Bhole Shankar special

This is a long posting… if you aren’t a Mithun fan then you can skip this one. Love you.

Wow, what a pleasant morning surprise... I was heading towards office passing Lotus Petrol Pump sans my morning cup of tea. Monday morning blues were closing in but something just caught my eye. You have to know that the wall next to Lotus Petrol Pump and the wall under the Juhu beach hoardings are my favourite spots to check out some ultra funny B-Grade/ Dubbed South/ Bhojpuri movie posters. To my amusement I saw Manoj Tiwari with none other than my favourite Mithunda in a Bhojpuri film called Bhole Shankar. Aaahh… this was better than caffeine and I had completely woken up from a long weekend.

Never did I imagine Mithun and Tiwari in the same frame mainly because I know the Bihar Jharkhand Motion Picture Association has banned all Mithun movies in Bihar and Jharkhand over a previous issue. However, apparently the producers paid a hefty amount to the association to get their film released.

The first thing I did upon reaching office was google Bhole Shankar and I was surprised at the amount of stuff available on the net. On the sets, synopsis, interviews, blogs, music launch, controversies, box-office collections in Bihar, and even anti-Marathi statements. Clearly, this was a big Bhojpuri film. A little more reading made me find out that it indeed was Bhojpuri cinema’s costliest film and most successful one at that too. Phew!!

This is Mithunda’s first Bhojpuri film and I cannot remember the number of times his character has been named Shankar/ Gauri Shankar in his B-Grade Ooty films. Considering the fact that Bhojpuri films aren’t anywhere close to path-breaking Shankar seemed so expected.

After reading the synopsis, the film seemed similar to the Dharmendra- Anil Kapoor starrer Humlaa but in a new avtaar. Post Deshdrohi (Maybe pre-Deshdrohi), this film also has some anti- Marathi statements. Mithun an underworld Don arrives in the nick of time and saves his brother Manoj from getting whacked by Marathi speaking goons (see video). He mouths, “Ek Bihari Sau Par Bhari”… wah wah. I don’t think the not-so-Bhole MNS idiots know about this yet or else I doubt the film would release peacefully in Mumbai.

Now I know it’s bad to insult different cultures but I must say that Manoj Tiwari has just two expressions in his entire acting career. Have a close look at the video and if you spot him in a third ham then I will give you a poster of Bhole Shankar personally autographed by the Lotus Petrol Pump staff.

I really want to know if the invention of the compact disc has caught on in the north… check out the music release picture and notice these guys just proudly holding up audio cassettes of the music. Haha… Look at what poor Mukesh Rishi is relegated to…

The one time famous Shailendra Singh apparently has also crooned a song for Mithunda after 20 years or so. Don’t know how good that is going to be.

Mithun will definitely be in his funny Yaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii best. Look at the pic where the director is explaining a scene to Mithun from a three page script. Ha!!

Judging by the promo, Bhole Shankar seems like your regular formula Gangamaiya ki saughand stuffed with fight sequences, songs (even Rajesh Vivek has a solo song) and a hamming mother. Can’t wait to watch it!!