BADAL

Aftab Music Industries’ Badal (A) is a revenge drama. Story of a young man, who is forced to tread the path of terrorism, it is a masala film aimed to please the masses. A wicked and wily police inspector kills the entire family of a little boy in a village and he is, thereafter, picked up by a terrorist who brings him up. The boy grows up with just one desire — to kill the police officer who had made him what he was today. Circumstances lead him to live in an honest police officer’s house while on his secret mission to kill the villain. There, he is moved by the affection showered on him by the principled police officer’s family. But this does not change his heart enough to deter him from eliminating the villain despite a confrontation with the honest police inspector.

The film has a routine story and the screenplay, too, has several clichéd scenes. Dialogues are ordinary. Romance and emotions are almost absent. But comedy and action are aplenty. Further, hit music helps to a large extent in not letting the drama deteriorate. In fact, although several songs come up without proper situations, they are a welcome intrusion if only because the tunes are racy and very popular.

Bobby Deol looks extremely handsome and also acts ably. He, however, is over-enthusiastic — and, therefore, less graceful — in dances. Rani Mukerji plays to the gallery, looks glamorous but doesn’t really have any scene to leave a mark. Amrish Puri is superb in a positive role. Johny Lever and Upasna Singh are excellent with their comedy; at times, the double-meaning dialogues tickle a great deal. Ashutosh Rana has a dignified get-up and he performs very naturally. Mayuri Kango is average. Shahbaaz Khan, Ashish Vidyarthi, Vishwajeet Pradhan, Jeetu Verma, baby Sana and Kulbhushan Kharbanda provide adequate support. Neena Kulkarni is so-so. Akash Khurana does a fair job. Alok Nath, Dina Pathak, Harish Patel and Dinesh Anand are average. Mushtaq Khan is wasted. Suman Ranganath and Mink lend sex appeal in dance numbers.

Raj Kanwar’s direction is limited by the routine story (Raj Kanwar himself) and the ordinary screenplay (Robin Bhatt and Sutanu Gupta). No attempt has been made to provide something new to the viewer. Anu Malik’s music is a major plus point of the film. All the songs are assets, the best being ‘Main jatt yamla Punjabi’, ‘Jugni Jugni’, ‘Milne se darta hai dil’ and ‘Yaar mere’. Picturisations of the songs should have been better; the ‘Jugni Jugni’ dance (by Amrish Puri and others) is, nevertheless, vigorous and very appealing. Action scenes (Bhiku Verma and Pappu Verma) are thrilling although more fist-fights would have been better. Editing is not smooth. Camerawork (Harmeet Singh) is good. Other technical values are fair. Production values are good but do not befit the extremely high price at which the film has been sold to distributors.

On the whole, Badal has substance for the masses, but patronage of ladies and classes is doubtful. It should score well in East Punjab, Delhi-U.P. and Rajasthan, and remain average in other circuits owing to its high price.

Released on 11-2-2000 at Novelty and 21 other cinemas of Bombay by Aftab Group thru Friends Movies. Publicity: very good. Opening: fair. …….Also released all over. Opening was very good in Thane district (of Bombay), Delhi, East Punjab (exceptional opening despite rains), Rajasthan but just fair in C.I. and the M.P. belt of C.P. Berar.

LATEST POSITION

PUKAR has not found appreciation. It will entail heavy losses to its distributors except of the South territories and Bombay.

Pukar slid as the week progressed. 1st week Bombay 59,47,341 (82.82%) from 12 cinemas (7 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 19,99,010 from 8 cinemas, Vapi 2,24,640, Rajkot 1,87,582 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Jamnagar 1,26,798, Adipur 1,19,590 (63.98%); Pune 17,56,749 from 7 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 3,16,245 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee); Delhi 51,80,422 (65.81%) from 12 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 5,27,371 from 2 cinemas, Allahabad 2,20,504, Meerut (6 days) 2,21,519, Bareilly (6 days) 1,58,910; Amritsar 58,365; Calcutta 24,05,160 from 20 cinemas; Nagpur 8,30,534 from 4 cinemas, Amravati 2,72,822, Akola (27 shows) 1,96,781, Jalgaon (6 days) 1,95,027; Indore 3,16,633 from 2 cinemas (2 on F.H.), Bhopal 1,15,640 (2 unrecd.); Jaipur 7,23,780 from 3 cinemas, Bikaner (gross) 2,21,920; Hyderabad (gross) 21,82,088 from 7 cinemas (1 in noon).

Agni Putra is a disaster. 1st week Bombay 11,02,225 (43.12%) from 7 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Delhi 6,96,694 (22.72%) from 8 cinemas; Kanpur 61,146 from 2 cinemas; Nagpur 83,594 from 2 cinemas, Wardha 50,035; Bhopal 53,500; Hyderabad (gross) 2,60,020 from 6 cinemas (3 in noon, 1 on F.H.).

……….

The World Is Not Enough (dubbed) is good in C.P.C.I. 1st week Bombay 20,09,707 (39.45%) from 8 cinemas (8 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 6,50,577 from 4 cinemas, Baroda 1,80,176; Delhi 17,62,675 (45.34%) from 6 cinemas; Kanpur 2,20,621, Allahabad 1,81,798; Calcutta 9,44,459 from 12 cinemas; Jabalpur 1,22,366, Akola (27 shows) 1,43,815, Yavatmal 1,23,305, Bilaspur 94,635; Hyderabad (gross) 18,97,830 from 8 cinemas (1 in noon).

Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani 3rd week Bombay 21,94,521 (52.50%) from 8 cinemas (5 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 1,68,523 from 2 cinemas; Pune 5,04,753 from 5 cinemas (2 in matinee); Delhi 8,29,266 from 7 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 82,891 from 2 cinemas, Allahabad 69,872, Muzaffarnagar 25,000, Bareilly (6 days) 14,800; 1st week Amritsar 54,000; 3rd week Calcutta 5,72,736 from 3 cinemas; Nagpur 48,037 from 2 cinemas, Amravati 60,816, Akola (27 shows) 32,380, total 2,61,471; Indore 90,000 from 2 cinemas, Bhopal 50,311; Jaipur 1,85,348; Hyderabad (gross) 3,68,396 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon); 3 weeks’ Vijayawada total 5,38,410.

Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai is AA in Bombay and South, and A1 in other circuits. 4th week Bombay 45,77,778 (99.73%) from 10 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 2,88,027 from 2 cinemas, 1st week Bardoli 3,49,208, 4th week Baroda 2,44,007 (98.85%), 2nd week Valsad 1,83,061 (1st 1,80,591), 4th week Vapi 3,62,598, total 18,02,663, Rajkot 1,65,115, Jamnagar 81,199; Pune 14,35,824 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), 2nd week Satara 1,81,302 (1st 1,87,226, 1 cinema in matinee 100% in both weeks); 4th week Dharwad 69,384; Delhi 21,36,852 from 5 cinemas; Kanpur 3,09,260 from 2 cinemas, Allahabad 1,51,694, Muzaffarnagar 65,000, Bareilly (6 days) 83,143, 1st week Hardwar (5 days) 84,716; 4th week Calcutta 11,98,468 from 5 cinemas; Nagpur 2,66,453 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 1,54,045, total 6,62,198, Amravati 1,59,539, Akola (27 shows) 1,31,288, total 6,11,519, Jalgaon (6 days) 1,29,340, 3rd week Chandrapur 1,86,234, total 6,26,073, 2nd week Yavatmal (gross) 1,29,726; 4th week Bhopal 2,37,301 (3rd 2,39,029); Jaipur 3,85,077 from 2 cinemas, Bikaner 1,60,673; Hyderabad (gross) 13,23,732 from 7 cinemas (1 in noon); 2nd week Mangalore 1,37,318 (1st 2,13,649); Vijayawada 2 weeks’ total 5,93,431.

Hum Saath-Saath Hain entered 15th week at Liberty, Bombay; 14th week Pune 71,775 from 2 cinemas; Belgaum 35,267; Kanpur 60,823, Allahabad 30,485; Calcutta 97,700; Nagpur 59,618, 5th week Kamptee 29,282, total 2,79,418, share 1,44,418, 14th week Jabalpur (6 days, gross) 77,698, total 37,72,626, Amravati 74,360, total 25,55,353, Akola (27 shows) 49,670, total 18,41,709, share 13,88,510; Jaipur 3,81,805.

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Gaam Ma Piyaryu Ne Gaam Ma Sasaryu (Gujarati; TF) 4th week Ahmedabad 6,51,063 from 3 cinemas, 2nd week Rajkot 2,25,000, 4th week Jamnagar 85,500.

Maa Baap Ne Bhulsho Nahin (Gujarati; TF) 8th week Ahmedabad 1,40,472 from 2 cinemas.

The World Is Not Enough (E.) 1st week Bombay 14,40,599 from 5 cinemas; Calcutta 5,26,098; Nagpur 5,21,248 from 2 cinemas; Bhopal 1,95,000; Mangalore 1,87,349; Vijayawada 3,59,619. Good.

SHOBHNA SAMARTH DEAD

Veteran actress Shobhna Samarth passed away on 9th February in Pune at the Pune Cancer Hospital. She was cremated the same evening.

Mother of actresses Nutan and Tanuja, and grandmother of Kajol and Mohnish Bahl, she was a popular heroine of her times.

Shobhna Samarth played the lead in more than 50 films. Her first film was a Marathi film, Vilasi Ishwar. She later shifted to Hindi films with Nigah-E-Nafrat, released in 1935. Most of the films she acted in were mythologicals, like Mahasati Ansuya, Taramati, Narsimha Avtar, Nal Damayanti, Janmashtami, Jai Mahalakshmi, Shri Krishna Arjun Yudh and Urvashi. She shot into limelight with the role of Sita in Vijay Bhatt’s Bharat Milap (1942) and Ram Rajya (1943). Samarth also produced and directed Hamari Beti and Chhabili, introducing Nutan and Tanuja respectively.

YOU ASKED IT

There are some people in the trade, who think that KN…PH recorded bumper collections because of public sympathy over the murder attempt on Rakesh Roshan. Do you endorse this view?

– The murder attempt has definitely given a boost to the film’s collections, but please don’t try to imply that the film has clicked only because of the attempt on Rakesh Roshan’s life.

By how much percentage does the telecast of a new film on Cable TV affect a hit film, average film and a flop?

– Cable TV can affect a hit film’s business by 30-40%, that of an average film by 10-15%, and of a flop, by 5% or even less.

The script of Water is approved by the Prime Minister of India, and then, it is not allowed to be shot in Varanasi by Hindu fundamentalists. What does one make of this?

– It exposes the farcical nature of democracy in our country.

Shooting Of ‘Water’ In Varanasi

AIFPC’S STRONG LETTER TO U.P. GOVERNMENT

With reference to the disruption of the shooting of Deepa Mehta’s Water in Varanasi recently, Pahlaj Nihalani, president of the All India Film Producers Council (AIFPC), has written a letter to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Ram Prakash Gupta, decrying the U.P. government’s failure to provide protection to the film’s unit from anti-social elements who disrupted the shooting.

Reminding the U.P. chief minister about a film policy formulated to promote film shootings in U.P. and to offer various incentives like entertainment tax-exemption to films shot in U.P., the AIFPC pointed out that under the film policy, worked out between the Bombay-based producers and the U.P. government, the state government was duty-bound to provide adequate security to film units in U.P., but “the government allowed the politicisation of the issue and actively involved itself in blocking the shooting of the film”.

The AIFPC letter concludes with a warning, “In the interests of the film industry and U.P. government itself, we plead with you to take immediate action to ensure that the shooting of Water is allowed to take place, because not doing so will lead to a situation where no producer will be willing to shoot his film in Uttar Pradesh.”

The unit of Deepa Mehta’s Water has since returned from Varanasi after not being allowed to shoot there.

Price-Wise? No!? Then, Pay The Price!

Price — this five-letter word has been the most hotly discussed and debated word in trade circles over the years. Whether it is film prices or star prices, discussions on them have evinced passionate claims and counter-claims from parties to the discussions. Nobody has been able to decide what correct pricing is and what should the ideal price of a film star/technician be.

But the price under discussion today is neither star remunerations nor film ratios. It is, instead, the price which the cinegoer pays to see the film or the artistes of his choice, on the silver screen — the price of a cinema ticket or, in other words, admission rates.

Actually, discussions on film and star prices have dominated the scene so much that the industry seems to have overlooked the impact which incorrect admission rates can have. In many big cities today, admission rates in many cinemas have become prohibitively expensive for the middle class and lower middle class group, not to talk of the poor. What is alarming is that while some cinemas provide amenities and facilities to match the high admission rates, there are others which don’t care about facilities while being quick to increase ticket rates.

In Delhi, some cinemas are charging more than Rs. 100 per ticket. If box-office collections are dull in the capital city today, the blame lies not just on the films but equally, sometimes more, on the unrealistically high rates of admission. If films alone were responsible for dull collections, how does one explain the bumper shares of a Jaanwar in U.P. as against dull shares in Delhi city? Agreed, Jaanwar is a film for non-metropolitan cities and mainly for ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres, but the collections in Delhi were not expected to be so dismal in comparison to those in U.P. Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, which collected 78.32% of the house-full capacity at Priya cinema of Delhi in the first week, and 90.60% of the capacity at Chanakya, Delhi in the first week, could collect only 36% and 45% respectively in the second week! And Priya cinema was recently renovated at a huge cost.

