LATEST POSITION

While examinations in some parts are over, those in other parts should get over soon. Till then, collections continue to be adversely affected.

Lahoo Ke Do Rang has not been appreciated. 1st week Bombay (6 days) 25,65,689 (65.32%) from 15 cinemas (10 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 8,86,208 from 8 cinemas, Baroda 1,42,922, Rajkot 1,79,100 from 2 cinemas, Jamnagar 1,01,469 (1 unrecd.); Pune 6,12,511 from 5 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 1,25,209, Solapur 1,09,188 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Hubli 1,73,865 from 2 cinemas (1 in noon), Dharwad 73,256; Delhi 34,45,078 (72.93%) from 12 cinemas (1 cinema unrecd. and 1 on F.H.); Kanpur 3,37,217 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,53,932, Meerut 1,71,000, Dehradun 1,30,577, Gorakhpur 1,40,000 (79.17%); Calcutta (6 days) 22,30,134 from 26 cinemas; Nagpur 3,30,996 from 4 cinemas, Jabalpur 1,38,639, Amravati (4 days) 85,835, Akola 93,062, Raipur 1,38,890 (59.33%), Jalgaon 88,671; Bhopal 2,39,430 from 2 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Jaipur 4,98,779 from 4 cinemas; Hyderabad 28,50,857 from 19 cinemas, share 15,01,512; Vijayawada (nett) 1,45,385, Visakhapatnam (nett) 91,946.

Judaai is being patronised by ladies all over and continues to do well. 4th week Bombay 13,60,273 (64.09%) from 7 cinemas (5 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 5,99,797 from 3 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Baroda 1,45,374, 3rd Bharuch (gross) 2,17,784, 4th week Rajkot 78,000, Jamnagar 99,809 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Pune 3,03,688 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 91,000, Solapur 77,947; Hubli 92,998 from 2 cinemas (1 in noon), Belgaum 97,249, Dharwad 27,214 (3rd 39,847); Delhi 11,42,081 from 5 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,47,271, Lucknow 1,18,140, Agra 1,00,172, Meerut 87,000, Dehradun 94,730, Gorakhpur 60,800; very good in East Punjab; Calcutta (6 days) 2,94,000 from 3 cinemas; excellent in Bihar; Nagpur 58,662, Jabalpur 62,333, total 3,09,250, 3rd Amravati 93,295, 4th week Raipur 75,049, Bhilai 71,277, 3rd Jalgaon 65,030; 4th Indore 1,18,256, Bhopal 1,14,321, record; Jaipur 1,14,181, 1st week Ajmer (29 shows) 93,956, 4th Sriganganagar 64,762; Hyderabad 3,01,586, share 1,40,930.

Hero No. 1 is going strong. 5th week Bombay 14,50,564 (79.08%) from 6 cinemas (5 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 1,68,205 from 2 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Baroda 1,07,866 from 2 cinemas, Rajkot 86,819; Pune 2,54,192 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 60,000, Solapur (matinee) 33,063; 3rd Bijapur (7 shows) 26,079, total 2,23,442; 5th week Delhi 17,37,123 from 7 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,31,401 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,40,280, Agra 1,10,795, Meerut 1,11,224, total 7,36,120, 4th week Dehradun 1,14,000 (3rd 1,27,000), 5th Gorakhpur 50,000; Calcutta (6 days) 1,48,182; Nagpur 88,479, Jabalpur 91,873, total 6,30,173, Akola 46,791, Raipur 76,694, Bhilai 57,478, 1st Jalgaon 1,25,006; 5th Indore 2,22,329 from 2 cinemas, Bhopal 94,972, record; Jaipur 1,83,781, Bikaner (last) 51,575; Hyderabad 3,90,707 from 3 cinemas (2 in noon), share 1,20,929.

Raja Hindustani 15th week Bombay 8,05,207 (52%) from 4 cinemas (3 on F.H.); 19th Ahmedabad 2,18,368 from 3 cinemas, Rajkot (matinee) 25,123; 16th week Pune 3,79,819 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), 15th Solapur (7 shows) 53,115, 16th Satara (matinee) 12,660; 17th week Bijapur (7 shows) 23,732; 19th week Delhi 6,79,731 from 4 cinemas; 20th Kanpur 1,06,825 from 2 cinemas, 19th Lucknow 1,03,507, Agra 92,864, 20th Meerut 77,709, 19th Dehradun 15,000, 20th week Gorakhpur 31,000; 17th week Nagpur 38,142, Jabalpur 93,239, total 28,85,177, 15th Amravati (3 days, last) 23,688, Akola (last) 35,727, total 14,15,797, 3rd week Durg 70,349, 4th Sagar about 80,000; 19th Indore 1,34,635, 18th week Bhopal 59,200; 19th Jaipur 1,09,357.

______

Prema Bandham (Telugu, dubbed version of Raja Hindustani) 1st week Vijayawada 1,55,254, Kakinada 1,32,754, Rajahmundry 1,20,305, Eluru 97,031, Bhimavaram 80,585, Palakol 51,954, Machilipatnam 74,129, Gudivada 67,375, Visakhapatnam 1,90,158, Nellore 2,06,168, Ongole 1,04,018, Guntur 1,67,071.

Entertainment Tax In Maharashtra To Go Down

New Tax Rate Is 60% On Nett Admission Rate

Tax-Free Service Charge To Be Allowed
To Be Carried Forward

Entertainment tax in Maharashtra will come down from the present 100% to 60% on nett admission rates. A proposal to this effect was presented in the Cabinet meeting in Bombay on 27th March. The new reduced rate of tax will come into effect only after the Cabinet’s proposal is passed by both, the Vidhan Sabha and the Vidhan Parishad. Since this would require a time of some days, it is not likely that the new tax rate comes into force from 1st April, 1997, as is felt. The government, it is learnt from reliable sources, may promulgate an Ordinance instead of passing the new tax structure in the Assembly, as above. The Ordinance, duly signed by the governor, may be made effective from May 1, it is learnt. The said Ordinance will not be for any specific time period.

The tax rate will be proportionately ascertained in places where the current rate of entertainment tax is 80% and 90% in place of the normal 100%. Thus, for example, the new tax rate may be 48-50% and 54 or 55% respectively in such places.

It is also believed that the Maharashtra government may permit exhibitors to carry forward the unutilised tax-free service charge for spending in the following year. Presently, the unspent amount has to be refunded to the government.

It may be mentioned here that cinemas all over Maharashtra had downed shutters for a month from 1st January, ’97 to protest against the doubling of entertainment tax to 100%. Despite the best efforts of the action committee of the film industry, formed for the purpose of interacting with the government with regard to this problem, the industry could not get the government to agree to restoration of the tax rate to the old 50%. This relief has, therefore, come as a shot in the arm for the action committee. As N.N. Sippy, a member of the action committee, said, “I am thrilled. It had become a personal issue for me.”

KARNATAKA BUDGET CAUSES PANIC

Panic has overtaken distributors and exhibitors of the Bombay-Karnataka region following the hike in entertainment tax proposed in the recent Karnataka state budget. The extent to which business is likely to be adversely affected due to the new tax structure can be gauged by the example of a cinema of Bijapur. The nett capacity per show of Dreamland cinema in Bijapur, which is Rs. 6,854/-, will become Rs. 4,152/- after the new tax structure comes into force. As against the Rs. 44,000/- entertainment tax paid by the cinema so far, it will now be required to pay Rs. 1,32,000/- per week by way of tax!

BABY BOY FOR BUNTY

East Punjab distributor Bunty alias Gurinder Singh (Narsimha Films) was blessed with a baby boy on 27th March in Jalandhar. This is Bunty’s first boy-child.

CAMERAMAN RAVI CHAVAN KILLED IN ACCIDENT

Cameraman Ravi Chavan was killed in a car accident on 22nd March. He was going from Bombay to Vapi alongwith four crew members of the unit of Gulshan Kumar’s serial, Shiv Maha Puran, when the car in which they were travelling collided with a tanker coming from the opposite direction. Ravi died on the spot. The other occupants of the car were seriously injured and are undergoing treatment at Nanavati Hospital, Bombay.

Ravi was Ken Ghosh’s regular cameraman. He was 46 years old and is survived by his wife and two children.

RAMAN PANDEY DEAD

Film publicist Raman Pandey expired on 24th March at his residence at Bhayandar (Bombay) due to a heart attack. He was 51 and is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter. Raman had also directed a film, Pathbhrashtha, which is still to be released.

CINEMAS INSTALLING DTS FOR ‘KOYLA’

Maheshwari cinema in Hyderabad and Amba, Aurangabad, are installing the DTS sound system. Koyla is due for release at both the cinemas on 18th April.

DTS AT MAHALAXMI, NASIK

Mahalaxmi cinema in Nasik is in the process of installing DTS sound saytem. It will also undertake heavy renovation work.

PRODUCTION NEWS

‘Barood’ 15-Day Schedule

A 15-day shooting stint of Pramod Films’ Barood commenced on March 26 in Bombay on sets at Film City, Kamal Amrohi Studios and in NSE Compound. All the artistes are participating in the picturisation of climax and other scenes. Being produced and directed by Pramod Chakravorty, the film stars Akshay Kumar, Raveena Tandon, Raakhee, Mohnish Bahl, Mohan Joshi, Aroona Irani and Amrish Puri. Music: Anand Milind. Co-producer: Bharat Shah.

‘Vinashak’ In Mahabaleshwar

Producer Xavier Marquis, director Ravi Dewan and the unit of Mark Films International’s Vinashak left for Mahabaleshwar on March 27 for a 9-day shooting schedule. All the artistes are participating. The film stars Sunil Shetty, Raveena Tandon, Om Puri, Tinnu Anand, Mukesh Rishi, Alok Nath, Disha, Harish Patel, Shivaji Satam and Danny. Its story is written by Ravi Dewan and screenplay is by Rajkumar Santoshi. Cinematography: Peter Pereira. Action: Ravi Dewan.

YOU ASKED IT

Who is the most highly paid actor today?

– Some of our directors are charging even more than our top actors!

Don’t you think, the production of small films has declined in recent years? Why?

– Production is a big game today. Cost of production and star prices on the one hand and theatre rentals on the other have gone up so much that it is neither possible nor feasible to make small films in toady’s time.

When producers spend crores to make films, how do they often take such thin story-lines?

– Basing a film on a thin story line is not alarming. It is finally the screenplay and the presentation which must be fresh, novel and proper.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Mukul Dev is winning rave reviews from his co-artistes and others. People who’ve seen the rushes of Umesh Mehra’s QILA, swear, he has stood out in some dramatic scenes. Alongwith the good reviews, he is also getting good films. He has replaced Anil Kapoor in N. Chandra’s WAJOOD. Besides this, he is working in one more film — JAI SURYA — with Nana Patekar.

* Three cinemas in C.I. territory — Sangeeta and Kastur in Indore, and Rambha in Bhopal — are installing DTS sound system.

* Bappi Lahiri’s 12-year old son, Bappa, did the arrangement for a computerised song for MILITARY RAAJ at B.L. Temptation on 25th March.

MIX MASALA

IN NEWS

Madhuri Dixit may be passing through a low phase as far as her career goes but the girl continues to remain in national news for one reason or the other. Barely has the news of the income-tax raid on her house been relegated to the sidelines than comes news that Madhuri is among the handful of persons who were allotted plots of land by former Haryana chief ministers out of their discretionary quota.

Novelty Is The Catchword

Raja Ki Aayegi Baaraat. Then Maachis. Next, it was Tere Mere Sapne. And Aastha. The latest is Judaai. Although the range of success of all the five above-mentioned films is different (a couple of them are even losing propositions in a circuit or two), one thing common to them is that they all took a start which was far from satisfactory but picked up by word of mouth and went on to become successful earners. Yet another common factor in the films was their unusual story. Of these, Tere Mere Sapne may not exactly boast of a novel or unusual storyline but its presentation was, nevertheless, fresh.

Coming to Raja Ki Aayegi Baaraat. The point in the story where the heroine, a victim of rape, pleads before the court that her rapist should be asked to marry her and look after her all her life found acceptance among the audience, if only because of its novelty value. The film took a disastrous start but as word of mouth about the newness in the story spread, collections picked up. Although it may not cover its distributors’ investments in some circuits, the film is a commission-earner/overflow in others . In Bihar territory, the film seems to have caught the fancy of the viewers so much that it is expected to do a business of over 75 lakh there. A terrific figure, considering that the film was a low-budget and new star-cast film.

Maachis dealt with the topic of terrorists and terrorism in a way different from the many films made with the theme of terrorism. It probably did not take even a respectable start because of two factors — new faces and lack of time for the music to grow. Of course, in parts like Madhya Pradesh (due to entertainment tax exemption), Delhi and Punjab, the film did open well. But where it did not, collections began to pick up as the weeks progressed and as the music became a veritable craze. Controversies surrounding the film also did help but the bottomline was that the film had been liked. Translated in monetary terms, it meant that the film brought returns to its distributors.

Tere Mere Sapne, like the two earlier films, didn’t do its makers proud, what with a lukewarm opening. And this, despite a hit music score, popularised thru various television channels! Was television then indeed the right medium to publicise a film? Anyway, what television couldn’t do, word of mouth did. The best publicity for the film were the words of appreciation of the people who’d seen it. Slowly but surely, collections shot up and today, Tere Mere Sapne is a plus fare in all the circuits. In Bombay, it is doing A1 business.

A small-budget and artistic film like Aastha may not have created any earth-shattering records. But its business in many ‘A’ class centres has proved a point — that a novel subject is today accepted with open arms.

To say that Judaai, a star-cast film, took an average initial would be an overstatement. If it did start reasonably well in Gujarat and Rajasthan and brilliantly in Bihar and Orissa, its opening in Bombay, Delhi, parts of U.P., C.P., C.I. and Nizam was shockingly low. Again, the novel subject of a wife selling her own husband for the lure of luxuries caught the fancy of the viewer. What appeared in the first week to be a subject which had been rejected, found acceptance, and collections showed a marked improvement. As against the trade pronouncement in the week of release of the film that it would entail losses of about a crore per major territory, there’s already talk of “overflow” today, in most circuits. In Overseas, it is already among the major hits of all time.

So what does all this prove? That novelty in writing and presentation is what the audience wants. It is tired of seeing the run-of-the-mill kind of cinema. Fresh subjects, if well presented, do have takers. The catchword is good presentation. Tamanna, too, had a novel story but if it did not click even after the benefit of tax-exemption, it is because its presentation was far from good. It left the viewer depressed. Otherwise, the audience of today wants something new all the time. For a film with a novel subject, they may come in late but they do come.

That’s good news for writers and directors, right?

SHOOT AT SITE

S. Raamanathan’s Film In Madras

Rajaji Hall in Madras is a picture of frenzied activity on Sunday, March 23. Almost a thousand college students are stationed outside the court (the exterior of Rajaji Hall), protesting against the arrest of their friend for murders he hasn’t committed. Not just arrest, the friend has been awarded the death sentence! Leading the protest are Karisma Kapoor and Rajesh (Rangeela) Joshi. The friend in question is Arshad Warsi. Even as the police commissioner, with his entire team of policemen, is trying to control the revolting and stone-pelting crowd, there appears on the scene a blind lawyer who fires at the commissioner for issuing orders to shoot down the students. He says, he is convinced about the innocence of the arrested boy because otherwise, such a huge force would not be standing behind him like a rock. Even as the police commissioner is left speechless by this least-expected intruder, the lawyer waves a vakalatnama in the air, asking Karisma Kapoor to get it signed by Arshad. It is now the slogan-shouting Karisma’s turn to be left speechless. The lawyer had come like a messiah in their lives when they had thought, it was the end of the road for their dear friend. The blind lawyer was Amitabh Bachchan, wearing a grey beard and, of course, dark glasses.

The film being shot is producer-director S. Raamanathan’s Prod. No. 9, as yet untitled. The 75-year-old Raamanathan could give any youngster a complex with his energy and enthusiasm. Although he has a microphone in his hand, he is issuing instructions on the mike with the same force as he would have, without a mike! And how many times he must’ve climbed up and down the 30-odd steps of Rajaji Hall, one doesn’t really know. It could’ve easily been 200 times!

‘MIKE’AL ACTION

Well, so charged is S. Raamanathan that when the press party reaches the venue, he greets them all with handshakes and shouts ‘Welcome, welcome’ on the microphone, forgetting that it wasn’t instructions he was giving. The college crowd (read that, junior artistes) is amused and so are we. At another time, the extra-particular film-maker shouts out for chairs for us (again on the microphone) while we are standing at a distance and watching the proceedings. The mike does its magic because the chairs arrive in a split second. Anyway, we decide to rechristen Raamanathan ‘Sir-ji’ as ‘Mike’al Jackson because his nervous energy reminds one of Michael Jackson’s!

OF WETTING PANTS & SWEATING SHOTS

After the chair, arrives Anupam Kher. No, not to participate in the shooting but to meet Bachchan. Anupam Kher plays Amitabh’s doctor-friend in the film. He is not required for the shooting that day and is, instead, shooting nearby for a Tamil film with Prabhu Deva. He jokes, “Looking at such a huge crowd, I thought, my fan following in Madras had increased.” Bachchan too is in a mood to joke. After giving the final rehearsal of his shot in the sweltering heat, which requires him to say long lines of dialogues, he plonks himself on the chair next to Anupam’s and confesses, “Patloon geelee ho gayee, yeh shot dete dete.” And before Anupam feels that the camera has made Bachchan so nervous in his comeback days, the star continues with a poker face, “Itni dhoop jo hai.” Anupam Kher has a different thing to say about the scorching heat. “I was shooting this morning at the beach and I had to speak my dialogues in Tamil. Iss liye, mere to do-do pasine chhoot rahe thhey. Garmi ka pasina toh thheek tha, Tamil ka pasina jaane ka naam hi nahin le raha tha.”

THE WATCHFUL ‘BLIND’ EYE

Amitabh is called to give the final take. Before this, there is discussion about the point at which the crowds should applaud him. There are two options and one is finally okayed. In between the rehearsals and discussions, a unit hand comes to clear off some pieces of paper and plastic bags lying as waste in the field. Amitabh’s watchful ‘blind’ eye falls on the dutiful unit hand and he asks him to let it be as it is, so that it looks natural. In the rehearsals, Amitabh, quite understandably, falters as he forgets his long lines of dialogues twice.

SLIP OF THE…

In the take, it is Karisma’s chance to falter. While she is climbing down two steps to reach out to the vakalatnama being held out by Amitabh, Karisma loses her balance, thanks to her high-heeled sandals and the small steps. “Now, that’s not a slip of the tongue,” says Anupam who has been watching the shooting, “It is a slip of the taang.”

Before we know it, Anupam has given us the slip as he is required for giving his shot in the Tamil film’s shooting.

BLIND MAN’S BLUFF

S. Raamanathan is quite secretive about his film’s story. “We will tell you the story at the appropriate time,” he tells the visiting party, “so that you can then convey it to your readers.” Sensing S. Raamanathan’s mood, Amitabh takes back his words. For, he has already informed us that he plays a blind lawyer in the film. “No, I’m not playing a blind lawyer,” he says, trying to keep a straight face while taking off the dark glasses he has worn. Of course, none in the press party is blind. And we all know, lawyers are liars. Amitabh, perhaps, takes his role too seriously even when not shooting and bluffs us when he says, he isn’t blind in the film. That’s what you call ‘Blind Man’s Bluff’! For, it’s there for all of us to see when Amitabh gives his first shot of the day, that he indeed does play a blind lawyer. In a nutshell, the story is about a young college boy who is framed for four murders and is ordered by the court to be hanged to death. A blind lawyer is convinced that the college student is innocent and takes up his case to finally get him acquitted in the court of law. Vijayashanti plays Amitabh’s heroine. Shivaji Satam also plays an important role.

Amitabh does not remain blind all through the film. His doctor-friend (Anupam Kher) operates on his eyes and restores his eyesight. After all, it’s the kanoon which is andhaa forever, not the lawyer who argues in front of the blindfolded statue…

– Komal Nahta

“We can camouflage his age
to quite a large extent”
Make-up Man Deepak Samant
Talks About Amitabh And Age

“I’m already 55 years old and I have wrinkles on my face.” This is the famous quote of the comeback-Amitabh. An honest confession this, but one which could shake the confidence of the distributors of Amitabh starrers. Although, of course, Amitabh is being careful about the roles he accepts in films and is happy playing his age. Still, the question haunting distributors, exhibitors and his legion fans alike is: Will Amitabh not look old now? Can he be accepted now?

Amitabh may be frank enough to himself declare that age is no longer on his side. Yet, his make-up man, Deepak Sawant, does not sound as if he has surrendered to Amitabh’s age factor. It’s his job to make Bachchan look fresh and he accepts the “55 years” as a challenge. “It is not as if Amit-ji will look old and tired on the screen. We can camouflage his age to quite a large extent,” he says with conviction and a confidence which bears testimony to his 23 years’ association with the man who has often been referred to as the no. 1 to 10 among heroes.

Explains Deepak, “We get different shades of make-up — there’s red, pink, brown, yellow, white, orange, etc. Now, I’ve got to be careful about the colour I use on Amit-ji’s face. Another thing I’ve got to take great care of is the oil and sweat. Oil is secreted from within the body, and sweat comes due to external heat. When the oil and sweat/water (artificial sweat) react with the make-up, the wrinkles on the face become more visible in front of the arc-lights.” Does that mean that one will never see Amitabh with sweat running down his face on the screen? “It’s not that,” clarifies Deepak, “but I will have to be extra-careful for such scenes.”

Deepak concedes that earlier, he used to take 20 to 25 minutes to do Amitabh’s make-up but now, it takes him about 35 minutes to do the job. “Some stars are very interfering, but Amit-ji lets me do my job without interference. He is a fabulous person to work with,” announces Deepak with pride.

The veteran make-up man laments that in an industry where make-up is so important, there’s no award for this craft. “How would you like if an actor plays a hungry beggar without make-up? However good an actor he may be, he will never be able to create as much of an impact merely by his acting talent as with a combination of his acting skill, make-up, hair style and costumes.” In fact, Deepak feels, an actor is 25% acting talent, 25% make-up, 25% hair style and 25% costumes. “If even one of them is lacking, he has to make up for it with the help of the other three,” explains Deepak, “but a good actor must have all the four in equal proportion.” To substantiate his point, Deepak cites the instance of the climax scene of Sholay. “Amit-ji is blown up with a bomb in that scene and is dying. The director told me, he wanted ‘blood’ coming out from the corners of Amit-ji’s mouth. I thought for a while, then I asked Amit-ji to give me the shirt and pant he was wearing for the scene. I took them and tore them with a stone so that they looked shredded. I asked him to wear them again and then I sprinkled ‘blood’ all over his tattered clothes as well as on his forehead. In the scene, after Amit-ji is blown up, his body is lying still when the other characters arrive at the place of the accident. During this time, the blood trickled down from his forehead and came to the sides of his mouth, as desired by the director.”

Coming back to the Bachchan of today, Deepak shuns all talk about his boss having gone in for facial skin treatment or a face lift, as baseless. “It’s just make-up and regular exercising,” he says. “We may have faulted a bit in the first couple of films but even those faults will not recur once we see the first film’s copy. The errors that may have remained in his make-up can be analysed and, thereafter, avoided in the future.”

