JEEO SHAAN SE

Prathima Distributors Pvt. Ltd.’s Jeeo Shaan Se (A) is neither here nor there. It doesn’t succeed in turning out to be either an entertainer or a proper love story or a crime film or even a revenge drama. The story is about three friends, two of whom are flirtatious by nature and the third is a simpleton. One of the two flirtatious guys always craves to have sex with a new girl! The intention, obviously, is to titillate the viewers. The other flirt has a father who has two look-alike brothers. Of the threesome, one (the father) is a businessman, the other is a professor and the third is a police inspector. An attempt is made to juxtapose the two tracks — of the three friends and of the three look-alikes — but without much success. Even the comedy turns out to be childish and of the kind which would only appeal to some front-benchers. At times, the comedy gets too irritating to be true. Like the story, the screenplay leaves plenty to be desired.

Dharmendra does an average job in a triple role. Ayub Khan, Jay Mehta and Vikas Bhalla are fair as the three friends. Monica Bedi, Saaxshi Shivanand and Rubina Khan give average performances as the sweethearts of the three friends. Mukesh Rishi is alright as the villain. Navneet Nishan has some light scenes which she carries off well. Sheeba dances sexily. Reena Roy, Neena Gupta, Bharat Kapoor, Harpal Singh and the rest fill the bill.

Direction is as poor as the script. Music is reasonably good. ‘Thoda thoda pyar’ and ‘Na khol tu pat ghoonghat ke’ are quite nice numbers. Song picturisations are fair. Action could have been better. Climax is predictable. Dialogues are ordinary. Photography and other technical and production values are alright.

On the whole, Jeeo Shaan Se is a poor show.

Released on 14-3-’97 at Naaz and 17 other cinemas of Bombay thru Dilsa Distributors Combine. Publicity: fair. Opening: poor. …….Also released all over.

LATEST POSITION

The examination period is taking its toll on the box-office, generally speaking. The additional holiday (Maha Shivratri) last week proved good for the film business.

Salma Pe Dil Aagaya meets with a disastrous fate. It had to be discontinued mid-week from some cinemas. 1st week Bombay 8,72,250 (41.03%) from 8 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 2,08,282 from 3 cinemas; Solapur (matinee) 5,195; Delhi 8,44,134 (36.55%) from 6 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 80,302 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 40,004, Agra 65,317, Varanasi 33,766; Amritsar 48,000; Nagpur 66,616 from 2 cinemas (1 for 4 days); Bhopal 64,298 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 1,80,780 from 2 cinemas; Hyderabad 9,72,594 from 8 cinemas (2 in noon).

Tamanna finds very limited patronage despite tax exemption in some states. 1st week Bombay 2,99,361 (66.31%) from 3 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Ahmedabad (TF) 94,989, Baroda (TF) 77,646; Delhi 6,15 372 (58%) from 2 cinemas; Lucknow 70,060, Varanasi 49,763; Calcutta 2,42,535; Jabalpur (TF, 6 days) 31,172, Bhilai (TF, 6 days) 29,876; Indore (TF) 67,032.

………

Judaai, as predicted, has found acceptance after the initial resistance. It has picked up in several circuits like Gujarat (excellent), C.P. Berar, C.I. and Nizam and is steady in other circuits. 2nd week Bombay 15,19,703 (78.26%) from 6 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 8,09,192 from 4 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Baroda 1,53,195 (100%), Rajkot 1,42,165 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Jamnagar 1,09,532 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Pune 3,24,035 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 1,05,223; Belgaum 1,56,784, Dharwad 47,256; Delhi 22,42,494 from 9 cinemas; Kanpur 1,75,515, Lucknow 1,33,816, Agra 1,20,055 (1st 1,40,177), Allahabad 78,554 (1st 92,244), Varanasi 1,02,112 (1st 1,01,411), Meerut 1,06,231, Dehradun 79,798, Gorakhpur 97,544 (1st 1,01,677); Calcutta 13,20,020 from 13 cinemas; Nagpur 1,82,776 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 80,891, total 1,67,415, 1st Amravati 1,11,370, 2nd Akola 1,11,912 (1st 1,18,400), 1st week Dhule 89,263, 2nd Raipur 1,07,921 (1st 1,01,994), Bhilai 83,017; Indore 1,39,372 (1 on F.H.), Bhopal 1,91,599 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 2,67,159 from 2 cinemas, Jodhpur 1,70,694 (1st 1,75,000); Hyderabad 5,33,626 from 3 cinemas.

Auzaar proves average in some circuits and losing in others. 2nd week Bombay 10,84,304 (67.80%) from 7 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 2,50,529 from 4 cinemas (2 unrecd.), Baroda 1,06,172, Rajkot (matinee) 18,509, Jamnagar (matinee) 8,623 (1 in regular unrecd.); Pune 2,45,196 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), 1st Solapur (14 shows) 82,203, Satara 56,525 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); 2nd Delhi 7,94,481 from 6 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Kanpur 90,404, Lucknow 1,57,827, Agra 61,540, Allahabad 54,550, Varanasi 77,971, Meerut 1,02,633, Dehradun 48,000, Gorakhpur 55,000; Calcutta 1,70,047; Jabalpur 55,820, total 1,65,615, 1st week Amravati 97,457, 2nd Akola (26 shows) 36,529 (1st 65,555), Raipur 61,736, 1st Bhilai 83,637, 2nd Jalgaon (last) 45,230 (1st 1,16,203), Yavatmal 16,187 (1st 46,472), Bilaspur 50,019; Bhopal 1,12,755 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 1,83,771; Hyderabad 6,62,589 from 3 cinemas.

Hero No. 1 is going strong at several centres. 3rd week Bombay 18,35,328 (80.31%) from 8 cinemas (7 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 1,97,539 from 3 cinemas (2 unrecd.), Baroda 1,52,808 from 2 cinemas, Rajkot 1,20,703, Jamnagar (matinee) 9,863; Pune 4,68,286 from 5 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur (matinee) 40,771, Satara (last) 23,809 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); 1st week Nipani 1,57,984; 3rd Delhi 19,70,053 from 7 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,55,943 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,42,719, Agra 1,28,432, Allahabad 62,000, 2nd week Dehradun 1,26,795, 3rd Gorakhpur 57,000; Calcutta 4,32,637 from 4 cinemas; Nagpur 1,85,985 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 1,06,150, total 4,19,978, Akola 70,787 (2nd 81,072), total 2,71,614, Raipur 1,07,021, theatre record, Bhilai 55,170, 2nd Yavatmal 29,450 (1st 55,324); 3rd Indore 3,02,200 from 2 cinemas, Bhopal 1,89,185 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 2,84,471 from 2 cinemas, Bikaner 75,279; Hyderabad 6,41,101 from 4 cinemas, share 2,96,101.

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MAHARASHTRA CABINET TO TAKE UP ENT. TAX ISSUE

The issue of entertainment tax in Maharashtra is likely to be finally taken up in the cabinet meeting on 18th March. The industry is waiting with bated breath, expecting some relief, at least. The rate of entertainment tax, it may be recalled, was doubled to 100% from January 1, 1997.

I-T RAIDS YIELD RS. 16 CRORE

Documents recovered from the raids on film personalities by the income-tax department in December ’96 have indicated the possession of concealed income totally worth about Rs. 16 crore. Field officers of the department are conducting further investigations.

KANNADA FILM PRODUCER MURDERED

Unidentified assailants kidnapped noted Kannada film producer Chidambara Shetty (45) and beat him to death on the night of 13th March.

According to his wife, Usha, who had filed a complaint of kidnapping with the K.G. Nagar Police in Bangalore, five persons had come to their house around 4 p.m. on Thursday. They held discussions with the film producer regarding the loans he had taken from them for producing Kannada films earlier, and demanded repayment.

Usha complained to the police after she suspected foul play in the whole episode.

Shetty was asked to accompany them in a van to their office. His body was found inside the NIMHANS compound on the Siddapur Road junction on Friday morning. His body bore multiple assault injuries with a blunt weapon.

CINEMATOGRAPHER BURIED ALIVE

Bangalore-based cinematographer Vijay Kumar was buried alive during a shooting stint when a mound of mud caved in at Samod town near Jaipur, the police said on 14th March. The incident took place when Vijay Kumar was shooting for a scene for Shimadhamari from atop a mud hill on 13th. The film’s unit and other people tried their best to save him but he succumbed to his injuries on the way to the hospital.

ALKA YAGNIK STARTS RECORDING STUDIO

Alka Yagnik launched her own recording and dubbing studio, A.B. Sounds, in partnership with her brother, Samir Yajnik, on 23rd February. This was done in memory of her late father, D.S. Yajnik, and was inaugurated by her mother, Shubha Yajnik.

The opening was attended by a large number of personalities from the music world, like Khayyam, Kalyanji, Anandji, Laxmikant, Pyarelal, Usha Khanna, Rajesh Roshan, Bappi Lahiri, Raamlaxman, Anand, Milind, Jatin, Lalit, Dilip Sen, Sameer Sen, Nadeem, Shravan, Anu Malik, Ajit Verman, Aadesh Srivastava, Uttam Singh, Javed Akhtar, Kumar Sanu, Abhijeet, Vinod Rathod, Kavita Krishnamoorthy, Sapna Mukherji, Suresh Wadkar, Mohd. Aziz, Shailendra Singh, Ila Arun, Ramesh Taurani, Amit Khanna, Meenakshi Sheshadri, Tabassum and others.

Recording will commence with the blessings of Khayyam who will be recording the song of his home production serial, on Alka’s birthday, March 20. It will be rendered by Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik (the birthday girl).

The technical engineer and designer of the studio is veteran sound recordist Daman Sood, and the recordist is Shashi Kumar (of Bombay Lab).

The studio, A.B. Sounds, is located at 61, Row House, RSC-II, Park Street, Bungalow Owners’ Association, Lokhandwala, Andheri, Bombay. Phone: 6320385, 98210-44692.

YOU ASKED IT

Which is the best period to release a film?

– That during which your stars are favourable. Because, if your stars aren’t favourable, even the smallest of oppositions can prove to be disastrous for the film. And if your stars are favourable, the biggest of oppositions may not affect your film!

What is the industry’s reaction to the three recent murders of people connected with the film trade?

– While the industry is sorry about the murders, it can do precious little except sympathise with the kith and kin of the deceased.

Don’t you think, ABCL is rushing with the release of Mrityudaata, considering that even its music has not been released as yet?

– The producer knows the best when to get his film. Maybe, ABCL feels, a month-and-a-half is sufficient for the music to grow. The audio cassettes are being released today (15th March), and the film is scheduled for release on 25th April.

PRODUCTION NEWS

‘Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai’ Stint Complete

Director Deepak Sareen completed a 10-day shooting schedule of Tips Films (P.) Ltd.’s Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai this week at Mehboob Studios on a set and on Bombay locales. Salman Khan, Twinkle Khanna, Anupam Kher, Mushtaq Khan and Johny Lever participated. The film has music by Jatin Lalit, lyrics by Anand Bakshi, cinematography by Manmohan Singh, story by Honey Irani, dialogues by Javed Siddique and art direction by Sharmishtha Roy.

Paresh Rawal In ‘Loha’

Producer-director-writer Kanti Shah has signed Paresh Rawal to play a key role in Jockey Films’ Loha. It stars Dharmendra, Mithun Chakraborty, Divya Jaiswal, Mohan Joshi, Deepak Shirke, Shakti Kapoor, Shashikala, Sujata Mehta and Rami Reddy, with Govinda and Manisha Koirala in guest appearances.

‘Kachche Dhaage’

A further 9-day shooting stint of Tips Films (P.) Ltd.’s Kachche Dhaage began from March 14 at R.K. Studios on a set erected by Bijon Dasgupta. Choreographer Saroj Khan and director Bunty Luthria are picturising a song on Saif Ali Khan, Namrata Shirodkar and dancers. The film also stars Ajay Devgan, Govind Namdeo and Om Puri. Another heroine is yet to be finalised. It is based on a story and screenplay by Anjum Rajab Ali. Music: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Lyrics: Anand Bakshi.

ANNOUNCEMENT & LAUNCHING

Govind Nihalani Launches ‘Takshak’

Udbhav’s Takshak was launched on March 10 at Natraj Studios. The muhurt began with a musical rendition, specially composed by the film’s music director, A.R. Rahman, for the occasion. Thereafter, the dramatic muhurt shot was picturised on Ajay Devgan, Tabu, Amrish Puri and Rahul Bose. It underlined the film’s theme in a subtle manner. The set for the muhurt was erected by art director Nitin Desai. An image of sun radiating raw energy, cast in fibre glass, hung over the decorated stage.

The muhurt was followed by a press conference addressed jointly by Govind Nihalani, Amrish Puri, Tabu and Govind Namdeo. The film also stars Om Puri and Manoj Bajpai. A new girl will be finalised shortly. It is being written, produced, directed and cinematographed by Govind Nihalani. Dialogues by Kamlesh Pandey, and poems by Surya Bhanu Gupt are the other major credits.

The muhurt was very well-attended.

MUSIC INFORMATION

Venus Releases ‘Border’ Music In Style

Union defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav was appropriately chosen as the chief guest at the function to release the audio cassettes of J.P. Dutta’s Border on March 8 at Hotel Sun N Sand. It was also not out of place to honour two war heroes, on the occasion. Brigadier K.S. Chandpuri and Air Marshall Bawa were felicitated, which created the mood for the release of the music of a film about war heroes and about the 1971 Indo-Pak war. The stage and lighting for the cassette release function were handled by Wizcraft.

The music of Border has been scored by Anu Malik and its lyrics are written by Javed Akhtar. The film is presented by Bharat Shah. The music is being marketed by Venus.

DO YOU KNOW?

* KOYLA has been booked at Metro, Ujjain, on fantastic terms.

* Although Aditya Chowksey (Prachi Films, Indore) is not the distributor of JUDAAI in C.I., he distributed handbills of the film (printed in his own mini press) among the public in Indore in order to publicise the film. Aditya says, he did this because he is “very fond of Boney uncle”.

* JUDAAI has surpassed in 2nd week the collections of 1st week at the following centres of Gujarat: Anupam, Ahmedabad by collecting 1,82,029/- (1st week was 1,58,968/-); Natraj, Ahmedabad 1,55,522/- (1st week was 1,55,255); Amber, Ahmedabad 1,63,016/- (1st week 1,49,920/-); Rajshri, Gandhinagar 3,32,546/- (1st week 3,05,668/-); Dreamland, Valsad 1,59,319/- (1st week 1,56,195/-).

Dream Merchant

The Industry’s Voluntary Disclosure Scheme

I must’ve had too much of the Union Budget in general and the proposed Voluntary Disclosure Scheme in particular. For, I dreamt of a Voluntary Disclosure Scheme (VDS) with a difference.

I dreamt that a special Voluntary Disclosure Scheme had been announced for the film industry only, that too, for just one day. Under this Scheme, industry people had the liberty to disclose one major secret which they may have kept closely guarded all these years. Nobody would point an accusing finger at them, no questions would be asked, and their confessions or disclosures would not be used against the declarants. The voluntary disclosures had to be made at Film City where a huge set had been erected for the purpose by art director Nitin Desai.

The first to arrive at the VDS venue was Saawan Kumar Tak. He disclosed that he would henceforth never disclose that his dil kis pe aagaya. Tolu Bajaj was touched by his disclosure and I could see tears in Tolu’s eyes. In that tearful state itself, Tolu Bajaj took the mike and announced his disclosure, “From now on, I’ll never buy any film for three territories simultaneously except if it is directed by Indra Kumar. I’ve burnt my fingers badly in Trimurti and Salma Pe Dil Aagaya, both of which I released in Bombay, Delhi-U.P. and Nizam.

Mamta Kulkarni had come to Film City on crutches due to her fractured leg. It was quite a sight because it was for the first time that people were seeing her leg covered, even if it was just a plaster cover. Flashing her cute smile, Mamta spoke uninhibitedly, “I’ve come to say that the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme does not excite me. I would have appreciated if a Voluntary Exposure Scheme had been introduced.” The front-benchers cheered Mamta for her bold revelation!

Anu Malik apologised for coming late and said, he was held up at a copying session — sorry, recording session. His disclosure was quite revealing. He said, he had flicked the tunes of 14 songs of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, 27 of A.R. Rahman, and a record 169 of Shankar Jaikishen. When asked to further declare about tunes of other music directors, Anu swore, he didn’t remember the figures!

Amitabh Bachchan was pretty upset when he took the mike. “Haan, mujhe voluntary disclosure karna tha,” he thundered in a style that’s typical of him in a filmi climax, “lekin dus saal pehle — jab main karodon kamaata tha. Aaj, jab meri ABCL mein nuksaan hee nuksaan hai, main kya disclose karoon, haaeen? Kya main yeh disclose karoon ki ABCL ne 1995 aur 1996 mein kitna ghata kiya hai ya main yeh disclose karoon ki ABCL ki liabilities kis tarha badh rahi hai?” Amitabh would have gone on, so emotionally charged was he, but Mehul Kumar (who was seated among the audience) shouted “Cut, cut”.

Fardeen Khan, the debonair son of Feroz Khan, came jazzily dressed and was driving his car at breakneck speed. As he was getting off the car, I asked him why he was in such a tearing hurry. He replied equally hurriedly, “The discos are heading for closure, so I want to dance to my heart’s content.” I laughed and told him, it wasn’t a disco closure but rather a Disclosure Scheme. He looked sheepishly at me and fled from there.

After Fardeen, came Farheen. She refused to open her mouth and simply raised two fingers of her right hand. Did she want to declare Rs. 2 lakh income? “No,” she said, shaking hear head. Was it 2 crore? No again. Then was it do Arab? “Yes, yes,” she exclaimed, “I’ve got to voluntarily disclose do Arab — one is in my cupboard, and the other, under my bed.” I saw a number of people going red in the face. And a few young heroines getting green with envy!

Govinda disclosed that it was not always his ill-health that prompted him to cancel shootings. He said, he was fond of feigning illness and that his producers should, therefore, stop worrying about his high and low blood pressure.

Sridevi came with her new-born daughter in her arms. She said, she loved the film industry too much to agree to a judaai from it. So, she had decided to henceforth accept mother’s role, provided, of course, Anil Kapoor would play the father.

Madhuri Dixit put all speculation about whether she was still No. 1 to rest. She voluntarily disclosed that she was no longer the No. 1. When asked to name the new No. 1, Madhuri smiled, “I can’t disclose her name — voluntarily or involuntarily.”

Akshay Kumar and Raveena Tandon came hand-in-hand to make their declaration. Akshay spoke first, “We aren’t married,” he declared. Raveena was more honest when she said, “I want to voluntarily declare today that Akshay and I are very fond of talking lies.”

The last to arrive was Mahesh Bhatt. As is his style, he spoke philosophically of everything but the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme. He lamented that his Dastak and Tamanna, too, had bombed like several of his earlier films. “I think,” he spoke slowly, “it’s time for me to quit. This is my Voluntary Closure Scheme. Yes, I’d like to close shop…”

– Komal Nahta

SHAPATH

Aabha Films’ Shapath (A) is one more tale of good versus evil. A commando and a police officer, who are sworn enemies first, unite to eliminate the evil men of society, including a police commissioner and an arms smuggler. There is also an element of suspense in the drama. The story and screenplay (Sanjay Kumar) have a number of turns and twists to keep the audience interest alive, but the presentation leaves something to be desired. Dialogues, except at a couple of places, are routine. Emotions fail to touch the heart.

Both, Mithun Chakraborty and Jackie Shroff, go through their roles mechanically. Ramya Krishna is average and so is Vinita in a small role. Harish does not get much scope. His dance is good as usual. Gulshan Grover does a fine job. Kader Khan is alright. Raza Murad and Deepak Shirke are okay. Salim Ghouse fails to impress. Karina Grover, Ranjeet, Rami Reddy, Guddi Maruti and Achyut Potdar lend average support. Shakti Kapoor’s comedy will appeal to the front-benchers.

Rajiv Babbar’s debut direction is functional. He leaves several loose ends and unanswered queries. On the music side, the qawwali of Altaf Raja is very good and its picturisation is appropriate. ‘Chuski’ and ‘Choom le’ are also quite appealing numbers. Camerawork is fair. Action is of the kind which will go down well with front-benchers. Production values are alright.

On the whole, Shapath is an average fare for ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres only.

Released on 12-12-’97 at Alankar and 17 other cinemas of Bombay by Hum Films thru Balaji Enterprises. Publicity: good. Opening: quite good. …….Also released all over.

LATEST POSITION

Heavy rains in different parts of the country as also severe cold are adversely affecting collections.

Qahar is excellent in U.P. and quite good in other circuits except in Gujarat where it dropped badly from 4th/5th day. 1st week Bombay 32,81,726 (70%) from 14 cinemas (11 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 7,26,097 from 8 cinemas, Bharuch (gross) 2,33,032, Rajkot 1,95,690 from 2 cinemas, Jamnagar 1,18,764 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Pune 9,26,275 from 7 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 1,89,063; Delhi 31,81,798 (75.27%) from 11 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Kanpur 3,64,888 from 2 cinemas, Varanasi 2,13,326, Meerut 1,98,320, Bareilly 1,56,450 (78.70%), Gorakhpur 1,48,000, Hardwar 90,366; very good in East Punjab; Calcutta 15,77,702 from 14 cinemas; Nagpur 4,19,089 from 5 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 1,19,175, Amravati 1,68,611, Akola 1,43,561, Raipur (6 days) 1,10,811, Bhilai (6 days) 86,841, Khandwa 1,07,913; Indore 2,83,579 from 2 cinemas (3 on F.H.), Bhopal 1,63,243 (2 on F.H.); Jaipur 6,66,018 from 4 cinemas, Bikaner (5 days) 1,91,495; Hyderabad 19,79,364 from 12 cinemas (1 in noon).

Face/Off (Badalte/Chehre, dubbed) is poor. 1st week Bombay 4,06,526 (22.95%) from 4 cinemas (2 unrecd.). Its original English version is good.

