JUDAAI

S.K. Films Enterprises’ Judaai, remake of the Telugu super-hit Shubhlagnam, has an unusual story of a greedy lady who, despite being happily married, sells her husband to another girl for the lure of luxury. The other girl is filthy rich and madly in love with the greedy lady’s husband and initiates the deal (of buying the husband) when she learns of the lady’s greed. At first, the first wife revels in her new riches, but slowly, as the second wife starts taking her place in the day-to-day life of her ex-husband, she realises the blunder she has committed. All hell breaks loose in the lives of the three people when both the wives want the husband exclusively. The first wife repents; the second wife refuses to relent. Finally, the tension is resolved in a tear-jerking and moving climax.

The film’s first half is light and full of fun. The drawback is that except for the wife’s comedy track, all the other comedy tracks (yes, there are several comedy angles) are completely unrelated with the main story. Further, there is an overdose of comedy and hardly any seriousness. The film takes a serious turn a little before interval. The initial part of the second half is once again very comic but slowly, the drama becomes tense and, to an extent, even emotional. Overall, it is the second half of the film which is its mainstay due to the scenes of the two wives and the helpless husband together. The best part of the film is its Indian ending which justifies the unusual story too. Some scenes like the one in which the second wife applies teeka to her husband, the sarcastic comments directed towards the first wife by her mother, her friend, her children, her husband and even an outsider are a highlight.

Performances of the entire cast are first-rate. Anil Kapoor does an excellent job in a role that is very difficult. He plays with feeling the silently suffering husband, ruled by the emotions of his two wives, both of whom forget that he too is a human being. Sridevi is mind-blowing as the money-hungry wife and mother of two kids. She shines in light scenes and excels in emotional ones. So brilliant is her performance that it is impossible to imagine another actress who could have done such justice to the role. Urmila Matondkar proves that she too is a performer par excellence. As the moneyed girl, she looks gorgeous, her entry being very mass-appealing. Her changeover to an understanding wife in the post-interval portion is so remarkable and her performance, so sincere that one can’t help falling in love with Urmila’s character. This girl is bound to go places. Paresh Rawal’s comedy is simply hilarious; his poker-faced dialogue delivery is terrific. Johny Lever plays to the gallery and entertains a lot. Kader Khan is superb. Upasna Singh is very good and her ‘Abba dabba jabba’ dialogue should be liked by front-benchers. Farida Jalal shines in a brief role. Saeed Jaffrey, Junior Mehmood, master Omkar Kapoor, baby Alisha Baig, Dharmesh Tiwari, Shehzaad and Dinesh Hingoo lend admirable support. Poonam Dhillon, in a guest appearance, comes as a pleasant surprise and performs ably.

Raj Kanwar’s direction is superb. Not only has he extracted excellent work from his team of artistes, he has also handled the subject with maturity. Nadeem Shravan’s music is good but a couple of super-hit songs were very necessary. ‘Allah miya’ is the best number, followed by ‘Judaai judaai’ and ‘Pyar pyar karte karte’. Song picturisations are heavenly. Foreign locations are beautiful and they’ve been ably captured by cameraman Harmeet Singh. Dialogues (Jainendra Jain) are wonderful. Production values are rich.

On the whole, Judaai may meet with initial resistance due to its offbeat story but can be expected to pick up by word of mouth and ladies’ patronage to keep its investors of most circuits happy.

Released on 28-2-’97 at New Excelsior and 15 other cinemas of Bombay thru V.I.P. Enterprises. Publicity: excellent. Opening: below average. …….Also released all over except in Mysore. Opening was poor in C.P.C.I. and Punjab, and excellent in Bihar and Rajasthan.

AUZAAR

Tips Films Pvt. Ltd.’s Auzaar (UA) is the story of two friends, one a CBI officer and the other, son of an underworld don. The don’s son has murdered another don and the latter’s son now wants to wipe out his father’s murderer and his entire family. The CBI officer comes to the rescue of his friend and, together, the two of them succeed in killing the villain. There is nothing new by way of story. Even the screenplay, especially in the slow first half, is routine. But what makes the film somewhat interesting is the brilliant action, particularly in the lengthy and exciting climax, the racy music and eye-catching song picturisations, and the big canvas of the film. The pre-interval portion is not only routine, it also sometimes moves at a terribly slow pace unnecessarily.

Salman Khan does a splendid job as the college boy who later becomes a CBI officer. Sanjay Kapoor shows improvement and does quite well. Shilpa Shetty is alright and she dances very gracefully. Paresh Rawal is fair. Nirmal Pandey, as the eccentric son of the murdered don, is the film’s surprise packet and he leaves a mark in every scene he comes. Johny Lever provides the much-needed light moments but such moments are few and far between. Asif Sheikh is effective. Kiran Kumar is okay. Jeetu Verma impresses with his Rajasthani dialogues. Vishwajeet Pradhan, Tiku Talsania, Ila Arun and the rest lend adequate support.

Sohail Khan’s approach to the scripting seems to be a bit too casual. For a debut effort, his direction is fair, but more concentration on the writing is necessary if he is to really make a mark. Dialogues are good only at places. Anu Malik’s music is very catchy. ‘Masti ka aalam aaya hai’, ‘I love you’, ‘Chalte chalte mila ladka deewana’ and ‘Dhoondhte reh jaaoge’ (good lyrics) are extremely well-tuned numbers. Picturisation of ‘Masti ka aalam’ is the most mass-appealing. ‘I love you’ has tremendous visual appeal. Camerawork (Kaka Thakur) is very nice. Production values are rich. Action (Mahendra Verma) is excellent. Background music should have been better.

On the whole, despite being a routine film, Auzaar has good initial value, action and music to sail safe in majority of the circuits.

Released on 28-2-’97 at Maratha Mandir and 18 other cinemas of Bombay by Tips Films P. Ltd. thru R.G. International. Publicity: excellent. Opening: good. …….Also released all over. Opening was excellent in Delhi-U.P. and Rajasthan, and very good in other circuits except C.I. where it was below the mark.

LATEST POSITION

Hero No. 1 started declining from 5th/6th day onwards everywhere. Should prove to be, at best, a commission-earner/overflow film. 1st week Bombay 51,76,378 (95.21%) from 16 cinemas (11 on F.H.); Baroda 2,81,300 from 2 cinemas, Bharuch (gross) 2,33,868, Rajkot 1,63,376 (1 in mat. unrecd.), Jamnagar 1,19,341 from 2 cinemas (1 in mat.); Kolhapur 1,86,400, Solapur 1,75,207 from 2 cinemas (1 in mat.); Delhi 48,20,530 (90.65%) from 13 cinemas (1 unrecd. and 3 on F.H.); Kanpur 2,15,514 (2 unrecd.), Lucknow 2,45,951 (100%), Agra 2,21,000, Varanasi 1,82,209 (88.55%), Allahabad 1,46,100, Aligarh 1,84,288, Gorakhpur 1,53,000 (72.40%); Amritsar 52,350; Calcutta 20,96,561 (82%) from 17 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Nagpur 6,00,240 from 4 cinemas, Akola 1,19,754, Raipur 2,16,881, Risali 78,982, theatre record, Bhilai 2,24,217 from 2 cinemas, Wardha 77,587, Chandrapur 1,08,912, share 83,912; Indore 4,70,626 from 2 cinemas (1 on F.H.), Bhopal 3,96,842 from 2 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Bikaner 1,71,123; Hyderabad 37,73,978 from 20 cinemas, share 18,95,295.

Judwaa proves overflow in some circuits and class A in other circuits. 3rd week Bombay 19,52,953 (80%) from 8 cinemas (5 on F.H.); 1st Padra 1,31,502, 3rd Rajkot 1,47,971 from 2 cinemas (1 in mat.), Jamnagar (mat.) 7,080 (1 unrecd.); Solapur 85,824 from 2 cinemas (1 in mat.); Delhi 15,67,094 from 8 cinemas; Kanpur 2,57,542 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,96,136, Agra 1,35,217, 2nd Allahabad 1,00,000, 3rd Varanasi 96,225, Bareilly 53,153 (29.15%), Aligarh 64,299, Gorakhpur 57,000; Calcutta 6,82,941 from 8 cinemaas; Nagpur 2,49,163 from 3 cinemas, Amravati 66,700, Akola 48,516, total 2,32,784, Raipur (6 days) 81,237, Bhilai 50,960, Jalgaon 52,997, Bilaspur (6 days) 55,974; Bhopal 1,14,045; 2nd week Hyderabad 7,60,040 from 5 cinemas.

Yeshwant is also an overflow film. Class A in Maharashtra. 3rd week Bombay 16,78,317 from 11 cinemas (5 on F.H.); Baroda 1,35,672, Jamnagar 90,862, total 3,46,206; Solapur 1,42,571 from 2 cinemas (1 in mat.), 1st week Miraj 70,400 (96%); 3rd Delhi 8,49,451 from 3 cinemas; Kanpur 1,41,800 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,32,827, 2nd Agra 1,38,000 (1st 1,86,000), 3rd week Allahabad 84,600, Varanasi 1,13,880, Bareilly 52,183 (29.15%), Aligarh 78,655, Gorakhpur 99,000, theatre record; Calcutta 10,00,199 from 14 cinemas; Nagpur 1,67,344 from 3 cinemas, Amravati 1,41,218, total 4,82,761, share 3,54,413, Akola 97,327, total 4,32,497, Raipur 1,24,809, theatre record, Bhilai 51,110, Durg 59,981, Jalgaon 1,00,016, theatre record; Indore 1,30,898, Bhopal 1,04,050, Ujjain 72,983; 1st Bikaner 60,856; 3rd Hyderabad 5,92,263 from 3 cinemas; 1st Vijayawada 2,97,718.

Raja Hindustani 11th week Bombay 21,23,741 (73.73%) from 8 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Solapur 1,21,906, 10th Barsi 14,562; 15th Delhi 9,27,923 from 5 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Lucknow 1,58,021, Agra 1,10,820, 16th Allahabad 63,000, Varanasi 77,686, Meerut 1,18,326, theatre record; 15th Bareilly 56,898 (30.57%), Aligarh 1,06,200, 16th Gorakhpur 56,000, city record; 15th week Calcutta 1,33,631; 12th Nagpur 1,77,978 from 2 cinemas, 13th week Jabalpur 1,48,593, total 24,29,238, 11th Akola 58,320, total 12,48,576, 15th Raipur 55,041, 16th Bhilai (6 days) 29,970, 11th week Wardha 31,548; 15th Indore 1,97,006, 14th Bhopal 1,19,297; 15th Jodhpur 91,000; Hyderabad 3,47,995 from 2 cinemas.

KAVIRAJ INDEEVAR BIDS GOODBYE

Veteran lyricist Indeevar passed away on 28th February in Bombay at Lilavati Hospital due to a cardiac arrest. He was 73 and is survived by his wife and a son. He had been admitted to hospital on 17th on account of a heart ailment.

Kaviraj Indeevar, as he was respectfully called, had written over 2,500 songs for almost 450 films. Among his evergreen and popular hits are such songs as Chandan sa badan (Saraswatichandra), Kasme vaade pyar wafaa sab (Upkar), O laal duppatte wali (Aankhen), Suraj kab door gagan se and Jaati hoon main (both from Karan Arjun). Almost 50 films for which he has penned lyrics are currently in various stages of production.

Shyamlal, which was the real name of Indeevar, came to Bombay in 1941 from a village in Uttar Pradesh. He got his break in 1946 in Shyambabu Pathak’s Doubleface. He had completed half a century in the film world just last year. During his 51 years as lyricist, he worked with almost all the music directors. Perhaps, the only notable music director for whom Indeevar never wrote lyrics was Naushad. Even for Naushad, he did write a song in Kishore Sharma’s Chanakya Aur Chandragupta, directed by B.R. Chopra. That song was rendered by Lata Mangeshkar, but the film got shelved mid-way. He also composed the music for the 1996 Miss World contest in Bangalore.

If Indeevar’s lyrics could move a listener to tears or bring a grin on one’s face, they could also irritate the Britishers so much that the lyricist was put behind bars for a year. His ‘crime’: he had written anti-British songs.

A typicality of Indeevar’s songs was that they were almost always written in chaste Hindi and were simple, yet meaningful. Like his lyrics, Indeevar too was simple in his thoughts and living. He had a smiling face and a down-to-earth nature.

Among the hundreds of films Indeevar penned lyrics for are Nirmoy, Madari, Bhool Na Jana, Badbaan, Himalay Ki Godmein, Safar, Purab Aur Pachhim, Mohra, Qurbani, Karan Arjun, Khudgarz, Koyla (unreleased).

It is difficult to imagine what the film music scene will be like without Indeevar. His sudden death has left the industry shocked. The genius lyricist, who had a song for every occasion and mood, didn’t even give a hint that he was going. Even if he had said, “Jaata hoon main….”, the industry could have pleaded to the Gods up there with a line from Indeevar’s own song. “Jaldi hai kya?”

‘JUDAAI’ RELEASE IN KARNATAKA POSTPONED

Boney Kapoor’s Judaai has not been released in the state of Karnataka this week. While Mysore circuit comprises many parts of Karnataka, Bombay circuit also consists of a part of the state. A couple of stations of Karnataka also fall in Nizam circuit. While Judaai has been released in other parts of Bombay and Nizam circuits, it has not been released in Mysore circuit at all.

The Kannada version of the Telugu super-hit, Shubhlagnam, of which Judaai is a remake, is due for release next week in Karnataka. It stars the son of matinee idol of Kannada films, Rajkumar, as hero. Because of the immense power Rajkumar wields there, he saw to it that the release of Judaai was stalled till after his son’s film hit the screens. At first, Mysore distributor Pal Chandani is reported to have refused to postpone the release of his Judaai, but he relented later.

Another reason for the stalling of the release of Judaai seems to be the controversy which Anil Kapoor landed himself in recently with Kannada film actress Malashri who is the heroine opposite Rajkumar’s son in the Kannada film due for release next week. It is learnt that Malashri had wanted Anil Kapoor to make a special appearance in Lady Commissioner, being produced by Ramu (who is now her husband) and starring herself. Anil had initially agreed to act in the film but later decided against it. This seems to have agitated Malashri who, it is likely, may have pulled the strings on the eve of release of Anil’s Judaai. Before that, she had also filed a case against Anil Kapoor in her Association.

DHANNALAL THAKURIA NO MORE

Dhannalal Thakuria, owner of Regal cinema, Indore, expired on 21st February in Indore. He was 95. Thakuria was also a distributor and, in fact, the oldest living distributor.

DILIP KUMAR TO ATTEND HIS RETROSPECTIVE IN JODHPUR

Dilip Kumar will attend the opening of a retrospective of his films in Jodhpur on 7th March at Girdhar Mandir cinema. The retrospective is being organised by the Film Society of Jodhpur with a week-long festival of Dilip Kumar starrers.

Dilip Kumar will be publicly honoured at a function on 7th. According to the secretary of the Film Society, Mohan Swaroop Maheshwari, two shows each of 14 Dilip Kumar starrers will be held in the week-long festival. Among the films to be screened are Amar, Andaz, Aan, Devdas, Babul, Mughal-E-Azam, Ram Aur Shyam, Udan Khatola, Madhumati and Mashaal.

U.A. THADANI HOSPITALISED

Veteran Bombay exhibitor and distributor U.A. Thadani took ill on 26th February while he was attending to his work in office and was rushed to the ICU of Hinduja Hospital. He is recuperating at the hospital and his condition is reported to be steady now.

MALASHRI WEDS RAMU

Kannada film heroine Malashri announced at a press conference in Bangalore this week her marriage with producer Ramu. The wedding took place at her Bangalore residence.

Malashri became close to Ramu during the making of his Muttinantha Hendthi some years ago. She is currently working in two forthcoming films of Ramu, CBI Durga and Lady Commissioner.

‘AUZAAR’ PROMOTION IN BOMBAY

Tips Films has worked out an innovative advertising and promotion plan for Auzaar in Bombay. The message of the film’s release is being reached out to people in a rally of uniformed motor-cyclists who are doing the rounds of the city. The rally was flagged off by Salman Khan.

A contest for viewers is also currently on in cinemas screening the film, where over 10,000 prizes can be won.

URMILA BHATT MURDERED

Urmila Bhatt was murdered at her residence in Bombay on the night of 22nd February. Although the identity of the murderer is not known, the motive behind the killing seems to be a dispute over money. According to the police, there was a transaction of about Rs. 8 crore between Urmila Bhatt and somebody for whom the police are on the lookout. Urmila Bhatt’s husband was not in Bombay when the murder took place.

The police suspect that the TV serial, Zee Horror Show, may have inspired Urmila’s murderer because she was murdered in the same way as she was killed in the said serial which was telecast just four days prior to the murder.

Urmila Bhatt had received a telephone call at around 7 p.m. the same day, and the caller threatened to kill her. The actress told this to an undisclosed friend who also was reportedly threatened over the phone on Sunday night. Urmila Bhatt was cremated on Sunday evening.

The murder came to light when a relative visited the veteran actress. When nobody answered the door-bell, he got scared and, alongwith Urmila’s daughter and son-in-law, opened the door, only to find her dead body. Her throat had been slit with the help of a sharp instrument. The rear door of the house was partly open.

Urmila Bhatt had acted in a number of Hindi, Gujarati and Rajasthani films. Among her Hindi films are Phir Bhi, Tapasya, Toofan, Preetam, Pratiggya, Koshish, Dhund, Jheel Ke Us Paar, Pyasi Nadi, Sankoch, Chattan Singh, Call Girl, Chhatis Ghante, Vardan, Dharam Karam, Geet Gata Chal, Jaan Haazir Hai, Pratikaar, Touheen, Dosti Ki Saugandh, Izzat Ki Roti, Zakhmi Rooh etc.

PRODUCTIONS NEWS

‘Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya’

A week-long shooting stint of G.S. Entertainments’ Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya began on Feb. 26 at Madh Island and on Bombay locales. A song on Salman Khan, Kajol and a huge crowd is being picturised under the supervision of choreographer Ganesh Hegde. The film co-stars Arbaaz Khan, one more heroine, Asif Sheikh, Kunika, Tiku Talsania, Rajoo Kariya, Kiran Kumar, Shakti Kapoor and Ashish Balram Nagpal who has been recently signed. It is being directed by Sohail Khan from his own story and screenplay, and produced by him jointly with Bunty Walia. Music: Jatin Lalit. Lyrics: Sameer. Vashu Bhagnani presents its.

‘Barood’ Unit Back From Europe

Producer and director Pramod Chakravorty and the unit of Pramod Films’ Barood returned to India this week after completing a 20-day shooting schedule in Europe. Action and other scenes as well as songs were picturised featuring Akshay Kumar, Raveena Tandon, Mohnish Bahl and fighters. The film co-stars Raakhee, Gulshan Grover, Mohan Joshi, Aroona Irani and Amrish Puri. It is being co-produced by Bharat Shah, and has music by Anand Milind and lyrics by Sameer.

YOU ASKED IT

Big banners pay low prices to their artistes and technicians but charge double the price while selling their films to distributors. Are they justified in doing so?

