“There’s no publicity like mouth publicity!”

– AAMIR KHAN

Aamir Khan is thrilled with the success of Lagaan. “Even I didn’t expect it to be so big,” he says modestly, sipping coffee and eating samosas in his office. What has also gladdened the actor and debut-making producer is the manner in which the industry has reacted after seeing the film. “They’ve all been so nice and warm. Subhash-ji (Ghai) telephoned me and said, ‘Aamir, it’s a perfect film.’ Rakesh-ji (Roshan) was emotionally moved and said, ‘The industry should be proud of you, Aamir.’ Aditya Chopra, too, telephoned me to say, how much he loved the film.

Anybody else in Aamir’s place would, by now, have bloated with pride, what with such lavish praises, but Aamir is made of different stuff. Cool and composed, he takes compliments in his stride and quickly acknowledges the efforts of his director, Ashutosh Gowariker. “It is all because of Ashutosh,” he announces with finality, adding, “I’ve not ghost-directed the film at all. Everything you see in the film is Ashutosh’s work.”

Even as the conversation is in progress, Aamir’s Tamilnadu distributor enters the office and compliments him for the grand success. The actor-producer informs him that he will shortly dub the film in Tamil and Telugu. The dubbing, according to Aamir, will take about three months . “I’ll not do it haphazardly,” he says. Not that anyone assumed so, knowing what a perfectionist the actor-producer is.

Ah, ah… But Aamir’s distributor catches him on the wrong foot. He points out a mistake in the film in the second half when the cricket match between Aamir’s team and the Britishers is being played. The score shown on the score-board is different from the score announced. Aamir admits, that was a mistake but gives the reason why he let it go. “The score-board is in the background and only a hawk-eyed person would read the score. Secondly, the score-board in the film is not electronic or mechanical, it is hand-operated, hence, there is a time lag between the scoring of runs and the updating of the score-board.”

Aamir then goes on to reveal his experience in the private show he had organised for the mainline British press in London a couple of days before the film’s release, since there are a number of British actors in the cast.

“I was apprehensive and quite scared because the film is very long by British standards,” explained Aamir. “I also didn’t know how they’d react to the songs. But I was in for a pleasant surprise as the entire British press praised the film. When I asked them if they had found it too long or boring, they replied in the negative.”

Little wonder then that The Guardian, published from England, gave a four-star rating to Lagaan in its issue dated 22nd June. Peter Bradshaw, the celebrated reviewer of the magazine, gave the Indian film top billing, reviewing other films after Lagaan which he described as ‘a lavish epic, a gorgeous love story and a rollicking adventure yarn’. Bradshaw also wrote, ‘This (Lagaan) might just do for the genre what Crouching Tiger did for the martial arts romance.’ The review ended with an exhortation to the readers to ‘go and see it’!

Every single print of Lagaan exported outside the country was subtitled in English.

Aamir Khan doesn’t think, he has made a mistake in releasing his film on the same day as Gadar. But he also clarifies that he didn’t plan the release so as to come with Gadar. When asked why he had not given a hint of the exciting cricket match, in the trailers of his film, Aamir replied, “It was intentionally done that way. For one, my film is not about cricket. The game is only incidental although it is very exciting. Therefore, giving even a glimpse of the cricket match in the promotional trailers would have changed the expectations of the public from the film. Secondly, since the cricket match is so exciting and comes as a complete surprise, the audience reaction to it is terrific. The public comes out saying, ‘Wow’, which wouldn’t have been the case had it known that there was a cricket match in the film. The word of mouth, therefore, is very positive. I had envisaged this sort of euphoric reaction to the film but, frankly, even I didn’t imagine that people will go so much with the game in the cinema halls. And remember one thing, there’s no publicity like mouth publicity. I would have never got the benefit, which the mouth publicity is giving my film, even if I had spent crores on the film’s publicity.

A premiere show of Lagaan was held on 15th June in Sun City (South Africa). Even while the response there was overwhelming, what happened in Johannesburg was unprecedented. The cricket-crazy South Africans there forced the distributor to screen the film in two cinemas instead of the scheduled single cinema. Since there was only one print, the same was shuttled between the two cinemas — a first for Johannesburg!