If Delhi is bad, Bombay isn’t any better. The unhappy part is that admission rates are generally the same, whether it is a Shah Rukh Khan starrer that is showing in a cinema or a Mithun Chakraborty starrer, whether the music of the film showing is a huge hit or is average. Can any logic explain this foolhardiness?

Producers, distributors and exhibitors are ignoring an important aspect of a film’s business if they are not applying their minds to ticket pricing.

– Komal Nahta

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Of Rains, Clouds And Crowds

If Badal has come, can the rains be far behind? To give company to the clouds (badal), there were heavy rains in Northern India, particularly Delhi and Punjab on 11th February, the day of release of Badal in the two circuits. But it must be said to the credit of the film that in both, Delhi and Punjab, heavy crowds were witnessed in cinemas screening Badal which opened to full houses despite the dark clouds in the sky and the heavy rains there.

Promoting Common Sense

A film is essentially judged by what is publicised, or rather, by which aspect of it is highlighted. And with TV becoming a potent medium for promotion of films, it is but common sense to decide beforehand what aspect the producers need to highlight to lure the audience into the cinemas and ensure an excellent opening. But what is disturbing in today’s times is that incongruity has stepped into promotional trailers of many films. Even an action film with action heroes is increasingly publicised as being a musical film because the songs are highlighted. And that is generally because the music companies do the promotion and, naturally, they are apt to promote music more than any other aspect of the film, amounting to a square peg in a round hole. It’s fine if an action film is embellished with good music. One would describe it as sone pe suhaga, the sona being action and suhaga being the music. But in case of a musical film, the sona should be its music and other things therein, the suhaga. The bottomline is that a film’s promo should highlight that aspect which would bring in the audience.

Producers Propose…
Bajrang Opposes

Bajrang is one of the many names of Lord Hanuman. But the Lord seems averse to producers making a social/commercial on His name. And there are some instances to prove this point. Raju Mawani had launched Bajrang with Sunny Deol as the lead man, but it got shelved after just one brief shooting schedule. Nandu Tolani’s Bajrang, being directed by Tinnu Verma, is also stuck incomplete. And years back, Bapu was to produce and direct Bajrangi with Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit in the lead, but the film could not be made. Had it been made, it may have been Madhuri Dixit’s first film as an actress. But mythological maker Chandrakant’s Jai Bajrang Bali was a super-hit. And that’s because it was a mythological film and not a social commercial. May be, Lord Hanuman does not approve of He being enacted in human form.

The Deciding Beats!

Who decided that the music of Taal was super-hit? The public, of course. And how do people, who wish to buy a good music system, decide on the best bargain? By listening to the music of Taal! This was the observation of a music-loving friend who recently went shop-hopping to buy an ideal music system. Almost all dealers, whom he visited in Bombay, chose the music of Taal to demonstrate the efficacy of the music systems they were selling. On enquiring, he learnt from one of the shop-owners that it was so because the music of Taal amplified clearly the entire range of musical beats and strains in perfect detail. A different kind of compliment for the composition and recording of the music of Taal, but compliment indeed!

Jolly Good January

The previous time Rakesh Roshan had a sweet taste of success was when Karan Arjun proved a super-hit. This was exactly five years before the release of Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai. While Karan Arjun was released on 13th January, 1995, KN…PH was released on 14th January, 2000. Perhaps, this should inspire Rakesh Roshan to schedule his every release in the second week of January. If it’s got to be a super-hit, it’s got to be released in January.

So ‘Miff’ed!

The live telecast of the opening ceremony of MIFF 2000, the documentary film festival of Bombay, on 9th February on Doordarshan went into a blink a few moments after Homi Sethna was shown addressing the audience which included the Prasar Bharati and Doordarshan officials and bosses. Homi Sethna, who won this year’s V. Shantaram award for the best documentary, remarked, “The bosses of Prasar Bharati and the officers of DD should hang their heads in shame and work hard on a different concept to put the national channel on par with PBS — Public Broadcasting Service — in the USA or with the BBC… Just look at their programmes and again, hang your heads in shame…” So ‘miff’ed were the broadcasting bosses that they just blacked out the live telecast!

ZOR

Vicky Films (P.) Ltd.’s Zor (A) is a routine story of a one-man army against the evil forces in society, represented here by a don, a minister and a Godman. The three villains try to ruin the country through communal riots and this agitates a journalist so much that he takes it upon himself to expose their misdeeds. He realises that the three are involved in the worst of criminal activities when he tries to find out the truth about his dearest friend who has been dubbed a terrorist and for harbouring whom his (journalist’s) father, an honest police officer, is imprisoned. Sunny Deol plays the journalist who switches tracks and becomes the custodian of the country. The three villains are played by Om Puri, Govind Namdeo and Mohan Agashe.

The biggest defect in the script is that it has too much of preaching. Sunny Deol goes on endlessly about the virtues of being a nationalist and the vices of being a traitor/terrorist. What the audience expects of Sunny Deol is to bash up people but he does that quite sparingly. Instead, he has been given lines and lines of dialogues to mouth. This not only irritates the audience, it also dilutes the intensity of the tension in the drama. Screenplay leaves plenty to be desired as the drama very often loses grip and becomes loose and uninteresting. Some scenes, where there was ample scope for action, have been completed either without action or with minimal fights. Nor are there many hard-hitting or fiery dialogues to evoke claps. The first half is very dull and the drama is somewhat better after interval.

Sunny Deol, no doubt, does very well but his fans are bound to be disappointed due to his limited action. At least in the climax, one expects him to beat the lives out of the villains but he, instead, argues it out in the court of law, making the climax unnecessarily verbose. Sushmita Sen shows a marked improvement over her first film, acts fairly well and impresses in dances too. Milind Gunaji, as Sunny’s bosom friend, fails to put life into his character. Although he plays a Muslim armyman, his diction is typically Maharashtrian. Om Puri has limited scope and is fair. Govind Namdeo too doesn’t get much scope. He does well. Mohan Agashe is very impressive in the role of the Godman. Anupam Kher is good as Sunny’s father. Laxmikant Berde’s comedy is nothing to write home about. Veeru Krishan is good. Dina Pathak, A.K. Hangal, Tiku Talsania, Farida Jalal, Dinesh Hingoo, Rana Jung Bahadur, Sucheta Pawse, Deepanjali and the rest lend fair support.

Sangeeth Sivan is another director who seems to believe more in form than in content. For, his flair for dim lighting and capturing visual beauty is obvious in every frame (in fact, the poor lighting gets jarring after a while), but he needs to take serious lessons in scripting. Music is the greatest drawback of the film. The songs are pathetic and none of them appeals to the listener. Although their picturisations are eye-filling, the boring tunes are enough to put off the viewer. Action scenes have been well composed. Sound effects and Dolby digital mixing are of a high standard.

On the whole, high-priced Zor is a disappointment and, despite a very good start, will find the going tough in most of the circuits. Business in Punjab should be better.

Released on 13-2-’98 at Novelty and 21 other cinemas of Bombay thru Nicks Investment P. Ltd. Publicity & opening: very good. …….Also released all over. Opening was excellent everywhere except in Gujarat where it was fairly good.

LATEST POSITION

KAMA SUTRA is a tale of super-success everywhere.

Kama Sutra – A Tale Of Love (dubbed) had done extraordinary. Ladies are reported to be now frequenting cinemas screening the film, in many places. 1st week Bombay 38,92,794 (88.89%) from 10 cinemas (5 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 7,11,395 from 3 cinemas, Baroda 1,61,669, Rajkot 100% (all shows full in advance); Pune 10,01,556 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 96,665 (100%); Hubli 1,40,596 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Belgaum 1,29,393 (100%) from 2 cinemas (1 in noon); Delhi 35,02,771 (95.01%) from 6 cinemas (1 in F.H.); Ghaziabad 1,62,300 (63.08%), Kanpur 3,11,498 (89.71%), Lucknow 2,87,893 (98.43%), Agra 1,72,000 (66.49%), Allahabad 1,81,611 (94.63%), Varanasi 2,21,635 (89.37%), Meerut 1,56,995 (94.30%), Gorakhpur 1,36,040 (89.47%); Calcutta 23,04,438 (both, English and Hindi versions) from 15 cinemas; Guwahati share over 2,00,000; Nagpur 6,33,235 from 3 cinemas, Amravati 1,66,569, Raipur (6 days) 1,88,729, Bhilai 1,70,214; Indore 5,24,121 from 2 cinemas (1 on F.H.), Bhopal 3,64,065 from 3 cinemas; Jaipur 4,44,700 (100%); Hyderabad 15,42,628 from 6 cinemas (1 in noon); Vijayawada 3,31,820; English and Tamil versions doing fantastic in Tamilnadu.

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Banarasi Babu drops further. 2nd week Bombay 18,19,931 (51.97%) from 10 cinemas (7 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 1,94,563 from 3 cinemas, Vapi 1,49,600, Jamnagar (matinee) 6,964 (1 unrecd.); Pune 3,82,753 from 3 cinemas, Solapur 89,106 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Satara 27,217; Delhi 17,42,167 from 11 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,73,174 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,72,829, Allahahad 90,500, Varanasi 1,48,456, Bareilly 68,293 (27.10%), Dehradun 81,000 (1st week 1,28,000), Hardwar 20,000; Nagpur 1,45,407 from 3 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 1,09,899, Amravati (6 days) 52,569, Dhule 57,023, Bhilai 75,213, total 2,20,342, 1st week Jalgaon (6 days) 1,19,553; 2nd week Indore 79,009 (3 on F.H.), Bhopal 40,000; Jaipur 2,55,677 from 2 cinemas, Bikaner 70,060; 1st week Hyderabad 22,90,500 from 13 cinemas; below average in 2nd week in Madras.

Vinashak is also dull. 2nd week Bombay 15,94,862 (43.28%) from 9 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 3,03,947 from 5 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Vapi 1,81,376, 1st week Jamnagar (matinee) 36,904 from 2 cinemas; 2nd week Pune 2,29,565 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 1,21,306, Solapur 1,56,930 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Satara 1,02,077 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Delhi 12,61,749 from 9 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,83,345 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,60,416, Agra 1,18,000, Allahahad 1,01,500, Bareilly 66,036 (33.22%), Dehradun 70,205 (1st 1,36,316), 1st week Hardwar 64,748; 2nd Calcutta 1,46,662; Gaya 32,000; Nagpur 1,32,978 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 1,14,649, total 2,94,540, Amravati 1,04,375 total 2,97,608, Raipur 72,220, Bhilai (6 days) 43,249, Durg 40,697, Jalgaon 91,051 (1st week 1,82,235), Wardha 28,109, Chandrapur 62,125, total 2,11,443, 1st week Yavatmal 1,23,466; 2nd week Bhopal 2,69,216 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 2,93,984 from 2 cinemas, Jodhpur 1,20,000, Bikaner 50,000; Hyderabad 3,86,747 from 4 cinemas (1 in noon).

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Chachi 420 8th week Bombay 18,46,875 (73.84%) from 7 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 90,158, Baroda (matinee) 17,893; Pune 3,02,961 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 66,373, Solapur 70,772, 2nd week Barsi 21,957 (1st 35,551), 8th week Satara 22,922, 3rd week Miraj 64,230; 2nd Dharwad 46,918; 8th week Delhi 4,17,144 from 3 cinemas; Kanpur 83,599 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 95,627, Agra 25,735, Allahabad 19,600, Dehradun 36,640 (7th 53,000), total 5,92,606; Nagpur 69,201 from 2 cinemas, 7th week Jabalpur 57,175, total 5,87,914, 8th week Dhule (6 days) 33,328, total 4,29,190, Raipur (6 days) 41,886; Bhopal 1,04,500; 7th week Jaipur 99,008; 8th week Hyderabad 1,42,401.

Desh Re Joya Dada Pardesh Joya (Gujarati, TF) is creating havoc wherever released. 5th week Ahmedabad 7,29,736 from 4 cinemas, Asodar 1,19,952, 2nd week Patan 72,951, 3rd week Baroda 1,48,344, 1st Nadiad 79,147, 3rd Jamnagar 1,73,518, 5th week Rajkot 2,24,732, Bhavnagar 1,92,947, Junagadh 1,37,337, Morbi 1,59,591, 2nd week Botad 1,21,724.

‘DTPH’ 100 DAYS

Yash Chopra’s Dil To Pagal Hai completed 100 days of its run all over on 7th February. It stars Madhuri Dixit, Shah Rukh Khan and Karisma Kapoor. Music: Uttam Singh.

RAMESH PATEL’S DAUGHTER TO WED

Marriage of Sheetal, daughter of Ramesh Patel of Filmcenter, with Kartik will be solemnised on 17th February at the RWITC, Mahalaxmi, Bombay.

NEW MINI CINEMA IN BOMBAY

A new cinema in Bombay, Cinestar, will be inaugurated on 17th February with an invitee show of Saat Rang Ke Sapne. The cinema, owned by the Kanakias and controlled by Shringar, is located at Kandivli (West) where earlier stood Sona cinema. The cinema will be thrown open to the public from 20th February.

It has 281 seats and only one class. The admission rate is Rs. 55 and the nett capacity for 28 shows is Rs. 2,65,545. The cinema is equipped with Dolby digital and DTS sound systems.

