‘Himalaya Putra’ Audio Released
With Pomp And Show

The music release function of Vinod Khanna and HMV’s Himalay Putra on 31st October at the Turf Club was a grand affair indeed. The occasion was special for Vinod as he introduces his son, Akshaye Khanna, in the film.

It was a ‘Himalayan’ welcome which was accorded to the invitees that evening as Himalay Putra’s dad, Vinod Khanna himself, stood at the entrance, personally welcoming the large number of guests who came to wish both, father and putra, the very best.

Sunil Dutt had thoughtfully been invited as the chief guest for the function. It may be recalled that it was none other than Sunil Dutt who had introduced Vinod Khanna in films. At the cassette release function, Dutt Sahab recalled how he had had to convince Vinod’s father to allow him to come into films. “When I first saw Vinod Khanna, I thought to myself that here was the Kirk Douglas of India,” recalled Sunil Dutt. “Vinod Khanna’s father had wanted to send him abroad for training because he wanted him to look after his factory,” continued Sunil Dutt. “But I told his father that Vinod should be given one chance to try his hand at acting. If he failed, the factory would, of course, be there. I was confident that Vinod would make a place for himself in this industry and I told so to his father.”

After Sunil Dutt’s speech, Vinod Khanna introduced Akshaye to the gathering. He also introduced the film’s new leading ladies, Anjala and Shazia. Thereafter, Sunil Dutt released the music cassette of Himalay Putra.

Excerpts from four songs of the film were screened. It must be said that Anu Malik has done a wonderful job and it can safely be predicted that the music of Himalay Putra will soon become extremely popular. Director Pankaj Parashar and the choreographer have done a fantastic job of the picturisation of some of the songs. In particular, the ‘I’m a bachelor’ song will be widely discussed for its unique picturisation.

The dinner and decoration at the function made it appear like a wedding reception. The giant-sized statue of Lord Shiva, which has been used in the film, was put up at the Turf Club. There were any number of varieties of dishes for dinner and dessert.

TOLU BAJAJ RECUPERATING

Bombay distributor Tolu Bajaj underwent a minor surgery earlier this week at Jaslok Hospital (and not Breach Candy Hospital, as mentioned in our issue last week). He is recuperating at the hospital and is likely to be discharged from the hospital shortly.

BABY GIRL FOR ATUL AGNIHOTRI

Atul Agnihotri’s wife, Alvira, gave birth to a baby girl on 27th October at Breach Candy Hospital, Bombay.

YOU ASKED IT

What do you think of the decision of the producers of Raja Hindustani to postpone its release by a week?

– It is a sensible decision to not come in opposition of two big action films even though it is the Diwali week.

What is your opinion about the new trend of music directors taking contracts for song recordings from producers?

– It isn’t a very good trend because music directors invariably try to cut corners in song recordings when they are paid for the entire recordings, and all outgoings for the same are borne by them.

Who is the most in-demand newcomer?

– Seems to be Sharad Kapoor. He reportedly has over 20 films on hand.

‘MAACHIS’ TAX-FREE IN M.P.

Gulzar’s Maachis has been grated tax exemption by the Madhya Pradesh government for a period of six months with effect from 1st November.

PRIYA VILLAGE TO BUILD MULTIPLEXES

The joint venture between Delhi-based Priya Exhibitors and Village Roadshow Ltd. of Australia, Priya Village Roadshow (PVR), has nearly completed the first multiplex situated in south Delhi’s Saket area. It intends to set up more such complexes in Bangalore, Calicut and Bombay in the next couple of years. The Delhi multiplex, which houses four cinemas, will open on 15th December. While one cinema has a capacity of 380 seats, another has a seating capacity of 320, and the remaining two have 150 seats each.

‘GHATAK’ DISPUTE SETTLED

The dispute between the producers of Ghatak and its distributors of Eastern circuit (excluding Orissa) — Musical Films Pvt. Ltd. — over the issue of price has been settled out of court. The film will be released in West Bengal, Bihar and Assam by Musical on Diwali.

MIX MASALA

ANU JACKSON?

The whole of Bombay was in the grip of a Michael Jackson fever this week when the great singer performed live (on 1st November) at the Andheri Sports Complex at Andheri, Bombay. Music director Anu Malik made no effort to hide the fact that it’s not just tunes that he can copy, it’s music-minded people, too, who can inspire him to ape them, at least as far as dressing up goes. For, the music director came dressed quite like Michael Jackson at the music release function of Vinod Khanna’s Himalay Putra on 31st October at the Turf Club, complete with a black hat. But the trademark curls of hair that fall on Michael’s face were missing on Anu’s face.

DO YOU KNOW?

* C.I. distributor J.P. Chowksey, who has a penchant for releasing art films, has proved lucky with MAACHIS. It has yielded a share of 1.75 lakh in the first week in C.I. Chowksey also left no stone unturned to publicise the film extensively. He sent letters to teachers, doctors and engineers ten days before the film’s release. Handbills, printed in Hindi and Gurmukhi, were distributed outside all gurudwaras in Indore. A special show was held in Bhopal, which was attended by ministers and IAS officers, besides the film’s director, Gulzar.

* Although Shringar Films was exploiting MAACHIS in Bombay, it dissociated itself from the film from the second day of its release itself. The film is now being exploited by the producers themselves from their Andheri office.

* Producer Rajan Sharma, Bombay distributor Vinod Kakkar and Gujarat distributor Devendra Shah are all praise for CBFC regional officer Sanjeevani Kutty and members of the examining committee, who saw their SAPOOT, for going out of their way to speedily hold discussions, verify cuts, etc. and issue them a certificate. Incidentally, both the Diwali releases, GHATAK and SAPOOT, were issued certificates on the same day (1st November).

* DDLJ, being screened at tax-free rates, drew all shows full in its first week at Maratha Mandir (matinee), Bombay, in spite of the dull pre-Diwali days.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Censor Coincidence

It’s a strange coincidence that all the three films which had been planned for release on Diwali had to face some censor trouble or the other. Ghatak was offered many cuts, which prompted the producer to go to the revising committee. Although the revising committee did waive some cuts, they weren’t enough to satisfy producer-director Rajkumar Santoshi. It is presenter Bharat Shah who prevailed upon Santoshi to not go in for further appeal and that’s how the revising committee’s cuts were finally accepted by Rajkumar Santoshi.

The examining committee also offered very heavy cuts — 17, to be precise — to Sapoot, the maximum in the climax action, but the film’s producers were saved the trouble of going to the revising committee because the examining committee agreed, after personal hearing with the makers, to reduce/modify the cuts. The film will get its ‘A’ certificate on 4th November, and its Diwali release, alongwith Ghatak, is now confirmed.

The examining committee also offered several cuts to Raja Hindustani, which sort of shocked its makers who had expected a clean ‘U’ certificate for the film. Anyway, when the examining committee did not see reason in director Dharmesh Darshan and hero Aamir Khan’s arguments, the two decided to refer the film (after effecting some voluntary cuts) to the revising committee which saw the film on 1st November and has reportedly cleared the film for universal exhibition almost without cuts. In any case, Raja Hindustani has been postponed and will now hit the screens on 15th November — actually, it is available for screening on and from 12th November (New Year’s day).

Aamir’s New Residence

Aamir Khan, who lives at Bandra, Bombay, has purchased another flat in another block of the same building in which he stays. He is thrilled with the buy because it was in this flat that his “favourite director”, Raj Khosla, used to live before he passed away. The new flat of Aamir is being done up, after which the hero will shift there. The flat in which Aamir presently resides, will be converted into his office then.

Ten And Still Going Strong

Govinda and director David Dhawan have already worked in seven films together —Taaqatwar, Swarg, Shola Aur Shabnam, Aankhen, Raja Babu, Coolie No. 1 and Saajan Chale Sasural. Their under-production films together are Hero No. 1, Banarasi Babu and Deewana Mastana, which takes their total to 10. With several other projects in the pipeline, the hit team is poised to create a record of sorts, it seems.

DIL SE..

India Talkies’ Dil Se.. (A) is the love story of a programming executive, working in All India Radio, and a girl who is a member of a terrorist group out to destroy the country. Although the first half moves as a romantic tale, a good part of the second half is like a tense drama on terrorism. Even the romantic part has limited appeal because the love is one-sided. While the guy is madly in love with the girl, she is unable to reciprocate because of her terrorist activities.

Music is the film’s highlight and it would not be incorrect to say that all the songs are the film’s mainstay. A.R. Rahman’s tunes are heavenly, and Farah Khan’s choreography adds even more colour to the extraordinary songs. Not only are the songs picturised brilliantly, they have also been conceived quite differently. Picturisations of ‘Chhaiyyan Chhaiyyan’ atop a moving train, ‘Dil se re’ and ‘Deeya jale’ are absolutely mesmerising. ‘Satrangi re’ is also beautiful and so is ‘Ae ajnabi’.

But the film’s script is not half as good as its music. There’s no relief and hardly any light moments in the drama. Some of the very few jokes there are, are of the kind which will be understood by the class audience only. A major drawback of the love story is that there’s not a single heart-warming scene or one which would draw applause from the audience or even inspire their involvement. That is, perhaps, because the love is one-sided. In his quest to show that love is above all else, writer-director Mani Ratnam has committed a mistake which the Indian audience may not like to overlook — even when the hero gets to know that his beloved is a terrorist, he is crazy about getting married to her; the thought of saving his country from the terrorist group is shown as coming to his mind as secondary, his primary aim being to possess the girl. In a country where mother and motherland are above all else, even above love, this kind of crazy love may not appeal too much to the masses. It is in this context that the hero’s love appears to be totally selfish. The flashback of the heroine is not as convincing as it should have been for one to appreciate her becoming a terrorist.

Shah Rukh Khan does a splendid job but goes a bit overboard in the last few reels. Manisha Koirala plays the terrorist with perfect understanding of the role. Her character should have been more well-defined, though. Preity Zinta looks endearingly cute and makes a pretty impressive debut with emphasis on natural performance. Raghuvir Yadav, bankable as usual, is very good. Mita Vashishth has no role worth her while. Zora Sehgal, Arundhati Roy, Sabyasachi Chakravarthy, Piyush Mishra, Ken Philip, Sanjay Mishra, Aditya and Krishnakant lend good support.

Mani Ratnam has given the film great gloss but could have, instead, worked harder on the weak screenplay. Had the hero been shown as being equally concerned for his country as for his beloved, it would have served two purposes — the film would have become mass-appealing and it would have brought in clap-traps. Dialogues are natural but not intense.

Santosh Sivan’s camerawork is mind-blowing and so are the landscapes and locations. Editing is loose. Action is alright. Sets are very appropriate. Mixing is not up to the mark — dialogues at several places are incomprehensible, sometimes due to overly loud background score.

On the whole, Dil Se.. has the too heavy price of a ‘mass’ film but remains a ‘class’ appealing fare which will find more patronage in ‘A’ class centres, mostly in Bombay, Maharashtra and South. It gives the impression of being a romantic drama but, along the way, changes track and becomes a terrorist fare. The film may fetch awards for A.R. Rahman, Farah Khan and Santosh Sivan but it will not bring box-office rewards at the astronomical price at which it has been sold to distributors. Besides music and song picturisations, the other point most in its favour is that there are hardly any major new releases for five to six weeks now, and, therefore, the film has a relatively clear field. This would help distributors reduce their losses.

Released on 21-8-’98 at New Excelsior and 21 other cinemas of Bombay thru V.I.P. Enterprises. Publicity & opening: excellent. …….Also released all over. Opening was superb in most places but below the mark in a couple of centres like Ahmedabad and Jaipur. …….The Tamil dubbed version of the film (Uyire) opened in Tamilnadu to bumper response. The Telugu dubbed version opens today (22nd).

‘TITANIC’ FACT FILE

Twentieth Century Fox’s Titanic is continuing its voyage all over the world, capturing newer and newer territories week after week. Director James Cameron’s magnum opus has collected more than US $1 billion overseas as well as over $800 million in North America, thereby becoming the largest grosser ever in the history of feature films. The film’s success story in India has been no different from anywhere else. It has grossed Rs. 44 crore in India so far, achieving a number of firsts in the process.

Titanic is the first ever English film to have completed 25 weeks in more than 10 centres across the country. An estimated 2.5 crore Indians have seen the film. It has also been the first English film to have run to full houses for its first 10 weeks. What is more remarkable is the fact that Titanic achieved such a huge success despite having only 86 prints in circulation, and all in the original (English) version! In fact, the collections of Titanic in India are the fourth highest in the whole of Asia, after Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Emboldened by the film’s tremendous 25-week run in India, Fox is planning to introduce another 30 prints of the film with an aim to gross at least Rs. 75 crore from the country.

PROTIMA BEDI FEARED DEAD

Protima Bedi, mother of Pooja Bedi and ex-wife of Kabir Bedi, is believed to have perished in a landslide near Mansarovar (between Nepal and Tibet) on 18th August. It is feared that over 200 people, including 60 pilgrims, died in a landslide which washed away several houses in Malpa village, 60 kilometres off Dharchula on the Indo-Tibet border. Protima, a renowned Odissi dancer, established a dance school, Nrityagram, near Bangalore a few years ago. She was proceeding to Mansarovar for a darshan of Lord Shiva. This may be the second tragedy to have hit the family in recent times as Protima’s young son, Siddharth, died last year in a tragic accident in New York.

PERSIS KHAMBATTA DEAD

Persis Khambatta, the Indian actress who won international recognition for her bald-pated appearance in the Hollywood film, Star Trek, died of a heart attack on 18th August in Bombay. She was 49.

Persis had been crowned Miss India in 1965 and she also participated in the Miss Universe contest. She joined films after doing some modelling jobs and won the best newcomer award for her performance in Bambai Raat Ki Bahon Mein, made by K.A. Abbas and released in 1967. Not satisfied with the Bombay film world, she moved to London with an assignment to star opposite Sidney Poitier and Michael Caine in The Wilby Conspiracy. She later moved to Hollywood. Her other English films are Conduct Unbecoming, Night Hawks, Warrior Of The Lost World and Mega Force. She left Hollywood a few years ago and came back to India to work on her book on Miss Indias, called The Pride Of India, which was released some time back. She was also planning a serial based on her book.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

‘Dil Se..’ Magic At Cine Magic

Mani Ratnam’s Dil Se.. finally released yesterday (21st), thereby bringing the tremendous anxiety about the film among cinegoers to an end. The music of the film had already become a rage a month ago and the television promos depicting Shah Rukh Khan and Malaika Arora dancing to Chhaiyyan Chhaiyyan atop a moving train had subsequently precipitated a further rage among the public. In fact, the public in Bombay had become so crazy about Dil Se.. that a new cinema, Cine Magic at Andheri, Bombay, witnessed long queues at the advance booking counter — there were people more than four times its seating capacity (362 seats)! Looks like Chal Chhaiyyan Chhaiyyan has translated into Chal Dil Se.. Dil Se.. among the Bombay cinegoers!

Cable Talk

Overhead this one when our telephone cables got cross-connected with the cables of Rekha and Sridevi on 18th August, the day of the industry rally against cable piracy of new Hindi films:-

Rekha: Sri, are you going for the rally?

Sridevi: I would have loved to, but I don’t want to miss Satya which my cable-wallah is showing today at 11 a.m.

Rekha: Really? You have a lovely cable-wallah, it seems. My cable-guy just doesn’t show new films. That is why, I’m planning to participate in the rally against these bloody cable-wallahs. After all, why do they charge such high monthly fees if they are not going to show us new films?

Cable Piracy Rally A Success Sans Stars
Maharashtra Government Promises Action Against Pirates

The Maharashtra government has decided to take stringent action against cable operators airing pirated films, as is being done in Tamil Nadu. Moreover, the state government also proposes to bring cable piracy under the purview of a law similar to the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act (MPDAA), commonly known as the Goonda Act, under which an accused can be jailed for a year without trial. These assurances from the government came as a result of the film industry’s concerted efforts in drawing the authorities’ attention to the growing menace of cable piracy. In an unprecedented show of solidarity, the film industry registered its protest against the cable piracy of Hindi films, on 18th August in Bombay. The entire Bombay film industry downed shutters on that day and nearly 2,500 people connected with the industry took out a procession from Bandra to Azad Maidan in response to a call given by the Action Committee Against Rampant Cable and Other Piracy of the Mumbai Film Industry a few weeks ago. Those who participated in the rally comprised representatives from all sectors of the film industry, and included artistes, producers, directors, distributors, exhibitors, technicians, dancers, junior artistes, workers as well as others affiliated to the Federation of Western India Cine Employees. In a rare show of solidarity, the Pune film industry also remained closed on 18th.

Just like most filmi functions, the Bombay rally began later than its scheduled time. A convoy consisting of over 40 buses, apart from some jeeps, several cars and two-wheelers, started from Mehboob Studios at 11 a.m. About a hundred participants, who arrived after the convoy of buses had left Mehboob, organised their own means of transport and joined the procession midway. That the participants’ mood was upbeat was evident in the way they participated in shouting various slogans in protest against the people engaged in cable piracy in India. The procession then tarried along to the Worli office of SitiCable and still latter, to the office of IN CableNet, also at Worli. As announced beforehand, the participants registered their protest against the perpetration of cable piracy by those two networks. As a precautionary move against the industry’s protest march, both the cable networks had obtained a court order stipulating that the participants of the rally maintain a minimum distance of 25 feet from their offices. Heavy police bandobast was also arranged by the networks to control the participants. But, this ploy could yield no dividends for the networks as the industry folk, while still remaining within the legal limits, made their protest clear by shouting slogans at the top of their voices. Some junior artistes and dancers were also seen standing on top of the buses while voicing their protests.

Having demonstrated outside the cable networks’ offices, the convoy then wound its way to the Azad Maidan — the termination point of the rally. Once the participants arrived there, a number of speeches outlining the ill-effects of cable piracy on the industry, were delivered by various industry spokespersons. The chairman of the Action Committee Against Rampant Cable and Other Piracy of the Mumbai Film Industry, K.D. Shorey, CCCA president Santosh Singh Jain, G.P. Shirke, actors Aamir Khan and Raza Murad were among the principal speakers at the termination of the rally. The prevalent mood at the end of the rally was one of determination to fight till the end. Santosh Singh Jain mentioned during his speech that the CCCA, following the Bombay film industry’s example, had decided to down shutters of the entire film industry in Madhya Pradesh on September 1. He further added that the other states should also begin tackling the issue in a similar manner so that the fight against cable piracy in India continued till the evil was rooted out completely.

Finally, the rally officially ended after a delegation from the industry met Maharashtra chief minister Manohar Joshi and deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde. The delegation handed over a charter of demands (see box on next page) which was accepted by the ministers with promises of action to be taken soon on the industry’s demands.

In the end, though some people viewed the rally as one lacking in glamour (most stars, unfortunately, stayed away, with Asha Parekh, Madhuri, Aamir, Salman, Sunil Shetty, Arbaaz, Johny Lever, Raza Murad, Kunika, Ghanshyam, Gajendra Chauhan, Saahil and a few others being exceptions), what counts is that the industry, nevertheless, succeeded in achieving the main objective of organising the rally — to demonstrate its solidarity. It is only hoped that the fight continues in the same enthusiastic manner in the future and gathers momentum as time passes — that is, till results are achieved.

FILM INDUSTRY’S CHARTER OF DEMANDS

The delegation of the Action Committee Against Rampant Cable and Other Piracy, which met Maharashtra chief minister Manohar Joshi on 18th August, raised the following demands on behalf of the film industry:

(1) Police should immediately take cognizance of a complaint lodged by a producer/copyright holder or his agents, supported by an affidavit that he has not parted with the rights, together with an affidavit of an eye-witness of the film illegally screened on cable TV network. Video piracy being a cognizable and non-bailable offence, the inspector on duty must immediately arrest the operator and should not insist on or wait for the result of a raid on the cable control room.

(2) For vigorous implementation of the anti-piracy laws and to strengthen the enforcement machinery in this regard, the state government should set up special police cells. These cells should thoroughly study the related legislation, gather intelligence and take prompt action against pirates.

(3) Hearing of pending cases in courts should be expedited. If possible, special courts should be set up to try offences committed under the Copyright Act. The copyright law was first amended in 1984, but not a single pirate has been convicted so far.

