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By:

Kiran D. Tare

21 August 2024 at 4:53:13 pm

From Doctor to Box-Office Disruptor

Vishal Chaturvedi has turned a deeply personal spiritual story into one of 2026’s biggest box-office surprises. In an industry where films routinely arrive with star salaries running into crores, lavish sets and multi-crore marketing campaigns, Hanuman Ansh is a striking anomaly. Made on a shoestring budget reportedly in the region of Rs. 2 crore, the ‘spiritual’ film opened last month to a modest box-office collection. Within weeks, however, audiences began taking a shine to the film with...

From Doctor to Box-Office Disruptor

Vishal Chaturvedi has turned a deeply personal spiritual story into one of 2026’s biggest box-office surprises. In an industry where films routinely arrive with star salaries running into crores, lavish sets and multi-crore marketing campaigns, Hanuman Ansh is a striking anomaly. Made on a shoestring budget reportedly in the region of Rs. 2 crore, the ‘spiritual’ film opened last month to a modest box-office collection. Within weeks, however, audiences began taking a shine to the film with the phenomenal result that its domestic collections had surged past the Rs. 150 crore mark. Whatever the final tally, the fact that a film made for a fraction of the budgets of mainstream Bollywood productions has emerged as a major commercial success has raised eyebrows. The man responsible for this is Vishal Chaturvedi, a doctor-turned-filmmaker, writer and producer whose route to cinema has been anything but conventional. Chaturvedi was born and brought up in Lucknow and completed his MBBS from Gorakhpur in 2006. While posted in Haldwani that year, he visited Kainchi Dham. It was there that he encountered the teachings of Neem Karoli Baba, the spiritual figure whose life and philosophy would eventually become the foundation of his first feature film. For almost two decades, the thought of making a film around Neem Karoli Baba remained with Chaturvedi. His journey towards Hanuman Ansh itself reportedly took nearly 14 years. Along the way, he left medicine and even gave up music before committing himself fully to filmmaking. What might appear in retrospect as an overnight success was therefore anything but overnight. Hanuman Ansh tells the story of Lakshminarayan, who would later become Neem Karoli Baba. Following his mother’s death, the young Lakshman leaves home in search of God. His journey through forests, temples and villages becomes a gradual renunciation of worldly life and a movement towards spirituality. The film also incorporates episodes associated with Neem Karoli Baba, including the famous account of a British train being stopped after he was forced off it. But perhaps the most revealing part of Chaturvedi’s story is not what he put into the film, but what he deliberately kept out while writing it. He removed digital devices from his room and wrote the story entirely by hand. His assistants subsequently photographed the handwritten pages and converted them into digital form. He spent nearly 45 days writing the first scene alone. For Chaturvedi, however, the first scene was the foundation of the entire film. Once he had found it, the rest of the screenplay came together rapidly, taking another 15 to 20 days. Hanuman Ansh was the culmination of a personal conviction that had survived for nearly 20 years. Its success also raises a larger question about the changing economics of Indian cinema. The film is unlikely to signal the death of stars, spectacle or big budgets. Nor does every low-budget film with a strong idea automatically become a blockbuster. But Hanuman Ansh, alongside other recent successes such as Dhurandhar, points towards something increasingly important: content can create its own market when audiences feel they have discovered something worth talking about. The old model depended heavily on pre-release visibility. The new one increasingly depends on post-release conversation. A film need not necessarily dominate advertising if audiences themselves become its marketing department. That is particularly significant for films operating outside the traditional Bollywood template. Hanuman Ansh does not have the conventional ingredients of a commercial blockbuster. Its subject is spiritual, its central character is not a contemporary superstar and its budget was tiny by industry standards. Yet its audience appears to have expanded precisely because it offered something different. Today, audiences are becoming less willing to accept that the size of a film’s budget determines its value. They can reject an expensive production and embrace a modest one if the latter connects emotionally, culturally or spiritually. For Chaturvedi, the irony is striking. A man who walked away from medicine to pursue filmmaking spent years chasing a story that the mainstream industry apparently did not rush to embrace. That makes Hanuman Ansh’s success more than a box-office curiosity. It is a reminder that while budgets and big-name stars may buy scale and draw attention, the belief among audiences that a particular film is telling a solid story and hence must be seen is priceless. Chaturvedi appears to have spent years building his belief around one story. Judging by the box office receipts, the audience, too, seems to have bought into it.

