‘Raja Hindustani’ To Be Postponed?

So there may be just two Diwali releases after all. In all probability, Raja Hindustani may be postponed by a week. Instead of 7th November, it may now hit the screens on 14th November. The decision for postponement seems to have been taken in view of the fact that three major releases on Diwali may be a bit too much. Besides, of the three, only Raja Hindustani is the non-action film, the other two — Ghatak and Sapoot — being action fares. The first three or four days of the Diwali week are pre-Diwali days which record poor collections, and this also seems to have prompted the producers of Raja Hindustani to come a week later, on 14th November.

Although producers Karim Morani, Sunil Soorma and Aly Morani are not as yet committing the rescheduled release date, it is quite clear that the film will be postponed by a week if both, Ghatak and Sapoot, make it on Diwali. And the chances of Ghatak and Sapoot coming on 8th November are very bright. Ghatak has been cleared by the revising committee, and Sapoot is likely to be seen by the examining committee on 28th October. Its first copy came out on 25th.

Raja Hindustani was seen by the examining committee on 23rd and has been offered ‘U’ certificate, with some cuts.

MIX MASALA

DANCING TO WEATHER GOD’S TUNE

The bad weather forecast on 25th October resulted in the cancellation of HMV’s audio release function of Vinod Khanna’s Himalay Putra, which was scheduled for that evening in the open at the Turf Club, Bombay. Paradoxical, because although the Himalaya mountains are a symbol of strength, it was Himalay Putra (son of Himalaya) which had to feel threatened by the cyclonic weather forecast! Anyway, the function will now be held on 31st October at the same venue, the weather Gods willing!

‘GHATAK’ DISPUTE: MATTER ADJOURNED

The dispute between the producers of Ghatak and its distributors for Eastern circuit (excluding Orissa), Musical Films P. Ltd., Calcutta, over the issue of price, came up for hearing on 25th October in the Bombay high court. The counsel for the distributor sought adjournment of the matter to 29th October. In the meantime, it is likely that the matter may be settled amicably out of court. A meeting between the advocates of the two parties, Bharat Shah (who presents the film), producer Rajkumar Santoshi and Vijay Ladsaria of Musical Films was held on 25th after the hearing. Lalit Kankaria of Musical Films is expected in Bombay today (26th October) and the matter, in all probability, should be amicably settled soon. Bharat Shah told Information, “I am a businessman and am never in favour of litigation.”

In the meantime, Bharat Shah dismissed rumours that the film was being referred by him to the Appellate Tribunal. “Rajkumar Santoshi was not willing to accept one cut offered by the revising committee but, I suppose, he is getting emotional since the film is his baby,” said Bharat Shah.

YOU ASKED IT

When is an artiste justified in hiking his price?

– When the increased amount of his price does not prove to be a burden either for the producer or for the distributor and exhibitor.

Is the workers’ welfare cess, collected at the time of film censorship, disbursed among cine workers?

– Yes, the CBFC disburses the amount to meet educational and other expenses of workers’ family members.

Why have films not been faring well, of late?

– The period is generally dull. Rains have also been adversely affecting the box-office. Then, the films, which have been released in recent times, have also not been good.

NEW CINEMA AT BETUL

A new cinema, Shivshakti, opened on 2nd October at Betul (in Madhya Pradesh) in the campus of Kantishiva cinema. Both the cinemas are owned by the same people. The new cinema has 500 seats and is equipped with Photophone projector.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Producer Salim conducted free shows of his RAJA KI AAYEGI BAARAAT for ladies only on 24th October (12 noon) at three cinemas of Bombay and some other cinemas in different centres of India.

* Bappi Lahiri, who has completed 25 years as music director, was felicitated by Bangla Desh prime minister Sheikh Hasina, on 15th October in Dhaka.

* Well-known Tamil film villain Mansoor Ali Khan will be launching a Hindi film, GWALA, in which he will be handling eleven departments. He will be its producer, director, music director, lyricist, editor, cameraman, dance director, action master as well as story, screenplay and dialogue writer. He has signed Divya Dutta, Alok Nath, Johny Lever, Laxmikant Berde and Anupam Kher for the film which will be launched next month.

* Two Rang films — RANGBAAZ and RANGEELA RAJA — are being distributed in C.P. Berar by Harnam Films. While the former has been released this week, the latter will open next week.

* Rajshris will be reviving HAHK..! on Diwali on a grand scale. It has been booked at as many as 300 cinemas all over. Of these, 150 cinemas in Maharashtra (Bombay, C.P. Berar and Nizam circuits), where the film is tax-free, will screen the film.

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Dedicated Aamir

Aamir Khan is one hell of a dedicated actor. He treats the films in which he acts as his own production ventures. Why else would he go to the CBFC office on 25th October to discuss the cuts offered to his Raja Hindustani? Yes, the CBFC staff in Bombay had an exciting time when Raja Hindustani Aamir made a special appearance at their office on the afternoon of 25th.

RAJA KI AAYEGI BAARAAT

Aftab Music Industries’ Raja Ki Aayegi Baaraat (UA) is a purposeful social film. A girl with a high morale and a fighter by nature drags her rapist to the court and pleads for justice by convincing the judge of the pitiable condition in which a raped girl finds herself in society even if the rapist is punished for his misdeed. The court sees reason in her arguments and, instead of merely meting out punishment to the rapist, orders him to marry the girl whom he has raped. The girl is tortured by her husband’s family members after her marriage, but not the one to give up so easily, she puts up a brave fight and, with her utmost faith in the power of sindoor, she ultimately wins the love of the whole family, including her husband.

The film starts on a dull note and goes on like that for about two or three reels. It is after the girl is raped and the matter goes to the court that a tense and edge-of-the-seat drama keeps audience interest alive. Some bold and hard-hitting dialogues evoke claps and applause, for both, the written word and the dialogue delivery. But once the family torture begins post-interval, predictable scenes dominate the drama and while some of them do entertain, the others dilute the impact of the film considerably. The script is good upto interval point.

Ranee makes an extremely confident debut. She performs ably, looks good, dances well and delivers her dialogues with aplomb and utmost confidence. Shadaab Khan does not have the looks of a hero and gives an average performance. Gulshan Grover is superb as the noble Sardar. Saeed Jaffrey does well. Shashi Sharma, Arjun, Asrani, Mohnish Bahl, Goga Kapoor, Raza Murad, Divya Dutta and the rest provide average support.

Ashok Gaikwad’s direction is fair. Music (Aadesh Shrivastava) is nice. ‘Palkon mein sapne’ and the title song are the most appealing numbers. ‘Rab ka hoon banda’ and a couple of other numbers are quite well-tuned. But song picturisations definitely needed to be better and visually more appealing. Photography and other technical values are okay. Action scenes are alright.

On the whole, Raja Ki Aayegi Baaraat has reasonable merits in the plot, but an ordinary second half and a weak opening coupled with the dull period will tell on its business. Even if it does pick up on the strength of ladies’ appeal, it will remain on the lower side.

Released on 18-10-’96 at New Excelsior and 11 other cinemas of Bombay thru Aftab Group. Publicity: good. Opening: poor. …….Also released all over. Opening was dull everywhere.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Kannada film actor Ambarish has refused to contest the Assembly election from the Ramanagaram constituency of Mysore. The seat is vacant due to the resignation of prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda.

* Cinegoers at Arun cinema, Belgaum have been given a Dassera bonus. Two films — EK BABY TEEN BADMAASH and EK BANDAR HOTEL KE ANDAR — are being screened in one show simultaneously at the cinema. While the former is screened before interval, the latter starts after intermission.

YOU ASKED IT

How does one get to know about the business of films in the Overseas circuit?

– One has to accept what the concerned film’s Overseas distributor says because there’s no alternative to that.

Is there a market for re-issue video rights?

– There is. Films which were sold for 7 or 10 years are/will soon be available for sale again.

On what basis do new actors, who are not even star-sons, command such heavy prices without a single release to their credit?

– Their prices are governed by the reports circulating in trade circles about their calibre and talent. They depend on how much confidence a producer is willing to put on a newcomer.

Is it proper for a film producer to repeat the title of an old hit for his new film?

– What choice does he have if his story demands that title?

‘HINDUSTANI’ TAX-FREE IN MAHARASHTRA

Hindustani has been granted exemption from payment of entertainment tax in Maharashtra for a period of one year with effect from 16th October, 1996.

‘INDIAN’ IS INDIAN ENTRY FOR OSCAR

A.M. Rathnam’s Tamil film, Indian, has been selected as India’s entry for the Oscar awards. A 15-member committee of the Film Federation of India, chaired by IMPPA president Sultan Ahmed, made the selection in Madras last week after viewing seven Indian films made in various languages.

AIFEC TO PRESS FOR HIGHER CESS
FOR WORKERS’ WELFARE

The National Executive of the All India Film Employees Confederation met in Bombay on 6th October and took note of the letter addressed by Raghu Menon, jt. secretary, ministry of information & broadcasting, to the president of the AIFEC that orders had been issued to the Central Board of Film Certification to collect workers’ welfare cess at the enhanced rate as notified.

Note also was taken of reports appearing in the press that a delegation of film producers had met the minister of labour in this regard, and he had stayed the order.

The representatives of film workers all over India deprecated the attempt on the part of film producers to crib about the payment of workers’ welfare cess which makes only an infinitesimal difference in the budget even of a small film. AIFEC resolved to take to agitational methods against procrastination by the government as also the negative attitude of the production sector for pressurising the government not to implement the Act passed by Parliament and which was gazetted and notified.

The National Executive Committee also decided to start an agitation to amend the Cine Worker’s Welfare Fund Act to raise the income ceiling defining a cine worker.

Members from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, West Bengal and Western India attended the meeting.

CINEMA CLOSED DUE TO BOMB BLAST

A bomb blast near Grandlay cinema, Delhi, earlier this week killed one person. Fourteen others sustained injuries. The cinema remained closed for a day.

PAPPU VERMA ELECTED FWICE PRESIDENT

Pappu Verma was elected president of the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) for 1996-97 at its annual general meeting held on 17th October at Famous, Mahalaxmi. He replaces veteran Chandrashekhar who had occupied the post for 14 years.

R.K. Handa was elected senior vice president, and Prabhakar Nikhlankar, vice president. R.C. Das was elected general secretary, and Mohd. Kasam and Earnest Menezes, joint secretaries. The election of the hon. treasurer, which could not be held due to technical reasons, will be held shortly.

