The Hindi film industry has rolled over into 2009 on a high. And now all eyes are on the Akshay-Deepika duo in Chandni Chowk to China, which releases today. This is the one that Warner Bros has been waiting for (its smaller venture last year Saas Bahu aur Sensex was a flop). The box office performance of the film, the first Hindi movie to be shot on location in China, is not only important for the producers (Rohan Sippy has co-produced); it will also determine the quantum of interest other Hollywood studios show, in putting money in the Indian market.

Last year’s top grossers Jodhaa Akbar, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, and Ghajini all had a mega-print release. CC2C is also outing with about 1,350-1,400, all formats, globally: what’s the bet it will overtake the Ghajini mark?

The numbers of prints, the high-decibel, continuous publicity, and the box office receipts are all grist to those guys who sit and crunch numbers. Overwhelmingly, it’s all of this which determines the fate of the films, and in the din, everyone, including discerning audiences, forgets to assess them on other crucial metrics. Quantity jumps over quality with hob-nailed boots, beating it to the ground.

Like other huge successes of similar nature, Ghajini’s take-no-prisoners-steamroll over the box office has become a weapon to bludgeon all criticism. The argument – if it’s made so much, it must have done something right – is usually hard to counter, especially in these recession-hit times when A-list Bollywood is reportedly taking pay cuts, and helping rationalise production costs. Even the discerning viewer, who pointed out the flaws in what was really a pumped-up old-fashioned revenge saga dressed up to look new, is forced to hold her peace: who wants to fight with the might of money?

This point is poised to hover over the new year during which two things will happen: the big movies will get bigger, and the small movies will get smarter. Both are financial imperatives. The only way a CC2C, or say, a Kambakht Ishq (another Akshay starrer which is being graced by Hollywood stars like Sylvester Stallone, and a few others, and which is already talking about being ‘bigger’) can get ahead of the line, is to start underlining, with as much shrillness as possible, the ‘we-are-the-biggest-slogan’. No one talks about being ‘better’, because that is an assumption made, quite often erroneously, by both those doing the tom-tom-ing, and those listening.

Funnily, the same goes for the ‘small’ (high-concept, low-budget) films. 2009 will be the year when small films will stop coasting on the fact: just because you’re small, doesn’t automatically mean you’re good. Last year’s clutch of small films was a seriously mixed bag, and not everything deserved to be out in theatres. Dasvidanyia, yes. Oh My God, no. Both had Vinay Pathak, that king of indie movies, in leading roles. He played the average Joe in both: in the former, he discovers he is dying; in the latter, he just wants to get rid of his millions. Both had several supporting actors in common. But only the first made the critical cut, even if it vanished off the screens too soon; the second didn’t pass muster.

This writer’s wish list for 2009 is simple. I’m all for tent-pole extravaganzas. Movies are of no use if they do not entertain. But what all of us want are checks and balances where the number crunching goes side-by-side with quality control. Production houses which talk of creative freedom should actually give their directors a free hand, instead of just measuring the film’s ‘commercial’ weight. Kitna (how much) may not replace kaisa (how), but unless a balance happens, we are going to be submerged in bilge, which will bring home the bacon, but will do nothing in terms of adding value or prestige to the project and its players.

The mid- and small-budget ventures need to break out of the box they seem to have bound themselves in. Big stars are looking at interesting content with more interest than ever, so scripts can have both sense and glitz. There are actors who are only looking at doing different, and those are the ones who will carry this segment this year: the first week of February will see Anurag Kashyap’s take on the Devdas story, Dev D, starring Abhay Deol: the promos are out, so is the music, and it certainly looks different.

But there’s one thing that needs to be common on both sides of the divide. Running time, running time, running time. If it takes you longer than this to cut the flab from your film, you are so yesterday. Even the best films that made their presence felt last year went on and on. And on. What’s needed is scalpel-precise editing, which gives you what you want, and nothing you don’t.

Just fyi, CC2C is all set to regale you for two hours, twenty-four minutes. Too long, or just right? Walk into your neighbourhood multiplex to find out.

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