DULHAN HUM LE JAYENGE

Baba Films’ Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge is a comic drama about a boy who has to woo a girl, win her heart and thereafter win over her three crazy uncles to get her hand in marriage. Inspired from Ek Phool Char Kante, the film has its moments of fun and frolic, but the drama is not too exciting and involving. The three uncles are more caricatures than characters and due to this, they appear fake and frivolous. Even this could have worked had the comedy been hilarious. The drama unfolds in too pre-meditated a manner and, therefore, looks predictable and piecemeal rather than naturally-flowing. Further, the uncles do not have worthwhile roles although they are the biggest opposition to the proposed marriage of the boy and the willing girl.

The film’s first half is ordinary. The pace picks up a bit after interval but not consistently so. The screenplay (Rumi Jafri) relies on scenes, ideas and incidents borrowed from earlier films like DDLJ and Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin. Dialogues are also not so witty as to turn the scenes into hilarious ones.

Salman Khan looks terrific, acts quite well and dances wonderfully. Karisma Kapoor’s is the best and sincerest performance in the film. In every scene of the film, whether dramatic, emotional or comic, and in dances and thrilling sequences, Karisma puts her best foot forward and succeeds in winning the hearts of the audience. Her ‘Oh hello’ dialogue will be liked. Her costumes are splendid. Om Puri, Paresh Rawal and Anupam Kher are only average as the three uncles, mainly because their roles are not substantive enough. Johny Lever does a fine job as always and evokes laughter by his sheer presence as well as performance. Himani Shivpuri is so-so. Farida Jalal and Kader Khan (special appearance) fill the bill. Satish Kaushik (special appearance) acts ably but not many would be able to appreciate his brand of comedy (he is forever laughing). Dara Singh, Mayur (both in guest appearances), Deepak Tijori, Rakesh Bedi, Usha Bachani and Kashmira Shah add precious little to the film.

David Dhawan’s direction looks like a job hurriedly done. The director has seemingly not even made attempts to provide a fare that’s novel in some respects at least. Climax is quite a letdown and predictable. Himesh Reshammiya’s music (holding appeal mainly for the youth), the producer’s lavish spending on song picturisations and costumes, and the picturesque foreign locations are the really good things in the film. But if the songs have racy tunes of the popular genre, the situations of most of them are abrupt. Nevertheless, the song are a veritable eyeful. ‘Raat ko aaungaa main’, the title track, ‘Chhamiya’, ‘Munda kamaal hai’, ‘Tera pallo sarka jaay re’ and ‘Pyar dilon ka mela hai’ are truly entertaining songs and their picturisatons are extraordinary. But the title song has been wasted in the credit titles. Production values are superb. Camerawork (Harmeet Singh) is excellent. Editing (David Dhawan) is sharp. Sets (R. Varman) are rich.

On the whole, Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge has an ordinary drama and comedy that’s not marked by hilarity. It will, therefore, appeal only to some classes and age-groups of audience, mainly youngsters. Considering its high price, it doesn’t seem likely to be a paying proposition for distributors. Business in Bombay and South, however, will be better while being lesser in North.

Released on 24-3-2000 at Liberty and 18 other cinemas of Bombay by Baba Entertainment Ltd. thru Metro Films. Publicity: outstanding. Opening: very good. …….Also released all over. Opening was very good in Delhi, West Bengal, Bihar and Nizam but not up to the mark in parts of U.P., East Punjab and some stations of C.I. 1st day Jaipur 2,55,060 (80.73%) from 4 cinemas.

LATEST POSITION

The festival holidays did not really help last week’s releases.

Krodh began to drop as the week progressed. While it is fair at some centres, it is rather dull at others. 1st week Bombay 38,24,570 (75.82%) from 10 cinemas (9 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 5,97,912 from 5 cinemas (2 unrecd.), Jamnagar (matinee) 23,712; Pune 6,42,289 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 1,91,380 from 2 cinemas; Delhi 24,33,930 (32.62%) from 12 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 3,59,634 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow (6 days) 2,70,261, Agra 2,25,000, Varanasi 2,27,884, Allahabad 1,51,965, Bareilly (6 days) 1,46,443; Calcutta 14,68,077 from 12 cinemas; Nagpur 3,50,070 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 1,26,156, Amravati (6 days) 1,91,009, Akola 1,26,189, Raipur (6 days) 1,28,209; Indore 2,15,312 from 2 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Jaipur 4,51,897 from 3 cinemas, Ajmer (29 shows, gross) 2,28,897; Hyderabad (gross) 23,25,107 from 10 cinemas.

Sultaan is very poor. 1st week Bombay 9,85,528 (49.67%) from 6 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Pune 1,97,480 from 3 cinemas; Delhi 10,06,260 (21.10%) from 8 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,32,714 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 93,330, Agra 94,000, Varanasi 1,08,417, Allahabad 42,610, Bareilly (6 days) 70,315; Calcutta 4,02,352 from 6 cinemas; Nagpur 1,51,601 from 3 cinemas, Amravati (6 days) 70,302, Raipur (6 days) 30,471, Bhilai 28,239, Bilaspur (6 days) 61,225; Bhopal 78,951; Jaipur 1,70,455 from 2 cinemas.

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Badal continues to shine in U.P. 6th week Bombay 6,83,636 (62%) from 3 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 54,720; Solapur 49,932; Delhi 1,77,877; Kanpur 2,78,371 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,46,109, Agra 2,50,000, Allahabad 75,000, Bareilly 1,29,164; Calcutta 1,50,579; Nagpur 55,612, 2nd week Kamptee (4 days) 36,570, 1st week Balaghat (3 days) 49,749, 6th week Amravati 66,177, Akola 56,681, total 6,45,717, 5th week Chandrapur 54,202, total 5,79,909, 2nd Yavatmal 1,11,006 (1st 1,83,787); 6th week Indore 78,000, Bhopal 64,325; Jaipur 1,32,473, Ajmer (gross) 64,808; Hyderabad (gross) 3,40,635 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon, 1 unrecd.).

Pukar reaps the benefit of tax-exemption in U.P. with a phenomenal pick-up at several centres. 7th week Bombay (TF) 12,45,674 from 3 cinemas (4 cinemas unrecd., 2 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 3,69,982 from 2 cinemas; Pune (TF) 2,37,528 from 3 cinemas, Solapur (TF, matinee) 22,926; Delhi (TF) 3,45,206 from 2 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur (TF) 1,27,804, Lucknow (TF) 3,11,568, Agra (TF) 1,65,000, Varanasi (TF) 1,56,268, Allahabad (TF) 64,312, Meerut 81,000, Gorakhpur 78,000 (6th week 36,000), Dehradun 86,000, 3rd week Hardwar (TF) 25,000, 1st week Bijnor (TF) 1,08,000, Secunderabad (TF) 72,000; 7th week Calcutta 1,14,211; Nagpur (TF) 89,280, Jabalpur (TF, 6 days) 35,114, Amravati (TF, 6 days) 71,564, Akola (TF) 56,680, total 6,51,230, Raipur (TF, 6 days) 34,667, Jalgaon (TF) 90,007 (6th 85,212); Indore (TF) 33,397, Bhopal (TF) 30,000; Hyderabad (gross) 7,43,571 from 5 cinemas (1 in noon).

Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai is still mind-blowing. 10th week Bombay 40,15,662 (90.03%) from 10 cinemas (8 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 15,67,321 from 6 cinemas, Baroda (28 shows) 2,42,285, 4th week Padra 2,18,769, 3rd week Cambay 1,91,204 (2nd 1,64,668), 10th week Jamnagar 92,086; Pune 12,29,605 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 1,78,727; Delhi 20,77,221 from 5 cinemas; Kanpur 3,27,530 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 7,13,952 from 2 cinemas, Agra 1,85,000, Varanasi 2,17,191, Allahabad 1,25,754, Bareilly (6 days) 1,07,503, 7th week Hardwar 50,000; 10th week Calcutta 8,07,700 from 5 cinemas; Nagpur 2,21,708 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 1,72,210, 3rd week Balaghat 57,154, total 2,38,120, 10th Amravati 1,45,725, Akola 1,37,833, total 14,29,337, Raipur 1,23,213, Bhilai 67,051, 8th week Durg 71,003, 10th week Jalgaon 1,39,052 (9th 1,38,260), 5th Gondia (gross) 87,781, total 5,87,095, Wardha (nett) 1,04,556, total 6,13,503, share 4,98,503, 9th week Chandrapur 1,48,585, total 15,77,563, 8th Yavatmal 86,469; 10th week Bhopal 2,39,200, total 20,70,775; Jaipur 3,65,909 from 2 cinemas; Hyderabad (gross) 10,69,084 from 5 cinemas (1 in noon, 2 on F.H.); doing extraordinary in U.K., 10th week in England is as good as 2nd week, which is unprecedented.

GULSHAN KUMAR’S KILLERS ARRESTED NEAR DELHI

Three persons, allegedly involved in the murder of Gulshan Kumar, were arrested at Bahadurgarh village near Delhi on March 24. The names of the arrested persons have been given as Imtiaz Dawood Merchant, Adil Mohammed Khan and Pratap Singh. A team from Thane (near Bombay) police went to Delhi, following a tip-off, on March 19 when the Delhi police were carrying search operations in view of US president Clinton’s visit. The police team nabbed the assailants with the help of the Delhi police.

D.S. TULI ELECTED CEA PRESIDENT

D.S. Tuli was elected president of the Cine Exhibitors Association, Nagpur, at its annual general meeting held at Hotel Tuli International, Nagpur on 28th February. Dr. Sudhir Bhiwapurkar was elected patron; Vijay Kher and Prashant Rathi, vice presidents; S.B. Patil, honorary secretary; K.K. Sawhney, honorary treasurer; and B.M. Diwan, joint secretary. Others elected to the executive committee were K.G. Sarda, Prakash Ramlakhiyani, Rajesh Sharma, S.A. Sorathiya, Q.S. Kamal and Pranit Singh.

‘PUKAR’ CELEBRATES 50 DAYS

S.K. Film Enterprises and Boney Kapoor’s Pukar, produced by Surinder Kapoor and co-produced by Bharat Shah, completed its 50th day on 24th March at about 125 cinemas of the country. Starring Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Namrata Shirodkar and Danny, the film is directed by Rajkumar Santoshi. It has music by A.R. Rahman and lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri and Javed Akhtar.

SENTENCED FOR PIRATING HINDI MUSIC IN U.K.

A Warwick Crown Court judge in UK on 14th March found one Ebrahim Sodha guilty of importing and distributing pirated Asian music CDs and sentenced him to 8 months’ imprisonment on two counts under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. The judge also sentenced him to two months’ imprisonment for failing to attend trial in November 1999. Sodha was arrested in December 1997 by the Warwickshire police following a raid on a house in Nuncaton town where he was found to be in possession of over 3,500 pirated CDs of Hindi music such as ‘Maa Tujhe Salaam’, ‘Chaand Sa Chehra’, ‘Awaara Bhanware’ etc.

The seizure was made following a complaint received by Warwickshire Trading Standards from the British Phonographic Industry (B.P.I. Ltd.) which had been contacted by members of the Asian Music Industry.

NINE AHMEDABAD CINEMAS DEFAULT IN PAYMENT OF ENT. TAX

Nine cinemas of Ahmedabad have defaulted in the payment of entertainment tax amounting to a total of Rs. 1.68 crore, according to a report submitted by the ministry in the Gujarat legislative assembly. Of the nine cinemas mentioned in the report, six are situated in the city area. They are: Shree (arrears of Rs. 84.27 lakh), Kamal (Rs. 60.67 lakh), Mohan (Rs. 6.02 lakh), Roopalee (Rs. 2.62 lakh), Meera (Rs. 7.66 lakh) and Sonal (Rs. 4.30 lakh). The remaining cinemas are: Shyam Bareja (Rs. 2.51 lakh), Mayur Hathijan (Rs. 0.72 lakh) and Farook Dhandhuka.

PRAKASH MEHRA’S SON TO MAKE ACTING DEBUT

Producer-director Prakash Mehra’s son, Sumeet, will shortly make his acting debut in films. The details are not announced as yet.

FICCI TO HOLD MEGA CONFERENCE ON ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) is organising a 2-day conference on 30th and 31st March in Bombay, to discuss the problems faced by the entertainment industry in India. The conference, to be inaugurated at the hands of Union I & B minister Arun Jaitley, will be presided over by Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. It will be addressed and attended by people from the entertainment industry as well as those connected with intellectual property rights (IPR) protection.

An important part of the conference will be the seminar consisting of seven dedicated sessions to discuss: (i) the future of broadcasting in India; (ii) the Indian music industry; (iii) IPR and the entertainment industry; (iv) Indian film industry; (v) the content aspect of entertainment business; (vi) finance, capital markets and insurance issues for the entertainment industry; and (vii) regulatory framework in convergence.

The conference will also have a special session focussing on Maharashtra, besides the inaugural and valedictory sessions. A highlight of the seminar will be the presentation of a paper, by the well-known financial firm, Arthur Anderson, on ‘the Potential of Indian Entertainment Industry’. Prominent speakers at the seminar include Prasar Bharati CEO R.R. Shah; Discovery Communications India MD Kiran Karnik; Universal Music (India) president and MD Vijay Lazarus; Subhash Ghai (who will chair the special session focussing on Maharashtra); Shravan Shroff; Pahlaj Nihalani; Amit Khanna; Shekhar Kapur; Kamal Haasan; Shyam Benegal; Ramesh Sippy; Nimbus executive director and president Harish Thawani; Ambit Finance MD Ashok Wadhwa; NASSCOM chairman Dewang Mehta; and SET India CEO Kunal Dasgupta.

The organisation of the conference comes close on the heels of FICCI conducting an exhaustive study of the entertainment industry in India. The study makes several important suggestions to the government, which will help provide impetus to the future growth of the industry, such as creation of special anti-piracy cell in conjunction with the law enforcement authority; bringing the entertainment sector in parity with the IT sector with respect to overseas investment and stock-listing norms; streamlining of laws pertaining to the issuance of radio broadcasting licences; review of the functioning of the CBFC; issuance of broad regulations/guidelines for banks and financial institutions to facilitate lending to the entertainment sector; and review of archaic laws and onerous responsibilities cast especially on the film exhibition and live entertainment sectors.

CHITRA CINEMA, BOMBAY TO RE-OPEN WITH NEW-LOOK INTERIOR

The extensively-renovated Chitra cinema at Dadar, Bombay, will reopen on Sunday, 26th March with Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge. The cinema, owned by Dara P. Mehta, is now controlled by Ramesh Sippy and his son, Rakesh Sippy, in the name of Raksha Exhibitors. The ‘all-new Chitra’, as being publicised by the Sippys, is now totally air-conditioned and is equipped with Dolby digital sound system. For the projection, the latest Xenon Lamphouse with platter has been installed. The seats have been replaced by more comfortable ones. Even the ceiling, sidewalls and floor have been totally redone. “It would look like a vintage book with freshly-printed pages,” says Rakesh Sippy, as the exterior facade has been kept unaltered. Despite a complete overhaul, the admission rates are modest: Rs. 30 for stalls, Rs. 40 for executive class, and Rs. 50 for balcony class. The cinema’s weekly capacity is Rs. 3,30,421.77.

NEW CINEMA TO OPEN IN INDORE

A new cinema — Man Mandir — will open in Indore on 26th March (tomorrow) with Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge. The cinema, situated near Sayaji Club, has a seating capacity of 1,200. The ticket rates are Rs. 16, 26 and 36. It is equipped with Dolby DTS sound. Jagdish Sharma is the owner of the cinema.

NEW CINEMA OPENS AT WARDHA

A new cinema — Shree Ganesh — opened at Wardha yesterday (24th March) with Pukar (tax-free). The cinema is equipped with an air-cooling plant and has a large parking space. It has 750 seats — 251 in balcony and 499 in reserve class. Its screen size is 48′ x 20′.

The cinema is owned by Ravindra Kumar Bajaj of Durga Talkies, Wardha.

TWO NEW CINEMAS OPEN IN RAJASTHAN

Two new cinemas opened in Rajasthan this week. Alka Theare opened in Jaipur. Shivam opened at Kishangarh. Both the cinemas are equipped with DTS sound and are air-cooled.

NEW CINEMA IN JALGAON OPENS TODAY

A new cinema, Mohan Chitra Mandir, will open today (25th March) in Jalgaon with Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge. The cinema has a capacity of Rs. 7,982.70 per show and Rs. 2,23,515.60 for 28 shows. Phone: 225893 (cinema), 220350 (residence).

‘KKHH’ COMPLETES 75 WEEKS

Producer Yash Johar’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, directed by newcomer Karan Johar, completed 75th combined week of its run at Alankar (matinee), Bombay, last week. It stars Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol. Music: Jatin Lalit.

GHAI, SHETTY START TELECINE SET-UP

Audeus, the equpiment division of Subhash Ghai’s Mukta Arts Ltd., will launch its telecine set-up today (25th March) at 1.30 p.m. The set-up is installed in the premises of Adlabs at Film City and is being jointly promoted by Ghai and Manmohan Shetty (Adlabs).

The Rank Cintel Ursa Diamond telecine machine is installed at the studio, the first in Bombay. It is supported by Da-Vinci colour corrector and DVNR (digital visions noise reduction system) alongwith Evertz key coder. The site also has a provision for ultrasonic cleaning. It will be ideal not just for feature film producers but also for ad film makers, music album producers and promotional trailer makers. The location (at Adlabs) will ensure that there is minimum mishandling and transportation of negatives as many of them are stored at Adlabs itself.

SINGER RAJKUMARI DEAD

Well-known playback singer of yesteryears, Rajkumari, passed away on 17th March at a hospital in Bombay following prolonged illness. She was 84 and is survived by her son, Rajendra Dubey. Her songs from Mahal, Baware Nain, Anhonee and Bhakt Surdas are popular even today.

Rajkumari made her debut in films in 1934 as a singer, and later on also acted in films like Bombay Ki Sethani, Sansar Leela, Red Letter and Samsher-E-Arab. Some of her memorable songs are Sun bairi balam sach bol (Baware Nain), Ghabrake jo hum sar ko takraaye to achha and Tu mere dil mein dard (both of Mahal), Kajrari matwali (Nav Bahar) and Sarpe kadar ki chhaya (a duet with K.L. Saigal in Bhakt Surdas).

RAM GOPAL VARMA FINED FOR BOUNCED CHEQUES

On a petition filed by a still photographer, Ravindra Reddy, for dishonoured cheques, the 23rd metropolitan magistrate, Nampally, Hyderabad, has convicted A.V.S. Raju, director in Varma Corporation, and sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for six months. The metropolitan magistrate also fined both, Raju and producer-director Ram Gopal Varma, Rs. 5,000.

The still photographer had sued Ram Gopal Varma’s company for non-payment of dues to the tune of Rs. 90,000. The photographer was hired by Ram Gopal Varma’s company to shoot stills of Daud in 1997. The company had made an initial payment of Rs. 1.05 lakh to him. For the remaining amount of Rs. 90,000, the company issued two cheques which were dishonoured, the photographer alleged in his plaint.

DADASAHEB PHALKE MAN OF THE MILLENNIUM

A meeting of the Dada Saheb Phalke Trust of India was held on 24th March under the presidentship of Santosh Singh Jain. It was decided at the meeting to bestow the title of Man of the Millennium on late filmmaker Dadasaheb Phalke, at a function to be held on 30th April at ISKCON auditorium, Juhu, Bombay. It was also decided to commemorate the occasion by honouring the seniormost members of all the film crafts, producers, distributors and exhibitors for contributing their mite to the development of the industry.

YOU ASKED IT

In your editorial in last week’s issue (18th March), you have expressed hope that corporatisation in the film industry will bring in its wake more discipline, greater transparency and more organisation. But do you think, the speculators will invest in film companies with hundreds of corporate companies listed on the stock exchange? And what is the guarantee of transparency when transactions with the stars are in black?

– If there is transparency, discipline, organisation in the film industry, why will people not invest in film companies? For, film business then will be like any other business with the added advantage of glamour attached to it. And that is no mean advantage, you would agree. Besides, the entertainment sector is the fastest growing sector in the world.

There was a successful star who troubled his producers; there was a hard-to-get expensive writer who, despite his arrogant ways, gave many hits; and there was a director whose films always used to go over-budget, yet they were hits. They all died. Who must have gone to heaven and who, to hell?

– All must have gone to heaven because a very reliable source tells me, God is planning a film up there and wants to sign proven names to minimise His risk. That should make a divine proposal!

DO YOU KNOW?

* Nizam distributor Ravi Machhar had so much confidence in PUKAR that he went in for an absolutely limited-prints release in Hyderabad and Secunderabad. His experiment and confidence have paid off because he has recovered his entire MG royalty and print cost in 7 weeks.

* Goldie cinema of Aurangabad, which had paid a very high MG for PUKAR, has recovered it in just 50 days.

* MELA has created yet another city record at Nandurbar (C.P. Berar) in 11th week at Amrit Chitra Mandir.

* BADAL has created a city record by collecting 92,542/- in 1st week (27 shows) at Alankar, Sagar.

* BADAL has created a city record by collecting 80,072/- in 1st week at Goyal, Kamptee. 2nd week 4 days: 36,570/-.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Because Of The Stars

Not a single trial show of Gordhan Tanwani’s Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge was held before its release. Except for director David Dhawan, co-producer Ajay Acharya, writer Rumi Jafri and publicity designer Rahul Nanda, nobody connected with the film had seen its first copy before its theatrical release. Not even producer Gordhan Tanwani himself, what to talk of the film’s distributors or those not at all connected with the film. Even the four aforementioned persons saw the first copy in the laboratory in Madras as they happened to be there. It wasn’t a trial show in that sense of the term. And why was no preview show held? Because Tanwani’s guruji had told him that the stars in the sky foretold that it would bode well if no private or public show of the film was held before 9.32 a.m. of Friday (24th March). Resultantly, the film did not open anywhere on Thursday, not even in Orissa. Even on Friday, there was no 6 a.m. show in C.P. Berar or C.I.

Dilip Kumar’s Presentation

Remember Aag Ka Dariya, starring Dilip Kumar, Rekha, Padmini Kolhapure, Rajiv Kapoor, Amrita Singh and Amrish Puri? A film launched over a decade ago? Had the film been made in scheduled time and released, it would have almost been time today to sell its re-issue rights. But as the pandits say, fire and water don’t go together (Deepa Mehta will testify to this belief, as of now!). And the film’s title, Aag Ka Dariya (meaning ‘Sea of Fire’), once again goes to prove this belief, till now. Well, the hot proposal of those days got stalled when the film was just nearing completion and its producer, R. Venkatraman, ran into problems. It was through the intervention of Dilip Kumar that the film saw its completion. According to producer R. Venkatraman, Dilip Kumar stood by him through all these difficult years, and raised finance for the completion of balance shooting, background music recording and mixing. The film is now being presented by Dilip Kumar. What does the thespian actor think of the ‘staleness’ that might have set in due to the delay in production? According to him, if the film has merit, time lag would not make any difference. He cited the examples of Pakeezah and Mughal-E-Azam which, he said, were completed years after their commencement and yet proved big hits. He conceded that it was for the people to decide the film’s fate. An hour-long assemblage of selected portions of Aag Ka Dariya was screened for the press on 23rd March at Dimple preview theatre, Bombay, before Dilip Kumar held a press conference at his house. The film, directed by S.V. Rajendra Singh ‘Babu’, has some dramatic, emotional and patriotic scenes which are impressive enough. The film is now censored and is due for release in May. One can only wish that the film has a smooth sailing.

Losers All In This Jung:
Two Sanjays And A Satish In A Free-For-All

The jung over Jung is getting dirtier by the day. The latest is that hero Sanjay Dutt called a press conference in Bombay on 22nd March, where he exhorted the cinegoers to not see Jung as it was an incomplete film. According to Sanjay Dutt, he had only shot 60% of the film and was not dubbing for it as he had not been paid part of his remuneration.

But if you ask producer Satish Tandon, he is emphatic that his film is complete. “If after exposing 1,70,000 feet of raw stock and shooting for 125 shifts, Sanjay Gupta feels that the film is not complete, I wonder what his definition of a complete film is and how many days more he would want to complete the film,” said Satish Tandon to Information. The harried producer added, “Sanjay Gupta had told me that the film would be completed within a budget of Rs. 6 crore and in 6 months. But he has spent Rs. 12 crore and taken 3 years, and yet, he says, he has not completed the film! On his own admission, he needs 12 days to complete the film. He has also said that he needs to shoot two more songs and some scenes. When he takes at least 8 days to picturise a song, how does he plan to complete 2 songs and scenes in 12 days?”

When asked to clarify, Sanjay Gupta denied that he had exposed 1,70,000 feet in 125 shifts. “The world knows, Satish Tandon is lying. I’ve shot for exactly 71 shifts and exposed 1,10,000 feet,” he clarified. Gupta also dubbed a lie, Tandon’s contention that he had paid the director Rs. 7 lakh more than his contracted remuneration. Said Gupta, “Will a man, whose cheques of Rs. 4,000 bounce, pay Rs. 7 lakh extra to his director? He owes money to everybody.”

Sanjay Gupta has retaliated to Tandon’s court case against him for damages. The director was due, on 24th March, to file a civil defamation suit against Satish Tandon for the remarks made in the press against him.

While Sanjay Dutt and some other artistes and technicians are standing by Sanjay Gupta, the other hero of the film, Jackie Shroff, has not supported the captain of the ship. Sanjay Gupta interprets Jackie’s stand thus: “Jackie has no principles, no ethics. He is the man solely responsible for the current state of affairs. Had he not supported Satish Tandon in his wrongdoings, things would not have come to such a pass.” Efforts to contact Jackie for his version did not bear fruit.

Jackie and Raveena Tandon play a married couple in the film. They have a child suffering from cancer. Gupta was appalled that the songs, which were recorded to be picturised on Sanjay Dutt and Shilpa Shetty, were, on the sly, got picturised by Tandon on Jackie and Raveena in a slipshod manner in Hyderabad, after Gupta’s exit from the film. Satish Tandon admitted having had two songs shot without Gupta, by Bharat Kaushal (assistant of Sanjay Gupta). Gupta bemoaned the shuffling and mocked, “How can Jackie and Raveena be singing romantic songs when their child is suffering from cancer?” Reportedly, Universal, the company which holds the music rights of Jung, has not paid the balance instalments to Satish Tandon because it has not approved of the song picturisations on Jackie Shroff.