YOU ASKED IT

With Kama Sutra having clicked, can’t old English sex films be dubbed in Hindi, especially in view of the fact that dubbed versions of censored films cannot be offered new cuts in visuals?

– Yes, old English sex films can be dubbed but that doesn’t mean that all of them will click like KAMA SUTRA. The novelty and shock value of KAMA SUTRA cannot be expected to be there in every film.

Aren’t too many small-budget horror films being made?

– In the small-budget group, it’s only horror or sex films that are considered safe. Someone should try making a horror film with plenty of action. It just might click.

Does the Maharashtra government now give subsidy to Marathi film producers before the release of a film?

– Yes, subsidy of Rs. 15 lakh is given to a producer during the making of his film.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Bombay distributors Shringar Films hold the distinction of having released the first Dolby film (1942 A LOVE STORY at Metro, Bombay), the first DTS film (HINDUSTANI at Eros, Bombay) and the first Dolby digital film (DAUD at New Excelsior, Bombay).

* KAMA SUTRA (dubbed) has created a record by collecting 96.90% in 1st week in Delhi (4 cinemas).

* CHACHI 420 has created a record by collecting 5,92,606/- in 8 weeks at Payal, Dehradun.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

CBFC Higher Than High Court?

Although the Bombay high court clearly laid down in the case of Mira Nair’s Kama Sutra that there can be no additional cuts in the visuals in the dubbed version of a film (over and above the cuts in the original version), the Madras regional office of the CBFC has committed the same mistake which had been committed by the Bombay regional office in the case of Kama Sutra. The film in question this time is Gali Gali Anarkali, the Hindi dubbed version of the English (Indian) film, I Love You. Although I Love You is censored and released, the Madras office of the CBFC has refused certificate to the dubbed version.

Sexy Success

West Bengal distributor Romi Jaiswal seems to be lucky with films laden with sex. He had released Bandit Queen in his territory, which proved a hit. Now he is laughing his way to the bank with Kama Sutra. In between, he had damp squibs like Insaaf. Moral of the story: Sex spells success.

Luck Transferred

If West Bengal distributor Romi Jaiswal is lucky with sex films, Nizam distributor Ravi Machhar wouldn’t even try his luck with such films. Ravi was the original distributor of Kama Sutra for Nizam circuit, but his parents were against the idea of their son releasing “such films”. Like an obedient son, Ravi relinquished the rights and suggested the name of another distributor, Dilip Tandon, to R. Mohan, the all-India rights controller of Kama Sutra. Tandon should thank Ravi Machhar’s parents for the lottery.

Killing Jack To Accommodate John

It’s sad how a distributor ‘kills’ one film to make way for another. East Punjab distributors, Saraswati Films, released Kama Sutra last week and Zor this week. To accommodate Zor, they discontinued Kama Sutra from the cinemas of Jalandhar and Ludhiana. This, even though the collections of Kama Sutra were truly good. That’s not fair.

Divine Blessings?

By a strange coincidence, several people associated with Kama Sutra have their names which are religiously reverred in Hindu mythology. The film’s producer-director is Mira (Nair) and her banner’s name is Mirabai Films P. Ltd. The all-India rights are with R. Mohan (Lord Krishna is also called Mohan). The Bombay distributors are Shyam and Balkrishna (both names of Lord Krishna) Shroff. The Delhi-U.P. distributor is G.D. Mehta and the ‘G’ in his name stands for Govardhan. The name of the concern distributing the film in East Punjab and Rajasthan is Saraswati (Goddess of learning) Films.

‘JUDAAI’ 100 DAYS AT 35 CENTRES

Boney Kapoor’s Judaai is celebrating 100 days today (June 7) at more than 35 centres all over India. It is heading for 100 days at about 10 more centres. Produced by Surinder Kapoor and directed by Raj Kanwar, the film stars Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, Urmila Matondkar, Kader Khan, Paresh Rawal, Johny Lever, Upasna Singh and Farida Jalal. Music: Nadeem Shravan.

LATEST POSITION

The success of VIRASAT has taken many by surprise and has brought the much-needed joy in the industry.

Virasat started picking up from 2nd and 3rd day onwards and has now established itself as an A1 film in most of the circuits. The film’s making, Anil Kapoor and Tabu’s performances and its hit music score are being praised by the ladies and classes. 8th day’s collections were also wonderful at many places. 1st week Bombay 24,88,069 (90.43%) from 8 cinemas (8 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 10,81,437 from 5 cinemas, Baroda 2,13,407, Rajkot 1,61,281, Jamnagar 94,861, Kolhapur 1,99,772, Solapur (14 shows) 1,12,858 (97%); Belgaum 1,13,285; Delhi 44,45,836 (87.06%) from 12 cinemas (1 unrecd. and 1 on F.H.); Kanpur 3,81,559 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,68,355, Agra 1,64,346, Allahabad 1,08,000, Varanasi 1,22,200, Bareilly 1,15,139, Gorakhpur 1,14,000 (71.45%); Calcutta 15,83,905 from 16 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Nagpur 5,26,660 from 3 cinemas, Jabalpur 1,77,870, Amravati 1,17,972, Bhilai 1,35,688, Chandrapur 1,30,624, Yavatmal 70,030; Bhopal 2,54,511 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 4,73,353 from 2 cinemas, Ajmer (29 shows) 1,15,951, Bikaner 2,05,248; Hyderabad 4,42,957, full.

Insaaf has not found acceptance. 1st week Bombay 25,00,299 (59.09%) from 12 cinemas (11 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 2,94,209 from 3 cinemas (3 cinemas unrecd.), Rajkot 1,60,444 from 2 cinemas; Kolhapur 1,03,452, Solapur 1,08,348; Delhi 14,15,661 (49.33%) from 8 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,81,556 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow (6 days) 1,38,011, Agra 2,51,319, Allahabad 83,630, Meerut 1,70,240, Bareilly (5 days) 46,299, Gorakhpur (6 days) 90,000; Calcutta 15,02,280 from 21 cinemas; Bhopal 1,71,342 from 2 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Jaipur 4,57,610 from 4 cinemas, Jodhpur 1,10,000 (1 unrecd.), Bikaner 1,28,014, Bharatpur (gross) 91,500; Hyderabad 23,38,548 from 17 cinemas. Opened this week in C.P. Berar.

……….

Mahaanta 2nd week Bombay 6,75,460 (36.37%) from 4 cinemas (11 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 3,57,182 from 5 cinemas, Jamnagar 33,901; 1st Kolhapur 1,26,411 (91.60%), 2nd Solapur 74,771; Delhi 5,33,963 from 6 cinemas (1 unrecd., 6 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,50,503 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,15,455, Agra 80,000, Allahabad 57,000, Varanasi 65,572, Bareilly 67,891, 1st Hardwar 45,000; 2nd Calcutta 1,44,583; Nagpur 96,404 from 2 cinemas, 1st Jabalpur 1,21,039, 2nd week Amravati 69,462, Akola 50,552, total 1,71,969, Raipur 91,014, Jalgaon 88,796, Wardha 26,313; Indore 52,098, Bhopal 63,165, Ujjain 41,927; Jaipur 1,19,204; Hyderabad (6 days) 1,44,203; 13 days’ total at Vijayawada 2,66,703, 12 days’ total at Visakhapatnam 1,96,623.

……….

USHA KHANNA TURNS PRODUCER

Music director Usha Khanna has turned a serial producer with Mamta which she is making under the banner of Usha Khanna Productions. Krishna Singh is the co-producer. The 52-episode TV serial will go on the floors on June 29. It is being directed by Prabhat Khanna from his own story and concept. Cast: Shahbaaz Khan, Anjana Mumtaz and Asif Sheikh. Lyrics: Yogesh.

SHILPA SHIRODKAR BEREAVED

Veteran Marathi film actress Meenakshi Shirodkar, grandmother of Shilpa and Namrata Shirodkar, breathed her last on 2nd June in Bombay. She had broken her backbone and was operated upon two weeks back. She was 81 and is survived by a son and his family.

Meenakshi was the first actress of Marathi films to appear in a swimsuit on the screen in Master Vinayak’s classic film, Brahmachari. She acted in many films and stage plays.

COURT RESTRAINS T-SERIES FROM SELLING ‘ZIDDI’, ‘SALMA PE…’ CASSETTES

Judge R.Y. Ganoo on 9th May passed an order confirming his earlier ad interim order that T-Series (Super Cassettes Industries), their servants and agents are restrained from manufacturing and selling of cassettes and CDs of Ziddi and Salma Pe Dil Aagaya. They are further restrained from removing any stock of these two titles from their factories/godowns. This order was passed on an application made by Vatsa Entertainment Ltd. in the Bombay city civil court. Vatsa Entertainment had terminated its agreement with Super Cassettes Industries for the manufacture and distribution of Ziddi and Salma Pe Dil Aagaya cassetes. However, T-Series continued to manufacture these cassettes and CDs and also did not pay the royalty due to Vatsa Entertainment and hence Vatsa filed a suit in the Bombay city civil court.

CINEMA OWNER, MANAGER ARRESTED IN VIJAYAWADA: TRADE UPSET

The proprietor and the manager of a leading twin cinema complex of Vijayawada were arrested by the police on 4th June for allegedly abetting black-marketing in tickets. The distribution and exhibition sectors of Vijayawada trade remained closed on 5th in protest against the arrest and the atrocities of the police. About 500 people from the two sectors took out a silent procession through the main streets of the city to the office of the Vijayawada police commissioner.

In the meantime, the cinema owner and manager were released on bail on 4th itself.

YASHWANT KACHHWAHA BEREAVED

Anand cinema, Jodhpur, remained closed for two days earlier this week due to the death of Geetadevi Kachhwaha, widow of Mahendra Singh Kachhwaha and sister-in-law of Yashwant Singh Kachhwaha of Anand cinema. Mahendra Singh Kachhwaha expired last month.

SIGNED

Rajkumar Santoshi Signs Priyadarshan, Akshaye

Priyadarshan has been signed to direct Akshaye Khanna for a film to be made under the banner of Ram Creations for producer Rajkumar Santoshi. It has music by A.R. Rahman, art by Sabu Cyril, and cinematography by K.V. Anand. Regular shooting will start from July 1. A leading lady and other cast and credits are being finalised. Xavier Marquis is the co-producer of the film.

CENSOR NEWS

Inderjit Films Combine’s Itihaas was given C.C. No. CIL/3/17/97 (A) dt. 2-6-’97; length 4442.67 metres in 18 reels (cuts: 281.01 metres).

Paramount Films of India Ltd.’s The Phantom – Vetal (dubbed) was given C.C. No. CFL/2/20/97 (UA) dt. 4-6-’97; length 2766.86 metres in 10 reels (no cut).

Prakash Jha Productions’ Mrityudand, seen on 3rd, has been passed with UA certificate, with cuts.

Sri Nirmala Devi Combines’ Do Aankhen Barah Hath (length 4107.48 metres in 15 reels), applied on 2nd, was seen on 4th.

Devyank Arts’ Lav Kush (length 4884.82 metres in 18 reels), applied on 3rd and seen on 4th, has been passed with U certificate, without cut.

Trimurti Films P. Ltd.’s Gupt (length 4776.25 metres in 17 reels), applied on 3rd and seen on 5th, has been offered A certificate, with cuts.

YOU ASKED IT

Pre-release reports of Virasat in trade circles were bad. People felt, a film with such a rural background would never run. They also felt, it was too much of a class taste. What went right?

– There’s no hard and fast rule that a rural background film cannot run. A story which touches the heart, whether based in a village or a city, is bound to run. VIRASAT may have a class treatment but it deals with a subject which has mass appeal and there’s also plenty of sentiments for the ladies.

What is the formula for box-office success?

– There’s no readymade formula as such, but novelty, either in content or presentation, coupled with conviction in what you are making, has more chances to succeed than anything else.

Why do you keep criticising stars for their high prices? After all, it is producers who run after stars, not vice versa?

– Yes, stars don’t run after producers, and their prices are governed by the laws of demand and supply. But my point is that since they are a part of this industry, they must have a more compassionate approach and should show more concern for the others in the industry by pricing themselves more realistically.

IN & OUT OF BOMBHAY

Mr. R.R. Khajanchi of Khajanchi Film Exchange, Amravati, is expected in town (493-0645) on 10th June.

Producer-director Indra Kumar returned from the USA on 6th night.

Producer Vashu Bhagnani returned from his holiday abroad on 6th June.

Producer Boney Kapoor will return from Madras this evening (7th June) and will go to the USA on 9th.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

‘Kama Sutra’: Video Cassettes Available?

Traders in Naaz were shocked to learn that pirated video cassettes of Mira Nair’s dubbed Hindi film, Kama Sutra, were in circulation in the market. Reportedly, the cassettes originated from London where a premiere show of the film was held some time back. Ajay Devgan, who holds the film’s distribution rights for Bombay, is contemplating taking up the matter with R. Mohan who holds the all-India rights of the film. Obviously, Ajay Devgan would now demand a drastic price reduction. It may be recalled here that pirated video cassettes of Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen were also out much before the film’s theatrical release.

Tension Brewing

There’s tension on the Mrityudand front. Producer-director Prakash Jha is contemplating a price hike but the film’s Bombay distributor, Vinodbhai Kakkad, is in no mood to agree to hike. Reportedly, he has expressed his desire to the producer to relinquish the distribution rights if a price hike is insisted upon. C.P. Berar distributor Rajesh Jain (who is also the C.P. distributor of Insaaf and who obtained a court order in the case of Insaaf for its delivery at the contracted price) is also thinking in terms of going to court against the price hike.