(4) Publicity machinery of the government should be used effectively to counter video piracy.

(5) The pirates should be arrested under the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act and should be detained for at least one year without any trial.

(6) The licences of all video parlours should be cancelled for screening pirated films, as no producer has parted with the commercial video rights of any film.

(7) The government should encourage construction of new cinemas in Maharashtra. The government should grant tax holidays to newly constructed cinemas for at least five years.

SIDELIGHTS

* The Bombay film industry rally on 18th August had more than its share of light moments. A leading Naaz distributor, looking to the large turnout of Naaz-wallahs, commented, “First, we had thought of sending just Tolu Bajaj to represent the entire Naaz building in the rally. Because, as it is, if Tolu is in the forefront, people standing behind him can’t be seen.” Tolu Bajaj, it may be mentioned here, is very tall and well-built.

* The much needed bottles of mineral water for the participants in the rally were supplied free of cost by T-Series who bottle pure water.

* Because there were just four leading stars — Aamir Khan, Sunil Shetty, Madhuri Dixit and Salman Khan — they were, obviously, stationed in two jeeps which led the rally. Curious onlookers had a great time seeing the stars in flesh and blood, but their searching eyes, trying to recognise more stars in the huge procession of buses that followed the jeeps, met with disappointment. For, there were no stars other than the ones in the jeep! Aamir and Sunil Shetty took part in the entire rally, while Madhuri and Salman were there for some time.

* Ajay Devgan had been to his Naaz office a day before the rally. He was shooting nearby and visited his office for lunch. This led to the Naaz people to speculate that Devgan would definitely partake in the rally the following day. But that was not to be. Both, Ajay and dad Veeru Devgan, were conspicuous by their absence.

M.P. FILM INDUSTRY TO OBSERVE BANDH ON SEPTEMBER 1

In a bid to follow the example set by the Bombay film industry, the Madhya Pradesh film industry will also remain closed on 1st September in protest against the rampant menace of cable piracy of Hindi films. This decision was announced by CCCA president Santosh Singh Jain while addressing the participants at the rally on 18th August in Bombay.

Shame! Shame!!

Why is so much hue and cry being raised over the absence of our leading stars in the Bombay film industry’s rally on 18th August in protest against cable piracy? The stars, who abstained from attending the procession, must surely have had logical reasons for doing so.

For instance, why did the Action Committee Against Rampant Cable And Other Video Piracy Of The Mumbai Film Industry not announce that artistes who would partake in the rally of 18th would be entitled to petrol money, and their drivers and spot boys, to lunch money? The Action Committee should have realised that our stars are so poor, they can’t afford petrol for their cars, to reach from their houses to Mehboob Studios. And if the Action Committee wasn’t going to pay lunch money to their drivers and spot boys, would they go hungry that day? As it is, the stars can barely manage to survive these days, how can we expect them to also take care of the lunch of their attendants etc.? Look at the way the films are flopping, stars are indeed in dire straits, right? Then why blame our poor stars for not making it to the rally?

Some stars have detested the idea of protesting outside the office of Zee TV at Worli. After all, there are Zee Cine Awards to be won. And if a star wants to win awards, how can he/she dare to ‘win’ the wrath of the Zee people. No, no, that would be unpardonable. And then, even the well-deserved award would not go to a star who participated in the rally but would instead be given to another undeserving star who abstained from attending the rally. So, the awards-hungry stars must be saluted for their foresight!

Come to think of it, many of our stars must be watching the new releases of their rivals on cable TV only. So how can they protest against cable piracy? Cable TV comes to the stars’ rescue in more ways than one. Firstly, stars can pretend that they aren’t interested in seeing films of their competitors because they don’t have to go to cinemas to see them; the films come right into their bedrooms, courtesy cable piracy. And, more importantly, admission rates in cinemas are so high these days, our stars genuinely cannot afford them. Such astronomical rates do leave a hole in their pockets.

Some stars must also not have turned up for fear of falling sick due to the heat. Did you say, they shoot in the heat when they shoot outdoors? Oh, silly, for shooting in the blazing sun, they are paid lakhs of rupees. But for taking part in the rally in the heat, they weren’t going to be paid a single paisa. So, obviously, they had to consider the pros and cons of it. The fear of a heat-stroke must have really made them develop cold feet. Can you blame the poor stars then?

Yes, you must! If the stars didn’t turn up for the rally for any of the above reasons, shame on them! And if their reasons were different, shame on them even then. Because, the excuses may differ, but the bottomline is that most of OUR STARS DON’T CARE. Yes, we knew it all along. Yet, we hoped, their lack of feelings wouldn’t be exposed so blatantly. It’s time to shed a tear for ourselves before we curse the cable pirates for making us cry.

– Komal Nahta

WHY THEY STAYED AWAY FROM THE RALLY?

Almost everybody one meets nowadays is criticising the industry bigwigs who stayed away from the Bombay film industry’s rally against cable piracy on 18th August. Their absence, no doubt, robbed the rally of a great deal of glamour. While this may be true, we think, such an opinion is awfully one-sided. We mean, what if a particular celebrity had a  perfectly legitimate reason which forced him/her from being able to attend the rally? So, we decided to call up a number of these absentees and find out why they couldn’t make it to the rally, thereby putting their versions on record. However, since nobody was coming out with the true reasons for their absence, we decided to stop asking them. Instead, we ourselves thought of reasons for the non-participation of the various top names. Here are their genuinely cooked-up (by us) replies:

BOBBY DEOL: I did not attend the rally because I whole-heartedly support cable piracy. Why? Arre, had Kareeb been pirated on video, at least somebody would have seen the film!

AMITABH BACHCHAN: Sure, I would have attended the rally had I found time to do so. I spent the whole of 18th (as well as 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th, for that matter) being interviewed by the newspapers and TV channels. After all, I had to explain to them why the collections of the next AB Corp. film will start dropping after the first week. Yes, that’s planning, corporation style!

AKSHAY KUMAR: Cable piracy doesn’t matter. My films flop anyway.

GOVINDA: Who said I wasn’t there? May be, nobody saw me as I was only about six hours late in reaching there. By that time, I presume, the rally was over.

KAJOL: Ask Ajay.

AJAY DEVGAN: Ask Kajol….. But, jokes apart, if we are in town and not shooting on any day, how  do you expect us to make a public appearance together? Public ki nazar se gaayab to hona hi tha, na?

SOORAJ BARJATYA: Well… there was a wedding in the family and I was busy making a video of the various functions.

DILIP DHANWANI: (Smilling as always) So far, all my films have flopped even before they were pirated. Let me first be affected by piracy, may be, then I’ll think about joining the fight.

RAJIV BABBAR: I would have definitely come, but sadly, Mithun couldn’t make it, you know?

MITHUN CHAKRABORTY: I hate Bombay. Had they organised the rally in Ooty, I would have not only led it, but would have also put up the participants at my own hotel. May be, I could have roped in T.L.V. Prasad to direct the procession as well.

VIKRAM BHATT: It is all bull… this rally and all. They don’t do this in Hollywood.

KARISMA KAPOOR: Yes, I didn’t go for the rally. I used the holiday on 18th to sit with my mom and plan Kareena’s walking out of J.P. Dutta’s film now. You don’t get such opportunities baar baar, yaar!

RISHI-RANDHIR-CHIMPOO KAPOOR: We had actually left  from Chembur at 8 o’clock to join the rally on time. But, after wasting a couple of hours in a  traffic jam at Bandra, Chintu said, “Aa ab laut chalen”. So, back we went to Chembur.

SUNNY DEOL: BACK PROBLEM.

DIMPLE KAPADIA: I thought, piracy was a problem in the early nineties. Is the PROBLEM BACK?

SUBHASH GHAI: As everyone knows, I make guest appearances only in my own films, not in rallies…

MANISHA KOIRALA: Itni dhoop mein sadkon pe nikalna? Nana…Nana…na na.

RAVEENA TANDON: I didn’t know that participation in the rally was a ‘must must’.

SHAH RUKH KHAN: Sitting on the top of buses and shouting slogans is passé. Dancing and singing on top of trains is in.

AMRISH PURI: Rally ke din Mogambo phus hua.

SHAKTI KAPOOR: Rallies like these PISS me off. No rally can solve this problem. This is the NAKED truth.

DHARMENDRA: Jaana to main bhi chahta tha, par mainu kaha ki vaddi peaceful rally hai aur koi gaali-galoch nahin chalegi. Ab batao, main un cablewalon ko (yells) ‘kutte, kameene’ kehkar nahin chillata to kya karta?

DHARMESH DARSHAN: Khud ka Mela chhod kar main doosron ke mele mein jaaoon? You think, I’m so vela, or what?

RANEE MUKERJI: I am very angry with Aamir. Why didn’t he ask me, ‘Aati kya Azad Maidan?’

RAJKUMAR SANTOSHI: I had no time. I was re-re-re-shooting China Gate and planning for the re-re-re-re-shooting of Pukaar.

RAKESH ROSHAN: I was keen on attending but my son, Hrithik, said, “Dad, unhe kaho naa…bukhaar hai.”

– RAJ VAIDYA

YES BOSS

United Seven Combines’ Yes Boss is a comedy. It is the story of an ambitious boy (working in an advertising agency) and an ambitious girl (a model), both of whom could do anything to achieve their goals. The boy, especially, doesn’t even mind bending backwards to please his boss so long as the latter will fulfil his promise of presenting him an office. So blinded is the boy with his ambitions that he even acts as a pimp for his boss! The soft corner he has for one such girl, whom he tries to ‘fix’ for his boss, soon turns into love. How he saves the girl from the clutches of his lustful boss forms the climax.

The film has a thin story-line and it has been stretched too much. By its very nature, a comedy is best enjoyed when it is crisp and to the point. In this film, the screenplay is not as tight as desired in an out-and-out comedy, hence the impact is diluted. Of course, some scenes and situations are hilarious but the overall drama starts looking too unreal and contrived after a while. Dialogues are good and witty but not consistently so. The first half tends to get boring after a while, and the second half is better. Climax, however, is weak. The scenes involving the boy, his beloved and his mother in the post-interval portion are about the only ones which give an Indian feel to an otherwise Western kind of film.

One major drawback is that in the first six or seven reels, a hero of no less a stature than Shah Rukh Khan is shown as pimping for his boss (Aditya Pancholi). This will hurt the sensibilities of the viewers (other than the ‘class’ audience) because the bulk of Hindi cinema audience yet attaches a lot of importance to values in life. What is worse is that Shah Rukh is not made to repent or even realise that what he has been doing (pimping) is ethically wrong — a point which should definitely have been conveyed by writers Sanjay Chhel and Mangesh Kulkarni.

Shah Rukh Khan is simply fantastic in the role of the ambitious employee. He endears himself to the audience right from the word ‘go’ and, sometimes, even manages to rise above the script. His sense of timing is superb. Juhi Chawla is quite good. Aditya Pancholi also does reasonably well although he does appear stiff in a couple of comic scenes. Kashmira Shah acts well in a special appearance and can make a good vamp. Gulshan Grover is restrained and impressive. Ashok Saraf does a fair job. Johny Lever is very good and should have been given a lengthier role. Reema supports very ably. Rakesh Bedi, Mahavir Shah, Amrut Patel, Ghanshyam, Joginder and the rest lend the desired support.

Aziz Mirza’s narration of the subject is of the kind which will appeal to city-based audiences. The film moves on a single track — comedy — and there’s lack of emotions, romance and drama. Several scenes are repetitive too. Jatin Lalit’s music is good. ‘Main koi aisa get gaaoon’, ‘Jo bhi chaahoon’ and ‘Suniye toh’ are well-tuned. Songs have been picturised on truly beautiful foreign locales. Action scenes are fair.

On the whole, Yes Boss rests on too thin a story-line and has ‘class’ appeal. It will do well in major cities but for the rest, its high price will see its distributors in the red. Business in Bombay and South will be good.

Released on 18-7-’97 at New Excelsior and 18 other cinemas of Bombay thru V.I.P. Enterprises. Publicity & opening: excellent. …….Also released all over. Opening (on Thursday) was poor in C.I. Despite Idd holiday on Friday, opening was below the mark in Rajasthan (1st day about 74.77%) but excellent in Delhi and Calcutta.

LATEST POSITION

Communal tension in Maharashtra and Gujarat adversely affected box-office collections as cinemas remained closed for 1/2/3 days and audience attendance was poor. …..The Idd holiday on Friday (18th July) did not help the new releases much.

Do Aankhen Barah Haath 1st week Bombay 17,00,143 (61.64%) from 10 cinemas (5 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 3,12,096 from 5 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Rajkot 60,270 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Jamnagar 67,000; Pune 5,41,685 from 6 cinemas (1 in matinee); Delhi 15,23,042 (50.36%) from 9 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,59,438 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 95,093, Agra 1,85,319, Allahabad 83,600, Varanasi 96,071, Bareilly 58,069 (30.45%), Gorakhpur 75,000 (42.42%); Calcutta (6 days) 5,23,409 from 6 cinemas; Nagpur 1,81,171 from 3 cinemas, Raipur 1,27,744 (48.69%); Bhopal 1,18,620 (1 on F.H.); Jaipur 2,86,950 from 2 cinemas, Jodhpur 2,00,000, Bikaner 97,393; Hyderabad 16,35,451 from 12 cinemas, share 5,10,000.

Mrityudand could not find any appreciation, not even in Bihar. It is somewhat okay in Maharashtra and M.P. due to tax-exemption. 1st week Bombay (TF) 12,56,348 (76.90%) from 6 cinemas (8 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 1,49,450 from 2 cinemas, Baroda 74,149; Pune (TF) 3,73,190 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur (TF) 83,386 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Belgaum 93,267; Delhi 5,63,754 (41.52%) from 4 cinemas; Kanpur 1,07,333, Lucknow 1,16,856, Agra 71,654, Allahabad 36,600, Varanasi 70,788, Meerut 63,244, Bareilly 55,128 (23.99%), Dehradun 72,520, Gorakhpur 59,000 (27.92%); Calcutta (6 days) 1,25,205 from 1 cinema (other cinemas unrecd.); Nagpur (TF) 1,37,523 from 2 cinemas, Amravati (TF) 1,22,695, Akola (TF, 18 shows) 40,026, Bhilai (TF) 72,673; Indore (TF) 1,93,173 from 2 cinemas, Bhopal (TF) 1,18,160; Jaipur 2,13,097 from 2 cinemas; Hyderabad 2,35,729 from 2 cinemas (1 in noon), share 60,297.

………

Gupt 2nd week Bombay (6 days) 31,02,250 (92.22%) from 11 cinemas (10 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 7,55,678 from 3 cinemas (2 unrecd.), Valsad 3,00,462, Padra 2,03,838, Bharuch (6 days, gross) 2,84,048, Rajkot 1,75,680, Jamnagar 1,19,125 from 2 cinemas (1 in mat.); Pune 9,79,763 from 5 cinemas (1 in mat.), Kolhapur 1,77,338 (100%), Solapur 1,65,663; Hubli 100%, Belgaum 100%; Delhi 25,78,944 from 10 cinemas (1 on F.H.; 1 unrecd.); Kanpur 3,92,496 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,81,752, Allahabad 1,27,003, Varanasi 1,69,117, Meerut 1,90,264, Bareilly 1,09,205 (49.74%), Dehradun 1,68,473 (1st 1,84,552), Gorakhpur 1,25,000; Calcutta (6 days) 11,69,340 from 10 cinemas; Gaya 60,000 (1st 1,24,000) from 2 cinemas; Nagpur 2,91,919 from 2 cinemas, 1st week Amravati (30 shows) 2,33,757, 2nd Akola (16 shows) 38,429, Raipur 1,61,925, Bhilai 1,00,383, 1st week Jalgaon 1,91,000, 2nd week Gondia (26 shows) 47,500, total 1,31,563, Chandrapur (25 shows) 1,11,397, total 2,99,054, Yavatmal 50,016 (1st 1,30,198); Indore 1,90,300, Bhopal 3,08,217 from 3 cinemas; Jaipur 7,63,999 from 2 cinemas, Ajmer 1,09,367; Hyderabad 10,98,879 from 5 cinemas, share 5,36,920; Vijayawada 2 weeks’ total 6,34,705.

……….

CBI PROBE SOUGHT INTO UPHAAR CINEMA FIRE TRAGEDY

The Delhi government, dissatisfied with the police investigations into the Uphaar cinema fire tragedy of 13th June, has sought a CBI probe into it. Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma said in New Delhi that many people, including MPs, had expressed their dissatisfaction with the investigations so far. He had, therefore, written to the lt. governor, seeking a CBI probe into the tragedy.

‘ZIDDI’ 100 DAYS

N.R. Pachisia’s Ziddi is celebrating 100 days of its run today (19th July) all over. Directed by Guddu Dhanoa, it stars Sunny Deol, Raveena Tandon, Anupam Kher, Ashish Vidyarthi, Farida Jalal and Raj Babbar. Music: Dilip Sen Sameer Sen. Action: Tinnu Verma.

RAVI KISSEN INJURED

Actor Ravi Kissen was hurt in a car accident at Lokhandwala, Bombay, on the morning of 18th July. He was in his Maruti Gypsy which collided with a truck. Ravi fell unconscious and had to be rushed to Cooper Hospital. He sustained injuries on his head and nose but is said to be out of danger.

ANJALIDEVI HONOURED

Celebrated artiste of Telugu films, Anjalidevi (of Suvarna Sundari fame), who has acted in almost 400 Telugu, Tamil and Hindi films in a career spanning 50 years, was conferred the prestigious Raghupathi Venkayya award for the year 1995 recently.

The Young Men’s Happy Club felicitated Anjalidevi on 13th July at Kakinada.

WEDDING RECEPTION

A grand reception to celebrate the marriage of Ravi, son of Jawaharlal Agarwal of Trimurti Talkies, Ujjain, was held on 17th July in Ujjain. It was well attended by trade people.

DIRECTOR KRISHNAN NO MORE

Director Krishnan (of the famous Krishnan-Panju duo) expired earlier this week in Madras. He was in his eighties. Among the films directed by Krishnan-Panju were Bhabhi, Varsha, Suhag Sindoor, Manmouji, Shaadi, Mera Kasoor Kya Hai, Ladla, Do Kaliyan and Main Sunder Hoon.

ANNASAHEB GHATGE DEAD

Noted Marathi film producer Annasaheb Ghatge passed away on 28th June at his residence in Sangli due to heart failure. He was 57 and is survived by his wife and two sons.

Annasaheb had produced Patlin, Pandharichi Wari and Sasar Maher. His Pandharichi Wari had bagged the best social film award of the Maharashtra state government in 1988-89. He had given actress Jayshree Gadkar a break as director in Sasar Maher. At the time of his death, he was producing Gaon Sara Jaga Zala, and its six songs have been recorded. The film was to star Ashok Saraf, and Ashwini Bhave in a double role.

EXTENSIVE RENOVATION & NEW NAME FOR BHAVNAGAR CINEMA

Ajay cinema at Bhavnagar is being extensively renovated. Dolby sound system is being installed. The cinema has been rechristened Rajshri and is owned by Ajay Chudasama who also owns Rajshri and Shalimar cinemas of Gandhinagar. The renovated cinema will open with Subhash Ghai’s Pardes.

HARBANS PAPE NO MORE

Dancer and dance director Harbans Pape expired on the night of 17th July in Dehradun. He was 69.

Badnam was his first film as a dancer. Among his other films (as dancer) were Jadoo, Naujawan, Mera Saya, Warrant, Sholey, Upkar, Ek Phool Do Mali, Deedar, Kajal, Do Ankhen, Madhumati, Nanak Naam Jahaz Hai etc. As a dance director, he directed Chandan, Deedar, Anjan and a few other films.

Harbans received several trophies and awards during his film career. After a fatal road accident around 1980, his career came to a halt. He returned to Dehradun from where he had come to Bombay, in 1984 and settled there permanently.

Harbans’ elder son, Titu, is working in the film industry as an artiste and dancer.

NOTICES ISSUED TO 42 DELHI CINEMAS

The municipal corporation of Delhi has issued notices to 42 of the 66 cinemas under its jurisdiction, for violation of building bye-laws. The cinemas have been asked to rectify the various violations within a fortnight. Action would be taken against those cinemas which fail to rectify the wrongs.