If trade talk is to be believed, at least two distributors of Jung have expressed their keenness to relinquish their rights in the film as they are wary of releasing a film that has been projected as incomplete, among the public. Not just that, some technicians of the film have filed cases in their respective associations for recovery of their balance remunerations from Tandon.

But producer Satish Tandon would like people to believe that his distributors are solidly behind him. To prove his point, he read out to Information a letter he had received from his West Bengal distributor. It is being rumoured that two more songs of the film may be picturised on Mamta Kulkarni. Gurdas Maan may be Mamta’s co-star in one of them. For this, Tandon may have to even change the lyrics of a song because the name of the character being played by Sanjay Dutt would have to be replaced in the song by another word.

The differences have not remained just professional. They’ve also gone personal with Tandon blaming Gupta of having undertaken a honeymoon trip to South Africa with his wife, at his (Tandon’s) cost. Gupta scoffed, “I don’t need Tandon’s money to go for a honeymoon, that too, three years after my marriage.”

There’s no denying the fact that the fault lies on both the sides. If Satish Tandon feels, he has been terribly wronged, it is also true that he has not come clean in the entire episode. Likewise, if Sanjay Gupta has been wronged by Tandon, he has himself to blame, say insiders. Nothing could be more apt to describe where the fault lies in this case, than the age-old Hindi adage: Ek haath se taali nahin bajti hai.

Whatever the misgivings on either side, some questions and points do crop up:

(1) The differences were between Satish Tandon and Sanjay Gupta. Why did Sanjay Dutt have to make the public a party to the dirty drama by asking them not to see the film? If Sanjay was afraid that the film will not do well when released, was he also scared that his reputation would be jeopardised? The answer to this question can be in the affirmative only if all of Sanjay Dutt’s previous releases have been hits or at least successful at the box-office. Otherwise, it is in bad taste to pre-empt the audience to not see a film.

(2) More importantly, in the fight between the producer and director, the sufferers are also going to be the film’s distributors and exhibitors who’ve invested their monies in the film. With claims and counter-claims of the film being complete/incomplete, good/bad, imagine the plight of the distributors and exhibitors.

(3) According to Sanjay Dutt, he has shot for only 60% of the film. According to Sanjay Gupta, he needs only 12 days to complete the film. If the two claims are read together, does it mean that Sanjay Gupta can complete 40% of a film in 12 days? If so, he may be one of the fastest directors we have, completing a film in 30 days.

(4) Whether people believe Satish Tandon or Sanjay Gupta, nobody will be the winner. In all probability, some will sympathise with Tandon and some, with Gupta. But all that may be mere lip sympathy. The fact is that the world is interested in watching the tamasha as two mature adults fight it out like kids. There’s no winner in this jung. But the industry is the biggest loser.

– Komal Nahta

KRODH

Ashok Honda Productions’ Krodh (UA), remake of the Malayalam hit, Hitler, is the story  of a young man and his five sisters. Having had to bring up his sisters since the time he himself was just a kid, he is over-protective about them. His over-protectiveness assumes the nature of madness and his strict disposition earns him the nickname ‘Hitler’. He does not even respond to the overtures made by his good friend’s sister, only because he is burdened by the fact that he is guardian to five sisters. His estranged father tries to help the family, but the children spurn his assistance because they believe, he was responsible for their mother’s untimely demise. As it turns out to be, there is a villain who has actually wronged the father and who also has an axe to grind with the young man (father’s son) for a separate incident. Coincidences like this (two tracks — one of the father and the other of the son — and just one common villain) are quite a few and they make the story implausible. The track of the brother not permitting his sisters to even speak to boys looks unbelievable in today’s times, especially because the treatment is not mature. There are some questions which crop up in the drama, but which are left unanswered, thereby further reducing the film’s appeal. For one, why does the brother only order around his sisters and never take them into confidence? Why does he object to the marriage of his sister with his good friend from a decent family? And after their secret marriage, why does he resent it so much as to feel cheated and humiliated? Why does he blame himself for the unfortunate incident involving the eldest of the five sisters, when he has never acted against their interests? How does his good friend as well as his sister not object to their father being slapped by him — this, even when the audience isn’t aware that the father is an evil guy?

This is not to say that there are only flaws and no plus points in the film. Comedy is quite a highlight and it makes the first half light and enjoyable. The second half has more of serious drama and that’s where the film drops because most of it doesn’t look believable. Romance is absent almost completely. Emotions hardly touch the heart because they are improper at places.

Sunil Shetty does a good job and gives a restrained performance. Rambha is her bubbly self. Apoorva Agnihotri is average. Sakshi Shivanand is fair. Johny Lever is just too superb and brings the house down at several places with his brilliant comedy. Kader Khan shines in emotional scenes. Mohan Joshi is average. Rami Reddy suffers on account of faulty pronunciations and monotonous dubbing. Ponnambalam is not really effective. Harish Patel and Himani Shivpuri lend able support. Shashi Sharma acts confidently. Puja Seth, Tanya and Dimple Ghosh are so-so. Others fill the bill. Dubbing of some of the characters is poor.

Ashok Honda’s direction is average. Anand Milind’s music is fair but the absence of a hit song is sorely felt. The best number is the ‘Kangna’ song. The romantic songs picturised as dream sequences is another drawback. Song picturisations are quite an eyeful. Cinematography (Teja) is effective. Background score is good. Action scenes (Bhiku Verma) have thrill and punch. Production and other technical values are of standard.

On the whole, Krodh looks like a dated film because of its regressive story. Comedy and action are its saving points, which should see it reach the average mark in some circuits. Its low price and the holiday period will help.

Released on 17-3-2000 at Dreamland and 18 other cinemas of Bombay thru S.P. Enterprises. Publicity: so-so. Opening: very good (due to Idd holiday). …….Also released all over. Opening was not up to the mark in some circuits despite Idd, because of the examination fever and cricket matches.

SULTAAN

Sangeeta Pictures’ Sultaan (A) is the usual good versus evil drama in which the former triumps over the latter. A police inspector, disillusioned by the system, resents it when his neighbour’s son, whom he had raised as his own child, also joins the police force. Fate plays a cruel joke on the young police officer; his entire family is wiped off by a pack of villains, which forces him to get equally disillusioned by the system. Thus dejected, the police officer decides to lead a commoner’s life after disfiguring the eldest son of the villain, but he is not allowed to live in peace. Finally, he eliminates the villains.

The first half is quite dull with too much emphasis on light moments of a single character (played by Tiku Talsania). The post-interval portion abounds in action and that is fairly engaging. Story and screenplay are dull, and the film’s mainstay is its action. Dialogues (Anoop Shrivastava) are witty at places.

Mithun Chakraborty does a good job. Shaina and Suvarna are average. Dharmendra is so-so and looks quite disinterested in his work. Tiku Talsania has too lengthy a role and, although he acts effectively, he manages to raise laughter only at places (the blame for ineffective comedy would go to the writer). Raza Murad acts quite well. Mukesh Rishi is pretty impressive. Jack Gaud, Shiva, Sanjeeva, Vikas Anand and Yunus Parwaiz lend fair support. Tej Sapru leaves a mark.

T.L.V. Prasad’s direction is functional and leaves plenty to be desired. Music (Bappi Lahiri and Aadesh Shrivastava) is average, a couple of songs being of the hummable variety for front-benchers. Song picturisations are ordinary. Camerawork (K.V. Ramanna) is average. Rambo Rajkumar’s action is old-fashioned, yet punch-packed.

On the whole, Sultaan is only for ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres.

Released on 17-3-2000 at Super and 9 other cinemas of Bombay thru Dilsa Distributors. Publicity: dull. Opening: fair (due to Idd holiday). …….Also released all over except in South.

SHAHEED UDDHAM SINGH

Surjit Movies’ Shaheed Uddham Singh (UA) is a patriotic film about the life of martyr Uddham Singh and his fight for India’s independence from the British empire. An extremely authentic film, it has been beautifully made. But its Punjabi flavour and the liberal use of Punjabi dialogues dramatically limit its appeal.

Writer Atul Tiwari has done a splendid job of the subject. Dialogues (Surjit Pattar and Atul Tiwari) are masterly. The film does drop in its pace at times, but it picks up again after a while every time.

Raj Babbar gives a marvellous performance in the title role. Juhi Chawla, in a brief role, is restrained and impressive. She looks pretty. Gurdas Maan is wonderfully natural. Charlene Carswell acts pretty ably. Shatrughan Sinha leaves a mark in a brief but important role. Amrish Puri lends face value in a cameo appearance. Tom Alter is effective. Barry John shines. Ranjeet does well. Kavita Kamal, Brenda Carson, Gurkirtan, Dav Anderson, David Maclennan, Joe Lamb, Gurdayal Sirra and Vincent McReady lend admirable support.

Chitraarth’s direction is praiseworthy. The man has an eye for details. The Jallianwala Baug massacre has been effectively recreated. Music has too much of Punjabi flavour but is, nevertheless, good. Costumes have the period flavour. Camerawork (Rajesh Joshi) is good. Production values are of standard.

On the whole, Shaheed Uddham Singh is an enjoyable fare but its business prospects will be very limited due to the Punjabi flavour and dialogues (which make it a class film). It definitely deserves tax-exemption.

Released on 17-3-2000 at Metro (matinee) and 2 other cinemas of Bombay thru ABC Pictures. Publicity & opening: so-so. …….Also released in Rajasthan and Nizam.

LE CHAL APNE SANG

Jyoti Films’ Le Chal Apne Sang is the story of love between a poor boy and a rich girl, who ultimately unite as man and wife. It is a very ordinary story, that too of the kind one saw in films of the ’60s and the ’70s. The screenplay, too, is antiquated. Dialogues are commonplace.

Debutants Nishant and Aakanksha are misfits as love birds. Aakansha has the looks and sex-appeal but she needs to brush up on her acting. Nishant is so-so. Beena, Alok Nath and Raza Murad are okay. Baby Sonali is good. Babloo Mukherji, Suresh Chatwal, Raju Srivastava and Ajay Wadhavkar provide able support while Nanda Shinde, Sudhir Joshi, Resham Tipnis and Sachin Deshpande fill the bill.

Vijay Kondke’s direction is ordinary, like his script. Musically, all the songs are rehashes of old tunes. The only plus points are cinematography (Sameer Arya), editing (V.N. Mayekar) and background score (Anil Mohile) along with good production values.

On the whole, Le Chal Apne Sang is a poor fare with dim chances.

Released on 17-3-2000 at Central Plaza and 5 other cinemas of Bombay thru Kamakshi Film Combine. Publicity and opening: dull. …….Also released in C.P. Berar and Nizam.

LATEST POSITION

Examinations and cricket are adversely affecting collections. But wherever SSC Board exams got over this week, collections of KAHO NAA…PYAAR HAI jumped up dramatically.

Qayamat (dubbed) 1st week Bombay 1,27,500 (3 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 2,58,366 from 4 cinemas; Delhi (6 days) 7,32,853 (32.28%) from 4 cinemas; Lucknow 1,37,221; Calcutta (6 days) 58,507; Nagpur 2,43,015, Amravati (6 days) 93,663; Hyderabad (gross) 2,81,441 from 2 cinemas (3 unrecd.).

………..

Khauff crashes. 2nd week Bombay 7,65,432 (28.71%) from 5 cinemas (5 unrecd., 6 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 2,96,388 from 4 cinemas, Rajkot (matinee) 8,115, Jamnagar 40,038; Pune 3,00,578 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 1,08,230; Delhi (6 days) 15,50,071 from 7 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Lucknow 1,01,047, Agra 75,000, Allahabad 88,162, Bareilly 38,742; Calcutta (6 days) 1,28,456; Nagpur 37,127, Jabalpur (6 days) 25,006, Amravati (6 days) 61,642, Akola 46,000, Raipur (6 days) 43,432, Jalgaon 74,120 (1st 1,78,266); Indore 60,000, Bhopal 60,000; Jaipur 4,20,567, Ajmer 70,925; Hyderabad (gross, noon) 63,436 (2 unrecd.); 1st week Vijayawada (6 days, gross) 60,606.

Hey! Ram 4th week Bombay 4,96,195 (30.30%) from 2 cinemas (3 unrecd., 4 on F.H.); Pune 2,79,667 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 22,879; Delhi (6 days) 3,99,881 from 3 cinemas; Lucknow 63,831, 1 week Bareilly 24,335; 4th week Calcutta (6 days) 1,17,026; Nagpur 37,127, 1st week Jabalpur (4 days) 75,386, Akola 90,805; Vijayawada (gross) 2,25,673.

Badal 5th week Bombay 10,30,150 (49.61%) from 5 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 40,034, 1st week Balasinor 91,621; 5th week Pune 60,645, Solapur 65,152; Delhi (6 days) 2,69,599 from 2 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Lucknow 1,89,011, Agra 1,75,000, Allahabad 68,110, Bareilly 79,887; Calcutta (6 days) 1,18,338; Nagpur 81,262, Jabalpur 59,184, 1st week Kamptee (4 days) 47,467, 5th week Amravati 80,302, Akola 52,377, total 5,89,036, Raipur (6 days) 1,01,272, 4th week Gondia (gross) 86,306, Chandrapur 59,292, total 5,25,706, 1st Yavatmal 1,83,787; 5th week Indore 89,000, Bhopal 66,408; Jaipur 1,55,069, Ajmer 70,000; Hyderabad (gross) 3,27,281 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon).

Pukar 6th week Bombay (TF) 4,71,750 (4 unrecd., 3 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 75,920 from 2 cinemas (2 unrecd.); Pune (TF) 4,30,747 from 3 cinemas, Solapur (TF, matinee) 25,680; Delhi (TF, 6 days) 8,82,291 from 6 cinemas; Lucknow 97,603, Agra 54,000, Allahabad 34,771; Calcutta (6 days) 1,01,681; Nagpur (TF) 1,13,030, Jabalpur (TF, 6 days) 40,716, Akola (TF) 63,926, total 5,92,849, Raipur (TF, 6 days) 35,396, Jalgaon (TF) 85,212 (5th 55,816); Indore (TF) 41,309 (1 on F.H.), Bhopal (TF) 46,451; Hyderabad (gross) 4,04,040 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon, 2 unrecd.).

Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai is just too fantastic. 9th week Bombay 42,08,528 (94.35%) from 10 cinemas (5 on F.H.), 3rd week Vashi (gross, 6 days) 2,79,918, 8th week Vasai (gross, 6 days) 2,22,535; 9th week Ahmedabad 3,84,868 from 3 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Baroda 2,15,515, 3rd week Padra 1,88,868, 2nd week Cambay 1,64,668 (1st 1,98,906), 9th week Rajkot 1,12,800; Pune 9,16,645 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 1,91,977; Delhi (6 days) 15,24,080 from 7 cinemas; Lucknow 2,92,167, Agra 1,46,000, Allahabad 91,233, Bareilly (6 days) 43,668; Calcutta (6 days) 7,07,151 from 5 cinemas; Nagpur 2,60,330 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 1,15,122, 2nd week Balaghat 75,854, total 1,80,976, 9th week Amravati 1,50,664, Akola 1,42,845, total 12,91,504, Raipur 1,20,609, 7th week Durg 70,403, 9th Jalgaon 1,38,260 (8th 1,15,001), 4th week Wardha (nett) 94,827, total 5,08,947, share 4,16,947, 8th week Chandrapur 1,59,371, total 14,28,978, 7th Yavatmal 88,869; 9th Bhopal 1,92,584, total 18,31,574; Jaipur 3,24,159 from 2 cinemas; Hyderabad (gross) 5,57,302 from 2 cinemas (1 in noon, 2 on F.H.); Vijayawada 7 weeks’ total (gross) 16,73,530.

Derani Jethani (Gujarati; TF) 1st week Ahmedabad 1,88,211 from 3 cinemas (1 unrecd.).

FILM PROMOTION COUNCIL FORMED IN U.P.

The Uttar Pradesh government recently announced the formation of the long-awaited Film Promotion Council under the presidentship of well-known writer Kamleshwar. Formulated under the state government’s film policy, the Council will discuss and organise film activities in the state. Besides Kamleshwar, the Council has as its members the chief secretary to the government of U.P. (as associate president), Naushad Ali, Pahlaj Nihalani, Dr. Ramanand Sagar, Dr. R.K. Verma (U.P. Film Chamber of Commerce president), Muzaffar Ali, Ravindra Jain, Pt. Gautam Kaul, Surinder Kapoor, Sultan Ahmed, Shiv Kumar, Raja Bundela, Ashok Chand Jain, J.N. Srivastava and representatives of the NFDC, the FFI, the IMPPA, the Film & Television Academy of U.P., directorate of film festivals, U.P. Film Exhibitors Federation, entertainment commissioner of U.P., and other government departments.

CALCUTTA STUDIO GUTTED IN FIRE

A fire broke out in Calcutta’s oldest studio, Technicians Studio, in Tollygunge on 14th March. The studio’s floor no. 3 was gutted. Six fire engines were employed to put off the fire, but by the time they reached there, the floor had been reduced to cinders. The fire broke out during the shooting of Streer Maryada, being made by Swapan Saha. Fortunately, nobody was injured. Prasenjit and Rituparna Sengupta were participating in the shooting and were the first to notice the fire. Short-circuit is said to be the cause. The set was that of a village, constructed with pinewood and straw which burnt very fast, destroying everything within minutes.

CONFERENCE ON FILM INDUSTRY

An international conference on ‘The business of entertainment: India – Opportunities in the 21st century’ will be held at Hotel Regent in Bombay on March 30 and 31. Topics relating to films, television, music, radio and the government’s role, will be discussed in six sessions. Organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry in association with the Film Federation of India, Indian Music Industry (IMI), Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), Association of Motion Picture & TV Programme Producers, and other bodies, the conference will be inaugurated by Arun Jaitley, minister for information and broadcasting. It will be presided over by Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

AJIT BARJATYA’S SON, RAJAT TO WED

Rajat, son of Ajit Kumar Barjatya, will wed Neha in Delhi on 23rd March. A reception to celebrate the wedding will be held on 25th March in Bombay at the RWITC (Members’ Enclosure), Mahalaxmi.

YOU ASKED IT

Is there any effective way of cutting down production cost without it being obvious on the screen?

– Plenty of ways! Pay the stars less and it will never show on the screen! Jokes apart, production values should be commensurate with the scene/song but producers often go overboard without it really being necessary.

It’s been a long time since a good woman-oriented film has been made. Here, I don’t mean films like Ramkali, Munnibai and the like. I mean films like Mother India, Seema (old), Bandini, Sujata, Aurat (old), Chandni… Will they not make viable proposals today?

– Of course, they would make exciting and viable proposals even today. Do you have a good woman-oriented subject?

Do film awards help in enhancing the market value of stars and technicians?

– Not in India. Here, box-office rewards are more important than awards.

DO YOU KNOW?

* With 15 cinemas currently being installed with DTS sound system, the total number of DTS cinemas in India would go up to 507. Andhra Pradesh has the maximum number of DTS cinemas (142), followed by Tamil Nadu (80) and Maharashtra (70). 

* Universal has released a private album, ‘Dil Kahin Hosh Kahin’, featuring songs penned by Nida Fazli, composed by Aadesh Shrivastava and sung by Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Jagjit Singh, Kumar Sanu, Alka Yagnik and others. The album is presented by Bharat Shah. So many top names in a private album? Well, this private album is different from the rest. The songs of the album were actually recorded for Chetan Anand’s feature film, HUSN. Following Chetan Anand’s demise, the film was shelved, and now, Universal has released the songs in the form of an album. 

* Kader Khan will return to stage after 15 years. He will appear in two plays on 26th March — Badi Der Ki Meherbaan Aate Aate and Local Train — directed by his son, Sarfaraz Khan.

CENSOR NEWS

Baba Films’ Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge (social) was given C.C. No. CIL/1/15/2000 (U) dt. 10-3-2000; length 3876.14 metres in 16 reels (cuts: 2.36 metres).

A.G. Films P. Ltd.’s Hera Pheri (social/comedy), seen on 14th, has been issued C.C. No. CIL/1/16/2000 (U) dt. 16-3-2000; length 4124.86 metres in 18 reels (minor deletion in sound only).

Ashok Honda Productions’ Krodh was given C.C. (in Madras) No. CIL/2/0138/2000 (UA) dt. 6-3-2000; length 4439.90 metres in 17 reels (no cut).

Sangeeta Pictures’ Sultaan was given C.C. (in Madras) No. CIL/3/0175/2000 (A) dt. 15-3-2000; length 3777.45 metres in 16 reels (with cuts).

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Hrithikmania

While the whole nation is in the grip of Clintonmania these days, the school-going kids as well as the teeny-boppers are struck by Hrithikmania. A case in point is that of a 7th standard 12-year-old of Bhusawal. This girl goes to a school which strictly prohibits its students from bringing into the school any film magazine or photographs of film stars. Any student violating this rule could face a heavy fine or even be rusticated. At such a school, this girl was found to be in possession of more than a hundred pictures of Hrithik Roshan. When the school authorities brought this ‘offence’ to the notice of her parents, even they were shocked by their daughter’s obsession for the KN…PH star! Even the film’s C.P. Berar distributor Laloo Kabra’s school-going son is an ardent fan of Hrithik. He had been pestering his father for a telephonic conversation with Hrithik. The father had agreed to fulfil his wish on the condition that his Hrithik-struck son pass his annual examinations with flying colours. The son had started concentrating on his studies, which made Laloo yield to the pressure from his son even before the results are out!… In Bombay and elsewhere, youngsters have been repeatedly requesting cable-operators to screen KN…PH, even though each cable operator has screened it thrice or more times already. Madness at its height! But who is complaining?! Nobody, not even the parents of such star-struck children. One member of the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) of a school in South Bombay suggested to us, “Since school exams are nearing, Hrithik should exhort students, through the media, to study for their exams and forget him for a while.” Kaho naa…Hrithik, “Exams hai, tumhe padhna hai!”

Hrithik: A Desi Leo?

Although the comparison may look a trifle too preposterous and far-fetched, one can’t help but draw a few similarities between Titanic and Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai.

Both are huge hits (the former, of course, is too huge); both are love stories; both have super-hit music; both have the hero and the heroine’s love blossoming on board a luxury liner; in both the films, the lovers do not live happily ever after as in most other love stories (in Titanic, hero Leonardo DiCaprio dies, while in Kaho Naa…, one Hrithik Roshan is killed before the other makes the scene as the earlier hero’s look-alike). Both, Leo and Hrithik, became superstars over-night after the release of these films.

FROM PLEASING PUBLIC TO GOING PUBLIC

The production sector of the film industry is undergoing a sea change. Several top producers, who so far only concentrated on entertaining the public with their films, are now aiming higher and taking their companies pubic. The coming three to four months are likely to see at least five or six producers and music companies bringing out public issues.

With public funds coming into the production sector, the face of the industry will change. The manner in which business is conducted may undergo a radical change. With IPOs (initial public offerings) and corporatisation, the corporate culture will set in. In its wake will come more discipline, greater transparency and more organisation.

While all the public issues may not be lapped up with the same enthusiasm by the people, at least three or four of the several forthcoming public issues can be expected to be hugely over-subscribed. Entertainment and media companies are oven-hot today. Dot com companies command huge market capitalisation. Imagine then, a combination of media and dot com business. It will make for an explosive, effective and formidable synergy. At least a couple of production houses are also contemplating going online in a big way.

The excitement has started. The way film business is conducted is bound to change dramatically. So fasten your seat belts and gear up for the action!

– Komal Nahta

USHA KIRON BIDS ADIEU

Usha Kiron, the leading lady of yesteryears, passed way in Nasik on 9th March due to cancer. She was 71 and is survived by her husband, Dr. Manohar Kher, her actress-daughter, Tanvi Azmi, son-in-law, Baba Azmi (cinematographer), and a son.

Usha Kiron began her acting career with a Marathi play several decades ago. Thereafter, she acted in many Marathi and Gujarati plays and films. She made her debut in Hindi films with Amiya Chakravarty’s Gauna. Her performance in Amiya’s Patita, opposite Dev Anand, won her rave reviews. She made a place for herself even when Nargis, Madhubala, Meena Kumari and Nutan were the top leading ladies of the day. She acted opposite all top stars of those days: Dilip Kumar (Daag), Dev Anand (Patita) and Raj Kapoor (Nazrana) and opposite Rajendra Kumar (in the Gujarati super-hit, Mehndi Rang Laagyo). She also earned laurels for her versatile performances in Marathi films like Kanyadaan, Shikleli Bayko, Bala Jo Jo Re, Garib Gharachi Mulgi, Kanchanganga and Kalpana. The actress made a comeback in the seventies with character roles in Hrishikesh Mukherji’s Bawarchi and Chupke Chupke.

Usha Kiron was the sheriff of Bombay in 1997-98 during which period she forcefully campaigned against noise pollution. She had penned an autobiography, in Marathi, which was entitled Usha-Kal.

Usha Kiron was to be honoured  by a women’s organisation on the occasion of the International Women’s Day (8th March, 2000), but she had to keep away from the function due to her indisposition.

Since a month-and-a-half, she had been staying at her son’s house in Nasik to take rest. According to her husband, “She was fully satisfied with life.”

Usha Kiron’s funeral at Nasik was largely attended.

LATEST POSITION

Examinations and telecast of cricket matches are adversely affecting box-office takings.