By the way, Rajesh Jain took delivery of Insaaf at a little above the contracted price (outright purchase) and released it in his territory this week.

‘Virasat’ Success: The Firsts

There are a couple of firsts associated with the success of Virasat. After so many years have producers Mushir-Riaz got a success that Virasat is almost like their first victory. Their last successfull film was Mehbooba and even that, released 21 years ago, wasn’t a universal success. After Mehbooba, it was just a line of flops and debacles from their banner which gave films such as Apne Paraye, Rajput, Shakti, Zabardast, Samundar, Commando and Akayla. Virasat is also director Priyadarshan’s first commercial success. Priyan, as Priyadarshan is known to his friends, has always been counted as a ‘class director’ because his films invariably have a ‘class’ treatment which make them critically acclaimed films but which are commercial flops. Even though Virasat has that ‘class’ touch of Priyan, it has been loved by the ladies, besides the elite audience. And since this ‘class’ film deals with the story of a village, it just might do good business in ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres too. If it does, it will be another first — a ‘class’ film doing good business in small centres.

Changed Scenario

Talking of Virasat, one also recalls the number of changes which took place in its cast and credits before the film was finally started. It was initially supposed to be directed by J.P. Dutta. After J.P., it was Bharathan, the director of the original version (Thevar Magan), who was roped in. But the guy is said to have told Raaj Kumar in his very first meeting with the star that he was a great fan of his. Not wrong in being anybody’s fan but the producers felt, if the director was so much in awe of the actor, he wouldn’t be able to do a competent job. It was then Mahesh Bhatt who was signed to call the shots. Finally, Priyadarshan was assigned the job. For the role of the older Thakur (hero’s father), currently played by Amrish Puri, the original choices were Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar. Dilip Kumar did not do the film as he was busy with the direction of Kalinga. Raaj Kumar was reportedly angry with J.P. Dutta who did not reach at the appointed time to narrate the story to him. When Mahesh Bhatt was signed to direct the film, the writer was to have been Javed Akhtar. Reportedly, Javed expressed reservations about Anil Kapoor being able to do justice to the role of the hero and wanted him to be replaced. Of course, Mushir-Riaz would hear nothing of it. The funny part is that Raaj Kumar on his part did not think, Javed Akhtar was suitable to write the film.

Raj Kanwar’s Second Gesture

It has been Raj Kanwar again who has shown grace by postponing the release of Itihaas by a week so that Border has no opposition. Border last week was postponed by a week and will now come on 13th June, the day on which Itihaas was earlier scheduled for release. The funny part is that Itihaas release was planned for 13th June only because Border was initially due to come on 31st May. Raj Kanwar had at that time personally met J.P. Dutta and asked him about the release plans of Border and, on his own, volunteered to come two weeks after Border. The latter film later got postponed by a week, to 6th June. Then, last week, it was decided to postpone Border by a further week. Raj Kanwar was initially reluctant to change his date and stuck to 13th June. After all, it wasn’t his fault if Border was postponed by a week. But Bharat Shah, who presents Border, requested Raj Kanwar to move ahead by one more week just one last time. There were meetings and telephonic conversations galore on 3rd June between Bharat Shah and Raj Kanwar. Finally, Raj relented and Bharatbhai beamed with joy. But Raj Kanwar, in agreeing to release his Itihaas on 20th June, told Bharatbhai that should Border be further postponed, it would be Bharatbhai’s turn to not get it in opposition to Itihaas and, instead schedule it for any day after 20th June. Bharatbhai, of course, agreed readily.

Ghai’s August Connection

With the release of Subhash Ghai’s Pardes planned for 8th August, one is reminded of three other Ghai films which were released around the same time in earlier years —Karma on 7th August, 1986, Saudagar on 8th August, 1991, and Khal-nayak on 5th August, 1993. The music of Pardes will be released on 30th June but those who’ve heard the songs say, they are melodious and mesmerising (Nadeem Shravan and Anand Bakshi). Besides six Hindi songs, the film also has an English number, written and rendered by Hema Sardesai. A song of Pardes will be aired on television for the first time on 15th June in the Superhit Muqabala programme on DD1.

Smallest Cinema, Biggest Share

It pays to keep your cinema in good condition. This is what one can conclude when one sees the shares of Insaaf in Indore. Although the film has not been appreciated, it has yielded a handsome share from Abhinayshri cinema of Indore. In fact, of all the five cinemas in Indore, in which Insaaf was released last week, Abhinayshri has the smallest seating capacity (only 745) and yet, it has yielded the highest share in Indore. The owners of Abhinayshri and Amulshri spent a fortune in renovating the cinemas recently. The two cinemas have been merged into one. The name Abhinayshri has been retained for the merged cinema.

Release At Short Notice

K.C. Bokadia is indeed an opportunist. No sooner was the release of Border postponed last week, from 6th to 13th June, than he decided to release his own Gundagardi on 6th as there were no other releases fixed for the day. In just a week’s time, he got all his distributors to agree to the release and effected deliveries smoothly to meet the release date. To his luck, Thursday was Amavasya day and the film opened to very good houses. Of course, the mass-appealing title also did the trick.

‘Speedy’ Saazish

Bengal distributor Lala Damani, who has turned a Hindi film producer too (he has already produced Bengali films), deserves to be complimented for the speed with which he is completing his Saazish, starring Mithun Chakraborty, Vikas Bhalla, Pooja Batra, Kashmira Shah, Helen, Aroona Irani, Sachin, Homi Wadia and others. The film went before the cameras on 20th March and it should be complete in a couple of days — that is, in less than three months! Perhaps, because he is a distributor first, Lala did not make a mere proposal, rather, he signed his artistes after his script was ready. For music, Lala opted for melody instead of “today’s Western tunes”, as he calls them. Sudhir R. Nair, erstwhile assistant to Shashilal Nair, has directed Saazish which abounds in emotions in the first half and action in the second half.

Incidentally, Ajay Devgan was to play the role which is now being played by Mithun Chakraborty. For some reason, Ajay couldn’t do the film. But Ajay liked the film’s story so much that he acquired its distribution rights for Bombay.

Sony’s Music Company

The Sony people have now opened a music company too. Called Sony Music, the new company has its posh and tasteful office at Santacruz, Bombay. To begin with, Sony will release some basic albums. It hasn’t acquired any film music rights so far, but will do so soon.

THREE CINEMAS REOPEN WITH ‘RAJA HINDUSTANI’

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

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

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

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

Empty Promises But No Action

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

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

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

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

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

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

CRUCIAL MEETING ON MONDAY

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

Veeru Devgan Hurt On ‘Sar Utha Ke Jiyo’ Sets

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

‘Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai’ Major Spell

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

‘Virasat’ Dubbing Complete

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

‘..Aur Pyar Ho Gaya’ Last Schedule

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

‘Auzaar’ Copy Out

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

‘Mrityudand’ Complete

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

DO YOU KNOW?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ANNOUNCEMENT & LAUNCHING

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

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

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

* * *

Nandu Tolani Announces ‘Dada Thakur’

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

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Exciting Entertainer

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

The Best Of Saurashtra

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

Republic Day Wishes From Raja Hindustani

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

A SHOT IN THE ARM FOR FILM INDUSTRY

Four leading names of our industry have been voted to the Lok Sabha. Sunil Dutt was declared winner from Bombay North-West constituency. He won by a margin of about 80,000 votes over his nearest rival, Madhukar Sarpotdar of the Shiv Sena. In Agra, Raj Babbar made it to the Parliament by beating his nearest rival, Bhagwan Shankar Rawat of the Bharatiya Janata Party, by a margin of 1,12,982 votes. Vinod Khanna was re-elected from his Gurdaspur (Punjab) constituency. However, he managed to win by only a slender margin of 1,399 votes over Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder of the Congress. Producer D. Rama Naidu, whose first battle of the hustings the election was, too, proved victorious. He won on a Telugu Desam Party ticket.

The news really gladdens the hearts of the industry people, but what would make them proud is if these four well-thinking personalities would use their MP status effectively for the welfare of our industry. Hopefully, they will highlight the industry’s problems in Parliament and get some corrective measures taken to ameliorate the hardships being suffered by the industry folk.

OF ‘TAAL’ AND MAAL: OF ‘MANN’ AND DHAN

Producer-director Subhash Ghai cares for his distributors. He has decided to compensate those of his distributors of Taal, who will suffer losses. Ghai may not refund part of their MG royalties, but he will sell his next film to them at a discounted price. That is to say, the distributors who’ve lost in Taal will have to pay lesser maal for Ghai’s next film. Subhash Ghai, after having had talks with his all-India distributors, feels that he will have to compensate mainly his Bengal, Bihar, C.P. Berar and Rajasthan distributors.

Contrary to rumours, Ghai is thrilled with the performance of Taal. Says he, “The Overseas distribution rights of the film were sold at almost three times the price of a major circuit in India. Which means that the Overseas is equivalent to three major territories for Taal. Nobody can dispute the fact that the film is a plus fare in Overseas (three circuits), Bombay (1 circuit), South (half a circuit), and C.I. (20%). My Delhi-U.P. and East Punjab distributors are confident of earning in the film. So that leaves the Eastern circuit, C.P. Berar and Rajasthan distributors only.”

If Taal is bringing joy to Ghai, the demise of his brother-in-law (sister’s husband) last week in Delhi has saddened him no end.

*         *         *

While on producers compensating their distributors, the makers of Mann have also promised to look after the interest of their distributors who lost heavily in the film. Indra Kumar and Ashok Thakeria have conveyed to their distributors that their next film will be offered to all of them at a no-profit-no-loss price. Less dhan then, for Indra-Ashok next time!

YOU ASKED IT

What would you do first and foremost for the film industry if you had the powers of the prime minister of India?

– Abolish entertainment tax on films in every state. Because it is one of the most unjust taxes today.

Why have publicity budgets of films gone up in the last few years?

– The importance of publicity and marketing is finally being appreciated by producers. Besides, profit margins of film producers are higher today. And, channels of publicity have also increased.

Will the Lok Sabha election results have any effect on the film industry?

– This is like asking whether the runaway successes of HUM AAPKE HAIN KOUN..!, RAJA HINDUSTANI or DILWALE DULHANIA LE JAYENGE or the debacles of PREM AGGAN or DIL SE.. toppled the government at the Centre! Jokes apart, the industry hopes, the filmworld MPs do something to improve its lot.

MIX MASALA

OF LUCK AND BAD LUCK

Talk of bad luck and the name K.D. Shorey is bound to come up. From now on, that is. His imminent ouster as IMPPA president through a no-confidence motion under way raises a couple of interesting points. Shorey was elected president during the shraddh period — quite a stroke of luck, looking to the fact that the period is considered inauspicious by all Hindus. But with the move for Shorey’s ouster having begun four days back, he is now due to be removed from the apex office as soon as the auspicious period of Navratri begins on Sunday (10th October). Inauspicious period (shraddh) proves lucky, and the auspicious period (Navratri) proves unlucky — now, that’s something!

DO YOU KNOW?

* The producers of Marathi super-hit BINDHAST are giving ‘surprise gifts’ and gifts of tolas of gold to the lucky cinegoers viewing the film from October 8 to 14 at any of the 13 cinemas of Bombay city and suburbs, screening the film. The gifts of gold total 25 tolas. The winners will be decided by draw of lots from the counterfoils of tickets sold.

* Producer Madhu Purohit has ordered for three snakes, each of 40 feet length, for his recently-launched COBRA which he is making in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. These snakes have been ‘made’ in Taiwan. Made, because they are not real snakes. They are made of polyester fibre and rubber. The snakes will slither and slide on the screen with the aid of computers. 

* BINDHAST (TF) has created a city record for Marathi films by collecting 1,01,758/- in 1st week at Arati, Wardha.

CENSOR NEWS

Rajshri Productions P. Ltd.’s Hum Saath-Saath Hain was given C.C. No. CIL/1/52/99 (U) dt. 6-10-’99; length 4843.88 metres in 18 reels (no cut).

Adishakti Films & Visions P. Ltd.’s Vaastav was given C.C. No. CIL/3/54/99 (A) dt. 7-10-’99; length 4203.55 metres in 17 reels (cuts: 6.02 metres).

Varma Corporation Ltd.’s Mast, applied on 5th and seen on 7th, has been issued C.C. No. CIL/1/53/99 (U) dt. 8-10-’99; length 4283.52 metres in 16 reels (minor deletion in sound only).

20th Century Fox’s Star Wars Episode I – The Phantom Menace (dubbed), seen on 4th, has been issued C.C. No. CFL/2/28/99 (UA) dt. 7-10-’99; length 3640.87 metres in 13 reels (no cut).

20th Century Fox’s Titanic (dubbed) was seen on 5th.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Brilliant Bajpayee

The industry has got a brilliant actor in Manoj Bajpayee. The guy proved in Satya that he is a reservoir of talent. He proves it once again in the ready-for-release Shool. Kaun may not have done well at the box-office but Manoj’s performance in that film, too, won him accolades. But why is Manoj Bajpayee concentrating only on middle-of-the-road cinema? Or is it that commercial makers are not singing Bajpayee? Either way, it is cinema’s loss, for, the guy could do with some really substantive roles in mainstream cinema as he is capable of delivering the goods. Besides Manoj, one sees a spark in the director of Shool too. He is E. Nivas who used to assist Ram Gopal Varma. Coming back to Shool, the film is a hard-hitting drama on the scene in Bihar today. It is the story of an upright police officer (played by Manoj Baipayee) who is posted in a town of Bihar and who is caught in the rowdy politics of the area. He has sympathisers on his side but nobody dares to support him for obvious reasons. E. Nivas does a fine job as a director in his maiden attempt.