Ishq 2nd week Bombay 40,52,630 (90.72%) from 10 cinemas (4 on F.H.), K.T. Vision, Vasai, Bombay (gross) 3,23,822, Meghraj, Vasai, Bombay 2,58,165; Ahmedabad 9,70,199 from 4 cinemas, Padra 1,68,043, Rajkot (matinee) 70,983 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee & 1 in daily 1 show), Jamnagar 1,17,602; Pune 13,04,282 from 6 cinemas, Kolhapur 1,52,000; Delhi 40,49,800 from 11 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 3,37,705 from 2 cinemas, Varanasi 1,62,419, Meerut 2,07,578, Bareilly (26 shows) 1,18,940 (56.90%), Dehradun 1,65,000, Gorakhpur 1,27,000, Hardwar 45,000; Calcutta 16,05,569 from 13 cinemas; Nagpur 5,53,066 from 3 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 1,63,497, Amravati 2,05,149, Akola (27 shows) 1,71,684, total 4,25,912, Raipur (6 days) 1,38,278, Bhilai (6 days) 1,15,400, Durg 1,09,429, Chandrapur 1,64,591, total 4,19,692; Bhopal 3,35,955 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 4,59,964 from 2 cinemas, Ajmer (gross) 2,07,391 (1st week 30 shows 2,80,446), Bikaner 3,03,390; extraordinary in Hyderabad.

………

KULWANT KOHLI IS BOMBAY SHERIFF

Film financier and erstwhile Bombay distributor Kulwant Singh Kohli will be the new sheriff of Bombay. He will be sworn in today (13th December) at Raj Bhavan. Apart from being a hotelier, 64-year old Kohli had financed films like Pakeezah and Ladies Tailor, besides distributing a number of films including Pakeezah.

‘CHACHI 420’ PREMIERE AT CINEMAX, BOMBAY

Shringar Films, Bombay, will hold a premiere show of Chachi 420 on 18th December at the new Cinemax theatre which will open with this film. Shringar is the distributor of Chachi 420 in Bombay and also controls the new cinema.

RAMESH SIPPY TO COMPLETE ‘DUS’

Ramesh Sippy has been finalised to complete Neha-MAD Films Combine’s Dus. The film was being directed by Mukul S. Anand who passed away in September this year.

It stars Vinod Khanna, Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan.

POOJA BATRA ASSAULTED AT FILMALAYA

Pooja Batra and her brother, who was escorting her, were beaten up by hoodlums in the Filmalaya Studios premises on the night of 10th December while they were leaving the studio after completing work for Ashok Ghai’s Sham-Ghansham. Three hoodlums, who were seen consuming liquor in the studio canteen, passed abusive comments when Pooja and her brother were leaving the studio. When her brother objected to the language used, there was a scuffle in which the members of the film’s unit roughed up the three miscreants who had sneaked into the studio without any apparent work.

One of the three hoodlums then fetched a chopper from a food stall near the studio and threatened the Batras as well as the unit hands. Another scuffle followed in which Pooja and her brother were thrown to the ground and beaten up by the miscreants who fled after the actress and the unit members ran for cover.

Pooja Batra has trained in karate and tried to defend herself but was instead roughed up.

While the security guard of the studio was sacked following the incident, the D.N. Nagar police station on 11th arrested two of the three miscreants. The third is still absconding. Wireless police vans have been asked to patrol the area of the studio periodically.

AMITABH BECOMES GRANDPA

Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan became grandfather and grandmother respectively when their daughter, Shweta, gave birth to a baby girl on 6th December in Bombay at Breach Candy Hospital.

COMMUNAL CONTROVERSY AVERTED

A major controversy was set to rest on 8th December when the Film Makers Combine and the Association of Motion Picture & TV Programme Producers accepted the apology of Mehboob Studios for disallowing producer Yash Johar from holding a muhurt pooja in the studio premises for the film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai last month. The film is being directed by Yash Johar’s son, Karan.

The film’s first schedule was to take place at Mehboob Studios and, as is customary in the industry, Yash Johar wanted to start the shooting with a pooja ceremony. But the Mehboob Studios authorities objected to the ceremony, before the scheduled date.

FWA ENROLS WRITER MAHASWETADEVI AS LIFE MEMBER

Jnanpith and Magsaysay award winner Mahaswetadevi, the writer of over 100 novels and more than 300 short stories and poems, was enrolled as a life member of The Film Writers’ Association last week. She was in the city to attend the Mumbai Film Festival which opened with Govind Nihalani’s Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa, based on her acclaimed novel.

She was felicitated on 28th November by The FWA at actor Chandrashekhar’s residence. The felicitation function was largely attended. Actress Nimmi presented a shawl to Mahaswetadevi, on behalf of FWA. President Ali Raza garlanded her, and Dr. Achla Nagar presented her flowers. Chandrashekhar presented her with an emblem of Goddess Laxmi.

The felicitation function was followed by snacks prepared by Mrs. Chandrashekhar.

SULTAN AHMED TO CONTEST LOK SABHA ELECTIONS

IMPPA president Sultan Ahmed has announced that he will contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections to be held early next year. He will contest as an independent candidate either from a constituency in Bombay or Rajasthan.

CINEMA OWNER DEAD

Ghanshyamdas Agarwal, proprietor of Prabha Theatre, Bareilly, expired on the night of 10th December.

STUNTMAN YUSUF FALLS TO DEATH

Bombay-based stuntman Sayeed Yusuf died when he jumped from a high tower while shooting for HMV’s God Mother at Morvi near Rajkot on 7th December. Twenty-eight-year-old Yusuf received a head injury and was rushed to the Morvi civil hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

The film is being directed by Vinay Shukla and stars Shabana Azmi.

SHIRKE HEADS CHAMPP

G.P. Shirke was re-elected president of the Chamber of Motion Picture Producers for the sixth consecutive term in its annual general meeting held on 6th December at Citizen Hotel, Juhu, Bombay. Sultan Ahmed was elected vice president, and Pranlal Mehta and Mahavir Jain, hon. treasurers.

KISHORE KALA’S DAUGHTER TO WED

Marriage of Monika, daughter of Rajasthan distributor Kishore Kala (Vinayak Films, Jaipur), with Puneet will be solemnised on 25th December in Indore at Hotel Crown Palace.

YOU ASKED IT

What is the potential of business in the Overseas circuit today?

– It’s great for big films, and bad for small films. Stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Anil Kapoor, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Sunny Deol are hot in Overseas.

Don’t you think, the ratios of the various circuits need redefining in view of the wide disparity in business of films in the different territories?

– Yes, business in Bombay circuit is far more than in Delhi-U.P. and Bengal. Soon, distributors of Delhi-U.P. and Bengal will not be willing to pay more than 75% of the price for Bombay. In other words, Bombay will be the only major circuit.

Has the panic situation in the industry, which had cast a spell of gloom from August, got over?

– Yes, it is almost over but the finance position is still tight. And that’s also a cause for panic!

DO YOU KNOW?

* Subhash Ghai is remixing the songs of PARDES, and the remix album will be marketed from 24th December under the label of ‘PARDES 98’. It will be released thru Tips but under the Mukta Audio Co. label. Tips will also release the instrumental music of Subhash Ghai’s films, from KARZ to PARDES, on audio cassettes. It was first released on CDs only and they were given as complimentary with PARDES CDs.

* Chiranjeevi’s MASTER (Telugu) is running in its 11th week all over Andhra and is all set to complete 100 days at a number of centres. It is the first Telugu film in DTS sound.

* Of the 229 cinemas equipped with 6-track sound system in India, 142 are in the four Southern states alone.

* So impressed was Jackie Shroff with his co-artiste, 7-year old Mazhar, while shooting a stunt for USTADON KE USTAD in Ooty recently that he asked producer D.N. Joshi to gift the child Rs. 25,000, and deduct the same from his (Jackie’s) remuneration.

PEOPLE
Are talking about

** The Mithun film festival that’s begun this week with Shapath. Among his soon-to-be-released starrers are Krantikari (dubbed), Saazish, Military Raaj, Hatyara, Sher-E-Hindustan, Hitler, Ustadon Ke Ustad…

** Whether Akshay Kumar’s position will improve with Aflatoon. The Poster chhapwa do song from the film has gained so much in popularity that one expects Aflatoon to have a much better opening than the recent Akshay starrers.

PEOPLE
Are speculating on

** Who will be the three heroines of Rajshri’s Hum Saath Saath Hain. Although the Barjatyas haven’t announced the names of their heroes, word has spread like wild fire that the three male leads will be played by Mohnish Bahl (eldest brother), Salman Khan (middle brother) and Saif Ali Khan (youngest brother).

** When the Lok Sabha elections will be held because on that will depend many a release schedules of forthcoming films.

IN & OUT OF BOMBAY

Producer Boney Kapoor is back from Madras and Ooty.

Mr. Sanjay Khandelwal of Vijayshree Pictures, Patna, is at ISKCON (620-6860).

Music director Anandji and baby Suhani (compere of ‘Little Wonders’ stage-show) will leave for Gandhidham today (13th December) for a charity programme there, and will return on 16th.

Producer Tutu Sharma is in Jaipur to look after his father who has been admitted in the ICU following a heart attack.

Producer-director Indra Kumar and producer Ashok Thakeria are in Ooty.

Mr. Ravi Machhar of Sahyog Films, Secunderabad, and Abhinay cinema, Aurangabad, is expected in town today (13th).

MIX MASALA

NOT YASH CHOPRA

The new ad film on Dabur Amla hair oil has been directed by Arjun Sablok and not Yash Chopra, as reported in a section of the press. Karisma Kaporor has modelled for the oil in the advertisement film.

GOOD FEELING

Remember our Graffiti in our issue dated 29th November about Dilli To Pagal Hai? Well, hoardings of Amul Butter have now sprung up all over the city with the same caption: Dilli To Pagal Hai. Feels nice.

Let’s Look Ahead

The assault on Pooja Batra inside a studio earlier this week is a pointer to the lax security in our studios. How three people, not connected with the film industry, were allowed entry into the premises of Filmalaya Studios remains an unanswered question even 60 hours after the ugly incident took place. Today it is Pooja Batra, tomorrow it could be someone else. And what if Pooja had been seriously injured? Producers should now stop simply condemning the act and move on to taking steps to prevent such crimes from being committed in future.

*                *                *

In fact, the incident I’ve referred to above also points out to the need for insurance in the film industry. So does the accident of the young stuntman at Morvi (near Rajkot) this week which cost him his life. The boy jumped from a height while performing a stunt for God Mother. As in Hollywood, films, film stars, junior artistes and stuntmen in Bollywood too should be insured. Bombay distributor Vimal Agarwal, I am told, is contemplating getting the insurance culture in the Indian film industry. Welcome him with open arms.

*                *                *

Unconfirmed reports say that ABCL is cash-rich now. The Sahara group has pumped in several crores. If the news is true, good for ABCL.

*                *                *

With the stakes in production and distribution being so high, it is only logical that the concept of script doctors, as they exist in Hollywood, also comes to Bollywood. Script doctors or consultants analyse and dissect film scripts and can help in preventing errors/blunders in films. A lot of money can be saved with the help of such script doctors, and they can lend a scientific approach to this highly speculative industry. I’d be happy to get feedback from our leading producers, directors and writers on what they feel about the concept.

*                *                *

The Tamil Film Producers Council’s (TFPC) move to not give film clippings, songs and trailers to the various satellite channels from 1st January is intelligent. Not only are box-office collections very adversely affected due to television, producers are also paid a pittance for each song sequence or clipping. Will the Bombay industry follow the South example?

*                *                *

Like her first film, Pardes, Mahima Chaudhry’s career is also a slow starter. But four months after the release of Pardes, Mahima has three or four good assignments on hand, including a film each with Raj Kanwar, Priyadarshan (for Sajid Nadiadwala) and Polygram. The girl looked pretty the other day at the sixth birthday party of Raj Kanwar’s son, Karan.

*                *                *

And finally this quiz for you guys.
Q: What would have been a more appropriate title for Yash Chopra’s telefilm, Humko Ishq Ne Maara, after the performance of DTPH?
A: Humko ISHQ Ne Nahin Maara!

– Komal Nahta

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Magic Of Super-Hit Music

Although this piece of news has reached us a month later, it merits mention.

It happened on 4th November at Gautam cinema, Allahabad, which was screening Dil To Pagal Hai. As soon as the film started, a group of boys got excited and began to dance on their seats. When the rest of the audience objected to the disturbance, the management had to call in the police who had to use muscle-power to pacify the excited dancers.

After some time, when a song came on the screen, the same boys started showering coins on the screen and began to dance and whistle once again. In the Bholi si soorat, young boys and even girls got up from their seats and started to dance. Once again, the police had to be called in to restore normalcy. Then came the title song and, for the fourth time, the youngsters went wild. This time, the other viewers couldn’t help but enjoy their dance and even they started to clap and whistle in excitement. Why, the sober audience also began to shower coins on the screen. Finally, the dance mania took over the youthful audience for the fifth time in the Dholna song. By this time, even the police had given up. Maybe, they had begun to dance outside the auditorium. Anyway, this is surely reason for Yash Chopra and music director Uttam Singh to dance!

Rupee Devaluation Hits Industry

With the rupee tumbling against the dollar, producers and distributors are now having to pay more for raw stock. On a rough estimate, one has to pay Rs. 200 more for every 1,000 feet of positive raw stock, and Rs. 1,000 more for every 1,000 feet of negative raw stock. Since raw stock is imported from abroad, the importers have to pay more in terms of rupees for every dollar-worth of purchase. And knowing the film industry, where prices can go up but never come down, it isn’t likely that raw stock prices will decline even if the rupee value goes up.

Perhaps, the only ones who are smiling because of the devaluation of the rupee are film exporters.

LATEST POSITION

It was a normal week except in Bombay where the traders’ strike on 1st July saw a spurt in collections as it was almost like a holiday.

Haseena Maan Jaayegi has done extremely well in Bombay, U.P., C.P. Berar, C.I., Rajasthan and Nizam. It is, however, ordinary in West Bengal and so-so in East Punjab, Bihar (heavy rains) and Mysore. 1st week Bombay 59,24,202 (89.63%) from 13 cinemas (8 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 10,91,899 from 6 cinemas, Rajkot 1,62,400 (1 unrecd.), Jamnagar (matinee) 29,977; Pune 12,15,859 from 4 cinemas, Solapur 4,30,025 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee); Hubli 2,41,199 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon), Belgaum 2,40,554 from 2 cinemas, Bijapur 1,32,630; Delhi 52,33,414 (88.91%) from 11 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 7,37,663 from 3 cinemas, Lucknow 5,07,181 (100%), Agra 2,99,706, Allahabad 2,62,808, Bareilly 1,75,102, Hardwar 1,65,939; Calcutta 15,69,895 from 12 cinemas; Nagpur 9,23,037 from 4 cinemas, Jabalpur 2,43,117, Amravati 2,37,818, Akola 1,86,617, Raipur (gross) 4,01,676, Durg 1,40,171, Jalgaon 2,30,752, Yavatmal 1,87,514, Bilaspur 2,35,233; Indore 2,17,826 (3 on F.H.), Bhopal 6,03,504 from 3 cinemas; Jaipur 11,54,417 from 4 cinemas, Ajmer (29 shows) 1,87,176; Udaipur 2,35,870; Hyderabad (gross) 40,72,786 from 17 cinemas (1 in noon).

Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi… is ordinary in major cities but dull otherwise. 1st week Bombay 18,10,736 (66.42%) from 5 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 1,90,667, Baroda 80,498; Pune 4,14,138 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Hubli 1,08,347; Delhi 13,03,493 (76.74%) from 4 cinemas; Kanpur 77,665 from 2 cinemas, Allahabad 51,000; Calcutta 6,28,673 from 4 cinemas; Nagpur 2,29,172 from 2 cinemas; Hyderabad (gross) 8,77,600 from 4 cinemas (2 in noon); Vijayawada (gross) 97,063.

………

Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam is extraordinary in 2nd week in Bombay and Gujarat (expected to do 5 crore in Bombay circuit) but not very strong in the other circuits. It has maintained quite well in Delhi, parts of Bengal, C.P.C.I. Rajasthan and Nizam but in the rest of these circuits, the drop was quite noticeable. It is not faring well in smaller centres. 2nd week Bombay 64,14,816 (90%) from 12 cinemas (7 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 24,32,067 from 5 cinemas, Baroda 2,00,537, Valsad 3,30,578 (1st 3,10,908), Rajkot 2,52,584 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Jamnagar 1,14,342 (1 in matinee unrecd.), Bhavnagar 2,05,769, Bhuj 1,48,766, Adipur 1,59,587 (85.38%); Pune 11,26,781 from 5 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 1,76,428 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Hubli 1,25,436 (1st 2,50,425); Delhi 47,81,781 from 12 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 3,52,706 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 4,85,107, Agra 3,55,780, Allahabad 1,57,683, Bareilly (6 days) 1,08,000; Calcutta 14,71,445 from 10 cinemas; Nagpur 4,49,995 from 2 cinemas, Amravati (6 days) 1,76,608, Akola 1,89,300, total 4,66,500, Raipur (gross, 6 days) 2,76,491, 1st week Wardha 1,24,353, 2nd Yavatmal 1,01,439 (1st 1,38,552); Indore 3,96,429 from 2 cinemas, Bhopal 1,47,627 (1 unrecd.); Jaipur 5,04,481 from 2 cinemas; Hyderabad (gross) 11,58,138 from 5 cinemas (1 in noon); Vijayawada (gross) 2,88,210.

Sirf Tum is doing steady business and, due to its low price, it will soon fetch good overflow from everywhere except, maybe, Rajasthan. 3rd week Bombay 6,02,667 (58.31%) from 2 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 1,75,779 from 2 cinemas, Baroda 58,084; Pune 1,23,824 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur (matinee) 58,135; Delhi 4,43,370 from 2 cinemas; Kanpur 1,41,080, Lucknow 2,54,979, Agra 1,46,362, Allahabad 80,598, Bareilly 65,246; Calcutta 1,97,235; Nagpur 76,164, Jabalpur (6 days) 90,503, Amravati 1,16,108, 1st week Akola 94,300, 3rd week Raipur 54,024, Jalgaon (6 days) 55,510, Chandrapur 1,38,244, total 4,64,119; Jaipur 1,16,044; Hyderabad (gross) 4,48,132 from 2 cinemas (1 in noon).

Biwi No. 1 5th week Bombay 27,98,193 (70.76%) from 8 cinemas (8 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 2,52,604 from 4 cinemas, Baroda 99,698; Pune 4,59,511 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 1,17,970 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), 1st week Barsi (20 shows) 60,322; 5th week Delhi 21,76,292 from 7 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 2,35,789, Lucknow 4,62,702, Allahabad 1,10,289; Calcutta 3,37,196 from 4 cinemas; Nagpur 88,023 from 2 cinemas, 4th week Jabalpur 1,26,695, total 7,81,693, 5th week Amravati (6 days) 1,03,063, Akola 98,018, total 7,50,070, Raipur (6 days) 52,524, Durg 30,646, 4th week Jalgaon 1,27,942, Wardha 35,493; 5th week Indore 90,000 (1 on F.H.), Bhopal 89,590; Jaipur 2,55,915, Udaipur 21,078; Hyderabad (gross) 3,25,586 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon); 1st week Guntur (gross) 88,742, Ongole (gross) 99,108.

Sarfarosh 9th week Bombay (now tax-free) 10,62,379 (66.95%) from 5 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 32,141 from 2 cinemas (both in mg. shows); Pune 5,47,330 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur (7 shows) 57,312; Delhi (TF) 2,89,927 from 2 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Lucknow 1,39,122, Allahabad 58,500; Calcutta 1,79,065; Nagpur 71,319, 6th week Jabalpur 98,199, total 9,55,550, 9th week Amravati 54,724; Indore 32,000, Bhopal 30,688; Jaipur 6,57,268 from 2 cinemas; Hyderabad (gross) 4,17,052 from 2 cinemas; 1st week Ongole (gross) 97,566.

_____

Bindhast (Marathi; TF) is going great guns. 2nd week Bombay 19,07,819 from 13 cinemas; Pune 1,46,332, Kolhapur 1,05,892, Solapur 61,828, Sangli 1,05,356, Ichalkaranji 32,461, total in Bombay city-suburbs and Maharashtra 23,59,688 from 18 cinemas, total share about 11 lakh. 2 weeks’ billing is about 30 lakh.

TRIPLE CELEBRATIONS IN JAIN HOUSEHOLD

Sandeep, grandson of CCCA president Santosh Singh Jain and son of C.I. distributor Jitendra Jain, was blessed with a baby boy on 26th June in Jaipur. Siddharth Sacheti, another grandson of Santosh Singh Jain and son of Padam Sacheti, was also blessed with a baby boy on 27th in Jaipur.

Pooja, grand-daughter of Santosh Singh Jain and daughter of Narendra Jain of Sanman Films, Jaipur, will wed Ashwin on 10th July in Cuttack.

‘SARFAROSH’ TAX-FREE IN MAHARASHTRA

John Mathew Matthan’s Sarfarosh has been granted tax exemption in Maharashtra for a period of six months beginning 29th June.

ANTI-PAKISTAN PROTEST IN NAAZ COMPOUND

An impromptu protest against the Pakistani infiltration in Kargil was held in the Naaz cinema compound in Bombay on 1st July. The protest, which began with coolies shouting anti-Pakistan slogans and burning Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s effigy, was soon joined by several distributors who left their offices and gathered at the site on learning of the protest.

FIRE IN ZEE TV’S WORLI OFFICE

A major fire broke out in the Worli office of Zee TV on the morning of 27th June. Three tankers and four fire engines brought the fire under control in about four hours’ time. Property worth crores of rupees was damaged. The cause of the fire may have been a short-circuit.

FILM INDUSTRY AND KARGIL
No Consensus On Course Of Action

The Film Makers Combine has been holding meetings to decide on the industry’s plan of action for assistance to the Indian Army. A musical show is likely to be held in Bombay this month to raise funds for the jawans although industry leaders are divided over the idea of holding such a show.

Yash Chopra and Yash Johar have reportedly contributed Rs. 1 lakh each to the fund to be ultimately donated to the Army. While it had been decided that distributors and exhibitors all over the country would donate the collections of cinemas in the 3 p.m. show on 25th July (Sunday) to the Army Central Welfare Fund, it is not known whether the decision will in fact be carried out. Reportedly, leaders of the distribution and exhibition sectors in Bombay are having second thoughts in the matter. Confusion, therefore, prevails in that direction. In the meantime, some of our stars have been visiting hospitals where wounded jawans are being treated.