K.K. RAAJ DEAD

Actor K.K. Raaj passed away on 12th October at Vankaner (near Rajkot) in Gujarat following heart failure. He had completed his shooting for the Gujarati film Raj Ratan just a day earlier and had decided to spend a free day at Vankaner before returning to Bombay, but death visited him in the early hours. He was 42 and is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

‘HIND KI BETI’ TAX-FREE

The Madhya Pradesh government has granted tax-exemption to Joginder’s Hind Ki Beti.

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Hot Collections, Cool Reception

Jayshree Talkies, Nagpur, which is controlled by the Rathi group, has been fitted with air-conditioners in its Box (admission rate: Rs. 40). This is the first cinema in Vidarbha region to be installed with air-conditioners albeit in one class only. The cinema otherwise is air-cooled and is popularly known as a ‘jubilee talkies’, obviously deriving its coveted title because of the many films which have celebrated jubilees there. The longest run which any film has had at Jayshree is Muqaddar Ka Sikander (40 weeks). Qurbani had opened at the cinema in 8 shows on the opening day and it must have been a record of sorts that all eight shows were packed to capacity. Jayshree Talkies was started in 1947, and the first release there was Bhakt Dhruv. The owners also plan to install Dolby sound system in the cinema very shortly. Incidentally, the cinema got its name after late V. Shantaram’s wife, Jayshree. Shantaram was one of the founder-members of the cinema.

A Tale Of Two Baaraats

Alec Smart remarked, “This week, two baaraats have been released. One is Raja Ki Aayegi Baaraat, and the other is buddhon ki baaraat or, in other words, Return Of Jewel Thief.”

No Liberty For Salman From Liberty

Salman Khan and Bombay’s Liberty cinema are made for each other, it seems. Since August 1994, Liberty is screening Salman starrers. It was HAHK..! for more than two years in regular shows, and it has now been shifted in matinee. Once HAHK..! was discontinued from regular shows, it was Salman Khan’s Khamoshi which was released at the cinema. Another Salman (double role) starrer, Judwaa, is due for release at Liberty on 6th December ’96.

Dullest Pre-Diwali Week

That pre-Diwali days are really dull for the box-office is common knowledge, and it is because of this dull period that producers and distributors avoid releasing big films a week before Diwali. But this pre-Diwali week will be one of the worst ever because there is not a single film, not even a small one, scheduled for release on 1st November. As against a no-release week beginning 1st November, there will be four or five releases on 25th October — Maachis, Rangbaaz, Phool Bane Patthar, Rangeela Raja (dubbed) and Jurassic City (dubbed).

‘Certified’ And Notified As Diwali Attractions

Producers generally avoid announcing their release dates in advertisements in daily newspapers before censor certificates are issued to their films as they are wary of inviting the wrath of censor officials. But at least two producers of films, slated for release on Diwali this year, are announcing their release dates even though both of them have yet to obtain their censor certificates. Of course, the advertisements of the two films — Ghatak and Sapoot — do not mention the exact date (8th November) but only proclaim them as ‘Diwali attraction’ and give the name/s of cinemas where they will be coming. While Ghatak has been referred to the revising committee by the producer (because it has been offered ‘A’ certificate with as many as 12 cuts), Sapoot has not even been seen or applied for censorship. Why, even its first copy is not yet out, but the producers are confident of being able to show the film to the censors on 25th October. The first copy of the third Diwali release, Raja Hindustani, will be out early next week, and it is likely to be seen by the CBFC on 22nd October. The producers and distributors of Raja Hindustani have not yet advertised it as a ‘Diwali attraction’, but, you never know, even they might be inspired enough to follow in the footsteps of the makers of Ghatak and Sapoot.

Busy As Bees

Two offices in Naaz cinema building in Bombay are buzzing with more activity than any other office these days. One is the office of Dilip Dhanwani (Dilsa Distributors Combine) and the other is that of Vinod Kakkar (Mahalakshmi Film Distributors). While Dilip released a line of films recently in Bombay circuit, he will be releasing Ghatak in Gujarat and Saurashtra on Diwali. Not only that, Dhanwani has also started film production in right earnest. Vinod Kakkar’s distribution office has its hands full in the forthcoming weeks. Due for release from the office are Sapoot, Chhote Sarkar, Dastak, Tamanna, Yashwant, Mr. Aashiq, Zameer etc. No mean list, this!

HAPPY DIWALI WITH ‘HAHK..!’ ON STAR PLUS

The greatest blockbuster of all times, Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!, will reportedly be telecast on Star Plus on Diwali day. The deal, it is reported, has been finalised by the Barjatyas for Rs. 5 crore!

A while ago, Sholay had been telecast by Doordarshan on a national holiday. It helped DD recover about Rs. 2.5 crore through the sale of 83 time slots to advertisers.

MALAYALAM FILM ACTOR SURRENDERS

Malayalam film comedian Jagathi Sreekumar surrendered before the judicial first class magistrate, Ernakulam, on 8th October in connection with the case of sexual exploitation of a minor girl a few months ago. The actor had remained in hiding for over a month. He is one of the 40 suspects in the serial raping of a teenager of Vithura. Sreekumar had a non-bailable arrest warrant issued against him.

The court remanded him to judicial custody till October 22. The court had thrice rejected the anticipatory bail of the actor.

Incidentally, the actor has been put in the same cell in the Ernakulam sub-jail where he had been locked up a few months ago for a scene in Punnaram. In the film, he played an innocent man charged with a crime.

DIWALI HAT-TRICK!

Believe it or not, but all the three big films — Ghatak, Raja Hindustani and Sapoot — scheduled for release on Diwali are being distributed in Overseas circuit by Kishore Lulla. While the former two are his acquisitions, Sapoot was acquired by ABCL but will be released thru Lulla’s office.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Aamir Khan and Sunil Shetty’s careers will be managed by ABCL now. Into celebrity management now, ABCL has taken up the work of these two heroes as its first assignment. More actors are likely to hand over their careers for management to ABCL, it is rumoured.

* Johnny Walker campaigned for H.D. Deve Gowda’s party in Hardoi on 5th October and regaled the audience in his famous filmi style. He even delivered some of his famous dialogues from popular films of the ‘sixties and ‘seventies.

YOU ASKED IT

Will the Bombay distributor of Khamoshi lose money in the film?

– No way. The tax-free advantage will see him through. Even otherwise, the film did reasonably well in major cities of Maharashtra. The share from Liberty cinema (Bombay) alone has crossed 25 lakh.

When South films are being dubbed by the dozen, what is the point in buying their Hindi remaking rights at fancy prices?

– Sometimes, South film producers do not sell dubbing rights and offer only remaking rights. Then, a South film may need to be changed to suit Hindi film audience tastes. There’s also the fear that the South Indian artistes may not be accepted by the Hindi film audience.

What is the future of non-star cast films in general?

– Considering the high admission rates in cinemas and consequent high theatre rentals, it is rather difficult for completely new star cast films to be able to stand their own, generally speaking. Exceptions, of course, cannot be ruled out.

MIX MASALA

ZORDAAR IDEA?

Perhaps, with a view to making the film not appear as stale as it actually is, the makers of Zordaar did away with the faces of the heroines completely in many of the street publicities of the film. Govinda and Aditya Pancholi are shown prominently on the publicities but Neelam and Mandakini are conspicuous by their absence!

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A Question Of Strength, Not Weakness

So, the question which still remains is: will they or won’t they? And, more important, should all the three films come together on Diwali?

While the benefit of the Diwali period doesn’t need to be emphasised, it is also true that if all the three — Ghatak, Raja Hindustani and Sapoot — came together, they would cut into one another’s revenues. The loss because of this may more than offset the gain due to the festival period. If this happens, the very purpose of releasing the films on Diwali will be defeated.

Besides, will the all-India distributors of all the three films get the requisite chains of cinemas for their films? What do they think of the triple releases?

Ideally, the producers of all the three films should do some rethinking. Ego hassles should take a backseat. One producer must definitely postpone his release by two weeks. He should not fear that his postponement will be misinterpreted as his film’s weakness. In fact, it should be interpreted as the concerned producer’s strength. Who will be the strong one? Or will there be one at all?

To The Point

The dispute over the price of Ghatak for the Eastern circuit defies solution. The producer has gone to the court (Bombay high court) and the hearing is fixed for 25th October.

* * *

Ram Gopal Varma, whose Telugu horror film, Dayyam, did not do well at the box-office, has reshot portions in the second half and dubbed the film in Tamil. Let’s see, how it fares in Tamil.

* * *

Ram Gopal Varma is leaving no stone unturned to make his Daud a worthy successor to Rangeela. A ‘hot hot’ song was being picturised for the film earlier this week at Mehboob Studios on a jungle set on Sanjay Dutt and a skimpily clad Urmila Matondkar. The Zahreelay Zahreelay song sounded like a hit. Yes, the music is by A.R. Rahman.

* * *

There’s high talk of the fiery dialogues in Ghatak. And of Sunny Deol’s role as well as performance. And yes, the folders of Ghatak, which came along with the copies of Film Information last week, were in news as well as in demand.

* * *

The Shaher ki ladki and Sundara Sundara songs of Rakshak are going great guns. Their popularity should ensure the film a terrific opening.

* * *

Yet another song that’s bound to top the popularity charts is Chappa chappa charkha chale from Gulzar’s Maachis. Not only is Vishal Bhardwaj’s music excellent, its picturisation is also wonderful.

* * *

– Komal Nahta

SHASTRA

Nariman Pictures’ Shastra (UA) is a usual vendetta film. It is the story of a young college student whose parents were murdered when he was a kid. He sets out to hunt for the murderer as he wants to seek revenge. After a lot of efforts, he finally learns who the killer was and kills him.

The story is not one bit novel, and the screenplay, too, is quite routine. The main drawback in the drama is that although the young lad comes in search of his parents’ murderer, he makes no conscious effort, after a point of time, to track him down. Of course, this realisation does dawn upon him, too, and it is sought to be passed off as proper through a dialogue, but that doesn’t solve the problem. Even when the identity of the killer is finally exposed, it is not because of any effort of the lad.

On the other hand, the comedy punches in the film are enjoyable. Dialogues add to the fun in comic scenes. Some action scenes are exciting. One important ingredient of a commercial masala film, which Shastra is designed as, is totally missing even though there was scope for it, and that is emotions. The pain suffered by the boy due to the death of his parents simply doesn’t come through, maybe, because there are hardly a couple of scenes of the boy with his parents. As a result, the audience does not feel sorry for the boy. The romantic track in the film is also not well developed.