– Who are you and I to talk about justification when the price is governed by the laws of demand and supply? The big banners charge a big chunk for their goodwill.

When music has always been an important part of Hindi films, why is it said that ‘today’, hit music is very necessary?

– Hit music generally ensures good opening, and since the prices of films these days are phenomenal, a good opening is very essential. Hence the importance of hit music these days.

What happened to Sudhakar Bokade’s Kalinga? Its director, Dilip Kumar, had over a year ago said in a press conference that differences between him and Bokade had been cleared.

– But the film is incomplete as yet. Maybe, another press conference would have to be called to clear matters again.

DO YOU KNOW?

* For Naaz cinema, Parbhani (Nizam circuit), it is double celebration time. While RAJA HINDUSTANI completed 100 days at the cinema in regular shows on 19th February, TERE MERE SAPNE completed 50 days in morning shows.

* Producer Surendra Bohra seems to be a lucky mascot for his artistes as far as awards are concerned. When his SAAJAN KA GHAR was being made, Juhi Chawla bagged her first Filmfare award (for HUM HAIN RAHI PYAR KE). This year, Chandrachur Singh and Arbaaz Khan have bagged the Filmfare awards and both of them are acting in Bohra’s films.

MIX MASALA

RECORD CUTS!

One has heard of censors banning a film completely but Mohan Sulibhavi’s Duniya Ki Rangeen Raatein may, perhaps, be the film which has been passed with the maximum number of cuts in the history of Hindi cinema. Believe it or not, it has been cleared for adults after the deletion of 4,046.14 feet (1,233.49 metres) which is almost of a running time of 45 to 50 minutes! And these cuts have been offered by the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal. The total length which has been passed is 2,286.43 metres. The producer, it may be mentioned here, has accepted the cuts, and the censor certificate has also been issued. Incidentally, the producer (Mohan Sulibhavi) is a censor script writer who does the liaison work of producers in regard to censorship of films.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Unusual Twists Are The Real Challenge

It is not for nothing that Rajkumar Santoshi is considered a director of great standing. Some of his views are truly worth appreciating. Like, for instance, he says, while talking of film stories: “When we sit for story discussions, I never get put off by such remarks as ‘…..But how can this be possible? Who will do such a thing? Nobody can do such and such a thing.’ Rather, such reservations inspire me to take up the challenge because that is the unusual twist in the story. Yudhishtir in Mahabharat put his wife at stake while gambling, which no human being would dream of doing. But because Yudhishtir did it, Mahabharat was born. And if Mahabharat can appeal to mankind, a film story with some unusual twist, which is least expected, can surely be lapped up by cinegoers.”

And while on Santoshi, the best compliment anyone must have paid him was the one paid by financier Bharat Shah. This was when Santoshi was making Damini. He was planning a film with a top South actor, but everybody kept dissuading him, saying that the project wouldn’t be financially viable since the hero, despite being a great actor, doesn’t sell in the Hindi belt. When Rajkumar Santoshi asked Bharatbhai Shah whether he would finance the project, the latter told him, “Even if you make a film with my peon as hero, I’ll back the project!” Rajkumar Santoshi even today cherishes this compliment as the most valued one.

Sorry For The (Leg) Break

That Mamta Kulkarni fractured her leg in the recent shooting spell of Rajkumar Santoshi’s China Gate at Gangavati (near Bangalore) is common knowledge. But not many know that another actor also fractured his leg in the same shooting spell. The only difference is that while Mamta got hurt while getting off the horseback, this actor — Mukesh Tiwari — fractured his leg while doing stunts on horseback for the film. Action director Tinnu Verma must be feeling doubly sorry for the leg breaks! Mukesh Tiwari, it may be mentioned here, is a new villain who is being introduced in China Gate. He is from the National School of Drama. Incidentally, the Gangavati shooting schedule, which remained incomplete due to the leg breaks, will be continued once the two artistes recover — that is, after quite a long break!

Big Bengali Hits

If Raja Hindustani is doing roaring business in West Bengal (it is expected to do a business of 2.5 to 3 crore!), so are two Bengali films. Ravi Agarwal’s Lathi, inspired from Mohan Kumar’s Avtaar, is expected to touch the 2-crore mark. Dhanuka’s Swami Keno Asami, imported from Bangladesh, is also doing very good business. This hit stars Chunkey Panday, Rituparna and others. So even if Chunkey doesn’t have exciting Hindi films on hand, he has reason to celebrate all the same.

From Clerk To ‘King’: What A Success Story!

The life story of Nizam distributor and exhibitor B.G. Upadhyaya would read like a fairy tale. Son of a post-master, he started out as a booking clerk in Krishna cinema of Parli Vaijnath (Maharashtra). He rose to the post of a manager in the same cinema and then became its controller. He then purchased the cinema and another cinema too (Gopal Krishna) at Parli Vaijnath. His enterprising activities didn’t stop there. He also acquired the other two cinemas, Shree and Shreenath, of Parli Vaijnath, on lease. All of which makes him a monopolist at Parli Vaijnath. Not content with being only an exhibitor in Nizam, Balaprasad Gangadhar Upadhyaya then decided to dabble in distribution. And dabble he did. In a short span of some years only, he has released (distributed) as many as 40 films in Nizam circuit, including many of K.C. Bokadia and Anil Ganguly. In fact, he started his distribution office, Aruna Enterprises, with Anil Ganguly’s Dil Ki Baazi. Having become an exhibitor and distributor, Upadhyaya is now trying his hands at production. He has started out by dubbing a Tamil film (Sangotte which means ‘Red Fort’) which is now ready for release in Hindi as Kalyug Ka Arjun. A bold political film, Upadhyaya is confident that it will be exempted from entertainment tax, at least in Maharashtra. And not just because Maharashtra deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde was his classmate, but also because the film, he feels, deserves tax exemption. Upadhyaya will now be producing a Hindi film. He has acquired the remaking rights of the Malayalam hit, King.

CBFC Hits Back At Ratnam

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in Madras has taken exception to Mani Ratnam’s critical comments on its functioning and on the procedure adopted by the censors in clearing his recently released Tamil film, Iruvar. The CBFC has described a recent interview of Mani Ratnam as “misleading”. In the said interview, Mani Ratnam is said to have cast aspersions on CBFC members and officials, according to regional officer of CBFC (Madras), G. Rajasekaran. The celebrated filmmaker, who is known as much for his controversial films as for his films getting stuck up at the censors, said in the interview that censors lacked guts to take decisions on their own and tended to pass the buck to curry favour with politicians. It may be recalled here that Ratnam’s Iruvar has two main characters bearing striking resemblances to Tamilnadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi and late M.G. Ramachandran. The film was referred to the state home department before it was cleared by the CBFC, with cuts. Mani Ratnam has wondered whether the censors had the legal right to refer the film to the home department. He has alleged that the censors seemed to have a prejudice against Iruvar even before seeing it. In a three-page statement issued by the regional officer (RO), the RO has noted that the CBFC had acted in accordance with the rules. He has explained that in certification of a film, the CBFC had to ensure that the public order was not endangered. The state home department, which was responsbile for law and order, had been asked to review the film in view of the possibility of it provoking a clash between rival political groups. That was in order, according to G. Rajasekaran, who has noted that the entire procedure adopted by the CBFC was recorded in writing, and nothing prevented Ratnam from going to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal or even the court of law if he considered that the CBFC had violated the law in referring his film to a committee of the home department.

Quite A Mouthful

When it comes to coinage of certain film trade phrases and terminology, you can’t beat West Bengal distributors. For them, drop in collections means ‘droppage’. Kitna droppage aaya?, is the common question among Calcutta distributors. Of course, it’s a different thing that there is no such English word as ‘droppage’.

And when it comes to seeking advice on which film to buy, a Calcutta buyer is sure to ask: Kya yeh picture main kha loon? So, next time, if a West Bengal distributor asks you “Kya kha loon?”, don’t give him a list of delicacies. Instead, give him a list of probable hits — films, that is.

HERO NO. 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

LATEST POSITION

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

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

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

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

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

BOMBAY CINEMAS HIKE ADMISSION RATES

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

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

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

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

IDPA’S FORUM ON COPYRIGHT

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

‘LAL DARJA’ FOR CANNES

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

STAR TV, KEWAL SURI ARRIVE AT SETTLEMENT

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

COPYRIGHT IN FILM BELONGS TO PRODUCER: HC TELLS DIRECTOR

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

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

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

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

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

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

MARATHI FILM MUSIC DIRECTOR RAM KADAM NO MORE

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

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

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

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

PUNJABI FILMMAKER JAGJIT NO MORE

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

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

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

RUMI JAFRI ENGAGED

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

MADHUBHAI KHOZA’S SON TO WED

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

CENSOR NEWS

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

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

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

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

REGIONAL FILMS

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

MIX MASALA

INSPIRING TITLE?

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

MUSIC INFORMATION

Salman Khan Releases ‘Mahaanta’ Music

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

DO YOU KNOW?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

YOU ASKED IT

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

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

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

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

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

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

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Why Blame The Government Then?

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

Too Late The Hero!

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

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

Some Style, This!

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

LATEST POSITION

The week was good for the box-office due to the Idd festival. Both the releases of last week raked in good collections.

Judwaa has done extremely well. 1st week Bombay 39,13,301 (97%) from 14 cinemas (7 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 11,19,775 from 7 cinemas (1 unrecd.); Hubli 2,70,781 (100%), record, Belgaum 2,46,203 (100%) from 3 cinemas (1 in noon), Dharwad 96,384; Delhi 40,12,354 (85.67%) from 11 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 4,62,869 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,29,585, Agra 2,59,655, Varanasi 1,56,922 (90%), Bareilly 1,44,734 (79.37%), Gorakhpur 1,20,000 (81%); Calcutta 24,90,164 from 20 cinemas (8 on F.H.); Nagpur 5,83,756 from 4 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 1,87,722, Amravati (6 days) 94,802, Akola (27 shows) 1,01,805, Raipur 2,07,736, theatre record, Bhilai (6 days), 1,43,078, Jalgaon 1,08,050; Jaipur 10,60,059 from 4 cinemas, Bikaner 2,57,000.

Yeshwant is particularly good in Maharashtra. In other circuits, it has done fair business. 1st week Bombay 38,93,681 (90.44%) from 16 cinemas (10 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 6,55,067 from 4 cinemas (4 unrecd.), Baroda 1,98,453 (90.81%), Padra 1,65,451, Jamnagar (24 shows) 1,35,759; Belgaum 4,23,499 (100%) from 3 cinemas (1 in noon), Nipani 1,84,256 (100%), record; Delhi 27,94,820 (62.79%) from 12 cinemas (1 unrecd., 1 on F.H.); Kanpur 2,60,391 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,15,319 from 2 cinemas, Varanasi 1,86,188, Hardwar 62,000, Meerut 1,82,000, Bareilly 1,10,416; Calcutta 28,89,195 from 22 cinemas (7 on F.H.); Nagpur 6,76,721 from 5 cinemas, Jabalpur 1,90,409, Amravati 1,80,721, Akola 1,94,851, Raipur 2,15,368 (88.32%), city record, Bhilai 2,39,376 from 2 cinemas, Durg 1,41,180, city record, Jalgaon 1,60,858; Indore 1,70,762 (3 on F.H.); Jaipur 4,34,795 from 3 cinemas, Bikaner 2,57,161; Hyderabad 39,37,677 from 21 cinemas.

……….

MAMTA KULKARNI FRACTURES LEG, ADVISED REST

Mamta Kulkarni fractured her left leg at Gangavati, near Bangalore, on 11th February during the shooting of Rajkumar Santoshi’s China Gate. The fracture is said to be major, and Mamta had to be rushed to Mallya Hospital in Bangalore for treatment. She is reported to have been advised complete rest for three months.

Mamta was dismounting from a horse after pack-up when she slipped and landed hard on her left leg which fractured her tibia.

O.P. GOYAL HOSPITALISED

C.I. distributor O.P. Goyal was injured in a car accident this week in Indore. He was admitted to Gokuldas Hospital and is recuperating there.

SHAILESH SIKCHI TO WED

Marriage of Shailesh Sikchi, proprietor of Shreeram Pictures, Amravati-Bhusawal, with Savita will be solemnised on 16th February in Amravati.

KAMAL RATHI BEREAVED

Rajkumari Rathi, mother of Kamal Rathi, partner in Shyam Talkies, Khamgaon and Neelkamal cinema, Nandura, expired on 3rd February in Nagpur. Gangaprasadi was held on 14th at Khamgaon.

Maharashtra Govt. Refuses Reliefs To Cinemas

100% Entertainment Tax Confirmed * Panic In Industry

The expected has happened. The Maharashtra government has refused to grant any relief or concession in entertainment tax to cinemas in the state. The revenue minister, Narayan Rane, on 11th February told a delegation of the film industry that the rate of entertainment tax in the state would henceforth be 100% and that no relief could be given to cinemas in that regard.

Cinemas in Maharashtra had downed shutters from 1st January in protest against the state government’s decision to double the rate of entertainment tax, from 50% to 100%. The month-long bandh was called off from 30th January when chief minister Manohar Joshi assured leaders of the action committee of the film industry that he would give some relief but for that, cinemas would have to be reopened first. Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray also promised concessions when the action committee met him on several occasions during the cinema bandh.

But despite all assurances, the government went back on its word and simply pleaded helplessness in coming to the aid of the industry. Actually, it was becoming increasingly clear with each passing day, after the cinemas reopened, that the government was not serious in doing anything for the industry. Its dilly-dallying tactics had, so to say, prepared the exhibitors and distributors of Maharashtra for the shock of 100% tax.

It was, perhaps, because of this that most distributors and exhibitors did not express shock when the news of 100% tax came. Quite surprisingly, it is the leaders who expressed utmost shock at the government’s refusal, when actually they should have known what was coming. As a leading distributor of Naaz building, wishing to remain anonymous, remarked, “Our leaders are pretending to be shocked. If we could sense what was coming, how can we believe that they didn’t know what was expected? See, for the whole month during which cinemas were closed, it is the ministers who fooled the leaders with false promises. But once the cinemas reopened, it was the leaders who were fooling the industry!”

Following the 100% rate of tax effective from 1st January, business is expected to be adversely affected. If cinemas do not increase admission rates to cover the hike in tax, the nett collections will go down and the loss will have to be shared between the exhibitor and the distributor. Whether the exhibitor will agree to share in the loss is a million-dollar question and there is bound to be a lot of bickering over the issue. If exhibitors decide to increase admission rates to cover the hike in tax, they will have to raise the admission rates by 33%. In such a case, the nett collections would remain the same, assuming that the increase in admission rates would have no effect on cinema attendance. But since such a steep rise in admission rates is more likely (than not) to have an adverse effect on attendance in cinemas, it would mean a loss of revenue to distributors as the exhibitors in this case would be assured of their rentals as before 1st January, ’97.

The immediate reaction of the action committee members to the government’s refusal to grant any relief in tax was that cinemas should down shutters once again from 14th March. The date (March 14) was tentatively fixed in the hope that the government would, perhaps, grant relief after March 5 when the election code of conduct would cease to remain in operation.

But sensing the general resentment against another closure, the action committee is now almost decided that it wouldn’t call for a fresh closure. Distributors and exhibitors, unlike action committee members, are of the opinion that even after March 5, no concession would be forthcoming from the government and, therefore, a closure would not help. Looking to this mood of the trade, the action committee dropped the plan for a second closure. As it is, cinemas of Marathwada region did not join in the bandh last month and would surely not join in this time. Distributors and exhibitors of C.P. Berar are also said to be against another bandh.

A general meeting of distributors and exhibitors was scheduled to be held at Opera House cinema on 17th February to chalk out the future course of action. But having mentally decided against a closure, it is not known whether the general meeting will, in fact, be held or not.

DISTRIBUTORS UNHAPPY

The most unhappy due to the 100% entertainment tax rate are the distributors. If cinemas do not increase admission rates to cover the hike, distributors will have to bear the major chunk of loss in nett collections. If cinemas do hike admission rates, attendance is likely to go down, in which case, it will be the loss of distributors alone. Distributors, who have bought films for Bombay at fancy prices, are panicking because when the deals were struck, the tax rate was 50%. Producers are unlikely to agree to compensate them by reducing the price at the time of delivery.

GOVT. REVENUE TO GO UP

The revenue of the government of Maharashtra is not likely to go down due to the hike in entertainment tax. This is because cinema attendance is not likely to reduce by 50% due to the doubling of the tax rate.

LOSSES OF UPTO A CRORE!

Business of a hit film is likely to be reduced by anywhere between Rs. 50 lakh and a crore or even more, thanks to the hike in entertainment tax. As for flop films, it is feared that some of them may not be able to bear the burden of 100% tax.

Last week’s releases, Yeshwant and Judwaa, are likely to suffer to the tune of at least Rs. 60 to 75 lakh because of the tax hike.

Cinemas are also likely to feel the pinch of the tax rate hike. If the government does not reduce the tax, it is possible that some cinemas may be forced to close down for good.

COMPOUND TAX

Cinemas, which were paying compound tax before 1st January, 1997, are confused about the exact status due to the hike in entertainment tax. The government has made no clarification about the rate and amount of compound tax (which is fixed according to the population of the city/town). Rather, the Collectors have been demanding 100% tax from such cinemas too.

PRODUCERS TO BE HIT

Today, producers may not be feeling the gravity of the situation created due to the increase in entertainment tax in Maharashtra. But they will feel the pinch — and feel it terribly — in the months to come. For one, distributors will now not pay the fancy prices they had been paying so far for films. Secondly, distributors may even ask for a price reduction at the time of delivery in case of films earlier acquired by them but not yet released.

BOMBAY CINEMAS HIKE ADMISSION RATES

Cinemas in Bombay city and suburbs have either hiked or are all set to hike their admission rates by 33% with a view to pass on the burden of extra entertainment tax to the public completely. Cinemas like Liberty, Satyam, Sundaram, Sachinam, New Era, Gaiety, Galaxy and Gemini are already selling tickets at the enhanced rates. Many other cinemas are awaiting permission from the Collector for increasing admission rates. The permission should come in four to five days’ time. That would mean, an increase in admission rates at such cinemas either this week or next.

RELEASES UNCERTAIN

Considering the uncertain situation in Maharashtra, releases of several films have been postponed. There is confusion about whether cinemas will down shutters once again in protest against the 100% tax. Due to this, some producers have decided to announce their release plans only once the mater is settled.

CENSOR NEWS

Puja Films’ Hero No. 1, seen on 11th, has been issued C.C. No. CIL/1/6/97 (U) dt. 14-2-’97; length 3889.56 metres in 16 reels (no cuts).

Tips Films P. Ltd.’s Auzaar will be issued UA certificate dt. 14-2-’97 early next week.

Shree Siddha Rameshwar Films’ Piya Ka Ghar has been passed for U, with cuts.

A.G. Films (P.) Ltd.’s Lahoo Ke Do Rang (length 4615.28 metres in 17 reels), applied on 12th, was seen on 13th.

