Ghayal Once Again (which has been talked about for months) goes up against Sanam Teri Kasam (which I never heard of before today) this Friday!  Who will win!  Who will lose!  I will make a guess but I have no idea if it is correct!

But I do know the random trivia related to these films which I am about to drop on you is correct and, I think, interesting!

I talked about Ghayal Once Again before, how poor Sunny is a victim of changing box office trends which make his hardcore rural northern young man audience meaningless in the face of the growing multiplex fans.  And how he has roped in Soha Ali Khan to play his multiplex friendly heroine.  But, it hadn’t occurred to me until today, they actually have a connection that goes a ways back!

My first thought, of course, was that Soha is way way too young to act opposite Sunny.  Sunny is almost 60 in real age, and like two generations ahead of her in movie star age.  He started in the 80s, was then bumped down to “the older generation” by the actors launched in the 90s (the Khans, etc.), and then bumped down again by the actors from the millennium, including Soha.  Sunny opposite Priety (like in Hero: Love Story of a Spy) feels a little odd since they are a generation apart in film star terms; Sunny opposite Soha feels really odd since they have a whole 90s era generation between them.

But then I saw a thing today which reminded me that Soha’s Mom and Sunny’s Dad actually worked opposite each other!  Like, a lot!  It’s one of those weird connections that comes up all the time in the Hindi industry.  In this case, it is especially odd, because Sharmila’s daughter and Dharam’s son seem like totally different generations, both in real life and on film, but that was not the case with their parents.  Sharmila started acting so young, just 18 in Kashmir Ki Kali, her first mainstream role, and only 13 in her first film with Satyajit Ray, and then Dharam started so old (for an Indian actor in the 70s), getting his first roles at 25 and not really making it big until 26-27.  Plus, Sharmila always felt so sophisticated and cool onscreen, and Dharmendra always felt so young and sexy, that even in Chupke Chupke, when she was 29 and he was 40, they seem like a matched pair.

But in real life, Sharmila married kind of late (well, late for a woman in India in the 70s.  23.) and Dharmendra married kind of early (for a guy.  19).  And then Sharmila put off kids a few years, while Dharmendra started having sons immediately.  And Soha is her youngest while Sunny is Dharmendra’s oldest.  So you suddenly end up having a 20+ year age gap between the two.

And that’s just talking real life!  In terms of film life, Soha put off her launch until way late.  She wasn’t in Dil Maange More (fantastic movie, by the way.  Shahid mugs his way through the whole thing, doing an over wrought SRK impression) until she was 26.  Meanwhile, Sunny launched at 24 in Betaab, 21 years earlier.  And now here we are with Ghayal Once Again, feeling completely unbalanced, and like it is people separated by a whole generation, even though their actual parents were the same generation both in film and in life!

(And super hot together too!  At least in Chupke Chupke.  That chauffeur’s uniform, wah wah wah!)

Sanam Teri Kasam has nothing like this, because it stars two total outsiders.  And no advance buzz, because it stars two total outsiders.  Apparently, an actor from the south and an actress from Pakistan?  It looks like your standard young love film in the Aashiqui vain.  Only, Amitabh tweeted the trailer this morning?  Why?  What’s it got to do with him?  He said “good luck Kareem” and apparently a “Kareem Khan” is listed as one of the producers, but I have no idea who that is or what connection he has to Amitabh.  Maybe he used to bring him coffee on set of some film 5 years ago and he asked Amitabh to tweet the trailer as a personal favor?

Of the actual people involved in production, the ones listed on IMDB and stuff, the biggest name is Himesh Reshamiyya, the singer/actor/composer/producer.  He’s the composer for this, which is actually my favorite of the many hats he wears (that’s a really clever joke, if you know that he is famous for wearing a baseball hat), so I am kind of excited!  Also, the directors apparently were the force behind the picturization of “Tera Mast Mast Do Nain”, which is one of my top ten favorite love songs ever.  So there’s your trivia for that film!  Some sort of random connection with Amitabh, and probably great songs.

(Hat)

(Love song)

Going into Valentine’s Weekend, which of these films will win?  The one which stars people with odd cross-generational connections that don’t really serve to support their love story, or the one with two total unknowns and a great soundtrack?  I’m going to say….NEITHER!  They are both total junk films being dumped on a dead weekend.  Fitoor‘s coming out next week, and that’s going to kill them both.  It’s got the political content and action that Sunny fans crave, and it’s got the swoony romance with bigger stars and a better soundtrack than than Sanam Teri Kasam.  And just in case there is any box office left to mop up, Sanam Re with Rishi in a character role will pick it off.

Sorry Ghayal Once Again and Sanam Teri Kasam!  In my opinion, your box office collections will be as trivial as this trivia was.  And I think that is probably your opinion as well, since you were both scheduled for an earlier release, and then got moved to the early February deadzone where even an Amitabh tweet can’t save you.