Khauff crashed on 4th day where it took a reasonably good start; elsewhere, it was dismal from the beginning. 1st week Bombay 50,02,509 (48.81%) from 18 cinemas (10 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 11,76,278 from 8 cinemas, Rajkot 1,52,672 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Jamnagar 1,00,838; Pune 11,00,844 from 6 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 2,33,511 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Delhi 29,59,112 (36.24%) from 13 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur (6 days) 3,68,739 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,36,987, Agra 2,14,000, Allahabad 2,05,573, Bareilly (6 days) 1,03,896; Calcutta 18,89,285 from 21 cinemas; Nagpur 5,99,245 from 5 cinemas, Amravati (6 days) 1,85,237, Akola 1,41,524, Raipur (6 days) 1,08,917, Jalgaon 1,78,260, Yavatmal 69,572; Bhopal 2,57,022 from 3 cinemas; Jaipur 9,19,947 from 4 cinemas, Ajmer (gross, 29 shows) 2,11,877, Bikaner 1,63,045; Hyderabad (gross) 26,27,931 from 14 cinemas (2 in noon), Vijayawada 2,38,996.

Hey! Ram 3rd week Bombay 11,00,155 (41.46%) from 4 cinemas (2 unrecd., 6 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 76,072 from 2 cinemas; Pune 4,93,549 from 5 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 61,064; Hubli 1,05,387; Delhi 9,98,757 from 5 cinemas; Kanpur 44,103 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,06,769, Agra 28,500, Allahabad 31,000; Calcutta 4,31,178 from 3 cinemas; Nagpur 53,452, Raipur 61,622, 1 week Bhilai 56,300; 3rd week Hyderabad (gross) 4,02,718 from 2 cinemas.

Devi (dubbed) 3rd week Bombay 1,48,764; Solapur (matinee) 15,355; Calcutta 2,64,788 from 4 cinemas; Nagpur 48,564, good, Amravati (6 days) 36,098, Raipur (6 days) 16,770.

Badal 4th week Bombay 12,39,720 (54.27%) from 5 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 2,45,142 from 4 cinemas, Jamnagar (matinee) 7,071; Solapur 1,07,794 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); 2nd week Bijapur 1,12,073; 4th week Delhi 5,81,426 from 5 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 2,16,049 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,77,653, Agra 2,50,000, Allahabad 1,05,000, Bareilly 1,02,551, Hardwar 35,000; Calcutta 3,96,463 from 3 cinemas; Amravati 45,026, Akola 61,704, total 5,36,659, Raipur (6 days, gross) 1,25,311, Bhilai 35,000, Durg 33,462, Jalgaon 54,438, Wardha 34,610; Indore 92,000, Bhopal 66,320; Jaipur 2,03,431 from 2 cinemas, Ajmer (gross) 96,910, Bikaner 92,074; Hyderabad (gross) 3,79,344 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon, 1 on F.H.).

Pukar 5th week Bombay 7,69,728 from 2 cinemas (1 unrecd., 3 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 4,94,958 from 5 cinemas; Pune 2,66,196 from 2 cinemas; Delhi (TF) 9,67,272 from 5 cinemas; Kanpur 1,32,766 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,28,558, Agra 57,000, Allahabad 28,759, 1st week Hardwar 70,000; 5th week Calcutta 1,25,322; Nagpur 1,17,781 from 2 cinemas, Amravati (6 days) 56,815, Akola 48,527, total 5,28,922, Raipur (TF, 6 days) 50,740; Indore (TF) 45,833; Hyderabad (gross) 7,49,919 from 5 cinemas (1 in noon).

Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani 7th week Bombay 6,19,123 (33.46%) from 5 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Pune (matinee) 17,497; Kanpur 13,279 (1 on F.H.), Lucknow (6 days) 70,360, Allahabad 50,000; Calcutta 85,968; Indore (TF) 38,000, Bhopal (TF) 42,912, 1st week Ujjain (TF) 42,000; 7th week Hyderabad (gross, noon) 26,728.

Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai 8th week Bombay 42,62,999 (95.57%) from 10 cinemas (5 on F.H.), 2nd week Vashi (gross) 3,46,468, 7th week Vasai (gross) 2,27,927; 8th week Ahmedabad 9,90,201 from 4 cinemas, Baroda 2,15,381, 2nd week Padra 2,42,098, 1st week Cambay 1,98,906, 8th Rajkot 1,25,570; Pune 8,74,145 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 1,87,490; Dharwad 59,847; Delhi 18,11,654 from 7 cinemas; Kanpur 1,78,063 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,00,660, Allahabad 83,000, Bareilly (6 days) 49,254, Muzaffarnagar 25,000, 5th week Hardwar 37,000; 8th week Calcutta 8,47,928 from 6 cinemas; Nagpur 4,26,912 from 3 cinemas, 1st week Balaghat (3 days) 54,276, 8th week Amravati 1,42,812, total 12,84,595, Akola 1,30,266, total 11,48,659, Raipur 1,06,861, Bhilai 36,070, 6th week Durg 54,410, 8th week Jalgaon 1,13,001, 3rd week Wardha 1,17,175, total 4,14,120, share 3,45,120, 7th week Chandrapur 1,51,957 (6th 1,26,849), total 12,69,607, 6th Yavatmal (gross) 1,01,514, total 7,87,169, share 4,87,169; 8th week Bhopal 1,57,142; Jaipur 2,16,326, Bikaner 77,934; Hyderabad (gross) 6,98,572 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon, 1 on F.H.).

NUTAN DEPARTS

Nutan Govind Naik, associate editor of Film Information, passed away in the early morning hours of 8th March at a hospital at Dombivli, a far-off suburb of Bombay. He was 57 and is survived by his wife and three daughters. He had been keeping ill-health since the last few months and had gone to Goa, his native place, last month. His family brought him back to Bombay on 6th March when his condition deteriorated, and admitted him to hospital right away. His condition worsened around 3 a.m. on 8th and he breathed his last around 5.30 a.m. in the hospital. He was cremated at the Chandanwadi crematorium the same evening.

Nutan-ji, as he was commonly addressed by everyone in the film trade, was gentle and affable by nature. He was soft-hearted and used to come to the help of anyone in need. He worked in the film trade for nearly four decades. Nutan-ji started out in a humble capacity in Trade Guide under late B.K. Adarsh. He inched his way up to become its reporter and with his penchant for box-office figures, he used to later assess the films’ all-India business, and he did so with unabated passion. He was also fond of watching previews of important releases in order to test his judgement. When G.P. Sippy’s Sholay was being dubbed a flop by the industry at the time of its release, Nutan-ji was firm in his statement that it would prove to be a super-duper hit. He loved emotional films and used to weep like a child while watching sentimental scenes, especially the ones involving screen-mothers.

Late Manmohan Desai was among the many who trusted Nutan-ji’s judgement. When Man-ji kept the first preview of his maiden production, Amar Akbar Anthony, he insisted on Nutan-ji seeing the film and giving him his frank opinion. After the show was over, Manmohan Desai was taken aback when Nutan-ji exclaimed, “Definitely 1 crore!” Man-ji was surprised because producers and distributors then never imagined that a film, howsoever good, could touch the crore-mark, despite Sholay having done a business of more than a crore. For Nutan-ji’s unerring judgement in Amar Akbar Anthony, Manmohan Desai presented him a trophy at its jubilee function.

Even if Nutan-ji erred in his judgement on certain films, he would admit that he had failed, for, he never believed in arguing to just prove his point. He was indeed a man of few words, but when it came to discussions on a film’s collections, prices and terms to be offered, he would open up with great enthusiasm and excitement. When our late editor, Ramraj-ji, had joined Trade Guide to assist his brother, Adarsh-ji, Nutan-ji had struck a great rapport with him (Ramraj-ji). After Ramraj-ji founded Film Information in 1973, Nutan-ji joined Film Information and became its associate editor. He was an important and integral part of the Information family for over 25 years. Nutan-ji was especially very friendly with distributors and exhibitors of C.P., C.I. and Rajasthan trade. He used to liaise with producers on their behalf. His association with the film trade also made him dabble into distribution and exhibition businesses.

His ambition to produce a film was fulfilled when he co-produced the Rajasthani film, Ramkudee Jhamkudee, which became a hit. He also co-produced another Rajasthani film, Khoon Ro Teeko, and the Hindi film, Saajan Ka Ghar.

Nutan-ji used to hate wasting time on busy days, especially Thursdays and Fridays. He had a penchant for keeping his table clear of papers, which indicated his endeavour to finish the work on hand in time. When working, he used to detest disturbance of any kind and used to indulge in chatter or light gossip, only after finishing the work on hand. He used to love cricket and avidly followed every game of the sport that India played.

Over the years, Nutan-ji had maintained his physique and appearance. In fact, many in the trade used to jocularly ask him whether he ever aged! But the last four months of his life saw him age too quickly. His weight reduced drastically quite rapidly and the last month or so was rather difficult for him.

PROTEST AGAINST ‘GADAR’ SHOOTING

A section of Shia Muslims in Lucknow has protested the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to allow producer Nitin Keni to shoot his Sunny Deol-Amisha Patel starrer Gadar at the local Imambara. Activists have demanded that the permission to shoot be withdrawn as Imambara is a religious place for Muslims. Leaders of Shia Muslims have threatened to immolate themselves if their demand was not met by the government soon.

VARSHA USGAONKAR WEDS

Varsha Usgaonkar married Ajay Sharma, son of veteran music director Ravi, in Goa on 9th March. The wedding, solemnised at Varsha’s sister’s house, was attended by close relatives.

KHUSHBOO MARRIES SUNDAR C.

Top Tamil film heroine Khushboo married Tamil film actor, producer and director Sundar C. on 9th March at a five-star hotel in Madras. The marriage was attended by a large number of South film celebrities.

NEW CINEMA AT HALOL

A new cinema — Jap — opened at Halol (Gujarat) last week. This is the second cinema of Halol.

FILMCENTER DECIDES TO CLOSE DOWN

Filmcenter, one of the oldest film processing laboratories of Bombay, is contemplating closure. The lab is refusing new films with the aim of ultimately downing shutters.

NEW CINEMA IN JALGAON DUE TO OPEN SHORTLY

A new cinema — Mohan Chitra Mandir — will open shortly in Jalgaon. Owned by Viththal Shivaji Sonawane, it is equipped with Photophone projectors and Dolby Digital sound system. Its screen size is 48′ x 21′. The air-cooled cinema has big foyers on the first and ground floors.

It has 3 classes — Balcony (with 311 seats), I Class (260 seats), and II Class (342 seats). The admission rates are Rs. 20, Rs. 12 and Rs. 7 respectively. The booking of the cinema will be controlled by Mohan Exhibitors (Vasant Talkies Building, Amravati).

GYANCHAND MEHTA DEAD

Well-known Rajasthan distributor Gyanchand Mehta (Mehta Film Exchange, Jaipur) expired on 4th March in Jaipur owing to heart failure. He was 67. Uthavna was held on 6th.

His distribution concern was being looked after by him as well as his only son, Dinesh.

‘KHOOBSURAT’ COMPLETES 100 DAYS

Sanjay Chhel’s debut directorial venture, Khoobsurat, completed 100 combined days of its run at Metro (matinee), Bombay on 4th March. Produced by Rahul Sughand and presented by Jhamu Sughand, the film stars Sanjay Dutt and Urmila Matondkar in the lead. Music: Jatin Lalit.

‘PUKAR’ TAX-FREE IN MAHARASHTRA, U.P.

Boney Kapoor’s Pukar has been exempted from payment of entertainment tax in Maharashtra for a period of one year from 9th March. The film is being screened at tax-free rates from 10th.

The Uttar Pradesh government has also exempted Pukar from entertainment tax with effect from 17th March. The exemption will be effective for 4 weeks.

‘KKHH’ TAX-FREE IN MAHARASHTRA

Yash Johar’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, directed by debut-making Karan Johar, has been granted tax-exemption in Maharashtra for a period of one year from 10th March. The entertainment tax exemption has come in the wake of the film bagging the National award for the best film providing wholesome entertainment. It is also tax-exempted in Delhi for 3 months from 25th February.

YOU ASKED IT

Do you think, the makers of Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani erred in the publicity campaigns of the film?

– Yes, they did. Had they stressed on the nationalist feel of the film, in their pre-release promotional trailers, business would have been at least 20% to 25% better.

When will Esha Deol be launched? Is the launch film a remake of a South film?

– Boney Kapoor will start the film starring Esha Deol in April. It will be directed by Vinay Shukla and star Sanjay Kapoor and Aftab in the male leads, with Jaya Bachchan in a key role. The film is a remake of the Telugu hit, PELLI.

Despite Sanjay Gupta’s films bombing at the box-office, how does he manage to bag new films?

– He doesn’t come alone, he gets Sanjay Dutt with him. Any director, who has dates of the scarce commodity called ‘saleable hero’, has more chances of bagging films.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Premiere, the newly-opened state-of-the-art cinema at Parel, Bombay, allows children under the age of 18 to see an adults film at the cinema provided the accompanying parents of the children give an undertaking to the cinema that they will be responsible for the consequences if their children are caught watching adults films. But does this undertaking absolve the cinema from legal implications?

* A pop song of the toe-tapping kind, set to tune by Anand Milind, Shankar Mahadevan and Lezz Lewis and choreographed by Ganesh Hegde, was picturised for CHAL MERE BHAI under the direction of noted ad man Ashu Trikha who specialises in making promos for feature films. It was picturised on Shankar Mahadevan and Lezz Lewis (who have themselves rendered the song) on March 6 at Filmistan Studios. This song will be a part of the promotional campaign and it will also be utilised in the film’s titles.

* The shooting of producer-director Hussain Bloch’s Gujarati film, SAACHO SATHVARO SAAJAN NO, was interrupted for half an hour recently at Halol, due to the ’emotional breakdown’ of leading lady Sharmilee and Heena Upadhyay while enacting an emotional scene. The scene had Heena Upadhyay (playing a bhabhi) exhorting bride-to-be Sharmilee to be good and virtuous in her in-laws’ house. Whenever the two actresses were giving takes, they used to break down. The director suspended the shooting for half an hour until the emotionally-swept ladies regained their composure.

* Laloo Kabra, the C.P. Berar distributor of KN…PH, has started a scheme of distributing free T-shirts to winners of the lucky draws in every show at Jayant, Chandrapur and Manek, Akola. Collections at Chandrapur have shot up (6th week 1,26,848/-; 7th week 1,51,957/-).

COMMENTS

BONEY KAPOOR

City Pulse cineplex in Gandhinagar is the best thing to have happened to the industry in recent years.

SANJAY MEHTA (Bobby Art International, Delhi)

The menace of no. 2 prints in U.P. is killing the trade. The local authorities and the cinemas, which screen illegal prints, are hand-in-glove.

BRIJESH TANDON (Delhi-U.P. exhibitor-distributor)

The business of Delhi city is dismal these days.

MAVJIBHAI SHAH (Bombay distributor)

Unrealistically high admission rates in cinemas are killing the business. Now, people see a film only if it is really good. That is why, business of good films is extraordinary whereas that of poor films is dismal.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Well-Deserved Tax Exemptions

It is heartening to note that state governments are granting entertainment tax exemption to a well-deserved film like Pukar. That Boney Kapoor’s ambitious project tackles the Indo-Pak enmity quite boldly and bluntly is laudable. The exemption from payment of entertainment tax by state governments of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi underlines the fact that all is not lost for purposeful films with a message. A couple of other states are expected to follow suit and similarly exempt Pukar from tax.

Delayed Exemption

While the state governments, including Maharashtra, have been reasonably fast to act on tax-exemption to Pukar, the Maharashtra government has shown unbelievable lethargy in granting tax exemption to Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Although all National award-winning films are granted the tax-free status by the government of Maharashtra, one wonders why it took the government one year to put its seal on the tax-free order for KKHH. Oh, kya kya hota hai!

Govinda As No. 1 Distributor

Govinda, who fancies ‘No. 1’ in the title of his starrers, is now aiming to become the No. 1 distributor for Bombay! The star has jumped into the distribution arena and will be releasing Hadh Kardi Aapne on April 14. Know what he has named his distribution concern? It is named Govinda Yashvardhan No. 1 Distributors! Yashvardhan, his ‘partner’ in the concern, is his 4-year old son! For the time being, the office will be operated from floor no. 1 of Naaz Building.

Calling To Say, ‘Pyaar Hai, Kaho Naa…Kya Haal Hai?’

The jingle of cash registers is sweet music to any producer’s ears, including Rakesh Roshan’s. But what happens when the jingle of money comes together with constant ringing of telephone bells? Ever since the release of Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai, Rakesh Roshan has been attending to calls after calls from friends and acquaintances from all over India and abroad. The telephones ring to bring compliments galore as also to enquire after his health. The Overseas calls come mostly in the middle of the night, thus forcing Rakesh to keep awake all night. The constant ringing of his phones has exasperated him so much that he could tear his hair apart (pity, he can’t, because he is bald!). The producer-director of the super-hit film has, therefore, hit upon an idea, although late: to have his old phones disconnected and to get new phone numbers. And he has done exactly that! Now, ring in the new number if you can! Or, ask him if you happen to bump into him, “Kaho naa…aapka naya telephone number kya hai?”

Not On Ground Level

Offices of almost all the leading distributors of Delhi-U.P., located in the Chandni Chowk area, are, by a strange coincidence, on the first and second floors of buildings. Since most of the buildings in the area are very old, the staircases are extremely steep. Resultantly, exhibitors and cinema controllers, who have to frequent the offices of distributors for booking films, must be getting out of breath even before they reach their destinations. MGs and advances asked for by distributors these days must be adding to the breathlessness of exhibitors!

KHAUFF

Chirag Arts’ Khauff (A) is the story of a contract killer falling in love with his target. A girl, who is an eye-witness in a murder case, is to depose before the court, but is prevented from doing so by a contract killer whose services have been hired by the murderer’s father. The contract killer also falls in love with the girl. The hardships and trauma the girl has to go through because of the contract killer coming in her way, finally prompts her to play a game. She uses the same contract killer to eliminate those who had hired him to finish her off. In the end, she kills him too and thereby avenges the murder of her innocent and dear friend, the rape of her little sister, the killing of a conscientious police inspector and the killing of the contract killer’s friend to terrify her.

The film is designed to be a thriller but it is so predictable that it hardly thrills. That the police officer is going to be murdered and the girl will be the sole eye-witness to this murder becomes crystal clear even before it actually happens. Again, the killing of her friend is also anyone’s guess. Another drawback is the weak characterisation of the girl. At the drop of a hat, she overlooks the fact that she is to give witness in the court for the murder of her innocent and dear friend, and for no solid reason, she even refuses to give the witness! After that, when she recounts her friend’s murder in the climax, it looks silly. The contract killer’s love for the girl, whom he is terrorising, also doesn’t go down too well. Climax involving the contract killer and those who had hired him is too listless and short to be true; the other part of the climax involving the contract killer and the girl is as predictable as the rest of the film.

What, however, is good about the film is that it moves at a very fast pace.

Sanjay Dutt does a fair job as the contract killer. But the continuity jerks become obvious, thanks to his changing hair-length. He is ill at ease in difficult dance movements and goes through them as if they were strenuous PT exercises! Manisha Koirala impresses in some dramatic scenes but is too ordinary otherwise. She has not taken care of her looks, make-up and costumes. Sharad Kapoor acts quite well. Simran is natural. Jaspal Bhatti has been terribly wasted in a double role. Parmeet Sethi is okay. Suresh Oberoi gets very limited scope and is good. Farida Jalal, Mukesh Khanna, Tinnu Anand, Beena and Navin Nischol provide able support. Ishrat Ali is getting stereotyped. Satyen Kappu, Achyut Potdar, Homi Wadia, Dinesh Anand, Gavin, Hussain, Brij Gopal and Rajesh Joshi fill the bill. Raveena Tandon and Daler Mehndi lend face value and glamour in a song-dance.

Sanjay Gupta’s direction is noteworthy only for the stylishness he adopts; otherwise, like the script, the direction also leaves a lot to be desired. Music is a mixed bag. Three songs — ‘Ladti hai to ladne de’, ‘O gori tu chali kahan’ and ‘Saiyan more saiyan’ — are well-tuned and also lavishly picturised. Other song picturisations are also rich and one of them is quite sensuous too, but at least two songs are musically dull. Action scenes (Ravi Dewan) are quite well-composed but there is less action considering that it is a Sanjay Dutt starrer. Kabir Lal’s camerawork is reasonably good. Background score is effective. Production values are of a fairly good standard.

On the whole, Khauff has initial value and that’s about all. The two-day holiday weekend (4th and 5th March) will help. Its small length (running time is a little over 2 hours) is a minus point.

Released on 3-3-2000 at Maratha Mandir and 27 other cinemas of Bombay thru Raj Enterprises. Publicity: very good. Opening: fair. …….Also released all over.

LATEST POSITION

It is the KAHO NAA…PYAAR HAI fever across the country!

Hey! Ram drops further. 2nd week Bombay 9,33,502 from 2 cinemas (5 cinemas unrecd., 5 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 3,31,877 from 3 cinemas; Pune 6,94,763 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 95,840; Hubli 1,42,437; Delhi 16,50,280 from 5 cinemas; Lucknow 1,65,018, Varanasi 54,744, Allahabad 72,822, Dehradun 67,000 (1st 1,21,000); Calcutta 6,92,510 from 5 cinemas; Nagpur 1,84,751, Amravati (6 days) 54,935, 1st week Yavatmal (4 days) 68,563; 2nd week Indore (6 days) 62,999; Jaipur 4,08,700; Hyderabad (gross) 8,75,614 from 3 cinemas.

Daku Ramkali 2nd week Bombay 4,53,227 on 4 prints (2 on F.H.); 1st week Pune 1,79,925 from 3 cinemas; 2nd Delhi 1,52,462 from 2 cinemas (2 on F.H.); 1st week Allahabad 44,307, 2nd week Varanasi 65,138; Calcutta 5,68,689 from 8 cinemas (5 on F.H.); 1 week Raipur 52,496, 2nd week Bilaspur 25,215, total 75,500; 1st week Hyderabad (gross) 2,74,916 from 4 cinemas (3 in noon , 2 on F.H.).

Devi (dubbed) 2nd week Bombay 4,14,898 from 3 cinemas; 1st week Ahmedabad 1,09,909 from 3 cinemas; 2nd week Pune 63,584, Solapur (matinee) 23,062; Calcutta 4,33,802 from 7 cinemas; Jabalpur (6 days) 29,540, Amravati 52,058, Raipur (6 days) 26,371; 1st week Jaipur 1,32,620.

Badal 3rd week Bombay 14,61,407 (52.95%) from 6 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 4,11,498 from 6 cinemas, 1st week Dahod 91,864; 3rd Pune 1,52,825, Solapur 1,30,778 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); 1st week Bijapur 1,57,036; 3rd week Delhi 14,06,973 from 9 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Lucknow 3,32,003, Allahabad 1,69,432, Bareilly 1,51,416, Dehradun 92,000 (2nd 1,28,000), Hardwar about 45,000; Calcutta 6,61,259 from 5 cinemas; Nagpur 1,34,644, Amravati 1,28,277, Akola 1,00,677, total 4,74,954, Raipur (6 days, gross) 1,80,727, Durg 50,062, 2nd week Jalgaon 1,15,101, 3rd Wardha 49,909, total 2,65,367, 2nd week Chandrapur 1,34,252, total 3,75,272; 3rd week Indore 1,26,269 (1 on F.H.), Bhopal 95,654; Jaipur 2,60,429, 2nd Bikaner 1,48,618; 3rd week Hyderabad (gross) 4,11,626 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon, 1 on F.H.).

Pukar has improved in M.P. due to tax-exemption. 4th week Bombay 11,53,789 (41.93%) from 4 cinemas (4 cinemas unrecd., 4 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 4,63,518 from 3 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Rajkot 49,000; Pune 3,43,747 from 3 cinemas, Solapur 57,333; Delhi 12,82,836 from 6 cinemas, tax-free from this week; Lucknow 1,46,705, Varanasi 97,794, Allahabad 49,462, Bareilly (6 days) 26,033, Dehradun 85,525 (3rd 1,05,582); Calcutta 2,99,089 from 3 cinemas; Nagpur 1,50,498 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur (TF, 6 days) 70,502, Amravati (6 days) 67,063, Akola 70,971, total 4,80,394, Raipur (TF, 6 days) 64,619, Yavatmal 15,325; Indore (TF) 77,713; Hyderabad (gross) 7,78,454 from 4 cinemas (1 in noon).

Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani has also picked up in M.P. following tax-exemption. 6th week Bombay 9,90,291 (41.69%) from 5 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Pune 1,67,984 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee); Lucknow 1,24,292, Varanasi 26,567, Allahabad 22,635; Calcutta 1,19,167; 3rd week Jabalpur (TF, 6 days) 82,181; 6th week Indore (TF) 55,000, Bhopal (TF) 64,270; Hyderabad (gross) 34,311 (noon shows).

Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai is going greater than great guns! 7th week Bombay 43,73,182 (98.04%) from 10 cinemas (7 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 8,22,670 from 3 cinemas, Baroda 2,36,732, 1st week Padra 2,68,624; 7th week Pune 9,48,787 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee); Solapur 1,87,058; Dharwad 57,264; Delhi 16,32,778 from 6 cinemas; Lucknow 3,51,009, Varanasi 1,65,416, Allahabad 1,06,859, Bareilly (6 days) 56,989, 6th week Dehradun 1,36,000 (5th 1,54,879), 7th week Muzaffarnagar about 30,000, 4th week Hardwar about 50,000; 7th week Calcutta 9,74,164 from 6 cinemas; Nagpur 3,55,361 from 3 cinemas, Jabalpur 1,21,940, total 10,88,000, Amravati 1,37,820, total 11,41,783, Akola 1,32,093, total 10,18,393, Raipur 1,30,640, 5th week Durg 67,002, 2nd week Wardha 1,29,073, 7th Jalgaon 1,25,478, 6th week Chandrapur 1,26,849, total 11,17,649, 5th Yavatmal 1,13,067; 7th week Bhopal 1,81,000; Jaipur 2,50,166, 5th week Bikaner 87,416; 7th week Hyderabad (gross) 5,78,396 from 2 cinemas (1 in noon, 4 on F.H.).

MARATHI FILM ACTRESS RANJANA DEAD

Marathi film actress Ranjana Deshmukh passed away yesterday (3rd March) at Raheja Hospital in Bombay. She was suffering from diabetes and had been admitted to the hospital a week ago. She was 45.