So, all ye distributors of Bachchan starrers, let the wrinkles of tension on your foreheads go. For, Deepak Sawant assures that he is taking care of the wrinkles and the age of Amitabh Bachchan.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Sippy Surfaces Again

N.N. Sippy has finally decided to take the plunge into production once again, after a long gap. He plans to start his new film in June and complete it within six months. In place of a film with Rishi Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit and Ajay Devgan, which he was earlier planning to produce, this project of his will star Karisma Kapoor and Chandrachur Singh. Raj Kanwar was to have directed the earlier film but this one will be directed by Shravani Deodhar. Informed Sippy, “The subject is so wonderful that dialogue writer K.K. Singh is too thrilled for words.” N.N. Sippy plans to have a third of the film shot abroad “because the story moves there and not just to picturise the songs, as is the fashion these days”.

Mauritius Indoors

Producer Yash Johar has lost count of the number of sets his art director, Sharmishtha Roy, has erected for his Duplicate, so many have there been for the film. One more was put up by the talented girl at Mehboob Studios last week, on which a song and some scenes were picturised on Shah Rukh Khan, Sonali Bendre and others. Before picturising the song, director Mahesh Bhatt had shot the film in Mauritius. But unlike other units which shoot on the beautiful landscapes of this picturesque place, the Duplicate unit was confined to the indoors only. It so happened that the (indoor) location required for the shooting was not available continuously in India as in Mauritius.

Pricey Reena

Reena Roy is acting pricey these days. Shocked? You needn’t be shocked because it isn’t for the big screen for which Reena Roy is acting pricey. She is doing so for a serial, Jung. Reena feels, the serial (produced by Pranlal Mehta) is enjoying popularity because of her presence in it. And so, she’s now demanding a price more than half as much as she gets for a film. This price is not for working in the entire serial, it is just for one episode!

Hero Mastana & Not-So-Mastana

All was not well on the sets of a comedy film starring two heroes and a heroine and nearing the completion mark. One of the heroes (who, incidentally, is the favourite of the film’s director) reportedly changed his dialogue in a scene (involving the two heroes together) at the time of its final take. This seems to have agitated the other hero so much that he charged into his hoted room and didn’t shoot… till the director and the errant hero went to his room and apologised!

Enemies Only

Can you believe this? Kamal Haasan’s Ladies Only is complete but all through its making, its director, Dinesh Shailendra, was barely on talking terms with one of the three heroines of the film, Seema Biswas. Dinesh, it is reported, was angry with Seema as she did not greet him when on the sets!

LATEST POSITION

Diwali proved bountiful for both, MOHABBATEIN and MISSION KASHMIR. While MOHABBATEIN held on fabulously in ‘A’ class centres, MK began to drop from 4th day onwards. The fall at several places was alarming. Exhibitors, who’ve paid very fancy terms to MK, stand to lose quite heavily. MK is, however, extraordinary in Bombay, so-so in Delhi-U.P., Eastern circuit, C.I. Rajasthan and Mysore, dull in Nizam and fair in East Punjab and C.P. Berar. The length of MOHABBATEIN is a negative point. While the business in ‘A’ class centres is superb, it is good in ‘B’ class centres, and ordinary in smaller centres. Eighth day figures of MOHABBATEIN in all ‘A’ class centres are outstanding. 

Mohabbatein is mind-blowing! Will prove an earner in every single territory. Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan are being loved immensely. 1st week Bombay 68,12,387 (99.87%) from 14 cinemas (8 on F.H.), Vasai (gross) 4,89,978, Vashi 4,66,127 (100%), Panvel 3,16,624 (100%); Ahmedabad 40,43,719 from 7 cinemas, Padra 4,71,807 (100%), Patan (28 shows) 3,24,400 (95.88%), Valsad (gross) 4,98,414, Kalol 2,31,567 (100%), Ankleshwar 4,42,546, Vapi (21 shows) 4,73,403 (100%), Rajkot 4,37,850, Jamnagar (28 shows) 3,13,450, Adipur (28 shows) 3,24,502 (90.70%), Bhuj (28 shows) 3,07,983 (83.51%); Pune 17,70,902 from 5 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 3,24,456 (100%), Satara 3,42,666 (95.70%) from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Sangli 3,15,344 (95%); Delhi 66,85,211 (96.81%) from 11 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur (6 days) 6,62,886 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 5,66,800 (100%), Agra 2,81,316 (100%, 1 unrecd.), Allahabad 3,45,108 from 2 cinemas, Bareilly (6 days) 2,80,748; Calcutta 40,21,788 (100%) from 15 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Guwahati 4,28,967 (53.55%) from 5 cinemas; Nagpur 13,02,744 (99.48%) from 4 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 2,30,897, Akola (24 shows) 2,37,642, Raipur (6 days, gross) 2,98,714, Bhilai 2,85,543, Jalgaon (22 shows) 2,62,306, Khandwa 1,42,841, Gondia (24 shows) 1,55,888 (91.15%), Rajnandgaon 1,32,077 (87.29%), Chandrapur (23 shows) 2,70,275 (100%), Yavatmal (25 shows, gross) 1,99,752; Indore 4,81,687 from 2 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Jaipur 15,90,341 (94.21%) from 4 cinemas, Ajmer (22 shows) 1,67,467; Hyderabad (gross) 37,04,760 (100%) from 11 cinemas (2 in noon, 2 on F.H.); tremendous in Overseas, especially in the UK.

Mission Kashmir has grossed fantastic figures in Bombay, U.P., East Punjab and C.P. Berar, but dropped drastically in C.I. and Nizam. Is ordinary in Overseas. 1st week Bombay 91,02,682 (95%) from 14 cinemas (10 on F.H.), Vasai (gross) 5,44,110; Ahmedabad 58,02,887 from 10 cinemas, Vapi 6,44,665 (91.36%), Rajkot 6,15,100 from 2 cinemas, Jamnagar 2,81,921 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Anjar 1,19,929 (74.13%), Bhuj 2,51,716 (94.21%); Pune 25,92,773 from 6 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 3,74,774 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Satara 2,88,442 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Delhi 1,02,31,411 (81.94%) from 17 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur (6 days) 9,72,093 from 4 cinemas, Lucknow 13,12,028 from 3 cinemas, Agra 6,03,000, Allahabad 3,71,135, Bareilly (6 days) 2,85,385; Calcutta 72,09,146 from 41 cinemas; Guwahati 6,21,000 (74.04%) from 6 cinemas; Nagpur 10,50,708 (66.20%) from 5 cinemas, Jabalpur 3,10,648, Balaghat 1,07,034, Amravati 3,83,365, Akola (30 shows) 3,05,423, Raipur 4,55,007 from 2 cinemas (1 in gross, 1 in nett), Bhilai 2,40,200 from 2 cinemas, Durg 1,38,752, Jalgaon 4,01,054, Wardha 1,65,929, Rajnandgaon (6 days) 1,05,129, Chandrapur 2,55,636, Yavatmal 1,45,739, Sagar 1,05,048; Indore 2,65,089 from 2 cinemas (5 on F.H.); Jaipur 15,91,791 (87.15%) from 3 cinemas, Ajmer (29 shows, gross) 3,30,806; Hyderabad (gross) 40,95,696 from 15 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Guntur (gross) 1,47,555.

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SILVER JUBILEE

Tips Films’ Kya Kehna!, directed by Kundan Shah, has entered combined 25th week at Shalimar (matinee), Bombay. It stars Preity Zinta, Saif Ali Khan, Chandrachur Singh, Farida Jalal, Mamik, Navnit Nishan and Anupam Kher. Music: Rajesh Roshan.

K.P. SINGH’S SON TO WED

Marriage of Ashish, son of producer K.P. Singh and nephew of producer N.P. Singh, with Shilpa will be solemnised on 8th November in Bombay. A reception will be held the same evening at Hotel Centaur (Airport).

GOGA KAPOOR CONVICTED

In case no. 92/S/93, filed by Gobindram Ahuja under sections 138 and 141 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, in the 18th Girgaum (Bombay) court against actor Goga Kapoor, director V. Menon and their wives, for dishonour of a cheque (dated 15th July, 1993) for Rs. 4,00,000, the court convicted the four accused vide its order dated 15th October, 2000. They were fined Rs. 5,000 each and were ordered to pay Rs. 4 lakh to Ahuja or, in default, to undergo 3 months’ imprisonment. The case related to the film Hamari Pratigya.

CINEMA SEALED FOR SCREENING ‘BITS’

Jaihind Talkies, Balaghat was sealed by the police on 18th October after a raid during which it was found to be screening a print of Khooni Shikunja interpolated with ‘bits’. The police seized the print and arrested the cinema manager and the projection operator on the spot. The print was reportedly supplied by Abhayraj Film Distributors, Amravati thru Krishna Theatre, Raipur. The police has initiated action against all the involved offenders.

MUKTA ARTS’ 20 CRORE PROJECT: FILM AND TV INSTITUTE

Mukta Arts Ltd. has earmarked Rs. 20 crore to set up a film and television training institute to create a pool of new talent in filmmaking and in media arts and science. It has, for the purpose, entered into a joint venture with the Maharashtra Film, Stage & Cultural Development Corporation Ltd., an autonomous body which owns the Film City in Bombay. The Corporation will hold a 15% stake in this joint venture company, to be known as Whistling Woods International Pvt. Ltd., for providing land to Mukta Arts Ltd.

Andersen Consulting and leading architects of India and abroad are working in full swing to give shape to the project. The new training institute will be ready for inauguration by October 2001.

YOU ASKED IT

Who among these can make a dependable director — stars, writers, editors and cinematographers?

– The one who has a good combination of writing and editing sense.

When one receives payment against a lab letter, is the payment made with interest or without it?

– Without interest!

How could you predict that Mohabbatein would prove plus when the talk in the trade was that it was very boring and lengthy?

– Those who spoke of boredom and length forgot to see the power of the scenes of (a) Amitabh Bachchan, (b) Shah Rukh Khan, (c) both of them together. Those scenes alone are enough to more than offset the boredom and the extra length. The film has some inherent plus points, and that’s what the audience has seen. 

DO YOU KNOW?

* MOHABBATEIN stood at no. 9 in the UK tops for the 29th October weekend, collecting £2,46,368 from 26 screens. Its per screen average of £9,476 was the highest for the weekend, including English films. MISSION KASHMIR could collect only £89,265 from 27 screens with an average of £4,291 per screen. It stood at no. 15. 

* An idea of how MISSION KASHMIR dropped as the week progressed while MOHABBATEIN held on fabulously can be had from the 7th day collections of the two films in Nagpur:- MOHABBATEIN: Panchsheel 43,584/- (full), Liberty 54,273/- (full), Aashirwad 53,335/- (not full), and Jaswant 35,875/- (full). MISSION KASHMIR: Smruti 33,053/- (full week 4,06,053/-), Alankar 25,204/- (2,15,633/-), Jayshree 14,220/- (1,79,572/-), Sangam 9,319/- (1,56,580/-), Gitanjali 5,798/- (92,870/-). While both the films started with 100% collections, MOHABBATEIN closed at 99.48% (all 4 cinemas) and MISSION KASHMIR, at 66.20% (all 5 cinemas).

* So much is the craze for MOHABBATEIN that the 2nd week plans at Chitra, Bombay are full in advance!

* MISSION KASHMIR has yielded a distributor’s share of 4 lakh from Parvati, Vasai (a distant suburb of Bombay) in 1st week. This is the highest-ever share earned from the cinema since its inception.

* MOR CHHAINHA BHUINYA (Chhattisgarhi) has created a record by collecting 2,37,313/- (nett) in 1st week at Babulal, Raipur, despite direct oppositions of MOHABBATEIN and MISSION KASHMIR. There was uncontrollable rush at the cinema from Sunday onwards. 

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Special Effects For Special Film

Take a deep breath! For, what you are going to read may take your breath away for a while.

Ajay Devgan, who has already spent a fortune on the making of his dream project, Raju Chacha, is now spending heavily on the special effects in the film starring himself, wife Kajol and Rishi Kapoor.

Three top studios specialising in computer graphics in Bombay (CMM, Crest and Western Outdoor) as well as three top names in Madras (Pentafour, Prime Focus and Total Infotech) are engaged in doing special effects of the film. Pentafour has been working on a 7-minute 3-D animation in the film for the last six months, according to the film’s executive producer, Kumar Mangat.

The film will have more than 20 minutes of effects and the average rate is Rs. 8,000 per second of graphics. Which means, Ajay will spend over Rs. 1.5 crore on special effects alone.

But well, what is a crore or two for a special effects if the film is so special to you, right? Incidentally, the film, which marks the debut of director Anil Devgan, may hit the screens in Idd week (28th December) this year.

Satish Jain’s Chhattisgarhi Hit

Satish Jain may not have tasted much success as a writer, but his maiden directorial venture, Mor Chhainha Bhuinya, a Chhattisgarhi film, has hit the bull’s eye. Released in Diwali week in the Chhattisgarhi region’s three stations — Raipur, Durg and Bilaspur — the film picked up phenomenally from its third day (Sunday) onwards and is running to packed houses. It is after many years that a Chhattisgarhi film has come. This, coupled with the current sentiments in wake of Chhattisgarh being made a separate state, besides, of course, the film’s merits have all added up to lure record crowds to cinemas screening the film.

Going Deewana

Although the title of Rajshri’s new film is Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon, the ones who’ve gone deewana over its story are Hrithik Roshan and dad Rakesh Roshan. As is well-known by now, the latest screen sensation heard the complete story of Sooraj Barjatya’s love story from Sooraj himself last week. So floored was the guy by the narration that he, in turn, narrated the story to dad Rakesh Roshan. Sr. Roshan’s reaction was no different. “It’s earth-shattering,” is how Rakesh Roshan described the love story.

The film, to roll next year, will release in the year 2002. Besides Hrithik, the love story will star one more hero and a heroine. Although Hrithik has not been formally signed, it’s definite that he will be playing one of the two male leads. As for the second hero, your guess may not be as good as ours!

Hum Panchhi Saalon-Saal Ke!

Perhaps, Sunil Shetty and Aishwarya Rai’s stars don’t match. How else could one explain the fact that both the films starring the pair have ended up taking overly long in the making. The two films in question, Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke and Radheshyam Seetaram, are among the earlier films that Aishwarya had signed — after her debut vehicle, ..Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya. The director of Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke, K. Sashilaal Nair, opted out of the film when it was nearly 75% complete. Since then, producer Rahul Gupta has tried out a couple of other directors in order to complete the film, however, without much success.

Meanwhile, there is a ray of hope as far as the other film, Radheshyam Seetaram, starring the lead pair, is concerned. The film, which had been stalled for quite a while, has now changed hands, having been acquired by the N. Kumar Group from the original producer, Shabnam Kapoor. It is 50% ready and efforts are now on to complete it for a release some time next year.

That is, if Sunil Shetty and Aishwarya Rai’s stars match!

DASTAK

Vishesh Films Pvt. Ltd.’s Dastak (A) is the story of a mentally unstable genius and his obsession for the Miss Universe. His unparalleled obsession makes him so possessive about her that he begins to kill people around her so that he can come close to her. He succeeds in kidnapping her and keeping her in confinement but ultimately, she succeeds in getting herself free from his obsessive clutches.

Although the film has been well made, it reminds a great deal of earlier films like Darr, Agni Sakshi, Daraar and Fareb. The incidents in this drama may be different but the story is the same. As such, viewers will immediately remember having seen similar films, that too, in the recent past. Since the stories of this and the aforesaid films are very typical, the similarity works to the disadvantage of the one released later. Add to this is the high price-tag of the film, an area in which Fareb (which was released after Darr, Agni Sakshi and Daraar) scored.

On the positive side, the film has several points where it shocks the viewer. In fact, the shock value lends excitement to the proceedings and keeps audience interest alive, subject, however, to the basic drawback of similarity of the plot. Screenplay is tight and dialogues are appropriate. Climax is effective.

Performances of both the new heroes are brilliant. Sharad Kapoor looks handsome and acts with utmost confidence in a tailor-made role of an obsessed lover. Mukul Dev has a relatively lesser role but yet, in the role of the heroine’s beloved, does a splendid job and endears himself to the viewer. His cute and the boy-next-door looks will work to his advantage. Both, Sharad and Mukul, have bright careers ahead. Sushmita Sen is good in her debut attempt, especially in the second half where she gets more scope. She, however, needs to take a lot of care about her wardrobe as she is taller than an average Hindi film heroine. Vishwajeet Pradhan leaves a mark. Tiku Talsania, Manoj Bajpai, Sunil Dhawan and the others lend adequate support.

Mahesh Bhatt’s direction is good but his choice of subject isn’t right. What’s more, he has made the film more suitable for viewing by city audience and has forgotten cinegoers of smaller towns and villages. Mahesh Bhatt would do well to avoid too much usage of English words, especially in key scenes.

Music is quite good but a hit, racy song is missing. In fact, while the film moves at a good pace, the songs are slow and break the pace. Song picturisations, except for the first (which is eye-filling), are ordinary. There’s no choreography worth the name. Background music is effective. Camerawork is good but only in parts. Foreign locations are beautiful. Production values are appropriate.

On the whole, Dastak has taken a very dull start and has neither novelty nor hit music to warrant a sensational pick-up. Considering its high price, it will entail heavy losses to its distributors. Its business in cities, especially in the South will be somewhat better.

Released on 29-11-’96 at New Excelsior and 15 other cinemas of Bombay thru Madhuraj Movies. Publicity: good (but not sufficient for a new star-cast film of this price). Opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was poor everywhere.

LATEST POSITION

The magic of RAJA HINDUSTANI continues to mesmerise the audience and excite the industry. It has recorded bumper collections from Chandigarh to Chennai and Kutch to Cuttack.

…………

Raja Hindustani is going great guns. This week too has started on a fascinating note. 2nd week Bombay 41,37,006 (99.72%) from 11 cinemas (5 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 11,41,843 from 5 cinemas, Vapi 3,84,384 (100%), total 7,68,768 (100%), share above 5 lacs, Baroda 2,29,674, 3rd week Jamnagar 1,52,770 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Pune 9,43,082 from 4 cinemas, 2nd week Kolhapur 1,88,868 (100%), Solapur 2,40,573 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Sangli 100%, Nasik 3,10,008; Hubli 2,58,799, Belgaum 2,09,866 from 3 cinemas (2 in 7 shows each), 1st week Nipani 1,81,300; 2nd week Delhi 20,77,082 from 5 cinemas (3 unrecd.); Kanpur 4,25,305 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,22,403, Agra 1,85,789, Allahabad 1,52,893, 3rd week 4 days 81,000, 2nd week Meerut 1,83,340, 3rd week 3 days 79,105, 2nd Dehradun 1,72,600 (1st 1,91,000), Gorakhpur 1,45,716 (1st 1,56,980), Hardwar 61,199 (1st 79,871); doing extraordinary in East Punjab; Calcutta 26,03,512 (88.39%) from 22 cinemas; Nagpur 5,92,317 from 3 cinemas, Akola 1,41,790 (100%), 3rd week 3 days 60,767 (100%), 2nd Raipur 1,77,033 (1st 2,03,434), Bhilai (6 days) 1,79,107, Jalgaon 1,76,315 (100%), Wardha 97,577, 3rd week 3 days 41,526, 2nd Yavatmal 1,32,048; Indore 2,32,012 (100%, 1 on F.H.), Bhopal 3,53,371 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 5,72,918 from 2 cinemas, Bikaner 2,21,363, Udaipur 2,60,000 (1st 2,97,315), Sriganganagar 1,45,113; Hyderabad 10,92,349 from 5 cinemas.

Ghatak 3rd week Bombay 25,82,101 (70.09%) from 10 cinemas (8 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 3,32,033 from 3 cinemas, Vapi 1,30,653, total 8,24,074, share 4,24,000, Himmatnagar 97,093, Baroda 1,82,452 from 2 cinemas, Bharuch (gross) 1,41,646; Pune 4,75,348 from 3 cinemas, Kolhapur 1,60,000, Solapur 1,31,988 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Nasik 1,59,870; Hubli 93,870 from 2 cinemas (1 in noon), Belgaum 73,914; Delhi 11,45,002 from 6 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,96,266 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,59,061, Agra 1,39,000, Allahabad 72,500, Dehradun 62,000, Gorakhpur 77,000, Hardwar 15,000; Calcutta 3,35,354 from 3 cinemas; Nagpur 1,90,152 from 2 cinemas, Akola 89,077, total 4,07,623, share 3,53,813, Raipur (6 days) 80,348, Bhilai (6 days) 45,817, Jalgaon 78,085, Chandrapur 97,589, total 4,25,945, Bilaspur 73,310 (2nd 1,05,230); 2nd Indore 2,01,377, Bhopal 1,56,688; 3rd Jaipur 2,25,172, Ajmer 1,06,779, Bikaner (last) 1,44,742; Hyderabad 4,69,833 from 3 cinemas.

…………

Maharashtra Industry Readying Itself For
Total Bandh Fom New Year

The Maharashtra film industry is almost certain to down shutters from 1st January ’97 in protest against the state government’s refusal to extend the ordinance of 50% entertainment tax, after 31st December ’96. A joint meeting of Bombay distributors and exhibitors, held on 26th November, unanimously agreed that a bandh was the only answer to the government’s rigid stand. The meeting was also attended by producer Pahlaj Nihalani who suggested that in order to make the bandh a success, distributors and exhibitors should seek the support of producers, artistes and studios too, and impress upon all of them to join in the bandh.

A final and formal decision about the bandh, which would entail closure of all cinemas in the state, is likely to be taken later next week. But the stage seems to be set for an ugly fight between the government and the film industry.

If the bandh does come about, it would mean a rescheduling of all the releases after 13th December because no producer or distributor would like to release his film on or after 20th December.

K.C. BOKADIA’S DAUGHTER TO WED

Producer-director K.C. Bokadia’s daughter, Kavita, will wed Vimal Kumar on 7th December in Madras at MGR Film City.

WEDDING BELLS FOR KAMAL MUKUT’S SON

Marriage of Deepak, son of Rajasthan distributor and producer Kamal Mukut, with Krishna will be solemnised on 12th December in Jaipur. A reception to celebrate the wedding will be held in Bombay on 20th at Army Officers Club, Ruia Park, Juhu.

YOU ASKED IT

Does the poor opening of Dastak imply that films with newcomers should not be attempted?

– No, it does not mean so. What it definitely means is that new star cast films must be publicised extensively and intensively and should necessarily have popular music.

Why do film producers and directors not admit their failures easily?

– Film people are dream merchants and there is no place for nightmares in their scheme of things.

Will the Maharashtra government put an upper limit on admission rates in cinemas?

– It cannot, because it lost a case seeking to limit admission rates in 1994 when Bombay’s Liberty cinema dragged the government to court in the matter of HAHK..!. But what the government may be planning to do is to introduce progressively higher rates of entertainment tax for higher admission rates.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Yunus Perwaiz is acting with Manoj Kumar after a gap of 21 years. The two came together in 1975 in SANYASI. They will now be seen together again in Manoj Kumar’s JAIHIND – THE PRIDE. 

847 DAYS!

* HAHK..! was finally discontinued from Liberty, Bombay, on 28th November after a run of 121 weeks. It ran for 105 weeks in regular shows and for 16 weeks in noon shows. The total number of shows held in 847 days (2 years, 3 months and 24 days) was 2,341. Break-up of the shows: 2,199 regular shows and 30 extra shows (on Sundays) in 105 weeks; and 112 noon shows in 16 weeks.