Aamir is pretty excited about Lagaan being on the 15th position in the US Tops in the first weekend. “It was at no. 15 because ours was a limited prints release. But going by per-screen average, Lagaan was at no. 4,” he explains with a sense of pride.

Incidentally, when the Indian cricket team lost against Zimbabwe in the test match last week, the joke doing the rounds was that the Indian team had been called back to India and Aamir Khan’s Lagaan team would henceforth play for the country!

– KOMAL NAHTA

LATEST POSITION

GADAR is poised to become one of the biggest blockbusters of all times. The second week’s collections are better that the historic collections of the first week at many places! LAGAAN is doing extraordinary in cities, Bombay circuit and South and is very good in Overseas too.

………..

Lagaan is sensational in cities. 2nd week Bombay 71,13,745 (97.14%) from 13 cinemas (6 on F.H.), total for 2 weeks 1,43,94,705; Ahmedabad 24,73,259 from 5 cinemas; Pune 17,91,114 from 4 cinemas, Solapur 1,98,407; Bijapur (21 shows) 99,747; Delhi 84,90,983 from 14 cinemas (2 on F.H.), total for 2 weeks 1,74,38,643; Kanpur 4,29,326 from 3 cinemas, Lucknow 4,07,912 (100%), Allahabad 1,50,749, Bareilly (6 days) 50,819, Jaunpur 20,000; Calcutta 14,41,317 from 7 cinemas, total for 2 weeks 38,04,152; Nagpur 6,18,186 from 3 cinemas, 1st week Jabalpur (6 days) 2,01,136, 2nd week Amravati 1,91,284, Akola 1,23,288, total 2,96,841, Raipur (6 days) 1,50,839, Jalgaon (21 shows) 1,52,340 (1st 1,94,838), Wardha 74,318 (1st 91,394), Chandrapur (21 shows) 1,66,029, total 3,67,258; Indore 3,20,796 from 2 cinemas (2 on F.H.), share from 4 cinemas about 3,25,000; Jaipur 5,27,109 (88.76%), Ajmer (20 shows) 1,08,336; Hyderabad (gross) 23,92,081 from 9 cinemas (2 in noon). Total of 2nd week: 2,76,93,120 from 75 cinemas (1st week was 3,50,60,776 from 101 cinemas).

Gadar Ek Prem Katha is shattering records everywhere! 2nd week Bombay 80,25,136 (96.79%) from 16 cinemas (8 on F.H.), total for 2 weeks, 1,59,39,115; Ahmedabad 27,61,042 from 7 cinemas; Pune 17,70,428 from 5 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 100%, Solapur 3,13,404 (100%) from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Hubli 2,74,389, Bijapur 1,45,000; Delhi 1,01,39,515 from 16 cinemas (3 on F.H.), total for 2 weeks 1,93,66,474; Kanpur 9,44,926 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 5,10,658 (100%), Allahabad 2,84,573 (100%), Bareilly (6 days) 1,82,909, Dehradun 4,00,075 (96%; 1st week 4,05,281), Shahjehanpur 1,52,672 (1st 1,83,206), Jaunpur 1,75,000, total 3,75,000; 1st week Calcutta 37,78,768 from 16 cinemas, excellent; 2nd week Nagpur 15,55,860 from 5 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 3,25,265, Amravati 3,15,728, Akola 2,29,556 (100%), total 4,75,510 (100%), Dhule 2,85,701, total 5,78,870, Raipur 2,91,336, Jalgaon 2,94,483, Wardha 1,75,311 (1st 1,83,448), Rajnandgaon (6 days) 1,08,020, Chandrapur 3,05,692, total 6,20,405, Yavatmal (28 shows) 1,72,592 (100%), total 3,51,348 (100%), share 3,01,348, Sagar 1,03,209, total 2,11,309, 1st week Khandwa 1,93,406 (93.76%); 2nd week Indore 2,68,891 (2 cinemas unrecd.), Bhopal 3,45,110, Ujjain 3,25,000 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 14,11,125 (98.54%) from 2 cinemas, Ajmer (gross) 4,40,171, over-capacity, Bikaner (gross) 5,70,808 (100%), total 11,41,616, share 9,20,000; Hyderabad (gross) 20,08,552 from 6 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Aurangabad (gross) 5,25,547 from 2 cinemas. Total of 2nd week: 4,00,69,839 from 105 cinemas (1st week was 3,81,54,970 from 93 cinemas).

Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai 5th week Bombay 17,91,369 (54.70%) from 8 cinemas (4 on F.H.), total for 5 weeks 1,69,59,239; Ahmedabad 1,11,453 from 2 cinemas; Pune 4,57,520 from 2 cinemas, Solapur 2,06,764 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Bijapur (noon) 21,371; Delhi 7,30,472 from 4 cinemas; Lucknow 4,27,305, Allahabad 1,20,000, Bareilly (6 days) 44,053, 1st week Jaunpur 47,139; 5th week Nagpur 1,58,845, Jabalpur (6 days) 97,605, Amravati 1,29,067, Akola 1,26,472, total 8,90,462, share 7,02,006, Raipur (6 days) 80,255, Durg 57,752, total 5,26,012, Jalgaon 73,703, Wardha 29,431; Jaipur 1,09,559 (17.14%), Bikaner 38,673; Hyderabad (gross) 5,22,369 from 5 cinemas (2 in noon); 3rd week Mangalore 81,567.

TIPS ACQUIRES ‘YAADEIN…’ FOR OVERSEAS

Dashmesh International, a Mauritius-based company, has become a 100% subsidiary of Tips Industries Ltd. Dashmesh will help Tips increase its market share worldwide. It has acquired the Overseas distribution rights of Subhash Ghai’s Yaadein….

In another development, Tips has signed a digital download music distribution agreement with Soundbuzz Pte. Ltd., Singapore. Under the agreement, Tips’ catalogue will be made available on the Soundbuzz website for internet users to select and purchase songs released by Tips.

N. SATYEN DEAD

Veteran cinematographer N. Satyen passed away in Bombay on 24th June. He was 73 and is survived by his wife, a daughter and two sons.

N. Satyen had started his career in 1958 with Subhash Desai’s Chhalia. He cinematographed over 40 films in a span of a little more than 40 years. His association with Prakash Mehra and his group was long and fruitful. His first film for the group was in 1966, Hasina Man Jayegi, directed by Prakash Mehra. He then went on to do the photography of 15 films of the group. His last film was Mehra’s Bal Bramhachari. He was a master at trick photography.

N. Satyen had cinematographed a Bengali film in 1964. A humble man, he will be remembered for a long time by all those whom he interacted with. At the time of his death, he was photographing Aroona Irani’s TV serial, Mehndi Tere Naam Ki.

CINEMA OWNER COMMITS SUICIDE

Shantilal Jain (Kumath), proprietor of Ajay Talkies, Pipliyamandi (C.I.), committed suicide earlier this week.

‘GADAR’, ‘LAGAAN’ VCDs SEIZED IN BARODA

The Vadodara police on 26th June raided a video parlour at Navapura and recovered pirated VCDs of Gadar and Lagaan, which were being screened there. One Shyam Kahar was arrested on the spot for violation of the Copyright Act.

AUDIENCE CONTINUE TO PATRONISE ‘GADAR’ DESPITE PROTESTS AT SEVERAL PLACES

The protests against the screening of Gadar Ek Prem Katha, which began at Lily cinema in Bhopal on 19th June, spread this week to other parts of the country as well. However, support for the film came from various quarters, notably from the audience all over the country, who continued to patronise the film in a big way. Fearing that the film would be banned, people rushed to the cinemas to see the blockbuster. The 2nd week’s collections of Gadar were better than the first week’s at many places despite the protests.

Following the violence at Lily cinema, Bhopal, the state government asked zonal IGs and district superintendents of police to take preventive measures to ensure that there was no further outbreak of violence against the screening.

Sangam cinema at Sarkhej in Ahmedabad witnessed rioting by an angry mob during a night show of Gadar on 24th June. The mob burnt down various parts of the cinema, including its screen. The Gujarat government issued a statewide alert and deputed policemen to keep a watch on the other city cinemas screening the film.

