Superstitious directors turn to the ‘number game’ by misspelling their titles
Why does “Dabangg” have a double ‘G’? Why was “I Hate Luv Storys” grammatically misspelt? Why the redundant ‘A’ in “Raajneeti”, “Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai” and “Jodhaa Akbar”? Answer: Numerology. A quick recap of all these and many Bollywood commercial potboilers indicates a numerological connection with their success…
Numerologist Sanjay B Jumaani explains, “Dabangg” has a double G, so that it adds upto 16 that is, 7, which is a number of compatibility. It released on September 10 (1+0 = 1) as 1 is Arbaaz Khan’s (the producer) number and also the number of immortality. “IHLS” was spelt that way to have it added upto 7. Number 7 is compatible with number 2, which is Karan Johar’s number. He claims, “Today, most filmmakers get their film titles numerologically arranged. And it does impact the film’s success. Past few months, only those films which have had numerologically balanced titles have done well.”
The uncountable ‘S’ in the forthcoming “Hisss”, additional A in “Kajraare” and the supplementary Y in Vipul Shah’s time-travel comedy “Action Replayy” further second that Bollywood is vibrating with favourable octaves and calculated numeric compounds. Vipul Shah recently cited numerological reasons for the extra Y in his upcoming movie. “It’s because of numerology that we have altered the spelling of the film. We all are superstitious, so we have kept the name according to numerology,” he was quoted as saying.
Numerical evaluation of a title seems to be routine even amongst the top names in the industry. When Rakesh Roshan had to launch Hrithik, he agreed to insert the extra ‘A’ in “Kaho Naa Pyar Hai”. The film broke records, making Roshan junior an overnight rage. A series of flops/average hits later, Hrithik had to be sort of re-launched by dad, again in “Koi Mil Gaya” that began with Rakesh’s lucky alphabet ‘K’, and totalled to 1 (10 letters), which is Hrithik’s number. Shah’s “Singh Is Kinng” too had a numeric value attached to it, while Ashutosh Gowarikar pasted an extra A for the luck factor in “Jodhaa Akbar”. He had also consulted Jumaani for “What’s Your Rashee”. “I asked him to change it to “What’s Your Raasshi”. Gowarikar found this spelling a bit bizarre, and didn’t listen to us,” Jumaani recalls. Guess this time he doesn’t wish to take any risks, which is why his “Kheeley Hum Jee Jaan Sey” and “Buddha” are sorted number wise. Seems like you got to be wrong to get it right!
Yet, nothing can save a bad film from sinking. Countless extra alphabets (read “Karzzzz”, “Yuvvraaj” and “Right Yaa Wrong”) is no default green chit for success. The numbers can probably ensure, say, saving a face. “Kambakkht Ishq”, for instance, was nowhere close to, what they call, a critically acclaimed film, but did set the cash registers ringing.
There’s a lot at stake when one makes films, so taking recourse to superstitions and being calculative helps. So, filmmakers resort to interesting spellings to meet the demands of numerology. Why will they mind the grammatical error? After all, they learn… err… earn a lot from such mistakes.
