Disastrous Nishabd

The disastrous opening of much hyped Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘ Nishabd’, starring Amitabh Bachchan and the sexy siren Jiah Khan, at the box office on Friday has made the whole film industry truly Nishabd (speechless). The exhibitors are in a state of shock as the collections on the first day was around seven percent at New Empire and going maximum to twenty eight percent at Cinemax, Sion. At most of other theaters the collection was well below twenty percent on the first day itself.
Trade analysts are attributing this dismal performance at the box office to several factors associated with the film industry. As one analyst puts it, ‘the pre- Holi period is always considered as thanda, in terms of collections. Secondly, this kind of love story does not appeal to Indian viewers. The audiences in India are very orthodox and can not accept it. Lastly, Ram Gopal Varma’s credibility has taken a backseat in recent times. It is a reality that in India, such stories cannot be accepted. There are certain things that can not be shown publicly.’
In fact, the audiences, who did see the movie, were of the opinion that they could not relate to the theme of the film which was quite unrealistic. The director has dealt with a complex subject in a childish fashion. Others felt that it was a poor adaptation of ‘ Lolita’ which was a bold movie. In ‘ Nishabd’, Ram Gopal Varma has avoided the sexual angle completely and has tried to give a philosophical touch to relationship between Amitabh Bachcan and Jiah Khan.
In fact, the film has Amitabh playing the part of a photographer, while Jiah Khan is his daughter’s friend and comes over to stay with them. In the meantime, she is attracted to Big B and slowly Amitabh too feels himself attracted towards her. But in the whole process sexual element is completely missing and that is what audiences could not fathom. Some sexual overtures on the part of Big B could have changed the outcome at the box office. After all sex sells!

SOURCE : STARDUST