Sunil Shetty acts quite well. He is very good in action scenes. Anjali Jathar looks ordinary, performs reasonably well and dances very ably. Anupam Kher seems totally disinterested in his work and is too mechanical to be true. His absence in some scenes tells glaringly of his date problems. Danny Denzongpa should have been given more scope. He does a good job in a relatively brief role. Mohan Joshi is alright. Mushtaq Khan is the surprise packet and shows a wonderful flair for comedy with his good sense of timing. Dinesh Hingoo, Kunika, Farida Jalal, Sanjeeva, Jack Gaud, Ankush Mohit, Achyut Potdar, Himani Shivpuri, Avtar Gill and the others lend good support. Ashwini Bhave lends sex appeal in a dance number.

Direction is okay. While the narration is fair, the director should have concentrated more on the scripting too. Aadesh Srivastava’s music is superb. ‘Kya ada kya jalwe’ is the best song and is super-hit. But it has been on the charts for so long that its popularity goes against it, as it gives the feeling that the film has been delayed. ‘Ladki deewani’ is also very well tuned and its picturisation is the best. ‘Kuchh hua re hua’ is sexily picturised. Camerawork is eye-filling. Editing leaves something to be desired, especially in the first half. Background score and sound effects are of a good standard. Action scenes are quite good. The climax fight (in the water pool), although visually very appealing, is not as exciting as a final fight should be.

On the whole, Shastra has a good musical score and appreciable initial value but ordinary merits to prove an average fare.

Released on 4-10-’96 at Minerva and 23 other cinemas of Bombay thru Tridev Movies. Publicity: excellent. Opening: fair. …….Also released all over. Opening was good in most of the circuits.

LATEST POSITION

Rains in many parts of the country affected box-office collections adversely. Elections in U.P. also affected collections there.

Diljale has not been appreciated except, to some extent, in the North. Its heavy price will see several of its distributors (except of East Punjab and Rajasthan) incurring losses. 1st week Bombay 40,23,817 (93.66%) from 14 cinemas (10 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 6,60,589 from 4 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Bharuch (gross) 2,13,368, Rajkot 1,76,310 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Jamnagar (matinee) 18,690 (1 in regular unrecd.); Pune 10,25,256 from 7 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 1,88,000, Solapur 1,56,022, Nasik 1,82,736, Nasik Road 1,09,664, record; Belgaum 1,35,516 (100%) from 2 cinemas (1 in noon); Delhi 38,86,964 (86.98%) from 12 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Kanpur 3,91,042 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,10,955, Agra 2,58,723, Hardwar 75,016, Gorakhpur 1,60,000 (82.01%); Amritsar 49,000; Calcutta 22,01,691 from 16 cinemas; Nagpur 5,73,629 from 5 cinemas, Amravati 1,90,391, city record, Akola 1,40,268, Raipur 1,31,355 (66.72%), Bhilai 1,05,174 from 2 cinemas, Jalgaon 1,37,025, Wardha (6 days) 72,612, Bilaspur 1,78,888 from 2 cinemas; Indore 73,287 (4 on F.H.), Bhopal 3,79,540 from 3 cinemas; Jaipur 7,79,200 from 5 cinemas, Ajmer (29 shows) 1,23,598, theatre record, Bikaner 2,73,217, theatre record; Hyderabad 24,07,531 from 11 cinemas (4 on F.H.), share 13,60,531 (including F.H.). Total: 1,96,89,074 from 106 cinemas. Average: 1,85,746 per cinema.

………….

YOU ASKED IT

At what ratio is Feroz Khan’s Prem Aggan selling? When will it roll and when will it be released?

– Between 1.75 and 2 crore. The film will go before the camera in December this year, and Feroz Khan wants to release it on Diwali next year.

Why did Ajay Devgan’s Diljale not take house-full opening at many places last week?

– Perhaps, because the trailers of the film, beamed on satellite channels before the film’s release, were musical trailers, while Ajay Devgan has an action image.

How big a hit is Khamoshi in the Overseas circuit?

– A major hit! It is, perhaps, next only to HAHK..! and DDLJ there.

SARDARMULL KANKARIA RE-ELECTED
EIMPA PRESIDENT

Sardarmull Kankaria was re-elected president of the Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA) at the first meeting of its newly elected executive committee held on 1st October in Calcutta. L.C. Bakliwal and N.L. Bhalotia were elected vice presidents, and Raj Kumar Damani, hon. treasurer.

Earlier, at its annual general meeting held on 24th September, the following were elected to the executive committee: Pronob Kumar Bose, Kamal Kumar Bhalotia, Ajit Bhattacharya, Krishna Narayan Daga (chairman, producers’ section, West Bengal), Ashok Chakraborty, Shankar Kumar Dutta, Bhabesh Ch. Kundu, Sishir Kumar Dutta, Nawal Kishore Tharad, Rathin Majumdar, Janab M.A.K. Sayeed, Lalit Kumar Kankaria, Joy Bakliwal, Janab Md. Reyaz, Bikash Ranjan Chandra, Tapash Kumar Ghosh, Girish Mansata, Dipindra Krishna Mitra (chairman, exhibitors’ section, West Bengal), Paresh Parekh, B.L. Goenka, Pinaki Mukherjee (chairman, producers’ section), Rabin Chowdhury (chairman, distributors’ section) and Pradip Dey (chairman, exhibitors’ section).

DO YOU KNOW?

RELIGIOUS TOUCH

* The Telugu film, AMMORU, is creating havoc at Jayshree, Bijapur. The film has an aarti in the second half, which enchants the audience to such an extent that many among them start dancing to its tune. The screening invariably gets interrupted because the more devout among the viewers distribute prasad and kumkum in the auditorium. After this distribution, the screening begins again. What’s more, a special temple has been built in the cinema compound, where all cinegoers pay their respects before seeing the film!

HARISH SUGHAND HURT IN CAR ACCIDENT

Harish Sughand of Glamour, Bombay, met with a serious accident at Lokhandwala Complex on 29th September. A truck, coming from the opposite direction, rammed into the car Harish was driving. The accident could have proved fatal for Harish who had a Providential escape. His face was badly injured and he had to be rushed to Nanavati Hospital. He underwent surgery on 2nd October.

‘Shastra’ Released After Much Tension

How Shastra made it to the cinema halls all over India this week is an interesting story. Well, actually, it almost didn’t, thanks to the non-cooperative attitude of CBFC regional officer Sanjeevani Kutty. Ms. Kutty was to verify the cuts offered by the examining committee to the film but she was out of India for the whole of last week. Reportedly, she had made it expressly clear that she would personally verify the cuts. Even if she hadn’t made this clear, no official of the CBFC was ready to verify the cuts in her absence, which resulted in unnecessary delay of one week.

On Monday, September 30, the cuts and the video cassette of the film were submitted to her but the video cassette was not clear. A fresh cassette had to be prepared and some cuts weren’t executed as suggested. The producers were to submit the fresh cuts and cassette on Tuesday but thanks to lack of planning, they delayed the submission by some hours. This seems to have infuriated Ms. Kutty so much that she declined to see the cassette that day and asked the producers to come for the certificate on Thursday (Oct. 3) since 2nd October was a holiday (Gandhi Jayanti). No amount of pleading by the producers made Ms. Kutty change her stubborn stand. AMPTPP president Pahlaj Nihalani drove all the way from Film City to Liberty cinema, where Ms. Kutty was viewing a film on Tuesday, and requested her to sign the certificate that day as the producers had fixed their release on 4th, but Ms. Kutty failed to oblige. Incidentally, the producers of Shastra are not members of the AMPTPP, but of the IMPPA. Reportedly, CBFC chairman Shakti Samanta also spoke to Ms. Kutty but he did not meet with any success either. According to Bipin Savla, financial adviser to the producers of Shastra, when they approached Shakti Samanta last week, apprehending last-minute tension, he assured them of all help and even asked them to go ahead with their release plans of 4th October.

On 2nd October, the producers held a meeting with their all-India distributors, who were in Bombay for the film’s delivery, at Adlabs to decide on whether the release should be postponed. It was finally decided to release it on 4th. In U.P., C.P. and C.I., where films are released on Thursdays, Shastra was delayed by a day, and released only on Friday. Advance booking at cinemas of Bombay could start only on Thursday, a day before the release.

It took a lot of coaxing by Pahlaj Nihalani to make the Overseas distributor, Arjandas Lulla, agree to release the film abroad next week. It was also thanks a great deal to Manmohan Shetty of Adlabs whose ever-helpful nature made the release this week possible. Besides Pahlaj, others who were present at the meeting at Adlabs were Santosh Singh Jain, G.S. Mayawala and K.D. Shorey.

NEW FACES AT ZEE

Zee Network has appointed Dr. Chandra Prakash as its president – programming. He will be responsible to the CEO. Vishnu Patel is the general manager – productions and he will look after the in-house productions of Zee Network channels. Mrs. Karuna Samtani has been made director – events. Nayana Dasgupta continues to look after the creative aspects of El TV. Sunita Chaswal is the sr. manager – programming, and Rajesh Mishra, sr. manager – commercial.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

‘Fireworks’ Moranis’ Diwali Offering

The Moranis are famous for their fireworks. But this Diwali, it is not just with their fire crackers that the Moranis will want to make a mark. Their Raja Hindustani will also hit the screens on Diwali. So these rajas of fireworks are now praying that like every Hindustani is enthralled by their Diwali crackers, they also get mesmerised by the film.

Ramgopal Varma’s ‘Tamasha’

Imagine Urmila Matondkar and a youthful N.T. Rama Rao together. There are posters showing this pair, pasted all over Andhra. The colourful posters have been put up by Ramgopal Varma’s new music company, Varma Audio. The company’s maiden audio release is ‘Tamasha’, a compilation of rehashed old and new generation Telugu film songs, peppered with value-addition like digital sound. And that’s why the posters show NTR of the old generation, and Urmila, the current heartthrob.

Boney Bags Blockbuster’s Remaking Rights

There were at least ten producers from Bombay in the race to acquire the Hindi remaking rights of the latest Tamil blockbuster, Kadhal Kottai (which means Love Fort). Boney Kapoor finally managed to bag the rights from Ramu, son of Sivaji Ganesan and brother of actor Prabhu, at a phenomenal price — over 60 lakh! ABCL, Ketan Desai, David Dhawan, Sajid Nadiadwala, Venus, Mansoor Ahmed Siddiqui, D. Rama Naidu…. they were all trying to lure Ramu with fancy prices for the Hindi remaking rights but, as Boney Kapoor puts it, “my charm worked”. Adds Boney, “Many are apt to say that my manipulation did the trick, but that’s wrong. It’s my charm, I’m sure.” Kadhal Kottai will now be remade in Hindi by Boney Kapoor jointly with Gautam Kumar, Nitin Manmohan, Sunil Manchanda and Mukul Anand (all four represented by Neha-MAD Films Combines). Surinder Kapoor will present the film. Editor A. Muthu reportedly saw Kadhal Kottai at least four or five times. Its hero, Ajith Kumar, has shot to stardom after its release. College students and youngsters have taken a great liking to the film. Incidentally, Ajith Kumar’s earlier hit, Aasai, also gave him a celebrity status. Kadhal Kottai stars two heroines opposite Ajith. In the Hindi remake, it will be Sanjay Kapoor playing the male lead. His two leading ladies are to be finalised.