YOU ASKED IT

What does the success of Sirf Tum prove?

– That a film with a good/novel script, even in the absence of stars, has more chances of clicking than the other way around!

I want to produce a film. What kind of story do you suggest for a 2001 release?

– A story with Indian traditional values and sentiments and a modern look.

Why do trial reports of films differ so often from the public reports?

– Because public pays for the film while a trial show is for free. Therefore, public opinion is also genuine opinion as there are no strings attached.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Amitabh Bachchan has been voted the greatest stage and screen star of the millennium in a BBC Online (BBC’s Internet-based news channel) poll for the millennium. While Govinda squeezed in at no. 10 spot in the poll, the other positions were grabbed by Sir Laurence Olivier (2nd), Alec Guinness (3rd), popular cartoon character Homer Simpson (5th), Robert De Niro and Marilyn Monroe.

MUSICAL BONANZA FOR EXHIBITORS

* In a rare gesture, Miraj sub-distributor Dr. Sunil Patil of V.N. Films, Miraj-Shrirampur-Akluj last week gifted exhibitors of ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres attractive packs containing audio cassettes of HUM DIL DE CHUKE SANAM, MANN, TAAL, SOORYAVANSHAM, SIRF TUM, HINDUSTAN KI KASAM and ANARI NO. 1. This novel gesture by a sub-distributor for the usually-neglected ‘B’ and ‘C’ class exhibitors has been receiving a lot of praise from all in the trade.

MIX MASALA

SAME OLD VEERU

It would surprise many to know that a top action director like Veeru Devgan, who has now also turned a producer and director with Hindustan Ki Kasam, even today travels on motor-cycle. He does have cars but it is not rare to see the stunt director atop a motorbike when travelling short distances. “It’s so handy,” smiles Veeru as he explains why he prefers a motor-cycle to a car. “You don’t have to wait for the driver to take the car out of its parking space, and there’s no problem of space when turning a motorbike.”

SURE FORMULA?

In this week’s release, Hote Hote Pyaar Ho Gaya, Aroona Irani keeps giving suggestions to her nephew (Atul Agnihotri) and his wife, Ayesha Julka — to the former on how to irritate his wife, and to the latter, on how to win her husband over. Every plan, according to her, is a formula to be applied for positive results. So it is quite often that Aroona Irani proclaims that she has thought of a lovely ‘formula’. As a wag remarked after seeing the film, “Now, I understand what a ‘formua film’ is!”

DICTION DEFECT

All those who have seen Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi… have been wondering what heroine Rinke Khanna thought her hero’s name was in the film! Almost throughout the film, she is heard addressing him as Sdhant instead of Siddhant. Is it that the name was to be pronounced with a silent ‘i’ and a silent ‘d’? Which would, in turn, imply that everyone in the film, except Rinke, pronounced the name wrong! Jokes apart, even a decent actress like Rnke Khanna — sorry, Rinke Khanna — falters in pronunciation kabhi kabhi…

HALF-YEARLY CLASSIFICATION: 1999
(Total Releases: 65 films including 13 dubbed)

AA (Super Hit)

–

A1 (Hit)

BIWI NO. 1
(losing in Bengal & Bihar and ‘BB’ in C.I.)

HUM AAPKE DIL MEIN REHTE HAIN
(‘BB’ in East Punjab, Eastern Circuit, Rajasthan & Nizam)

A (Semi Hit)

–

BB (Overflow)

Sarfarosh
(‘A1’ in Bombay)

Haseena Maan Jaayegi
(average in Eastern circuit and ‘B1’ in East Punjab)

Daag The Fire

Hogi Pyar Ki Jeet
(‘A1’ in Bihar and ‘B1’ in some circuits)

Sirf Tum

Commission To Overflow

Kachche Dhaage

B1 (Commission Earner)

–

Coverage To Commission

Tej Raftaar (dubbed)

Coverage

International Khiladi

THE REST

Sikandar Sadak Ka, Loh Purush, Lo Main Aagayaa, Jahan Tum Le Chalo, Aa Ab Laut Chalen (good in Bombay), Hu Tu Tu, Bade Dilwala, Khooni Aahat (dubbed), Shera, Chalo America, Bombay Boys (dubbed; ‘BB’ in Bombay), Gupt Sandesh (dubbed), Krantipath, Qatil Chandalini, Kaun (good in Bombay), Zameen Ke Neeche, Lal Baadshah (good in U.P.), Laawaris, Aaag Hi Aag, Kaala Samrajya, Aarzoo, Kahani Kismat Ki, Jaanam Samjha Karo, Putlibai, Purnasatya, Bhoot Ka Darr, Avaidh Sambandh (dubbed), Anari No. 1 (‘BB’ in Bombay), Tan Aggan, Zulmi, Silsila Hai Pyar Ka, Tower House, Shaitaani Khazana (dubbed), King Kong (dubbed), Jaihind, Ronin (Gehri Saazish, dubbed), Main Hoon Baazigar (dubbed), Beauty Palace (dubbed), Lafdaa, Hello Doctor (dubbed), Kartoos, Phool Aur Aag, Khooni Ilaaka – The Prohibited Area, Main Tere Pyaar Mein Pagal (dubbed), Sooryavansham (‘BB’ in Bengal, Bihar and ‘B1’ in C.P. Berar), Rajaji, Ganga Ki Kasam, Safari, Dracula, Zimbo, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (‘AA’ in Bombay), Anyay Hi Anyay, Nyaydaata, Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi…, The Terrorist (dubbed).

 Second Quarter Of 1999: A Mix Of Joys & Sorrows

The second quarter of 1999 has been far more exciting for the industry than the first quarter. At least five films from those released in the months of April, May and June ’99 have proved successful. Biwi No. 1 is the biggest grosser of the second quarter and although its box-office performance in West Bengal and Bihar is not commensurate with its price, its business in other circuits is indeed very heartening. Bombay leads, followed by Delhi-U.P. Sarfarosh, too, is exceptionally good in Bombay and a fair earner in the rest of India. Again, it is far from encouraging in Bihar. Hogi Pyar Ki Jeet, on the other hand, is the best in Bihar and is expected to do over 1.75 crore in the territory! Although a slow starter in almost the whole country, the film picked up after 3-4 days of its release and will ultimately fetch commission in all circuits and even overflow from some. Haseena Maan Jaayegi was the other David Dhawan film of the quarter, besides Biwi No. 1, to do well at the box-office. Again, this David Dhawan film, too, is not as strong in East Punjab, West Bengal and Bihar as in the other circuits. Bihar, of course, had heavy rains and hence the film’s collections were adversely affected. Sirf Tum was the surprise packet of the second quarter. Not only did it open well — which was quite unexpected — but it also maintained very well almost everywhere. Rajasthan may not be as strong, but then, the rest of India will bring in good overflow cheques to producer Boney Kapoor.

Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam proved an extreme case. It is doing wonders in Bombay and Gujarat but the business in other circuits ranges from average to below-average. For example, if Delhi was very good in 2nd week too, U.P. was not too strong. Bihar has not been good from the start. In other circuits, collections in some stations are enviable but in other stations, they are dropping quite fast. Anari No. 1 also proved an earner in just a couple of circuits. Similarly, Sooryavansham. It is doing excellent in West Bengal and good in Bihar and C.P. Berar. But it is a heavy loser in most of the other circuits.

Jaanam Samjha Karo was the biggest shock of the quarter. Among the other losers are Silsila Hai Pyar Ka, Zulmi, Jaihind, Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi…, Safari, Rajaji etc.

While the industry earned very well in the line of successes of the three months, it also lost heavily — almost Rs. 25 crore — in the 32 damp squibs it gave in the three months. Yes, 32 losers out of the 38 films released in the second quarter of 1999!

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

‘Mann’: Listen To People’s Hearts

The immense craze for Mann among the public is indeed heartening. The songs, the promotional trailers, the street publicity and, of course, Aamir Khan have generated so much curiosity around the film that one expects it to take an absolutely bumper opening. Distributors of the circuits in which varying admission rates are permitted would do well to hike the rates in the first week at least, to take advantage of the craze for the film. For instance, a couple of cinemas of Bombay city and suburbs can do with an admission rate of Rs. 150 in the balcony. The response can be monitored and the rates for the second week, decided thereafter. Yes, this hike will not pinch the purses of Aamir’s fans and even if it does, nobody will complain about the pinch. That is the kind of craze one sees for Mann and, therefore, it would only be in the fitness of things if distributors cashed in on it.

Listen To Your Heart….
….But Also See His Art

Publicity designer J.P. Singhal is in great form. His designs for Mann are casting a magical spell on the public. The colour scheme as also the pictures used in the posters and hoardings of the film are beautiful and an absolutely soothing sight. Here, a special mention must be made of the film’s hoardings put up at Chowpatty (opposite Birla Kreeda Kendra) in Bombay. Each hoarding, in a series of four, depicts a different close-up of Aamir Khan and Manisha Koirala together with an alphabet from the film’s title. Thus, read from left to right, the hoardings read M-A-N-N while creating an impression of there being a single long hoarding! ‘Listen to your heart’ goes the catchline in the film’s publicities. Might we add to that: ‘Also see Singhal’s Art!’

Incidentally, a novel mode of publicity is being employed for Mann in Bombay. An attractive back-lit vinyl mega-poster, fitted into the back of a mini-truck, has begun doing the rounds of Bombay streets since July 2. The truck itself is covered on three sides with different mega-posters of the film and has been additionally fitted with sound equipment, which is used to air the film’s music. It shouldn’t be long before this new mobile publicity method becomes popular among the masses — earning mann-y kudos for those who devised it.

Rumours With Base

There are already rumours in trade circles that the release of Taal has been postponed. It is being said that instead of 6th August, as scheduled, Taal may hit the screens a week later. But then it is also being argued that 13th August is not a lucky Friday for Subhash Ghai and so the film may actually come on 20th August. Another argument being put forward for the postponement is that since the music of Taal is so good, Ghai will definitely like it to grow to the fullest before the film is released. Subhash Ghai had blundered last time when he released Pardes before its music could make a real mark. Ultimately, of course, the music grew to great heights but the harm in terms of a not-so-exciting opening to the film was done. Ghai couldn’t have forgotten that mistake, and, one is sure, he would like to play it safe this time. Since the music of Taal has all the potential to hit big time, the maker would, perhaps, like to wait a little longer so that the popularity of the music helps the film’s opening to the fullest.

Kargil Coincidence

Coincidences can never be explained but this coincidence beats all coincidences. Just before the India-Pakistan ‘battle’ at Kargil began, Sarfarosh, which openly talks of ISI agents disturbing the peace in India, was released. The Kargil battle is still on and two more films which deal with India-Pakistan war — Hindustan Ki Kasam and Kohram — are due for release. What’s more, Kohram has actually been shot at Kargil and Siachen, both of which are in news these days. And the shooting at these places was done months ago, when the Kargil tension had not even surfaced!

Big In Japan

Japan seems to have turned into a huge new market for Tamil films in the past year or so. The latest Rajinikanth starrer, Padayappa, has been sold for an astonishing price of US $50,000 — the highest ever fetched by any Indian film in Japan! The film’s Japan rights have been bought by G.V. Films which had entered the Japanese market in 1996 with the Tamil film, Indira. However, the film that really discovered the huge potential of this new market was an earlier Rajinikanth starrer, Muthu, which was released with subtitles in Japan in June last year. Believe it or not, Muthu has already posted a mammoth US $1.75 million in gate receipts and, a year later, is still showing at Japanese cinemas! The outstanding success of the film in Japan last year soon prompted other Tamil film producers to follow suit. Consequently, Tamil films have begun to be regularly screened in Japan. In fact, G.V. Films alone has exported Tamil films worth US $1,00,000 (excluding Padayappa) so far. Apparently, extremely high costs involved in producing Japanese films is the main reason for Japanese distributors having turned to foreign films. Even as distributors had been dependent mainly on Hollywood and South Korean films in the past, the box-office record of Muthu has helped India emerge as a strong contender in the Japanese market in the last one year. With Padayappa proving to be a huge grosser everywhere, India’s position should further consolidate in Japan. As the famous pop song goes, Big in Japan….

Mithun Starrers: A Sad Story

About six months back, Film Information had cautioned producers of Mithun starrers to be careful as they would find it extremely difficult to get buyers for their films. Our fears were based on the pathetic fate of several Mithun starrers released last year. And what is happening at the time of deliveries of Mithun starrers now, proves that our warning was not incorrect. There is a delivery hassle in every second Mithun starrer, Sikandar Sadak Ka, Aaag Hi Aag, Kahani Kismat Ki, Ganga Ki Kasam and Benaam — all these Mithun films have seen tension at the time of their deliveries. Why, some of the aforesaid films haven’t been released in some circuits as yet. Going by the trend, one can expect worse times for Mithun’s producers in the months to come. The hero has already had seven releases in 1999, and about 10 to 12 more of his starrers should see release in the second half of the year.

Height Of Arrogance

…And now, further proof of this top star’s arrogance and his utter disregard for the people who give him work. A couple of years ago, he had been signed by a popular actor-turned-producer-director for one of the two leads in his film. It so happened that, one day, the star sauntered in nonchalantly, more than four hours late for his shooting. Irked by the star’s unprofessional behaviour, the veteran producer-director sarcastically remarked to him whether he should ask the unit to pack up for the day since they had already lost a major part of the day. No words can precisely describe the anguish of the producer-director — and a senior one at that — when the star, instead of apologising, replied shamelessly,  “Who the hell are you to tell the unit to pack up? I am calling for pack-up!” Did you say, “Shame shame!” Well, we won’t even say that for this act on the part of the shameless star.

Not Done

Then there’s this super-hero who thinks no end of his judgement on films starring himself. So far so good. He even goes to the extent of criticising films in which he acts. But who gives him the right to talk ill of those films even while they are under-production? Besides being unethical, it creates such a bad impression about those films because you have the hero himself bad-mouthing his starrer. At least two top producer-directors have faced this problem. The hero, even while acting in their films, used to quite openly tell trade people that those two films were not going to click. The funniest part of this entire episode is that both the bad-mouthed films clicked. One of them went on to become a blockbuster. Wonder whether these two films have taught the super-hero a lesson or not. For, not only is he exposing his unethical side and lack of judgement but also harming the interests of his own producers. All this, only because he is the top hero. The question which arises here is: why does he sign a film in the first place if he has to cast aspersions on its box-office potential even before it is complete?

Film Information’s Kargil Special

How often have we been moved to tears in scenes of death in films? How often has a separation/estrangement on the screen made us weep? How often has an accident in a film sequence made us close our eyes in dismay and sigh in disbelief? And all this when we know that what we are seeing is not true. In fact, who better than us film people to know that cinema is only make-believe.

It is said that creative people are the most sensitive too. If that is true, the havoc the current encounters between Indian army jawans and Pakistani intruders is wreaking on our country should strike a chord in our hearts. When we can cry so easily in films, tears should come naturally to us when we read reports of the killings of our jawans at Kargil. Hundreds of our soldiers have laid down their lives to protect the country’s honour, hundreds have been maimed or handicapped for life while fighting the enemies.

But as opposed to reel life, this is real life. Merely shedding tears will not be enough. The film industry has always risen to the occasion whenever the country has needed its services. Mother India needs the industry’s help once again. The families of jawans killed in the Kargil encounters need financial support. The injured soldiers need monetary help. The government today needs a helping hand. It is looking to the film industry with expectations and hope.

And like in the past, we can do it this time too. Various associations of the industry are collecting funds for the army and army wives. May they meet with tremendous success in their endeavours.

Film Information will bring out a special KARGIL ISSUE on 14th August, 1999. The earnings from that special issue will be donated to the Army Welfare Fund. For that, we need your support, your patronage. Come, advertise in our issue of August 14 and contribute to a noble cause. Only because we are not at the scene (Kargil), we should not underestimate the emotional drama being unfolded in armymen’s homes every day. Simply recall a scene from Haqeeqat which made you cry. Or a sequence in Border that shook you. And you will instantly feel like making some contribution, at least, to the Kargil cause. You will indeed feel like being a part of our Kargil Special of 14th August. So put pen to paper now. Remember, every assistance will go a long way in ameliorating the hardships of our jawans and their families.

Come on, we at Film Information stand with folded hands in anticipation. We need your helping hand. Our motherland needs it. Our jawans need it. For once, let us applaud the real heroes.

– Komal Nahta

 

 

 

BANARASI BABU

Sapna Arts’ Banarasi Babu (UA) is a comedy film with Indian sentiments thrown in in good measure. It tells the story of an Indian boy, staying in Banaras, who gets married to an Indian girl settled abroad. The girl’s mother is against the match and when her daughter cannot adjust in her new home, the mother is the happiest. With a view to get the two divorced, she takes her daughter back abroad. But not the one to give up so easily, the guy follows his wife abroad and teaches his mother-in-law and wife such a lesson that they turn over new leaves.

The story idea may not be new but it is, nevertheless, good as it offers a lot of scope for fun and laughter. But the screenplay writer has not really done a good job as several scenes either look contrived or are predictable. The second half, in which the guy teaches his wife and mother-in-law a lesson for their ill-mannered behaviour and lack of values, should have been much more exciting than it is. But since several incidents have been seen in films earlier, the impact is diluted. Moreover, giving too much footage to the mother-in-law and lesser to the wife is a mistake committed by the writer. Dialogues are punch-packed but only at places.

Govinda is excellent as usual. The guy’s sincerity is absolutely praiseworthy and so is his sense of timing. Ramya fails to impress as the heroine. She looks too over-weight and her costumes are bad. Kader Khan is humorous but doesn’t get scope for being hilarious. Bindu is good at times and loud at other times. Shakti Kapoor’s comedy is half-baked so that he manages to evoke laughter only occasionally. Asif Sheikh does well. Reema lends good support. Sanam, Shagufta Ali, Upasna Singh and the others are average.

David Dhawan’s direction is good but the magic of his earlier films with Govinda is missing here mainly due to a less competent script. The contribution of music is also not much. ‘San sana san sai sai’ is the only exciting number but its picturisation is ordinary. ‘Meri gori gori baahein’ and ‘Susri garam garam’ are fairly good songs. However, the absence of a couple of hit numbers is sorely felt. Cinematography is very good. Production values are appropriate.

On the whole, Banarasi Babu does not have enough hilarious moments and since it is not a laugh riot for viewers, it cannot be expected to keep its distributors smiling. Rather, its high price may see them in the red in some circuits.

Released on 30-1-’98 at Maratha Mandir and 22 other cinemas of Bombay thru Pinky Films. Publicity: very good. Opening: good but not up to the mark (despite Idd holiday). …….Also released all over except in West Bengal and Nizam.

VINASHAK

Mark Films International’s Vinashak (A) is about an Indian’s obsession for his motherland. It is the story of a police officer for whom duty is everything and who upholds law even in the most adverse of circumstances. He is sent on a mission to investigate the illegal activities being carried out by the jailor of the central jail, but once inside, he is shocked to find that his supporters have been killed and he is now in the clutches of villains including the jailor, a corrupt police officer and a minister. How he escapes from the jail and kills the villains one by one is narrated in the latter part.

The film, unlike many action films, has a definite story-line and a well-written screenplay (Rajkumar Santoshi). The first half is tight and effective but the drama becomes a bit too tense after interval as there’s not much relief then. Further, some sequences look too far-fetched to believe. In this class falls the blowing up of a car by a bomb planted in a toy car operated by a remote control, in full view of the public. Dialogues (Naeem-Ejaz) are good at several places.

Sunil Shetty lives the role of the patriotic police officer and impresses a great deal with his acting, action and dances. Raveena Tandon looks pretty and performs ably. Her dances are graceful. Danny Denzongpa is brilliant as the villainous jailor. Tinnu Anand makes an effective minister. Alok Nath evokes much hatred due to his lovely performance. Mohan Joshi leaves a mark, his facial expressions being remarkable. Om Puri does well but he deserved better scope. Mukesh Rishi is ferocious. Harish Patel wins the audience’s hearts with a lovable performance. Satyen Kappu, Shivaji Satam, Disha, Jassi, Dipti and the others give very good support. Pinky’s dance is truly sexy.

Action director Ravi Dewan makes an impressive debut as a director. His shot compositions and takings are nice. He should have, however, balanced the heavy second half with some light scenes. Viju Shah’s music is good. ‘Godna god mohe godariya’ and ‘Moriya moriya’ are the best songs. Picturisations of ‘Godna’ and ‘Rooba rooba’ songs are fantastic and truly eye-filling. Nitin Desai’s sets are rich and beautiful, but it must also be added here that the set of the central jail is too beautiful and tidy to look like a jail! Peter Pereira’s camerawork is extraordinary. The Dalhousie locales have been captured beautifully. Action scenes (Ravi Dewan) have novelty and have been excellently composed, especially in the first half. Technical and production values are of a high standard. Sound effects (mixed in Dolby) are lovely.

On the whole, despite less relief, Vinashak has the entertainment value to keep its distributors smiling.

Released on 29-1-’98 at Metro and on 30-1-’98 at Minerva and 20 other cinemas of Bombay thru Dilsa Distributors Combine. Publicity: excellent. Opening: good but below expectations despite Idd holiday. …….Also released all over.

HAFTA VASULI

Seven Mountain Movies’ Hafta Vasuli (UA) attempts to reflect what goes on in society today due to criminalisation of politics. A young police officer joins hands with a corrupt politician and a criminal to make fast money. An upright municipal officer (inspired from Khairnar’s character) comes on the scene, and his job of demolishing unauthorised constructions on government land brings him in conflict with the criminal who is a builder too. The get-rich-quick police officer realises the folly of his policy when his childhood friend, now a professor, takes law into his hands and lands in jail. The police officer, now a changed man, alongwith the municipal officer succeeds in getting the professor freed from prison. The three of them then unite and humiliate the politician and the criminal by supporting a eunuch in the elections. While the politician repents for his misdeeds, the unrelenting criminal is killed by the trio.

The story is the usual revenge and good-versus-evil drama. The screenplay provides some interesting situations, especially in the second half. The scathing attack on today’s government, corrupt politicians and officials is enjoyable. The election scene of the eunuch is a highlight. Some dialogues are very good.

