Ganapath teaser: #MeToo accused Vikas Bahl directs Tiger Shroff and his veins
Ganapath is a slated for a Dussehra release (photo-DailyO)
Tiger Shroff has unofficially created his own cinematic universe in Bollywood as at this point, his action flicks are visually indistinguishable from each other. Ganapath whose latest teaser dropped today (February 22) seems to be no exception.
In the 35-second-long clip, the camera zooms in on his veins which spark up with lightning and reveal the October release date. Quite an absurd use of the VFX team indeed.
An action franchise
The title reveal in the teaser also points to an action franchise as the Tiger Shroff-starrer will be officially released as Ganapath Part 1. KGF much? In fact, the brownish-yellow colour palette of Ganapath’s world also seems to be reminiscent of the Kannada franchise (or even the upcoming Animal which will star Ranbir Kapoor).
So, first there was Heropanti and its sequel. Then came the Baaghi trilogy. Shroff is also a part of the YRF Spy Cinematic Universe with War (although spoiler alert: his character dies). Now, with Ganapath, the Tiger Cinematic Universe will encompass yet another action franchise.
Vikas Bahl is directing Ganapath. Wasn’t he cancelled?
Slated to cash in on the Dussehra season this year, Ganapath is directed by Vikas Bahl. Once known for helming critically-acclaimed films such as Chillar Party and Queen, Bahl fell from grace in 2018 when he was one of the many names to be caught in the Indian #MeToo wave.
A former employee of his production company Phantom Films had accused him of sexual harassment during the filming of Queen. Since then, Phantom got disbanded with co-founders and fellow directors Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane issuing formal statements against Bahl and the allegations on him.
However, with no criminal proceedings against him, Bahl is slowly making his way back into the limelight. While Super 30, his biopic of IIT-JEE coach Anand Kumar (featuring Hrithik Roshan with a shameless amount of brownface), did suffer some release delays, it still managed to gain rave reviews.
Bahl returned last year with the family drama Goodbye that starred Amitabh Bachchan. With Bahl also writing and producing, Goodbye did get some positive reactions from the critics but failed at the box office. Ganapath Part 1 will yet again be produced by Bahl under his new studio Good Co Productions.
Who else is in the cast?
The teaser reveals that Tiger Shroff’s frequent co-star Kriti Sanon will be starring alongside him while Bahl’s Goodbye collaborator Amitabh Bachchan will be appearing as Ganapath’s mentor in an extended special appearance. IMDb adds that Malayalam actor Rahman (who also acts in Tamil and Telugu cinema) will also be a part of the cast.
What is Ganapath about?
The plot is unclear but by the KGF-style aesthetic, it might brand Tiger Shroff as yet another “angry young man” antihero. Tiger’s voiceover is again as cliched and vague as it can be,
“Mujhe na toh ladai pasand hai, aur na hi ladne wale. Soch raha hoon kisko pehle khatam karoon.”
(Translation- I neither like fighting nor those who fight. I’m thinking who should I finish first.)
What does Ganapath’s box-office forecast look like?
With over six months left for its release, it is too early to predict the box-office fate of Ganapath. As it is, no other Bollywood film has been announced on the date of October 20. The other big action flick of the year other than Pathaan is, of course, Tiger 3 which will release a month later in November. Meanwhile, Ranbir Kapoor’s gangster drama Animal will be released a month earlier in August. So for now, Ganapath seems to have no major competition.
But given most of Tiger’s action filmography (especially with the first Heropanti, War and all Baaghi films), Ganapath can very much be a commercial hit. And again given most of Tiger’s action filmography, Ganapath can very much be a critical dud.