Superhit Muqabala?

In June 1990, it was Sunny Deol’s Ghayal and Aamir Khan’s Dil which were released on the same day. Six years later, the two actors will be pitted against each other once again. On Diwali this year, Aamir’s Raja Hindustani and Sunny’s Ghatak are due for release. In 1990, Dil had been released in Bombay at Novelty, and Ghayal, at Metro. Raja Hindustani will come at Metro, and Ghatak, at Minerva.

It Could Be You Tomorrow

What happened with the producers of Shastra earlier this week should shake each and every producer. And shock him too.

The obstinate stand of the regional officer of the CBFC, Bombay, who refused to sign the censor certificate of the film on 1st October even though its release was scheduled for 4th October, was totally uncalled for. Even if one were to agree that the producers, whose approach to the submission of cuts etc. was lackadaisical, were not free from blame, the ‘punishment’ meted out by the regional officer of the CBFC was far excessive than warranted by the ‘crime’. One doesn’t give capital punishment to a petty pick-pocket who flicks a 10-rupee note from somebody’s pocket.

Regional officer Ms. Sanjeevani Kutty closed her eyes to reality and seemed to be least concerned about the practical problems of the producers who had fixed their release for the immediately following Friday, of distributors all over India, who had booked their chains of cinemas, of exhibitors who would not have any film to run if the release of Shastra were to be cancelled at the last moment. And yes, in ignoring all this, Ms. Kutty seems to have forgotten that her absence from India had, in fact, started the delay, because while she was away for the whole of last week, nobody at the CBFC office was ready to verify the cuts of the film, offered by the examining committee. This, by implication, would mean that had Ms. Kutty decided to return to India one more week later, the producers would have had to, perhaps, postpone their release!

The regional officer might ask, why producers do not keep a fair margin between the censorship of their films and their release. The only reply one can give to that question is that by the time the producer has completed his film and readied it for release, he is exhausted of all his finances and his stamina. There may be exceptions among producers but we’re talking generally. The regional officer may say, that’s not her problem. Fine, let that not be your problem, madame, but please don’t create new problems for the poor producer.

There have been any number of instances in the past, of regional officers going out of their way to help a producer in distress, to meet his release schedule. Ms. Kutty could have signed the censor certificate on Tuesday. In the alternative, she could have volunteered to view the video cassette and sign the censor certificate on October 2, as a special case. If we can have vacation judges, expecting a regional officer to work for an hour on a holiday isn’t too much.

CBFC chairman Shakti Samanta could have asserted his position as chairman and made sure that the censor certificate was handed over to the producers on Tuesday or, at least, Wednesday.

The case of Shastra should make producers think. Today it was Shastra, tomorrow it could be somebody else. What is the guarantee that another producer will not be made to suffer like the producers of Shastra? And what a parodox. Shastra means ‘a weapon’! But its makers had no weapon to fight the avoidable delay.

– Komal Nahta

DILJALE

S.P. Creations’ Diljale (A) is a violent love story of a promising nationalist who, due to circumstances, is forced to take to the gun and becomes the most dreaded anti-national element. The nation-loving boy falls in love with a rich girl whose father, unable to digest this fact, orders the extermination of the guy’s father with whom the girl’s father even otherwise had to settle old scores. When his father is killed, the son, who is in jail, escapes from there to avenge his father’s murder. In the process, he succeeds in reforming a group of hardcore terrorists and himself turns over a new leaf and even saves the country’s honour.

Karan Razdan’s story is quite interesting, though not very new. Screenplay is good except that some portions are unnecessarily lengthy. Secondly, too many cinematic liberties have been taken by the writer and director, something which should have been avoided in a serious film like this. For instance, people are shown crossing the Indian border and entering the neighbouring country as if they were taking a walk in the park! The hero, who is a wanted criminal, taking charge of the security checkpost on the border without any problem is also not easily digestible. All the same, some light moments, the antakshri, the romantic portion and action scenes keep the audience interest alive. While the first half is boring at places and can do with some clipping, the post-interval portion is quite racy. Dialogues definitely needed to be more punch-packed and clapworthy, especially those dealing with nationalism. Emotions are missing.

Ajay Devgan plays his part with understanding and sincerity. Sonali Bendre looks pretty. Although she has acted fairly well, she should have been more full of life in dramatic scenes. Sonali needs to do something about her voice modulation. Madhoo doesn’t look the terrorist she plays but acts quite well. Parmeet Sethi looks handsome and his performance is alright. He gets no scope for histrionics. Amrish Puri is effective. His ‘Diljale’ dialogue is enjoyable. Shakti Kapoor is restrained. Gulshan Grover does extremely well and his gol gappa dialogue will go down wonderfully with the masses, especially in the North. Himani Shivpuri and Tinnu Anand’s comedy is thoroughly enjoyable and comes as a welcome relief. They are very good in the antakshri. Farida Jalal, Akash Khurana, Aroon Bakshi, Amrit Pal, Arif Khan, Ankush Mohit, Suresh Chatwal, Achyut Potdar, Rajoo Shreshtha, Pramod Moutho and Brij Gopal provide good support. Rakesh Bedi leaves a mark.

Harry Baweja has added all the ingredients of a commercial fare and his narration of the subject is quite good. He, however, could have done better in dramatic scenes and the light romantic scenes of the hero and heroine. Music is good. ‘Ho nahin sakta’ and ‘Soch raha hoon’ are the best numbers. A couple of other songs are also appealing. The patriotic song deserved to be a hit number. Had it been so, its repetition in the antakshri would have had double the impact it has now. Lyrics are meaningful. Song picturisations don’t have much variety. The ‘Dhuan dhuan’ song has ample sex appeal of Madhoo.

Veeru Devgan’s action scenes are very nice and some of them evoke applause. Camerawork is good and the foreign locations are quite a treat to the eyes. Production values are of a high standard. Editing leaves something to be desired.

On the whole, despite some drawbacks, Diljale has substance to fetch some returns. Business in North will be better.

Released on 26-9-’96 at Novelty and on 27-9-’96 at 23 other cinemas of Bombay thru Devgan’s Entertainment. Publicity: extraordinary. Opening: excellent. …….Also released all over. Opening was very good in U.P., East Punjab, Rajasthan (1st day 1,77,983/- from 5 cinemas of Jaipur), etc. but below the mark in many stations of C.P. Berar.

New Faces In IMPDA Executive Committee

Sharad Doshi, Vinay Choksey and Pahlaj Nihalani are the three new entrants in the executive committee of the Indian Motion Picture Distributors’ Association (IMPDA) for 1996-97. They were declared elected in the elections held on 27th September at Birla Kreeda Kendra, Chowpatty, Bombay after a brief annual general meeting. While Sharad Doshi had been on the committee on several earlier occasions, Pahlaj and Vinay Choksey contested for the IMPDA elections for the first time this year. IMPDA president N.N. Sippy was away in Bangalore for a family function and could not attend the AGM and elections.

There were elections only in the Ordinary class. With the withdrawal of his nomination by Anantrai Pandya, there was no contest in the Associate class. All the three sitting members in the Associate class, viz. Indravadan Shah, Mohanlal Susania and D.Y. Pattani were, therefore, declared elected unopposed.

A total of 244 votes were cast in the Ordinary class and all of them were valid.

Balkrishna Shroff polled the highest number of votes (179), followed by Devendra Shah (151). The other victors were: Kanti Mehta (139), U.A. Thadani (138), N.N. Sippy (134), Vinod Kakkad (131), Gulshan Rai (127), Vinay Choksey (126), Sharad Doshi (125), Ayub Selia (125), Pahlaj Nihalani (121) and Haresh Bhatia (118).

Guru Shenoy, a sitting member, lost the elections by a single vote. He polled 117 votes. Another sitting member, Tolu Bajaj, lost with 99 votes. Tekchand Anchal polled 45 votes.

Vijay Kondke, a sitting member, was not eligible to contest this time. Suraj Prakash, Shyam Meghani, Sanjay Chaturvedi and N.K. Sharma withdrew from the contest.

The AGM and elections of the IMPDA were followed by a dinner party at the NSCI.

The first meeting of the newly elected executive committee to elect the office-bearers will be held on 30th September at 4 p.m.

U.A. THADANI ELECTED TOA PRESIDENT

U.A. Thadani was unanimously elected president of the Theatre Owners Association for 1996-97 at the first meeting of its new Council of Management, held on 25th September. This is his seventh term as president.

R.V. Vidhani was elected vice president, and Salim Ebrahim, hon. treasurer. C.N. Mirani and Nester D’souza were elected hon. secretaries.

Earlier, at the annual general meeting of the Association, the following members were declared elected: C.N. Mirani, Nester D’souza, U.A. Thadani, Kiran Shantaram, R.P. Anand, R.V. Vidhani, M.F. Sidhwa, F.C. Mehra, R.F. Balaporia, Salim Ebrahim, K.A. Thadani, N.F. Damania, N.N. Menon, Milap Joshi, Girivarsinhji and A.L. Shahani.

YOU ASKED IT

Why has the Maharashtra government extended the benefit of reduced entertainment tax for only three-and-a-half months? Has the government notification for the same come?

– The Maharashtra government promulgated an extraordinary ordinance on 23rd September, 1996 to amend the relevant sections of the Bombay Entertainments Duty Act, 1923. As for the three–and-a-half month extension, the government, perhaps, wants to discontinue the benefit thereafter.

With so many dubbed Hollywood films flopping in Hindi, do you think, further dubbing will reduce in the days to come?

– It doesn’t seem likely that it will reduce in the near future. Whatever the returns, it is an additional source of income to the producers, at a very limited cost.

What happens to the cine workers’ welfare cess collected by the government at the time of film censorship?

– Only God and the government know what happens to it. Cine workers never get anything out of it.

Santosh Singh Jain Once Again Elected CCCA President
 Three Young Members Make It To Committee

Santosh Singh Jain was re-elected president of the Central Circuit Cine Association for 1996-97 at the first meeting of the newly elected executive committee held on the evening of 24th September in Indore soon after the election of the committee. Vijay Rathi was elected vice president, and S.K. Surana, hon. secretary. Ramesh Surekha was elected hon. treasurer.