Jackie Shroff does truly well. Aditya Pancholi lives his character. Ayub Khan is fair. Madhoo and Saadhika are alright. Gulshan Grover’s villainy with a touch of comedy is not very menacing. Hemant Birje, as the criminal builder, is good. Rohini Hattangady is very effective. Sr. Balraj Vij, Anand Balraj Vij, Laxmikant Berde (as the eunuch), Aroon Bakshi and the other cast provide fair support.

Deepak Balraj Vij’s direction is quite good. Music is alright, the ‘Family mein lafda’ and ‘Vote for’ songs standing out if only for their comment value. Action scenes are ordinary, save a few. Photography is of a nice standard.

On the whole, Hafta Vasuli lacks the excitement of a political action drama and, therefore, remains an average fare. It is likely to result in losses for some distributors.

Released on 30-1-’98 at Dreamland and 17 other cinemas of Bombay thru Mahalakshmi Film Distributors. Publicity: fair. Opening: average. …….Also released all over except in East Punjab and C.P. Berar.

YOU ASKED IT

Have the cast and credits of Subhash Ghai’s Taal been finalised?

– The story is Subhash Ghai’s and the screenplay is being written by Sachin Bhaumick, while dialogues are by Javed Siddiqi. It is a two-hero-one-heroine subject but so far, only Akshaye Khanna has been finalised. A.R. Rahman will score the music. Lyrics by Anand Bakshi and art direction by R. Verman are the other major credits.

Is it true that music director Shravan’s sons are also turning music directors?

– Yes the team of Shravan’s two sons, Sanjiv and Darshan, has been signed by producer Vimal Kumar to compose the music for his next film which will be directed by Kuku Kohli and which stars Sunil Shetty and Juhi Chawla.

Who do you recommend as the safest hero today?

– Nobody and everybody. Nobody is safe at unrealistic film prices. Everybody can be safe if films are sold at reasonable prices.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Vinod Khanna was given a tumultous welcome at Gurdaspur on 27th January when he reached his constituency in Punjab to file his nomination papers for the forthcoming elections to the Lok Sabha. Several film stars have agreed to visit Gurdaspur to canvass for Vinod Khanna.

* Producer Tutu Sharma and director David Dhawan are using the services of different cameramen for the various songs in their GHARWALI BAHARWALI to bring in variety and beauty. Kabir Lal picturised a song at Ramoji Film City (near Hyderabad) in a 10-day spell till January 30. Before that, the film’s cameraman, K.S. Prakash Rao, picturised the other songs. The last song will now be canned by a third cameraman. Truly, beauty lies in the eye — sorry, lens — of the beholder.

* Salman Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Govinda and Karisma Kapoor have joined hands with Wizcraft to open theme restaurants in India. The formal announcement was made on 29th January in Bombay.

Subhash Ghai’s Triple Celebrations
The Party In Perfect Sur & Taal

How just a new venue and an unusual time can change the flavour of a party was evident at the triple celebrations of Subhash Ghai on 25th January. Usually, filmland parties are held in the evenings but these celebrations were held in the afternoon. Rather than in one of the many 5-star hotels, the function took place at the picturesque Royal Palms at Goregaon, Bombay.

The three celebrations were — Subhash Ghai’s birthday, silver jubilee of his Pardes and the launching of his new film, Taal. Ghai’s birthday actually falls on 24th January but it was celebrated a day later, alongwith the other two events.

There wasn’t any formal muhurt or the customary muhurt shot for Taal. The banners simply announced ‘Subhash Ghai’s Taal – The beat of passion’. Nor was there the customary cake-cutting to mark Ghai’s birthday. But yes, the silver jubilee of Pardes was celebrated with the customary distribution of jubilee trophies to the film’s cast and crew.

The top brass of the industry including Sunil Dutt, Dilip Kumar, Yash Chopra, Boney Kapoor, Sreedevi, Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Manisha Koirala, Aishwarya Rai, Satish Kaushik, Manmohan Shetty, Govind Nihalani, Laxmikant, Govinda, Indra Kumar, Ashok Thakeria, Smita Thackeray, Sultan Ahmed, Gaffarbhai Nadiadwala, Bharat Shah, Kiran Shantaram as well as Raj Thackeray and many others attended the party that was, all said and done, different — as different as the title of Ghai’s new film. Whether it was the new venue or the triple events or the Ghai brand of warm hospitality that made the invitees have triple the usual fun, one doesn’t know.

CONTROVERSY CORNER

‘Banarasi Babu’ Released Even As…….
West Bengal Distributor Obtains Stay Order On All-India Release

Nandu Tolani’s Banarasi Babu almost did not release on Friday, January 30. West Bengal distributors, PMD Entertainments (P.) Ltd., Calcutta, on 29th January obtained a stay order on the film’s all-India release, from a division bench of the Bombay high court. More specifically, PMD Entertainments were granted ad interim reliefs in terms of prayer clauses (a) and (b) of their draft notice of motion, by the division bench comprising Justice V.P. Tipnis and Justice N. Arumugham.

Clauses (a) and (b) of the draft notice of motion were:

(a) that pending the hearing and final disposal of the suit, the 1st and 2nd respondents (Nandu Tolani and Sapna Film Distributors, Calcutta, respectively) by themselves, their servants, agents and representatives be restrained by an order and injunction of this hon’ble court from in any manner releasing and/or distributing and/or exhibiting the said picture in any part of India including in the said territory till such time that the 1st respondent effects delivery of release prints of the said picture to the plaintiffs (PMD Entertainments) for simultaneous release in the said territory, viz. West Bengal.

(b) that pending the hearing and final disposal of the suit, the 1st and 3rd (Filmcenter Laboratories) respondents by themselves, their servants and/or agents be restrained by an order and injunction of this hon’ble court from in any manner either directly or indirectly delivering or causing to be delivered prints of the said picture in any territory of India until such time the prints of the said picture for release in the said territory are first delivered to the appellants.

The dispute began when producer Nandu Tolani towards the end of December ’97 sold the West Bengal distribution rights of Banarasi Babu to PMD Entertainments and faxed a letter to the Eastern India Motion Picture Association (EIMPA), asking the latter to cancel the registration of the film from the name of Sapna Film Distributors and register the film in the name of PMD Entertainments (P.) Ltd. instead. The letter was irrevocable but it is alleged that after receiving monies from PMD Entertainments, Nandu Tolani sought to withdraw his irrevocable letter and asked the EIMPA not to register Banarasi Babu in favour of PMD Entertainments. Interesting to note that (i) Sapna Film Distributors was to have released the film in West Bengal from Billoo Bakliwal’s office, and (ii) Billoo Bakliwal’s father, L.C. Bakliwal, is the vice president of the EIMPA.

Anyway, sensing fraud, PMD Entertainments on 23rd January obtained a stay order from the Bombay high court, restraining Filmcenter from delivering or causing to be delivered the prints of Banarasi Babu for West Bengal circuit. PMD Entertainments were directed to deposit a sum of Rs. 30 lakh in court on or before 28th January. The said amount was deposited on 28th when the Bombay high court stayed the delivery of prints for West Bengal to both, Sapna Film Distributors and PMD Entertainments. During arguments, it was pleaded on behalf of Nandu Tolani that if the film was released all over but not in West Bengal, the said territory (West Bengal) would become worthless after 30th January, the day of all-India release.

Aggrieved by the order not granting it delivery of prints despite the deposit of monies in the court, PMD Entertainments preferred an appeal on 29th January before the division bench and obtained reliefs in terms of prayer clauses (a) and (b). PMD Entertainments took the same plea that if the film was allowed to be released all over except in West Bengal, the West Bengal territory would become worthless, an argument put forward by Nandu Tolani himself.

Consequent to the court order obtained around 4.15 p.m. on 29th, there was high-tension drama at Filmcenter, which went on till after 3 a.m. on 30th. U.A. Thadani, Lala Damani, Girdhar Hinduja and others tried to intervene and bring about a reconciliation between Nandu Tolani and PMD Entertainments but their efforts failed. Ramesh Patel, Arun Patel, N.C. Hira and others of Filmcenter were engaged in hectic meetings till 3 o’clock in the morning of 30th.

Luckily for the Bombay and Nizam distributors of the film, their deliveries were effected just before the court order restraining Filmcenter from giving deliveries was obtained.

It is to be seen now whether PMD Entertainments uses this order to stop the film’s screening all over India. Banarasi Babu opened in U.P. on Thursday morning, and in the rest of the country, on Friday morning. One feels, contempt of court proceedings could be filed against Nandu Tolani for permitting the film’s release or, in other words, not preventing its release.

A similar incident had taken place in the case of Sultan Ahmed’s Dharam Kanta, the screening of which was discontinued from Nizam territory on a court order obtained by Sultan Ahmed. Interestingly, Ranjit & Co. were the advocates for Sultan Ahmed then and they are also the advocates for PMD Entertainments now.

In the meanwhile, insiders reveal that Nandu Tolani tried to have the film released (thru Sapna Film Distributors, of course) in a cinema of Calcutta on Wednesday/Thursday and even had his advocate (!) carry two prints for the purpose to Calcutta, but could not succeed in his mission.

                                       

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

David Dhawan And Bengal Territory

David Dhawan had better visit Calcutta and do some havan/pooja there. For, his films seem to be getting embroiled in delivery controversies in the West Bengal territory only. Mr. & Mrs. Khiladi could not be released in West Bengal simultaneously with the rest of India because of the delivery drama. And likewise, this week’s Banarasi Babu, too, did not open in West Bengal. Although his Deewana Mastana was released in West Bengal with the rest of the country, there was, nevertheless, a problem in finalising the distributors (as deals were struck with two distributors).

Delivery Dramas

There were delivery problems in two of the three releases this week. And the cause in both the cases was the same: finance. Shortage of money to meet the liens on the films resulted in untold tension and hardships to the persons involved. The West Bengal distributor of Banarasi Babu obtained a stay on the all-India release of the film (read story elsewhere in this issue), so that it almost appeared as if the film wouldn’t be released. A lien of 40 lakh against the Bombay territory caused tension in the case of Hafta Vasuli. Of this, 15 lakh was payable to Jackie Shroff. The hero’s lab. letter against Bombay circuit created a problem and it also appeared in the case of Hafta Vasuli that the film would not be released in Bombay. But the Bombay distributors, Mahalakshmi Film Distributors, co-operated and made the release possible. So luckily, both the films were finally released (except Banarasi Babu in West Bengal).

Terrific Trailers

New trailers of Zor have been made and they are being played in cinemas from Idd day, to thunderous applause. Distributors of the film should now rest assured as the suspense about its release date is over because the trailers announce its release date of 13th February. Distraught distributors have complained that the producers never bothered to either confirm or deny the release date, which led them to play their own guessing games. Anyway, the film has been cleared by the CBFC, and the censor certificate should be in the producers’ hands next week.

If the theatrical trailer of Zor is winning applause, so is the television trailer of Salaakhen, which shows Sunny Deol banging his head against the grills (salaakhen) of the jail (lock-up) door till his head bleeds. Both, Zor and Salaakhen, are presented by Sanjay Tolani.

Welcome The New Kapoor Girl

It can be told now. Karisma Kapoor’s younger sister is the latest to become a part of the world of heroines. Yes, Kareena Kapoor has been signed by ……. Shall we give out the name of the producer? No, we’d rather involve you in a guessing game. The one, who has signed her, is a producer and director. And he has cast her opposite his son who also will be launched in the film. The producer-director is …… No, there’s simply no need to spell out the name. You all have already guessed it.

Neelam Bhi Saath Hai

Neelam, who has been doing pretty well for herself on television these days, has bagged a plum role in Sooraj Barjatya’s Hum Saath Saath Hain. She plays the only sister of the three brothers viz. Mohnish Bahl, Salman Khan and Saif Ali Khan. With the three heroines (Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Karisma Kapoor) also having been finalised, Neelam is the seventh star to have been announced by the Barjatyas. So the film could, as of now, as well be called Hum Saat Saat Hain (We Are Seven Seven)!

LATEST POSITION

Heavy rains in different parts of the country played havoc with the box-office which even otherwise was in the doldrums.

Tirchhi Topiwale has done well only in some centres due to lack of oppositions. For the rest, it has done poor. 1st week Bombay 26,67,723 (66.66%) from 11 cinemas; Ahmedabad 3,50,825 from 4 cinemas, Baroda 85,345, Rajkot 78,880; Pune 3,60,062 from 4 cinemas, Kolhapur 80,718; Delhi 9,68,146 (42.78%) from 6 cinemas; Kanpur 66,454, Lucknow (21 shows) 92,239, Allahabad 48,500; Amritsar 54,110; Calcutta 3,95,496 from 4 cinemas; Nagpur 1,22,735 from 2 cinemas, Amravati 1,10,659, Akola 85,000; Indore 60,000 (2 on F.H.), Bhopal 70,000; Jaipur 3,24,360 from 2 cinemas; Hyderabad 11,78,744 from 10 cinemas (2 in noon).

………….

Dil Se.. 4th week Bombay 9,58,819 (68.46%) from 3 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Ahmedabad (mg. shows) 12,584 (2 unrecd.); Pune 4,73,559 from 5 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 46,332; Delhi 14,11,366 from 5 cinemas; Kanpur 1,04,870, Lucknow 1,84,623, Varanasi 67,107, Allahabad 68,500, Bareilly (6 days) 27,839; Calcutta 1,42,613; Nagpur (6 days) 74,454 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 46,262, Akola (6 days) 24,016, Raipur (6 days) 43,683, Bhilai (6 days) 31,200, 1st week Yavatmal 69,424; 4th week Indore 72,003, Bhopal 50,914; Jaipur 1,25,008; Hyderabad 4,97,087 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon), Aurangabad 2 weeks’ total 4,19,000.

Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha 8th week Bombay 33,82,101 (84.84%) from 10 cinemas (5 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 2,01,438 from 2 cinemas, Rajkot (matinee) 9,425, Jamnagar 40,583, total 6,28,075; Pune 4,09,494 from 3 cinemas, Kolhapur 59,000, Solapur (matinee) 21,347; Delhi 6,59,544 from 3 cinemas; Kanpur 80,084, Lucknow 1,71,870, 7th week Varanasi 81,353, Allahabad 45,100, 8th week Meerut 74,298, 6th Bareilly 41,559; 8th week Calcutta 1,38,469; Nagpur 1,13,359 from 2 cinemas, 6th week Jabalpur 1,14,824, total 9,80,700, 8th Amravati 51,115, Akola 65,050, total 9,15,500, Raipur 70,622, Bhilai 30,533; Indore 1,17,917, Bhopal 75,046; Ajmer 60,165; Hyderabad 3,06,216 from 2 cinemas (1 in noon), 7th week Aurangabad 1,18,000.

NATRAJ, KOTA SOLD

Natraj Cinema of Kota has been sold. The cinema, which is closed now, will reopen shortly, after renovations are carried out by the new owners.

WEBSITE ON INDIAN FILMS LAUNCHED

Mitter Infotech, a computer software company, has announced the launch of a new website, www.channelbollywood.com, where Internet users from all over the world will be provided access to various information on the Indian film industry. The website is designed as a film magazine which includes topics like film reviews, list of hit and flop films, music ratings etc., apart from articles on filmmaking and career guidance. Other proposed features include photo galleries where the users will be able to download photographs of stars.

The launch of the website will coincide with an online chat session with Shammi Kapoor at 8 p.m. today (19th September). The chat session will be hosted by the American Internet giant, Yahoo! Inc. The website will be formally launched at a party at CCI, Churchgate, Bombay, today.

MAZHAR KHAN DEAD

Actor-producer-director Mazhar Khan died at Lilavati Hospital at Bandra, Bombay on 16th September at 5.30 p.m. He was 42 and was suffering from a kidney and other ailments. He had been on dialysis since 10 months.

Mazhar was admitted to the hospital on 15th morning and was put on dailysis immediately thereafter. He had also been undergoing treatment abroad for kidney failure and pancreatic problems.

Mazhar got his break as an actor in Ramesh Sippy’s Shaan, in which he played a lame beggar. He worked in several films thereafter and was also well-received in Ramesh Sippy’s television serial, Buniyaad. He turned a producer and director with Gang which he started six to seven years ago but which could not be completed even till his death. Bharat Shah had stepped in into the venture some time back. Only a few days’ shooting remains to be done to complete the project starring Nana Patekar, Jackie Shroff, Juhi Chawla and Javed Jaffri.

Mazhar was married twice, the second time to Zeenat Aman from whom he had two children. Zeenat and Mazhar had been divorced some time ago. His first wife was abroad with their son when Mazhar passed away.

He was buried on the night of 16th at the Santacruz cemetery.

GOPAL SRIVASTAVA DEAD

Publicist Gopal Srivastava expired on 13th September at Bombay Hospital. He was 60 and was the regular publicist of films made by J. Om Prakash and Rakesh Roshan. He used to also be the publicist of Rakesh Roshan when the latter was an actor.

Gopal had been admitted to hospital a few days back for a severe ailment but his condition only deteriorated. His last rites were performed on the afternoon of 17th at Chandanwadi crematorium. Commander (retd.) R.P. Rai, a school-friend of Gopal and now a director at Bombay Hospital, was very helpful in completing all the required formalities at the hospital since no relative of Gopal lives in Bombay. Another friend, Col. (retd.) Janak Kalia, was also helpful.

CBFC REBUKES PRODUCERS FOR NON-COMPLIANCE WITH RULES

In a recent communication addressed to producers’ associations, the CBFC has reprimanded film producers and distributors for non-compliance with Rule 38 of the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules. The said rule states that the category of the censor certificate issued to the film must be clearly mentioned while advertising the film in any manner (be it through newspaper ads, hoardings, posters, handbills or trailers). The letter, signed by CBFC  chairperson Asha Parekh, also warns that strict action would be taken against those who violate the rule. In a reply to the CBFC, the Association of Motion Pictures & TV Programme Producers (AMPTPP) has pointed out the impracticality of the CBFC suggestion. As things stand, getting a film certified by the censors remains the last stage in film production, with most films being released within two to three weeks after their being certified. On the other hand, the time required for the printing of a film’s publicity materials is normally between six and eight weeks. Moreover, a publicity campaign for a film needs to run for at least six to eight weeks before its release, if it is to prove effective. Thus it becomes imperative for the publicity materials to go into print long before the censor certificate is applied for, thereby making it impossible for them to carry the category of the censor certificate issued.

Perhaps, the CBFC will pay heed to these simple facts.

U.A. THADANI ELECTED TOA PRESIDENT

U.A. Thadani was elected president of the Theatre Owners’ Association for 1998-99 at the first meeting of the council of management of the TOA, held on 16th September in Bombay. R.V. Vidhani was elected vice president, C.N. Mirani, hon. treasurer, and Nester D’souza, hon. secretary. Earlier, at the annual general meeting of the Association, the following other members were elected: Indulal D. Shah, Kiran Shantaram, R.P. Anand, N.F. Sidhwa, F.C. Mehra, R.F. Balaporia, Salim Ebrahim, K.A. Thadani, N.F. Damania, N.N. Menon, Milap B. Joshi and Girivarsinh.

Baseless Rumours Spread By Interested Parties

It happens when two big films are slated for release on the same day. And so it is happening in the case of the two big Diwali releases — Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. People associated with each of the two films insist that their film will hit the screens on October 16 but the other film has been postponed. That is to say, people interested in KKHH are spreading rumours that BMCM has been postponed, whereas persons interested in BMCM swear that in the case of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, kuch kuch ho gaya hai and, therefore, the film will not hit the screens on Diwali.

Of course, there’s just no truth in both claims as they are based on no facts whatsoever. It is all loose talk, indulged into to spread panic. The fact is that as of today, both, BMCM and KKHH, are being readied for release on Diwali.

44 Members In Fray For IMPPA Executive Committee

The elections to the executive committee of the Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association, to be held on 28th September after its annual general meeting, will be a keenly contested affair. For, as many as 32 members (including 11 sitting members) will contest for 16 seats in the Ordinary Class, and 12 members (including five sitting members) will contest for five seats in the Associate Class I.

Subject to withdrawal, the following 32 members will contest in the Ordinary Class: Anil Ganguly, Avtar Bhogal, B. Subhash, Boota Singh Shaad, Dara Singh, Deepak Shivdasani, K.D. Shorey, K. Pappu, Kant Kumar, Kulwant Jani, Madan Mohla, Mukesh Bhatt, N.R. (Babloo) Pachisia, Nitin Manmohan (Panchamiya), Pawan Kumar, Prakash Jha, Pranlal Mehta, Preeti Sapru, Rajeev Kumar, Saawan Kumar Tak, Satish Khanna, Satyendra Pal Chaudhary, Shakti Samanta, Shanoo Mehra, Sharukh Mirza Beig, Sujit Kumar, Sultan Ahmed, Sundeep Sethi, Surendra Bohra, Sushama Shiromanee, Vinay Kumar Sinha and Vinod Talwar.

In the Associate Class I, the contest will be among the following 12 members: Anand Girdhar, Arjun Hingorani, B.R. Ishara, Darshan Sabarwal, Dimppy Ramdayal, Johny Bakshi, Kamal Sadanah, Rajiv Suri, Ranjeet, S.K. Kapur, Surendra Mohan and Surjit Aujla.

Although three members (Vinod Talwar, Arjun Hingorani and Rajiv Suri) will contest independently, the fight this year seems to be mainly between two groups — Sultan Ahmed’s United Group and Shakti Samanta’s group.

Sultan Ahmed’s group consists of the following members, besides himself, in the Ordinary Class: Anil Ganguly, Avtar Bhogal, Boota Singh Shaad, Dara Singh, Deepak Shivdasani, K. Pappu, Kant Kumar, Kulwant Jani, Nitin Manmohan, Prakash Jha, Preeti Sapru, Shanoo Mehra, Sharukh Mirza Beig, Sujit Kumar and Sundeep Sethi. In the Associate Class I, the following members are being fielded by the United group: Anand Girdhar, B.R. Ishara, Kamal Sadanah, Ranjeet and Surendra Mohan.

