PARDES

Mukta Arts Pvt. Ltd.’s Pardes is the story of two cultures — Indian and Western. Using a love triangle as the base, the virtues of Indian culture vis-à-vis Western culture are sought to be highlighted. The film, from the very beginning, appears to be heavily inspired by Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and, to some extent, by Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!.

A young girl, living in a town in North India, wins the confidence of a non-resident Indian (NRI) friend of her father because of her rich traditional values. He proposes his son, settled abroad, as a match for the girl, and it falls upon the NRI friend’s foster-son (also settled abroad) to get the girl and boy close. The prospective groom hates India and is completely Western at heart, while the foster-son, though living abroad, cherishes Indian values. The engagement ceremony takes place in India, and the girl accompanies her fiancé and to-be father-in-law abroad. Once there, she gets a cultural shock and realises slowly but surely that she would never be able to fit into the Western society. She starts breaking under the pressure, and a situation arises when she is forced to break all shackles and run away to protect her honour. All along, she looks upon the foster-son for mental comfort and physical protection and, in fact, comes back to India with him. Once in India, she realises, he is the man of her dreams and proposes marriage to him. After a lot of reluctance (mainly because the guy is too indebted to his foster-father), he agrees to take the girl as his wife.

The first half is replete with light moments, some of them hilarious and truly enjoyable. Of course, a couple of comedy punches are such as would appeal to the city audience more. The film becomes slow after interval and even begins to drag in the last hour or so. That is when the length of the film (running time: approximately 3 hours and 10 minutes) and its loose editing start irritating. Besides, due to the absence of super-hit music, the lengthy second half also offers no real relief.

While the story is quite likeable, the screenplay leaves something to be desired. For one, the writers and director have played too safe in establishing the love of the girl for the foster-son, perhaps, for fear that the subject should not begin to look immoral. Secondly, there is no heroism of the hero (foster-son) who remains a passive character almost till the end. The only sentiment he is shown to have towards the girl is that born out of protecting her in a foreign land. Sentiments for India have been intelligently highlighted but, at times, they also look too contrived. The kabaddi scene, though initiated on a weak base, is thoroughly enjoyable. The scene in which the heroine slaps her fiancé is also very good. Her conversation on telephone, with her father, touches the heart.

Dialogues are very good at several places. But the heroine’s free usage of main sometimes and hum at other times (when she talks in first person) does not befit the canvas of the film and the names behind it.

Shah Rukh Khan underplays brilliantly and excels as the foster-son. But he definitely ought to have had at least a couple of scenes to prove his heroism. Unfortunately, although there’s no similarity, Shah Rukh’s character in the film reminds of his character in the recently released Yes Boss. Debutante Mahima Chaudhary makes up for her lack of glamour and innocence (the latter was the demand of the character she plays) with a confident and appreciable performance. Apurva Agnihotri also makes a very good debut and suits the role beautifully. Amrish Puri is efficient as always, but one misses him at places in the second half. Alok Nath is just too good. Himani Shivpuri goes through her role with effortless ease. Dina Pathak, Padmavati Rao, Madhuri Bhatia, Benu Kalsi, Pawan Malhotra, Anand Balraj, Deepak Qazir, Vinod Raut, Smita Jaykar and Akash Singh lend admirable support. Aditya Narayan, Rakesh Thareja, Samta Sagar, Prachi Save, master Nagrath, Shashi Sharma and the rest are good.

Subhash Ghai’s direction has his brilliant touches at several places. But his script should have been tighter and should have also given more definite colour to the main characters rather than leaving them grey. Too much usage of English in some comedy punches restricts their entertainment value for the city audience only. Even the film as a whole holds more appeal for the class audience.

Nadeem Shravan’s music is very good but in a Subhash Ghai film, the audience expects magical music as a matter of right, and that is absent. ‘I love my India’ and ‘Meri Mehbooba’ songs are musically the best and their picturisatons are also very nice. ‘Dil deewana dil’ is tuneful and its picturisation takes one on a trip of America. The qawwali is good but its impact is reduced due to the intervening dialogues and action (stunts). ‘Do dil mil rahe hain’ is melodious. Kabir Lal’s camerawork is simply marvellous. The foreign locations have been captured excellently on celluloid. Photography and lighting of India locations are also brilliant. Art direction (R. Verman) is good. Dolby sound is superb. Background music (Vanraj Bhatia) is very effective but is also found missing in some crucial scenes. Editing, as mentioned earlier, is loose, and the film deserves to be trimmed by at least 10 to 15 minutes to take care of both, the dull moments as well as the odd show timings (due to the length of the film). In fact, if the producer does not effect cuts soon, some of the distributors and exhibitors may do it themselves.

On the whole, lengthy Pardes is not a landmark film (although it had the germs) but it has some merits, some freshness, an entertaining first half and nationalist sentiments to appeal to the audience and bring in some returns for most of its distributors. It shouldn’t be shocking, however, if it fails to recover its cost in a circuit or two due to lack of opening and craze. Business in cities will be the best. Extraneous factors like a fantastic (holiday) period ahead will improve the film’s prospects.

Released on 8-8-’97 at Minerva and 18 other cinemas of Bombay thru Metro Films. Publicity: good (but unduly low-key except in Bombay and major cities). Opening: bumper. …….Also released all over. Opening was good in most of the circuits but dull in C.I. (1st day Indore about 70%, Gwalior about 55%, Bhopal about 90%, Dewas 50%) and so-so in Orissa. Except in C.I. and Orissa, the film was released everywhere (U.P. and C.P. Berar also) on Friday.

TAMIL FILM INDUSTRY TALKS WITH CM FAIL AGAIN

The 5-hour meeting between Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi and representatives of the various sections of the Tamil film industry, in Madras to arrive at a solution to end the over 2-month old strike in the Tamil film world ended in a stalemate on 7th August again.

After the talks, the chief minister appealed to the two main warring factions — the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) and the Tamil Nadu Creators and Film Employees Federation (TANCIFEF) — to not disrupt the others’ film shooting. He also warned both the groups against violence.

ON THURSDAY IN C.I.

Subhash Ghai’s Pardes was planned to be released all over India on Friday (August 8). The U.P., C.P. Berar and C.I. distributors also agreed to Ghai’s request to release the film on Friday instead of the conventional Thursday there. But the C.I. distributor went back on his words and opened the film on Thursday (August 7) in Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior, Ujjain and Dewas. While he had not given the exhibitors a definite date (he said, it could be Thursday or Friday), he advertised in the press publicities that Pardes would be releasing on Thursday. Another circuit where the film was released on Thursday is Orissa.

BAN ON ENTRY OF BURKHA-CLAD WOMEN IN CINEMAS FAILS

More than 100 women activists, opposed to burkha-clad women frequenting cinemas, organised a silent protest in front of Santosh 70mm cinema in Hyderabad on 31st July. The activists requested burkha-clad women not to enter the cinema premises. The move, however, did not evoke any resentment among cinegoers as some of them returned home without entering the cinema premises. It may be recalled that the Tehreek Muslim Shabban has imposed a ban on the entry of burkha-clad women in cinemas from 1st August.

The Shabban, in association with some Muslim women’s organisations, also took out a car rally from Mecca mosque on 1st August to educate and urge Muslim women to comply with its ban. The Andhra Pradesh Mahila Samakhya strongly condemned the stand taken by the Shabban, terming its arguments as “unconvincing”. Several burkha-clad women could be seen arguing with the ban supporters in cinemas coming under the limits of the old city of Hyderabad.

‘BORDER’ TAX-FREE IN GUJARAT

J.P. Dutta’s Border has been granted tax exemption in Gujarat for a period of 54 weeks from 1st August. The film is being screened at tax-free rates with effect from 8th.

RECORDIST BABURAO BHALCHANDRA NO MORE

Senior sound recordist Baburao Bhalchandra expired on 23rd June in Bombay after a brief illness. He was 91 and was the founder of the Western India Motion Picture & Television Sound Engineers Association.

Baburao had recorded the sound of more than 100 films and was considered a specialist in song recording. He was the first honorary general secretary of the WIMPSEA and was associated with it for many years. Even after his retirement, he used to enquire about the welfare of the Association’s members and its activities. Only a few months before his death, a meeting of the Association was held at his residence at Kandivli, Bombay, for framing the guidelines for the disbursement of the interest earned from fixed deposit in the WIMPSEA Welfare Trust.

SANJAY KAPOOR IN AURANGABAD

Sanjay Kapoor was in Aurangabad on 7th August en route to Shirdi. At a press meet there, he expressed confidence that his Mere Sapno Ki Rani, due for release next week, would prove to be a major hit. The press conference was organised by Ravi Machhar who is distributing Mere Sapno Ki Rani in Nizam.

YOU ASKED IT

Why has the sale of music cassettes, in general, declined? Is it due to the high prices of cassettes?

– To an extent, yes. Pricing a cassette at Rs. 45 and 50 is not advisable unless the music is exceptionally good.

Why have so many big filmmakers of yesteryears turned to television?

– For two reasons. Television is equally, and sometimes more, paying. Secondly, the veteran filmmakers find it impossible to make films today under the one- and two-hour-shift system. They are used to making films with passion and that is possible when stars are at one’s disposal.

I had sold the satellite rights of my film to Mr. X for five years. He, in turn, sold them to a channel for seven years. Does the channel have the right to telecast my film after 5 years.

– No, because Mr. X has sold to the channel something which he does not possess. The rights of the channel will be for five years only.

CENSOR NEWS

Varma Creations’ Daud was given C.C. (in Hyderabad) No. CIL/4/65/97 (A) dt. 1-8-’97; length 4733.96 metres in 18 reels (with cuts).

Essem Entertainment Inc.’s …Aur Pyar Ho Gaya was given C.C. No. CIL/1/33/97 (U) dt. 6-8-’97; length 4339.13 metres in 16 reels.

Shri Raaghavendra Movie Corporations’ Mere Sapno Ki Rani was given C.C. (in Hyderabad) No. CIL/61/68/97 (U) dt. 7-8-’97; length 4310.30 metres in 15 reels (cuts: 5.71 metres).

Paramount Films of India Ltd.’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park (dubbed) was given C.C. No. CFS/2/38/97 (UA) dt. 7-8-’97; length 52.28 metres.

Yashish Enterprises’ Bhai has been passed for adults, with cuts.

HERE & THERE

Fresh Summons To Sunny, Karisma

The additional chief judicial magistrate (railway), Jaipur, Anil Kumar Sarolia, issued fresh summons to Sunny Deol, Karisma Kapoor and others, as they failed to appear in the court on 1st August due to non-service of summons. The judge found four members of the unit of Bajrang, including Sunny and Karisma, prima facie “guilty of causing delay to the train unauthorisedly”. The CJM has asked railway officers as well as the commissioner of police, Mumbai, to ensure that summons were served. The CJM has ordered that the summons also be sent by registered post to their residences.

MIX MASALA

INVITATION ON A PLATTER

If the occasion is the launch of a music cassette entitled ‘Khichdi’, it is only appropriate that the invitation should come in the form of a plate and spoon. Tips sent out invitations for the release of Ila Arun’s ‘Khichdi’ audio cassette on 8th August, in the form of a cute chinaware plate and a spoon. The invitation message, pasted on the plate, was to a ‘hot hot evening’ and went on to mention that Ila Arun’s ‘Khichdi’ “is being served at Harbour Hall, Hotel Centaur”.

PASSPORT TO PARDES

Ajay Chudasama, who has completely renovated his Ajay cinema at Bhavnagar, held a premiere show of Pardes on 7th August at the new-look cinema now called Rajshri. And very appropriately, the invitation card for the show of Pardes has come in the form of a passport — a passport to Pardes. The invitation passport mentions the airport’s name as Rajshri Cinema, Bhavnagar.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Audience Goes Crazy

Barely has the publicity of Yash Chopra’s new film, Dil To Pagal Hai, started and the public has already begun to go berserk. A huge poster of the film, showing Madhuri Dixit, Shah Rukh Khan ad Karisma Kapoor, was put up at Gaiety cinema, Bandra, Bombay, earlier this week, but since it was in a showcase close to the main entrance of the cinema, it was hindering the free passage of audience as huge crowds used to gather around the showcase to admire the poster. Barely had 24 hours elapsed when the cinema management had to put up the poster elsewhere near the entrance. Wow! that’s some craze for the film due for release on Diwali.

Life-Saving Suit

Producer Rahul Gupta’s Hum Panchi Ek Daal Ke is about 80% complete after the 35-day-long shooting schedule in the USA, which, incidentally, has become famous for the camera which sank in the river while the shooting was on. Rahul doesn’t curse his luck for the mishap but instead thanks the Lord that no lives were lost in it. The crew on the raft, which was holding the camera in the river, comprised all foreigners as an Indian second-unit cameraman missed joining them because his wet suit (everyone is required to wear a wet suit before getting on to the raft) was not available on hand and the foreigners didn’t fancy wasting even 15 minutes for him till he got his wet suit from a place 2 kms. away. The second-unit cameraman, who was earlier cribbing on being left out, heaved a sigh of relief for the same reason when he heard of the accident.

Of ‘Pardes’ At Trimurti

The management of Trimurti Talkies, Ujjain, it seems, enjoys discontinuing running films despite good collections, to accommodate new ones. It recently discontinued Tamanna which was being screened at Trimurti, despite share-yielding collections, and released Himalay Putra in its place. This week again, the management, in a very unbusinesslike manner, discontinued Mrityudand without the permission of its distributor and in spite of fair collections, to make way for Pardes. In the trade, it is believed that if a running film is discontinued despite good collections, the new film, which comes in its place, does not do well. Sure enough, the collections of Pardes at Trimurti Talkies were poor on Thursday and Friday.

Applause for ‘Dus’ From US

A US senator has given a perfect 10 to Mukul Anand’s magnum opus, Dus, which is currently being shot at the Salt Lake city in Utah, of course, with the active support of the US government.

The film, set against the backdrop of Operation Topac (a covert Indian initiative to flush out terrorists from the Charar-e-Sharief mosque in May 1995), has won a round of applause from an unlikely quarter. US senator Orrin G. Flash hailed the film as an answer to the 50-year-old Indo-Pak problem over Kashmir. “When completed, the film will be an important message of world peace,” he said in a communique dated July 31. The senator extended his recommendations to the Utah city Bureau of Land Management chief William Lamb, for all possible support to Mukul Anand’s unit which is in the USA.

A major part of the film is being shot in the USA with stars Vinod Khanna, Salman Khan, Raveena Tandon, Shilpa Shetty, Ashish Vidyarthi, Akash Khurana Jaspal Bhatti and Rahul Dev. Sanjay Dutt is likely to join the unit on 9th August.

VAASTAV

Adishakti Films P. Ltd.’s Vaastav (A) is a violent film that delves deep into the underworld. It shows how an ordinary boy, living in a chawl, can be sucked into the bad underworld even though he never wanted to be a part of it. Once in it, the guy is manipulated by politicians and he ultimately becomes a pawn in their hands. The good-at-heart guy realises when it is too late that even if he wants to, he cannot now come out of the underworld as it is a one-way street.

The film has a story of the kind one has seen on several occasions in the past. But its presentation is what saves it from becoming a routine fare. The juxtapositioning of action and emotions makes the violent drama more humane. But the screenplay has its drawbacks so that the film drops at several places. In a way, it picks up, drops, picks up again, drops again, and this goes on till the end. The best part of the drama is the first part of the first half. The portion just before interval is also good. The second half gets tedious and also meanders at times. For example, the viewer fails to understand the justification for the hero killing the Parsi man despite no orders (from the politician) to that effect. The killing makes the hero such a terrible villain that the audience doesn’t sympathise with him thereafter and even tends to forget that he was a victim of circumstances. The guy’s boastful revelation of his deeds and lifestyle to his parents on Diwali day also looks quite awkward. On the other hand, the scene after the hero’s first killing is brilliant. So are some emotional and action sequences. The climax reminds of Mother India but lacks in impact. Dialogues (Imteyaz Hussein) are very good at several places.