Earlier on the same day, a total of 719 votes were polled, of which 51 were invalid, and 668, valid. The following 16 members were elected to the executive committee:

C.P. Berar Distribution Section: Bharat Khajanchi (he polled 595 votes), Ramkisan Kasat (505), B.N. (Laloo) Kabra (504) and Dilip Mudliar (460).

Anil J. Rathi (345 votes) and G.E. Naik (263) lost the elections.

C.P. Berar Exhibition Section: Azad Laddha (612), S.K. Surana (582), Vijay Rathi (565) and Mahendra Jain (484).

H.D. Bagga and Gopal Ganeriwal were declared unelected with 321 and 108 votes respectively.

C.I. Distribution Section: Santosh Singh Jain (polled the highest number of votes, 617) and Vinod Malhotra (597).

Suresh Sharma bagged 122 votes and was declared unelected.

C.I. Exhibition Section: There were no elections as only two candidates were in the fray for two seats. Both, Uttam Nahar and Ramesh Surekha, were, therefore, declared elected.

Rajasthan Distribution Section: Mohan Godha (464) and Nandu Jalani (400).

Manjit Singh and Sandeep Bhandari were declared losers. They bagged 302 and 170 votes respectively.

Rajasthan Exhibition Section: Rajendra Mamoria and Kishanchand Jain with 339 and 314 votes respectively were declared elected.

Liyaqat Ali, with 299 votes, lost the elections. His defeat was the most shocking as also by the narrowest margin. Chandrashekhar Choudhary, with 266 votes, and Narendra Sharma, with 118 votes, were the other losers in this section.

Three young contestants — B.N. (Laloo) Kabra, Rajendra Mamoria and Nandu Jalani — made it to the CCCA executive committee. Of these, while Nandu Jalani had been a committee member in the past, the other two contested and were elected for the first time this year.

After all the withdrawals, there were only 26 candidates in the fray for 16 seats. As predicted, Santosh Singh Jain bagged the maximum number of votes.

Just a day before the elections, the ruling group, led by Santosh Singh Jain, and the opposition, led by Vijay Rathi, came to terms with each other and jointly declared their combined panel of 16 members. All the 16 won the elections. While some, like O.P. Goyal, were prevailed upon to withdraw from the contest, others who contested were defeated.

About 900 members of the CCCA attended its annual general meeting on 23rd September in Indore. When it was announced that there would be no elections in the C.I. Exhibition section, over a hundred voters from nearby areas left Indore after attending the AGM. They did not wait to cast their votes. Even otherwise, the AGM was a tame affair and the elections failed to generate much heat.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Suresh Wadkar has diversified — from singing to scoring music. His first film as music director, DIL CHURAYA AAPNE, was launched on 26th September at Mehboob Recording Theatre.

* It was a bit of bad luck when Govinda and Mamta Kulkarni, who reached Jodhpur on 18th September for the shooting of Vinay Sinha’s NASEEB, contracted conjunctivitis during the schedule. But to the good naseeb (luck) of the producer, the two recovered quite fast. Again, Mamta got fever a few days later but recovered from it soon. The shooting schedule will go on upto 30th September.

* Hollywood actress-singer Madonna has sold her 7,800-square-foot home at Hollywood hills for around US dollars 5 million. A stalker last year had scaled the fence of her home and threatened to slit her throat. He was sentenced in March this year to 10 years in prison. Madonna, who is expecting her first child in November, has bought a smaller house in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles for a reported US dollars 2.7 million.

* Among the 63 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) proposals cleared by industries minister Murasoli Maran on 24th September is one of ABCL for the production and distribution of films and television software, worth over Rs. 2 crore.

* HMV plans to make film production its regular feature now. While SAPNAY, which it is producing in association with AVM, is progressing, another venture is on the cards. It will be a Tamil film, titled KALKI.

ANNOUNCEMENT & LAUNCHING

Feroz Khan Launches Son Fardeen In ‘Prem Aggan’

In keeping with his tradition of showmanship, Feroz Khan, after a very long break, launched his new film in style at Hotel Leela Kempinski on 25th September. What lent excitement to the formal muhurt of Prem Aggan was that it also marked the launching of Feroz Khan’s handsome young son, Fardeen Khan. Being introduced with Fardeen in the film is Meghna and another young boy, Sameer Malhotra.

Sanjay Dutt, whom Feroz Khan described as “mera chhota bhai”, sounded the clapper-board for the muhurt shot. An elaborate shot, it featured Fardeen Khan, Meghna, Raj Babbar and Anupam Kher. Before the muhurt, the newcomers made brief speeches.

Post-muhurt, Feroz Khan called several celebrated guests on to the dais, all of whom wished him and Fardeen good luck. The guest-list was truly impressive. There were Rekha, Manisha Koirala, Shammi Kapoor, Randhir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Vinod Khanna, Neelam, Tanuja, Kajol, Jeetendra, Anil Kapoor, Raza Murad, Shyam Shroff, Rakesh Roshan, U.A. Thadani, Tolu Bajaj, Dilip Dhanwani, Ketan Desai…

F.K. International’s Prem Aggan has musical score by Anu Malik who has already recorded four songs. Screenplay by Feroz Khan and Sachin Bhaumick, cinematography by S.M. Anwar, dialogues by Sudarshan Fakir, art by Bijon Dasgupta, and lyrics by M.G. Hashmat, Rahat Indori, Santosh Anand and Sudarshan Fakir are the other major credits.

‘SILK’ SMITHA COMMITS SUICIDE

Actress ‘Silk’ Smitha, who starred in nearly 300 films mainly in South Indian languages, was found dead at her Saligram residence in Madras on 23rd September morning. Aged 33, the actress was found hanging from a ceiling fan. A note recovered from her bedroom points to suicide.

Mounting financial problems and frustrations in her personal life are believed to have driven the actress to this extreme step.

The police said, Smitha’s death was reported by a member of her household, who found the actress hanging from the bedroom ceiling fan at around 8.45 a.m. Her body was moved to a nearby hospital where she was declared dead. The body was later taken to the government hospital for a post-mortem.

A native of Andhra Pradesh, the celluloid “dream girl”, originally known as Vijayalakshmi, adopted the screen name Smitha when she entered films in the late ‘seventies as a teenager. In her debut film, Vandi Chakram, she was cast as a glamour girl in a role that gave the promising 15-year-old her epithet. Since then, she was known in show business as ‘Silk’ Smitha.

Though Smitha played the lead role in some Telugu films, she came to be typecast as a sex-symbol and excelled in cabaret dance sequences. Five years ago, film distributors used to insist on the inclusion of Smitha’s cabaret dance, whether or not the storyline warranted it.

‘Silk’ Smitha built up a considerable fan following among Tamil filmgoers for her performance in films such as Moondram Pirai, Sakalakalavallavan, Moondru Mugam and Kozhi Kuvuthu.

Besides Tamil cinema, ‘Silk’ Smitha starred in her native Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and a few Hindi films. Among her better known films in Malayalam was Spadigam, in which she was cast in a major character role. Those in the film trade attributed Smitha’s reported financial plight to her entry into film production.

‘DDLJ’ GOLDEN JUBILEE

Yash Chopra’s Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, directed by Aditya Chopra, entered 50th week in Bombay at New Excelsior and Gemini (combined) and in Hyderabad on 27th September. This is the first golden jubilee at New Excelsior and Gaiety-Galaxy-Gemini cinemas of Bandra, Bombay. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Amrish Puri and Farida Jalal. Music: Jatin Lalit. Lyrics: Anand Bakshi.

‘SAAJAN CHALE SASURAL’ SILVER JUBILEE

Mansoor Ahmed Siddiqui’s Saajan Chale Sasural entered 25th combined week at Naaz (matinee), Bombay on 27th September. Directed by David Dhawan, it stars Govinda, Karisma Kapoor, Tabu and Satish Kaushik. Music: Nadeem Shravan. Lyrics: Sameer.

K.C. NAHAR BEREAVED

Saraswati Nahar, mother of K.C. Nahar, managing director of Maratha Mandir, Gaiety, Galaxy and Gemini cinemas of Bombay, expired on 26th September in Delhi. She was 90.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Keeping CBI As Watchdog To Keep
Mandi House Image Clean

If you don’t want to get involved in any scam, the best way is to be associated with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). That seems to be the strategy being adopted by the I & B minister, C.M. Ibrahim. In a bid to avert any allegation of corruption or favouritism either against him or against officials of Doordarshan during his tenure as the I & B minister, Ibrahim has suggested the setting up of a special expert committee to select and slot serials for the various channels of DD. According to him, at least one official of the CBI and the I & B ministry each should be on this committee which must be headed by a high court judge. The suggestion of C.M. Ibrahim is being given serious consideration. While the I & B minister hasn’t said so, it is believed that he feels, the earlier officials, who held important posts in DD, were corrupt and partial to certain producers. Because of this, there was no standard system followed in the selection of serials. Ibrahim is believed to have been shocked at the fact that DD had earned only Rs. 430 crore from sale of time slots etc. from its several channels, whereas Zee Telefilms earned Rs. 300 crore from the same business. Anyway, if the proposed expert committee does come about, DD may be able to clean up its image.

Vishal: Lighting Up The Music Scene

Gulzar’s Maachis should bring to the fore a talented music director, Vishal Bhardwaj. The young music director has composed some truly melodious tunes which should soon become very popular. The best of his compositions is the Chappa chappa charkha chale which has the germs of becoming a hit. Chhod aaye hum woh galiyan and Paani paani re are two more soulful numbers. A screening of these three songs was held for the guests at the party to release the music of Maachis on 21st September at Hotel Sun N Sand. The picturisations are rustic and very natural, even the dance steps of the lead artistes are restrained, never too loud. The Kulu Manali locations look spectacular, courtesy cameraman Manmohan Singh.

Incidentally, Lata Mangeshkar was to have released the music cassette but she couldn’t make it to the function due to a minor accident at home.

Failure In Love Drove Them To Death

Spurned in love, given to death. Perhaps, that’s what sums up the suicide by South films’ actress Silk Smitha on 23rd September in Madras. Although, besides failure in love, Smitha’s heavy financial losses are also stated as a likely cause of her suicide, there have been instances earlier of actresses in Madras committing suicide because of failure in love. Years ago, Shobha, the National award-winning actress for her role in Pasi, committed suicide on the day the film was to celebrate its 100th day. She was married to a director who was already reportedly married. According to Anandan, an authority on films and film personalities, Shobha resented her husband’s visit to his first wife. On the day she died, she had called a television crew to give an interview but when the crew arrived, she asked them to come another day. In order to put to rest gossip about their relationship, Shobha and her husband had decided to invite journalists for a get-together which was being organised by Anandan. The latter had asked them to sign the invitation letters. When he telephoned Shobha to ask her whether he could visit her house to have the letters signed, Shobha had reportedly told him to ring up later as her husband was out. When Anandan rang up a few hours later, he was shocked to be told that Shobha had killed herself. Three years after the actress’ death, her mother also allegedly committed suicide.