‘Raja Hindustani’: Kingly Collections,
Majestic Records

* The current booking window at Sona, Borivli (a Bombay suburb) simply did not open in the first two weeks of RAJA HINDUSTANI as the film drew all shows full in advance for all the 14 days!

MIX MASALA

FILMI SPEECH

Once a film person, always a film person. Jaya Prada, the new MP, had the ministers in Rajya Sabha smiling this week when she ventured to make a speech in filmi style in Hindi which, needless to say, was rather difficult to comprehend. She started with a sher in her incomprehensible diction: ‘Doobne walon ko tinke ka sahara chahiye, dagmagati nao ko kinara chahiye’. The sher was met with wah-wahs from those present in the Upper House.

A BEAUTIFUL ROLE?

Do beauty title holders like to play themselves on screen too? It would seem so. For, Sushmita Sen plays Miss Universe in this week’s release — her maiden film, Dastak. And Namrata Shirodkar, ex-Miss World, will be seen as a Miss World in Boney Kapoor’s Pukaar.

To The Point

Making a film is only half the job done. Today, marketing and releasing a film are equally specialised jobs. Improper release or faulty marketing can sometimes adversely affect a film. In recent times, at least two films could have done much better at the the ticket-windows had they had better releases. Salim’s Raja Ki Aayegi Baaraat, with no star cast to boot, should have come on or after Diwali. Why Salim chose a dull pre-Diwali period to release the film, one fails to understand. Gulzar’s Maachis is the other film. Its songs were beginning to get popular and they had the germs to be on top of the charts, but producer R.V. Pandit took a rather hasty decision to release the film so soon. Had he given the film’s music even a month more, the film would have taken a much better opening. As is said, haste makes waste.

* * *

The distribution and exhibition sectors of the Maharashtra film industry are decided on downing shutters from 1st January, 1997, in protest against the impending increase in entertainment tax in the state. So far, so good. But the two sectors must now elect one common leader to lead them in this tough battle with the government. It may not be an easy fight, and a leader who can inspire everybody’s confidence needs to be at the helm of affairs.

* * *

Vakil Singh, the East Punjab distributor of Barsaat, has given about 30 lakh overflow in this film’s account to Dharmendra!

* * *

It is learnt from reliable sources that Sunny Deol’s Indian will now be produced by another producer who has taken over the entire project. Sunny will, however, be its hero, as earlier. The other credits will also remain the same.

* * *

The producers of Raja Hindustani were on a tour of C.P. Berar this week, alongwith its distributor, Raju Kothari. What they experienced was heavenly. Crowds thronging cinemas screening the film in the different stations of the circuit had to be seen to be believed. In one cinema, hundreds of cinegoers were watching the film, standing on their feet, due to non-availability of tickets. Rathi, whose cinemas are screening the film, informed the producers that over-capacity was a rule rather than an exception in the case of their film. He also assured them that some of his cinemas would give shares more than those of even HAHK..! and DDLJ.

– Komal Nahta

PEOPLE
Are surprised that

* * Rakshak, a Sunil Shetty starrer, did not open to bumper houses despite the hit Shaher ki ladki song in it. While some say, it was a case of soft (musical) publicity for a tough hero’s film, others opine that the less-than-full opening was because of the current craze for Raja Hindustani. Then there are some who feel, Rakshak should have come some weeks earlier as its music was at the peak of its popularity before Raja Hindustani was released.

* * Dastak did not take even a face-saving opening. Actually, there’s nothing to be surprised. Those who assumed that Sushmita Sen would do the trick were wide off the mark. When established heroines don’t contribute to a film’s initial value, who is Sushmita? She may be the ex-Miss Universe but for the film-going audience, that means nothing — repeat, nothing. The producers may have thought highly of her (to have paid her so much for their films) but the audience will wait for her to prove herself. Besides, producer Mukesh Bhatt left something to be desired in the film’s publicity. Considering that it starred two new heroes and a new heroine, a concerted and massive publicity campaign was what was required. The actual build-up was 20% of what it should have been. Music was another area where the film couldn’t score — it just did not gain popularity.

PEOPLE
Are speculating over

* * What will be the business of Raja Hindustani. 6 crore or 7 crore per major territory? Or more than that? The coming weeks will tell.

* * Whether the releases of mid-December and thereafter will come on schedule. If the Maharashtra film industry downs shutters from 1st January ’97, the releases of December 20 and 27 will, in all likelihood, be postponed. But the makers of Judwaa seem to be keen to get it on 20th December, bandh or no bandh.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

History Repeating Itself?

If the Maharashtra film industry closes down in protest against the government’s stand to discontinue the benefit of 50% entertainment tax, history will repeat itself after 10 years. For, in 1986 too, the industry had downed shutters to demand reliefs from the government. The latter had to relent then and the film industry was granted several benefits including reduction in tax. The Diwali of 1986 was termed a ‘Black Diwali’ by the trade as all work in the industry was at a standstill following the strike. This time over, the bandh has come (if it does) after Diwali. And while talking about the historic bandh of 1986, one can’t help remembering the efforts of late leader Shri Ramraj Nahta who led the industry to victory at that time. His selfless and untiring efforts at that trying and testing time are remembered even today.

Of the Khan Khandaan

Here’s an interesting observation from Girdhar Duseja of Shringar Films, Bombay, which should do the Khan clan proud. The biggest hits of three consecutive years have been Khan starrers. In 1994, it was Salman Khan’s Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!. Shah Rukh Khan’sDilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge was the biggest hit of 1995. And in 1996, it is Aamir Khan’s Raja Hindustani. The second biggest hit of 1995, Karan Arjun, also starred not one but two Khans, Salman and Shah Rukh.

Sushmita’s Emotional Appeal

Sushmita Sen wept bitterly on 28th November. No, not because Dastak took a disastrous start in U.P., C.P., C.I. and Bengal (Calcutta) where it was released that day. But because Sushmita was addressing a press conference at Hotel Sun N Sand that afternoon to clear “all the wrong things” that had been written about her in gossip magazines. The former Miss Universe broke down as she clarified that she was not involved with any married man nor had she married anybody, that she was not trying to break anybody’s home, that she had never had alcohol in her life, that she was not a girl of loose character etc. Sushmita said, she had to clear the matters because it was important to do so at this stage of her career and so that producers of her forthcoming films did not press the panic button. As Sushmita tried to clear the dust around every topic and appealed to members of the press to be more considerate towards her, tears rolled down her well made-up cheeks. It didn’t seem as if the former beauty queen was putting on an act. So much of crying couldn’t be fake. Considering for a moment (without alleging) that the crying was a piece of acting by Miss Sen, it must be said to her credit that she is a very good actress. But, as said earlier, the girl’s tears seemed too genuine to be made up. Anyway, either way, Sushmita stood to gain that day. She had cleared the terrible stories about herself. And for those who didn’t want to believe her, well, they had to at least admit that she was a good actress without doubt.

DUSHMAN

Pooja Bhatt Productions’ Dushman (A) is the story of a girl who avenges the rape and murder of her twin sister. While her family is too scared to confront the rapist-cum-murderer, and the police plead helplessness is arresting him, the girl decides to finish the villain off. She is aided in achieving her goal, by a blind army officer.

The film, inspired from the Hollywood film Eye For An Eye, has an exciting and interesting first half. The audience keeps getting more and more involved in the drama as it unfolds. Some scenes (like the girl’s rape even while her sister is aware that something terrible is happening but finds herself in a helpless situation) have such a lovely impact that they even shock the viewer. But the drama becomes dull after interval as the story tries to accommodate the romantic track. Besides, there are far too many convenient twists and turns in the story post-interval. For instance, although the police keep a close vigil on the villain, he refuses to mend his ways. In the end, he even walks into the trap laid by the girl, without so much as even bothering about verifying if he was being trapped.

Kajol gives an award-winning performance in a double role. She is simply splendid as the shaken sister (after her twin’s death) and the avenging angel. Not once does she go overboard and she carries the film on her shoulders with effortless ease. Sanjay Dutt, in a guest-like appearance, is average. Jas Arora looks good but gets very little scope. Ashutosh Rana is marvellous as the villain. He delivers a performance that is mind-blowing. Tanvi Azmi acts ably. Pramod Moutho is fair. Kunal Khemu leaves a mark. Baby Varsha, Naresh Suri and the others lend good support.

Tanuja Chandra makes an impressive debut as a director; her shot takings are like those of a seasoned director. But the screenplay (by Mahesh Bhatt and her) is not very consistent. Girish Dhamija’s dialogues are lovely. Music (Uttam Singh) needed to be more peppy and much better. ‘Awaz do humko’ and ‘Pyar ko ho jaane do’ are the better numbers. Song picturisations are ordinary and a couple of them even break the flow of the story. Camerawork (Nirmal Jani) is excellent. Action scenes are well composed. Climax is not very exciting. Technically, very good. Background music is appropriate.

On the whole, Dushman has a tight first half but a dull second half. It has excellent performances by Kajol and Ashutosh Rana but it gives no scope to the hero. With average music and lack of repeat value, the film finally emerges as one mainly for cities, that too, of Maharashtra and South. It may, however, find the going tough in U.P., East Punjab and Rajasthan. Tax exemption can help.

Released on 29-5-’98 at Novelty and 19 other cinemas of Bombay thru Veekay Enterprises. Publicity: very good. Opening: good. …….Also released all over. Opening was quite good in Delhi, Nizam and Mysore, below the mark in U.P. and rather dull in Rajasthan.

SHAM GHANSHAM

Suneha Arts’ Sham Ghansham is the story of two boys who are not brothers but are brought up by the same woman, the mother of one of the two boys. The other boy is the son of the villain who, incidentally, is the murderer of the first boy’s father. The villain is unaware that his wife had delivered a baby boy before dying in the hospital and had given the new-born’s custody to the other woman, asking her to keep the child away from the murderer. The villain is daggers drawn with the two boys (when they grow up) and even wants to shoot them (for a reason which is not very strong). It is then that the mother challenges the villain to shoot the boys dead and reveals that one of them is his own son. The villain then yearns to know which one of the two boys is his. His wish is fulfilled when he is dying. But before that, the two boys attempt to seek revenge on the villain for having murdered their mother/guardian’s husband. That is to say, the son of the villain is also out to seek revenge.

Although the story is new, there’s no meaning to the novelty because the audience isn’t really interested in knowing who is who’s son. A major reason for this lack of interest is the uninteresting turns and twists in the story and the conscious, though feeble, attempt to make the drama look like an exciting suspense drama. Even after the suspense is revealed, no major purpose is served. Screenplay is quite weak. What’s more, either the editor seems to have forgotten his job or the director seems to have not allowed the former to use the scissors judiciously. Scenes are lengthy and repetitive. Some emotional scenes touch the heart. Comedy is dull.

Raakhee does a good job. Chandrachur Singh is average and so is Arbaaz Khan. Priya Gill hardly leaves a mark. Pooja Batra is worse still. Amrish Puri performs with conviction. Bindu is fair. Bhupinder Singh passes muster. Gufi Paintal, Vikram Gokhale, Rohini Hattangady, Raju Kher and the rest lend average support.

Direction is ordinary. Director Ashok Ghai has been able to neither make the drama exciting nor involve the audience. Of the songs, ‘Aandi ae jaandi ae’ is quite well-tuned. ‘Mitwa re’ is alright. Song picturisations are routine; none of the four lead players can dance even reasonably gracefully. Camerawork is good. Production and technical values are alright.

On the whole, Sham Ghansham has hardly any merits and, given the dull start, it may remain a non-starter.

Released on 29-5-’98 at Minerva and 15 other cinemas of Bombay thru V.I.P. Enterprises. Publicity: fair. Opening: poor. …….Also released all over.

LATEST POSITION

It was a normal week, but the heat is adversely affecting box-office collections.

Jab Pyaar Kisise Hota Hai has done well mostly in good cinemas of major cities only. 1st week Bombay 38,01,506 (82.80%) from 9 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 91,717 (4 cinemas unrecd.), Jamnagar 1,24,169 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Adipur 1,16,857; Solapur 2,14,390 from 2 cinemas; Delhi 26,91,955 (86.02%) from 7 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur (6 days) 2,65,669 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow (6 days) 2,44,601, Allahabad 1,04,500, Bareilly (6 days) 1,22,126 (63.30%); Calcutta (6 days) 17,55,199 from 11 cinemas (19 cinemas were either on F.H. or their collections were not revealed); Nagpur 4,40,441 from 3 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 1,24,135, Akola 1,26,660, Chandrapur 1,73,804; Bhopal (6 days) 2,53,286 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 6,83,827 from 4 cinemas, Udaipur 2,10,215; Hyderabad 25,30,438 from 14 cinemas (1 in noon), share 12,70,088.

Mard is poor at most of the centres. 1st week Bombay 18,55,792 (52.52%) from 12 cinemas (5 on F.H., 3 unrecd.); Ahmedabad 1,92,990 from 3 cinemas (3 cinemas unrecd.), Rajkot 51,000; Delhi 19,09,183 (49.56%) from 10 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,33,272, Lucknow 79,896, Allahabad 56,000, Varanasi 64,782, Bareilly 85,161 (39.41%); Amritsar 54,540; Calcutta (6 days) 7,84,498 from 11 cinemas (11 cinemas were either on F.H. or their collections were not revealed); Gaya 65,000; Nagpur 1,65,749 from 3 cinemas, Amravati 1,12,942, Dhule 59,552, Raipur 1,13,003; Bhopal 1,08,708 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 2,90,318 from 2 cinemas, Jodhpur 2,23,000; Hyderabad 7,02,927 from 9 cinemas (3 in noon).

…………

Jeans (dubbed) 2nd week Bombay 12,29,732 (57.69%) from 4 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Baroda 1,07,967; Solapur (14 shows) 1,18,110; Delhi 4,58,802 from 2 cinemas; Kanpur 32,658, Lucknow 99,603, Allahabad 32,500, Varanasi 20,252; Calcutta (6 days) 1,22,328; Nagpur 93,677, 1st week Jabalpur (25 shows) 89,511, 2nd week Amravati 56,666, Akola 92,560, total 2,05,500; Indore 71,253 (1 on F.H.), 1st week Bhopal 62,948; 2nd week Jaipur 1,37,069; Guntur 3 weeks’ total 5,37,200, Tenali 3 weeks’ total 3,84,125, Ongole 3 weeks’ total 4,18,000.

Duplicate 3rd week Bombay 16,08,945 (44.26%) from 9 cinemas (5 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 1,18,772 (2 cinemas unrecd.), Rajkot 93,493; Solapur 60,764; Delhi 8,67,606 from 5 cinemas (1 on F.H., 1 unrecd.); Kanpur 1,41,114 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,98,585, Varanasi 95,868, Bareilly 26,311 (13.23%), Hardwar 20,000; Calcutta (6 days) 4,78,975 from 3 cinemas; Nagpur 59,895 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 75,055, total 3,91,403, Amravati 71,986, Akola 41,244, total 2,94,618, share 2,12,000, 1st week Dhule 72,675, 3rd Raipur 51,011, total 3,47,730; Indore 1,33,045, Bhopal 50,532; Ajmer 51,867; Hyderabad 5,52,238 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon).

Chhota Chetan (partly dubbed, revived, 3-D) 6th week Bombay (TF) 19,79,761 (92.85%) from 3 cinemas (3 on F.H.), excellent; Ahmedabad 1,45,927, Rajkot 82,910; 4th week Solapur (TF) 69,967; 6th Delhi (TF) 14,41,154 from 3 cinemas; 1st week Amravati (TF) 1,69,476; 2nd week Hyderabad 4,24,552.

Titanic (English) 12th week Bombay 24,54,685 from 6 cinemas (3 on F.H.); 5th week Ahmedabad 1,88,710; 11th week Delhi 9,06,489 from 3 cinemas; 3rd week Kanpur 1,24,895, 5th week Lucknow 1,99,271; 12th week Calcutta (6 days) 3,37,707; 4th week Nagpur 2,12,083, 1st Amravati 1,56,144; Indore 2,29,682 (1 on F.H.), Bhopal 1,98,428; 2nd week Jaipur 3,68,213.

SUBHASH GHAI’S STUDIO INAUGURATION

Subhash Ghai’s shooting and post-production studio, Audeus, will be inaugurated on 31st May. Located at plot no. A/18, off Link Road, opposite Laxmi Industrial Estate at Andheri (W), Bombay, it is equipped with state-of-the-art Fairlight MFX 3 Plus Digital audio workstation. The entire studio, including the shooting floor, is air-conditioned. Phone no.: 632-0937.

APARESH LAHIRI DEAD

Noted singer and music director Aparesh Lahiri, father of music director Bappi Lahiri, expired on 28th May in Bombay at Jaslok Hospital. He was 74. He had scored music and rendered songs for about 100 Bengali and Hindi films. The first Hindi song he rendered was for Kathputli. His most popular number was the Bengali national song, Ek baar biday de ma, sung by Lata Mangeshkar.

Aparesh Lahiri had bagged the government’s Rajat Kamal award for his music in the Hindi-Bengali film, Subhas Chandra Bose. He is survived by his son, Bappi, his daughter-in-law, grandson and grand-daughter.

Shradh ceremony will be held on 7th June (Sunday) at 10 a.m. at Lahiri House, plot no. 4, Hatkesh Nagar, JVPD Scheme, Bombay.

RAJESH VAKIL DEAD

Director Rajesh Vakil, son of late producer-director Nanubhai Vakil, passed away on 22nd May in Bombay following an illness. He was 49.

Rajesh had worked as an associate director in films like Aaj Ka Arjun and Teri Meherbaniyan. He had directed Mere Sajana Saath Nibhana, starring Mithun Chakraborty and Juhi Chawla.

He is survived by his wife and a son.

NUPUR CINETORIUM OPENS IN AURANGABAD

Smita Thackeray inaugurated Nupur Cinetorium in Aurangabad on 22nd May. Guardian minister Chandrakant Khaire, Jackie Shroff, commissioner of police of Aurangabad, Joshi, and ex-MP Pradeep Jaiswal, besides distributors of Nizam and local exhibitors, were present at the opening of the fourteenth cinema in the city, with Jeans.

Rajesh Patel and Sushma Patel, directors in the cinema, welcomed the guests. The cinema has 1,130 seats and is equipped with DTS Ultra Stereophonic sound system.

‘DTPH’ TAX-FREE IN MAHARASHTRA

Yash Chopra’s Dil To Pagal Hai, which won the award for the best popular film of 1997 providing wholesome entertainment, has been granted perpetual tax exemption by the Maharashtra government.

UNCANNY COINCIDENCE

On the same day and around the time music maestro Laxmikant breathed his last was scheduled the first trial of the first copy of one of Laxmikant-Pyarelal’s last films, Manoj Kumar’s Jaihind. The trial, scheduled for 2.30 p.m. at Sumeet, started a bit late. And even as the viewers enjoyed the melodies of L-P inside the preview theatre, little did they know that one of the two geniuses behind the lovely tunes had passed away a little while ago.

Laxmikant Bids ‘Bye

Even six days after music maestro Laxmikant bid farewell to the world, the news of his death seems unbelievable. Maybe because the composer, who scored music with Pyarelal in over 490 films, is still alive through the great legacy of almost 5,000 songs he has left behind. Or maybe because Laxmikant-Pyarelal were like one single person, the one inseparable from the other. Or because Laxmikant’s smiling face is almost impossible to wipe out from the memory, and it comes before your eyes the moment you think of the music wizard. But the fact is, the great music director is no more. He breathed his last around 2 p.m. on 25th May at Nanavati Hospital in Bombay where he had been admitted a few days back for cancer of the prostate and kidney failure. His condition continued to cause concern to his near and dear ones and a slight improvement on 24th was hardly any consolation.

Born in 1934 on Diwali day, Laxmikant got his name from the festival of lights on which day the Hindus pray to Goddess Laxmi. For many years till the Diwali of 1997, Laxmi-ji, as he was fondly called, used to throw a party on Diwali night, inviting his friends to enjoy with him.

The first film for which Laxmi-Pyare scored music was Parasmani, released in 1963. Both, the film and their music, became big hits, and the music duo became overnight celebrities. With a sound training in music and having assisted Shanker-Jaikishen, Naushad and Kalyanji-Anandji, the team churned out one captivating melody after another. If their songs Bindiya chamkegi from Do Raaste or Saawan ka mahina from Milan could gladden the heart, their melancholic numbers like Jaanewalon zara from Dosti or Khilona jaan kar tum to from Khilona could also moisten the eyes of the listener. Whatever the mood of the song, the duo came up with brilliant tunes and remained the undisputed kings in the music world for three decades.

Hansta hua noorani chehra (Parasmani), Jyot jagate chalo (Sant Gyaneshwar), Suno sajna, papeehe ne (Aaye Din Bahaar Ke), Mast baharon ka main aashique (Farz), Dil vil pyar vyar main kya janoon re (Shagird), Maar diya jaaye ki chhod diya jaaye (Mera Gaon Mera Desh), Vaada tera vaada (Dushmun), Patthar ke sanam tujhe humne (Patthar Ke Sanam), Jhilmil sitaron ka aangan hoga (Jeevan Mrityu), Aap aaye bahaar aayee (Aap Aaye Bahaar Aayee), Chal chal chal mere haathi (Haathi Mere Saathi), Dheere dheere bol koi sun na le (Gora Aur Kala), A B C D chhodo (Raja Jani), Ek pyar ka naghma hai (Shor), Hum tum ek kamre mein bandh ho and Jhooth bolay kauva kaate (Bobby), Ab chahe maa roothe ya baba (Daag), Kabhi khole na tijori ka taala (Bidaai), Gore rang pe na itna gumaan kar (Roti), Main na bhooloonga (Roti Kapada Aur Makaan), My name is Anthony Gonsalves (Amar Akbar Anthony), the title song in Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Chalo re doli uthao kahaar (Jaani Dushman), Dafliwale dafli bajaa (Sargam), Sheesha ho ya dil ho (Aasha), Om Shanti Om (Karz), Tere mere beech mein kaisa hai yeh bandhan anjaana (Ek Duuje Ke Liye), Tu mera jaanoo hai (Hero), Tumse milkar na jaane kyon (Pyar Jhukta Nahin), Chitthi aayee hai (Naam), Main teri dushman (Nagina), Kaate nahin kat-te (Mr. India), Ek do teen char (Tezaab), My name is Lakhan (Ram Lakhan), Jumma chumma de de (Hum), Illu illu (Saudagar) and Choli ke peechhe kya hai (Khal-nayak) are only a few of the super-hit songs of the duo.

Laxmikant was a talented mandolin player. He teamed up with Pyarelal, whom he met during his struggling days, and thus began a golden chapter in the history of Hindi films. Being more vocal of the two, Laxmikant lit up the atmosphere wherever he went. “He was a damn confident person,” said Boney Kapoor, adding, “He was never unnerved and he had this knack of putting his producers at ease.” This unshaking confidence in his abilities was, perhaps, the reason why Laxmikant never thought of calling it a day even when Laxmi-Pyare’s popularity began to decline in the nineties when younger music directors came on the scene.

The under-production films of L-P are Manoj Kumar’s Jaihind (ready for release), Aabroo, Meri Biwi Ka Jawab Nahin, Maha-Yudh and Rishta Ho To Aisa.

Music director Kalyanji said, Laxmikant’s biggest strength was churning out numbers which catered to popular taste. Melody queen Lata Mangeshkar described the late composer as “a member of our family”. Naushad described Laxmikant as the “last” chirag (lamp) of the golden era of Hindi film music.