Sanjay Dutt does an excellent job as the guy gone astray. He is as superb as the good-for-nothing lad in the initial reels as the dreaded man of the underworld in the latter ones. Namrata Shirodkar gets very limited scope and gives a fair performance. Shivaji Satam shines as Sanjay Dutt’s father. Reema, as Sanjay’s mother, also delivers a praiseworthy performance. Mohnish Bahl is wonderfully natural. Sanjay Narvekar, as Dedh Phutiya, is mind-blowing. Here’s a guy who is talent personified! Mohan Joshi is able. Paresh Rawal is likeably restrained. Ashish Vidyarthi gets less scope but does well. Deepak Tijori leaves a mark. Usha Nadkarni is excellent. Ektaa, Himani Shivpuri, Jack Gaud, Achyut Potdar, Sunil Shende, Ganesh Yadav, Kishore Nandlaskar and Kashmira Shah (in a special appearance) lend average support.

Mahesh Manjrekar’s direction shows sparks of brilliance. His giving the film a Maharashtrian flavour will, however, limit its prospects to Maharashtra mainly. His writing (story-screenplay) could have been better. Jatin Lalit’s music is average. Raam Shetty’s action has a terrorising effect, and some of the action scenes are truly excellent. Camerawork is good. Other technical aspects are of standard.

On the whole, Vaastav will score very well in Bombay and Maharashtra. In the other circuits, its business should range from average to commission on the strength of action.

Released on 15-10-’99 at Maratha Mandir and 19 other cinemas of Bombay by Jyoti Films Combine thru Shringar Films. Publicity & opening: very good. …….Also released all over. Opening was so-so in Bengal, C.P. Berar (M.P. belt) and Rajasthan.

MAST

Varma Corporation Ltd.’s Mast is the story of a young man who is a crazy fan of a female superstar of Hindi films. He is obsessed with her and cannot think beyond her. On being chided about his madness, the guy, in disgust, leaves his Pune home and comes to Bombay to meet his dream girl. He does meet her but in a situation he would never have dreamt of. Circumstances force the two to run away from Bombay. They come to the guy’s house in Pune and there, their romance begins and blossoms. The guy has a college girl friend who is in love with him. Misunderstandings crop up but they are resolved in the end.

The film has an unusual story which is also unreal. There is so much fantasising by the hero that the audience finds if difficult to identify with him. Yet another major drawback of the drama is the showing of the heroine as a helpless soul. In the public minds, screen Gods and Goddesses are all-powerful but in the film, this myth is sought to be broken. Since not much thought has gone into it, the helplessness of the heroine appears to be totally fake and, therefore, does not create the desired impact. The climax, too, is unconvincing. Emotions do not strike any chord in the heart.

The first half has too many songs in imagination, coming one after another in quick succession. Although they are visually brilliant, they may irritate the viewer because they are mostly in imagination.

In short, an unusual story has been burdened with a defective screenplay (both have been written by Ramesh Khatkar and Vinod Ranganath). The dialogues, however, are very witty and entertaining.

Also on the positive side, the film has several comic and cute moments. Of course, like the rest of the film, even the comedy is of the kind which will appeal to the elite audience in cities. Further, the Ruki ruki si zindagi number and the title song (male and female versions) are excellently tuned (Sandeep Chowta). The film’s look is stylish in song picturisations.

Urmila Matondkar looks very pretty and plays the superstar with complete conviction. She delivers a praiseworthy performance but, nevertheless, falters in the emotional scene in the  climax. Aftab makes an exciting debut as the star-crazy guy from Pune. He looks handsome and cute, has a good screen presence, acts with a rare confidence and dances gracefully. Aftab should be a welcome addition to the short list of talented heroes. Antra Mali, as his college pal, acts freely. Dalip Tahhil is pretty impressive. Sheetal Suvarna plays Aftab’s sister ably. Govind Namdev is alright. Snehal Dabi is simply fantastic as the autorickshaw driver. Neeraj Vora leaves a mark. Nitin Raikwar, Vijay Maurya, Rajpal Yadav, Teddy Maurya, Tapan Bhatt and Kuldeep Kaur lend admirable support. Raju Mawani and Smita Jayakar are quite effective. Suhas Bhalekar, Janardhan Parab and the rest provide average support.

Ram Gopal Varma’s direction is good but his reliance on so much fantasy is rather incomprehensible. Besides, the emotional appeal in the drama is found wanting. Songs, as mentioned above, are very well-tuned but a couple of them have not yet become popular. The Na Govinda number can be reduced in length and the Hey Rama song can be chopped off almost totally. The picturisation of Ruki ruki (Farah Khan) is extraordinary. Locations and sets, on which the other songs have been shot, are also breathtaking and so are the picturisations (Farah Khan and Howard Rosemeyer). Piyush Shah’s cinematography is superb. Action is functional. Background score is effective. Technically, very good.

On the whole, Mast has some appeal for the youngsters among the class audience and will, therefore, do well only in selected cinemas of some ‘A’ class centres, mainly of Bombay, Maharashtra and South. In the other circuits, it stands dim chances, more so because its opening is dull. A pick-up in West Bengal (due to Puja holidays) is not ruled out.

Released on 15-10-’99 at Eros and 16 others cinemas of Bombay thru V.I.P. Enterprises. Publicity: extraordinary. Opening: so-so. …….Also released all over. Opening was poor at most of the places.

SAR ANKHON PAR

Pinnacle Entertainments Pvt. Ltd.’s Sar Ankhon Par is the story of a film actor. His son from childhood develops an aversion towards the film industry because of the callousness shown by the industry people when his mother — a stunt artiste — loses her life while performing a dare-devil act for a film. The child grows up nursing hatred for the film industry and its people. A girl comes into his life and the two of them fall in love with each other. But when he gets to know that his beloved is an upcoming film actress, being promoted by his father, he leaves both of them. His animosity towards the industry comes to an end when he sees the warmer side of the industry people at the time of his father’s death.

Although the drama establishes that the film industry is like one big family, it does not negate the stone-heartedness/callousness of the makers of the film on the sets of which the female stunt artiste had been killed. The screenplay (Sanjay Chhel and Viveck Vaswani) is too poor to be true and completely fails to hold audience interest. Some dialogues (Sanjay Chhel and Sunjiv Puri) are about the only good thing in the film. But in its entirety, the drama fails to touch the heart and looks like a forced attempt to make people cry. The computer-generated image of Raj Kapoor in conversation towards the end is quite good.

Dilip Joshi does well. The role, however, needed a well-known actor. Mukul Dev is so-so. Ayesha Julka is quite impressive. Anuj makes a dull debut. Anoushka shows promise in her performance. Hiralal Thakkar, as the studio watchman, impresses a great deal. His emotional dialogues in the climax are well-written and equally well-delivered. Keith Stevenson, Nivedita Joshi, Dayashankar Pandey, Sharad Smart, Charlie, Harpal, Shashi Sahay, Helen Brodie and Sahitya Sethu are so-so. There are several guest artistes and they don’t even manage to lend face value to the film.

Except for one or two emotional scenes handled ably by debut-making director Gyan Sahay, the film otherwise is an aimless exercise which can be dismissed off as a totally unimpressive and lacklustre fare. Sahay’s camerawork is good. A couple of songs are fairly well-tuned. Picturisation of the birthday song is good. Technically, okay.

On the whole, Sar Ankhon Par is a sick drama with no chance of survival at the ticket windows.

Released on 15-10-’99 at Gemini and 1 more cinema of Bombay by Pinnacle Entertainments P. Ltd. thru R.G. International. Publicity: good. Opening: fair. …….Also released in C.P. Berar and Mysore.

‘SARFAROSH’ SILVER JUBILEE

Cinematt Pictures’ Sarfarosh, with which ad filmmaker John Mathew Matthan made his debut as writer-producer and director of a feature film, has celebrated silver jubilee this week at Maratha Mandir (matinee), Bombay and in other territories. The film stars Aamir Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, Sonali Bendre, Mukesh Rishi, Akash Khurana, Sukanya Kulkarni and Akhilendra Mishra with Govind Namdev in a special appearance. Dialogues: Hriday Lani and Pathik Vats. Cinematography: Vikas Sivaraman.

HC ASKS YASH RAJ FILMS TO RELEASE ‘DDLJ’ NEGATIVE FOR OVERSEAS PRINTS

Justice A.P. Shah of the Bombay high court, in an ad interim order issued recently, has directed Yash Raj Films, Bombay, to make available the negative of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge to the laboratory for making new prints for use by the Overseas distributors, Rishima International Pvt. Ltd. Rishima International claimed that Yash Raj Films had a contractual obligation to do so.

Earlier, Rishima International had complained to the Indian Film Exporters Association, which had arbitrated in favour of Rishima. Alleging that despite the arbitration award, Yash Raj Films continued to default on the matter, Rishima International moved the court.

AKSHAY KUMAR BEREAVED

Brij Mohan Bhatia, father of Akshay Kumar, expired on the evening of 13th October at his Lokhandwala residence in Bombay. He had been suffering from cancer. He was cremated the same day at Amboli crematorium. He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

Chautha was held on 15th October at Khar, Bombay.

TELECAST OF ‘KKHH’ ON SONY TV STAYED

The civil judge (sr. division) no. 1, Guwahati, granted an ad interim injunction vide order dated 12th October on the telecast of Dharma Productions’ Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. The order was passed on a motion made by the film’s Assam distributors, Azaan Films, Guwahati. According to Azaan Films, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai was acquired by it from producer Yash Johar on an outright lease of 5 years for Assam territory. The producers had also given it an undertaking that the film will not be exploited by them (the producers) in the territory. Construing the impending telecast of KKHH on Sony TV as, inter alia, “exploitation in the Assam territory”, Azaan Films moved the court and succeeded in obtaining a stay against the telecast.

SHAKTI SAMANTA REPLACES SHOREY AS IMPPA CHIEF

Following the no-confidence motion against IMPPA president K.D. Shorey last week, the executive committee of the IMPPA met on 10th October at the IMPPA House and elected a new president in place of Shorey. Shakti Samanta was elected to head the association for 1999-2000.

Shorey, it may be recalled, had been elected IMPPA president on 26th September but was voted out due to lack of confidence in his presidentship within a fortnight.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Sunny Deol’s debut directorial venture, DILLAGI, is oven-hot in East Punjab. The distributors of the double Deol starrer have paid a crazy price for its rights because it is a well-known fact that Punjab is the stronghold of the Deols. The story doesn’t end here. Having acquired DILLAGI at an astronomical price, the distributors have succeeded in getting absolutely fantastic terms from exhibitors of East Punjab. Cause for Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol to celebrate, right?

* The distributor, who has acquired Rajshri’s HUM SAATH-SAATH HAIN for Mauritius, was so moved after seeing the film that he told a friend, “You feel like becoming a better human being after seeing the film.”

* D. Rama Naidu, who had promised Anil Kapoor a Mercedes Benz if his Anil starrer, HUM AAPKE DIL MEIN REHTE HAIN, would prove a success, has kept his word. He will be getting the actor the car very shortly. He made this known to brother Boney Kapoor on 15th October, the day Naidu launched his new film, AAGHAAZ.

PRODUCTION NEWS

‘Badal’ In Switzerland

The unit of Aftab Music Industries’ Badal left for Switzerland on Oct. 13. to picturise two songs on Bobby Deol and Rani Mukerji. The film is being directed by Raj Kanwar. Also in the cast are Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Ashish Vidyarthi, Shahbaaz Khan, Vishwajeet Pradhan, Mayuri Kango, Neena Kulkarni, Harish Patel, Razzak Khan, Dinesh Anand, Upasna Singh, Johny Lever, Mushtaq Khan, Ashutosh Rana and Amrish Puri. Screenplay: Robin Bhatt and Sutanu Gupta. Dialogues: Santosh Saroj. Dances: Chinni Prakash and B.H. Tharun Kumar. Action: Bhiku Verma. Masuda H.M. Ishaque presents the film which is scheduled for release on Jan. 7, 2000 all over.

ANNOUNCEMENT & LAUNCHING

Bobby-Urmila Starrer ‘Aashiq’ Launched

Shweta International’s Aashiq was launched on Oct. 11 with the recording of a song at Empire Audio Centre. Penned by Sameer, the song was set to tune by Sanjeev-Darshan. The duo recorded two more songs after that. Many notables of the film industry attended the recordings. Bobby Deol and Urmila Matondkar play the romantic lead in the film being produced by Anil Sharma and directed by K. Murali Mohan Rao. Writer: Anwar Khan.

Rama Naidu Launches ‘Aaghaaz’

Producer D. Rama Naidu launched Suresh Productions’ Aaghaaz (The Beginning) with the recording of two songs on Oct. 15 at Sahara India. The recordings will go on till Oct. 18. The songs, penned by Sameer, are being composed by Anu Malik. Both of them are duets being rendered by Sonu Nigam and Sunidhi Chauhan; and Alka Yagnik and Babul Supriyo. The film, a remake of the Telugu hit, Sivaiah, is being directed by Yogesh Ishwar. It stars Sunil Shetty, Sushmita Sen and one more heroine to be finalised. In the supporting cast are Sharad Kapoor, Govind Namdev, Sharat Saxena, Saadhika, Shraddha Nigam, Mukesh Tiwari, Anjan Shrivastava, Alok Nath, Dina Pathak, Anupam Kher and Johny Lever. Screenplay: Nikhil Saini. Dialogues: Kamlesh Pandey. Art: Sharmishtha Roy. Regular shooting will begin in November.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Filmi Week

Few films based on the film industry get made because the industry isn’t really a very nice subject for filmmaking. Considering this fact, isn’t it surprising that two of this week’s releases have the film industry as its base. Urmila Matondkar, the heroine of Mast, plays a glamorous and successful film star in the film. In Sar Ankhon Par, Dilip Joshi plays a character artiste who is the film’s central character. In fact, the entire film is about the film industry.

For Your Eyes….

Information had the occasion to see two songs of Rajshri’s Hum Saath-Saath Hain. Mhare hivda mein naache mor has the makings of a hit number. The song will climb the popularity charts and reach the no. one position soon. The picturisation, too, is truly exciting to complement the wonderful music. The other song one saw was the Bhagwan number. This one is bound to have the public reach out for their handkerchieves from their pockets/purses. It’s such an emotional number that even if you hold back your tears all through the song, you will give in towards the end. That’s when Neelam — she plays the sister of Mohnish Bahl, Salman Khan and Saif Ali Khan — leans against her mother (Reema) and breaks down. The lyrics stop for a moment, the music also stops. It is just the sound of Neelam crying — and this in a celebration party amidst hundreds of guests and family members. The ladies, and the men, too, in the auditorium, will find tears rolling down their cheeks at this point. Some, of course, may not cry. Because they will sob.

‘Mr. India’ Proteges

Three of the many kids, who featured in Boney Kapoor’s Mr. India, directed by Shekhar Kapur, have grown up and may be on the way to becoming big names. While Ahmed Khan has already turned an established choreographer, Aftab Shivdasani makes his debut as hero in Ram Gopal Varma’s Mast, released this week. And Karan Nath (son of producer and star-secretary Rikku) is being introduced as lead man by Kuku Kohli in his next, to be launched shortly.

Even Shekhar Kapur’s directorial assistants have turned directors, like Satish Kaushik (who was his chief assistant), Raj Kanwar, and Sanjay Khanna (who directed Shastra). Shekhar also had two female assistants. One of them, Farzana, is secretary to Rekha, and the other, Mona Ambegaonkar, became an actress (Baharon Ke Manzil) and is these days seen on television.