YOU ASKED IT

Why are producers not reacting to the 100% entertainment tax in Maharashtra? Are they not going to feel the pinch with the tax rate having doubled?

– Producers are bound to feel the pinch because Bombay distributors will now think ten times before buying films at fancy prices. This is because business in Maharashtra will go down due to the phenomenal hike in entertainment tax. It wouldn’t be surprising if distributors even failed to take deliveries of contracted films at the contracted prices.

What are the reports of Hero No. 1?

– The reports are excellent.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Chetan Anand had given break to Kamini Kaushal in his NEECHA NAGAR 50 years ago. At that time, Chetan Anand’s brother, Vijay Anand, was a 7-year old boy whom Kamini Kaushal used to dote on. Today, fifty years later, Vijay Anand will be playing Kamini Kaushal’s son in NYAYMURTI KRISHNAMURTY, being directed by himself!

* Singer Udit Narayan is mighty impressed with the ‘Tu hai kamaal’ song he recorded recently with Kavita Krishnamoorthy for Jyotin Goel’s SAFARI. It has been composed by new music directors Shyam-Mohan.

WANT TO GET MARRIED? SCREEN ‘RAJA HINDUSTANI’

* Is RAJA HINDUSTANI a good omen for marriages? So it would seem, judging by what has happened in the families of people associated with cinemas screening the film in C.I. circuit. Of the families of persons connected with the 14 cinemas which have so far screened or are screening the film, there have been weddings in eight families during the film’s run. The niece of the owner of Sapna cinema, Indore; the daughter of the owner of Jyoti, Bhopal; the daughter of the manager of Radha, Bhopal; the sister of the owner of Panchsheel, Bhopal; the nephew of the owner of Metro, Ujjain; the son and daughter of the owner of Lokendra, Ratlam; the daughter of the owner of Mohan, Mhow; and the son of the manager of Sehore Talkies, Sehore have all either got married or are due to get married during the run of RAJA HINDUSTANI at the respective cinemas!

Who Is To Blame More?

The Maharashtra government has played its old game once again. It had made a promise on 6th January and then it went back on its word, refusing to grant reliefs it had assured the industry of. Again, on 11th February, it did what it is known for — lying through its teeth. After assuring the action committee of the film industry that they would grant concessions if the cinemas were reopened unconditionally, ministers of the Shiv Sena-BJP government just refused to give any concession or relief.

The government’s action — or rather, inaction — is worth condemning, especially because the enhanced rate of entertainment tax (100%) would sound the death-knell for quite a few cinemas and distributors. The government seems to be killing the hen which lays the golden egg. It is not as if the government will not realise its mistake. It will! It is a different matter that its ego will prevent it from admitting that it had erred. It is also possible that it realises its folly after it is too late.

If the government is to be blamed for the sorry state of affairs in which the Maharashtra film industry finds itself today, the industry itself also cannot shirk responsibility for it. Whether the members of the action committee of the film industry like it or not, they have failed in their battle. And failed due to their own faults and follies.

If the cinema closure was not total from day one, it is the action committee which must take the blame. Why the action committee members did not prevail upon the Marathwada region exhibitors to join them in the bandh, is not known. And if they could not convince them to join in the closure, why did they launch such a half-hearted battle? Even after the closure commenced, how did some cinemas in C.P. Berar dare to reopen? Again, it spoke volumes for the lack of leadership. Unfortunately, the Maharashtra industry did not have a leader who could inspire everybody and get them united for a common cause. In times of closure/strike, a leader who can keep everybody’s morale high is required. Such a leader was conspicuous by his absence here.

Most important of all, why did the action committee agree to reopen the cinemas without getting any relief and merely on the strength of empty promises of politicians? The committee might say that had they not called off the closure, the bandh may have fizzled out completely. But even this argument is not appropriate because, had the bandh fizzled out, it would again point out to the ineffective leadership.

Who is to blame more — our government or our leaders? You be the judge.

– Komal Nahta

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Script Is The Thing

Believe it or not, Sooraj Barjatya had finalised the one-line story of his new film as far back as in September 1994 — that is, just a month after the release of his Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!. He has been working on the script since then. Little wonder, his scripts are so tight and flawless.

Satyam About ‘Shivam’ Invitation: It’s Truly Sundaram

The invitation card for the muhurt of Kulbhushan Gupta’s Shivam must be the longest ever. Rolled and packed in the style of a bullet, the invitation measures over 115 centimetres in height. It shows pictures of the two newcomers being introduced in the film — Panini, son of late Raaj Kumar, and Maheep, better known as Sanjay Kapoor’s girlfriend. The catchy invitation card has been designed by Studio Link. Incidentally, the invitation comes in a letter sent alongwith the ‘card’, and no mention of the muhurt is made on the 155 cms. card, “so that people can pin up the card,” as Kulbhushan Gupta says.

Ambitious ‘Dus’

Mukul Anand’s Dus, starring Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan, is based on the Operation Topac which was initiated by Gen. Zia-ul-Haq in Kashmir in 1988. It is not only being directed by Mukul but also produced by him jointly with Nitin Manmohan, Sunil Manchanda and Gautam Kumar. This ambitious film of Neha-MAD is being written by Piyush and Prasun Pandey, the two talented brothers of Ila Arun. They both are famous ad copywriters. While Piyush shot to fame with his national integration campaign, ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’, Prasun made a great mark with his humorous Ericsson mobile phone commercial. His (debut) Ericsson film made him the first Indian to win the Silver Lion at Cannes. That the film will be quite different from the past films of Mukul Anand is clear from what a press release of the company, signed by Mukul, says: “Having completed 25 years of dependence on the clichés that plague our filmmaking, I am now embarking on a new journey whereby the quest is for new vistas in commercial cinema. ….It’s like starting all over again.”

JUDWAA

Nadiadwala Grandson’s Judwaa (UA) is a comedy about a pair of twin brothers. The two brothers are separated at the time of their birth, but their reflex actions are the same even though they grow up in different countries. The one brought up abroad comes to India and what follows are comic situations. The film is a remake of the Telugu hit, Hello Brother.

The story affords scope for a lot of hilarity but the screenplay leaves something to be desired. Although the film does have its share of brilliant comedy, at other times, it looks patchy and even the comedy portions sometimes look contrived. In fact, more concentration on the writing could have made a world of a difference.

Salman Khan does well in a double role. He has also danced ably. It’s a pity to see a talented actress like Karisma Kapoor being given such an inconsequential role. Although she performs well and dances beautifully, there’s nothing about her role which leaves an impression. Her character (why she indulges in petty thefts) is neither established nor explained. Rambha has even lesser to do. She dances well. Kader Khan is quite nice. Shakti Kapoor evokes laughter but his dialogues are incomprehensible, at places. Anupam Kher and Satish Shah’s comedy falls flat most of the times. Bindu is average. Mukesh Rishi, Ishrat Ali and Deepak Shirke make reasonably good villains. Dalip Tahhil does a fair job. Tiku Talsania is quite impressive. Reema and Jack Gaud pass muster. Shashi Kiran, Dinesh Hingoo, Vikas Anand, master Siddhant Kapoor and master Omkar Kapoor lend the required support.

David Dhawan disappoints with direction that is inconsistent — good sometimes and bad at other times. While some scenes have been conceived and executed well, there are others which give the impression of a job hurriedly done. There are some glaring mistakes in scripting too. For instance, the police inspector’s (Dalip Tahhil) friend (Kader Khan) asks the former to go abroad for his wife’s treatment and to leave the responsibility of his business here in India to him (Kader Khan). What ‘business’ a police inspector runs, is a mystery. Such flaws from a seasoned maker like David Dhawan are not digestible. At times, though, he appears to be in full from. In particular, the scenes of swimming pool, garden and hotel (with Jack Gaud) are superb and bring the house down with laughter.

Anu Malik’s music is a major plus joint. ‘Chalti hai kya nau se barah’ and ‘Oonchi hai building’ are the best songs and have racy tunes. Song picturisations are quite good but the same can’t be said of the song situations. Action scenes are fairly nice. Camerawork is good in parts but not so throughout. Dialogues are okay. Editing could have been better.

On the whole, Judwaa has fair merits, good music and, more important, a fantastic initial value and a good period ahead (Idd; no major release next week) to keep its distributors of most circuits smiling.

Released on 7-2-’97 at Liberty and 21 other cinemas of Bombay thru Raj Enterprises. Publicity & opening: excellent. …….Also released all over except in Nizam. Opening was bumper everywhere except in parts of C.P. Berar.

YESHWANT

Shalimar International’s Yeshwant (A) is the story of a supremely honest police officer and his wife who is a deputy collector. The police officer is so sincere about his duties that he can’t think of anything else except cleansing the corrupt system. He is framed for a murder and put behind bars. Once out of jail, he is led to believe that his wife has had relations with her bodyguard. All hell breaks loose in his life and he makes his wife’s life also miserable. In the end, not only is his misunderstanding about his wife cleared but he also succeeds in eliminating the villain and dismantling the chief minister who is also involved in a drugs scam.

The film is a Nana Patekar show from the word ‘go’. Although Nana’s character is a bit too loud and unreasonable, the viewer gets used to it by interval time. In fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that several drawbacks in the screenplay and direction get camouflaged by the sheer presence and performance of Nana. He breathes fire and mouths dialogues that are raw, bold and hard-hitting. It must be said to the credit of the censors that they’ve let a lot of swear-words pass their watchful eye so as not to dilute the impact of the character.

Although the treatment of the subject has a bit of class appeal and a lot of dialogues are unnecessarily spoken in English, the character and dialogues of Nana Patekar make the film mass-appealing. But a drawback for circuits other than Bombay and C.P. Berar (Maharashtra) is that the film has a lot of Maharashtrian flavour. The caricature of an ex-chief minister of Maharashtra will be enjoyed by the audiences in the state but not so in other places. Generous use of swear-words will restrict ladies audience.

To describe Nana’s performance in a few lines would be doing injustice to the great actor in him. The guy is just too brilliant and the best part about his acting is that even in scenes where he shows villainish traits, the audience (especially in Maharashtra) wants to applaud him. An award-winning performance, indeed. Madhoo gives a restrained performance. Atul Agnihotri is good. Mohan Joshi does an impressive job. Shafi Inamdar is also effective. Shivaji Satam is natural. Bala Thakur does a splendid job. Ravindra Sathe is good. Achyut Potdar, Gavin Packard, Nagesh Patekar, Ashok Shinde and Ashok Maurya lend very good support. Master Prasad Parkar is superb. Usha Nadkarni shines in the solitary scene in which she appears.

Anil Mattoo’s direction is quite good. The first half could’ve done with some more light moments. The director could have also advantageously avoided giving the film such a heavy regional colour. Music is a terrible letdown. The ‘machhar’ song is a craze for its content rather than its tune. Dialogues (Hriday Lani) are top class and clapworthy at many places. Cinematography is good. Background score is effective. Sham Kaushal’s action scenes are thrilling.

On the whole, Yeshwant will keep its investors happy. Business in Maharashtra will be hit.

Released on 7-2-’97 at Dreamland and 25 other cinemas of Bombay thru Mahalakshmi Film Distributors. Publicity & opening: excellent. …….Also released all over. Opening was excellent in C.P. Berar but below the mark in Rajasthan.

SANTOSH SINGH JAIN’S GRANDSON TO WED

Chirag, son of Rajasthan distributor Narendra Jain and grandson of CCCA president Santosh Singh Jain, will wed Nidhi on 14th February in Jaipur.

GOGA KAPOOR’S DAUGHTER TO WED

Marriage of Shailee, daughter of Goga Kapoor, with Amit will be solemnised on 17th February in Delhi at Tikona Park, Sheikh Sarai, Phase 1, near Soami Nagar. A celebration party was held on 7th in Bombay.

RAMESH JAIN’S SON TO WED

Rishi, son of Delhi-U.P. and Rajasthan distributor Ramesh Kumar Jain (Magnum Films, Delhi, and T. Naveen Pictures, Jaipur), will wed Kajal on 16th February in New Delhi at Gulmohar Park Ground. A sangeet programme will be held a day earlier at Chhoti Dada Badi, South Extension-II, New Delhi.

NITIN GHELANI’S DAUGHTER TO WED

Marriage of Binita, daughter of Bombay exhibitor Nitin Ghelani, with Niraj will be solemnised on 11th February at Catholic Gymkhana, Marine Drive, Bombay.

KISHORE SINGH DEAD

Kishore Singh, proprietor of Sai Kishore 70mm cinema, Hyderabad, expired on 6th February in Hyderabad due to a brief illness. He was cremated the same day. A condolence meeting was held the same evening at the office of The Hyderabad State Film Chamber of Commerce.

ARREST WARRANT

The 44th metropolitan magistrate’s court, Andheri, Bombay, has issued an arrest warrant against Dinesh P. Pai, proprietor of Vardan Enterprises, Davangere (Karnataka), under section 420 IPC. A case under the said section was filed by producer B.S. Shaad when a cheque (for Rs. 30,000) given to him by Dinesh Pai for part payment towards the Mysore distribution rights of the film, Pehla Pehla Pyar, bounced.

NEW CINEMA IN BOMBAY

A new cinema, Madhuban, will open on February 14 or 21 at Dombivli, a distant suburb of Bombay. It was scheduled to open on 7th February with Yeshwant, but the opening has been postponed.

NO DIRECTIONS ON ENT. TAX YET

The rate of entertainment tax applicable in Maharashtra continues to be a question mark. When cinemas in the state reopened on 30th/31st January after a month-long closure in protest against the new (100%) rate of entertainment tax, it wasn’t clear as to what rate would be applicable. The industry leaders had maintained that directions to the effect that 50% tax be collected would be given to the collector in a day or two.

However, even nine days after the reopening, no directions to that effect have been issued. This would imply that the government will collect tax at the rate of 100% since this was the rate made effective from January 1, 1997, the day on which cinemas downed shutters. This is also borne out by the collector’s communication dated 6th February, asking cinemas to deposit tax at the rate of 100% with the treasury.

While cinemas in Bombay city have not yet deposited the tax, those in several other parts of Maharashtra have deposited it at 100% since the collector has refused to accept tax at 50%.

Even though it is now clear that the industry will have to pay entertainment tax at the rate of 100%, at least till March 5 — the date till which the election code of conduct is applicable — industry leaders continue to assure distributors and exhibitors that 50% tax rate would be made applicable with retrospective effect, latest from Tuesday (February 11). In fact, it is because of these hopes given by industry leaders that cinemas in Bombay city are refraining from preparing DCRs (daily collection reports) till a clear picture emerges.

In the meantime, convinced that what the industry leaders say will not materialise, many cinemas have decided to hike admission rates from next week to provide for the additional 50% entertainment tax. The final decision to increase the rates will be taken on Tuesday, February 11, the last day on which the tax has to be deposited.

‘Raja Hidustani’, ‘Khamoshi’ Sweep
Screen-Videocon Awards

Raja Hindustani was adjudged the best film of 1996 at the Screen Videocon awards held on 1st February at the Andheri Sports Complex, Andheri, Bombay. The film also fetched awards in six other categories — best direction (Dharmesh Darshan), best actor (Aamir Khan), best comedian (Johny Lever), best screenplay (Robin Bhatt), best music (Nadeem Shravan), and best male playback singer (Udit Narayan). Manisha Koirala bagged the best actress award for Khamoshi. The awards for the best supporting actor and actress went to Amrish Puri (Ghatak) and Seema Biswas (Khamoshi). Jury special awards went to director Shekhar Kapur for Bandit Queen, and outstanding child playback singer master Aditya Narayan.

Ashish Vidyarthi won the award for the best actor in a negative role for Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin. Rekha bagged this award in the female category for Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi.

Khamoshi also fetched awards for the best lyricist (Majrooh Sultanpuri), best female playback singer (Kavita Krishnamoorthy), best cinematographer (Anil Mehta), best art director (Nitin Desai), and best debut-making director (Sanjay Leela Bhansali).

Another film which bagged a number of awards was Maachis. Gulzar got the awards for its story as well as dialogues. Narinder Singh got the best sound recordist award for the same film while Chandrachur Singh bagged the award for the most promising new actor, again for the same film.

Sulbha Arya got the award for the best comedienne for her role in Masoom. Master Omkar Kapoor and Chinni Prakash were adjudged the best child artiste and the best choreographer for the same film. The award for the best background music went to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (Bandit Queen), for best editing, to Renu Saluja (Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin), and for best action, to Akbar Bakshi (Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi). Binda Thackeray bagged the award for the best debut producer for Agni Sakshi. The most promising new actress award went to Priya Gill for her role in Tere Mere Sapne.

Lata Mangeshkar and Dev Anand were honoured with lifetime achievement awards.

Putravati was adjudged the best Marathi film, and it also fetched awards for the best actress and the best director (Sukanya Kulkarni and Bhaskar Jadhav respectively). Vijay Chavan was adjudged the best Marathi film actor for his performance in Ashi Asavi Sasu.

DO YOU KNOW?

* A Hindi film, JAYA GANGA, has been released this week at Sterling, Bombay, after a gap of 22 years.

* HAHK..! has been revived in a big way this week to take advantage of Idd. While 25 prints have been engaged in Bombay-Karnataka, 20 have been engaged in Nizam, and 18, in Mysore. Over 100 prints are engaged all over India.

* YESHWANT has created a city record by collecting 53,218/- on the opening day at Rajkamal, Akola.

* YESHWANT has created a city record by collecting 44,084/- on the first day at Raj, Raipur.

* YESHWANT has created a theatre record by collecting 35,005/- on the opening day at New Basant, Bhilai.

* RAJA HINDUSTANI has created a record by collecting 93,207/- in 1st week at Naaz, Jambusar (Gujarat).

* RAJA HINDUSTANI has created a city record by collecting 1,57,617/- in 2nd week (better than 1st week) at Laxmi, Idar (Gujarat).

* RAJA HINDUSTANI has created a city record by collecting 1,97,173/- in 2nd week at Darpan, Dahod (Gujarat). 1st week’s collection was 1,97,978/-.

* RAJA HINDUSTANI has created a theatre record by collecting 87,675/- in 13th week at Apsara, Meerut.

* RAJA HINDUSTANI has created a city record at Wardha by collecting 69,020/- in 7th week at Durga.

* RAJA HINDUSTANI has created another city record by collecting 1,61,396/- in 10th week at Jyoti, Jabalpur. Total: 19,56,252/-.

* RAJA HINDUSTANI has created a record in Bhopal despite dull Ramzan days, by collecting 90,650/- in 12th week at Radha, and 64,387/- in 7th week at Jyoti.

* TERE MERE SAPNE has created a theatre record by collecting 74,031/- in 5th week at Anand, Raipur.

* Chiranjeevi’s HITLER (Telugu) is doing wonders in Nizam circuit. Its distributor’s share of the first 6 days from Nizam alone was a whopping 52 lakh. The share of first 4 weeks was 1.25 crore!

YOU ASKED IT

Will 1997 see a fall in film prices?

– At the rate at which distributors are paying fancy prices for films, it doesn’t seem likely that film ratios will go down in 1997.

What is the best thing about the film industry you like?