Laxmikant was cremated on the night of 25th at the Vile Parle crematorium. His funeral was well-attended. The condolence meeting on 28th May at his bungalow, called Parasmani after L-P.’s first film, was very largely attended.

And so, even though Laxmi can’t give us more hits, his legacy of songs will continue to entertain the world for years and years…..

YOU ASKED IT

What is the biggest malady in the film industry today?

– Lack of good, sensible and original writers. Second on the list is star prices which are too high.

Which was the first music director duo in Bollywood?

– Phirozeshah H. Mistry and B. Irani, who played musical instruments for ALAM ARA in 1931.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Manoj Kumar’s new film has been re-titled JAIHIND. As this title was earlier with Anand Balraaj, Manoj Kumar had decided to call his film JAI-HIND – THE PRIDE. BUT Anand graciously decided to forgo the title in favour of Manoj Kumar and, therefore, the latter’s film is now JAIHIND once again.

* Goldie Behl, the 23-year-old son of late Ramesh Behl, used to sport long hair (almost touching his shoulders), but he has cut them short as an astrologer told him, this would be good for the box-office performance of his film, ANGAARAY. Incidentally, Goldie has made a good teaser trailer of the film, which will soon go on air on the various satellite channels.

* M.F. Hussain, whose painting of Goddess Sita had him in the midst of a terrible controversy, finally tendered an apology to Shiv Sena Chitrapat Shakha president G.P. Shirke. The latter had threatened that he wouldn’t allow Hussain’s GAJ GAMINI to be shot unless Hussain apologised for the painting which had hurt Hindu religious sentiments.

* Raj Karan Palace in Allahabad is the only cinema in Delhi-U.P., where ISHQ has had a 25-week run. This is the second jubilee at the cinema, of the same distributor viz. Mukta-Shakti Combines, Delhi. The earlier silver jubilee was of RAJA HINDUSTANI. …….Raj Karan Palace is the first cinema in Allahabad district to be equipped with Dolby Ultra Stereophonic 4-track sound system. CHHOTA CHETAN has opened at the cinema this week.

* Bengal-Bihar distributor Dr. Sunil released MARD last week in West Bengal, and DUSHMAN this week in West Bengal and Bihar. In the coming days and months, he has the following line-up of releases for West Bengal as well as Bihar: GHULAM, MAJOR SAAB, SATYA, DIL SE (only West Bengal) and ZAKHAM.

* Cinemax cinema has recorded all shows house-full for the past 11 weeks! CHHOTA CHETAN drew all shows full in its 6th week, too. Before CC, TITANIC had had a 5-week run at the cinema, with cent per cent collections every week!

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Beautiful Flops

Films made by reputed directors from the South have in recent times failed to woo Hindi film viewers, primarily because of the directors’ concern more for the ‘form’ than the ‘substance’. The ‘form’ seems all too important in films like Priyadarsan’s Saat Rang Ke Sapne and Kabhi Na Kabhi, Sangeet Sivan’s Zor, Shankar’s Jeans, among others. A heavy overdose of aesthetics is what the viewer gets in these films, when all he is looking for is a good drama/story. This undue emphasis on visual appeal often means that the content takes a back-seat in such films. One can attribute this overly conscious sense of aesthetics to the fact that the South Indian directors are, perhaps, more technically aware than their Bombay counterparts. It is also understandable that they should apply these new techniques in their films as soon as they have mastered them. But in doing so, they often go overboard and reduce their films to merely attempts at showing off their technical prowess.

Moreover, undue insistence on mood lighting, use of bounced light almost uniformly throughout the film, extra-artistic (and sometimes, even bizarre, as in Priyadarsan’s Kabhi Na Kabhi) settings and unnecessary use of special effects distract the viewer from the subject matter of the film. These props irritate the viewer when the script does not match the form. A producer has rightly said that Priyadarsan makes even poverty look rich! But, jokes apart, it does look like the director is trying too hard to woo the viewers who, as a result, end up suspecting the director’s intentions. It is a proven fact that a film with good subject matter appeals more to Hindi film audience everywhere than films with extra-technical finesse but which lack in subject matter. It is about time Priyadarsan, Sivan, Rajiv Menon and company paid heed to this simple truth.

“….JAANEWALE KI YAAD AATI HAI“
RAJENDRA KUMAR BIDS ADIEU

Jubilee star Rajendra Kumar Tuli, who dominated the film scene from the mid-fifties to the seventies, passed away on 12th July at 3.30 a.m. at Breach Candy Hospital, Bombay, where he had been admitted ten days earlier for respiratory and cardiac complications and a blood ailment. He was 71 and is survived by his wife, son Kumar Gaurav and two daughters.

The funeral, held the same afternoon at the Santacruz crematorium, was attended by a large number of film celebrities, friends and relatives including Sunil Dutt, B.R. Chopra, Yash Chopra, Ramanand Sagar, Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Mohan Kumar, Naushad, Feroz Khan, Randhir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Manoj Kumar, Rakesh Roshan, Rajesh Roshan, Dara Singh, Chandrashekhar and others.

“Jaanewale kabhi nahin aate
Jaanewale ki yaad aati hai.”

One remembered these memorable lines of late Shailendra, during the final journey of the gentleman star Rajendra Kumar on July 12.

A partition refugee from Sialkot (Pakistan), Rajendra Kumar’s transition to stardom would read like a story of a comic-book hero. Those were the days when Dilip Kumar was the undisputed star. Rajendra Kumar appeared as an extra with Dilip Kumar in Mela (1948) and Devdas (1955) while working as an assistant to director H.S. Rawail. His passport to the industry was a letter of introduction for Rajinder Krishen.

Devendra Goel spotted Rajendra Kumar’s talent for acting and ventured to cast him as lead man in Vachan (1955). Fate ordained him with a spate of jubilees and successes beginning with director Vijay Bhatt’s Goonj Uthi Shehnai (1959), followed in the same year by Devendra Goel’s Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan, B.R. Chopra’s Dhool Ka Phool (directed by Yash Chopra), director Kedar Kapoor’s Do Behnen and director Jyoti Swaroop’s Santan. There was no looking back after that. The hits that followed in later years were Aas Ka Panchhi, Gharana, Kanoon, Mere Mehboob, Gehra Daag, Sasural, Hamrahi, Aayee Milan Ki Bela, Dil Ek Mandir, Arzoo, Sangam, Zindagi, Suraj, Ganwaar, Gora Aur Kala, Aap Aaye Bahar Aayee, Anjana, Talash and Geet. He had also acted in Mehboob’s Mother India (1957) and a Gujarati super-hit, Mehendi Rang Lagyo (opposite Usha Kiron). Rajendra Kumar turned a producer with Love Story (1981) and launched his son, Kumar Gaurav, as the lead main in it. He had also produced Naam, Jurrat and Phool.

Rajendra Kumar, also known as Jubilee Kumar because a large number of his films turned out to be jubilee hits, was a wise investor. He constructed the Dimple preview theatre and personally used to oversee its maintenance. He also invested in film shooting equipments like cameras and lights. However, due to his simple and unostentatious lifestye, he was dubbed “tight-fisted”.

A well-known fact about Rajendra Kumar is that he was repeated by his producers in Bombay as well as in South, like B.R. Chopra (Kanoon and Dhool Ka Phool), S.S. Vasan of Gemini (Zindagi, Gharana and Shatranj), Sridhar (Dil Ek Mandir and Dharti), Ramanand Sagar (Arzoo, Geet and Lalkar), L.V. Prasad (Sasural and Hamrahi), Venus Krishnamoorthy (Suraj and Saathi), Devendra Goel (Vachan, Pyar Ka Sagar and Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan), O.P. Ralhan (Gehra Daag and Talash) and Raj Kapoor (Sangam and Mera Naam Joker). Mohan Kumar made five films with him — Aas Ka Panchhi, Aayee Milan Ki Bela, Aman, Anjana and Aap Aaye Bahar Aayee — and the two remained great friends till the end.

Among the many who paid fulsome tributes to Rajendra Kumar were Naushad who said, “He was a simple-hearted gentleman and a talented actor.” Producer S. Raamanathan described him as “a man of fine human qualities, who was a great favourite with South producers. He used to be very co-operative and never behaved like an arrogant star.”

Prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee condoled the death of Rajendra Kumar and expressed profound grief. I & B minister Pramod Mahajan expressed his grief saying, “The world of cinema has become poorer by his death.” State minister for I & B, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, said, “The death of the veteran actor, who swayed the emotions of the cinegoers, is a great loss to the industry.” B.R. Chopra, who cried when he visited Rajendra Kumar’s house on hearing the news of his demise, said that he (Rajendra Kumar) gave very good performances in his two films, Dhool Ka Phool and Kanoon. Mohan Kumar, a close friend of Rajendra, said, “I had worked with him in five films and all of them were hits. He took success in his stride and never let it go to his head. He was a great person and was liked by everyone.” Ramanand Sagar said, “I am proud that out of 25 silver jubilee hits he gave, I had a share of four precious films.” Ashok Kumar, who worked with Rajendra Kumar in a number of films, had a very close relationship with him and began to cry on hearing the news of his death. He said, “I have no words to express my feelings for him.” Shammi Kapoor paid his respects saying, “He was a fine person and a fine actor. The film industry is indebted to him for his immense contribution.”

LATEST POSITION

MANN suffered a lot on account of its poor editing. Yet, first week collections at many places were brilliant. The makers have deleted scenes and two songs (total running time reduced is 29 minutes) but the re-editing seems to have been effected too late in the day.

Mann began to drop mid-week. It is dull in Bihar, C.I. and Rajasthan. 1st week Bombay 66,51,187 (95.75%) from 12 cinemas; Ahmedabad 22,11,239 from 4 cinemas, Padra 2,23,513, Vapi 6,49,904, Rajkot (mat.) 54,505 (1 unrecd.), Jamnagar 1,65,683 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Pune 14,73,353 from 4 cinemas (1 in mat.), Kolhapur 2,56,519, Solapur 3,99,085 from 2 cinemas, Sangli 2,03,000 (95%), Miraj 1,26,000 (92%), Islampur 1,72,151; Delhi 60,89,610 (93.17%) from 11 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 6,47,423 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 5,19,606, full, Agra 3,62,222, Allahabad 2,41,950, Meerut 2,77,311, Bareilly (6 days) 1,66,297 (64.04%), Hardwar 1,26,206, Saharanpur 2,00,006; Calcutta 42,63,319 from 24 cinemas; Nagpur 13,42,667 from 5 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 2,00,062, Amravati (5 days) 2,13,474, Akola 2,51,770, Raipur (6 days; gross) 3,47,886, Durg 1,22,661, Jalgaon 2,75,325, Rajnandgaon (6 days) 1,03,000, Chandrapur 1,99,391; Indore 3,12,084 (3 cinemas on F.H.), Bhopal 1,89,993 (1 on F.H.); Jaipur 11,17,674 from 4 cinemas, Bikaner 2,42,328; Hyderabad (gross) 45,28,309 from 18 cinemas (2 in noon), total share of 7 districts is over 40 lakh; Vijayawada (gross) 2,98,998.

Khaufnaak Raat 1st week Bombay 5,23,420 (42.29%) from 4 cinemas; 2nd week Delhi 86,231.

Benaam 2nd week Bombay 3,93,205 (47.29%) from 4 cinemas; Ahmedabad 28,157; 1st week Pune 2,72,329 from 3 cinemas; 2nd Delhi 1,64,420 from 2 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 30,189, Agra 39,131, Allahabad 15,885, 1st Bareilly 55,087 (24.64%); 2nd Calcutta 70,300; 1st Nagpur 1,50,115 from 2 cinemas; Bhopal 82,765; Bikaner 40,171.

Haseena Maan Jaayegi 3rd week Bombay 28,66,379 (71.14%) from 8 cinemas; Ahmedabad 6,54,095 from 6 cinemas, Rajkot 89,313, Jamnagar (mat.) 9,566 (1 unrecd.); Pune 6,04,186 from 4 cinemas (1 in mat.), Solapur 1,39,261 from 2 cinemas (1 in mat.); Delhi 26,91,866 from 8 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 2,95,750 from 3 cinemas, Lucknow 2,95,804, Agra 2,20,000, Allahabad 1,35,547; Calcutta 2,34,674; Nagpur 98,004, Jabalpur 92,412, Amravati (6 days) 1,09,722, Akola (27 shows) 1,00,007, Raipur (gross) 1,70,295, Durg (gross) 41,484, Jalgaon 94,000; Indore 1,18,874 (1 on F.H.), Bhopal 2,08,263 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 2,69,398, Ajmer 87,958, Bikaner 1,25,210; Hyderabad (gross) 6,03,599 from 4 cinemas.

Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam 4th week Bombay 49,39,255 (84.34%) from 11 cinemas; Ahmedabad 15,65,941 from 5 cinemas, Vapi 1,62,326, Rajkot 1,75,560 from 2 cinemas (1 in mat.), Jamnagar 70,364, Adipur 1,34,103; Pune 8,25,378 from 4 cinemas; Delhi 21,50,359 from 9 cinemas; Kanpur (6 days) 1,68,240 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,86,898, Agra 2,05,011, Allahabad 80,622, Bareilly (6 days) 46,033; Calcutta 7,70,466 from 7 cinemas; Nagpur 1,55,534 from 2 cinemas, 2nd Jabalpur 2,45,967, 4th Amravati (6 days) 1,28,255, Akola 1,05,512, Raipur (6 days; gross) 1,76,697, 3rd Wardha 39,905, 4th Chandrapur 48,234; Indore 1,16,217, Bhopal 1,44,860; Hyderabad (gross) 4,46,865 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon).

Mahashaktimaan (dubbed) is fair. (Its English version, The Matrix, is excellent.) 1st week Ahmedabad 1,34,387 (57%), Baroda 93,412 (82%); Kolhapur 86,536 (35%), Solapur 1,33,263 (89%), Sangli 84,686 (46%), Ichalkaranji 68,731 (50%), Malegaon 53,966 (48%); Belgaum 65,356 (82%); Indore 77,896 (40%); Aurangabad 1,20,990 (49%).

_____

Bindhast (Marathi; tax-free) 4th week Bombay 11,80,793 (52.46%) from 8 cinemas; Pune 1,15,678, Solapur 46,237.

ADITYA PANCHOLI ARRESTED, FREED ON BAIL

Aditya Pancholi was put in police lock-up at Santacruz (Bombay) on the morning of 15th July for injuring two police constables in a car accident at 1.30 a.m. According to the police, Aditya Pancholi was driving in an inebriated state. He is said to have first hit the motorcycle of the police constables, then an autorickshaw and then a dumper truck. Pancholi told the police that he had not committed any criminal act and that it was an accident. He was freed on bail the same day.

BHOOMI PUJA OF TWO CINEMAS IN SHIVPURI

Premnarayan and Radheshyam Rathod alias Munia performed bhoomi puja for two cinemas at Shivpuri. The puja was performed at the hands of Gajanand Patel. Munia already owns Shriram Smriti, Jyoti Talkies and Satyam Talkies at Guna; Laxmi Mandir and Mahesh Mandir at Ashok Nagar; and Laxmi Talkies at Aron.

The two cinemas at Shivpuri will come up within six months, according to Munia, who is also planning to construct some more cinemas at other centres of C.I.

ASHOK VASHODIA APPOINTED SECRETARY TO HRITHIK

Ashok Vashodia has joined as secretary to Hrithik Roshan. He can be contacted on phone nos. 631-4362 (residence) and 649-2352/605-0393 (office). Cellphone: 98200-45797. Fax: 605-0391.

YOU ASKED IT

Which is the most ideal and cost-effective medium for a film’s release publicity?

– The most cost-effective is paper publicity but the most effective is, of course, the television medium.

What is the difference between the Kargil war heroes and our film heroes?

– While the Kargil hero fights for defending the line of control (LoC), the film hero fights for his price and knows no line of control!

What do you predict for the second half of the year?

– It will be good, very good. So relax!

Among the old-time directors, who is still going strong?

– Only Yash Chopra. Who else?

DO YOU KNOW?

* The already big screen of Metro, Bombay, will assume a bigger dimension for the screening of Subhash Ghai’s TAAL. The screen will become bigger by 33% in keeping with the film’s grandeur. The screen is being changed by the cinema after a gap of 42 years.

* After playing football in New Delhi, cricket stars will take on the Bengali film stars for the benefit of army jawans’ welfare on August 8 in Calcutta. Organised by Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA) in collaboration with the Federation of technicians and workers of Tollygunge, the match will feature Mithun Chakraborty, Prasenjit, Ranjit Mullick and company on one side and cricketers Kapil Dev, Ajay Jadeja, Laxmi Ratan Shukla and, of course, Saurav Ganguly and company on the other. In Calcutta, it will be cricket.

* In an effort to show solidarity with our jawans in Kargil, producer K.P. Singh and director Kundan Shah called off a day’s shooting of HUM TO MOHABBAT KAREGA last week in Hyderabad, to participate in a special rally arranged by the Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber of Commerce. The entire unit, including stars Bobby Deol and Karisma Kapoor, spent the day collecting funds for the noble cause.

* For the first time ever in the history of Gujarati films, a father and son are being pitted against each other at the box-office. This week’s Gujarati releases have father Naresh Kanodia (in MAN SAAYBA NI MEDIYE) and son Hitoo Kanodia (in SENTHI NU SINDOOR)!

MIX MASALA

ACHIEVEMENT INDEED!

The other day, we received a telephone call from a rather jubilant producer of a Mithun starrer. “God, I am so happy!”, he gushed over the phone. We would have thought that his film had become a hit at the ticket-windows or something, but then… So, what was the reason behind his ecstacy, we probed. “My film has not run into a single delivery problem,” he exclaimed, adding, “Saari deliveries smoothly ho gayee. That’s cause for celebration.” Yes, if it’s a Mithun starrer these days, we guess, smooth deliveries themselves are an achievement!

Many Important Awards For Hindi Films

‘KUCH KUCH HOTA HAI’ BAGS NATIONAL AWARD
‘Godmother’ Picks up Six

Yash Johar’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, with which son Karan Johar made a remarkable debut as director, has bagged the National Award for the best popular film providing wholesome entertainment. It has also won the best singer (female) award for Alka Yagnik.

Shyam Benegal’s Samar has been adjudged the best film. It has also bagged the best screenplay award for Ashok Mishra.

Ajay Devgan shared the best actor award for his performance in Zakhm with Mammootty for his enactment of the title role in Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (English), directed by Dr. Jabbar Patel. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar has also bagged the best art direction award for Nitin Desai.

Godmother, directed by Vinay Shukla, won the best actress award for Shabana Azmi. The film also won the best feature film award in Hindi in the language category. It has won four other awards: best lyrics (Maati re maati) award for Javed Akhtar; best music for Vishal Bhardwaj; best singer (male) for Sanjeev Abhyankar; and best editing award for Renu Saluja. In all, Godmother has bagged six awards.

The Nargis Dutt award for the best film on national integration has been won by Zakhm, produced by Pooja Bhatt.

The best supporting actor award has gone to Manoj Bajpayee for Satya, and the best supporting actress award, to Suhasini Mulay for Hu Tu Tu.

Mani Ratnam’s Dil Se.. has won two awards: for best cinematography (Santosh Sivan) and for best audiography (R. Sridhar).

It is after a gap of several years that Hindi films in 1998 have bagged most of the important awards.

OTHER AWARDS

Besides winning the best cinematography award for Dil Se.., Santosh Sivan has bagged an award for direction for Malli (Tamil) which has been selected as the best environmental film. Malli has also won an award for child artiste baby Amma (Shwetha).

Rajeevnath has won the best director award for Janani (Malayalam). The Indira Gandhi award for the first film of a director has gone to Venu for Daya (Malayalam) which also won the best costume award for S.B. Satheesan.

The best children’s film award has been won by Virendra Saini for Kabhi Pass Kabhi Fail. Raja Sen’s Atmiyo Swajan (Bengali) has won an award for the best film on family welfare. Chintavishtayaya Shyamala (Malayalam) has got an award for portraying a woman’s struggle.

The 46th National Film Awards were announced at a press conference in New Delhi on July 16. Information and Broadcasting minister Pramod Mahajan and chairpersons of the various juries addressed the conference. Minister of state for I & B Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was also present.

A record number of 114 feature and non-feature films in different Indian languages and English were viewed by a jury headed by D.V.S. Raju. Shaji N. Karun headed the non-feature jury. M.T. Vasudevan Nair headed the jury to select the best book on cinema and best cinema journalist.

BEST BOOK

In The Forest Hangs A Bridge won the best non-feature film award while Dr. Kishore Vaswani’s Cinemaee Bhasha Aur Hindi Samvaadon Ka Vishleshan was adjudged the best book on cinema. Meenakshi Shedde was chosen the best film critic.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Cut Short

Following the release of Mann last Friday, producer-director Indra Kumar and producer Ashok Thakeria took off for London and New York for the film’s premiere shows there. But after reaching London, Indra Kumar had to cut his trip short and return to India — to shorten the film! In keeping with the general consensus, Indra Kumar went a-trimming. And he finally effected cuts to the extent of 29 minutes! Two songs have been completely chopped off and scenes/shots of a total running time of 19 minutes have been thrown off.

Curiously enough — well, actually, not so curiously, after all — some distributors did not even wait for Indra Kumar’s advice. They exercised the cuts, apne mann se!

Operation Oppositions

Producers are wary of releasing their films in the face of oppositions. And what exactly constitutes an opposition? Well, for decades now, anything and everything, so to say, is construed an opposition to the box-office. Ramzan is an opposition, rains are an opposition, so are examinations, so is television, so are pre-Diwali days, so are Navratri days (especially in Gujarat and Maharashtra) and so also Ganpati festival (in parts of Maharashtra and, these days, in other states too). There are plenty of other oppositions too. But actually, after Vashu Bhagnani braved the World Cup cricket and brought his Biwi No. 1 in direct opposition of the event, is any opposition really an opposition? The collections of Biwi No. 1 were phenomenal all through the cricket days. That India did not enter the final could be one reason, but what about the days when India was still in the race? It would, therefore, be in the fitness of things if producers and distributors did some rethinking on the issue of oppositions and deduced whether it is actually right to keep their films away from the so-called oppositions and select release dates that don’t clash with the oppositions.

The ‘Taal’ Tale

When will Taal see release? And when should it be released? The answers to both the questions cannot be given definitively as of now because of the following given situation:

Subhash Ghai was in a fix whether to get Taal on August 6. His distributors insisted that Ghai should release Taal on 6th. That’s because if Taal were to be postponed, the distributors would have to let go of the chain of cinemas booked in their circuits and would, obviously, not be able to get a new chain that would be good enough, because of the line-up of releases.

So, Subhash Ghai, as of now, is determined to release Taal on 6th.

But exhibitors and others, who wish well for Subhash Ghai, are strongly of the opinion that Taal should not come on 6th. Why? They think that the promotion of ‘the beat of passion’ is yet to reach a crescendo which may not be possible till 6th August.

Many voices and whispers in the trade seem to strongly suggest, “Let the promotion be in sur and taal with the big canvas of the film!”