As for Shekhar Kapur, he’s gone international. Mr. International, the visible version!

An Offbeat Upendra

And now some light on Kannada films. The two Kannada films, which have proved super-hits in recent times, are Om and A, both scripted and directed by Upendra, who is considered an iconoclast for his deep-rooted belief in making offbeat films. Upendra has now directed as well as acted in a film titled Upendra. The film was released this week (on 14th October) in Bangalore. It ends with a note from the director: “I know, you have not understood this film. To understand it, you will have to see it again”! The film is based on the thought that we are all bad from within but we hide the bad streak in ourselves with our outward appearances. For example, we can consider a priest (pandit) to be a pious man. But he, too, is bad in some way. The director exemplifies his thought through a scene in which Upendra forces a pandit to drink alcohol. The pandit drinks much against his wishes. But the next day, the pandit is shown enjoying a drink and saying to himself that he has never enjoyed so much in life!

The film opened to a bumper response. A compliment indeed to the director’s genius!

Whither Khans!

What is the box-office value of the Khans? Ask Mysore distributor Pal Chandani of Pal Enterprises, Bangalore. He has released Mann, Baadshah and Hello Brother. While Mann just about proved a commission earner, Baadshah is just average, and Hello Brother, a heavy loser. Besides these, he released Hogi Pyar Ki Jeet and Haseena Maan Jaayegi, both of which are losers in Mysore. Only Taal and Sarfarosh, released by him this year, are overflow fares.

Sar-Spinning Experience!

Sar Ankhon Par, a film which gives a glimpse of the Bombay film industry through the story of a film actor, proved a head-spinning experience for its Bombay, C.P. Berar and Mysore distributors. At Vijay, Nasik, the 12 noon show on the opening day had to be cancelled for want of audience. The 3 p.m. show also had to be cancelled for the same reason. The film had, obviously, to be discontinued after this. At Chitra, Amravati, the first show could record only Rs. 434! In Bangalore, the Symphony cinema presented a simply pathetic sight as there were only six people for the first show on the first day! It goes without saying that the show was cancelled. The only cinemas which were house-full in their first shows were Bombay’s Gemini (Bandra), which has 238 seats, and Sona (Kandivli), which has 304 seats! And no prizes for guessing why they were house-full.

Quiz Time

A query for those keeping a close watch on the box-office collections in Bombay city and suburbs: Which first-run film recorded the highest percentage in the week that went by? And in which week was that film running?

Is it from any of the following?

Dil Kya Kare (3rd week 48.53%); Hello Brother (5th week 47.26%); The Mummy (dubbed) (2nd week 46.45%); Taal (9th week 45.78%); Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (17th week 41.52%); Hum Tum Pe Marte Hain (3rd week 40%); Sanyasi Mera Naam (2nd week 35.35%); Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (52nd week 32.12%); 1947 Earth (5th week 31.46%); Baadshah (7th week 30.84%); Kohram (9th week 20.45%).

None of the above! Aditya Chopra’s Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (tax-free) recorded the highest percentage – 64.49% in its 204th week at Maratha Mandir (matinee). …….The only film to score above DDLJ was Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay, which, in its umpteenth repeat-run, scored 71.95% at Moti.

INFORMATION MEETS

“The story of a film is like an empty bottle in which the soul of the filmmaker is poured. Thus the film has its maker’s touch, his views, his ideology and, above all, his vision of the world and the kind of world he wants.”

– VIJAY ANAND

RAJ VAIDYA

“Mujhe maar-maar kar filmmaker banaaya gaya tha.” Coming from one of the finest directors India has ever produced, the statement comes as a revelation. But then, that’s Vijay Anand for you. A chat with him is full of pleasant revelations. For example, in spite of achievements, here is one man who has absolutely no time for posterity. He hardly mentions his films unless it is to illustrate a point he is making. Anyway, coming back to being forced into filmmaking, he adds, “I never wanted to have anything to do with films. In fact, I wouldn’t have been in this field had my brothers not needed me.” Reason enough for us to thank Dev Anand and late Chetan Anand for not letting his filmmaking talent go waste.

At 19, Vijay Anand had already notched up his first success by scripting brother Dev-starrer Taxi Driver. In the next few years, he sailed into direction as well and charted for himself an enviable graph of box-office successes. In the process, he also won unequivocal critical acclaim for his works. Be it Teesri Manzil, Guide, Tere Mere Sapne or Johny Mera Naam, Vijay Anand has proved his calibre in various genres. At the peak of his career, the spiritually-inclined Vijay Anand chucked everything to go into “serious thinking” and attempt to find inner peace. Was it a tough decision to quit a successful career, we enquire. He replies, “Not in the least bit. I simply left something that was less important for something that was more important.”

In the eighties, he staged a comeback with Ram Balram and Rajput. Then followed a 15-year-long self-imposed hiatus from filmmaking, which finally ended a couple of years back when brother Dev Anand asked him to make a film with him once again. That is how Jaana Na Dil Se Door happened. It is really a reflection of our times that the very man whose films used to be closed on the day of the announcement itself, has to struggle to sell his film today even as the film is nearly complete.

ON FILMMAKING

“A good filmmaker puts his soul into the film. A great artiste immerses himself completely in his creation. He is there in totality. The way he looks at the world comes through in what he creates. The story of a film is like an empty bottle in which the soul of the filmmaker is poured. Thus the film has its maker’s touch, his views, his ideology and, above all, his vision of the world and the kind of world he wants. He presents this world to people when they are enclosed in a theatre, completely detached from their world outside. For the next few hours, they live in this world which is imagined, created and fulfilled by the filmmaker.

“There are two kinds of films you can make. You can make a film that gives you inner satisfaction, a film in which you conquer your own ground. If you want to conquer the medium — say, you want to be a master of writing, or of screenplay, or lyrics, or art direction, or direction and so on — then, you need to learn all this. But there are no teachers around. So, you gain experience and become your own teacher. And in doing so, you begin to struggle with yourself. At the end of the struggle, however, you are rewarded by feeling complete satisfaction over what you have created. You can then say, I’ve got the shot that I wanted, or got the music and lyrics that I wanted, and so on. This feeling of internal success is the most satisfying thing in the world.

“Then, there is the second kind of success, which has become the biggest success today. This comes from what others think of your film. Today, if a hundred people say, your film is good, it is good. But if one person says, it’s good, it is not. This is probably the democratic way of judging a film! According to me, such an assessment is aesthetically wrong. Good things always take a while before people can begin to appreciate them. A Gandhi has to die to become immortal. It was only after Guru Dutt died that people realised that he was an art filmmaker also.”

ON HIS OWN STRUGGLE

“My whole aim in life has been to struggle with myself. I have striven to gain more and more ground — more and more mastery over my medium — throughout my life. I conquered new ground with every film that I made. Yes, I haven’t made a single film in the last 15 years, which means, I have also lost a lot of ground. This I will have to cover with the help of a lot of other things that I haven’t yet mastered. For example, I will promote myself. Once, I never cared two hoots for it. But today, I realise the importace of promotion and publicity. Earlier, I often used to wonder why makers of the calibre of Bimal Roy or Satyajit Ray had to promote themselves and their films. Now, I realise that they were so right in doing what they did. After all, if you do not promote yourself, who else will? How will people come to know that I have a product that I want them to come and see?”

ON ‘JAANA NA DIL SE DOOR’

“It was Dev saab’s idea to make another film together. I too wanted to make a film for him, and that’s how it all started. On my part, I did not want to give Dev saab a role which he has played all his life. I also didn’t want to give him a role that he has played with me plenty of times. So, I thought for a long time and finally created a role which keeps his aura alive, yet is different from what people expect from him. When you see the film, you’ll say, ‘this is the continuation of Dev Anand, but is not Dev Anand.’

“Jaana Na Dil Se Door is the story of a man who has been separated from his wife and daughter. He has terribly wronged his wife. He is a great artiste and, like many great artistes, he thinks that he is so great that it is okay for him to neglect his personal life. Don’t they say, ‘Great artistes make lousy husbands’? This man’s ego has made him lose his wife and daughter. He doesn’t remarry because he still loves her. But one fine day, his daughter comes back and he is forced to rethink his life through her eyes. For the first time, he questions his past actions and realises that he had been so wrong to his wife.”

ON DIRECTION

“I do not see writing as a different function from direction if you are a writter-director. Similarly, editing is not a third separate function, but the continuation of the first. The entire range from conception to writing to enacting to filming to editing and recording is an extension of a single thought process.”

ON THE UNPREDICTABLE NATURE OF FILM BUSINESS

“Aaj hamaare paas ginti ke paanch playback singers hain, ginti ke paanch music directors hain, aur 12-13 stars hain! I feel, every year, at least a dozen new stars should arrive on the scene. But that doesn’t happen because of the star system which allows them to take on as many as 12-13 films at a time. Ideally, a star should not work in more than two or three films at a time. But that doesn’t happen. What is worse is that you cannot blame them. They say, it is the producers’ fault. Producers simply pass the buck to the distributors, who, in turn, blame the exhibitors. Aur exhibitor kya karta hai? Woh poora ka poora blame audience par daal deta hai! But, who can predict how the audience will react to a particular film or its star? So, ultimately, the whole scenario revolves around guesswork. What I am trying to stress is that every film that has done well so far has done so in spite of this shortcoming.

“Let me give you an example. Nasir Husain had to hold more than 50 trial shows of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak in the hope that someone would buy the film. Everyone was saying that the film had no hope as everyone connected with the film — from its lead pair, to director to music director — was new. They said, even the title of the film is so strange. The producers waited months for distributors to appear, but the only people who came were brokers. Now tell me, who could have guessed at that time that the film will do so well at the box-office, and that every person concerned with the film would go on to become a star! Even my Kora Kagaz had not inspired enough confidence in the trade prior to its release. The film’s producer nervously came to me and said, ‘The film is not getting sold. You must re-edit the film, or do something so that I’ll be able to sell it.’ Just one song from that film became such a huge hit that it carried the entire film on its own.”

ON AUDIENCE

“The bottom line is that our audience are not foolish. When you have managed to bring people into the cinema hall, they are willing to cast aside all their notions, provided the film grips them. Audience enter the cinema hall with a lot of pre-conceived notions, which should be destroyed in the very first reel of the film. The film that succeeds in doing so also succeeds in making the audience believe in the ideas propagated in it. There is a certain claim that a film makes, when it starts. That claim — whatever it be — must be fulfilled before it ends. When the film ends, the audience must feel that they have seen something new. They should feel that the way they look at themselves or at others, has been changed in some way. They should feel that they have experienced something beautiful, and so on. There is absolutely no way a film can fail, if it achieves any of these things.”

ON THE PRESENT STATE OF THE FILM INDUSTRY

“Our biggest problem is that we failed to become an industry in the true sense of the word. Hollywood became what it did because they very successfully integrated the three main areas of film business — production, distribution and exhibition. An MGM film will always be screened at Metro cinema. In India, Rajshris are successful because of this very reason. Otherwise, it is so ridiculous to have to go and plead with others to buy a film produced by you. You have to go and tell the buyers, ‘I have made a nice film. At least, see it. Buy it.’ And who is this buyer? He is a man who never goes by his own judgement. He will go to 10 people who have seen your film, and only if he gets a majority vote in its favour will he buy the film. He doesn’t employ his judgement at all. His solitary aim is to con the theatre owner, who is another man with a mind of his own. This man will say, ‘Govinda’s film did well last time, so give me a Govinda starrer. Don’t give me Akshaye Khanna because no one wants to see him! I want to ask him, how does he know for sure if tomorrow Akshaye Khanna won’t be the biggest star? It has happened before. Amitabh Bachchan gave a string of flops early in his career. Several of his films were shelved after a while. People started criticising his height. Then came Zanjeer and everything changed. Suddenly, all his shelved films began to be revived and a hundred more films were made with him later and he was pronounced the star of the millennium. The point is, who can write destiny? This is the reason why I say, everyone must be given an opportunity.

“The irony is, all these middlemen are conditioned to think in the manner they do and can’t break free. And unless they break free, vey hamesha beech mein gadbad karte rahenge.

“Our film industry will become an industry in the true sense of the word only if we get the exhibition sector in our hands. But that does not seem to be happening.

“The government is the biggest factor that could make a difference. But all it seems interested in is filling its coffers. The attitude is simply to find newer ways to tax film trade without bothering to make any contribution to its growth. I say, there should be a payback on the money the government earns from us. Once, I had suggested that levy whatever tax you want to, provided you create a fund for the film industry. Lend producers money out of this fund, to make films and even charge an interest on the amount. The idea was to help producers to avoid having to approach the underworld for finance. Sadly, this proposal did not receive any backing from the industry.”

ON THE SO-CALLED INDUSTRY LEADERS

“Our leaders never make a thorough proposal about anything before they approach the government. All that they do is serve their own purpose and return. If they had learnt to lobby for our demands, the government would not have continued to ignore us for so long. Our industry has grown so much today. The amount of foreign exchange our films have earned in recent times is phenomenal. There is a vast potential for improvement but, for that to happen, the industry and the government have to come together as equal partners. To do all this, we need to have a strong will and unity, which we sorely lack.”

DULHE RAJA

Eastern Films’ Dulhe Raja is a comedy film about a rich businessman who owns a five-star hotel, and a young dhaba owner who refuses to vacate the hotel’s compound in which he has built his dhaba and which is causing losses to the hotel owner. The dhaba owner (Govinda) falls in love with the businessman’s daughter (Raveena Tandon) and she, too, pretends to be in love with him to teach her father a lesson. Ultimately, of course, both, the father and daughter, realise that the dhaba owner is the most suitable match. Fun is the catchword and the film moves from incident to incident, evoking laughter and entertaining the viewers till interval point. The second half, when the drama branches out into various tracks, isn’t very funny. Still, it does have its enjoyable moments. The dhaba owner enlivens the proceedings whenever he comes on the scene. Dialogues (Anwar Khan) are witty at many places and help in elevating the comic drama to a good extent. Although the story is very ordinary, writers Rajeev Kaul and Praful Parekh have made up for it with a fairly well-written screenplay.

Govinda does a fabulous job in the title role. Comedy is his forte and he comes out with flying colours, endearing himself to the audience with his street-smartness and comic punches. Raveena Tandon looks pretty and does reasonably well. Kader Khan is very good. Johny Lever, as Kader Khan’s manager, provides several fun-filled occasions with his comedy. Monnish Bahl does an able job. Prem Chopra and Rana Jung Bahadur are good as the villainous brothers. Asrani also provides some entertainment. Anjana Mumtaz, Sudhir, Viju Khote and Manmoujee lend fair support. Guddi Maruti, Anil Nagrath, Suresh Malhotra, Anil Verma, Dinesh Hingoo, Veeru Krishan and the rest fill the bill.

Harmesh Malhotra’s direction is reasonably good. Anand Millind’s music is racy. ‘Ankhiyon se goli maare’ is the best number and is already very popular. The title song and ‘Raja Bhoj….Gangu Teli’ are also fairly good songs. Picturisation of songs is too ordinary and needed to be far better. Production values are also ordinary. Camerawork and other technical aspects are quite good.

On the whole, Dulhe Raja is a good mass entertainer and will keep its distributors, especially of Northern India and Bihar, happy.

Released on 10-7-’98 at Dreamland and 20 other cinemas of Bombay thru Dilsa Distributors Combine. Publicity: good. Opening: very good. …….Also released all over. Opening was excellent in Bihar, very good in Delhi-U.P., C.I. and Rajasthan but not up to the mark in C.P. Berar.

LATEST POSITION

The Idd holiday on 7th/8th proved advantageous for the box-office.

