Revisiting the wish list of 2008: A reality check

AKSHAY KUMAR, AAMIR KHAN and SHAHRUKH KHAN

At the onset of 2008 some wish lists were put forth in the public domain and it indeed is a time to do a reality check. The ability to be able to throw up a possible surmise for the future to unfold in a coming year is in the nature of guesswork, based on the emerging trends. Viewed from this perspective, it indeed is a matter of pride that a prediction that was made on these pages, at the dawn of the New Year 2008 has indeed come true.

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The prediction related to shooting of a Hindi film on the ramparts of the Great Wall of China, and it has turned true with the release of CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA and the pride is further accentuated as it is the first film outside Chinese language that has been shot on the Great Wall of China and it should pave the way for more exchange between China and India.

The other prediction, which was made, however has not been fructified, rather in an anti-thesis it has further solidified. The prediction was about widening the canvas of the subjects and take Punjabiyat as a theme out of filmmaking. The situation is more in the sense of a glass that is either half empty or half full. It is owing to the fact that 2008 reemphasized the importance of Punjabiyat in the form of theme with the stupendous success of RAB NE BANA DI JODI, before being underlined in the form of SINGH IS KINNG, but a counter balance was provided to it in the form of GHAJINI which was not region specific theme, but it was more of a sordid saga of revenge.


Could the success of RAB NE BANA DI JODI be viewed dispassionately outside its association with Punjab and its success be interpreted as being the expression of the frustration of the average Indian male in not able to cope up with the demands of modernity, and to identify with the alter ego as also owing to the craze of dance among the female all over the country. If this is accepted as the fact then one could say that SINGH IS KINNG was the film, which had Punjabiyat as the subject, otherwise Punjabiyat also has started loosing it sheen. Where that too be so, then another of predictions that were made has turned into a reality in 2008.