Another actress, Jayalakshmi, allegedly killed herself only because a phone call of her influential lover was not put through to her by her relatives. Her lover was going out of station and she had wanted him to make a telephone call to her before he left. He did call but Jayalakshmi’s parents, who were against the relationship, did not pass the call to her, says Anandan. She reportedly died consuming an overdose of sleeping pills.

Vijaya Sri, a Malayalee by birth, had signed up a film with a Malayalam film producer in Madras. The producer left her house after having dinner, and within hours of that, she was found dead in her house, according to Anandan. Another actress, Laxmi Sri, was in love with an already married film producer. According to Anandan, she insisted that he should marry her. They were together one night. And the next morning, when he opened his eyes, she was hanging dead from the ceiling fan.

Then there were a couple of actresses like Kumari Padmini and Kalpana, whose causes for suicide/death are not known.

To The Point

The Maharashtra film industry should not take this extension of reduced entertainment tax in the state for just three-and-a-half months lying down. If it does not plan a proper strategy to revolt, the government can be expected to definitely increase the draconian tax after 31st December, 1996. No thanks, this is the last thing the industry would want as new year’s gift from the government. Yes, what it definitely wants is the complete abolition of entertainment tax — not just in Maharashtra but in the rest of the country too. While the industry can think of the ways in which it would draw the government’s attention to its demand and — more importantly — plan everything properly, it would also do well to seek opinions of learned lawyers on the point of its demand for tax abolition. And let me say, there’s not much time left.

*       *      *

Yet another problem thrust upon the producers is the increased welfare cess for cine workers, collected at the time of censorship of films. Why can’t the industry be entitled to know what happens to the cess collected? And what is the logic in charging Rs. 10,000 per film? For God’s sake, no cine worker is so poor today. In fact, workers have never had it so good, what with a boom in production of serials and films. If the government cannot simply do without charging the enhanced cess, I’d suggest that it also collect a like amount from the workers, towards producers’ welfare cess. No, it had better be called ‘producers’ survival cess’.

*       *      *

Rajesh Roshan is pleased as punch these days. After his music in Mahesh Bhatt’s Papa Kahte Hain took the nation by storm, he expects the same to happen in Dastak, again a Mahesh Bhatt film. His confidence is born out of the assurance given to him by an HMV official that it would sell at least 50 lakh cassettes in just a month of the release of the film’s music cassettes. The Jaadu bhari aankhen song is already becoming popular.

*       *      *

If it’s Shastra, there must be tension. The film is due for release next week but its censor certificate has not yet been signed. The cuts, though submitted by the producers to the CBFC, have yet to be verified. The delay is because the regional officer, who is to verify the cuts and sign the censor certificate, is out of station and will return only on Monday. Delivery for Overseas circuit will have to wait till then.

*       *      *

There’s praise for the dialogues of V.K. Kaushik in Zindagi, a film which deals sensitively with AIDS.

*       *      *

– Komal Nahta

RAJESH KHANNA FILES PAPERS FOR LS SEAT

Rajesh Khanna on 20th September filed his nomination papers as the Congress candidate for the prestigious Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat. The by-election has been necessitated following Atal Behari Vajpayee vacating the seat after winning it with a huge margin of over 2 lakh votes.

Vijay Patel, son of late speaker of the Gujarat assembly, Harishchandra Patel, is the BJP candidate, and Navin Patel is the Rashtriya Janata Party candidate.

Rajesh Khanna was greeted with cheers and loud slogans when he reached the collector’s office in Gandhinagar, with a huge crowd, to file his nomination papers. As soon as he entered the office, a large number of people started shouting slogans like “Rajesh Khanna tum aage badho, hum tumhare saath hain” and “Congress zindabad”. The star-MP was mobbed by fans.

Rajesh Khanna, in typical filmi style, said, “Hum to Gujarat ke daamaad hain, iss vajah se humein Gujarat se chunav ladne ka hakk hai.”

LATEST POSITION

It was a normal week. However, collections of all the releases of last week were poor. This week, too, presents a sorry picture as far as opening goes.

Angaara has done poor. 1st week Bombay 22,19,920 (66.50%) from 13 cinemas (5 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 3,60,454 from 6 cinemas, Rajkot 53,545, Jamnagar 61,795 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Pune 4,04,341 from 5 cinemas (1 in mat.), Nasik (25 shows) 1,14,672, Nasik Road (last) 53,652; Delhi 16,69,546 (46.71%) from 10 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,61,483 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 76,264, Agra 63,000, Allahabad 62,500, Bareilly 62,018 (49.17%), Gorakhpur 95,000 (72.40%); Amritsar 49,220, Jammu 80,000; Calcutta 15,91,607 from 20 cinemas; Nagpur 2,61,296 from 4 cinemas, Jabalpur 56,755, Raipur 70,674 (30.52%), Bhilai 72,465, Bhusawal 29,587; Bhopal 1,55,304 from 2 cinemas (1 on F.H.), Ujjain 60,774; Jaipur 2,26,907 from 2 cinemas; Hyderabad 10,31,010 from 9 cinemas, share 3,50,010.

……..

Sazaa-E-Kaalapaani (dubbed) 3rd week Bombay (TF) 9,75,200 (59.81%) from 5 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Ahmedabad (TF) 91,049, Baroda (TF) 64,813, Rajkot (TF, matinee) 23,530; Pune (TF) 2,26,828 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur (TF, 20 shows) 41,855, Solapur (TF) 42,445, Nasik (TF) 43,928; Delhi (TF) 11,36,394 from 6 cinemas; Lucknow 55,618, Agra 33,900, Allahabad 27,200, Gorakhpur 20,000 (2nd 31,600); Nagpur (TF) 80,120, Jabalpur (last) 23,226, Amravati (TF, last) 37,940, Raipur 27,658, Bhilai (last) 20,474, 1st week Yavatmal (TF) 45,924; 2nd Bhopal 56,787; 3rd week Jaipur (last) 79,719.

Jeet 4th week Bombay steady; Ahmedabad 1,85,786 from 2 cinemas, Rajkot 54,483 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Pune 3,53,237 from 3 cinemas, Kolhapur 80,000, Solapur 58,523; Delhi 8,70,746 from 3 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,76,583 from 2 cinemas, 2nd Lucknow 2,12,580, 4th week Agra 1,04,089, Allahabad 68,100, Bareilly 59,090 (33.01%), Gorakhpur 70,000 (3rd 88,000), Muzaffarnagar 45,000; Jammu about 98,000; Calcutta 10,36,100 from 13 cinemas; Nagpur 1,16,493 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 64,992, 3rd week Amravati 1,07,020, theatre record, 4th Akola 45,626, Raipur 76,679, Bhilai 33,111, Bilaspur 60,326 (3rd 74,083); Indore 1,04,911, Bhopal 1,19,056, theatre record; Jaipur 2,08,569, Bikaner 98,422; Hyderabad 5,58,197 from 4 cinemas (1 on F.H.), share 2,61,452.

Hindustani (dubbed) 5th week Bombay very steady; Ahmedabad 2,61,348 from 3 cinemas, Jamnagar 58,543, total 4,34,965; Pune 6,98,652 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 1,79,274, Solapur 87,672, Satara 71,750 from 2 cinemas (1 in mat.); 1st Dharwad (6 days) 56,010; 5th week Delhi 11,08,573 from 5 cinemas; Kanpur 74,330, Lucknow 1,67,342, Agra 60,319, Allahabad 49,200, Gorakhpur 36,000 (4th 44,000); Nagpur 2,06,160 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 53,292, Amravati 77,559, Akola 64,228, Dhule 42,966, total 3,70,740, Raipur 73,713, theatre record, Bhilai 39,856, Bhusawal 23,002, 4th Yavatmal 28,814; 5th week Indore 1,47,628, Bhopal 75,620; Jaipur 1,19,537.

CALCUTTA CINEMA CLOSURE CALLED OFF

The proposed token strike by cinemas of Calcutta on 24th September has been put off for the time being. The decision to defer the bandh was taken because of an assurance given to the industry by the government of West Bengal that it would look into its demands and grant reliefs.

ENTERTAINMENT TAX NOTIFICATION
ISSUED IN MAHARASHTRA

The notification fixing 50% entertainment tax in Maharashtra was issued on 19th September. The old ordinance, which had fixed entertainment tax at 50%, expired on 15th September. There was panic in the trade when the notification to renew the ordinance was not issued for three days after its lapse. The panic was born out of rumours that the Election Commission had stayed the renewal. Of course, the rumours turned out to be baseless.

The renewal has been granted upto December 31, 1996.

In the meantime, there were reports that local entertainment tax departments were asking cinemas to deduct 100% tax from 16th September. Some exhibitors obliged while many did not, in the hope that a notification would come soon.

YOU ASKED IT

What, according to you, lures newcomers in this industry in the production sector?

– Two Gs — the glamour of the industry and the gambling instincts of the newcomer.

What has happened to the star ceiling scheme?

– It had to die a natural death due to lack of control on erring producers by their Associations! Frankly speaking, the scheme lasted well for about two years, after which it began to lose its seriousness. Now it is history!

If a good opening is like half the battle won for a film, what is a poor opening akin to?

– More often than not, a film’s poor opening these days means that the total battle is lost!

DO YOU KNOW?

* Anand Bakshi is writing lyrics for the first time for a TV serial. The serial in question is Pradeep Saini’s AANDHI, and its music is being scored by Tabun.

To The Point

People in the film industry are as unpredictable as the audience taste (for films). Just a fortnight back, Nagpur-based builder and film financier N. Kumar had got issued an arrest warrant against Jackie Shroff for non-repayment of his loan. Of course, the loan was repaid by Jackie thereafter. But the best news is that N. Kumar and Jackie Shroff have now joined hands to produce a film. It will be a big-budget horror film to be directed by horror kings Tulsi and Shyam Ramsay. Special effects of the film will be done abroad. (Read more about the film elsewhere in this issue.)

* * *

Bombay distributor Ramesh Sippy is all praise for Nazir Hussain and Feroz of Liberty cinema, Bombay. And not because they are giving him handsome shares of Khamoshi every week. “It’s because, in my 26 years of distribution, I’ve never seen gentlemen among exhibitors like the two of them,” said Sippy. Twenty-six cheers then for the two men – sorry, gentlemen.