Breakfast Show

The pitiable condition of the cinemas in C.P. Berar can be described by the examples of two cinemas. One is that of a cinema in C.P., which had to pull down its shutters as it could not collect even the weekly compound entertainment tax. The management of that cinema, of course, claims that the cinema has been closed for repair work! The other example is that of Shyam Talkies of Raipur, which has availed of compound tax facility. To keep itself in business, the cinema is not only screening C-grade English films in morning shows but also offering free breakfast packets to its patrons in that (6.30 a.m.) show. Sasti film mahengi screening!?!

Unity In Diversity

They belong to different political parties. But they belong to one film industry. Among the film industry winners for the Lok Sabha, Sunil Dutt belongs to Congress, Vinod Khanna, to the BJP, Raj Babbar, to the Samajwadi Party, producer D. Rama Naidu, to the Telugu Desam, Kannada film actor Ambarish, to Congress, and Tamil film writer Murasoli Maran, to the DMK. The same with the losers: Telugu film producer and financier T. Subbarami Reddy (Congress), Gujarati actor-producer Mahesh Kanodia (BJP), producer-director Muzaffar Ali (Samajwadi Party), and Malayalam actor Murali (CPM). Just goes to prove the film industry’s unity in diversity.

‘Suraj’ Eclipses ‘Baadshah’

Question: Who of the two — Shah Rukh Khan and Mithun Chakraborty — is more popular? Answer: Mithun Chakraborty. Surprised? Don’t be! For, the answer is true, at least in Nepal. As things stand, the sun shone brightly over Mithun Chakraborty’s Suraj — so much so that the film earned shares of Rs. 90,000 from Birganj and Rs. 60,000 from Raxaul in Nepal. In stark contrast, the Shah Rukh Khan starrer, Baadshah, released after Suraj, was quickly dethroned from Nepal cinemas and managed to earn low shares of Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 25,000 in the two places respectively. ‘Low’ because of the film’s high price! Suraj, for that matter, seems to have eclipsed all recent releases. Reports have it that both, Haseena Maan Jaayegi and Anari No. 1, plunged into darkness after only 4-5 days’ run each in Nepal. Way to go, Mithun!

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Dear Sir,

Ref.: Comments of Mr. Bipin Savla, associate producer of RAJA HINDUSTANI, published in Film Information‘s issue dated 28-8-’99

The comments of Mr. Bipin Savla, which appeared in your abovementioned issue, have put me into a state of shock because I happen to be the distributor of Bihar viz. Proper North Bihar of Raja Hindustani — the film in question. Owing to the exorbitant demands of the producers over the past few years, the principal distributor for Bihar is forced to cover his risk by selling films in four part-territories — South Bihar which accounts for 50% of the cost; Proper North Bihar which accounts for 25%; Nepal, 17%; and Katihar, 8%.

The principal distributor of Raja Hindustani, M/s. N.P. Pictures, Calcutta (thru M/s. Kumar Films, Patna), had given us the film for Proper North Bihar for Rs. 10 lakh at the rate of 25% of the price for Bihar. At the time, they had quoted the price for Bihar as Rs. 40 lakh. Thereafter, within two months of the release of Raja Hindustani (i.e. in January ’97), one of its producers, Mr. Bunty Soorma, and Mr. Bipin Savla (who, apart from being the film’s associate producer, also happens to be the proprietor of M/s. N.P. Pictures, Calcutta) came to Patna, accompanied by a representative of Tips. During their visit, I conceded to their demand to convert the earlier agreement into outright basis, knowing fully well that the sum demanded from me for Proper North Bihar would not be covered even in repeat-runs, leave alone the first run of the film — which is what has actually happened. I agreed to their unjust demand solely because I was new at the time and hence wanted to avoid any litigation that may have arisen out of my refusal to do so. Be that as it may, the fact remains that I paid Mr. Bipin Savla Rs. 15 lakh outright for Proper North Bihar, which, I presume, is the highest bid ever received by any producer for the entire Bihar territory, let alone Proper North Bihar which constitutes only 25% of it. In this light, I would like to ask Mr. Bipin Savla how he could claim not receiving overflow for Raja Hindustani from Bihar when he had already received Rs. 15 lakh for Proper North Bihar. Even though I cannot comment on the remaining 75% of Bihar territory, I can safely state that Mr. Bipin Savla is completely wrong in claiming that he had not received any overflow from Bihar.

The price quoted by producers for the Bihar territory nowadays is in proportion to territories like Bombay and Delhi in spite of the fact that the average admission rates of cinema tickets in Bihar for balcony and dress circle classes are ridiculously low (Rs. 5 and Rs. 7 respectively) as compared to those in Bombay and Delhi. Given this, it is easy to judge whether the producers are justified in asking for Bihar a price in ratio of that for Bombay and Delhi. Thus, whatever prices the producers extract from Bihar distributors today, they do so considering them to be outright prices only. This is the reason, I presume, why no film is able to cover its cost in Bihar today.

– J.L. Jha
Nirmala Pictures,
Patna.

TRISHAKTI

Bollywood Creations’ Trishakti (A) is about three street-smart young men who get embroiled between the two warring gangsters in the city. There are also a two-timing policeman and a home minister. The subject has nothing to thrill, inspire or entertain. The screenplay is made up of predictably contrived incidents, and the dialogues are good only at places. The drama becomes a little interesting towards the concluding reels and culminates into a climax which provides some shock value.

Milind Gunaji is okay. Sharad Kapoor is fair. Arshad Warsi is quite entertaining. Ashish Vidyarthi, as the dominating don, has done well. Govind Namdeo, as Ashish Vidyarthi’s rival, stands out with a lovely performance, giving his villainy a comic touch. Radhika, who plays the female lead, has an insignificant role and she is just about okay. Jatin Kanakia, Tej Sapru, Vishwajeet Pradhan, Shehzaad Khan, Tiku Talsania and Himani Shivpuri are average. Sadashiv Amarapurkar impresses as the two-timing police officer.

Direction (Madhur Bhandarkar) is a fair debut attempt. Musically, two of the four songs help to develop the drama. Action scenes are many but they lack thrill. Production values are okay. Cinematography and other technical aspects are passable.

On the whole, Trishakti, without the required support of face value, and devoid of novelty, is a weak fare.

Released on 6-8-’99 at Alankar and 16 other cinemas of Bombay thru Dilsa Distributors Combine. Publicity: average. Opening: dull. …….Also released all over.

‘TAAL’ MIXING COMPLETED TODAY MORNING

Mixing of writer-producer-director Subhash Ghai’s Taal concluded at 4 o’clock this morning (August 7) at Empire Audio Centre. The first copy will be out this evening. The film stars Anil Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna and Aishwarya Rai. Music is scored by A.R. Rahman and lyrics are penned by Anand Bakshi. The film, certified for universal exhibition, is due to release all over on 12th August.

‘SARFAROSH’ CELEBRATES 100 DAYS

Cinematt Pictures’ Sarfarosh, with which John Mathew Matthan made his debut as producer, director and writer, completes 100 days today (7th August) at Maratha Mandir and Metro (matinee), Bombay. The film stars Aamir Khan, Sonali Bendre, Naseeruddin Shah and Mukesh Rishi.

‘KACHCHE DHAAGE’ SILVER JUBILEE

Tips Films P. Ltd.’s Kachche Dhaage entered silver jubilee week on 6th August at Imperial (matinee), Bombay. Starring Ajay Devgan, Saif Ali Khan, Manisha Koirala and Namrata Shirodkar, the film marked the debut of director Milan Luthria. Late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s music, Anand Bakshi’s lyrics and Tinu Verma’s action are the film’s high points.

N. CHANDRA ARRESTED, RELEASED ON BAIL

Producer-director N. Chandra was arrested on 3rd August by the Juhu police at his office at Juhu, Bombay, in a case filed by producer Milan Jhaveri under the Negotiable Instruments Act. The arrest warrant was issued by Justice Shalini Gaikwad of the Girgaum (Bombay) court following a suit filed by the producer.

Milan Jhaveri had alleged that he had made a payment to N. Chandra as signing amount about four years back. Since the project, for which N. Chandra was signed, could not make any headway, Chandra returned a part of the amount by cheques which were subsequently returned unpaid by the bank. Jhaveri, therefore, filed a suit against Chandra in the court. The court issued summons but Chandra failed to appear in the court which, therefore, issued an arrest warrant. Chandra was freed on bail the same day.

FIVE ‘A1’ FILMS AT GWALIOR

Chor Machaye Shor – 43 days – Filmistan – 1,10,233.40.
Gupt Gyan – 42 days – Roxy – 82,995.43.
Prem Nagar – 56 days – Yadav – 1,19,913.59.
Aap Ki Kasam – 45 days – Delite – 82,924.34.
Dost – 42 days – Krishna 84,636.34.

‘A1’ films are now not running for more than 6/8 weeks.

YOU ASKED IT

Sunny Deol starrer Pyaar Koi Khel Nahin did not take a very good start at most of the places. What about Sunny’s next, Arjun Pandit, which will be released on 20th August?

– The two films can’t be compared merely because they are Sunny starrers. The main difference between them is that the former has no action while the latter has a good dose of action — and this difference is evident in the promotional trailers of the two films, the titles and the overall packaging of the two. Since Sunny has an action image, ARJUN PADIT should take a flying start. More so, because its trailers are being loved by the audience.

What is the ratio of Mohabbatein likely to be?

– Even Yash Chopra may not have finalised the ratio of the film as yet. But he is one of the very few makers who doesn’t go overboard while fixing the ratios of his films. Even when he could have asked for 2.5 for DTPH, he sold it for 2.

Why do you keep saying that it is prices and not films which are failing?

– Because in the case of most of the big banner films, the ratios (prices) are unreasonably high. Producers demand (and get) prices which leave them with a profit margin of 6 to 10 crores a film and if such films are not able to cover their (high) price, it is perfect to say that it is the price and not the film which has bombed.

CENSOR NEWS

Mukta Arts P. Ltd.’s Taal was given C.C. No. CIL/1/39/99 (U) dt. 3-8-’99; length 5062.32 metres in 19 reels (cuts: 7.12 metres).

Ratan International’s Arjun Pandit was given C.C. No. CIL/3/36/99 (A) dt. 6-8-’99; length 4298.11 metres in 16 reels (cuts: 152.95 metres).

Navadarshan Productions’ Tu Hi Meri Ganga was given C.C. (in Hyderabad) No. CIL/36/43/99 (U) dt. 16-7-’99; length 3002.69 metres in 13 reels (cuts: 61.61 metres).

Victory Films Enterprises’ Aakhir Hai Kaun? was seen on 2nd.

Sachi Arts’ Dulhan Banee Daayan was seen on 4th.

N.P. International’s Khooni Mahal (revised; length 3076.33 metres in 14 reels), applied on 2nd, was seen on 5th.

Vishesh Films P. Ltd.’s Sangharsh (length 3849.65 metres in 15 reels) was applied on 6th.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Vasant Talkies, Amravati is the only cinema in C.P.C.I. Rajasthan where SARFAROSH has completed 100 days. The film’s distributors permitted the students of Tapovan, a leprosy mission in Amravati, to see the film at a concessional admission rate of Rs. 3 per head.

* The inmates of the home for the aged, widows of various mahila ashrams, deserted wives and orphans belonging to various associations/shelter homes in Gujarat are being notified by producers K.P. Patel and S.K. Patel that they do not have to pay a single naya paisa to see their Gujarati film, MAA TE MAA BIJA VAGDA NA VAA anywhere in Gujarat. The film, directed by Amar Kumar (Danny), is slated for release on August 13.

MIX MASALA

SOME JUSTICE, THIS!

The producer and the C.I. distributor of Nyaydaata are apt to cry, and cry out aloud, “Is this justice (nyay)?!?” The film was released on 5th August at Indore’s Chandragupta and in the first show, it could collect a paltry Rs. 452 against a capacity of about 20,000/-! With the audience verdict delivered, the film made an exit the very day it was released. Which means, the first day of the film proved to be its last day too! Like a batsman bowled out in the first ball!! The next day, Cheetah was released at the cinema.

Cut This Censor Problem!

Rightly had Shekhar Kapur launched a broadside against the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) which offered his Elizabeth three cuts. The rationale behind his fight against the censors was, in his own words, to break the jaane-bhi-do attitude of filmmakers. It is another thing that as an afterthought, Shekhar has chosen to tone down his ire against the CBFC.

Producers have for years now often been accepting the idiosyncrasies of the CBFC not because they agree with its (CBFC) thinking but because they’d rather let it pass simply as they either don’t have the time to get into a battle with the CBFC or don’t have the money for it or, in several cases, don’t have the inclination. Shekhar Kapur may not be right in arguing that since a film made by an Indian has been seen the world over, the Indian censors should also permit its screening in toto. But he was definitely right in saying that he would not accept any cut, howsoever small or irrelevant, simply because he was convinced that the interpretation of the censor guidelines was archaic. By saying so, Shekhar hit the nail on the head.