The notices have been issued following submission of inspection reports by the deputy commissioners of police of the respective zones. Earlier, licences of two cinemas of Delhi — Priya and Khanna — had been revoked. The licence of Priya was restored after the management showed papers which satisfied the authorities.

The municipal corporation of Delhi has taken a tough stand against erring cinemas of the capital city following the ghastly fire tragedy at Uphaar cinema in the city on 13th June.

FWICE GRANTS AFFILIATION TO CAC

The Cine Agents Combine, after dissociating itself from the Film Makers Combine (FMC), has become affiliated to the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE). The FWICE granted the CAC affiliation on 13th July.

I.R.K. PEON ABSCONDING WITH CASH

Gopal, a peon of Bombay distributor Inder Raj Kapoor (I.R.K. Films), was asked by the latter last Friday to collect a lakh of rupees from some place in Bombay and bring the same to office. To Kapoor’s bad luck, the peon never returned with the money he collected. Investigations are still on.

CONTROVERSY OVER BENGALI VERSION OF ‘LAV KUSH’

An ugly controversy has arisen in West Bengal over the release of Dilip Kankaria’s Lav Kush in the state. Technicians in West Bengal are up in arms against the release of any film dubbed in the regional language (Bengali) as, according to them, such dubbed films adversely affect Bengali films. In fact, just recently, the technicians and artistes of the Bengali film world appealed to the I & B minister to stop telecast of dubbed Bengali serials on DD.

With producer Dilip Kankaria insisting that the Bengali version is not dubbed, and the Bengali film industry convinced that it is a dubbed version, the fate of the Bengali Lav Kush hangs in balance a week before its scheduled release. According to Dilip Kankaria, Lav Kush is a bilingual shot in Hindi and Bengali simultaneously. “I have two negatives, one of the Hindi version, and the other, of the Bengali version,” says Dilip Kankaria. “Some vested interests are fanning this controversy but I’m sure, truth will prevail finally.”

FFI DELEGATION MEETS I & B MINISTER

A delegation of the Film Federation of India met I & B minister S. Jaipal Reddy in Delhi earlier this week and apprised him of the problems facing the film and television industries.

In particular, the issues of censorship, countervailing duty on raw film, and the constitution of the NFDC were discussed in detail. The minister was aware that in the name of preventing cruelty to animals, the Central Board of Film Certification was putting producers to a lot of hardship and promised to rectify the situation. He was shocked that Maneka Gandhi was indirectly dictating terms to the CBFC about prevention of cruelty to animals.

The minister was sympathetic to the demand of the industry to abolish countervailing duty on raw stock. The delegation also lamented the fact that there was no representative of the film industry on the NFDC, and asked the minister to appoint a suitable person.

The issue of the telecast of dubbed Bengali serials on Bengal Doordarshan was also discussed and it was impressed upon the minister to not discontinue them.

SIGNED

Sushmita Sen In ‘Chakra’

Sushmita Sen has been signed to play the leading lady opposite Sanjay Dutt in Mumbai Talking Pictures’ Chakra, being produced by Sanjay Dutt and Kumar Gaurav, and written and directed by Dilip Shukla. Aroora Irani and Amrish Puri play other important roles. Music by Vishal, editing by V.N. Mayekar, sound by Rakesh Ranjan, art by R. Verman, action by Raam Shetty, and cinematography by Nirmal Jani are the other major credits.

PRODUCTION NEWS

Boney Kapoor’s Film Progressing In Cochin

A 15-day shooting spell of Narsimha Enterprises’ untitled film, starring Sanjay Kapoor and Priya Gill, commenced in Cochin on July 16. The film co-stars Jackie Shroff (in a special appearance), Kader Khan, Johny Lever, Tej Sapru and Mohnish Bahl. Remake of the Tamil blockbuster Kaadhal Kottai, the film is being directed by Athathian for producer Boney Kapoor. It will be shot in its last schedule from Aug. 24 to Sept. 15 in Delhi. Music: Nadeem Shravan. Lyrics: Sameer. The film is being produced in association with Neha-MAD Films Combine.

YOU ASKED IT

Who is John Mathew Matthan who is making Sarfarosh? Has he made any film earlier?

– He is an ad filmmaker and SARFAROSH is his first feature film.

Will the audience accept Urmila Matondkar in a family film like Mere Sapno Ki Rani when the publicity of Daud, in which she is dressed too sexily, is at its peak?

– Didn’t the audience love her in JUDAAI after RANGEELA?

What is the total business, as per statements, of HAHK..!, DDLJ and Raja Hindustani in Bombay circuit and all over India?

– About 22, 14 and 11 respectively in Bombay. The first two films had the advantage of tax exemption in Maharashtra. In India, the figures are about 70, 40 and 38 respectively. RAJA HINDUSTANI is still running in its 32nd week and is expected to cross the DDLJ figure in the final tally.

MIX MASALA

MISSING THE TARGET

Ruia’s serial, Target, starring Sangeeta Naik in the lead, was to have gone on air on 18th July on DD Metro, but the makers couldn’t meet the target date due to a mishap on the sets on 12th July. Sangeeta, while performing a stunt, fractured her leg and has been advised six weeks’ bed-rest. And so the telecast of Target stands postponed.

PEOPLE
Are talking about

** The bumper opening of Yes Boss in Bombay and Delhi cities on the one hand and its lukewarm opening in circuits like C.P. and C.I. Actually, the difference in initials is not surprising considering that the film has an English title and although it has had extensive publicity, it (publicity) is of the kind which holds appeal for the class audience mainly. One might say that Border is also an English title, but there is a major difference, besides the fact that Border is a multi-starrer as against Yes Boss and it has a super-hit song in Sandese aate hain. The major difference is that although both are English titles, Border gives a serious connotation, while Yes Boss is a more frivolous title, if one may use the term.

** Akshay Kumar and his marketability after the debacles of Lahoo Ke Do Rang and Insaaf. The guy needs to take stock of the situation and also needs to take some corrective measures if he wants to regain his lost position. Incidentally, although comparisons are not always fair, people are comparing him with Mamta Kulkarni for their penchant for dropping their clothes on screen. He has taken off his shirt and pant a bit too often in films!

PEOPLE
Are wondering

** About how Subhash Ghai will release his Pardes on 8th August as announced, especially in view of the fact that the film’s music has been released less than a fortnight back, and the film’s publicity as yet is on a very low key. Know-alls insist, the film will be postponed, but people concerned with the film are confident, it will hit the screens on 8th August. According to Ghai himself, “My film is already censored, my mixing is half-complete and the film’s first copy will be out before the month-end. Then why should I postpone the release? The publicity has been kept low-key intentionally, because I want Pardes to grow week by week.”

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

No Cause For Celebration

Idd is an occasion to celebrate, but for the industry, yesterday’s Idd-e-Milad festival hardly gave reasons to celebrate. For, the initials of both the films released this week gave cause for concern. If Yes Boss opened to bumper houses in Bombay, Delhi and a few major cities, its opening in circuits like C.I., Rajasthan etc. was far from encouraging. Ditto with Daava. Why, not even the Idd holiday could help! Even though everybody is aware that the former film stars Shah Rukh Khan, and the latter, Akshay Kumar, it needs to be pointed out here once again alongwith the prices these two stars charge. Did you say, you are aware of their fees? Well, let’s not embarrass our heroes then!

‘Daava’ Delivery Drama

The effecting of deliveries of this week’s release, Daava, was not free from tension and drama. While the producer wanted his distributors to hike the price, the latter were in no mood to oblige, and some distributors/sub-distributors even wanted a price reduction. The deliveries for Bombay and the Eastern circuit were effected after a lot of haggling and heated arguments. In Bombay, the Gujarat sub-distributor made a deferred payment of a part of the delivery amount. The film changed hands for Saurashtra at the eleventh hour. In place of M.B. Films, it is now being distributed by Keshubhai of Porbandar, who managed to buy the film at a price less than the one for which M.B. Films had it.

It’s A Challenge

If you thought, Mehul Kumar is down and out after Lahoo Ke Do Rang and Mrityudaata, think again. The man has taken his two consecutive failures as a challenge for himself. Why, he has even titled his next as Challenge. Starring in the film will be Amitabh Bachchan and Nana Patekar.

The Experiment Man

R.V. Pandit is an unusual man. He will premiere his Train To Pakistan on STAR Plus on 15th August and release it theatrically from the very next day (Saturday, August 16). The cinemas where Train To Pakistan is booked will screen Pandit’s Maachis on 15th. BBC will also telecast the film on Channel 4 on 15th August. This is the first Indian film to be premiered by BBC. Pandit is also dubbing Maachis in various foreign languages and exporting the film to different countries. For his Darmiyaan, he has put up 90 hoardings all over the country.

The Indian World After ‘Jurassic Park’

It took the sequel of Jurassic Park (Hindi dubbed) to break the record of the first part in India. We are talking of the price the sequel (Hindi dubbed) has been sold for and is being sold to distributors. The sequel, titled The Lost World: Jurassic Park, is hot in distribution circles, thanks to the bumper initial business of the English version in Hollywood, and the tremendous business Jurassic Park (Hindi dubbed) had done in India. Paramount is likely to recover a total of about 1.5 to 2 crore from the various territories of India. Not a small figure, this. Incidentally, the publicity of The Lost World needs to be stepped up to match the high price.

‘Pardes’ Publicity: Not A Wise Decision

Another film’s publicity which, we feel, is being unnecessarily kept on a low key, is Subhash Ghai’s Pardes. With just three weeks to go before the film hits the screen, the awareness among the audience about the film and its release is not what it should be. Ghai wants to keep the publicity to the minimum possible level, as he feels, that will not raise people’s expectations too much. Obviously, he has not forgotten the Trimurti experience where the audience had expected the sky from the film. But if Subhash Ghai thinks, Trimurti bombed because people had great expectations from it, he is wrong. Trimurti was such a bad film that even if there were zero expectations from it, it would have proved a disaster. Coming back to Pardes, Ghai should definitely step up its publicity. In fact, an intensive and extensive publicity campaign is what is needed. Since it is not a multi-starrer (like Trimurti), the fear that people will expect the world out of it is unfounded. Even otherwise, the time is simply not enough for expectations to soar so high.

The Hero Image

Although this incident took place more than a year back in a cinema of Bombay, it went unreported. The cinema in question was screening Naseeruddin Shah and Shah Rukh Khan starrer Chaahat when a young man suddenly went wild and started breaking the chairs in the auditorium. The management, obviously, caught the man and slapped him for his behaviour. Although the cinema wallahs had beaten the guy enough, curiosity got the better of them and they asked the man the reason for his strange behaviour. The man’s reply stunned them as it will stun you now. Said he, “I don’t mind being beaten up by you, but I can’t bear to see Shah Rukh Khan being beaten so mercilessly on screen by Naseeruddin Shah. If Shah Rukh is a hero, how can he tolerate such a lot of violence on himself. What kind of a hero is he?” It may be recalled that Shah Rukh is almost beaten to death by Naseer in Chaahat. Our writers and directors would do well to keep the man’s logic in mind while writing/making films.

ANNOUNCEMENT & LAUNCHING

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ Goes On Sets

Producer-director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam was launched recently in Bombay with an initial 13-day shooting schedule. A song was picturised on Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai. A Jhamu Sughand presentation, the film is being made under the banner of Bhansali Productions and stars Salman Khan, Ajay Devgan, Aishwarya Rai, Zohra Sehgal, Vikram Gokhale, Smita Jayakar, Rekha Rao, Kenny Desai and Rajeev Verma. Other credits include cinematography by Anil Mehta, art by Nitin Desai, editing by Bela Segal, story by Pratap Karvat and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, screenplay by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Kenneth Philips, music by Ismail Darbar, lyrics by Mehboob, dialogues by Amrik Gill, sound by Jitendra Chaudhary, choreography by Bhushan Lakhandri, Ganesh Hegde and Vaibhavi, action by Sham Kaushal, and costumes by Neeta Lulla and Shabina Khan. Vikram R. Bangera is the executive producer.

RAM B.C. NO MORE

Bombay exhibitor Ram B.C. passed away in his sleep on 6th January at his residence in Bombay. He was 67 and was cremated the same day.

Several years ago, Ram B.C. used to be a leading Bombay distributor and exhibitor with his brother, Shankar B.C. His concerns, Deluxe Pictures and Bombay Pictures Circuit, used to be well-known distribution concerns. In 1963, he started a distribution office in Delhi with Mere Mehboob. The Bombay distribution business was started in 1959 with Yahudi. Among the films distributed by Shankar and Ram B.C. in Bombay and Delhi-U.P. were Amardeep, Dil Ek Mandir, Gunga Jumna, Aradhana, Kati Patang, Upkaar, Shor, Purab Aur Pachhim, Dus Numbri, Sanyasi, Raja Jani, Roti Kapada Aur Makaan, Talash, Dushmun, Dost and Majboor. The B.C. brothers had also produced Laila Majnu, Chhoti Bahu, Pyar Hi Pyar and Lahu Ke Do Rang. They used to also finance films.

Ram B.C. was born on September 22, 1930. He started his film career in 1948 as a representative. In 1952, he became the manager of Sippy Films. He started exhibition business in 1956 with Broadway cinema, Bombay. At one time, he and his brother controlled as many as 20 to 24 cinemas like Liberty (Bombay), Rupam (Sion, Bombay), Rupam (Ahmedabad), Deepali (Ahmedabad), Prakash (Ahmedabad) and Moti (Bombay) etc. He branched out into the hotel industry in 1969 and owned Hotel Hilltop at the time of his death. He was actively involved in social work and was also a member of the Telephone Advisory Committee.

His funeral on 6th was largely attended by the film trade. Marka on 8th at Warden Road was also very largely attended.

SAHADEV SHAH DEAD

Sahadev Shah, owner of Deepak Talkies, Delisle Road, Bombay, expired on 5th January in Bombay due to heart failure. He was 57.

He was on the advisory panel of the Central Board of Film Certification for many years. He was also a member of the Telephone Advisory Committee. Shah had been a member of the executive committee of the Theatre Owners’ Association. Shah was also associated with a number of other registered trade bodies in various capacities. He is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters.

TUTU SHARMA BEREAVED

Jagan Prasad Sharma, father of producer Pradeep (Tutu) Sharma, passed away in a hospital in Jaipur on 3rd January. He had not been well since a fortnight. He was 72 and is survived by his wife, son Tutu, daughter-in-law Padmini (Kolhapure), daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren.

Jagan Prasad Sharma had produced a film in 1961. Titled Char Diwari, it introduced Shashi Kapoor as a hero. He was the president of the Rajasthan Cricket Association and was popular in social circles. Rajasthan chief minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, reacting to the demise, said that the passing away of Jagan Prasad Sharma was a personal loss to him.

NASEERUDDIN SHAH BEREAVED

Farrukh Sultan Begum, mother of Naseeruddin Shah, passed away in the early hours of 7th January in Bombay. She was 84 and is survived by three sons, Zaheeruddin, Zamiruddin and Naseeruddin Shah.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Ramzan Rush!

Releases during Ramzan are usually few. But this Ramzan month, there’s a spate of releases — almost all of which are small films. For such small films, it is a choice between the devil and the deep sea. Either they come in opposition of big films or avoid oppositions and come during the dull Ramzan period when big films are generally not released. Many of the small film producers have opted for avoiding big film oppositions and, therefore, are getting their films during the lax Ramzan month. Have a look at the ‘Releases’ column in this issue and you will agree with us.

Trailer Tattle

There are at least five trailers being currently aired on the various satellite channels, which are catching the fancy of viewers. The trailer of Vicky Kumar and Sanjay Tolani’s Zor makes a zordaar impact, and shows Sunny Deol breathing fire. Salman Khan, Kajol and Arbaaz Khan come as a whiff of fresh air in the musical trailer of Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya (the song goes thus: Od lee chunariya maine tere naam ki). The trailer of ABCL’s Saat Rang Ke Sapne is as colourful as colourful can be. The rural atmosphere has been created beautifully. Suspense is the catchword in the trailer of 2001 which, incidentally, boasts of very good music. Ravi Dewan’s maiden directorial venture, Vinashak, gives a ‘good first impression’ through its trailers. And on radio, it is the songs of K.C. Bokadia’s Lal Badshah, which are being liked by listeners.

Happy Shooting Year

While many might consider 1st January a day for relaxation (after the New Year’s eve party?), Karisma Kapoor is pretty superstitious about the first day of the year. She makes it a point to shoot on the New Year’s day every year, whatever the situation, because she considers it to be a good omen for the rest of the year. This year, it was the shooting schedule of N.N. Sippy’s Silsila Hai Pyar Ka which she was participating in from the last week of December, and she requested Sippy to ensure that she faced the camera at least for one shot on 1st January. In 1997, Karisma shot for Dil To Pagal Hai on 1st January. And on 1st January 1996, she shot for Raja Hindustani.

Canteen 420?

The contractor running the canteen at Eros cinema, Bombay, needs to put a check on a couple of his canteenwallahs. For, they don’t hesitate in fleecing the gullible customers who rush for snacks and cold-drinks during interval. As it happened earlier this week with one of the family members of Film Information. He had gone to see Chachi 420 at Eros alongwith his family and ventured (in the crowded foyer) to buy a packet each of vegetable samosas (Rs. 10) and Uncle Chipps (Rs. 15). On giving a Rs. 50 note, he was returned Rs. 20. Not a word was uttered by the guy who gave him the snacks and returned the change. What’s more, the guy had even started attending to other customers. The Information person was about to move from there when he realised, he had got Rs. 5 less. He checked the rates (displayed on a board in the canteen) and again checked the change he had got from the canteenwallah and only then asked him for the balance Rs. 5. It is then that the guy on the counter told him that he didn’t have Rs. 5 change and asked him if he had Rs. 5 so that he could take that and return Rs. 10. Why did the man not say this earlier? Why did he have to wait for the customer to ask for the balance Rs. 5? Your guess is as good as ours. Since Eros has a large clientele of affluent people, there are many who don’t even count the change before putting it into their pockets. It’s really sad that such an incident should have taken place at a prestigious cinema like Eros.

While on Eros, its air-conditioning plant was not working even that day. It’s been in a non-working condition for quite a few days now. Considering that the balcony ticket rate is Rs. 75, isn’t it too much for the air-conditioner to remain switched off — for whatever reasons — for days together?

Political Parodies

Come elections and it’s time for the politicians to use the latest hit film songs to woo voters and to run down their opponents. This time, even hit pop songs are being used by the BJP to poke fun at the Congress. Political parties usually make special audio cassettes of these parodies of hit numbers and distribute them free of charge among voters. The BJP this time is using Altaf Raja’s super-hit qawwali, Tum to thehre pardesi from the album of the same name, to tease Congress leader Sonia Gandhi. The parody goes thus: Tum to thehre pardesi/Saath kya nibhaaoge/Pehli flight se Italy chale jaaoge. Another BJP song that’s tipped to be an instant hit (like the film from which it has been inspired) is Dilli to pagal hai.

How’s This Title?

And this one to keep you smiling through the week.

Govinda’s pet name, as everybody knows, is Chi Chi. It is also common knowledge that Govinda’s Aunty No. 1 is inspired from Mrs. Doubtfire, on which is also based Chachi 420. So what should have been the title of Aunty No. 1?

Rattle your brains for a while. If you can’t think of the answer, read this last line:

It should be Chi Chi 420. Howzatt?!?

BADMAASH

Seven Seas Films’ Badmaash (A) is a gang war film with a routine story. A brave, unemployed young man saves a college girl from being molested by the son of a small-time don and beats him up. The don takes this as an insult and seeks revenge. In the meantime, the young man and his friends form a gang of their own to face the don’s challenge. The don’s son rapes the young man’s sister and kills her. In retaliation, the young man kills the don’s son. Thereafter, the young man’s father and mother are also killed one by one. Ultimately, the don is exterminated.

The drama offers no novelty, and scenes have been seemingly written to accommodate action and violence. What’s more, in spite of having so much action, the makers have opted to avoid putting in some comedy for relief. Even the action scenes are mostly unexciting. Dialogues are ordinary. The film has taken many years to complete and that shows in continuity jerks.