Satya picked up very well in Bombay and Maharashtra due to mouth publicity, but the pick-up in Gujarat, Bengal and Bihar was not up to the mark. It has done poor in Delhi-U.P., East Punjab, M.P. belt of C.P. Berar, in C.I. and Rajasthan. The Telugu version is extraordinary in Hyderabad where the Hindi version is also terrific. 1st week Bombay 39,15,035 (81%) from 9 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 2,61,354 from 3 cinemas, Rajkot 1,24,347, Jamnagar 71,702 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Pune 8,73,260 from 4 cinemas, Solapur 1,60,510 (100%); Delhi 9,19,323 (48.29%) from 4 cinemas; Lucknow 2,19,272, Allahabad 68,000, Meerut 1,26,877; Calcutta (most of the collections are for 6 days) 5,15,500 from 5 cinemas (1 in noon); Nagpur 5,20,349 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 43,428, Amravati 1,70,860, Akola 80,015, Raipur 90,008, Bhilai 82,045, Bilaspur 43,821; Indore (5 days) 1,08,684 (2 on F.H.), Bhopal 1,36,852 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 2,88,830 from 2 cinemas; Hyderabad 5,25,541 (100%), share 2,66,000, Aurangabad 2,04,263, share 1,54,000; Telugu (dubbed) version Hyderabad share from 13 cinemas 17,09,822; Vijayawada 3,39,549 from 2 cinemas, Visakhapatnam 4,04,225 from 2 cinemas, Anakapalli 92,227, Rajahmundhry 2,17,332 from 2 cinemas, Kakinada 1,24,569, Nellore 1,57,052, Guntur 2,47,120, Tenali 1,49,093, Eluru 1,27,659, Ongole 1,53,044.

Jaane Jigar is very dull. 1st week Bombay 6,95,137 (43.63%) from 5 cinemas (4 unrecd., 4 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 51,875; Delhi 3,70,695 (41.16%) from 3 cinemas; Lucknow 64,220, Allahabad 42,128, Bareilly 51,378 (23.78%); Nagpur 98,161 from 2 cinemas, Raipur 31,923; Bhopal 65,152; Jaipur 89,413; Hyderabad 5,75,835 from 8 cinemas (2 in noon).

…………

Major Saab has dropped further. 2nd week Bombay 26,86,186 (62.73%) from 10 cinemas (7 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 2,65,998 from 2 cinemas (2 unrecd.), Vapi 2,51,320, total 6,14,220, 1st week Padra 1,56,492, 2nd week Rajkot 1,21,731, Jamnagar 1,10,472, total 2,74,112; Pune 6,08,535 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 1,16,222; Delhi 31,68,686 (59%) from 10 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Lucknow 3,33,420, Allahabad 1,55,000, Bareilly 90,002 (47.19%), Dehradun 1,60,000, Hardwar 50,000; Rohtak 24,925 (1st 50,908); Nagpur 1,80,425 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 1,55,948, total 4,09,050, Amravati 1,05,606, Akola 55,388, total 2,00,480, Dhule 59,728, Raipur 92,421, Bhilai 60,119, Jalgaon 76,140, Yavatmal 31,614, Bilaspur 88,544; Indore 2,28,381 from 2 cinemas (2 on F.H.), Bhopal 1,87,685 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 3,41,572 from 2 cinemas; Hyderabad 4,91,389 from 3 cinemas (2 in noon).

Ghulam 3rd week Bombay 40,59,867 (82.87%) from 12 cinemas (5 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 1,48,279 (1 unrecd.), Vapi 1,28,735, total 10,05,157, 1st week Rajkot (matinee) 13,571, 3rd week Jamnagar (matinee) 13,000; Pune 6,74,493 from 4 cinemas, Solapur 1,52,592 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Delhi 15,30,724 from 7 cinemas; Lucknow 1,80,073, Allahabad 65,000, Meerut 1,04,571, Dehradun 82,000; Nagpur 1,13,974 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 1,56,945, total 6,14,112, Amravati 1,44,775, Akola 84,672, total 3,80,308, Dhule 90,109, total 3,62,500, Raipur 94,448, Bhilai 68,331, 2nd week Jalgaon (6 days) 1,11,136, 3rd week Bilaspur 85,397; Indore 1,14,897, Bhopal 1,07,728; Jaipur 1,72,480; Hyderabad 7,43,034 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon).

PRADEEP RECEIVES PHALKE AWARD AMIDST STANDING OVATION

Poet and lyricist Pradeep received the highest national honour conferred on a film personality, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, on 10th July at the 45th National Film Awards at Siri Fort, New Delhi. When octogenerian Pradeep came on the stage in a wheel-chair, president K.R. Narayanan came forward to greet him and presented him the award. The emotion-charged audience gave a standing ovation to the great poet, who was recognised as the best film poet by India’s first president, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, as early as in 1961.

President Narayanan also presented awards to the other winners — Jayamala (Golden Lotus for best film Thai Saheb, directed by Girish Kasaravalli), Yash Chopra (Golden Lotus for best popular film Dil To Pagal Hai), J.P. Dutta (Nargis Dutt award for Border), Govind Nihalani (best Hindi film, Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa), Jayraaj (best director, Kaliyattam), Suresh Gopi and Balachandra Menon (joint winners for Kaliyattam and Samaantharangal respectively), Indrani Halder and Rituparna Sengupta (joint winners for best actress in Dahan), Karisma Kapoor (best supporting actress for DTPH) and Deepa Gahlot (best film critic).

I & B minister Sushma Swaraj, I & B state minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and FFI president Santosh Singh Jain were seated on the dais.

RAKESH ROSHAN REPLACES KAREENA KAPOOR

Producer-director Rakesh Roshan has replaced Kareena Kapoor with Amisha Patel. Kareena was to have made her debut alongwith Rakesh Roshan’s son, Hrithik Roshan, in Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai. In fact, the two had even participated in a shooting scheduled of the film last month.

According to Rakesh, he had to take the step of removing Kareena from the film’s cast because the heroine and her mother, Babita, made unreasonable demands like a top billing for Kareena, above even Hrithik. “They even wanted me to picturise scenes before I pcturised a song,” said Rakesh Roshan.

Amisha Patel is the grand-daughter of Rajni Patel and daughter of Amit Patel. She has modelled for Jai soap and many other products. Some of her commercials are currently on air on television channels.

While Babita was not available for her comments, close industry sources reveal that Kareena herself was keen to leave the film because she has been offered the lead role opposite Abhishek Bachchan in J.P. Dutta’s Aakhri Mughal. Obviously, Dutta would want his film to be Abhishek and Kareena’s launching pad, say the industry sources. However, our sources reveal that there’s no truth in this story.

AMARJEET NO MORE

Veteran producer-director and publicist Amarjeet passed away on 4th July in Bombay. He had directed Hum Dono and had produced several films like Prem Shastra, Teen Deviyan, Gambler, Sunny and Rocky. Amarjeet was closely associated with the Navketan banner and had also assisted Chetan Anand in many of his films.

Amarjeet is survived by his wife and a daughter.

The bhog ceremony will be held on Sunday, 12th July at 11 a.m. at Shri Guru Singh Gurudwara, 3rd Road, Khar (W), Bombay.

NATUBHAI DESAI DEAD

Natubhai Desai, controller of production for all the films produced by Vinod Shah and Harish Shah, expired on 7th July at his residence in Bombay. He was 68 and is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

A prayer meeting will be held today (Saturday, 11th July) between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. at Khalsa Sabha Bombay, behind Citylight Cinema, Matunga, Bombay.

JAMANBHAI MANSATA DEAD

Jamanbhai Mansata of Yeshwant Talkies, Indore, and Jyoti Talkies, Calcutta, expired on 7th July in Calcutta. He was 86 and is survived by three sons.

‘RAJA HINDUSTANI’ TAX-FREE IN MAHARASHTRA

Raja Hindustani has been granted tax exemption in Maharashtra for a period of one year from 6th July. The film was released in November ’96.

KUMAR SANU’S RECORDING STUDIO

Playback singer Kumar Sanu has started a recording studio, K.K. Sound, at Andheri (W), Bombay, at plot no. 23, Shah Industrial Estate, off Veera Desai Road. It will be formally inaugurated on 13th July. The studio offers 24-track digital and analog recording facilities.

YOU ASKED IT

After Ghulam and Major Saab, which is the next film which can be expected to take a bumper start?

– Mani Ratnam’s DIL SE… It has music extraordinaire, Shah Rukh Khan and Mani Ratnam’s name.

Which was the first Bhojpuri film and in which year was it made?

– Nirmal Pictures’ GANGA MAIYA TOHE PIYARI CHADHAIBO, made in 1962 and directed by Kundan Kumar. It proved to be a super-hit.

‘Dil Se..’: Instant Hit From Rahman

Rejoice! Sing! Dance! The music of Dil Se.. has been released and boy! what music! Venus’ album is a listener’s delight. Every one of the six songs is extraordinary.

Chhaiyyan Chhaiyyan is an instant super-hit number. Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi are in top form in their rendition. Thayya Thayya is its Punjabi version. The song has that quality which can make people dance in the cinema halls. Satrangi re is another fabulous number, by Sonu Nigam and Kavita Krishnamoorthy. Chhaiyyan Chhaiyyan and Satrangi re will soon be heard in every car and at every discotheque, that’s a guarantee!

Di se re has A.R. Rahman, Harmony Anuradha and Anupama using their vocal chords to the fullest. Melody at its peak! Jiya jale has none other than Lata Mangeshkar and M.G. Sreekumar rendering the soulful number. Ae ajnabi has an excellent tune and is of the kind which keeps growing on you. Udit Narayan is in great form in this song, teaming up with Mahalakshmi.

A.R. Rahman seems to be at his inspired best in this album and Gulzar’s lyrics complement his superb tunes. Undoubtedly, the best music of recent times, Dil Se.. is a triumph as much for the three producers, Shekhar Kapur, Mani Ratnam (director also) and Ram Gopal Varma, and for presenter Bharat Shah as for Rahman and Gulzar. And yes, unlike other Rahman albums which take time to grow on the listener, this one is an instant hit — there cannot be a mistake about that.

Venus has a goldmine in its hands. Kasam se..!

Tamil Nadu Government Concedes Industry’s Major Demands

Actors, directors, producers and others connected with the Tamil film industry took out a huge procession, led by Rajinikanth, on 3rd July in Madras to protest against video piracy in the state of Tamil Nadu, which is causing immense harm to the industry. Closure of 192 cinemas in the last two years is attributed to video piracy. Nearly 200 more cinemas are on the verge of closure. Now, videos of films are sometimes released even before the premiere of the films. Chief minister Karunanidhi announced a package of steps in response to a memorandum submitted by the industry representatives to him.

The chief minister conceded two major demands — to crack down on video pirates and to offer entertainment tax concessions to the tune of Rs. 40 crore. He said that a state enforcement wing, headed by an inspector general of police, besides district cells, would be formed to curb video piracy. The Goondas Act would be amended to enable the authorities to detain under the preventive detention law, anyone punished twice for video piracy. The government will not give any fresh licences to video theatres nor renew existing licences. Entertainment tax for new films would be reduced from 40% to 30%. The CM appealed to the film magazines to refrain from publishing reports which portrayed members of the film industry in bad light.

Entertainment Tax Reduced In Uttar Pradesh

The meeting of film industry delegates with the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh last month has borne fruits. Chief minister Kalyan Singh has announced a reduction in entertainment tax, from 125% to 100%. He said, films shot 50% in the state would be given 50% rebate in entertainment tax, and those shot 75% in the state would be fully exempted from tax, for three years. But these films should not compromise with the moral values of the society. A preview committee would be formed, comprising secretaries of various state departments and three members of the film industry including film journalists and critics. The chief minister also announced rebate to Hindi, Brij and Bhojpuri language films for six months, and films of other languages for 30 days. For the development of the film industry in the state, he also promised to develop a Film City.

Kalyan Singh also announced the formation of the Film Development Board, in the state assembly on 3rd July. He said, the Board was being formed to encourage film producers to make films on Indian culture and tradition. It would help to ensure more employment opportunities in the state, besides encouraging the film industry. The members of the Board will comprise principal secretaries or secretaries of information, institutional finance, industry and tourism departments along with reputed film producers, directors and distributors. The Board would table its recommendations for identification of important locations for filmmaking. The government would provide necessary facilities like roads, communications, power etc. in these identified areas.

Jackie’s Humane Gesture

It is a well-known fact that our film industry has gone out of its way in helping our countrymen in times of calamity and distress. Be it the Indo-Pak wars or the Bhopal gas tragedy or during droughts, the industry has invariably joined hands with the government and helped in raising significant funds for the relief of the victims. In the same way, the industry has shown a keen response to the Gujarat government’s request for help in raising funds for the relief of the people who lost heavily in the recent storm. Akshay Kumar had been on a tour of Gujarat recently to raise funds for the cyclone victims. Anu Malik is also presenting a nite today (July 11) in Surat. While this speaks volumes for the generosity of our industry, the most welcome gesture, perhaps, in this regard came from Jackie Shroff. Having expressed his inability to attend the musical nite as he was scheduled to be in Mauritius for a shooting, Jackie announced his decision to hold a special charity premiere of his Grahan in Ahmedabad in August when the film will be released. The proceeds of this premiere will go to the government fund for the cyclone victims. He has also promised that he would have his entire cast and crew flown to Ahmedabad for the premiere.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Sunny Deol  shot for 45 days at a stretch in Ooty for Polygram’s PYAR KOI KHEL NAHIN. Rarely does one hear of Sunny giving bulk dates for a film. PYAR KOI KHEL NAHIN is being directed by Subhash Sehgal.

* SATYA, which started at 1,700/-on the opening day at Ashoka, Behala (Calcutta), picked up day by day so that its week closed at 17,500/-.

* The Hollywood blockbuster TITANIC has earned its distributors, 20th Century Fox, a share of over Rs. 40 lakh from its combined run of 18 weeks in two cinemas of Bombay city alone. The film was first released at Cinemax, Goregaon, and recorded 100% collections in a six-week run there, earning a share of over Rs. 25 lakh. From the seventh week onwards, it was shifted to Cinestar, Kandivli, where in a twelve-week run so far, it has registered collections of Rs. 33,20,277/-. Incidentally, both these cinemas are controlled by Shringar, Bombay.

FANTASTIC RAJA

* The opening of DULHE RAJA was so fantastic in Bihar that the rentals in 12 cinemas of the 15 in which the film has been released were covered on the first day itself! Most of the cinemas recorded over-capacity collections.

COMMENTS

K.C. BOKADIA

The public is fed up of meaningless violence. One may burn up cars and trucks but the fact is, we cannot compete with disasters like in TITANIC. Indians are fond of good songs, emotions and good dialogues. And that’s what I’ve strived to give in my LAL BAADSHAH. The good dialogues, when spoken by Amitabh Bachchan, will add to the fun. After all, he has been known for his dialogue delivery.

GULSHAN RAI

Most of the films released these days have no sustaining power; they take bumper openings and soon, collections drop. This lack of holding power coupled with high theatre rentals is killing business.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Big B, Small Gestures

Amitabh Bachchan may have had a love-hate relationship with the press, but the general public, by and large, has continued to adore him just as it did before. One of the reasons why he has been able to maintain this popularity is the way he treats the people who come in contact with him. He attends to even the smallest things that would make the other person, regardless of his stature, feel comfortable. The following incident bears further testimony to this fact: Recently, Amitabh Bachchan was interviewed for a programme for the Vividh Bharati service of the All India Radio. The team comprising an interviewer and a sound recordist reached at the appointed hour at Amitabh’s bungalow, only to find him busy in a television interview. As a result, the duo had to wait for almost an hour before Amitabh could be with them. But, during their wait, Amitabh’s staff went out of its way to make them feel comfortable and even repeatedly apologised for the delay. The apology came in spite of the fact that it was due to the late arrival of the TV interview team and had absolutely nothing to do with Amitabh! Anyway, when he finally met the radio team, he ensured that absolutely no phone calls would be passed on to him for the next hour and began the interview only after a chair was provided for the sound recordist who would have otherwise had to remain standing throughout the interview. Not only this, the sound recordist, being an ardent fan of Amitabh, had borrowed a camera from a friend so that he could have a photograph of him taken with the superstar. When this fact was brought to Amitabh Bachchan’s knowledge, he readily obliged and even suggested a good spot where the photograph could be taken. This is not all. When the interviewer paid him compliments on behalf of a female relative who was a great fan of Amitabh and was bedridden due to arthritis, Amitabh sympathised with her condition and even wrote her a touching note, wishing her a speedy recovery! Needless to say, the special treatment at the hands of Amitabh Bachchan left the duo in complete awe of the superstar’s simplicity and humility.