For too long now, the industry has been crying hoarse that the censor guidelines are outdated, but nothing seems to have come out of its protests. One must realise that censorship is and will always remain a subjective issue and the guidelines do give a free hand to those who view films for the purpose of censorship. The dictionary meaning of the word ‘guideline’  is ‘directing principle’. So the fault lies more in the interpretation and application of the guidelines by the powers-that-be than with the rules themselves.The industry needs to address itself to this problem of interpretation/application.

Mahesh Bhatt last year fought a lone battle to obtain a censor certificate for his Zakhm. That he finally succeeded may not have given him as much joy as the recent National Award his film received. The slap on the face of the CBFC must’ve bruised its ego more than anything else because the National Award to Zakhm was for the best film on national integration whereas it (CBFC) had straightaway referred the film to the home ministry as, in its esteemed opinion, the film could have served to incite communal feelings if it was allowed to be released. So much for the CBFC’s objective interpretation of censor guidelines! A pertinent point raised by Shekhar Kapur may be mentioned here. According to him, the problem arises because nobody in the CBFC wants to take responsibility for clearing a film that may seem even remotely controversial. If such films have ultimately to be passed by the courts because of this passing-the-buck game, why at all have the fare called CBFC?

Very often, producers are so hard-pressed for time that they’d rather accept the cuts offered by the CBFC, even if they don’t agree with them, than oppose them. Quite often, the rationale behind accepting the cuts is that they (cuts) may not be perceived to adversely affect the film’s box-office performance. A classic example of the jaane-bhi do attitude of filmmakers! Subhash Ghai’s acceptance of a cut ordered by the CBFC in Taal, perhaps, falls under the aforesaid category. The CBFC found the words ‘Manikchand Group’, visible in a song sequence of the film, as surrogate advertising for Manikchand pan masala and ordered their removal. At least a maker of Ghai’s calibre should have put his foot down and not given in to the prudish demand of the CBFC, simply because it doesn’t appeal to common sense or logic that Manikchand Group, which manufactures many other products, means the same thing as Manikchand pan masala. One did not expect Subhash Ghai to take things lying down like that.

The industry needs more Shekhar Kapurs and Mahesh Bhatts. May their tribe increase!

– KOMAL NAHTA

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Roads To Hell

Agreed that the film trade is full of ups and downs, but need that fact be reflected so harshly in the roads leading to Naaz building? For years now, every road that leads to the building has been deteriorating at a consistent rate. The number of potholes on each road also seems to be growing at an alarming rate. Keeping in mind the rate at which films flop nowadays, someone very rightly remarked that, perhaps, the roads serve to remind the eternally hit-starved producers and distributors of the Khud-daar song: Oonche neeche raaste aur manzil teri door.

Red Tapism In Film Imports

The CBFC seems to be loving the prospect of duplication of work. Or rather, let us put it this way: the I & B ministry would like the CBFC to do the same work twice over. Don’t believe it? Here’s how. When a private importer wants to import a foreign film into India, he has to first obtain an NOC (no objection certificate) from CBFC’s administrative officer for the import. The administrative officer relies upon the application of the prospective importer and a review of the film printed in any foreign magazine. Based on these, he forms an opinion about whether or not the film is suitable for import and, if convinced, he gives the NOC to the applicant! Why should the NOC at all be necessary is something which one doesn’t understand because, in any case, the film cannot be released anywhere in the country before it is censored by the CBFC. Even if that may be passed off as one of the bureaucratic idiosyncrasies, the fact remains that getting the NOC from the administrative officer is quite often a Herculean task — especially when he is on leave. It appears that the CBFC rarely, if ever, deputes anyone else in the officer’s place while he is on leave. In such cases, the importer ends up waiting agonisingly for the officer to return to his duty. In any case, why should the CBFC decide twice whether or not the film can be imported — first, without seeing the film, and again, after seeing it. Besides, it is not rare for the CBFC’s administrative officer to issue an NOC (thereby certifying that the film is appropriate for import) and later for the same CBFC to ban the said film (implying thereby that the imported films is inappropriate for screening in India). This is India!

‘Manikchand’? Naapasand!

Yet one more example of how difficult the censors can act. The regional officer of the CBFC, Bombay, Sanjeevani Kutty, objected to the display of the word ‘Manikchand’ in a song of Taal, censored recently. Since the censor guidelines mention that scenes tending to encourage, justify or glamorise consumption of tobacco or smoking should not be shown in a film, the regional officer (RO) ordered the word ‘Manikchand’ to be deleted as Manikchand are the manufacturers of pan masala. When producer-director Subhash Ghai tried to reason out that the words shown on screen were ‘Manikchand group’ and that the group manufactured many other things besides pan masala, the RO declined to accept the argument. Kutty’s argument was that although the words pan masala or gutkha were not used, the very mention of ‘Manikchand’ was tantamount to surrogate advertising. Ghai reminded Kutty that Doordarshan had aired a film awards function sponsored by Manikchand group, in which the banner of Manikchand group was shown, but that argument too was sidelined. Ultimately, ‘Manikchand Group’ had to be chopped off in the name of surrogate advertising. Ridiculous, did you say?!?

News From Overseas

Some heartening and some not-so-heartening news from across the border:

The music of Subhash Ghai’s Taal is creating ripples in the USA and the UK. It is the no. 1 selling audio cassette abroad today.

And now the bad news: The stage show in London on 31st July had to be stopped midway because of tension that erupted while Sonu Nigam was singing the Sandese aate hain song from Border. The show had Karisma Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, Raveena Tandon and others performing.

Hit Music Score

One music that’s bound to click in a big way is A.R. Rahman’s score in Jhamu Sughand and Deepa Mehta’s 1947 Earth. The Rut aa gayee re song, rendered by Sukhwinder Singh and chorus, will soon become a rage in the entire nation. It has a very earthy flavour and a tune that could make one simply swing to it. The other number that should be lapped up by the audience in a big way is the Banno song. This one has Sadhana Sargam lending her mellifluous voice alongwith chorus singers. It is another excellent number.

A Couple Of Hat-Tricks

With the National Award for his lyrics in Godmother (1998), Javed Akhtar has completed a hat-trick. For, this is his third consecutive National Award. He bagged one in 1996 for Saaz and the next year (1997) for Border. The only other person to have completed a similar hat-trick is Javed’s wife, Shabana Azmi. She picked up National Awards for the best actress in three consecutive years in the ‘eighties — for Arth in 1983, for Khandhar in 1984 and for Paar in 1985. What’s that they say about it all being in the family? And what’s that famous saying which goes: Behind every successful man, there’s a woman. Rephrased, it could read thus in this case: Before every successful man, there’s an equally successful woman.

Pitting ‘Pardes’ Against ‘Taal’

Subhash Ghai is angry with STAR TV. For, the channel was planning to do something that they were well within their legal rights to do but which appeared too unethical to be true. STAR, which holds the satellite rights of Ghai’s Pardes, planned to air the film on 14th August, a day after the release of Ghai’s new film, Taal. Obviously, the intention was to cash in on the publicity of Taal, besides, of course, the relevance of the film to the Independence Day (15th August). But in cashing in on the publicity of Subhash Ghai’s Taal, the channel would, perhaps, also be cutting into the revenues of the same film because a free Pardes on television could pose a formidable competition to a paid-for Taal. Which means, in effect, STAR TV would be using Ghai’s own film, acquired from nobody but Ghai himself, to possibly harm Ghai. The filmmaker registered his objection to the telecast date and one hears that STAR may take cognisance of the same and postpone the telecast by two weeks. Not just Ghai himself, even the Producers’ Forum, of which he is a member, lodged its protest with STAR TV.

Aish Hi Aish

After a prolonged dull phase initially, Aishwarya Rai has definitely found a ray of hope after the release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Her performance in the film has earned her widespread recognition as an actress of calibre. Now, even Yash Chopra has cast her, opposite Shah Rukh Khan, in his soon-to-be-launched Mohabbatein. If Taal clicks, Aishwarya would consolidate her position further in the coming months. Apart from Mohabbatein, her other films on hand include Rajkumar Santoshi’s as-yet-untitled film, director Deepak Sareen’s Albela (opposite Govinda), Raj Kanwar’s Dhai Akshar Prem Ke (opposite Abhishek Bachchan), Mansoor Khan’s Josh and Boney Kapoor and Satish Kaushik’s next (opposite Anil Kapoor). Interestingly, at least three of the above films — Mohabbatein, Rajkumar Santoshi’s next and Josh — have Shah Rukh Khan as her co-star.

It sure looks like smooth sailing for Aishwarya Rai then. Or shall we say, it’s aish hi aish for Ash?!!

Himesh On A High Note

Music director Himesh Reshammiya is in news these days because both the songs composed by him for Hello Brother — Gheoon tak and Teri chunariya — are absolutely racy numbers being loved by people who’ve heard them. Although Himesh is not in favour of sharing the credit for music direction with anybody as he used to in the earlier stage of his career, he has made an exception in Sohail Khan’s Hello Brother in which he shares the credit with Sajid Wajid. “That’s because Sohail Khan gave me a break in Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya and so I will never say “no” to him even if that means one or more other music directors in the film, besides myself,” says a grateful Himesh. The other two prestigious films Himesh is scoring music for — and both these projects are solo — are Gordhan Tanwani’s untitled film being directed by David Dhawan and starring Salman Khan and Karisma Kapoor, and Pranlal Mehta’s Chalo Ishq Ladaye, being directed by Aziz Sejawal and with Govinda and Rani Mukerji in the lead. Another film to be launched shortly is Sohail Khan’s Aryan.

The Jinx Story

The Manisha Koirala – Khan jinx has now been fortified with the failure of Aamir Khan – Manisha starrer Mann. The previous examples, we repeat, have been Majhdhaar, Sangdil Sanam and Khamoshi (with Salman Khan), Guddu and Dil Se.. (with Shah Rukh Khan), and Akele Hum Akele Tum (Aamir Khan). As if to give an extension to this jinx story, a devil-mind has brought to our attention that Manisha was a jinx even for a film produced and directed by a Khan, the film being Feroz Khan’s Yalgaar! And one more point, which the devil-mind did not fail to point out, is that Manisha had formally released the music of Feroz Khan’s Prem Aggan which marked the debut of Fardeen Khan. Manisha had released the music cassette jointly with Sanjay Dutt. The fate of Prem Aggan at the box-office is too well-known to be mentioned here!

Why A Flop?

Heard this one at a filmland party.
“Why is Pyaar Koi Khel Nahin dubbed a flop?”
“Because film ke tickets ka koi sale nahin!”

DULHAN HUM LE JAYENGE

Baba Films’ Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge is a comic drama about a boy who has to woo a girl, win her heart and thereafter win over her three crazy uncles to get her hand in marriage. Inspired from Ek Phool Char Kante, the film has its moments of fun and frolic, but the drama is not too exciting and involving. The three uncles are more caricatures than characters and due to this, they appear fake and frivolous. Even this could have worked had the comedy been hilarious. The drama unfolds in too pre-meditated a manner and, therefore, looks predictable and piecemeal rather than naturally-flowing. Further, the uncles do not have worthwhile roles although they are the biggest opposition to the proposed marriage of the boy and the willing girl.

The film’s first half is ordinary. The pace picks up a bit after interval but not consistently so. The screenplay (Rumi Jafri) relies on scenes, ideas and incidents borrowed from earlier films like DDLJ and Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin. Dialogues are also not so witty as to turn the scenes into hilarious ones.

Salman Khan looks terrific, acts quite well and dances wonderfully. Karisma Kapoor’s is the best and sincerest performance in the film. In every scene of the film, whether dramatic, emotional or comic, and in dances and thrilling sequences, Karisma puts her best foot forward and succeeds in winning the hearts of the audience. Her ‘Oh hello’ dialogue will be liked. Her costumes are splendid. Om Puri, Paresh Rawal and Anupam Kher are only average as the three uncles, mainly because their roles are not substantive enough. Johny Lever does a fine job as always and evokes laughter by his sheer presence as well as performance. Himani Shivpuri is so-so. Farida Jalal and Kader Khan (special appearance) fill the bill. Satish Kaushik (special appearance) acts ably but not many would be able to appreciate his brand of comedy (he is forever laughing). Dara Singh, Mayur (both in guest appearances), Deepak Tijori, Rakesh Bedi, Usha Bachani and Kashmira Shah add precious little to the film.

David Dhawan’s direction looks like a job hurriedly done. The director has seemingly not even made attempts to provide a fare that’s novel in some respects at least. Climax is quite a letdown and predictable. Himesh Reshammiya’s music (holding appeal mainly for the youth), the producer’s lavish spending on song picturisations and costumes, and the picturesque foreign locations are the really good things in the film. But if the songs have racy tunes of the popular genre, the situations of most of them are abrupt. Nevertheless, the song are a veritable eyeful. ‘Raat ko aaungaa main’, the title track, ‘Chhamiya’, ‘Munda kamaal hai’, ‘Tera pallo sarka jaay re’ and ‘Pyar dilon ka mela hai’ are truly entertaining songs and their picturisatons are extraordinary. But the title song has been wasted in the credit titles. Production values are superb. Camerawork (Harmeet Singh) is excellent. Editing (David Dhawan) is sharp. Sets (R. Varman) are rich.

