Mcb777 APPChalte Chalte, Bhoot end Bollywood's dry spell

Bollywood's dry spell is finally over as Bhoot turns into a huge hit and Chalte Chalte opens to packed houses.

<arttitle><i>Chalte Chalte, Bhoot</i> end Bollywood's dry spell</arttitle>

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript" src="Config?Configid=43376741"></script> <img align="left" src="/photo/29628.cms" alt="/photo/29628.cms" border="0" />It''s raining hits in Bollywood. From campus capers to ghost stories to marital discord, these days everything seems to draw in the crowds. "The dry spell is finally over," says trade analyst Taran Adarsh, as Bhoot turns into a huge hit and Chalte Chalte opens to packed houses. "Bhoot proves that you don''t need songs to make a film a success," says Ram Gopal Varma, whose Rs 6.5 crore scare fare has reportedly done business worth Rs 8 crore within 10 days.The current spate of hits has seen moviegoers digesting everything from a standard college romance in Ishq Vishk and a well-crafted drama of campus violence in Haasil to cliched love triangles (Andaaz) and a vague concoction of DDLJ and Saathiya called Chalte Chalte. "Every genre seems to be finding an audience," says trade analyst Amod Mehra. "But we''ve seen such bad times, any film that takes a good opening is called a hit." "It''s the kind of trend we saw in the early 90s," says Adarsh. "But this is good news, considering that the first quarter of the year was disastrous. Except for Jism, we didn''t have a single hit. Theatre occupancy was down to 10 per cent. But now people are coming to theatres and seem open to watching good films irrespective of star cast. The future seems bright for films like Jhankaar Beats and Supari. Then there''s much awaited Sooraj Barjatya film like Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon." Most forthcoming releases will test the receptivity of audiences to new ideas. Rakesh Roshan''s Koi... Mil Gaya injects an element of science fiction into a standard Bollywood flick, while Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost deals with the advent of electricity in a Rajasthan village. Mani Shankar''s Rudraksh combines elements of mythology with a thriller, while Boom''s casting of Bo Derek and Padma Lakshmi might prove to be a bigger attraction than its story of "fashion world meets underworld."</div> </div>

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