort to be as close to reality as possible. Our characters wear saris and dhotis and our heroes don't jump from 50 feet like the Khans of Bollywood even though they still have more fist-flying action than the soft, romantic musicals that are the favourite of the city slickers," points out KK Goswami whose sister Neelam has to her credit a Daku Dilruba and is now getting ready to launch Ma Thakurain with herself in the lead. Ma Thakurain is a story about the tussle between two thakur with a sprinkling of dakus.

There are many buyers for such daku drams today in towns like Jalgaon and Jabalpur. Though the best theatres in the small centers are still reserved for big budget extravaganzas while Mithun holds sway over the second best cinema halls, there are still plenty of halls left to screen our dacoit specials. "In the past there were only a few theatres and many big budget entertainers to fill them. But in recent times following the mushrooming growth of cinema halls and the box-office debacles of many much-hyped films, the extravaganzas are suddenly few and far between. In the circumstances these daku dramas serve as good gap fillers and help out exhibitors whose theatres would otherwise have been running empty," explains trade analyst Amod Mehra. "In fact, in the small touring centers many of which don't even boast of regular cinema halls, you can just put up a couple of bamboo poles, stretch out a white sheet, hire out a movie projector and get a film going."

Not only are daku dramas a viable alternative for exhibitors and distributors but for producers too they are an easy way to make a few quick bucks. " "You don't need to spend much on such films. You can put your heroine on a horse and shoot the film at Mumbai's Film City, Essel Studio, Chandivilli Studios or even in your own backyard. Most of these film-makers shoot their film on 16 mm and then blow them up to 35 mm. This way the cost is limited to Rs 15-30 lakhs and by selling their films cheaply for a lakh or two per territory, many of the film-makers manage to break even and sometimes even make a profit of Rs 2-3 lakhs," Mehra points out.

Interestingly, this genre boasts of its very own Aishwarya Rais, Madhuri Dixits and Manisha Koiralas. Sapna, Satnam Kaur and Durgesh Nandini are the right choice ladies for these dacoit dramas and it is their faces along with that of the cop and baddies that dominate the posters.

The heroes rarely figure in the publicity because, as KK Goswami points out, a hero for our film-going audience is still a Salman, Hrithik or Shah Rukh and they're way out of reach for producers like his sister. Kiran Kumar makes a saleable inspector or a thakur. Shakti Kapoor, Hemant Birje, Mohan Joshi and Raza Murad are usually the villains but the most-hated bad man is undoubtedly Joginder whose shrieks sends shivers up many spines and even drives the wild animals wild. Joginder who hit big time in the small centers with Ranga Khush Hau draws villagers in hordes to the theatres. They know that with Joginder around they will get to see a helpless village girl raped and half-a-dozen thakurs gunned down. Joginder with his matted locks, lustful, kohl-lined eyes and lewd gestures has his own fan following among the dehatis.

Those film-makers who can afford him usually opt for Dharmendra who even at sixty plus is still garam with the gaonwallas up and not very fussy about his choice of films. No wonder the Punjab da puttar is still one of the busiest stars in movie town, outpacing even his own sons, Sunny and Bobby.

Anil Nagrath is another actor whose name crops up often in the credits. "I'm doing a lot of films and playing everything from a thakur to a zamindar to a lala," Nagrath smiles. Does he enjoy doing films like Ganga Dacait and Daku Maharani? "I enjoy acting," Nagrath retorts. And returns to his bang-bang adventures.

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