The group, led by Shakti Samanta, consists of the following contestants, besides Samanta himself, in the Ordinary Class: B. Subhash, Dara Singh, K.D. Shorey, Madan Mohla, Mukesh Bhatt, N.R. (Babloo) Pachisia, Pawan Kumar, Pranlal Mehta, Rajeev Kumar, Saawan Kumar Tak, Satish Khanna, Satyendra Pal Chaudhary, Surendra Bohra, Sushama Shiromanee and Vinay Kumar Sinha. In the Associate Class I, the group’s candidates are: Darshan Sabarwal, Dimppy Ramdayal, Johny Bakshi, S.K. Kapur and Surjit Aujla.

GLAMOROUS IMPPA ELECTIONS

The IMPPA elections this year will see at least six artistes battling it out. Dara Singh, Sujit Kumar, Preeti Sapru, Sushama Shiromanee, Kamal Sadanah and Ranjeet can be expected to get in some glamour in the elections to the executive committee of the biggest body of film producers.

IMPPA Presidents, Present And Past, Battle It Out For The Chair

The fight this year on the IMPPA election front is basically one between Sultan Ahmed and Shakti Samanta. Both are contenders for the IMPPA president’s chair and, coincidentally, both have been presidents in the past too. In fact, Sultan Ahmed is completing his fourth consecutive term as president of the Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association this month, and Shakti Samanta has been president for four terms before that — of which three terms were consecutive.

As in any election, allegations and counter-allegations are being freely traded between the too warring groups. Supporters of Sultan Ahmed quite bluntly say that Shakti Samanta is eyeing the president’s chair because he is no longer the CBFC chairman and, therefore, has a lot of free time on hand. Detractors of Shakti Samanta also feel, the man is too non-committal and rarely, if ever, takes a stand. On the other hand, they say, Sultan Ahmed is frank and bold. Perhaps, that is why, Sultan Ahmed commented, “The opposition is planning to have a dummy president.”

On their part, the pro-Shakti Samanta members feel, Sultan Ahmed has done precious little for the Association in his four-year tenure and they argue that he (Sultan) has reduced the IMPPA to almost a non-functioning body. On his part, Sultan Ahmed denies that he hasn’t done much for the Association, its members and the film industry. According to him, his had been one of the strongest voices that demanded an industry status for the Indian film industry. As far as the state government of Maharashtra was concerned, Sultan Ahmed, through various apex bodies like the FMC and the CHAMPP, had been instrumental in persuading the government to grant subsidy of Rs. 15 lakh, apart from 100% tax-exemption to Marathi films. The IMPPA president personally met with the I & B minister, as part of a delegation, and helped in impressing upon the minister the need to rationally interpret the CBFC guidelines on depiction of animals in films. Few are aware that Sultan had made personal efforts to avoid imposing restrictions on foreign channels operating in India as doing so would result in widespread unemployment in the entertainment industry. He has also been one of those who successfully persuaded the U.P. government to reduce entertainment tax in the state from 125% to 100%. Sultan Ahmed was one of those who led the film industry’s campaign against cable piracy. Moreover, he has been instrumental in the formation of a joint tribunal between the IMPPA and the EIMPA. Sultan Ahmed was also instrumental in settling the dispute between producer B.B. Bhalla and Essel Vision, which was financing the former’s Tune Mera Dil Le Liya. He also settled the dispute between television producer Neerja Guleri and her director, Sunil Agnihotri. He intervened in the legal battle between producers and video rights owners in the Bombay high court and helped to arrive at distinctive definitions of different video and cable rights.

To Sultan Ahmed’s claims of achievements, Shakti Samanta’s supporters ask just one question, “In how many of his achievements has Sultan Ahmed alone done something? He is simply trying to hog the limelight for work done by industry leaders collectively.”

When contacted, Saawan Kumar of the Samanta faction told Information, “I feel, what the industry lacks today is unity. The need of the hour is to unify all the various Associations in the film trade and bring them under one umbrella. There has also been a lot of talk, over the past few years, about betterment of the film industry and what not. But these have remained just talks. There hasn’t been any real action taken on various key issues including video and cable piracy. The cable operators continue to air new films within days of their theatrical releases. If IMPPA is really concerned about the issue, there are various ways and means to achieve a complete eradication of cable piracy. Sadly, I cannot elaborate on them as that will amount to educating the opposition.

“Shakti Samanta has been unable to actively participate in IMPPA’s activities over the past few years as he had to devote a lot of time functioning as the CBFC chairman,” added Tak. “But now, he has come forward and promised his full co-operation in every mater concerning IMPPA. We have absolutely no doubt in his leadership abilities, which is why we are supporting him. On the other hand, Sultan Ahmed has done nothing but just talk throughout his term. This is the main reason why a number of his own people have been disillusioned by him and come to us. We have promised them a change for the better. Our actions will speak louder than their words.” Shakti Samanta adds, “The reason why I am contesting these elections after a long gap is that over the past few years, I was very busy working with the CBFC, which left me with very little time for any other activity. But since the time I stepped down from the CBFC chairmanship, I’ve had a number of IMPPA members approaching me with requests to involve myself once again with IMPPA activities. So, in effect, you can say that I am in the fray due to the wishes of a large section of IMPPA members.”

In the meantime, it may be mentioned here that Saawan Kumar too was keen on the IMPPA presidentship but ultimately agreed to join forces with Shakti Samanta who, if the group wins a majority, will occupy the president’s chair. K.D. Shorey, also of the Shakti Samanta group, has been known to be too fond of the coveted chair which has been eluding him for years. S.K. Kapur is also said to have apologised to Sultan Ahmed for joining hands with Shakti Samanta although his sympathies are with both the groups.

While Sultan Ahmed’s group may be given credit for ushering in fresh and young blood into IMPPA by proposing the candidatures of such producers as Kamal Sadanah, Preeti Sapru, Deepak Shivdasani, etc., there is at least one candidate whose inclusion in his group may well see it face embarrassing questions. That candidate is Anand Girdhar who is currently employed with the Zee group. It is common knowledge that Zee and the film industry are at loggerheads over the issue of cable piracy. Anand Girdhar, who even otherwise has not produced a film for many years now, is viewed as a member of the enemy (Zee) and, like a Shakti Samanta supporter said, “He deserves no place in IMPPA in today’s times.”

HADD KAR DI!

Dara Singh seems to be the favourite of both the groups. For, while Sultan Ahmed’s group claims that Dara Singh is contesting from their group, Shakti Samanta’s group claims that he is contesting from their group. In fact, the lists of candidates issued by both the rival groups show Dara Singh’s name. As for Dara-ji, he is tight-lipped about which group his loyalties lie with. Hadd kar di, Dara-ji — if one may borrow from the name of the serial starring the actor!

IMPPA TO HONOUR FIVE INDUSTRY PEOPLE

Producers Gulshan Behl and Gulshan Rai, lyricist Anand Bakshi, singer-actress Suraiya and late producer Aspi H. Irani are the five veterans who will be felicitated this year by the IMPPA at its 59th annual general meeting on 28th September at ISKCON, Juhu, Bombay. IMPPA honours five veterans every year, for their contributions to the industry.

M.P. Cinema Trade Closure Called Off Following M.P Assembly Elections Announcement
M.P. Bandh Cancellation Becomes CCCA Election Issue

The Madhya Pradesh cinema closure, which was scheduled to start on 17th September, was called off on 16th. This followed the announcement of assembly elections in the state because of which the election code of conduct rules came into operation. No government is permitted to give any reliefs during the time the code of conduct rules remain in operation. It would, therefore, be futile for the M.P. cinemas to close down indefinitely because the government, even if it wanted to help the industry, would not be able to give or announce any reliefs.

CCCA president Santosh Singh Jain met M.P. chief minister Digvijay Singh on 15th and was told by the latter about the applicability of the code of conduct rules. Following that meeting, Jain announced that the indefinite closure of cinemas against the anti-industry policies of the state government would be postponed for the present.

As it is, many distributors and exhibitors, especially of Indore and Ujjain, were against the closure and had, in a meeting held on 14th September in Indore, even decided to call for a postponement of the strike. The meeting was presided over by Joharilal Jhanjharia and attended by about 90 members. Besides Jhanjharia, the others who were vociferous in condemning the timing of the proposed closure were Premdev of Devshri and Abhinayshri cinemas, Indore, Ajit Kasliwal of Smriti and Kusum cinemas, Indore, R.S. Khetawat of Neelkamal Talkies, Indore, Dinesh Gupta and O.P. Goyal. Several members decried the proposed closure and even said, it was an election stunt of Santosh Singh Jain to garner votes in the CCCA elections.

Whether or not it was an election ploy, the calling off of the closure is sure to have serious repercussions on the voting pattern in the CCCA elections scheduled to take place on 27th September in Nagpur. The opposition panel has already started poking fun at, what they term, Santosh Singh Jain’s “lack of planning and short-sightedness”. The opposition also questions the logic of first calling for the cinema closure even though it was common knowledge that the assembly elections were due to be announced any day, and then calling it off. The Jain panel may find itself in a tight corner while trying to answer this question which has been made an election issue by the opposition. The opposition is also blaming the ruling group of having wasted a couple of lakhs of rupees of the Association for printing posters of the closure, sending telegrams for the bandh to all the exhibitors of the state, etc., what to talk of the waste of precious time and energy.

YOU ASKED IT

Which actor has played the maximum number of double roles?

– Undoubtedly, Amitabh Bachchan. Even three of his forthcoming films have him in double roles. They are BADE MIYAN CHOTE MIYAN, LAL BAADSHAH and SURYAVANSH.

In your opinion, how many seats will Santosh Singh Jain’s panel bag in the CCCA elections on 27th September?

– 100% victory for the Jain panel seems to be out of question because there’s a tough opposition this year. As regards the number of seats, let the panel be decided first (read details elsewhere in this issue).

Which film has had the maximum number of songs?

– Madan Theatres’ INDRA SABAH, released in 1932, had 71 songs! Madan Theatres’ three other films viz. CHATRABAKAVALI , GURU ZARINA and BILWAMANGAL, also produced in 1932, had 41, 37 and 27 songs respectively. The Tamil film, PAVILAKODI, released in 1934, had 50 songs, and Tamil SRI KRISHNA LEELA, released the same year, had 62 songs.

DO YOU KNOW?

* It will be a Dharmendra film festival now. His SHER KHAN will hit the screens next week, to be followed by KALICHARAN on 2nd October, and NYAYDAATA on 9th. This week, Dharmendra-starrer ZULM-O-SITAM has been released in Bombay.

* MAUT has created a city record by collecting 34,000/- on the opening day at Rajkamal, Jalgaon.

* SATYA (tax-free) has created a Khandesh record once again by collecting 73,744/- in 4th week at Ashok, Jalgaon.

* TITANIC has created a South Gujarat record for English films by collecting a total of 6,45,474/- in 3 weeks from Shree, Vapi.

‘SOON LADKI…’ GROWING FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH

* SOON LADKI SASARCHI (Marathi; tax-free) is creating havoc in different centres, including ‘C’ class centres, of Maharashtra. It created a record in Nasik by collecting 45,451/- in 1st week and 56,780/- in 2nd week at Vijayanand, despite heavy rains and floods in Nasik. At Prasad, Vita (a ‘C’ class centre), it has created a record by collecting 21,600/- in 1st week and 30,110/- in 2nd week. Share of 2 weeks: 42,000/-, an all-time record! At Manmad, the film collected 55,617/- in 2nd week in spite of heavy rains. At Vishnu, Kopargaon, also, it created a record by collecting 24,650/- and 35,230/- in 1st and 2nd weeks respectively, despite rains. It collected 34,019/- in 1st week at Shivanta, Junnar, despite floods and a poor start (2,200/- on 1st day and 8,717/- on 7th day). It has collected 40,023/- in 2nd week (21 shows) at Rajmahal, Karad.

MIX MASALA

DIFFERENT STANDARDS FOR DIFFERENT MEMBERS

Apropos CCCA president Santosh Singh Jain’s comment (published in our issue last week) that he was unhappy with C.P. distributor Laloo (B.N.) Kabra and was, therefore, not including his name in his panel because, among other things, he (Laloo) supplied prints to SMR cinemas, a supporter of Laloo has sent us this bit of interesting information: Vijaya cinema of Korba is not a CCCA member; yet, it has recently screened Mere Do Anmol Ratan and Kshatriya. Mere Do Anmol Ratan is being distributed by Laddha Bros. (of which Azad Laddha is a siting member of the executive committee and will also be re-contesting from Santosh Singh Jain’s panel). Kshatriya is being distributed by S.R. & Bros. (of which Vijay Rathi is again a sitting member and a contestant from Jain’s panel). The questin is not how Laddha and Rathi screened their films in a non-member cinema (everybody does it!) but how Santosh Singh Jain overlooked this fact while not forgetting to ignore Laloo’s supply of prints to SMR cinemas.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Censors Strike Again

In a recent case in Madras, the censors have once again laid bare their double standards in deciding what is fit for viewing by different language-speaking communities in India. Why else would they demand a deletion of three scenes from the Hindi dubbed version of a Malayalam film titled Blind Sex, which was already granted an ‘A’ certificate by the Madras office of the CBFC? The censors’ demand is baffling as it is strictly in contradiction of the guidelines which state that the censors can order no cuts of visual nature while approving a dubbed film, the original version of which has already been issued a censor certificate. This was also upheld by the Bombay high court in the case of Mira Nair versus CBFC last year. The censors had then granted an ‘A’ certificate to the original (English) version of Kama Sutra. However, when the film’s Hindi, Tamil and Telugu dubbed versions were applied for, the censors had demanded further cuts in the visuals. Director Mira Nair contested the censors’ demand in the court which ruled in her favour, stating, ‘the examining committee (of the CBFC) shall confine itself to censorship of the audio track (alone)’. It is amply evident then that in demanding more visual cuts in the dubbed version of Blind Sex, the censors have shown utter disregard for the high court ruling, as also their hypocrisy inasmuch as the fact that, in the censors’ opinion, certain language-speaking audiences are more mature than others.

As if this were not enough, the censors have also demanded that the title of the Hindi dubbed version of Blind Sex be changed from Andhi Vasna to just Vasna! Now, what sense does this make, only the censors can tell… but it sure looks like a call of the censors’ strike again, wot?

Sailing To Shoot

Producer-director Rakesh Roshan will soon embark upon a shooting voyage in the Indian Ocean. He is due to set off for Bangkok by sea on 5th November, with a crew of over 80 people, for two shooting stints of 10 days each for Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai. The first stint will begin aboard the very ship which will take the unit to Bangkok, in a journey that will last 10 days. After arriving in Bangkok on the 14th, he will commence another shooting spell which will also include extensive under-water photography. And, for the people who are comparing the film with Titanic, we ain’t saying nothing. We just wish him ‘Bon Voyage’!

One Film, Two Heroes, Two Climaxes

A new Malayalam film, Harikrishnans, has achieved the rare distinction of having been simultaneously released with two different endings! The film, which brings together the two stalwarts of Malayalam cinema, Mammootty and Mohan Lal, is released with two different climaxes with an aim to please the fan-followings of both the stars. Such a move is necessitated due to a severe crisis in the Malayalam film industry, which has resulted in losses worth Rs. 35-40 crore on account of nearly 65 to 70 films lying unfinished in the cans. A rapid increase in costs of making films has resulted in such an alarming rate of films lying incomplete. To add to the Malayalam film industry’s woes, the percentage of hits per year has dwindled to five, while that of films recovering their costs, to 15. These are the main reasons that have brought together the two biggest Malayalam film stars in a film, after a cut-throat rivalry over the numero uno position during the past decade or so. The Malayalam film industry, in the meantime, is watching the outcome of the stars’ combined appeal at the box-office. Incidentally, the industry has introduced self-regulation whereby only one film is released in a week as a corrective measure against the current crisis.

Maha-Jinxed Film Titles

Time for another look at the jinxed titles of Hindi films. With the non-success of Maharaja, it has been proved once again that films with Maha in their titles never work at the box-office. Our resident statistician has once again burnt a lot of midnight oil and has finally come up with a number of films beginning with Maha, which proved to be maha bombs at the box-office. Here’s the list — Maha-Sangram, Mahaguru, Mahaadev, Mahaan, Mahakaal, Mahashakti, Maha Chor, Maha Badmash, Maha Shaktishali, Mahaveera, Maha Shaktimaan and the latest, Maharaja. Our resident statistician further informs that there is only a single exception to the above rule, but it pertains to television as B.R. Chopra’s serial, Mahabharat, proved to be a record-breaker in terms of popularity. So there!

Dream Merchant

Bollywood Goes Bill Bill

Pick up any newspaper and you have US president Bill Clinton and his ex-girlfriend, Monica Lewinsky, staring you in the face. Reams and reams of newsprint contain material about the sex liaison between Billy Boy and the White House intern, Monica.

As expected, I dreamt about the two of them last night. I dreamt that our Bollywood writers had written umpteen scripts inspired by the Kenneth Starr report about the sexual escapades of the American rashtrapati (maybe, Bill translated the Hindi word literally and, therefore, attempted to play pati to the entire rashtra!) and the intern half his age. Suddenly, our producers and directors seemed to have all decided to make films on the biggest sex scandal of the century.

I bumped into Ramesh Taurani who blushed a deep red when I asked him if he was planning a film on Bill and Monica. “Aap ko kaise maloom chala?”, he asked, and then revealed, “Yes, I am planning such  a film and it will be called Jab Sex Kisise Hota Hai. Taurani, however, refused to divulge any more information just like Bill Clinton had refused to give any information to Starr.

Gordhan Tanwani, flush from the success of Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha, was more forthcoming. “See, we are planning three films, based on the Bill-Monica love story, in quick succession of one another,” he said. “The last two will be like sequels to the first.” And what will the three romantic sagas be titled? “The first one will be called Sex To Hona Hi Tha, to be followed by Monica Ko Dress To Dhona Hi Tha… (note the three dots) and the last one, …Nahin To Expose To Hona Hi Tha.” Brilliant, I thought. Tanwani further informed, “Sex To…. will be directed by South’s I.V. Sasi. For Monica…..Dhona…, who better than Vinod Chopra who seems to be an authority on dhobis, laundries and dhona-vona. The last in the trilogy will be directed by my favourite, Indra Kumar, because of his penchant to expose limitlessly — expose raw stock, I mean.”

Sohail Khan told me, he had postponed Hello Brother for a while and would instead be starting a love story titled Lafda Kiya To Darna Kya. Salman Khan would play Bill Clinton in the film since the love story was about Bill’s real-life adventures. Sohail also added, “Most probably, Arbaaz Khan will play the role of Kenneth Starr. The search is on for a new girl to play Monica Lewinsky. An established heroine will play Hillary Clinton.”

Writer-turned-producer Bhaarat B. Bhalla was the happiest. He said that like there was a silver lining to every dark cloud, the delay in completion of his Tune Mera Dil Le Liya also had a positive side. “Now,” he whispered excitedly, “I’ve decided to just add a few scenes to incorporate the Bill-Hillary-Monica triangle to my romantic story. I think, I can wrap up the film in just 10 days. Since I’m a writer myself, I’ve taken care not to harm the earlier story while adding masala through the additions. And I don’t even have to think of a new title. I will get it changed to Tune Mera Bill Le Liya!”

David Dhawan couldn’t control his excitement. “My team of writers has come up with something really ‘hillary’ious, you will laugh your guts out,” he shouted with joy. “My film on the romance between Clinton and Lewinsky will be titled Mr. & Mrs. Khiladi. Amitabh Bachchan will play Bill Clinton and this will actually be the first time he will be playing his age. Rekha will play Monica Lewinsky and I’m planning to take Jaya Bachchan as Hillary. Yeh film Hill-a ke rakh degi, mera Bill — sorry, dil — kehta hai!”

Rajkumar Santoshi telephoned from Alaska (where he is shooting Pukaar) to say that he was making a love story inspired by the US President’s sex scandal. “From Alaska, I’m going to New York to dig more details,” he cried with joy. “I’ll start this film no sooner China Gate is over and I’ll call it Monicagate.”

Yet another call from phoren land was Rakesh Roshan’s. “Thank God,” sighed Rakesh long-distance, “I’ve just begun Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai. So it won’t be difficult to make some script changes to incorporate the story of Bill’s dil ka rog and Hill’s dil ka dukh. Imagine, what my film is going to turn out to be — an inspiration from Titanic as well as the titanic sex drama of this century, which may ultimately make the US President sink. Ah yes, please announce in your trade paper that I’ve altered the title of my film to Kaho Naa…Hua!”

The otherwise media-shy Shyam Bajaj, too, seemed to have joined the bandwagon of film producers who were running to the press to make announcements of their Bill films. Shyam spoke in soft tones but could not succeed in hiding his new-found joy. “Bill Ne Phir Yaad Kiya, that’s the title of my next. We will launch the film on 14th February, Valentine’s Day, with a song recording. The first song will be a parody of the Tere naina mere nainon ki kyon bhaasha bole bole bole song from my Bandhan. For a feel of the new song which will be picturised on the hero (playing Bill Clinton) and heroine (playing Monica), I’ll give you an antra:

Tera jhoome jo badan
Zameen dole dole dole
Mere sau tonne ke wazan
Chal haule haule haule”

Umesh Mehra was initially tight-lipped about his version of the Bill-Monica sex-saga. But, after a lot of prodding, he spilled the beans.”Yes, my version of the Clinton kahani will be an Indo-Russian co-production. The Russian president will himself direct the muhurt shot at Bombay’s Film City. This would be one way to get back at the US President, so feels Yeltsin.” When asked to reveal more details of the film, Mehra added, “Dilip Kumar will play the hero. The film will be called Billa Ka Qila Kyon Hilla.” “Koi distributor milla?”, I queried and left without waiting for a reply.

Music company-turned-producers Polygram informed that although they will not indulge in bhed chaal, they will, nevertheless, put pictures of Bill Clinton on all the posters and banners of their due-for-release film, Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kaate. “People can associate the connection between the picture of Bill and the title of our film,” said a spokesman of Polygram, wishing to remain anonymous.

Mahesh Bhatt revealed that he had abandoned plans to make a film on the ‘sex, lies and videotape’ story of the twentieth century because “Bill Clinton has admitted to the adultery. Had he not admitted and apologised, I would have made Bill Hai Ke Manta Nahin.”

Ram Gopal Varma said, he would only technically upgrade his Rangeela, add a few scenes (to be shot in 3-D) between Aamir Khan (whose name would be changed to Billu Badshah) and Urmila Matondkar (she’ll be called Monica oh my darling, by Billu Badshah) and re-release the film as Rangeela Billu Ki Satya Kahani (3-D).