– Its ability to withstand any and every shock as also any and every opposition.

Is it true that production today is a profitable enterprise as never before?

– Yes, producers can make a profit of anywhere between 1 and 7 crore today, if their proposal is ‘A’ class.

Will Koyla be released on 18th April if Mrityudaata comes a week earlier?

– Why not?

MIX MASALA

FAMILY DRAMA

Now that the release of Auzaar has been postponed by a week, it will be coming with Judaai. Which means, the audience will get to see Anil Kapoor, Sridevi (Judaai) and Sanjay Kapoor (Auzaar), all of the same family, on 28th February. Bhaiya, bhaiya, bhabhi. That’s what one calls a family drama! Baap re baap!! Yes, daddy Surinder Kapoor is the producer of Judaai.

NOT SIMULTANEOUS RELEASE NOW

When Hero No. 1 and Auzaar were both announced for release on 21st February, Vashu Bhagnani (producer of Hero No. 1) used to justify the simultaneous release plan thus: “Ramesh Taurani and I have decided to get both the films on the same day so that the money (box-office collections) gets divided between us only. Paisa ghar mein hi aana chahiye; mere ghar aur Tauranis ke ghar mein koi phark nahin hai.” But still, one got the feeling that since the Tauranis and Vashu are so close (the latter’s Coolie No. 1 was presented by the former), the two films would not come on the same day. As it is, Ramesh Taurani is known to have no ego in matters such as postponing his release if that is for the betterment of the film.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

STOP VIDEO PIRACY

Dear Sir,

I have a cinema, Janta Talkies, at Maheshwar (M.P.) which has a population of 15,000. A video cinema was started by another at Maheshwar in May 1992. The cinema has an Entel projector with a big screen.

Earlier, all new films used to be released first at the video theatre and thereafter at my cinema. But in the last two years, release of video cassettes of new films is being delayed. Further, the Indore Distributors Forum had also a couple of years ago launched a tirade against illegal video cassette circulation and against video piracy. Due to this, I released a number of big films at my cinema and they were not shown in the video theatre thereafter. Because of this, my cinema as well as the distributors concerned made good profits then.

It is unfortunate that the business of illegal video cassettes is flourishing once again. In January ’97 itself, the video theatre at Maheshwar has shown Ghatak, DDLJ and Raja Hindustani, all of which haven’t yet been released at my Janta cinema. Of course, the video cassettes were camera copies of poor quality.

I would appeal to the INFACT, the CCCA and the Indore Distributors Forum to once again initiate the strictest possible action and check against video pirates and those who indulge in telecasting illegal video cassettes.

– Shyamlal Malviya
Janta Talkies
Maheshwar.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Black Is Beautiful

If Rajiv Rai’s Gupt was in such demand among distributors, can its calendars be far behind? Simply splendid! That’s the only way one can honestly describe the 1997 calendars of Gupt brought out in black by Rai. There’s one ‘sore point’, though. The 8-leaf calendar has two months per leaf (that is, six leaves for the 12 months, one front leaf and one last leaf). Had there been one leaf for every month, there would’ve been more to be admired. For, the stills on every leaf are wow! The calendars, printing of which is excellent, have been designed by Himanshu and Rahul Nanda.

Stars’ Favourite Too

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is not just a favourite of our music directors for the immense ‘inspiration’ he gives them for their tunes, he seems to be very popular among the stars and filmmakers too. This was evident from the good attendance at the function hosted by Tips on 3rd February to felicitate Nusrat Khan, at Holiday Inn. The music maestro, who is scoring the music in Tips’ Kachche Dhaage, gave a live recital at the function which was graced by names like Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Ajay Devgan, B.R. Chopra, Subhash Ghai, Surinder Kapoor, Tutu Sharma, Sharad Kapoor, Mukul Dev, Namrata Shirodkar…… Let’s hope, the audience too accepts Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan with open arms, as the industry has.

Title Tattle

If Raja Hindustani has come, can Rani Hindustani be far behind? Well, at least an enterprising producer (Roopvati Films) has got registered the title with the title registration committee of the IMPPA. Some more interesting and some funny titles: Dulah No. 1, Aaja Mere Raja, Hello Miss Jeans, Coolie Chala London Japan, Coolie Chala America, Mere Do Anmol Rattan, Guru Gantaal, Chudeil, Teen Titliyan and Rangila Hindustan.

Trial Habits

Not only is financier Vinod Doshi fond of kulfi, he also likes to treat his friends and family to kulfi. And he has a soft spot for the special kulfi from Sion, a suburb of Bombay. So, you can be sure that if it is a trial show of a film, arranged by Vinod Doshi, the guests will be treated to kulfi and, maybe, samosas too, called in specially from Sion. How cool! Well, if you happen to see a preview with Tips boss Ramesh Taurani, be sure to find a huge chocolate bar in his hand. If you are lucky to be seated near him in the preview theatre, rest assured that you, too, will be offered a piece of the chocolate. How sweet!

GRAFFITI

Ent. tax in Maharashtra:
It’s a game of 50% and 100%.
On 1st January, industry was sure
of 100% victory. On 31st January,
industry lost 50% of the battle.
Now, it is 100% sure that 50%
tax rate is only a dream!

AAR YA PAAR

Ketan Mehta Films Pvt. Ltd.’s Aar Ya Paar (A) is a crime thriller. A playboy meets an arrogant millionairess, charms her and ultimately marries her. Not the kind to settle for one woman, the playboy has an affair with his wife’s secretary, too. The two plot to murder the millionairess so that they can usurp her wealth and property. But tragedy strikes them as their game is exposed by a smart police inspector.

The film’s main plus point is its racy pace and equally racy music. On the minus side is the simplistic screenplay which shows the police officer solving the murder mystery as if it were as easy as saying ‘A’ to ‘Z’. From where he gets his clues so that he should suspect the playboy is not revealed to the audience. As a result, the interest of the viewers is reduced in the second half. Also, the mystery-solving is rather lengthy.

Jackie Shroff looks a handsome playboy and does remarkably well. The three heroines are a letdown, both glamour-wise and performance-wise. Deepa Sahi is the best of the three and exudes oomph. Ritu Shivpuri has a brief role; she dances ably and exposes uninhibitedly. Kamal Sidhu does not impress one bit. Paresh Rawal is natural as the police inspector. Satish Shah, Harish Patel, Ajit Vachani, Mamik and the other artistes lend adequate support.

Ketan Mehta has made the film rather slickly and has maintained a fast pace of narration. He has exposed his three heroines to titillate the masses and he succeeds fairly well. However, his screenplay writing leaves a lot to be desired. Besides, there’s no chill in the murder drama. Viju Shah deserves distinction marks for a peppy music score. The title song, ‘Pyar kar deedar kar’ and ‘Dil diya pyar kiya’ are wonderful compositions. The build-up to the ‘Pyar kar’ song is lovely and its picturisation is just too sensuous. Background music is effective. Dialogues are very good and witty at places. Camerawork is nice, and the foreign locations are pretty. Action is appropriate.

On the whole, although Aar Ya Paar has some merits, its dull to average start in most of the circuits may tell on its box-office prospects, especially in view of the dull Ramzan period.

Released on 31-1-’97 at Alankar, New Excelsior and 17 other cinemas of Bombay by Venus-Pen thru Shringar Films. Publicity: good. Opening: below the mark. …….Also released all over. Opening in Delhi-U.P. was better than in the rest of India.

EXCISE DUTY ON FILM ROLLS TO GO DOWN?

The Supreme Court has upheld the decision of the Appellate Tribunal that the cutting, slicing and packing processes of jumbo rolls of films are not considered as manufacturing activities under column ‘F’ of the Central Excise Act. The order was passed by the Supreme Court recently in the case of Chokshi Bros. versus Collector of Central Excise. The excise department had gone in appeal against the Tribunal’s order. The appeal was dismissed by the Supreme Court.

Following this decision, excise duty on film rolls is expected to be reduced.

FFI DELEGATION MEETS UNION
FINANCE MINISTER

A delegation of the Film Federation of India comprising members from all the regions of the film industry called on P. Chidambaram, union minister for finance, to seek reliefs on certain items including deduction in customs duty on raw stock, abolition of countervailing duty and benefits under section 80HHC of the Income Tax Act to film exporters. The delegation also called on R. Gopalnathan, secretary, Customs and Central Excise, on the advice of the finance minister.

The delegation was led by president K.G. Dossani and comprised M. Balasubramanian, L. Suresh (both from South), P. Mitra (from Calcutta), G.S. Mayawala (from Delhi), Rajinder Singh Hora and Malti Tambay-Vaidya (both from Bombay) and Supran Sen, secretary, FFI.

SC REJECTS PLEA TO QUASH CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS IN COPYRIGHT CASE

A division bench of the Supreme Court on 27th January heard a special leave petition (SLP) filed by Asia Today Ltd. (ATL), seeking to quash criminal proceedings in a copyright infringement case filed by IMPACT Ltd. (Indian Media Protection Against Copyright Theft) on behalf of Cable Video India Ltd. (CVIL). The matter was heard by the bench consisting of Justice M.K. Mukherjee and Justice Kripal. While the court order stayed only the arrest part of the prayer in the petition, it rejected the petitioners’ plea and allowed the police to carry on investigations and seizure as per law.

It would be recalled that a division bench of the Bombay high court comprising Justice A.V. Sawant and Justice Parker had earlier rejected the writ petition filed by Vijay Jindal, Zee Network managing director, and Siti Cable general manager Leena Sharma on January 8, 1997, seeking to quash the criminal proceedings against them, following which the petitioners filed their petition in the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court has given Maharashtra state police and other respondents including IMPACT four weeks to file their replies.

SHRIDHAR PRASAD DEAD

Writer-producer Shridhar Prasad expired on 23rd January in Delhi due to illness. He had produced Jivi Rabaran (Gujarati) and Bijli (Marathi). Among the films written by him were Hatyara, Be-Aabroo and Bud-Naseeb.

Shridhar Prasad was also a journalist and a fearless one at that. He used to write for Film Information for several years. He used to look after the dates and affairs of Vidya Sinha in her heydays.

PRODUCTION NEWS

Pahlaj Launches ‘Indian’

Producer Pahlaj Nihalani launched Chirag Deep International’s Indian on Jan. 31 at Film City. It is being directed by Padam Kumar and stars Sunny Deol and Aishwarya Rai in the lead. Co-producer: Bharat Shah. Music: Anand Milind.

‘Soldier’ In Rajasthan

A 15-day shooting spell of Tips Films Pvt. Ltd.’s Soldier is currently in progress in Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and other places in Rajasthan. The film, being directed by Abbas Mustan, stars Bobby Deol, Preity Zinta, Ashish Vidyarthi, Sharat Saxena, Jeetu Verma, Salim Ghouse, Farida Jalal, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Gulshan Grover and Suresh Oberoi. Story by Shyam Goel, screenplay by Shyam Goel and Sachin Bhaumick, dialogues by Adesh K. Arjun, music by Nadeem Shravan, lyrics by Javed Akhtar, action by Akbar Bakshi, editing by Hussain Burmawala, art by Sharmishtha Roy, dances by Saroj Khan, and cinematography by Thomas Xavier are the other major credits.

TV & VIDEO INFORMATION

MANISH GOSWAMI’S NEW SERIAL ON AIR FROM 7TH

Siddhant Cinevision and producer Manish Goswami will celebrate the 100th episode of their serial, Daraar, with a party at Juhu Hotel on 3rd February. Their next serial, Aur Shama Jalti Rahee, is ready for telecast on Zee TV from 7th February every Friday at 9.30 p.m. It is directed by Lekh Tandon and written by Reoti Saran Sharma. It stars Rajeev Verma, Smita Jayakar, Arundhati, Shefali Chhaya, Divya Seth and Sachin Khedekar. Music is scored by Talat Aziz. A preview of the new serial will also be held at the party.

YOU ASKED IT

Till when is the impact of the month-long cinema closure in Maharashtra, on the flow of releases, going to be felt?

– Till April, at least. Because, the multiple releases every week of February are likely to be rescheduled if one or two of them click in a big way.

Who are the producers who are making films in wholesale?

– ABCL, Time, Tips, Venus, Jackie Shroff Entertainment Ltd., Pahlaj Nihalani, K.C. Bokadia, Plus Channel, Bombino, Mahesh & Mukesh Bhatt, Mukesh Duggal.

Is Madhuri Dixit the heroine of Raftaar?

– No. As yet, nobody has been finalised for the heroine’s role.

Month-Long Cinema Bandh Called Off Unconditionally
Cinemas In Maharashtra Reopen
Govt. Promises Reliefs From 1st April

Cinemas all over Maharashtra reopened on 30th/31st January following an unconditional withdrawal of the bandh by the action committee of the film industry. The reliefs or concessions in the matter of entertainment tax will be discussed in a meeting between the film industry and the state government early next week and they will be effective from 1st April, ’97. Till then, the cinemas will continue to collect and pay 50% entertainment tax as before 1st January, ’97, the day on which almost 1,300 cinemas all over the state downed shutters.

The bandh call had been given following the government’s decision to hike the rate of entertainment tax from 50% to 100%. The rate had been 50% since September ’94.

Following the calling off of the bandh, cinemas in Bombay reopened on 31st January. In the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra (C.P. Berar), cinemas reopened on 30th as the week starts on Thursdays there.

The decision to reopen cinemas was taken on 28th January after the action committee met the revenue minister, Narayan Rane, and revenue secretary, Ajit Warty. The chief minister had, before that, made it expressly clear that his government would grant reliefs only after the bandh was called off, not before that. The action committee and distributors of C.P. Berar had also met Bal Thackeray, deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde, cultural affairs minister Pramod Navalkar, finance minister Eknath Khadse, etc. at different times to arrive at some amicable settlement. In deference to the wishes of the chief minister, the action committee decided to call off the closure from 30th/31st January. The government has assured the action committee members that the grievance of the industry on the entertainment duty structure on cinema tickets would be amicably resolved to the satisfaction of all concerned.

Pressures had been mounting on the action committee to reopen cinemas due to various reasons. For one, it was clear that the government was in no mood to oblige the industry until it called off the bandh. The election code of conduct, effective in Maharashtra till 5th March 1997, also made it impossible for the government to grant any relief, benefit or concession to anybody till it was in operation. Thirdly, most of the exhibitors had either lost or started losing their patience and wanted cinemas to reopen by Idd, at least, in the hope that the box-office would look up after the otherwise dull Ramzan month. It is because of these pressures as well as the fact that cinemas in Marathwada region did not participate in the closure and continued to function all through the 30 days of the cinema bandh as also the fear that more cinemas (especially in the Vidarbha region) would revolt and follow in the footsteps of the three cinemas there which reopened last week in defiance of the bandh call, that the action committee stepped down from its earlier stand that cinemas would not reopen till reliefs were announced. In a way, therefore, it is the government which has had the last laugh as the industry was made to eat humble pie. Of course, the industry can take solace in the fact that cinemas will continue to pay 50% entertainment tax but even that is till March 31 only. Besides, there is no written order for 50% tax and it is hoped that no demand for arrears would be raised later because the actual rate of tax in operation is 100%. Of course, the industry has been orally assured that a demand for 100% tax would not be made till a final decision on the matter is taken. If the government does grant the demand of the industry, the closure will have been worth its while. But for that, the industry will have to wait till the government takes a decision. Till then, one really can’t say whether the industry is in a better position post-closure or not.

Following the cinema closure in Maharashtra, all major releases had been rescheduled. Release plans of all big and star-cast films had been put off as no producers and distributors wanted to release their films without Bombay cinemas reopening. With cinemas reopening this week, there is expected to be a flood of releases for four or five weeks, at least. Judwaa, Yeshwant, Judaai, Auzaar, Hero No. 1, Lahoo Ke Do Rang and Himalay Putra are some of the major films lined up for release in February or early March.

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DCRs – Delay Collection Reports

Cinemas in Maharashtra will not prepare the daily collection reports (DCRs) this week till a final order from the state government or a specific communication from their association, based on such an order of the government on the rate of entertainment tax, is received by them. For, only after deducting tax will it be known how much is owed to the distributor from out of the collections. Of course, the leaders and members of the action committee of the film industry are confident that the tax rate till 31st March, at least, would be 50% only.

Where Is The Audience?

Quite contrary to the general belief that the film-going audience in Maharashtra was hungry for films after the month-long cinema closure, collections on 31st January — the day on which cinemas reopened — were poor and even dismal. There could be two probable reasons for this. One, the dull Ramzan period when Muslims do not frequent cinemas. And two, lack of knowledge about the cinema reopening. One hopes, once the Ramzan month gets over and with mouth publicity of the reopening of cinemas, the box-office will present a rosier picture. As it is, one gets the feeling that February will be a lucky month for the industry.

Waiting For A Clear Field

Saawan Kumar, who was keen to release his Muslim romantic drama, Salma Pe Dil Aagaya, on Idd, has postponed the film. With the cinema closure in Maharashtra having been called off, releasing the film on Idd would have meant clashing with such big films as Judwaa and Yeshwant and withstanding the oppositions of new big films every week thereafter. Had the closure not been called off, Saawan Kumar would have definitely gone ahead with his Idd release even if that would have meant not releasing it in Bombay and Maharashtra. For, in that case, he would have got a clear field in the rest of India, at least. Rather than take advantage of the Idd festival, Saawan has decided to play it safe by postponing the release of Salma… till after all the big films have been released. An intelligent decision, this. After all, his Salma… does not boast of a big star cast. In fact, Aadesh Srivastava’s music is the film’s biggest star, with at least four songs being extremely well-tuned numbers. Not only are the songs melodious, they’ve also been picturised ably.

Badhai And ‘Judaai’

Yet another film which has been postponed is Boney Kapoor’s Judaai. It was to have hit the screens on 14th February but will now come two weeks after that, on 28th February. In spite of the film winning rave reviews in trial shows, Boney did not want to bring it alongwith other big films “because mine is a social film. I’d rather wait for the rush to clear.” Boney is hardly bothered about the fallout of his marriage to his film’s heroine, Sridevi, on the box-office fate of the film. The news of their marriage will have no adverse effect on the film, he is convinced. Incidentally, while January was a month of badhai (congratulatory messages) for Boney and Sridevi, February will be the month of Judaai. And March may be the month of temporary judaai in real life as Sridevi will fly to a foreign land to deliver their first baby there.

Costliest Hindi Film

Producer Pahlaj Nihalani launched Indian, his most ambitious venture, on 31st January at Film City in style. Special posters of Indian adorned the walls all over Bombay city a few days before the muhurt. Such publicity is usually done at the time of release of a film. The budget of Indian is rumoured to be approximately 20 crore! Which would make Indian the costliest Hindi film on the sets. This film was earlier planned to be produced by Sunny Deol, but the project changed hands even before it could start.