Silence Is Golden

So much has been said and is being said about the kind of roles Amitabh should  or shouldn’t do. In fact, the issue has taken on mammoth proportions with almost every Tim, Dick and Harry airing an opinion on it. While a certain amount of discussion over such topics in the press and trade circles is valid and even helpful in certain cases, one mustn’t forget that such debates last only till the star in question delivers a hit. Similarly, the debate over the kind of roles Amitabh should be playing will die down the very moment he delivers a hit. In the meantime, Amitabh Bachchan himself is not faced with much of a choice. He could either be blunt and speak the truth that these issues, like he playing roles that suit his age, are being raised only because he has not been able to give a hit of late, or he could gracefully accept all this needless criticism and advice with a patient ear, knowing fully well that a hit by him will end all this chatter. Amitabh, being his usual self, has chosen the latter, in the process, perfecting the art of listening to unsolicited opinions. The debate, in the meanwhile, rages on……

Say “No”

The recent controversy over Kareena Kapoor being replaced in Rakesh Roshan’s Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai has resulted in a lot of tongues wagging. Now that Rakesh Roshan and Kareena are no longer working together, rightly did a smart Alec remark, “It is a case of Kaho “naa” between the two of them.”

INFORMATION MEETS

“I had to try very hard to convince producers and directors that I had no intentions of giving up acting.”

– ASRANI

RAJ VAIDYA

From the humble beginning as a child artiste on All India Radio, Jaipur, to becoming one of the most fondly remembered comedy actors; then, being forced into oblivion by circumstances, but rising back to regain lost ground — Asrani has seen it all. An FTII graduate in acting, he struggled for a number of years before finally getting a break in Hindi films but once he arrived, he carved out a definite niche for himself in no time. Whether playing Amitabh’s secretary in Abhimaan, or playing the angrez ke zamaane ka jailor in Sholay, each character played by Asrani has left an indelible mark on the audience all over.

But then, why has Asrani, the comedy actor par excellence and former superstar in Gujarati films, disappeared from the silver screen in the recent past — this is a question many have wanted an answer to.

In a serious chat with Film Information, comedian Asrani himself explains his journey from acting to direction and back to acting after a few years of break from the screen.

You have worked with a host of reputed directors in your career spanning nearly three decades. What has the experience been like?

– It has been tremendous, to say the least. I have been fortunate in having worked with some of the top directors of Hindi cinema like Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Gulzar, Shakti Samanta, B.R. Chopra and L.V. Prasad, among many others. The most important aspect of my association with these stalwarts has been the immeasurable amount of knowledge on cinema that I have received from them. Each of my directors had a distinct style of his own and I imbibed a lot by observing them as well as through interaction with them. I have always maintained that working in cinema is like learning a language. While FTII can teach you the rules of the grammar, only a good director can teach you how to make sentences using these rules.

You share a very special bond with Hrishikesh Mukherjee, having featured in nearly all his films since GUDDI…..

– You are right. It is a special bond — a bond of affection. To describe it, I will have to go back to my FTII days. Those days, Hrishikesh Mukherjee was on the FTII faculty and used to visit Pune to teach us film editing. I had been aware of his immense work in films till then, and quickly realised that if I could somehow impress him, it would surely open up the doors of the film industry for me. So, I soon began hovering around him as much as possible, but to no avail. Finally, in order to get rid of me, he told me that he would call me in case he thought of a role for me, and he returned to Bombay. A couple of years passed after that, during which I had moved on to become an instructor at FTII. Then, one day, Hrishikesh Mukherjee came again to the FTII, this time with his entire team comprising Gulzar and others. They had come to test Jaya Bhaduri for the title role in Guddi. I was asked to locate Jaya on the campus and I immediately rushed to the canteen where she was sipping tea with her batch-mates, Danny Denzongpa and Anil Dhawan. The moment I told her about Hrishikesh Mukherjee considering her for the role in Guddi, she rushed out to see him. It so happened that while Jaya was talking to Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Gulzar asked me what I thought of Jaya as an actress, since I was an instructor at the FTII. I praised her acting abilities and then, later asked Gulzar whether there was any role in the film which I could bag. Gulzar refused to part with any information about the film, adding that Hrishikesh Mukherjee was well-known for his discipline and would chuck him out of the project if he divulged anything about the film. But I persisted and finally succeeded in convincing Gulzar in telling me that there was a bit role of a small-town boy who comes to Bombay to make it in films. This was an opportunity too good to miss and soon, there I was, pestering Hrishikesh Mukherjee for a role in Guddi. He dissuaded me by saying that there was none that I could play. At this, I instantly asked him about the role of the young man wanting to become a film star. The very next moment, Hrishikesh Mukherjee was livid. He turned to Gulzar and shouted his lungs out at him for having divulged this information. Having realised that there was no way he  would give me a role after that, I quickly fled the scene. But, as fate would have it, I was eventually signed for the same role. I was paid Rs. 250 for it! My work in Guddi was appreciated and I received about eight to ten films soon after Guddi was released. Well, this was my first brush with Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Over the years, we have been able to develop a warm, emotional bond between us, which lasts even today.

Many consider your role of a comic jailor in SHOLAY as one of your finest. How was it conceived?

– To tell you the truth, the role was written down to its minute details even before I was approached. Ramesh Sippy had sent a message asking me to see him for a role that he wanted me to portray in his then forthcoming film, Sholay. When I went to meet him at the appointed hour, I was surprised to see writers Salim and Javed also present. I was even more surprised when Javed Akhtar narrated my role to me because rarely had I been narrated a role that was so completely sketched out in the script itself. My costumes, mannerisms and my look were described in minute details. Even my lines were already written. I was so impressed that I immediately agreed to do it, sharing director Ramesh Sippy’s belief that even though the role was small, it had the potential to become a landmark. Later, Ramesh Sippy showed me a few photographs of Hitler and called Akbarbhai of Kachins to create a set of costumes along the lines of what Hitler used to wear. He later called Kabir, who was one of the best wig-makers at the time, and gave him the responsibility of creating a special wig for me. He also asked me if I could imitate Hitler’s way of speaking in a high tone. I practised on my dialogue delivery during a few rehearsals and gave an okay performance in my very first take itself. The shot over, the writers and the director congratulated me on my performance which, according to them, was better than what they had visualised. But, the truth is, I was inspired a lot by their commitment to even a two-or-three-scenes role like mine, and hence, was able to deliver a performance like that.

I would also like to add here that Dharmesh Darshan, who is directing me in Mela currently, is also one such rare director who takes great pains over each and every role in his film, however small it may be.

Obviously, SHOLAY is one of your favourite roles. But, apart from it, which of your other roles are closer to your heart than the rest?

– Definitely the one where I play a patient at a mental asylum in the Sanjeev Kumar-Leena Chandavarkar starrer Anhonee. Then, there was the one in Balika Badhu, directed by Tarun Majumdar. I also like my performances in Aaj Ki Taaza Khabar, Abhimaan and Koshish.

In the ’80s, you worked in a number of films directed by directors from the South. The comedy in these films was somewhat different from that in our films. How did you adjust to doing such silly roles?

– I agree that the comedy in those films was crude. You see, most of these films were Hindi remakes of hit films made in Tamil, Telugu etc. Since the directors from the South are a superstitious lot, they refused to change anything — not even the smallest bit — from the original. Initially, I did point out the fact that their kind of comedy would not work with all-India audiences which view Hindi films. But they were adamant and one of them even asked me to pack up if I did not agree with his way of functioning. I am aware of an incident when even a star like Dharmendra was asked to pack up when he refused to wear a silly costume. He later agreed, just like I did, mainly because the working down South was very organised and disciplined, as also for the fact that we were paid well and in time.

Eventually, after a couple of big hits early on, there came a time when 24 Hindi films made down South flopped within a single year. Obviously, Hindi audience had passed their judgement on this practice of passing off buffoonery in the name of comedy.

There came a time in the ’80s when you ruled the roost as superstar in Gujarati films? How did that come about?

– Actually, in the early ’80s, I was getting bored with the kind of roles I was getting. I thought that, may be, I should try and create a decent role for me by myself. But the only way I could do it was if I were to direct the film myself. So, I wrote, directed and acted in Chala Murari Hero Banne. Though the film bombed at the box-office, producer-director Vijay Bhatt was impressed with my effort and offered me the lead role in the Gujarati film, Maa Baap. The role of a common but honest autorickshaw driver, devoted to his parents, was so well-appreciated by the audience that the film went on to become one of the biggest hits in Gujarati cinema. In fact, it ran for 25 weeks in London — a feat not even a Hindi film had ever achieved till then. The success of Maa Baap was followed by 10 jubilee hits in Gujarati, which included Mota Gharni Vahu, Via Viramgam and Amdavadno Rickshawalo — the last one directed by me.

After a successful and long career in both, Hindi and Gujarati films, you seemed to have disappeared from the scene for many years. What happened?

– This is an important question. So, let me give you a detailed answer. Let me describe the circumstances that led to my disappearance from the screen. Towards the end of the eighties, my roles in Gujarati films had become repetitive and as a result, I found myself stagnating once again in my career. The roles I was getting in Hindi films were also nothing to write home about. Just around that time, I was offered two films to direct. I took up the offers, thinking, I could create good roles for myself in these films. Thus, I directed Dil Hi To Hai for Magnum, and Udaan for Shabnam Kapoor and Raju Kothari. Unfortunately, the planning of both these films went haywire and, as a result, Dil Hi To Hai took two whole years to complete, while Udaan took four more years after that. This delay cost me a very significant loss of nearly 23 acting assignments as I had to refuse them due to unavailability of dates — most of which were taken up by the two films I was directing. But, even after Udaan was complete, nobody came forward to sign me, thanks to the misconception in the industry that actors who turn directors no longer like to act. I was a helpless victim of this misconception and had to try very hard to convince producers and directors that I had no intentions of giving up acting. Of late, I have begun getting roles in films like Gharwali Baharwali, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Mela, Priyadarshan’s Raftaar, Firoz Nadiadwala’s Kartoos and David Dhawan’s Haseena Maan Jayegi, among others.

One thing I would like to state while on the topic is the fact that the public never deserted me even during this period of forced oblivion and I am very grateful to them for that. Whenever I travelled, even abroad, for that matter, people always asked me why I had quit acting and when would they be able to see me again on screen. This encouraging response gave me a lot of strength and hope during the lean patch.

Who are your favourite actors currently?

– There are quite a few. Among them, Govinda is an extremely talented actor and my co-artiste in Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. Then, there is Kader Khan whose comedy timing is superb, to say the least. Moreover, I am particularly impressed with the dedication of Salman Khan and Aamir Khan. Both these heroes involve themselves completely in the project and you can be sure that they will give their 100% in every role they play.

Among my all-time favourites are Danny Kaye and, to some extent, Jack Lemmon in Hollywood, while in India, it can only be Kishore Kumar who, in many ways, was the Indian counterpart of Danny Kaye.

UDAAN

Tridev Arts’ Udaan (UA) is the story of a daughter’s revenge for her father’s murder. The father is murdered by his business partners when he does not succumb to their pressure to add opium and other drugs in a tonic manufactured by their company. The killers try to thwart the daughter’s attempt at seeking revenge by declaring her mad and admitting her in a mental asylum. They are helped in this by an evil doctor. But finally, the daughter and five other inmates of the asylum escape from there to wipe out the villains one by one.

The story is ordinary and similar to revenge dramas seen earlier. Screenplay has been written unimaginatively. Save for a few light or exciting scenes, the first three-fourths of the film is quite dull. The last quarter of the drama, after the six people escape from the mental asylum, is somewhat better. Dialogues are ordinary.

Rekha is quite good. She does well in action scenes too. Saif Ali Khan and Madhoo are fair in comparatively less significant roles. Danny Denzongpa, Dalip Tahhil, Prem Chopra and Mohan Joshi are good as a team of villains. Prem Chopra entertains too. Saeed Jaffrey is very good in a brief role. Mohnish Bahl, Annu Kapoor, Asrani, Deven Varma, Makrand Deshpande, Sulbha Arya, Achyut Potdar, Harish Patel and the others lend ordinary support.

Asrani’s direction is fair. Music is okay. ‘Gayaa re dank maar bichhua’ is the better of the songs. Picturisations of the songs are routine. Action is ordinary. Photography is good. The film has taken a long time in the making and it shows.

On the whole, Udaan is devoid of an exciting drama and heroism. It has some chance in ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres only.

Released on 3-10-’97 at Alankar, Ganga Palace (matinee) and 20 other cinemas of Bombay thru ABC Pictures P. Ltd. Publicity: dull. Opening: average. …….Also released all over except in C.P. Berar.

DHARMA-KARMA

Prince Pictures’ Dharma-Karma (A) is a dull drama about two persons falsely implicated in crimes they haven’t committed. As destiny would have it, one person’s younger brother and the other person’s son also get implicated in a crime. How the two persons save their wards forms the climax of the film in which the identity of the actual criminal (for which the wards are framed) is also revealed. If the story does not arrest attention of the viewer, the screenplay is confusing and the suspense is hardly interesting. Dialogues are too commonplace to be true.

Dharmendra and Jeetendra are very ordinary and both look old. Rahul Roy does well. Trishna is okay. Rohit Kumar does not impress. Karina Grover has no worthwhile role. Rajesh Shringarpure is too ordinary to be noticed. Mohan Joshi, Punit Issar and Sanjeeva make commonplace villains. Upasna Singh, Dan Dhanoa, Gajendra Chauhan, Sanjay Shah and the others pass muster.

Direction is dull. Music is functional. Action scenes do not create much of an impact. Camerawork and other technical and production values are so-so.

On the whole, Dharma-Karma is a dull fare with only its low price being a plus point.

Released on 3-10-’97 at Dreamland and 4 other cinemas of Bombay thru Jupiter Enterprises. Publicity: dull. Opening: poor. …….Also released all over.

‘DHOONDTE REH JAAOGE’ ALL-INDIA BUSINESS

Bombay distributor Suresh Vora of MBS Combine will handle the all-India business of Satish Shah’s Dhoondte Reh Jaaoge. Parties desirous of acquiring distribution rights of the film for any territory can contact Suresh Vora on the following telephone numbers:- Office: 388-8340, 386-0693; Residence: 640-3091; Cellphone: 98200-64030.

KAMAL MUKUT BEREAVED

Bansidhar Mukut, father of Kamal Mukut and grandfather of Deepak Mukut (DHL Creations), expired on 28th September in Jaipur. Kamal Mukut, who was away in London, rushed back to Jaipur on hearing the news.

SULTAN AHMED RE-ELECTED IMPPA PRESIDENT

Sultan Ahmed was re-elected president of the Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association for the fourth successive term, at the first meeting of the newly elected executive committee held on 28th September at IMPPA House. Sundeep Sethi was elected senior vice president, and Sushama Shiromanee, vice president. S.K. Kapur was elected honorary treasurer.

