THERE WERE quite a few sparks flying in the city cinemas on Deepavali. The clash of the Titans - a three-cornered contest for honours - Hrithik versus Shah Rukh versus Kamal Hassan or should we say Vidhu Vinod Chopra versus Aditya Chopra versus our own K. S. Ravikumar.
Mission Kashmir, Mohabbatein and Tenali are clearly leading the hype race of the Deepavali releases with special screenings for select audiences. Chennai had a sneak preview of Tenali and Mission Kashmir on Deepavali eve and Deepavali respectively.
While the Tenali preview arranged by the producers for the press and select invitees, the Mission Kashmir premiered with a special screening by the Banyan as part of its Show Cause Club activities.
And Coke gave away tickets to its card-holders for Mohabbatein a special screening of Mohabbatein on Saturday. With Sify giving away free tickets to its netizens through the contests online to all these three flicks, the trio is clearly the cream of the releases this season.
The hype clearly has made the spenders put their money on the ``favourites.'' The pre-release buzz definitely ensures a one- time curious audience that checks in, stimulated by the hype.
Friday, therefore, saw all shows house full through advance bookings, with the men in black (black-marketeers) ensuring that the hype stayed intact. Early `House full' signs are, therefore, no longer indicators of the quality of the film. Nor are the labels-Fiza has seen through 5-6 weeks of running for just one reason.
The hunk whom they call Hrithik. Apparently, Hrithik plays a terrorist yet again. And it's a different terrorist he's playing in Mission Kashmir, he insists. He's not a confused sissy who runs away from home like the one he plays in Fiza. Here he plays a rugged deadly strong-minded fighter who has run away from home.
But the buzz on Kashmir is that it is Sanjay who has stolen the pizzazz away from the much-hyped Hrithik. Sanjay, incidentally, plays General Inayat Khan, who brings up Hrithik as his own son!
The film was shot on actual locations, in and around Srinagar, and on Dal Lake amidst a ``low-intensity conflict.'' The grapevine has it that, one-day the actors found themselves a few feet away from rocket- propelled grenades fired at the Secretariat.
And once, an actor playing a militant was mistaken for a real one by heavily armed security. ``Disaster was prevented in the nick of time''. The buzz also has it that the film release coincided more with the Infantry Day (which marks landing of Indian troops in Srinagar) than just Deepavali.
Mohabbatein, that comes from the house of the Chopras, pits The Big B with the King Khan and six new starlets all paired up for the glitz. Jugal Hansraj (of `Papa Kehte Hain'), Uday Chopra (from the family) and Jimmy Shergill with Kimi Sharma, Shamita Shetty (Shilpa's sister) and Preeti Jhangiani (the model and music video regular). There's also the ghost of Aishwarya Rai that looms large throughout the film preaching love.Our own Tenali has Kamal clowning around Jyotika and Devayani. The surprise element here is Jayaram. Kamal plays a Sri Lankan expatriate who undergoes psychiatric ``practical'' therapy from Doctor Jayaram.
With Kamal's flair for comedy and the proven record of the Kamal- K. S. Ravikumar combination (remember Avvai Shanmugi), Tenali is all set to rule the roost for sometime, among the other Tamil Deepavali releases.