Jackie Shroff goes through his role mechanically. Shilpa Shirodkar is fair. Paresh Rawal’s villainy is quite alright. Pran does a reasonable job. Bindu has done well. Ramesh Bhatkar, Vikram Gokhale, Dilip Dhawan, Shagufta Ali, Tej Sapru, Siddharth Ray, Sanjay Shah and Viju Kohte lend ordinary support. Pradeep Kumar and Jalal Agha, in special appearances, have just one scene each.

Direction is no better than the lacklustre script. Of the songs, ‘Aamchi Mumbai’ has some appeal for front-benchers. The other numbers are ordinary. Song picturisations are dull. Camerawork is not up to the mark. Production values are ordinary.

On the whole, Badmaash has taken a poor start and has nothing much to see a pick-up.

Released on 23-1-’98 at Novelty and 14 other cinemas of Bombay thru Dilsa Distributors Combine. Publicity: good. Opening: poor. …….Also released all over.

MISS 420

Venus’ Miss 420 (UA) is a romantic suspense thriller. The intelligence department of the CBI puts a young spy, Miss 420, on the job to trap the people involved in smuggling defence documents to foreign countries. The department chief senses the involvement of its own officers too. The drama starts with a car being blown up in a bomb explosion by the smugglers to kill Miss 420. They are shocked when they see a similar-looking girl who comes alongwith her lover, in search of her brother who is an investigative journalist. There are several turns and twists thereafter and finally, a climax full of action. Almost three-fourths of the film moves on the romantic track and hardly impresses with its songs and dances. The songs are good and their picturisations, sensual, but they were popular several years ago. Even while the suspense keeps on increasing, the real excitement comes towards and in the climax. Dialogues are ordinary.

Sheeba lends glamour by exposing freely. She is fair as far as acting goes. Baba Sehgal is not impressive. He looks old too. Mohan Joshi does very well. Shakti Kapoor is good and so also Tinnu Anand. Asif Sheikh leaves a mark. Jeet Upendra, Mahesh Anand, Mushtaq Khan, Aroon Bakshi, Goga Kapoor, Anant Mahadevan, Ajit Vachani, Amita Nangia, Shubha Khote, Kuldeep Pawar and Abhimanyyu fill the bill. Johny Lever entertains in a couple of scenes.

Akashdeep’s direction is fairly nice. At least three songs — ‘Aaja meri gaadi mein baith jaa’, ‘Mesmsaab O memsaab’ and ‘Dhak dhak’ — are beautifully tuned but they’ve become stale now. Camerawork is good while the other technical aspects are alright.

On the whole, although it has a good suspense track, Miss 420 lacks in face value and substantive drama and will, therefore, find the going tough.

Released on 23-1-’98 at Maratha Mandir and 6 other cinemas of Bombay by Venus thru Shringar Films. Publicity: fair. Opening: poor. …….Also released all over.

UPHAAR TRAGEDY ACCUSED SUMMONED

CBI special magistrate Brijesh Sethi has taken cognisance of the offences under different sections of the Indian Penal Code in the Uphaar cinema tragedy case in Delhi and has summoned all the accused to his court on 16th February. Eight government officials and six persons of Uphaar cinema have been chargesheeted under sections 304A (causing death by negligence) and 304.

VINOD SHARMA ELECTED RAPA PRESIDENT

Vinod Sharma was elected president of the Radio & TV Advertising Practitioners’ Association of India Ltd. (RAPA) for 1997-98 at its annual general meeting held recently in Bombay. Brij Mittle was elected vice president, Ashok Vaishnavi, hon. secretary, and K.N. Goel, hon. treasurer. Besides the above, Ameen Sayani, Amar Thakur, Madhu Srivastava, Purush Baokar, Rajendra Joshi, Shashi Surendranath, Suren Chawla and Vinod Ganatra were elected members of the managing council.

FIRE DESTROYS CENTRAL CINEMA

Central Plaza cinema at Girgaum, Bombay, was gutted in the early morning hours of 21st January. While the cinema and the furniture were badly damaged in the fire that broke out around 5 a.m., the projection room and the air-conditioning plant of the cinema, which are behind the auditorium, are intact. The police and the fire brigade do not think, it is a case of sabotage or short circuit.

Contract labourers had cleaned up the cinema as usual on 20th night after the last show of Police Story 2. They shut all the exits and left around 4 a.m. Some employees, who were sleeping outside the auditorium, were woken up by the smoke around 5 a.m. The fire brigade was summoned and the fire doused in about 20 minutes. No casualties were reported.

The cinema is owned by Pranlal Doshi who had acquired it from K.M. Modi in 1968. It was built in 1918. It had been renovated by Doshi just two years ago. The cinema was known for screening Marathi films once upon a time. Years ago, it used to screen top Hindi films. Then came a bad patch. Of late, the cinema had started screening English films in regular and late-night shows too. The cinema was originally called Central and it was rechristened Central Plaza only some time back.

UMESH MEHRA’S DAUGHTER TO WED

Nishita, daughter of director Umesh Mehra and grand-daughter of producer F.C. Mehra, will wed Pushkar on 6th February at the Royal Western India Turf Club, Mahalaxmi, Bombay.

WEDDING BELLS FOR J.P. CHOWKSEY’S SON

C.I. distributor Aditya Chowksey, son of J.P. Chowksey, will wed Chhavi on 3rd February in Indore at Sayaji Hotel.

SUBHASH GHAI’S TRIPLE CELEBRATIONS

Subhash Ghai will host a luncheon party on 25th January at Royal Palms to celebrate three occasions: silver jubilee of Pardes, his birthday (on 24th January) and the announcement of his new film.

VINOD KHANNA TO CONTEST LS ELECTION

Vinod Khanna will contest the Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket, from the Gurdaspur constituency in Punjab. His candidature was finalised and announced by the Bharatiya Janata Party on 22nd January. He is pitted against former Union minister Sukhbans Kaur.

Vinod flew to Delhi on 22nd morning.

KALYANJI, ANANDJI, MAVJIBHAI BEREAVED

Hansbai Virji Shah, mother of Bombay distributor Mavjibhai Shah and music directors Kalyanji, Anandji and Babla, expired on the morning of 23rd January. She was 92.

Chautha will be held on Sunday, 25th January, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Karsan Laddhu Hall, Dadar, Bombay.

CENSOR NEWS

Vicky Films Pvt. Ltd.’s Zor (length 4534.08 metres in 17 reels), applied on 19th and seen on 21st, has been offered A certificate, with many cuts.

Sapna Arts’ Banarasi Babu (length 3790.80 metres in 16 reels), applied on 19th and seen on 22nd, has been okayed for UA, with minor cuts. Certificate will be issued soon.

Mark Films International’s Vinashak was given C.C. No. CIL/3/3/98 (A) dt. 20-1-’98; length 4386.51 metres in 15 reels (cuts: 51.24 metres).

Om Films’ 2001, applied on 16th and seen on 20th, has been issued C.C. No. CIL3/6/98 (A) dt. 22-1-’98; length 4423.96 metres in 17 reels (cuts: 39.04 metres).

Damani Pictures P. Ltd.’s Saazish was given C.C. No. CIL/2/3/98 (UA) dt. 20-1-’98; length 3949.75 metres in 16 reels (cuts: 330.19 metres).

Seven Seas Films’ Badmaash was given C.C. No. CIL/3/4/98 (A) dt. 20-1-’98; length 3446.14 metres in 14 reels (cuts: 108.86 metres).

Mirabai Films P. Ltd.’s Kama Sutra – A Tale Of Love (dubbed), cleared vide Bombay high court order dt. 23-12-’97, has been issued C.C. No. CIL/3/5/98 (A) dt. 21-1-’98; length 3043.88 metres in 7 reels (some deletion in sound only).

YOU ASKED IT

The first month of the new year has been quite disastrous for the industry. Will that be a bad omen?

– Don’t you worry. Things will definitely begin to look up from 30th January. So, cheer up and forget about the bad omen.

Has Jeans (dubbed) been sold for any territories so far?

– Tolu Bajaj, who has the all-India rights of the film, will himself release it in Bombay, Delhi-U.P. and Nizam. Business for the other circuits will be done now. The film’s shooting is complete, and Hindi dubbing will start shortly.

Why do people generally avoid seeing films during election campaigning time?

– People generally prefer to see, talk about and listen to politicians during the one-two months of election campaigning. At places, people avoid frequenting cinemas for fear of tension due to party rivalries. Then, there are also election meetings to be attended.

SIGNED

Priya Gill In ‘Josh’

Priya Gill has been signed opposite Shah Rukh Khan in United Seven Creations’ Josh, being produced by Ganesh Jain, directed by Mansoor Khan and presented by Venus. Others in the cast are Aishwarya Rai, Chandrachur Singh, Sharad Kapoor and Sharat Saxena.

Veeru Devgan Signs Amitabh For Next

Amitabh Bachchan and Veeru Devgan will be together once again in Devgan Arts’ Prod. No. 2. Other cast and credits are under finalisation.

IN & OUT OF BOMBAY

Producer-director Subhash Ghai and Mr. Tolu Bajaj of Metro Films, Bombay, returned from Madras on 23rd January.

Mr. Nanubhai Desani of Vaishali cinema, Bhavnagar, staying at Sahara Hotel (386-1491), will return to Bhavnagar tomorrow (25th January).

MIX MASALA

AWARD KI PUKAAR

It was a lucky flight that brought Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit from Hyderabad to Bombay to attend the Screen Videocon awards function on 17th January. For, both of them won the best acting awards. The two were shooting in Hyderabad for Boney Kapoor’s Pukaar and came to Bombay for a day, only to attend the awards nite.

IDOL CHAT

Of the 25 contenders for the Femina Miss India title due to be conferred shortly, at least three have film personalities as their idols. Twenty-one-year-old Vithika iodlises Sunil Dutt and Sarojini Naidu. Jaspreet, who is 22 years old, says, Shabana Azmi is her idol. And for 21-year-old Smriti, her grandfather and Shah Rukh Khan are her two idols.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Real Image, the DTS frachisees in India, got a shot in the arm when the first DTS film in India, KARUPU ROJA (Tamil), bagged the best sound recordist award for Sridhar in the Tamil Nadu State Film awards announced recently in Madras. Kamal Haasan’s Tamil hit, INDIAN, another DTS film, bagged the award for the best film.

* Bappi Lahiri was the first music director to record a song at Mehboob Recording Theatre when it opened in 1972. The song was for CHALTE CHALTE. On 19th January, 1998, the fully renovated (with new recording machinery) Mehboob was inaugurated, again by Bappi Lahiri who, this time, recorded a song for TUMSE PYAR HO GAYA. Indeed, Mehboob se pyar ho gaya!

* SHAPATH has yielded a distributor’s share of about 1,70,000/- in 4 weeks from Saroj, Amravati. This is better than the shares of films like AFLATOON, DHAAL and QAHAR from Amravati city.

‘Banarasi Babu’ Shrouded In Controversy

As if the several years it has taken in the making wasn’t enough, Nandu Tolani’s Banarasi Babu is in the midst of a controversy even a week before its scheduled release on 30th January.

The film’s West Bengal distributors, PMD Entertainments (P.) Ltd., have obtained a stay order (dated 23rd January) from the Bombay high court, restraining Filmcenter from delivering the prints of the film for West Bengal circuit to anybody except themselves. The film was originally registered in the name of Sapna Film Distributors. PMD Entertainments acquired it on 22nd December, and Sapna Film Distributors accordingly wrote to the EIMPA, asking it to de-register the film from its name. The communication to the EIMPA mentioned that the arrangement was irrevocable.

However, when Zor was postponed, Nandu Tolani (partner in Sapna Film Distributors with Amar Pandey) decided to release Banarasi Babu himself in West Bengal and, accordingly, asked the EIMPA to ignore the ‘irrevocable’ arrangement.

Fearing problems, PMD Entertainments moved the court and succeeded in obtaining the injunction order. According to Bipin Savla, representative of PMD Entertainments, “It’s sad that Nandu Tolani is behaving this way. I bailed him out of so many difficulties after PMD acquired the film for West Bengal. Kader Khan had not been paid a single naya paisa and he refused to complete his work on the last day of shooting unless he was paid. He also refused to dub till his further dues were cleared. I paid him for completing shooting and gave an undertaking for further payment before he commenced dubbing. Why, I also paid for the sound negative and for clearing several liabilities of Nandu earlier this month. And Nandu forgot all this no sooner was Zor postponed. Obviously, he was acting on the instructions of some vicious mind.”

‘Kama Sutra’ Censorship
CBFC Ignorance Exposed

Mira Nair’s Kama Sutra (Hindi dubbed) was finally issued censor certificate on 21st January, 1998. The dubbed Tamil and Telugu versions must also have been likewise issued certificates. The three dubbed versions were cleared by the Bombay high court after a long legal battle.

The high court order dated 23rd December, 1997, is worth reading for several reasons. For one, it exposes the ignorance of one government department (Central Board of Film Certification) in matters relating to another government department (I & B ministry). Secondly, it also throws light on the vanity of the CBFC’s examining committee which was under the impression that it was above the I & B ministry and was not governed by its directions!

Although the two-judge bench of Justice B.P. Saraf and Justice A.Y. Sakhare did not say so in their 25-page order, a reading of the same makes one wonder whether CBFC chairman Shakti Samanta and Bombay’s regional officer Sanjeevani Kutty have any moral right to continue in office after such an order.

The gist of the case and the order is given hereinbelow:

Mira Nair’s company, Mirabai Films P. Ltd., filed a writ petition as they were aggrieved by the letters of the regional officer, CBFC, dated 13-10-’97 and 17-10-’97, directing them to delete certain visuals from the dubbed Hindi, Tamil and Telugu versions of Kama Sutra – A Tale Of Love. These directions, according to the petitioners, were illegal and contrary to the existing guidelines of the Central government. They contended that the CBFC had no power to further censor the visuals of the dubbed versions of an already certified film. The English (original) version of Kama Sutra – A Tale Of Love was certified (for adults) on 9th October, 1997. Even this had entailed a long legal battle but that’s not the point here.

When the petitioners submitted the dubbed versions to the CBFC, seeking ‘A’ certificate for them, in terms of the guidelines issued by the Central government regarding the procedure to be followed for certification of dubbed versions of already certified films, they (petitioners), opted that the dubbed versions should not be treated as fresh films and should be subjected to the special procedure laid down therein. According to the Central government guidelines (issued by the I & B ministry by D.O. letter of 10th June, 1993), an applicant in respect of a film claimed to be a dubbed version has been given an option to have his film treated as a fresh film or have his film subjected to the special procedure mentioned therein. The petitioners exercised the second option which clearly stipulates that once the examining committee by majority is satisfied that the dubbed version visuals are exactly the same as the visuals of the original version, there should not be another censorship in respect of visuals of the film except for the titles, credits cards etc.

But on receipt of the application, the CBFC again required the viewing of the dubbed film by the examining committee and later, by its letter dated 13th October, 1997, directed certain cuts in the visuals and dialogues of the Hindi version. By other letters dated 17-10-’97, certain cuts in the visuals and dialogues of the Tamil and Telugu versions were directed to be made. The petitioners complied with the directions of the CBFC as far as the cuts in the dialogues were concerned. But they were aggrieved by the CBFC directions for deletion of certain portions of the visuals in the dubbed versions because, according to them, there could not be any further censorship in the visuals of the dubbed film if they were exactly same as the visuals of the original version, about which there was no dispute. The writ petition was filed in so far as the directions pertained to the cuts in the visuals in the dubbed films.

CBFC regional officer Sanjeevani Kutty filed an affidavit on 21-11-’97 on behalf of the Union of India and the CBFC, the two respondents in the case. In para 14 of the said affidavit, it was stated that the guidelines of the Central government were executive instructions which were to be followed on a trial basis for six months. It was further stated that after six months, the procedure was to be reviewed and appropriate changes were to be made, it was also pointed out that the question of incorporating those executive instructions in the Cinematograph Certification Rules was under consideration of the Central government. It was further stated that even if they were so incorporated, they could not be applied retrospectively in case of the film of the petitioners.

Thereafter, vide an affidavit filed by an outsider, reference was made to the statement of the I & B minister to the effect that instructions had already been issued that visuals of dubbed films need not be re-certified and only dialogues would have to be examined by the examining committee. In support of the above contention, a copy of the communication dated 28-7-’97 from the joint secretary, government of India, ministry of I & B, addressed to FFI president K.G. Dossani, and various other documents were annexed to the affidavit. One of the documents so annexed was a copy of the record of discussion of the meeting of the I & B minister with representatives of the film industry, held on 15th July, 1997.

The court asked the counsel of the CBFC to tell them as to how on the face of these documents and the statement of the minister concerned, the CBFC could say that the guidelines/executive instructions, issued by the government on 10th June, 1993, were applicable only for a period of six months and were no more in force. The counsel told the court that CBFC was not aware of the above documents furnished by the petitioners (emphasis ours). In a further affidavit, filed by Sanjeevani Kutty on 16-12-’97, she explained that the documents referred to and relied upon by the petitioners were not in the possession of the CBFC when her earlier affidavit was filed. She, however, stated that the said documents had been confirmed by the ministry. It was, therefore, contended that since the CBFC was under the administration purview of the I & B ministry, it would not like to take a stand contrary to that of the ministry on that point.

But this was not the end of the matter. After the CBFC changed its stance, nothing should have survived in the writ petition. But the counsel of the CBFC submitted that in view of the above report of the examining committee, appropriate directions may be given by the court to the CBFC not to re-censor visuals of the dubbed films or, in the alternative, give it (CBFC) some time to enable it to modify the impugned letters. After time was allowed, the CBFC counsel told the court that the examining committee, appointed by the CBFC, did not agree to certify the dubbed films without the cuts in the visuals suggested by them despite the above directions of the Central government. The examining committee, it was added, felt that the executive instructions of the ministry, with its blanket prohibition on cuts in the visuals in dubbed films, restricted them from exercising their free opinion. The court asked the CBFC counsel to tell it as to how the examining committee could examine the visuals when the scope and ambit of its power was confined to the re-examination of the dialogues only. The counsel pleaded helplessness with respect to the wrong stance of the examining committee.

The court held that the examining committee was not correct in law in refusing to follow the guidelines issued by the Central government in respect of censorship of dubbed films. Section 5-B of the Act clearly empowers the Central government to issue such directions as it may think fit, setting out the principles to guide authority competent to grant certificate under the Act in sanctioning film for public exhibition. In the special procedure laid down for dubbed films, paragraph 5 clearly states: ‘The examining committee shall confine itself to censorship of the audio track (dialogue, lyrics etc.) in terms of the guidelines issued by the Central government for certification of film.’

Virendra V. Tulzapurkar with Virag V. Tulzapurkar, A. Deasi and C. Rana, instructed by M/s. Shah Desai Doijode & Phatarphekar appeared for Mirabai Films P. Ltd. R.V. Desai with Anoop V. Mohta appeared for the respondents.

FRUITFUL MEETING OF INDUSTRY, CABLE TV OPERATORS

The additional commissioner of police, North-West region, Bombay, Dr. Satya Pal Singh, on 15th January did for the industry what nobody has done so far. He organised a meeting of film personalities and cable TV operators, who have been at loggerheads over the issue of illegal screening of films on cable TV networks and in video parlours, at Otters Club, Bandra, Bombay.

Issues such as the above do not have readymade solutions, and the meeting in question assumes significance if only because a police officer of the rank of additional commissioner of police has (a) sympathetically heard the woes of the industry, (b) got two warring parties to meet and interact.