* * *

Sameer is pleased as pleased can be, these days. For, most of the films which have celebrated jubilees in recent times or are celebrating jubilees have his songs. Yes, Barsaat had Sameer’s lyrics, and so did Agni Sakshi and Saajan Chale Sasural.

* * *

Who is more popular than even Shah Rukh Khan today? You’d be surprised to know that it’s lyricist Javed Akhtar. Zee TV airs a programme, Aap Ki Pasand, in which songs of one hero or heroine or music director or playback singer or lyricist are shown. Letters are invited from viewers about their choice of favourite personality as also their songs. Kailash Gandhi, director of the programme, revealed that they had received the highest number of letters for Javed Akhtar — which was twice the number of letters for Shah Rukh! Now, that should inspire Javed’s creative genius to write some more hit lyrics for the music lovers’ pasand!

* * *

There’s heavy speculation about who will win and who will lose in the CCCA elections scheduled for 24th September. I think, some change should be welcome. Young blood should be encouraged to enter the arena and learn the ropes of social service. Times are changing and they should be allowed to bring in their ideas if that can benefit the industry. Some of the young contestants are raring to go — of course, under the leadership of veteran Santosh Singh Jain. Their aim is to dislodge some elders who, many feel, aren’t doing any good for the Association. The election naara (slogan) of the Young Turks should be: Hum chhote zaroor hain, par kuchh badon ke jaise khote nahin hain. Another naara: Aap kal the. Hum kal hain. Guzre huye kal ko chhodo. Aanewale kal ko mat todo. …..Good luck to all contestants. May the best win.

– Komal Nahta

ANGAARA

Sri R.V. Films’ Angaara (UA) is the usual good-versus-evil story with the mandatory revenge angle. An honest bank manager is fooled into starting a chit fund, by a group of three men who want to make a fast buck by cheating people. The three men make good with all the money of the public, leaving the honest man in the lurch. The honest bank manager’s son grows up and seeks revenge on all the wrong-doers, winning back his father’s lost reputation.

If the story looks repetitive, the screenplay also offers no novelty. The narration is straight so that there are no unexpected twists or turns which can excite the viewer or arrest his attention. Dialogues are ordinary.

Mithun Chakraborty does quite well. Kamal Sadanah has a brief role in which he has not been able to leave any mark. Rupali shows confidence in her debut attempt. Simran has been wasted. Rami Reddy, Goga Kapoor and Harish Patel play the evil threesome routinely. Mohan Joshi is quite good. Sadashiv Amarapurkar has a double role but to no avail. Sudhir Dalvi, Farida Jalal, Arjun, Gavin Packard, Vijaya and the rest pass muster.

Direction is ordinary. Musically, one song — ‘Dhire dhire bol na’ — is very good, but the other songs are average. Song picturisations needed to be better. Action scenes lack the fire. Photography and other technical values are okay.

On the whole, Angaara is a dull fare, its low price being a blessing.

Released on 13-9-’96 at Dreamland and 18 other cinemas of Bombay thru Sadaf Enterprises. Publicity: quite good. Opening: fair. …….Also released all over.

PADMA CHAVAN DEAD

Well-known Marathi film actress Padma Chavan was killed in a car accident on 12th September. She was returning from Pune when a tempo hit the car in which she was travelling, near Kandivli on the Western Express Highway in Bombay. The accident took place near Padma’s house.

Padma Chavan was a very popular actress of Marathi films and was known as a sex symbol. She had acted in a number of Marathi films and some Hindi films too. She also did a number of Marathi stage plays. Her most popular play even today is undoubtedly ‘Lagnachi Bedi’.

YOU ASKED IT

What do you think of the Maharashtra government’s extension of the reduced entertainment tax policy for three months only?

– The policy seems to have been extended just to avoid the industry closure! There’s hardly any reason to rejoice.

Why are so many films being shot abroad these days?

– There are several reasons. For some, shooting abroad is a necessity demanded by the script. For some others, shooting on foreign locations is just a fashion. Still others do it because it’s economical for them. Then there are makers who want to exploit new locales. Finally, there are also some who themselves don’t know why they are shooting abroad!

Who make better directors — writers or editors?

– Film editors generally make good film directors. Writers tend to fall in love with their writing and often cannot bear to edit their scenes.

INTERIM STAY ON HEMA’S ARREST WARRANT

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court on 12th September granted an interim stay till September 19 on the execution of the arrest warrant issued last month by the first class judicial magistrate against Hema Malini in a criminal plea filed by Nagpur-based builder N. Kumar. The latter had lent money to Hema whose cheque for repayment of the same was dishonoured by the bank due to lack of sufficient funds. The magistrate had on 11th September extended the arrest warrant till September 20 while rejecting Hema’s plea for cancellation of the warrant and exemption from appearance in the court, on the ground that she disobeyed the court’s summons.

Hema moved the high court on 12th against the magistrate’s extension of the arrest warrant, by filing a writ petition, and the same was heard by the single judge bench of Justice S.P. Kulkarni. He posted the matter for next hearing on September 19 and granted an interim stay on the execution of the arrest warrant.

Instead Of A One-Year Extension
50% Entertainment Tax To Continue In Maharashtra
For Three Months Only

The benefit of the reduced entertainment tax of 50% in Maharashtra was on 10th September extended for a further period of three months by the government. The earlier ordinance, which was for one year, is due to expire on 15th September. The new extension, therefore, envisages status quo till December 15, 1996.

While the industry was seeking an extension of the old ordinance, it was expecting the renewal to be for one year. In fact, when news of the renewal first broke out on 10th, it was of a one-year extension. It was only on 11th September that word spread that the benefit had been extended for just three months. The 3-month extension was passed in the cabinet meeting of the state government on 10th September.

Following the extension, the film industry has abandoned its plan for a bandh from 20th September.

Opinion on why the extension has been granted for just three months is divided. While some sources in government circles reveal that this is the maximum which could have been done in view of the Election Commission’s restrictions due to the impending elections to a few assemblies, other sources opine that the government was in no mood to continue the benefit beyond December ’96. The government’s stance against the reduced entertainment tax stems from the government’s displeasure with the behaviour of exhibitors who do not pass on the benefit of reduced entertainment tax to cinegoers but, instead, increase admission rates. Yet another story has it that it was due to the ego war between the BJP and the Shiv Sena that the one-year extension was not allowed to be passed in the cabinet meeting.

PLEA TO REDUCE ENT. TAX IN WEST BENGAL FAILS
Calcutta Cinemas To Down Shutters On 24th September

Cinemas in Calcutta will observe a day’s bandh on Tuesday, September 24, to protest against the West Bengal government’s failure to honour its commitment to reduce entertainment tax in the state from the present 70% to the promised 50%. This decision was announced by the Eastern India Motion Picture Association (EIMPA) at a press conference held on 13th September in Calcutta. The strike has been limited to Calcutta only, as the cinema trade is in the midst of a serious crisis.

The leaders of the EIMPA said that when the statewide strike by the Bengal Motion Picture Employees’ Union (BMPEU) in January ’96 had been called off in March ’96, the state government had agreed to grant the film trade various concessions. On this assurance of the government, the EIMPA had agreed to increase wages of cinema employees substantially with retrospective effect from 1st January, 1996. The impact of this settlement and subsequent CLI-linked wage increase had resulted in the wages bill of ‘A’ grade cinemas increasing by upto Rs. 2 lakh.

While the government later implemented the concessions marked ‘A’ to ‘D’ in the minutes (dated 14-3-’96) relating to service charge and admission rates, it expressed its inability to reduce the rate of tax from 70% to 50% in view of the impending elections. It, however, promised to reduce the tax in the forthcoming session of the assembly i.e. Budget session. It may be recalled that the commitment to reduce entertainment tax to 50% is based on the assurance given in January ’94 to the trade by the then minister for information & cultural affairs, Kanti Biswas, to avert the proposed trade boycott of the International Film Festival of India, held that year in Calcutta.

In spite of the commitment, the EIMPA submitted a pre-Budget memorandum to the finance minister on 4th June, 1996 and wrote to the minister for information & cultural affairs on 5th June. However, the government failed to reduce the tax in the Budget. Several representations were made by the EIMPA before the government but to no avail.

As the last resort, the EIMPA has decided to observe a bandh on 24th September.

It may be mentioned here that state-owned cinema halls in West Bengal screen commercial films regularly, free of entertainment tax. The cinemas which do not charge tax are Nandan in Calcutta, Rabindra Bhavan in Howrah, Rabindra Bhavan in Burdwan, Rabindra Sadan in Murshidabad and Dinabandhu in Darjeeling.

DO YOU KNOW?

* For Pran, acting in Mukesh Bhatt’s MR. AASHIQ has sentimental value. MR. AASHIQ is being directed by Mahesh Bhatt and stars Saif Ali Khan and Twinkle. Pran had earlier acted in more than 10 films made by Nanabhai Bhatt, father of Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt. Pran has also worked in quite a few films featuring Sharmila Tagore, mother of Saif, as also Rajesh Khanna and Dimple, parents of Twinkle.

Not Much Heat For IMPPA Elections…..

There are a total of 19 members of the Ordinary class, contesting for 16 seats in the elections to the executive committee of the Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association (IMPPA) to be held at its annual general meeting on Wednesday, September 18 at 3 p.m. at the ISKCON, Juhu, Bombay. Shakti Samanta has withdrawn his nomination. In the Associate class I, there are 6 contestants for 5 seats.

Two sitting members — Pawan Kumar and Satish Khanna — have been transferred from one class to another. While Pawan Kumar was a sitting member in the Ordinary class, he will this time be contesting in the Associate class I. Satish Khanna was a sitting member in the Associate class I and will be contesting as an Ordinary class member this year.

The 19 contestants in the Ordinary class are: Anil Ganguly, B.S. Shaad, Dara Singh, Kant Kumar, K.D. Shorey, Pranlal Mehta, Ranjeet, Saawan Kumar Tak, Sultan Ahmed, Sundeep Sethi, Sushama Shiromanee, Vinay Kumar Sinha (all sitting members), Ashok Punjabi, K.K. Talwar, Mehul Kumar, Mukesh Bhatt, Raju Kothari, Satish Khanna (sitting member in the Associate class I) and Sudarshan Rattan.

Johny Bakshi is the only new contestant in the Associate class I. He will be pitted against the sitting members viz. Anand Girdhar, Dimppy Ramdayal, S.K. Kapur and Surjit Aujla. Pawan Kumar, the sixth contestant in this class, was elected last year in the Ordinary class.