Ranjana had begun her film career as V. Shantaram’s discovery in Chandanachi Choli Ang Ang (Marathi) in 1975. She then played heroine in numerous Marathi films till 1987 when her career came to an abrupt end following a car accident which rendered her paralytic below the waist. Ranjana is survived by her mother, Vatsala Deshmukh, and aunt, Sandhya, both well-known actresses.

GUJARAT TRADE PROTESTS STATE BUDGET PROPOSALS

The Gujarat and Saurashtra film trade submitted a memorandum of demands to Gujarat finance minister Vajubhai Vala on 1st March. A delegation called on the minister and registered its protest against the state Budget proposals involving reduction of the tax-free service charge per ticket from Rs. 2 to Re. 1; the withdrawal of compound tax facility from towns with population between 1 lakh and 3 lakh; and the withdrawal of benefit of subsidy to Gujarati film producers.

The delegation also made it known that if the concessions were not restored, the entire distribution and exhibition sectors of the state would down shutters indefinitely from March 17 or 24. The Budget is likely to be presented in the Assembly in the month-end.

OM PURI NOMINATED FOR BRITISH AWARD

Om Puri was last week nominated in the best actor category in the British Film Academy awards. He earned the distinction for his role in East Is East and joined other nominees, Ralph Fiennes (The End Of The Affair), Jim Broadbent (Topsy-Turvy), Kevin Spacey (American Beauty) and Russell Crowe (The Insider). East Is East was also nominated for the best film award alongside The End Of The Affair, The Talented Mr. Ripley and Oscar nominees American Beauty and The Sixth Sense. American Beauty bagged the maximum nominations — 14 in all.

BFA awards will be announced on 9th April in London.

NADEEM SHRAVAN DONATE RS. 25,000

Nadeem Shravan have donated Rs. 25,000 to the family of late film publicist and journalist Jagdish Sharma, who died recently in Bombay. Shravan gave a cheque of the amount at the first recording of Kuku Kohli’s Yeh Dil Aashiqana in Bombay on 24th February.

‘PUKAR’ TAX-FREE IN DELHI

Boney Kapoor’s Pukar has been granted exemption from payment of entertainment tax in Delhi for 12 weeks. The letter granting the exemption was received on 1st March and the film began to be screened at tax-free rates from 3rd March onwards.

‘KN…PH’, ‘HEY! RAM’, ‘PUKAR’ VCDs SEIZED

Acting on a tip-off by the Motion Pictures Association, the D.B. Marg police, Bombay, raided a shop at Bankar building, Grant Road and seized several unauthorised VCDs of recently released films like Hey! Ram, Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai, Pukar, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, Dillagi, HS-SH and others. The police also seized 6,000 inlay cards of Gordhan Tanwani’s Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge which is due for release on 24th March. The total value of the seized goods is over Rs. 1,22,000. The police also arrested 4 persons from the shop.

SARKAR’S CO-OPTION IN EIMPA SNOWBALLS INTO CONTROVERSY

Parimal Kumar Sarkar’s co-option to the executive committee (producers section) of the Eastern India Motion Picture Association (EIMPA) has been held to be illegal, and the Association itself has confirmed the same.

The co-option was carried out even though no producer-member of the executive committee proposed Sarkar’s name. As soon as Sarkar was nominated, all the elected producer-members left the meeting under protest. Thereafter, at a general meeting of the producers section of the EIMPA, it was resolved that the co-option of Parimal Kumar Sarkar from the producers section was invalid and could not be ratified by the section. Not just that, a parallel Association is also in the process of being formed by members who have not taken the unconstitutional act of Sarkar’s co-option lightly. Complaints are being accepted from members by the new Association and are also being processed.

ANWAR KHAN WEDS

Story-screenplay-dialogue writer Anwar Khan got married to Samira Begum on 1st March at Hotel Sea Princess, Bombay.

YOU ASKED IT

How many films has Fardeen Khan signed after Prem Aggan?

– He is doing Ram Gopal Varma’s JUNGLE with Sunil Shetty. And dad Feroz Khan’s QURBAN TUJH PE MERI JAAN as also Subir Mukerji’s MAATI.

Since there is a dearth of good subjects, why doesn’t anyone think of making a film totally employing special effects from the beginning till the end?

– Such a film may not work in India because the audience here is hungry for good subjects, not great special effects.

When was entertainment tax first levied on films in India?

– In 1922. The tax then was 12%.

With so many avenues for viewing films, like satellite, cable television, home video (and in the near future, the internet), why do people prefer watching films in cinema halls?

– The magic of cinema halls, the darkness, the ambience, the togetherness cannot be replicated in any other medium.

PRODUCTION NEWS

‘Bichhoo’ Negative Cut By Dharmendra

The final negative cutting ceremony of Guddu Dhanoa’s Bichhoo was performed on Feb. 25. Dharmendra formally cut the first negative. Starring Bobby Deol and Rani Mukerji in the lead, the film has story by Santosh  Dhanoa and screenplay and dialogues by Dilip Shukla. Music: Anand Raaj Anand. Lyrics: Sameer. Editing: V.N. Mayekar. Cinematography: Shripad Natu. Audiography: Suresh Paswan. Veena Sood is the executive producer. It is presented by Narinder Dhanoa. Banner: Bhagwan Chitra Mandir.

‘Aaghaaz’ Stint In Hyderabad Complete

Producer Dr. D. Rama Naidu this week completed a 19-day shooting stint of Suresh Productions’ Aaghaaz (The Beginning) at Rama Naidu Studios and in and around Hyderabad. Sunil Shetty, Sushmita Sen, Namrata Shirodkar, Anupam Kher and others participated. The film is being directed by Yogesh Ishwar. Screenplay: Nikhil Saini. Dialogues: Kamlesh Pandey. Art: Sharmishtha Roy. Music: Anu Malik. Lyrics: Sameer. Cinematographer: Shyam K. Naidu. Action: Abbasbhai.

MIX MASALA

‘CHAL’NEWALI FILMS

“Koi film nahin chal rahi, ji, koi film nahin chal rahi, Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai ke sivaye.” This is the most common refrain in film circles these days. But worry not! There is a queue of chalnewali films lined up for release in the months of May, June and July. Don’t believe us? Take a look at the ‘chal’newali films: Chal Mere Bhai, Chalo Ishq Ladaye and Tera Jadoo Chal Gayaa. On top of the line-up is Le Chal Apne Sang. Chalega?!?

MARATHON MOVIE WATCHING SESSION

A total of 14 Thais stayed up 51 hours at a stretch to smash the world record on 20th February, for watching films non-stop. They saw 25 films in all, with just 5-minute rests after every film, and another 15-minute meal break at the end of three films. Of the 468 people, who began the marathon movie-watching session in Bangkok on 18th February noon, 64 had not succumbed to slumber when they passed the previous best set by a Hungarian who had watched 20 films in 37 hours and 25 minutes. The oldest among the 14 Thais was a 55-year-old woman. There were 3 other women in the group of record-breakers. The winners will split the 1,00,000 baht (US $2,702) in prize money. The organisers will send a video of the event to the Guinness Book of World Records to get confirmation of the new record.

DO YOU KNOW?

 * Happy days are here for producers. No, no, it is not as if stars have reduced their prices. But satellite rights of films have become hot property and are fetching competitive prices. Besides the channels on air, a couple of more are scheduled to be launched in the near future. The more the channels, the merrier are the producers.

* DULHAN HUM LE JAYENGE is being booked by exhibitors of C.P. Berar on fantastic MGs. The distributor has booked it at Shyam, Raipur at an MG of 6 lakh, and the rental will be 25,000/-. From Mohan, Jalgaon, the film’s distributor has got an MG of 5 lakh, and the theatre rental will be 30,000/-.

* REFUGEE is becoming pretty ‘hot’ among exhibitors of U.P. It has reportedly been booked at Leela, Lucknow on an MG of 13 lakh! The MG it has fetched from Meerut is a whopping 7.5 lakh.

UNION BUDGET GIVES BENEFITS TO FILM INDUSTRY

Raw Film (Positive & Negative) To Become Cheaper Section 80HHF Of I-T Act Extended To Non-Corporate Entities Too

The Union Budget proposals for 2000-01 have some concessions to offer to the film industry.

♦ The 100% deduction allowed to corporate bodies, which export films or entertainment software, under section 80HHF of the Income-Tax Act has been extended to non-corporate entities too. That is to say, individuals, sole proprietory or partnership firms exporting films can also now claim deduction under section 80HHF. However, from the financial year 2000-01, the benefit under the said section will be 80% and it will keep reducing by 20% every subsequent year with the idea of phasing out the benefit in the next 4 years. The rate of tax on the 20% export earnings (80% is deductible u/s 80HHF) for the current financial year will be 38.5%.

♦ The 75% deduction of professional income earned from foreign sources, under section 80RR of the I-T Act, will be phased out over 5 years. Starting from financial year 2000-01, the deduction will be 60% and thereafter, it will reduce by 15% each subsequent year for 4 years.

♦ The limit for reporting payments made in the course of film production under section 285B of the I-T Act (Form 52A) has been raised from Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 50,000.

♦ Basic customs duty on jumbo rolls of colour positive film and colour negative film has been reduced from 15% to 5%. Countervailing duty (CVD) on these items has been abolished. However, there will be no benefit of abolition of countervailing duty on jumbo rolls of colour positive as excise duty on slit rolls has not been simultaneously abolished. This is likely to be corrected soon. Otherwise, the only reduction in the price of a roll of 1,000 feet of colour positive will be due to the 10% reduction of customs duty. A roll of colour positive will now cost Rs. 150 to 200 less. Colour negative will be cheaper by about 25% which would be approximately Rs. 5,000 per roll.

♦ Basic customs duty on cinematographic cameras and other related equipments has been reduced from 40% to 25%.

Besides the above, the other amendments in the I-T Act which, though not specific to the film industry, are likely to affect the industry people are:

♦ The surcharge on tax, where annual income exceeds Rs. 1,50,000, will be 15% instead of 10%. Consequently, TDS rates will also incorporate the higher surcharge rate where the income exceeds Rs. 1.5 lakh.

♦ The 100% deduction of export profits under section 80HHC of the I-T Act will be phased out over 5 years. Beginning financial year 2000-01, the deduction will be 80% and it will thereafter reduce by 20% in each subsequent year.

♦ Women assessees will get a special rebate of up to Rs. 5,000 in the tax payable.

♦ Senior citizens will get a tax rebate of Rs. 15,000 instead of the present Rs. 10,000.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Budget Proposals: Then And Now

The industry is generally happy with the concessions granted to it in the Union Budget for 2000-01. AIFPC president Pahlaj Nihalani has rushed a telegram to finance minister Yashwant Sinha which reads: ‘Our grateful thanks to you for granting various concessions and incentives to the film industry in the Budget proposals presented by you in the Lok Sabha on February 29, 2000. These incentives and concessions would no doubt give a fillip to the entire film industry, which has been struggling hard for its survival due to enormous number of problems.’

Exactly 25 years ago, the scene was just the reverse. The Union Budget proposals presented in the Lok Sabha on 28th February, 1975 had the industry up in arms against the then finance minister, C. Subramaniam, and the Union government. TOA president U.A. Thadani had then sent telegrams to the finance minister as well as the then information minister I.K. Gujral. The bone of contention at that time was the proposed hike in excise levy on film prints. The telegrams sent read: ‘Proposed fresh excise levy on film prints is extremely disastrous for the entire film industry stop It will be hard nay impossible to bear the new burden Stop no producer-distributor can afford supply prints to theatres especially medium and small theatres may never get such costly prints consequently they will be compelled to close shop with result that government exchequer will also suffer considerably Stop pray reconsider sympathetically and kindly maintain status quo.’

The World Is Our Playground

More than a thousand people were witnessed queueing up outside the ticket windows at Santa Fe Springs theatre in Southern California (USA) on the opening day of Subhash Ghai’s Taal. Needless to add, the tickets, priced at US $8, were sold out within minutes. Taal, of course, went on to create history by becoming the first Indian film ever to break into the Top 20 in the US. It also stayed in the UK Top 10 for a couple of weeks, enjoying huge success there as well. Taal grossed more than $4 million from the Overseas market.

The outstanding performance of Taal in the Overseas territory is only an indication of how vastly the international market for Indian films has improved in recent times. Prior to Taal, films like Dil Se.., Biwi No. 1, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Muthu (Tamil) proved huge chartbusters abroad. After Taal, Rajshri’s Hum Saath-Saath Hain created another record for Indian films when it was released in as many as 60 cinemas all over the US. Its first 3 days’ collections of $651,575 catapulted it into the US Top 20.

The Overseas market of Indian films, which stood at about $4 million a couple of years ago, is worth $50 million today and is growing day by day. Approximately, 60 million Indians are settled abroad, with North America alone accounting for an Indian population of 1.3 million. Other big markets, apart from the US and the UK, include the Middle East, Australia, East Africa, South Africa and Japan and Switzerland to some extent.

Internet is perceived to be one of the biggest factors contributing to the spurt in the popularity of Indian films at the foreign box-office. Promotion of Indian films on the World Wide Web, together with the broadcasts of Indian channels like Zee, Sony and TV Asia, in Europe and North America, has fuelled an unprecedented interest in Indian films among the expatriates. The growth in the interest level has led to more and more cinemas being made available for Indian films. The number of cinemas showing Indian films in the US has grown from 20 to 50 within the last 2 years alone. Indeed, the world is opening up to our films. Whether the largest film industry in the world also becomes the largest-grossing film industry remains to be seen.

The Most Silver Jubilee(d) Film!

In the last two decades, no film has had the good fortune of having scored so many silver jubilees at one go. Yash Chopra’s Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge has ‘celebrated’ nine silver jubilees by entering 225th combined week in matinee shows at Maratha Mandir, Bombay. The only film to have surpassed this record was Sholay, which had had a run of 265 weeks (regular and matinee shows combined).

SHOOTING COVERAGE

‘ZUBEIDA’ IN THE MAKING
A Love Story In The Times Of The Maharaja

A gruelling 8-hour bus ride (all thanks to an unscheduled truck accident ahead of Lonavala) from Bombay lands one at the Turf Club in Pune. The moment one drags one’s tired self (not to mention the aching body from the bus ride) to enter the main hall at the club, a loud voice is heard, “Quiet! Action!” The next moment, strains of an extremely ear-pleasing waltz piece begin to fill the room. As one looks around, smart-looking couples, all dressed in Western formals, gracefully perform the ball-dance in a sepia-toned, mood-lit ambience. A camera, mounted on a trolley, swoops from a height and pulls out to cover the entire room. “Cut! Okay,” shouts the director. The shot is canned. The usual running about of the crew in between shots begins.

The film in question, of course, is Shyam Benegal’s latest — Zubeida. Produced by Farouq, it stars Rekha, Karisma Kapoor and Manoj Bajpai in the lead roles, supported by Amrish Puri, Lillette Dubey, Rajit Kapur, Ravi Jhankal, Surekha Sikri, Farida Jalal and Shakti Kapoor. There are six songs, penned by Javed Akhtar and composed by A.R. Rahman, in the film.

Zubeida is the love story of a Rajasthani princely ruler (Maharaja) and a commoner, set in the late 1940s. The Maharaja, Vijayendra Singh a.k.a. Victor (Manoj Bajpai), has been married during his early years to a princess (Rekha) who is much older than him. He has since married again — a young and beautiful commoner (Karisma Kapoor). Tradition decrees that the first wife get the official status of Maharani, which, sometimes, creates a conflict in the mind of the second wife. This is also the time when the merger of Indian princely states into the Indian Union has just begun. The kingdoms and the titles of the ruling Maharajas are being taken away by the newly-formed democratic government of India. Maharaja Vijayendra Singh is no exception and he, too, is about to lose his state. At such tumultuous times, how he grapples with the trauma of having to lose his state and whether he is able to impart her rightful place as the Maharani to the younger wife, who he dotes on, forms the crux of the story which is written by Khalid Mohammed.

“It is a commercial film,” declares producer Farouq who has earlier made the hit Amitabh Bachchan starrer, Khud-daar, and the Mahesh Bhatt-directed Kaash. “Why can’t Shyam Benegal make a love story?”, he asks and then, adds, “Benegal is a good director, and a good director can make any kind of film he wants to. He has treated Zubeida as a commercial project from the very beginning. For instance, he has chosen A.R. Rahman to score music of this film when all his earlier films have had music by Vanraj Bhatia. This is true even for the artistes in Zubeida, who are not the ones he usually works with.”

But then, Shyam Benegal’s films sometimes don’t find theatrical release, do they? “That may be true only for his last two films, Samar and Hari Bhari. But that is only because they were funded by the NFDC and we all know how the government functions. This won’t happen in the case of Zubeida,” counters Farouq. And what gives him the confidence? “Simply because the story of Zubeida is such that it will appeal to a huge audience. It is, after all, a romance between a Maharaja and a commoner and I see no reason why a large audience would not want to see it. Besides, we are making the film within a reasonable budget, which gives me the confidence that I’ll be able to recover my costs. The only reason why I have not sold my film yet is because I want to first complete the film and then show it to some distributors before deciding on the ratio. In any case, I will not be asking for a fancy price for Zubeida.”

Finally, the obvious question — why only three films in 18 years? “Actually, for quite some time, I remained put off by the way this industry functioned. There is no transparency in dealings here. Even though my first film, Khud-daar, was a big hit, my distributors let me down. The film went on to do very well at the box-office, but the money never came. On the other hand, my second attempt, Kaash, turned out to be a loser. Either way, it was a ‘no-win’ situation for me. Fortunately, things have changed in the industry of late, which gave me the impetus to make another attempt. If this works, I’ll go on to make another film, but if it doesn’t, I’ll get out of the industry,” insists Farouq.

Meanwhile, rehearsal for another shot begins. Choreographer Ewa  Cheruqui (Polish-born now settled in Pune) is busy explaining a few ball-room dancing steps to dancers as the director finds a little free time for a chat. When asked how Karisma was faring in the film, Benegal raved, “She is marvellous! She is a director’s actress and is wonderfully refreshing in her responses. I hadn’t seen a single film of hers when I signed her for Zubeida, and I am glad, I hadn’t, because maybe, I may have then had second thoughts about casting her in my film (laughs)! As for Manoj, he has a magnetic presence. Even though this is a very challenging role — in the sense that he has never played such a wealthy and sophisticated character in films before — Manoj has done a brilliant job.”

Okay, so what about the tag that ‘Shyam Benegal makes only non-commercial films’? “Nonsense!”, asserts the director, “I have made 22 films so far and each one is a commercial film. Some, like Kalyug, Junoon and Ankur, did well and some others didn’t.

“What you must understand is that some films entertain larger audience while others, smaller audience. In the case of Zubeida, this is a subject that I believe has immense possibility of popular interest. It is like this: Films cost a lot of money to make. So, whenever you make a film, you have to ask yourself whether this film will be a successful film, whether it will recover its cost and hopefully, make some profit. Only after you are convinced of these things do you begin the project. You always make a film with the hope and conviction that it will do well, otherwise, why would you make a film in the first place? The same is true for Zubeida.”

“The reason why I chose Rahman to do the music was because I needed a different character of music for this film,” the director explained. “This is not to say that I consider Vanraj Bhatia to be any less. Rahman has done an excellent job in the film and I am confident that you will hear a fresh Rahman in it. The music itself is such that it gives you a sense of the past while, at the same time, pleases the contemporary ear.”

Rehearsals over, Benegal returns to his seat behind the Video Assist (monitor) from where he shouts out instructions to the crew. Another take begins.

Manoj Bajpai is not needed for this shot. He is required for the one after that though, so he requests that questions be kept to the barest minimum. That settled, he rattles off, “When Shyam Benegal offered Zubeida to me, I asked him five times whether he was sure, he wanted me to do this role. This was because I do not have the looks of conventional Maharajas in Hindi films. I even told him that he could change his mind whenever he felt like it, but he insisted, I did it.

“Working with Shyam Benegal is a tremendous experience. He has so much to teach you that you are able to stretch your performance to the limit. He gives you complete freedom to do what you want to do, provided you convince him. Invariably, it is he who succeeds in convincing you,” so saying, he makes a polite exit to take his place on the set for the next shot. A couple of more takes are canned. Finally, only one shot remains to be taken, which is a close-up shot of Manoj Bajpai and Karisma Kapoor. The first take is “Fine, but we will take one more”. The director wants it to be more intense. Another take. Then another. Seventeen takes later, the shot is okayed. A beaming Benegal announces ‘pack-up’.

Karisma Kapoor, even though visibly exhausted, gamely agrees to speak about Zubeida. “It has been a great honour for me to work with a director of the calibre of Shyam Benegal.”

Rushing to her room to get a well-deserved rest after the shooting, she asserts, “I have already proved myself as a star, but now, I want to be recognised as a good actress. Today, I want to do different roles. I want to do roles that I will be remembered for in the years to come!” So be it , Karisma. Or as Zubeida might say, ‘Insha Allah’!

– RAJ VAIDYA

LATEST POSITION

There were more agitations against HEY! RAM than appreciation for the film which has been rejected by the majority of the audience.

Hey! Ram is a loser. It has done well only in select cinemas in some cities. 1st week Bombay 40,68,460 (77%) from 9 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 8,49,684 from 4 cinemas; Pune 12,24,264 from 4 cinemas (1 in noon), Solapur 1,82,610; Hubli 2,21,618; Delhi 27,79,086 (64.04%) from 5 cinemas; Kanpur 58,799, Lucknow 4,54,503, Agra 99,859, Varanasi 94,279, Allahabad 1,17,720, Dehradun 1,21,000; Amritsar 58,000; Calcutta 9,66,587 from 5 cinemas; Nagpur 3,44,735, Amravati (6 days) 1,32,678, Jalgaon (6 days) 1,26,206; Indore 1,34,723 (1 on F.H.), Bhopal 94,371; Jaipur 5,02,570; Hyderabad (gross) 18,45,082 from 4 cinemas.

………..

Devi (dubbed) 1st week Bombay 5,02,975 (71.65%) from 2 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Pune 97,091; Calcutta 6,49,936 from 9 cinemas; Nagpur 1,73,320 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 40,936, Amravati (6 days) 66,039, Raipur (6 days) 33,324.

Badal has maintained well in U.P., East Punjab, Bihar and is fair in Nizam, but drops in Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta, C.P. and C.I. 2nd week Bombay 29,17,419 (62.20%) from 9 cinemas (10 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 5,96,003 from 6 cinemas, Himmatnagar 82,310, Vapi 2,46,024, total 10,59,789, Cambay 1,04,402, total 2,77,128, Jamnagar (matinee) 14,880 (1 in regular unrecd.), 1st week Adipur 1,43,574 (76.82%), 2nd week Bhuj 71,735; Pune 5,29,496 from 5 cinemas, Solapur 1,77,739 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Delhi 23,25,085 from 12 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Kanpur 4,03,141 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 4,14,074, Agra 3,51,000, Allahabad 2,31,500, Bareilly 2,14,780, Dehradun 1,28,000 (1st 2,35,000), Hardwar 60,000; Calcutta 12,05,856 from 9 cinemas; Nagpur 1,80,370, Jabalpur (gross) 2,34,456, Amravati 1,45,024, Akola 1,47,038, total 3,74,277, share 3,03,575, Raipur (6 days, gross) 2,37,627, Bhilai 94,150, Durg 73,866, total 1,93,190, Jalgaon (6 days) 1,04,510, Chandrapur 2,41,020; Indore 1,53,000 (1 on F.H.), Bhopal 87,000; Jaipur 4,60,781 from 2 cinemas, Ajmer (gross) 1,94,580, 1st week Bikaner 2,86,310; 2nd week Hyderabad (gross) 5,59,885 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon, 2 on F.H,); 1st week Mangalore 1,85,369.

Pukar 3rd week Bombay 22,18,817 (44.91%) from 8 cinemas (9 on F.H.; 2 unrecd.); Ahmedabad 8,70,721 from 7 cinemas, Jamnagar 45,988; Pune 5,23,263 from 3 cinemas, Solapur 80,671 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Delhi 14,22,642 from 7 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,61,915 from 2 cinemas, Agra 95,000, Varanasi 1,11,718, Allahabad 70,025, Bareilly (6 days) 39,718, Dehradun 1,05,582; Calcutta 4,11,668 from 5 cinemas; Nagpur 1,96,326 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 39,108, Amravati (6 days) 90,461, Akola 98,499, total 4,09,423, Raipur (6 days, gross) 91,045, Bhilai 86,957, Jalgaon (6 days) 50,610; Indore 1,44,068 from 2 cinemas; Ajmer (gross) 74,580; Hyderabad (gross) 8,92,902 from 4 cinemas (1 in noon).

The World Is Not Enough (dubbed) 3rd week Bombay 1,23,139 from 2 cinemas; Ahmedabad 1,89,871 from 2 cinemas, Baroda 99,134; Delhi 5,10,707 from 4 cinemas; Kanpur 53,936, 2nd week Lucknow 52,350, 3rd week Agra 29,000, Varanasi 46,371, Allahabad 40,157, 1st week Muzaffarnagar 80,000, 1 week Hardwar 40,000; 3rd week Nagpur 84,313, 1st week Amravati 2,10,326, 2nd week Bhilai 73,541; 3rd week Bhopal 48,090; 2nd week Jaipur 1,68,210.

Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani 5th week Bombay 13,36,773 (45.29%) from 8 cinemas; Pune 2,44,801 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee); Kanpur 49,498 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,44,412, Allahabad 30,681, 1st week Hardwar 25,000; 5th week Calcutta 1,49,811; 2nd week Jabalpur (6 days) 84,772; 5th Bhopal 31,270; Hyderabad (gross, noon) 36,539.

Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai is simply and splendidly sensational. 6th week Bombay 43,20,985 (99.02%) from 10 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 2,91,141 from 2 cinemas, Baroda 2,38,588 (96.66%) , 6 weeks’ share 11 lakh, Vapi 1,79,166, total 21,66,361, Jamnagar 63,184, total 5,47,467; Pune 11,56,089 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 2,06,524 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Dharwad 69,847; Delhi 20,47,856 from 6 cinemas; Kanpur 2,59,498 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,68,338, Agra 1,81,000, Varanasi 1,78,339, Allahabad 1,12,706, Bareilly (6 days) 75,898, 5th week Dehradun 1,54,879, 6th week Muzaffarnagar 30,000, 3rd Hardwar 70,000; 6th week Calcutta 11,49,204 from 6 cinemas; Nagpur 4,27,929 from 3 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 1,31,928, Amravati (6 days) 1,24,421, Akola 1,44,442, Raipur (6 days) 1,41,304, Bhilai 62,840, 1st week Gondia (29 shows, gross) 1,72,912, 5th week Chandrapur 1,55,697, total 9,90,801; 6th week Bhopal 1,84,007; Jaipur 2,55,485, 4th week Bikaner 98,849; 6th Hyderabad (gross) 11,53,457 from 5 cinemas (1 in noon); 4th week Mangalore 1,27,618.

…………..

CINEMA OWNER DEAD

Narmada Sitaram Desai Topiwala, owner of Topiwala Theatre, Goregaon, Bombay, expired in the morning hours of 21st February in Bombay. She was 59 and is survived by her daughter.

The cinema remained closed on 21st.

SHRADDHA PANCHOTIA NO MORE

Former actress of Gujarati films, Shraddha Panchotia, mother of actresses Deepshikha and Aakruti, passed away on 21st February following a railway accident at Goregaon, Bombay. She was 45. Shraddha had acted in a few Gujarati films. She gave up acting following her marriage with director Ashwini Kumar Nagpal.

‘HEY! RAM’ CLOUDED IN CONTROVERSIES

Kamal Haasan’s Hey! Ram has stirred controversies in different parts of the country, as expected. Congressmen, especially, are angry over what they describe as the incorrect portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi in the film.

Incidents of of violent people, mostly Congress workers, tearing posters of the film and damaging properties of cinemas screening the period drama have been reported from cities like Delhi, Calcutta, Varanasi, Nagpur, Indore, Bhopal etc. There were protests outside Priya cinema in Delhi on 21st February. The agitation against the film spread to Varanasi on 24th with Congress workers stoning and damaging the film’s posters at the local Mazda Picture Palace where it is being screened. A dharna was also staged by them in front of the cinema and they demanded that the screening be immediately stopped as there were objectionable references in it, which had “tarnished” the image of Mahatma Gandhi. The protesters accused the BJP and RSS of stalling the shooting of an “unmade” film (Water) by Deepa Mehta while deliberately allowing the screening of Hey! Ram. The film’s screening was stopped for a while but was resumed after police protection was provided.

Police had to intervene in Nagpur at Smruti cinema too on Wednesday (23rd) when the protesters got unruly and gheraoed the mayor of Nagpur who was viewing the film in her personal capacity. She had to leave the cinema under police escort. Some youth organisations gave an ultimatum to remove the film from Smruti within two days. However, the screening is being continued under police protection.

In Calcutta, Mitra and Priya cinemas bore the brunt of agitators. Members of the state Congress unit stormed Mitra cinema first and Priya cinema on Tuesday (22nd) and shouted slogans against the “filthy” film. Several female patrons, who had gone to see the film at Priya, were also heckled by the protesters. The agitation took a violent turn when a small police force arrived on the spot at Priya to combat the situation. In the ensuing melee, bricks and stones were hurled at the cinema by the agitators. Peace was restored only after reinforcements were rushed in, following which the police resorted to a mild lathi charge and arrested seven demonstrators. The film has been continued at the cinema without cancellation of a single show. Even though the Pradesh Congress Committee vice president issued orders to stop the agitation after being reprimanded by the party high command, police pickets have been posted at all the cinemas screening Hey! Ram in the city.

In Indore, the shows at Regal cinema on 25th February had to be cancelled following agitations by Congressmen. Similar protests were registered in Bhopal where the film is continuing to be screened.

BONEY, SANTOSHI VISIT GOLDIE CINEMA IN AURANGABAD

Producer Boney Kapoor with Sridevi, and director Rajkumar Santoshi with his wife visited Goldie cinema in Aurangabad on 22nd February. They were on their way to Shirdi. Pukar is being screened at Goldie.

Deepak Jawaharani felicitated the producer and director of Pukar as well as its Nizam distributor, Ravi Machhar, and Sridevi and Mrs. Santoshi. Speaking on the occasion, Boney said that it was creditable that at a time when demolition of cinemas was the in-thing, a new cinema like Goldie had been constructed in Aurangabad.

WIFPA ANNOUNCES GROUP INSURANCE FOR MEMBERS

To commemorate the new millennium, the Western India Film Producers’ Association (WIFPA) is introducing a group insurance scheme for its members. Under the scheme, every regular member will be insured to the extent of Rs. 50,000 with the New India Assurance Co. Ltd. The premium will be borne by the WIFPA.

‘PUKAR’ TAX-FREE IN M.P.

Boney Kapoor’s Pukar has been granted exemption from payment of entertainment tax in Madhya Pradesh for six months. The letter granting exemption was received on 23rd February, and the film began to be screened at tax-free rates from 24th.

ANUPAM KHER’S ‘BARIWALI’ BAGS NETPAC AWARD AT BERLINALE

Anupam Kher’s maiden production venture, Bariwali (in Bengali), won the NETPAC award for the best Asian film at the recently-concluded Berlin film festival. Directed by Rituparno Ghosh, the film stars Anupam’s wife, Kiron Kher, in the central role.

PANIC IN PUNJAB OVER ILLEGAL SCREENINGS

The Punjab film trade, it would appear, is going from bad to worse. As if cable piracy of new films is not enough, film people themselves are indulging in illegal practices.

A cinema of Karnal recently screened Pukar illegally. Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai was shown illegally by a cinema in Amritsar. Prints of the film are, obviously, obtained from undisclosed sources.

‘PHIR BHI DIL HAI…’ TAX-FREE IN M.P.

Shah Rukh, Juhi and Aziz Mirza’s Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani has been granted exemption from payment of entertainment tax for a period of six months in Madhya Pardesh. The film began to be screened at tax-free rates from 24th February.

YOU ASKED IT

What is going wrong with our films? Why are hardly any films sustaining at the box-office? Is there no corrective action that can be taken?

– Producers are making proposals. And many of them are successful. When they start making films, they will get success there too!

I have a 2-hero subject. Should I take both relatively new heroes; or one relatively new and the other who has been around for, say, 10 to 12 years; or both heroes who have been around for 10 to 12 years; or one who has been around for 10 or 12 years with one who has been around for 15 to 20 years?

– The audience wants to see fresh faces. Subject to your story requirements, you can plan a film with a relatively new hero and one who has been around for 10 or 12 years.

Films are not doing well. Also, there aren’t too many new releases in the coming four to six weeks. How will the exhibitors feed their cinemas?

– By screening repeat-run films or extending the run of dull films. Distributors will make hay while the sun does not shine on the industry.

ANNOUNCEMENTS & LAUNCHINGS

‘Jodi No. 1’ Launched

Time Films International’s Jodi No. 1 was launched with the recording of two songs on Feb. 21 at Sunny Super Sounds. The songs were penned by Sudhakar Sharma, composed by Himesh Reshammiya, and rendered by Alka Yagnik, Kumar Sanu and Sonu Nigam. Starring Sanjay Dutt, Govinda, Sonali Bendre, Twinkle Khanna, Paresh Rawal, Ashok Saraf, Mahesh Thakur, Sayaji Shinde, Rekha Rao, Kannu Gill, Mukesh Rishi and Anupam Kher, the film is being directed by David Dhawan and produced by Dhirajlal Shah, Pravin Shah and Hasmukh Shah. Story-screenplay by Yunus Sejawal and Imtiaz Patel, dialogues by Rumi Jafri, cinematography by K. Prakash Rao, art by R. Varman, action by Mahendra Verma and sound by Jagmohan Anand are the other major credits. Sagoon Wagh is the executive producer. Regular shooting will start from March.

DO YOU KNOW?

RAM & MANDIR NOT MADE FOR EACH OTHER!

* Vasant Talkies of Akola has screened at least one blockbuster every year since 1994. In 1994, it screened HAHK..! which celebrated golden jubilee at the cinema in 1995. In 1996, it was RAJA HINDUSTANI, and in 1997, DIL TO PAGAL HAI, both of which ran for 15 weeks each. KKHH was the blockbuster of 1998, which had an 18-week run at Vasant. In 1999, it was HS-SH which is in its 17th week now. The 15 weeks’ collections of HAHK..!, RAJA HINDUSTANI, DTPH, KKHH and HS-SH at Vasant are 9,41,455/-, 14,15,297/-, 14,29,468/-, 16,11,606 and 18,83,989/- respectively. DDLJ, screened at Krishna, Akola, had collected 18,47,664/- in 15 weeks.

* Like last week, KN…PH was screened in 2 shows on Sunday in 6th week too, in 2 cinemas — Abhinayshri and Devshri — in the same complex in Indore. The film is running at Abhinayshri (besides Ellora) but, looking to the rush of people on Sunday, the running programme at Devshri was discontinued and KN…PH was shown in 2 shows. The collections of Abhinayshri and Ellora in 6th week are better than in 5th week.

* For the first time in the history of Nanded (Nizam), police had to be called in to control the crowds, at Jyoti cinema on the opening day of KN…PH. It collected more than 98% in the first week, and is now running in 2nd week.

Gujarat Budget Proposals To Hit Exhibitors Badly

Tax-Free Service Charge To Be Halved;
Compound Tax Facility To Be Restricted
Ent. Tax Reduction The Only Saving Grace

The Gujarat and Saurashtra trade, especially exhibitors of the state of Gujarat, are up in arms against the state government budget proposals which, while bringing down the rate of entertainment tax from 165% to 100%, have withdrawn/reduced several benefits available till now.

The tax-free service charge on every cinema ticket has been proposed to be reduced from the present Rs. 2 to Re. 1. Compound tax facility (option of composition in lieu of tax), available to cinemas located in towns with population in the range of 1 lakh to 3 lakh, has been withdrawn. Compound tax is currently applicable to cinemas situated in towns with population upto 3 lakh. But if the budget proposals are accepted, only cinemas in areas with population upto 1 lakh will be able to avail of the compound tax benefit.

The 100% tax exemption available to Gujarati films has been made perpetual from the current 2-year limit. But the subsidy of Rs. 5 lakh, available to Gujarati film producers, has been sought to be withdrawn by the government.

The budget proposals were presented on 22nd February and have evinced strong negative reactions from the Gujarat and Saurashtra sub-circuits of Bombay. Except for the relief in entertainment tax — reduction from the present 165% on nett admission rates to 100% — there is precious little to gladden the trade. In fact, most of the other budget proposals are likely to hit the exhibitors badly, which, in turn, will adversely affect the revenues of distributors too. The budget will be presented on 1st March.

In small (‘C’ class) centres, while the compound tax may reduce by Rs. 3,000 per month (due to the proposed reduction in entertainment tax from 165% to 100%), the loss due to the tax-free service charge being halved may run to the tune of Rs. 20,000 per month. The budget proposals of the Gujarat government may lead to more tax evasion because they threaten to question the very survival of cinemas. Closure of several cinemas, if the budget proposals are actually passed, is not ruled out.

A panic-stricken delegation of the Gujarat trade met the Gujarat finance minister, Vajubhai Vala, on 23rd February no sooner were the budget proposals announced. The entire exhibition sector of Gujarat and Saurashtra will meet on 1st March to chalk out the future course of action. Indefinite closure of cinemas all over the state from 17th March is not ruled out in the event that the finance minister does not see reason and goes ahead with the proposals.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Controversies & Cash Registers

Kamal Haasan must’ve anticipated that his Hey! Ram would be surrounded by controversies when it would be released, even while he was making the film. Although it sounds mean to say so, but viewed in a practical sense, it wouldn’t be incorrect to say that the actor-producer-director must’ve also expected that the controversies would give a boost to the film’s collections. In the past, films like Bombay, Bandit Queen and Fire have got a lot of mileage from the controversies surrounding them, and the mileage has translated into bountiful box-office returns. But while controversies have chased Hey! Ram too, box-office success is eluding it. Which proves that controversies can make a film run only if the film has the substance to hold public attention. Otherwise, no amount of stories around the film can help. A classic case of controversies not creating box-office success is that of the political film, Kissa Kursi Ka. The mileage it had got when its negative was burnt by Congressmen because it was a satire on Indira Gandhi, is unparalleled. But when the film was shot over again and released, it proved to be one of the biggest disasters of Indian cinema.

Varanasi: Capital Of Controversies?

Talking of controversies, Varanasi suddenly seems to have become the centre of all controversies concerning films. As if the ruckus created over the shooting of Deepa Mehta’s Water in the holy city was not enough, Congressmen protested, quite violently, on 24th February against the screening of Kamal Haasan’s Hey! Ram at Mazda Picture Palace in Varanasi. But unlike in the case of Water, where the disgruntled section of people in Varanasi were able to drive out the unit from the city, the protesters against Hey! Ram could not succeed in forcing the cinema management to remove the film.

Excellent Trailers

One word to describe the promotional trailers of Firoz Nadiadwala’s Hera Pheri is “excellent”. Firoz and his team have worked for months together on conceptualising and preparing the trailers, and the efforts have been worth their while. The impact these trailers will create can guarantee Firoz one thing — that his Hera Pheri, directed by Priyadarsan and starring Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Tabu, will take a very good start.

‘Badal’ DVD Rights: Salim Has His Say

Reacting to the item on sale of the DVD rights of Badal, in this column last week, producer Salim told Information, “The claim of Chandrakant Mehta of C.A. Corporation, that I have double-sold the DVD rights of my Badal, is a complete lie. Let him prove that he has the DVD rights. The said rights belonged to me, and I sold them to a third party, so what’s his problem? The standard Overseas rights agreement is so worded that it would appear as if the producer had sold everything — even the theatrical rights of Indian territories! — to the Overseas distributor. But that is not true. Mehta may claim that I had sold him the DVD rights first, but let him prove so. I have done no wrong and that is final.”

Maharashtra In Hollywood

When told that the Hollywood film, which was tops in the last weekend, was The Whole Nine Yards, a Marathi film producer quipped, “Oh, is it? Even Marathi films do well in Hollywood, is that so?” The poor guy thought, the Hollywood film had got its title from the Marathi 9-yard-long saree.

HEY! RAM

Raajkamal Films International’s Hey! Ram (A) is a fictional film set against the backdrop of an important chapter of Indian history. The story of a Hindu archaeologist, who is caught in the Hindu-Muslim riots that erupt in 1946, it talks of how a section of the Hindus at that time blamed Mahatma Gandhi and his insistence on non-violence and love for Muslims and Hindus alike, for the killings in India. The Hindu archaeologist was great friends with a Muslim colleague. The two are separated when the former goes to Calcutta to be with his wife whom he adores. Muslims in his locality, irked by an incident, rape and kill his wife. The archaeologist loses his mental balance for this one singular incident, and sets out on a path of violence. He goes on to kill Muslims, to avenge the rape and murder. He, too, like some others, holds Mahatma Gandhi solely responsible for the riotous state of affairs in the country. Time passes by and his family gets him married off to a girl. Even as he is trying to erase the harrowing past from his memory and lead a happy married life with his new wife, an old acquaintance reignites his ire against the Mahatma. A stage comes when he decides to leave his family and set out on a single-minded mission, to kill the Mahatma and thereby put an end to all the sufferings of Hindus in India. It is at this time that he meets his old Muslim archaeologist-friend who makes him see reason and convinces him that not all Muslims are bad. Having, therefore, given up the thought of killing Gandhi, he then decides to confess his evil plans to the Mahatma and ask for his forgiveness. But even while he is about to do so, the Mahatma is shot dead by Godse, right in front of his eyes and of hundreds of others.

The film juxtaposes fact (history) and fiction but the result is far from satisfactory. For one, the fictional part is a micro issue (concerning an individual) as compared to the macro one, that of Hindu-Muslim hatred. Secondly, except among a section of the educated elite, Mahatma Gandhi is even today revered, and hence the negative talk against Gandhi may not be appreciated or even comprehended by a majority of the masses. Thirdly, the film has the effect of a documentary at several places. Fourthly, it is too lengthy to be true and can easily be chopped off by about 30 minutes! Light moments are few and far between and even they are generally of the kind which will be appreciated by the class audience only. In fact, the plot, the treatment, the ambience and the authenticity — all of these make the film one with limited appeal, for the elite. What, however, is there in the film for the masses is a good dose of sex and kissing scenes.

Ilaiyaraja’s music is a terrible letdown. Except for the ‘Chahe pandit ho’ song, the others are very dull. Even the ‘Chahe pandit ho’ song will appeal to the city audience mainly.

Kamal Haasan acts ably but the camera is focussed on him just too much. He goes overboard in some emotional scenes and it sometimes appears as if the film is a mere exercise to prove the actor’s by-now well-known versatility. Shah Rukh Khan is effective as the Muslim friend, but his fans among the masses are bound to be disappointed as he does not offer the usual stuff. The pre-climax scenes between the two heroes is too lengthy and boring. Rani Mukerji is excellent and endears herself to the audience with a free performance. Hema Malini is good in a brief role. Girish Karnad is natural to the core. Naseeruddin Shah plays Mahatma Gandhi beautifully. His get-up, as also the get-ups of Kamal Haasan, are brilliant. But the make-up artiste’s job on Naseeruddin Shah is not technically up to the mark, it appearing as mere make-up. Vasundhara Das is cute and performs well. Atul Kulkarni leaves an impact. Saurabh Shukla appeals and so does Vikram Gokhale. Shadab Khan leaves a mark in an effective brief role. Irawati Harshe, as Shah Rukh’s wife, is natural. Om Puri, Nasser, Ram Mohan, Mohini Mathur, Sowcar Janaki, Nagmani and Goutham Raghu lend admirable support. The special appearance of Tushar Gandhi (grandson of Mahatma Gandhi) has no impact or meaning for the majority of the audience.

Kamal Haasan’s direction is excellent at times and his eye for details and authenticity is praiseworthy but, on the flip side, he has given a documentary-like colour to the film and has made it of relevance for the classes mainly. Some of his shot executions, such as the rape scene, some mob scenes and the like are masterly. As a writer, he has left something to be desired. Manohar Shyam Joshi’s dialogues are very appropriate for the mood of the film. Action scenes are good. Sets (Sabu Cyril) are fantastic. Cinematography (Thirunavukkarasu) is absolutely wonderful. Background score is good. Special effects are stunning. Other technical values are top class. Production values are grand but, viewed differently, it also looks like a criminal waste of resources.

On the whole, Hey! Ram will appeal to the class audience and will, therefore, do well in selected cinemas of some cities mainly. For the masses, it will remain a dull and dry drama, notwithstanding the liberal sprinkling of sex and violence. Heavy editing is a must. Not just the boredom which creeps in, even the running time of the film (more than 3 hours) warrants major trimming of scenes and songs.

Released on 18-2-2000 at Metro and 11 other cinemas of Bombay thru V.I.P. Enterprises. Publicity & opening: very good. …….Also released all over. Opening was good at places and below the mark at others.

LATEST POSITION

Except for KAHO NAA…PYAAR HAI, no film is creating ripples. The release of HEY! RAM has not added much excitement except in Bombay.

Badal is strong in U.P., East Punjab and Rajasthan. Expected to touch 3 crore in Delhi-U.P. and 1.5 crore in East Punjab. 1st week Bombay 56,07,259 (73.46%) from 13 cinemas (9 on F.H.); Padra 2,16,018, Cambay 1,72,726, Jamnagar (matinee) 27,546 (1 in regular unrecd.), Bhuj 1,36,001 (60.42%); Pune 11,24,233 from 5 cinemas (1 in matinee); Delhi 49,48,589 (60.17%) from 14 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Kanpur 6,21,929 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 7,74,854 from 2 cinemas, Varanasi 4,31,961, Allahabad 3,11,140, Meerut 3,59,639 (98.50%), Bareilly 2,91,025, Hardwar 1,25,000; Calcutta 23,48,393 from 13 cinemas; Jabalpur (gross) 3,04,217, Amravati 2,04,711, Akola 2,27,238, Raipur (gross, 6 days) 3,48,919, Durg 1,19,324, Jalgaon (6 days) 1,92,920, Wardha 1,57,166; Indore 2,08,545 (3 on F.H.), Bhopal 1,49,452; Jaipur 10,05,741 from 4 cinemas, Ajmer (gross, 29 shows) 3,17,358; Hyderabad (gross) 30,95,715 from 11 cinemas (2 on F.H.).

Aurat Ki Pyaas (dubbed) did ordinary in 1st week in Delhi-U.P., East Punjab and C.P. Berar.

Pukar slides further. 2nd week Bombay 40,64,786 (63.90%) from 11 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Jamnagar 76,630; Pune 8,44,696 from 5 cinemas; Delhi 35,03,238 from 11 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 2,48,307 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,86,320, Allahabad 1,04,476, Varanasi 1,66,458, Bareilly (6 days) 76,143; Calcutta 9,99,245 from 14 cinemas; Jabalpur (6 days) 52,055, Amravati (6 days) 1,52,248, Akola 1,14,142, total 3,10,924, Raipur (gross, 6 days) 1,11,110, Jalgaon (6 days) 98,000, Yavatmal 24,288; Indore 2,02,158 from 2 cinemas, Bhopal 74,984; Jaipur 76,099, Ajmer (gross) 1,01,313, Bikaner 50,846; Hyderabad (gross) 7,65,242 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon, 1 on F.H.).

The World Is Not Enough (dubbed) 2nd week Bombay 4,36,741 from 3 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Baroda 1,30,737; Pune 2,46,072, Sangli 95,175 (1st 1,77,000); Delhi 1,76,350 (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 95,916, Lucknow 81,824, Allahabad 64,308, Varanasi 87,886; Calcutta 84,232; Jabalpur 31,902, total 1,54,268, Akola 52,642, Raipur 46,850, Chandrapur 50,768, total 1,78,706; Bhopal 84,165; 1st week Jaipur 3,85,623, 2nd Hyderabad (gross) 5,16,453 from 3 cinemas (1 on F.H.).

Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani 4th week Bombay 13,08,964 (56.97%) from 5 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Pune 3,37,983 from 5 cinemas (2 in matinee); 1st week Bijapur 1,34,059; 4th Delhi 2,74,168; Kanpur 57,210 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,54,741, Allahabad 39,370, Varanasi 36,173, Bareilly (6 days) 11,172, Muzaffarnagar 15,000; Calcutta 3,87,264 from 3 cinemas; Jabalpur (6 days) 1,35,313, Amravati (6 days) 43,006, Akola 27,500, 3rd week Durg 86,117 (2nd 1,05,035), 1st week Gondia (gross) 97,995, Yavatmal 1,13,220; 4th week Bhopal 39,560; Jaipur 1,12,124; Hyderabad (gross) 1,20,569 from 2 cinemas (1 in noon).

Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai is growing from strength to strength and writing box-office history. 5th week Bombay 44,23,819 (100%) from 10 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Baroda 2,31,808 (93.91%), 4th week Jamnagar 65,695; 5th week Pune 10,62,465 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Sangli 81,255 (82%); Delhi 21,03,301 from 6 cinemas; Kanpur 2,65,687 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,89,765, Allahabad 1,33,380, Varanasi 1,97,948, Bareilly (6 days) 76,143, 2nd week Hardwar 90,000, 5th Muzaffarnagar 50,000; Calcutta 13,48,882 from 7 cinemas; Jabalpur 1,57,957, total 8,20,155, Amravati 1,58,893, Akola 1,30,339, total 7,41,858, Raipur 1,66,633, 4th week Chandrapur 2,09,031, total 8,35,104, 2nd Yavatmal (gross) 1,32,198 (1st 1,29,726); 5th week Bhopal 2,16,000 (4th 2,37,301); Jaipur 2,77,234, Bikaner 1,30,243, Kota (gross) 2,42,000 (4th week 2,76,000); Hyderabad (gross) 16,84,514 from 5 cinemas (1 in noon).

Hum Saath-Saath Hain entered 16th week at Liberty Bombay; 15th week Pune (matinee) 30,942; Kanpur (6 days) 41,214, Lucknow 70,285, Allahabad 23,350; Calcutta 79,973; Jabalpur 32,972, Amravati (6 days) 60,850, Akola 42,280, total 18,83,989, share 13,99,395; Jaipur 4,22,187.

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SHAH RUKH OPERATED UPON FOR KNEE INJURY

Shah Rukh Khan underwent surgery in Austria on 16th February for a knee injury.

SANTOSH SINGH JAIN’S GRANDSON TO WED

Sachit, son of C.I. distributor Jitendra Jain (Sanman Films, Indore) and grandson of CCCA president Santosh Singh Jain, will wed Aarti today (19th February) in Jaipur at Community Hall, Tilak Nagar, behind L.B.S. College, Surya Marg.

FRENCH FETE’S TRIBUTE TO SHABANA AZMI

The 2nd Panasia Film Festival, to be held from 17th to 19th March at Deauville in France, will pay tribute to Shabana Azmi for her outstanding achievement in films. A special screening of four of her films will be held as part of the tribute. The festival promotes Asian films in Europe, and will screen films from 15 Asian countries this year.

PIRATED VCDs OF ‘PUKAR’ SEIZED

The Bangalore police, in conjunction with Feature Films Copyright, raided the Jet Airways cargo counter at Bangalore airport and seized 800 unauthorised VCDs of Pukar on 9th February. The raid was conducted after an unnamed source tipped the FFC about pirated VCDs being shipped from Madras to Bangalore in a Jet Airways flight. Three persons were arrested for their involvement in the piracy racket. The names of the arrested persons are Sanjay Punjabi, Deepak Rai and Hitesh Parmar.

LAKDAWALAS’ SOUND CITY INAUGURATED

A new sound recording studio, Sound City, located at Empire House at Andheri (W) in Bombay, was inaugurated on 11th February with the song recording of Sain Productions’ Zindagi Khoobsoorat Hai. The song was composed by Anand Raaj Anand and rendered by Sonu Nigam.

Sound City offers extensive audio recording services including music recording, dubbing, track-laying, editing, effects recording, etc. It is owned by the Lakdawalas and can be booked through Feroz Lakdawala. The installation work of the recording studio was done by K. Sethuraman.