Dimple Luck

Rajendra Kumar’s daughter, Dimple, was undoubtedly his lucky mascot. And this can be proved by two examples. Before he built himself a new bungalow on Pali Hill, Bandra, he used to live in a bungalow on Carter Road, which was known as Dimple House. Till the time he lived in Dimple House, he rolled in great luck. One after the other, his films used to click and, as an actor, he was in great demand. It was only after he reluctantly sold the bungalow to Rajesh Khanna that Rajendra Kumar moved to his new bungalow at Pali Hill. Incidentally, when Rajendra Kumar sold the bungalow to Rajesh Khanna, he laid down a condition that the bungalow’s name be changed. Rajesh Khanna, therefore, changed it to ‘Aashirwad’. As fate would have it, Rajesh Khanna was to ultimately marry a girl named Dimple.

Much later, Rajendra Kumar constructed, with great love, the ultra-modern preview theatre, which he named ‘Dimple’, in his bungalow premises. This preview theatre is a great favourite of the industry folks even today.

It was a common sight to see the man taking a round of his preview theatre every evening and inspecting every nook and corner of the floor. If he found anything littered there, he would himself pick up the litter and throw it in the dustbin. Why, one even remembers seeing him keeping the bathroom slippers in their place! So much did he care for ‘Dimple’, the name that spelt luck for the jubilee star!

Title Of The Week

Bhooton Ka Honeymoon!

What The Left Hand Does…

So often do we observe — quite hilariously, might we add — how different government agencies take ridiculously contrasting stances on the same issue. Mahesh Bhatt’s Zakhm has bagged the Nargis Dutt National Award for 1998 for the best film on national integration. But wait a minute! How can that be? After all, wasn’t it another government agency — the CBFC, of course — which had not so long ago objected to the communal angle in the same film? Perhaps, there is some logic in the manner in which the government thinks, but try as we may, we fail to see any. Quite often, as in this instance, it seems to be just a case of — what the left hand does, the right hand does not know!

Gujarat Ma Hit Ne Halol Ma Jalso!

Lucky Studios at Halol (in Gujarat) looked decorated for a marriage. The excitement in the atmosphere was no less than what one witnesses at a weddinig. Well, in a way, the occasion was also a celebration of a marriage — top Gujarati film producer-director Govindbhai Patel’s marriage to success! For years now, the two — Govindbhai and Success — have lived like man and wife, inseparable, made-for-each-other.

After producing several hits almost in a row, Govindbhai delivered his biggest hit last year when his Desh Re Joya Dada Pardesh Joya hit the screens and simultaneously, the bull’s eye. The film went on to write new box-office history not just in Gujarat and Saurashtra but in Overseas, too. Not just the masses which usually patronise Gujarati films, this one, for the first time, also brought classes by the bulk to the cinemas. If the film became a blockbuster, its music, too, made the cash registers jingle as never before.

It was the celebration of the golden jubilee of Desh Re Joya Dada Pardesh Joya for which Lucky Studios on 13th July was bedecked like a bride. Govindbhai Patel, who turned a director with DRJDPJ, was a picture of humility as he, with his equally humble family, welcomed the guests who had come from all over Gujarat and Saurashtra to partake in the jubilee function which was preceded by the muhurt of Govindbhai’s next, Gaam Ma Piyaryu Ne Gaam Ma Sasaryu.

Rajeshbhai of Galaxy Pictures, Rajkot, sounded the clapper-board for the muhurt shot as Jeevanbhai Patel and Mrs. Govindbhai Patel cracked the auspicious coconuts, and Komal Nahta, editor of Film Information, switched on the camera. Govindbhai himself directed the first shot — a dramatic one — on Roma Manik and Hiten Kumar. The film stars four more heroes (Sameer Rajda and three others) and four other heroines of which one, Nandini, will be introduced in the film. Another new face in the film will be Heera alias Hiralal Thakkar who is a name to reckon with on Gujarati stage. Govindbhai had approached Alok Nath and Paresh Rawal for the role but, unable to get their bulk dates, he ultimately opted for Hiralal Thakkar and is more than happy with his choice.

Muhurt and lunch over, the latter part of the day was devoted to the jubilee celebrations. Govindbhai had got made trophies for every cinema where the film had had a meritorious run (and they were plenty) and every music shop which recorded outstanding sales of DRJDPJ audio cassettes, besides the film’s artistes, technicians and spot boys. Most of the trophies were presented by the lead pair of DRJDPJ, Roma Manik and Hiten Kumar. Govindbhai made an exception in the case of the trophy of late actor Narayan Rajgor who died last year following a freak accident on the sets of Desh Re Joya Dada Pardesh Joya. In fact, the function started with Govindbhai paying tributes to his “dear friend Narayan Kaka”. He could barely complete two sentences of his opening address when he burst into tears. In a quivering voice and with tears rolling down his cheeks, Govindbhai managed to convey to the audience that he would start off the trophy distribution function by personally presenting Narayan Kaka’s trophy to his son, Manish. A tearful Manish Rajgor came up on the dais and accepted the trophy even as several persons on the dais and in the audience were seen wiping their moistened eyes.

After the function, Govindbhai explained how thrilled he was because God had showered blessings on his new film in the form of rains which poured as soon as the muhurt shot was canned! Govindbhai also let us in to the secret of his success. “I do my home-work thoroughly before shooting begins,” he revealed and added, “God is great. He has been very obliging towards me.” And for GMPNGMS, Govindbhai will be immersed in its shooting for 50 days now. Before the shooting, he has had his script (story and screenplay are by Govindbhai himself, while the dialogues have been penned by Arvind Barot who is also the film’s lyricist and music director) cent per cent ready. Why, Govindbhai even plans to mix the film in Dolby sound, which will make this as the first Gujarati film in Dolby sound. For this, he has had detailed technical discussions so that due care may be taken while shooting. It was exhibitors D.Y. Pattani, Balaporia and Girishbhai, who prevailed upon Govindbhai to make his new film with Dolby sound. “The three of them volunteered to lend me some lakhs for the Dolby mixing and were willing to forgo the amount if the film did not do well when released!”, disclosed an ecstatic Govindbhai.

GMPNGMS will also be made in Marathi but Govindbhai will shoot the Marathi version after about 20 days of completing the Gujarati version’s shooting. And then, he will make the Rajasthani version of Desh Re Joya Dada Pardesh Joya. And one fine day, Govindbhai might just make a Hindi film too. “If I ever do so, it will be with Aamir Khan,” he smiles.

– Komal Nahta

KYA KEHNA!

Tips Films’ Kya Kehna! is an unusual and bold story of an unwed mother. A young happy-go-lucky girl from a decent family is fooled by a college boy into believing that he is very straightforward when actually he is a flirt and a womaniser. She falls in love with him and he seizes the opportunity to impregnate her but once that is done, he refuses to get tied down to her by marriage. He agrees that the child in her womb is his, but simply turns down her family’s proposal for marriage. Rather than abort the child, the girl decides to give birth to it, and for this, she first fights with her family and then, once the family sees reason in her argument, she stoically faces the world which pokes fun at her. Ultimately, she manages to emotionally move the boy responsible for her miseries. He even asks for her hand in marriage but by then, a childhood friend has also stepped in and is ready to give his name to the child who is about to be born. How the bold mother-to-be chooses between the two boys forms the climax.

For its very content (writer: Honey Irani), the film has immense appeal for ladies. Although the conviction in the story is not strong enough to create a long-lasting impact, the novelty, nevertheless, appeals to the audience. The portion in which the girl’s family members miss her, after she is thrown out by her father, is heart-rending. The scene in which she is actually thrown out may look unrealistic to the big-city audience but will evoke sympathy of the cinegoers in non-metropolitan cities. The girl’s speech on her college annual day should have been more forceful; it is, however, emotional enough to get the audience on her side. The flirtatious boy is shown as a grey character when a black character was the demand. Again, the climax is a bit tame. A bold story like this particular one required a climax full of drama and histrionics. Dialogues are fairly good.

Preity Zinta acts quite well and is greatly aided by an author-backed and meaty role. She manages to evoke sympathy for her character, at times. She, however, leaves something to be desired in the pre-climax and climax scenes. Saif Ali Khan acts well but does not consistently look good. Chandrachur Singh gets less scope and is just about average. Anupam Kher puts in a sincere performance and shines as Preity’s father. Farida Jalal is very good, as usual. Mamik does an able job. Navneet Nishan could have done much better. Puneet (as Preity’s second brother) is effective. Amit (as the youngest brother) is wonderful. Nivedita, as Mamik’s wife, is alright. Reeta Bhaduri, Rajiv Verma and Vikas Anand lend average support. Deven Varma and Daisy Irani are hardly funny!

Director Kundan Shah’s handling of the bold subject is quite good. He manages to keep the drama interesting all through. Music (Rajesh Roshan) is extremely good. The title song is a hit number and it has been used in happy and sad versions very appropriately. ‘Jaaneman jaane jaan’, ‘O Soniye’, ‘Pyara bhaiya’ and ‘Dekhiye aji jaaneman’ are also appealing songs. Camerawork (Rajesh Joshi) is of a good standard. Background score is effective.

On the whole, Kya Kehna!, an emotional fare for women, will click for its novel and bold theme. Should prove class A in some circuits.

Released on 19-5-2000 at Liberty and 9 other cinemas of Bombay by Tips Films Pvt. Ltd. thru R.G. International. Publicity: extraordinary. Opening: excellent. …….Also released all over. Opening was superb almost everywhere.

LATEST POSITION

Heavy rains in Bombay on Thursday adversely affected box-office collections. …The excellent opening response to KYA KEHNA! has emphasised the fact that appropriate and enthusiastic promotion helps and how!

Jung has not found appreciation. Is a plus fare in East Punjab because of the excellent opening last week. It, however, dropped midweek even in Punjab. 1st week Bombay 56,27,531 (80%) from 13 cinemas (8 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 11,73,875 from 5 cinemas (1 in daily 2 shows), Baroda (28 shows) 1,84,609, Vapi 4,89,350 from 2 cinemas; Pune 12,49,029 from 7 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 2,82,337 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Sangli 1,69,464 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Hubli 83,265, Belgaum 98,384, Dharwad 57,628; Delhi 26,67,307 (41.65%) from 13 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 3,46,481 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,81,804, Agra 2,25,000, Varanasi 3,15,885 from 2 cinemas, Allahabad 1,85,000, Bareilly (6 days) 1,30,488; Calcutta 20,63,010 from 21 cinemas; Jabalpur 1,52,786, Amravati (6 days) 2,01,692, Raipur 1,11,839, Bhilai (6 days) 81,2444, Jalgaon 2,09,541, Yavatmal 51,168; Indore 2,13,769 from 2 cinemas (3 on F.H.), Bhopal 1,26,859 from 2 cinemas (1 unrecd.); Jaipur (29 shows) 5,57,781 from 4 cinemas; Hyderabad (gross) 25,13,085 from 10 cinemas; Bangalore (nett) 2,79,282; Guntur (gross) 87,532.

……….

Chal Mere Bhai nosedives (drops by 50% in most of the cinemas) and falls flat. 2nd week Bombay 39,94,447 (65%) from 11 cinemas (9 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 10,79,997 from 6 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Vapi 1,61,145, Rajkot 1,57,800 (1 in matinee unrecd.), Jamnagar 50,300 (1 in matinee unrecd.); Pune 9,20,759 from 5 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 1,83,446; Delhi 17,31,583 from 9 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 2,18,401 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,78,127, Agra 2,60,000 Varanasi 1,25,628, Allahabad 70,651, Bareilly 91,181 (1st 1,72,937), Hardwar 30,000; Calcutta 5,12,083 from 2 cinemas; Amravati (6 days) 1,39,045, Akola 1,56,590, total 3,62,197, Raipur (gross) 2,55,377 (1st 3,93,475), Durg 58,141 (1st 1,21,727), Jalgaon 1,14,478 (1st 2,18,786), Wardha 37,845, Yavatmal (last) 58,183 (1st 1,57,114), Bilaspur 83,240 (1st 1,74,202); Jaipur 1,68,926.

Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai 18th week Bombay 6,92,011 (51.51%) from 3 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 5,40,186 from 3 cinemas, Baroda (28 shows) 1,75,246; Pune 3,47,061 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 1,13,496; Delhi 4,73,582 from 4 cinemas; Lucknow 1,75,173, Agra 62,000, Varanasi 91,139, Allahabad 53,918; Calcutta 2,87,679 from  3 cinemas; Jabalpur 92,746 (17th 92,394), total 22,36,806, Amravati 86,550, Akola 94,982, total 21,91,388, Raipur 75,000, total 22,04,915, 3rd week Bhilai (6 days) 32,290, 1st week Karanja 1,02,276, 18th Jalgaon 72,358 (17th 71,038), 13th week Wardha 37,948, 17th week Chandrapur 85,493, total 22,72,659; 18th week Bhopal 1,09,816; 18th combined week Jaipur 60,123; Hyderabad (gross) 4,46,477 from 2 cinemas.

PADMALAYA TO GO INTO ACTION IN HOLLYWOOD

Hyderabad-based Padmalaya Telefilms Ltd., a division of Padmalaya Films, has plans to enter the US film industry to produce action movies on the lines of Broken Arrow and Speed.

The entry of Jackie Chan into the US movie market has prompted Padmalaya to venture into Hollywood. Padmalaya is deciding whether to have co-production tie-ups with US production houses or enter the market directly.

Padmalaya will not utilise services of Indian actors but will recruit stars like Arnold Sachwarzenegger and Sharon Stone.

G.V. Narasimha Rao, Padmalaya’s company director and operations in-charge, said that it will leverage its strength from its experience of producing over 60 films in India under the Padmalaya banner.

The company will tap the market with an equity issue which is scheduled to open on May 31. In recent times, German film production houses also have stormed Hollywood. In addition to producing action movies for the global audience, Padmalaya will produce a mega film for a global production house, using its animation and design shop base.

The company, founded by Telugu film superstar Krishna, is entering the capital market with an issue of 25 lakh equity shares of Rs. 10 each at a cash premium of Rs. 90, aggregating Rs. 25 crore. The shares are proposed to be listed on the Bombay and Hyderabad stock exchanges.

The proceeds will be used to set up joint ventures and studios, expand the company’s marketing networks and procure films for its library.

Padmalaya has tied up with indiainfo.com for creation of web ads for its portals, and with In-House Productions Ltd. for marketing television software.

GRAND OPENING FOR RAJHANS CINEMA IN SURAT

Rajhans Cinema in Surat was inaugurated on the auspicious Buddha Poornima day (18th May). The opening was very largely attended and was a grand affair. From Bombay, those who attended the cinema inauguration were U.A. Thadani, N.N. Sippy, Shyam Shroff, Balkrishna Shroff, Devendra Shah, Inder Raj Kapoor, Kantibhai (Rajshri), Pinky Badlani and Sanjay Chaturvedi. Ramesh Sippy, Rakesh Sippy, Haresh Bhatia and Raj Lalchandani were also scheduled to attend, but they could not reach in time to board the train to Surat, owing to a torrential downpour on 18th in Bombay. Haresh Lakhani and Ramesh Lakhani of Sagar Talkies, Baroda, and Mahendrabhai of Gopi Cinema, Anand also attended.

Jayesh Desai and Sanjay, the two owners of the new cinema, played perfect hosts. The cinema was thrown open to the public from 19th. Kya Kehna! is the opening attraction.

SAJJAN PASSES AWAY

Veteran actor Sajjan passed away in Bombay on 15th May following cardiac arrest. He was 80 and is survived by his wife, three sons and two daughters.

Sajjan came to films via theatre as he was a dramatist. He joined Prithvi Theatres and shot into prominence after playing the role of Mohammed Ali Jinnah in the stage play ‘Deewar’. He played the hero’s role in a number of films including Saiyan (opposite Madhubala) and Sheesha (opposite Nargis). Notable among the 200 films he acted in are Hum Log, Muqaddar, Najaria, Neelampari, Poonam, Nirmohi, Toofan, Bandish, Parichay, Johny Mera Naam, Dil Diya Dard Liya, Amir Garib and Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi. He had also acted in some teleserials like Vikram Vetal.

Former FWICE president Chandrashekhar described Sajjan as the main pillar of the Cine Aritstes’ Association. Sajjan was also a poet and he wrote the popular non-film song of yesteryears, Mera pyar mujhe lauta do. He was very fond of appearing in different get-ups and he once played eight roles in a single drama.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Calcutta has shifted to Bombay! Not metaphorically, but cinematically. Producer Salim’s bilingual — MITTI (Hindi) and OH CALCUTTA (English) — is being shot in a Calcutta basti set put up at Chandivali Studios. The authentic set has been created by art director R. Varman.

* SHABDAVEDI (Kannada) is celebrating 100 days in 18 cinemas in Karnataka. From Bombay-Karnataka alone, it has yielded a share of 34.17 lakh!

FIRST TIME EVER

* KAHO NAA…PYAAR HAI is poised to write history in Wardha at Durga Talkies. It is the first ever film which will celebrate 100 days at Wardha! The film, running in its 14th week now, has consistently been creating record week after week. It will complete 100 days next week. The cinema was started in 1947.

YOU ASKED IT

Why is it that only Gujarat has multiplexes coming up in the state?

– Because it is the Gujarat government which has formulated a policy for new multiplexes. The Maharashtra government’s policy is still to be gazetted though more than a year has elapsed since it was formulated. But Rajasthan is another state which has a policy for multiplexes and, therefore, some cineplexes are coming up in that state too.

Most of the big, star-cast films get huge monies for Overseas, satellite and music rights. When their recoveries from the above three are big, why can’t producers of such films sell the territorial rights of India at more reasonable prices?

– Wish, all producers thought like you. But the fact is that everybody wants to become cash-rich/cash-richer/cash-richest.

Is it true that Sunny Deol is not acting in Rajkumar Santoshi’s Lajja?

– Yes, Sunny is not acting in LAJJA… Kareena Kapoor, too, is not in Sanjay Tolani and Rajiv Tolani’s untitled film, being directed by Raj Kanwar. A new heroine is being finalised.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Shah Rukh Versus Hrithik: The Diwali Dhamakas

If the release schedules are anything to go by, there’ll be fireworks of a different kind this Diwali. Yash Chopra’s Mohabbatein, starring Shah Rukh Khan, and Vinod Chopra’s Mission Kashmir, starring Hrithik Roshan, are both scheduled for release on Diwali. There are clearly two camps in the industry — one which swears, Shah Rukh is still no. 1, and the other which feels Hrithik is the new numero uno. Both these camps will keenly watch the opening response to the two films and then, the debate about who is no. 1 will gather more ground. As in the trade, there’s divided opinion among the public too. Nobody is prepared to believe — and sadly so — that both, Shah Rukh and Hrithik, can and actually will co-exist. And like this Diwali, there’ll be fireworks on the Diwali of 2001 too. But next year, there won’t be two releases of the two stars. They will be seen together in the same film. Yes, Karan Johar’s Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, starring Shah Rukh and Hrithik (besides, Amitabh, Jaya Bachchan, Kajol and Kareena Kapoor) will be released on Diwali 2001.

Cover Boy Hrithik!

Stars making it to covers of glossies is old hat. But what is new — and news — is that Hrithik Roshan has been featured on the covers of notebooks of students! Subhash Sharma, who was at one time a film producer (he had co-produced Suhaag, directed by Manmohan Desai), has, along with Amrut Shah of Sundaram Multi Pap. Ltd., has introduced long notebooks with an autographed Hrithik photograph on the cover. The 192-page notebooks, priced at Rs. 19, have a brochure and a fan club card. The back cover of the notebook has photographs of Hrithik in different poses and a ‘good thought’ signed by the star. There’s also information about Hrithik’s birth date (January 10), his height (6 feet), age (25), the name of his school and college, where he can be contacted on the website, and his fanmail address. The book printers should have been thoughtful enough to add a line or two from Hrithik on the notebook, exhorting the students to study hard. That actually should have been Hrithik’s ‘good thought’.

Lakhani’s Confidence: Wah! Kya Kehna!!

Haresh Lakhani of Sagar Cinema, Baroda, was, perhaps, the only person in the trade who was supremely confident that Kya Kehna! would take a bumper start. Despite two weak heroes in the film, his confidence was born out of the audience response to the film’s theatrical trailer and also out of the brilliant publicity done by Tips, on satellite channels. Not just that, Lakhani was also ready to put his money where his mouth was as he even offered to buy its sub-distribution rights for Gujarat from Bombay distributor U.A. Thadani; but the latter refused to sell the rights. Anyway, Lakhani booked the film as the opening attraction at the new Rajhans cinema in Surat. Says Lakhani, “People laughed at me when I booked Kya Kehna! at Rajhans, but today, with my stand vindicated, I am having the last laugh.” And rightly so.

Who Is The Hero?

There is an unwritten law in the industry that it is the heroes who command an initial for the film; however popular a heroine, she cannot attract the audience to the cinemas on day one. But this week’s release, Kya Kehna!, has opened to excellent houses despite the presence of two heroes (Saif Ali Khan and Chandrachur Singh) who are far from ‘hot’ among the audience. So, is Preity Zinta the real hero of the film? While Kya Kehna! has definitely broken the myth that only heroes can command a good opening, it would be wrong to give the entire credit to heroine Preity Zinta for the stupendous start to Kya Kehna!. Actually, the major credit should go to producers Ramesh and Kumar Taurani for their brilliant publicity, trailers and promotion of the film. Rajesh Roshan’s music, especially the title song, also helped. It would not be out of place to mention here that even after the super-success of Nagina, Sridevi’s Sherni had opened to poor houses.

Downpour Not A Dampener

Bombay distributors and exhibitors will not forget the inauguration of Rajhans cinema in Surat for a long time to come. Those who attended its opening will not forget it for the manner in which they made it to the railway station in Bombay to take the train to Surat on the afternoon of 18th May. And those who could not attend its opening will remember it for the efforts they made to board the train but couldn’t. Life in Bombay was thrown completely out of gear on 18th due to heavy rains, flooding and water clogging. Train services were disrupted and road traffic moved at a snail’s pace in many parts of the city. To make matters worse, the Karnavati Express train, on which the invitees from Bombay were booked, left from Borivli station instead of Bombay central station as usual. Most of those who had to travel, had almost reached Bombay Central when they learnt of the rescheduling of the train. With local train services discontinued around that time, the only alternative was to reach Borivli, about 40 kilometres away, by road. While Pinky Badlani and Sanjay Chaturvedi managed to reach Borivli in time for the Karnavati Express, Ramesh Lakhani (of Baroda), who had all the tickets with him, could not reach in time. As a result, Badlani and Chaturvedi had to buy fresh tickets. As for Ramesh Lakhani, none of the 21 tickets he had for Karnavati could be used! He along with U.A. Thadani, N.N. Sippy, Inder Raj Kapoor and Kantibhai travelled to Surat in another train. Shyam Shroff, Balkrishna Shroff and Devendra Shah had fortunately gone to Surat earlier that day and, therefore, did not have to face nature’s fury in Bombay. Ramesh Sippy and his son, Rakesh Sippy, as also Komal Nahta reached Bombay Central with great efforts, but could not make it to Borivli station. Haresh Bhatia and Raj Lalchandani also missed the train — and, therefore, the grand opening.

‘Khud Butter Chicken Khayega Aur…”

An exhibitor of Moradabad and Bareilly (U.P.) had booked a recently-released film at his two cinemas by paying handsome MGs to the film’s Delhi-U.P. distributor. The exhibitor had reposed complete faith on the film’s director. So, when the film fared dismally, much to his shock, the exhibitor reacted by saying, “I never curse anybody, but I am making an exception now. I curse this director with all my heart. He has not only made an inferior film but he has also made an incomplete film (‘incomplete’, meaning without a proper climax). Yeh khud toh butter chicken khayega aur hamaari dal-roti chheen-ne chala hai.” The outburst was an expression of the exhibitor’s heartburn and revealed the extent to which he had burnt his fingers!

