Desi action clicks at box office

Highlights

• Larger than life fight scenes, chase through narrow by-lanes and witty dialogues packaged together in films like Rowdy Rathore, Singham and Dabangg have brought back raw and desi-styled action which has set cash registers ringing.
• After the angry young man Amitabh Bachchan's action hits on silver screen (Zanjeer, Deewar, Coolie, Laawaris), the audience felt high-adrenalin rush in movies of Sanjay Dutt (Rocky, Khalnayak) and Sunny Deol (Arjun, Betaab, Ghayal).
• Later, Akshay Kumar (in Khiladi' series, Suhaag and Elaan) and Ajay Devgn (Jung, Vijaypath, Sangram) kept the audience enthralled with their high-octane movies. However, after a lull in between, action heroes are back in full force now, roaring at the box office with raw and 'desi'-styled action flicks which have received a thumbs-up from the audience.
• "There has to be a purpose for action and that comes from the script, the story line. In case of Ghajini, Aamir Khan had a reason - avenging the murder of his girlfriend (Asin) - to do all that action that he did," said trade analyst Vinod Mirani.
• "It is all about characters and story line that forms the action sequence in the film. People want to see the hero fighting," Mirani said.
• Akshay hit gold with Rowdy Rathore (earning approx Rs 119 crore) at the box office, Ajay roared with Singham which did a busines of Rs 140 crore, while Sanjay's Agneepath earned over Rs 190 crore. Sunny Deol is preparing for Ghayal Returns.
• "There was a time when Ajay, Akshay, Jackie, Sunny and me all were called action heroes and we lived in that era for a long time. And suddenly for us there was a period of no action... only comedy films were working. I was taken aback. It was surprising that time," Sanjay said.
• "I am happy that action movies have come back. The best part is that South cinema never forgot the genre," he added.
• The action genre was brought back to life by Salman Khan in films like Wanted (earning over Rs 92 crore), Dabangg (Rs 200 crore), Bodyguard (Rs 230 crore) and Aamir in Ghajini, which did business of Rs 190 crores.
• "There should be some sort of emotion and story behind the action sequences in a film. Audience should know why the hero or the villain is fighting," said ace action director and Movie Stunt Artists Association president Tinu Verma.
• "Once that is achieved, half the battle is won. In India people relate to emotions, that's why films work well at the box office," he added.
• However, certain action movies like Players, Tezz and Agent Vinod which adapted Hollywood technique in stunts, did not go down well with the audience.
• "The action in our movies down the years has been very raw and basic, considering we did not have the means to indulge in James Bond or Mission Impossible style high budget action sequences," UTV chief Siddharth Roy Kapur said, who produced Rowdy Rathore.
• "However, the driving force behind the success of an action sequence is the emotion and motivation - be it revenge for past wrongs, defending the honour of a loved one or an escape from a terrible situation," Kapur said.
• "As we graduate to larger budgets and slicker action, we should not forget that those emotions and motivation that need to drive the action still need to be in place. Without those basics, the slickest action sequence will ring hollow," Siddharth said.
• "The audience reacts not just to one guy beating up another guy, but to the reasons he has for doing so. So if the motivation that drives any style of action is clear, there is no reason why slicker action will not work," he added.
• Trade analyst Taran Adarsh said, "People want to see films they can relate to - masala, desi ones. Hence these films (Rowdy Rathore, Dabangg, Singham) are doing well. "That does not mean films like Players, Tezz are not made well... it's just about the preference of audience," he said.