Singing diva passes into eternity

Quaid Najmi
Apr 12
3 min read

Mumbai: Veteran playback singer Asha Bhosle - of the legendary Mangeshkar clan - passed away following cardiac complications and multi-organ failure at the Breach Candy Hospital on Sunday morning, her son Anand Bhosle announced.

 

She was 92. She is survived by her children and grandchildren, as well as her siblings Hridaynath Mangeshkar, Usha Mangeshkar and Meena Khadikar, and other family members, many of whom are associated with the entertainment industry. Her elder son Hemant Bhosle succumbed to cancer in 2015 while a daughter Varsha died by suicide in 2012.

 

Decorated with the Padma Vibhushan, Dadasaheb Phalke Award and Maharashtra Bhushan Award, besides two National Awards and numerous other domestic and international honours, Bhosle’s last rites will be performed on Monday afternoon at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Park crematorium.

 

Her mortal remains will be kept for public darshan at her Lower Parel residence for three hours before being taken in a procession to the crematorium. She will be accorded a funeral with full state honours, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said.

 

Singing Record

In a singing career spanning over seven decades, Ashatai - as she was reverentially known - recorded more than 12,000 songs in Hindi, Marathi and nearly two dozen other Indian and foreign languages.

 

Born on September 8, 1933 in a remote hamlet of Goar in Sangli, Ashatai began her singing career at the age of 10 with the Marathi song “Chala Chala Nav Bala” from the film ‘Majha Bal’ (1943), to support her family, alongside her elder sister, the late Lata Mangeshkar who died in February 2022.

 

When barely 16, she defied her family to elope and marry 31-year-old Ganpatrao Bhosle, her personal secretary, but the alliance ended in separation in 1960. Later she married legendary music director R. D. who passed away in January 1994.

 

After singing many songs in Marathi for five years, Asha got her first break in Hindi cinema with the song “Sawan Aaya” from the film ‘Chunariya’ (1948), as part of a trio, followed by her first solo number ‘Raat Ki Rani’ (1949). Over the decades, she continued to experiment with her voice and musical styles, building an extraordinary and enduring legacy.

 

Distinct Identity

Initially overshadowed by Lata Mangeshkar’s ethereal voice, Asha crooned on to carve out a distinct identity helped by her husky voice with a nasal timbre, versatility, expressive and wide-ranging vocal style - capable of traversing silky melodies to powerful crescendos, disco, pop, rock, classical and adapting effortlessly to diverse genres.

 

Her repertoire ranged from soft songs, romantic melodies, peppy cabaret numbers to disco, rock, pop to exhilarating qawwalis, soulful ghazals, divine bhajans and classical compositions. She remained a favourite of masters of the baton like O.P. Nayyar, R. D. Burman, and worked extensively with Ghulam Mohammed, S. D. Burman, Ravi, Shankar-Jaikishen, Madan Mohan, Kalyanji-Anandji, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, and the younger crop of Anu Malik, Jatin-Lalit, A. R. Rahman, and others.

 

Ashatai went on to explore private albums, fusion projects and international collaborations with leading artists, constantly reinventing herself to remain relevant across changing musical eras. Her prolific output and sheer body of musical works earned her a place in the Guinness World Records (2011).

 

News of her passing triggered a tsunami of grief with tributes from across the country with top ruling and opposition political leaders, Union and state ministers, film personalities, corporate figures and millions of fans, mourning the loss of a voice that defined generations of Indian music.

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