The Hrithik Quake!

TREMORS IN CITY PULSE

KOMAL NAHTA

What happens at Bombay’s Santacruz airport is just a curtain-raiser to what is to happen at Ahmedabad’s Vallabhbhai Patel airport an hour later. The ground hostesses of Jet Airways are fighting over who would escort Hrithik Roshan to the security check. The security guys pretend to be more restrained than their excitement can permit them — they are, perhaps, thinking of the stories they would narrate to their kids at home, of Hrithik, the heartthrob of generation today. The co-passengers can’t believe their eyes and luck. Is it Hrithk they are seeing in their midst? Is it the Hrithik? Autograph seekers rush to the new icon with whatever pieces of paper they can lay their hands on, for the signature that could be worth more than Rs. 2 crore in the film industry. After all, Hrithik Roshan’s debut film, Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai, has hit pay dirt. In fact, it is for the 100 days’ celebration of the film that Hrithik and dad Rakesh Roshan, the producer and director of the biggest hit of the year so far, are flying to Ahmedabad on 14th May. The celebrations are scheduled for the evening at one of India’s best cinemas — the City Pulse multiplex in Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat.

On the flight, star-struck stewards and high-on-Hrithik hostesses go through the routine of serving refreshments to the passengers with alarming speed. For, they have a more important job on hand — to take Hrithik’s autograph for themselves, family members, friends, distant relatives, may be, even foes! To the air staff’s good fortune, physique-conscious Hrithik chooses not to eat or drink anything on flight and utilises all of the 50 minutes to sign autographs and chat with them.

Thousands of eager spectators have dotted the airport boundary to have a look at the hero long before the flight touches base. Sensing the mob excitement, Ashok Purohit, the owner of City Pulse, and his family have very thoughtfully arranged for a car to pick up the Roshans from the tarmac itself. The cool drive to the hotel, close to the airport, is a welcome change after the initial 15 minutes of the flight when the cooling system had failed. Hrithik had used the menu card to fan himself even as fans of all age groups in the aeroplane fanned his ego.

The scene in the hotel lobby is equally crazy. Young girls and boys, with their mothers and fathers in tow, let out shrieks of joy as Hrithik descends from the car. One little boy is heard chanting, “Hrithik….. O mummy….. O mummy…..,” clutching his sister’s hand tight lest he faint. The one-film hero waves out to the crowds, shakes hands with some of them and takes the elevator to his spacious suite on the second floor of the hotel. Papa Roshan complains playfully, “Previously, at least some people used to ask me for my autograph. Now, once they get Hrithik’s autograph, they don’t even bother about mine.” Of course, the well-meaning pride in papa’s voice is there for all to see. Then Roshan Sr. goes on to relate an incident that had taken place at the friendly cricket match between Sachin Tendulkar XI and Hrithik XI the previous day in Bombay. A little boy, barely four years old, unable to reach Hrithik Roshan for an autograph, had pushed his autograph book into Rakesh Roshan’s hand and pleaded, “Uncle, please sign Hrithik Roshan!”

Before the star and star-maker zip off to City Pulse to make an appearance in all the three cinemas in the multiplex, Ashok Purohit and his wife feed them with figures over tea and biscuits. Hrithik orders for sandwiches as Purohit announces that KN…PH has already grossed Rs. 65 lakh in 17 weeks at City Pulse alone. “My desire is to touch Rs. 1 crore mark on the silver jubilee of the film,” says Purohit to the beaming Roshans. Incidentally, this is the highest collection a single film has grossed in the year-long history of City Pulse which opened in May ’99. It may not be possible to add another Rs. 35 lakh in 8 weeks to reach the target set by Purohit, but it would still remain the highest grossing film so far at the multiplex.

Hrithik informs about his portal which father-in-law-to-be, Sanjay Khan, plans to launch. “It will take some time to be launched, may be four or five months because I’ve got to sit and understand the whole thing,” he explains. But will the busier-than-the-proverbial-bee actor find time for all this even as every producer and director worth his name in the industry approaches the Roshans with a script that’s “written only for Hrithik”? The teenage sensation answers that indirectly when he reveals later, in reply to a question whether girlfriend Suzanne gets disturbed by the unprecedented female adulation that’s come his way. “She is not disturbed by the female fan-following but she definitely gets disturbed because I don’t get any time for her,” he reveals. “She comes to meet me at the gym at night when I am working out. That’s the only time we get to see each other.” He pauses for a while and then rues, “What a place to meet, no, the gym?” When will the wedding bells chime to the breaking of millions of hearts? Hrithik is more honest when confronted with this question on a one-to-one basis than when the same question is thrown at him at a press meet in Ahmedabad, with dad seated next to him. Perhaps, his embarrassment because of his father’s presence by his side makes him mumble at the press conference, “Married, I will definitely get, but not now.” The same question gets a more specific reply when dad is not within hearing distance. “Marriage will be some time next year,” blushes the very-much-in-love Hrithik.

Back to Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai and the crowds of the capital city of Gujarat. There’s heavy security at City Pulse pulsating to the beat of Hrithik mania. It’s 9.30 p.m. but the crowds, mostly comprising youngsters, refuse to take their seats in the three halls, all screening KN…PH. Today, they’ve come to see Hrithik, not the film. They want to see him in flesh and blood, they want to touch him, they want to see how much like them he is, they want to see how he walks and talks in real life. They want to get a darshan of their new God! The City Pulse management, in a bid to bring about a semblance of discipline, announces that Hrithik will not make an appearance unless the audience take their seats. Shouts of “Oh no!” rent the air but the well-behaved crowds take the hint — and their seats too. The film show begins. There’s an excited and palpable restlessness in all the three halls. Outside, in the foyer and the huge compound leading to it, there’s an air of festivity. Even the live band that plays in the compound every weekend evening is more charged this particular evening.

And then… and then… the unbelievable happens. Hrithik and Rakesh Roshan arrive at City Pulse. Coming out of the car, they make their way into the first cinema amidst tight security. Young girls and boys can’t believe their eyes when they see their idol! Mothers rush out to reach Hrithik in the auditorium, not bothered about where their children are. Fathers know, their children don’t have the time to wait, they’ve reached ahead of them, maybe, they’ve been lucky enough to even touch Hrithik! Heavy security and police bandobast notwithstanding, it is well nigh impossible to control the crowd that’s surging ahead, shrieking, yelling, shouting, waving, smiling, screaming, pulling, pushing, jostling, falling on the ground, tugging. Some enthusiastic girls even venture out to shout, “Hrithik, we love you.” Hrithik, wearing a body-hugging white T-shirt, brown jeans and a 1000-watt smile, blushes a deep red. He waves out to the crazy crowds and tries hard to reach the dais. Once on the dais, Rakesh Roshan makes a small but effective speech, lauding City Pulse and owner Ashok Purohit for building such a magnificent show-place. He thanks the audience and the public for making KN…PH a super-hit. He adds, “Anything done honestly cannot go wrong. We have made Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai with the utmost honesty, and the results are for all to see.” Hrithik takes the microphone and even before he can begin to talk, the crowd goes into a frenzy. He smiles, then laughs, blushing all the time. As he had remarked on the flight a little while earlier, “I can never get used to this mass adulation. I can’t handle five people at a time, five thousand are too many.” Papa Roshan had added, “Yes, Hrithik continues to be shy. Even after this success, he finds it difficult to open up before people.”

“Hrithik, dance, Hrithik, dance,” the crowds sing in unison. The dancing sensation looks questioningly at them but the projectionist has already started playing the super-hit Ek pal ka jeena song on the loud-speaker. The crowds have taken to their feet and are already swinging while shouting. Hrithik, hesitant at first, gets into the mood to oblige — and also to dance — and does the by-now famous dancing step with one palm pointing upwards and the other downwards, his knees bent and grace oozing out of his elastic body. Deafening screams, thunderous applause and before the crowds can rush to the dais, Hrithik is whisked out of the auditorium amidst tight security, and taken to the second cinema. The scene is no different there. The same shrieks, the same public demand, the same dance and the same blush. Ditto in the third cinema. All of this takes a cool 30 minutes. Thirty minutes of sheer magic for the people of Gandhinagar who would have loved even three more hours of it! The Purohit family, on tenterhooks till now, fearing for Hrithik’s safety, heaves sighs of relief. Rakesh Roshan and Hrithik are impressed with the security arrangements as also with the well-behaved crowds of Gandhinagar. In fact, Rakesh Roshan is also enamoured of the multiplex and tells Purohit, “Whatever I can do for your multiplex, I’ll be most glad to do. Such cinemas need all the encouragement.”

Back in the hotel, it’s dinner time. But the strict disciplinarian that Hrithik is, he will not have dinner before he has worked out. His secretary whispers into Rakesh Roshan’s ears, “He will join us later. He is presently working out in his hotel room.” Only thing, Hrithik’s Suzanne is not there to chat with him in the hotel suite-turned-gymnasium. Cellphone, anyone?!?

An Exclusive Encounter With Rakesh Roshan, Hrithik Together

Hrithik Roshan is still as shy as he used to be before he became a star. Says papa Roshan, “He’s not changed a bit.” Rakesh Roshan’s words ring true when Hrithik almost feels embarrassed to obige his fans for autographs, whether at Santacruz airport in Bombay or Hotel Taj in Ahmedabad or City Pulse in Gandhinagar.

Has the equation between father and son changed after Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai? “Not at all,” smiles Hrithik. “The equation was established even while I used to assist dad in production, direction and editing before he launched me in Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai.”

How did assisting dad before he became an actor help Hrithik in his performance? Did it help at all? “Of course, the training period under my dad has been of immense help. You can know what is right, only when you know what’s wrong,” replies Hrithik. He elabrotes, “When dad used to correct Salman or Shah Rukh on the sets during Karan Arjun, I used to ask him why he had said what he had said. Likewise, dad and I used to discuss a great deal in the editing room and that’s how I learnt what’s wrong and what’s right. And the wrong and right are quite different before the camera from what they may be in real life. For instance, if, in a scene, an actor is talking to someone and another person, who is not in the frame, passes by, the natural reaction would be for the actor to look at the person passing by. But dad once explained to me that if the camera caught the actor’s eyes moving somewhere else, the director would also have to show to the audience that other person who is passing by. I have been really very lucky to have undergone training in direction before becoming an actor because I find it easier to visualise what exactly a director wants of me.

How much did Hrithik contribute in the making of Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai? Admits Rakesh Roshan, “I would say, at least 50% of the credit for the success goes to Hrithik. We used to constantly discuss on the sets and in the editing room. Because he belongs to today’s generation, he knew what the look of the film had to be. I used to really accept his suggestions relating to the look of the film. His other suggestions were also good. But he did get a little worried when I did not keep a single over-dramatic scene for him in the film. He used to tell his mother, ‘Mama, please tell papa to include at least one dramatic scene for me.’ But I never heeded this suggestion of his.”

What, according to dad, is son Hrithik’s forte — dance, action, emotions or comedy? “We need to see him in a couple of more films to really gauge his forte,” explains Rakesh Roshan. “An actor opens up with every film, and I am confident that Hrithik will be able to handle all of them with elan.”

Does Hrithik miss dad on the sets of other directors? “I understand, no other director can give me the space which dad gave me in my first film,” admits Hrithik. “But I am unhappy about how the industry functions. We all work like machines, we don’t have the time to rehearse, to perfect our work. I guess, it’s the system, but I am very very sad about it. I find myself helpless because I alone can’t change the system.”

INFORMATION MEETS

“I have worked with many directors but seldom come across a perfectionist like Subhash Ghai!”

– KABIR LAL

Dr. SHIVAJI SEN-GUPTA

From the dawn of cinema, the director and cinematographer have shared a special empathy. “Four eyes are always better than two!”, the father of cinema, David Wark Griffith, used to constantly tell his cameraman, Billy Bitzer. Griffith’s words have proved to be the gospel truth as cinema has evoked and grown over the decades.

Several eyebrows shot skywards when Kabir Lal came on the television screen to collect every award of his behind-the-scenes work as best cinematographer for Subhash Ghai’s Taal. Born in Madras on August 15, 1961, this young artist has already cranked the camera for nearly 80 feature films to-date. Of ad films, one has lost count. Incredible to imagine that the Film Institute at Adyar (Madras) had rejected his application for admission in the cinematography course but, undeterred, Kabir joined his father, Sangeet Shahid Lal, who was an active cinematographer in the ’60s in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films and was universally regarded as a special effects specialist. After studying for his first year in commerce (he later graduated through correspondence course) at Loyola College, Madras, Kabir joined his father as an assistant and the rest is best told in his own words!

Excerpts from our conversation:

What precisely drew you to cinematography? Was it your father’s influence?

It certainly was, but my father was not at all keen on my following in his footsteps! He wanted me to have a ‘secure’ job, such as a Chartered Accountant’s while I was keen to be a cameraman since I used to accompany him for shootings from a very early age. The atmosphere, the challenges, the whole milieu appealed to me very very much. In fact, I have had the advantage of seeing the transition from B & W to colour. I call this an ‘advantage’ purposely. Because in a B & W film, when a weak scene comes along, as it invariably does in every film, the cameraman is helpless since he can’t divert the audience’s attention with tones of black, grey and white. Whereas, once colour came in, the cameraman had the power to hold the attention of the most demanding audience in case he used colour imaginatively and turned a mundane scene into an engrossing one merely by slick presentation, by highlighting the costumes, background and foreground in such a manner that the viewer’s attention would be drawn away from the ‘weak’ scene. Looking back, I am grateful that my father never treated me as a son but like any of his other assistants. I gradually graduated to becoming his chief assistant with the Telugu film, ‘Intolo’ Ramaya ‘Veedilo’ Krishnaya.

How did you get your break?

Even when I was assisting my father, I got a couple of offers including a 16mm film in colour, but somehow, they all got stalled midway! I lost my father in June 1984 when I was barely 23. K.S.R. Doss, the famous director who has made well over a 100 films gave me a break with a Kannada film, Karthavya, in Eastmancolor, starring Vishnuvardhan. The set-up was good but when the film was completed in 3 months and released in December 1984, it did average business. Luckily, my work was noticed, and I did around 25 films in Kannada in a short span. I have worked with all the top stars of Kannada cinema including Dr. Rajkumar, Ambarish, Shankar Nag, Anant Nag. The reason why I received so many offers was because I had learnt special effects on camera from my father very diligently and was considered an expert in ‘special effects’. Those days, no one had even imagined that computer graphics would come into existence!

But my major break came courtesy director Singeetham Srinivasa Rao and Kamal Haasan. They signed me for a Tamil film, Michael Madan Kama Rajan, in which Kamal Haasan played four roles. Since I was considered a ‘double role’ expert, they probably felt that this would be just the right film for me! This film, released in 1990, brought me into the limelight. After this, I was flooded with offers but I treasure the two other films I did with Singeetham Srinivasa Rao — Aditya 369 in Telugu, starring N.T. Rama Rao’s son, Balakrishna, won me the Kalasagar Akademi Award, while for Bhairav Deepam (Cinemascope, Telugu), I received the Andhra Pradesh state government’s Nandi award. The latter was a fantasy film with lots of special effects. I must have totally done over 70 films in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada; 40 of them were in Cinemascope.

What or who drew you to Bombay?

Dance director B.H. Tharun Kumar. He was choreographing a song for Fateh which was being cinematographed by Nirmal Jani. But this song, to be picturised on Sanjay Dutt, needed a lot of special effects and so, Tharun Kumar insisted that I shoot this song. Lawrence D’Souza saw this song shot by me and immediately asked me to shoot the song Bahut pyar karte hain tumko sanam on Madhuri Dixit for his Saajan. I also did a little bit of special effects on songs featuring Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan in the film. Thereafter, I was signed as full-fledged cameraman with Anas Films’ Rang, directed by Talat Jani; Nitin Manmohan’s Laadla, directed by Raj Kanwar; and Mukesh Duggal’s Dil Ka Kya Kasoor, directed by Lawrence D’Souza. I also did 50% of Tutu Sharma’s Rajkumar, directed by Pankuj Parashar.

I simultaneously shot a lot of ad films for Mukul Anand, like the first Pepsi ad with Kapil Dev, Timex Watches, the jeans ad with Akshay Kumar; Kingfisher with the West Indies cricket team, Bagpiper Whisky with Shah Rukh etc. These ads were full of special effects and that was their highpoint.

How did you come in contact with Subhash Ghai?

By a curious coincidence, I shot for one day for Trimurti because of a ‘clash’. I never tried to meet Subhash Ghai as such, but the opportunity came my way and he was able to see my work. I feel, what impressed Subhash Ghai was the 50% of Rajkumar I had shot. I was told that he was considering me for Pardes. At that time, I was in Hyderabad shooting the Kingfisher ad. Even Mukul asked me if I was doing Subhash Ghai’s next film and I replied, in all honesty, that I just did not know. When I went back to Madras after that, I was happily surprised that a maker of Subhash Ghai’s stature was keen to work with me. After all, he is one of the topmost directors.

What was the experience like?

While I was doing Pardes, I was simultaneously shooting Hameshaa for Sanjay Gupta. I was not a stranger to Bombay any longer and I never faced any language barrier since my mother-tongue is Urdu. I had worked with quite a few directors. However, working with Subhash Ghai was something special, something to treasure. I recall, at Agra, he had given a call sheet for 6 in the morning. When I went to his room at 5.30 a.m., I was surprised to find him ready and writing the scenes to be shot. He puts in so much hard work and, more significantly, he is very confident about his work. Plus, he has a unique vision. While shooting for a song, he suddenly asks you to take some random shots. Only when you see the final edited version do you realise that he had actually shot portions for four songs. His homework is that thorough! He is a very good writer and keeps making minor yet crucial changes all the time while shooting. And finally, he makes the film on the editing table. He shoots every little detail he has in his mind and then puts together the fragments into a grand design. He has complete command over the medium and does not believe in making compromises. This is very challenging for a cameraman since it can lead to a lot of patch-work shooting. Subhash-ji does not make a film; he makes an event, a dream come true. His passion is enviable. That is why you will see that he keeps his characters very realistic, be they the mother, father, brother or sister. Another asset of his is that he is always open to suggestions. He first narrates the complete script in detail to all the key technicians and thereafter, keeps discussing the ‘look’ of the film. The bound script is kept in his office for ready reference and each small detail is discussed much before the shooting. These discussions are healthy and lively, with ideas being thrown back and forth. I think, I am lucky that for Pardes, the patch-work shooting was very little, just a few close-ups and scenes. For Taal, there was no patch-work whatsoever! I have worked with many directors but seldom come across a perfectionist like Subhash Ghai!

Coming to KAHO NAA…PYAAR HAI, tell me, did you expect it to be such an enormous success? Also, how did you get this film?

Well, to answer your second question first, Hrithik Roshan recommended my name after he saw my Hameshaa. On the other hand, Rakesh Roshan had liked my work in Pardes. About the success part, I did not expect the film to become such a runaway hit. I enjoyed doing the film, especially because I was working with new faces, new locations…. everything was new! Rakesh Roshan has had a long innings as an actor first and then as a director. He has a very good sense of screenplay and a keen eye for details. He is very fond of exploiting exotic locations and he is one director who doesn’t believe in re-shooting at all. He was very confident about his conception in Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai, the story was so good and Hrithik’s talent was very cleverly tapped by his father. Another factor that went in Hrithik’s favour was that having assisted his father in Karan Arjun and Koyla, he had developed tremendous film sense.

Now that computer graphics are so common, your special effecs wizardry must be hardly needed!

Very true. Computers have brought in a technical revolution in the entertainment media and this is evident in the satellite channels, internet, ad films — in short, everywhere. But that has not bothered me at all. Frankly, as a cameraman, I wanted to be different. I have shifted my attention to other spheres such as ‘push processing’ in the laboratory — forced development of the film. It gives fabulous results.

In case I feel a scene needs a certain kind of look, I go all out to get it. Basically, there are just two kinds of raw stock — daylight (for outdoors) and tungsten (for indoors). Now, in Pardes, the first time Shah Rukh sees Mahima, I wanted a special kind of aura. Thus, I used high-speed daylight film indoors. I believe in changing my style according to the need of the scene. I basically prefer natural light, bounced skim light without shadows and natural faces, that is, faces without much make-up. I have some new ideas which I intend to implement in Subhash-ji’s Yaadein.

KUCH KHATTI KUCH MEETHI 

Saboo Films Pvt. Ltd. and Bharat Film Works’ Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi, inspired from Parent Trap (English) and Do Kaliyan (Hindi), is about two girls who are identical twins and whose parents were separated before they (twins) were born. While one girl stays with the father, the other lives with the mother. But neither the two girls nor the parents are aware of the existence of the other daughter/sister. The two girls meet by chance in Glasgow and decide to bring back their estranged parents together. For this, they trade places. After they do so, the film draws heavily from Ram Aur Shyam and Seeta Aur Geeta.

Not only is the subject an old and trite one, the screenplay writer (Raju Saigal) has also done a shoddy job. Nothing is established and scenes come and go in a jiffy, as a result of which they create little impact, especially in the first half. For instance, the break-up of the couple looks too hurried and the reasons given for the separation of the two kids, just too kiddish. It is because of the poorly scripted first half that the inherent emotional appeal of the drama doesn’t come through at all. The second half may not be without its glaring flaws but, nevertheless, its light scenes do entertain. A fair deal of credit for this would also go to the performers and the dialogue writers (Bholu Khan and Aman Jafri). An example of faulty scripting post-interval comes in the scene when the twins decide to trade places. The girl staying with her father confesses to her twin sister that it was their father’s step-sister who had ruined their father’s life. Pray! if she knew that, why had she, all her life, been rude and insulting to the father. Further, she tells her comparatively tamer sister to go to her father’s house in her place and teach her devilish aunt a lesson. Why couldn’t she have done it all these years?

While the comedy portions are good after interval, the climax is a letdown.

Kajol plays the double role very well despite being let down by a weak script. But she looks out of shape. Sunil Shetty impresses in comedy scenes, with a restrained performance. To his credit, it must be said that he doesn’t go overboard in a single comedy scene. Rishi Kapoor has no role in the first half except to gulp down liquor and fall asleep. In the first half, he looks too much of a drunkard — a sight not very pleasant. However, he is natural in the second half. Rati Agnihotri stages a successful comeback with a refreshing performance. Mita Vashisht is natural but a more glamorous aunt would have been more appropriate. Razzak Khan is very entertaining. Pramod Moutho and Mayur are alright. Dinesh Anand, Dinesh Hingoo, Guddi Maruti and Jaspal Sandhu are average. Parmeet Sethi impresses in a guest appearance. Pooja Batra is just too cute.

Rahul Rawail’s direction looks like a job hurriedly done. For instance, no care has been taken to clearly define the characters of the twin sisters so that they could appear different. Resultantly, there’s not much difference between the two — something which would’ve made the drama interesting. Nevertheless, the director has managed to make the second half light and a bit entertaining. Anu Malik’s music comprises four good songs (‘Saamne baith kar’, ‘Tumko sirf tumko’, ‘Aise na mujhe dekho’ and ‘Chup chup aankhen char karenge’) and a couple of really weak numbers. Background score (Anjan Biswas) is average. Cinematography (Nirmal Jani) is appreciable. Foreign locations are well-captured. Computer effects are of a good standard.