Yash Chopra, K.D. Shorey, Shyam Shroff (Bombay distributor), Kiran Shantaram, N.N. Sippy, U.A. Thadani (Bombay distributor-exhibitor), Sultan Ahmed, Ravi Chopra, Surinder Kapoor, Paresh Manjrekar (20th Century Fox), Ram Dayal, Gaurav Sharma, Ravi Reddy (raiding organisation) and C.L. Shukla (retired ACP) represented the film industry at the meeting. The cable TV operators, who attended the meeting, were Nadirali Jairaj, Kalpesh Shah and R.K. Mishra of 7 Star Satellite Network, Yogesh Shah, Ketan Kanakia, Avinash Batra, Dinesh Bhadarkar and Paresh Ashar of IN Cable Net, Ajay Patkar (Major Time Cable), S.E.B. Palanna (ICT Network), Ajit Rane (Aashish Vision), Paresh Thakkar (Rajesh Cable), Arvind Turbhe, Ravi Singh, Govind Ubhe, B. Raja and Sunil Thakur (of Siti Cable), Randeli Pereira, Rahul M. Patil, Virendra Pathak (Bhavani Cable), Pravin Patel (Space Vision), Jairam Palav (Bi TV), Ravi Agarwal (Rohit Vision), Rohinton Dadybujor (UCN-Space Vision), Aamir Gabaji, Mansoor Taiyabbhai (Super Cable TV), Brian D’souza and Suvarna.

DCPs of zones VII, IX and X and ACP and S.O. of North-West region were also present along with Dr. Satya Pal Singh.

At the outset, the addl. C.P. wecomed all the members of the film industry and cable TV operators for attending the meeting in response to the invitation from police. He explained the purpose of the meeting, saying that illegal screening of feature films was gross violation of the Copyright Act, causing tremendous loss to government revenue and also considerable loss to the film industry. The addl. C.P. further said that it was expected from the cable TV operators to present their views frankly about the truth in the allegations of the film industry and whether they wanted any change in the existing law. This is not only the problem of Bombay city but the entire country, he added. He explained that all had come together to discuss about the probable solutions.

K.D. Shorey began the meeting on behalf of the film industry. He said that normally, video rights were released after two weeks, and cable TV rights were released from the date of release of the film. He said that the amendment in copyright law came into force from June 1994 and the punishment is decided to the extent of minimum imprisonment for six months and fine of Rs. 50,000 for violation of copyrights. He explained the scope of Section 19 of the Copyright Act, that no right can be transferred unless it is in writing signed by the assignor or by his duly authorised agent. It is, therefore, compulsory for every cable TV operator to have copy of such assignment of copyrights, without which he should be prosecuted. The producer invests crores of rupees in the making of a film, and nobody has the right to exhibit it without copyrights, he explained.

Sultan Ahmed said that the Bombay high court had categorically defined home video rights, cable rights and satellite rights. He pointed out that he had sold the home video rights of his film but later on, the said film was also being shown on Cable TV. He quoted few instances of raiding the cable operators and appealed to the police to take stern action against infringement of the Copyright Act. He suggested that every cable TV operator may furnish the list of films to be shown in the next month, to the local police station so that assignment of copyrights could be found out.

Yash Chopra spoke about his Dil To Pagal Hai and appreciated the operation from the city police commissioner. However, he mentioned in dismany that after about 2½ weeks, DTPH was shown by cable operators. As many as eight cases were registered in Bombay, he said, but due to weak laws, the offenders continued showing DTPH. He also mentioned that there was no response from Ashok Hinduja of IN Cable Net. Chopra said that in spite of stern action, the violation continued, and the government was not serious about it. He, therefore, appealed to the cable operators to co-operate and stop violation of copyrights.

Yash Chopra proposed that a special cell to deal with copyright cases be formed for which the film industry was willing to share the expenditure.

N.N. Sippy bitterly pointed out that many theatres in Bombay had been demolished since the inception of Cable TV. He described the financial liabilities of a film producer and the rate of interest paid in the raising of funds for making a movie. He insisted that licences of cable TV operators committing violation of copyrights be cancelled and also appealed to them to not encourage such violation, else law would take its own course. He also supported the idea of formation of a special cell and assured that the film industry would bear the expenditure.

U.A. Thadani, president of the Theatre Owners’ Association, ruefully said that copyright violation was affecting the business of theatres the most. He pointed out that 46 cinemas had been demolished and only 106 cinemas were left in Bombay and if the violation of copyright continued with the present speed, there would be no cinemas left in the city.

Shyam Shroff pointed out that he had to withdraw his Chachi 420 early because it was released on 19th December and shown on cable networks on 22nd December and, therefore, collections fell down so much that he could not afford to pay the theatre rent.

Satish Kulkarni angrily said that if somebody picked a pocket, he was beaten up, but here, dacoity was being committed by cable TV operators and no action was taken. He lamented that dacoits had been invited in the meeting. The addl. C.P. admonished him and asked him to mind his language.

After the representations from the film industry were over, Atul Saraf from 7-Star Cable Network pointed out that there was no high gain in screening of new films, but this was happening due to unethical competition between the cable TV operators. He also pointed out that there were instances of extortion by private agencies working for copyright owners. The contentions of Saraf were further elaborated by his partner, Sudeshkumar Mishra. He said that some cable operators form a common control room for 100 to 150 points and some of them are promised free connections and showing of blue films, which attracts customers. He also pointed out that some big people, who have entered in the business, had applied all the tactics to finish small cable TV operators, which had ultimately put this competition on the wrong path of copyright infringement.

Jairam Palav of Bi TV also said that due to rivalry, the violation of copyright took place, and the raiding agencies were taking advantage of the situation. He suggested that sooner or later, cable industry would merge into the film industry and, therefore, a common association of film industry and cable operators could solve the problems.

Ketan Kanakia of IN Cable Net, which covers over 2,500 cable operators, said that the parent network had no control over its franchisees because a franchisee could insert a new channel without the knowledge of the parent network, and commit violation of copyright.

Arvind Turbhe of Siti Cable agreed that violation occurs due to competition and supported the idea of a common association.

Anilkumar Shravan of Feature Film Copyright Association clarified about the allegation of selective raids, saying that Siti Cable and IN Cable Net operators stopped the film whenever they telephoned the control room about the violation of copyright. Here, K.D. Shorey interrupted and said that such cable operators be arrested and prosecuted. It cannot be an excuse that the producer has not assigned the right. The most common allegation is that there are about 17 to 18 companies in operation for raiding cable TV operators and most of them ‘settle’ with the cable operators.

Yogesh Shah of IN Cable Net (Hindujas) said that the root cause was availability of the cassette, and he said that if the import of video cassettes could be stopped, controlling the violation of copyrights would be possible.

The addl. C.P. appreciated that the police had got an insight into the problem through this discussion. Police have also understood the grievances of both the sides, he added, but emphasised that there was no second opinion about illegal screening being a crime and where there was a crime, police was bound to take action. If somebody was violating the law and the other was following him, it is not justified at all, he explained. Without a gain, there cannot be competition and, therefore, there should be a common association of film industry and cable operators to smoothen the business in the interest of both the industries, he concluded.

The monthly programme of cable operators was jointly turned down by them on the ground that the schedule depends on availability of cassettes and hence it was not possible to furnish a schedule.

Shyam Shroff said that the list of persons raiding cable operators was already given to Social Service Branch, Crime Branch, C.I.D. etc.

The addl. C.P. frankly admitted that there were so many priorities before the police that this could not be a priority for them. However, in agreement with a suggestion to form a special cell, he opined that there could be a specialised agency with necessary expertise and more incentives for the staff working in the said cell. Here, K.D. Shorey said that there was an apex body on the national level, where it had been discussed and decided about the formation of a special cell. The addl. C.P. requested him to get the minutes of the said meeting for guidance and to submit to seniors in the department to consider it.

The addl. C.P. further said that the problem was really serious but the police had no control over law and judicial proceedings. He, therefore, appealed to the film industry being equipped with money power and media, to mould the minds of people to stand against the violation of copyrights. The idea of forming a special court to deal with copyright cases was also appreciated by the addl. C.P.

At the end, the big cable networks (Hidujas, 7-Star etc.) came up with a proposal to record a two-three-minute interview of the addl. C.P. emphasising that it was illegal to screen films without copyrights, and this interview could be shown before every film (with copyrights) on cable networks so that there was no moral or professional pressure from the public on cable TV operators to show the viewers newly released films. The addl. C.P. welcomed this idea and gave his consent for an interview.

The addl. C.P. concluded the meeting saying that the police wanted the co-operation of everyone and it was the bounden duty of the police to protect the legal interests of every citizen but where there was a crime, police would certainly take action against the offenders. He thanked all the invitees for their attendance and for sharing their views with the police.

Release Schedules
Was It Worth All The Tension & Speculation?

The postponement of the release of Zor from 30th January to 13th February, announced on 22nd January, put to an end two weeks of tension and uncertainty. Rarely has there been as much speculation on the release date of a film till the eleventh hour as in the case of Zor. And not without reason was there such a guessing game being played.

Firstly, alongwith Zor, there were two more major releases scheduled for 30th January, viz. Vinashak and Banarasi Babu. Quite understandably, there was a scramble among distributors of the three films in every circuit to book the best cinemas. For this and otherwise too, persons connected with the aforesaid two films were hoping that Zor wouldn’t make it. Although Banarasi Babu is a light film, both, Zor and Vinashak, have action heroes and action as their strong point. This was yet another reason why there was a lot of speculation about the release of Zor.

Further, while Vinashak was censored, Zor and Banarasi Babu weren’t till the middle of this week. Since the censors are known to be quite strict about action and violence, the trade was apprehensive about Zor being censored in so short a time. To add to the problem was the holiday on 26th January for Republic Day. The two days preceding 26th are, in any case, holidays for CBFC, being Saturday and Sunday. This raised greater doubts in the minds of the trade people about whether it would be feasible for the CBFC to issue certificate to Zor even if it would be seen before the holidays.

In fact, this is one major cause for the film’s postponement because, after the examining committee of the CBFC viewed Zor on 21st January, it offered it plenty of cuts, in action as well as dialogues. While some cuts were acceptable to the producers, most of them weren’t. It was then that the makers decided that they had to postpone the film, and they announced the alternate date on 22nd morning.

What also seems to have prompted the makers of Zor to postpone the release date by two weeks, besides the censor problem, was the realisation that they could concentrate more on the film’s (pre-release) publicity if they got two additional weeks.

Coming back to the reasons for speculation on the release of Zor, there was at least one film, Hafta Vasuli, which was waiting in the wings. The producer of Hafta Vasuli had made it clear that he would release if and only if one of Zor or Vinashak would be postponed. Since there was no question of Vinashak moving ahead, all eyes, obviously, were on Zor.

All said and done, a pertinent qustion that arises is: is it justifiable for a producer to keep his distributors on tenterhooks till the last moment? And, in turn, is it right on the part of the film’s helpless distributors to keep exhibitors involved in the guessing game? One understands clearly that the intentions of the producer of Zor were neither wrong nor misdirected and that he did make all efforts to get the film on 30th January. One is convinced that so much effort was made since the week of 30th January is the Idd week when box-office collections are expected to soar to great heights.

But was Idd so important as to give the film’s distributors and so many, many exhibitors sleepless nights and hypertension? Agreed, Idd is a bountiful period for a film, but is there no tomorrow? Has no film, not released on Idd, ever done well? Finally, of course, it is the film and its merits alone which can see it through, festival or no festival.

Was such zordaar tension worth its while, especially in view of the fact that films sometimes take two and three years to complete but when it comes to releasing them, producers behave as if every day of delay will cost them several crores.

The whole industry needs to learn a lesson from the case of Zor.

– Komal Nahta

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Tinnu Verma’s New Role

Remember the song from the Rishi Kapoor-Madhuri Dixit-Sanjay Dutt starrer, Sahibaan, which went thus: Iss mele mein log aate hain, log jaate hain….. Well, nothing fits Dharmesh Darshan’s Mela more aptly than this mela song. Because people have been coming in (its cast and credits) and going out (of its cast and credits) with regularity. First, it was action director Tinnu Verma who was replaced by Bhiku Verma who, too, was ultimately replaced by Abbas-Hanif. After that, the film’s music director was changed. Anu Malik stepped into Rajesh Roshan’s shoes. And now, Tinnu Verma is back in Mela. No, not for composing the action scenes. But rather to act in the film. He has replaced no less an actor than Aditya Pancholi. It will now be Tinnu Verma playing the main villain in place of Aditya Pancholi. Must say, Tinnu is out to prove his versatility this year. From action director to film director (Bajrang) to actor (Mela)!

Priyan Ki Pasand

Time was when Priyadarshan used to make films in Malayalam and an occasional film in Hindi. Time is when he is making one Hindi film after the other. Why, in the first half of 1998 itself, we will have two of Priyadarshan’s films releasing — Saat Rang Ke Sapne and Kabhi Na Kabhi. If there’s one film Priyan (as he is affectionately called) is looking forward to directing, it is Dariya which will be produced by ABCL and will star Amitabh Bachchan in the role of a fisherman. According to Priyan, it will be launched in May. There’s another film he is very excited about and that is Sajid Nadiadwala’s Chandralekha which will star Anil Kapoor and Priyan’s favourite heroine, Tabu. This film will roll in August. For the present, it is Saat Rang Ke Sapne which is giving him a high. He describes the film as “the most beautiful film made in India”. By the way, Juhi Chawla is another actress Priyadarshan likes working with. New heroines, of course, are always welcome.

Cinema Fires: Uncanny Coincidence

It was an uncanny coincidence that the morning newspapers of 21st January reported about the investigations that had begun in Delhi by the CBI with regard to the Uphaar cinema fire tragedy, and the evening papers screamed that the Central Plaza cinema in Bombay had been gutted in a fire the same morning. The only silver lining, if one may use the term, to the Central Plaza fire tragedy was that unlike in Delhi, there were no deaths or casualties in Bombay. This then became the second major cinema accident in nine months.

On The Net, Get Set, Go

After Rajshri (Barjatyas) and Yash Chopra, several producers are going on the Internet. The Barjatyas were the first to have their own website. Yash Chopra built his site before the release of Dil To Pagal Hai. Bombay distributors and exhibitors Shringar are also on the net. Boney Kapoor and family, and Rakesh Roshan and family will also soon be on the net. Fashion photographer Alan Mans is constructing their sites and is also negotiating with some others. This is the scene in Bombay. Down South, in technology-savvy Bangalore, cinemas have got their own websites. Lido was the first cinema in the garden city to go online. This is the same cinema which had introduced Stereophonic sound in the late ‘sixties! Inspired by the positive response to Lido’s home page and booking facility, the multimedia firm, Communico Graphique, put up a website. Plaza, Urvashi, Naga and Cauvery then signed on. Three more cinemas — Rex, Symphony and Galaxy — are slated to go on the net shortly. One enters the site, follows the instructions, chooses the cinema he wants to go to and clicks. The page will unfold to reveal the name of the film being screened, the star cast and other details. One then follows the instructions to book tickets as well as chooses where he wants to sit. The system then gives a code and confirms the seat numbers. One will have to quote the code and obtain tickets at the cinema before the show.

Well-Engineered Card

The invitation card of JRS Combines’ Tamil-Telugu film, Engineer, is indeed pretty and quite unique. It gives a sort of 3-D effect. That’s not the only reason why the card stands out. The other reason is that this is the first Tamil-Telugu film in which Madhuri Dixit will act. She has been paired opposite Arvind Swamy. The film’s muhurt was performed on 23rd January in Madras at AVM Studios. While its producer is J. Ramachandra Rao and writer-director is A.R. Gandhi Krishna, the other names in its credit titles are known in Hindi film circles too. There’s A.R. Rahman scoring the music, Vairamuthu writing lyrics, Jeeva handling the cinematography, and Raju Sundaram doing the choreography. Presentation is by Nagendra Prasath.

‘JUDWAA’ 100 DAYS

Sajid Nadiadwala’s Judwaa has completed 100 days of its run today (May 17) at Liberty, Bombay, and other places. It stars Salman Khan in a double role with Karisma Kapoor, Rambha, Anupam Kher, Shakti Kapoor, Satish Shah, Kader Khan and others. It is directed by David Dhawan and its music is scored by Anu Malik. Purshottam K. Agarwal presents the film.

DISTRIBUTOR RAMBHAI MURDERED

Bombay and Delhi-U.P. distributor Rambhai Patel (Sheetal Films, Ahmedabad-Bombay-Delhi) was brutally murdered on the night of 12th May at Savli near Baroda. His partner in another business, Ramjibhai, was also murdered simultaneously.

Rambhai and Ramjibhai had a flourishing angadia business and had to reportedly recover several crores of rupees from the Somani brothers. When the latter went on postponing the payment, Rambhai and Ramjibhai had an altercation with the brothers a few days before the murders.

It seems that the murders were planned in great detail because Rambhai and Ramjibhai had been summoned by the Somanis to Salvi at the factory of Somani Cement to collect part of their payment. The Somanis, it is learnt, telephoned Rambhai on 11th May and asked him to come to his factory the following day. A reminder phone call was made on 12th too.

The two partners were taken to the godown of the factory on the night of 12th when they reached Somani Cement. By then, the goondas of the Somanis had taken their places in the godown and overpowered the two who least suspected foul play and, therefore, went unarmed. They were beaten with iron rods and wooden sticks, kicked and finally shot dead in true filmi style. Both, Rambhai and Ramjibhai, died on the spot as they could offer little opposition to the gang.

The dead bodies were put in their car and a goon of the Somanis was to set the car on fire at a distance from Savli. But even while preparations were being made to set the car afire at Parthampura village, a police van was passing that way. Sensing danger, the killers fled the scene. The police recovered visiting cards and diaries from the pockets of the two dead persons and, after investigations, arrested the Somani brothers on 15th May. The police suspect that three other persons were also involved in the horrendous murders, but they are still at large.

Rambhai had distributed Deewana, Bewaffa Se Waffa, Mehboob Mere Mehboob and Mashooq in Bombay circuit, and Phool Aur Kaante, Saajan and Sadak in Gujarat. He had also released a film or two in Delhi-U.P.

Rambhai was only 45 years old and is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters. His 13-year old son was away in Ooty on a holiday when the murder took place. The funeral took place at Rambhai’s native place, Balol, on 14th. A post mortem was conducted on 13th.

IN & OUT OF BOMBAY

Producer-director Indra Kumar is on a holiday abroad and will return in the first week of June.

Producer-director Rakesh Roshan left for a holiday abroad on May 13 and will return after a month.

Mr. Raman Maroo of Shemaroo Video will return to India from abroad on 27th May.

Mr. Rajesh Chowdhary of Modern Movies, Jaipur, returned to Jaipur on 16th May.

Mr. Baba Ramdeo of ABC Enterprises, Jaipur, is expected in town after a couple of days and will stay at Royal Inn (649-5151).

Producer Dinesh Salgia is in Indore and will return on 20th May.

Mr. Ashok Tharani of Ashoka Enterprises, Indore, will reach Bombay (634-2335) on 19th May.

Producer Mahendra Dhariwal, presently in Bombay, will leave for Jodhpur (46196) today.

Mr. Kamaldeep Singh Lamba of Kanwaljit Enterprises, Secunderabad, will be in Bombay (98200-74761) from May 19 to 23.

YOU ASKED IT

Jai-Kishen was released recently as Khiladi Hindustani. Anjaam has become Nafrat. Does this title-changing game help?

– In rare cases, it does. By the way, titles of only unsuccessful films are changed, generally speaking. Nobody has tried it with an old hit.

Video pirates have become super-active again. The latest Hindi films are telecast on cable TV channels all over, just two to four days after their theatrical release. Why doesn’t the industry take serious action against such pirates?

– The industry can do nothing till the government decides to help it. So helpless is the industry feeling that it has stopped contemplating taking any action whatsoever, which also is not right.

In 1995, when the government extended the benefit of 50% entertainment tax in Maharashtra for a further period of one year, it did so with the intention that the benefit should be passed on to cinegoers. Is there a similar intention in the current relief?

– No, this time, the government has reduced entertainment tax from 100% to 60% for the benefit of the industry only. Even then, where ticket rates are too high, it would be in the interest of all concerned to pass on at least a part of the benefit to the audience. If the industry does not do so, it may end up killing the hen that laid the golden eggs. For, if admission rates are not brought down in some cinemas, attendance, which is already low, may come down further.

Why? Why? Why?

Some stray thoughts have been crossing my mind for the past few days, which is good food for thought.

Like, why do distributors put the following line in their advertisements in newspapers: ‘To show or see this film on video/cable is illegal’. Has any distributor succeeded in taking action against anybody who shows or sees the latest films on video/cable?