In the night show of 24th, some persons barged into Rajkala Mandir at Chandrapur and hurled petrol bombs at the screen while a show of Gadar was in progress. A few people from the audience sustained minor injuries in the stampede that followed. Meanwhile, the miscreants managed to escape after beating up the gatekeeper.

The controversy surrounding Gadar grew when, mid-week, renowned Shia cleric and vice president of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, Kalbe Sadiq, denied having given permission to shoot some scenes of the film inside the Asafi Imambara in Lucknow. Sadiq, in a letter to the prime minister, demanded the removal of “objectionable” scenes and dialogues from the film. He demanded deletion of the scenes in which Amrish Puri asks Sunny Deol to say Hindustan murdabad after the latter agrees to convert to Islam. Sadiq also objected to, among others, the scene where Amisha Patel is shown offering namaaz with kumkum on her forehead. Meanwhile, several Shia organisations in the city gathered at a meeting and gave the district administration three days’ time to delete the objectionable portions from the film.

In Bombay, fire crackers were thrown to disrupt the screening in one show at Ratan Talkies, Bhiwandi, a distant suburb. The Mumbai Regional Muslim League on 25th June issued a three-day ultimatum to the state government to ban the film. The chief objection here was that Amisha Patel, who is shown to marry a Sikh and renounce Islam, was called Sakina in the film. According to the League president, this was blasphemous as Sakina was the name of Prophet Mohammed’s daughter. He also claimed that the film highlighted the sufferings of Hindus during the Partition while ignoring the hardships faced by the Muslims. The politicising of the issue became complete when the Shiv Sena came out in support of Gadar. More support for the film came from Shabana Azmi who said that although Gadar was a “provocative” film, she would defend its right to be screened. Javed Akhtar, too, decried the disruption of its screening in parts of the country.

In Akola, too, the film received wide support from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal, which held a special screening for a select audience at Vasant Talkies on 27th.

TOLARAM JALAN PASSES AWAY

Pioneering film producer and studio-owner Tolaram Jalan passed away on 28th June in Bombay. He was 82 and is survived by his wife and three sons, Ashok, Anil and Vishnu.

A prolific film producer, Tolaram Jalan produced nearly 120 films under his Filmistan banner. Some of his hit films are Nagin, Anarkali, Anandmath, Tumsa Nahin Dekha, Nadiya Ke Paar, Jagruti, Sargam, Hum Sab Chor Hain, Paying Guest and Samadhi. He was the owner of Filmistan Studios at Goregaon, Bombay and of the production house, Bombay Talkies.

Jalan was a recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke award. He had several other businesses which included textile mills viz. Prakash Cotton Mills, Jalan Dyeing and Bharat Barrel.

CENSOR NEWS

Mukta Arts Ltd.’s Yaadein… (social), applied on 22nd and seen on 25th, has been issued C.C. No. CIL/1/35/2001 (U) dt. 27-6-2001; length 5299.99 metres in 19 reels (no cut).

Rose Movies Combine’s Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai (social) was given C.C. No. CIL/2/20/2001 (UA) dt. 27-6-2001; length 4821.03 metres in 17 reels (minor deletion in sound only).

Super Cassettes Industries Ltd.’s Tum Bin… (social) was given C.C. No. CIL/1/33/2001 (U) dt. 25-6-2001; length 4341.34 metres in 15 reels (cuts: 2.13 metres).

YOU ASKED IT

Is it true that cinemas in Himachal Pradesh are exempted from payment of entertainment tax?

– The Himachal Pradesh government on 24th May exempted all cinemas as well as other entertainment centres in the state from payment of entertainment tax for 10 years. The state has very few cinemas, which are doing poor business. No new cinema has come up in HP since 25 years. The exemption is to give the cinema industry in the state a boost.

Will the success of Gadar and Lagaan spark off the launch of a line of historicals?

– Not really, because period dramas and historical films are not very easy to make. 

With so many films lined up for release, how will cinemas be available to accommodate them?