On the whole, Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi has some masala for circuits like Bombay, Maharashtra, Nizam and cities like Delhi. But its overall dull opening (except in Bombay where the opening was fair) will mar the box-office prospects because the pick-up will happen only on weekends. Despite a very reasonable price, the film will remain an average fare in some circuits and in the red in others.

Released on 19-1-2001 at Eros and 16 other cinemas of Bombay thru Anugraha Entertainment. Publicity: very good. Opening: fair. …….Also released all over. Opening all over was as cold as the cold wave in North India.

ZUBEIDAA

F.K.R. Productions’ Zubeidaa (UA) is the story of a pretty Muslim girl who dreams of becoming an actress but whose orthodox filmmaker father instead forces her to get married to a Muslim boy of his choice. The marriage is annulled on the day she delivers her first child, a baby boy. After a few years, a Hindu prince of Fatehpur falls in love with her and proposes marriage to her. This, even while her father decides to get her married off to a Muslim guy. Much against her father’s wishes, she marries the already-married Hindu prince but she has to leave back her little son in the care and custody of her mother as her strict father will hear nothing of letting her take away his grandchild. Once in Fatehpur, she realises over the years how lonely she is as her husband gets busy in his work and with his other wife. She has also to cope with sexual advances made towards her by her lecherous brother-in-law. Driven by dejection, jealousy and over-possessiveness, she encounters her husband one day and literally pushes out his other wife to be able to fly with him. The private plane, in which they are flying, crashes and the two are killed.

The entire story is told in flashback as the woman’s only son tries to unravel the mysterious life of his mother. His main source of information is his granny, with whom he lives, and the personal diaries his mother used to write and which have been in the grandmother’s possession.

The film has a dull start but becomes interesting as the drama unfolds in the first half. The latter part of the first half is quite interesting, especially when the girl’s budding career of a heroine is nipped by her father, she is married off, she delivers her child and then is divorced from the husband. The drama takes a dip thereafter and the second half becomes very boring and tedious. Several portions of the film’s screenplay have been written in a docu-drama style, which fail to keep the audience’s interest alive. The scenes after the dissolution of the princely states are too overtly historical for audience’s liking and the language of the dialogues is also difficult.

A major drawback of the film for the Indian audiences comes when the mother opts for her second marriage to the prince even at the cost of leaving her little son behind. So unmotherly is her choice that a good section of the audience will lose all sympathy and respect for her after this scene. This would be bad for the film because she is, after all, the heroine.

Zubeidaa, the character, is Karisma Kapoor and Zubeidaa, the film, is also Karisma Kapoor. The actress has never looked so gorgeous and the pains taken in giving her a Muslim look are worth their while because Karisma looks very inch a Muslim in the film. Her performance is outstanding and the wide gamut of emotions she portrays in the two-and-a-half hours is marvellous. Rekha, playing the prince’s other wife, is restrained and very natural but she looks a bit too old even in the earlier reels. Her role is not of much significance. Manoj Bajpai does not fit into the character of the prince. He acts fairly well. Surekha Sikri-Rege is natural to the core as Karisma’s mother. Rajit Kapur also acts well. Amrish Puri plays his part with the utmost sincerity. Lilette Dubey is effective. Farida Jalal, Shakti Kapoor, Parzaan Dastur, Ravi Jhankal, S.M. Zaheer, Smriti Mishra, Rahul Maharya and Vinod Sharawat lend able support.

Shyam Benegal’s direction is limited by the single-track story and documentarish screenplay (Khalid Mohammed and Shama Zaidi). His treatment of the subject will appeal only to the elite audience. Dialogues are appropriate to the mood of the film, but simpler words at places would have been in order. Music (A.R. Rahman) is very good. The ‘Piya’ song is the pick of the lot. Other melodious numbers are ‘Rangeeli ho’, ‘Mehndi hai rachne wali’ and ‘So gaye hain’. Camerawork (Rajen Kothari) is eye-filling. Technically, well made. Costumes (Pia Benegal) deserve special mention. Sets are realistic.

On the whole, Zubeidaa, a class film, has chances only in some cinemas of some big cities.

Released on 19-1-2001 at New Excelsior and 8 other cinemas of Bombay thru Yash Raj Film Distributors. Publicity: very good. Opening: fair. …….Also released all over. Opening was dull everywhere.

HC UPHOLDS BHARAT SHAH’S PLEA FOR F.I.R. COPY

Film financier Bharat Shah’s plea for being given copies of the FIR and remand application was upheld by the Bombay high court on 18th January. This is the first time that an accused under the MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) will be given a copy of the FIR and of the remand application. Justice S.S. Parkar deemed this a constitutional right of a citizen. The judge also held that Bharat Shah was entitled to meet his lawyers while in police custody.

The main prayer in Shah’s application was for grant of bail. But Shah’s lawyers, headed by Ashok Desai, did not press for it as they contended that it would be “meaningless” to seek the bail without knowing the grounds of arrest and the details in the FIR against him. Justice Parkar, therefore, rejected the bail plea as “not pressed”.

The court directed that on receiving a copy of the documents, Shah was at liberty to plead for bail before the special court designated to hear MCOCA cases. It also clarified that Shah could apply for bail even before the police investigations were complete. The direction set aside the restriction clamped on Shah by special judge A.P. Bhangale who had said that bail could be applied for only after the investigation was complete.

The remand of Bharat Shah, in the meantime, was extended by the high court to January 22. The special court had, on January 8, remanded Shah to police custody till 18th January. The topmost film financier was arrested by the crime branch on 8th for his alleged links with the underworld. It is believed by the police that Shah used underworld funds to make Chori Chori Chupke Chupke and other films.

SHAH’S FILMS PROGRESSING

In the meantime, shootings of films presented by Bharat Shah are progressing at full speed. Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas is being shot at Film City. Shootings of Rahul Gupta’s Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke and Bubby Kent’s untitled film, and post-production work of K.C. Bokadia’s Hum Aapke Hain Sanam are to begin shortly. Another Bharat Shah presentation, Kasoor, is being readied for release on February 2.

‘CCCC’ RELEASE

As regards Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, there now seems to be a possibility of its release. On 15th January, the prosecution told the high court that a court receiver may be appointed to release the film and the proceeds may be deposited in the government treasury. Until then, the police had maintained that it would not permit the release of CCCC. As producer Nazim Rizvi and presenter Bharat Shah on 15th January made counter-claims in the special court on the seized negatives of the film, the special public prosecutor urged the court not to accept their claims but to instead appoint a receiver so that the film could be released and the interest of innocent distributors and exhibitors was not jeopardised.

RAIDS CONTINUE

Earlier, on 13th and 14th January, the Enforcement Directorate raided offices and residential premises of Nazim Rizvi, Bharat Shah and the latter’s chartered accountant. The special court on 19th January further remanded Nazim Rizvi to judicial custody until 22nd January.

AKSHAY, TWINKLE TIE THE KNOT

Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna became man and wife on Wednesday (17th January) evening following a wedding ceremony held at Arya Samaj, Bombay. The wedding had been kept a closely-guarded secret. The marriage was held in the presence of family members and close friends.

While their engagement, held in December, was much publicised, their marriage had been kept a secret. Even Twinkle’s mother, Dimple Kapadia, was unaware of the plans and was surprised to learn at the last moment of the hurriedly-decided wedding date.

SHAKILA HOSPITALISED

Actress Shakila, who was suffering from a heart ailment, was admitted to Lilavati Hospital in Bombay last week. Dilip Kumar, Johnny Walker and other veteran artistes have been visiting the ailing heroine of such films as C.I.D., Raj Mahal, Alibaba & 40 Thieves, Halla Gulla, Post Box 999, Guest House, Kali Topi Lal Rumal, Reshmi Roomal, China Town, Tower House, Kahin Pyar Na Ho Jaye (1963) and Ustadon Ke Ustad. “She is now fine,” said Mrs. Johnny Walker to Information. It may be mentioned here that Mrs. Johnny Walker is close to the veteran actress of over 60 films.

S.K. KAPUR DEAD

Producer-director S.K. Kapur breathed his last at Hinduja Hospital in Bombay on Thursday (19th January) following failure of lungs. He was 72 and is survived by his wife, a son and daughter-law.

Siri Krishan Kapur, besides producing a number of films and directing a couple of them, also had distribution offices in Delhi-U.P. and East Punjab. Among the films he had produced were Night In London, Inspector, Dharma, Durga, Shankar Dada, Maan Gaye Ustad, Seetapur Ki Geeta and Sazaa. He had directed Heeron Ka Chor, besides producing it. In all, S.K. Kapur had produced 20 films under the banner of Kapur Films International. His distribution concern was called Kapur Film Distributors and its offices were in Delhi, Gorakhpur and Jalandhar. He had distributed about 100 films in the two circuits.

Kapur Sahab, as he was respectfully referred to, had been on the executive committee of the IMPPA for more than 25 years. He was the honorary treasurer of the Film Makers Combine at the time of his death. He used to be the hon. treasurer of the IMPPA too. The offices of IMPPA and FMC remained closed on 19th.

S.K. Kapur was cremated in the afternoon of 19th. His funeral was largely attended by industry veterans.

Chautha will be held this evening (20th January) at ISKCON, Juhu, Bombay, between 4.30 p.m. and 5.30 p.m.

HAT-TRICK OF SILVER JUBILEE FOR SAJID, SALMAN

Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment’s Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega entered combined silver jubilee week on 19th January at Alankar, Bombay. The film marks a silver jubilee hat-trick for its producer, Sajid Nadiadwala, and lead man, Salman Khan. The two earlier films of Sajid and Salman, which celebrated jubilees were Jeet and Judwaa. Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega stars Salman Khan, Rani Mukerji and Preity Zinta in the lead. Directed by Raj Kanwar, it is scripted by Rumi Jafri. Music: Anu Malik. Lyrics: Sameer. Cinematography: W.B. Rao. Choreography: Farah Khan.

YOU ASKED IT

I want to remake an updated version of a vintage Hindi film classic in Hindi. Do I need to buy the remaking rights of that old film?

– Yes, you do need to buy the remaking rights. 

Has any villain of a Hindi film been applauded by the audience for his cruel acts or for mouthing a dialogue challenging the hero?

– The audience generally does not applaud the villain for his cruel acts on the screen. It does applaud the villain for his challenging dialogues. A few instances: Amjad Khan in SHOLAY; Sanjay Dutt (as a negative hero) in KHAL-NAYAK; Sunil Dutt (as a negative character) in MOTHER INDIA; and Pran in most of his old films. 

In the event that the court appoints a receiver in the case of Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, will any exhibitor screen the film knowing well that the box-office receipts will have to be deposited with the court?

– Why not? It doesn’t make a difference because not all exhibitors have the motive of withholding the box-office collections from distributors. 

DO YOU KNOW?

CENSOR HIGHLIGHTS: 2000

* A total of 855 feature films in 21 Indian languages and English were certified in the year 2000. Of these, 273 were certified with clear ‘U’ while 174 were given ‘U’ certificate, with cuts; 38 were issued clear ‘UA’ certificates and 73, ‘UA’, with cuts; among adult films, 75 were given clear ‘A’ while 222 were certified ‘A’, with cuts. In all, 386 films got clear certificates while the remaining 469 were subjected to cuts.

* 243 Hindi films were certified in 2000, which constituted 28.42% of the total number (855) of certified films. There were 157 Tamil films (18.36%), 143 Telugu films (16.73%), 87 Malayalam films (10.17%), 76 Kannada films (8.89%), 43 Bengali films (5.03%), 29 Gujarati films (3.39%), 23 Marathi films (2.69%), 11 English films (1.29%) and 10 Nepali films (1.17%). The number of films made in the other 12 languages/dialects is in single digits. 

The Underworld: A Nightmare For The Dream Merchants

(Following is an article, written by your editor and the abridged version of which appeared in The Economic Times in its issue dated 16th January, 2001 in the Debate section. Your editor was one among the three guest writers invited to write on the topic ‘Can we clean Bollywood?‘ The other two writers were Tanuja Chandra and Amit Khanna.)

The Bombay film industry is once again in the public eye but this time, for undesirable reasons. To assume that all of Bollywood is linked with the underworld is too cynical as also a simplistic view. As in other industries, there are some black sheep in the film industry too. Talking figures, of the 143 Hindi films (excluding those dubbed in Hindi from other languages) released in 2000, barely 5 to 7 producers of those films may be linked to the underworld — that, too, is for the police to investigate and ascertain. By no stretch of imagination can 4 or 5% be taken as representing the entire production sector.

Viewed differently, of the 143 Hindi films released, barely 17 managed to prove profitable. With a success ratio, therefore, of barely 15%, is the underworld foolish to invest money in as many films as being made out? The underworld looks for guaranteed returns but the highly speculative film industry offers no guarantee, thanks to the ever-changing preferences of cinegoers. On the other hand, let it be clarified here that big-budget and star-cast films generally assure huge under-production profits to their producers. But how many star-cast films are made in a year? And even out of those, some remain losing propositions for producers after all rights — distribution, music, satellite and Doordarshan — are sold!

The underworld’s earlier brushes with the industry have been hawala transactions for foreign shootings, star presence at foreign parties thrown by dons, and extortion. Perhaps, the glamour is too much to avoid.

In the recent cricket match-fixing scandal, the media didn’t drag the entire cricket team of India and the BCCI into it even though the percentage of the tainted names was far more than 5! Still, the same media, which, very rightly, kept the names of cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar out of the scam, lost no time in generalising when it came to the film industry. The Barjatyas, Chopras, Kapoors and Ghai are an integral part of the film industry but, with one stroke of the pen (in the case of the print media) and one click of the camera (in the case of the more potent electronic media), the image of the entire film industry took the severest beating in its 103-year history.

Black money in Bollywood is yet another black spot on its face. Having said this, it required neither the knowledge of a Chartered Accountant (which I happen to be, by qualification) nor the insight of a film trade analyst (which I am, by choice) to add that black money exists in every industry. As with the underworld nexus, so also with dealings in black money, only the transactions in the film industry get blown out of proportion because

(a) they make sensational reading or viewing material;

(b) Bollywood personalities are role models for millions and under constant public scrutiny; and

(c) there exist umpteen film gossip magazines and satellite chancels which thrive on films but don’t bat an eyelid before painting the very industry black.

Here, it must be added that the percentage of black money dealings in Bollywood, too, has now gone down tremendously because of the reduction in income-tax rates.

So, both, black money transactions and underworld nexus, do exist in the Bombay film industry. But not anywhere close to what is imagined! While lowering the income-tax rates a little more (the human species is never content, right?) and income-tax raids would go a long way in further reducing black money dealings, the issue of breaking the underworld involvement in films is a different ball game altogether. It would require concerted efforts by both, the film industry and the law and order machinery in the country. Of the people who are linked, there may be some who join hands because they fear for their lives. The state needs to be sure that such gullible people are not penalised at any cost. It is people like these whose confidence the police needs to win. If the industry feels secure with the police, at least these gullible people will not link themselves with dons. Then, the police would have to tackle only those who join forces for profit.

If the industry somewhere needs to shoulder part of the blame for succumbing to either pressure or profit motives and, in the process, falling prey to underworld advances, the police too can’t absolve itself of the responsibility for letting Bollywood land itself in the murky state of affairs. How the police now breaks the nexus is for it to decide. On its part, the industry must also set its house in order. It has embarked upon corporatisation which is a step in the right direction. This will enable filmmakers to obtain institutional finance — a sure way to free the industry from the stranglehold of the mafia, howsoever limited. Why, if the industry were to be cleansed, it would also attract foreign and NRI finance.

Finally, I think, the task before the film industry and the government may be difficult but it definitely isn’t impossible. Honest and sincere efforts to wipe out the underworld from the film world can never go in vain. As Sunny Deol, playing a patriotic and spirited Punjab police officer posted in Bombay (make that Bollywood), says, in last week’s release, Farz: Where there’s a will (pause), there is a way.

Yes, there is a way for the film industry and the police. There now seems to be a will too. Only thing, the pause between getting the will and the way to meet has been a bit too long. Consequently, those who sell dreams are today seeing a nightmare.

Let’s Celebrate The Success And His Steely Nerves

Now that Aditya Chopra’s Mohabbatein has clicked all over — beyond doubt — it would be interesting to recount how, once again, the public opinion has been at variance with the trade verdict. Almost everybody in the film trade had been quick in dismissing the second directorial venture of Aditya Chopra as a flop. Its length (running time of over 3½ hours) was considered the biggest drawback which, people in the trade felt, would spell its death-knell. But the public patronised the film and made it a hugely successful one too. Of course, not everyone in the audience felt, it was a great film but then, mixed reports are always there. What was important was that the majority voted in favour of Mohabbatein even if they may have found it a bit too lengthy. Several in the industry had opined that the love story sent wrong signals to the youth as it encouraged romancing in school premises. But what such industry people, perhaps, overlooked was the purpose behind the encouragement given to romancing. Shah Rukh Khan’s intentions were extremely noble and to achieve his aim, the audience didn’t mind even if he ‘used’ three young love pairs. It cannot be denied that Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan elevated their scenes to great heights but one cannot help lauding Aditya for his conviction. After all, how often do you come across a film in which the topmost heroine of the country (Aishwarya Rai) plays merely a ghost; in which one superstar (Amitabh Bachchan) has no heroine opposite him and another superstar (Shah Rukh Khan) has a ghost and mere memories as his co-star? And how often do you come across a director who throws economics to the wind and opts for screening his film in 3 shows daily while paying theatre rentals for 4 shows rather than sacrificing the length of the film by making a slight compromise in the story? While lauding the success of Mohabbatein, one must also praise young Aditya’s courage of conviction. 

– Komal Nahta

BANDHAN

Siddhivinayak Creation’s Bandhan (UA) is a family drama about the bond of love between a brother and sister, which gets extended to cover the boy’s brother-in-law too. The boy, brought up by his sister and her husband, treats the latter as his be-all and cannot even dream of disobeying him. The brother-in-law, by the seductive designs of a girl of loose character, falls into the trap laid by her and from that point begins the confrontation between the brother and his brother-in-law who till then was like God to him. The brother-in-law throws him out of his house and even does not permit his wife to meet her brother and parents. A further misunderstanding between the brothers-in-law aggravates matters and the brother feels guilty of having brought misery to his sister. In the end, all misunderstandings are cleared and the brothers-in-law once again unite.

The story is of the kind one saw in films of the seventies and eighties. Its treatment, though, is more contemporary and there are four or five truly heart-touching scenes which have immense ladies appeal. The biggest drawback of the film, however, is the poor characterisation of the sister’s husband (Jackie Shroff). His shift from being a hero to becoming a villain looks less convincing and should have been much more well explained. Romance also takes a backseat, maybe due to censor cuts.

Jackie Shroff, despite a faulty characterisation, does a good job. Salman Khan is the life of the film and acts ably. Ashwini Bhave, as his sister, appeals in dramatic scenes. Rambha is passable as Salman’s girlfriend, and the film could have done with a better heroine, given Salman’s ‘A’ class image today. Shakti Kapoor and Ashok Saraf provide some light moments. Ashok Saraf, especially, is effective in the climax. Mukesh Rishi passes muster. Shweta Menon is alright. Himani Shivpuri lends admirable support. Anjan Shrivastava is good. Aasif Sheikh does a fair job. The horse has been made good use of.

K. Murali Mohan Rao’s handling of an old subject is nice. Some of his directorial punches make a straight entry into the heart for their emotional content. Of the songs, ‘Tere naina mere nainon ki’ is very appealing. The title song and ‘Balle Balle’ too are good but a couple of other songs are ordinary. Song picturisations are colourful but lack novelty. Action scenes are quite okay. Photography and other technical values are of a good standard.

On the whole, reasonably-priced Bandhan has Indian values and sentiments for ladies and family audience and will, therefore, keep everyone happy. It has better chances in Maharashtra, U.P., M.P., Bengal and Bihar, where it may yield overflow.

Released on 1-10-’98 at Minerva and 11 other cinemas and on 2-10-’98 at 10 more cinemas of Bombay thru V.I.P. Enterprises. Publicity: good. Opening: very good. …….Also released all over. It opened in Bengal on 29-9-’98 due to Puja holidays.

GAURI PICTURES DECLARED ‘DEFAULTER’ BY IMPDA, TOA, CEAI

Distributors Gauri Pictures of Bombay and Nagpur have been declared ‘defaulter’ by the joint tribunal of the Indian Motion Pictures Distributors’ Association (IMPDA) and the Theatre Owners’ Association (TOA). The decision was taken after a complaint over non-settlement of dues of Usha Talkies, Kolhapur, came up before the tribunal. The complaint stated that Usha Talkies had exhibited Soon Ladki Sasarchi (a Marathi film distributed by Gauri Pictures) which incurred deficits for a period of six weeks. When a number of reminders, issued by Usha Talkies to Gauri Pictures, asking the latter to settle dues amounting to more than Rs. 38,000, failed to evoke any response, Usha Talkies lodged a complaint with the TOA. The Cinematograph Exhibitors’ Association of India (CEAI) has also since declared Gauri Pictures a ‘defaulter’.

SANJAY KHAN FINED RS. 54 LAKH

Sanjay Khan has been fined Rs. 54 lakh by the Karnataka Electricity Board for allegedly drawing more power than allotted for a resort being constructed by him and his relatives on the outskirts of Bangalore.

NEW CINEMA HALL

A new cinema, Eshwari Chitra Mandir, opened recently on Stadium Road at Chitradurga in Karnataka. It has 818 seats and a capacity of Rs. 6,826.45 (nett) per show. Nett capacity for 28 shows is Rs. 1,91,140.60.

LANGUAGE FILMS IN KARNATAKA: FFI DELEGATION TO BANGALORE

A delegation of the Film Federation of India (FFI) comprising Santosh Singh Jain, K.D. Shorey, Shakti Samanta, N.N. Sippy, L. Suresh and R.M. Ramanathan will leave for Bangalore on 6th October, to impress upon the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (an affiliate of the FFI) of the need to do away with the imposed 7-week delay in the release of language films other than Kannada in the state of Karnataka. The KFCC had recently announced and implemented its decision that films made in any language other than Kannada will not be released in the state for at least seven weeks from its premiere release elsewhere. As a result of this stricture, Hindi as well as Tamil, Telugu and other language films are suffering.

The delegation will also meet Ramakrishna Hegde and Karnataka chief minister J.H. Patel.

PAHLAJ NIHALANI ELECTED AMPTPP PRESIDENT

Pahlaj Nihalani was elected president of the Association of Motion Pictures & TV Programme Producers (AMPTPP) at its annual general meeting held on 28th September at Citizen Hotel, Juhu, Bombay. Amit Khanna, Shyam Benegal, Shabnam Kapoor and Satish Kulkarni were elected vice presidents, and Kamal Kumar Barjatya and Yash Johar, hon. treasurers. Jimmy Nirula was elected hon. secretary.

Others elected to the governing council for 1998-99 were: G.P. Sippy, Subhash Ghai, Gulshan Rai, Ramesh Taurani, Ratan Jain, Bhappi Sonie, Manmohan Shetty, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Salim Akhtar, N. Chandra, Harmesh Malhotra, Vashu Bhagnani, Mahesh Kothare, N.D. Kothari, Subroto Bose and Jagdish Sharma.

Ramesh Sippy, Gordhan Tanwani and Nalin Kumar Gupta were co-opted to the council.