Like, why do we refer to a film’s launching as its muhurt. A muhurt, by its very nature, must be held at the auspicious time. For film muhurts, the auspicious time is not that governed by the stars above but only that when the stars here on earth arrive for the launch. Then, what’s so muhurt-ish about the launching?

Or why do many producers ‘celebrate’ 100 days or silver jubilee of their films even though they run in deficit?

Why do producers flaunt the entry of their songs in countdown shows on the various television channels as a passport to success of their films when the two have no correlation whatsoever?

Why do distributors, when reviving old films, announce that the same have been revived ‘due to public demand’? Does any channel exist for public demand to reach the distributors?

Why, in the interviews on different satellite channels, do the producer/director/actor/ actress always harp on one thing — that my film/role is very different — when the fact is not so. Why can’t they just say that it is entertaining and leave it at that because nobody must be taking this “very different” bit seriously any longer.

Or why do music companies present Platinum and Double or Triple Platinum Discs to music albums when there’s no transparency at all about the album sales and when such Discs have become so common that they do little — or rather nothing — to augment the album sales or brighten up the prospects of a film if the album happens to be a film album?

Why do several producers announce that their films “can be enjoyed on the big screen only” and, yet, sell the video rights of such big-screen entertainers?

Why does the CBFC give ‘A’ and ‘UA’ certificates to films when practically all the films can be seen in cinemas by non-adults or by children unaccompanied by their guardians or without their consent? And these very adult films, after some days, are telecast on channels which have no censorship rules!

Or why do stars make the producers pay their personal make-up man, hair dresser, spot boy, driver? I’m sure, our stars are not so poor that they can’t afford to pay their personal staff adequately. No other profession provides scope for such payment from the person hiring the professional’s services to the professional’s servant, cook etc. etc.

Any why do distributors always cry that the industry is finished, that if prices don’t come down, there’ll be no buyers left, that times have never been as bad as they are today — and, after and in spite of all this, rush to buy films at fancy prices?

Or why do distributors crib that stars don’t run, rather, the film runs, but when it comes to buying films, they want only stars-cast films and will never touch a non-star cast project?

Why does everyone keep saying that the industry is fighting for its very survival even though this ‘dying’ industry has completed 100 years?

And finally, why am I writing all this? Is anything going to change?

– Komal Nahta

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Piracy Of A New Kind

The menace of video piracy has raised its ugly head once again. And this time, with more force than ever before. Although illegal, the latest films are telecast on cable TV throughout the country barely four or five days after their premiere theatrical releases. The video cassettes may be pirated and of poor quality but their telecast and wide reach do make a dent in box-office collections. This piracy is most pronounced in Delhi where pirated video cassettes are openly available. As if this isn’t bad enough, we now have cases of piracy of video CDs too. The pirated video CDs, like the pirated video cassettes of Raja Hindustani, are already available in the market. There is reliable information that due to be out in the market very shortly are video CDs of HAHK..!, DDLJ, Rangeela, Bombay and Judaai. Pertinent to note that official (legal) video cassettes of none of the above films have been released as yet. Piracy of video CDs has spread panic among legal video distributors who used to recover at least a lakh or two from sale of video CD rights. With pirated copies out, this market may be as good as lost now!

Quality-Conscious

The quality-conscious producers and directors taking personal interest in the production of music cassettes of their films is not new. But a music director doing so! Viju Shah deserves a pat on his back for the pains he took in the mastering and duplication of Gupt audio cassettes. He visited the audio plants of Tips outside Bombay and spent hours and hours till he was completely satisfied with the quality. All this, so that the public gets impeccable quality.

And if Viju Shah needs to be complimented for the above, Rajiv Rai also deserves to be congratulated. For, although Gupt is due for release on 4th July, its first copy will be out by the end of May. Reportedly, Rajiv wants that about 10 prints of the film be taken out daily so that complete check can be maintained on their quality. Compare this with the cases of 99% of the films released. Hundreds of prints of such films are prepared in one week!

Madhuri Magic Again?

For those who feel, it’s the end of the road for Madhuri Dixit who has had four failures in a row (Yaraana, Rajkumar, Prem Granth and Koyla), there’s news to the contrary. Madame Dixit, who has not been looking as beautiful as she used to earlier, is, it is heard, looking her glamorous and slim self in Yash Chopra’s Dil To Pagal Hai. Maybe, Madhuri and Chopra’s magic will work, and this Diwali, the actress will have the audience go pagal over her all over again.

‘Sapnay’ Crushed

In Bombay, HMV had tied up with Crush (soft drink) for the publicity of its Sapnay. Hoardings, sponsored by Crush, sprang up all over the city, advertising both, Sapnay and the soft drink. Catchy captions caught the attention of the public. Captions like: ‘Love hurts but a little Crush never hurt anyone’ or ‘Bet you never had a Crush like this’. With the collections of Sapnay coming crashing down day by day in majority of the cinemas, Crush may now well put up hoardings with the following captions: ‘Love hurts but a Big Crash hurts everyone’ and ‘Bet you never saw a Crash like this’.

THE LAST LAUGH

** What are the distributors of Mrituydaata singing in chorus?

ALLAH MEHERBAN TO GADHA PAHELWAN

Krishan Art Films’ Allah Meherban To Gadha Pahelwan (A) has an apology of a story and a disgraceful screenplay. It is about elections being contested by three parties and it tries to be topical without any sense whatsoever. There are some scenes for titillation but the entire film baffles the viewer so much and is such an insult to even the person with the lowest IQ level that nothing absolutely appeals.

It is surprising that artistes like Kader Khan, Shakti Kapoor and Kulbhushan Kharbanda can have the guts to associate their names with a film like this. They do nothing to rise above the silly script. Zahid Ali and Deepak Sinha are fair. Malashri, Asha Sharma, Richi, Kapil Sharma, Sweety Parekh, Mahesh Raj and all the others fill the bill.

Ravindra Arora Ravi’s direction is as disgusting as his script. Music is pathetic and song picturisations are dull. Camerawork is poor. Editing is terrible; there are continuity jerks galore. Production values make one wonder why the film was ever started. Technically, weak.

On the whole, Allah Meherban To Gadha Pahelwan is an insult to the film industry.

Released on 27-6-’97 at Shalimar and 1 other cinema of Bombay thru K.F. Publicity: so-so. Opening: poor.

LATEST POSITION

It was a normal week except that heavy rains in Gujarat adversely affected box-office collections. …….The BORDER fever still continues, with the film proving a blockbuster in Delhi-U.P. and East Punjab and a hit elsewhere (except in West Bengal).

Itihaas, despite some editing, could not find acceptance. 1st week Bombay 36,69,356 (63.11%) from 15 cinemas (8 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 4,91,048 from 5 cinemas, Vapi 2,49,000, Bharuch (gross) 2,40,234, Rajkot (matinee) 33,096, Jamnagar 1,11,797, Bhuj 1,02,000; Pune 7,58,042 from 6 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 1,31,663 (1 unrecd.); Belgaum 100%, Dharwad 97,856; Delhi 29,27,875 (54.40%) from 14 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 3,51,339 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,47,896, Agra 2,38,780, Allahabad 1,50,200, Meerut 1,86,216, Dehradun 1,27,891, Gorakhpur 1,54,000 (84.65%); Rohtak 27,398; Calcutta 24,43,713 from 28 cinemas; Nagpur 4,96,437 from 4 cinemas, Amravati 1,56,738, Akola 1,41,125, theatre record, Raipur 1,96,770 (81.26%), Bhilai 1,16,000, Jalgaon 1,35,000, Yavatmal 1,35,050; Indore 1,16,000 (3 on F.H., 1 unrecd.), Bhopal 3,86,486 from 3 cinemas, Ujjain 1,26,486 (1 unrecd.); Jaipur 6,92,121 from 4 cinemas, Bikaner 1,60,138, Udaipur 2,31,700; Hyderabad 24,08,236 from 15 cinemas.

Border is going super-strong in North and is very steady in all other circuits except West Bengal where it has dropped remarkably due to too many cinemas. 2nd week Bombay 46,28,333 (90%) from 13 cinemas (10 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 13,29,193 from 7 cinemas, Vapi 2,00,765, total 7,47,726, share above 4,50,000, Padra 1,57,290, Rajkot 1,95,082 (100%, 1 in matinee unrecd.), Jamnagar 1,26,082, total 2,72,729, Adipur 1,38,813; Pune 8,84,071 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 1,81,747, Solapur 1,83,958 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), 1st week Satara 1,54,287 (97.89%) from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); 2nd week Hubli 1,02,387, Belgaum 83,965, Dharwad 43,867 (1st 59,264); Delhi 50,05,863 from 14 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Kanpur 4,47,307 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,22,783 (100%), Agra 2,50,460, Allahabad 2,00,000, Dehradun 2,02,195, Gorakhpur 1,60,272, Hardwar 90,000; Rohtak 57,000; Calcutta 18,58,818 from 16 cinemas; Nagpur 5,19,601 from 4 cinemas, Jabalpur 2,57,848, total 5,50,612, Amravati 2,13,640, Akola 1,40,007, total 4,41,483, Raipur 1,50,025, Bhilai 1,52,022, Durg 1,28,330, Wardha 68,900, Chandrapur 1,78,938, total 4,32,453, Yavatmal 1,13,238 (1st 1,82,400); Indore 1,59,000 (1 on F.H.), Bhopal 3,98,246 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 6,29,467 from 2 cinemas, Jodhpur (gross) 1,05,000, Bikaner 2,60,084, Udaipur 2,11,000 (1st 2,45,800); Hyderabad 6,19,520 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon).

Virasat 4th week Bombay 17,01,685 (78.22%) from 6 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 1,30,041 from 3 cinemas, 3rd week Rajkot 1,03,169; 4th Pune 5,97,604 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 1,25,161, Solapur (14 shows) 74,793, 2nd Satara 38,339; 4th week Delhi 1,22,151 from 2 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,52,941 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,30,017, Agra 62,345, Allahabad 60,000, Meerut 71,913, Dehradun 89,345 (3rd 90,082), total 4,57,697, Gorakhpur 52,000, 1st Hardwar 55,000; 4th week Calcutta 4,68,423 from 5 cinemas; Nagpur 72,361, Jabalpur 1,18,928, total 5,59,171, Amravati 53,636, Raipur 74,598, Bhilai 46,219; Bhopal 73,566; Jaipur 1,68,516; Hyderabad 3,60,866.

Ziddi 11th week Bombay 3,66,519 from 3 cinemas; Ahmedabad 37,773 (1 unrecd.); Pune 1,19,506, Solapur (matinee) 20,778; Delhi 1,02,466; Kanpur 1,65,253 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 80,686, Allahabad 35,000, Gorakhpur 38,000; Calcutta 1,29,782; Nagpur 35,348, Jabalpur 44,623, total 9,73,142, Amravati 41,403, 2nd Akola 1,19,909, total 2,76,608; 11th week Bhopal 38,599; Jaipur 82,424; Hyderabad 83,351.

JR. ARTISTES SUPPLIERS SHOWN THE DOOR

Junior artistes and cine dancers in films will no longer be engaged through suppliers/agents. A decision to this effect was taken at a joint meeting of the two premier organisations of producers, the Film Makers Combine (FMC) and the Association of Motion Picture & TV Programme Producers (AMPTPP), on 27th June at IMPPA House.

The meeting, chaired by G.P. Shirke, decided that producers will henceforth themselves decide on who is to be engaged from the Mahila Kalakar Sangh, Cine Dancers Association and Junior Artistes Association. A board for this will be formed by producers themselves.

The meeting was attended by Sultan Ahmed, K.D. Shorey, T.C. Dewan, Pahlaj Nihalani, Ramesh Taurani and Satish Kulkarni.

‘BORDER’ TAX FREE IN MAHARASHTRA

The Maharashtra state government has granted 100% tax exemption to Border for a period of one year from 25th June.

R.R. KHAJANCHI HOSPITALISED

Leading C.P. Berar distributor R.R. Khajanchi was hospitalised last week in Amravati. He is recuperating from a heart ailment.

HIRALAL SHAH DEAD

Producer Hiralal Shah passed away at his residence in Bombay on 26th June following a massive heart attack. He was 62 and is survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters. He was cremated the same evening. Hiralal Shah was a diabetic and had been unwell for a while before the end came.

Hiralal Shah had made films in Marathi and Hindi. His first film was Haldi Kunku in Marathi. He also made two Hindi-Marathi bilinguals. The first was Mera Sindoor and Mazha Saubhagya and the second was Fasi Ka Fanda and Maficha Sakshidar. He was producing Jhootha Insaaf at the time of his death. The film is 12 reels complete.

DHANUKAS BEREAVED

Shyam Sunder Dhanuka, father of Pawan Kumar and Mahendra Kumar Dhanuka of Pawan Enterprises, Patna, passed away in Patna on 9th June. Ekadasha was held on 20th June, and dwadasha, on 21st June.

MARATHI FILMS GET 100% TAX EXEMPTION

With the Maharashtra government’s tax exemption policy for Marathi films having come into force, a number of Marathi films have been granted 100% exemption from payment of entertainment tax. Among the many films declared tax-free are Dada Kondke’s 13 films and Prakash Kadam’s Maya Mamta. The films have been granted tax exemption from 21st June for a period of one year.

ANNOUNCEMENT & LAUNCHING

‘London’ To Roll In London

Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol and Karisma Kapoor starrer London will go before the camera on July 1 with a start-to-finish schedule in London. Being made under the banner of Vijayta Films, it will be written and directed by Gurinder Chadha and presented by Dharmendra. Others in the cast are Dara Singh, Saeed Jaffrey, Zohra Segal, Reema, Raj Zutshi, Harish Patel, Parmeet Sethi (guest appearance) and Navni Parihar. Music director Vishal Bharadwaj has recorded all the six songs, penned by Gulzar, at Sunny Super Sounds. The film has dialogues by Rumi Jafri, editing by Keshav Naidu, dances by Vaibhavi Merchant, and cinematography by Sreeram. Executive producer: Suneel Darshan.

PRODUCTION NEWS

‘Gharwali Baharwali’ In Hyderabad

Director David Dhawan will start a 15-day shooting schedule of Tutu Films’ Gharwali Baharwali from July 1 in Hyderabad. Many scenes will be picturised during the schedule, featuring Anil Kapoor, Raveena Tandon, Rambha, Satish Kaushik and Kader Khan. The film is being written by Rumi Jafri and produced by Tutu Sharma. Music by Anu Malik, cinematography by K.S. Prakash and editing by Muthu are the other major credits.

‘Ghulam’ Major Spell

A 25-day shooting schedule of Vishesh Films P. Ltd.’s Ghulam will conclude on July 10 at Film City. Being directed by Vikram Bhatt for producer Mukesh Bhatt, the film stars Aamir Khan, Rani Mukerji, Rajit Kapur, Mita Vashisht, Akshay Anand, Mukesh Rishi and others. Writer: Anjum Rajab Ali. Music: Viju Shah. Lyrics: Anand Bakshi.

DO YOU KNOW?

* A buyer of CD of PARDES will be entitled to a free CD of the instrumental theme music of all earlier films of Subhash Ghai.

‘BORDER’ RECORDS

* Creates a city record by collecting 3,90,162/- in 2 weeks at Dharam, Rajkot. All shows in both the weeks were full.

* Creates a record by drawing all 56 shows full in first 2 weeks at Nishat, Meerut. Nett for 2 weeks: 4,69,208/-. 3rd week’s opening show was full.

* Creates a theatre record by drawing all 28 shows full in 2nd week at Panchsheel, Nagpur. Collection: 2,24,840/-.

* Creates a city record at Jayant, Chandrapur, by collecting 1,78,938/- in 2nd week.

* Creates another record by collecting 1,59,000/- in 2nd week at Regal, Indore.

* Creates a city record by collecting 2,19,296/- in 2nd week at Jyoti, Bhopal. 2nd week at Bhopal Talkies, Bhopal: 1,78,950/-. Total: 3,98,246/-.

MIX MASALA

FROM YOUNG GIRL TO OLD LADY

Jaya Bhaduri’s first film was Guddi. And now, she will be staging her comeback in Govind Nihalani’s Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Ma after a long gap. In the film, she will play the role of a woman who ages from 30 to 70 years. Which means, Jaya will play an old woman in the film. From Guddi to buddhi, that’s a good range!

HISTORIC COLLECTIONS

Itihaas, released last week, could not, unfortunately, live up to its title. It has far from created history. And Border, released a week before Itihaas, created all the itihaas in its first week with historic collections!

“I sincerely believe that both, lyricists and script writers, in Bollywood are grossly underpaid. They definitely deserve to be paid much better.”

– JAVED AKHTAR

Komal Nahta

To say that Javed Akhtar is a great lyricist would be stating the obvious. But 1996 and the first half of 1997 have been particularly great for this man of words. With a National Award under his pen and two hits — Border and Virasat — under his writing pad, Javed is an excited man today. And as much sought-after for film lyrics as for poetry and lectures. I met Javed at his seventh floor residence in Sagar Samrat building at Juhu. The samrat of lyrics was relaxing in the hall which overlooks the sagar and he smiled, almost wickedly, when I entered his flat, panting for breath. (The elevator was out of order and climbing seven storeys, I thought then, was just a little less difficult than penning a hit song!) A glass of water and some breaths later:

Javed Sahab, where do you see yourself today?

– Writing lyrics. My total concentration is on writing songs these days. Although there’s been a long gap between the last script I wrote and today, alongwith lyrics-writing I am also starting a script for Kavita Chaudhry. The lady impressed me a great deal with her serial, Udaan, and I’m sure, she’ll make a great director one day. So, as I was telling you, I am writing a film for her to direct. The story, screenplay and dialogues are all mine. I’ve had sittings with her and I see a lot of potential in her. Here, I’d like to add that I’m writing a script after a long break because it’s my love to write, and the work is coming from the core of my heart. We intend to finish this script by July. Yet another film I am writing is for Singeetam Srinivasan. It is his idea and story line which I am working on. Although I cannot give you any details about the subject, I can say that it will be the most unusual film of the country or even of the world. I was very excited when I heard the story idea, and this is another project that I am writing from my heart.

Why have you taken up script writing when you are going so strong as a lyricist?

– No, don’t get me wrong. I’m not doing script writing at the cost of lyrics writing. Scripting has always been my passion but I realised, I was losing interest in my work and becoming mechanical, so I decided to give myself a break. Today, if I’ve started writing scripts again, it’s not because of my need, but because of my desire. As I said, it’s coming from my heart because this is something I really want to do.

What kind of songs give you satisfaction as a lyricist?

– I believe that a lyricist doesn’t have to be a great poet. But he must have tremendous versatility. As for satisfaction, no song is bad per se. A lyricist should be able to write with equal ease a light-hearted romantic song, a serious song, a lullaby, a bhajan, a street urchin’s song, a ghazal etc. Whatever he is writing, the song should convey the feeling it is meant to. But what makes a song bad is crudity, obscenity and cliché.

Is that the reason you don’t write songs for David Dhawan’s films?

– No, no, it’s not that. Just recently, David and I had a talk on the telephone. Perhaps, I’ll be writing for him in the near future. I myself have written songs like Ek do teen char (Tezaab) or Kehte hain mujhko Hawa Hawaii (Mr. India), so how can I be against light-hearted songs? And I don’t think, David Dhawan’s films now have crude or obscene songs, which is what I can never write.

How do you define a crude or obscene song? One man’s food can be another man’s poison.

– Rightly said. But I have my own aesthetic sense. I’ll decide what is or isn’t crude or vulgar. If I find a song desired by a producer or director to be crude, I won’t write it. God bless the producer/director, let him listen to or get written the song from another willing lyricist but, sorry, I’m not ready to compromise on that point.

With such a stand, you must have faced situations when you’ve been asked to write a song which you aren’t happy about. What do you do in such a situation?

– I’ve encountered such situations and I’ve left some films because of this. There have been some instances when I’ve had music sittings with the makers but backed out thereafter when I heard the details of the song situations and demands of the makers. Now I don’t face such situations because it is established beyond doubt that I don’t write such songs. Frankly, even people are tired of such songs, and I don’t think, producers are recording vulgar songs these days. I’m happy about that.

What is it that prompted you to become a lyricist?