Yash Chopra was quite original. In keeping with his penchant for showing his heroines in white, he said, his next love story would be titled Lady In White House. Before he could divulge more information, son Aditya intervened and asked his father to reveal nothing now, but everything in the film!

Sooraj Barjatya was the last to reveal his plans. “See, I might make a film based on the Bill-Monica story but since our films are devoid of sex because hum saaf saaf hain, the story will have a new twist. It will talk of the probable impeachment of Bill Clinton when the president will announce to the world “Hum saath saath thhey”. But the climax will be totally unexpected. Hillary Clinton will address the nation and publicly accept Monica Lewinsky as part of the family. In that sense, the climax will be the opposite of Judaai. It will also expose the foreigners to the advantages of the joint family system, if you know what I mean. Finally, Hillary and Monica will make a joint appearance on television to announce to the world: Hum Saath Saath Hain. Both of them will disown Bill who will tearfully return to his presidential duties, muttering, ‘Maine pyar kiya, maine pyar kiya, phir maine inkaar kiya, phir maine inkaar kiya…'”.

– Komal Nahta

SANGHARSH

Vishesh Films Pvt. Ltd.’s Sangharsh (A) is the story of a research trainee in the CBI, who is offered a dare-devil and dangerous but nevertheless important assignment — she has to track down a psychopath killer who has escaped from jail and who murders little children as a religious ritual. The only person who can help her reach the killer is himself in prison, but this guy is no ordinary mortal. He is a genius and has a mind-boggling memory. He takes a liking for the CBI research trainee and vows to help her but only her, and not the police force which is also on the trail of the psychopath killer. How the girl and her genius-guide succeed in nabbing the killer and saving a child from being murdered, in the nick of time forms the nail-biting climax.

Inspired from Silence Of The Lambs, the film, written by Mahesh Bhatt, moves on a single track and offers almost nothing by way of relief, romance or comedy — all so essential for mass-appeal. The entire drama is very tense and the viewer yearns for some relief which is sadly missing. The point of child sacrifice looks a bit dated. Further, there is so much gore and violence in the second half that it could put off the women audience completely. Music (Jatin Lalit) is so dull that the songs not only hamper the flow of the drama but also bore a lot.

Akshay Kumar, as the jailed genius, does very well. Not only is he exceptional in action scenes but he also acts ably. Preity Zinta looks glamorous and acts with the ease of a seasoned actress. She gives a great deal to the role of the CBI research trainee. Ashutosh Rana is first-rate as the psychopath killer. He does such a fantastic job that he evokes immense hatred for himself among the audience. He looks every inch the character he plays and could easily pick up awards for his performance. His delirious mocking of his opponents by drumming his fingers on his lips is dramatically brilliant. Aman Verma is fair. Madan Jain, as the police inspector at loggerheads with the CBI, is very natural and he leaves a mark. Vishwajeet Pradhan does a good job. Vicky Chopra and Ninad Kamat lend able support. Master Jass Trivedi, master Mazhar, baby Alia and the others are alright.

Director Tanuja Chandra has not only extracted good work from her artistes but has also narrated the subject effectively. However, she falters while infusing the usual commercial ingredients (like songs) in the drama, making them look like add-ons. Music, as said above, is pathetic. Song picturisations are equally bad. Camerawork (Dharma Teja) is good. Dialogues are very good at some places. Action (Abbas Ali) scenes are well-composed.

On the whole, Sangharsh is too violent to have universal appeal. Besides, the subject as well as the treatment hold sectional appeal — for the class audience. It has chances in Bombay mainly. Its reasonable price is a point in its favour. In the North and Eastern circuit, however, the film can hope to achieve very little.

Released on 3-9-’99 at Novelty, New Empire and 16 other cinemas of Bombay thru Ahuja Films. Publicity & opening: very good. …….Also released all over.

GODMOTHER

Gramco Films’ Godmother (A) is the story of an uneducated woman who rules a man’s world. The woman, Rambhi, is one day shocked to learn that her husband (a gang-leader), who had just vowed to give up violence, himself becomes the victim of violence and is killed. This uneducated lady takes over the reins of her late husband’s gang. The local politician tries to use Rambhi as his pawn for getting political mileage. The uneducated woman turns out to be too smart for the politician. For, while she lets herself to be used by him, she, too, uses her new-found power to improve the wretched condition of the people of her community and, at the same time, to eliminate all those who opposed her. She is even elected to the Vidhan Sabha. Meanwhile, her son grows up and falls in love with a beautiful girl who is in love with a guy of a minority community. The son attacks the girl’s beloved and this episode is given a communal colour by the local politician who had always resented Rambhi’s rise to fame. Rambhi realises the futility of her power games, gets the beautiful girl married to her true lover, asks her son to mend his ways and also asks her community people to rise above petty parochialism by sacrificing her own life. Her martyrdom spells doom for the scheming politician.

The story is quite novel but the film suffers on a couple of counts. For one, it has elitist appeal only, and its pace is quite slow. Secondly, it has no saleable stars to attract the audience to the cinemas. Dialogues, penned by story writer and director Vinay Shukla, are really good at several places.

Shabana Azmi excels as Rambhi, the leader of the Mer community. She looks and plays every inch an uneducated woman who soon successfully rises in stature and power. A difficult role, she enacts it with consummate ease. Milind Gunaji, as her husband, gives a polished account of himself. Nirmal Pandey is brilliant and natural to the core. Govind Namdev evokes hatred as the manipulative politician. In one word, he is fantastic. Anup Soni stands out as Shabana’s brother-in-law. Raima Sen is good. Sharman Joshi does quite well. Ashwin Kumar is effective.

Notwithstanding the offbeat and dry subject which he has handled, it is to Vinay Shukla’s credit that his direction and narration show sparks of brilliance. Editing is sharp. Music (Vishal Bharadwaj) matches the film’s mood and the songs have some appeal. Background score is remarkable. Cinematography (Rajen Kothari) is extraordinary. Action scenes (Shahid Ali) are natural. Costumes (Mandira Shukla) of the characters deserve special mention. Technically, good.

On the whole, Godmother may have won six National awards and deservedly so, but its single-track dull subject, lack of popular stars of today and elitist treatment will make box-office rewards in most of the circuits a far cry. It should do somewhat better in Bombay and parts of Gujarat.

Released on 3-9-’99 at Eros and 3 other cinemas of Bombay thru V.I.P. Enterprises. Publicity & opening: very good. …….Also released in Delhi-U.P., Bengal and Nizam. Opening was dull at many places.

LATEST POSITION

BAADSHAH started sliding down from 5th and 6th day onwards.

Baadshah has done well initially in Bombay, Nizam and Mysore, is so-so in Delhi, fair in U.P., C.P.C.I. but truly dull in East Punjab and Bengal. 1st week Bombay 76,04,778 (91.42%) from 14 cinemas (7 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 18,69,268 from 6 cinemas, Padra 1,74,453, Rajkot 2,21,850 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Jamnagar 1,58,123 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Adipur 1,23,341; Solapur 4,22,029 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee); Delhi 55,35,478 (77.50%) from 11 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Lucknow 9,94,703 from 2 cinemas, Agra  2,95,798, Allahabad 3,33,980, Meerut 2,80,016, Bareilly 2,48,357, Dehradun 2,41,968, Saharanpur 2,13,508, Hardwar 1,14,147; Calcutta 31,32,042 from 18 cinemas; Nagpur 11,30,756 from 5 cinemas, Jabalpur 2,71,662, Amravati 1,93,162, Akola 1,83,169, Raipur (gross) 4,00,335; Indore 3,82,759 from 2 cinemas (4 on F.H.), Bhopal 3,85,179 from 2 cinemas (1 unrecd.); Jaipur 12,22,420 from 5 cinemas; Hyderabad (gross) 59,59,328 from 22 cinemas (1 in noon); Vijayawada (gross) 3,29,340, Visakhapatnam (gross) 3,29,217, Kurnool (gross) 2,09,150 from 2 cinemas, Tirupati (gross, 6 days) 1,32,600, Cuddapah (gross) 1,20,000.

………..

Arjun Pandit drops dramatically in metro cities but is good in U.P. and East Punjab. Is an earner in Bombay, East Punjab but a loser in Nizam. 2nd week Bombay 22,78,494 (67.58%) from 8 cinemas (11 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 6,68,020 from 6 cinemas; Kolhapur 1,76,775, Solapur 1,01,460; Delhi (6 days) 14,13,509 from 8 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Lucknow 3,34,444, Allahabad 1,77,500, Dehradun 2,01,005, Hardwar 1,31,393, total 3,43,435, very good; Calcutta 3,24,416 from 2 cinemas; Nagpur 1,26,860 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 1,24,251, Amravati (6 days) 1,03,655, Akola 90,910, total 2,62,300, Raipur (6 days) 1,60,897, Jalgaon (6 days) 80,791, Wardha (6 days) 74,672; Indore 97,896 (3 on F.H.), Bhopal 1,26,948; Jaipur 3,32,700; Hyderabad (gross) 3,58,300 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon).

Taal withstands the opposition of ex-superstar (Kohram), current superstar (Baadshah) and other big releases and collects well in 3rd week in many circuits. It has picked up in C.P.C.I., at places by 20-30% over the previous week. 3rd week Bombay 43,88,502 (76.66%) from 9 cinemas (7 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 9,13,479 from 3 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Baroda 2,16,220, Jamnagar 87,500; Solapur 1,64,592; Delhi (6 days) 27,22,884 from 8 cinemas; Lucknow 3,61,948, Agra 3,60,318, Allahabad 1,44,413, Meerut 1,94,920 (2nd 1,91,106), Bareilly 59,597, Dehradun 1,59,000; Calcutta 5,83,013 from 2 cinemas; Nagpur 1,65,901, Jabalpur 1,64,252, total 4,14,774, Amravati 1,82,732, Akola 1,21,400, total 4,78,600, Raipur (gross) 2,48,297, Jalgaon 1,35,000, total 4,91,532, 2nd week Wardha (6 days) 20,734, 3rd week Chandrapur 1,06,251, total 4,26,440; Indore 1,75,665 (1 on F.H.), Bhopal 1,56,762; Jaipur 6,33,255, Jodhpur 1,50,000, Ajmer 84,185; Hyderabad (gross) 8,30,750 from 3 cinemas (2 in noon); 3 weeks’ total (gross) Visakhapatnam 6,31,259, Kurnool 3,91,587, Ananthapuram 4,53,286, Cuddapah 1,45,793, 1st week Rajahmundry 1,51,232.

Kohram 3rd week Bombay 6,32,956 (55%) from 4 cinemas (5 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 1,62,968 from 2 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Baroda 70,247, Rajkot 64,973 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 68,720 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Delhi (6 days) 1,26,253 from 2 cinemas; Lucknow 1,14,751, Agra 1,08,536, Allahabad 89,208, Hardwar 75,000; Calcutta 1,87,137; Nagpur 81,330 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 74,665, Amravati (6 days) 1,02,221, Akola 50,957, total 4,03,728, Raipur (6 days) 44,650, Jalgaon (6 days) 76,040; Indore 42,816 (1 on F.H.); Hyderabad (gross) 1,39,337.

________

Man Saayba Ni Mediye (Gujarati; TF) is doing extraordinary in Gujarat and Saurashtra; expected to do 1 crore.

AJAY DEVGAN’S DISTRIBUTION OFFICE INAUGURATED

The new office of Bombay distributors Devgan’s Entertainment on the 2nd floor of Naaz building (earlier Pahlaj Nihalani’s office) was inaugurated on 3rd September (Janmashtami day) with a pooja and havan performed by Veeru Devgan, Ajay Devgan and Kajol.

G. HANUMANTHA RAO NO MORE

Producer G. Hanumantha Rao died of cancer of the liver on 29th August in Hyderabad. He had been hospitalised some weeks back and his condition was deteriorating. The end came on the evening of 29th in the hospital.

Hanumantha Rao was aware that his end was very near because he told his brothers, producer G.A. Seshagiri Rao and actor Krishna, to take him to their Padmalaya Studios before he passed away. In deference to his wish, his body was kept at Padmalaya for several hours before it was consigned to the flames on 30th at 4 p.m. in Hyderabad. All production and distribution offices in Hyderabad remained closed on 30th August as a mark of respect. The Hyderabad State Film Chamber of Commerce held a condolence meeting on 31st August.

Hanumantha Rao, alongwith his brothers, set up the huge Padmalaya Studios and the Padmalaya banner in Hyderabad.

Together, they produced many Telugu and Hindi films. A few years ago, the Padmalaya banner also branched out into production of television software. Among Padmalaya’s Hindi films were Himmatwala, Takkar, Pataal Bhairvi, Justice Chaudhary, Singhasan, Mawaali, Mulzim, Qaidi, Kaamyab, Hoshiyar, Meri Aawaz Suno, Kanwarlal and Sooryavansham.

G. Hanumantha Rao was the president of the Film Federation of India and the vice president of the Federation of International Film Producers Association at the time of his death.

IMPPA TO HONOUR SIX STALWARTS

The Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association will this year honour Ramanand Sagar, Manoj Kumar, Manna Dey, late Laxmikant, Pyarelal and late Rajendra Kumar by presenting IMPPA trophies for their contributions to the Hindi film industry. The presentation function will be held during the annual general meeting of the IMPPA on 25th September at ISKCON auditorium, Juhu, Bombay. Chief guest Dev Anand will present the trophies. IMPPA every year felicitates five veterans.

YOU ASKED IT

To what do you attribute the good opening of Sangharsh this week?

– Solo release, good promotional trailers, Janmashtami holiday and Preity Zinta.

Is it a fact that the Rajshri people are considering selling the Overseas distribution rights of Hum Saath Saath Hain?

– Yes, it is a fact. Are you interested in buying the rights? Then contact the Rajshri people with a very fat cheque! But be informed that the negotiations are already on. Rather, the deal may be closed any moment at an unheard of price.

How much does Aamir Khan charge for a film?

– Double of what he used to charge four years back. Maybe, he will give you dates after a year — to listen to the story, not for shooting!

DO YOU KNOW?

* Aishwarya Rai is easily the most ‘foreign-returned’ heroine today. Almost every single film of hers — JEANS, …AUR PYAAR HO GAYA, AA AB LAUT CHALEN, HUM DIL DE CHUKE SANAM, TAAL and forthcoming HUM PANCHI EK DAAL KE — has had portions shot abroad.

* Producer Salim and director Raj Kanwar are racing ahead to complete BADAL so that they can release it on 7th January next year, making it the first release of the new millennium. But already on the list of releases for the first week of year 2000 are MELA and KAHO NAA…PYAAR HAI.

* As a ‘special festival offer’, VIP Enterprises, the Bombay distributors of GODMOTHER, distributed free tickets to the first fifty ladies in the 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. shows on Friday (1st day) at Eros, the main cinema of Bombay. The festival offer will continue today (Saturday).

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Multiplexes In Maharashtra: Nothing Official About It!

After a great show of enthusiasm initially, the Maharashtra government seems to have lost interest in the development of cinema multiplexes in the state. For, even after five months since the announcement of the tourism and multiplex policy, the government is yet to list it in the gazette. It is pertinent to note here that all government policies are ratified and come into effect only after publication in the gazette. Thus, Maharashtra government’s multiplex policy, announced in April this year, has yet to come into effect. Perhaps, the state government can take a leaf out of neighbour Gujarat government’s book. The latter has developed and, more importantly, put into effect a very comprehensive policy as far as entertainment complexes are concerned. As a result, state capital Gandhinagar has an exciting multiplex, City Pulse, already up and running, while another — Rajshri Movie World — is to open in some time. There are a few others which are in various stages of completion throughout the region. Hope the example won’t be lost on Maharashtra government officials who will soon — we hope, again — rectify their folly and take due action.

Tax Evasion, Andhra Style

Some cinema owners in the state of Andhra Pradesh have thought of a novel way to cheat the state government and are adopting it every week, thereby evading entertainment tax worth lakhs of rupees. The Andhra government grants entertainment tax concessions to cinemas screening Telugu films produced in the state. To take advantage of the concessions, some cinemas, even though they screen Hindi films, show names of Telugu films in their DCRs and other records. Of course, some officers of the Commercial Taxes department are hand-in-glove with such exhibitors who hoodwink the government into believing that their cinemas have screened Telugu films when actually they’ve shown Hindi or dubbed Telugu films. The concession, it may be mentioned, is available only to original Telugu films produced entirely in Andhra Pradesh. The Vigilance and Enforcement department recently conducted raids in several cinemas of the state and detected such irregularities. The concessions in entertainment tax had been granted in December ’95.

Howzzat For A Joke?

Now for a good laugh. There is this film due for an early release. And there is this over-enthusiastic guy who is presenting this ready-for-release film. The presenter, who was in Delhi last week, visited offices of exhibitors and cinema controllers in the capital city, accompanied by his Delhi-U.P. distributor. The two of them, perhaps, thought that they were the only smart ones this side of the hemisphere and that exhibitors and controllers are all duffers. For, this is what the presenter told the various exhibitors/controllers: “I’ve sold the film to him (pointing towards his distributor) for 75 lakh but I’m prepared to give him a profit of a further 75 lakh (alongwith his 75 lakh) if he is ready to relinquish the rights in my favour. My hero and I would like to distribute the film in Delhi-U.P. ourselves. We will, of course, release the film through his (again pointing to the distributor) office only, but….” When any exhibitor/controller would, out of courtesy (because, by then, he would realise that all of it is a cock-and-bull story to simply make the film ‘hot’ in exhibition circles), prompt the distributor to accept the presenter’s offer, the distributor would simply grin and shake his head to convey a “no”. This whole drama was repeated in several offices of the capital city, and one exhibitor even remarked, “If the presenter had only used his ultra-fertile brains at the time of story-writing, he may not have had to cook up this story as a ploy to create a hype around the film.” Anyway, ploy or no ploy, the film has hardly succeeded in generating any heat in exhibition circles. As a smart controller concluded, “It is not as if we will believe any and every story. After all, kya hum filmon ke liye marte hain!”

Joke Of The Week

As promised last week, here’s another interesting anecdote, courtesy music director Kalyanji:

Once when actress Raakhee was chatting with Kalyanji at his music room, she overheard him speak to his wife on the telephone. Through their conversation, Raakhee learnt that Kalyanji’s wife was observing the Jaya-Parvati vrat at the time. Curious to know more about it, the actress asked the music director what the vrat was in aid of. Kalyanji explained that it was what Gujarati women did so that they would get the same husband for their next seven lives. At this, Raakhee called up Saakarben (Kalyanji’s wife) and complained in a lighter vein, “This is absolutely unfair. You can’t ‘book’ such a jovial person like Kalyanji for yourself for seven consecutive lives! At least leave him for me in my next life!” Saakarben sportingly replied in an equally humorous manner, “Okay, I’ll let you have him in the next life. But, beware, dare you try to take liberties with him in this life!”

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.”

MELA

Venus Records & Tapes’ Mela (UA) is a masala film with revenge as its base. The peace of a village is disturbed when a dreaded dacoit assassinates a minister invited by the villagers to inaugurate a fair (mela), an annual feature of the village. The dacoit, after the assassination, falls for a beautiful girl who lives with her brother in the village. When the brother tries to save his sister from being picked up by the dacoit, he is killed. The girl swears revenge. While on the run, she comes across two guys who are close friends. One falls in love with her while the other treats her like his own sister. The three of them join forces to avenge the wrongs perpetrated on her, but not before her beloved becomes the victim of misunderstandings galore.

The story offers absolutely nothing new and the screenplay (by Neeraj Vora, Sanjeev Duggal and Robin Bhatt) reminds of films like Caravan, Sholay and the more recent China Gate. Some incidents also make the drama tedious at places. What save the film from deteriorating completely are the comedy punches in the first half and a few dramatic and well-executed action scenes. The second half is lengthy, repetitive and boring. The main negative aspects are the almost dull music (Anu Malik), the lack of repeat value and novelty, a weak romantic track, and a dacoit who is supposed to spell terror in the village, but is actually hardly menacing or intimidating in his performance.

Aamir Khan scores in the first half and his comedy and dialogues (Neeraj Vora and Dharmesh Darshan) are excellent. In the dramatic scenes too, he is likeable. Faisal Khan acts quite well but there’s no variation in his facial expressions or body language. Twinkle Khanna looks sexy, reveals quite a good deal of her anatomy but does an average job as far as acting goes. Her expressions are below the mark and, in fact, her dubbing (by a dubbing artiste) is better than her performance. Her constant conflict with herself (conveyed through her talking to her conscience quite regularly) gets boring after a while. Tinu Verma, as the dreaded dacoit, has screen presence but gives an average performance. He is not even a tenth as menacing as Gabbar Singh of Sholay, from whom his character is heavily inspired and because of which he is bound to be compared to the original character, much to his disadvantage. Johny Lever is excellent. Ayub Khan and Parmeet Sethi are alright. Archna Pooran Singh is wasted; she deserved a far meatier role. Navneet Nishan, too, does not get much scope. Veeru Krishnan does well but the scene in which he challenges a villager, though it prepares the public for an exhilarating experience, has hardly any impact. Asrani, Tiku Talsania and Kulbhushan Kharbanda get very limited scopes. Tanvi Azmi does an able job. Master Omkar Kapoor is alright. Anirudh Agarwal, Subbiraj, Viju Khote, Harish Patel and the others provide average support. Aishwarya Rai, in a special appearance, lends glamour coupled with a pleasant shock-value.

Dharmesh Darshan has concentrated more on the canvas of the film than its backbone (script). Not only is the script routine, the making is also quite crude. Nevertheless, this crudeness will appeal to the mass audience, especially in the Hindi-speaking belt. Music should have been nothing short of hit, considering the film’s canvas, cast and making. But while the title song and a couple of others including ‘Dekho 2000’ are hummable, a few are dull. Song picturisations are rich, the ‘Dekho 2000’ number being very well choreographed. Rajan Kinagi’s camerawork is beautiful. Sets (Nitin Desai) are grand. Action is very thrilling. Climax, though exciting and well-shot, is, nevertheless, predictable. Editing is loose. The film can and should be re-edited by at least 15 minutes to advantage. A couple of songs should be deleted.

