Reflections - Masala films back with a vengeance : Bollywood News

But will this continue in future too?

Well, one can definitely see that happening. If audience is missing Salim-Javed today, especially after watching OUATIM, they could well have something to cheer about in future, courtesy a line up of films which have abandoned any aspiration to cater only to the elite and are thankfully thinking about the entertainment of pan-India audience. Ask Salman Khan fans and they would tell you that even with the limited promotional window of Dabangg so far, they would ensure that the film goes houseful.

Farah Khan knows this as well and was one of the early risers with masala action fares like Main Hoon Naa followed by Om Shanti Om. Critics be damned, she has gone ahead and also wrapped up a major part of Tees Maar Khan which promises to be yet another unabashed display of masala as never before. She also roped in Akshay Kumar for the street smart appeal that he carries and it is pretty much on the cards that this new found jodi would be catering to audience from Bhaagalpur to Bangalore.

Meanwhile Shah Rukh Khan too is bracing up for the sequel to Don which expectedly would be far more mass appealing than the remake of the original with which Farhan Akhtar kick started the franchise. Saif Ali Khan too has woken up to the power of 110 crore citizen base that India possesses and after working on a niche Kurbaan, he is now neck deep into Agent Vinod. For a film where the title itself is as desi as it gets, it would be interesting to see how the man would pull this off by turning it into an out and out masala fare without getting trapped into the gizmos and the gadgets of the world.

Karan Johar, who has lived in the world of pinks, reds and blues too has gone black and grey for his remake of Agneepath. He too well understood that going back 20 years in time was not a bad deal after all, especially when this masala flick starring Amitabh Bachchan has found cult status for itself. It should also do wonders for Hrithik Roshan (rumoured to have already signed the film) who would be more than willing to leave his Hollywood dreams aside after the debacle of Kites and concentrate on doing something that would bring him closer to the B and C centres of the country as well.

And the ones who are having the final laugh...

...could well be the Deol family. They have been claiming for at least half a decade now that their market has gone down due to multiplex cinema resulting in their extinction. For a family which has revelled on masala flicks for decades now, they decided to go by their conviction rather than follow market diktats. Even when they did so, their heart was not in place, as evidenced in a series of flops that Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol have seen year after year.

No wonder, today when the topmost actors in Bollywood are waking up to the tangy world of masala flicks, they are merrily going ahead with the shoot of Yamla Pagla Deewana. Well, for a film which has a title as desi as it gets, it does give good reasons for Deols to not just smile but also give out a hearty laugh.

Bollywood may have woken up to the cinema of yore only now but Deols seemed to have seen that coming from a long distance!

Reflections - 'Masala' films back with a vengeance