On the whole, Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge has an ordinary drama and comedy that’s not marked by hilarity. It will, therefore, appeal only to some classes and age-groups of audience, mainly youngsters. Considering its high price, it doesn’t seem likely to be a paying proposition for distributors. Business in Bombay and South, however, will be better while being lesser in North.

Released on 24-3-2000 at Liberty and 18 other cinemas of Bombay by Baba Entertainment Ltd. thru Metro Films. Publicity: outstanding. Opening: very good. …….Also released all over. Opening was very good in Delhi, West Bengal, Bihar and Nizam but not up to the mark in parts of U.P., East Punjab and some stations of C.I. 1st day Jaipur 2,55,060 (80.73%) from 4 cinemas.

LATEST POSITION

The festival holidays did not really help last week’s releases.

Krodh began to drop as the week progressed. While it is fair at some centres, it is rather dull at others. 1st week Bombay 38,24,570 (75.82%) from 10 cinemas (9 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 5,97,912 from 5 cinemas (2 unrecd.), Jamnagar (matinee) 23,712; Pune 6,42,289 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 1,91,380 from 2 cinemas; Delhi 24,33,930 (32.62%) from 12 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 3,59,634 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow (6 days) 2,70,261, Agra 2,25,000, Varanasi 2,27,884, Allahabad 1,51,965, Bareilly (6 days) 1,46,443; Calcutta 14,68,077 from 12 cinemas; Nagpur 3,50,070 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 1,26,156, Amravati (6 days) 1,91,009, Akola 1,26,189, Raipur (6 days) 1,28,209; Indore 2,15,312 from 2 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Jaipur 4,51,897 from 3 cinemas, Ajmer (29 shows, gross) 2,28,897; Hyderabad (gross) 23,25,107 from 10 cinemas.

Sultaan is very poor. 1st week Bombay 9,85,528 (49.67%) from 6 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Pune 1,97,480 from 3 cinemas; Delhi 10,06,260 (21.10%) from 8 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,32,714 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 93,330, Agra 94,000, Varanasi 1,08,417, Allahabad 42,610, Bareilly (6 days) 70,315; Calcutta 4,02,352 from 6 cinemas; Nagpur 1,51,601 from 3 cinemas, Amravati (6 days) 70,302, Raipur (6 days) 30,471, Bhilai 28,239, Bilaspur (6 days) 61,225; Bhopal 78,951; Jaipur 1,70,455 from 2 cinemas.

…………

Badal continues to shine in U.P. 6th week Bombay 6,83,636 (62%) from 3 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 54,720; Solapur 49,932; Delhi 1,77,877; Kanpur 2,78,371 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,46,109, Agra 2,50,000, Allahabad 75,000, Bareilly 1,29,164; Calcutta 1,50,579; Nagpur 55,612, 2nd week Kamptee (4 days) 36,570, 1st week Balaghat (3 days) 49,749, 6th week Amravati 66,177, Akola 56,681, total 6,45,717, 5th week Chandrapur 54,202, total 5,79,909, 2nd Yavatmal 1,11,006 (1st 1,83,787); 6th week Indore 78,000, Bhopal 64,325; Jaipur 1,32,473, Ajmer (gross) 64,808; Hyderabad (gross) 3,40,635 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon, 1 unrecd.).

Pukar reaps the benefit of tax-exemption in U.P. with a phenomenal pick-up at several centres. 7th week Bombay (TF) 12,45,674 from 3 cinemas (4 cinemas unrecd., 2 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 3,69,982 from 2 cinemas; Pune (TF) 2,37,528 from 3 cinemas, Solapur (TF, matinee) 22,926; Delhi (TF) 3,45,206 from 2 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur (TF) 1,27,804, Lucknow (TF) 3,11,568, Agra (TF) 1,65,000, Varanasi (TF) 1,56,268, Allahabad (TF) 64,312, Meerut 81,000, Gorakhpur 78,000 (6th week 36,000), Dehradun 86,000, 3rd week Hardwar (TF) 25,000, 1st week Bijnor (TF) 1,08,000, Secunderabad (TF) 72,000; 7th week Calcutta 1,14,211; Nagpur (TF) 89,280, Jabalpur (TF, 6 days) 35,114, Amravati (TF, 6 days) 71,564, Akola (TF) 56,680, total 6,51,230, Raipur (TF, 6 days) 34,667, Jalgaon (TF) 90,007 (6th 85,212); Indore (TF) 33,397, Bhopal (TF) 30,000; Hyderabad (gross) 7,43,571 from 5 cinemas (1 in noon).

Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai is still mind-blowing. 10th week Bombay 40,15,662 (90.03%) from 10 cinemas (8 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 15,67,321 from 6 cinemas, Baroda (28 shows) 2,42,285, 4th week Padra 2,18,769, 3rd week Cambay 1,91,204 (2nd 1,64,668), 10th week Jamnagar 92,086; Pune 12,29,605 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 1,78,727; Delhi 20,77,221 from 5 cinemas; Kanpur 3,27,530 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 7,13,952 from 2 cinemas, Agra 1,85,000, Varanasi 2,17,191, Allahabad 1,25,754, Bareilly (6 days) 1,07,503, 7th week Hardwar 50,000; 10th week Calcutta 8,07,700 from 5 cinemas; Nagpur 2,21,708 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 1,72,210, 3rd week Balaghat 57,154, total 2,38,120, 10th Amravati 1,45,725, Akola 1,37,833, total 14,29,337, Raipur 1,23,213, Bhilai 67,051, 8th week Durg 71,003, 10th week Jalgaon 1,39,052 (9th 1,38,260), 5th Gondia (gross) 87,781, total 5,87,095, Wardha (nett) 1,04,556, total 6,13,503, share 4,98,503, 9th week Chandrapur 1,48,585, total 15,77,563, 8th Yavatmal 86,469; 10th week Bhopal 2,39,200, total 20,70,775; Jaipur 3,65,909 from 2 cinemas; Hyderabad (gross) 10,69,084 from 5 cinemas (1 in noon, 2 on F.H.); doing extraordinary in U.K., 10th week in England is as good as 2nd week, which is unprecedented.

GULSHAN KUMAR’S KILLERS ARRESTED NEAR DELHI

Three persons, allegedly involved in the murder of Gulshan Kumar, were arrested at Bahadurgarh village near Delhi on March 24. The names of the arrested persons have been given as Imtiaz Dawood Merchant, Adil Mohammed Khan and Pratap Singh. A team from Thane (near Bombay) police went to Delhi, following a tip-off, on March 19 when the Delhi police were carrying search operations in view of US president Clinton’s visit. The police team nabbed the assailants with the help of the Delhi police.

D.S. TULI ELECTED CEA PRESIDENT

D.S. Tuli was elected president of the Cine Exhibitors Association, Nagpur, at its annual general meeting held at Hotel Tuli International, Nagpur on 28th February. Dr. Sudhir Bhiwapurkar was elected patron; Vijay Kher and Prashant Rathi, vice presidents; S.B. Patil, honorary secretary; K.K. Sawhney, honorary treasurer; and B.M. Diwan, joint secretary. Others elected to the executive committee were K.G. Sarda, Prakash Ramlakhiyani, Rajesh Sharma, S.A. Sorathiya, Q.S. Kamal and Pranit Singh.

‘PUKAR’ CELEBRATES 50 DAYS

S.K. Film Enterprises and Boney Kapoor’s Pukar, produced by Surinder Kapoor and co-produced by Bharat Shah, completed its 50th day on 24th March at about 125 cinemas of the country. Starring Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Namrata Shirodkar and Danny, the film is directed by Rajkumar Santoshi. It has music by A.R. Rahman and lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri and Javed Akhtar.

SENTENCED FOR PIRATING HINDI MUSIC IN U.K.

A Warwick Crown Court judge in UK on 14th March found one Ebrahim Sodha guilty of importing and distributing pirated Asian music CDs and sentenced him to 8 months’ imprisonment on two counts under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. The judge also sentenced him to two months’ imprisonment for failing to attend trial in November 1999. Sodha was arrested in December 1997 by the Warwickshire police following a raid on a house in Nuncaton town where he was found to be in possession of over 3,500 pirated CDs of Hindi music such as ‘Maa Tujhe Salaam’, ‘Chaand Sa Chehra’, ‘Awaara Bhanware’ etc.

The seizure was made following a complaint received by Warwickshire Trading Standards from the British Phonographic Industry (B.P.I. Ltd.) which had been contacted by members of the Asian Music Industry.

NINE AHMEDABAD CINEMAS DEFAULT IN PAYMENT OF ENT. TAX

Nine cinemas of Ahmedabad have defaulted in the payment of entertainment tax amounting to a total of Rs. 1.68 crore, according to a report submitted by the ministry in the Gujarat legislative assembly. Of the nine cinemas mentioned in the report, six are situated in the city area. They are: Shree (arrears of Rs. 84.27 lakh), Kamal (Rs. 60.67 lakh), Mohan (Rs. 6.02 lakh), Roopalee (Rs. 2.62 lakh), Meera (Rs. 7.66 lakh) and Sonal (Rs. 4.30 lakh). The remaining cinemas are: Shyam Bareja (Rs. 2.51 lakh), Mayur Hathijan (Rs. 0.72 lakh) and Farook Dhandhuka.

PRAKASH MEHRA’S SON TO MAKE ACTING DEBUT

Producer-director Prakash Mehra’s son, Sumeet, will shortly make his acting debut in films. The details are not announced as yet.

FICCI TO HOLD MEGA CONFERENCE ON ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) is organising a 2-day conference on 30th and 31st March in Bombay, to discuss the problems faced by the entertainment industry in India. The conference, to be inaugurated at the hands of Union I & B minister Arun Jaitley, will be presided over by Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. It will be addressed and attended by people from the entertainment industry as well as those connected with intellectual property rights (IPR) protection.

An important part of the conference will be the seminar consisting of seven dedicated sessions to discuss: (i) the future of broadcasting in India; (ii) the Indian music industry; (iii) IPR and the entertainment industry; (iv) Indian film industry; (v) the content aspect of entertainment business; (vi) finance, capital markets and insurance issues for the entertainment industry; and (vii) regulatory framework in convergence.

The conference will also have a special session focussing on Maharashtra, besides the inaugural and valedictory sessions. A highlight of the seminar will be the presentation of a paper, by the well-known financial firm, Arthur Anderson, on ‘the Potential of Indian Entertainment Industry’. Prominent speakers at the seminar include Prasar Bharati CEO R.R. Shah; Discovery Communications India MD Kiran Karnik; Universal Music (India) president and MD Vijay Lazarus; Subhash Ghai (who will chair the special session focussing on Maharashtra); Shravan Shroff; Pahlaj Nihalani; Amit Khanna; Shekhar Kapur; Kamal Haasan; Shyam Benegal; Ramesh Sippy; Nimbus executive director and president Harish Thawani; Ambit Finance MD Ashok Wadhwa; NASSCOM chairman Dewang Mehta; and SET India CEO Kunal Dasgupta.

The organisation of the conference comes close on the heels of FICCI conducting an exhaustive study of the entertainment industry in India. The study makes several important suggestions to the government, which will help provide impetus to the future growth of the industry, such as creation of special anti-piracy cell in conjunction with the law enforcement authority; bringing the entertainment sector in parity with the IT sector with respect to overseas investment and stock-listing norms; streamlining of laws pertaining to the issuance of radio broadcasting licences; review of the functioning of the CBFC; issuance of broad regulations/guidelines for banks and financial institutions to facilitate lending to the entertainment sector; and review of archaic laws and onerous responsibilities cast especially on the film exhibition and live entertainment sectors.

CHITRA CINEMA, BOMBAY TO RE-OPEN WITH NEW-LOOK INTERIOR

The extensively-renovated Chitra cinema at Dadar, Bombay, will reopen on Sunday, 26th March with Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge. The cinema, owned by Dara P. Mehta, is now controlled by Ramesh Sippy and his son, Rakesh Sippy, in the name of Raksha Exhibitors. The ‘all-new Chitra’, as being publicised by the Sippys, is now totally air-conditioned and is equipped with Dolby digital sound system. For the projection, the latest Xenon Lamphouse with platter has been installed. The seats have been replaced by more comfortable ones. Even the ceiling, sidewalls and floor have been totally redone. “It would look like a vintage book with freshly-printed pages,” says Rakesh Sippy, as the exterior facade has been kept unaltered. Despite a complete overhaul, the admission rates are modest: Rs. 30 for stalls, Rs. 40 for executive class, and Rs. 50 for balcony class. The cinema’s weekly capacity is Rs. 3,30,421.77.

NEW CINEMA TO OPEN IN INDORE

A new cinema — Man Mandir — will open in Indore on 26th March (tomorrow) with Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge. The cinema, situated near Sayaji Club, has a seating capacity of 1,200. The ticket rates are Rs. 16, 26 and 36. It is equipped with Dolby DTS sound. Jagdish Sharma is the owner of the cinema.

NEW CINEMA OPENS AT WARDHA

A new cinema — Shree Ganesh — opened at Wardha yesterday (24th March) with Pukar (tax-free). The cinema is equipped with an air-cooling plant and has a large parking space. It has 750 seats — 251 in balcony and 499 in reserve class. Its screen size is 48′ x 20′.

The cinema is owned by Ravindra Kumar Bajaj of Durga Talkies, Wardha.