On the whole, high-priced Mela has mass-appealing masala for circuits like Bihar, Rajasthan and C.I. but not enough for many of the other circuits. After a dull start at many places, it can hope to pick up on Idd, but in the ultimate analysis, it will not really gladden the hearts of too many. In some circuits, the result can be truly disappointing.

Released on 7-1-2000 at Metro and 24 other cinemas of Bombay thru AA Films. Publicity: very good. Opening: not up to the mark. …….Also released all over. Opening was dull almost everywhere, partly owing to Ramzan and partly due to ordinary music.

BULANDI

Maa Sherawali Productions’ Bulandi, remake of the Tamil hit, Nattamai, is based in a village where the Thakur’s word is law. The noble and extremely just and impartial Thakur is worshipped like a God in the village for these very qualities of his, inherited by him from his late father. The Thakur’s younger brother gets married to a rich and modern girl who finds it hard to believe that a human being can be treated like a God. She resents her husband’s blind hero-worship of his Thakur-brother and this breaks the peace of the house. She, however, learns to adjust to her new environment. All hell breaks loose when her husband is accused of raping a lady in the village and thereby leading her (rape victim) to commit suicide. The Thakur banishes his own brother from the village, as punishment for the rape and suicide. Ultimately, it is revealed that the Thakur’s brother was innocent and had been framed by his cousin to seek revenge for himself having been banished by the earlier Thakur (father).

On the plus side, the film boasts of a number of scenes with tremendous ladies appeal. Emotions are heart-rending. But on the flip side, the concept of likening a Thakur to God in today’s modern times will be difficult to digest, especially for the audience in cities. While the constant pointers to the role of ladies as being subservient to the menfolk may be liked by women and families in small towns and villages, the audience in ‘A’ class centres will find the same as being too regressive. The scenes showing the internal dissensions in the banished family of the cousin are repetitive and irritating too. The track of the modern girl not being able to adjust in her husband’s home and her ultimate repentance is excellent. Erode Sounder’s story, therefore, will be liked by the audience in small centres but will not be appreciated by people in many big centres. Aadesh K. Arjun’s dialogues are extremely good at several places.

Anil Kapoor plays a double role (Thakur and his younger brother) and does an excellent job. In the role of the just Thakur, especially, he gets into the skin of the character and comes out with flying colours. Rekha does a fine job but looks too old to be dancing in song sequences. Raveena Tandon acts very ably. Rajinikanth is simply fabulous in a brief role. His gait and walking style are par excellence but his Tamilian accent will be resented in North India. Harish is alright in a role that offers limited scope. Sadashiv Amarapurkar and Paresh Rawal provide crude comic moments that will be hated by the class audience but liked by the masses. Shakti Kapoor is okay and so are Aroona Irani and Ranjeet. It is the track of this trio that brings in boredom in the drama. Kulbhushan Kharbanda is restrained. Others lend fair support.

T. Rama Rao’s direction is good but he should have given the film a more contemporary flavour. However, he handles the emotional scenes with aplomb. Viju Sha’s music is a letdown. Except for a couple of songs which are reasonably well-tuned, the others are poor. Song situations are contrived and their picturisations are also not up to the mark. Action scenes remind of films made in Madras in the eighties. Camerawork is of standard.

On the whole, Bulandi, which has opened to disastrous houses almost all over, can hope to succeed on the strength of ladies patronage in circuits like Bengal, Bihar, C.P. Berar and Maharashtra. But its fate in cities like Bombay and Delhi and in circuits like East Punjab and South will be disastrous.

Released on 7-1-2000 at Minerva and 21 other cinemas of Bombay thru Maa Sherawali Films. Publicity: good. Opening: dull. …….Also released all over except in C.I. Opening was poor at most of the places.

LATEST POSITION

Collections are on the lower side due to Ramzan and also because of the cold wave in several parts of the country.

Jaanwar 2nd week Bombay 25,65,891 (41.43%) from 11 cinemas (8 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 2,37,845 from 3 cinemas (2 unrecd.), Jamnagar (matinee) 11,900; Delhi 14,70,722 from 9 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 2,69,503 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,55,218, Allahabad 1,68,300, Bareilly (6 days) 81,292; Calcutta 10,82,506 from 8 cinemas; Nagpur 1,35,912, Akola 1,09,577, total 2,64,027, Raipur (6 days) 1,23,880, Chandrapur 1,24,117, total 3,17,886, Yavatmal 86,022 (1st 1,18,748); Indore 1,84,774 from 2 cinemas (2 on F.H.), Bhopal 88,587; Jaipur 2,91,021; Hyderabad (gross) 4,32,432 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon).

Hum Saath-Saath Hain 9th week Bombay 4,33,000 (47%; 6 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 1,34,083 (1 unrecd.), Rajkot (14 shows) 65,247, Jamnagar 30,123, Bhavnagar 50,487; Hubli 78,207, Belgaum 84,557, 2nd week Gadag 38,006, 5th week Bijapur 51,890, Nippani 31,532; 9th week Delhi 4,21,833 from 3 cinemas; Kanpur 1,24,645, Lucknow 2,48,527, Agra 1,19,398, Varanasi 1,21,696, Allahabad 87,326, Bareilly 40,563, Jhansi 60,635, Dehradun 87,289, 5th week Hardwar 36,930, Moradabad 37,334; 9th week Amritsar 1,33,810, Ludhiana 2,04,320, Faridabad 46,046, Jammu 65,220, 3rd week Ambala Cantt. 53,397; 9th week Calcutta 4,27,928 from 5 cinemas; Nagpur 2,19,647, 6th week Balaghat 46,137, 9th Jabalpur 2,18,123, Amravati 1,49,760, total 20,69,126, Akola 99,083, total 14,79,743, Dhule 45,082, Raipur (gross) 1,73,775, Bhilai 60,196, 7th week Jalgaon 1,11,853, Bhusawal 39,313, Gondia (14 shows) 36,627, Wardha (14 shows) 16,170, Chandrapur 1,01,877, total 18,53,108, Yavatmal 52,944 (8th 61,212), Khandwa 73,672, total 15,57,629; Indore 1,23,776 (3 on F.H.); Jaipur 5,94,067, Jodhpur (gross) 2,79,688, Ajmer 85,291, Bikaner 65,843, Kota 97,664, Bhilwara 49,737; Hyderabad (gross) 5,22,243 from 2 cinemas (1 in noon), Aurangabad 1,46,591; Bangalore 1,71,479; Madras 2,06,097 from 2 cinemas.

______

Lekroo (Marathi; TF) 1st week Bombay 25,036 (18.30%), poor.

Maadi Jaaya (Gujarati; TF) 1st week Ahmedabad 1,25,556 from 3 cinemas (1 unrecd.). Dull.

Maa Baap Ne Bhulsho Nahin (Gujarati; TF)  is very strong. 3rd week Ahmedabad 6,67,438 from 4 cinemas (1 unrecd.), 2nd week Rajkot 49,900.

Shaheed Uddham Singh (Punjabi; TF) has been appreciated in Punjab.

‘BULANDI’: C.I. DISTRIBUTOR DEFAULTS

Bulandi could not be released in C.I. on 7th January as the delivery could not be effected. The film’s distribution rights had been sold at a price of 25. Its C.I. distributor, Yogesh Syal (Seema Movies), had paid producer Bobby Anand 8.50 under-production and came to Bombay with only 7 more to take delivery. With a shortfall of 9.50, Bobby Anand could not effect delivery.

Cinemas in Indore, Bhopal and other stations of C.I., where Bulandi was due to open on Friday (7th), had to make do with other programmes. The film is now likely to be distributed in C.I. by Bobby Anand himself. Bobby has flown to Indore this morning (8th) with the prints. Bulandi may open in Bhopal today itself and in other stations, tomorrow.

NEW CINEMA IN MADRAS

Sree, a new cinema, opened in the Sathyam theatre complex in Madras on 31st December. The cinema is equipped with DTS and Dolby Digital sound systems.

G.D. MEHTA ELECTED MPA PRESIDENT

G.D. Mehta was elected president of the Motion Pictures Association, Delhi, at its 48th annual general meeting held on 31st December, 1999. He defeated K.M.S. Khan by bagging 165 votes as against the latter’s 127. Kirit C. Desai (162 votes) and Vinod Lamba (162) were elected vice presidents, and G.S. Mayawala (193), honorary general secretary. Sakshi Mehra (173), Surinder Paul (169), Rajinder Singh (141) and Vikram Sethi (135) were elected honorary joint secretaries, and Ram Swaroop Marwah (174), hon. treasurer.

The nine members elected to the executive committee were Brijesh Tandon (who bagged the highest number of votes — 192), Sushil Bhasin (170 votes), Ranjit Singh Seble (164), Ravinder Rastogi (162), S.K. Bedi (161), Rakesh Paul (152), Lalit Kothari (148), Ajay Gupta (147) and Shashank Raizada (141).

The Mayawala-Mehta group, which fielded nine candidates in the direct election of office-bearers and nine in the executive committee seat elections, had a hands-down victory. Seventeen of its candidates were elected. Vikram Sethi was the lone winner from the opposition (K.M.S. Khan) group.

ARTISTES’ SECRETARIES FELICITATE B.R. CHOPRA

The Cine Artistes Secretaries Association (CASA) recently felicitated B.R. Chopra on being conferred the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for his contribution to the film industry, at his Khar office. Madan Arora and Pawan Kumar garlanded B.R. Chopra.

The Association’s president, Punkej Kharabanda, and secretary, Dinesh Gupta, paid glowing tributes to the veteran filmmaker through their brief speeches.

YOU ASKED IT

Is there any significant example of a film released in 1999, which proved a super-hit in one or two territories but a flop or average in others?

– HUM DIL DE CHUKE SANAM is the best example. It was a big hit in Bombay circuit but a flop in the Eastern circuit. SOORYAVANSHAM is another example. It did very good business in West Bengal, Bihar and C.P. Berar, but is a dismal flop in Delhi-U.P. and East Punjab.

In his interview published in your issue last week, Shah Rukh Khan has said that the present-day newcomers are too methodical and that they must show “that little difference, that little something that’s you and only you”. But saying this, isn’t the star letting out a trade secret?

– Yes, he is letting out a trade secret, which is really creditable! But even if he has let out a secret, it may not be easy for newcomers to follow the advice because it depends on how much the individual newcomer is able to assess himself and his qualities.

Will a film click if its subject comprises great ideas from four to six super-hit films?

– Not necessarily! The different ideas should, first and foremost, match and merge into one another well. Secondly, since the ideas are being picked up from super-hit films, the challenge is even greater because they (the ideas) would be in public memory for a long time. Thirdly, my humble advice to you — think original.

I shudder to think what will happen to our writers if every Hollywood filmmaker issues a warning, stating, “Copying this film will amount to a criminal offence”! Your comment.

– The industry’s writers will have to think of a new formula for coping with the copying warning.

CENSOR NEWS

Dreamz & Filmz P. Ltd.’s Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, applied on 3rd and seen on 4th, has been issued C.C. No. CIL/2/1/2000 (UA) dt. 7-1-2000; length 4388.26 metres in 16 reels (minor deletion in sound only).

Aftab Music Industries’ Badal was given C.C. No. CIL/3/2/2000 (A) dt. 5-1-2000; length 4800.69 metres in 18 reels (cuts: 111.42 metres).

Columbia Tristar Films’ Khatarnak Qatil (dubbed), seen on 3rd, has been issued C.C. No. CFL/3/1/2000 (A) dt. 6-1-2000; length 3229.47 metres in 6 reels (no cut).

Neha International’s Kharidaar was seen on 28th.

Tapssvi Production’s Phool Bane Barood (revised), seen on 3rd, has been passed for adults, with cuts.

Sheela Devi Films’ Nagin Bani Chudail, seen on 4th, has been refused certificate.

☺☺ When ‘Hit’ Is A Four-Letter Word ☺☺

This incident took place about 10 years ago. The Bombay distributor of a to-be-released film was pretty sure that it would be a hit. We had seen the film’s trial and we weren’t confident of its performance at the box-office. Sensing our reaction and also because he was pretty confident, he invited us to see the film on the first day with the public, in the main cinema. Off went our staffer to see the film and to gauge the public reaction at Dreamland. As was expected, the public hated the film and came out of the auditorium, abusing it. The Information guy was standing beside the distributor, and he felt truly embarrassed with the public’s foul language. But our distributor was made of sterner stuff. Said he, “Mujhe maloom tha, yeh honewala hai. Public andar se khush hai lekin baahar se gaaliyan de rahi hai. Iska matlab ki film hit ho gayee.”

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

The Silver Lining

While the film industry was under a dark cloud in the year that went by, the wonderful and unique cover pages of Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge in the annual issue of Film Information last week gave the industry hope of a silver lining in the new year. The shimmering silver covers (front as well as back) had a-page-a-month calendar of Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge pasted on the front, with stills of the film on every page. Never before was such a grand cover seen by the trade in any magazine. We at Information were inundated with calls congratulating us. But, but… but credit hum nahin le jayenge! The credit and congratulations are entirely and rightfully due to the film’s enterprising producer, Gordhan Tanwani, and to the Nandas — Himanshu and Rahul — for their inimitable conception, visualisation and their aesthetically creative design. It is they who deserve 2000 pats for the silver lining at the start of year 2000! Incidentally, the calendar on the cover of our issue last week is meant to be detached therefrom and can be used as a wall-calendar.

35 Of A Family Saath-Saath

Pratibha Patil, a former member of parliament and also former deputy speaker of the Rajya Sabha, and her husband, Devisingh Shekhawat, a former MLA and first mayor of Amravati Municipal Corporation — both Congress leaders — recently decided to see Hum Saath-Saath Hain saath-saath with their family members. The entire group of 35 members included the politician-couple’s son-in-law from Delhi. On learning that Amravati’s numero uno cinema — Chitra — was showing HS-SH, he requested his father-in-law to book the tickets. The cinema management immediately complied with the request of the former MLA. And that’s how the politicians’ family saw the film en bloc! …Meanwhile, the cinema management is still receiving requests for bulk bookings even though the film has completed 9 weeks. The balcony class gets full in no time. The audience response to HS-SH is so heartening that the management of Chitra is confident of HS-SH surpassing the 25 weeks’ share of Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (which was also screened at Chitra) and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge in just 10 weeks!

Hope 2000!

“Although the last year has not been too good for most of us, we must take heart from the fact that we did not do too badly as compared to most other industries in India. The financial calamities faced by some top industries is unimaginable. We are better off.”

These are the words (rather observations) of Bombay distributor Ramesh Sippy of B.R.A. Corporation, while looking back at the year that went by. In his Millennium Message sent to friends in the film trade, he has infused hope and inspiration for the new year and concluded with a “token of sweetness”. In the message, he adds, “We need to remind ourselves that to survive, we have to overcome some of our obstacles of previous years in the new millennium. Unity amongst us was conspicuous by its absence. I sincerely hope that we all realise that lack of unity may lead to our ruin. So let us put our hearts, souls and minds together and tackle our problems selflessly and jointly to ensure that the problems faced by us in the last millennium are a thing of the past. Let us make the next millennium something to remember for the rest of the film industry and the country.

“I take this opportunity to wish you and your families a very Happy New Year and all the prosperity in the next millennium. Please accept this token of sweetness and let us make the next millennium a sweeter world to live in.”

Popular…. Phir Bhi Profound

The title song of Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, which has already become popular, may seem to be a light song but the thoughts infused into the song through its lyrics are very profound. The credit for penning such a thoughtful song goes to Javed Akhtar who has also written the film’s other songs. Lyricist Javed Akhtar, it may be mentioned here, has created a hat-trick by bagging three National Awards in a row in the last three years (for Saaz in 1996; Border in 1997; and Godmother in 1998).

Missing From ‘Mela’

This lapse would merit an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records, if only because it involves a big film like Mela. The print of the mega-budget film, which reached Nanded on Thursday (6th January) was, due to oversight, minus reel nos. 3, 4, and 5. But the exhibitor was cool enough to do what nobody would have dreamt of doing — he went ahead and screened the film without the three reels. And this, not in one show but in all the 4 shows of Friday, January 7! Whether the audience cribbed or complained, one is not sure. But the show went on! Perhaps, those among the audience, who realised that something in the film was missing, must’ve drawn their own conclusion that, perhaps, some reels had got lost in a mela! Anyway, the three missing reels were rushed to Nanded on Friday itself and, hopefully, the audience there will see the full Mela from today (Saturday).

JAI HIND

Vishal International Productions (P.) Ltd.’s Jai Hind (UA) is a patriotic tale mixed with romance, revenge and terrorism. The film moves on too many tracks and therein lies the real problem because no track gets enough footage for due justification. Two retired colonels are at loggerheads with each other because one of them had been a traitor to the country. The grandson of the traitor and the grand-daughter of the other colonel fall in love but have to surmount a number of obstacles, including the one created by the girl’s grandpa, before uniting in matrimony. There is also a Brahmin’s daughter who loves the colonel’s grandson. There is another romantic track of a Muslim boy and a Muslim girl. The people of the various communities are like members of one large family but terrorists strike and create a sort of communal war between them. Ultimately, not only do the communities realise their folly and eliminate the villains, but the lovers also come together. The Brahmin’s daughter sacrifices her life to save her beloved’s. The traitor colonel also atones for his treachery.

Besides the different and too many tracks on which the film moves, what bogs down the drama is the lack of novelty, and incidents which appear exaggerated and/or unreal. For instance, the scene in which the colonel makes a fool of the militarymen in the pre-climax looks childish. Dialogues are quite good but not clapworthy. Emotions do not touch the heart anywhere. The romance, too, is not heartwarming.

Rishi Kapoor is alright but showing him as a terrorist in a part of the film appears quite ridiculous. Kunal Goswami does an average job. Shilpa Shirodkar’s is the best performance in the film. She stands out in a sacrificing role and delivers an absolutely sincere performance. She yet again proves that she has plenty of talent. Manisha Koirala looks disinterested in her work. Raveena Tandon gets less scope and is okay. Pran is quite impressive. Amrish Puri is average. Prem Chopra is loud at places. Mohnish Bahl is quite good. Shahbaaz Khan does a fair job. Bindu and Sadashiv Amarapurkar irritate more than entertain with their ‘comedy’. Master Krishna leaves a mark. Beena, Anjana Mumtaz, Rana Jung Bahadur, Monty Nath, Ajit Vachani, Yunus Perwaiz and the rest fill the bill.

Direction is handicapped by an unexciting script. Music is melodious and lyrics of the songs are meaningful but there’s no song which stands out. Song picturisations remind of Manoj Kumar’s earlier films. Photography is okay. Action scenes are fair. Production and other technical values are alright.

On the whole, Jai Hind has little to fall back upon except its tax-free tag in various states.

Released on 23-4-’99 at Minerva and 13 other cinemas of Bombay thru V.I.P. Enterprises. Publicity & opening: fair. …….Also released all over.

TIME AUDIO SELLS MUSIC REPERTOIRE TO TIPS

Tips has bought over the entire music repertoire of Time Audio. Henceforth, the Shah brothers (Dhirubhai and Pravin) of Time will not deal in audio rights of films. They will, however, continue to produce films and also deal in video rights.

NEW CINEMA TO OPEN AT MUZAFFARNAGAR

A new cinema, Saraswati Palace, is scheduled to open in Muzaffarnagar (U.P.) on 7th May with Kartoos. The cinema has 882 seats and its per show capacity is Rs. 9,980. Its capacity for 28 shows is Rs. 2,79,440. The cinema is controlled by Kanpur Films, Delhi.

SUNIL DUTT INJURED

Sunil Dutt was slightly injured after bumping into the windscreen of a vehicle he was travelling in when it suddenly screeched to a halt. The incident occurred on 17th April at Chitaun, south of Kathmandu. According to Sunil Dutt, when the driver applied the brakes, the impact threw his head right on to the windscreen and he received a slight cut on his forehead. Sunil Dutt is on a world tour for peace.

NEW CINEMA TO OPEN AT CHANDRAPUR

Shiv Chitramandir, a new cinema, is due to open shortly in Chandrapur (Maharashtra). Owned and controlled by Buradkar & Sons, who also own and control Rajkala Mandir, Chandrapur, the new cinema has a seating capacity of 859. The admission rates are: Private Circle (65 seats) Rs. 25; Balcony (322 seats) Rs. 20; Reserve (365 seats) Rs. 10; Front (107 seats) Rs. 7. The nett capacity per show is Rs. 7,235 and that for 28 shows is Rs. 2,02,606.

O.P. RALHAN DEAD

Veteran producer-director-actor O.P. Ralhan died at his residence in Bombay on 20th April following a massive heart attack. He was 71.

O.P. Ralhan became the talk of the industry when he directed Phool Aur Patthar, starring Meena Kumari and Dharmendra. After that, he made a number of films including Hulchul, Talaash, Gehra Daag, Pyaas, Paapi and Bandhe Haath. He played the comedian in several films including his own. He had a dream of making a film on the life of Ashoka The Great. But the dream, nurtured for years, remained just that.

Chautha was held on 23rd April in Bombay. O.P. Ralhan is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

MULTIPLEXES IN JAIPUR TOO

The concept of multiplexes seems to be catching on. After Maharashtra, where several multiplexes are being planned, at least two multiplexes are in the offing in the pink city of India.

Navratan Kothari has decided to construct a multiplex with four cinema screens, in Jaipur. Rehmat Khan of Ankur cinema, Jaipur, is also planning to build a multiplex with two screens.

The Rajasthan government has so far not devised any policy to encourage multiplexes in the state, but efforts are on to persuade the government to announce one soon.

‘SHAKTIMAAN’ MATTER ON 13TH JULY

Retired judge H.L. Anand has been appointed in place of Justice Ms. Seth to decide on the impact of Mukesh Khanna’s television serial on Doordarshan, Shaktimaan, on children. The appointment was made by the Delhi high court on 23rd April. The matter has been adjourned to 13th July. It may be mentioned here that from the 3-member committee appointed by the high court, Justice Ms. Seth had asked to be excused.

NANABHAI BHATT DEAD

Veteran producer-director Nanabhai Bhatt passed away on 23rd April at Nanavati Hospital in Bombay due to a massive cardiac arrest. He was 87 and is survived by one of his two wives, Hemlata, besides four sons viz. Robin Bhatt, Mahesh Bhatt, Mukesh Bhatt and Parmesh Bhatt, and four daughters.