– Cinemas will pose a terrible problem. Several release dates will be rescheduled in the weeks to come. 

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Coming Good At Half-Time

Till May 25, the year 2001 was being considered as the worst for the film industry. No film was doing well, and the few, which did bring smiles on the faces of the trade people, were sectional successes, having clicked in some circuits but not in others. The five months of horror changed on 25th May when Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai opened. The film, with two newcomers, did what none of the star cast films released in five months could do. Its universal success brought cheer in the industry which began to limp back to normalcy. Three weeks later, two historicals — Gadar and Lagaan — opened, and both became hits; Gadar is on its way to becoming one of the greatest hits of all times! Resultantly, the first half of 2001, which was dull, dry and drab, became the most happening half in recent years. Although the ratio of hits (3 hits out of 111 releases in 6 months) is small, the largeness of the last two hits is indeed heartening.

Not Two But Three Hits Together

For those who think, Dil and Ghayal in 1990, Raja Hindustani and Ghatak in 1996, and now, Gadar and Lagaan are the only three examples of two simultaneously-released films clicking in a big way, here’s news. In 1986, Swarag Se Sunder and Ilzaam had opened on the same day and, as is well-known, had gone on to become hits. However, way back in 1974, not two, but three films which were released together, went on to hit the bull’s eye. The three films were Roti Kapada Aur Makaan, Roti and Bidaai. (Raja Hindustani and Ghatak were released within 4-5 days of each other but not on the same day. Raja Hindustani opened on the Tuesday following the Friday on which Ghatak opened, to take advantage of Diwali.)

Coming Right On The Dot

While there have been so many changes in release schedules, Subhash Ghai is sticking to the release date of his Yaadein. There were rumours in trade circles all through the week that Ghai, too, had postponed his film by a week, but all that was baseless talk. The Mukta Arts film will come on 27th July, as planned way back in January. “We are on schedule, Yaadein has already been cleared by the CBFC without a single cut, so where’s the question of postponing it?” was Ghai’s rhetoric. Coming on the dot — that’s what is dot-com, is it?!?

Back from a whirlwind tour of London, Subhash Ghai is pleased as punch with the response he got from cinemas of the UK for his forthcoming film starring Hrithik Roshan, Kareena Kapoor and Jackie Shroff. The excitement is building up…….

The Other Side Of Success

One reason for release schedules of so many films going haywire is the tight position of cinemas. With Gadar and Lagaan going so strong at the box-office, cinemas screening these two hits are not likely to be free for several weeks now. But films are slated for release one after the other for at least two whole months. Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai, Aks, Tum Bin…, Yaadein, Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat, Hum Ho Gaye Aap Ke, Dil Chahta Hai, Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ke, Nayak, Ajnabee, Lajja and Indian — these are all scheduled to hit the screens in July and August. Phew! how on earth will this be possible? Do we see exhibitors smiling from ear to ear and distributors crying in desperation?

Friday Equation

The grand successes of Gadar and Lagaan have suddenly brought into limelight two persons whose names never cropped up when talking of even moderate successes, leave alone hits or super-hits. They are Ashutosh Gowariker, the writer-director of Lagaan, and Shaktimaan, the writer of Gadar. Both these persons were rather obscure names on the film firmament and both their destinies changed on the same day. Today, both are forces to reckon with. That’s the most exciting part of the film industry — equations change every Friday here.

Hats Off To Rakesh Roshan

“Hats off to Aamir Khan for making such a wonderful masterpiece!” Rakesh Roshan’s voice was trembling with excitement over the telephone line, as he showered praise after praise on Aamir Khan’s Lagaan. He was calling Information all the way from South Africa just after seeing the film at its premiere there on 15th June. In an industry, where being jealous about other people’s success is quite the norm, Rakesh Roshan’s unequivocal praise for Aamir Khan came as a whiff of fresh air. For, one is used to receiving calls from makers every other Friday, trying to highlight the ‘negatives’ in the new releases. But here was Rakesh Roshan, actually exhorting one to write a great review of another maker’s “great” film! It is incidents like these that reaffirm the feeling that camaraderie is not all dead in the industry.