GULSHAN RAI RE-ELECTED IFEA CHIEF

Gulshan Rai was unanimously re-elected president of the Indian Film Exporters Association at the first meeting of the newly elected council of management held on 30th September. Sunder F. Rai was elected vice president, and Manohar Bhatia, hon.secretary. Chandrakant Mehta was elected hon. treasurer. Earlier, at the 34th annual general meeting of the IFEA held on 26th September, the following, besides the abovenamed, were declared elected to the council of management: Rajinder Singh Hora, S.C. Mittal, J.K. Mittal, Shiv Laungani, Hirachand Dand, Amar Asrani, Mohan Chhabria and Prassanan Kumar Sajnani.

Subhash Ghai, Arjan Lulla, S. Narayanan, Malati Tambay-Vaidya and Sanjay Chhabria were co-opted to the council.

VISHNUKUMAR VYAS NO MORE

Notel Gujarati stage and film actor Vishnukumar Vyas died in Bombay on the morning of 29th September after a massive heart attack at a private nursing home. He was 78 and is survived by his wife, three sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren.

Popularly known as Guruji, Vishnukumar Vyas was an accomplished actor and had done a lot of stage, besides acting in a number of Gujarati films. Some of his well-known films are Visamo, Daku Rani Ganga, Mhari Laaj Rakhje Veera etc.

The actor had been admitted to the nursing home four days before the end came, when he complained of uneasiness and suffocation. Vyas, besides acting, had also directed a number of dramas and written some of them. Many of his dramas were popular even abroad.

He was cremated at the Hindu crematorium at Ghatkopar. Many Gujarati film and theatre personalities attended the funeral.

MOHD. SHAFI NIYAZI DEAD

Mohammed Shafi Niyazi, pupular composer and noted qawwal, expired on 25th September in Bombay. He was 67 and is survived by his wife and three children.

Shafi had an impressive command over the Urdu language, and the Urdu repertoire that he was building for Venus was one of the most comprehensive. His most recent claim to fame were his compositions for Venus’ hit musical album, ‘Tum To Thehre Pardesi’. Born on June 8, 1931, Shafi hailed from a non-musical family, but soon learnt to play the dholak and started attending mehfils and mushairas. His family’s opposition made him run away to Nagpur in 1949, to pursue his dream of becoming a musician. That trip proved short-lived and he had to soon return home. He then migrated to Bombay where he met famous qawwal Bandey Hassan Aagreywalley. After a period of apprenticeship, Shafi got a chance to prove his mettle — at a qawwali contest with the popular qawwal, Abdur Rab Chaoos. He made his recording debut with the devotional song, Yun jo jahan mein lakhon nabi aaye hai, tumsa nahi aaya, in 1953, on the HMV label. He joined Venus in 1988. Soon, he was in charge of the Urdu repertoire and he, almost single-handedly, built the vast Urdu repertoire of Venus. The current singing sensation, Altaf Raja, is also his disciple.

HEMA MALINI’S DANCE IN KOTA

Hema Malini will give a Durga dance performance on 11th October in Kota at the Nagar Nigam stage on the occasion of the Dassera fair.

DEV ANAND’S BIRTHDAY

Dev Anand’s birthday was celebrated on 26th September at Ketnav when the seventh song of Vijay Anand Productions’ Jaana Na Dil Se Door was recorded. Internationally renowned qawwal Fareed Sayeed Sabri of Jaipur sang qawwalis on the occasion, besides singing the seventh number for the film, which was tuned by Dilip Sen Sameer Sen. It was penned by Neeraj.

YOU ASKED IT

What do you think of the new IMPPA executive committee? Will it do something to improve the lot of the producers?

– The new committee can do something if it decides to be bold. For several years now, it has been seen that the IMPPA, as a body, has not been able to assert its position in its interaction with other associations.

Will this Diwali be lucky for the film industry?

– Be optimistic! Diwali will definitely bring cheer and joy in the industry. The festival of lights will brighten up the face of the film industry.

Is it right for a producer to not show his film to his distributors before release?

– It is not right but what can you or I do about it? It is the concerned distributors who can object, but the question is, will they?

CCCA ELECTIONS
Clean Sweep For Santosh Singh Jain

Santosh Singh Jain was unanimously re-elected president of the Central Circuit Cine Association (CCCA) at the first meeting of the newly elected executive committee held on 27th September in Nagpur. This is Jain’s 34th term as president. Vijay Rathi was re-elected vice president, and S.K. Surana, hon. secretary. Ramesh Sureka was re-elected hon. treasurer.

Earlier, at the elections to the executive committee, it was a clear sweep for Santosh Singh Jain’s panel. All 16 candidates of his panel were voted to power, with no seats for the opposition panel or the independent candidates. Since Jain’s panel comprised all sitting members except B.N. (Laloo) Kabra, the same executive committee of last year has come to power this year too, with just one new face — G.E. Naik who has replaced Laloo Kabra.

There was no election in the C.I. Distribution section as there were only two members in the fray for two seats. Santosh Singh Jain and Vinod Malhotra were, therefore, declared elected unopposed.

There were elections for the remaining 14 seats of the executive committee. A total of 691 votes were polled, less than the expected 750 to 800. Of these, 80 were declared invalid, leaving 611 valid votes. Uttam Nahar (C.I. Exhibition) polled the highest number of votes — 550. Last year also, Uttam Nahar had bagged the maximum votes in Jaipur.

The list of the winning candidates in the different sections is as under:

C.P. Berar Distribution: Bharat Khajanchi (polled 508 votes), Dilip Mudliar (406), Ramkisan Kasat (374) and G.E. Naik (329).

C.P. Berar Exhibition: S.K. Surana (488), Vijay Rathi (433), Azad Laddha (408) and Mahendra Jain (382).

C.I. Distributioni: Santosh Singh Jain and Vinod Malhotra, both declared elected unopposed.

C.I. Exhibition: Uttam Nahar (550) and Ramesh Sureka (547).

Rajasthan Distribution: Mohan Godha (453) and Nandu Jalani (296).

Rajasthan Exhibition: Kishanchand Jain (376) and Trilok Singh (327).

The vanquished candidates were:- C.P. Berar Distribution: B.N. (Laloo) Kabra (306 votes), Brijmohanlal Dewan (209), Sharang Chandak (208), Rajkumar Mansukhani (52), Tarachand Kanuga (52). C.P. Berar Exhibition: Munshiram Upaveja (224), Narendra Agarwal (188), Vishnu Prasad Agrawal (170) and Vinod Trivedi (151). C.I. Exhibition: Shivkumar Jaiswal (125). Rajasthan Distribution: O.P. Goyal (267) and Baba Ramdeo (206). Rajasthan Exhibition: Kishinchand Janiani (232), Rajendra Mamoria (188), Narendra Sharma (50) and Rameshchand Jain (49).

The voting started at 8 a.m. at the Dr. Vasantrao Deshpande Sabhagriha in Nagpur on 27th. It got over by 1.30 p.m. and counting of votes commenced at the art gallery annexed to the Sabhagriha at 3 p.m. The results were declared at 7.45 p.m.

The annual general meeting on 26th had its share of heat and fury. But while opposition members criticising the ruling group is understandable, what was surprising was that an opposition member openly criticised the candidature of another member of his (opposition) panel. Baba Ramdeo decried O.P. Goyal’s candidature from Rajasthan and felt that since Goyal belonged to the C.I. region, he should have contested the elections from C.I. Baba Ramdeo also announced in the open session that Rajasthan distributors and exhibitors would not support Goyal for this reason. To make matters worse, another candidate from Rajasthan, Kishinchand Janiani, announced that O.P. Goyal was not on their (opposition) panel. And all this even as Goyal had become a self-styled opposition leader! Reportedly, Santosh Singh Jain had incited Baba Ramdeo and Kishinchand Janiani against Goyal. Mohan Godha of the Santosh Singh Jain panel was at the last minute taken by the opposition panel as their member too.

On 26th, at the 45th annual meeting, legal advisor B.G. Dave was felicitated. Dave, who has been associated with the legal work of the CCCA and is also the legal advisor to The Kalyan Pictures Pvt. Ltd., Amravati, will soon shift to Jodhpur to lead a retired life there.

A demonstration show of the English film Species II was held for the CCCA delegates on 26th at Smruti cinema, Nagpur. To drive home the effect of Dolby digital sound, some scenes were shown alternately in mono and Dolby sound.

The arrangements for the annual general meeting and the elections, supervised by the CCCA’s reception committee, were very good. The venue of the meeting was well-decorated.

Following Landslide Victory At IMPPA Elections
Shakti Samanta Elected IMPPA President
Sultan Ahmed Faces Defeat

It was a near-clean sweep for Shakti Samanta and his Dynamic group in the IMPPA elections on 28th September at ISKCON, Juhu, Bombay. The group bagged 13 of the 16 seats in the Ordinary Class and all but one of the five seats in the Associate Class I. Sultan Ahmed’s United group faced a miserable defeat with only two of their candidates (Sandeep Sethi and Preeti Sapru) making it in the Ordinary Class and one (Anand Girdhar) in the Associate Class I. Sultan Ahmed himself lost the elections. He was the sitting IMPPA president. Dara Singh, the independent candidate who was being backed by both the groups, made it in the Ordinary Class.

Actually, the well-attended annual general meeting that preceded the election, gave an indication that the voters wanted a change this year and had come to vote the group led by Shakti Samanta. The annual meeting itself was a stormy affair with firebrand speeches made by Rajeev Kumar, N.N. Sippy and Vinod Chhabra. Although the speeches of Sippy and Rajeev Kumar were not really aimed at any individual, they did go to expose the ineffectiveness of the IMPPA. Obviously, therefore, the voters interpreted that as the ineffectiveness of Sultan  Ahmed as IMPPA president. Vinod Chhabra made an emotion-charged speech and lamented that he was never treated with respect by IMPPA president Sultan Ahmed and even by some of the employees of IMPPA. He recalled how effective Shree Ram Bohra and Ramraj Nahta had been as past presidents of the august body and said, they would come to the rescue of their members no sooner they sensed trouble. All the three speakers were lustily cheered and, in fact, their speeches cleared the decks even more for the change which members were looking for and had come for.

The elections started soon after the conclusion of the 59th annual general meeting around 7.30 p.m. A total of 123 votes were cast in the Ordinary Class, of which three were declared invalid. In the Associate Class I, all 56 votes cast were valid.

Pappu Verma and Suresh  Malhotra, the two returning officers, began the counting of votes soon after elections were over and it was clear from the word ‘go’ that it was the day of the Dynamic group. K.D. Shorey bagged the maximum number of votes — 81. In the Associate Class I, it was Darshan Sabarwal who polled the highest number of votes — 41.

Those elected in the Ordinary Class were: K.D. Shorey (81 votes), Shakti Samanta (79), Vinay Kumar Sinha (73), Pranlal Mehta (70), Satish Khanna (68), Sushama Shiromanee (68), Rajeev Kumar (67), Saawan Kumar Tak (67), Dara Singh (64), Preeti Sapru (64), N.R. (Babloo) Pachisia (62), Pawan Kumar (61), Madan Mohla (60), Sandeep Sethi (57), Mukesh Bhatt (56) and Surendra Bohra (56).

In the Associate Class I, the winners were: Darshan Sabarwal (41), S.K. Kapur (40), Surjit Aujla (33), Dimppy Ramdayal (31) and Anand Girdhar (25).

The losers in the Ordinary Class from the the Dynamic group were B. Subhash (who polled 45 votes), Satyendra Pal Chaudhry (54 votes) and Vinod Talwar (50 votes). The other losers in the Ordinary Class, all of Sultan Ahmed’s United group, were: Sultan Ahmed (51 votes), Kulwant Jani (43), Nitin Manmohan (42), Boota Singh Shaad (39), K. Pappu (35), Deepak Shivdasani (33), Anil Ganguly (32), Kant Kumar (30), Prakash Jha (30), Shanoo Mehra (28), Sujit Kumar (23), Avtar Bhogal (19) and Sharukh Mirza Beig (16).

Those who were not elected in the Associate Class I were Johny Bakshi (22 votes), Surendra Mohan (18), B.R. Ishara (14), Ranjeet (9), Kamal Sadanah (5) and Rajiv Suri (4). All except Johny Bakshi (Dynamic group) and Rajiv Suri (independent) belonged to the United group.

Before the annual meeting, five veterans viz. Gulshan Rai, Gulshan Behl, Anand Bakshi, Suraiya and late Aspi Irani were honoured, the last posthumosly, by the IMPPA for their contributions to the film industry. Chief guest B.R. Chopra, paying rich eulogies to all the five honoured veterans, handed over special IMPPA trophies to them. Late Aspi Irani’s trophy was accepted by his widow.

The first meeting of the newly elected executive committee for 1998-99 was held on 29th at IMPPA House, in which Shakti Samanta was unanimously elected president. Samanta had chaired the organisation for four terms earlier. Saawan Kumar Tak was elected senior vice president, and Sushama Shiromanee, vice president. Vinay Kumar Sinha was elected hon. treasurer.

IMPPA ELECTION SIDELIGHTS

** Ex-IMPPA president Sultan Ahmed gave a feel of his sportsman spirit when he sat in the election hall all through the vote counting process even as it was clear that he and his group were facing defeat. He made an exit after the results were announced formally.

** That producers who make Hindi films prefer to use Hindi as the language of communication was clear when several of them booed Rajiv Suri for making a speech in English. Another thing that went against Suri was that his speech was too lengthy and was too general to make any impact. On the other hand, producer Rajiv Kumar was applauded even though he spoke in English, perhaps, because he made valid points and was also short and sweet.

** The election results of IMPPA this year were as unpredictable as the box-office fates of many of the releases this year. Like producers, like products!

** Sultan Ahmed’s non-election has shocked the trade. It is, perhaps, for the first time in the 61-year history (although this was the 59th annual general meeting, the body is 61 years old) of the IMPPA that a sitting president lost the election.

“Filmmaking is all about crisis management.”
SUBHASH GHAI
Caught in action in wet Chamba

Rain rain go away
Come again another day

Subhash Ghai must’ve sung this couplet a thousand times last week as he and his huge unit of Taal sat in Chamba, waiting for the skies to clear and the rains to stop. The cold morning of 22nd September started on a wet note. Even then, Ghai and his unit had reached the scenic location a few miles away from Chamba city, hoping that by the time they’d be ready to shoot, the weather would have improved. But did it? It only worsened. The drizzle turned into a downpour and the convoy of cars that had wound its way to the top (the location was at a great height) had to soon take an about-turn, now winding its way downwards. The unit headed for another location, a few kilometres away from the earlier one. Ghai announced, he had to picturise a scene and two lines of a song at that location and, in fact, needed to shoot them in the rain.

The new location was as heavenly as the earlier one. The huge mountains, green fields, overcast skies, thick fog and the light drizzle (the downpour had stopped), all these provided the perfect backdrop for Ghai’s scene-and-song shooting. Choreographer Saroj Khan and her assistant, Jojo, instructed Aishwarya Rai and her two screen sisters, Jividha and Tanya, about their dance steps. All the three of them were dressed in white. A few rehearsals and a few retakes later, the shot was finally okayed. It was then time for the scene for which Aishwarya quickly changed her costume. Akshaye Khanna was ready by then.

The scene showed a despondent Aish sitting quietly and Akshaye asking her what she was thinking. When Aish refused to divulge her thoughts, Akshaye continued that he was aware that she was thinking just like the heroine of a Hindi film would — a hero comes from the city to the village, hero and heroine fall in love and then it’s time for the hero to return to the city to never come back to the village. Realising that that was exactly what she was thinking, Aish wondered aloud whether the same would happen in their case as it was time for Akshaye to return to his city. But Akshaye put her at ease by saying, this was his life, not a Hindi film. He acknowledged that both of them would have to fight it out with their respective families before they finally united in matrimony. At this point, Aish presented a red muffler to Akshaye with the word ‘Manavsi’ neatly embroidered on it. To Akshaye’s question about what the word meant, Aish explained, “Manav jaisi….. Manav jaisi Mansi”. Manav is Akshaye’s name in the film, and Mansi is Aishwarya’s. “The two of us will always be together now,” concluded Aish as Akshaye fondly touched the muffler and finally prepared to leave.

There were plenty of retakes of the shot. At times, although Ghai and his genius cameraman, Kabir Lal, were happy with the shot, Akshaye wasn’t. Thinking he could better his performance, he asked for some more retakes. Ghai sportingly agreed till at last, all of them were convinced that the best shot had been okayed.

Since the day’s shooting had started only in the evening, it began to get dark even as the shot was being taken. A few close-ups and other shots were wrapped up quickly before it got too dark for shooting. The last shot required a fan, to show Aish’s loose hair being blown by the wind, and Ghai’s efficient unit hands had installed the fan atop the terrace (that’s where the shooting was being done) in no time. Even as Subhash Ghai was instructing Aish for the last shot of the day, the strong breeze, stirred up by the huge fan, blew off his hat. Perhaps, it was the fan’s way of saying, “Hats off” to Ghai and his unit, who had wrapped up a lovely scene and two lines of a song in such a short time and despite the worst weather.

Had the weather been good, Ghai had also planned to shoot using the huge ‘Akela’ crane on another location. The ‘Akela’ crane, which can reach a height of 85 feet, had come to Chamba all the way from Madras. It was in the process of being installed for the shooting, from early morning even as it drizzled and rained, but at the end of the day, the dismantling process began when it became clear that the unclear weather wouldn’t permit shooting from atop the crane. The Akela crane, which takes a few hours to set up, is remote-controlled and can do without a cameraman perched on the top alongwith the camera (read details in 3-E column in this issue).

As if the rains weren’t bad enough, the camera and generator vans were caught in a terrible traffic jam while they were returning from the morning location to where the actual shooting took place. The traffic jam along delayed shooting by almost three hours. It was once again the efficient unit hands who literally pushed a stalled lorry to clear the way for the vans to pass, that ultimately made shooting possible that evening.

Call it a coincidence or whatever, just the previous evening, Subhash Ghai, while talking of Taal, had said, a lot of unforeseen circumstances and happenings at the time of shooting necessitated one to constantly adapt to and make the most of the given situation. “Film-making is all about crisis management,” explained Ghai. As if to prove his point, the rains created the crisis the following day. And sure enough, Ghai managed the crisis well enough to be able to at least shoot what he finally did, rains and traffic jam notwithstanding.

To say that the music of Subhash Ghai’s film is extraordinary is to state the obvious. But to say that A.R. Rahman’s music sounds different is to state the unbelievable. Yes, Rahman’s music in Taal has the North Indian flavour, something which Ghai has been able to extract out of the whizkid.

After shooting, Subhash Ghai spoke of his hero and heroine. He was all praise for Aishwarya Rai whom he described as very, very professional. “I’ve not worked with a more professional actress,” said the veteran producer-director and added, “Her professionalism reminds me of Nutan.” Ghai is aware that Aish tends to act childish in front of the camera at times and is guarding against this very consciously. About Akshaye, he dispelled rumours that the boy was a difficult actor. “He is very co-operative,” said Ghai, “and a tremendous actor.” But the best comments were reserved for his other hero, Anil Kapoor. Although Anil was not in Chamba, Subhash Ghai and Saroj Khan praised his down-to-earth attitude and described him as a producer’s delight. They spoke proudly of how Anil Kapoor would double up as a production hand whenever the need arose, especially on outdoor schedules.

One rose up the following morning to be greeted by heavy rains. Waste of another day? Not for Ghai! The guy was up at 6 a.m. and was busy shooting instructions to his unit to reach the location (Dalhousie), more than an hour’s drive from Chamba. He was confident that the weather God would not let him down again and he’d be able to shoot a couple of hours later. In other words, he was preparing once again to manage the crisis. Even when the shooting schedule started in Delhi (from where the unit then shifted to Chamba), there had been a crisis of sorts — Ghai was running high temperature and had been advised rest by his doctor in Bombay. But rest he did — after his daily shooting which he refused to postpone. As Ghai joked, “All these days of shooting, I was sick. Now that I’m feeling alright, the weather is sick.”

Anyway, it was time for us to bid goodbye to the Taal unit. We left by road to Jammu to catch a flight to Delhi (and from there to Bombay). After barely 45 minutes of the 7-hour drive, we missed being hit by a boulder that came rolling down the mountain on the road and ultimately fell down into the valley hundreds and hundreds of feet below. We missed the boulder that must’ve weighed over 50 kgs., by barely 10 seconds. It was a crisis we had least expected. Thankfully, God had managed this crisis for us. Or else….. the  very thought now sends shivers down our spines.

– Komal Nahta

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

IMPPA: A Different Scene

Elections for three important associations in the industry were held over the last two weeks. The Indian Motion Picture Distributors’ Association (IMPDA), the Central Circuit Cine Association (CCCA) and the Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association went to the polls with great fervour. While members of the IMPDA and the CCCA voted the sitting members again to their executive committees (the only exception being G.E. Naik who replaced B.N. (Laloo) Kabra in the CCCA), the scenario was quite in contrast as far as IMPPA was concerned. Last year, it was the members of the United group who swept the polls but this time, the same United group faced defeat at the hands of the Dynamic group. It’s a different story that several sitting members of last year had left the United group this year and have been re-elected this year, but under the aegis of the Dynamic group.

‘Dil Se..’ Triumphs…. In Britain

There is hope for Dil Se.. yet. The latest reports indicate that Dil Se.., which bombed in India, has proved to be a huge success in Britain. Its phenomenal run there can be gauged from the fact that the film collected more than £67,000 in just three days of its premiere release in London. The film ran to packed houses in a number of Asian-dominated suburbs all over Britain and, in the process, became the first-ever Hindi film to break into Britain’s weekly Top 10 films. The film’s tremendous success among British-Asians is seen as largely due to the popularity of its hero, Shah Rukh Khan, and A.R. Rahman’s hit music. Chhaiyyan Chhaiyyan, the foot-taping number from the film, has become a big rage among Asians living all over Britain.

The ‘Bade Miyan’ Of Fashion

Arguably the most outrageous costume designer in Bollywood, Firoze Shakir is known as much for his wild and wacky personality as for designing the flamboyant costumes of Govinda. Firoze, who changes his own appearance so often that some people have trouble recognising him at times, has currently designed the new-look costumes for Amitabh Bachchan in David Dhawan’s Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. His costumes for both, Govinda and Amitabh Bachchan, in the film have been so well-appreciated that he has been flooded with offers for a vast number of new films. On a recent publicity campaign of BMCM, Firoze travelled all over Bombay, distributing posters of the film. He says, he did this out of love for producer Vashu Bhagnani who provides him with a lot of inspiration for his work. Speaking about BMCM to Information, Shakir said, “The magic of Vashu Bhagnani, David Dhawan, Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda, and a sprinkling of the wild clothes designed for the duo — is just the right recipe for success!

KEEP THE FLAG FLYING HIGH

Film Information, born on 6th October, 1973, has completed 25 years of its publication this week. Started with the blessings of industry stalwarts, by founder-publisher-editor Ramraj Nahta who promised, “There will be a strong emphasis on timely information and news, news that affect the business in a variety of ways, tightly edited with proper consideration to the needs of the industry.” And if one goes through all the issues of the magazine, it can easily be said that the promise has been kept, not only by the founder-editor but also his successor, Komal, who is currently editing the paper.

Being associated with the paper from its first issue, rather, even prior to that — from the planning stage — as a moral support and contributor, it is a matter of pride for me to say that the paper faced with a smile all the storms that came its way and never allowed any force to affect its moral strength, its honest reporting and its pursuits for the betterment of the industry.

Keep Ramraj’s flag flying high, Komal!

– JAGAT GUPTA