– See, I’ve always been interested in two things — cinema and literature. And it has been so from my childhood days. I don’t want to sound pompous but I remember thousand of couplets even today. Dr. Rahi Masoom Reza Sahab said in 1974 or ’75 that he had never met anybody who remembered more poetry than Javed Akhtar. I have a great memory for film songs and poetry, and I remember thousands of each of them too. That’s because I was always interested in them. I come from a family of writers and poets and though I wasn’t writing poetry for many years, I used to interact with poets. What I mean to say is that I was always in touch. It was in the eighties that Yash Chopra literally forced me into writing for films. He insisted that I write songs for his Silsila and I’m thankful to him for that. So you see, I was getting prepared, although unintentionally, to become a lyricist, right from my childhood.

How do you prefer working — writing lyrics first or working on a tune?

– Both ways. I am used to writing lyrics on tune. It often happens that a good tune inspires me to write a good song. Frankly, writing on a tune is not at all a problem for me. Many lyricists in the past too have worked like that. For example, Sahir Ludhianvi was explained the song situation in Jaal (Dev Anand asking his girlfriend to come) and was also given the tune and metre. On that tune, he wrote Ye raat ye chandni phir kahan / Sun ja dil ki dastaan. He could as well have written Aa ja aa ja balma / Sun ja dil ki dastaan. But the words he used were brilliant. That’s the mark of a great poet.

In today’s times, when music directors often insist on their photographs being splashed on the film’s hoardings and inlay cards of audio cassettes, don’t you feel slighted that a lyricist’s photo is rarely published/painted?

– Leave aside the publicity, I feel, lyricists are not even paid well. Perhaps, Sahir was the only exception because he used to charge much more than other lyricists. Traditionally, music directors have always got more prominence and importance. I don’t want to undermine their importance, but a good lyricist deserves much more importance, much more prominence in the public eye. A good lyricist — any good lyricist — must be paid more handsomely.

What has the National Award for the best lyrics of 1996 meant to you?

– (Smiles and thinks for a while) I’m happy, yes, very happy. Even before the award was announced, I got to know that my name was being considered for both, Sardari Begum and Saaz. Somehow I thought, I would get the National Award for Sardari Begum. Maybe, because Sardari Begum had more songs and also more variety. But I ultimately got the award for Saaz, maybe because in Sardari Begum, there are incomplete songs but in Saaz, there are complete songs.

You said a while ago that you are thankful to Yash Chopra for your break as a lyricist. Don’t you believe in being grateful? More than a year ago, Yash Chopra’s television software production company, Metavision, approached you to be a judge for one show of its TV programme, MERI AWAZ SUNO, but you reportedly insisted on being paid for it and refused to oblige when no payment was forthcoming. Is that right?

– Yes, that’s right. But it is not that I don’t believe in being grateful. Had Yash Chopra offered me payment, I may not even have accepted it. But because his company didn’t offer me any payment, I asked for it. Actually, it so happened that just a day before Metavision approached me, Subhash Ghai had sent me a cheque of Rs. 1 lakh, asking me to anchor a TV show of his. So, you see, the contrast was too obvious — one person asking me to present a show and making payment in advance, and another not even mentioning anything about money. I have and even then had great respect for Yash-ji but the question of money somehow cropped up in my mind at that time and well…..

(After a while) Actually, I quite agree with you. I should be honest to confess that now, when I look back, I feel, I should have agreed to be the judge without insisting on being paid for it. I guess, sometimes, you react to a situation in a particular manner merely because of your mood, not as a pre-meditated step.

Besides a National Award, you’ve also made waves internationally for your writings like Tarkash.

– Yes, to be invited by universities like Harvard, London and Chicago to speak to their students is indeed a great honour.

Where do you see yourself twenty years from now?

– I don’t know, I’m not sure. Who knows, what I will feel like doing tomorrow. See, I had come to the film industry to become a director, and look, what I am doing. I had even assisted in direction and editing. Some day, before I hang my boots, I will definitely direct a film.

It is believed that Javed Akhtar is for the rich and big producers only. Don’t you think, you are too costly a lyricist?

– I don’t think my price is high or excessive at all. I sincerely believe that writers — both lyricists and script writers — in Bollywood are grossly underpaid. They definitely deserve to be paid much better. On the one hand, people say, music is very important today and, on the other, lyricists (who are a part of the film’s music) are so poorly paid. The price of a lyricist is often not even 0.1% of the amount a producer gets on selling his film’s music rights! Forget me, don’t you think, talented lyricists like Bakshi Sahab, Majrooh Sahab and Sameer need to be paid more than what they receive today? How can you underestimate their contribution?

So you aren’t satisfied with what you are being paid?

– I don’t believe in cribbing and complaining. In this industry, nobody gives you your right on a platter, you’ve got to insist for your right. If you deserve it, you get it. Traditionally, lyricists have been underpaid, and it will take time to break the tradition, and to convince producers that lyricists are not getting a fair deal.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Cinema Shortage

The coming months will witness a glut of releases. Obviously, therefore, there is going to be felt an acute shortage of cinemas in different parts of the country. Believe it or not, as many as 55 to 60 films are planned to hit the screens in the coming 4 months till Diwali. Even if we assume that 8 to 10 of the scheduled films don’t make it, it still leaves about 45 to 50 in the field. Which means, an average of 3 films per week. Phew! that’s frightening, isn’t it?

Fancy Price

The hottest film in sub-distribution circles today is Subhash Ghai’s Pardes. Believe it or not, there are offers of 1 crore and even more for the distribution rights of Gujarat only. Considering that Ghai has sold its rights at the ratio of 1.80 crore, the Gujarat price is simply outstanding. Of course, Bombay distributor Tolu Bajaj is in no mood to sell the rights for Gujarat at this stage and this price!

Bachchan’s Nihalani Connection

It is a mere coincidence but not a small one. Jaya Bachchan, who had quit acting 16 years ago, made an exception for Amitabh Bachchan’s make-up man and gave a special appearance in his Marathi film, Akka, released some years back. The Marathi film was presented by Pahlaj Nihalani. Now, Jaya is all set to stage her true comeback with a lead role in a Hindi film being made by another Nihalani — Govind. She has been signed for Govind Nihalani’s Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Ma. Which means, if you’ve got to sign Jaya for your film, you had better have a Nihalani either presenting or producing, directing, photographing or writing your film!

Dismally Low

There’s a cinema in Puri (Orissa) which paid a total of just Rs. 26,616 by way of entertainment tax during the year ended 31st March, 1997. Yes, Rs. 26,616 for one full year! Which means, an average of Rs. 73 per day!! Such dismal payments of entertainment tax would compare miserably with some cinemas of metropolitan cities like Bombay or Delhi.

Allah Meherban To Lady Pareshaan

The undermentioned is no joke but a fact. It goes to show how funny titles of some less-publicised films can’t be digested by laymen.

A lady, who refused to identify herself, telephoned our office on Monday this week to ask us what the releases of the week were going to be . When our person informed her of Suraj, it was okay. But the moment he said, “Allah Meherban To Gadha Pahelwan“, the lady thought, he was fooling her and, expressing here irritation, banged down the receiver.

HERO NO. 1

Puja Films’ Hero No. 1 is a comedy film inspired from Bawarchi. A boy and girl fall in love in a foreign land and while the strict father of the boy agrees to their marriage, the ultra-strict guardian (grandfather) of the girl objects to the alliance for a flimsy reason. The boy then decides to win the hearts of the grandfather and other family members of the girl before re-proposing for marriage, rather than eloping with her. Towards this end, he disguises himself as a servant and takes up a job in the girl’s house as nobody, except the girl and her helpful aunt, has seen him before this. The boy succeeds in his mission but not before a bit of tension and drama and plenty of comic incidents.

The film’s first half is enjoyable and has some truly original punches. But after interval, its comic content is less. Further, the climax looks flat in the absence of any negative character in the drama. All the same, a fast screenplay and some witty dialogues do make the drama entertaining and even hilarious at times. In particular, the interval scene; the war of words in the first encounter between the boy’s father and the girl’s grandpa; the interaction of the boy with the grandpa, are all excellent.

Govinda does a marvellous job yet again and proves what a versatile performer he is. His sense of timing is remarkable and the effortless ease with which he carries off the comedy scenes is truly praiseworthy. Karisma Kapoor is brilliant. She looks gorgeous (her costumes are beautiful), acts excellently and dances as gracefully as Govinda. Paresh Rawal deserves distinction marks for enacting the role of the grandpa with such enthusiasm and sincerity. Kader Khan is very effective; his emotional scenes with Govinda touch the heart. Shakti Kapoor evokes laughter in a brief special appearance. Rakesh Bedi is immensely likeable. Satish Shah acts ably but his comedy tends to become class-appealing. Himani Shivpuri is cute. Tiku Talsania, Anil Dhawan, Reeta Bhaduri, Shagufta Ali, Shashi Kiran, Prachi, master Omkar Kapoor and Harish (special appearance) lend very good support.

David Dhawan is in good from and does a find job in direction. He is greatly assisted by his writer (Rumi Jafri) and his cast. Anand Milind’s music score is good; the title song and ‘Tere baap ke darr se’ are mass-appealing songs but an overall consistent music score would have made a difference. The other songs (besides the above two) are, comparatively speaking, not as entertaining. K.S. Prakash Rao’s camerawork is very eye-filling. The foreign locations are heavenly and they’ve been captured on celluloid beautifully. Editing is crisp. Production values are grand.

On the whole, Hero No. 1 is a good family entertainer and will keep the family of distributors happy, with exciting returns. Business should be the best in Bombay and South.

Released on 21-2-’97 at Novelty and 27 other cinemas of Bombay by Puja Films thru Mahalakshmi Film Distributors. Publicity: extraordinary. Opening: very good. …….Also released all over. Opening was extraordinary in Rajasthan but below the mark in some stations of C.P. Berar, C.I. and Nizam.

LATEST POSITION

The below-expectations opening of HERO NO. 1 at some main stations of different circuits, in spite of extraordinary publicity, has shocked the entire trade.

Chupp is disastrous. 1st week Bombay 4,69,861 (37.24%) from 8 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Indore 75,000 (2 on F.H.); Hyderabad 1,72,276 from 4 cinemas (2 in noon).

Judwaa has maintained exceptionally well in 2nd week and has done fantastic business. Is superb in 1st week in Nizam. 2nd week Bombay 31,11,974 (88.88%) from 12 cinemas (7 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 6,91,218 from 6 cinemas (4 unrecd.), Bharuch (gross, last) 2,57,361, Rajkot 1,82,900 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Bhuj 2,09,653, Jamnagar (matinee) 14,224; Pune 7,60,682 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 1,27,770, Solapur 81,826; Belgaum 97,814; Delhi 30,03,082 from 10 cinemaas (1 unrecd., 2 on F.H.); Kanpur 3,89,654 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,30,236, Agra 2,15,354, 1st week Allahabad 1,90,000, 2nd week Bareilly 95,938 (52.61%), Dehradun 1,10,000 (60.77%), Gorakhpur 84,000; Calcutta 15,64,082 from 14 cinemas; Nagpur 2,73,632 from 3 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 1,19,766 (1st 2,07,090), Amravati (6 days) 78,298, Akola 82,463, total 1,84,268, Dhule 63,698, total 1,71,130, Raipur 1,30,574, theatre record, Bhilai (6 days) 84,209, Jalgaon 66,319, Gondia 49,642 (1st 68,361), Yavatmal 32,288; Bhopal 2,79,086 from 2 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Jaipur 6,82,822 from 3 cinemas, Bikaner 1,63,767; 1st week Hyderabad 40,70,615 from 19 cinemas, share (including MGs) 18,62,000.

Yeshwant is doing very well in Maharashtra and several stations of other circuits. 2nd week Bombay 28,02,733 (78.58%) from 13 cinemas (10 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 5,63,291 from 4 cinemas (3 unrecd.), Baroda 1,66,955, Padra 1,09,975, Jamnagar 1,19,585, total 2,55,344; Pune 8,83,150 from 6 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 1,72,705 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Hubli 2,04,624, Belgaum 79,274; Delhi 16,57,862 from 10 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Kanpur 2,01,136 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,67,376, Allahabad 1,14,000, Bareilly 72,618 (40.56%), Dehradun 98,776 (1st 1,35,000), Gorakhpur 1,16,000 (78.30%), theatre record; Calcutta 17,46,884 from 17 cinemas; Nagpur 3,56,797 from 4 cinemas, Jabalpur 1,47,879, total 3,37,287, Amravati 1,60,822, total 3,41,543, Akola 1,40,318, total 3,35,170, Dhule 90,463, total 1,91,000, Bhilai 81,300, Durg 92,206, Jalgaon 1,22,906, Bilaspur 1,27,435, record; Indore 1,60,060 (1 on F.H.), Bhopal 1,97,821 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 2,95,986 from 2 cinemas, Bikaner 1,78,000; Hyderabad 6,78,022 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon), share 2,60,000.

Raja Hindustani 10th week Bombay 21,61,174 (84.09%) from 8 cinemas (5 on F.H.); 14th week Ahmedabad 3,62,790 from 3 cinemas (1 unrecd.), 4th Idar 1,01,970, 2nd Kadi 97,669; 11th Pune 5,32,257 from 5 cinemas (1 in matinee), 10th Solapur 1,42,975 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); 14th Delhi 10,59,506 from 6 cinemas (1 on F.H.); 15th week Kanpur 2,07,700 from 2 cinemas, 14th Lucknow 1,83,042, Agra 1,31,890, 15th Allahabad 80,000, Meerut 1,55,484, 14th Bareilly 70,056 (37.63%), Dehradun 56,000, 15th Gorakhpur 61,000; 14th week Calcutta 1,69,082; 11th Nagpur 1,33,645 from 2 cinemas, 12th Jabalpur 1,61,668, total 22,80,645, 10th Amravati 83,673, Akola 71,967, 15th Bhilai 30,602, 10th Wardha 40,918, Yavatmal (last) 25,289; 14th Indore 2,01,850, 13th week Bhopal 1,42,224; 14th Jaipur 2,16,891, Jodhpur 1,03,052, 13th Bikaner 56,513; 14th Hyderabad 4,77,390 from 4 cinemas (2 in noon).

BOMBAY CINEMAS HIKE ADMISSION RATES

Most of the cinemas in Bombay city and suburbs have hiked admission rates to cover the increase in entertainment tax. The new rates have been fixed in such a way that the nett capacities of the cinemas have remained at the level at which they were before 1st January, ’97 when the entertainment tax rate was 50% in place of the current 100%.

But there are some cinemas, like Metro, which have increased their nett capacities too. The weekly nett capacity of Metro (for 21 shows) has been increased from Rs. 7,20,846 then to Rs. 8,08,636.50 now. The balcony and dress circle classes in the cinema have been merged and the admission rate of both is now Rs. 76 (earlier rate was Rs. 76 for dress circle, and Rs. 61 for balcony). The new rate for stall is Rs. 40 in place of Rs. 37. The admission rates for matinee are Rs. 60 (dress circle), Rs. 40 (balcony) and Rs. 20 (stall).

Cinemas of Solapur, too, have raised admission rates as in Bombay city and suburbs.

The enhanced admission rates, it may be added here, are telling upon audience attendance in cinemas.

IDPA’S FORUM ON COPYRIGHT

The Indian Documentary Producers’ Association (IDPA) organised an open forum on Copyright on 21st February at Films Division. Sanjay Tandon (general manager of IPRS), Ameen Sayani, Shirrin Bharucha (eminent contract lawyer) and Shama Habibullah (senior documentary filmmaker) spoke on the topic.

‘LAL DARJA’ FOR CANNES

Bappi Lahiri’s Bengali film, Lal Darja, directed by Buddhadeb Dasgupta, has been entered for screening in Cannes film festival.

STAR TV, KEWAL SURI ARRIVE AT SETTLEMENT

Following an out-of-court settlement between STAR TV and Kewal Suri, the case earlier filed by Kewal Suri in Bombay city civil court against STAR and Zee TV has been withdrawn. STAR and Zee gave an undertaking in the court not to broadcast the films of Subodh Mukerji on their satellite channels. But following the settlement, the films will now be shown on their channels.

COPYRIGHT IN FILM BELONGS TO PRODUCER: HC TELLS DIRECTOR

Justice Mrs. K.K. Baam of the Bombay high court on 14th February dismissed the notice of motion in suit no. 403 of 1997, filed by Dharmesh Darshan, director of Raja Hindustani, claiming sole and absolute ownership of the copyrights in the story of the film produced by Karim Morani, Bunty Soorma, Aly Morani and Cineyug. Dharmesh claimed that Raja Hindustani was his original artistic work, and the producers had no copyrights therein, save and except a licence to make a film in Hindi on the basis of the said literary work.

The producers have dubbed the film in Telugu. It was the case of plaintiff Dharmesh Darshan that he being the author of the literary work, the copyrights in the work vested in him, and the producers had no right to produce the film in any other language as there was an understanding between him and the producers that the film would be produced in Hindi only.

It was the case of the defendants (producers of the film) that in view of the fact that the film had been produced, under the Copyright Act, the copyrights in it vested in the defendants so far as the cinematographic film was concerned. What the defendants were trying to achieve was a change in sound track.

After hearing both the sides, the court held that there was no written agreement between the plaintiff and the defendants to the effect that the latter were directed to produce the film in Hindi language only. It also held that in view of the fact that the copyrights of the cinematographic film on its completion vest in the producers, as per the provisions of section 14(c)(iv), the producers had the right to dub the film.

The court also held that the plaintiff’s rights as author are restricted to the extent of literary work i.e. story writing which rights can be used by him for publishing his story, but the story having been processed in a cinematograph film and in the absence of specific agreement in writing to the effect that the film was to be produced in Hindi only, the plaintiff was not entitled to any relief.

In the meantime, writer Brij Katyal was planning to sue Dharmesh Darshan for Rs. one crore for his alleged piracy of the former’s script of Jab Jab Phool Khile in Raja Hindustani. Dharmesh’s father, Darshan Sabarwal, intervened and prevailed upon Katyal to refrain from going to court.

MARATHI FILM MUSIC DIRECTOR RAM KADAM NO MORE

Well-known Marathi film music director Ram Kadam passed away in Pune on 19th February after a brief illness. He was 81.

Ram Kadam had scored the music in more than 200 Marathi films, two Hindi films and one Telugu film. He had given break to chorus singer Vishnu Waghmare and late Arun Sarnaik.

Ram Kadam died in virtual penury at a private nursing home at 3.30 a.m. following health complications leading to pneumonia. He is reported to have not even had enough money for his hospital bills and treatment.

A disciple of Abdul Karim Khan of Kirana gharana, Ramchandra Vasudeo Kadam started off as a peon and rose to become a clarinet player at the Prabhat Film Company. His first music score as an independent music director was in Pativrata (Marathi), but he shot to fame after he provided music for one of the songs of the Marathi super-hit, Sangte Aika. Ram Kadam lent respectability to Marathi folk art music in films. His memorable score was in Shantaram’s Pinjra.

PUNJABI FILMMAKER JAGJIT NO MORE

Well-known writer, producer and director of Punjabi films, Jagjit, passed away on 15th February due to a heart attack. He had returned to Delhi from the USA and was on his way to his home town, Chandigarh, when he suffered the attack and died at Murthal, near Delhi.

Among the many Punjabi films made by Jagjit were Mahi Munda, Putt Jattan De, Patola, Gabroo Punjab Da, Chhora Haryane Ka etc. He was making Lalkara at the time of his death.

The Punjabi Film Producers Association held a condolence meeting on 17th February in Bombay to mourn his death.

RUMI JAFRI ENGAGED

Well-known writer Rumi Jafri was engaged to Hanan on 17th February at Radio Club, Colaba, Bombay. Among those who attended the engagement ceremony were Rishi Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Aishwarya Rai, Rahul Rawail, David Dhawan, Ketan Desai, Tutu Sharma, Kirit Trivedi, Kaleem, Manmohan Singh, Vashu Bhagnani, Ramesh Taurani and Mansoor Ahmed Siddiqui.

MADHUBHAI KHOZA’S SON TO WED

Salim, son of Madhubhai Khoza, partner in Vaishali cinema, Vapi, will get married to Shamsha on 27th February at Vapi.