Eye-Filling And Interesting

Producer Rakesh Nath (Rikkoo) and debutante director Reema Rakesh Nath have picturised most of the songs of their Mohabbat on scenic locales of Canada. Besides having a good music score (Nadeem Shravan), the film boasts of eye-filling locations and slick camerawork (Rajan Kinagi). At least one song — ‘Don’t break my heart’ — will be a hit in the months to come. It is picturised on Madhuri Dixit and Akshaye Khanna. Another song picturised on both the heroes, Sanjay Kapoor and Akshaye, is interesting. Akshaye, it must be mentioned here, is a charming boy who will be accepted with open arms. His gait, poise and smile will endear him to the audience. …Information saw the songs of Mohabbat at a screening a few days back.

New Titles

Have a look at some interesting/funny titles applied for registration with the title registration committee:

Hello Tumse Pyar Kiya, Chor Ke Ghar Chori, Dal Dal, Prem Patra, Humse Mile Tum, Milte Milte, Ek Pati Teen Patniyan, Ladka Naram Ladki Garam, Oh Priya, Hum To Aise Hi Hain, Daya Ki Devi, Raja Pardesi, Pardesi Raja….

Observations

To end the column with some observations:

The response to the trailer of Yeshwant in cinemas of Bombay is simply remarkable. The bold and raw dialogues by Nana Patekar are making the audience go wild with excitement.

Tips is leaving no stone unturned and sparing no money to publicise its first production venture, Auzaar. It has put up a beautiful and costly backlit hoarding of the film at the strategic Juhu beach. It is the same site where the backlit hoarding of Barsaat had been put up, followed by the backlit hoarding of Dil Ke Jharoke Main.

One thought, it would never happen. But that’s exactly what’s happening. Tips’ Auzaar and Vashu Bhagnani’s Hero No. 1 will both be released on 21st February. Vashu’s earlier film, Coolie No. 1, was presented by Tips.

THREE CINEMAS REOPEN WITH ‘RAJA HINDUSTANI’

Three cinemas in C.P. Berar, one each in Jalgaon, Dhulia and Nandurbar, reopened on 24th January despite the ongoing cinema closure in Maharashtra. All the three cinemas — Natwar (Jalgaon), Bhattal (Dhulia) and Bhatwal (Nandurbar) — are screening Raja Hindustani.

The Amravati film trade on 24th January met and expressed deep anguish over what it described as “gross violation of CCCA’s directive” by the three cinemas. The trade felt that Mihir Pictures, the film’s distributors, had provoked the said exhibitors directly or indirectly to violate the directive of the CCCA, which had threatened the Association’s unity.

The meeting resolved to request the CCCA to take disciplinary action and impose penalty of Rs. 1 lakh per day per violation against the three exhibitors as well as against Mihir Pictures. It also resolved to request the CCCA president and its executive committee not to entertain any case of those exhibitors and the distributor in any adjudicating body for at least 3 years. Further, all distributors irrevocably agreed that they would not supply any film print, whether contracted or not, to the three erring cinemas for one year.

As Cinema Closure Enters ‘Silver Jubilee’ Day
Maharashtra Government Takes Film Industry For A Royal Ride

Empty Promises But No Action

The Maharashtra government seems to be taking the film industry for a long ride. The ministers and politicians are making the proverbial promises every day but not keeping them. As a result, the cinema closure in the state entered its 25th day today with sure signs of cracks in the unity.

The action committee of the film industry met Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on 19th January when the latter is said to have assured the delegation that he would see to it that conditions conducive to the reopening of cinemas were created very soon. When nothing came out of the promises for three days after that, the industry kept its fingers crossed in the hope that an announcement of some relief or concession would be made on 23rd January, the birthday of Bal Thackeray. But even the birthday passed without any gift from the birthday boy to the industry.

In the meanwhile, a group of exhibitors of Marathwada region, including Ravi Machhar, met Maharashtra chief minister Manohar Joshi and deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde in Aurangabad earlier this week and appealed to them for relief in entertainment tax. Both the ministers were sympathetic to the demands of the industry and promised to look into the matter.

Rumours were rife on 23rd that a slab system of entertainment tax on the lines of that finalised by Pramod Navalkar and the action committee on 6th January would be announced by the government on 24th. Another rumour had it that 50% tax would be retained and an announcement to that effect would be made by the state government on 24th. The rumours mentioned that the announcement would be made as soon as the governor gave his assent to the concession. Of course, the rumours were completely baseless. And so, like the earlier days of the week, the 24th day of January too passed without any news from the government’s side. Obviously now, nothing would be forthcoming till Monday (27th) at least.

The industry leaders are likely to meet Bal Thackeray again today (25th January). In its meeting of 19th, the action committee members also had a brief discussion with L.K. Advani who also, like Bal Thackeray, was of the opinion that the industry needed to be granted reliefs.

In the meantime, exhibitors and distributors in various parts of the state are becoming more and more impatient with each passing day. Some exhibitors in C.P. Berar (Vidarbha region of Maharashtra) even put up notice boards outside their cinemas on 22nd January, announcing their reopening on and from 24th. The CCCA intervened and succeeded in persuading many of them to hold themselves back in the interest of unity. Even then, at last three cinemas did reopen on 24th.

CRUCIAL MEETING ON MONDAY

A joint meeting of the BJP and Shiv Sena ministers with the action committee will be held on 27th January to arrive at a consensus settlement. This was decided at a meeting the action committee members had with Maharashtra deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde on 24th. During the meeting, Munde is said to have expressed his displeasure over the industry leaders’ complete bypass of the BJP ministers in their earlier talks of settlement with the state government. The leaders apologised for their lapse and cleared the misunderstanding, it is learnt.

Veeru Devgan Hurt On ‘Sar Utha Ke Jiyo’ Sets

Action director Veeru Devgan hurt his shoulder recently while performing a stunt for P.M. Films’ Sar Utha Ke Jiyo at Film City. He was facing the camera under the direction of another action director, Mohan Baggad.

‘Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai’ Major Spell

Director Deepak Sareen started a 25-day marathon shooting schedule of Tips Films (P.) Ltd.’s Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai from Jan. 16 on a set at R.K. Studios. All the artistes are participating. The film stars Salman Khan, Twinkle Khanna, Johny Lever, Mushtaq Khan and Anupam Kher. It is based on a screenplay by Honey Irani and has music by Jatin Lalit, lyrics by Anand Bakshi, cinematography by Manmohan Singh, editing by Renu Saluja, art by Sharmishtha Roy and dialogues by Javed Siddique.

‘Virasat’ Dubbing Complete

Dubbing and effects and special effects work of M.R. Productions Pvt. Ltd.’s Virasat have been completed in Madras. Recording of background music will start next week. The film stars Anil Kapoor, Tabu, Pooja Batra, Milind Gunaji, Govind Namdeo, Tiku Talsania, Neeraj Vora, Satyen Kappu, Dilip Dhawan, Sulbha Deshpande, Anjana, Reena, Ajay Ratnam, Ajit Kumar, Dev Sharma and Amrish Puri. It is directed by Priyadarshan for producers Mushir Riaz. Dialogues: Vinay Shukla. Music: Anu Malik. Lyrics: Javed Akhtar.

‘..Aur Pyar Ho Gaya’ Last Schedule

After completing a 15-day shooting schedule in Singapore, the unit of Essem Entertainment’s ..Aur Pyar Ho Gaya has now shifted to Bombay where it is being shot in bungalows, on sets and locations and will be so shot till February. All the artistes are participating. The film will be complete after this schedule. A Bharat Shah presentation, it is being directed by Rahul Rawail and written by Rumi Jafri. It stars Bobby Deol and Aishwarya Rai in the lead. Music: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Lyrics: Javed Akhtar.

‘Auzaar’ Copy Out

The first copy of Tips Films (Pvt.) Ltd’s Auzaar is out. Due for release next month, the film has been applied for censorship. It stars Salman Khan, Sanjay Kapoor, Shilpa Shetty, Paresh Rawal, Johny Lever, Kiran Kumar, Asif Sheikh and Nirmal Pandey. It is written and directed by Sohail Khan and has dialogues by Anwar Khan, music by Anu Malik, lyrics by Rahat Indori, Qatil Shifai, Ila Arun and Anu Malik, art by R. Verman, action by Mahendra Verma, editing by A. Muthu, dances by Raju Sundaram, Saroj Khan and Raju Khan, cinematography by Kaka Thakur, and sound by Narendra Shinde.

‘Mrityudand’ Complete

With the completion of a song picturisation on Madhuri Dixit and Ayub Khan from Jan. 14 to 17 at Panchgani, the entire shooting of Prakash Jha Productions’ Mrityudand is complete. Directed by Prakash Jha, who also produces the film in association with G.S Mayawala, it co-stars Shabana Azmi, Om Puri, Shilpa Shirodkar, Mohan Joshi, Mohan Agashe, Rajkamal, Dashrat, Pyare Mohan Sahay, Brijgopal, Ajit Vachani, Abha Dhulia, Mona Ambegaonkar and Harish Patel. Music: Anand Milind. Lyrics: Javed Akhtar. Cameraman: Rajen Kothari. Manmohan Shetty presents the film.

DO YOU KNOW?

* RAJA HINDUSTANI has created a theatre record by collecting 99,970/- in 11th week at Apsara, Meerut.

* RAJA HINDUSTANI has created a city record by collecting 1,01,239/- in 10th week at Babulal, Raipur.

* RAJA HINDUSTANI has created a city record by collecting 1,79,676/- in 8th week at Jyoti, Jabalpur. Total: 16,26,695/-.

* RAJA HINDUSTANI has created a theatre record by collecting 1,11,692/- in 10th week at Radha, Bhopal, and another record by collecting 85,018/- in 5th week at Jyoti, Bhopal.

* RAJA HINDUSTANI has created history in Rajasthan by collecting a total of 34,48,448/- in 10 weeks at Premprakash, Jaipur. Distributor’s share in 10 weeks is 21,91,358/-!

* Some big films like JUDWAA, KOYLA, MRITYUDAATA and HERO NO. 1 have been already booked at Itarsi on fantastic terms.

* 1997 should be a crucial year for Bengal distributor Dr. Sunil Kumar. For, he has, besides other films, four big films due for release in West Bengal and Bihar this year. The big and costly projects are MRITYUDAATA, GUPT, AEY WATAN TERE LIYE and DIL TO PAGAL HAI (the last-named film is for Bihar only).

ANNOUNCEMENT & LAUNCHING

Mehul Kumar’s ‘Aey Watan Tere Liye’ Launched With Fanfare

Mehul Movies P. Ltd.’s Aey Watan Tere Liye was launched on Jan. 23 at Filmalaya Studios in the presence of a huge gathering. Writer-director-producer Mehul Kumar’s daughter, Jahan, switched on the camera, and music director Laxmikant performed the coconut-breaking ceremony as Dinesh Gandhi sounded the clapper-board for the inaugural shot. Amitabh Bachchan and Arshad Warsi performed on a specially erected stage with the Parliament forming the backdrop. Both of them performed a scene with some pre-recorded dialogue on the independence and the state of law and order in the country, being played in the background.

The film, which has story and screenplay by producer-director Mehul Kumar, co-stars Dimple Kapadia and Ranee Mukherjee. Music is by Nadeem Shravan and lyrics, by Sameer. Dialogues: Jalees Sherwani. Cinematography: Russi Billimoria. Editing: Yusuf Sheikh. Action: Shakoor Pathan. Audiography: Sarosh Italia. Art: Sunil Singh.

* * *

Nandu Tolani Announces ‘Dada Thakur’

Producer Nandu G. Tolani has signed Amrish Puri to play the title role in Sapna Arts’ Dada Thakur. To be directed by Jayprakash Shaw, the film co-stars Raakhee, Indra Kumar, Shakti Kapoor, Ashok Saraf, Laxmikant Berde, Tinnu Anand, Ajit Vachani, Tej Sapru, Tiku Talsania, Ahmed Sohail, Arjun and Jack Gaud. A female lead is to be finalised. It is written by Anwar Khan. Music by Anand Milind, lyrics by Sameer, cinematography by Harish Joshi, art by R. Verman, action by Mahendra Verma, editing by A. Muthu, and sound by Jagmohan Anand are the other major credits. The film will go on the floors in March.

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Exciting Entertainer

Boney Kapoor’s Judaai has turned out to be an extremely entertaining film. Remake of the very successful Telugu film, Shubhlagnam, it boasts of a mind-blowing performance by Sridevi and a brilliant show of talent by Urmila Matondkar. Although Anil Kapoor does not have histrionics to perform, his role is as difficult as tight rope-walking and he carries it off with the ease of a veteran. Farida Jalal is yet another actress whose role and performance will be loved by ladies, never mind if it is not a very lengthy role. Comedy (of Johny Lever, Paresh Rawal, Kader Khan and, of course, Sridevi) is a major highlight of the film. In fact, Judaai can best be described as a David Dhawan kind of comedy but with a definite and strong story-line. Music is racy and the song picturisations, especially those on picturesque and hitherto unexploited foreign locales, are a treat for the eyes. Director Raj Kanwar and dialogue writer Jainendra Jain have both done a swell job in making Judaai an exciting and truly promising film.

The Best Of Saurashtra

Sooraj Barjatya was in Rajkot recently where he saw the Gujarati film, Oonchi Medi Na Ooncha Mol, and Raja Hindustani at Galaxy, the best cinema not only in the city but in the whole of Saurashtra. Rajeshbhai and Rashmibhai Patel’s Galaxy cinema is equipped with digital Dolby sound. It screens Hindi films in the 12 noon and 3 p.m. shows and English films in the 6.30 p.m., 8.30 p.m. and 10.30 p.m. shows daily. Since there is more demand for tickets in the 3 p.m. show, the admission rates are hiked slightly in that show.

Republic Day Wishes From Raja Hindustani

Shringar Films, the Bombay distributors of Raja Hindustani, have got made special flags for the Republic Day. The flags will carry the film’s logo and a picture from it, with the slogan, “Hindustan ko Raja Hindustani ka salaam”. The flags will be distributed among the public as a publicity for the film.

RELEASES UNCERTAIN

Releases of all forthcoming films are uncertain in view of the ongoing cinema closure in Maharashtra. A number of producers have planned their releases from Feb. 7 onwards to take advantage of the Idd period, but the release plans are all subject to the reopening of cinemas in Maharashtra. Saawan Kumar’s Salma Pe Dil Aagaya will, perhaps, be the only major film which will be released on 9th February even if the bandh is not called off.

Cinema Closure In Maharashtra
Deadlock Continues

The deadlock in the matter of cinema closure in Maharashtra continues, with the government adopting a tough and rigid stand that it would not grant any relief or concession before March 5 until which the election code of conduct would remain in operation in the state. The code of conduct precludes the government from granting any relief, benefits or concession to anybody. The industry leaders, on their part, are making efforts to get negotiations restarted with the government. In a bid to woo the BJP ministers, who are said to have objected to the earlier settlement arrived at (on 6th January) between their partners, the Shiv Sena, and the action committee of the film industry, the latter is now seeking appointment with BJP’s Gopinath Munde. An early meeting with Munde, who returned from Delhi only on 16th January, is not ruled out.

In the meantime, TOA president U.A. Thadani on behalf of the action committee denied that the industry had been asked to reopen the cinemas before any settlement came about.

The action committee is also going all out to seek a more pronounced support from the production sector. Towards this end, it has arranged a meeting with several top producers and those whose films are ready for an early release, on Monday, January 20, at Gaiety-Galaxy cinema complex.

Whilst the leaders are making efforts for a settlement, exhibitors, especially from ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres, have started losing their patience and and are pressing the action committee for calling off the bandh. Some cinemas in ‘A’ class centres are also said to be keen that they be allowed to reopen soon in view of the Idd festival during which box-office collections are known to look up. But distributors of C.P. Berar submitted a written memorandum to the CCCA, asking it not to call off the closure by accepting 100% entertainment tax, under any circumstances. The memorandum states that if 100% tax rate is accepted, the business of small and flop films will be badly affected as admission rates will go up.

Even as the cinema closure entered its 18th day today, cinemas of Marathwada continue to function and are paying entertainment tax at the new enhanced rate of 100%.

Meanwhile, a couple of Marathi film producers and distributors have decided to offer their prints to any cinema owner who is prepared to release them, in view of the fact that there is no solution in sight for the ongoing bandh. The current season is one of yatras (pilgrimages) in Maharashtra, a period known to be bountiful for the box-office. The Marathi film producers and distributors do not want to lose out on this golden period and hence their decision to call off the bandh. It may be mentioned here that touring cinemas in the state have been permitted right from the start to continue their operations and not remain closed.

Whatever the progress on the front of the cinema bandh, the next two or three days will be very crucial and a final and definite outcome may materalise next week.

STOP PRESS

It is reliably learnt that Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has expressed the Maharashtra government’s inability to grant any relief in entertainment tax till 5th March, on which date the election code of conduct will cease to apply. While he is also said to have expressed a desire that some concession needed to be given to the industry in the matter of entertainment tax, he is reported to have asked that the closure be called off immediately.

It is, therefore, likely that after a meeting with Maharashtra deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde in a couple of days, the action committee might decide to call off the cinema closure with the hope that some concession will be granted after March 5, 1997.

SANTOSH SINGH JAIN KO GUSSA KYON AATA HAI?

CCCA president Santosh Singh Jain lost his cool at the action committee meeting on 16th January when both, U.A. Thadani and N.N. Sippy, did not turn up at the meeting which was called to take stock of the situation of the cinema closure. When contacted, Thadani is said to have told Jain that since there was no headway made in the matter, he had excused himself from the meeting.

Upon this, Jain is said to have threatened to ask his members to reopen their cinemas without a settlement if the Bombay leaders continued to show scant interest in the matter. In fact, this statement of Santosh Singh Jain soon started doing the rounds of the trade circles and news spread fast that the C.P. Berar distributors and exhibitors were calling off the bandh. When contracted, Jain told Information, “No, we aren’t calling off the closure. My remarks were made in the heat of the moment, we don’t intend carrying out our threat.”

“We’d rather close down our cinemas forever than pay 100% entertainment tax”

– U.A. THADANI

Bombay exhibitor U.A. Thadani is known for his sharp tongue and short temper. The man minces no words and never hesitates in calling a spade a spade. When we called on him on 15th January, he was having an afternoon siesta in his office. “I’ve nothing to do,” he grinned as he opened his eyes and straightened himself in his chair. He was, obviously, referring to the ongoing cinema bandh in Maharashtra, precisely the reason why we had decided to interview him.

What is the latest on the closure front?

– Nothing. We are trying to fix up on a meeting with deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde but he is in Delhi today. Shatrughan Sinha, who is also in Delhi, met him there. We’ll, perhaps, get a chance to see him once he returns to Bombay.

But there are press reports that the government wants the closure to be called off before it has a dialogue with the industry.

– Rubbish! Nobody has conveyed this to us.

Will the action committee call off the bandh if the government asks it to do so before it has a dialogue?

– No way! We will not open the cinemas till we get the relief we are demanding. We can’t pay 100% entertainment tax, it is impossible.

What is the industry expecting to achieve?

– A definite relief, not merely promises.

Will the industry accept the 3-tier entertainment tax structure agreed to between Pramod Navalkar and the action committee on 6th January?

– Yes, we will accept that even today. We are not like the government which goes back on its word.