The following 16 members from the Ordinary class and 5 from the Associate class I were earlier, on 27th September, elected to the executive committee for 1997-98 after the 58th annual general meeting of the IMPPA at ISKCON:

Ordinary class: K.D. Shorey (he polled the highest number of votes — 67 out of a total polling of just 87), Saawan Kumar Tak (61 votes), Pranlal Mehta (61), Sultan Ahmed (58), Vinay Kumar Sinha (58), Mehul Kumar (57), Sushama Shiromanee (56), B. Subhash (55), B.S. Shaad (54), Satish Khanna (54), A. Krishnamurthy (51), Sundeep Sethi (51), Pawan Kumar (51), Surendra Mohan (48), Anil Ganguly (46) and Madan Mohla (46).

Associate class I: There were no elections and all the five candidates in the fray — Anand Girdhar, Dimppy Ramdayal, Ranjeet, S.K. Kapur and Surjit Aujla — were declared elected unopposed.

PAHLAJ NIHALANI RE-ELECTED AMPTPP PRESIDENT

Pahlaj Nihalani was re-elected president of the Association of Motion Picture & TV Programme Producers (AMPTPP) for 1997-98 at the first meeting of its newly constituted governing council held on 29th September at Citizen Hotel, Juhu, Bombay, immediately after the annual general meeting. Shyam Benegal, Amit Khanna, Shabnam Kapoor and Satish Kulkarni were elected vice presidents, and Kamal Kumar Barjatya and Yash Johar, hon. treasurers. Jimmy Nirula was elected hon. secretary.

Earlier, the following members, besides the above, were elected to constitute the governing council: G.P. Sippy, Manmohan Shetty, Gulshan Rai, Bhappi Sonie, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Subroto Bose, N.D. Kothari, Subhash Ghai, N. Chandra, Harmesh Malhotra, Pramod Chakravorty, Ratan Jain, Ramesh Taurani, Salim Akhtar, Mahesh Kothare and Vashu Bhagnani.

RAM KUMAR BHARDWAJ ELECTED NIMPA CHIEF

Ram Kumar Bhardwaj was unanimously elected president of the Northern India Motion Pictures Association (NIMPA) in Jalandhar at its 48th annual general meeting held on 22nd September. Kanwal Kishore was elected vice president, Yash Paul Mittal, hon. general secretary, and Surinder Sehgal, hon. joint secretary. Romesh Chander Gupta was elected hon. treasurer.

The other members of the executive committee are: Dharam Paul Arora, Madan Lal Kapoor, Inderjit Walia, Tarlok Saggi, Narinder Singh Walia, Anil Kumar Puri, Vijay Kumar Tandon, Joginder Jaggi, Amrik Singh and Ashok Kumar Sharma.

IMPPA TO CELEBRATE DIAMOND JUBILEE

The Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association will celebrate the completion of its 60 years by organising a function, IMPPA 60, in December in Bombay. This announcement was made by IMPPA president Sultan Ahmed at its 58th annual general meeting on 27th September at ISKCON, Juhu, Bombay.

The awards of honour presented to five vetarans at the annual general meeting of the IMPPA every year will this time be presented at the IMPPA 60 celebrations. The veterans to be honoured are Anil Biswas, Babubhai Mistry, Dara Singh, P. Jairaj and Shakti Samanta. An award will also be given to the best commercial successful film of the preceding year viz. Raja Hindustani. In addition to the above awards, a special scroll of honour will be presented to Janki Dass for his role in the freedom struggle.

A souvenir will be brought out on the occasion of the celebrations.

FFI MEETS I & B MINISTER

The Film Federation of India arranged a dinner meeting with the Union Information and Broadcasting minister, Jaipal Reddy, on 27th September at Jade Garden. Many important issues concerning the industry were discussed at the meeting. Earlier, Mr. Reddy visited Hyderabad, Bangalore and Madras to exchange views with the members of the film industry there. The following items were mainly discussed in Bombay: (1) countervailing duty payable on raw stock; (2) repatriation of foreign exchange; (3) disallowance of benefit under section 80 HHC of the Income-Tax Act; (4) reconstitution of the NFDC Board; and (5) telecasting films with UA certificates.

The minister was accompanied by I & B secretary C.R. Kamalanathan, joint secretary (films) Raghu Menon and personal secretary to the minister, A.P. Sahani.

The FFI was represented by the various sectors of the film industry. The members present were: president K.G. Dossani, K.D. Shorey (hon. general secretary), N.N. Sippy (hon. treasurer), G.P. Sippy, B.R. Chopra, Ramanand Sagar, Shakti Samanta, Ravi Gupta, Saawan Kumar, T.C. Dewan, Mahavir Jain, Mahesh Kothare, Satish Kulkarni, A.S. Narang, Indravadan Shah, Somandra Batra, Neena Garkel, Balkrishna Shroff, U.A. Thadani, Kiran V. Shantaram, Vinod Ganatra, Arunaraje, Dineshwar Sinha and Rajendra Singh Hora. Supran Sen, secretary, Film Federation of India, and Anil Pandit, general manager, NFDC, were also present.

KADER KHAN ON SMALL SCREEN

Kader Khan will soon be seen on the small screen too. He is playing a double role in Sameer Productions’ serial, Mr. Dhansukh. It will go on air from 8th October and will be telecast every Wednesday at 8.30 p.m. on DD Metro. Producer: Babubhai Thiba.

DARA SINGH ELECTED PFPA PRESIDENT

Dara Singh was unanimously elected president of the Punjabi Film Producers Association for 1997-98 at its annual general meeting held on 28th September at Dara Villa. B.S. Shaad was elected senior vice president, and Priti Sapru, vice president. Iqbal Channa and Thakur Tapssvi were elected hon. general secretary and treasurer respectively. S.R. Kapur and Baljeet Parmar were elected joint secretaries.

The other members elected to the executive committee are: Bhushan Madan, Jarnail Singh, Pammi Veerendra, Ravinder Ravi, Sardool Atwal, Surinder Walia, Vinod Sharma, Tarsem Badhan and Yogesh Chhabra.

BABY BOY

Rajkumar Agrawal, proprietor of Rajkumar Talkies, Pusad (Maharashtra), was blessed with a baby boy on 26th September at Khamgaon.

IDPA MEETS I & B MINISTER

The Indian Documentary Producers’ Association (IDPA) met I & B minister Jaipal Reddy on 28th September at the Discovery of India Building, Nehru Centre, Bombay. IDPA president Arunaraje thanked the minister for the initiative taken by his ministry in granting IDPA a regular slot on Doordarshan for showing documentaries.

The IDPA members discussed with Mr. Reddy the problems of documentary makers in the production, distribution and exhibition sectors. A copy of the recommendations on the proposed Broadcast Bill 1997 was also presented to Reddy. This had been the result of a day’s workshop organised jointly by IDPA, RAPA, Ad Club and IAA-Indian chapter at the World Trade Centre.

YOU ASKED IT

Of late, films are not being released simultaneously in one or the other circuit. For example, Mohabbat and Hameshaa were released all over but not in West Bengal. What does this indicate?

– That bad times have begun for producers.

Is there any difference in the pattern of behaviour of distributors these days?

– Two years ago, distributors used to rush and fall over one another to buy films on their accouncement itself. Today, they are sometimes not even interested in acquiring star-cast films at the time of their release, unless they are available at reasonable prices. There isn’t cut-throat competition now.

What is the difference between film dealings today and earlier?

– Today, there’s no sanctity of contract, no morals, no ethics, no respect for the other’s feelings. Everybody has become selfish.

HERE & THERE

Delhi Made Permanent Venue For Competitive IFFI

The speculation on the film industry taking over the organisation of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) is over. Though the industry had shown keenness to take over the reins, the government couldn’t be satisfied. Perhaps, some influential filmmakers and bureaucrats have a greater say in the matter.

Last week, a meeting of the advisory committee of the festival was held in New Delhi, and the committee not only took a decision to make Delhi the permanent venue of the IFFI but also to make the festival competitive once again. The meeting was conducted under the chairmanship of I & B secretary C.R. Kamalanathan and was attended by Adoor Gopalakrishnan, D.V.S. Raju, K.D. Shorey, Ravi Gupta, Suresh Chhabria and Malati Sahay. As the quality of the films being screened in the international fetes is going down year by year, the members decided to make the maximum efforts to select only good films for the IFFI and try to bring reputed filmmakers to India to attend the fete and to interact with their Indian counterparts.

As Bombay will also be holding its own international film festival from this year onwards, and Calcutta and Thiruvananthapuram are already holding such festivals, the audience of these mega cities may not feel sorry. Now, Madras, Bangalore and Hyderabad may go the Bombay way.

Nine Cinemas Of Delhi Ordered To Be Closed

The licensing branch of the Delhi Police issued orders of suspension of licences and closure of nine cinemas immediately. The nine cinemas are: Palace, Ritz, Excelsior, Westend, Laxmi Palace, New Amar, Kushal, Jagat and Imperial.

After the Uphaar cinema tragedy in June this year, the authorities have become more strict in following the rules. The above cinemas were running with temporary licences and failed to get the clearance certificates from the health department, fire department, electricity board and the building authorities.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Shringar Films, the Bombay distributors of JAB DIL KISI PE AATA HAI, have decorated a bus shelter at Marine Drive, Bombay, with illuminated designs of the film. In Hyderabad, members of the Nagarjuna Fan Club, wearing logos of the film (starring Nagarjuna) and carrying umbrellas, moved on roller-skates throughout Hyderabad and Secunderabad, as a publicity gimmick on the day of release and the following day. The fan club members were flagged off from Annapurna Studos by Nagarjuna and Tabu. …In Agra, the management of Anjana cinema was forced to hold special shows one night (at 12 midnight and 3 a.m.) due to public demand.

Red Badshah In Pink City

If it’s K.C. Bokadia’s film, it has to be shot in Rajasthan. This Rajasthani producer-director, or, as he likes to call himself, Merta ka chhora, loves his mitti too much, it seems.

And so, like so many of his almost 30 production ventures, Lal Badshah too is being shot in Rajasthan. In the Pink City — Jaipur — to be more precise. In the City Palace of Jaipur, to be even more precise. That’s on the day we visit the set. It has been shot in a private bungalow the previous day.

There are some changes to be made in the climax which is to be shot in the massive and beautiful City Palace belonging to Bhawani Singh. Bokadia doesn’t tell us so but that’s what we gather. And that’s why, shooting is delayed quite a bit as the producer-director is locked in a room with his writers, P.D. Mehra and Anwar Khan, weighing the pros and cons of the various alternatives.

His entire unit is in Jaipur for the climax shooting. There’s Amitabh Bachchan who, obviously, is playing the title role; and there are Manisha Koirala, Shilpa Shetty, Amrish Puri, Shakti Kapoor, Raghuvaran, Mukesh Rishi, Vikas Anand and Mohan Joshi. Sunil Shetty, too, would’ve been there had he and Bokadia not mutually decided that he would not act in the film. No, there was no tension whatsoever between the two. Rather, Sunil could not give K.C. Bokadia the priority dates he wanted, to complete the film and so the latter decided to change the script by doing away completely with Sunil’s character and role. We gather that Bokadia is in a hurry to complete shooting because Bachchan Badshah wants it that way. And Amitabh Bachchan wants it to be completed quickly because he has liked the film’s rushes and so has his brother, Ajitabh. Obviously then, the Bachchans are keen that Lal Badshah be Amitabh’s first release now. ABCL’s Major Saab will follow Lal Badshah.

Of course, when we ask Amitabh about the release re-scheduling of the two films, he quips, “Lal Badshah was always scheduled to be released before Major Saab.” Never mind, what finally matters is that Bokadia’s Badshah will decide whether Bachchan Badshah still has it in him to draw the crowds. From what Bokadia tells us of Amitabh’s role, it does seem that, age notwithstanding, Amitabh just might pull it off this time. He speaks in a Bihari accent in the film and it indeed suits him very much, giving his character so much more colour. Now, don’t say that the colour lal in the title is enough!

Manisha Koirala also plays an interesting role, that of an LIC agent who finds it very difficult to obtain business for her company. An idea about her character can be had from this interesting scene: Manisha is threatened of being relieved of her job, by her boss if she does not get more customers for her company. Upon this, she begs of her boss not to dismiss her as that would kill her children. The perplexed boss chides her for bluffing him as he knows that she isn’t married. Manisha assures him that she is not lying, that if she is sacked by the boss, she wouldn’t find a suitable boy for marriage, and if she didn’t get married, she wouldn’t be able to have children. Which would mean that the boss had ‘killed’ her children.

Whether the boss would kill Manisha’s children or not, Bokadia would surely kill us if we said anything more about Manisha or anybody else’s character in the film! But we can safely add here that Amitabh Bachchan plays a double role in the film — of the father and the son. Radhika plays wife of the old Amitabh, and Manisha is paired with son Amitabh. Shilpa Shetty is a silent admirer of Amitabh who, because of this, changes loyalties in the climax and leaves villain Amrish Puri to help Amitabh.

Well, Amitabh himself has helped K.C. Bokadia. Off-screen, that is. He has reduced his price by giving a concession in the contracted price. Amitabh reminds us that he had similarly helped K.C. Bokadia in Aaj Ka Arjun.

Which brings us to the question: does Amitabh find any difference in aaj ka Bokadia’s working and the Bokadia of Aaj Ka Arjun? “He is more confident today than he was at that time,” is Bachchan’s conclusive certificate of merit to Bokadia.

Of course, K.C. Bokadia, even though he blushes lal on being paid the compliment, would rather wait for the final certificate from the janta ki adalat because it’s their verdict on Lal Badshah which would be more important.

And as Bokadia, action director Veeru Devgan and their unit get ready to take the first shot of the day on Amitabh (a couple of shots have been taken on the other artistes), it’s time for us to bid them ‘bye and leave for the airport. As the Lal Badshah would have said in his Bihari accent, “Ka karaee, ee susri plane konoi ke liye rukti naahin!” Time and flight wait for no man, right?

– Komal Nahta

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Action Hero To Say, “Lights, Camera, Action”

Is the top action hero turning a director? Seems so. The hero’s own production venture, which was being shot abroad recently, ran into rough weather when his director did not live up to his expectations. A new director was called in but reportedly, the hero-producer was looking for something else. Not satisfied, he cut short the start-to-finish shooting schedule, returned to India and has almost decided to call the shots himself. The unit will return to the foreign land next year now, and it will be the hero and producer donning the mantle of director as well.

Puja Premium

Mr. & Mrs. Khiladi has fetched the highest ever price fetched by a solo Akshay Kumar starrer in West Bengal. Kanu and Neru Anchalia have paid 75 for the West Bengal distribution rights of the film. Besides the fancy for the film, what prompted them to pay the phenomenal price is the Puja release. Collections are bumper in West Bengal during the Puja holidays. Since the Puja holidays will get over on 11th October, the Anchalias plan to release Mr. & Mrs. Khiladi on 8th October — two days before its all-India release. Incidentally, the film has been sold for some other circuits too at truly fancy prices.

The 25-Lakh Factor

There was hectic activity in the Time group earlier this week to ensure that only one of the two scheduled releases of Dassera comes. Two films, Deewana Mastana and Mr. & Mrs. Khiladi, both directed by David Dhawan, are due for release on 10th October. Since both are big films sold at fancy prices, Pravin Shah of Time was keen on a week’s gap between the two releases. The biggest charm of coming on 10th October is for the Bengal distributors of the two films because of the Puja holidays advantage there. So Pravin Shah, the presenter of Mr. & Mrs. Khiladi, made an offer to Bharat Shah, the presenter of Deewana Mastana. According to the offer, any one of the two films would be released on Dassera and the one whose film would come, would pay the other producer Rs. 25 lakh for giving as compensation to the Bengal distributor of that other producer. That is to say, if Deewana Mastana would be released on 10th October, Bharat Shah would have to pay Rs. 25 lakh to Pravin Shah who, in turn, would compensate his Bengal distributor. But Bharat Shah politely refused Pravin Shah’s offer. And so, both, Deewana Mastana and Mr. & Mrs. Khiladi, will hit the screens together.

