TAG: Bob Christo TAG: Bob Christo
The ICC Cricket World Cup is taking place in a few Asian countries, and Mumbai is a host city. Given that cricket is akin to a religion in India, it’s understandable that no Indian producer is going to chance releasing a film in this period. Cricket will certainly stump any film’s chances of hitting a six at the box office.
What this means is that come April 2, there will be a glut of Bollywood films awaiting release. The first heading to our shores is the film Game. No, it’s not about sport. It focuses on the lives of four strangers – a drug lord, journalist, movie star and a politician, who are all murder suspects.
Set in Turkey, Thailand, England and India, the film stars Abhishek Bachchan as a drug lord. Bachchan has developed into a wonderful actor, after delivering countless flops at the start of his career. But he can certainly count some major hits since then, including Bunty Aur Babli, Bluffmaster and Sarkar. In Sarkar he is exceptional, pitting his acting skills against that of his father, Amitabh Bachchan, and walking away with the award honours. His co-star in Game, playing the chief investigating officer, is the highly talented Kangana Ranaut. She has delivered excellent performances in a variety of roles with some of her most memorable being in Fashion and Once Upon A Time In Mumbai.
Game is produced by Farhan Akhtar, an accomplished actor and director as well. His first directorial venture was the superb Dil Chahta Hai. He stumbled a bit with his remake of Don, but undeterred, he is now directing Don 2. His acting performances have been highly acclaimed in films like Rock On, Luck by Chance and Karthik Calling Karthik.
While Indians are enjoying the World Cup and looking forward to a spate of Bollywood releases, a tinge of sadness was felt by many Bollywood fans last weekend.
Popular Bollywood actors Navin Nischol and Bob Christo breathed their last on Friday and Sunday, respectively. Nischol, 65, started his career in 1970 with the film Sawan Bhadon and carved a niche as a popular matinee idol. In later years he became a sought-after character actor. He had a major hit with the TV series Dekh Bhai Dekh. His final performance was in the 2010 Imran Khan release Break Ke Baad, where he played the Khan character’s father. I met Nischol on a visit to Goa in 2000, when I stumbled across a film set at the Marriot Hotel. He was happy to know he had fans in South Africa.
Christo succumbed to a heart attack last Sunday.