But what if the government refuses to grant any relief?

– We won’t open the cinemas. We’d rather close them down permanently than pay tax at the rate of 100%.

Exhibitors of small towns are getting impatient and want to reopen their cinemas as they are convinced, the government won’t grant any relief before March 5. Comment.

– This is not true. On the contrary, I receive phone calls everyday from cinemas in moffusil places, pledging their unstinted support to the bandh. Finally, the bandh will bear fruits for the benefit of all. If we agree on the 100% tax rate, a number of cinemas will find it difficult to run. They will close down. Already, with 50% entertainment tax, several cinemas have downed shutters. Imagine the scene then, with double the tax rate.

The government is said to be sore about exhibitors not spending the money collected by way of the tax-free service charge, for the maintenance of cinemas. How justified are exhibitors in not utilising this money for the purpose for which it has been allowed to be collected?

– If exhibitors don’t spend the money on maintenance, they have to refund the amount unspent to the government at the end of every year. Why, my own Deccan cinema in Pune refunded over Rs. 46,000 last year. On the other hand, there is no system of carrying forward any excess amount spent in a year on maintenance of a cinema, to be adjusted against the service charge collected in the following year.

How true is the government’s claim that 50% entertainment tax concession was given to the industry as a cinema centenary year gift?

– It is totally false. The gift was given in the 98th year of cinema and withdrawn in the centenary year which was 1996!

Why are the Marathwada exhibitors not supporting your call of cinema closure?

– There are various reasons for it. Of them, one is the fact that some cinemas in that region are owned by ministers. But let me tell you, the total revenue to the government from cinemas of this region is a mere 2 crore per year.

How true is the claim of some Marathi film producers that cinemas in districts of Sangli and Satara have reopened?

– It is utter nonsense. Not a single cinema in Satara or Sangli district is running. The bandh is total, barring the Marathwada region.

Do you think that the election code of conduct is a genuine excuse for not granting relief to the industry or is it a lame excuse?

– See, even in September 1996 when the 50% tax rate was extended for three-and-a-half months, till December 1996, the extension was given while the code of conduct was in operation. If the government wants to, it can still help the industry before 5th March.

Do you think that the BJP ministers did not approve of the settlement between Shiv Sena and the industry and, therefore, the relief was withdrawn before being granted?

– The BJP ministers may have felt ignored, and the industry is to be blamed for this. Quite unwittingly, we did not meet the ministers of the BJP but we have convinced them that this was not done intentionally or with any motive.

Why, according to you, is the government not keen to grant the relief being demanded by the cinemas?

– It has got a wrong impression that if the tax rate is doubled, from 50% to 100%, its revenue will also double. It should realise that attendance in cinemas will come down when the tax rate goes up. So, how can it earn more with 100% tax?

Till when do you think will the bandh continue?

– Till as long as the government doesn’t grant us relief. We are prepared to go on even after 5th March. But we do hope to break the ice with the government shortly, once we meet Gopinath Munde.

– Komal & Gautam

Firoz Nadiadwala Starts ‘Raftaar’ In Style

Producer Firoz A. Nadiadwala launched Base Industries Group’s Raftaar on Jan. 11 at Oberoi Towers. There was heavy security at the launch venue as it was attended by three VIPs — Maharashtra chief minister Manohar Joshi, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and Hollywood star Steven Seagal.

Bal Thackeray lit the traditional lamp, Bharat Shah switched on the camera, Steven Seagal sounded the clapper-board, and Dilip Kumar directed the muhurt shot taken on Sanjay Dutt and Akshay Kumar. Before the muhurt shot, a brilliant audio-visual was played for the invitees. Its sound was impeccable and it had been excellently shot.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who flew in from Karachi, also attended the launch party.

Raftaar is being directed by Priyadarshan. Its music is scored by Anu Malik, and lyrics are written by Majrooh Sultanpuri.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Government Talking Through Its Hat

The Maharashtra government, in its talks with industry leaders over the issue of cinema closure, among other things, expressed displeasure that cinemas in the state were not screening Marathi films for a minimum fixed number of weeks, as desired by the government. Perhaps, the government does not know that if all the cinemas decided to screen Marathi films even for just one week in a year (of course, the government wants them to screen them for several weeks), many of them will have to remain closed. Because there just aren’t enough Marathi films produced. In 1996, only 11 Marathi films were made as against 22 in 1995 and an equal number in 1994.

Cheer Up, Monsieur Munde

Now that it’s clear that Gopinth Munde and his BJP put the spoke in the wheel during the talks for settlement of the issue of entertainment tax in Maharashtra and the consequent cinema closure, because they felt slighted and ignored by the industry, here’s a song which industry people should now sing to Maharashtra chief minister Manohar Joshi:

Joshi dekh, haan dekh
Tera Munde bigda jaaye
Joshi dekh dekh dekh dekh dekh….

Maybe, then Joshi and Munde may have pity on the industry and do something for it!

GRAFFITI

What’s the new malady on sets, can you tell?
Well, well,
It’s the phone’s ringing bell
For the director, it spells H-E-L-L
This toy called Stars’ Cell-Tel.

CINEMA BANDH MAKES INTERNATIONAL NEWS

The cinema closure in Bombay, the nerve-centre of the largest film industry in the world, and in the rest of Maharashtra has made international news. Your editor was telephonically interviewed on the topic by BBC London for BBC World News (telecast on 8th January), by BBC Radio, by BBC Radio (Hindi) and by German Radio.

Cinema Closure In Maharashtra
Election Code Causes Stalemate
Govt. Goes Back On Its Word

The Maharashtra cinema closure entered its eleventh day today, with no early settlement in sight. A stalemate has developed over the issue of entertainment tax concession, which is the cause of closure, due to the applicability of the election model code of conduct in Maharashtra, which makes it impossible for the government to grant any concession, relief or benefit to anybody while it (code of conduct) is effective. The code has come into force from 9th January, ’97 and will remain in operation till 5th March, ’97 in view of the impending elections to nine municipal corporations, 30 municipal councils and 319 panchayat samitis. Technically, therefore, even if the government wants to give some relief to the industry, it cannot do so now until 5th March, ’97. No announcement or implementation of concessions or reductions can be made during this period, according to state election commissioner D.N. Chaudhary. Since the office of the state election commissioner is created under the constitution of India, it is an autonomous one. D.N. Chaudhary’s interpretation is thus absolute and the government can have no recourse to move in the matter.

It is a different thing thought that the government is not in a mood to grant any concessions or even extend the earlier concessional rate of entertainment tax of 50%. In fact, the action committee of the film industry (ACFI) met Maharashtra cultural affairs minister Pramod Navalkar on 6th January and submitted proposals to him on the granting of which they would call off the closure. The industry leaders and Navalkar arrived at a consensus formula whereby the 50% rate of entertainment tax would be maintained in case of nett admission rates upto Rs. 40, 62.5% tax would be charged for nett admission rates over Rs. 40 and upto Rs. 60, and 100% tax would be levied on nett admission rates in excess of Rs. 60. This consensus formula was to have been passed in the cabinet meeting the following day (7th January) after which the cinema closure was to have been called off. But the industry got a shock when the cabinet rejected the said proposal agreed upon by Navalkar himself.

The action committee’s hopes of reopening the cinemas from 8th January were thus shattered. Even as it decided to continue the stir with renewed vigour in view of the government’s apathy, came the news of the election code of conduct.

In the meantime, cinemas in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra, which did not fall in line with the cinemas in the rest of the state, are continuing to function even now. They are collecting entertainment tax at the new rate of 100% from 1st January, 1997.

Meanwhile, the cinema stir took a curious turn on 8th January with cinema employees owing allegiance to the Mumbai Labour Union alleging that cinemas made substantial profit even as cinema owners have declared that they would be forced to shut down if entertainment tax concession was not granted.

The workers complained that while cinemas raked in money, workers’ salaries were abysmally low. About 30 workers staged a dharna near Mantralaya to press their demands for more wages.

The action committee, on its part, dismissed the dharna as a failure and described it as more of an effort to gain some foothold in the labour movement and to prove its (Mumbai Labour Union’s) existence. According to a press release of the ACFI, workmen of 60 cinemas in Bombay are members of the Theatre Employees Union (TEU) which has appreciated that the ongoing agitation will even benefit their employees, and has assured the action committee of their full support to the cinema closure.

The press release also clarifies that salaries of all cinema employees were being paid during the closure and that no permanent employees had been retrenched or dismissed, as being made out in a section of the press.

Opinion is divided about whether the cinema closure should now be continued or not in view of the election code of conduct. Confusion prevails in the industry over the exact current position. From what the state election commissioner has stated (read box printed separately on this page), there should now be no room for confusion.

Well-known Marathi film producer Satish Kulkarni told Information, “We must open our eyes and take cognisance of the ground realities. The industry would do well to admit that no benefit can come from the government till March 5. There is, therefore, no sense in continuing the closure.” On the other hand, Satara exhibitor Kanhaiyalal Navandhar (Radhika cinema), feels, the closure should continue even though no relief can be granted till 5th March. Says he, “If the industry calls off the closure, it will in effect be accepting the rate of 100% entertainment tax and once it does so, it will be closing its doors to relief of any kind for the next 10 years. That will be suicidal.”

N.N. Sippy and Balkrishna Shroff maintained that the industry was not seeking any relief, it was just asking for status quo to be maintained and, therefore, the election code of conduct was not applicable to the industry. According to them, status quo would mean a 50% tax rate as before 1st January, 1997.

In the meantime, a delegation of distributors and exhibitors of C.P. Berar called on Maharashtra finance minister Khadse in Jalgaon on 10th January and pleaded for a concession in tax. He gave a patient hearing to the delegation which included S.K. Surana and Mahendra Lunkad and promised to arrive at a consensus formula. Khadse is expected in Bombay on 13th January when the members of the action committee are likely to meet him.

According to CCCA president Santosh Singh Jain, “Mr. Khadse reportedly asked the delegation to reopen the cinemas and pay 100% entertainment tax in view of the government’s inability to grant reliefs due to the election code of conduct.”

EFFORTS TO END STALEMATE ON

Even as the stalemate over the Maharashtra cinema closure continues, members of the action committee of the film industry (ACFI) are busy meeting ministers and other politicians in the state to arrive at some settlement. They called on BJP’s Bombay unit president Kirit Somaiya on 10th January to apprise him of the situation. Efforts were also being made to contact Maharashtra deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde.

In the meantime, FMC president G.P. Shirke met Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray on 9th January to seek his mediation to end the impasse. It is reported that Thackeray has asked chief minister Manohar Joshi to approach the state election commission and seek clarification regarding the demands of the cinema owners, and convince it of the need to end the deadlock despite the election code of conduct. According to Shirke, Bal Thackeray was in favour of 50% entertainment tax.

INCORRECT INTERPRETATION

There is a general feeling in the film industry that the election code of conduct in Maharashtra does not apply to the entertainment tax relief sought by the film industry since the industry is not asking for a new concession or relief but rather for an extension of the prevailing concession. But this is not correct.

The prevailing rate of entertainment tax with effect from 1st January, 1997 is 100%, and not 50%, as assumed by those who feel that the code does not apply to the industry. So what the industry is asking for from the government is a concession. Had the code come into force before 31st December, it would not be applicable in the case of entertainment tax on cinema admission till 31st December because till that date, the rate of tax was 50%. In that case, the government could have extended the 50% tax rate without attracting the provisions of the code of conduct. But even in that case, further relief, as being demanded by the industry (25% entertainment tax), could not have been granted.

In any case, until the code of conduct remains applicable (till March 5, 1997), no relief can be forthcoming from the government,unless, of course, an exception is made in the case of the cinema industry.

What The State Election Commissioner Has To Say

Film Information contacted the Maharashtra state election commissioner, D.N. Chaudhary, on telephone on 10th January for his comments on the reliefs sought by the film industry in entertainment tax.

According to Chaudhary, “No reduction or relief or concession in entertainment tax can be given by the government under the election code of conduct.” When asked to comment on the industry’s views that they were not seeking any concession but were only asking for the same rate of tax as existed, D.N. Chaudhary said, “The 50% rate of tax was in force, it is not presently in force. From 1st January, ’97, the rate of entertainment tax is 100%, and so any rate less than 100% would amount to a relief or concession. How then can the industry claim that it is not seeking a relief? And if it isn’t a relief, the government would have to explain so to the election commission.”

When asked about a report in a section of the press on 10th January that Bal Thackeray had asked Maharashtra chief minister Manohar Joshi to approach the state election commission and seek clarification regarding the demands of the striking cinema owners and somehow convince it of the need to end the deadlock, D.N. Chaudhary replied curtly, “Nobody has contacted me.” When further queried whether a settlement/relief was a possibility if the chief minister approached him, Chaudhary declined to comment. When pressed further for his reply, he said a trifle irritated, “Why should I talk in the air?”

D.N. Chaudhary summed up the discussion by saying that the industry must wake up to the realities and appreciate that no relief can be granted till 5th March, 1997.

Need of the Hour: Unity

So now what? This is the question uppermost in all minds, not only in Maharashtra but all over India. The industry has reached a dead-end, at least till March 5. It seems to have come to a no-win situation. Of course, miracles never cease and, you never know, the state election commissioner just might grant permission to give reliefs to the film industry in the matter of entertainment tax even while the election code of conduct is applicable until March 5, 1997. Or will he?

The exact position should be clear in a couple of days more. If no concession is forthcoming from the government, it may not really be practical to continue with the closure till 5th March. A better idea may be to reopen cinemas without further delay and, of course, pay entertainment tax at the enhanced rate of 100%. But the industry can make its stand clear that cinemas would once again down shutters after March 5, if the government did not give it substantial reliefs. And at that time, the erring Marathwada exhibitors could also be asked to support the bandh.

An alternative to this would be to continue with the closure but this is fraught with dangers. There is the risk of small exhibitors losing patience and threatening to reopen their cinemas. If they do so, it will be too embarrassing for the industry and, in that case, their dreams of obtaining reliefs from the government would undoubtedly be shattered.

The action committee should call an emergency general meeting of all exhibitors and distributors of Maharashtra to decide the future course of action. Small exhibitors would have a lot to say in this meeting and their words will carry a lot of weight.

Anyway, whatever is to be done, must be decided once and for all and soon. Nothing should be left ambiguous. For, ambiguity can be one sure cause of the industry’s unity starting to show cracks. And while the industry can, in the extreme case, afford to pay even 100% entertainment tax, what it cannot afford under any circumstances is to become disunited. Unity is the need of the hour, unity at any cost, at all cost.

– Komal Nahta

GOVERNMENT’S BLUFF

The 50% concession in entertainment tax in Maharashtra was given by the Congress government in September ’94. When it was first given, it was for one year. This concession was renewed for a further period of one year in September ’95 by the Shiv Sena-BJP government.

It is rather strange that the Shiv Sena-BJP government is now giving press statements that the concession was given to the industry for just one year as a cinema centenary gift, because it was never mentioned in 1994 that the concession was a gift, centenary or otherwise.

Cinema celebrated its centenary in 1995 and 1996, and it sounds strange that the government may have given a gift before the centenary year even started! Further, one wonders how the Shiv Sena-BJP government can term the concession granted by the Congress government, as a centenary gift when the latter never described it as such while granting it.

Is the Sena-BJP government just looking for an excuse to not renew the concession? Your guess is as good as ours. But the least the government could have done was to have come up with a more plausible and believable excuse, not a lame one like this, which on the face of it looks false.

THEMATIC CLASSIFICATION OF INDIAN FEATURE FILMS CERTIFIED DURING 1996

Social/Crime 625
Action/Thriller/Stunt 12
Horror 10
Devotional 08
Mythological 07
Children’s 05
Historical 04
Fantasy 03
Comedy 02
Political 02
Adventure 01
Legendary 01
Biographical 01
Social-comedy 01
Social-mythological 01
Total 683

INDORE DIARY

””• In every office of C.I., there’s one common discussion — that of the sky-rocketing prices of films. Distributors in the Film Colony of Indore wonder where these prices will stop. In the alternative, they will have to stop buying films, they say.

• The Kapoors of Bharti Film Distributors have almost stopped buying new films because they find the prices too prohibitive. Their last major release was DDLJ. Says veteran Laxminarayanji Kapoor, “We’ve distributed about 750 films in 48 years, but the prices today are beyond our comprehension.”

• The Tolani family is passionate about its business, as is evident from the money they’ve spent on their twin cinemas, Sapna and Sangeeta. Despite dad Arjundas Tolani and illustrious sons Sanjay and Rajiv being stationed in Bombay, the cinemas are well-maintained and are the most sought-after for prestigious films. Impeccable sound system is another hallmark of the cinemas which have a huge common lobby. Raja Hindustani is in its 8th week at Sapna and, believe it or not, all shows so far have been house-full! O.P. Goyal, who controls the cinemas, is constantly on the lookout for quality films to match the quality of the cinemas!

• The CCCA’s Film Bhawan is a big building which reminds of the ceiling penalty which had been imposed by the CCCA on its erring distributor-members. The penalty generated enough funds for the building so that it ought to be rightly called ‘Ceiling Bhawan’ or, better still, ‘Penalty Bhawan’. The CCCA has rented out a good portion of the Bhawan to a hospital and earns handsomely every month. There’s an open land at the backside of the building which may soon house a club etc.

• The Cine Club of Indore is the best thing about the Indore trade. It is a meeting place for distributors, exhibitors and bookers, and the camaraderie among the members has made it achieve an enviable place for itself in the trade. President Ashutosh Shukla, fondly called Chhota Pahelwaan, organised a function of the Cine Club on 6th January to felicitate Komal Nahta and Gautam Mutha of Film Information and Vinod Mirani of Box-Office. J.P. Chowksey, Ratanlal Garg, Ramesh Sureka, Govind Acharya (Rajshri), O.P. Goyal, Joharilal Jhanjharia and Ashutosh Shukla made brief speeches.

• Sunil Enterprises, Indore, has reason to celebrate. Not only has its Raja Hindustani surpassed DDLJ wherever it is running, it is also ahead of HAHK..! so far. The concern’s next is Hero No. 1.

• The biggest buyers of 1997 in C.I. are undoubtedly Shri Bableshwar Films. The Advani brothers have for release such big films as Itihas, Ishq, Maharaja, Deewana Mastana, Karobaar, Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya…. In fact, the new year began on a lucky note for Sunil Kumar Advani when his wife delivered a baby boy on 1st January at 1.26 a.m.

• Hemant Vyas has come a long way. Starting out as manager of Darshan Sabharwal’s distribution office, Hemant ventured into independent distribution by buying small films. Today, Hemant is as big as the big films he buys. He released Sabse Bada Khiladi and Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi recently. He has just acquired Venus’ Mela.

• J.P. Chowksey has left behind his unlucky days. He was lucky in Prem Granth and now, his Maachis is doing record business. It is expected to do over 30 lakhs in C.I.

• Jitendra Jain has ably trained his son, Bittu, who now manages the show at Sanman Films. The concern has been lucky in their deals with ABCL (Bandit Queen, Bombay, Tere Mere Sapne).