Nanabhai Bhatt had directed over a hundred films. Notable among them were Sindbad The Sailor, Mr. X, Lal Quila, Balak Aur Jaanwar, Zimbo Comes To Town, Bekhabar, Kangan, Madam XYZ and three Gujarati films, Gajra Maroo, Dharti Mata and Jaya Parvati. Among the actors and actresses who had worked with him in most of his films were Ashok Kumar, Pran and Nirupa Roy, whom he also considered as close friends.

Mahesh Bhatt told Information, “My father belonged to the breed of filmmakers, like Homi Wadia, who believed in simple story-telling and entertaining the audiences. I had the privilege of writing the story and screenplay of his Jeevan Rekha which starred Tabrez and Farida Jalal in the lead, while I was associated with Raj Khosla. He started the trend of directing films over the telephone, which I followed.”

CENSOR NEWS

Cinematt Pictures’ Sarfarosh (revised) was given C.C. No. CIL/3/20/99 (A) dt. 20-4-’99; length 4562.17 metres in 16 reels (cuts: 2.83 metres).

Satya Sai Films’ Khooni Ilaaka – The Prohibited Area was given C.C. No. CIL/3/21/99 (A) dt. 22-4-’99; length 2572.38 metres in 14 reels (no cut).

Raaj N Raaj Combines’ Shikaar has been passed for adults, with cuts.

Shiv Shakti Production’s Benaam, seen on 20th, has been passed for adults, with cuts.

Sachi Arts’ Kavita Oh My Love (length 3685.37 metres in 14 reels), applied on 20th, was seen on 22nd.

Sai Baba Films’ Aaya Yauwan Jhoomke was seen on 23rd.

Nishu Art’s Phool Bani Phoolan (length 3298.58 metres in 14th reels) was applied on 23rd.

REGIONAL FILMS

Abbasi Films’ Chhel Chhabili Chhori (Rajasthani) was given C.C. No. CIL/1/21/99 (U) dt. 22-4-’99; length 3689.26 metres in 15 reels (cuts: 155.45 metres).

Koneru Films’ Gudachary 001 (Telugu; dubbed version of Knock Off), seen on 19th, has been issued C.C. No. CFL/3/36/99 (A) dt. 22-4-’99; length 2501.07 metres in 5 reels (no cut).

Priyasi Films’ Biah (Bhojpuri), seen on 19th, has been passed with U certificate, with cuts.

Saras Chitra’s Bhai Maro Rakhwalo (Gujarati, revised; length 4093.18 metres in 14 reels), applied on 19th and seen on 21st, has been passed with UA certificate, with cuts.

Mehndi International’s Meera Dataar (Gujarati; length 3895.86 metres in 14 reels) was applied on 22nd.

TRAILERS

Trailer of Cinematt Pictures’ Sarfarosh was given C.C. No. CIS/3/20/99 (A) dt. 20-4-’99; length 100.35 metres (cuts: 0.23 metres).

Trailer of Koneru Films’ Main Hoon Baazigar (dubbed) was given C.C. No. CFS/3/24/99 (A) dt. 19-4-’99; length 57.15 metres.

IMPORTED FILMS

Venus Films International’s African Thrills has been passed with U certificate, with cuts.

American Vision International Ltd.’s Dr. Butcher M.D. was seen on 19th.

Columbia Tristar Films’ Cruel Intentions, applied on 19th, was seen on 21st.

Accord Tele Cells’ Swedish Love Story, applied on 20th, was seen on 21st.

Zackria Films’ Foreign Bodies (revised) was applied on 21st.

Film India’s 11 Days 11 Nights (revised) was applied on 21st.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

History Repeating Itself?

It had happened in the case of Vashu Bhagnani’s Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and it is happening once again in the case of Vashu’s Biwi No. 1. When the audio of BMCM was released, the trade had dismissed if off as an average album although some weeks later, those who said so had to eat humble pie because the music caught on with the masses. This time over too, the trade people seem to be a little sceptical about the music of Biwi No. 1. But let it be said that in a few weeks from now, the music of Biwi No. 1 (Anu Malik; Sameer, Dev Kohli and Sukhwinder) is bound to grow and pick up. Besides the title song which, incidentally, is already coming on people’s lips, there are other numbers too which have what it takes to make songs popular. ‘Sona sona’ is a lovely racy number that may soon go ahead of the title song in popularity. Its picturisation (on Salman Khan and Sushmita Sen) on foreign locales is eye-catching not just because of the beauty of the locations but also because the choreography (Ganesh) is simple yet wonderful. The ‘Chunnari Chunnari’ song is also very tuneful. The ‘Mehbooba’ song is another catchy one, this picturised on Anil Kapoor and Tabu, in snow-laden Switzerland. The ‘Jungle’ song has Karisma Kapoor looking wow, and the ‘Mirchi’ song, as expected, is a fun song, but with an underlying current of tension. Then there’s a song which can move the womenfolk to tears. The ‘Om Sai Ram’ number, picturised on children performing on stage in a school function, makes Salman Khan cry and Karisma Kapoor sob in the film. It can be expected to make the audience weep too, such is the lyrical value. All in all, the songs of Biwi No. 1, directed by David Dhawan, have it in them and are also a treat for the eyes.

On 28th May

While on Biwi No. 1, Vashu Bhagnani had planned to release 500 prints of the film in its first week but that, according to Vashu, “seems impractical”. Still, if all goes well, a total of 400 prints might be taken out for the premiere release of the film in India and Overseas. In the meantime, Vashu is thrilled with the chain of cinemas booked in Delhi and U.P. by his distributor, Brijesh Tandon, who is a leading cinema controller of Uttar Pradesh. And yes, unlike other films directed by David Dhawan, this one has a running time of 2 hours and 35 minutes and isn’t too short. Biwi No. 1 will now come on 28th May, as originally planned, and not on 11th June, as had been rescheduled last week.

DAHEK

M.J. Films’ Dahek (UA) is the love story of a Muslim girl and a Hindu boy. The girl belongs to an orthodox family which does not approve of any member falling in love, least of all outside their religion. Much after they’ve met and fallen in love, the girl and the boy realise that they belong to different communities, a fact they had never deliberated upon because they weren’t aware of it in the first place. The girl’s family fixes her marriage with a boy of its choice, but her Hindu lover elopes with the girl from the marriage venue. All hell breaks loose in the girl’s house, and the news of the elopement spreads like wild fire. It is exploited by selfish people from both the communities for their personal gains. The family affair degenerates into a social, political and communal issue, giving rise to rioting, arson and bloodshed in the city! Some time later, the girl and the boy are arrested and handed over to their respective families. Unable to stay without each other, the two leave their homes to once again run away, but some unidentified people shoot them dead.

The film, which appears like a poor cousin of Mani Ratnam’s Bombay, has neither the passion and pain of a love story nor the histrionics of a volatile drama. The whole premise of communal riots breaking out due to an inter-religious marriage looks unbelievable in today’s times of liberal sentiments. Had communal tension been shown as already existing and the marriage only aggravating it further, it would have appeared more plausible. The point of the girl and boy realising, only after a series of meetings, that they belong to different religions, looks ridiculous. The romance between them lacks fire.

The film has taken too long in the making and release, and the delay shows everywhere. There are also several continuity jerks which are jarring, to say the least. The first half is terribly slow. The pace picks up a bit, only in the second half. The sermonising dialogues on religion get too much at times.

Akshaye Khanna does a good job, as usual. Sonali Bendre is alright. Danny Denzongpa is effective as Sonali’s uncle. Dalip Tahhil, playing Akshaye’s father, acts quite ably. K.K. Raina and Achla Sachdev impress. Anang Desai, Anjana Mumtaz, Achyut Potdar, Kanu Gill and the rest lend average support.

Lateef Binny’s direction is hardly any better than his incorrect story and screenplay (jointly written by K.K. Raina). Dialogues (Javed Siddiqi) are good at some places. Music (Aadesh Shrivastava) has melody. ‘Meri aankhon mein tum’ and ‘Saawan barse’ are very well-tuned. Song picturisations are ordinary. Camerawork is of standard. Production and other technical values are just about fair.

On the whole, Dahek is a non-starter with no chances of picking up.

Released on 17-12-’99 at Dreamland, Metro (matinee) and 14 other cinemas of Bombay thru Veekay Enterprises. Publicity: poor. Opening: dull. …….Also released in Delhi-U.P., East Punjab and C.I.

TABAAHI – THE DESTROYER

AMGF’s Tabaahi – The Destroyer (A) is a revenge drama of an utterly routine kind. Every scene is a clichéd one, and the screenplay is simply made up of contrived situations. It tells the story of a military commando who serves the nation but finds it tough to punish the enemies within the country. The commando’s brother, a police inspector, and his wife are killed by a don and his accomplices. When the commando comes to know who the culprits were, he tries to seek revenge. And, quite predictably, he eliminates the bad elements.

Mithun Chakraborty, as the commando, is miscast and his performance is lacklustre. Ayub Khan, as his younger brother, is poor. Indira does not have much scope. Divya Dutta is fair. Danish and Monisha are okay in a dance number. Mukesh Rishi is so-so. Tej Sapru and Girija Shankar are fair. The rest pass muster.

Direction (by debut-making Gopi Sapru) could have been better. Music is poor. Action scenes are tame. Cinematography and other technical aspects are ordinary. Production values are hardly noticeable.

On the whole, Tabaahi – The Destroyer is fated to prove its title true for the distributors, more so, due to its release during Ramzan. Total loss.

Released on 17-12-’99 at Super and 10 other cinemas of Bombay thru Friends Movies. Publicity: fair. Opening: poor. …….Also released all over.

BAHKE KADAM

Om Namah Shivay Films’ Bahke Kadam (A) is a sex-educational film. It preaches about the bad effects of sexy films, TV programmes and even cinema posters. A college-going boy and girl fall in love with each other. Another boy, the wayward son of a sincere education minister, loves the same girl, but when she rejects him, he tries to rape her. His frustration makes him land at a brothel, under the influence of an evil friend. The minister takes a proposal to the girl’s father for his son’s marriage with the girl when he learns that his son had tried to rape her. But the girl’s father turns down the proposal. The girl, in the meantime, is forced to marry her lover as she is carrying his child. Her younger sister, who is a teenager, feels the pangs of sex when she sees her sister and brother-in-law indulging in sex. She almost becomes sex-starved but the death of her sister at the time of childbirth makes her a psychic case — she is afraid of any man coming near her. Meanwhile, the minister’s son, who was sent out of town by his father, comes back after contracting AIDS. He wreaks vengeance by killing all those who, he thinks, were responsible for his miseries, including his evil friend and his beloved’s widower-husband. Ultimately, he is killed by his own father. A group of college students start campaigning against open sex in society and asking for the introduction of sex education in schools.

The drama is crude and provides enough titillation all through. The bad effect of early marriages has been told well. Other bad effects have a more sermonising effect and are less entertaining and dramatic. Dialogues are ordinary.

Robin Ghai is no hero material. Raashi is fair. Aman Sagar is dull. Vaarun Vaardaan is quite good. Pramod Moutho has done well. Shakti Kapoor looks and acts like a perfect brothel-keeper. Aryan, Amisha, Aruna Sangal, Abhay Bhargav and Suhas Khandke give average support. Guest Trishna’s dance is good.

Direction is fair. Music is ordinary. Photography and other technical aspects are below the mark.

On the whole, Bahke Kadam has titillation value for front-benchers.

Released on 17-12-’99 at Shalimar and 4 other cinemas of Bombay thru Rero Films. Publicity: fair. Opening: so-so. …….Also released in East Punjab.

MADHURI DIXIT’S WEDDING RECEPTION

A reception to celebrate the marriage of top heroine Madhuri Dixit with Shriram Nene will be held this evening (18th December) at The Club. The actress had got married to Shriram in the US on 17th October this year.

GULSHAN RAI BACK HOME

Producer and Bombay distributor Gulshan Rai, who was admitted to the Breach Candy Hospital, Bombay, some weeks back, following a paralytic stroke, was discharged recently.

CANADA INDIANS’ AWARD FOR GURDAS MAAN

The Indian community in Canada has honoured Gurdas Maan as the ‘Outstanding Punjabi Star of the Millennium’. The honour was bestowed on him in recognition of his dedication to promote Punjabi culture and language. Maan was given the award on his recent visit to Canada.

Incidentally, following the success of his film, Shadeed-E-Mohabbat, Maan will be launching his next, titled Zindagi Khubsoorat Hai, in the first week of January 2000.

MAHESH KOTHARE ATTENDS MHASAWAD YATRA

Mahesh Kothare, actor and producer-director of Dhangad Dhinga (Marathi), visited Mhasawad yatra in Satara district recently. The collections at cinemas screening Dhangad Dhinga received a boost on the main day of the yatra due to his presence.

ORDER ON LAST SHOWS IN BIJAPUR

The superintendent of police in Bijapur has ordered that the last shows in cinemas of Bijapur should conclude by 11.30 p.m. Hum Saath-Saath Hain is, therefore, being screened in daily three shows at Amir from 2nd week onwards (that is, from last week).

NEW SOUND SYSTEM INSTALLED

A 6-track digital sound system was installed at Prabha Cinema, Bareilly, on 28th November. The sound system was formally inaugurated by minister of state for petroleum & natural gas, Santosh Gangwar.

Nadeem Shravan To Score Music In Kuku Kohli’s Next

Kuku Kohli has signed Nadeem Shravan to score the music for his forthcoming film. The songs will be recorded in London where Nadeem is facing extradition proceedings for his alleged involvement in the Gulshan Kumar murder case. The film, to be produced by Aroona Irani, will star a new boy and a new girl. It will be shot in London and India. It is likely to roll in April 2000.

Kuku Kohli told Information, “The police officials will not create hurdles if we assign the music direction of the film to Nadeem Shravan. I have been assured of that.” Added the director, “When someone asked me who will be the stars in my film, I replied that the only stars I’ll have in the new film will be Nadeem Shravan. Nadeem has some really wonderful new tunes ready.”

PRODUCTION NEWS

‘Pukar’ On 4th February

Recording of background music of Boney Kapoor and S.K. Films Enterprises’ Pukar will be completed on Dec. 20. Final mixing will begin soon thereafter at Media Artist, Madras. Pre-mixing of dialogues and effects are already complete. The film will be submitted for censorship by 27th December. Produced by Surinder Kapoor, co-produced by Bharat Shah and written and directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, the film stars Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Namrata Shirodkar, Om Puri, Girish Karnad, Farida Jalal, Anjan Shrivastava, Shivaji Satam and Danny Denzongpa. Music is scored by A.R. Rahman.

The film is due for release on February 4 all over.

‘Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai’ Recording, Shooting

The seventh song of Boney Kapoor and S.K. Films Enterprises’ Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai was recorded on Dec. 16 and 17 at Sunny Super Sounds. Penned by Javed Akhtar, it was rendered by Udit Narayan and composed by Sanjeev Darshan. A 12-day shooting schedule will begin on Dec. 20 at Padmalaya Studios in Hyderabad. Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai and Sonali Bendre will participate alongwith kids. The film is being directed by Satish Kaushik for producer Surinder Kapoor.

‘Aaghaaz’ First Shooting Spell Complete

The initial 15-day shooting schedule of Suresh Productions’ Aaghaaz (The Beginning) concluded on Dec. 13 on Bombay locales and at Kamal Amrohi Studios. A song and scenes were picturised on Sunil Shetty, Sushmita Sen, Namrata Shirodkar, Anupam Kher, Asha Sachdev, Sharat Saxena, Gulshan Grover, Johny Lever, Alok Nath, Padmini Kapila, Akshay Anand, Govind Namdev, Anjan Shrivastava, Mukesh Tiwari, Shraddha Nigam, Dina Pathak, Asrani, Viju Khote, Yunus Perwaiz, Rakesh Bedi, Rajesh Puri, Rajendra Mehra, Dinyar Tirandaz, Brij Gopal, Sanjay Swaraj, Shashi Kiran, Manoj Joshi, Ahsan Khan and Suresh Oberoi with Sharad Kapoor and Saadhika who make guest appearances. The film is being directed by Yogesh Ishwar for producer Dr. D. Rama Naidu from a screenplay by Nikhil Saini. Dialogues: Kamlesh Pandey. Cinematographer: Shyam K. Naidu. Music: Anu Malik. Lyrics: Sameer. Art: Sharmishtha Roy. Dances: Ganesh Acharya. Action: Abbas.

‘Tarkieb’ Complete

The entire shooting of Jay Movies’ Tarkieb has been completed in 60 days. The second and last shooting schedule was held in Bhopal and Pachmarhi from Nov. 21 to Dec. 10. Only one song now remains to be picturised. Produced by Jay Mehta and directed by Esmayeel Shroff, the film stars Nana Patekar, Tabu, Shilpa Shetty, Aditya Pancholi, Milind Soman, Raghuvir Yadav, Tiku Talsania, Akhilendra Mishra, Razzak Khan, Deepak Qazir and Ashutosh Rana. Written by Moin-ud-din, the film has music by Aadesh Shrivastava. Lyrics: Nida Fazli. Choreographers: Ahmed Khan and Lollipop. Cinematography: Mazhar Kamran. Action: Sham Kaushal. Audiography: Buta Singh. Art: Vimlesh Lal. The post-production work of the film has already begun. It is presented by Pranlal Mehta.

‘Hadh Kardi Aapne’ Complete

With the conclusion of the final shooting schedule on Dec. 14 at Hiranandani Complex and Nair bungalow, the entire shooting of R.R. Productions’ Hadh Kardi Aapne is now complete. Produced by Rajiv Anand and Rakesh Malhotra and directed by Manoj Agrawal, the film stars Govinda, Rani Mukerji, Nirmal Pandey, Ritu Shivpuri, Johny Lever, Tinnu Anand, Satish Kaushik, Avtar Gill, Navneet Nishan, Himani Shivpuri, Tanaaz Currim, Viju Khote and Paresh Rawal. Story-screenplay: Rajeev Kaul and Praful Parekh. Dialogues: Anwar Khan. Camera: Nirmal Jani. Action: Andalib Pathan. Dances: Ganesh and Chinni Prakash. Art: Leeladhar Sawant. Sound: Jagmohan Anand. Editing: Arun Shekhar. Lyrics: Anand Bakshi. Music: Anand Raaj Anand.

YOU ASKED IT

How much profit can a super-hit non-film audio album yield?

– Maybe, even more than a crore!

Some big producers appoint agents to scrutinise accounts of distributors. Isn’t this practice of keeping a hawk’s eye on distributors a ridiculous exercise?

– If some distributors don’t reveal true accounts, isn’t that ridiculous too?

How do you compare the business of Rajshri’s HS-SH with that of Rajshri’s HAHK..! and the previous blockbuster, KKHH?

– In Bombay, HS-SH will do about 40% of HAHK..! and 85% of KKHH. In Delhi-U.P., it will do 25% of HAHK..! and 60% of KKHH. In East Punjab, the respective percentages are again 25% and 60%. In West Bengal, it is 35% and 65% respectively. In Bihar, HS-SH will do 60% of HAHK..! and 120% of KKHH. In C.P. Berar, it will do 70% of HAHK..! and 135% of KKHH. In C.I., it will do 65% and 100% respectively. In Rajasthan, HS-SH will do 65% of HAHK..! and 120% of KKHH. In Nizam, it will do 90% of HAHK..! and 125% of KKHH. In Mysore, it will do 45% of HAHK..! and 80% of KKHH.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Puru Raaj Kumar will play a villain in Boney Kapoor’s HAMARA DIL AAPKE PAAS HAI. With Sanjay Kapoor set to play a negative role in Boney’s new film (to roll shortly), it seems that heroes are now wearing the masks of the bad men!

* Govindbhai Patel has a penchant for releasing his films on the auspicious Makar Sankranti day (Jan. 14). Like his several previous Gujarati hits, including DESH RE JOYA DADA PARDESH JOYA, LAJU LAKHAN, OONCHI MEDI NA OONCHA MOL, etc., his new film, GAAM MA PIYARYU NE GAAM MA SASARYU will also hit the screens on 14th January, next year.

* BINDHAST (Marathi) is being remade in Tamil by director Priyadarshan, with Tabu and Jyotika Sadanah in the main cast. The film is also being remade in Malayalam and Telugu (by other directors). It has already been dubbed in Hindi.

MIX MASALA

OF SONY, SUCCESS & CELEBRATION

Earlier this week, we received a wonderfully designed invitation card for a celebration party hosted by the mega television channel, Sony, at The Oberoi yesterday (17th December). The extremely classy invitation came in the form of a diary. Its cover, made of genuine leather, had ‘Mantras of Success’ embossed in golden. Inside, there were some of the most relevant quotations on ‘success’, by famous people. A few samples:

♦ Success is what you do with what you’ve got.

– Leroy Van Dyke

♦ If you don’t leap, you’ll never know what it’s like to fly.

– Guy Finley

The invitation sure creates an impact!

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

‘Raju Chacha’ And Dirty Politics

Ajay Devgan must be cursing the day he decided to put up a set for his Raju Chacha in Ooty in the Schoolbund area. After taking due permissions from the authorities, the producers began the set construction work which took three months to complete, besides a couple of crores of rupees. Set workers worked furiously not only in Ooty but also in Bombay to ready the set for the shooting. But as shooting was about to begin, actor-producer Ajay was told by the authorities that he would not be allowed to shoot there for environmental reasons. And this, after he had spent so much time and money for the set erection. Insiders reveal that the issue has assumed a political colour, with the opposition party trying to stall the shooting and a scared ruling party not wanting to antagonise the opposition. Consequently, it is poor Ajay who has been made the scapegoat. Anyway, Ajay succeeded in obtaining a stay order from the Madras high court, against the authorities’ refusal to let him shoot.

Phir Bhi Price Hai Hindustani…

No producer in today’s times would dream of doing what Shah Rukh Khan has done. At a time when it is the rule rather than the exception to hike film prices, the debut-making producer, Shah Rukh, has gone ahead and reduced the price of his film, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, for C.I. circuit. It was felt by the actor-producer that the price for C.I. was a little on the higher side. If only more producers would think like Shah Rukh Khan does, the industry would be such a nicer place to be in.