CENSOR NEWS

Tips Films P. Ltd.’s Auzaar was given C.C. No. CIL/2/2/97 (UA) dt. 14-2-’97; length 4215.53 metres in 16 reels (cuts: 130.11 metres).

A.G. Films (P.) Ltd.’s Lahoo Ke Do Rang has been passed for adults, with cuts.

Art Films’ Allah Meharban Gadha Pehelwan (length 4299 metres in 16 reels), applied on 17th, was seen on 18th.

Super Cassettes Industries Ltd.’s Surya Putra Shanidev (length 4039.11 metres in 15 reels), applied on 18th, was seen on 19th.

REGIONAL FILMS

Cineyug’s Prema Bandham (Telugu, dubbed version of Raja Hindustani), seen on 19th, has been issued C.C. No. CIL/1/7/97 (U) dt. 21-2-’97; length 5033.77 metres in 18 reels (no cut).

MIX MASALA

INSPIRING TITLE?

The title Judwaa seems to have inspired black-marketeers at Liberty cinema, Bombay. For, they’ve made judwaa — that is duplicate — tickets of the film and sell them to gullible cinegoers, passing the fate tickets as genuine ones. The poor guys who buy the fake tickets at inflated ‘black’ rates get the shock of their lives when they are turned out by the cinema management.

MUSIC INFORMATION

Salman Khan Releases ‘Mahaanta’ Music

Salman Khan released the music cassettes of Ayesha Films’ Mahaanta on 20th February at a function at Holiday Inn. The cassettes are being marketed by Zee Music. Anand Bakshi’s lyrics are set to tune by Laxmikant Pyarelal. The film is directed by Afzal Khan. The film’s lead players, Sanjay Dutt and Madhuri Dixit, attended the cassette release function. A screening of the songs of the film was also held. ‘Tapka re tapka’ and ‘Chhoo le chhoo le’ are well-tuned as also well-picturised songs.

DO YOU KNOW?

* After scoring music in films in 11 different languages, Bappi Lahiri has now scored music in a Punjabi film — MUQADDAR — for the first time. He recorded four songs for the film between February 17 and 20 at B.L. Temptation in the voices of Daler Mehndi, Baba Sehgal and others.

* HERO NO. 1 has created a city record by collecting 45,190/- on the first day at Anand, Raipur.

* YESHWANT has created a theatre record by collecting 1,16,000/- in 2nd week at United, Gorakhpur, against a capacity of 1,48,147/-.

* YESHWANT has created a record by collecting 1,27,435/- in 2nd week at Gangashree, Bilaspur.

* YESHWANT has created a theatre record by collecting 1,40,318/- in 2nd week at Rajkamal, Akola.

* YESHWANT has created a theatre record by collecting 1,22,906/- in 2nd week at Natraj, Jalgaon.

* JUDWAA has created a record by collecting 74,481/- in 2nd week at Khatoon Mahal, Calcutta. All 42 shows in the first 2 weeks were full.

* JUDWAA has created a theatre record by collecting 1,30,574/- in 2nd week at Prabhat, Raipur.

*RAJA HIDUSTANI has created another city record in Meerut by collecting 1,55,484/- in 15th week at Apsara.

* RAJA HINDUSTANI has created history by collecting 91,322/- in 1st week at Menka, Rai Bareilly.

* RAJA HINDUSTANI has created a new city record by collecting a total of 22,80,645/- in 12 weeks at Jyoti, Jabalpur. 12th week’s collection was 1,61,668/-. It has surpassed the distributor’s share of all films in just 12 weeks.

* RAJA HINDUSTANI has created history by collecting 2,19,644/- in 1st week at Priyadarshini, Rewa (C.I.), in spite of communal riots.

YOU ASKED IT

Is an overdose of pre-release publicity good or bad for the film?

– If the film lives up to the expectations created by the publicity hype, the excess publicity can prove to be a boon, but if it falls short of expectations, the overdose can be a bane.

How much fall in audience attendance is there likely to be in cinemas in Maharashtra (Bombay, in particular) which have hiked admission rates to cover the increase in entertainment tax?

– About 20 to 25%. And this fall will be more pronounced and noticeable in the case of smaller and unsuccessful films.

Why do stars generally have two sets of prices — one (higher) for smaller producers, and the other (lower) for big producers and directors?

– If they don’t charge a lower price in the case of big producers and directors, they (big producers and directors) won’t be interested in even touching them. It is the stars who need big banners and directors, and not vice versa.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Why Blame The Government Then?

Video piracy is one of the biggest menaces the film industry is fighting today. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that it is fighting a losing battle as the government has hardly provided any assistance to the film people to combat the rampant piracy. But is the industry itself doing enough to get rid of this malady? It wouldn’t seem so if what the experience of the National Productivity Council has been is any indication. The National Productivity Council is an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Industry. It is currently carrying out a study on piracy in India, trying to estimate the copyright violation with respect to cinema (video piracy, cable piracy etc.). Naturally, therefore, the National Productivity Council should have been the industry’s best friend because it is, perhaps, the first study of its kind which is being carried out by the NPC. But the industry people don’t seem to think so. For, A.K. Burman, deputy director (research) of the NPC, had sought help from the Film Federation of India and the Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association but “without any result”. And what did Mr. Burman want? Such simple details as a list of Hindi, Tamil and Telugu films released during 1996 and till date during 1997 alongwith the names of their producers so that they could cross-check with the concerned producers whether they had given video rights, cable rights etc. to anybody and the extent to which the rights had been violated. Isn’t it sad that neither the FFI nor the IMPPA could provide the Council such simple information? And then the industry blames the government for not helping it. Rightly is it said: Even God doesn’t help those who cannot help themselves!

Too Late The Hero!

Till a week before its release, Hero No. 1 was open for Orissa. A distributor offered to buy it just about four days before its release, for Orissa at an astronomical price of 18. The producer asked for the payment in one stroke, to which the distributor readily agreed.

But, as they say, there’s many a slip between the cup and the lip. Before the distributor could clinch the deal, Padmavati Enterprises clinched the deal at the same price. The previous distributor proved to be too late the hero!

Some Style, This!

That the marriage of Amitabh Bachchan’s daughter, Shweta, and late Raj Kapoor’s grandson, Nikhil Nanda, was a quiet affair in the sense that only family members and very close associates were invited is common knowledge. But not many know that the Bachchans sent extremely tasteful cards to their acquaintances, informing them of the marriage and seeking their blessings and good wishes. The card extraordinaire says: ‘Nikhil and Shweta have expressed a desire for a quiet and simple wedding. We hope that you will respect their sentiments.’

MAJOR SAAB

Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd.’s Major Saab (UA) is a love story set against the army backdrop. Although the romantic tale has nothing to do with the military backdrop, the two main characters in the film are armymen. Thus, although the title gives the impression that the film is about the army, it actually turns out to be like any other love story. The title may, in this sense only, be construed to be less appropriate, but it is this very military background of the film which distinguishes it from other romantic dramas and lends freshness to an otherwise routine subject. Further, because of the two characters being in the army, the writers have been able to pack in a handful of truly nationalist dialogues with a lot of patriotic flavour, something which the audiences are bound to appreciate and even applaud.

Amitabh Bachchan plays the title role, incharge of a group of cadets whom he is imparting training to. One of the cadets is Ajay Devgan who is forced to join the army but has no intentions of remaining there. In fact, he keeps breaking the strict rules of the army, much to the annoyance of the major who is a strict disciplinarian. But gradually, the soft inside of the tough major wins over the disobedient cadet and he promises to follow in the footsteps of the major. On his part, the major helps the cadet (whom he starts treating like his son) free his beloved from the clutches of her devious brother and another evil don. For this, the major himself flouts the army rules.

The first half is slow and dull, and belongs to Ajay Devgan who, with his pranks, keeps the interest alive to some extent. The second half belongs to Amitabh Bachchan and, although lengthy and repetitive, this part is better. The ‘Sona Sona’ song in the pre-climax is the best thing in the film and it rejuvenates the audience to participate in the drama in the form of thunderous applause, whistles, cheers and even dancing with Bachchan. Credit for this goes as much to the music (Aadesh Shrivastava) as to the picturisation and Amitabh’s fabulous dance. Climax has plenty of action but is average. Dialogues (Santosh Saroj) in praise of Indians and the Indian jawans are brilliantly worded. Emotions are almost absent although there was much scope for them in the scenes between Amitabh and Ajay and between Ajay and Nafisa Ali (Amitabh’s wife). Robin Bhatt and Santosh Saroj’s screenplay has several flaws and is not even smooth. For instance, Ajay promises to become another Amitabh but the promise is not even sought to be fulfilled. Sonali’s change of mind (about marriage) and her brother’s change of heart appear ridiculous.

Amitabh Bachchan looks superb in the get-up of a major. His performance is even more superb. He plays his role to perfection, using his voice, expressions and body language fabulously. His dance, as said above, is the best (most superb) thing in the film and, in fact, the song and dance (choreographed by Ganesh) alone are enough to see the distributors of the film through. Ajay Devgan also acts very ably. If he is very good in action scenes, he is even better in the scenes which require him to perform. Sonali Bendre does an average job. Nafeesa Ali looks pretty and acts reasonably well, but her dialogue delivery is not good. Mohan Joshi performs well. Ashish Vidyarthi is also good as Sonali’s brother. But his character changes a bit too often. Mushtaq Khan leaves a mark. Navin Nischol and Siddharth provide good support. Kulbhushan Kharbanda is wasted. Shahbaaz Khan, Vikas Anand, Dinesh Hingoo and the others lend fair support.

Tinnu Anand’s (Verinder Raj Anand’s) direction is quite alright but his sense of editing leaves a lot to be desired. On the music side, the ‘Sona Sona’ song is a rage. Of the other numbers (Anand Raaj Anand), a couple of them are good but their picturisations are dull. Ravi K. Chandran’s camerawork is excellent and the same can be said about Sabu Cyril’s art direction. Action scenes (Bhiku Verma) are well composed. Editing is loose, and the film’s merits will improve if it is further edited by about 10 minutes.

On the whole, Major Saab will not get any critical acclaim or appreciation and may not have a long run, but it will definitely keep its distributors smiling due to four main reasons — ‘Sona Sona’ song and dance; Amitabh Bachchan’s performance; the bumper opening it has taken; and its reasonable price. These four factors outweigh the minus factors, namely, ordinary script and loose editing. Business in North India and Bihar should be better.

Released on 25-6-’98 at Metro and on 26-6-’98 at 19 other cinemas of Bombay by AB Corp. thru Shringar Films. Publicity: extraordinary. Opening: simply astounding. …….Also released all over. Opening was cinema-shattering everywhere except (surprisingly) in Jaipur.

LATEST POSITION

MAJOR SAAB has taken a bumper start. This, coupled with the success of last week’s release, GHULAM, has improved the generally dull first half of 1998.

Ghulam, as predicted, is the best in Bombay, Maharashtra and South (A1) and has done well in all the other circuits. It dropped quite badly in Gujarat and Saurashtra from mid-week. 1st week Bombay 59,26,533 (99.99%) from 14 cinemas (7 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 14,29,544 from 7 cinemas, Padra 1,94,192, Rajkot 1,59,346, Jamnagar (matinee) 38,763; Solapur 2,17,038 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Belgaum 1,42,653 (100%); Delhi 33,75,118 (86.84%) from 8 cinemas; Kanpur 4,69,447 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,62,029, Agra 2,75,726, Allahabad 1,68,500, Meerut 1,78,271; Calcutta 27,73,744 from 21 cinemas (other cinemas were on F.H.); Nagpur 8,53,514 from 4 cinemas, Jabalpur 2,48,933 (100%), Amravati 2,66,661, Akola 1,86,308, Raipur 2,04,840 (73.62%), Chandrapur (29 shows) 2,15,765; Indore 3,99,000 from 2 cinemas (2 on F.H.), Bhopal 3,56,387 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 7,82,318 from 3 cinemas; Hyderabad 31,38,710 from 12 cinemas (1 in noon), share 17,19,432.

Maut Ke Saudagar (dubbed) 1st week Agra 85,145; Jaipur 1,46,169.

Gharwali Baharwali 2nd week Bombay 24,74,620 (60.47%) from 8 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 1,28,389 (2 unrecd.), Rajkot 1,70,085, Jamnagar 1,31,493 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Adipur 2 weeks’ total 2,00,199; Solapur 1,30,603 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Delhi 22,12,143 from 9 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,88,787 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,26,348, Agra 98,747, Allahabad 94,500, Bareilly 59,506 (26.63%), Hardwar 26,000; Calcutta 4,89,017 from 5 cinemas; Nagpur 1,89,651 from 3 cinemas, Jabalpur 1,21,628, total 2,86,771, Amravati 1,45,455, Akola 1,34,994, total 3,03,765, Raipur 1,24,610, Durg 77,596, Yavatmal 95,774; Indore 1,26,628 (2 on F.H.), Bhopal 1,94,939 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 1,87,010, Jodhpur 1,90,000, Ajmer 89,624; Hyderabad 3,40,472.

Achanak 2nd week Bombay 8,59,243 (47.54%) from 6 cinemas (8 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 1,59,468 from 3 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Rajkot (matinee) 7,773; Solapur 91,850; Delhi 7,39,616 from 5 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,19,588 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,77,788, Allahabad 48,000, Meerut 90,400, Bareilly 46,051 (21.31%); Calcutta 2,66,241 from 2 cinemas; Nagpur 1,08,277 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 37,783, Amravati 70,629, Raipur 50,272, 1st week Jalgaon 1,33,240; 2nd week Indore 45,000, Bhopal 82,338; Jaipur 2,58,810 from 2 cinemas; Hyderabad 1,81,349 from 2 cinemas (1 in noon).

Jab Pyaar Kisise Hota Hai 5th week Bombay 14, 25,593 (67.17%) from 5 cinemas (3 on F.H.), good; Ahmedabad 47,189, Jamnagar 50,208; Solapur 54,630, 1st week Barsi 36,254; 5th week Belgaum 83,967; Delhi 23,98,043 from 6 cinemas, very good; Kanpur 93,815, Lucknow 1,03,245, Agra 95,671, Allahabad 39,109, Bareilly (6 days) 46,820 (24.27%), 1st week Hardwar 56,098; 5th week Calcutta 3,84,718 from 4 cinemas; Nagpur 1,47,781, Jabalpur (6 days) 1,04,066, Akola 50,954, total 3,68,074, 4th week Raipur 57,348, 5th week Jalgaon (6 days) 38,665, Chandrapur 80,298, total 5,76,524, 3rd week Yavatmal (6 days) 22,644, 4th week Bilaspur 32,643; 5th week Bhopal 1,66,466, excellent; Jaipur 2,80,987, very good, 4th week Bikaner 96,375; 5th week Hyderabad 4,14,710 from 3 cinemas (2 in noon).

ASHA PAREKH APPOINTED CBFC CHAIRPERSON

Asha Parekh has been appointed chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification. She is the first lady to be appointed to chair the organisation and she succeeds Shakti Samanta.

Asha Parekh’s term is for a period of three years.

YOU ASKED IT

Why was Major Saab sold at a reasonable price to its distributors? Were they not willing to buy it for more than 1.25 to 1.5 crore?

– AB Corp. compensated its distributors for the losses of MRITYUDAATA and SAAT RANG KE SAPNE by keeping the price of MAJOR SAAB reasonable.

It is true that Ghulam has not done well in the USA?

– Yes, it is a shocking fact!

What is the title of the new Assamese film which has hit the bull’s eye?

– Ashok Kumar Bishaya’s JOUBAND AMANI KARE (which means JAWANI DEEWANI in Hindi). It is the biggest blockbuster in Assamese.

PEOPLE
Are talking about

** The brilliant opening of Major Saab all over the country. Amitabh Bachchan has not lost his charisma, that’s the general opinion.

** The wonderful gesture of producer-director K.C. Bokadia who gave Amitabh Bachchan the super-hit Sona Sona song for Major Saab. The song was recorded (by Aadesh Shrivastava) for Bokaddia’s Lal Baadshah but Amitabh liked it so much when he heard it that he jumped to pick up the song when Bokadia announced that there was no situation for it in Lal Baadshah. By the way, a super-hit number like Sona Sona needs no situation.

PEOPLE
Are happy about

** The return of the good times. Major Saab has taken a flying start, Ghulam has clicked, Gharwali Baharwali will fetch commission in some circuits, Jab Pyaar Kisise Hota Hai is steady at medium collections since several weeks.

** Asha Parekh being appointed chairperson of the CBFC.

PEOPLE
Are scared about

** Two love stories, namely Kareeb and Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha, scheduled for release one after the other. The former is due on 17th July while the latter will come on 24th July.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Delivery Problem Of A Different Kind

Major Saab had yet another hiccup — this time due to a technical snag — just before the preparation of the film’s final prints. There was reportedly a technical problem in the film’s sound negative. The rectifications took some time and, as a result, the sound negative could not be delivered to Adlabs in time for the preparation of the final prints. Much to its credit though, Adlabs successfully managed to deliver all the final prints of the film, as scheduled. But there was virtual maara-maari for the prints, among the various distributors. In the meantime, Delhi-U.P. distributor G.D. Mehta raised his order of prints by 5 at the eleventh hour (thanks to the last-minute booking in some stations). With these extra prints, G.D. Mehta’s tally has gone up to 45 prints. The total number of prints of Major Saab has crossed 280.

Top Distributors, Petty Rivalries

The scene in Delhi-U.P. exhibition trade is rather sad. Distributors of this circuit go to court against exhibitors, at the drop of a hat. This court-going practice is born out of the jealousies among some leading distributors of the territory. Reportedly, the distributors adopt dog-in-the-manger policy and try to block cinemas with their films so that the other distributor/s cannot get a good chain of cinemas for his/their releases. The professional enmity between some of the distributors is so bitter that a distributor would prefer paying deficit to a cinema rather than discontinuing his film to make way for his rival’s film. The classic case was a recent one in which a distributor knocked the doors of the court against an exhibitor who threatened to discontinue his film to accommodate another distributor’s film. So keen was a third distributor (not in any way connected with the film showing at the said cinema or with the film trying to be accommodated) to see that the new film should not be able to bag the cinema that he even told the complainant-distributor to not just go to court but also take some 10 thousand rupees from him towards the cost of litigation! All because this third distributor may have had an axe to grind with the second distributor. A case of dushman ka dushman, dost! All this pettiness among top distributors also affects exhibitors who often find themselves unnecessarily dragged into controversies. Obviously, the exhibitors can’t take sides because they have to deal with all the distributors. Incidentally, this cut-throat competition among distributors has prompted them to become cinema controllers too.

Titanic Rumours

Rumours are rife in the industry that two films are simultaneously being made, each based on the Hollywood blockbuster, Titanic. The two films being talked about are Indra Kumar’s Mann and Rakesh Roshan’s Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai. In reality, there is no truth in the rumours as both the films have different stories from each other as well as from the Hollywood blockbuster. The only similarity among them is that each of these films is to be shot aboard a ship — a fact which may well have sparked off the rumours. Last heard, Rakesh Roshan was planning a trip to Greece to find a suitable ship for his film while Indra Kumar has already found his ship in Singapore.

Asha Parekh In A New Role

Asha Parekh is the first lady to be appointed chairperson of the Central Board Of Film Certification (CBFC). She takes over from Shakti Samanta whose 7-year stint (the longest ever in the CBFC) ended on 24th June, 1998. Asha Parekh may be the first lady to be appointed chairperson of the CBFC, but, technically, she is not the first woman to occupy that chair. That distinction is already reserved for Aparna Mohile who was the acting chairperson of the CBFC in 1982 and ’83 — from 11th August, ’82 to 14th March, ’83. She is presently the Postmaster General, Maharashtra. Asha Parekh is officially the 21st chairperson of the CBFC, but since two earlier chairmen were reappointed on two separate occasions (B.D. Mirchandani — 15-6-’54 to 9-6-’55, re-appointed from 25-3-’60 to 1-11-’60; and D.L. Kothari — 22-11-’59 to 24-3-’60, reappointed from 2-11-’60 to 22-4-’65), she becomes the 19th person to hold the office since CBFC’s inception in 1951.