The telephone nos. of Sound City are 635-4040/4141/4242.

DILIP DHAWAN DEAD

Well-known character actor Dilip Dhawan passed away on 15th February at his residence at Bandra, Bombay, due to a massive heart attack. He was 45. He was the son of well-known character actor Krishan Dhawan. He is survived by his mother and wife.

Dilip Dhawan had acted in about 50 films, notable among which were Ek Baar Kaho, Virasat, Swarg and Henna. He was recently seen in Rajshri’s Hum Saath-Saath Hain as Neelam’s brother-in-law. He started his acting career as a child artiste in Dilip Kumar starrer Sunghursh. He had produced Saath-Saath, directed by Raman Kumar.

Dilip achieved tremendous popularity with the television serial Nukkad in which he played the role of Guru. He acted in a number of other serials too.

‘HEY! RAM’ CHANGES HANDS

Till 16th February, the distribution rights of Hey! Ram for Nizam circuit were held by KCN Enterprises, and it was to be released thru Hansa Pictures. The main cinema was announced as Tarakarama in newspapers. On 18th, however, it was released by Sahyog Films at Maheshwari as the main cinema. The film was released at only two cinemas, Maheshwari and Sudershan 70mm — due to other prints not reaching Hyderabad till Friday evening.

YOU ASKED IT

How bleak is the future of the Hindi film industry?

– Not as bleak as your question suggests! But yes, market forces will act fast to correct the ills that plague the industry. For example, unrealistically high prices of films will come down.

Looking to the escalating box-office graph, what, according to you, will be the total business of Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai in Bombay circuit?

– Over Rs. 8 crore!

I totally agree with your editorial last week that admission rates at cinemas should be within limits. But will anybody pay heed to such a good point that you have made? I think that one day, cine goers will protest against such high admission rates in cities like Bombay and Delhi. Am I going overboard in my thinking?

– You are, my dear! Because the public in India is very patient. It will not protest against the film industry because it loves films. But it seems, our industry people don’t love the public — or, rather, don’t care for the public.

PRODUCTION NEWS

Rahul Dev Injured: ‘Champion’ Unit Returns From Hyderabad

Actor Rahul Dev fractured his leg in an accident while participating in a recently picturised climax action scene for Shree Shiv Bhakti Films’ Champion at Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad. The film’s shooting, which was to be held in a 15-day schedule in Hyderabad, had to be cut short by a few days due to the accident. However, one song, two scenes and a part of the climax were picturised before the unit returned to Bombay on 16th February. Being produced by Sujit Kumar and directed by Padam Kumar, the film stars Sunny Deol, Manisha Koirala, Kashmira Shah, Rahul Dev, Vikram Gokhale, Surendra Pal, Tom Alter, A.K. Hangal, Dina Pathak, Neha Sharad, Rakesh Pandey, Vivek Shauq, Anil Nagrath and Deepak Parashar. It has music by Anu Malik and lyrics by Javed Akhtar. Dialogues: Sanjay Masoom. Action: Tinnu Verma. Choreography: Ahmed Khan and Raju Sundaram. Only one song and a little portion of the climax remain to be picturised to complete the entire shooting.

20-Day Schedule Of ‘Mission Kashmir’

Writer-producer-director Vidhu Vinod Chopra commenced a 20-day marathon shooting schedule of Vinod Chopra Productions’ Mission Kashmir on Feb. 15. Many scenes are being picturised at various locations in Bombay. The entire cast is participating. The film stars Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff, Hrithik Roshan, Preity Zinta, Gulshan Grover and Sonali Kulkarni. It has music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. Lyrics: Sameer and Rahat Indori. Cinematography: Binod Pradhan.

DO YOU KNOW?

* KN…PH has created history by collecting 100% in 5th week in Bombay city and suburbs. 1st week was 99.81%, 2nd week 99.67%, 3rd week 99.18%, and 4th week 99.73%. At Sahakar, a cinema in a central suburb (Chembur) of Bombay, it has created history by drawing all shows full in 5th week after 24 shows full in each of 1st and 2nd weeks, 25 shows full in 3rd week, and 27 shows full in 4th week. At Topiwala, Goregaon (another Bombay suburb), admission rates have been reduced from its 3rd week there despite bumper collections (1st week 96.20%, 2nd 98.51%, 3rd 100%).

* KN…PH has created theatre records in 5th week at the following cinemas of Calcutta: Hind (3,77,862/-), Menoka (3,47,478/-), Talkie Show House (1,76,330/-), Ashoka Behala (1,51,960/-, 4th week was 1,51,127/-), Jaya (1,25,553/-). It has also created theatre records by collecting 69,411/- in 4th week at Narayani, Calcutta, and 1,00,288/- in 3rd week at Rakhee, Calcutta.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

‘Badal’ DVD Rights: The Real Story

Last week, we had mentioned in this column, how producer Salim had sold the DVD rights of his new film, Badal. The detailed story is as follows:

C.A. Corporation had acquired the Overseas distribution rights of Badal from Salim for Rs. 1.70 crore. The Overseas rights included, inter alia, DVD rights of the film. As the release date approached, Salim asked Chandrakant Mehta of C.A. Corporation to agree to a price hike. When Mehta did not give the nod and, instead, asked for refund of the under-production instalments paid by him to Salim, the latter reportedly refused. Mehta’s resolve to not agree to a price hike became stronger when he saw the television promotional trailers of the film as they (trailers) were indicative of the film being an action flick. Action films do not have too strong a market in Overseas. Salim’s insistence on a price hike was countered by Mehta, who insisted that if a hike was inevitable, he’d rather take his money back and relinquish the rights. According to Chandrakant Mehta, he even agreed to forgo Rs. 10 lakh from what he had paid to Salim.

Perhaps, irked by Mehta’s refusal, Salim sold the DVD rights of Badal to one Digital Entertainment. It was pure chance that Mehta got to know of the double deal when the customs official at the airport casually mentioned to him on the Friday before the release date of Badal that another person had booked a print of the same film for San Francisco. This set Mehta thinking and he was quick to act.

Enquiries with the laboratory (Filmcenter) revealed that Salim had taken the print under the pretext of sending it to Bengal. Incidentally, Salim himself is the distributor of Badal for Bengal. No clearance from the Indian Film Exporters’ Association (IFEA) was obtained by Salim and, therefore, he had to forgo the claim of duty drawback.

Chandrakant Mehta, who has already started correspondence with Digital Entertainment, plans to proceed legally against Salim. “I’ve suffered losses in Badal,” he lamented.

Guddu’s Good Times

With his Bichhoo fast nearing completion and scheduled for release in June, Guddu Dhanoa will be spending a good deal of his time at the fields. Well, he is not building a huge farm house, as of now, nor is he making plans to own a vast agricultural plot of land in Punjab. (The word ‘field’ is what you understand when you are told “field khaali karo” at a shooting site.)

So, coming back to Guddu, this energetic director will be directing five films shortly, thus becoming the busiest director in the millennium year. The films he will be captaining are those of Harish Shah, Vijayta Films, Time, Firoz Nadiadwala and Salim. Guddu’s surely in for a good time.

A Pukar Of Praises

Anil Kapoor has always considered Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and Mammootty as among the few top actors of the country. Imagine Anil Kapoor’s surprise then when the three of them congratulated him separately for the same reason. Dilip Kumar, who saw Pukar at Dimple preview theatre in Bombay last week, spoke for almost half an hour to Anil, praising him for his performance. Amitabh Bachchan, who viewed the film at the private show of the Ambanis, heaped encomiums for Anil’s histrionics. Wife Jaya Bachchan informed Anil that hubby Amitabh had been raving about the performance to everyone he met since the time he had seen Pukar. And Mammootty, the top star of Malayalam films, called up from Madras after making efforts to trace Anil’s telephone number, and he, too, was all praise for Anil’s awards-deserving performance. With such copious commendations, Anil Kapoor need not wait for awards. He has got more than he could ask for. And, deservingly so!

Water, Water Everywhere…
But No Spot To Shoot

Water, it is said, finds its own level. But Deepa Mehta’s Water could only meet with levels of resentment. Forced to pack up abruptly following fiery protests from pro-Hindu fundamentalists and the failure of the Uttar Pradesh government to heed to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s advice to provide protection to the film unit, Deepa Mehta’s unit was invited to Madhya Pradesh with an assurance by MP chief minister Digvijay Singh, of “full protection” to them. The shooting was to resume on 12th February, but thanks to the threats from Uma Bharati (BJP) and Acharya Dharmendra (VHP), the shooting could not materialise even in Madhya Pradesh. And then, it was Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh, who invited the filmmaker to shoot in Maharashtra. But Manohar Joshi and Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena) expressed their animosity publicly, saying that they (and their party) would not allow her to shoot anywhere in Maharashtra state. RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav also made an offer of extending full support and protection to the film’s unit in Bihar. But Laloo is himself on slippery ground, what with the Bihar assembly elections indicating his party being watered down by the opposition parties. There is hope still. Shabana Azmi has now requested West Bengal CM Jyoti Basu to allow the shooting in Calcutta. Basu-da has expressed his willingness to allow Deepa Mehta to shoot in his state, but there, too, one hears whimpers of threats from BJP activists.

Alas! Water water everywhere, not a spot to shoot!?! Nowhere on earth has water fuelled so much fire!

Kaho Naa… Two Much!

On 13th February, the C.I. distributor of Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai, Aditya Chowksey (Prachi Films, Indore) happened to see a huge crowd outside Abhinayshri cinema in Indore, which was screening the film. In the same compound, another cinema — Devshri — was screening a repeat-run film. Aditya immediately had the repeat-run film removed from Devshri, and, instead, screened Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai. One must have thought that it would be too much of a good thing to screen one film at two cinemas housed in the same compound, that too in the fifth week. But it wasn’t! Both the cinemas recorded 100 per cent collections in the three shows that day. And what’s more, Ellora, the main cinema screening KN…PH was not even a bit adversely affected! Incidentally, the film collected over Rs. 2 lakh in the 5th consecutive week at Lily cinema, Bhopal, which is a record for the cinema.

BADAL

Aftab Music Industries’ Badal (A) is a revenge drama. Story of a young man, who is forced to tread the path of terrorism, it is a masala film aimed to please the masses. A wicked and wily police inspector kills the entire family of a little boy in a village and he is, thereafter, picked up by a terrorist who brings him up. The boy grows up with just one desire — to kill the police officer who had made him what he was today. Circumstances lead him to live in an honest police officer’s house while on his secret mission to kill the villain. There, he is moved by the affection showered on him by the principled police officer’s family. But this does not change his heart enough to deter him from eliminating the villain despite a confrontation with the honest police inspector.

The film has a routine story and the screenplay, too, has several clichéd scenes. Dialogues are ordinary. Romance and emotions are almost absent. But comedy and action are aplenty. Further, hit music helps to a large extent in not letting the drama deteriorate. In fact, although several songs come up without proper situations, they are a welcome intrusion if only because the tunes are racy and very popular.

Bobby Deol looks extremely handsome and also acts ably. He, however, is over-enthusiastic — and, therefore, less graceful — in dances. Rani Mukerji plays to the gallery, looks glamorous but doesn’t really have any scene to leave a mark. Amrish Puri is superb in a positive role. Johny Lever and Upasna Singh are excellent with their comedy; at times, the double-meaning dialogues tickle a great deal. Ashutosh Rana has a dignified get-up and he performs very naturally. Mayuri Kango is average. Shahbaaz Khan, Ashish Vidyarthi, Vishwajeet Pradhan, Jeetu Verma, baby Sana and Kulbhushan Kharbanda provide adequate support. Neena Kulkarni is so-so. Akash Khurana does a fair job. Alok Nath, Dina Pathak, Harish Patel and Dinesh Anand are average. Mushtaq Khan is wasted. Suman Ranganath and Mink lend sex appeal in dance numbers.

Raj Kanwar’s direction is limited by the routine story (Raj Kanwar himself) and the ordinary screenplay (Robin Bhatt and Sutanu Gupta). No attempt has been made to provide something new to the viewer. Anu Malik’s music is a major plus point of the film. All the songs are assets, the best being ‘Main jatt yamla Punjabi’, ‘Jugni Jugni’, ‘Milne se darta hai dil’ and ‘Yaar mere’. Picturisations of the songs should have been better; the ‘Jugni Jugni’ dance (by Amrish Puri and others) is, nevertheless, vigorous and very appealing. Action scenes (Bhiku Verma and Pappu Verma) are thrilling although more fist-fights would have been better. Editing is not smooth. Camerawork (Harmeet Singh) is good. Other technical values are fair. Production values are good but do not befit the extremely high price at which the film has been sold to distributors.

On the whole, Badal has substance for the masses, but patronage of ladies and classes is doubtful. It should score well in East Punjab, Delhi-U.P. and Rajasthan, and remain average in other circuits owing to its high price.

Released on 11-2-2000 at Novelty and 21 other cinemas of Bombay by Aftab Group thru Friends Movies. Publicity: very good. Opening: fair. …….Also released all over. Opening was very good in Thane district (of Bombay), Delhi, East Punjab (exceptional opening despite rains), Rajasthan but just fair in C.I. and the M.P. belt of C.P. Berar.

LATEST POSITION

PUKAR has not found appreciation. It will entail heavy losses to its distributors except of the South territories and Bombay.

Pukar slid as the week progressed. 1st week Bombay 59,47,341 (82.82%) from 12 cinemas (7 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 19,99,010 from 8 cinemas, Vapi 2,24,640, Rajkot 1,87,582 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Jamnagar 1,26,798, Adipur 1,19,590 (63.98%); Pune 17,56,749 from 7 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 3,16,245 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee); Delhi 51,80,422 (65.81%) from 12 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 5,27,371 from 2 cinemas, Allahabad 2,20,504, Meerut (6 days) 2,21,519, Bareilly (6 days) 1,58,910; Amritsar 58,365; Calcutta 24,05,160 from 20 cinemas; Nagpur 8,30,534 from 4 cinemas, Amravati 2,72,822, Akola (27 shows) 1,96,781, Jalgaon (6 days) 1,95,027; Indore 3,16,633 from 2 cinemas (2 on F.H.), Bhopal 1,15,640 (2 unrecd.); Jaipur 7,23,780 from 3 cinemas, Bikaner (gross) 2,21,920; Hyderabad (gross) 21,82,088 from 7 cinemas (1 in noon).

Agni Putra is a disaster. 1st week Bombay 11,02,225 (43.12%) from 7 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Delhi 6,96,694 (22.72%) from 8 cinemas; Kanpur 61,146 from 2 cinemas; Nagpur 83,594 from 2 cinemas, Wardha 50,035; Bhopal 53,500; Hyderabad (gross) 2,60,020 from 6 cinemas (3 in noon, 1 on F.H.).

……….

The World Is Not Enough (dubbed) is good in C.P.C.I. 1st week Bombay 20,09,707 (39.45%) from 8 cinemas (8 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 6,50,577 from 4 cinemas, Baroda 1,80,176; Delhi 17,62,675 (45.34%) from 6 cinemas; Kanpur 2,20,621, Allahabad 1,81,798; Calcutta 9,44,459 from 12 cinemas; Jabalpur 1,22,366, Akola (27 shows) 1,43,815, Yavatmal 1,23,305, Bilaspur 94,635; Hyderabad (gross) 18,97,830 from 8 cinemas (1 in noon).

Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani 3rd week Bombay 21,94,521 (52.50%) from 8 cinemas (5 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 1,68,523 from 2 cinemas; Pune 5,04,753 from 5 cinemas (2 in matinee); Delhi 8,29,266 from 7 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 82,891 from 2 cinemas, Allahabad 69,872, Muzaffarnagar 25,000, Bareilly (6 days) 14,800; 1st week Amritsar 54,000; 3rd week Calcutta 5,72,736 from 3 cinemas; Nagpur 48,037 from 2 cinemas, Amravati 60,816, Akola (27 shows) 32,380, total 2,61,471; Indore 90,000 from 2 cinemas, Bhopal 50,311; Jaipur 1,85,348; Hyderabad (gross) 3,68,396 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon); 3 weeks’ Vijayawada total 5,38,410.

Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai is AA in Bombay and South, and A1 in other circuits. 4th week Bombay 45,77,778 (99.73%) from 10 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 2,88,027 from 2 cinemas, 1st week Bardoli 3,49,208, 4th week Baroda 2,44,007 (98.85%), 2nd week Valsad 1,83,061 (1st 1,80,591), 4th week Vapi 3,62,598, total 18,02,663, Rajkot 1,65,115, Jamnagar 81,199; Pune 14,35,824 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), 2nd week Satara 1,81,302 (1st 1,87,226, 1 cinema in matinee 100% in both weeks); 4th week Dharwad 69,384; Delhi 21,36,852 from 5 cinemas; Kanpur 3,09,260 from 2 cinemas, Allahabad 1,51,694, Muzaffarnagar 65,000, Bareilly (6 days) 83,143, 1st week Hardwar (5 days) 84,716; 4th week Calcutta 11,98,468 from 5 cinemas; Nagpur 2,66,453 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 1,54,045, total 6,62,198, Amravati 1,59,539, Akola (27 shows) 1,31,288, total 6,11,519, Jalgaon (6 days) 1,29,340, 3rd week Chandrapur 1,86,234, total 6,26,073, 2nd week Yavatmal (gross) 1,29,726; 4th week Bhopal 2,37,301 (3rd 2,39,029); Jaipur 3,85,077 from 2 cinemas, Bikaner 1,60,673; Hyderabad (gross) 13,23,732 from 7 cinemas (1 in noon); 2nd week Mangalore 1,37,318 (1st 2,13,649); Vijayawada 2 weeks’ total 5,93,431.

Hum Saath-Saath Hain entered 15th week at Liberty, Bombay; 14th week Pune 71,775 from 2 cinemas; Belgaum 35,267; Kanpur 60,823, Allahabad 30,485; Calcutta 97,700; Nagpur 59,618, 5th week Kamptee 29,282, total 2,79,418, share 1,44,418, 14th week Jabalpur (6 days, gross) 77,698, total 37,72,626, Amravati 74,360, total 25,55,353, Akola (27 shows) 49,670, total 18,41,709, share 13,88,510; Jaipur 3,81,805.

_______

Gaam Ma Piyaryu Ne Gaam Ma Sasaryu (Gujarati; TF) 4th week Ahmedabad 6,51,063 from 3 cinemas, 2nd week Rajkot 2,25,000, 4th week Jamnagar 85,500.

Maa Baap Ne Bhulsho Nahin (Gujarati; TF) 8th week Ahmedabad 1,40,472 from 2 cinemas.

The World Is Not Enough (E.) 1st week Bombay 14,40,599 from 5 cinemas; Calcutta 5,26,098; Nagpur 5,21,248 from 2 cinemas; Bhopal 1,95,000; Mangalore 1,87,349; Vijayawada 3,59,619. Good.

SHOBHNA SAMARTH DEAD

Veteran actress Shobhna Samarth passed away on 9th February in Pune at the Pune Cancer Hospital. She was cremated the same evening.

Mother of actresses Nutan and Tanuja, and grandmother of Kajol and Mohnish Bahl, she was a popular heroine of her times.

Shobhna Samarth played the lead in more than 50 films. Her first film was a Marathi film, Vilasi Ishwar. She later shifted to Hindi films with Nigah-E-Nafrat, released in 1935. Most of the films she acted in were mythologicals, like Mahasati Ansuya, Taramati, Narsimha Avtar, Nal Damayanti, Janmashtami, Jai Mahalakshmi, Shri Krishna Arjun Yudh and Urvashi. She shot into limelight with the role of Sita in Vijay Bhatt’s Bharat Milap (1942) and Ram Rajya (1943). Samarth also produced and directed Hamari Beti and Chhabili, introducing Nutan and Tanuja respectively.

YOU ASKED IT

There are some people in the trade, who think that KN…PH recorded bumper collections because of public sympathy over the murder attempt on Rakesh Roshan. Do you endorse this view?

– The murder attempt has definitely given a boost to the film’s collections, but please don’t try to imply that the film has clicked only because of the attempt on Rakesh Roshan’s life.

By how much percentage does the telecast of a new film on Cable TV affect a hit film, average film and a flop?

– Cable TV can affect a hit film’s business by 30-40%, that of an average film by 10-15%, and of a flop, by 5% or even less.

The script of Water is approved by the Prime Minister of India, and then, it is not allowed to be shot in Varanasi by Hindu fundamentalists. What does one make of this?

– It exposes the farcical nature of democracy in our country.

Shooting Of ‘Water’ In Varanasi

AIFPC’S STRONG LETTER TO U.P. GOVERNMENT

With reference to the disruption of the shooting of Deepa Mehta’s Water in Varanasi recently, Pahlaj Nihalani, president of the All India Film Producers Council (AIFPC), has written a letter to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Ram Prakash Gupta, decrying the U.P. government’s failure to provide protection to the film’s unit from anti-social elements who disrupted the shooting.

Reminding the U.P. chief minister about a film policy formulated to promote film shootings in U.P. and to offer various incentives like entertainment tax-exemption to films shot in U.P., the AIFPC pointed out that under the film policy, worked out between the Bombay-based producers and the U.P. government, the state government was duty-bound to provide adequate security to film units in U.P., but “the government allowed the politicisation of the issue and actively involved itself in blocking the shooting of the film”.

The AIFPC letter concludes with a warning, “In the interests of the film industry and U.P. government itself, we plead with you to take immediate action to ensure that the shooting of Water is allowed to take place, because not doing so will lead to a situation where no producer will be willing to shoot his film in Uttar Pradesh.”

The unit of Deepa Mehta’s Water has since returned from Varanasi after not being allowed to shoot there.

Price-Wise? No!? Then, Pay The Price!

Price — this five-letter word has been the most hotly discussed and debated word in trade circles over the years. Whether it is film prices or star prices, discussions on them have evinced passionate claims and counter-claims from parties to the discussions. Nobody has been able to decide what correct pricing is and what should the ideal price of a film star/technician be.

But the price under discussion today is neither star remunerations nor film ratios. It is, instead, the price which the cinegoer pays to see the film or the artistes of his choice, on the silver screen — the price of a cinema ticket or, in other words, admission rates.

Actually, discussions on film and star prices have dominated the scene so much that the industry seems to have overlooked the impact which incorrect admission rates can have. In many big cities today, admission rates in many cinemas have become prohibitively expensive for the middle class and lower middle class group, not to talk of the poor. What is alarming is that while some cinemas provide amenities and facilities to match the high admission rates, there are others which don’t care about facilities while being quick to increase ticket rates.

In Delhi, some cinemas are charging more than Rs. 100 per ticket. If box-office collections are dull in the capital city today, the blame lies not just on the films but equally, sometimes more, on the unrealistically high rates of admission. If films alone were responsible for dull collections, how does one explain the bumper shares of a Jaanwar in U.P. as against dull shares in Delhi city? Agreed, Jaanwar is a film for non-metropolitan cities and mainly for ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres, but the collections in Delhi were not expected to be so dismal in comparison to those in U.P. Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, which collected 78.32% of the house-full capacity at Priya cinema of Delhi in the first week, and 90.60% of the capacity at Chanakya, Delhi in the first week, could collect only 36% and 45% respectively in the second week! And Priya cinema was recently renovated at a huge cost.

If Delhi is bad, Bombay isn’t any better. The unhappy part is that admission rates are generally the same, whether it is a Shah Rukh Khan starrer that is showing in a cinema or a Mithun Chakraborty starrer, whether the music of the film showing is a huge hit or is average. Can any logic explain this foolhardiness?

Producers, distributors and exhibitors are ignoring an important aspect of a film’s business if they are not applying their minds to ticket pricing.

– Komal Nahta

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Of Rains, Clouds And Crowds

If Badal has come, can the rains be far behind? To give company to the clouds (badal), there were heavy rains in Northern India, particularly Delhi and Punjab on 11th February, the day of release of Badal in the two circuits. But it must be said to the credit of the film that in both, Delhi and Punjab, heavy crowds were witnessed in cinemas screening Badal which opened to full houses despite the dark clouds in the sky and the heavy rains there.

Promoting Common Sense

A film is essentially judged by what is publicised, or rather, by which aspect of it is highlighted. And with TV becoming a potent medium for promotion of films, it is but common sense to decide beforehand what aspect the producers need to highlight to lure the audience into the cinemas and ensure an excellent opening. But what is disturbing in today’s times is that incongruity has stepped into promotional trailers of many films. Even an action film with action heroes is increasingly publicised as being a musical film because the songs are highlighted. And that is generally because the music companies do the promotion and, naturally, they are apt to promote music more than any other aspect of the film, amounting to a square peg in a round hole. It’s fine if an action film is embellished with good music. One would describe it as sone pe suhaga, the sona being action and suhaga being the music. But in case of a musical film, the sona should be its music and other things therein, the suhaga. The bottomline is that a film’s promo should highlight that aspect which would bring in the audience.

Producers Propose…
Bajrang Opposes

Bajrang is one of the many names of Lord Hanuman. But the Lord seems averse to producers making a social/commercial on His name. And there are some instances to prove this point. Raju Mawani had launched Bajrang with Sunny Deol as the lead man, but it got shelved after just one brief shooting schedule. Nandu Tolani’s Bajrang, being directed by Tinnu Verma, is also stuck incomplete. And years back, Bapu was to produce and direct Bajrangi with Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit in the lead, but the film could not be made. Had it been made, it may have been Madhuri Dixit’s first film as an actress. But mythological maker Chandrakant’s Jai Bajrang Bali was a super-hit. And that’s because it was a mythological film and not a social commercial. May be, Lord Hanuman does not approve of He being enacted in human form.

The Deciding Beats!

Who decided that the music of Taal was super-hit? The public, of course. And how do people, who wish to buy a good music system, decide on the best bargain? By listening to the music of Taal! This was the observation of a music-loving friend who recently went shop-hopping to buy an ideal music system. Almost all dealers, whom he visited in Bombay, chose the music of Taal to demonstrate the efficacy of the music systems they were selling. On enquiring, he learnt from one of the shop-owners that it was so because the music of Taal amplified clearly the entire range of musical beats and strains in perfect detail. A different kind of compliment for the composition and recording of the music of Taal, but compliment indeed!