• Ashok Chaudhary of B.R.A. Enterprises considers the Maharashtra cinema closure a blessing in disguise because his Judwaa has had to be postponed due to the bandh. In the meantime, the music of Judwaa has really caught on.

– Gautam Mutha

AASTHA

Released this week all over except in C.P. Berar, Aarohi’s Aastha (A) is the story of a lady and her professor-husband. The young lady gets entrapped in the world of sleaze and finds herself sleeping with rich men, a fact which her husband is completely unaware of. Although she feels guilty about the life she is leading, she carries on with it till one day she finds herself exposed by her husband’s student. Together, she and the student plan to confess to her husband, but not directly, only by innuendo. This, she feels, is her only chance to pick up the threads of her shredded life.

By its very nature, the story is one which would appeal only to the elite audience. The treatment of the subject is also of the kind which makes the film hold interest only for a section of the audience. The wife’s guilt and yet her unwillingness to give up sleeping with other men would confuse the general audience. The ending is also too ‘class’ appealing because the husband is not told about the wife’s extra-marital affairs in plain and simple words. There isn’t much titillation too for the front-benchers. In short, the story is neither of the kind which one could identify with or would want to identify with nor of the kind which a layman could comprehend and enjoy.

Rekha does well. Om Puri gives a restrained performance as her husband. Dinesh Thakur is average in a brief role. Anwesha Bhattacharya does a fair job. Daisy Irani is quite effective. Navin Nischol is okay. Sagar Arya does reasonably well.

Basu Bhatttacharya’s direction is in keeping with the mood of the story. He seems to be not very concerned about the mass audience. Music is very good for the genre of the film which Aastha is. ‘Labon se choom lo’ and ‘Kaanch ki boonde’ are truly melodious songs. Dialogues are ordinary. Photography is good.

On the whole, Aastha neither has universal acceptance nor sex scenes to lure the masses. As such, it will remain a fare for select cinemas in selected cities only. …….Opening was dull almost everywhere due to poor publicity.

LATEST POSITION

Barring the cinema closure in Maharashtra, it was a normal week in the rest of the country.

Ajay 1st week Bombay 37,81,450 (91.65%) from 13 cinemas (9 cinemas for 5 days, 9 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 6,93,178 from 5 cinemas, Baroda 1,19,116, Padra 1,12,326, Rajkot 2,13,683 from 2 cinemas, Jamnagar 1,28,450; Delhi 38,57,282 (78.19%) from 13 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 3,77,494 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,15,116, Agra 2,50,000, Allahabad 1,40,000, Meerut 100%, Dehradun 1,58,000, Gorakhpur 1,61,000 (87.97%); Calcutta 23,49,244 from 20 cinemas (14 on F.H.); Raipur 1,39,000 (70.14%), Bhilai 1,33,000; Indore 91,774 (3 on F.H.), Bhopal 2,95,927 from 2 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Jaipur 7,05,439 from 4 cinemas, Bikaner 2,82,424; Hyderabad 22,67,598 from 12 cinemas.

Tere Mere Sapne 4th week Bombay (5 days) 11,87,044 (88.89%) from 7 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 2,55,327 from 3 cinemas, Baroda 89,409, Rajkot (matinee) 16,859; 1st Solapur (matinee, 5 days) 28,819; 4th Delhi 7,56,850 from 3 cinemas; Kanpur 55,593, Lucknow 1,68,345, Agra 71,425, Allahabad 41,325, Dehradun 74,342, Gorakhpur 11,500; Nagpur (6 days) 1,62,578, 3rd week Akola (6 days) 67,330, total 2,05,567, 4th Bhilai 37,255, 3rd Jalgaon 64,252; 4th week Indore 2,40,280, Bhopal 1,10,810; Jaipur 1,46,717; Hyderabad 5,39,984 from 4 cinemas (2 in noon).

Raja Hindustani is still doing wonders all over India. 7th week Bombay (5 days) 25,79,148 (93.73%) from 10 cinemas (9 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 6,02,037 from 5 cinemas, 1st Himmatnagar 1,87,039, 5th week Bharuch (gross) 2,64,140, 7th Jamnagar 1,14,051 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Solapur (5 days) 1,66,167 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Delhi 27,58,794 from 9 cinemas (1 unrecd. and 1 on F.H.); Kanpur 3,17,082 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,11,098, 8th Allahabad 1,20,300, Meerut 1,66,516, 7th Dehradun 1,52,274, 8th Gorakhpur 1,18,000; 7th week Calcutta 15,34,556 from 17 cinemas; Nagpur (6 days) 3,78,831 from 4 cinemas, Akola (6 days) 1,22,731, Raipur 1,19,007, Bhilai (6 days) 1,06,090, Jalgaon 1,60,580 (100%), 5th Wardha (26 shows) 77,860, 7th Chandrapur 1,21,783; Indore 2,31,931 (100%), Bhopal 3,55,142 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 4,81,886 from 2 cinemas, Jodhpur 2,47,300, 6th week Bikaner 1,44,544; 7th Hyderabad 9,89,286 from 5 cinemas (1 unrecd., 1 in noon).

……..

Film Weather: 1996

125 RELEASES

A total of 125 films were released in 1996. Of course, 29 were dubbed films. As against this, 129 films were released last year, of which 30 were dubbed.

HITS & MISSES

Of the 125 films released, only 16 proved to be successful/hits/mega hits. The remaining 109 ranged from average to disastrous.

THE HITS

Dharmesh Darshan’s Raja Hindustani emerged as the biggest blockbuster of the year. It is still doing record-shattering business and is poised to exceed the business of last year’s mega-hit, DDLJ. Among the other super-hits of the year were Saajan Chale Sasural, Agni Sakshi and Bandit Queen.

ENTERTAINMENT TAX 100% AGAIN

The Maharashtra government discontinued the benefit of 50% entertainment tax in the state after 31st December, 1996. This prompted the cinemas in the state to down shutters from 1st January, 1997, in protest.

NEWS MAKERS

If it was Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen at the start of ’96, which was involved in a censor controversy, it was Mira Nair’s Kama Sutra that hit the headlines as the year came to an end, again due to censorship problems. Like the former, the latter film is also likely to be cleared by the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal.

MUSIC MAHARAJAS

The year undoubtedly belonged to Nadeem Shravan whose names were associated with three blockbusters viz. Raja Hindustani, Agni Sakshi and Saajan Chale Sasural. Jeet, another major success, had Nadeem Shravan’s music.

ALL-TIME HIGH

Film prices touched a new high and so did star prices. Now, it is normal to speak of film prices in crores of rupees as against lakhs a couple of years ago.

EYEWASH, BIHAR STYLE

The Bihar distributors decided to put a ceiling on film prices and resolved to pay not more than 35% of a film’s ratio, for their territory. But this has led more to dealings in cash than anything else.

PRICE HIKES

Price hike at the time of a films’ delivery has become the in-thing. In 90% of the cases, producers increased their film prices at the time of release. Distributors cribbed but, all the same, paid the increased prices in most of the cases.

BIG B’S BIG COMEBACK

Amitabh Bachchan staged a comeback to acting by launching a film to be produced by his ABCL and directed by Indra Kumar, on 9th February. But while that film is yet to roll, his Mrityudaata is almost complete. He has also signed several other films, some of which are already on the floors.

ELECTION BLUES

The Lok Sabha election results in May were not exciting for the industry as several industry folks lost the elections. Among the losers were Rajesh Khanna, Raj Babbar, Revathi, Ramesh Deo and K.C. Bokadia. Shatrughan Sinha and Jaya Prada made it to the Rajya Sabha.

NATIONAL AWARDS FOR ‘DDLJ’, ‘BANDIT QUEEN’

Aditya Chopra’s Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge bagged the National Award for the best popular film of 1995, providing wholesome entertainment. Seema Biswas bagged the best actress National Award for Bandit Queen which also won a National Award for the best Hindi film.

AMITABH’S DAUGHTER TO WED RAJ KAPOOR’S GRANDSON

Amitabh Bachchan’s daughter, Shweta, got engaged to Nikhil, son of Rajan and Ritu Nanda of the Escort empire, in Delhi on 1st January. Nikhil Nanda is the grandson of late Raj Kapoor and is a director in Escorts Yamaha Motors Ltd.

DO YOU KNOW?

* A record number of 14 actors and 8 actresses made their debuts in films in 1996. The 14 actors are Arshad Warsi, Milind Gunaji, Mukul Dev, Sharad Kapoor, Chandrachur Singh, Nirmal Pandey, Abhishek Kapoor, Indra Kumar, Manik Bedi, Samrat, Faraaz Khan, Puru Raaj Kumar, Mohan Kapur and Shaadab Khan. The eight new actresses are Ranee, Sushmita Sen, Suman Ranganathan, Priya Gill, Mayuri Kango, Rambha, Koyal and Rupali.

* The Tolani brothers, Sanjay and Rajiv, who own the best (twin) cinemas of Indore, Sapna and Sangeeta, have jumped into distribution and how! They’ve acquired five films for C.I. The films they will be distributing are BADE MIYAN CHOTE MIYAN, ..AUR PYAR HO GAYA, VISHWA VIDHATA, OFFICER and DIL DEEWANA MANE NA. Besides this, Sanjay is presenting Vicky Kumar’s ZOR (starring Sunny Deol and Sushmita Sen), and Rajiv is producing a film (also starring Sunny Deol) in association with Guddu Dhanoa.

CLASSIFICATION: 1996
(Total 125 films, including 29 dubbed films)

Movie Marvel Of The Year
RAJA HINDUSTANI

AA (Super Hit)

–

A1 (Hit)

SAAJAN CHALE SASURAL
AGNI SAKSHI (‘AAA‘ in Maharashtra)
BANDIT QUEEN

A (Semi-Hit)

GHATAK (‘BB‘ in Eastern Circuit)
JEET (‘B1‘ in Eastern Circuit)

BB (Overflow)

Hindustani (dubbed; ‘AAA‘ in Maharashtra, losing in Rajasthan)
Jaan (‘A‘ in Delhi-U.P. & East Punjab)
Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi

Commission To Overflow

Masoom (‘A‘ in Maharashtra)
Loafer
Diljale (losing in some circuits)
Raja Ki Aayegi Baaraat (losing in some circuits; ‘BB‘ in Bihar & C.P. Berar)
Tere Mere Sapne (‘A‘ in Bombay & losing in Eastern Circuit)
Fareb (‘A‘ in Maharashtra)

B1 (Commission Earner)

Antim Yudh (dubbed; ‘BB‘ in South)

Coverage To Commission

Ek Bandar Hotel Ke Andar (dubbed)
Chaahat
Army
Mission: Impossible (dubbed)
Mita Doonga Naam-O-Nishan (dubbed)

TOP HEROES OF 1996

1. Aamir Khan – Raja Hindustani

2. Sunny Deol – Ghatak, Jeet

3. Kamal Haasan – Hindustani

4. Nana Patekar – Agni Sakshi

5. Govinda – Saajan Chale Sasural

TOP HEROINES OF 1996

1. Karisma Kapoor – Raja Hindustani, Jeet, Saajan Chale Sasural

2. Manisha Koirala – Agni Sakshi

3. Seema Biswas – Bandit Queen

4. Rekha – Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi

5. Tabu – Jeet, Maachis, Saajan Chale Sasural

TOP SONGS OF 1996

1. Pardesi pardesi – Raja Hindustani – Nadeem Shravan

2. Ghar se nikalte hi – Papa Kahte Hain – Rajesh Roshan

3. Latka dikha diya humne – Hindustani – A.R. Rahman

4. Pyaar karna mushkil hai –Agni Sakshi – Nadeem Shravan

5. Yeh teri aankhen – Fareb – Jatin Lalit

6. Chappa chappa charkha chale – Maachis – Vishal Bhardwaj

7. Chhota bachcha samajh ke – Masoom – Anand Raaj Anand

8. Aankh maare o ladka – Tere Mere Sapne – Viju Shah

9. Aaj main ooper – Khamoshi – Jatin Lalit

10. Jhanjharia – Krishna – Anu Malik

11. Telephone – Hindustani – A.R. Rahman

12. Kya ada kya jalwe – Shastra – Aadesh Srivastava

13. Yaara o yaara – Jeet – Nadeem Shravan

14. Shaher ki ladki – Rakshak – Anand Milind

15. Ho nahin sakta – Diljale – Anu Malik

16. Banno teri ankhiyaan – Dushmani – Anand Milind

As Govt. Fails To Extend 50% Ent. Tax Concession
MAHARASHTRA CINEMAS DOWN SHUTTERS FROM 1ST JANUARY

Bandh Not 100% * Action Committee Meets CM

˜˜Cinemas in Maharashtra closed down indefinitely from 1st January, 1997, in protest against the state government’s refusal to continue the concession of 50% entertainment tax beyond 31st December, 1996. The rate of tax had been brought down from 100% to 50% in September ’94 and renewed further in September ’95 for a year, and again in September ’96 for three-and-a-half months till 1996-end. With the Shiv Sena-BJP government having refused to continue the concession from the new year, cinemas all over the state downed shutters from 1st January. Had they continued to conduct shows, the old rate of 100% entertainment tax would prevail from the new year’s day. The closure entered the fourth day today (4th January).

The cinema bandh call has been given jointly by the Cinematograph Exhibitors’ Association of India (CEAI), the Theatre Owners’ Association (TOA), Central Circuit Cine Association (CCCA), Indian Motion Picture Distributors’ Associatoin (IMPDA) and Kinematograph Renters Society (KRS). Despite the joint call, the bandh is not 100% as cinemas in Marathwada region (Nizam circuit) are operating and have not closed down. The Marathwada region includes cities like Aurangabad, Latur, Parbhani, Nanded etc. Cinemas in this region did not heed the bandh call because of an assurance given by the local MP, Chandrakant Khaire, that some relief would be given to the cinemas. According to a cinema owner of Aurangabad, two more reasons have prompted them to refrain from joining in the closure: one, the exhibitors’ associations of Bombay did not take them (cinemas of Marathwada) into confidence and did not even consult them before taking the extreme step of closure and secondly, it is felt by Marathwada cinemas that the government is sore about the high admission rates charged by some Bombay cinemas and since they (Marathwada cinemas) do not have high admission rates, they are unnecessarily being made to suffer because of the handful of Bombay cinemas. In fact, the cinemas of Marathwada have suggested to the government that it should retain the rate of 50% entertainment tax for admission rates upto, say, Rs. 25 or 30 and fix it at 100% for rates above that.

A delegation of the Marathwada Film Exhibitors Association, headed by its president, Ravi Machhar, met Chandrakant Khaire on 31st December. The minister assured the delegation that he would discuss the demands of the cinema owners of Marathwada region with the Maharashtra chief minister and since he appealed to the delegation not to close the cinemas, the latter decided to honour his request. The delegation included Atul Save (secretary), Jugalkishore Tapadia, Amin Sayeed Khan, Sadanand Pande, Noor Khan, Shaikh Salim and Quaisar Khan. They presented a memorandum of demands to Khaire.

Although cinemas of Marathwada are in operation, leaders in Bombay are prevailing upon them to fall in line and down shutters. Foreign film companies, in response to the bandh call given by KRS, have since withdrawn their films which are running in cinemas of Marathwada.

The state has approximately 1,300 cinemas, including a little over 100 in Bombay.

On its part, the government until 3rd January seemed to be adamant about the 100% tax rate. It seemed to be in no mood to reconsider its decision of levying 100% tax with effect from 1st January, 1997. It had not been convinced by the industry’s argument that its revenue from entertainment tax increased from Rs. 80 crore in 1994-95 to Rs. 88 crore in 1995-96 because of the 50% tax concession. In the six months from April ’96 to September ’96, the total entertainment tax collected is said to be Rs. 54 crore.

The government argued that had the tax rate been 100%, it would have earned Rs. 176 crore (double of Rs. 88 crore) in 1995-96. It, therefore, viewed the concession as having caused the exchequer a loss of Rs. 88 crore.

But when the action committee met Maharashtra chief minister Manohar Joshi and cultural affairs minister Pramod Navalkar on 3rd January, the two ministers seemed to be in a mood to heed the industry’s demands. Although no concrete assurance was given to the action committee members, the latter felt, the government would reconsider its stand and offer some relief, at least.

The bandh is supported by distributors who have stopped supplying films to cinemas in the state. Since Bombay (in Maharashtra) is the nerve centre of the film industry, all releases of new films have been indefinitely postponed as producers would not like to release their films in other circuits without releasing them in Bombay territory, for fear of video piracy. As a result, the shortage of films has started to be felt by cinemas of other circuits too. Only Aastha has been released this week all over except in C.P. Berar. No other film is scheduled to hit the screens next week or in the week following that. One or two small, non-star cast films like Ganga Maange Khoon and Maun may be released in the coming week or two outside Maharashtra to take advantage of the lack of oppositions. Besides these, no other film is being announced for release till Idd (Feb. 7) by which time it is hoped, cinemas would reopen.

INDUSTRY TO SUBMIT PROPOSALS TODAY

The action committee of the film industry, which met the chief minister and the cultural affairs minister of Maharashtra on 3rd January, is preparing proposals asked for by the government. The action committee met on 3rd itself and is likely to submit some proposals today (4th).

If the government approves of any proposal submitted by the industry or offers a counter-proposal agreeable to the industry, the possibility of the cinemas reopening from Sunday, January 5, is not ruled out. It is being whispered in trade circles that a two- or three-tier system of entertainment tax may be introduced, that is to say, there will be different rates of taxation for different admission rates, the tax rates increasing with the increase in admission rates. Different tax rates may also be fixed for air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned cinemas, it is learnt from reliable sources.

Don’t Rejoice Today To Repent Tomorrow

The cinema closure in Maharashtra in protest against the state government’s refusal to extend the concession of 50% entertainment tax in the new year has not come a day too soon. In fact, a protest against the very levy of entertainment tax should have been made, and remedial action in the form of complete abolition of the tax, sought.

In today’s times, when cinema has to compete with television and satellite channels, entertainment tax on films makes no sense. After all, why should the industry pay tax to show films when the same films are shown by Doordarshan and all satellite channels without the need to pay any tax? It is discrimination at its worst.

It is rather strange that the government blatantly resorts to discrimination as above on the one hand and objects to price discrimination in the cinema industry. The state government is reported to have expressed displeasure over the trend of cinemas increasing admission rates after getting a concession in entertainment tax rate. What is the logic of the government’s displeasure? All cinemas do not increase their admission rates. Only those which provide first-class amenities like air-conditioned auditoria, latest sound system etc. charge higher rates. Doesn’t price discrimination exist in other industries that it should be looked down upon in our industry?

It is also strange that the state government can completely exempt the recent Michael Jackson show held in Bombay and yet sell tickets at Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 5,000 but frown upon cinemas pricing their tickets at Rs. 50 or Rs. 100, that too, after having to pay entertainment tax.