TWO NEW CINEMAS OPEN IN RAJASTHAN

Two new cinemas opened in Rajasthan this week. Alka Theare opened in Jaipur. Shivam opened at Kishangarh. Both the cinemas are equipped with DTS sound and are air-cooled.

NEW CINEMA IN JALGAON OPENS TODAY

A new cinema, Mohan Chitra Mandir, will open today (25th March) in Jalgaon with Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge. The cinema has a capacity of Rs. 7,982.70 per show and Rs. 2,23,515.60 for 28 shows. Phone: 225893 (cinema), 220350 (residence).

‘KKHH’ COMPLETES 75 WEEKS

Producer Yash Johar’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, directed by newcomer Karan Johar, completed 75th combined week of its run at Alankar (matinee), Bombay, last week. It stars Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol. Music: Jatin Lalit.

GHAI, SHETTY START TELECINE SET-UP

Audeus, the equpiment division of Subhash Ghai’s Mukta Arts Ltd., will launch its telecine set-up today (25th March) at 1.30 p.m. The set-up is installed in the premises of Adlabs at Film City and is being jointly promoted by Ghai and Manmohan Shetty (Adlabs).

The Rank Cintel Ursa Diamond telecine machine is installed at the studio, the first in Bombay. It is supported by Da-Vinci colour corrector and DVNR (digital visions noise reduction system) alongwith Evertz key coder. The site also has a provision for ultrasonic cleaning. It will be ideal not just for feature film producers but also for ad film makers, music album producers and promotional trailer makers. The location (at Adlabs) will ensure that there is minimum mishandling and transportation of negatives as many of them are stored at Adlabs itself.

SINGER RAJKUMARI DEAD

Well-known playback singer of yesteryears, Rajkumari, passed away on 17th March at a hospital in Bombay following prolonged illness. She was 84 and is survived by her son, Rajendra Dubey. Her songs from Mahal, Baware Nain, Anhonee and Bhakt Surdas are popular even today.

Rajkumari made her debut in films in 1934 as a singer, and later on also acted in films like Bombay Ki Sethani, Sansar Leela, Red Letter and Samsher-E-Arab. Some of her memorable songs are Sun bairi balam sach bol (Baware Nain), Ghabrake jo hum sar ko takraaye to achha and Tu mere dil mein dard (both of Mahal), Kajrari matwali (Nav Bahar) and Sarpe kadar ki chhaya (a duet with K.L. Saigal in Bhakt Surdas).

RAM GOPAL VARMA FINED FOR BOUNCED CHEQUES

On a petition filed by a still photographer, Ravindra Reddy, for dishonoured cheques, the 23rd metropolitan magistrate, Nampally, Hyderabad, has convicted A.V.S. Raju, director in Varma Corporation, and sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for six months. The metropolitan magistrate also fined both, Raju and producer-director Ram Gopal Varma, Rs. 5,000.

The still photographer had sued Ram Gopal Varma’s company for non-payment of dues to the tune of Rs. 90,000. The photographer was hired by Ram Gopal Varma’s company to shoot stills of Daud in 1997. The company had made an initial payment of Rs. 1.05 lakh to him. For the remaining amount of Rs. 90,000, the company issued two cheques which were dishonoured, the photographer alleged in his plaint.

DADASAHEB PHALKE MAN OF THE MILLENNIUM

A meeting of the Dada Saheb Phalke Trust of India was held on 24th March under the presidentship of Santosh Singh Jain. It was decided at the meeting to bestow the title of Man of the Millennium on late filmmaker Dadasaheb Phalke, at a function to be held on 30th April at ISKCON auditorium, Juhu, Bombay. It was also decided to commemorate the occasion by honouring the seniormost members of all the film crafts, producers, distributors and exhibitors for contributing their mite to the development of the industry.

YOU ASKED IT

In your editorial in last week’s issue (18th March), you have expressed hope that corporatisation in the film industry will bring in its wake more discipline, greater transparency and more organisation. But do you think, the speculators will invest in film companies with hundreds of corporate companies listed on the stock exchange? And what is the guarantee of transparency when transactions with the stars are in black?

– If there is transparency, discipline, organisation in the film industry, why will people not invest in film companies? For, film business then will be like any other business with the added advantage of glamour attached to it. And that is no mean advantage, you would agree. Besides, the entertainment sector is the fastest growing sector in the world.

There was a successful star who troubled his producers; there was a hard-to-get expensive writer who, despite his arrogant ways, gave many hits; and there was a director whose films always used to go over-budget, yet they were hits. They all died. Who must have gone to heaven and who, to hell?

– All must have gone to heaven because a very reliable source tells me, God is planning a film up there and wants to sign proven names to minimise His risk. That should make a divine proposal!

DO YOU KNOW?

* Nizam distributor Ravi Machhar had so much confidence in PUKAR that he went in for an absolutely limited-prints release in Hyderabad and Secunderabad. His experiment and confidence have paid off because he has recovered his entire MG royalty and print cost in 7 weeks.

* Goldie cinema of Aurangabad, which had paid a very high MG for PUKAR, has recovered it in just 50 days.

* MELA has created yet another city record at Nandurbar (C.P. Berar) in 11th week at Amrit Chitra Mandir.

* BADAL has created a city record by collecting 92,542/- in 1st week (27 shows) at Alankar, Sagar.

* BADAL has created a city record by collecting 80,072/- in 1st week at Goyal, Kamptee. 2nd week 4 days: 36,570/-.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Because Of The Stars

Not a single trial show of Gordhan Tanwani’s Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge was held before its release. Except for director David Dhawan, co-producer Ajay Acharya, writer Rumi Jafri and publicity designer Rahul Nanda, nobody connected with the film had seen its first copy before its theatrical release. Not even producer Gordhan Tanwani himself, what to talk of the film’s distributors or those not at all connected with the film. Even the four aforementioned persons saw the first copy in the laboratory in Madras as they happened to be there. It wasn’t a trial show in that sense of the term. And why was no preview show held? Because Tanwani’s guruji had told him that the stars in the sky foretold that it would bode well if no private or public show of the film was held before 9.32 a.m. of Friday (24th March). Resultantly, the film did not open anywhere on Thursday, not even in Orissa. Even on Friday, there was no 6 a.m. show in C.P. Berar or C.I.

Dilip Kumar’s Presentation

Remember Aag Ka Dariya, starring Dilip Kumar, Rekha, Padmini Kolhapure, Rajiv Kapoor, Amrita Singh and Amrish Puri? A film launched over a decade ago? Had the film been made in scheduled time and released, it would have almost been time today to sell its re-issue rights. But as the pandits say, fire and water don’t go together (Deepa Mehta will testify to this belief, as of now!). And the film’s title, Aag Ka Dariya (meaning ‘Sea of Fire’), once again goes to prove this belief, till now. Well, the hot proposal of those days got stalled when the film was just nearing completion and its producer, R. Venkatraman, ran into problems. It was through the intervention of Dilip Kumar that the film saw its completion. According to producer R. Venkatraman, Dilip Kumar stood by him through all these difficult years, and raised finance for the completion of balance shooting, background music recording and mixing. The film is now being presented by Dilip Kumar. What does the thespian actor think of the ‘staleness’ that might have set in due to the delay in production? According to him, if the film has merit, time lag would not make any difference. He cited the examples of Pakeezah and Mughal-E-Azam which, he said, were completed years after their commencement and yet proved big hits. He conceded that it was for the people to decide the film’s fate. An hour-long assemblage of selected portions of Aag Ka Dariya was screened for the press on 23rd March at Dimple preview theatre, Bombay, before Dilip Kumar held a press conference at his house. The film, directed by S.V. Rajendra Singh ‘Babu’, has some dramatic, emotional and patriotic scenes which are impressive enough. The film is now censored and is due for release in May. One can only wish that the film has a smooth sailing.

Losers All In This Jung:
Two Sanjays And A Satish In A Free-For-All

The jung over Jung is getting dirtier by the day. The latest is that hero Sanjay Dutt called a press conference in Bombay on 22nd March, where he exhorted the cinegoers to not see Jung as it was an incomplete film. According to Sanjay Dutt, he had only shot 60% of the film and was not dubbing for it as he had not been paid part of his remuneration.

But if you ask producer Satish Tandon, he is emphatic that his film is complete. “If after exposing 1,70,000 feet of raw stock and shooting for 125 shifts, Sanjay Gupta feels that the film is not complete, I wonder what his definition of a complete film is and how many days more he would want to complete the film,” said Satish Tandon to Information. The harried producer added, “Sanjay Gupta had told me that the film would be completed within a budget of Rs. 6 crore and in 6 months. But he has spent Rs. 12 crore and taken 3 years, and yet, he says, he has not completed the film! On his own admission, he needs 12 days to complete the film. He has also said that he needs to shoot two more songs and some scenes. When he takes at least 8 days to picturise a song, how does he plan to complete 2 songs and scenes in 12 days?”

When asked to clarify, Sanjay Gupta denied that he had exposed 1,70,000 feet in 125 shifts. “The world knows, Satish Tandon is lying. I’ve shot for exactly 71 shifts and exposed 1,10,000 feet,” he clarified. Gupta also dubbed a lie, Tandon’s contention that he had paid the director Rs. 7 lakh more than his contracted remuneration. Said Gupta, “Will a man, whose cheques of Rs. 4,000 bounce, pay Rs. 7 lakh extra to his director? He owes money to everybody.”

Sanjay Gupta has retaliated to Tandon’s court case against him for damages. The director was due, on 24th March, to file a civil defamation suit against Satish Tandon for the remarks made in the press against him.

While Sanjay Dutt and some other artistes and technicians are standing by Sanjay Gupta, the other hero of the film, Jackie Shroff, has not supported the captain of the ship. Sanjay Gupta interprets Jackie’s stand thus: “Jackie has no principles, no ethics. He is the man solely responsible for the current state of affairs. Had he not supported Satish Tandon in his wrongdoings, things would not have come to such a pass.” Efforts to contact Jackie for his version did not bear fruit.

Jackie and Raveena Tandon play a married couple in the film. They have a child suffering from cancer. Gupta was appalled that the songs, which were recorded to be picturised on Sanjay Dutt and Shilpa Shetty, were, on the sly, got picturised by Tandon on Jackie and Raveena in a slipshod manner in Hyderabad, after Gupta’s exit from the film. Satish Tandon admitted having had two songs shot without Gupta, by Bharat Kaushal (assistant of Sanjay Gupta). Gupta bemoaned the shuffling and mocked, “How can Jackie and Raveena be singing romantic songs when their child is suffering from cancer?” Reportedly, Universal, the company which holds the music rights of Jung, has not paid the balance instalments to Satish Tandon because it has not approved of the song picturisations on Jackie Shroff.

If trade talk is to be believed, at least two distributors of Jung have expressed their keenness to relinquish their rights in the film as they are wary of releasing a film that has been projected as incomplete, among the public. Not just that, some technicians of the film have filed cases in their respective associations for recovery of their balance remunerations from Tandon.

But producer Satish Tandon would like people to believe that his distributors are solidly behind him. To prove his point, he read out to Information a letter he had received from his West Bengal distributor. It is being rumoured that two more songs of the film may be picturised on Mamta Kulkarni. Gurdas Maan may be Mamta’s co-star in one of them. For this, Tandon may have to even change the lyrics of a song because the name of the character being played by Sanjay Dutt would have to be replaced in the song by another word.

The differences have not remained just professional. They’ve also gone personal with Tandon blaming Gupta of having undertaken a honeymoon trip to South Africa with his wife, at his (Tandon’s) cost. Gupta scoffed, “I don’t need Tandon’s money to go for a honeymoon, that too, three years after my marriage.”

There’s no denying the fact that the fault lies on both the sides. If Satish Tandon feels, he has been terribly wronged, it is also true that he has not come clean in the entire episode. Likewise, if Sanjay Gupta has been wronged by Tandon, he has himself to blame, say insiders. Nothing could be more apt to describe where the fault lies in this case, than the age-old Hindi adage: Ek haath se taali nahin bajti hai.

Whatever the misgivings on either side, some questions and points do crop up:

(1) The differences were between Satish Tandon and Sanjay Gupta. Why did Sanjay Dutt have to make the public a party to the dirty drama by asking them not to see the film? If Sanjay was afraid that the film will not do well when released, was he also scared that his reputation would be jeopardised? The answer to this question can be in the affirmative only if all of Sanjay Dutt’s previous releases have been hits or at least successful at the box-office. Otherwise, it is in bad taste to pre-empt the audience to not see a film.

(2) More importantly, in the fight between the producer and director, the sufferers are also going to be the film’s distributors and exhibitors who’ve invested their monies in the film. With claims and counter-claims of the film being complete/incomplete, good/bad, imagine the plight of the distributors and exhibitors.

(3) According to Sanjay Dutt, he has shot for only 60% of the film. According to Sanjay Gupta, he needs only 12 days to complete the film. If the two claims are read together, does it mean that Sanjay Gupta can complete 40% of a film in 12 days? If so, he may be one of the fastest directors we have, completing a film in 30 days.

(4) Whether people believe Satish Tandon or Sanjay Gupta, nobody will be the winner. In all probability, some will sympathise with Tandon and some, with Gupta. But all that may be mere lip sympathy. The fact is that the world is interested in watching the tamasha as two mature adults fight it out like kids. There’s no winner in this jung. But the industry is the biggest loser.

– Komal Nahta