Double Confidence

The rest of the industry may be nervous about two David Dhavan directed films hitting the screens simultaneously next week, but David is far from nervous or anxious. Excited, yes! He says, his excitement springs from his confidence in both his films, Deewana Mastana and Mr. & Mrs. Khiladi. David does not think, a solid story is important in a film for its success. According to him, what is more important is a tight and interesting screenplay which can entertain the audience. Who would disagree?

Why Just One Film?

What is the logic of IMPPA honouring the producers of Raja Hindustani at its diamond jubilee celebrations in December this year? While it is a fact that Raja Hindustani is one of the biggest blockbusters of Indian cinema, the question that arises is: why only Raja Hindustani? Raja Hindustani was released in 1996 and IMPPA is completing 60 years in 1997. If Raja Hindustani deserves the honour, so do DDLJ, HAHK..!, Sholay, Mother India and Mughal-E-Azam, to name a few. Or, if the IMPPA wants to honour just one biggest hit of the year, it has to be the biggest hit of the diamond jubilee year. So far, Border deserves that honour but one has to wait for the year to get over to decide the film which qualifies to be the biggest blockbuster of the diamond jubilee year of IMPPA. In fact, the press release of IMPPA says: ‘One additional award would be given to the best commercial successful film of mainstream during the preceding year i.e. Raja Hindustani.’ Actually, since it is the 60 years that IMPPA is celebrating and not an annual event, it would be in the fitness of things to honour not just the makers of Raja Hindustani but the achievers of the last 60 years. And the list is far from complete without the names of such major hits as Mughal-E-Azam, Mother India, Sholay, HAHK..! and DDLJ. The producers of these films, so to say, changed the course of the industry. IMPPA must acknowledge this fact by honouring them.

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

SALAAKHEN

Cinema Arts’ Salaakhen is a revenge drama with a difference. It tells the story of a man who dares to raise his voice against the crimes committed by an influential person who is actually an underworld don but who wears the garb of a social worker. Since the police are hand-in-glove with the don, they make life miserable for this man, an honest teacher, who pledges to give witness in the court and who thinks he is, therefore, helping the police. The torture gets too much for the simpleton teacher and then, his son, an angry young man, decides to take law into his hands. He breathes fire and, one by one, kills all those responsible for torturing his father. A major part of the film is in flashback.

The opening couple of reels (before the flashback begins) are stunning because the drama is absolutely unusual. Once the flashback begins, the film has some highs and also some lows. The plus points are the arresting second half, especially the long climax, the performances of the main characters, and the action. The lows are that the film has less relief and the ending is not as effective as it should have been. Since the hero is a criminal in the eyes of law but a true hero in the public eye, greater participation of the public in getting justice for the hero would have had a more hair-raising impact. Nevertheless, the climax action (Tinnu Verma) is simply astounding and keeps the audience at the edge of their seats. The murder of the police officer in the dhobi ghat and the car stunts and explosions are breathtaking. Too much footage has been given to the hero’s father, and his death in the court looks contrived. The first half is dull at places but the second half is good.

Sunny Deol does a remarkable job as the angry young man. He breathes fire into his character and performs brilliantly. As a result, all his action scenes and otherwise unbelievable dare-devilry look absolutely believable. Raveena Tandon has hardly any role but she is good in whatever little she has to do. Her dances are appealing. Anupam Kher is simply fantastic as the simple teacher who takes on the don. His little nuances are proof of how much pains he has taken to portray his character. In one word, he is superb. Farida Jalal, playing his wife and Sunny’s mother, also gives a memorable performance. Her scenes when she curses the evil-doers is stunning. Amrish Puri plays the don with conviction and with the ease which he has mastered. Mohan Joshi is good. Mahavir Shah leaves a mark with an able job. Harish Patel provides a couple of light moments with his natural acting. Deven Varma has a brief role and is good. Rummy Dhillon is average. Ravi Patwardhan acts ably. Dinesh Hingoo is okay. Manisha Koirala appears in just one dance number but her presence is not electrifying.

Director Guddu Dhanoa has extracted superlative performances from his cast. Although he has not let the action fare remain just that and has handled the subject with reasonable confidence, providing some emotions too, he has not balanced the tension with light scenes or refreshing romance. Dilip Shukla’s screenplay is good and his dialogues are also very nice. But it must be mentioned that Sunny’s character is such that his dialogues should have been much more fiery. Dilip Sen Sameer Sen’s music is catchy but the absence of a hit number is felt sorely, especially because there’s not much relief otherwise. ‘Pichhu pade hain’, ‘Dhak dhak’, ‘Punjabi kudi’ and ‘Zubaan pe jo nahin aaye’ are the better songs. Song picturisations are not novel. Camerawork is quite good. DTS mixing is very effective. Other technical aspects are proper. Production values are grand.

On the whole, Salaakhen has appeal for the masses. Despite a heavy price, it has the merits to keep everybody satisfied.

Released on 24-4-’98 at Novelty and 21 other cinemas of Bombay thru A.B.C. Pictures P. Ltd. Publicity: very good. Opening: good (affected due to Sharjah Cup cricket match finals). …….Also released all over. Opening was excellent in U.P., C.P. Berar and Orissa (in all these circuits, the film opened on Thursday) but not as good in C.I.

VIJAY SIPPY’S DEATH STILL A MYSTERY

Mystery continues to surround the death of producer Vijay Sippy, son of G.P. Sippy and brother of Ramesh Sippy, whose body was found lying in the building adjacent to the one in which he used to stay, on the morning of 17th April. Police investigating the case are confused about whether the death is a case of suicide or murder.

Vijay Sippy was 52 and a law graduate. He joined his father’s business when he was 22 years old. Starting as a trainee, he went on to eventually run the company.

Vijay was a private person by nature and, therefore, socialised very little. He is survived by his parents, two wives and a son.

A condolence meeting will be held on Sunday, 26th April, between 5.30 p.m. and 6.30 p.m. at the residence of G.P. Sippy, Shree Vijayaa Bhavan, Altamount Road, Bombay.

CHANDRA SHEKHAR BEREAVED

Satyamma, mother of veteran actor Chandra Shekhar and grandmother of television serial producer Ashok Shekhar, expired on 22nd April in Hyderabad after a prolonged illness.

SOUND RECORDIST H.D. MISTRY DEAD

H.D. Mistry, senior sound recordist, expired in Bombay on 8th April after a brief illness. He was 84 and active till the end. He was president of the Western India Motion Picture & Television Sound Engineers’ Association and chairman of WIMPSE Welfare Trust.

Before turning a freelance sound recordist in 1969, Mistry was attached to Ranjit Studios. He recorded the songs of late singers K.L. Saigal and Khursheed at Ranjit with only one microphone for both, the singer and the musician. The famous Vande Mataram song, rendered by Lata Mangeshkar, Hemant Kumar and chorus for Anand Math, was recorded by H.D. Mistry in 1950 with just three microphones in a non-airconditioned and non-sound-proof shooting stage of Filmistan Studios.

Mistry had recorded the sound for 100 feature films.

He is survived by his wife, son and three daughters.

C.I. REVERTS TO THURSDAY RELEASE SCHEDULE

Beginning this week, films are being released in C.I. on Thursdays again, instead of Fridays. The system of releasing films on Thursday was discontinued from 13th November, 1997, as a result of a decision taken by the Indore Distributors Forum. But the system of releasing films on Fridays did not find favour with distributors and exhibitors alike. The trade has, therefore, shifted to the old system of releasing films on Thursdays.

In C.P. Berar, it had been left to the discretion of the distributor to release films on Thursdays or Fridays. But now, even the C.P. trade has decided to stick to the Thursday release pattern.

HINDI FILMS ‘BANNED’ IN MANIPUR

Hindi films have been ‘banned’ in Manipur with effect from 25th April by extortionists who were demanding protection money from cinemas screening Hindi films. When the cinemas refused to oblige, the extortionists ordered an unofficial ban on Hindi films.

The ban has spread panic among Assam distributors who fear, they will face a loss of at least 20% in their revenue.

YOU ASKED IT

With star-cast films like Qila, Kabhi Na Kabhi, Zor, Yugpurush and Keemat flopping, will film prices come down?

– They may not come down but they surely won’t go up indiscriminately.

Which was the first cinema to be built in India?

– It was Elphinston Picture Palace, built by J.F. Madan in Calcutta in 1907. The first cinema show was arranged by the Lumière brothers of France at Watson Hotel in Bombay on 7th July, 1896.

What is essential for a non-star-cast film to click?

– Novelty in subject or presentation or hit music or all three.

CENSOR NEWS

Lata Films’ Aunty No. 1, seen by the revising committee on 21st, has been issued C.C. No. CIL/1/25/98 (U) dt. 24-4-’98; length 3933.90 metres in 16 reels (cuts: 158.81 metres).

M.V. Gopalram’s Mera Desh (dubbed) was given C.C. (in Madras) No. CIL/3/0099/98 (A) dt. 27-3-’98; length 4013.31 metres in 15 reels (no cut).

Venus Corporation Ltd.’s Satya (length 4999.19 metres in 17 reels), applied on 17th and seen on 20th, has been offered A certificate, with cuts.

Sarav Productions’ Dhadak was seen by the revising committee on 20th.

P.M. Films’ Sar Utha Ke Jiyo was seen on 22nd.

Promise Pictures’ Jungle Love Story has been offered UA certificate, with cuts.

IN & OUT OF BOMBAY

Mr. Sunil Bansal of Jai Pictures P. Ltd., Jaipur, is in town (630-2376).

Mr. S.M. Kothari of Indore will reach Bombay today (25th April).

Producer N.N. Sippy, associate producer Pravesh Sippy and cameraman Debu Deodhar left for France and Czechoslovakia on 23rd April to scout locations for SILSILA HAI PYAR KA. They are expected back after a fortnight.

Mr. Sunderdas Sonkiya and Mr. Ramavtar Rana of Jaipur Films P. Ltd., Jaipur, are in town (611-5808).

DO YOU KNOW?

* Three Mithun starrers are ready for release. All the three — MARD, HITLER and HATYARA — might hit the screens in May.

* The Aati kya Khandala song, rendered by Aamir Khan (and Alka Yagnik) for GHULAM, should soon become very popular. It has endearing lyrics by Nitin Raikwar and soft music (Jatin Lalit).

* M.F. Hussain’s GAJ GAMINI has taken off with song recordings.

* A.R.B. Arts, the East Punjab distributors of SALAAKHEN, have released as many as 28 prints in the circuit. Two prints were added to the original 26 on Friday itself. 

* The US assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs, Karl Frederick Inderfurth, saw DTPH on 22nd April at Bombay’s Liberty cinema. Persis Khambatta was his interpreter. Inderfurth could see just 45 minutes of the film as he had to keep another appointment, but he said, he was dying to know the ending of the interesting film.

* Rajshri’s MAINE PYAR KIYA has been revived in Bihar this week with six prints. …….At Chitrabani, Begusarai, it was PYAAR KIYA TO DARNA KYA which was booked from 24th April but due to the print not reaching the cinema on time, MAINE PYAR KIYA is being screened there for a week. PKTDK will open next week in continuation to MPK. That’s MAINE PYAR KIYA TO DARNA KYA, then!

Dream Merchant

‘Titanic’ Fever In Bollywood

It’s Titanic fever all around. Whether at parties or other social gatherings, the film being discussed is the 11-Oscar winner. So, it was natural for me to dream about the film industry in Bollywood trying to ape Titanic. Bhed chaal, you know.

I first dreamt about Mahesh Bhatt who told me that after the super-success of Titanic in India, he had decided to postpone his retirement by one film. “I’ll quit direction after I’ve made a Hindi Titanic,” he said. “What Hollywood can do, Bollywood can do better and with double the results and efficiency. My film will start after the release of my Duplicate and it will be called Duplicate Titanic. There will be not one but two Titanic ships in the film, and catastrophe will strike both of them at the same time. That would mean double the thrill for the price of a single ticket.”

David Dhawan was busy on the sets of Smita Thackeray’s Haseena Maan Jayegi. Without giving much thought, he told me, “My next will be titled Haseena Teri Jaan Jayegi. In that film, it will be the heroine who will die due to the cold waters the lovers will land themselves into after the ship tragedy as in Titanic. Karisma will play Kate Winslet’s role and, of course, Govinda will be her hero. Govindo Di Virario.”

Subhash Ghai had not yet recovered from the blacklash of the “nasty journalists” who had been “writing nonsense” about his legal battle with Mahima Chaudhary. About Titanic, he said, “I plan to make a sequel to Titanic. It will be called Titanic Chali Pardes. My film will start where the Hollywood film ended. I will show the ship-owner taking the ship-builder to court for breach of his contract. How could the ship sink like that?” Then, sensing my bewilderment, he added, “Don’t worry, I may have lost in a real court of law, but that doesn’t mean, I don’t know to direct a courtroom drama. Coming back to my film. It will be so titled because the Titanic will be shown heading for pardes when calamity will strike. Since I’ve got a contract with Mahima, she will have to play the heroine in the film. The boy? It could be anybody. But not a newcorner. I don’t want more courtroom dramas in real life!”

Umesh Mehra was still trying to figure out why Qila bombed so miserably, when I met him. “See, we Indians have got a Hollywood complex,” he thundered. “Why should I make a Titanic or a sequel or an inspired version of it? If Titanic was a disaster film, so was my Qila. But nobody praises me as they praise the Titanic director.”

Vashu Bhagnani was not in his office when I reached there. His peon told me, he had gone to IMPPA to register a line of titles like Ship No. 1, Disaster No. 1, Iceberg No. 1, Love Story No. 1, Titanic No. 1, Luxury Liner No. 1, Water No. 1, Sea No. 1, Samudra No. 1, Accident No. 1…… I excused myself to use Vashu’s toilet to do what they call ‘no. 1’.

Randhir Kapoor said, he had finally been inspired to start a film. “It will be called Ram Teri Ganga Phir Maili Ho Gayee because the ship disaster will take place in the Ganga in my film.”

Yash Chopra and Rajkumar Barjatya, being the most forward-looking producers in India, told me, they had decided to join hands for the Titanic film in India. “Oh, like Paramount and 20th Century Fox joined hands in Hollywood,” I exclaimed excitedly. “Yes,” nodded Barjatya. But the two pillars were undecided about the title. While Barjatya wanted the film to be called Nadiya Ke Paar because it would be the endeavour of Titanic to go nadiya ke paar, Chopra suggested that more prominence should be given to the romance portion of the story and preferred the title Dil To Saath Saath Hai. “This film,” revealed Chopra, “will be longer than even the Titanic. It will be of 21 reels and saat-saat-saat reels will be directed by me, Sooraj Barjatya and Aditya.”

Ram Gopal Varma scoffed at the idea of being inspired from Titanic. “This is not Hollywood,” he said. “Special effects don’t work in our films,” he sighed, adding, “Remember my Daud? It had so many special effects, still it bombed.” I had half a mind to tell him, his film had flopped not because of the special effects but rather because of the special defects!

Pranlal Mehta was despondent. My Yugpurush has put me to such major losses, I can’t dream of starting my next so soon. But yes, I’ve thought of a title. If I could make Jeeo Shaan Se, I can also make Doobo Shaan Se. And yes, if I do make this Titanic-inspired film, it will be directed by…….” “Ramesh Sippy,” I interrupted him.

B.R. Ishara was in a dubbing studio. He told me, “If Hollywood can send a Titanic to India, so can I send a film to Hollywood. I’m dubbing my old film, in English, and just wait and watch, it will give Titanic a run for its money. “Which film?”, I queried. “Of course, Kaagaz Ki Nao,” he announced.