There are, therefore, a total of 25 candidates in the fray for 21 seats. This would be the position on the election day if there are no last-minute withdrawals. At the time of going to press, there were rumours that four persons would be asked to withdraw their nominations so that there would be no need for elections.

…..But Plenty Of Heat For IMPPA President’s Chair

Although there’s not much heat for elections to the executive committee of the largest body of film producers — the IMPPA — this year, the IMPPA president’s chair is being eyed by at least two persons. While present president Sultan Ahmed seems to be the majority’s choice, there is a section which wants a change and are backing the other presidential candidate, K.D. Shorey.

K.D. Shorey, it may be mentioned here, has never tried to hide his ardent desire to head the IMPPA, a dream he has nurtured since years. It is reported that Shorey is now trying to garner as much support for himself, among the candidates who will contest elections to the executive committee.

On his part, Sultan Ahmed has made it clear that he is contesting elections again this year because his colleagues in the IMPPA want him to lead the Association once again. Protagonists of Shorey’s presidentship put forth the argument that two years back as also last year, it had been unofficially decided that presidents would be changed every two years and, therefore, it was now time for Sultan Ahmed to make way for K.D. Shorey.

The interesting part is that while there is a lot of campaigning by loyalists of the two presidential candidates, both of them are contesting elections to the executive committee from the same United group. So while for the general producers, the IMPPA elections this time will not be a very exciting affair, there will be plenty of excitement in the first meeting of the executive committee of the IMPPA when the president and other office-bearers will be elected. Of course, the odds are in favour of Sultan Ahmed.

PRANLAL DOSHI ELECTED CEAI PRESIDENT

Pranlal K. Doshi was elected president of the Cinematograph Exhibitors’ Association of India (CEAI) at the first meeting of its new executive committee, held soon after its annual general meeting on 6th September at the CEAI boardroom at Vijay Chambers, Tribhuvan Road, Bombay. U.S. Bhagwat was elected deputy president, and Suresh G. Choksi, vice president. Gunvantrai N. Desai was elected hon. treasurer.

Earlier, at the annual general meeting, the following other members, besides the above, were elected to the executive committee for the year 1996-97:

Nitin N. Datar, M.B. Vartak, Y.S. Bhopatkar, Soli P. Arya, Yunus H.L. Aghadi, Sharad B. Pai, K.H. Navandhar, L.J. Kalantri, Sharad P. Doshi, D.F. Hodiwalla, Rashmibhai V. Bhalodia, Govindbhai P. Khoont (Patel), V.A. Mudholkar, P.D. Chumble, Ulhas R. Joshi, Rajendra L. Jain, Nester Desouza and Rahul M. Haksar.

The following four were co-opted to the executive committee: Russ F. Balaporia, Kiran Shantaram, V.N. Borawake and Naval F. Damania.

CCCA ELECTIONS
Stage Set For Handful Of New Entrants

Some heat seems to have generated on the CCCA election front. The elections to the largest Association of distributors and exhibitors — the Central Circuit Cine Association — are scheduled to take place on 24th September in Indore after its 43rd annual general meeting on 23rd. While there is consensus that the outgoing president, Santosh Singh Jain, should continue as president for 1996-97 too, the other seats in the executive committee are likely to be keenly contested. If elected to the post of president, this will be Jain’s 31st term as the chief!

Santosh Singh Jain had, a while ago, expressed his desire to not contest elections this time, but members of the CCCA prevailed upon him to continue to lead the Association.

A total of 57 nominations have been filed for 16 seats. Of course, there are going to be several withdrawals before the elections but a contest is not ruled out. It was earlier felt that there would be no elections this year as a consensus committee would be selected. With so many members in the fray, that possibility seems to be ruled out now.

Of the 16 sitting members, two — Ashok Purswani (C.P. Berar distributor) and O.P. Bansal (Rajasthan exhibitor) — will not be contesting this time.

The final nominations are as follows:

C.P. Berar Distributors (11 nominations for 4 seats): Anil Rathi, Bharat Khajanchi, B.N. (Laaloo) Kabra, Dilip Mudliar, Deepak Joshi, Ghanshyam Yadav, G.E. Naik, K.D. Sonar, Pramod Kumar Munot, Ramkisan Kasat and Vishnu Prasad Agrawal.

Of these, Bharat Khajanchi, Dilip Mudliar and Ramkisan Kasat are sitting members.

C.P. Berar Exhibitors (13 nominations for 4 seats): Azad Laddha, Chittranjan Choudhary, Gopal Ganediwal, H.D. Bagga, Lavanya Kumar Tiwari, Mahendra Jain, M.N. Lunkad, Milapchand Jain, Pramod Kumar Munot, S.K. Surana, Vijay Rathi, Vishnu Prasad Agrawal and V.V. Trivedi.

Of these, Azad Laddha, Mahendra Jain, S.K. Surana and Vijay Rathi are sitting members.

C.I. Distributors (9 nominations for 2 seats): Anil Rathi, Jitendra Jain, Manjit Singh, Nandkishore Jalani, Prem Dev, Santosh Singh Jain, Suresh Sharma, Vedprakash Mediratta and Vinod Malhotra.

Of the above, Santosh Singh Jain and Vinod Malhotra are sitting members.

C.I. Exhibitors (5 nominations for 2 seats): Hemant Vyas, O.P. Goyal, Prem Dev, Ramesh Sureka and Uttamchand Nahar.

Ramesh Sureka and Uttamchand Nahar are sitting members.

Rajasthan Distributors (12 nominations for 2 seats): Anil Rathi, Chandrashekhar Choudhary, Jitendra Jain, Kailash Sharma, Kishan Chand Jain, Mahaveer Tholia, Mohan Godha, Manjit Singh, Nandkishore Jalani, Sandeep Bhandari, Satyavan Pareek and Sunil Bansal.

Of the above, Kishan Chand Jain and Mohan Godha are sitting members.

Rajasthan Exhibitors (7 nominations for 2 seats): Chandrashekhar Choudhary, Kishan Chand Jain, Liyaqat Ali, Narendra Sharma, Rajendra Mamoria, Ramesh Jain and Ramdhan Mamoria.

Liyaqat Ali is a sitting member.

With the contest being so keen, it is likely that at least four or five new persons are inducted into the executive committee this year. The likely break-up of new members: 1 or 2 from C.P. Berar, 1 from C.I., and 1 or 2 from Rajasthan. In all probability, Santosh Singh Jain should poll the maximum number of votes.

EXACTLY ONE YEAR

The CCCA annual general meeting in 1995 was held on 22nd September and its elections, on 23rd. This year, the AGM is fixed for 23rd September, and the elections, for 24th. While the venue last year was Amravati, it will be Indore this time.

SPECULATION!

In the C.P. Berar trade, there’s speculation about who between B.N. (Laaloo) Kabra and Pramod Kumar Munot will make it to the executive committee this year. Both are not sitting members.

MIX MASALA

CC, CA FOR CCCA

There’s a new candidate contesting the CCCA elections from Rajasthan this year, whose name is Chandrashekhar Choudhary. He is the brother of Rajesh Choudhary (Modern Movies, Jaipur). Chandrashekhar Choudhary is a CA (Chartered Accountant). Isn’t it a coincidence that this CC, CA (Chandrashekhar Choudhary, Chartered Accountant) is contesting for a seat in the CCCA?

LUNCH PARTY FOR TAX CONCESSION

The news of extension of the benefit of 50% entertainment tax in Maharashtra for a further period of three months was celebrated by the Bombay trade with a luncheon party on 11th September at the office of Shringar Films. There was delicious biryani for vegetarians as well as for non-vegetarians. Actually, when the party was hosted, it was understood that the extension was for a year. It later dawned, much to the dismay of distributors and exhibitors, that the extension was effective for three months only.

DEV ANAND HONOURED IN SCOTLAND

The Highland of Scotland Council felicitated Dev Anand on 6th September, for completing 50 years in Indian cinema. Councillor Angus Gordan presented Dev Anand a quaich (a souvenir of Scotland, normally used for a visitor’s welcome).

Mr. Gordan, in his speech, praised the achievements of Dev Anand and thanked him for choosing Scotland for the backdrop of his film, Main Solah Baras Ki. Dev thanked the council for their gesture and said that he would be delighted to come back again to Scotland for another film.

Meanwhile, Main Solah Baras Ki is making brisk progress in Scotland. Shooting started on 7th September. Dev Anand produces, writes and directs the film in which he plays himself for the first time in his career. The film also features newfinds Sabrina, Neeru and Jas Arora with Harish Patel, Suhas Khandke and others. Music: Rajesh Roshan. Lyrics: Amit Khanna. Cinematography: Patni Bros. Audiography: Navin Shah.

Why This Entertainment Tax?

So the industry has won its battle with the Maharashtra government and yet lost it. Or should we say, the industry has won a losing battle?

The extension of the benefit of the reduced entertainment tax for a further period of just three months is hardly what the industry had bargained for. The least it expected was a one-year reprieve. But what the government has granted is an apology of a concession.

Actually, why is the industry fighting for a mere extension of one year? Why not take a long-term approach to the problem of entertainment tax? Why shouldn’t the industry contest the very levy of the tax?

With so many satellite channels and the government-owned Doordarshan providing so much free entertainment to the people in their households, things, as it is, are becoming pretty difficult for the film industry. Add to this, the escalating cost of film production. The stakes have become so high that film business today is riskier than it ever was. In such circumstances, it would not be a day too early if entertainment tax was abolished completely.

Many years ago, a case for the abolition of entertainment tax was made out and the industry even went to the court of law. The actual ground taken then was that entertainment tax had to be the same irrespective of whether one saw the film on a balcony ticket or a stall ticket because the entertainment that was being provided to him was the same. It may shock many to learn that the case, after being admitted, was not pursued by the industry mainly because it involved spending of heavy funds on advocates and solicitors. A solicitor of the eminence of Soli Sorabjee was arguing the case on behalf of the industry.

It is rather shameful that in an industry where crores of rupees are spent on producing every film, where lakhs are spent on costumes of a heroine, where the bill of junior artistes alone sometimes runs into 7-digit figures, a dearth of funds should be felt in the fighting of a cause which, if the industry proves successful, could change the course of business for all time to come.

On an average, about 1,000 films are being produced at any given time. Even if every producers is asked to contribute just Rs. 5,000 towards what can be called the Entertainment Tax Abolition Fund, the industry could collect Rs. 50 lakh in no time. Thus forearmed, it would do well to launch its battle against the very levy of entertainment tax on films in India. For all you know, it might just succeed in getting the much-hated tax removed completely. Now, wouldn’t that be Utopian?

– Komal Nahta