Amrita Rao probably believes that talent, and not marketing, sells, and her folly ensured that we got to see her delightful comedy film 'Welcome To Sajjanpur' with the hall almost to ourselves, just a week after the film's release!. Photo Credit: UTVSawf News Exclusive
vijainder.k.thakur@sawfnews.com
October 04, 2008, (Sawf News) - Amrita Rao probably believes that talent, and not marketing, sells, and her folly ensured that we got to see her delightful comedy film Welcome To Sajjanpurwith the hall almost to ourselves, just a week after the film's release!
Not just Amrita Rao, the other talent packed into the film - Shyam Benegal, Shreyas Talpade, Ila Arun and Ravi Kishan - probably have the same mindset, a pity!
Welcome To Sajjanpur is probably the most undersold recent film. It is estimated to have been made at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore, and marketed with a budget of Rs 4 crore, though how the marketing funds were spent is a mystery to us. Probably to entertain the leading print media in five stare hotels!
Not that it did any good, because the leading print media chose to focus more on M F Husain's praise of Amrita's performance in the film, rather than appreciate her portrayal of Kamla on their own.
The film is claimed to have grossed Rs 6.5 crore in its first week, a figure we are inclined to take with the proverbial pinch of salt, going by the empty hall that we encountered in the NCR multiplex.
Anyway, back to Amrita Rao, the lass who appears to be completely focused on building an impressive body of work, rather than promoting herself as the best under 30 actress in Bollywood today, which she is, with due apologies to the almost equally talented Kapoor motor mouth Kareena!
Incidentally, Kareena is giving her motor mouth a rest and instead using her brought back from oblivion elder sister Karisma Kapoor to promote herself, and her equally brash journo bashing beau Saif Ali Khan, maybe because she is finding it a challenge to impress Aamir Khan on the set of 3 Idiots.
Amrita's performance in her past two films, Shaurya and Welcome to Sajjanpur, was impressive not just because of the confidence with which she faces the camera but also the carefully measured tones with which she delivers her dialogs. It is hard to think of any other actress who can match the restrain and measure with which Amrita speaks on screen.
Amrita, 27, packs more than just good looks and superb histrionic abilities. She has one of the finest sense of style and sartorial taste in Bollywood today.
Unlike past Benegal leading ladies, like Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil, Amrita can straddle commercial and art of cinema with greater ease because of her higher glamour coefficient, but it remains to be seen if she can emulate Rekha, the only Benegal favorite who rose to the top in Bollywood.
We are just happy that Benegal is considering Amrita for more films.
Amrita's upcoming films include
Ajit Pal's Victory, in which she plays a small town girl from Jaisalmer who is a medical student with a modern mindset. She co-stars in the film with Anupam Kher, Gulshan Grover and Harman Baweja.
Neeraj Vora's Shortkut in which she plays a completely glamorous girl and co-stars with Akshaye Khanna, Anil Kapoor, Arshad Warsi, Sanjay Dutt and Simi Grewal.
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