The last on my list was Priyadarsan. “I’m no less than James Cameron,” he said with unmistakable pride. “Saat Rang Ke Sapne and Kabhi Na Kabhi have given me more confidence than ever before. Cameron only made the ship sink. I’m capable of drowning the entire Bombay film industry, just you wait.”

I woke up with a start. I didn’t want to drown.

– Komal Nahta

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Colleagues Before Becoming Man And Wife

Before Shravani Deodhar got married to cameraman Debu Deodhar, she used to be Amol Palekar’s fifth assistant. In fact, the two met each other when Debu was Amol’s cameraman, and Shravani, his assistant. Being the fifth assistant, she used to sound the clapper-board before every shot but since she used to be a bit slow in moving out of the frame after sounding the clap, Debu used to get irritated and often chided her for wasting precious raw stock. He used to tell Shravani to move out of the frame quickly and used to advise her to decide beforehand on the place where she would run after giving the clap. Those were the days when Shravani and Debu were just colleagues. Shravani ultimately did find the right place — in Debu’s heart. This was revealed by Shravani recently.

A Promise Fulfilled

Late actor Yeshwant Dutt, perhaps, had a premonition of his death. After completing the shooting of Ajey Jhankar’s Marathi film, Sarkarnama, he had been hospitalised for an ailment. When the film’s director, Shravani Deodhar, and cameraman, Debu Deodhar, went to visit him in hospital, he told them not to worry because he wouldn’t die before completing his dubbing. When he was discharged from hospital, he dubbed for Sarkarnama at Film City from morning to 2.30 in the night. Only after completing his dubbing did he return home. The following day, Yeshwant Dutt breathed his last. But he had kept his promise to the Deodhars about completing Sarkarnama before dying.

Thoughtful Gesture

Vinayak Mayekar, the controller of Plaza cinema, Bombay, where Marathi film Tu Tithe Mee opened this week, was so impressed with the film when he saw it that he agreed to forgo one show’s rent (approximately Rs. 10,000) at Plaza. It’s not the amount but the thought which counts.

Hindustani-Pakistani

After late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, it is Pakistani singer Ataullah Khan who has lent his voice to a Hindi film song. And this Pakistani has sung for a film with a title no less than Hero Hindustani! Which makes it: Film Hindustani, singer Pakistani.

The ‘D’ Factor

‘D’ has been a particularly lucky alphabet for Yash Chopra. Some of the biggest hits of his, either as director or producer or both, have had their titles beginning with ‘D’ — Dhool Ka Phool, Daag, Deewaar, Darr, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Dil To Pagal Hai.

DILIP KUMAR RECOVERING

Dilip Kumar, who underwent bypass surgery of the heart on 1st January at Lilavati Hospital, Bandra, Bombay, is recuperating.

‘PYAAR TO HONA HI THA’ SILVER JUBILEE

Baba Films’ Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha entered combined silver jubilee week on 8th January at Alankar, Bombay (in matinee shows). The film stars Ajay Devgan, Kajol, Om Puri, Bijay Anand and Kashmira Shah. Producer: Gordhan Tanwani. Director: Anees Bazmee. Music: Jatin Lalit. Lyrics: Sameer.

KARISMA KAPOOR INJURED

Karisma Kapoor was injured recently while shooting for Hum Saath Saath Hain. She, however, participated in the shooting of Biwi No. 1 in Hyderabad last week and this, for scenes not requiring much movement. Since she is not completely alright, she has been advised rest. Following her injury, the foreign shooting schedule of Haseena Maan Jayegi, starring her, has had to be postponed. The schedule was to have begun this week.

TWO AHMEDABAD CINEMAS RAIDED FOR SCREENING ‘BITS’

Two Ahmedabad cinemas viz. Hanjer and Sheetal, Gomtipur, were raided by the city police last week, following a tip-off that the cinemas were screening uncensored portions from foreign erotic films. During the raid, it was discovered that uncensored ‘bits’, added to Jail House Girl (at Hanjer) and Chained Girls (at Sheetal), were being screened regularly in the late night shows. Nine persons, including the manager and staff of Sheetal cinema, were arrested, while action was initiated against Harish Popat, the manager of Hanjer cinema.

GIRISH SHAH’S DAUGHTER TO WED

Marriage of Kunti, daughter of Gujarat distributor-exhibitor Girish Shah, with Anand will be solemnised on 24th January in Ahmedabad. A reception will be held the same evening.

PRODUCTION NEWS

Salim’s Film In Full Swing

The unit of Aftab Music Industries’ Prod. No. 7 left on Jan. 6 for a 7-day shooting stint at Khandala. The film is being produced by Salim and stars Bobby Deol, Rani Mukerji, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Ashish Vidyarthi, Ashutosh Rana, Vishwajeet Pradhan, Razzak Khan, Mushtaq Khan and Amrish Puri. Story writer & director: Raj Kanwar. Screenplay: Robin Bhatt and Sutanu Gupta. Dialogues: Santosh Saroj. Music director Anu Malik recorded the first song of the film at Sahara India on Jan. 5. It was penned by Sameer.

‘Arjun Pandit’ In Dehradun, Hardwar

Ratan International’s Arjun Pandit is being shot in Dehradun, Hardwar and Rishikesh. Sunny Deol, Juhi Chawla, Shahbaaz Khan and others are participating in the month-long schedule. The film is being directed by Rahul Rawail for producer Babloo (N.R.) Pachisia.

‘Pukaar’ Complete

Boney Kapoor and S.K. Films Enterprises’ Pukaar is complete following the 4-day shooting spell at Surve Farm in Panvel near Bombay. Only a few days’ patchwork shooting now remains to be done. Directed by Rajkumar Santoshi for producer Surinder Kapoor, the film stars Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Namrata Shirodkar, Mukesh Rishi, Girish Karnad, Mohan Agashe, Om Puri, Govind Namdeo and Danny Denzongpa. Majrooh Sultanpuri’s lyrics are set to tune by A.R. Rahman. Action: Tinnu Verma. Bharat Shah is the associate producer.

‘Aa Ab Laut Chalen’ On January 22

The first copy of R.K. Films & Studios P. Ltd.’s Aa Ab Laut Chalen will come out today (Jan. 9). It will be seen by the CBFC on Jan. 11/12. The film, directed by Rishi Kapoor and produced by him jointly with Randhir Kapoor and Rajiv Kapoor, stars Rajesh Khanna, Akshaye Khanna, Aishwarya Rai, Suman Ranganathan, Moushumi Chatterjee, Paresh Rawal, Jaspal Bhatti, Satish Kaushik and Kader Khan. Music is scored by Nadeem Shravan and lyrics are penned by Sameer. The film will be released positively on January 22.

Shah Rukh, Juhi Starrer Progresses

Director Shashilal K. Nair began a 13-day shooting spell of Glamour Films’ Prod. No. 2 on different locales of Bombay on Jan. 4. Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla are participating alongwith Nirmal Pandey, Bharat Dabholkar, Dilip Joshi, Rehman Naushad and child artistes. Jackie Shroff also plays a stellar role in the film being produced by Nazir Ahmed. It has music by A.R. Rahman and lyrics by Mehboob. Dialogues: Sanjay Chhel. Cinematography: S. Kumar. Art: Nitin Desai.

‘Haseena Maan Jayegi’ 8-Day Spell

An 8-day shooting stint of Rahul Productions’ Haseena Maan Jayegi will begin in Bombay on various locations from Jan. 13. Sanjay Dutt, Govinda, Kader Khan, Anupam Kher, Satish Kaushik, Aroona Irani, Razzak Khan and Ashish Vidyarthi will participate. The film, being directed by David Dhawan for producer Smita Thackeray, stars Karisma Kapoor and Pooja Batra in the female leads. Other cast: Paresh Rawal, Mohan Joshi, Aasif Sheikh, Pushpa Verma, Asrani and Bindu (in a guest appearance). Story-screenplay: Yunus Sejawal and Imtiaz Patel. Dialogues: Rumi Jafri. Music: Anu Malik. Lyrics: Sameer. Cinematographer: K.S. Prakash Rao. Art: R. Verman. Bharat Shah presents the film.

Chandrachur Starts Dubbing For ‘Silsila Hai Pyar Ka’

Chandrachur Singh commenced his dubbing for N.N. Sippy Productions’ Silsila Hai Pyar Ka yesterday (Jan. 8) at B.R. The film, shooting of which is almost complete, co-stars Karisma Kapoor, Shakti Kapoor, Mishka Khanna, Aroona Irani, Saeed Jaffrey, Nilam Singh, Alok Nath and Danny Denzongpa. It is directed by Shrabani Deodhar for producer N.N. Sippy. Cameraman: Debu Deodhar. Music: Jatin Lalit. Lyrics: Sameer.

SIGNED

Dev Anand Signs New Girl For ‘Censor’

Dev Anand will introduce Mohini Sharma in his new film, Censor. She will play the romantic lead opposite Vinay Anand.

YOU ASKED IT

What, according to you, should have been the correct price of China Gate for a major circuit, taking into consideration its cast and director but not bearing in mind its cost and business?

– The appropriate price would have been Rs. 1 to 1.25 crore per major circuit.

How many releases will Aamir Khan have in 1999?

– Four — SARFAROSH, 1947 (EARTH), MANN and MELA. In all probability, all the four will be released before August.

What price would an ‘A’ grade producer’s Shah Rukh Khan starrer fetch for the Overseas circuit?

– More than 6 crore! Maybe, even 7 to 8 crore.

CENSOR NEWS

Suresh Productions’ Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain, seen on 8th in Hyderabad, has been passed with U certificate, without cut.

R.K. Films & Studios’ Aa Ab Laut Chalen (length 4848.05 metres in 19 reels) was applied on 8th.

Jackie Shroff Entertainment Ltd.’s Grahan (length 4276.04 metres in 16 reels), applied on 5th and seen on 6th, has been passed for adults, with cuts.

IMPORTED FILMS

Pam Coats & Buena Vista International’s Mulan was given C.C. No. CFL/1/1/99 (U) dt. 4-1-’99; length 2406.45 metres in 5 reels (no cut). Applicant: Columbia Tristar Films of India Ltd.

D.R.M. Combines’ Mata Hari was seen on 5th.

Columbia Tristar Films of India Ltd.’s Jane Austin’s Mafia was applied on 6th, and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer was applied on 7th.

Warner Brothers (F.E.) Inc.’s Blade (revised) was applied on 5th.

Virgo Films’ Snake Lady was applied on 6th.

20th Century Fox India Inc.’s The Siege was applied on 7th.

Koneru Films’ Save Me was applied on 8th.

DO YOU KNOW?

* The video cassettes of Rajshri’s blockbuster, HUM AAPKE HAIN KOUN..!, were released on 30th December ’98 — that is, more than four years after the film’s theatrical release. Ultra has released the video cassettes with beautiful packaging. Ultra had also released Rajshri’s earlier hit, MAINE PYAR KIYA, on video on the same date nine years earlier — that is, on 30th December, 1989.

* The Bombay distributors of PYAAR TO HONA HI THA have released 25 prints of the film this week in Bombay city and suburbs and Maharashtra to coincide with the film’s silver jubilee. The same distributors (Devgan’s Entertainment) had revived their ISHQ with 50 prints in its golden jubilee week last year.

* A Tamil film — RAJASTHAN — will be released on 14th January in the Overseas circuit with as many as 150 prints! No film, not even a Hindi one, has so far been released in Overseas with such a large number of prints. The film, directed by R.K. Selvamani, stars Sarath Kumar and Vijayashanti and has cost about Rs. 20 crore to make!

* V.N. Films, the Miraj district sub-distributor of KKHH, has sent expensive vinyl boards of the film for display at ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres of Miraj region. This is, perhaps, the first time that such expensive publicity is being displayed in ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres like Wadgaon, Shirol, Wai and Gadhinglaj.

* FIRE, which was released in Hardwar at Payal Palace last week without prior publicity, collected only 4,602/- on the opening day but the week closed at 78,565/-. Two shows on the second day were cancelled due to agitation against the film by Bajrang Dal activists, and it collected 1,883/- in the remaining two shows. But collections shot up from third day (due to publicity by cinema management as also the controversy). The collections were: 3rd day 11,870/-, 4th day 12,964/-, 5th day 13,612/-, 6th day 20,926/-, and 7th day 12,708/-.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Bhatti Springs One More

Trust Jaspal Bhatti to come up with something like this. The master satirist thought up a clever gimmick for the premiere release of his Mahaul Theek Hai (Punjabi) at Batra cinema, Chandigarh, a couple of weeks back. On the occasion, Bhatti invited the director general of police of Punjab & Haryana and in his presence, he felicitated three top black marketeers of cinema tickets in Chandigarh. He offered them shawls and coconuts and reasoned, among peals of laughter, that he was doing so simply because it is the black marketeer who has the power to make or break a film.

Line Inspectors Aapke Office Mein Rehte Hain?

Producer D. Rama Naidu has appointed 25 line inspectors to supervise the business transacted by the distributors of his forthcoming, Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain. The line inspectors will visit distributors of the various territories and oversee the film’s business in the different circuits. Last heard, the distributors were humming something to the effect of Hum aapke sar pe baith-te hain…!

The Birthday That Never Was

“Happy birthday” and “Many happy returns of the day” read the messages on the numerous bouquets of flowers top financier Bharat Shah received on 2nd January. But it wasn’t his birthday that day. Obviously, some florist, who had sent out a list of birthdays, had goofed up and the result was that Shah had his house full of flowers sent by friends. Incidentally, Bharat Shah is a Leo and his birthday falls on 5th August.

A Hit Film: Reason To Rejoice Or Repent?

It would shock trade people to know that although Bandhan has done and is still doing wonderful business all over India, its producers have not received a single naya paisa as their share of overflow from distributors of most of the circuits. And this when the successful film is celebrating 100 glorious days of its run everywhere today. Glorious? Yes, of course, for the distributors who paid reasonable MG royalties (at places, the ratio was less than a crore) for the film. But there’s nothing glorious about its success for the producers, Shyam Bajaj and Narendra Bajaj. Except, perhaps, the good feeling that they have at long last delivered a hit. Some distributors have not even bothered to send the business statements to the producers, leave alone overflow.

The case of Bandhan is not a lone one. It has often been seen that a producer never gets to share overflow from his film if that film happens to be his first hit, after a line of flops. This could be true even if the hit is distributed by distributors who had nothing to do with his earlier flops. Of course, this is not to say that if the distributor of the hit and the earlier flop/s is the same, he has a right to not submit true accounts of the overflow. When a producer’s film flops, it is a painful experience for him. But if he gets no share from his hit film, the pain is even greater.

Many distributors have this mistaken impression that they are well within their rights to offset their losses of some films against profits of the other films released by them. So what if the producers of the flops and the hits are in no way related or connected! Even a child would say, this practice is unethical, but our distributors have been following it since years. The MG royalty agreements of distribution, under which the distributors are to share overflow with the producer, lose their sanctity in cases like these.

The reasons for the producers of Bandhan not being able to share in its success are a combination of the above. One has heard of aate mein namak jitni (chori) but the case of Bandhan looks like namak mein aata! Why just Bandhan, a distributor of a 25% circuit has just sent about Rs. 20 lakh overflow to the producers of a blockbuster like Raja Hindustani. And about 50% of this has come one whole year after it became due. The actual share of the producers in the overflow would be at least Rs. 50 lakh!

If distributors crib and cry about high film prices and the practice of producers to not show trials of their films to them before their release, why don’t they do something about their dishonest brothers too? Shocked that I refer to them as “dishonest”? Actually, I too am shocked at my usage of the word. Can somebody help me with a more appropriate word which would be at least 10 times harsher than the word “dishonest”? Because that would be the honest description of such…… you know what I mean.

– Komal Nahta