And if this trend of hiking admission rates to what the government feels is an “unaffordable level” is what has prompted it to withdraw the 50% tax rate and revert to the 100% rate, the following statistics need to be pointed out to the government: Of approximately 1,300 cinemas in the state, just 7 cinemas have admission rates of Rs. 50 or more, that too, for one or two small classes in the said cinemas. Put differently, of the 8 lakh and odd seats in the 1,300 cinemas, just about 3,000 seats are priced at the government’s “unaffordable” level. That is to say, only about 0.375% of the total seats in the state come in the government’s objectionable category. To penalise the entire industry for the action of less than half a percent of the total cinema seats is ridiculous. Only a non-thinking government can do such a thing. And mind you, the action of this 0.375% is not incorrect, it is only considered wrong by the government. No court has branded the admission rates of these 0.375% cinema-seats as wrong, inappropriate, objectionable or unaffordable.

Yet another grouse of the government is that its entertainment tax revenue has not increased from Rs. 80 crore to Rs. 88 crore in one year, but has rather decreased by 50% because of the 50% concession given in tax. The government could as well have said that had the tax rate been 150%, it would have collected Rs. 264 crore. Suffice it to say that tax collection and rate of tax don’t move upward simultaneously. So, such misleading comments by the government serve only to expose its ignorance of knowledge about basic economics.

Lastly, a word for the Maharashtra film industry. The Marathwada exhibitors committed a grave mistake in not supporting the bandh and instead keeping their cinemas open. There can be no excuse good enough to pardon their lapse. It is likely that the leaders in Bombay may accept a compromise solution offered by the government (as is being rumoured) for fear that there is no complete unity (Marathwada exhibitors not supporting the exhibitors in the rest of the state). If they do so, they will be committing a mistake more grave than what the Marathwada exhibitors have committed by not joining the bandh. Today, these words of caution may not seem to have much meaning. But the time ahead will prove that if the industry acts in haste today, it will repent tomorrow.

– Komal Nahta

Dream Merchant

The Dream Marriage

Maybe because it is the season of marriages and I’ve been attending a lot of them that I dreamt of a beautiful wedding card I received.

The card mentioned that the daughter of Guddi and Coolie would wed the grandson of Awara Shri 420. I liked the style of the card as much as I liked the words used. So I decided to probe further into this marriage which promised to be the best in Bollywood and the corporate world. Bollywood, because the bride-to-be was the daughter of a legendary superstar, and corporate world, because the bridegroom-to-be was the son of a multi-millionaire industrialist, besides being the grandson of a late legendary filmmaker and actor.

I learnt that the baaraat would come not on foot, as is customary, but on motor-cycles. Why, the bridegroom himself would not ascend a ghodi, as is the Hindu custom, but would also come riding a motor-bike manufactured by his own company. At the reception, I was told, the bridegroom’s family had made arrangements for every guest to be ‘Escort’ed to the dais which was being erected in filmi style for the couple.

I learnt from the common dress designers of the girl and boy that the two had been meeting chupke chupke since quite a few months. Which means, the silsila wasn’t new and the love story had a filmi tinge. Which also means, it isn’t a case of do anjaane meeting for the first time. What is more, the parents of both, the girl and the boy, were also hoping that the wedding bells would toll for the two. So, when the boy did finally propose to the girl, the latter’s father told the former’s mother, “Oh, this is the realisation of tere mere sapne!”

About the boy and the girl, people say, they are both Indians at heart, although they’ve lived abroad and even studied there. That’s because the girl is the daughter of a true desh premee, one of the prominent saat hindustanis, and the guy is the first cousin of the new rani hindustani. Talking of relations, the boy’s youngest maama (maternal uncle) has decided to write a granth on his nephew’s prem story. But the eldest maternal uncle of the groom-to-be lovingly scoffs at the enthusiasm of his brother as he feels, all love stories are the same since jawani is always diwani, whoever the love birds.

Coming to the pre-marriage functions, the bridegroom’s family will hold an evening of sargam, to be hosted by another maternal uncle of the groom. The girl’s father will not have the run-of-the-mill ladies’ sangeet programme. Instead, he has opted for an all-mard, aalaap recital only, which is expected to be held in his favourite city, Bangalore. This recital will have the patronage of the Karnataka government too and although the participants will be only males, it will, nevertheless, be attended by beauties from all over the world. Lest the not-so-beautiful ladies revolt in opposition, the bride’s father has decided to also have some special invitees from among them.

A joint dandiya nite will be organised by the families of the boy and the girl in Delhi, a day before the marriage. No liquor will be served at this nite as the groom’s father wants no people dancing under the influence of alcohol. No entry for sharaabis then! At this dandiya nite, the girl’s mother is expected to present a special dance item, ‘Pallo latke’. Not to be left behind, the girl’s father will dance to the tune of ‘Hey sabse bada tera naam, O Sheranwali’. Entry to this function as to all the other functions too will be strictly by invitation only and gate-crashers will be checked, because they will be a congregation of all big names from all corners of the world. No place for benaams then.

The baaraatis will receive gifts from the girl’s father, in the form of 100 shares of his new company. The groom’s gracious parents have also decided to gift a cooking range to each and every guest from the girl’s side. But the two families have decided not to accept any wedding uphaars. Presents in blessings only, you see.

For the reception, the best bawarchis of every state in India have been hired by the groom’s maternal uncles so that they can live up to their reputation of being descendants of the showman. On his part, the girl’s father has hired the services of internationally acclaimed cooks so that his shaan remains intact. While the girl’s father will receive the guests on the dais, her only brother will stand at the entrance with folded hands. Bade miyan and chote miyan sharing responsibility.

For their honeymoon, tips will be taken from the bridegroom’s maternal uncle who insists, he has become an expert at honeymooning after having worked in a film called Honeymoon.

Gosh, what have I been letting you readers into. I was supposed to keep all this a closely guarded secret till the D-Day. But when will I get over this habit of writing in my dream? Anyway, I’m happy, I haven’t let out the names of the groom and the bride.

No, please don’t ask me: “Naam kya hai?”

– Komal Nahta

GRAFFITI

The film industry and the

government share a

give-and-take relationship…….

The industry always gives

and the government only takes.

AJAY

Shree Krishna International’s Ajay (UA) is a routine story of a thakur family’s daughter falling in love with a middle-class lad. How the two lovers have to surmount the obstacles that come their way is narrated in the second half which also has some family drama. The first half is devoted to taming of the proud heroine by the hero and getting her to reciprocate his love. There is no attempt to show anything new in the film.

If the story is oft-repeated and of the kind which appealed in the eighties, the screenplay is unimaginative. Script writers Rajiv Kaul and Praful Parekh seem to have taken the audience too much for granted and they have dished out a fare which is an insult to even an average viewer’s intelligence. No attention has been paid to even continuity. In a film of the canvas as big as this, such poor scripting is unpardonable. Dialogues, however, are really good and even clapworthy at places.

Sunny Doel does very well but he is definitely not the perfect choice for a romantic hero’s role. Although there is plenty of action in the climax, the pre-interval portion shows him in an out-and-out romantic role, which goes against his rough-and-tough image. His dance in the ‘Chhammak Chhallo’ song, especially his pelvic thrusts, is a highlight. Karisma Kapoor looks pretty and also performs with maturity, sincerity and confidence. Her absence in the climax is conspicuous. Suresh Oberoi does ably in a lengthy role. Kiran Kumar lends good support. Reena Roy does a fair job but her sermonising is irritating at times. Sadashiv Amarapurkar and Laxmikant Berde’s comedy entertains in the initial reels but as the film progresses, the comedy loses punch mainly because it has no relation with the main story and is also childish. Mohnish Bahl is effective. Farida Jalal, Devyani, Sharat Sexena, Praveen Kumar and the others provide reasonably good support.

Suneel Darshan does not make an impressive debut as director. Besides having a poor script sense, his framing of the shots is faulty as he relies too heavily on close-ups and avoids long-shots and mid-shots even when they are absolutely necessary. For example, in a chase scene, he does not get the one chasing and the one being chased in the same frame so that the viewer is not aware of the distance between the two. Likewise, in action scenes (except in the climax), the impact is reduced considerably because of tight framing. Music is fair. The ‘Chhammak Chhallo’ number is the best, followed by the title song. Picturisations of both are enjoyable for Sunny and Karisma’s dances. The ‘Ruk Majnu’ song needs to be deleted. Action scenes are quite good. The action-packed climax, however, is unduly lengthy and can be safely trimmed. The film’s ending is abrupt. Camerawork is not upto the mark, being dull at places. Foreign locations are good. Production values are of a good standard.

On the whole, heavily priced Ajay lacks in merits and will have to count on the lack of oppositions in the coming weeks (due to cinema closure in Maharashtra from 1-1-’97) to augment its business. Collections in North India should be better with Punjab heading the list.

Released on 25-12-’96 at Novelty and 10 more cinemas and on 27-12-’96 at 11 other cinemas of Bombay thru ABC Pictures Pvt. Ltd. Publicity: very good (but not very appropriate). Opening: good. …….Also released all over. Opening at several places was below the mark due to inappropriate publicity (musical rather than action-oriented publicity).

Ent. Tax Relief To Be Discontinued

Cinemas In Maharashtra To Down Shutters From New Year’s Day

The clarion call has been sounded. Cinemas in the state of Maharashtra will down shutters from 1st January, 1997, in protest against the categorical refusal of the government to continue the reduced entertainment tax rate (of 50%) beyond 31st December, 1996.

The government in its cabinet meeting on 24th December took up the matter of entertainment tax and decided to discontinue the benefit of the reduced tax structure from the new year. This decision was conveyed to the industry the same day. On its part, the distribution and exhibition sectors of Maharashtra met on 26th December and decided to close down all cinemas in the state in protest.

The IMPDA has issued the following directives to its members:

(i) No film print (old and new) shall be supplied to any cinemas, including touring talkies, in the state of Maharashtra for exhibition on and from Wednesday, the 1st of January, 1997.

(ii) All film prints already supplied to exhibitors in Maharashtra shall be retrieved on completion of exhibition in the last show on 31st December, 1996.

It has been decided by the IMPDA that members violating any of the aforesaid two directives shall be liable to a penalty of Rs. 1 lakh.

In the meantime, the Film Makers Combine, in a communication to the government, asked it to extend the benefit of reduced tax and suggested that an enhanced rate of tax be introduced in the case of admission rates beyond a certain limit.

As the government has not come up with an alternative tax structure, it would, by implication, mean that the old rate of 100% tax, as prevalent before September, ’94, would prevail after 31st December, ’96. Since there is no dispute over the tax-free service charge of Re. 1 per admission ticket, that will continue in the new year too.

An action committee consisting of the presidents and members of the Cinematograph Exhibitors’ Association of India (CEAI), Theatre Owners’ Association (TOA), Central Circuit Cine Association (CCCA), Indian Motion Picture Distributors’ Association (IMPDA) and KRP Ltd. has been formed to pilot the closure of cinemas. The action committee has been duly authorised to negotiate with the government of Maharashtra as and when invited by it in the matter.

RELEASE SCHEDULES UPSET

Since Bombay is the nerve-centre of the film industry and is also a major circuit, the cinema closure in Maharashtra from 1st January, 1997 has thrown all the forthcoming release schedules out of gear. Judwaa, which was to have been released on 20th December, may now come on Idd day, of course, only if the Maharashtra cinema closure is called off by then. The film’s Bombay distributor, Inder Raj Kapoor, has finalised Liberty as the main cinema for it in Bombay. Aar Ya Paar was due on 10th January, subject to its censorship. Obviously now, its new release date hangs in balance. Besides these two, there weren’t any other major releases scheduled for January.

Aastha will hit the screens on 3rd January, notwithstanding the closure. However, it will be released in all circuits except Bombay.

As one does not know when the cinemas will reopen, it is difficult to say now, which films will be released when. Of course, producers of some small films might take this opportunity of lack of big oppositions and release their films despite the cinema closure in Maharashtra.

Some other films have also fixed their release date as 7th February (Idd). Among them are Yeshwant (main cinemas in Bombay: Dreamland and New Excelsior), Hero No. 1 (Novelty) and Auzaar (Maratha Mandir). Of Hero No. 1 and Auzaar, only one will come on Idd. Lahoo Ke Do Rang, Judaai, Himalay Putra and Salma Pe Dil Aagaya are the other releases fixed for Idd.

MILAN, BOMBAY CLOSED

Even as cinemas in Maharashtra are getting ready to down shutters from 1st January, 1997, Milan cinema at Santacruz, Bombay, closed down from 27th December. According to a spokesman of the cinema, it will remain closed for a long time for renovation.

HC ASKS ERRING CINEMA TO PAY FINE

A division bench of the Andhra Pradesh high court on 26th December directed Ramakrishna 70mm cinema, Hyderabad, to pay a fine of Rs. 1.50 lakh to the legal service committee and permitted it to reopen the cinema from 17th January.

The bench, consisting of Chief Justice Prabha Shanker Misra and Justice V. Rajagopala Reddy, accepted the apology tendered by the cinema management for having included interpolated scenes in the films Dark Dancer and Secret Games 3 screened at the cinema. The court said that it was a clear case of the cinema licence going beyond the censor certificate in exhibiting films in the cinema with interpolations of scenes which were hard or near-hard pornography. It criticised the lapse in the system and said, it was responsible for clippings finding their way into censored films being screened in cinemas. It said, the commissioner of police would be failing in his duty if he did not henceforth ensure stoppage of such a practice.

K.C. SURANA’S GRAND-DAUGHTER TO WED

Marriage of Manisha, grand-daughter of K.C. Surana and daughter of Devendra Kumar Surana of Raj Mandir cinema, Jaipur, with Ravi will be solemnised on 29th December in Jaipur. A reception to celebrate the wedding will be held the same day at Rajmahal Palace Hotel. A luncheon party will be held on 30th at Surana Enclave.

RAJENDRA BHATIA NO MORE

Well-known producer-director Rajendra Bhatia passed away on 25th December in Bombay at Ramakrishna Mission Hospital due to a heart attack. He was 79.

Rajendra Bhatia started his film career as an assistant to Mohan Segal in New Delhi. He then started his own production banner, Kiran Productions, under which he produced films like Anpadh, Neela Akash, Kanyadan, Pavitra Papi, Paraya Dhan and Jungle Mein Mangal.

He also made television films for Doordarshan, among which was Hum Hindustani, directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

Bhatia is survived by his wife, three sons and two daughters.

‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’: Entertaining Muhurt Of Exciting Film

If the announcement of Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda and directed by David Dhawan, sounded the most exciting announcement of recent times, its muhurt at Hotel Centaur on 22nd December was easily the most entertaining.

The two miyans faced the camera for a fairly long muhurt shot in which they discussed what they should do rather than just while away their time doing nothing. Amitabh first informed Govinda that he was planning to become a neta. Upon which Govinda warned him to remain away from netagiri because a neta sooner or later would be involved in some scam, followed by enquiries, courts, and he would ultimately land up in jail. Seeing sense in Govinda’s note of caution, Amitabh changed his mind and decided to become an abhineta. A brief tiff ensued between the two, with each one clamouring to become the abhineta, asking the other to be his secretary. Finally, when it was resolved that bade miyan Amitabh should become the abhineta, Govinda asked him what he would do after that. Amitabh replied that he would make money and more money and still more money. But what would Amitabh do finally? Pat came the reply from Amitabh that ultimately, after earning plenty of money, he would sleep in peace. Hearing which, Govinda shot back, “But that’s what we are doing even now — sleeping. So why do anything else?” And back the two decided to go, from where they had begun — on the khatiya, to sleep!

There was a big round of applause after the muhurt shot was canned. Even whilst the shot was being picturised, there were peals of laughter amongst the audience, who seemed to be enjoying the references to scams, court battles, etc. Why, there was also a subtle reference to the recent income-tax raid on the film’s director, David Dhawan. The film, being produced by Sheetal Jain in association with Vashu Bhagnani, is written by Rami Jafri. Viju Shah will score its music. Lyrics by Sameer, cinematography by K.S. Prakash Rao, choreography by B.H. Tharun Kumar, editing by A. Muthu, and art direction by R. Verman are the other major credits. Executive producer: Kaleem Khan. Epic Enterprises presents the film.

DO YOU KNOW?

* In 1996, the cinemas of Ujjain screened the following number of films: Metro 12, Nirmal Sagar 19, Prakash 20, Trimurti 24, Narendra 32, Kamal 40, Bhatwal 44, Swarg 50, Ashok 53, Sunderam 53, and Mohan 54.

* Dubbed Telugu films dominated the scene in Andhra in 1996. Of the 130 Telugu films released during the year, 68 were dubbed!

* A total of 58 cinemas in East Godavary district were damaged in the frequent cyclones in Andhra in 1996. Of these, losses to 40 cinemas were major.

YOU ASKED IT

How much is the loss of revenue due to entertainment tax expected to be to the Maharashtra government when cinemas in the state down shutters from the new year’s day?

– Approximately Rs. 30 to 35 lakh per day or over Rs. 2 crore in a week.

What is the ratio of Bade Miyan Chote Miyan?

– Whatever the ratio, distributors of almost all the circuits are falling over one another to bag its distribution rights. It is likely to be sold for 3 in major circuits and a bit more in smaller circuits.

CENSOR NEWS

Pooja Bhatt Productions’ Tamanna was given C.C. No. CIL/3/40/96 (A) dt. 24-12-’96; length 3522.88 metres in 15 reels (no cut).

Ketan Mehta Films P. Ltd.’s Aar Ya Paar was seen by the revising committee on 26th.

Ayesha Films’ Mahaanta (length 5627.14 metres in 21 reels) was applied on 24th.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Black New Year

There had been a cinema closure in Maharashtra exactly 10 years ago, in October 1986. The industry had in that year celebrated what it termed a ‘Black Diwali’. Now, ten years later, the industry is fighting over the same entertainment tax as in 1986. So in 1997, the industry will have a ‘Black New Year’. Ten years ago, the industry succeeded in getting several of its demands sanctioned. What will happen this time, only Time will tell.

Tables Turned

Our music directors and sometimes even lyricists come in for criticism when they flick tunes/lyrics of Pakistani or English songs. But this time over, it has been the other way round. The ‘Aafreen’ song, written by Javed Akhtar, has been plagiarised in Pakistan. Except for a few changes in the words, the song, which is practically the same, is quite popular with the Pakistanis. Javed should feel flattered. After all, isn’t imitation the best form of flattery? Incidentally, the music for the ‘Aafreen’ song in India has been composed by Pakistani composer and singer Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Case For Abolition Of Entertainment Tax

And this one is meant to be taken in a lighter vein.

Industry leaders, in their talks with the Maharashtra government, can put forward the following arguments in support of their demand for maintaining 50% entertainment tax instead of an increase in the rate. Not just that, they can even ask for its complete abolition.

Argument 1: Since most of our films fail to entertain, why levy an entertainment tax on them at all?

Argument 2: Our films tax people’s brains heavily because most of the times, the story is incomprehensible or hardly makes sense, so why should their (people’s) pockets also be taxed?

Argument 3: Since the industry has many other taxing problems to solve, why should the government burden it with a high tax problem.

Argument 4: When industry people are allowed to evade income-tax (except when they are raided, that too, occasionally), they should also have the freedom to evade entertainment tax.