Jolly Good January

The previous time Rakesh Roshan had a sweet taste of success was when Karan Arjun proved a super-hit. This was exactly five years before the release of Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai. While Karan Arjun was released on 13th January, 1995, KN…PH was released on 14th January, 2000. Perhaps, this should inspire Rakesh Roshan to schedule his every release in the second week of January. If it’s got to be a super-hit, it’s got to be released in January.

So ‘Miff’ed!

The live telecast of the opening ceremony of MIFF 2000, the documentary film festival of Bombay, on 9th February on Doordarshan went into a blink a few moments after Homi Sethna was shown addressing the audience which included the Prasar Bharati and Doordarshan officials and bosses. Homi Sethna, who won this year’s V. Shantaram award for the best documentary, remarked, “The bosses of Prasar Bharati and the officers of DD should hang their heads in shame and work hard on a different concept to put the national channel on par with PBS — Public Broadcasting Service — in the USA or with the BBC… Just look at their programmes and again, hang your heads in shame…” So ‘miff’ed were the broadcasting bosses that they just blacked out the live telecast!

On The Silver Jubilee…..

Subhash Ghai Gifts ‘Taal’ To Ashok Purohit’s City Pulse

Ever since Ashok Purohit, the dynamic owner of City Pulse multiplex in Gandhinagar, the capital city of Gujarat, screened Taal for the first time at his cinema and saw it for the first time, he has been in love with the film. So, at the silver jubilee celebrations of Subhash Gha’s love triangle on 30th January, Purohit hoped, Ghai would gift him…. Gift him what? He hoped, Ghai would present him the print of Taal which he had been screening at his cinema. And the magnanimous Subhash Ghai did just that! And so, now, Ashok Purohit and his family, who’ve seen Taal several times, can see it several more times whenever they feel like it. The cinema is theirs, the print is theirs.

But if Ghai were to go on distributing prints of Taal to those who’ve fallen in love with his dream project, the first on the list would be the finance minister of Gujarat, Vajubhai Vala. For, the man — well over 60 years of age — has seen the film five times and plans to see it a couple of times more. He was the chief guest at the jubilee function — and justifiably so! — and guess, what did he do there? He sang four lines of the popular Ishq bina kya jeena yaaron number in front of a packed auditorium of City Pulse where the function was held. Thanking Ghai profusely for making a “super-hit” like Taal “which makes an old man like me feel jawaan“, Vajubhai went into raptures as he spoke of how he had visited City Pulse five times during the last 25 weeks to see Taal. Subhash Ghai blushed and blushed. And so did the artistes of the film — Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai, Akshaye Khanna and Amrish Puri — who were also in Gandhinagar to partake in the celebrations.

Yes, you’ve guessed it right. With four leading artistes descending on Gandhinagar, the janata couldn’t but go berserk. The warm welcome the people there accorded to the unit of Taal at the cinema was more than sufficient to make the guests from Bombay forget the chill in the winter wind of Gandhinagar.

Subhash Ghai introduced his stars to the guests and praised them for making Taal what it was. A question-and-answer session with the press followed. After the Purohit family had formally welcomed the guests — which also included, besides the above, Bombay distributor Tolu Bajaj, Ashok Sinha (joint secretary (films), I & B ministry, government of India, and officiating chairman of the NFDC), P.K. Lehri (information secretary, government of Gujarat) and Mukandan (chief secretary, government of Gujarat) — silver jubilee trophies were presented to the unit members. The audience cheered the artistes as each of them spoke a few words.

At the end of the function, Ghai picked up a ticket counterfoil from among the counterfoils of all tickets sold during the period from the 10th day of Taal at the cinema to its 25th week. For, Ashok Purohit had, on the film’s 100th day, announced that a lucky winner from among those who saw Taal at his cinema from that day till its 25th week would be entitled to an air ticket to-and-fro Dubai, courtesy City Pulse.

And while the lucky winner will see the whole of Dubai soon, the artistes of Taal could not even see the entire City Pulse multiplex. Yes, the crowds had gone so hysterical that the stars had to be cordoned off by a bevy of security personnel and had to be literally whisked away into the car to zoom off to Ahmedabad for a dinner party at Fortune Hotel after the jubilee function. But whether they saw City Pulse or not, they were convinced that the city of Gandhinagar had its pulse beating to the passion for Taal.

– KOMAL NAHTA

LATEST POSITION

Shikaar ran for 1 week in Indore, dull.

Johrabai 1st week 4,41,154 from 4 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Pune 59,115; Delhi 5,21,615 (42.13%) from 4 cinemas; Kanpur 1,14,180, Varanasi 1,35,754; Calcutta 3,09,453 from 4 cinemas (13 cinemas unrecd.); Raipur 23,086; Indore 39,914 (2 on F.H.); Jaipur 1,22,008.

Yeh Kaisa Pyar (dubbed) 1st week Kanpur 1,42,745.

Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani drops further. 2nd week Bombay 39,62,122 (66.97%) from 10 cinemas (8 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 9,68,457 from 4 cinemas; Pune 8,99,327 from 5 cinemas (2 in matinee), Solapur 1,03,464; Delhi 30,56,873 from 12 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,79,134 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,39,812, Allahabad 1,07,528, 1st week Bareilly 1,10,845; 2nd Calcutta 9,49,289 from 7 cinemas; Nagpur 1,64,285 from 2 cinemas, Akola 59,395, Raipur (6 days) 63,567, Bhilai 41,472, Jalgaon 80,885 (1st 1,75,075); Indore 1,67,000 from 2 cinemas (1 on F.H.), Bhopal 61,563 (1 unrecd.); Jaipur 2,31,983, Ajmer (gross) 88,243, Bikaner 92,525; Hyderabad (gross) 6,49,735 from 5 cinemas (1 in noon).

Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai is extraordinary. 3rd week’s collections are better than 2nd week’s at some places. 3rd week Bombay 46,55,990 (99.18%) from 10 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 8,55,656 from 3 cinemas, Baroda 2,42,194 (98.12%), Jamnagar 98,700; Pune 10,68,073 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 1,97,381; Dharwad 88,317; Delhi 35,89,620 from 8 cinemas; Kanpur 3,60,430 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,73,794, Varanasi 2,09,074, Allahabad 1,45,777, Bareilly (6 days) 81,709, Muzaffarnagar 40,000; 1st week Amritsar 45,200; 3rd week Nagpur 5,45,749 from 3 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 1,29,740, Akola 1,44,774, total 4,80,231, Raipur (6 days) 1,43,451, Bhilai 80,015, 1st week Durg 1,07,571, 3rd week Jalgaon 1,56,598 (2nd 1,55,602), 2nd week Chandrapur 1,87,382, total 4,39,839, 1st Yavatmal (gross) 1,83,036 (100%); 3rd week Bhopal 2,39,029 (2nd 2,35,500); Jaipur 3,19,171, Bikaner 1,91,873; Hyderabad (gross) 31,89,913 from 11 cinemas (1 in noon); 1st week Guntur (gross) 1,98,576.

Mela 4th week Bombay 13,83,564 (44.76%) from 7 cinemas (8 on F.H.); Pune 2,70,111 from 2 cinemas, Solapur (14 shows) 65,487; Bijapur 44,480; Kanpur 1,71,212 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,92,922, Varanasi 96,921, Allahabad 83,353, Bareilly (6 days) 65,790, Hardwar 15,000; Calcutta 1,52,819; Nagpur 1,07,345 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 80,430, Akola 45,282, total 4,06,700, Raipur (6 days) 99,698, Bhilai 32,673, Jalgaon 65,447 (3rd 88,789), 3rd week Gondia (6 days, gross) 53,381, 4th week Wardha (6 days) 35,317, Yavatmal 52,950; Indore 59,700 (1 on F.H.); Ajmer (gross) 70,574, Bikaner 63,768; Hyderabad (gross) 4,02,389 from 4 cinemas (2 in noon).

Jaanwar 6th week Bombay 4,35,085 (45.35%) from 3 cinemas; Pune 36,024, Solapur 23,610; 3rd week Bijapur (14 shows) 26,563; 6th week Delhi 1,47,350; Kanpur 65,000, Lucknow 94,409, Varanasi 1,13,019, Allahabad 83,553, Bareilly (6 days) 32,422; Nagpur 31,068, Jabalpur (6 days) 32,306, Akola 60,805, total 5,46,574, 3rd week Wardha 38,320; 6th week Bhopal (6 days) 39,000.

Hum Saath-Saath Hain entered 14th week at Liberty Bombay; 13th week Pune (matinee) 47,339, Solapur (14 shows) 1,04,347; Belgaum 53,623, 4th week Karwar 19,367; Kanpur 63,000, Lucknow 1,40,706, Varanasi 47,217, Allahabad 27,959; Calcutta 95,044; Nagpur 97,788, Jabalpur (6 days, gross) 75,389, Amravati 88,885 (12th week 91,756), total 24,80,994, Akola 61,485, total 17,92,039, share 13,70,308, Raipur (6 days) 64,282, total 28,78,563, Bhilai 17,055, Jalgaon 81,840, total 19,16,297; Hyderabad (gross) 2,77,860 from 2 cinemas (4 unrecd.).

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Gaam Ma Piyaryu Ne Gaam Ma Sasaryu (Gujarati; TF) is strong. 3rd week Ahmedabad 7,82,956 from 4 cinemas, Jamnagar 93,622, total 2,91,733.

Maa Baap Ne Bhulsho Nahin (Gujarati; TF) is also strong. 7th week Ahmedabad 2,11,071 from 4 cinemas.

CINE & TV ARTISTES’ APPEAL TO MAHARASHTRA CM

The Cine & TV Artistes’ Association (CINTAA) has, in a letter to Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, appealed for “peaceful environment for their creative work” in view of threats, extortion and murders by the underworld. The letter cautions and appeals that before the business community and members of the film industry think of “shifting from this beautiful state of Maharashtra and the city of Mumbai to some other safe and secure cities of India, we very humbly request you to think and act fast for the stability and permanency of the film industry along with other industries to stay in Mumbai safely and fearlessly…”

The letter concludes, “With great expectations and fond hopes, we request you to make this city worth living for peaceful and decent people and let not Rakesh Roshan’s incident be repeated in future and tarnish the ever beautiful name of Mumbai and Maharashtra.”

FILMS DIVISION RELEASES SHORT FILM ON PRADEEP

A 30-minute documentary on the life of poet and lyricist Pt. Pradeep was declared released at a function held on 2nd February at the Cultural Centre of Russia. Veteran music director Naushad was the chief guest at the function organised jointly by Kavi Pradeep Foundation and Films Division. Titled Kavi Pradeep, the docu-drama, produced by Films Division, is written and directed by Bharat Berde. The short film documents in brief the life-sketch of the poet, affectionately known as ‘Rashtrakavi’, from childhood till the time he won the Dadasaheb Phalke award. Excerpts from films showing his songs reflected his patriotic feel as also his poetic genius. A shorter version (of 10 minutes) of the documentary will be telecast on 6th February on Doordarshan.

Naushad, in his tribute to late poet Pradeep, lamented, “The great poet was given the Dadasaheb Phalke award when he was in the twilight of his life. His merit did not get the due recognition even though he was writing patriotic, philosophical, religious and even romantic songs for more than fifty years.”

Maharashtra state minister Anil Deshmukh fondly remembered his short visits to the poet’s house before and after his death. The writer-director of the short film, Bharat Berde, informed the gathering about the making of the film.

Avinash Pande, the president of the Kavi Pradeep Foundation, welcomed the guests. The Foundation is now attempting a feature film on his life. A book on Pradeep is also being readied for publication.

RAKESH ROSHAN FINE

Rakesh Roshan, who underwent bypass surgery of the heart last week at Cumballa Hill Hospital, Bombay, was discharged from hospital on 4th February. He is doing fine.

K.N. SINGH BIDS ADIEU

K.N. Singh, the cool-tempered, pipe-smoking, stern-eyed bad man of Hindi films, whose inimitable intimidation set him apart from the rest of the bad men in the ’40s through the ’70s, breathed his last on 31st January at his residence at Matunga, Bombay. He was 91. He had worked in about 250 films.

Born in Dehradun and hailing from a family of practising lawyers, Krishna Niranjan (K.N.) Singh was groomed by his family to become a lawyer. But K.N. Singh developed a dislike for the legal profession and set out on a different course. In 1935, he met Pahari Sanyal and K.L. Saigal in Lucknow where he was running a small business. In 1937, he faced the movie camera for the first time, in Calcutta, when Pahari Sanyal gave him a role of a doctor in Sunehre Din. It was Prithviraj Kapoor who brought him to Bombay. A.R. Kardar then gave him a role of a lawyer in his film, Milap. He came into notice with A.R. Kardar’s Baghban. And thereafter, K.N. Singh went on to exercise his cold stern stare and threat with the twitch of his stiff upper lip in a number of films for nearly four decades. Among the films he acted in were Howrah Bridge, Ishara, Barsaat, Awara, Hulchul, Jwar Bhata, Jaal, Baazi, Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Funtoosh, Mera Saaya, An Evening In Paris, Kaalia and Ajooba (his last film in which he did a brief role). He also did a comedy film, Badhti Ka Naam Dadhi.

K.N. Singh was one actor who terrorised even with less dialogues. His eyebrows and stern eyes were enough to bring out the villain in him.

‘HS-SH’ 100 DAYS’ PARTY

The combined 100 days of Hum Saath-Saath Hain at Lokendra Talkies, Ratlam will be completed today (5th February). A party to celebrate the 100 days was held at Lokendra Talkies on 4th. Govind Acharya, manager of Rajshri Pictures P. Ltd., Indore, was the chief guest.

The cinema announced 15 days’ salary as bonus to its staff on the occasion. Trophies were distributed by the cinema.

DO YOU KNOW?

* The craze for Hrithik Roshan among Jalgaon youngsters is such that they have patronised his KAHO NAA…PYAAR HAI 3-4 times already. Moreover, bowing to their demand, the management of Ashok Talkies (where KN…PH entered 4th week) has put up a board, bearing the new star’s residential address, on the theatre premises.

* THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH (E.) has been released in daily 6 shows at two mini cinemas — Gem and Glamour — in the same complex at Bandra, Bombay. There will, therefore, be 84 shows of the film in one cinema complex in one week.

* KAHO NAA…PYAAR HAI has created a theatre record by collecting 2,42,194/- (98%) in 3rd week at Aradhana, Baroda.

* KAHO NAA…PYAAR HAI has created a theatre record by collecting 1,93,576/- (cap. 2,35,000/-) in 1st week at Seema, Aligarh.

* KAHO NAA…PYAAR HAI has created a theatre record by collecting 1,97,459/- in 3rd week at Vasant, Ghaziabad. Better than 2nd week (1,86,767/-).

* KAHO NAA…PYAAR HAI has created a theatre record by collecting 1,77,304/- in 3rd week at Alankar, Nagpur.

* KAHO NAA…PYAAR HAI has created a theatre record by collecting 1,67,945/- in 3rd week at Panchsheel, Amravati. Better than 2nd week (1,58,684/-). Total for 3 weeks: 5,41,269/-.

* KAHO NAA…PYAAR HAI has created a theatre record by collecting 1,56,598/- in 3rd week at Ashok, Jalgaon. Better than 2nd week (1,56,602/-).

* KAHO NAA…PYAAR HAI has created a theatre record by collecting 1,69,586/- in 3rd week at Anand, Raipur.

* KAHO NAA…PYAAR HAI has created a theatre record by collecting 1,48,834/- in 3rd week at Anand, Jabalpur.

* KAHO NAA…PYAAR HAI has created a theatre record in 3rd week at Abhinayshri, Indore.

* KAHO NAA…PYAAR HAI has created a record by collecting 2,39,029/- in 3rd week at Lily, Bhopal. More than 2nd week (2,35,500/-).

* KAHO NAA…PYAAR HAI has created a theatre record by collecting better in 3rd week (3,19,171/-) than 2nd week (3,06,473/-) at Motimahal, Jaipur.

IS DELHI ONLY 10% OF DELHI-U.P. CIRCUIT?

* The distributor’s share of JAANWAR in Delhi-U.P. so far is about Rs. 1.75 crore. Of this, how much share has come from Delhi? Only Rs. 19 lakh! Yes, JAANWAR is as weak in Delhi as it is strong in U.P.

ANNOUNCEMENT & LAUNCHING

Jeetendra’s Film Launched

Shri Siddhivinayak Films’ Prod. No. 1, yet untitled, was launched with the recording of a song on Feb. 1 (birthday of Shobha Kapoor, wife of Jeetendra and one of the two producers of the film) at Sahara India. Penned by Sameer and tuned by Anu Malik, the song was rendered by Kumar Sanu and Alka Yagnik. The film is being produced by Shobha Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor, and directed by David Dhawan. Jeetendra presents it. It stars Govinda in the male lead. Story-screenplay: Yunus Sejawal and Imtiaz Patel. Dialogues: Rumi Jafri. Other cast and credits of the film are being finalised. Executive producer: Prakash Pange.

Indra Kumar To Direct Bobby Deol, Karisma In ‘Aashiq’

Shweta International’s Aashiq will go on the floors on Feb. 11 with a 25-day shooting stint in Hyderabad on sets and locales. The film is being produced by Anil Sharma and directed by Indra Kumar. It stars Bobby Deol, Karisma Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Mukesh Rishi, Rahul Dev, Ashok Saraf, Nasir and Smita Jayakar. Writer: Anwar Khan. Lyrics: Sameer. Music directors Sanjeev Darshan have already recorded five songs of the film, and two more will be recorded in March. Sound: Jeetendra Chaudhary. Action: Abbas. Art: Bijon Dasgupta.

YOU ASKED IT

Will 2000 mark the arrival of new stars just as the arrival of Hrithik Roshan and Amisha Patel in KN…PH?

– Yes, it will. The industry needs new stars.

During the last few months, there have been a lot of cricket matches with India being an important participant. Have these cricket matches affected our films’ box-office takings? If they have, to what extent?

– Thanks to the poor performance of our cricketers, the cricket matches haven’t affected the box-office too adversely. Of course, some effect is bound to be there because both, films and cricket, are forms of entertainment.

What type of opening do you expect Badal to take next week?

– Very good! The music is popular. Bobby Deol and Rani Mukerji are the favourites of the young generation.

Whose ‘Khauff’ Is It Anyway?!

The Indian Motion Picture Distributors’ Association (IMPDA) has received two applications for the registration of the Bombay distribution rights for Chirag Arts’ Khauff from two different distributors — Veekay Enterprises and Raj Enterprises.

In its reply to Raj Enterprises, the IMPDA has pointed out that Raj Enterprises, in its letter dated 5-4-’99 had objected to the registration of the film Khauff in favour of any party for Bombay circuit in view of its pending claim against Sapna Arts, in respect of the latter’s Bajrang. Nandu Tolani of Sapna Arts and Vijay Tolani of Chirag Arts are brothers.

It would be pertinent to note here that Raj Enterprises had applied for the registration of Khauff after procuring a letter from the producers, Chirag Arts.

The IMPDA has further clarified that another of its members, ABC Pictures Pvt. Ltd., had also objected to the registration of Khauff in favour of any party for Bombay circuit in view of its (ABC Pictures’) claim pending against Sapna Arts, Bombay, in respect of the film Mr. Bechara.

IMPDA has also pointed out that a Civil Application no. 6644 of 1999 in A.O. stamp no. 889 of 1999 in notice of motion no. 2229 of 1999 is pending in the high court, and it pertains to the matter of claims wherein Raj Enterprises along with IMPDA are the parties.

Veekay Enterprises, Bombay, has also sent a letter (dated 19-1-2000) to IMPDA, claiming its rights in Khauff for Bombay circuit. Veekay Enterprises has claimed that it has given the producers an excess of Rs. 5 lakh as under-production amount.

In view of the above circumstances, IMPDA has chosen to keep the applications for registration of Khauff for Bombay circuit in abeyance until the objections and the court proceedings are both withdrawn by its members.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Last But Never The Least…
In Fact, The Best!

Not many know that a scene was added in Pukar even after the film was issued censor certificate last week. This scene was shot in Hyderabad six days before the film’s release!

The scene: Anil Kapoor, a military officer, overhears a telephonic conversation between an ISI agent (based in the neighbouring country) and his stooge in India. Anil intercepts the conversation and, after beating up the stooge for talking loosely of India, gives a piece of his mind to the ISI agent on the other side. He touches upon the Kargil conflict and the recent hijack of the Indian Airlines plane. Says Anil, ‘Tum teen ko chhuda le gaye, par hum tumhare teen sau ko utha laane ki taaqat rakhte hain… Kargil ka ek patthar uthane nahin diya, phir bhi Kashmir ke seb khane ka khwab dekh rahe ho?!”

No one will deny that this scene will evoke great applause. And it is doing just that and more than that! This scene was added to the prints running in Bombay city and suburbs in the 9 p.m. show of Friday (4th Feb.) because that is the day it was cleared by the CBFC. It will be added in all the prints today/tomorrow. Our friend, Soham Shah, a noted publicity designer, who saw this added scene at Shaan (Vile Parle), Bombay, reported that the audience broke into a thunderous applause when Anil Kapoor delivered the dialogue. He found it to be the “best-ever patriotic scene on the Hindi screen”. This last-moment addition of the scene is sure to create a lasting impression. Any bets?!

Venturesome Vashu

No one can deny that as a producer, Vashu Bhagnani is in a league of his own. Be it with the marketing and publicity or production values or even release of his films (he released Biwi No. 1 thick in the midst of the Cricket World Cup matches last year, much against the trade opinion, remember?), he brings in fresh ideas and innovations. And what is more, he is not afraid to implement them. It is, no doubt, this enterprising spirit that has led him to come up with another novel idea which he is executing in his next, Tera Jadoo Chal Gayaa. He has picturised two entire songs of the film on Abhishek Bachchan and Kirti Shetty, twice over on separate locations. One version of the songs is shot abroad while the other, at the Taj Mahal in Agra and other Indian locations. Both the versions will not be shown to the audience in a single screening as each version is prepared for different sets of viewers. Accordingly, the viewers in Bombay and Overseas territories will be shown the songs shot in Agra and India while those in the rest of India will be shown the ones shot on foreign locations. Moreover, after 3-4 weeks’ run of the film, the songs will be shuffled so that the Bombay and Overseas viewers will get to see the foreign version, and viewers in the rest of India, the Indian version!

It is pertinent to note here that even in times as bad as the present in the film industry, there is a producer like Vashu Bhagnani who is not afraid to put his money where his mouth is!

Incidentally, a trial show of the rushes of 85% of the film was held earlier this week. The reports that are filtering in are lovely.

Caution Versus Over-Confidence

It pays to play it safe — especially in film business. This was proved by two incidents that took place within the last few weeks. Prior to the release of Mela, its Bombay distributor was offered a hitherto unheard of price of Rs. 1 crore for the sub-distribution rights of the film for Gujarat. The Bombay distributor, far too confident of the film’s success, refused the offer and went ahead and released the film himself in Gujarat. The film turned out to be a loser.

The other incident took place before the release of Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani. The same Gujarat sub-distributor, who was refused Mela, approached the Bombay distributor of PBDHH with an identical offer. This Bombay distributor chose to be cautious rather than over-confident and only too happily parted with the rights. Thus, even when the film didn’t turn out to be good at the box-office, the Bombay distributor’s cautious approach helped him cover his risk substantially.

The Ultimate Fan Of Shah Rukh Khan

If there ever was a competition held to judge the biggest-ever fan of Shah Rukh Khan, Vishal Singh of Lucknow would win hands down. His excessive adulation for the superstar would seem like an insane act even for any other die-hard Shah Rukh Khan fan. What does he do to show his infatuation?!

First of all, after having seen the ads of Shah Rukh extolling the virtues of Santro car, the 20-year-old bought a brand new Santro car. Then, he has fully embellished the car with the superstar’s photographs. And what is more, he has altered his name, Vishal Singh, to Visharukh Singh to rhyme it with his idol’s, besides embroidering and embossing his clothes with the name, Shah Rukh Khan. Vishal, rather Visharukh, who has a pharmaceutical agency, spends most of his time cutting the photographs of Shah Rukh from newspapers and magazines and pasting them on the walls of his bedroom and every available space in his house and office.

On February 1, 2000, Visharukh learnt that Shah Rukh Khan would be in Lucknow to attend Sahara India’s cultural show, ‘Bharat Parv’, at Sahara Shaher in Lucknow. He and his wife, Ruchi, who is also an ardent fan of Shah Rukh, reached the venue of the show at 2 p.m. (afternoon) to catch a glimpse of the star. But they could not gain entry as they had no passes. The couple stood all night outside the Sahara Shaher without having any food or water. When it was brought to the notice of the Sahara bosses, they (the Sahara people), in a rare gesture, allowed the couple to be brought into the Sahara Shaher in the morning for a breakfast meeting which Sahara had organised for the stars of the show — Amitabh Bachchan, Raj Babbar, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Aishwarya Rai and Raveena Tadon. There, the couple met their idol. Shah Rukh conversed with the couple and thanked them for being his ardent fans. He posed for a photograph and gave an autograph. And the star asked the couple to meet him whenever they came to Bombay. And meanwhile, the couple is thrilled beyond words and continues their Shah Rukh worship. Can any fan ever achieve this height of idolising?!

The Manoj Kumar Punch

And after a short gap, Manoj Kumar is back with another punchline:

Kya Dil Hindustani
Kya Joota Japani
Aaj zaroori hai kahani!

LATEST POSITION

The public holiday on Republic Day helped boost the collections. KAHO NAA…PYAAR HAI is still going strong, but PHIR BHI DIL HAI HINDUSTANI dropped as the week progressed.

Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, suffering partly due to unplanned publicity (that it has a patriotic flavour never came across in its pre-release promotion), will entail losses to its distributors. 1st week Bombay 59,74,635 (93.29%) from 10 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 23,48,548 from 8 cinemas, Padra 1,89,780, Rajkot 1,46,677 (1 unrecd.), Jamnagar (mat.) 15,658 (1 unrecd.); Pune 15,64,625 from 5 cinemas, Solapur 1,98,677; Delhi 70,70,232 (74.09%) from 13 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 3,84,564 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow (6 days) 4,17,686, Agra 3,25,000, Allahabad 2,17,400, Bareilly (6 days) 1,00,897, Dehradun 1,90,236; Calcutta 21,38,299 from 12 cinemas; Nagpur 7,56,963 from 4 cinemas, Amravati (6 days) 1,68,183, Akola 1,72,695, Raipur (6 days) 1,43,306, Jalgaon (6 days) 1,61,654, Dhule 1,47,575, Chandrapur 1,05,324; Indore 3,27,948 from 2 cinemas (2 on F.H.), Bhopal 3,98,953 from 3 cinemas; Jaipur 7,28,510 (57%) from 3 cinemas, Ajmer (gross) 2,27,409, Bikaner (gross) 2,38,205; Hyderabad (gross) 43,89,092 from 19 cinemas, share about 21 lakh. It has done fairly well in Overseas (collections adversely affected in and around Manchester due to the informal boycott of the film by the Muslim audience there).

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Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai is A1 in Bombay and South. 2nd week Bombay 38,55,656 (99.67%) from 9 cinemas (6 on F.H.), super-strong in 3rd week too; Ahmedabad 10,35,047 from 3 cinemas, Baroda 2,39,492 (97.02%), Jamnagar 1,04,000; Pune 10,71,071 from 3 cinemas, Solapur 1,88,442; Delhi 36,58,120 (68.20%) from 8 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 4,84,936 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 5,92,368 from 2 cinemas, Agra 2,62,000, Varanasi 2,32,159, Allahabad 1,54,500, Bareilly (6 days) 1,00,000 (1st 1,60,000), Dehradun 2,50,000; Nagpur 7,04,733 from 4 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 1,46,652, Amravati 1,58,683, theatre record, Akola 1,48,211, Raipur 2,00,125, Jalgaon (6 days) 1,36,181, 1st Chandrapur 2,52,456; 2nd week Bhopal 2,35,500; Jaipur 3,06,473 (61%), theatre record, 3rd week 1st day 29,657; 2nd Hyderabad (gross) 8,49,863 from 3 cinemas, share about 5,40,000.

Mela is very good in ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres of U.P., Bengal, C.P. Berar, Rajasthan and Nizam. It will definitely earn commission in some of the above circuits. 3rd week Bombay 23,86,640 (48.06%) from 9 cinemas (5 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 3,23,602 from 3 cinemas, Rajkot 68,000, Jamnagar 39,154; Pune 4,79,225 from 3 cinemas, Solapur (14 shows) 70,614, 1st week Barsi 68,839, 3rd Bijapur 90,000; Delhi 17,40,112 from 9 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 2,75,516 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,83,219, Agra 1,40,000, Varanasi 1,34,226, Allahabad 1,34,445, Meerut 1,96,169, Bareilly (6 days) 79,865 (2nd 1,39,016), 2nd Dehradun 1,21,000, 3rd Hardwar 25,000; Calcutta 6,45,824 from 5 cinemas; Nagpur 1,39,462 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 1,10,323, Amravati (6 days) 96,877, Akola 62,712, Raipur (6 days; gross) 1,54,940, Jalgaon (6 days) 78,173, Wardha 56,286, 2nd Yavatmal (gross) 98,050, 3rd week Bilaspur 47,212; Indore 71,060 (1 on F.H.); Ajmer (gross) 1,15,580, Bikaner (gross) 93,483; Hyderabad (gross) 4,92,192 from 4 cinemas.

Jaanwar is exceptional in ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres of U.P., East Punjab, Bengal, Bihar, C.P. Berar and C.I. 5th week Bombay 12,22,548 (50.58%) from 7 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 55,000; Pune 1,80,229 from 2 cinemas, Solapur (matinee) 32,619; 2nd week Bijapur 62,228; 5th Delhi 88,628 (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 90,032 (1 unrecd.), Lucknow 1,64,030, Agra 1,06,353, Varanasi 1,38,848, Allahabad 1,09,152, Meerut 96,282, Bareilly (6 days) 42,261, 3rd Hardwar 30,000; 5th Nagpur 75,272 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 43,659, Amravati (6 days) 62,486, Akola 58,748, total 4,85,769, Yavatmal (gross) 31,401, record; Bhopal 42,000; Jaipur 56,356; Hyderabad (gross) 2,08,122 from 2 cinemas.

Hum Saath-Saath Hain entered 13th week at Liberty, Bombay; 12th week Ahmedabad 97,826, Rajkot (7 shows) 31,290; Pune (matinee) 65,120, Solapur (14 shows) 1,24,642; Belgaum 55,946, 8th Bijapur (7 shows) 44,034, 3rd week Karwar 24,348; 12th Delhi 1,10,015 (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 93,395, Lucknow 2,01,379, Agra 71,568, Allahabad 46,043, Bareilly 39,389, Dehradun 41,546, 8th Hardwar 18,647, total 3,84,299; 12th week Calcutta 1,32,002; Nagpur 1,21,030, Jabalpur (6 days; gross) 1,04,812, Amravati 91,756, Akola 68,958, share 13,40,409, city record, Raipur (6 days) 93,239, Jalgaon 72,874, 1st week Sagar 72,804, 12th Dhule 38,318, 3rd week Kamptee 54,120, total 2,05,176, city record; 12th Indore 79,000 (3 on F.H.); Jaipur 4,70,972; Hyderabad (gross) 6,01,995 from 3 cinemas.

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Gaam Ma Piyaryu Ne Gaam Ma Sasaryu (Gujarati; TF) is excellent. 2nd week Ahmedabad 9,51,332 from 4 cinemas, Jamnagar 99,352.

Maa Baap Ne Bhulsho Nahin (Gujarati; TF) 6th week Ahmedabad 3,39,860 from 4 cinemas, 5th Rajkot 1,40,406, excellent.

NEW KOHINOOR CINEMA IN JODHPUR INAUGURATED

New Kohinoor, one cinema of the first twin theatre of Jodhpur, constructed by Noor Mohamed, was inaugurated on 25th January by Mrs. Badrunissa, wife of Noor Mohamed. The day also marked the twentieth anniversary of Kohinoor cinema, also owned by Noor Mohamed.

The new cinema was thrown open to the public on Republic Day with the screening of Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai (which was already running at Kohinoor for the last two weeks).

New Kohinoor has 500 seats divided into five classes. The break-up (with admission rates in brackets) is as follows: Maharaja, 180 seats (admission rate Rs. 45); Platinum, 180 seats (Rs. 35); Diamond, 92 seats (Rs. 30); Golden, 24 seats (Rs. 22); and Silver, 24 seats (Rs. 15). The cinema is equipped with Westrex projection equipment and Dolby Digital SR sound system.

The other cinema of this twin theatre complex will be inaugurated shortly.

RAKESH ROSHAN UNDERGOES HEART SURGERY

Rekesh Roshan underwent an emergency by-pass surgery of the heart on 26th January at Cumballa Hill Hospital in Bombay. He is recuperating at the hospital and is reported to be doing well.

Roshan had been admitted to Nanavati Hospital on 21st January after he sustained a bullet injury outside his office when two unknown assailants fired at him from point blank range. The bullet had to be removed from his arm by surgery. Rakesh Roshan, who has a history of heart problem, was recovering at Nanavati Hospital and was due to be discharged, but he suddenly complained of chest pain on 26th and had to be shifted to Cumballa Hill Hospital. His heart condition was diagnosed by leading heart specialist Dr. S.K. Mathew who flew from Madras. Dr. S. Bhattacharya, another leading heart specialist, operated on the blocked arteries. The operation lasted four hours. Roshan is likely to be discharged from the hospital in a few days.

‘TAAL’ CELEBRATES JUBILEE

Producer-director Subhash Ghai’s Taal entered its combined silver jubilee week on 28th January at Novelty (matinee), Bombay; City Pulse, Ganghinagar; and at Maheshwari (noon), Hyderabad. Starring Anil Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna, Aishwarya Rai, Alok Nath and Amrish Puri in the main lead, the film has music by A.R. Rahman and lyrics by Anand Bakshi. Subhash Ghai penned the story and co-wrote the screenplay with Sachin Bhaumick and also co-wrote the dialogues with Javed Siddiqi. Ghai edited the film.

VARIETY, NAGPUR CLOSED

Variety, the oldest cinema of Nagpur, owned by N.J. Naidu & Co., Nagpur, closed down permanently on 28th January as the government has ordered its demolition for the purpose of widening of the road. A new building may come up in its place in future.

N.S. BHALLA NO MORE

Veteran film agent N.S. Bhalla breathed his last at Nanavati Hospital in Bombay on 23rd January. He was 66 and is survived by his wife, Anu Bhalla, two sons (director Gurdev and Suraj) and daughter-in-law, Sudha Bhalla.

Bawa Naranjan Singh Bhalla had been keeping unwell since the past several months. His condition deteriorated on the afternoon of 23rd and he was rushed to the hospital. All attempts by the doctors to save his life proved futile and he was declared dead after less than half an hour of admission.

Bhalla was cremated on 25th at the Vile Parle crematorium.

DO YOU KNOW?

* The all-India distributors of KAHO NAA…PYAAR HAI have ordered for a total of 33 extra prints after the first week. The break-up of additional prints: Bombay, 5 prints; Delhi -U.P., 6; C.P. Berar, 4; C.I., 2; Rajasthan, 1; East Punjab, 4; West Bengal, 3; Bihar, 1; Nizam, 4; Mysore, 1; and Andhra, 2.

* As is customary with Subhash Ghai, he was to announce his YAADEIN with fanfare on his birthday (January 24) and introduce the film’s lead pair, Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor, to the press. But he had to cancel the event due to Rakesh Roshan’s hospitalisation. Similarly, Super Cassettes had scheduled a function last Friday (21st January) for the presentation of platinum discs to the unit of producer Salim’s BADAL. But hours before the party, the industry was under a cloud of doom as Rakesh Roshan had been injured in a shootout incident and had to be hospitalised. Super Cassettes and Salim, therefore, cancelled the party.

* Bhajan Rathor and Munia Rathor opened a twin cinema — Shri Rammandir and Jyoti — at Shivpuri (in Madhya Pradesh) on 26th January. The two cinemas opened with films made by two brothers. While the opening attraction at Shri Rammandir was Suneel Darshan’s JAANWAR, that at Jyoti was Dharmesh Darshan’s MELA.

ANNOUNCEMENT & LAUNCHING

Subhash Ghai To Direct Hrithik, Kareena In ‘Yaadein’

Subhash Ghai announced his new venture on January 24 (his birthday). Titled Yaadein, the film will star Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor with Jackie Shroff in a stellar role. To be made under the banner of Mukta Arts International, it is being produced by Ashok Ghai.

Subhash Ghai is the film’s writer and director. Anu Malik will score music to lyrics penned by Anand Bakshi. Cinematography: Kabir Lal. Art: Sharmishtha Roy. Some more names are being finalised in the list of cast and credits. The film will roll in April and is scheduled for completion by the year-end.

YOU ASKED IT

Did these Rajesh Khanna-starrers — Raja Rani, Andaz, Anand, Roti, Daag, Ittefaq and Aan Milo Sajana — celebrate silver jubilee?

– Except RAJA RANI, all the other films celebrated jubilees.

When India became a Republic 50 years ago, states in the country were reorganised on linguistic basis. But for the purpose of film distribution, the film trade follows the pre-1950 division of territories. Isn’t it an anomaly?

– India is one country, yet, films these days click in some parts and flop in the others. Isn’t that an anomaly too? Jokes apart, the industry is averse to change. And so, what prevailed 50 years ago, continues to prevail today also. And, tell me, if circuits were re-defined on linguistic basis, would that change the fate of films?

If the drama ‘Maa Retire Hoti Hai’ is made into a feature film, will it click with the audience?

– It may not, because it moves on a single track.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

No Cuts: The Biggest Compliment

Director Rajkumar Santoshi was quite tense during those three hours when his Pukar was under ‘military surveillance’ on January 24 in Delhi. The defence personnel were viewing the film since it is set against a military backdrop. After the show was over, producer Boney Kapoor and Rajkumar Santoshi felt relieved and rewarded. Relieved, because the defence personnel, while complimenting both, the producer and the director, told them that they had so far never seen such an authentic film on military background. One of the defence chiefs complimented Rajkumar Santoshi, saying that he (the director) had even animated the uniform of an army man. He further said that it did not seem like the characters in the film had merely worn military costumes; the film also showed an armyman’s psyche when he puts on the military uniform. Santoshi felt rewarded too. That’s because the defence personnel invited Santoshi to be the guest of the defence authorities in Delhi to enable him to make another authentic film on the army background. And that says a lot for the director’s sense of authenticity.

The same kind of tense situation prevailed for both, Boney and Santoshi, when the CBFC examining committee was watching the film at Liberty preview theatre in Bombay on January 27. The director was apprehensive that the censors would suggest some cuts in the action scenes. But when the members of the examining committee came out of the preview theatre after the show, they complimented Santoshi. And before Santoshi could enquire about the cuts, Boney Kapoor arrived on the scene, and the committee declared, “Congratulations, Mr. Kapoor, there are no cuts!”

Topical Film Advertisement

Baap (Rakesh Roshan) sher, beta (Hrithik Roshan) savva-sher. This is the catchline in the advertisements of Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai appearing these days in the dailies of Akola. The text further says that while Rakesh Roshan braved the bullets, his son, Hrithik Roshan, has won the box-office ballot and despite being a debutant, he has proved that he is no less than today’s young stars. The advertisement has been drafted by A.V. Gawande, a local representative of Akola, and also our Akola representative.

Haay Ram!

Watching a number of kissing and passionate scenes in the promotional trailers of Hey Ram on television, a C.P. distributor’s wife almost fainted, saying, “Haay Ram”!

One reporter, who saw excerpts of the songs and some scenes at the music release function of the film, quipped about the passionate scenes, “Kamal had better change the title of Hey Ram to Hey Kaam!

PHIR BHI DIL HAI HINDUSTANI

Dreamz Unlimited’s Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani (UA) is a satire on the satellite channel wars being waged today. Two competing channels have their ace reporters — one, a boy, and the other, a girl — who are engaged in a continuing battle of one-upmanship with each other. The  comedy gives a peep into how stories are cooked up and even enacted to cater to public tastes and, alongwith it, to make loads of money. There are no scruples, no principles, no considerations for feelings in the game. Even while the game is being played, a minister’s brother-in-law is murdered in one such channel-backed meeting. The murderer is dubbed a terrorist because it suits the bereaved but over-ambitious minister. The so-called terrorist happens to come in contact with the two ace reporters of the competitive channels and he explains to them the truth behind his killing. Convinced that he is not a terrorist but rather an innocent common man who has been wronged, the two reporters bury their differences and join forces to get justice to the killer who, in the meantime, has been awarded the death sentence. The television icon (male reporter), who is a star in his own right, for the first time decides to use his popularity with the masses to garner public support for saving the life of the common man. How he succeeds in doing so forms the climax.

The film, by its very content, has been aimed at the elite audience. Not many among the masses understand what channel wars are. Not just the content, even the treatment by director Aziz Mirza is of the kind which will appeal to the city audience mainly. Too many cinematic liberties have been taken in the name of satire and comedy. Besides, most of the gags are of the kind that have been seen earlier.

The first half is light and quite interesting for the elite audience, but the mass audience would find it very difficult to appreciate and enjoy the jokes in it. The pace slackens and the focus shifts a little before interval. The second half has more appeal for the masses as it has some drama and emotions too. The best part of the film, however, is the fairly lengthy climax which has a good dose of patriotic flavour and a couple of clapworthy dialogues. But the question is: will the mass audience endure the less enjoyable two hours of drama to watch the entertaining climax? The answer doesn’t seem to be in the affirmative! Manoj Lalwani and Raaj Kumar Dahima’s screenplay and Aziz Mirza’s narration cater to the class audience and overlook the masses at many places. Sanjay Chhel’s dialogues are witty and funny at several places but, again, the target audience seems to be the city folk.

Shah Rukh Khan does a very good job as the television icon. Juhi Chawla looks glamorous and she, too, acts very well. Paresh Rawal impresses a lot. Satish Shah and Dalip Tahhil, as television channel owners, are alright. Shakti Kapoor is fairly good. Govind Namdev is effective. Johny Lever is a highlight and endears himself with his comedy. Anjan Srivastava leaves a mark. Neena Kulkarni shines. TV anchor-person Suhaib Ilyasi comes as a surprise in a cameo role. Hyder Ali, Smita Jayakar, Bharti Achrekar and Vishwajeet Pradhan lend admirable support.

Direction, as mentioned earlier, restricts the film’s appeal to the class audience. Music (Jatin Lalit) is a mixed fare. The title song and ‘Tu yaar tu hi dildaar’ are very well-tuned. ‘I am the best’ has too much of a city flavour. Song picturisations (Farah Khan) are brilliant but a couple of them are so boring, they can be deleted or, at least, edited. Camerawork (Santosh Sivan) is superb. Technically, very good. Production values are of a good standard. Special effects (Rajtaru) are splendid.

On the whole, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani will click in good cinemas of ‘A’ class centres on the strength of class audience and kids, but owing to lack of mass appeal, business in lesser cinemas and smaller centres will be dull. It, therefore, will fetch returns in Bombay, C.P. Berar and South mainly. The Republic Day holiday this week and the absence of any major release next week will prove a boon.

Released on 21-1-2000 at New Empire and 17 other cinemas of Bombay thru Yashraj Film Distributors. Publicity: extraordinary. Opening: excellent. …….Also released all over. Opening was dull in parts of U.P., East Punjab and just about fair in many other circuits.

RAKESH ROSHAN ESCAPES BID ON LIFE

Producer-director Rakesh Roshan was shot at by two unknown assailants on the evening of 21st January outside his office at Santacruz, Bombay. Extortion is said to be the motive behind the attempt on Roshan’s life.

Rakesh Roshan had left his office for the day and was seated in his chauffer-driven car when he noticed two armed assailants approaching his car. Sensing danger to his life, he asked his driver to start the car and speed away. But before that could happen, the assailants pumped a series of bullets at him from close range. Roshan, who was rolling up the windows, held his hand up in a reflex action but one bullet brushed past his chest. The hitmen fired a couple of more rounds even after the car left the spot and one of them hit Rakesh Roshan on his left arm. One bullet also hit the driver. Both were rushed to the nearby Nanavati Hospital at Vile Parle. Roshan was operated upon for the removal of the bullet from his arm. He is out of danger and is likely to be discharged tomorrow (23rd January).

Within hours of the incident, Nanavati Hospital was flooded with visitors from the Bombay film industry who called on the producer-director to express their concern. The episode has sent shock waves throughout the film industry which has been targeted by the underworld for the third time in the past one month and for the fifth time in recent months.

PREMIERE CINEMA OPENS IN BOMBAY

Premiere, an extensively renovated cinema at Parel, Bombay, previously known as Dharti, was opened for public patronage from 21st January with Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani. The cinema boasts of Dolby, DTS sound systems. It has a total of 465 seats — 397 in dress circle, and 68 in box class. Admission rates are Rs. 50 (dress circle) and Rs. 75 (box) from Mondays to Saturdays. For Sundays, the admission rates are Rs. 55 and Rs. 80 respectively. The weekly capacity for 28 shows is Rs. 4,34,300. Phone nos.: 410-0450/415-7147. The cinema is controlled by Shringar Cinemas.

SUNDERDAS SONKIYA’S SON TO WED

Naveen, son of Rajasthan distributor and financier Sunderdas Sonkiya (Jaipur Films, Jaipur), will wed Kavita on 25th January in Jaipur at Hotel Rajmahal Palace. The engagement ceremony will be held on 23rd at Ghatiwala House, Prithviraj Road, C-Scheme, Jaipur.

ANAND ROMANI DEAD

Writer Anand Romani, 79, died in New Delhi on 19th January due to heart attack. He had gone there to attend the International Film Festival of India. He is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters.

Anand Romani had been associated as a writer with many a successful film, including Bhappi Sonie’s Brahmachari. He had always wished “to die seeing a film in a film festival” and though he died while he was attending a film festival, he was not watching a film while he actually passed away.

I & B minister Arun Jaitley condoled Romani’s death. A condolence meeting of Bombay and Delhi journalists and delegates was held on 20th. Tributes were paid by Ali Reza, Dr. R.K. Verma, Devendra Kumar and Jagat Gupta.

DO YOU KNOW?

* East Punjab distributors have stopped releasing films in Amritsar because exhibitors there have formed a pool and are not offering MGs to distributors.

* Boney Kapoor will show his PUKAR to the defence authorities in Delhi on 24th January for their clearance, as the film deals with the armed forces. The CBFC is also likely to see the film on 24th or 25th in Bombay. The first copy came out at Adlabs on 20th January.

* Almost all the cinemas of West Bengal remained closed on 15th and 16th January following a token strike by cinema employees who were demanding increased wages.

* Producer Firoz A. Nadiadwala, who had done a swell job of the publicity of his last film, KARTOOS, is at it again. For his forthcoming HERA PHERI, he has made as many as five dialogues-and-scenes-based trailers for satellite channels. This is over and above the four musical trailers. For the non-musical trailers, he has had the background music specially recorded. Firoz plans to change the trailers aired, every 12 days.

* NFDC, which telecasts films on Doordarshan, does minimal publicity of the telecasts. Besides adversely affecting advertisement revenues, this lack of publicity also agitates producers who have to constantly keep tabs on whether their film/s is/are being telecast so that they can pester NFDC for their cheques. Yes, pester, because NFDC is quite slow in disbursing payments.

* The Maharashtra government seems to have discontinued its policy of granting tax exemption to films which win National Awards. Although KKHH bagged the National Award for the best film providing wholesome entertainment in 1998, the state government has refused to exempt it from entertainment tax.

* JAANWAR and HUM SAATH-SAATH HAIN are turning out to be the biggest hits of 1999 in West Bengal.

YOU ASKED IT

Not very long back, the audience used to applaud when photographs or statues of veteran national leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru and Shivaji were shown in films. But this doesn’t happen nowadays. Why such a change of attitude?

– Values have changed. What are you talking of attitude?

When the news of the plight of veteran cinematographer Rajendra Malone is being highlighted in Bombay dailies, why does the government not release funds from the Cine Workers’ Welfare Fund?

– Wonder whose welfare the fund is for?

Despite 80 per cent of our films flopping every year, what makes the public eager to see a new film?

– The hope that at least this new film will be a part of the 20%! Publicity, too, draws in the public.

Why are TV serials not censored?

– Perhaps, the government has big faith in producers for the small screen, and small faith in producers for the big screen.

In 1999, how many Indian feature films were certified as ‘A’, ‘UA’ and ‘U’? Give percentage-wise, please.

– A: 469 (61.39%); UA: 98 (12.83%); U: 197 (25.78%). Total : 764.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Enviable MGs For ‘Pukar’

Boney Kapoor and Rajkumar Santoshi’s Pukar is beginning to generate heat among exhibitors. An exhibitor of Aurangabad has reportedly offered an enviable MG of Rs. 12 lakh to the film’s Nizam distributor, Ravi Machhar! In Madras, a side cinema with a weekly capacity of approximately Rs. 1.5 lakh has offered the film’s Tamilnad distributor an MG of Rs. 3.5 lakh.

‘Taal’: The Beats Go On

When does Subhash Ghai feel really thrilled and complimented? The answer, in Ghai’s own words: “The biggest compliment I receive is when Indians abroad tell me that their children are learning Indian values and customs, thanks to the Indian films.” What is notable here is that Subhash Ghai spoke  about Indian films in general and not of his Taal in particular. Ghai made this observation at the inauguration of the mainstream section of the just-concluded 31st International Film Festival of India at Plaza Cinema in Delhi. The mainstream section opened with Taal. Subhash Ghai was present on the occasion with the film’s two lead men, Anil Kapoor and Akshaye Khanna. Union I & B minister Arun Jaitley, who presided over the function, said that after seeing Taal, he was convinced that it was a good work of art. He thanked the captains of mainstream cinema for bringing the audience back to the cinema halls by blurring the lines between art and commercial cinema. Shabana Azmi, who inaugurated the mainstream section of the festival, lauded mainstream cinema and said that it was difficult to ignore films like Taal which gave Hollywood stiff competition. Even six months after its release, the beats of tributes for Taal still continue. And what’s more, Taal will celebrate silver jubilee next week at Ashok Purohit’s City Pulse, Gandhinagar, where the film’s lead artistes will be present with Ghai to celebrate the occasion. It will also enter 25th week in Hyderabad at Maheshwari (noon).

Correct Pricing

There is no need to repeat the success story of Vijay Kondke’s all-time Marathi hit, Maherchi Saadi. But the story of its long run needs to be reiterated here to highlight the importance of correct ticket pricing. To remind readers, the film ran for 25 weeks at Bombay’s Roxy in regular shows. Thereafter, it was shifted to a neighbouring cinema, Central (now Central Plaza), where also it ran in regular shows for weeks together and then in matinee shows. In all, it ran for 145 weeks (combining regular and matinee shows) at Roxy and Central Plaza. After exhausting its run, the film was then released at another nearby cinema — Dreamland — for a week. Before the commencement of the first show at Dreamland, the cinema witnessed a massive crowd of ladies. The Naaz folk, surprised at such a strong reception to the film at the cinema, congratulated Vijay Kondke, marvelling at the film’s running stamina. Even Vijay Kondke was surprised at such a large turnout. But his surprise was short-lived. When the representative came to his office in the evening, Vijay Kondke was shocked to know that the film had collected only 15%-20% of the capacity. When asked the reason for such dismal collections despite an impressive display of ladies’ excitement outside the cinema in the first show, the representative replied, “The ladies who had thronged the cinema during the first show were put off by the ‘high’ admission rate of Rs. 10 (‘high’ by 1993 standards). Many of them had seen the film at Roxy and Central, where admission rates were comparatively lower.” (Rs. 5, 6 and 7).

High time, our distributors and producers realised this simple fact — that reasonable admission rates add to a film’s patronage. But these days, everyone wants to make a fast buck in a short time. However, the buck stops with those wishful producers and distributors. At one time, distributors blamed the producers for false prices. About time, someone protested against false admission rates.